Thursday 12 June 2008
Wednesday 11 June 2008
Final Dive + alternate duck/turns
The Dive was OK'ed straight away, which was nice as i haven't done anythign that was accepted instantaneously before. The other two shots did not recieve such a welcome however. The duck was wrong - by bringing the legs forwards i had succeeded in crouching the grunt but to have his legs so far forwards was unacceptable. This had to be scrapped and done again. The turn just needed a little work to show the grunt had already seen the car coming.
I managed to have a go at redoing these files but i did not have an awful lot of time in my schedule on tuesday to do this. I had allocated the whole day to complete this work and had sent the first blasts away for feedback by 12 midday. I did not recieve feedback until 7 pm and as such i was unable to spend a lot of time correcting the shots.
Here are the new attempts at the duck and two versions of the turn: -
Duck blast 2: Less rotate on the legs and the hands now just reach for the characters temple/helmet tip. Not so much a crouch as the character simply bends forwards but the geometry won't allow for a real crouch.
Turnblast 2: To show he's looking at something i had the character guard his eyes from the sunlight in a sailoresque way.
Turnblast 2a: In this one the idea is that the character is pointing and shouting to his comrades that the car is coming before the turn.
These blasts may not be used in the final render as Adam outsourced to other animators to get the work done in the evening.
I managed to have a go at redoing these files but i did not have an awful lot of time in my schedule on tuesday to do this. I had allocated the whole day to complete this work and had sent the first blasts away for feedback by 12 midday. I did not recieve feedback until 7 pm and as such i was unable to spend a lot of time correcting the shots.
Here are the new attempts at the duck and two versions of the turn: -
Duck blast 2: Less rotate on the legs and the hands now just reach for the characters temple/helmet tip. Not so much a crouch as the character simply bends forwards but the geometry won't allow for a real crouch.
Turnblast 2: To show he's looking at something i had the character guard his eyes from the sunlight in a sailoresque way.
Turnblast 2a: In this one the idea is that the character is pointing and shouting to his comrades that the car is coming before the turn.
These blasts may not be used in the final render as Adam outsourced to other animators to get the work done in the evening.
Tuesday 10 June 2008
Ice cream 2
Here is the second ice cream shot. This one has been edited by Dave and blurred to better fit in with the Maya sequence (the 2D looks very flat on top of the 3D). Although the effect is his work the ice cream trickling down the poets back is what i worked on. Sadly the majority of the patterns i drew into the ice cream have been blurred out by the effect.
Final Bridge Blasts
Here are the final Blasts with tweaks from the bridge sequence:
Car pickup
I had previously made the suggestion of keeping the leg completely still and just moving the arm into shot to avoid the foot bumping around all over the place in front of a close up camera. Despite my suggestion i was asked to try and prevent the bumping from happening. This was an uneventful excercise. Only after actually seeing the problem was the decision made to duplicate a leg and leave it stationary as a stand in. The 1-2 hours of my time spent on this task could have been put to better use animating the grunt blasts in the prior post (i did the bridge sequence on the 9th and the grunts on the 10th - the blog update is staggered).
Car throw
Octopus POV
Car throw 2On the Whole all these shots look better. The throws have more power and twist, the octopus POv shot is less distracting and a couple of poses have been polished up.
Turn, Duck and dive!
Here is some last minute animation i have been given to do as part of a crowd scene. I had to animate grunts ducking, diving and turning away and from cars being hurtled towards them.
Turn Zooka
Dive 'Nades
Duck Disarmed
Monday 9 June 2008
A Year of Learning - summary
This year has been quite a rollercoaster ride in terms of what i have learnt, acheived and completed in comparison to what i thought i would.
I entered the year with the intent to work on a 2D film or a hybrid film that involved 2D. My pitch had been chosen within the first week so it looked like a 2D film would definately be a possibility but by the end of the selection process no one wanted to work on a 2D film. I found this slightly odd that the film could be chosen but yet no one who chose it would be willing to work on it. I decided that risking my degree on a film i would be working on alone was not a worthwhile risk as the stakes were too great.
In retrospect, having seen how the other groups have composed themselves and seen films being developed over this final year, i do feel that i could have completed my film if i had taken the risk. If i had the oppotunity to try again i would definately go for it. Not only would this have been far more fun to work on it would have given me far more creative freedom in terms of story, design and compositing.
I started work in the War in Wunderland team ready to complete concept work - this was not to be however as the majority of the film is based on existing designs that the film simply characterises. This aspect of the film i think is its weakest point - that fact it isnt completely original - but the zany idea was the most fun and is what appealed to me. Instead of working on the concept designs for this film i outsourced to other groups and did very well for myself in terms of work (i was awarded an A grade for my artist folder). I kept very busy over the first term and put a lot of effort into getting various films concepts finalised. This i expected as concept and drawing are my greatest strengths (or were at the time).
I managed to complete in the first term:
Full character sheets, brief, storyboards and one character model for my own Desert Race.
Expression sheets, storyboards and mood boards for Wunderland.
Character design, prop/exterior modelling and scene development for Cafe de Beiginet.
Thumbnails, storyboards and character design for Rusty Petal.
Minor character design (birds) and font/alphabet design for The Muse.
Environment mood board for The Stamp Collector.
Building concept for Moon smile.
Character concept forThe Day that I Died and Aztec Escape.
This term was very well structured and organised. I met every deadline set and because i managed my time well i was able to build up a large body of work.
The second term was broken into two chunks and i was forced to dived my time between writing and researching my dissertation and completing work for the films. This was a struggle as the dissertation process was very demanding and stressful. The pressure was worse as there was also work to do for the 3rd year films and there were problems with late dissertation feedback that threw me off schedule by 3 weeks. Despite this i do feel that the work i completed in the second term was valuable and i did meet the main deadlines on time (dissertation included).
I do feel though that this term was the least productive of the three. Groups had not finished their concept by this stage and animation was not started till much later in the term. Ideally animation should have started either a the beginning of or in the holiday before the second term. This was not the case and many of the groups then found themselves struggling to meet the final terms deadline. If i had been director of my film i would have finished the concept element of the film in the first term and left a little room to start animating in the holiday. I would have completed the main animation pass by the beginning or middle of the third term and left time to render if necessary and composite. People deal with pressure in different ways and with people relying on their teams to be on time, those who are not due to poor time management in relation to the dissertation causes a knock on effect that prevents others from doing any work.
I managed to complete in the second term (on 3rd year films):
Character animation (Bigbot), Runcycles and Firecycles (Grunts and Robots) for War in Wunderland.
The third term was, surprisingly, my second most productive term. I have been able to focus on animation throughout the second half of term two through to the end of the third term and have done quite a lot of work. I feel i could have done more work on various projects had the work i have done not been bounced backward and forward so much. Having to redo scenes over and over again is not only demoralising but when you have to do it for seemingly picky and unecessary reasons it is drastically more demoralising because it seems like a waste of time.
