Robot Ad

Course mate Ben linked me this cool CG ad for internet security, Robots are definitely my bag and i love examples of how cgi robots can be used in advertising. As in previous blogs i’ve posted about this certain stylised look that robots have adopted, this ad seems to follow the same ‘I robot’ aesthetic where robots are made to look humanised, clean and polished. There are some interesting point aside form the motion graphics like how is the robot relevant and why does it pose in order to think? I think robots have a tendency to represent computers. I this case its almost as if the robot is a metaphor for the software having a consciousness.

Can or Cannot, that is the question

Im at a point where I need to be asking myself what I can and cant do now that my education is almost over. I think its about looking at the things i cannot do and working on them.

Recently ive been looking at many job descriptions and desirable job specification/requirements to see what possible employers are wanting and what jobs I think I’m suited to.

At the moment I’m floating between 3D modeller and concept designer because I enjoy a high amount of aspects for each area. So by committing myself to these two areas I can focus on what companies need from people going into this line of work.

I’ve realised that extra skills will differ with different companies as companies have varied specialisms and focus. For example Blur studios job description for a 3d modeller goes into detail about the different range of characters you will be require to model as apposed to other companies which require there modellers to have a more arch vis technical approach to modelling.

I need to start looking closer at these job requirements and dealing with issues in areas I lack knowledge and begin to build upon my skills.

Space cadet

Recently I had the opportunity to work with a Leeds based company called space cadet, During my time there I gained some good experience of how the company working in regards to dealing with clients and pipe lines used to carry out projects. I get a really good idea of just how demanding and time consuming this career can become. Having said that, space cadet was basically a one man show, who was looking to expand with business by taking on individuals as an intern with the possibility of pay. I was very impressed with my work which gave me a lot of confidence with the progression of my portfolio. As for the actual work I did during my duration at space cadet, I learnt some useful skills to take with me. The first project I worked on was modelling rooms from technical blue prints. Thankfully they didn’t need to be accurate, exact measurements due to the quality of the blue prints so I only had to really focus on the shape. I was shown how to model in walls, door ways and windows and moved pre-made assets like window frames into my model. I hand to produce around ten rooms in total and after the 3rd room it began to feel like a proper job and the process became repetitive. I was very nervous about what he was going to say after my work was done but when i found that he was impressed with the job I was really happy. The second job is where everything went wrong for me. I was required to use 3D max which id used to do the previous room modelling project with assets handed over by a client. I was expected to retexture the scene with the V-Ray plug in. Because this wasn’t as simple as modelling I became way out of my depth and didn’t have a clue what I was doing. The main problem was the fact that this was one guy running the show and he was extremely busy, so the idea of constantly needing his help didn’t make sense at all. It got to a point that I was just sitting around for ages waiting for him to have a spare moment to help me out. Eventually the guy got so busy that he had to move all his equipment out of the studio back home and he said he would let me know when he returns to the studio. After this he emailed me on a few occasions but nothing came of him returning back to Leeds. I understand the amount of work he had to do and I appreciate the fact I didn’t have enough experience to work more independently so he may have decided that it wasn’t the right time to take on an intern with such little experience. Either way ive taken a lot from this experience the fact that I put myself out there alone was a positive outcome. It also reinforces the fact the Im more of a creative design guy than a technical guy. I had no motivation to find out how to solve the problems I came up against alone. I think technical problem solving is a special trait which I don’t possess.

considering more education

http://courses.bournemouth.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate-degree/digital-effects/none/101/

Considering further education is certainly and option and when I came across a post graduate course (linked above) in digital effects at Bournemouth uni, I felt quite tempted to continue my education. The show reel produced by the course is excellent but I feel like I could achieve a similar quality if i put in lots of hard work once uni is finished. I think my course has given me a good basic foundation to work with and I definitely don’t need to be on a course to start up a project. The side also provides individual show reels from students and I have contacted a few to find out what they did after the course. One person in particular went on to get a junior position at Framestore. He offered me lots of good advice on how to approach my final major project which helped me out a great deal. Its also provided me with a new contact for my networking.

smoke n mirrors

Here is a useful you tube post about some of the work flows Smoke and Mirrors use with particular software. first of all its intereting to find out that the creative director began touching up photos to then moving on to 3D. I think it shows how a creative career can take unexpected turns in job roles. I like how they also specialize partly in high resolution still images, this is something that Id like to work on because I don’t really consider myself to be an animator I think id be very interested in using 3D to create still images to company logos and advertising and its definitely the main area in which i see myself working but that is something ill look into more when I finish my degree. In this video they talk about 3D application Modo and explain there processes as a company teaming up colleagues to collaborate of a piece of work. They go into detail about reasons for using certain application in order to visually show clients on the spot what the work will look like. It all seem to be about fast pipe lines and speeding up the workflow as well as producing great work.

Woodkid run boy Run

As a lover of music videos im always looking at new videos that implement visual effects in different ways. There are many ways in which directors have brough vfx into the mix as this is a cool example. This video by Woodkid has some really nice cinematography in the way its mainly captured from a side scrolling platform almost like a video game. I also like the way it implements the use of slow motion to great effect to create a fantastic build up through out the video. From what I can gather a lot of keying has been done to composite many actors in suits with size adjustments which is simple but very effective. Yoann Lemoine created this video and I found out that he is a French indie musician as well as a graphic designer. He has also directed music videos for the likes of Lana Del Ray and Rhihanna. Im beginning to realize more and more that there are people out there like Yoann that don’t worry about fitting into a particular category and they just go out and bring there passions to life regardless of there knowledge or educational background. I think I waste too much time worrying about fitting into a specific type of art. (see the video for Run boy run below)

siskel ebert simon

I watched this youtube clip with a discussion between well know critics who had different points of view on Empire strikes back when it was released.

Its very interesting to leap back in time to get an idea of what critics thought about early vfx films. Its interesting to see that in the early stages of computer generated effects, critics were clashing in discussions about the effects that films with lots of vfx have on us. In this clip the opposing critic ( John Simon) towards Empire strikes back explains how films with high visual effects dehumanize us and he also states that these films are for children only and not for adult minds. He goes on to explain how fantasy and sci fi deprives children learning anything from a film that contains these visual elements. As an artist interested in visual effects I think that effects in film enhance the imagination of a child as much as it can with an adult but in slightly different ways. Simon also asks that what is the point in creating visual effects in films when all of this can be done with animation alone, but I think this is where the word medium comes into play and that films become a piece of art work rather than just simply a story and different mediums are being mixed to create an enhanced cinematic experience. I agree that there are lots of films out there that rely on visual effects alone and I agree that this shouldn’t be the aim of any film. But as a way of story telling visual effects can be used to bring a story to life, as with my own projects I believe a good concept or story is always required to make them work whether its film or animation. I think that if people would rather rely on there own imaginations then books are the way to go. Finally I don’t believe visual effects degrade a story or audience, I think that visual effects deepen and make the impossible more believable when done properly.

freelanced social network

http://www.freelanced.com/job/16448/illustrator-needed-for-childrens-book-freelance-childrens-book-illustration-job

Found this Add whilst looking o freelanced social network, These kind of jobs are easy money and I would get a chance to focus on drawing which I love. Illustration will always be an important part of my practice so doing small illustration jobs Thinking about the site its self there are lots of unrealistic offers for example on guy wanted 100 fantasy images drawing for a role playing card game offering around 15 pounds per image. I think this shows how people will always be trying to get jobs done for as cheap as possible. To someone who hasn’t much knowledge of the creative industries 15 pounds per image might not seem a bad bit of money making. But when considering the commitment of 100 images that have the same style things like design and research come into play if its to be done properly. you then start to realize the time its going to take you to get it all done they suddenly 15 per image is way under payment. This is why I agree that having an hourly rate is important because the demands are put into perspective when you consider the amount of time it will take you to complete a project. This also creates things like deadlines so jobs actually get done.

