April 26th 2012 12:30-3:00 and 1 Hour before class

I decided to forgo what is at this point is ancillary for now and work a bit on the animation portion.

Just today it took a bit cause I made myself obsessive again but then again the beginning should be the best portion in some regards as it is the part that is the most close up. I did what I could to time it well and interpret to the 3D timeline.

Just need to create the important wire for the animation and just continuing the 2d animation portion.

April 19-24 2012 In total: 6 hours with 4 hours outside of class

Again I found myself making alot of my own models for this project. And yet again I found myself creating an obsession with modeling to at least my standards and what I find is believable.

The TV I made has a stand in for the animation/game screen for later. To create an extra light I did what I could to mimic the light that comes from a tv. With a slight glow and a spotlight behind the screen creates a light effect that goes great atmospherically. I looked to adding the fourth wall and the ceiling.

Unfortunately the ceiling doesn't work, as it blocks light to the point that I won't be able to recreate whats in the photo. My solution equates to creating higher walls and using limited/smart camera angles to create the illusion.

What needs to be done from here to finish the minor things like wiring and start the animation process.

April 19th, Thursday 2012 12:30-3:00

Continuing from what I had last time I am just continuing making models and a set for the animation. Again I felt I couldn't find sufficient models for what I want so I ended up and will make most of the models. As shown above I'm slowly getting there, though the bed is pretty wonky but if maybe I will replace it.

So far apart from that I have troubles with the TV, which is key to my animation. Learning what I did with applying 2d animation to the 3d world I need to superimpose that on a "screen". I will start that animation when I finish the initial modeling.

I have no real problems of yet but will ask if need be.

April 17th 2012 11:30-3:00

From here is the start of the new project. Spent most of the time before class working on modeling for the project as I had no real idea what we would be doing for class. From there started on an test animation as shown above.

Progress was real slow due to a lack of tablet, library was out, but I made a short quick animation. Again more to my lack of knowledge if anything I wasn't able to translate it into a movie file but here as a gif.

If anything I just need to figure this out quick whether by myself or help. Next will be continue modeling.

In Combination of 2 1/2 Weeks now

My apologies that I had been missing so many posts these past weeks. Ever since the beginning of the factory project a lot of things; personal, family, work, and otherwise, had been happening to really limit my time. Also to be honest there is also my own faults, being that I enjoy putting detail and wanting to make those details perfect, which in the end makes it slow going and frankly wasting time instead of completing the project. Of course I want to make my work beautiful, realistic, and become my vision but considering my limited time as a commuter, completely unrealistic.

At the beginning of the project I had little more tan an inkling of an idea scrawled onto a rough storyboard. More of less I just wanted to make an factory line production of a robots head which in the end is placed upon a body. The first week I more or less just spent fleshing out the idea and dealt with visualizing out the process.

These set of pictures more of less is the first week of production. I really wanted to make it

realistic at least in the sense that mechanically it will be sound. Really a fault if anything on my part which in the end I spend far too much time sweating the details.

From a furnace the molten metal is produced which is poured into the buckets. Next the buckets of molten metal is poured into two separate molds, then compressed together forcibly (admittedly not particularly realistic nor sound, more for my own interest and enjoyment). The molded head will then carted onto the conveyer belt.

Apart from the conveyor belt I couldn't any outside model to make it work so as per usual made what I could with the best of my ability.

This progresses unto the second week where I more or less completed the modeling process. I found myself self aware about completing the project so I converted most of the actual production into an unseen process of going through "boxes". Also the actual process of putting the head on the robot is much simpler which I am kind of unhappy about due again to my own taste. With the general part of the modeling done I took upon doing the actual animation process.

Again I fell into the trap of making things perfect which made the time slow down significantly. I added the molten iron and the rise of it and started to get the flow down. Also look at an online tutorial on making interesting flame effects listed below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G43iS57qG_M

Next I Unfortunately I spent the better part of the class trying to make it work, in the end failing miserably. At the end of the day I will have to use different angle camera shots and cinematography to achieve the desired effects.

I know I a lot things to do left to do animation wise, the molding process and making the flashing lights. Also making the robot body and adding color and skin to the project. I will be spending the better part of the day of the faculty meeting doing all that.

