Category: Animation Practice

More visual research

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Very different styles in this one, giving a good overview of what an animation could look like style wise. it is a very emotional animation and definitely speaks towards the audience, motivating them to act.

 

this one incorporates the disney animation look very well and shows very good use of animation principles

 

I especially like the lighting in this one and the contrast between the cold shadows and the warm light. It is funny, very anthropomorphic and beautifully animated.

 

A simpler animation than the other ones, very geometric, only music, no specific sounds. General direction I want to go into animation and storytelling wise.

 

very funny animation, symbolising global warming and critiquing capitalisms impact on climate

Research evaluation

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The threats that both species have in common seem to be Climate Change, Hunting, Chemical contamination/pollution and Oil exploration. Of course there are still many other threats to these species, however, I will be concentrating on one that they have in common.

Hunting would be an obvious one for harp seals as they are most known for having their babies slaughtered for their perfect white fur. However, this is not the most important threat as the numbers are regulated (for the most part). Also, it could be hard conveying the subject to kids while keeping it kid friendly and there isn’t anything that kids could do about it immediately.

Climate change and pollution seem to be the most important issues to me as this is a topic heavily discussed in the media at the moment (Fridays for Future) and has always been a topic that I have been interested in and that I kept protesting against.  It is also something that children and students can directly do something against and therefore seems to be the perfect focus for my animation.

NOAA Fisheries – Threats to Harp seals

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directly taken from:

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/harp-seal

 

Hunting

Commercial hunters have captured harp seals in Canada for meat and oil since the 1600s. The Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans sets an annual total allowable catch for commercial, aboriginal, and personal use hunting.

Vessel Strikes

Inadvertent vessel strikes can injure or kill harp seals. Harp seals are vulnerable to vessel collisions throughout their range, but the risk is much higher in some coastal areas with heavy ship traffic.

Entanglement

Harp seals can become entangled in fishing gear and other types of marine debris, either swimming off with the gear attached or becoming anchored. They can become entangled in many different gear types, including gillnets, trawls, purse seines, or weirs. Once entangled, seals may drown if they cannot reach the surface to breathe, or they may drag and swim with attached gear for long distances, ultimately resulting in fatigue, compromised feeding ability, or severe injury, which may lead to reduced reproductive success and death.

Chemical Contaminants

Contaminants enter ocean waters from many sources, including oil and gas development, wastewater discharges, urban runoff, and other industrial processes. Once in the environment, these substances move up the food chain and accumulate in predators near the top, such as harp seals. Because of their blubber stores, harp seals accumulate these contaminants in their bodies, threatening their immune and reproductive systems.

Oil Spills and Energy Exploration

Offshore oil and gas exploration and development also have the potential to impact harp seals. The most significant risk posed by these activities is the accidental or illegal discharge of oil or other toxic substances due to their immediate and potentially long-term effects. If exposed to oil, a harp seal’s fur can no longer repel water. This makes it difficult for the seal to swim, float, and keep warm. Inhaling or swallowing oil can damage a seal’s respiratory, digestive, reproductive, and central nervous systems. Oil can also irritate or burn the seal’s skin.

Climate Change

Harp seals rely on the availability of suitable sea ice as a haul-out platform for giving birth, nursing pups, and molting. As such, harp seals are sensitive to changes in the environment that affect the timing and extent of sea ice formation and breakup.

WWF – Threats to polar bears

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directly taken from:

https://arcticwwf.org/species/polar-bear/threats/

 

Climate Change

Climate change, and the loss of sea ice habitat, is the greatest threat to polar bears. The impacts of this change are felt first and worst in the Arctic.

Fewer opportunities to feed

Polar bears rely on sea ice to hunt and store energy for the summer and autumn, when food can be scarce. Sea ice now melts earlier in the spring and forms later in the autumn in the bears’ southern range, like Hudson Bay and James Bay in Canada. As the bears spend longer periods without food, their health declines. For every week earlier the ice breaks up in Hudson Bay, bears come ashore roughly 10 kg (22 lbs) lighter and in poorer condition.

