Idea 1:
My first idea is to make a short film that combines live action footage and 3D animation. One of the characters in the film will be a robot that is made from household objects. The robot will be CG, but I will include practical elements. This project will combine my knowledge of film with 3D animation, an area I would like to improve upon. This project will involve writing, storyboarding, filming, and editing the film as well as designing, modeling, rigging, animating, and rendering the robot character.
Idea 2:
This next idea revolves around making my own fully poseable, highly articulated action figure. I will design and model the figure to be 3D printed. For this project, I will need to research how the individual parts are created and assembled. I will also probably need to learn a new 3D modeling program. The final product would be the 3D printed figure fully assembled. If I do not have access to the 3D printer on campus, the 3D render of the figure will be the final project.
Idea 3:
My final idea involves making an animated short film using either 2D animation, 3D animation, or claymation, or a combination of all three. For this project, I will create my own characters to be used in the film. The character design course that I am currently taking this semester includes 2D animation as well as clay modeling, neither of which I have much experience in. I have never done stop motion before, so that would be a new learning experience. I have some experience with 3D animation but have more to learn. This project will include writing and storyboarding as well as designing my own characters that will then be animated.
I think your first idea is really cool, to have a CG character on a real video background. Reminds me of an animal crossing edit someone did (shout out to Ev for finding it!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cwYtMOVT0c).
As for idea 2, it’s definitely possible to scan your face easily ( https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/18/16327906/3d-model-face-photograph-ai-machine-learning ). Then just send that 3d file to a print place / print it yourself / coordinate to see if you can use the MakerSpace stuff and booyah, you’ve got yourself the head of an action figure. Maybe try to make a little play set too– if your action figure had a play set, what would it look like? What would branding look like? (Here’s the Claire FTBATK action figure video I sent in class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3m8rPXF5PE)
As for idea 3, I’d be hesitant to do claymation for a thesis project. Although it’s done for comedic effect, the challenge of claymation is outlined well in a Parks & Rec episode when Ben tries to make one ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jqKiVHS6x4 ). If you’re more familiar with 3d animation, maybe a 3d animated movie in the style of claymation is more in the scope? Since you have to design e v e r y f r a m e of claymation, projects can get big real fast. But definitely try claymation if you want to learn it! Maybe you could look into AI help to scale it up? ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFN9dzw0qH8)
(1st/3rd idea) I’m always down to see a new animated story, but you’d need to take into account the medium you’d want to use and the scope of your project and you’ll probably need to get started on this asap if you’re addressing everything (from writing and pre-production stuff like storyboarding/concepts, to mid-production areas like modeling and animating. You’ll definitely want a have sort of roadmap to help streamline the production phase. I have no doubt that it’s feasible, but you’ll want to have a clear direction in mind going into this, because it will be a lot to cover for one person, especially if you’re making this all from scratch.
Since you have a bit of experience already with 3D animation, I presume you’re familiar with the several divisions you’d have to go through to get a character ready for animating. To be fair, once you learn some work arounds, preparation can go a lot faster (I’ve learned a few tricks myself in Maya), but if you decide to lock down on this idea for your thesis and planning to create/animate multiple 3D characters, I’d suggest you get started modeling them as soon as you can so that you can save enough time to focus on animating them in the spring (if animating is your main focus and not just modeling).
I haven’t worked with claymation but I imagine that it can take up alot of time, especially if you don’t have the characters ready to go. I have a friend from the 2018 alumni class (Hailey Witko) who did a claymation/stopmotion film for her thesis actually. I’m not sure if hers is archived in the previous projects or not, but hopefully that adds some reassurance that it’s plausible to do if you set your mind to it!
If you haven’t done 2D animation before, I’d recommend looking up the 12 principles of animation and other foundations to help you get an idea of working in a 2D space. You’d definitely want to storyboard an plan out the structure of your film if you use a 2D medium. Do you want your designs to be minimal, or more detailed? Is there a specific style you’d want to explore when animating? I do a lot of 2D animation, and I’d just advise that when designing characters, you’ll want to have simpler designs in mind in order to streamline the animation process, since it isn’t always necessary to have all that detail (i.e. all the folds in a shirt) anyways unless you really want to, but it WILL take a while to finish, especially if you’re looking to make a film. Of course, there are other ways to do 2D animation outside of just traditional frame by frame. Adobe animate and After Effects offer some tools, like the puppet tool, as viable alternatives to traditional frame-by-frame, so it’s up to you with what you find most suitable that could be used for this project!
I agree with the earlier comments that stop motion animation — particularly with clay I think — can be time-consuming and also requires a very controlled, larger than you might expect physical setting. I think the first idea plays to your experience and interests but still allows plenty of potential for developing new skills and knowledge. I think it’s still a great opportunity to apply some of the insights you’ll develop in the character design class. Plus it extends a long tradition of mixing animation with live action footage…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbQqvl0gstI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tszUgxP9kog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_aTdGjNitg
The story and the character are key. The character’s personality and motivations should drive a lot of your creative and technical decisions, so you should try to get a clear sense of this early on.
You mention “one of the characters” is the robot? Is the other a person? Are there more characters than that?