Making drunk aliens break down

Watching this brake down for drunken aliens was a real eye opener. Seeing the breakdown and processes of the image has help me come to some realizations about my own work. When viewing these breakdowns and how it was made clips I always seem to wanna know what software was used almost as if by finding out, I can achieve similar results. But at this point in my degree I realize its not about the software you use and its more about the fundamental understanding, skills and the talent I already possess. The early stages of the clip we see a good old fashioned sketch book and pencil which Rafael Vallaperde the artist responsible begins with rough sketches to realize what his final render might look like. without this important part of the process I think that the 3D apps are quite meaningless, having said that its easy to just go into Z brush and begin sculpting any old shape and see how it turns out. I have done this and you can usually come up with some nice results but this I think is where the work n creativity becomes driven by the application. I believe that sketching with a pen or pencil is an essential tool for an artist as designs and ideas could be considered at there purest form when imagination first hits the paper. I know this must seem like i’m mumbling on but Im trying to explain to myself reasons for which I shouldn’t care what application did what piece of art and I feel I should just be confident in the fact that I can bring my own designs to life with any application of my choosing.

GOLEM

The piece of work is driven by elemental and organic CG effects to drive a narrative story. Visually its a kinda of CGI motion graphic piece. Looking closer at the artists that worked on Golem I came across Patrick Mccue. Looking at his site was interesting in the sense that this guy is slightly different from a lot of the typical cg artists ive seen, the fact that hes a 3D non-characeter animator is cool and looking at his work it reminded me that animation isn’t just about bringing characters to life, there are lots of other uses for animation like Motion design which is another area Mccue includes in has skill set. He describes how he combines his passions in multiple areas such as directorial, animation and design, towards his clients which I think is a good way of channeling your interests into projects to embrace collaborations with other artist. I feel its not about being able to do everything yourself, but about not being afraid to express your passion about an area you don’t necessarily specialize in or have a great knowledge of. Mccue also has many still renders of his work which is an idea I will take for my own site because I feel that not everything needs to fit in a show reel plus I think that still renders leave room for people to imaging what it might look like as a moving image. If the still renders look nice than there isn’t much to suggest the animations wont look good.

digital domain

Digital Domain

Digital domain appear to be a creative industry heavy weight. Its interesting to see how major players in the industry cover all the main areas of CG art in Film, games and advertisement.

Here is a list of area in which they cater for internships

2D
3D
Character Animation
Technical Direction
Software Feature Film
Commercials
Editorial
Feature Film Development
Other departments as needed

Its useful for me to analyze what company’s such as digital domain consider key areas to work in because its give me a good idea of where my skills might position me in the industry. When applying for a positions they require a show reel.

Witness my revival ad

http://www.primefocusgroup.com/work/lucozade-revive-witness-my-revival-grey-london

Whilst doing research for my FMP I investigated a lucazade promotional advert. I found out that company Prime Focus works within a global digital pipe line allowing artist to collaborate all over the world. Witness my revival is a good example for this work flow. Artists from London and India have worked together to create the advert. I took the opportunity to email one of the vfx atrists to which he responded with lots of useful information on how it was made. This has given me some good ideas for my fmp project and it confirms that contacting and looking at other artists is a critical part of working in the creative industry.

kill billl animation feeling the push!!!

http://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/CGSFeatures/CGSFeatureSpecial/kill_bill_anime_sequences

I found an interesting article on one of my favorite Tarantino films, Kill Bill vol.1. At this point I was considering what to do for my final major project and for some reason I was considering working with 2d animation. A course mate Chris has intrigued me with his work in 2d animation and I felt I had some good ideas to use the medium in a slightly different way. I had this idea of using live footage as a base to trace over 2d characters in order to create some kind of martial arts animation similar to the Ah ha music video Take on me, but instead of tracing exactly I wanted to design characters to draw and only use the live footage as reference. I was also inspired by the animation sequences on kill bill because I felt as if the roughness and accuracy of the movement was some kinda of tracing over live footage and I felt like this could be easily be done and to good effect, I spoke to my course mate Chris to see what he thought about the idea, he seemed quite interested and suggested me doing some quick tests with this idea. He also pointed out that 2d animation can be very time consuming and a quite test would give me an ideas as to what id be dealing with. I quickly filmed myself doing some kinda martial arts moments an used photoshop to animate each key frame with the imported footage, seem results below. To similate drawing a character and just using the footage for reference I just drew a blue suite over the tshirt i was wearing.

This test took me about 40 mins to do including filming, putting on my pc and animating in photoshop. The daunting reality of 2d animation was cast over me. I also decided that putting my 3D work to one side for my final major would have been a very stupid idea. Never the less its made for a good blog post. Going back to the Kill Bill animation, looking at the link at the top of this post I found that this was a solid animation made by production I.G using stills and basic acting out by Tarantino himself to show the animation team what he was after. When changes had to be made to a scene such as hair colour the entire scene would have to be animated from scratch. In the article Team I.G express how they were pushed beyond their comfort zone to achieve such a stunning piece of animation which on one hand is a good example of how demanding the industry can be and also I think this proves that to make significant achievements an artist must strive to push their own boundaries.

Eurovision butterflys

Happy Forsman & Bodenfors were responsible for creating the identity of this years eurovision 2013. I came across this work sitting down for a moment whilst my mum was watching the euro vision. I saw these amazing CGI butterfly’s. There were a range of animations with the butterfly’s moving very dynamically with some fantastic particle effects emitting from there wings as they moved. What struck me even more was how well there were composited into the live footage. I did some research on the company responsible and it seems there are generally involved in advertising and creating a visual identity for companies ect. I like how they used every flag from all counties taking part in the contest and textured the butterfly’s wings individually for each of the 40 countries. The slogan for this years eurovision was ‘We are one’ and I think the butterfly’s really did a good job uniting all the countries together on screen. This kind of innovative thinking from artistic minds makes me realize why I would like to be a part of the creative industries. I think it also shows that good artistic expression need not always be over complex and technically demanding.

Visiting Distant futures

My course mate Lauren had arranged to visit 3d animation company distant futures I thought this might be a good opportunity to tag along and see there studio and how they work. As id already been in contact with them over a possible day visit or placement I dropped them a quick email asking if I could tag along with Lauren and kill two birds with one stone. They were happy for me to come down with Lauren and Lauren herself was happy for the company so it was a win win. Once we arrived at the studio we were show around the building then sat in the studio for a long chat about the industry, about distant futures and about ourselves. Whilst talking I could see artists on internships working in the studio, it was great to see familiar applications being used and modeling, rigging and concept design in full swing. I asked many questions about the company and got a good insight to there past and current projects. We also discussed various application, there uses and personal thoughts about software and techniques.

I asked If we could have a quite wonder round each artist so we could see what they were doing this also gave me a chance to ask about there own background and where they’d come from. It made me begin to compare myself and think about my own journey up to this point. I left the studio feeling very confident about myself and where I was at at this stage coming towards to end of my degree. After this experience I really felt like a good balance of talent and hard work could make working my way into the creative industries a reality. They also mentioned possible internships when we finish our degree course and I made it clear that this is something I would definitely be interested in.

Big thanks to distant futures for having us around!