I understand that directors are the boss and that their vision is the vision we are trying to create. There has to be though, i feel, some compromise at our level of development. Finishing the main first pass of the animation should be the most important task in the second term at least and any tweaks should be made afterwards. That way the core film is complete and you can make it much better in 'layered' steps. Obviously you cannot have your way all the time and one persons ideas will not be the same as anothers. As i was not director or in charge of any of the films i did not have any control over this process and i had to just get stuck in as best as possible. The industry will be no different, just in the industry i'll have the luxury of getting paid. Wunderland was quite frustrating to work on in this respect because my director had very set ideas about what he wants, prehaps because he has been planning this film for a while. this does not make for a bad director or team player, it simply means i found it difficult to work on the animation because i was limited in how creative i was allowed to be. Several bits of animation i liked and thought worked were scrapped because they didn't fit the greater plan.
Despite this the third term has been very productive and i have had the oppotunity to finally do some 2D work as well as 3D animation. This was very refreashing and i definately enjoyed this work more than the 3D work. It is important to vary skills within animation but if i had the oppotunity to work in the digital animation discipline i would.
I also had to work hard on technical aspects of production. This was something i was very worried about as this is where i am weakest in the production pipeline. Unfortunately several films ceased production mid year and that added more students to the remaining films. Technical work was hard to find and i was forced to complete my own tests and research techniques myself. I focused on developing my understanding of lighting and render layers. I learnt alot about how various presets can be used within render layers to achieve different looks that can highlight or blur the main body of work. I focused mainly on the following aspects of rendering:
Luminance Depth
Occlusion
Shadows
While experimenting with all the settings i came up with a couple of tests i could create then compare that would help bolster my technical folder. I looked into creating depth of field (DOF) using two different mediums that i could then compare and contrast. The result would be that i learnt two separate techniques and what would be better for different situations. I created a camera that automatically generated DOF in Maya for one test and used Luminace Depth renders to create DOF in After Effects.
I also experimented with lighting using directional, ambient, point and area lights in Maya. I also taught myself how to use a few new features in Maya - the Sun and Sky lighting system and the Mia_material shader. These two can be combined to create some really realistic and interesting effects. For more information see the relevant posts earlier in the blog.
I offered what i had learnt to the various films but they had already developed a particular lighting and rendering system. Even though my technical work will not be featureed as part of the final film products the lessons and techniques i have learnt are just as valuable to me than if they had been featured.
I managed to complete in the third term:
Character animation (Bigbot, some Red, Gold Robot, Grunts and Workerbot), Reaction cycles for War in Wunderland.
2D animation (Birds, Flowers, Text+symbols) for The Muse.
Lighting Tests in Maya (Sun+Sky System, lit model, lit run/firecycles)
Overall what i have taken from this year is: -
Time management+organisation: I have done well to manage my time over the past year and, if anything, my understanding of why time management and organisation are so important has increased. Seeing various groups struggle to meet the hand in with incomplete renders has shown in particular that to have a finished product you cannot underestimate how early on you need to have started and completed animation and rendering.
Communication: Is of the upmost importance and helps in the management of time and schedules. Emails cannot be relied upon (one misteriously did not reach the recipient and as a result a day was wasted) and people need to be willing to make phone calls to organise work and feedback if they are not working in a group in one place. This is especially true towards the end of a project when time is really of the essence.
Artist: I believe that i have not had the oppotunity to do as much drawing as i would have liked this year, but i have been able to work ona variety of versitile projects with varying styles. This has helped bring me out of my own drawing style or comfort zone and has helped me develop as an artist.
Animation: I have done a lot of animation this year on Wunderland and the Muse. Thankfully some of it was 2D, which i really enjoyed. I feel that where i had problems with speed and weight in year two i have developed my animation technique and i can comfortably judge how fast or how heavy characters should be. Working on character animation has been a lot of fun and i even got to work with a giant death dealing robot. what more could one ask for?
Technical: Technical aspects of aniamtion production remain my weakest aspect. Where i have gone from strength to strength with my artistic and animation skills, technical has suffered greatly. It is not a lost cause however as this year i have become far more familiar with After Effects, Maya lighting and camera operation. I still take no joy in technical work but i am more capable than i was before.
In all it has been a successful year and despite the number of films that have ceased production i think that there is a very diverse set of work from a group of very talented individuals. I am looking forward to seeing the final products at the end of year degree show.
I entered the year with the intent to work on a 2D film or a hybrid film that involved 2D. My pitch had been chosen within the first week so it looked like a 2D film would definately be a possibility but by the end of the selection process no one wanted to work on a 2D film. I found this slightly odd that the film could be chosen but yet no one who chose it would be willing to work on it. I decided that risking my degree on a film i would be working on alone was not a worthwhile risk as the stakes were too great.
In retrospect, having seen how the other groups have composed themselves and seen films being developed over this final year, i do feel that i could have completed my film if i had taken the risk. If i had the oppotunity to try again i would definately go for it. Not only would this have been far more fun to work on it would have given me far more creative freedom in terms of story, design and compositing.
I started work in the War in Wunderland team ready to complete concept work - this was not to be however as the majority of the film is based on existing designs that the film simply characterises. This aspect of the film i think is its weakest point - that fact it isnt completely original - but the zany idea was the most fun and is what appealed to me. Instead of working on the concept designs for this film i outsourced to other groups and did very well for myself in terms of work (i was awarded an A grade for my artist folder). I kept very busy over the first term and put a lot of effort into getting various films concepts finalised. This i expected as concept and drawing are my greatest strengths (or were at the time).
I managed to complete in the first term:
Full character sheets, brief, storyboards and one character model for my own Desert Race.
Expression sheets, storyboards and mood boards for Wunderland.
Character design, prop/exterior modelling and scene development for Cafe de Beiginet.
Thumbnails, storyboards and character design for Rusty Petal.
Minor character design (birds) and font/alphabet design for The Muse.
Environment mood board for The Stamp Collector.
Building concept for Moon smile.
Character concept forThe Day that I Died and Aztec Escape.
This term was very well structured and organised. I met every deadline set and because i managed my time well i was able to build up a large body of work.
The second term was broken into two chunks and i was forced to dived my time between writing and researching my dissertation and completing work for the films. This was a struggle as the dissertation process was very demanding and stressful. The pressure was worse as there was also work to do for the 3rd year films and there were problems with late dissertation feedback that threw me off schedule by 3 weeks. Despite this i do feel that the work i completed in the second term was valuable and i did meet the main deadlines on time (dissertation included).
I do feel though that this term was the least productive of the three. Groups had not finished their concept by this stage and animation was not started till much later in the term. Ideally animation should have started either a the beginning of or in the holiday before the second term. This was not the case and many of the groups then found themselves struggling to meet the final terms deadline. If i had been director of my film i would have finished the concept element of the film in the first term and left a little room to start animating in the holiday. I would have completed the main animation pass by the beginning or middle of the third term and left time to render if necessary and composite. People deal with pressure in different ways and with people relying on their teams to be on time, those who are not due to poor time management in relation to the dissertation causes a knock on effect that prevents others from doing any work.
I managed to complete in the second term (on 3rd year films):
Character animation (Bigbot), Runcycles and Firecycles (Grunts and Robots) for War in Wunderland.