March 20th, 2012

Starting with the storyboard planned out I did my best to finish up putting the sounds together for my still incomplete toy workshop and for my wordplay project. Some hiccups involving the wordplay happening, being some setting issues but were dealt fast enough. Most of the time was spent looking at the various tools and premade animations. Played around with it a bit and looked again at the other animations to gather some information and clues for mine.

Will update this post in a bit.

3/5/12 12:00-3:00

Today I spent most of time working on sounds for the Flythrough. There were some troubles in regards of the character (mouse) and it's feet. I then decided with the Sound Pro application to record my own by tapping my finger rapidly near the mic which turned out alright.

Before class I spent time working out some movement kinks in the letter. I pretty much got and will do what I can to finish quickly and put it on the render.

New Research Project: Wingnut

Again I screwed up so I went into researching a bit more to find another topic. Apart from the obvious of Pixar and Dreamworks I tried to find either something new or unique in the industries. Recalling the new Tintin movie I went out to see I was curious to see who was behind it. Peter Jackson's company Wingnut, who did effects in the Lord of Rings film gave me particular interest especially in the motion capture field.

Second Life Article

From what I read the boundaries between the digital world and the real world seem to mingle rather closely. The fact that despite the controversy surrounding the "world" of Second Life that art and its forms can exist. Idea of monetary transaction over the net is not foreign but that through the game actual painterly objects can be bought and sold, in such amounts, is baffling.

Also the idea of recreating or creating walk in paintings is amazing. It adds to another dimension to the work and another level of immersion/interaction. The only downside is that in terms of quality. The game engine only has so much it can do and accomplish that there is still the awkward sprite and shape.

There is an interest to be had in this world if not only that the artist is able to interact on a global level but achieve a greater platform for their work.

March 1st, 2012 Tuesday 12:30-3:05

As of today I found out the inherit problem that comes with making your own letters with the metaball tool. Through that process I would be able to control what it looks like in terms of the words I chose and aesthetically make it disgusting (as wanted). Though because of it they became too complex of objects that it literally affected the program itself bringing in major lag spikes that ultimately hindered the entire project for most of the class time.

The solution of the problem was found in just simply simplifying the objects themselves except in the letters (in case of F) that will have the actual complex animation. It took until the end of class but with that I was able to get a semblance of a start to the piece.

Luckily I was able to solve the problem but it leaves me alot to do. Again I wasn't able to do much this weekend and again will not be able to stay long on Monday. There are the problems in that I would like to have some wiggle in the words and the stretching of the F and the word skinny. I will do what I can to do what I can do at home (sounds, exact planning) and post it to the blog. On Tuesday I will come in early and do the initial fly through and if needed wait later for further help on the details.

On a slightly better note I had worked on the Gepetto piece a bit more and had finished the transition from the mouse revving up to push the plane. Next is the flythrough and getting to the cheese which can be maybe solved and all in one scene. It all depends if I would like to sacrifice some things or not. I guess it depends on time which I usually sorely lack but I will do what I can to make it work.

Response to MP3

I think it's pretty extraordinary on how he was able to create sounds from simplistic items especially in iconic some of them are (ie. lightsaber). It's inspiring to hear that even with a low budget (except in terms of equipment) that good sound could be made. Also the idea of

Wall-E's voice and robot's in general having a sense of character is insightful.

What I wonder though is that despite asked the question if the digital age changed the game in terms of sound he didn't give a real straight answer, at least for me. He shows that simple solutions could be found but I wished to know if he carried on the same tradition as he had done in the past. Then again this is a small clip, limited in size, so I can't ask too much.

Research Topic: Don Hertzfeldt

I've been of a fan of offbeat and alternative animation/art for a while. Someone I would call a genius/savant in that field is Don Hertzfeldt. Almost a near hermit he spends years working on his animations with techniques rare even near extinction in today's world. To be able to still survive and even standout is phenomenal. I follow his work when I can and I extremely respect him and would like if I can do my topic on him.

Tuesday 28th February 2012 12:30-3:00

Today for class apart from the disappear and reappear exercise we worked on the word play project. Due to the unique way I want to make the letters I was shown to use the Metaball tool. I spent most of the day experimenting with the tool and made my letters. Also I made a small landscape to accommodate the letters for now. If I'll stick to it who knows.