Alien Lip sync

Another project I worked on out side of college was providing assistance to another student who urgently needed somebody to animate and lip sync an alien character for his own uni project, I was quite nervous about accepting the task as animation isn’t really an area id focused on but as it was in maya a program im relatively confident, in and the assets and sound recording were all provided, I took the job and did the best I could given the 2 day time frame I had. I basically collected a bunch of lip sync images showing the mouth positions for different letters and I animated the characters mouth so the positions fit the words. This worked quite well and I was happy with the final result I just took a bit of time a patience contantly playing back the animations with sound.

I passed it back to the guy as an image sequence with alpha channels to he could do pretty much whatever with it and he seem very happy with the work id done for him. This added to my own confidence knowing Id done a good job for a type of industry based task. Its nice to be able to work on a project with only a focused responsibility and its made me more open to collaborate rather than attempt to do everything on my own. But at the same time is nice to be pushed out of your comfort zone an try something different. This is the final render I passed on below which he then composite into his project. I also smoothed the model out for him and made some adjustments to the textures. I think he basically downloaded the rigged character online because it looked quite familiar. hopefully his project came out well

Creative networks Logo

I entered a competition with course mate Lauren to create a sting for creative networks. This was quite a short project and we both decided upon our roles in order to get the job done. Lauren did the organisation, brief planning and editing whilst I was responsible for the 3D effects, we both had equal collaboration on the concepts and decided that making us of 3d applications would be a must as we both like working with 3D.

After discussing concepts with Lauren I mocked up some examples using cinema 4d and she gave me feedback and we both discussed the development until we had a final result we were both happy with.

Whilst the project was technically challenging it still gave me the opportunity to have a go at creating a sting as its not something id done previously.

I regards to the competition we managed to come joint 1st an was awarded gift vouchers of our choice. From an industry perspective it was a great project to get involved in because you begin to realize that 3D skills can cater for a wider range of work. Making logos and stings using 3d could potentially bring work and experience, more importantly they can help to build up a good showreel.

early concept

final

behance

http://www.behance.net/

I find behance to be a very motivational site when thinking about projects to start up. Theere is a good contrast in work. It also a good place to showcase your work. You select from all areas of the creative industry which means people looking for artists can visit the site an find your work and if you what they are looking for, possibly hire you for a job. You can also view artist portfolios adn some of wqhich contain tutorials from the artists to explain techniques they have used in there work.

Kim Vongbunyong caught me eye on this site, a 3d artist that does modeling, texturing, lighting and composting. His main job title as a freelancer is texture and lighting artist so he seems to specialize in theses main areas as well as being able to model and animate.

Looking closer at one of his animations see below a fish he created for one of this animations, I really like the attention to detal in both the modeling and textures Incorporating metals into the design and texture.

Game character modeling

Originally as part of my FMP I agreed to model 4 game characters for Zoe’s game project. I felt that my experience with modeling would allow me to achieve this fairly easy along side my own project.

I hadn’t anticipated that organic modeling and low poly game character to modeling we be very different from the usual hard surface modeling which I was used to.

I did some basic research into how I could approach this task to work out a good pipe line I could follow for each character. Looking at a book by Antony Ward called game character development and a few other online tutorials I decided to sculpt the entire model then retopologise the geometry. I began using z brush for the most part and hit a lot of learning curves using the software for it then to begin crashing on me every time i attempted to save my progress. eventually I had to make do with the sculpt i had managed to save so far based on the image planes i had imported into Z brush. I decided to retopologise the model in maya because I was familiar with how to do it. I had considered programs such as topogun that specialize in retopology but i felt i didnt have time to learn the software. I used a z Brush tool that reduces the high poly count from the sculpt but still keep its same shape, to which I imported into maya and retopologised.

I found it very tricky learning to think and visualize low poly, this consumed a lot of my time because I had to consider the poly count and keep it to a minimum. but finally i got some nice geometry.

I didnt take into account id also be required to Uv map and texture the character as well but I couldnt just hand over a model of the character and expect anybody else on the project with the same experience or less than me to do it. Regardless I decided to press on and look closer at Zoes game speaker to her and the rest of the team to get an idea of how the textures will need to look. I based my research around the borderlands game and attempted to copy a similar cartoon like style. To main diffuse maps did most of the work and I also sculpted a bump map in mudbox for more details so i could combine a shadow map with the diffuse map. So I basically had the diffuse & shadow map combine in photoshop and then the bump map created in mud box.

I hit some big learning curves in regards to uv mapping when considering the uve lay out and how the textures worked with low polys. I had to constantly go back and forth between maya, photoshop and mudbox until I got a good result. I was also later required to add a coat to the character because it hadnt been designed until later. see final result below.

Eventually I spoke with Zoe and told her that I can only do this one character as time was running out for my own project. There was no way on earth id been able to spend time modeling and texturing any more character for the game. I really felt Id let Zoe and her team down in a bit way.

What I did take from this is that I had some good experience in the game character development process.

As a final result

Towards the end of the project my story board was turned on its head and fed to the pigs.

Almost all of my object tracking footage was UN-trackable due to the new device i made to go onto my actors back. Because it was connected by wire hooks over the shoulders when the actor moved it caused the movement to come from the shoulders and neck so when the wings were tracked they didn’t appear to be connected to the back at all. I had to really dig deep to salvage some of the footage to track which really effected my story and I had to chop the editing down to compensate for the lack of cgi wing, which was really what this project was about, I had an opportunity to re film extra shots the Saturday before the deadline but my actor was away for the weekend. So I just spent time trying to fix both the keying and tracking elements. If only id kept with my original piece of card and sellotape.

Id say that the finished product was a rough concept for my original idea and im confident that given and opportunity to finish this I could have achieved my original goals. (see final edit below)

god of war live action

The main influence toward the end of the project had to be the god of war live action trailer for the release of God of war 4.

I love how they brought the game character to life with use of live footage and CGI effects, watching the making of this was very interesting because I could see how the sets were used including the lighting and green screen, it was a shame that they didnt really do into the actual CGI which was the most important elements for me. It made me also realize the amount of work that goes into a production of this nature. This trailer really informed some of my decision making in regards to implementing a vfx background and to attempt to take my character from a studio theatre into a different world.

beyonce pepsi

I saw this pepsi commercial, the visual effects are nice, I think shattering stuff really gives style but at the same time drama to a visual effect in advertisements.

Colour grading

I experimented with various colour adjustments in after effects, here are some still of different moods and tones taking into consideration my earlier research into photography direction.

I used tint, levels, curves and various other colour adjustments in after effects, then posted up of the DFGA facebook page and got some good feedback.

Working with the final footage

The idea of using blue screen was the first issue which really slowed the vfx down as keying out became a difficult task. Because I used the same lighting set up I didn’t consider that the blue would require brighter lights to highlight it for keying. Also I felt decided that the actual colour of the blue screen material seemed very faded and there was a minimal contrast between blue and grey tones in the blue screen footage recorded also maybe shadows showed up all over it and why my actor moved so did the material, and do did the shadows.

Initial keying presented very jumpy keying with lots of constant moving noise all over the blue areas. I had to do some online research to find ways around this. I disovered that using both the keylight and colour range effects did an ok job removing the green and blue, though the outline around my actor in the blue areas where still quite noisy. I also used a simple choker to tighten up the edges and reduce noise from the darker areas.

I had to resort to rotoscoping parts that still gave off too much noise.

I decided that to save time tracking most shots, I could use 2D layers with a 3D camera for my background. Still shots could also be made to appear 3D if I turned my footage into a 3D layer. I could then use the after effect camera to control pans ect

see test below

Test shoots

When working on the story boards, i considered ways to showcase mainly the vfx but still tell a story.

