3D Environment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg3rlZFlDrs

Making of environment process

To begin with, rather than creating a primitive object and extending; I was too occupied on creating a shape through separate polygons

To begin with, the concept for my new idea was 'animal crossing' inspired, I chose to create an environment built around the house, though the plan was to initially was to use Maya's in-software paint effects, I decided to create a house from scratch using polygon tools

Creating the correct base for the house began with the polygon square tool, This was extended into a rectangle; followed by extruding the mesh for the roof. Once extended once more, I pinched the top using a scale tool. for a more 'bloated' and cartoonist aesthetic, I inserted edge loop tools and stretched areas outwards. To keep the shape accurate in smooth and shaded mode (6), I inserted edge loops tool close to each side. The door frame was created using the ring tool, by deleting half of the faces and extruding the bottom half outwards a more arched look was created, pulling the newly extruded sides to an inwards angle. Adding the insert edge loop tool was used once more in order to keep an accurate shape for when it's smoothed.

Creating the details of the house was the next step, recycling the door frame - I used CRTL+D to duplicate the shape and minimized it in scale, I then inserted an edge loop tool to create the 'cross' in the middle for the window frame, extruding the strip in the centre vertically and merging the vertex to the top of the frame, and thusly repeating the step horizontally. A shelf was also added afterwards to the frame, extruding outwards.

Creating a chimney was accomplished by selecting faces under the face sub menu for selection, holding shift to select more than one face. Once I was satisfied with the placement, I extruded outwards tot he side, and extended once more and dragged it out upwards; scaling the shape in. Once the primitive shape for the roof was created, I continued to extrude and scale it outwards; to create the dip in the chimney I extruded and scaled inwards, went on face selection mode and deleted the remaining square.

One more window was added in to help add the detail on the rooftop, the windows frame on the roof was then extruded into the roof. The next detail was the house trimming/frame, using a polygon square tool, I created a flat rectangular shape. This was then extruded multiple times in order to create a shape which frames the house base. insert edge loop tool was the created to hold up the shape in smooth. These were replicated on the side and the back. Creating a door handle was a rectangle primitive, one end scaled down and pinched to give a visually cartoonistic effect. a door handle was then placed over; creating a sphere primitive. Finally, creating the small details for the house had been replicated and placed in order or sporadically. The marshmallows were created using the polygon cylinder, insert edge loop tools were then added in the center and scaled down - as well as inflating both the edges. Once smoothed, a soft marshmallow shape was created. After copying over and entire row onto the roof, the row itself was duplicated and shifted over above the row. Some marshmallows had been  repositioned in order to prevent a look of repetition.

The jelly tots were created using the sphere primitive, manipulating the shape to be flat and smaller. This was then duplicated and placed individually on the frames of the house; only on the front. Biscuits for the top of the house, and later used as stepping stones in the scene were created using the cube primitive tool, I created a flat small chunky surface; and duplicated the Jelly tots to create a pattern/ boarder around the biscuit. This to begin with was duplicated over four times, only used for the top of the house.

The Next step was creating foliage around the house, the terrain for the house and a river running through the terrain. To begin I created a polygon primitive plane, extruding upwards after selecting faces; scaling down each extrusion to create a hill. doing the opposing move with the river; I extruded down and only scaled in once. Once smoothed ad satisfied with the shape I had created; I began experimenting with the foliage in Paint effects.

Grass began to be added, this process was long winded but worth the visually appeasing outcome. Using paint effects, each gras pattern changed in seed number and size. This carried on until I fully covered all the visible ground in the scene, to begin attempts of a river; I simply selected the faces of the dip and assigned the ocean material to the surface. Rather than creating a flat plane for the river, I had only coloured the river bed thus far. though this was later corrected and assigned the correct material/ 

First section of grass, mushroom has been added from paint effects to increase detail and break up plain setting.

Second area of grass added, another tree was included; as well as flowers on both sides and bushels. Bushes were created by using the tree tool, and running over the same area to create many smaller trees. More trees were added int he background to help create depth

Entire scene with grass, trees have been positioned better to aid the scenes aesthetic and more vibrant colours are embedded with the grass, with the paints effect tool pre made flowers.

