The Nodding and Hopping Mushroom

Hey guys! So for the past few weeks, I talked about the mushroom - how it was created, animating it so it could hop, what tools I used to fix it. Well, this week, we finally finished the mushroom! YAY! Our final mushroom can hop and nod. Totally adorable!

Question #1:
What is skinning?

- Skinning is the process of associating the vertices with the bones. We used this during the second week, after painting the mushroom and adding in the armature.

Question #2:
What are actions and sprites?

- Actions are an object's movements in an animation. For example, the mushroom had two actions: Hop Action and Nod Action. Before we set the final names, both actions were called "Armature Actions". Actions can be found in the Action Editor (and obviously, you'd EDIT stuff here).

- Sprites are computer graphics that may be moved on-screen and manipulated as a single entity. They are 2D images or animations that can be integrated into larger scenes. You can change the sprite's size by going to Render Context -> Dimensions panel

Question #3:
What are the steps in creating Hop and Nod actions?

The Hop
1. You should first be in Object Mode. Right click the armature, and you'll be in Pose Mode.
2. Select all the bones by pressing A until they are ALL selected (stalk and cap)
3. Right click the stalk bone only and press I to view "Insert Keyframe Menu". Select Scaling
4. Go down to the Timeline and set the frame to 4.
5. The stalk should still be selected, press S to scale, and then Z to restrict it to the Z axis.
6. Squish your mushroom down so it looks like it's prepping for the jump. Left click to accept scaling.
7. Type I and select Scaling again.
8. Advance to frame 8, and hold down Alt + S so your mushroom will go back to normal.
9. Type in I and select LocScale. You can watch your animation so far (Esc to stop it)
10. Advance to frame 14, and type in G then Z to bulk up your mushroom like a tough guy. Left click to accept the height. Press I and select Location.
11. Go to frame 16, type in G then Z, and suspend your mushroom in the air. Type I and select Location
12. Go to frame 20, type in Alt + G, then type I and select Location. Hover your pointer over the last frame (20), and left click it if it's not selected - Press E to end your frame, and you're done with the Hop! (For now)

The Nod
1. Make sure you're at frame 1. Go to View and select Right and Persp/Ortho (so it'll be in the orthagonal view)
2. Right click the cap bone and press I. Select Rotation
3. Go to frame 5; press R to rotate your mushroom to the left, and press I - select Rotation.
4. Move to frame 10. Press Alt + R to make your mushroom normal again. Press I and select Rotation
5. Click on the last frame (10) and type E to end the animation. You can preview the animation by pressing Alt + A.
6. In the Action Editor - Dope Sheet Window, name the action NodAction, then click F to make a fake user.

Question #4:
What are the functions of Dope Sheet Window and Action Editor?

- The Dope Sheet Window holds all the animations in it. If multiple objects were animating, they'd all be listed there. This is basically a complex version of the Timeline. The Action Editor is similar to this because it also holds things for our object. But instead of holding animations, the Action Editor lists down the "actions" being performed by the object.

Question #5:
What are the following commands/actions: Ctrl P and Creating Fake User

- Ctrl P is used to show the Set Parent To Menu. To skin the bones, we selected With Automatic Weights under Armature Deform to control the amount of influence the bones have over a certain vertex.

- Creating a Fake User keeps Blender from trashing an unreferenced element that you might want to use later. We used this for our actions to merge them later on in the project.

Yay happy hoppy mushroom \m/ Hope you guys enjoyed! Or at least learned something .__.

The Skeletal Mushroom

Afternoon, everyone! It's been super hot lately, so that means it's almost SUMMER VACATION! I can't wait! You know what else I can't wait for?! OUR FINISHED MUSHROOM! It's gonna look so cute, I swear. Last time, I talked about creating the mushroom itself. For this post, we'll talk about the mushroom's skeleton! That's right, my mushroom has bones. Awesome, isn't it?

1. What is texture?
- Texture is like the evolved form of material. With texture, you can add certain features to a 3D object so it seems like you can actually touch and feel it. You could make a flat plane look rough, or make a pokeball look smooth. Usually, texture goes on top of material (which, I believe is mainly used for clothing and such)

2. Why do you have to save the image before saving the Blender file?
- So after painting my mushroom for an hour or so (with the eyes, mouth, spots, and body) I saved JUST my file and closed Blender. The next day during Digital Arts, I opened the file and... ALL MY HARD WORK WAS LOST. I had to repaint the whole thing, which was horrible :( Thankfully, the eyes looked extra adorable. Lesson learned, folks, if you don't save the image before anything else, you'll have to repaint the whoooole thing.

3. What is armature and rigging?
- To put it simply, armature is the skeleton itself. It's the bone in your future mushroom. Rigging is the process of putting in the skeleton. See, wasn't that easy?

4. Name 3 new tools you used for this week's activity.

Mushroom: So hot on this island, my skin
melted off. 

- Texture paint: This had the whole art shebang! It allows the user to use different sized brushes (you could adjust it to your liking) to paint an object. There are several brush types and of course, different colors to choose from. I used this to paint my mushroom TWICE.

- Armature: This added a skeleton or "single bone" to my mushroom. I extruded the original armature to create a longer bone for my mushroom cap. It looked pretty weird, but I hope it turns out great. To select armature hold down Shift + A, scroll down to find armature, and select single bone.

- Wireframe: This is another way to view an object. It only outlines the lines of the object, so it's easier to select. For this week's activity, we ended with this.