(Insert story boards) the story boards were based on the narrative id created. Some of the scenes took some influence from other live action footage id seen such as adverts and music videos to which I captured screen shots and thought about how they could fit with the narrative. I did this in order to easily reference shots and visualize possible effects early on and to reduce time considering how the live action might look could look. A good example of this is particular eye close up shots seen in various videos. I think close shots to the eyes or eye really allow a stronger connection to a character and with a macro lens can deliver some great effects from just the eye visually on its own.

Above are screens I gathered from a mixture of videos which have used eye close ups and various other perspectives.

The first test shoot was to experiment with tracking the wings onto the back of my character, id decided earlier that planar & 3D camera tracking with points placed on the back would be my only option, this is because I felt I didn’t have time to experiment with different forms of motion tracking like the IP software or other mo cap techniques and other software. I felt it would be way too time consuming because I taken on game character modeling as part of my FMP which effected the progress of my main project. I filmed the tracking points with green screen so I could play with ideas and test how the wings would like when tracked onto my actor. The tracking went really well, the tracks were solid and id basically cut out a shape from card board to represent where the wings would be and also mark it with points to track. see tests below.

setting up
The first and final test shoot was based along a story board I created in maya, which I basically used a pre rigged model to position for pre visualization. Which was then chopped into a story board.

Here are the story board changes and development below, no idea why word press thinks the second one is upside down.
The story board was revised taking elements of the slight experimentation of the first full test shoot.

Lauren & Chapman helped with the 2nd test shoot Lauren had kindly agreed to act for me and help with equipment whilst Chapman along with Matt Burtons help set up the lighting and screen screen. I began directing them as a DOP in order for them to capture the lighting effect I needed. We use Scims and red heads, I could it quite interesting to revisit this side of the production after not touching film since my first years though I know its not my area of focus so I didn’t get too involved in research or experimentation with lighting. The more filming we did the more I began to wish it was over so I could be sat in front of my computer ready to start working on the the VFX. I was really pleased with the filming visually and the green screen keyed out with little effort. There were some minor issues with the tracking as far as focus and quality were concerned though after this test shoot I felt confident that all issues could be improved on and made to work just fine. Because time was also an issue we never actually tested shots to which the light set up had to be swapped around because we simple didn’t have time to change the lighting around to accommodate the different shots. I noted lighting positions so that we could set up the same lighting sequence quicker when it come to the final shoot.

Tracking
I began experimenting with tracking again as I had not touched it since the 2nd year, but picked up what id already learnt quite fast. here are some test results below,

First tests was to see if I could accurately track my wings onto the back of my actor using match mover. I asked the actor to moving in many different ways to see how far I could push the tracking points from this primary view. I was quite happy that my initial tracks seemed solid

I also used match mover to do a camera track for the evironment, which turned out very nice.

I also used tracking in after effects alone, the built in camera tracker gave some very nice results especially for tracking the environments surrounding my actor. In the clip below you can see the tracking points I used for both matchmover and after effects, id considered coordinates for the x,y and y axis of te shots

On the day of the final shoot Id decided to change 3 elements of the process. The first was the actual tracking markers for the actors back, I wanted something move solid an easier to detach and reattach through out the different shots. I created a new marker from wire, woods and cut out tracking markers, the idea was that the wires could be placed over the actors shoulders without having to be stuck on with tape. It seemed to do the trick and worked well whilst we filmed. Another change was to cover the floor with a blue screen as apposed to green in order to keep the shadows and reduce colour bleeding for keying. Research in a book called the green screen hand book informed me that blue screen is preferable when the actor is making contact with the screen and reduces colour bleeding, I felt this ideas would be vital because my actor had a cream color dress to which absorbed a lot of green colours from the green screen at such close contact making keying certain shots difficult, this was discovered in the first test shoot. The first change was to provide drink n snacks for the crew, which was the least i could do after the great effort they put in to the shooting. (see images below)

On the back of the final shoot id assumed that everything went well until I began processing the footage.

DIPLO music video

Similar to the chromes video I looked at earlier stage of this project this music video uses multiple moments of from live footage to created patterns, repeating the same piece of footage over and over. This also relies greatly on keying out back grounds so that the dancers can be integrated into the same scene. The video also makes nice use of masking n rotoscoping so the layers can appear to be inside of each other especially in this image of a mouth, see screen shot below. Breaking down this video I can see how I’ll will be able to add my actor into a virtual environment and use 3D layers inside after effects so I can control my composition and transitions through a camera layer and also add a sense of depth to the background. I think this video and the chrones vid have a nice contrast but the same time they seem to use the same VFX principles which are channeled through a completely different style and genre.

Texturing

above is a mood for the blade engraving design, ive always admired engravings on swords for certain films which as kill bill, Conan the barbarian, sucker punch and the clash of the titans remake. I think detail like this give of a distinct style and a nice element of realism through attention to detail, this is something I wanted to add to my project. Also above is an image of a dwarven mech from skyrim I think the engravings and patterns really add to the effect of the material and I wish to follow a similar concept for my model. I also added greek patterns in attempt to fit the wings into the theme. All this was a good opportunity to take textures and uv mapping further then id done in previous years of my course.

I designed the images to which i wanted calving into my materials in photoshop and then experimented with mudbox to produce maps to add onto my shaders in maya.

I ran into many problems and decided that bump maps would be much more efficient than displacements maps. The main reasons were because displacement maps required the approximation editor which drastically slowed down render times and bump maps looked just a good for the geometry i was dealing with. Also I realized that I didn’t need mudbox at all because my wings were pretty much a hard surface model and all the maps could be created entirely in photoshop. I wasted a great deal of time thinking I couldn’t do this without mudbox. To get even more accurate texture positioning on my model I took screen shots of the model from maya and used them as reference when placing the patterns for the bump maps in photoshop.

I also created glow maps to allow the engravings to glow inside the blades.

Completing the model

Once the model was finished I did a simple rig which only contained joints for the tail, the rest of the model is controlled by set driven keys, I took extra care to ensure that the rig was constrained with controllers that could be easily selected for animation and manipulation including rescale. One thing I did realise was that the grouped segments of the tail needed to be merged together so they wouldn’t deform when resizing the Wings.

Realising the wings in 3D

I created a range of image plains that contained separate parts of the wings so I could quickly switch when I needed to focus on a particular element of modeling.
Before I began modeling I placed basic primitives such as tubes at the main pivot points of my model and added them to a separate layer, this way I can easily snap new geometry straight into place.

Once my model reaches a fairly high detailed stage I will test render with x materials to check the model and assess the progress and see if there any shapes or parts id like to change before finalizing it.

I will also play with the wing rotations to check out how they look when they spread out, the images plains help again to show me how the wings will fold out.

The tail was going to be optional though the tail end was vaguely referenced in the image plains apart that I just looked at some bird tails and the human spine and made a combination of the two and to go with the theme of the wings i made some blades and a spike at the end, kinda like a lethal scorpion tail. I took influence from the transformer Ravage and looking at the toy of Ravage allowed me to determine a simple mechanism for the blades n spike. although I didn’t copy its exactly it set my on the right track and saved lots of time. I also added a rig to the tail whilst it designed it so I could see how it might move.

