Week 13 - Exercise 4

Pixar Short: Luxo Jr. HD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmhZm5FRV4s

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.
Do NOT say because the small lamp is playing with a ball, or that its name is Luxo Jr. – you should be looking at the animation, how the lamps move and emote (emote means to express emotions).


Apart of their different sizes, here are 3 examples that show the big lamp is "older" and that the small lamp is "younger":

1. When the ball first hit on the big lamp, it did not play with it but instead it kick the ball away.
2. When the big lamp saw the small lamp playing with the ball, it did not really join in the fun but just look at the small lamp playing with it.
3. The big lamp is calm unlike the small lamp which is playful. In the last part, it end with the big lamp shaking it head when it saw the small lamp found another new big ball to play with as if saying that the small lamp never learn it action.

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

At 1.25, the small lamp start to walk off after bursting the small ball but after 8 seconds, in 1.33, the small lamp came back with a big ball! The timing is just right, it wasn't too long nor short. In 1.25, many of the viewers might have think that it is the end of the video but just as we thought it gonna be the end, the small lamp came back which kinda of surprised the viewer pleasantly!

Also, in 1.31, it shows that the big lamp is looking at the small lamp which is at the other side of the room but after 2 seconds later, in 1.33, the big lamp flip up, giving off the shock and surprised that the small lamp came back with a much bigger ball! The effect given is funny and cute as well ^^

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.

I had mentioned in Week 13 - Exercise 2 post, the order of selection is important. You want to select the child node first, and then Shift-select the item that will become the parent node second. It is because it will follow the same direction of where it is moving from the first joint at the top till the last joint at the bottom. In another word, the joints below the top first joint will follow the movement of the top joint!

This Week 13 exercises is quite manageable just that it is a bit tedious to do but overall, it is interesting and fun! Specially, the Pixar Short: Luxo Jr HD youtube video! The video is cute and it make the exercises more interesting as well! ^^