[Update] Finished blocking in next animation

So, I've finished blocking out the next animation.

If you're not familiar with animation, blocking is basically the process of setting up the first rough draft of one. Just as you'd block out the rough shapes of a sketch before you'd get into actually drawing it up, in an animation you block in the key poses first (before moving on to actually animating the rest).

In this case I've set up a very basic scene to start, with only a few main props and some placeholder micros for scale. Originally the camera for this scene was going to be placed in a carpet or rug; in amongst the towering fibres along with some micro humans watching the scene playout in the distance:

But I've decided to switch to a flat floor instead, so that you'll be able to see all the micro humans I'll be scattering around the scene. Along with Rog unaware stompin' them of course:

I've also blocked in the main key poses, along with some rough animation for the main focal point of this scene: the legs, feet and toes. As mentioned before, this is going to be a sock tease animation with the sequence of events being:

• Rog stomping into frame to have a nice sit down in that low chair.

• Flexing his socked toes over all of the micro humans that will be milling about in awe down on the floor below.

• Rog getting up again and stomping a bunch of those micros as he leaves the scene.

With all that blocked in we can have a look at the scene layout and the runtime for this:

This is a pretty simple scene, it's all one continuous shot and it's about 38 seconds long, give or take some time for the fade in and out to black at the beginning and end (when the camera is under Rog's foot).

What's left to do?

With the blocking done it's time to work on finishing the rest of the animation.

I've focused on the lower body to start with, so it's now time to animate the upper body and face. Then will come the further refining of what I've already done. That will tie up the main portion of the animation involving Rog. The only other animating tasks that'll need to be done after that is for the micros I'll be scattering around the scene.

But finishing the animation portion of things still leaves plenty to do. A sock tease requires socks, so I've made a casual outfit for our boy Rog:

Nothing too fancy at the moment. I've done some cloth and outfit stuff before this, but I still need a lot more practice with it. I'll be leaving this outfit mostly as is, apart from the key ingredient: the socks.

I've had a go at making a procedural pattern for the cotton weave, with the aim of replicating the slight translucent effect caused by the gaps in the fabric opening up when they're stretched on thin socks. One of the things I want in this animation is for light to shine through the socks when he's flexing his toes (like on the right):

At the moment it's feeling rather flat though, but I've found some tutorials on doing fabric in Blender - including adding some fluff and thickness to the threads. So I'll be redoing Rog's socks while hopefully being able to keep some of that translucency.

One of the main things I want to achieve is high-detail close ups of the socks when they're on top of the camera. Figuring out ways to replicate high-levels of detail on body parts and everyday objects is going to be a key part of pulling off scenarios involving extreme size disparity (both when it's micro and macro focused).

On the simulation side of things, I will be doing some limited cloth simulation for Rog's outfit. Outside of that, this scenario doesn't require much else to be simulated. Rog's ponytail relies on some simulated elements, but that's about it. No destruction in this one, so I don't have to worry about all the asset creation/modification and rigid body + smoke simulation work all that requires (and all the time that adds on to animations).

After clothing, the next big thing to do is going to be scene-building:

Currently this scene is pretty bare-bones, so I'll be putting all of it in a room. I'm thinking a greenhouse with big windows to let in some sunlight onto Rog's flexing toes. Add in a bunch of plants, and then the wood or tile flooring (along with some dirt n' debris scattered around on it for scale). I'm also planning on setting up a cage mesh to deform the chair Rog is sitting on, so that I can animate it buckling slightly under his weight.

And that covers the bulk of the work that needs to be done, the animation should be ready to render after all that. I'll post another update when it's closer to that stage of things.

Also, while this one is going to remain a sock tease, working with Rog's base model during the blocking stage has made me partial to the idea of doing a barefoot alt. version as well (so that may be included as an extra alongside the finished sock-tease animation).