Wings

Among interpretations of gods and goddesses research shows that wings seem to be  used as a symbol of Empowerment to portray a god like status. Nike is a popular symbolized figure seen with wings in most statues and paintings. Most other winged deities in the Greek pantheon had shed their wings by Classical times. Nike is the goddess of strength, speed, and victory. .Wings can also be show in a negative or positive light with reference of animals, for example bird wings are show on gods n angels and demons have bat like wings possibly because they aren’t as pretty to look at. My research on nemesis connects her to some more popular stories from the greek mythology genre. its interesting the she isn’t as well known in popular culture compared to various other gods. This is another reason she was used for the basis of my story. I wanted to make use of some less familiar sources to base my story upon mainly because I wanted room to not consider what other people had done with the same idea. Nemesis is also depicted with wings in her statues and paintings, so as I began to consider ways in which I could portray empowerment from the gods with VFX wings seemed to be an obvious choice because there would be so much I could do visually. Nemesis also believe that know body should have too much good happen to them so I have considered the wings to be curse and not just a tool of retribution to thicken the content to bas my designs on. See images of Nemesis below with wings!

Right image – Nemesis, Roman marble from Egypt, 2nd century AD (Louvre) Left image – Nemesis, by Alfred Rethel (1837)

So now the main challenge is to consider my story line, The wings have been handed down as a weapon or armament that gives strength and power to its barer but at the same time the wings are a curse controlling the barer to carry out revenge without fear or awareness Similar to The Mask (1994) with Jim Carey. The design of the wings will need to interpretation both intimidation, protection  and style whilst still retain there god like representation.

I began looking at references of wings for from different perstectives to become more familiar with there shapes by looking at anatomy, nature, fiction and animation.

A look at wings, thinking about wings shape and movements. Getting a general feel for the anatomy of wings.

Nature Provides the best source of wings from birds that come in many different shapes and structures. From this point I have decided that the main task will be to convert these wing references into a mythological type of functioning automation in the same way weapons and mechanical contraptions work in fantasy film & games like the game Skyrim with its Dwemer Automatons.

Whilst the design isnt really the main focus of the project, i keep becoming more and more draw in by thinking about the design of the wings because I want them to look good. If they don’t look good then I feel the rest of the project will suffer. This time Ive allowed reference to overtake the design to speed things up rather that using my artistic senses allow which I normal prefer to do. This was advised by a contact I made who works for Frame Store whilst giving my advice on this project. Whilst the design and concept is the most fun to me I need quicker results so by using reference I can take the creative weight of my shoulders and focus on other tasks. Using reference images I developed a few concepts whilst considering the story and allowed feedback to transform the look as I went along. Mood boards help me figure out how the wings would work, especially looking at other ideas of woman with wings. (see mood below)

I decided that feathers on the wings could be replaced by blades to better follow the story, my character had to look powerful and mean business regarding the concept of revenge and retribution, looking at other ways this had been done in my mood boards you can see that blade do just that.First concepts Below I find it useful to take my sketches in photoshop and chop them and switch them around so I cant begin to see functionality and other ideas

 

 

This lead me onto looking closer at flick knifes as they retract in slightly similar ways to wings and some of these knifes like the Leatherman for example have great style and beauty also, Looking closer at leatherman knifes, I found that they have many holes cut into them to make them a much lighter weight, I felt this was a great idea and decided to implement this into my own design because not only would it give my wings more style it would also make them seem lighter and less bulky. (knife moods below)

I wasnt happy with the previous concepts because Feedback from my course friends and tutors indicated that the shape wasn’t very wing like and I wanted to step up to this challenge which meant starting from scratch whilst baring everything else id done up to this point in mind. I started chopping photos and overlaying the blades over wing images to get more ideas. ( see 2 examples below)

May problems were presented as far as the functionality, I really wanted the feathers to work more like a flick knife than real wings but at the same time I wanted them to appear like wings, so Id decide to fuse bother ideas together by allowing the wings to spread out like a fan. once the concept was done I decided that it worked quite well and as time was running out I need to begin modeling at this point so I chose I final design and took the plains into Maya (See final concept image  below) Also some how a tail was suggested so I took that in as well.

 

The final concept above was technically planned to that the rotations would work in Maya, though adjustments were made once the modeling had begun, Ill leave the modeling for another post.

stone knight

Its very useful for me to break down how I would tackle these kinds of tests and to see what software and techniques were used. In the video below the artist has used 3d elements in after effects to composite his CG into his footage along with the use of green/blue screen. This is the kinds of techniques I will be looking at once my story boards has been developed.

 

sequence concept

The sequence will be based around a character performance that will merge together my narrative concept and  a loose temporal visual experience combined with visual effects.

This concept surrounds styles from inspiring takes on Greek mythology in films like Zach Snyder’s 300 (2006) and Immortals by Tarsem Singh (2011). Both films also use slow motion as a way of focusing in on the power in fight sequences and the general movement of their characters to create a temporal experience, as one of my previous essays was based around the effects of slow motion in film I think the effect will be very useful as a tool of communication towards to audience.

below are some screen shots from 300 at points where slow motion is used to create a visual temporal experience of a fight sequence and the oracles spiritual performance.

 

Sculpture Park

Recently I took a completely random trip to the Yorkshire sculpture park with a friend who was looking for some inspiration for her own project. Little did I know that this trip would connect towards my own project by pure chance. I had no idea about what artists were exhibiting at the park but one in particular was Yinka Shonibare and is FABRIC-ATION works. I felt that 2 pieces of his work in particular connected to my own project. The first was a piece of photography called  Fake Death Picture (The Death of St Francis) see image below.

From a distance the image looked so much like a Renaissance painting in the same way the Immmortal’s film by Tarsem Singh did. It was nice to see this effect again and it really confirmed that I would like to use a similar effect for my sequence. The main reason for this is because I think the use of shadows really brings out an image in the same way comic books use shadow to highlight characters and environments, its seem silly to compare a comic book to a renaissance painting but the shadows are really still doing the same thing, but in a far more complex way, as it would with film.

Going back to the sculpture park Yinka Shonibare also had a film on display. Listening to his interview on the tate website see link below, He used dance as a medium to expressing his work. One fundamental thing about this film was the use of playing footage in reverse, done in such a way that you don’t realize this at first. I allows for a different control of movement and I slightly uncanny element to the performance. I cannot find a clip of this anywhere, only other films he has done with similar visuals. see link to artist page http://www.yinkashonibarembe.com/artwork/film/?image_id=89

Visual look

The look of Tarsem’s Immortals really stuck out to me and I wanted to find out where the idea came from. After looking at various interviews and watching the bonus features I found out that the visuals were inspired by  Renaissance painter Giovanni Bellini I compared images from the film and the artist painting and it was quite striking to see how similar the works looked against each other, the lighting plays a strong part in creating such a magnificent visualization. I would like to take this on board when lighting my own sequence. see images below. I also feel a need to insert my CG elements into this visual world because I think it will be nice to integrate 3d into the shadows of the compositions.

The narrrative and concept behind the sequence

The narrative behind my project is loosely based around the expression of empowerment with concepts taken from both Greek and superhero mythologies; Comic creators marvel and DC have used many Greek mythologies and adapted them to their own characters for example Wonder Woman was an Amazon warrior. I would like to make use of the connections and interactions between mortals and gods. In various mythologies gods have helped mortals and demigods by providing them with powers or mythological objects including swords, clothing and armour to aid them in whatever conflict they are caught up in. Hephaestus was the Greek black smith of the gods known for creating these kinds of artefacts. I will take this concept and use CG effects to display mythical wings to symbolize empowerment and revival in the performance. I’ve chosen wings because they have been used as attributes on many depictions of gods including the goddess I will use in my story line.     The back story to the performance will be an interpretation of revival. The concept focuses on the damaged souls of woman who have fallen victim to the injustice of men. One particular soul has been granted empowerment by Nemesis the Greek goddess of retribution to seek revenge upon evil men that feast upon the weak and helpless. The soul has been given given back to its original body and the ability to transform all of its pent up emotion into powerful spirit/armoured wings.  We see this idea of rival combine with revenge in many films, ones which I find particularly inspiring and relevant towards my project include, Kill Bill: Volume: 1 (2003), I spit of your grave (1978) and The Crow (1994). These films seem to portray revenge as a superhuman like feat and the characters gain a god like invincibility as they act out there revenge, I think this is why the idea of revenge reflects the idea of gods and superhero mythologies.

parallel lines

I found a great short on you tube called the gift, what really caught my eye was the robot and its design. This type of robot design seems very popular at the moment, lots of internal functionality encased in a smooth outer shell usually rendered with a white material. If the form is humanoid or not to me this is a distinct type if robot aesthetic. This kind of design can be seen in robots like the Bjork all is full of love video and the robots in the portal games not to mention many artist that have followed a similar style like Benedict Campbell. I’ve made a compilation of images based around these robots for examples sake which I think follow the same style of design. I think it’s useful for me to pin point particular styles because I can be more in tune with the different styles that are out there for what ever project i might involved in.