The following step was the lighting, after creating the scenes layout; I felt it was necessary that I added a sky. The sky was created using Mentalray, under the render settings I clicked "Create" on 'physical sun and sky' Once created, I had dragged the horizon down to cover the entire scene; as it began too high up in the scene. The directional light was then adjusted to create a 'dusk' lighting. Though I wanted night, the night sky with no sun just created a pitch black background and excluded lighting. Once the correct time and lighting was positioned, I added more red to the sky under the sun and skies settings in the slider menu 'red and blue'

How the scene was captured before converting foliage to polygon. Attempts to continue changing the river were also made, by just adding an actual water container in Mayas pre made Liquids menu. These were duplicated and layered over one another; and looked flat and choppy; holding no resemblance to water in shape or texture.

Adding more depth to the shadow created more grain, therefor more details has to be added for the render to create a softer shadow.

The sky when red was implemented, creating an evening setting.

Maya scene before physical sun and sky was created, the house was also coloured and a bridge was created, The bridge was made using the pipe primitive, cut in half and resized wider and flatter - insert edge loop tool was then created on either side. selecting faces tool allowed me to then select the centre, and the shape was extruded to create a dip into the bridge. Insert edge loop was also added on all sides to hold the shape better after smoothing.

The house was coloured, this was accomplished by selecting each shape; holding right click and hovering over the menu to "assign favourite material/Lambert" The attribute editor then allowed me to change the colour of the surface. Each new surface colour was named what area of the house; so then in future when I selected and area that needed to be the same colour, I was able to go to the "Assign existing material/(named material)" After selecting each area and colouring successfully, the house was complete and fully coloured. Though not textured It went well and was an improvement to the flat grey surface; detail could not be picked up as well in the scene - as the scene was filled with vibrancy and colour, and the grey was keeping everything blended and flat.

The river was finally up to a better standard, by creating a new flat plane and extruding until it fit the shape above the river bed, I held down the right click; and assigned the ocean shader material. Not only did it colour the river, it also added shape and animation of water.

The 'biscuit' that laid atop of the roof was duplicated to create stepping stones and further increase detail on the pathway. 

The river shape with faces, method of extrusion and repositioning shown.

Though highly boosting the quality and lighting within my work, adding a sun ans sky under the "Mentalray" render software made the render last far too long, only 100 frames were successfully rendered using Mentalray. After making the foliage renderable in Mentalray by going under "convert paint effects to polygons" Maya was also far too laggy and I could no longer add the extra effects I wished to. By this stage I had coloured the house entirely, but I needed the scene to be rendered out using Mayas software again. Using an older scene, I selected just the coloured house and deleted the mentalray scene; saving it as a different file and importing it into the previous scene where the foliage was kept as just paint effects,

The scene with Maya's own Lights used. One directional light, two area lights and a spotlight. Render wasn't over bleached and ready to be shown in scene using a camera.

though I wanted to add snow to the scene, and even a particle animation was successfully created; mayas rendering software had not supported the 'point' particle, though I tried using 'cloud' and 'bobbly' particles that were supported by mayas software, the particles became too large and no longer appeared as snow. snow out of the scene was unfortunately excluded int he end, though environmental sounds and a night time sky brings out the same ambience and calm feeling that I wished for the snow to create.

Ball animation - class tutorial with Ram

Weeks before finishing the rigs, Ram showed us the basics of animation using both keyframes and the graph editor. 

Bibliography

Bibliography 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6f6P5Ceuc4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMtlLpYcCAQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihEpzjIxd3g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeErz1pI_mc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrTwZTXwvlQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rZHNkC6Lr4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqBcBsmMQVA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc9sQYIZhAQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mXzH7nATps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrqOAwCPowg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af8TbPE5lg4

Evaluation - Student 50106356

The final outcome of my character animation is in the highest quality it could be given the time frame. If I were to improve my animation over all, I would like to have had more time to add a simple landscape and flooring, as well as lighting which suggests sunny weather. Sound effects would have also been created for my animation, such as Baby crying out, Baby running and the rat squeaking when bitten. I feel I could have experimented more during the first stages of my animation, rather than creating an altogether final decision of how each model I have created will look on the first try. Considering this module has been accomplishable since the beginning of the year, I feel my time management skills has proven to be poor for Character animation thus far. Only taking the first steps of the animation process a couple of months prior to hand in, where time from earlier could have been used learning the software and creating the above desirable improvements to the outcome.