I think I'm satisfied with the letters themselves but I have the added problem of animation. I'll have to rig something up to make it work as well as the other word. Hopefully I'll be able to make do in the end.

Tuesday 28th February 2012 12:30-1:20

Using the timeline window and directly/manually going through each frames we were able to make objects appear and disappear. Applying special attributes and experimenting with the tools we made multiple keyframes and turned on and off the settings. I went a bit further by adding one more object and making sure the other two wouldn't appear.

Tuesday 28th February 2012 9:00-11:30

Again rendering messed up somehow. Someone may have touched something so I'm setting it to render again. Also spent time messing around on the next scene. Finding some sounds for the fly through project as well as so the word play. Hope to have the render done by the start of class or at least into it.

Monday February 27th 3:30-5:30,7:00-7:40

Went to work again fixing kinks in the flythrough. Made the necessary adjustments to the lighting so it wouldn't be too bright. Had some problems again when I made it too dark but again adjustments. Also spent time fixing some models as well as make new ones. Now I feel satisfied with the world I created. Spent time rendering it as well add a new scene.

Thursday February 23rd 11:30-3:10

After a night of rendering I had the first half of what I wanted to do or so I thought. In reality I hadn't set the location of the file so i ended up doing so again through the whole class. In class we also practice various tools such as loft in getting ready for our next assignment of word play. I was busy tweaking the last project so I wasn't able to get really working on the word exercise so I may have to ask when in class.

Multiple object exercise

Exercise: Extrude, Lathe, Loft, Sweep

Extrude Nurb

Lathe Nurb

Loft Nurb

Sweep Nurb

Word Idea

Following what was said to me about the word idea in conjunction with my fly through to use simple ideas.

1. Using the word fat making it extremely broad and turning to the side is the word skinny sandwiched. (Idea Level: Easy)

2. Taking a far view of the word clean and then coming close up then realizing its dirty with the word dirty stained on. (Idea Level: Moderate)

3. On a stage there is a box with a curtain. In the box is the word here. The curtain closes and theres a poof sound. Curtain opens and the word isn't there. Turn away from the stage and in a theater box is the word there. (Idea Level: Hard)

Tuesday February 21, 2012 12:20-3:10

I realized today that my animation was going through major problems in terms of timing so I had to scrap what I had and do over from scratch. Also going through what I had I realized that I have gotten over my head in terms on setting and what I wanted to do. Trying to come in during the weekend and realizing school was closed on Monday the time I have working on this has cut down to 1/4 of what I had expected.

Hopefully I have the time tomorrow to do what I can with this and perhaps take it as far as possible. I'll start rendering before I leave and come in the morning after and see the progress. I don't want to be half assed in what I'm doing especially with the idea I had set forth.

Narrative Sequence

The basis of my scene will be a mouse in a toy workshop reminiscent of Gepetto's workshop.

1.The movie will start with the mouse coming out of its mousehole.

2Taking a look around it spies a piece of cheese on the workbench. (I'm not sure if I want the chess that it is fairly typical but I'll stick with it if need be.)

3.It begins to weave in between objects on the high shelf it resides on.

4.Getting towards the end it grabs the biplane.

5.Pulling it back and bit and looking towards the cheese it scurries the plane and itself off the ledge.

6.It begins to glide a bit, doing a small flyby of the room but begins to promptly nosedive.

7.Before the plane hits the ground the mouse leaps off.

8. Tumbles a bit and slowly gets back up again.

9. Looks back at plane, now in pieces.

10. Scurries towards the bench leg and goes up.

11. takes a small scan and crawls over a puppet's legs.

12. Scurries over objects, tools.

13. Gets to the piece of cheese, cautiously.

14. Gives a small hesitation.

15. Leaps.

16. Fin

Interpolation

This is an example of interpolation and the options that can used for it.

Sunday 1230-440 Feb 12th and Monday 1130-1220 Feb 13th 2012

I knew i was lagging behind on modeling due to my mistakes while experimenting on rendering and camera control so I've done my best to come in where I can and catch up.