I later found out that this ad is part of a cinematic campaign for Philips which used to promote Phillips electronics. This consists of 5 short films created by 5 different directors that make use of 6 pieces of dialogue, turned into 5 completely different films. The visual contrast between the story’s is very interesting to watch combined with the use of different mediums. The subheading for the campaign is ‘There are millions of ways to tell a story. There’s only one way to watch one.’ cool stuff.

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/april/philips-parallel-lines-films

chronos

I found this award winning piece of work on vimeo,  the effect of frame pausing and multiplication of image appears to produce all kinds of patterns (to which some appear very complex) from the moving parts of the body. At times I can see shapes like wings from the arm movements at 2.16, mins in. I also think it gives of a sense of flow. The technique that inspired this piece of work is cronophotography which is the method of photos taken in rapid succession to study moment. Research into this moving image shows me that the creators wanted to enhance our perception of motion, to me this seems to have a similar effect to what slow motion can create giving us a temporal experience, a way of looking deeper into what are eyes witness. According to the directors Michael Langan & Terah Maher the narrative is driven by the dances experience of discovery, euphoria, and rebirth. Recently Ive been thinking about a narrative structure for my final major project and I would like to incorporate the idea of empowerment as a main concept for my sequence, this will be incorporated into the live actors performance and attributed by 3d elements to further elaborate on the idea of empowerment.

bjorks hunter

Created by digital domain, this stunning piece of vfx for bjork’s Hunter music video really shows how live footage and cgi can be brought together with great results. The thing i like about this is the fact that there isn’t really any need for photo realism for the cgi elements. The creators wanted to create a techno effect to compliment Bjorks music, which is compliments it very well as the cg is very shiny and shell like but almost organic. The makers tell us that they had no intentions of making it photo-realistic which i agree isn’t really needed. It has its own unique style and I think it expresses a very techno nature because it looks so computer generated on purpose.  I’m also interested in the way the bear has been used to symbolise the concept of the song. This is something I will consider for my own project, id like to use ideas from an animal to symbolism a mood or representation as part of the cg effects  in a similar way. see link for music video and making of article below

http://unit.bjork.com/specials/gh/SUB-10/index.htm

 

Mortal Kombat legacy

Recently Ive been watching the mortal kombat: legacy episodes on you tube, having been a fan of the games and previous films as a teen I thought it would be worth a watch. I was initially quite shocked and very impressed at the high level of VFX used on the episodes. Kevin Tancharoen has directed the entire series after previously directing the 3d a concert based film. He has a background in dance choreography which at first id say was a big contrast but from a performance perspective, it’s quite the same thing when considering the fight sequences ect.  Shown on the Machinima  you tube channel channel Legacy is a kind  of spin-off from the Mortal Kombat rebirth short also directed by Tanchaoen though the style had reverted back towards to original concepts from the came as Ed Boom the original co-creator of the Mortal Kombat game series. These kind of web adaptations can been seen as a pitch towards a bigger project, once people are interested and the pitch becomes popular it can give bigger companies more confidence to go ahead with a game or feature film from the initial idea. Its said that warner bros are now giving the go ahead for a big screen adaptation in 2014. This proves that small ideas can be used and presented to then become something bigger so ill never shy away from smaller projects that fit in with my area of interest.

This is certainly something id like to be hopefully involved in when I finish my degree, it obviously got me thinking about my own abilities and where i fit as a practitioner in the creative industry. It also shows me that I have a particular interest towards live action VFX with both 2d and 3d elements. Episode 9 of the series really caught my eye.  A high level of CGi with mo cap was used for the Cyrax and Sector characters. These kind of vfx connect very well with my FMP.

R’ha

 

I caught this CG short on 3d world and traced it back to vimeo.  Its a typical sci fi story line but the visual elements including design and cinematography are very nice considering it was done by one individual (Kaleb lechowski)  Im was unsure about the animation from the first time Id watched it and it seems that animation may not be a strong point for the creator. The secondary animation on the alien skin seems to react slightly off compared to the primary movement when I look at the large flaps on either side of the aliens head. Also when the Alien runs something doesn’t seem right about its movement in comparison to its environment, a lot of its running seems to be hidden as well which may be why I was  put of by its animation cycle. Web sources indicate that Hollywood executives have seen this short and have asked Kaleb to fly over and work on some project maybe, True or not, again it shows how a the effort put into the making a short animation can really showcase your abilities and create an online buzz for your work as far as the web can reach.

Vimeo link

http://vimeo.com/57148705

A feel for ballet

Ballet is a beautiful form of dance and I feel inspired to make an attempt to compliment the art with visual effects and find a way of implementing my own visuals to extend a particular mood towards a performance and maybe incorporate some of my own feelings and expressions in as well. I have briefly dug around to see what other comparisons are out there of cg that compliments movement in similar ways. Things like the hunter music video by Bjork and the film Black Swan use visual effect with movement in very interesting ways, I’m sure there are many other examples but this feels like the right starting point for research.  The performance must drive the computer graphics so that nothing is taken away from the spirit of movement created by the dance.

This is a very early concept image I drew whilst at work when I first came up with the concept about a month ago.

robot ad

This advert is a good example of a contrast between 2 different types of robot design, we see an old robot reminiscent of the toys from the early 1950’s against a high detail cgi robot which is something like we would see used in film in our present date. I like the way that the creators have used the 2 designs to communicate new technology  and the future. It’s good to see this kind of contrast because it shows how far we have come in regards to what we expect visually. Having said that the toy robot has its own unique retro style and form that we are so familiar with.

transparent House

During my independent practice module I came  across an advert for blazing dragonfly vodka, it’s a cgi advert which involves high detail mechanical cg dragonflys covered in flames. Its very nicely done and right up my street in regards to cgi design animation. I decided to research the company who produced it and get some more insight into the concept. It was created by Transparent House who began as a design and visualisation fire with a focus on CGI. I found the making of the advert and also read up a few articles about the advert. I discovered that the advert was fictional, created to showcase their talent to potential clients. I think this is a great idea because although the advert is fictional it still has as much chance in getting peoples attention and you don’t have to wait around for a client to give you such a brief.

I  had a particular interest in the development of the dragonfly’s so I  took the opportunity to email them. They were very kind in responding to me and answered all my questions regarding the artists that worked on the project. I was quite stunned to find out the dragonfly’s were designed, modelled, rigged and animated by a single artist. Z-brush was  initially used which was then retopologised in max. Its clear that quite a lot of artists out there will use a sculpting application to get lots of detail out of there designs. The sculpt info can then be easily translated into any 3d application. I also asked for some more images from the development such as close ups and more shots of the rigging elements of the dragonfly to give me ideas for my own projects. They kindly sent some nice screens of the development work which im very grateful for.