However the strengths within this module over all include how I have handled issues and how problem solving has taken place, the script has been rewritten a total of three times due to working around technical issues and keeping up the quality of my animation. Models alone have also been fixed from each problem that has been a part of the rigging process, this including painting weights for each character, converting each character from sculptris to Maya (as well as each characters textures) and even adding more suitable eyes for the main character, rather than giving him inanimate eyes for the final outcome. Lagging issues were also fixed, lowering polygon count and even quadrangulation on other accounts.

Another strength within the animation could be the visual aesthetics and the anatomical strength within each rig. Having a thorough understanding of the canine body and skeletal system has been of great help, the rig can run smoothly and leap. The models themselves also show strength in similarities to original concepts (See sketchbook) to the 3D outcome. I feel that I found my own way of how to create models which best suited my abilities, rather than staying within Mayas realm and proving the process difficult for myself.

Lack of background within my animation is a weakness, however due to it not being a part of this modules marking, I feel I can have Baby dragon in a background that I wish to create and see for the second half of the module. some walk cycles and run cycles also show lack of fluency, one limb not hitting the ground as it should as others accomplish hitting the ground, however this is due to the IK handle issue. (see previous posts)  Some areas of Baby dragon could also not be fixed, where he stretches his neck and looks up, just one polygon moves out of place from his chest and follows, through several attempts this could not be gotten rid of - as the polygon hadn't identified itself through painting weights, though the area around it had. If I were to improve, I feel that I would quadrangulate Baby dragon within Zbrush, repaint a new texture and import it into Maya. (Due to not beginning earlier I hadn't the time for this to be done) This way out of place polygons will reveal themselves easily and the surface will be more clean to work with. if I had the time to gain the knowledge, I would also have added colour to Baby dragon eyelids. Previous attempts to doing so had not worked - as the sphere is animatable and therefore could not be exported and given a fully workable UV texture map. I'd have also fixed the broken rigs if I had given myself the time to do so, The tortoise being the most physically textured model to begin with, followed by the Forest guardian - and finally the mother dragon. I would also have liked to have given the baby rat an operable jaw, so it could move like Baby dragons does.

Conclusively, the first half of the module has taught me the basics of the animation process, as well as how to problem solve and learn timing in animation for the first time. Using my fast learning skills has also allowed me to create a standard which I have for both animating and model creating. I feel I have successfully created mood into my animation, as well as the light heartedness that I wanted to go with it. Areas which I would like improvement in are not major and are not required for fixing to the point it's an issue that needs fixing. (For example, lack of sound effects, lack of background...) The timing and frame rate is very smoother, being a total of 4444 frames - and the target time being three minutes in total.

The animation completed

By student 50106356, by clicking on the 'YouTube' icon within this embedded video player, the video can be viewed within YouTube at its full size and highest quality. The link may also be clicked below for navigation to its original source;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XELW2tLajYc

Adding lights

Creating lights for Maya helps create a mood for your scene, as well as allowing the models within your rendered scene be viewable through light source.

To begin, inserting the first light is required. This is under the 'Create' menu within the 'Rendering' menu set up.

As shown in the screenshot, there are all types of light for the animations scene. For this example I will be using 'Area light' 

Once the first light has been created, it can be adjusted via position, scale and rotation - like all other objects in Maya. 

To see how your scene appears with the lights which have been added into the scene, go to 'Lighting/Use selected lights' This will show how the animations render will look with your lights, in the above shot no lights are selected - showing that the model will be completely dark. 

This is a screenshot with all three lights I have created (using shift+D for duplication) for the scene. As you can see, a strong light casts a strong shadow on the left side of the model. If I were to desire a less dramatically lit scene, these lights would be sparsely placed throughout the entire area of the scene, the left and back as well as the top. 

How camera shots are added

Rather than having just one shot throughout the entire animation, filmography can also be a part of your project within Maya. This post will explain the process of creating and animating your camera, allowing camera angles and tracking to improve the look of your animation.

To begin, a camera needs to be inserted. This can be found under the 'Create' menu, within the 'Rendering' menu setup. By going under 'Create/Cameras/Camera', a normal camera can be created, ready to be animated with the animation sequence. 

