Scene 13

This scene is the same location as scene 10, although with a different animation. In this scene the crow walks up to the pebbles and bends down to pick one up. The lighting and skyline are the same as scene 10.

The purpose of this scene is to show the repetition of picking up pebbles to drop into the water.

Scene 12

In this scene the crow drops the pebble into the water for the first time. As the pebble drops, it causes the water to ripple. The reflection of the crow can be seen in the water. Reactor is used to simulate the movement of the water. The pebble and pitcher are part of a rigid body collection, the pitcher is set to concave mesh to allow objects to pass into it. The pebble was given mass to allow it to fall and interact with the water. Although it first rolls out of the beak before dropping.

The lighting is the same, with a sphere used for the sky.

I think this is effective, as you are not directly seeing the event, but am viewing it in the reflection in the water. I would like to have made the water more realistic, but it wouldn't match the theme.

Scene 11

In this scene, the crow is carrying the newly acquired pebble back in it's beak. The skyline is a plane with self illumination set to 100. The pebble is held in the same way as in the previous scene. The walk sequence is the same .bip from previous scenes. And the lighting is the same also.

I wasn't sure if I should include the pebbles in this shot. I decided against it as it wasn't necessary, and it hides the distance between the pebbles and the pitcher.

Scene 10

In this scene, the crow bends down to pick up a pebble from the pile. It takes one in it's beak and gets up again. the knees are animated as are it's beak. To attach the pebble to the beak, I assigned the ponytail of the biped as the pebble's transform controller in the motion tab.

The lighting is a target directional light with area shadows.

The beak itself actually goes through the pebble it connects to, but this is hidden by the pebbles in front of it. If this wasn't the case I would have changed it.

This scene shows what the crow is doing, even if it isn't obvious to the viewer why yet. I believe it works with the story and the rest of the animation.

Scene 8 & 9

In this scene the crow has realised that he cannot reach the water, but doesn't give up. Instead, he looks around for anything he can use to help him. When he does see something his eyes bulge. The animation is the crow standing up from a lower position, making it appear taller. The neck and head turn left and right, then the eyes are scaled and reverted.

I had a few problems getting to neck to turn, as it began to distort the skin after a while. However, I was able to do it by manipulating both the head and neck to get it to turn.

The lighting, as with the other scenes, is a target directional light.

I like this scene, as it makes it obvious that the crow is looking for something, that he finds it.

Scene 9

This scene shows the collection of pebbles that the crow has seen. There is no animation in this part, and is a bitmap render taken from scene 10.

Walking

I don't have a max file for the walking either, but it's a .bip with it's wings open, showing it's renewed strength and determination.

Scene 7

In this scene, the crow tries desperately to reach the water, but fails. The animation is of the crow's beak moving, while the body's Z position is lowered. This isn't visible as it's off camera.

A directed target light is used to illuminate the scene.

This scene suits it's purpose of showing that the water is too low for the crow to reach.

Scene 5 & 6

In this scene, you can hear the crow walking up to the pitcher and looking over the top. It is pretty much scene 4 from a different angle. The actual animation here is the crow moving in the direction of the pitcher then bending it's head to face downwards.

A direct target light illuminates the scene. The sky is a plane with a material on it. Everything is lit by a skylight in the scene, providing a more realistic light and shadow in the pitcher. This is used scarcely, as it dramatically increases the render time.

The fact that there is no walking animation is due to there not being a need, as only the head is visible. The neck also distorts the more you turn it, but again, this isn't visible so it was left. I had a problem where the beak went through the pitcher, but this was fixed by some repositioning.

The camera angle used is pretty effective, as it gives the view from the perspective of the pitcher, and gives an example of the depth.

The scene itself is useful, making it obvious that there is something in the pitcher that the crow is looking at.

Scene 6

I can't find the max file for this. It is probably scene 12 from a different angle. However, it is the crow looking into the pitcher and you can see the reflection of the sky on the water inside.