I finished putting up the walls of the scene as well as make an ajorning staircase and room to create space, I dunno how I'll solve that particular problem but I will eventually. Also I couldn't find appropriate models for a workbench or shelves so I created my own with the primitive shapes and cut out shapes with the boole tool.

I also put in a "Pinocchio" which I took the figure and replaced the head with a combination of a sphere and cylinder. Towards the end I started on the mouse hole which would be the beginning of the fly through. There will be an interior but I've yet to figure out how that'll work and also the direction of the story.

Hopefully I'll be able to come in one more time to figure at least those kinks out.

12:30 - 3:00 Thursday 9 2012

Today is the first day we start with the new fly through project. At the beginning of class we learned to take pictures and render videos for the blog as evidence by prior post and above. Again I took alot of stumbles cause of my lack of common sense but it worked out. Following with my Gepetto idea I took reference from the film and looked around for some pre-made models for the animation. I began constructing a room that the scene will take in with some major edits regarding size.

I hope to finish all the modeling before next class as there is going to be alot of self made models to fit my theme.

Progress Report Thursday 9 2012

From city movie there is the obvious problem of lighting. The city fly through I just played around with, seeing my options and marveling at the relative simplicity.To that effect I forgot that light does not render with the outline. I also need to practice pacing as it is a very quick.

Next with the Plato's cave there was a few bumps in starting to film but it was quickly resolved. This Time I did what I could to have varied pace so the piece could be appreciated more as well as do minimal shifts in camera angles. Again there was the lighting which all in all wasn't too bad except the fire itself which is pretty lackluster.

The New Flythrough Project

Thinking about this project I really wanted to do something simple enough but iconic in image. After going through things like churches and prisons I thought of something more on a smaller scale. Watching Pinocchio for no real reason I found myself really admiring Gepetto's workshop and thought maybe doing something like that would be fun of course on a less intricate level with some movement. The character I thought would be best would be a small creature like a mouse or even a cricket.

2/6/12 11-12:30

Going further on with the project I found myself doing minor fixes to the project such as creating a new fire as well as applying new texturing. I'm going to go in early to finish making the final touches as putting in the "puppets".

February 2, 2012 11:30-3:00

As usual I am sorry for my lack of updates. I am doing my best to not make this a repeated effort but still the same I am sorry.

In class today we pretty much worked on the project just as is with doling out everything and setting scene as well putting advanced touches and textures. I did my best to set the scene up with making the aesthetics of the cave seem natural enough as well making sure the lighting fit. I solved the idea of an entrance by using plateaus and combining them to create natural steps. Also I didn't want the actual opening to look like a mouse hole so using a cylinder and booeling (I know this spelling is not right) it I took it further but twisting the shape. The fire is primitive as most by using a pyramid shape and making ad-hertz logs. With the time left I applied he textures I had chosen to the objects which look alright but I may have to adjust lighting to make it fit.

By the time this is posted I have taken some time to address the problems above as well some of the missing pieces left which I will post after as I get the time to.

Tues.1/31/12 12:30-3;00

Any and all apologies to anyone reading this blog. As my life is things have occurred that have made this post late.

On Tuesday we continued with our projects. We were again given a refresher on textures and materials and further information on them. I had thought with a simpler idea on the project might work the best giving my inexperience and at least be able to show something with quality. I may have gotten caught up in it may have overthought some things including making curved walls. What I thought simple turned to be something much more indepth and with much tutoring was able to find an alternate solution.

Sadly yet again I find myself still a little overwhelmed as this tool also proves difficult for my small air headed brain. I still have to come in do the basic layout and come in with figures for my scene. Also I have to create a solution in which it won't be too dark but able to highlight the spotlight. If possible it would be cool to also make a flickering effect but that is more afterthought if anything. I will come in early if I can and work before class so I can at least catch up.

Plans for Plato's Cave 2

Again planning for this project I went to the provided site to look at textures whichwould be used. I planned to just stick to what was there as I did not want to overcomplicate things so I went for colors/textures that would work best for a cave with another texture for a little variation if needed (maybe stairs) . Next I looked for something that could work for fire that looked natural enough and if replicated can look good enough. In terms of objects I looked for faded wood that can act as the texture for chairs and maybe supporting posts for the marionettes. I contemplated having trees as other props but just have that saved for if I have time really.