A camera can be seen physically within Maya, where the camera models lens is; is where the camera will be pointing to within your animation. To be in the Cameras point of view, the user can go into Panels/Perspective/Camera1 (or what the user has chosen to name that particular camera). Once clicking this option, the user should now be in the camera's point of view.

This allows the user to also position the camera however they want, whilst having the advantage of precisely how that shot will look within the animation. It is also important to have the 'Resolution gate' icon switched, this creates a frame around the animation, showing exactly how it will appear during your animations render.

How camera's perspective with 'Resolution gate' on, Resolution gate is the small blue sphere icon with a white background. 

 Not only when in this view you can choose fluidly where you want your camera to go, but you cameras animation is also accessible. Because the camera is selected whilst in this view, you are able to click and drag wherever you wish in between frames to create your cameras movement with the animation. Hitting the 'S' key manually is advised for animating with the camera, to avoid confusion of creating camera shots.

Frame 11

To begin the animation for the camera; the 'S' key should be hit at frame 1 - you may adjust the camera wherever you want it to be for the starting position of the camera. If I wanted to pan in whilst the model lifted its arm, I would go over to the frame where the final move has been created, zoom in on the view I want - and manually hit 'S'. The animation with both the character and the camera are now created.

frame 18

frame 25, Camera continues to zoom in

How animation is created

Within Mayas software there is a timeline which allows you to animate your model, I will be briefly explaining the process which takes place, as well as explaining how cameras and lights are added into the scene once the model is animated. 

To begin, a scene with a fully rigged & binded model is necessary, if you will be moving a character. Below this screenshot, Maya's timeline is visible. 

The next step is choosing which area of the model you wish to begin animating, for this example; I will be animating Baby dragons left arm. By clicking onto the IK handle and pressing 'S', the entire handle/limb is now ready to track any future movements given, and ready to be placed into the timeline. To ensure the IK is ready to be keyframed, you can see the transform attributes figures have been highlighted red. 

Most importantly, a visible red line should have appeared in the timeline below, this has inserted the first keyframe, and the limbs position for that keyframe. Movement is now ready to be added in. Depending on how long you would like the movement to be, clicking over to a number in the timeline will be the end of the movement for that segment. If I were to lift up the left arm after dragging the timeline to number '25', you will see that the frames in between 1 and 25 will fill with the movement you had just created in your model.

the movements end mark is created where the following red line is marked, this screenshot being the number 25.

by clicking and dragging into the timeline, you will be able to view which movements have been tracked, where the number 13 is highlighted in white is the area I am in right now, this is showing the frames between the keyframe; which is how movement is being created. As you can see the arm is beginning to lift. 

the icon for ''auto key toggle' switched on, notice it is highlighted red. When turned off and you want to add the keyframes manually, the icon will be grey.

It is the users choice whether they physically insert that keyframe by pressing the 'S' ley, or if they would like Maya to automatically make that move for you. This is accomplished by turning the 'Auto keyframe toggle' on. the icon should be highlighted red. This way you can choose an area within a timeline and make the movement, and the keyframe will be added in automatically - allowing you to be in a consistent flow of animating the model; Maya always recording the next step.

The model is now animated, continuation of this method will get the model from the beginning of your characters movement to the end of your characters movement for the scene a user wishes to create. 

Sound for the animation

Once the animation was clipped together and ready for editing, sound has been implemented to help enhance the mood of each situation. The soundtrack includes a total of three songs, and two sound effects. Below are the sources of the music which was used in the animation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6f6P5Ceuc4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMtlLpYcCAQ

(19:21 & 40:41 within the link above)

Sticky IK handle issue/ Deleted scene

During the animation for my project, I had noticed an issue which occurs within Baby dragon. This has created an animation clip to cease within my animation. Within the IK handles of my animation, I should be able to have the option to 'turn Stick off' or keep 'Sticky' on. However, during my first scene of animation, I had attempted to begin the Baby dragons first run cycle. Where I created a walk cycle and moved the model forward between frames with the walking scene, Baby dragon was able to walk successfully, with his hands remaining on the floor. However trying a different method with the running cycle has created an issue which doesn't allow me to move Baby dragon forward the speed he should. Where I attempt to drag Baby dragon forward, the models legs stick to the floor - stretching all limbs abnormally and interrupting the leg movement from the running cycle. There has been no way to remedy this scene, turning Sticky off of the IK handles remained non responsive.