The third term was, surprisingly, my second most productive term. I have been able to focus on animation throughout the second half of term two through to the end of the third term and have done quite a lot of work. I feel i could have done more work on various projects had the work i have done not been bounced backward and forward so much. Having to redo scenes over and over again is not only demoralising but when you have to do it for seemingly picky and unecessary reasons it is drastically more demoralising because it seems like a waste of time.
I understand that directors are the boss and that their vision is the vision we are trying to create. There has to be though, i feel, some compromise at our level of development. Finishing the main first pass of the animation should be the most important task in the second term at least and any tweaks should be made afterwards. That way the core film is complete and you can make it much better in 'layered' steps. Obviously you cannot have your way all the time and one persons ideas will not be the same as anothers. As i was not director or in charge of any of the films i did not have any control over this process and i had to just get stuck in as best as possible. The industry will be no different, just in the industry i'll have the luxury of getting paid. Wunderland was quite frustrating to work on in this respect because my director had very set ideas about what he wants, prehaps because he has been planning this film for a while. this does not make for a bad director or team player, it simply means i found it difficult to work on the animation because i was limited in how creative i was allowed to be. Several bits of animation i liked and thought worked were scrapped because they didn't fit the greater plan.
Despite this the third term has been very productive and i have had the oppotunity to finally do some 2D work as well as 3D animation. This was very refreashing and i definately enjoyed this work more than the 3D work. It is important to vary skills within animation but if i had the oppotunity to work in the digital animation discipline i would.
I also had to work hard on technical aspects of production. This was something i was very worried about as this is where i am weakest in the production pipeline. Unfortunately several films ceased production mid year and that added more students to the remaining films. Technical work was hard to find and i was forced to complete my own tests and research techniques myself. I focused on developing my understanding of lighting and render layers. I learnt alot about how various presets can be used within render layers to achieve different looks that can highlight or blur the main body of work. I focused mainly on the following aspects of rendering:
Luminance Depth
Occlusion
Shadows
While experimenting with all the settings i came up with a couple of tests i could create then compare that would help bolster my technical folder. I looked into creating depth of field (DOF) using two different mediums that i could then compare and contrast. The result would be that i learnt two separate techniques and what would be better for different situations. I created a camera that automatically generated DOF in Maya for one test and used Luminace Depth renders to create DOF in After Effects.
I also experimented with lighting using directional, ambient, point and area lights in Maya. I also taught myself how to use a few new features in Maya - the Sun and Sky lighting system and the Mia_material shader. These two can be combined to create some really realistic and interesting effects. For more information see the relevant posts earlier in the blog.
I offered what i had learnt to the various films but they had already developed a particular lighting and rendering system. Even though my technical work will not be featureed as part of the final film products the lessons and techniques i have learnt are just as valuable to me than if they had been featured.
I managed to complete in the third term:
Character animation (Bigbot, some Red, Gold Robot, Grunts and Workerbot), Reaction cycles for War in Wunderland.
2D animation (Birds, Flowers, Text+symbols) for The Muse.
Lighting Tests in Maya (Sun+Sky System, lit model, lit run/firecycles)
Overall what i have taken from this year is: -
Time management+organisation: I have done well to manage my time over the past year and, if anything, my understanding of why time management and organisation are so important has increased. Seeing various groups struggle to meet the hand in with incomplete renders has shown in particular that to have a finished product you cannot underestimate how early on you need to have started and completed animation and rendering.
Communication: Is of the upmost importance and helps in the management of time and schedules. Emails cannot be relied upon (one misteriously did not reach the recipient and as a result a day was wasted) and people need to be willing to make phone calls to organise work and feedback if they are not working in a group in one place. This is especially true towards the end of a project when time is really of the essence.
Artist: I believe that i have not had the oppotunity to do as much drawing as i would have liked this year, but i have been able to work ona variety of versitile projects with varying styles. This has helped bring me out of my own drawing style or comfort zone and has helped me develop as an artist.
Animation: I have done a lot of animation this year on Wunderland and the Muse. Thankfully some of it was 2D, which i really enjoyed. I feel that where i had problems with speed and weight in year two i have developed my animation technique and i can comfortably judge how fast or how heavy characters should be. Working on character animation has been a lot of fun and i even got to work with a giant death dealing robot. what more could one ask for?
Technical: Technical aspects of aniamtion production remain my weakest aspect. Where i have gone from strength to strength with my artistic and animation skills, technical has suffered greatly. It is not a lost cause however as this year i have become far more familiar with After Effects, Maya lighting and camera operation. I still take no joy in technical work but i am more capable than i was before.
In all it has been a successful year and despite the number of films that have ceased production i think that there is a very diverse set of work from a group of very talented individuals. I am looking forward to seeing the final products at the end of year degree show.
Wunderland Bridge blasts
Here are the last few shots from Wunderland i have been able to work on. A bridge scene involving Bigbot throwing cars at the monkeys and then turning to face his demise at the tentacles of the octopus.
Here is the Car pickup...
...Car throw...
...Octopus rising from the deep (animated by adam to be put in foreground)...
...and the final throw before the octopus takes him.
Although Adam would like certain things to be tweaked to be the best they possibly can (and i would agree) there is now no room for fiddling about as the deadline is so close and so much is left to be done. A level of compromise needs to be met to achieve a finished hand in on friday.
Here is the Car pickup...
...Car throw...
...Octopus rising from the deep (animated by adam to be put in foreground)...
...and the final throw before the octopus takes him.
Although Adam would like certain things to be tweaked to be the best they possibly can (and i would agree) there is now no room for fiddling about as the deadline is so close and so much is left to be done. A level of compromise needs to be met to achieve a finished hand in on friday.
Final Renders from Wunderland + The Muse
The main Bigbot shots i completed for Wunderland will be taken directly from the final render. I am obviously not going to take credit for the amazing work that has been put into the textures, lighting and effects but i do want to show my work in context. If the clips are small enough to upload then i will when i get a hold of them but they may be too large to post here so instead will just be put into my animation folders.
In regards to the Muse i am currently trying to negotiate with Dave to try and get the full title sequence and ice cream shots for the same reasons - to show the work in context.
I dont think my showreel would benefit from half finished shots so i want the final renders so that i can confidently present the work in my showreel.
In regards to the Muse i am currently trying to negotiate with Dave to try and get the full title sequence and ice cream shots for the same reasons - to show the work in context.
I dont think my showreel would benefit from half finished shots so i want the final renders so that i can confidently present the work in my showreel.
Saturday 7 June 2008
Extra modelling
I found a little spare time in my schedule this week amongst the animation and PPD hand in so i decided to model and texture a character from my original film pitch. I had planned for it to be a 2D or hybrid film but i thought why not see what one of my characters would have looked like in 3D?! I chose to model an armadillo and here's the result: -
Here is the front perspective and back perspective render shots of the model in greyscale.
After playing around with the lighting (directional and area lighting) i ended up with 'queen' lit armadillos. This lighting would be very useful for horror films or prehaps a remake of the bohemian rhapsody music video!
Here is the model lit normally in the sun+sky system (easier to see detail).
I then tried different texture and shader styles to get a 2D toon look. By experimenting with the toon shader i ended up with this test shader:
...and after more experimentation and tweaking i had a final shader texture like this!
Compared to the original image i don't think this was too far off (original image shown below)!