Study Task 1

3D agency’s

I feel its useful to touch on 3D agencies because these are companies dedicated towards bringing artists and clients together creating many opportunities. For example I have looked at 3D AGENCY. They cover the areas of advertising, automotive, character design and illustration which are all possible areas for which I could enter the industry doing. These kind of agencies cater for a large range of work, Agent bob in particular covers pretty much every aspect of the industry see list below.

3D illustrations for TV, print and advertising.
2D and 3D artists covering every discipline.
3D animation and character design.
CGI Visualisation.
Pre-production 3D artists and storyboards.
Production management.
Creative retouching and beauty retouching.
Sound FX, music and the recording of voice talent.

These agency websites contain galleries of the work they have produced and it gives me a good understanding about the quality of work they expect their artists to achieve and more importantly showcase the agency and artists to potential clients

Agency Company links below

http://www.the3dagency.com/contact/

http://www.agentbob.co.uk/

http://timothycreative.wordpress.com/category/cgi-artist/

 

Animation Base

Animation base are a web based organization which advertise jobs within the animation industry, it basically takes job seekers and companies looking to hire and makes it easier for them to find each other by presenting a data base of available jobs and a list employers. The site displays recent activity from companies who are actively looking for employees. Obviously you have to register on the site to gain full access, but its free so it would be very useful for anybody wanting to get into the creative industry to sign up.

The site allows you to input your CV so that companies can take a look and obviously find links to show reels or blogs to see what your about and what you are capable of. Something like this will definitely benefit me once I have my degree. site link: http://www.animationbase.com/

CREATIVE SKILL SET

Creative skill set is a website that focuses on the creative industry, it provides endless information about the skills needed to get into the industry. It also provides careers advice and points you in the right direction for training courses  and educational routes with its vast amount of careers information.

This site is usful to me because it can keep me in touch with the changes in the industry long after my degree has finished. It also has contact to which you can ask questions regarding your specific area of expertise .

Another interesting aspect to the sign is the events calendar by which you can keep up to date events that concern your area of interest.

Also by joining them I can contact other members and extend my networking scope and find lots of interesting new people who are in a similar situation to myself. Not to mention more experienced members who could present opposites and even provide feedback on my work.

CGI society

This is basically what it says on the tin, a society for digital artists to showcase there work. Not only that, the site contains a selection of category from the CG porfolio (in which you can keep a collection of your work in which potential clients can view with ease) to the CGI features page (this contains up to date articles from industry level, so you can check out how the next block buster movie was made). As a 3D artists my self, it really puts the outside world into more perspective because their is endless work to view from very corner of digital art. The challenges section allows members to submit work for live briefs through competitions with a lot of great prizes to be won. Another way in which becoming a member could benefit me is getting feedback on my work. Looking through the galleries you can see tones of constructive feedback on even the best looking work. This kind of communication is invaluable to artists because they can never stop improving their work. (site link: http://www.cgsociety.org/

http://www.media-freaks.com/articles/how-animation-can-help-sell-products-and-services

RedStar Creative

This is a slightly different area of the creative industry but one not to be discounted because from a business perspective it could be a vital element to optimizing your brand should you ever be lucky enough to have your own business or even get as far as starting one up. RedStar offer web soloutions to companies which is a very important tool for generating awareness of your company to the public through mediums like social networking .

Although this may not appeal to me directly at this stage, knowing that the web is one of the most powerful tools backed up my companies like RedStar who use web advertising as a main focus helps me to consider the many ways I can market myself without leaving the office. site Link:http://www.redstarcreative.co.uk/who/who-are-redstar-creative.aspx

All Animated

All Animated are a regional support organization designed to create opportunities within the animation industry. They provide information on learning, networking and even organize events. There new site is still under construction at the moment but there is still lots of information that can be found on All Animated activities. All animated is now funded by creative England who support and invest in creative ideas and aim to bring forth the full potential of England’s creative industry. All animated are relevant to me because they provide a good connection for 3D artists within my countries community and beyond. I will greatly benefit from signing up with the organization because again, once I have left my study I can still be kept involved in the animation industry. Using my friends as an example its easy to see how people can fall out of the loop once they leave study and take on an everyday job to make money. All animated is my connection to the trade I have learnt. There are other sites like this out there but I chose this one because its closer to home as I like in Yorkshire myself

Final animation

Im happy with a few of the shots but I needed to leave more time for editing before the deadline and rendering took longer than id thought, ive learn so much from this project and hopefully the next one will be on the next level.

 

 

ANGELTEC

So to advterise my arm I needed to design a fictional company, I came up with the name Angeltec after a lot of thining  and looking at company names including fictional ones like the Umbrella corporation from the resident evil series. I wanted the name to relate to the arm and the symbol as well. I chose angel because it relates to us extending our abilities in a sense when we die we become angels with wings n stuff. as my company specializes in extending the human ability with technology Angeltec seems appropriate. For the final symbol design (highlighted in red) i broke down and simplified the symbols we see on toilet doors removed the arms and legs and slightly extended one of the arms pointing upwards this is to try represent an extension of our body. Angeltech is already a company brand so i changed the spelling slightly and dropped the H.

GI – getting some nice reflections

whilst rendering for most of the scenes i wanted the arm to appear as floating in dead space, the all the HDRI images I had to render realistically posed the problem of reflecting in the arm, for example on the chrome parts you could see the street from the HDRI image. This wouldn’t really give the impression of the arm floating in the void, so I created my own HDRI images in Photoshop, i experimented with a few until i got some nice clear reflections of white on my arm. images below show the different reflections cast, I changed the levels in Photoshop to get a better idea of the reflective shapes cast.

I couldnt quite seem to get a realistic look from these basic images about so I thought that mixing them with other images might work and it paid off, I used clouds as an over lay and adjusted the levels n curves in photoshop to finally get a look a wanted. Its a pretty cowboy approach and looks a mess but It worked out for me.

A ROOM

i one of my scenes I have a slightly futuristic looking room in which the arm is kept, the camera will pan in on the arm as it floats in a anti gravity plinth.

I needed a quick visual of the room to model so Jake kindly did a quick concept for me to work from, again time was running out and I had to free model in a few hours so i could start thinking about how i could light the room, I kept with basic shaders with slight reflections and used basic thin rectangles for the light with a illuminant texture on them. This was originally because I wanted to use GI but I spoke with 3D designer Jamie Martin and he suggested using ambient occlusion because it renders quicker and can give good control to shadows in post production.

In the above image you can see the how i determined the settings for OI in Cinema 4D, I also used a depth of field pass which required me to set up the focal length of the camera and adjust the rear blur perimeters to get the blur in the back ground. The blur pass also allowed me to adjust the intensity of the blur in post production

CONSOLE DESIGN

If i had time I wanted to impliment a console that comes out of the forarm to display dyagnostic specs of the arm including strength setting and a GPS location system. I did a quick sketch and then recreated in after effects.

This required me to become familiar with layer shapes in after effects as the display is entirely made up from layer shapes. This consumed a fair bit of time an took me a fair few hours to learn and complete the task.

I wanted it animated so I had to fiddle with basic expressions including wiggle and cycle animation. I could have spent way more hours to get it looking good but I simply didn’t have the time. most of the features on the arm are just for shape and movement to make it look a bit more interesting, they simply don’t serve a purpose which really annoys me. The only things that remotely make any sense is the strength setting, GPS scanner, oh and the weather display.