Observations regarding the Use of 3D: Tintin

Recently over the break I went to see the new (reboot) Tintin movie. Before I had judged it just in terms of what I know of the comic series and just in cinematic merits. Thinking over what I had learned in class and taking another look it I found visible pros, cons, and techniques that were shown throughout the film.

Pros:

1. Though in 3D the movie took an innovated approach by creating and animators the characters through motion capture (mocap) of their actors/actresses.

2. Using the mocap it is much easier to create smooth and natural movement for characters as well as make nice references for objects and lighting in relation to the characters/actors/actresses.

3. Expressions except in a notable exception were awesome especially in the character of Captain Haddock blending the traditional style of the original source of the comic and 3D which was made believable by the motion capture.

4. Also animals in the film that were not animated by mocap looked fantastic as I felt the same amount of times spent on characters were lent to them in making simple shapes and skeletons stand out to the rest of the "cast".

I have no real experience in such but I think that the mocap would used as a skeleton (abielt an insanely detailed moving skeleton) that would have a layer of shapes in a sense a skin or mask of sorts. Probably because of the mocap that it became a smoother process in terms of production as well make convincing movements.

Technique/Tricks of the Trade:

5. What I had also noticed in the movie despite many action scenes they had used very simple shapes whenever a scene occurred in contrast to less intense scenes where it switched to much more complex objects. This was probably due to reducing stress on the movie and workload as it is borrowed when there is complex objects in high octane scenes they were often kept obscured or in the dark.

6. Another technique I found is that the movie itself utilized alot of shadows and obscuring devices (fog, intense light) that created the illusion of space without animating it all.

7. Whenever there was a large expansive scene only partially was it active keeping most of it fairly static with small variations which kept it from breaking the illusion of immersion.

8. Whenever there were evidence of movement from objects again they were limited to simplicity, afterimage, or use of obscuring.

Cons:

9.Again I mention characters though most were exceptional, some okay, inexcusable was the titular character of Tintin himself falling into the trap that is the Uncanny Valley. His movements were on par with other characters but the work on his expressions were dull and were quickly forgotten. With more like they had on Haddock who retained a cartoonish but realistic look to him they had gone too far with Tintin.

10.In all it was fantastic and tight but the mocap which looked great in most instances but failed in others looking unwieldy as objects and sometimes background characters did little then look like they didn't belong.

I can't really much else on the subject. In reality it may be more a gripe then mistakes in terms of cons as I feel I do not have much grasp on the subject to say much else. It was a good film and an interesting experiment look and experiment.

Thursday January 26th 12:30-3:00

Continuing from the last exercise the class started expanding the idea of Plato's cave. With the starting seed we did some more exercises by distorting primitive shapes and started creating the beginning of the "scene".

There is much headache over how it will be set up as well as lighting is becoming a serious issue. Later we looked at applying textures and using various tools. There is experimentation to be done so it can really work. God save me and everyone else here.

Wednesday January 25th Plato's Cave Idea

Looking over the reading on Plato's cave and the chart/drawing I would like to take an archaic approach.
The set up would be an it was described figures sitting chained, though I only have the knowledge that I obtained yesterday so I may need to take some liberties in how they are to be chained. What is projected onto the wall of the cave would be maybe something akin to a play. Something fairly basic like a Punch and Judy sketch but using the example of ideals and virtues (Good/Evil, etc). The set up itself will not look perfect but the combined effort would roughly get the idea across.
The lighting I figured would be flickering as a candle/fire would do creating a much more realistic or atmospheric scene. It was also mentioned that maybe there would be a use of video. Going with that theme perhaps something black and white again using simple ideas of virtues echoing Plato's story of watered down ignorance/ideals.

Tuesday January 24 12:30-3:00

Today in class we did an "easy" exercise on the various tools on the Cinema 4D program. Using primitive shapes and figures we viewed them in different perspectives and moved them on the XYZ grid. Figured out rotation, moving, and resizing tool as well as the key shortcuts.

After some confusion based upon my fatigue I eventually found how to apply lights to the figure and shadow. Using what I know I set a scene and then experimented with various textures to make it come "alive".

Now from there I need to read about Plato's cave and develop an idea to recreate in the program.