The only thing missing from the 3D model is the number stickers. These i am uncertain how to put on the model but i think it has something to do with a layered texture and is something i am still working on.
Wednesday 4 June 2008
Final passes on animation cycles
To experiment with lighting and rendering i have personally lit and rendered out all my runcycles and firecycles that i completed early in the year. Each has been lit in a colour that emphasises their allegiance in the Wunderland war (Grunts are green and robots yellow). I removed the textures as they were not created by myself and i wanted people who view my showreel to focus on the animation rather than the texture artwork.
Each cycle has its own lighting (and camera rig) which is a combination of directional lights and area lights with one ambient light per scene. The ambient lights are an extremely dark opposite colour to the model (so green= purple ambience, yellow = purple ambience) for shadows and the directional lights are brighter warmer lights like yellow, orange and peach.
In terms of camera i have used a basic 'camera and aim' and for the most part kept the camera passes to a minimum. For the firecycles the camera is static but for the runcycles i have the camera view the run for a full cycle from the front then swing to the side to view a full cycle there. This is so the cycle can be seen from the two main perspectives that are 1) easy to judge and 2) allow for a perspective sweep inbetween.
GruntZookaFirecycle2
RobotRun!
Each cycle has then been rendered out in 2 layers: a master colour layer and an occlusion layer. I am working on a shadow layer and will update if i can get this finished.
Each cycle has its own lighting (and camera rig) which is a combination of directional lights and area lights with one ambient light per scene. The ambient lights are an extremely dark opposite colour to the model (so green= purple ambience, yellow = purple ambience) for shadows and the directional lights are brighter warmer lights like yellow, orange and peach.
In terms of camera i have used a basic 'camera and aim' and for the most part kept the camera passes to a minimum. For the firecycles the camera is static but for the runcycles i have the camera view the run for a full cycle from the front then swing to the side to view a full cycle there. This is so the cycle can be seen from the two main perspectives that are 1) easy to judge and 2) allow for a perspective sweep inbetween.
GruntZookaFirecycle2
RobotRun!
Each cycle has then been rendered out in 2 layers: a master colour layer and an occlusion layer. I am working on a shadow layer and will update if i can get this finished.
Technical: Combination Pass
Now to further work on the development of the technical skills i have investigated, i have combined the DOF and Sun+sky lighting system into a scene using models from my main film War in Wunderland to show how the two could be used together.
Scene lit solely by Sun&Sky System
Haze settings played with
Blue shift added and horizon tampered with. (looks like a orbiting platform!)
Final render shot (minus LD and Occlusion).
Sunlight Runcycles (minus DOF)
Sunlight Runcycles with DOF (Red is in focus- green is most out of focus).
I think this lighting system could be extremely useful for any film using an outside environment. In Wunderland alone there are several open street scenes with a climax on a San Fransisco bridge. This sequence, which i am working on currently, could also benefit from the use of DOF in long shots and tracking Bigbot through the ocean towards the bridge. Unfortunately Wunderland has already got a lighting system rigged and copied into every single shot to keep the films look consistent. The camera set ups and rendering are also done in a very specific way so unless they have already used the Luminance render pass or DOF cameras they are unlikely to at this stage, Other exterior set films have similar set ups and have been lit by technical specialists.
Despite the fact it won't be implimented in any of this years films i believe that these skills and experiments will be useful in the future in the creation of my own films. Having the knowledge is certainly far more useful than having no knowledge on the subject at all. Researching these methods has also built a foundation and understanding of the more techincal aspects of Maya and AE that i can now build upon and improve in future.
Scene lit solely by Sun&Sky System
Haze settings played with
Blue shift added and horizon tampered with. (looks like a orbiting platform!)
Final render shot (minus LD and Occlusion).Sunlight Runcycles (minus DOF)
Sunlight Runcycles with DOF (Red is in focus- green is most out of focus).
I think this lighting system could be extremely useful for any film using an outside environment. In Wunderland alone there are several open street scenes with a climax on a San Fransisco bridge. This sequence, which i am working on currently, could also benefit from the use of DOF in long shots and tracking Bigbot through the ocean towards the bridge. Unfortunately Wunderland has already got a lighting system rigged and copied into every single shot to keep the films look consistent. The camera set ups and rendering are also done in a very specific way so unless they have already used the Luminance render pass or DOF cameras they are unlikely to at this stage, Other exterior set films have similar set ups and have been lit by technical specialists.
Despite the fact it won't be implimented in any of this years films i believe that these skills and experiments will be useful in the future in the creation of my own films. Having the knowledge is certainly far more useful than having no knowledge on the subject at all. Researching these methods has also built a foundation and understanding of the more techincal aspects of Maya and AE that i can now build upon and improve in future.
Technical: Depth of Field
To help me in my understading of cameras, how to use them and how they work in Maya, i have experimented with Depth of Field. Depth of field is something that we take for granted every day as our eyes automatically adjust to light and distance. Duplicating this effect - where objects are blurred depending on where the cameras focus is - is something i thought would be very useful in any groups films. It would add a more realistic camera shot and, depending on the strength of the blur, prehaps even give the audience the impression they are looking through the eyes of a character or passer by in the films themselves.
Depth of field can be achieved numerous ways. I have experimented with two techniques with two programs i am familiar with: After Effects and maya.
After Effects
In after effects it is possible to create depth of field through the use of a Luminance depth (LD) render from Maya. This is an effect created from the preset menu of the render layers in Maya. LD appears similar to the occlusion render pass in that the whole scene becomes black. The only difference is that the LD layer will gradually fade from black to white. This colour change is key to the work done in after effects.
By importing the render layers into after effects and placing the LD sequence on top the scene should look very much like a test LD render shot. From this point figuring out where on the canvas you want to focus the 'camera' is raltively easy. By hovering the mouse cursor over any area of the canvas it is possible to check the top right hand menu for information on what colour values are present at the cursor location. These also act as a map for the blur. Adding the chosen value to the blur focal distance attribute of the Lens blur effect sets the pinpoint focus of the AE 'camera'. Anything outside the radius of this point will gradually blur. To remain in focus the cursor point must be keyed like any other effect. The three following examples show a character running into focus, out of focus and remain in focus using this method.
Character Focus Video
Near Focus Video
Far Focus Video
This technique provides an excellent, smooth blur over a great distance. This can easily be modified to change the blur radius.
Maya
it is possible to create depth of field (DOF) in Maya using a simple camera and aim. By using the distance measurement tool and constraining (point contrain) locators to both the camera and the aim a camera that can judge the distance between it and its focus has already been created. This takes less than 2 minutes and no rendering is required. Constraining the locators to the camera and aim can be done in the outliner menu by control clicking both the desired child and parent nodes and constraining through the constrain menu. The final phase of this process takes place in the connection editor where (once the distanceDimensionShape1 node has been selected) the left column 'distance' must be selected and in the right column 'Focal distance' (not length!!).
Focus
Out of focus
To turn on DOF selecting the camera1Shape node and entering the attribute editor will unlock the DOF menu. Simply tick the box and voila! The video below uses the same footage as the AE tests however it has all been created and rendered through maya - not composited in AE.