The future fix for this issue was to unparent the Sticky IK handles from the root movement handle, this has turned sticky off the IK's, but has proven difficult to keep Babies feet on the ground during movement in the animation. This has created sliding of the feet, however when in full motion the models unused limbs have been tweaked to drag back whilst others propel forwards, giving the impression that they are still on the ground (as best I could).

The final scene of Baby and rat also have the first paragraphs issue, which is the reason being the Rats movement is very poorly timed. attempting to propel him forwards whilst creating a walk cycle makes changes in the previous limb movements made, making timing of the feet hitting the ground off. This could not be fixed and redone due to time running out. The final scenes flaws have remained in the final edit of the animation, and camera shots have been used to try and distract from the poor movement.

Another issue which has been found during the very last minute is Baby dragons eyes. Though not a vital issue which needs fixing, only once the model is fully rendered into an avi, a grey line appears int he middle of the Baby dragons eyes. I feel this may have something to do with the closing eyelid mark which has been placed within Baby dragons eye rig. This is more of a aesthetic issue than a technical issue which causes problems. Due to time this issue has also needed to remain in the animation, only becoming apparent one day before hand in. (Baby dragons first walk cycle does not include this issue, therefore has gone unrecognized up until longer scenes have been rendered)



Below is a video of the scene which could not be used due to Sticky IK handle not being able to turn off;

Script changes

After the first script change (See sketchbook) I have realized through animating that the story is too long, though it is only 2 pages. This has required me to once more redraft and create a new script, for the changes please see the sketchbook. I have decided to make the script shorter after a decision through discussion, during the discussion it was decided that it would be in my best interest to take out and alter areas within the script and storyboard, in order to keep the animation short - thus keeping the animation a higher quality than it would be if I were to keep the longer script.

Baby dragon running and jumping references

As listed for similar reasons in the previous videos, this collection shows a different movement which both the Baby dragon and rat will be doing in the animation. These references were used to understand the pattern which takes place pre-leap and post-leap. This also helped me understand the body movement which takes place during the leap, for example the small hint of rotation which takes place as the canine lands from leaping into the air.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihEpzjIxd3g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeErz1pI_mc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrTwZTXwvlQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rZHNkC6Lr4

Baby dragon movement references

Before beginning the animation process, I felt it was necessary to analyze the movement process and timing included within various dogs walk cycles. This will help me understand the pattern of an animals walk and run, allowing me to implement it into my own project. Below are a series of secondary sources which I have found through YouTube's search engine, each individual video has made a decent reference to help me learn basic movements of canines in locomotion. (See sketchbook for outcome of understanding)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqBcBsmMQVA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc9sQYIZhAQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mXzH7nATps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrqOAwCPowg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af8TbPE5lg4

Primary visual research on a puppies behaviour, taken in summer of last year;
Through watching this video I gained the aspect of making Baby dragon's hips and tail 'swish' left and right as he waddles, as well as how confrontation between another animal and a puppy is introduced. Where the cat stands and stares waiting for an attack, the puppy is calm and just wants to play. As soon as the cat fel confronted, the first thing which occurs is running away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6spyQ5t3cA

Guardian rig

Though painting weights cannot be added to the model, this model is still animatable. Before my decision took place in excluding the Guardian, I attempted to create a walk cycle to see if he can be added with minimal movement. I have decided this cannot be the case after my experimentation.

Before adding paint weights (could not have an 'after' paint weights result)

Skeletal rig process

These videos show the process which goes into creating the rig for the models, using the joint tool; these rigs are created from scratch. guidance on the rigs are from sketches within the sketchbook, all ensured to be anatomically correct.

Once the skeletal rigging process is complete, each joint which I wish to move during animation needs to be assigned to a control. controls are added by going under 'Create/Nurbs Primitives/Circle' Once the controller is added, the control can be navigated into the centre of a joint using the middle mouse button and holding down 'V'. Using the mouse the control can slide to the correct joint.

Once this is accomplished, it is important to freeze the transformation. This is what will allow you to reset your models initial position, as the controller will set the joint back to '0' on all the translations. Pressing 'F8' Will allow you to manipulate the controllers shape and set the position you want it to be in, without changing the position of the controllers assigned joint.

