IN3D Week 13 Lab

1) Apart from their different sizes, it is obvious from Luxo Jr. that the big lamp is “older” and that the small lamp is “younger”.

How is this communicated by the animation? Give at least THREE examples.

We could tell that the big lamp is older and the small lamp is younger because of:

 a) Emotions

The big lamp was feeling depressed at first as I could see from the video that its head was bending down low. When the ball rolled towards the big lamp, it was trying to figure out who does the ball belongs to. It tried to return the ball but somehow the ball just kept on rolling towards it. When the big ball was rolling over, the big lamp was shocked. Instead, it just stood at one position, watching the small lamp running after the big ball. As for the small lamp, I could tell that it was feeling very excited and lively.

 b) Movement

The small lamp is obviously younger because it is moving around quickly or jumping around the room whereas the big lamp does not move actively when the ball is being passed to it.

 c) Timing

As humans age, our movements tend to be a little bit slower compared to teens and children. This is because  the older we get, our body cannot function as actively as the young ones. If we compare the big lamp and the small lamp, the big lamp is older since it is not quite active when it comes to wild games. Whereas the small lamp could still run quickly chasing after the ball.

2) Give an example from Luxo Jr of how timing is used for comic effect. Explain how the timing decisions contribute to the humour.

    An example of timing used for comical effect is, when the big ball rolled towards the big lamp. The big lamp felt sorry for the small lamp at first because the small ball was being flattened. But after the big ball appeared, the big lamp was shocked to see the small lamp chasing after the big ball.

   A character may be sad at first, thus the timing of movement is slow. Suddenly, when the character became happy, the timing for the reaction should be fast, making the character feel excited and happy. This timing decisions contribute to the humour when there is a sudden change in a character's emotions or behaviour.

3) When you create a joint chain, these form a hierarchy, with the first joint at the top and the last joint at the bottom. Explain why this is necessary for the joints to work properly.

    The joints must be able to work properly because the joints are like the movements and reactions of a character. If a character should be feeling depressed, their posture should be bend down low. It is necessary to create a joint chain so that we know which part of the body we should animate if we need the character to behave according to what we want the story to be.