Character Focus Video
This technique works well but the further away from the focus the worse the blur. Aspects of this test resemble a cave painting or pastel artwork! There must be a way to reduce the amount of noise and blur within the attribute DOF settings but for the purpose of quick and easy DOF the AE method wins over for the moment. The Maya method also suffers from an incredibly long render time - especially when occlusion is used (150 frames = 4-6 hours).
Depth of field can be achieved numerous ways. I have experimented with two techniques with two programs i am familiar with: After Effects and maya.
After Effects
In after effects it is possible to create depth of field through the use of a Luminance depth (LD) render from Maya. This is an effect created from the preset menu of the render layers in Maya. LD appears similar to the occlusion render pass in that the whole scene becomes black. The only difference is that the LD layer will gradually fade from black to white. This colour change is key to the work done in after effects.
By importing the render layers into after effects and placing the LD sequence on top the scene should look very much like a test LD render shot. From this point figuring out where on the canvas you want to focus the 'camera' is raltively easy. By hovering the mouse cursor over any area of the canvas it is possible to check the top right hand menu for information on what colour values are present at the cursor location. These also act as a map for the blur. Adding the chosen value to the blur focal distance attribute of the Lens blur effect sets the pinpoint focus of the AE 'camera'. Anything outside the radius of this point will gradually blur. To remain in focus the cursor point must be keyed like any other effect. The three following examples show a character running into focus, out of focus and remain in focus using this method.
Character Focus Video
Near Focus Video
Far Focus Video
This technique provides an excellent, smooth blur over a great distance. This can easily be modified to change the blur radius.
Maya
it is possible to create depth of field (DOF) in Maya using a simple camera and aim. By using the distance measurement tool and constraining (point contrain) locators to both the camera and the aim a camera that can judge the distance between it and its focus has already been created. This takes less than 2 minutes and no rendering is required. Constraining the locators to the camera and aim can be done in the outliner menu by control clicking both the desired child and parent nodes and constraining through the constrain menu. The final phase of this process takes place in the connection editor where (once the distanceDimensionShape1 node has been selected) the left column 'distance' must be selected and in the right column 'Focal distance' (not length!!).
Focus
Out of focusTo turn on DOF selecting the camera1Shape node and entering the attribute editor will unlock the DOF menu. Simply tick the box and voila! The video below uses the same footage as the AE tests however it has all been created and rendered through maya - not composited in AE.
Character Focus Video
This technique works well but the further away from the focus the worse the blur. Aspects of this test resemble a cave painting or pastel artwork! There must be a way to reduce the amount of noise and blur within the attribute DOF settings but for the purpose of quick and easy DOF the AE method wins over for the moment. The Maya method also suffers from an incredibly long render time - especially when occlusion is used (150 frames = 4-6 hours).
technical: Sun and Sky test complete
I finally got the test to work and understand why it does!
I began with a few indistinct cubes to act as the 'buildings' or objects within the scene.
I then applied different coloured lamberts to the cubes, added a directional light source and set up the 'physical sun and sky' in Maya's mental ray globals. The file mia_physicalsky1 is added to the attribute editor. When renders are completed at this stage Maya has set up a horizon line and skyline automatically. The attribute Mia_physicalsun represents the sun and within that attribute, samples define the number of rays used for shadows. There is also options to play around with photons, colour and shadows amongst other things at this stage. The attribute mia_exposure_simple1 is automatically added to the camera to make the camera look the way the human eye sees.
By applying the shader mia_material to the cubes it is possible to experiment and create various combinations for render effects. This shader also has ambient occlusion built in (usually reserved for render layers to my knowledge). Ambient occlusion darkers corners and helps to exaggerate details in the geometry. These cubes do not have a lot of detail but they are quite close together so the shadows inbetween them would be quite dark if ambient occlusion is added. I decided to bump up the reflectivity of my cubes so they would mirror their surroundings slightly - making them look more plastic.
Here's a close up of the reflection of the red cube in the blue.
Mia_physicalsky has a built in haze attribute that when raised can achieve a foggy effect by diffusing the lighting of the scene.
By applying a high integer to the haze attribute there is a drastic red shift (above) in the light spectrum - making everything more yellow, red and orange.
By applying a high negative integer to the haze attribute there is a drastic blue shift (above) in the light spectrum - making everything more blue and purple.
Combining the effects of the sun and sky system in a render with a separate render of the scene's occlusion pass, a fantastic time effect can be created to show the passage of time passing either for sunrise or sunset depending on colours used in the background. This first video shows the first experiment and the second below it shows the same experiment with the sun and sky skyline in the background.
This system is definately worth using when animating scenes that have high quality environment or character models that have lots of detail in the geometry. Simple shapes like these cubes work for tests but the best results can be acheived using highly detailed models.
Using the sunlight on one of the Wunderland models, the following tests show how simply manipulating the main sun directional light can create easy to use shadows. The first test shows the light simply turning (erratically) and the second shows it turning up - obscuring the model from the light and simulating a sunset.
Shadow manipulation
'Sunset'
I began with a few indistinct cubes to act as the 'buildings' or objects within the scene.
I then applied different coloured lamberts to the cubes, added a directional light source and set up the 'physical sun and sky' in Maya's mental ray globals. The file mia_physicalsky1 is added to the attribute editor. When renders are completed at this stage Maya has set up a horizon line and skyline automatically. The attribute Mia_physicalsun represents the sun and within that attribute, samples define the number of rays used for shadows. There is also options to play around with photons, colour and shadows amongst other things at this stage. The attribute mia_exposure_simple1 is automatically added to the camera to make the camera look the way the human eye sees.
By applying the shader mia_material to the cubes it is possible to experiment and create various combinations for render effects. This shader also has ambient occlusion built in (usually reserved for render layers to my knowledge). Ambient occlusion darkers corners and helps to exaggerate details in the geometry. These cubes do not have a lot of detail but they are quite close together so the shadows inbetween them would be quite dark if ambient occlusion is added. I decided to bump up the reflectivity of my cubes so they would mirror their surroundings slightly - making them look more plastic.
Here's a close up of the reflection of the red cube in the blue.
Mia_physicalsky has a built in haze attribute that when raised can achieve a foggy effect by diffusing the lighting of the scene.
By applying a high integer to the haze attribute there is a drastic red shift (above) in the light spectrum - making everything more yellow, red and orange.
By applying a high negative integer to the haze attribute there is a drastic blue shift (above) in the light spectrum - making everything more blue and purple.
Combining the effects of the sun and sky system in a render with a separate render of the scene's occlusion pass, a fantastic time effect can be created to show the passage of time passing either for sunrise or sunset depending on colours used in the background. This first video shows the first experiment and the second below it shows the same experiment with the sun and sky skyline in the background.
This system is definately worth using when animating scenes that have high quality environment or character models that have lots of detail in the geometry. Simple shapes like these cubes work for tests but the best results can be acheived using highly detailed models.
Using the sunlight on one of the Wunderland models, the following tests show how simply manipulating the main sun directional light can create easy to use shadows. The first test shows the light simply turning (erratically) and the second shows it turning up - obscuring the model from the light and simulating a sunset.