Once you are full filled with the controllers appearance and position, the controller is ready to have a constraint. by clicking onto the controller and the holding shift, the joint you wish to be controlled can also be highlighted and clicked on at the same time. Once this is done, you have the freedom to go into the 'Constrain' menu. This menu has a certain amount of options.

Constrain/point - The joint will follow wherever the controller goes, this is used in the characters eyes
Constrain/Aime - The controller will only move the assigned joint.
Constrain/Orient - The controller will rotate the assigned joint.
Constrain/Scale - The controller will scale the assigned joint/surface, allowing it to grow bigger or smaller.
Constrain/Parent - The controller will both navigate and Rotate the joint, this is ideal for the characters root.

Video example of the process in adding controls to you rig. 

The process of adding eyes to Baby dragon and other characters

These videos show the process of importing a fully controlled eye over to Baby dragons model, this same process was recycled with the Forest guardian.

Step one of the process, eyeballs texture was created in Zbrush and transferred over to Maya. 

Step two of the process, eye was adjusted into Baby dragons eye socket the same as the previous eyeball was. 

Problem solving the model issue

Earlier in the project I decided to have my models from Sculptris, and added into Maya. Throughout this process my models were converted to Zbrush and all decimated in order to be fully functional within Maya's software. As well as just the model, I had learned how to add textures to my model in Maya from Zbrush. Below is a video of the process which has taken place within all of my character models.

Decimation master was a software necessary to be used in order for the models to be functional within Maya's software. Models in Zbrush can also be made into a quad model, however after discovering the aid of the painting weights tool within Maya's software, I felt making the model consist of quads rather than tri's was unnecessary.

Baby dragon walk cycle

I have began testing and animating Baby dragons rig. Though not given a smoother loop, this is Baby dragons walk cycle. After animating in Maya with my character for the first time, I have learned that I am better adjusted editing frame by frame, rather than making one move and having that move jump from frame one to frame 20. This is because my character was not making the precise movements which I had requested when using the method of jumping frames and allowing the program to fill in between. Movements were not dynamic enough and looked jumpy. Though this was created by adding the cycles movement frame by frame, I think I could space them out by 2-5 frames. The movements will still be contained, and the animation won't go by as fast. I must keep in mind that the lesser the frames, the quicker the animation. Timing in between frames and key movements within my animation must be better revised in future.

Mother dragon issues

After rigging and binding mother dragon, some issues have been found with the IK handles' controllers. After many attempts of parenting the controls to the root controller, removing the IK handles controllers and even parenting the IK controls themselves to the root joint itself; Mother dragons feet and hips stay in place whilst the rest of the rig move forward. Attempting to parent the top of the Ik handle causes joints to vanish off of the rig.

Though the rig is broken, I will still be keeping mother dragon in the animation. She will not be able to walk forward, but she still holds some features which were able to be used in the original script and will be usable in the script re-write - with her broken rig kept in mind.

skeletal rig - before controllers

Skeletal rig, before controllers.

Rig after controllers, IK handles are the cause of the main issue which cannot be fixed.



Video of the issue

Exclusion of Tortoise

As well as Guardian, Tortoise is also facing some issues. Though this character had similar issues to rat, only rat could be fixed. Due to the complex geometry and detail within the Tortoise, Maya becomes too laggy once the rig has been bind to the mesh. With attempts to reduce the mesh, (Mesh/Reduce) Maya denies the mesh of being reduced and requests the geometry requires a cleanup. After attempting to Clean up the Tortoises mesh several times (Mesh/Cleanup) Maya still couldn't reduce the mesh of the Tortoise. Even after attempts of 'Quadrangulate' within the software. 

Tortoises full rig, before controls

Tortoise with controls, Ik handles are on each leg and the neck. 

Tortoises completed rig with ghost mode on.

After the exclusion of these two characters which play a part in the story for the animation, I have considered to go forward with the script rewrite. Having spent three days trying to fix Guardian (see previous post) and Tortoise, as well as Mother dragon; there has been a lack of success and the module is near its deadline. Once the script has been rewritten, I will create the storyboard. The animation will be ready for production. My production will still equal a total of 3 minutes. Altogether this makes my animation 4320+ frames, each minute making up to 1440 frames. Once the storyboard is complete I have confidence that the animation can be completed, tweaked, and given a sound input all together.