Fewer cubs

Unhealthy bears can mean lower reproduction rates, higher cub mortality – and eventually, local extinction. The main causes of death for cubs are lack of food or lack of fat on nursing mothers.

Toxic Pollution

As top predators, polar bears are exposed to high levels of pollutants through their food. The popular image is of polar bears living in a pure, frozen wilderness is misleading. The Arctic food chain contains high levels of some toxic chemicals.

Disruption of biological functions

Bears with high levels of some POPs (persistent organic pollutants) have low levels of vitamin A, thyroid hormones, and some antibodies. These are important for a wide range of biological functions, such as growth, reproduction, and the ability to fight off diseases. Females with partially-developed male sexual organs — Pseudohermaphrodites — have been observed in 1.5 % of the polar bears sampled on Svalbard in recent years. Scientists believe this could be the result of long-range pollutants.

Danger to cubs

In some areas, the mother bears’ milk contains particularly high concentrations of these chemicals. The milk can actually poison the cubs, leading to lower survival rates.

Oil Exploration

The oil and gas business is increasingly moving into the Arctic as more accessible reserves in the south dry up. Polar bear populations are expected to come under increased pressure if oil developments in the Arctic go ahead according to industry plans. Offshore operations pose the greatest risk, since routine emissions, spills or leaks will be discharged directly into the sea or on the sea ice.

Reduced insulation

Contact with oil spills can reduce the insulating effect of the bears’ fur. The bear must then use more energy to keep warm, and compensate by increasing its caloric intake—which may be difficult.

 

Poisoning

Polar bears can ingest oil through grooming and through eating contaminated prey. The ingested oil can cause liver and kidney damage, and has long-term toxicity. Bears can be poisoned by even a limited amount of oil on their fur.

 

Disturbance

Seismic blasting, construction, transportation and operation of oil facilities can negatively affect polar bears.

 

Destruction of habitat

If a major oil spill occurs at or near areas with high concentrations of polar bear denning sites, for example Hopen Island in the Barents Sea, it could have population-wide consequences.There is currently no proven effective method for cleaning or controlling an oil spill in icy, arctic waters, where difficult weather conditions are common.

Overhunting

Is it legal to hunt polar bears?

The legality of polar bear hunting varies among the Arctic countries. The international Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears allows for the taking of polar bears for use by local people using traditional methods and exercising traditional rights. WWF supports the right of Indigenous Peoples to continue to sustainably hunt local animals.

 

Is polar bear hunting sustainable?

In countries with monitoring programs, hunting quotas are designed to keep the bears’ populations stable. But in some countries, the extent of polar bear hunting–and its effect on populations–is unknown.

There are estimated to be 22,000 to 31,000 polar bears worldwide living in 19 populations. The general status of polar bears is currently stable, though there are differences between the populations.

The Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG) regularly reviews the countries’ monitoring of polar bear size, age and gender distributions. For populations with functioning monitoring programs, the PBSG can estimate the status of the population. The PBSG urges governments to start monitoring populations whose stability is unknown so that population estimates can be made and trends documented. Only then can the sustainability of hunting be secured.

Reflection

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All in all the process was quite strenuous, especially since I started over with just one month to go. I am very satisfied with the outcome and think I can be proud of myself. I feel like I can comfortably use ZBrush now, but of course, there are always areas that I can improve, like the rigging and posing process, which caused me a lot of issues.

Posing problems

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So the original plan was to slightly adjust the pose once the model is done and as you can see this really didn’t work out. I tried rigging the character using the provided tutorials on using ZSpheres, but my experience with this method was completely different from what was shown in the video. First of all, I could barely move the ZSphere, as it took forever for something to happen, which I think happened due to the model being too high res, as I deleted the lower levels.

As you can see above, when I managed to finally move the ZSpheres the model started clipping really badly and I have not found an explanation for it…

What I learned from this:

either put the model in the right position from the beginning or keep a low res version for rigging and posing.