Shadow manipulation
'Sunset'
Monday 2 June 2008
The Muse Occlusion Renders
Here is an example of the render shots from the Muse. Dave has asked that i not put up all the blasts so that the film is not spoilt should anyone view the blog. I felt that there is no need to put all of them on the blog as they are all show the same process and effect. Here is an example from the first scene. All the elements in the blast have been added toa render layer set with the Occlusion pass preset. The settings have been edited to allow for a faster render time and then batch rendered in tiff sequence. These images are then ready to be added into an editing software.
Renders/Ice Cream/lighting update
The Muse
Here is the first shot of the 2D ice cream splat for the Muse film (done in 2D Flash over imported Maya render files). The second part will be added later on this week once i have added a shadow to the udnerside of the ice cream and completed the highlights.
Dave has asked me to set up and create several render passes for his characters for The Muse. This requires me to set up Maya to run an Occlusion render pass through Mental Ray. To do this i added all the character elements (body, props) and assign it to a new render layer set to the occlusion preset. Rather than run the render in basic format, scaling down the sample rate of the render but raising the sample rate of the character and props allows for faster renders with no loss of render quality.
I have been experimenting with the sun and sky system in Maya, a system that allows the user to simulate real sunlight that affects the Maya scene and geometry. This is a new feature of the 8.5 update of Maya and i thought i would be a useful addition to several films who have scenes set outside. My first test went well for the most part until somewhere, somehow i went wrong and ended up with an odd prism rather than a well lit textured cube (see below).
It's hard to notice exactly what is in the scene but there should be a rectangle and a plane - both textured in red and green respectively. Unfortunately something in the process of developing my understanding of the sun and sky system has led to the rectangle becoming a transluscent object and the ground texture disappearing altogether. The actual sky isn't even visible. Prior to this it had been a really vivid blue gradient. More tests are required!
Here is the first shot of the 2D ice cream splat for the Muse film (done in 2D Flash over imported Maya render files). The second part will be added later on this week once i have added a shadow to the udnerside of the ice cream and completed the highlights.
Dave has asked me to set up and create several render passes for his characters for The Muse. This requires me to set up Maya to run an Occlusion render pass through Mental Ray. To do this i added all the character elements (body, props) and assign it to a new render layer set to the occlusion preset. Rather than run the render in basic format, scaling down the sample rate of the render but raising the sample rate of the character and props allows for faster renders with no loss of render quality.
I have been experimenting with the sun and sky system in Maya, a system that allows the user to simulate real sunlight that affects the Maya scene and geometry. This is a new feature of the 8.5 update of Maya and i thought i would be a useful addition to several films who have scenes set outside. My first test went well for the most part until somewhere, somehow i went wrong and ended up with an odd prism rather than a well lit textured cube (see below).
It's hard to notice exactly what is in the scene but there should be a rectangle and a plane - both textured in red and green respectively. Unfortunately something in the process of developing my understanding of the sun and sky system has led to the rectangle becoming a transluscent object and the ground texture disappearing altogether. The actual sky isn't even visible. Prior to this it had been a really vivid blue gradient. More tests are required!
Wednesday 28 May 2008
render tests+lighting1
These pictures and video show experimentation with mayas render settings and lighting. the first picture his simply been lit with a variety of lights (2 area, 2 directional) to give the grey character some colour and basic shadow.
The image below is an occlusion render pass. This effect stresses the proximity of shapes to one another. By using occlusion areas of deep shadow (such as under the hat and under the characters feet) become much darker. It also has the bonus of creating a specled effect over the geometry as the dark areas dissappear and fade to white.
This video shows the two passes and a third (a shadow layer) all merged.
I hope to play around some more with lighting and render tests in the coming week as i animate my final pieces for Dave and Adam.
The image below is an occlusion render pass. This effect stresses the proximity of shapes to one another. By using occlusion areas of deep shadow (such as under the hat and under the characters feet) become much darker. It also has the bonus of creating a specled effect over the geometry as the dark areas dissappear and fade to white.
This video shows the two passes and a third (a shadow layer) all merged.I hope to play around some more with lighting and render tests in the coming week as i animate my final pieces for Dave and Adam.
Wunderland Tank Tracks
Here are animated texture tank tracks! originally drawn in illustrator by Adam, I have animated the still image in Flash by converting parts of the image to symbols and distributing them across multiple layers. by Motion tweening the majority of the parts the animation has worked out incredibly smooth(despite the many pratfalls along the way trying to get it to work).
By using masks i have hidden large tread pin lines so you can only see the ones on the tank. unfortunately using motion paths did not work in tandem with the masking so one method or the other had to be used. Masking was faster and gave good results where the motion path required every individual tread pin to be guided by hand. This was not going to be time efficient given the looming deadline so masking was chosen.
The tank tracks, tread-pins, wheel highlights and wheels have all been animated.
By using masks i have hidden large tread pin lines so you can only see the ones on the tank. unfortunately using motion paths did not work in tandem with the masking so one method or the other had to be used. Masking was faster and gave good results where the motion path required every individual tread pin to be guided by hand. This was not going to be time efficient given the looming deadline so masking was chosen.
The tank tracks, tread-pins, wheel highlights and wheels have all been animated.
Tuesday 27 May 2008
ThePoet - Ha
These blasts were intended to be used in the sequence with the laughing ducks. The tests include variations of the phrase 'Ha!' and how it would explode onto the screen. These have been fazed out by the same decision to faze out the text in favour of simple icons and symbols.
Wunderland update
Here is a blast of the small yellow robot leader marching to a halt, avoiding a missle and preparing to disassemble.
Poet Changes+ Wunderland progress
The Poet
The Poet film has changed dramatically. No longer will dave be using 2d words for his characters as the final look has become messy. Instead he s going to use animated symbols - still from the font i designed but this way the screen isnt cluttered. Less is more.
The ice cream test shown here was a basic test to try and show a ball of ice cream hitting and sliding down a target. the final product however needs only to be the splat now so this willbe far easier to animate.
War in Wunderland
I have been given the task of animating the tank tracks in flash for Red's Wunderland tank. This will require me to use several technical aspects of the flash program to complete the task the way Adam wants me to. I have to use a mask to complete the track itself, a motion path for the track teeth and timed movie clips for the wheels inside the track.
This is an incredibly helpful assignment as i feel that my technical folder is severely lacking and although i have done effects and text blasts for dave in post, i feel more is needed. This task will help bolster this folder. Once this task is completed i will return to Bigbot and animate him throwing cars of a bridge.
The Poet film has changed dramatically. No longer will dave be using 2d words for his characters as the final look has become messy. Instead he s going to use animated symbols - still from the font i designed but this way the screen isnt cluttered. Less is more.
The ice cream test shown here was a basic test to try and show a ball of ice cream hitting and sliding down a target. the final product however needs only to be the splat now so this willbe far easier to animate.
War in Wunderland
I have been given the task of animating the tank tracks in flash for Red's Wunderland tank. This will require me to use several technical aspects of the flash program to complete the task the way Adam wants me to. I have to use a mask to complete the track itself, a motion path for the track teeth and timed movie clips for the wheels inside the track.
This is an incredibly helpful assignment as i feel that my technical folder is severely lacking and although i have done effects and text blasts for dave in post, i feel more is needed. This task will help bolster this folder. Once this task is completed i will return to Bigbot and animate him throwing cars of a bridge.
Tuesday 20 May 2008
Muse Update 2
Over the last few weeks i have been very busy with the 2D title sequence which involves one fully animated sequence duplicated at various points to create a full fly cycle. This cycle was so well recieved that another was created (in pink rather than blue) to compliment it.
the basic blast is below (minus the duplications which were finished for the final edit in after effects).
Here is an example of the bird colour scheme in pink: -
All the main edits of the lettering animation are unavailable for blogging as Dave wants to keep the final cuts under wraps until the final film is complete. There have been a few changes to the original tests i did. They are as follows: -
The quack? sequence was rescaled to fit the HD cut with little or minimal changes made to size and scale of the letters.
The Waa sequence was completely redone however.The text had to be rescaled, moved into a diagonal tangent and positioned so that the word fit across the screen but more artistically than before. We used drop shadow to crate a letter shadow across the character but applied a mask so it only cast shadow across the area of the character it passed rather than the whole scene. All the 'A's in the WAA had to be redesigned and reversed so that the brown 3d depth was cast in the opposite direction. once this was completed we created a dissolve effect using coloured fractal noise to make the word disappear near the end of the scene.
The second waa scene was animated directly onto the final cut of the film and featured multiple A's flooding out of the poets mouth onto his book and beyond. Having completed this scene we realised to keep the continuity of the film the previous scene (described in length above) needed to be reworked to accomodate the new speed of the text. d'oh!
As mentioned before these cuts are unavailable for blogging as Dave wants to keep the content censored until the film is complete.
the basic blast is below (minus the duplications which were finished for the final edit in after effects).
Here is an example of the bird colour scheme in pink: -
All the main edits of the lettering animation are unavailable for blogging as Dave wants to keep the final cuts under wraps until the final film is complete. There have been a few changes to the original tests i did. They are as follows: -The quack? sequence was rescaled to fit the HD cut with little or minimal changes made to size and scale of the letters.
The Waa sequence was completely redone however.The text had to be rescaled, moved into a diagonal tangent and positioned so that the word fit across the screen but more artistically than before. We used drop shadow to crate a letter shadow across the character but applied a mask so it only cast shadow across the area of the character it passed rather than the whole scene. All the 'A's in the WAA had to be redesigned and reversed so that the brown 3d depth was cast in the opposite direction. once this was completed we created a dissolve effect using coloured fractal noise to make the word disappear near the end of the scene.
The second waa scene was animated directly onto the final cut of the film and featured multiple A's flooding out of the poets mouth onto his book and beyond. Having completed this scene we realised to keep the continuity of the film the previous scene (described in length above) needed to be reworked to accomodate the new speed of the text. d'oh!
As mentioned before these cuts are unavailable for blogging as Dave wants to keep the content censored until the film is complete.
Muse update
By using PNG files instead of Jpegs we can utilise a better quality picture and avoid using the green screening and green highlights. Now all the pictures feature the background alpha'ed out so it saves time to create the test sequences and it looks crisper. Here is an example A (other letters are all very much the same) and a string of random symbols to prepresent profanity.Today i have completed several tests using these letters. The first wave of tests included Quack?,Nooo, Wait and Waa. Each sequence's letters move and react differently depending on the situation. The second wave will be updated later on this week.
Tuesday 6 May 2008
Letter styles
The final colours for the 2D letters are yellow and brown - matching the title sequence. The video below shows an early test for letter decoration using fan-flowers.
The Poet Update
Here are the recent updated works for David Bate's The poet. Letter tests will be updated later.
Below are the pencil concepts for the 2D dickie birds.
Once Dave had chosen his preffered design i completed the colour concept sheets complete with alternate feathers, colours, beaks and styles.
The flight test shows the bird in action! the birds are designed to be fluid - like tear drops gliding down a cheek - so their bodies move more like droplets of water than real birds. The image above the test shows how the video was constructed - using parented objects and flexible skelton guides.
Below are the pencil concepts for the 2D dickie birds.
Once Dave had chosen his preffered design i completed the colour concept sheets complete with alternate feathers, colours, beaks and styles.
The flight test shows the bird in action! the birds are designed to be fluid - like tear drops gliding down a cheek - so their bodies move more like droplets of water than real birds. The image above the test shows how the video was constructed - using parented objects and flexible skelton guides.
Tuesday 29 April 2008
Term 3 Week 4 Update
War in Wunderland
Since the beginning of term animation has been the order of the day. I have successfully finished 2 complete scenes with a third to be finished with my assigned character Bigbot - the giant mechanical menace from War in Wunderland.
Prior to animating in each scene i had to set up a camera that mimiced the one in the blockout and position the character. I operated the scene with only Bigbot present so i have had no focus for any of his reactions or movements other than that shown in the blockouts. The rig is similar to the previous monkey and robot models so i had no problem adapting to using Bigbot. When i was given him to animate he did not have any expressions so i couldn't add any facial movement to exaggerate feeling. I later got a rig upgrade which allowed me to move the mouth but the eyes are still motionless.
The first scene see's Bigbot emerge from a crater and walk aggressively towards the hero, Red.
This is the scene i had the most problems with. This is really because i was getting used to the character, how he moves in comparison to the other robots. I had the same mentality animating Bogbot as the monkeys i had previously animated and the robot . Obviously, as he is roughly 10 times the size of the other characters he wouldn't move in the same way. It took several tries to get the right weight for his walk and movements. I eventually got there but that is why it has taken 2 weeks to finish this one file because (amongst the other work) i have had to keep working into this cycle. I am pleased with the result though as is Adam and both this shot and shot 2 are green lit for the film.
Timing was another initial problem as i thought the file had to be the same length as the blockout. The result was far too fast for a large object like Bigbot. I later found out that i had control over the scene length (to a degree) and that i didn't have to stick to the same blockout time - just the keyframes. This made things flow much faster in other cycles and scenes.
The second scene see's Bigbot reach in to grab Red, but as he does he is shot and he is forced to step back.
This scene proved to be far easier iin terms of setup and completion. With a few minor tweaks i finished this scene relatively quickly. I also animated an extra second or two to add a roar at the end of the sequence with was not originally favoured by the team but now there has been a rethink and the roar is in! My mentality was that corned animals will lash out in self defense so why would a 10 story robot with a missile lodged in his hand be any different?
The third scene see's Bigbot retreating from the monkey army (backwards) to what he hopes will be safety. I managed to complete the first pass near perfectly for this cycle. This week i need to tweak some of the leg shots (as Bigbot looks like he has rickets/a full diaper) near the end to seal the sequence and move onto the next.
My forth sequence will be Bigbot making his way towards the sea to escape. This cycle will follow sequence 3 and i will recieve the file later in the week.
The playblasts are huge so i am going to render them out at a smaller scale to add to this site. Blasts of the shots and pictures to be taken and added by the end of the week.
The Poet
I have just recieved the most recent After Effects package so i can start Dave's work now. He has also asked me to design some small, cute birds to be animated over the top of his film (in 2D). These will be finished by the end of the week.
Since the beginning of term animation has been the order of the day. I have successfully finished 2 complete scenes with a third to be finished with my assigned character Bigbot - the giant mechanical menace from War in Wunderland.
Prior to animating in each scene i had to set up a camera that mimiced the one in the blockout and position the character. I operated the scene with only Bigbot present so i have had no focus for any of his reactions or movements other than that shown in the blockouts. The rig is similar to the previous monkey and robot models so i had no problem adapting to using Bigbot. When i was given him to animate he did not have any expressions so i couldn't add any facial movement to exaggerate feeling. I later got a rig upgrade which allowed me to move the mouth but the eyes are still motionless.
The first scene see's Bigbot emerge from a crater and walk aggressively towards the hero, Red.
This is the scene i had the most problems with. This is really because i was getting used to the character, how he moves in comparison to the other robots. I had the same mentality animating Bogbot as the monkeys i had previously animated and the robot . Obviously, as he is roughly 10 times the size of the other characters he wouldn't move in the same way. It took several tries to get the right weight for his walk and movements. I eventually got there but that is why it has taken 2 weeks to finish this one file because (amongst the other work) i have had to keep working into this cycle. I am pleased with the result though as is Adam and both this shot and shot 2 are green lit for the film.
Timing was another initial problem as i thought the file had to be the same length as the blockout. The result was far too fast for a large object like Bigbot. I later found out that i had control over the scene length (to a degree) and that i didn't have to stick to the same blockout time - just the keyframes. This made things flow much faster in other cycles and scenes.
The second scene see's Bigbot reach in to grab Red, but as he does he is shot and he is forced to step back.
This scene proved to be far easier iin terms of setup and completion. With a few minor tweaks i finished this scene relatively quickly. I also animated an extra second or two to add a roar at the end of the sequence with was not originally favoured by the team but now there has been a rethink and the roar is in! My mentality was that corned animals will lash out in self defense so why would a 10 story robot with a missile lodged in his hand be any different?
The third scene see's Bigbot retreating from the monkey army (backwards) to what he hopes will be safety. I managed to complete the first pass near perfectly for this cycle. This week i need to tweak some of the leg shots (as Bigbot looks like he has rickets/a full diaper) near the end to seal the sequence and move onto the next.
My forth sequence will be Bigbot making his way towards the sea to escape. This cycle will follow sequence 3 and i will recieve the file later in the week.
The playblasts are huge so i am going to render them out at a smaller scale to add to this site. Blasts of the shots and pictures to be taken and added by the end of the week.
The Poet
I have just recieved the most recent After Effects package so i can start Dave's work now. He has also asked me to design some small, cute birds to be animated over the top of his film (in 2D). These will be finished by the end of the week.
Tuesday 15 April 2008
Fundraising/Film Marketing
I had an idea at the beginning of term to raise money for the end of year degree show and/or promote our film - War in Wunderland.
By designing prints to apply to mini badges (a popular unisex accessory to bags/belts/hats etc) we could offer unique designs to the students of Ravensbourne and the public that would not be otherwise available in a popular format.
This site: www.badgesforbands.com, is one that i found that may be useful. They also produce tshirts/flyers and Boxes (complete with a selection of everything).
You are allowed to use 2 designs per badge pack you buy and i thought we could have character related badges linked to iconic parts of our film (e.g. the robots heat rate monitor and the monkey army's star insignia).
These could be sold at uni or to friends and family. Public selling requires permits and may be too time consuming considering our workload. The Badges are also something small that can be attached to invitations to the degree show (where we can have the product available for visitors to take away) or to CV's to post graduate employers.
This idea has been run past the team but as yet a decision has not been made. Updates to follow.
By designing prints to apply to mini badges (a popular unisex accessory to bags/belts/hats etc) we could offer unique designs to the students of Ravensbourne and the public that would not be otherwise available in a popular format.
This site: www.badgesforbands.com, is one that i found that may be useful. They also produce tshirts/flyers and Boxes (complete with a selection of everything).
You are allowed to use 2 designs per badge pack you buy and i thought we could have character related badges linked to iconic parts of our film (e.g. the robots heat rate monitor and the monkey army's star insignia).
These could be sold at uni or to friends and family. Public selling requires permits and may be too time consuming considering our workload. The Badges are also something small that can be attached to invitations to the degree show (where we can have the product available for visitors to take away) or to CV's to post graduate employers.
This idea has been run past the team but as yet a decision has not been made. Updates to follow.
Runcycles update 1
Here is the second bazooka grunt fire cycle (underslung to over shoulder fire). The grenade firecycle is to follow shortly.
Term 3 - Animation
The holiday has been slow. i have not recieved any work from my project lead as he has organised to pass work on at the beginning of this term. My other project links either had no work they could hand out or did not reply to my efforts to contact them. To make up that lost time i am going to have to work extremely fast to bolster my folders.
This term I have opted to do the following: -
Continue animating for War in Wunderland (my first set of blasts can be found below for BigBot in the city).
Letter animation for the Poet (this will allow me to use technical skills in order to put aniamtion into maya through other programs using various means - a post-production effort). n.b. designed alphabet shown below - see animation ideas previously updated in the blog.
Cafe de B... - i am hoping to do some animation for this project - namely the waiter i helped design - but over the holiday i had no work to complete from this group. I had asked several times to help model the cafe interior props but i recieved no feedback or reference photos with which to work. This was a shame as i spent the majority of the holiday preparing to leave university finding houses etc. than actually working on the project.
War in Wunderland - Here are the first blasts of Bigbot emerging and attacking Red before he retreats!
Lettering (Alphabet for the Poet)
This is the plain text (patterns to be added later and updated). Each letter has roughly 3 variants. (sticky/bold and bold curvy). The plan is to add patterns into the text and then add the text into maya or after effects and animate it. This stage is extra concept but the animation and placement will be aniamtion and technical .
Fundraising - Animation had a fundraising event the first thursday of this term to raise money for our end of term show. i had been asked to draw up a evil clown to be used as a poster flyer. this is shown below: -
concept1
concept2
final
more to be added later!
This term I have opted to do the following: -
Continue animating for War in Wunderland (my first set of blasts can be found below for BigBot in the city).
Letter animation for the Poet (this will allow me to use technical skills in order to put aniamtion into maya through other programs using various means - a post-production effort). n.b. designed alphabet shown below - see animation ideas previously updated in the blog.
Cafe de B... - i am hoping to do some animation for this project - namely the waiter i helped design - but over the holiday i had no work to complete from this group. I had asked several times to help model the cafe interior props but i recieved no feedback or reference photos with which to work. This was a shame as i spent the majority of the holiday preparing to leave university finding houses etc. than actually working on the project.
War in Wunderland - Here are the first blasts of Bigbot emerging and attacking Red before he retreats!
Lettering (Alphabet for the Poet)
This is the plain text (patterns to be added later and updated). Each letter has roughly 3 variants. (sticky/bold and bold curvy). The plan is to add patterns into the text and then add the text into maya or after effects and animate it. This stage is extra concept but the animation and placement will be aniamtion and technical .
Fundraising - Animation had a fundraising event the first thursday of this term to raise money for our end of term show. i had been asked to draw up a evil clown to be used as a poster flyer. this is shown below: -concept1
concept2
final
more to be added later!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)