STORY BOARD

This is the 2nd and final draft of my story board, ive lost the rough original which is really annoying because i wanted to post it up and include it in my hand in. Remaking it did help though I tided up the sketches and made it more clear to understand, although still quite lose in parts its great to have a plan to go by!

CAr ads

I think id like to be able to compare my robotic arm to other expensive products on the market, a future market anyway,  that would be advertised a specific way, electrical/machine based products with a lot of function like Cars inparticular stick out because they are very expensive and in a way they are a more realistic example of extending our abilities. Car ads have many different ways to show there products, ive noticed some particular elements and a pattern quite a few cars ads fit into. ive picked out a few examples.

FUNNY –  in this ad we see humor as its portrays the car begin faster than the worlds fastest land vehicle. The idea is quite witty because its not obvious at first.

TRANSFORM – This ad uses humor, but also very high end visual effects like what we could expect to see in films creating more appeal.

SHATTER – we see a lot of shatter effects in car ads, I think this could be just down to artistic beauty, its always nice to see things shatter into millions of pieces, this is definitely a trade of motion graphics which are used a lot in car ads

SHADOWS – again this one uses motion graphics which look look quite dated now but still, here is a good example of shadows and darkness. Its as if the parts are floating in space, i really like this effect which is also quite abstract in parts because it helps focus my attention on the car transformation. I love the artistic flare of these kind of ads

COLOUR – this ad shows the car in a vast selection of colours in just a short period of time, layers galore but a good way to show a customer how it looks in their fav colour.

FEATURES/NARRATIVE DRIVEN – This ad shows how a more detailed narrative can be used to show of features in the car, also it pays good attention to the digital display feature of the car.

I will take some of these elements into consideration when creating my animation

omni corp

This  viral ad for the robot cop remake is a kind if public service announcement from omnicorp, a fiction company set in the film which is responsible for creating Robocop. Ive broken down elements of the ads which communicate to the public with the film footage of people and the city. I like the way it shows the products in action. It also teases us at the end which a glimpse at the suit masked in shadow and close up cam pans.

This post was a must because the original film had some pretty over the top, fictional ads played on tvs during the film, which is definitely part of my inspiration for this project. It was Director Paul Verhoeven who directed robot cop and its cool to see how similar ad’s crop up in more of his films, titles which include Total Recall and Starship troopers. I think these ads give the film another element of realism as advertisement plays a big part in our everyday lives. I found a interesting web article that shows a collection of these ads see the paragraph below. it explains how ads in film can also play an important role in films. site link http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/13880/top-25-fictional-ads-in-sci-fi-movies

extract from site below

Whether video or printed, advertisements only have moments to engage the viewer/reader and convey an enormous amount of information. Therefore they can be a great benefit to science-fiction films which have complex societal or technological backstories essential to the core plot, but which are a potential drag on pushing the narrative forward.

Apart from this practical consideration, the scope for humour and societal satire is immense when inventing ads in this particular genre. Robocop writers Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner admit that they strip-mined the rich vein of satire – much of which is contained in commercials – in the UK Judge Dredd comic (created by John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra). Dredd‘s incisive take on advertising culture has spread through Robocop not only into that film’s sequels but also into a number of other SF movies since, including many by Robocop director Paul Verhoeven and his Total Recall collaborator Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I intend to look at more ads to build a better picture to how my ad is to be presented to feature my arm design.

prosphetics in the real world

Here are some clips I looked at about prosthetic s in the real world we live in, the technology and like of the limbs are becoming better in both visual and functionality.

Dorset orthopedic  http://www.dorset-ortho.com/prosthetics/silicone-solutions/designer-cosmeses/

http://www.depuy.com/healthcare-professionals/product-details/altrxtrade-altralinkedtrade-polyethylene

pros arm ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzgAbYdbn_8&feature=player_embedded

Spotted this ad from the be bionic arm, some interesting points to consider about the clip, the good use of shadows n light to reveal the arm, showing movement and function of the arm. I’m also getting an idea about where to put text within my own ad,.

watch ad

Ive broken down this old watch advert, with a focus on the ending title sequence. This form of presentation is seen in many adverts. It gives a clear visual picture of the product, product name and company name. I might try to implement this into my animation. Ive highlighted these parts with a white border.

The Zantium alloy coating – Arm material

Looking looking back on the blog post i did for fictional materials, I decided to base my idea around both non fictional and fictional. I came up with the Idea for a (Zantium) alloy coating, which has the ability to encase any kind of metal, preferably light weight metals and amplify its ability to resist all manner of damage and corrosion. This will allow for the most light weight metals to be used for the arm. The non fictional part comes from a quick look into alloys and how there properties can be combined to create an improved metal or plastic.

Alloys – combining metals or non metals together. For example: titanium mixed with molybdenum, aluminium, zirconium, chromium and vanadium, makes titanium beta C. Mixing these elements creates an alloy with different attributes, titanium beta C has an improved resistance to corrosion  from saline environments and acids.  Its also easier to melt and heat treat.

Finding out how these alloys should look isn’t an easy task as internet sources show it though microscopic visuals so you can see the different elements fused together. I think this can be achieved by simply using a noise or fractal effect in a shaders. I think a nice mix of gloss n reflection will be idea for the Zantium alloy coating, now i have to consider the colours.  I posted up some different colours renders online to see what people think

I get a mixed bag of feedback with the help of facebook, see below

This lead me onto doing some other quick tests, including, superhero themed, skins tones, and customer requests.

so many ideas and different opinion’s Ive decided to go with white as its a very clean colour an makes the least suggestions as to who it might appeal towards.

So Zantium is going to be a nice shiny white, not too shiny though because I want you to be able to see nice white reflections in the animation.

IRON MAN – suit animations

In looking closer to breakdowns and modeling of the iron man suit I can see the level of detail in the mechanics of the moving pieces, this is something I would like to incorporate into my arm design but obviously on a lesser scale. The tiny joints inside the suit manipulate the armored plates allowing them to move. I guess thinking smaller in regards to modeling will benefit this kind of animating ability. It’s quite difficult to except the contrast from modeling geometry on different scales for the same model. Something I need to get my head around.

below are my boxed in shapes for the console in the forearm the red sketch shows how i worked out the rotations on pivot points for the inter structure to move the console from inside the arm. This was then controlled with set driven keys.

Below are some clips of the Cg iron man suit in animation I looked at to give me ideas on how i could make the console open up from the forearm, In a way id slightly reverse engineered a similar idea on a much more basic level

Arm model

This is the final model from the arm, the only thing id dramatically changed was the detail around the elbow as it seemed too plain.

I was very happy with the way the arm and hand fit together and the detail of both elements complimented each other, I was slightly worried because I failed to draw more sketches of the arm and hand together due to time restrictions. Though reflecting on this it could have ended in disaster if they didn’t work together.

 

Finger designs

here are images of the finger model, I wanted to model the fingers first because from experience I find it easier to start on the smallest parts and work my way bigger. I modeled the fingers on the same scale as I would then arm for more detail, which I could then re-size later on.

 

I then modeled the hand to which I then attached the fingers to, resizing the each finger accordingly.

I was amazed at how the hand turned out, the research really paid off, id never attempted anything like this before and it came out better than id expected and at a much faster work rate.

final arm concept sketches

I redesigned the arm but with this approach I looked at the human arm and considered the muscle structures and thought more about how the human arm moves, which I then implemented into the design. As Id looked at anatomy before I was already familiar with muscle group in the human arm, this helped a lot. This final design was also put together by using the previous desings as reference as well, so the old designs weren’t a complete waste of time.

I drew out the sketches with image plains in mind so  I could easily take them  into my 3D application and begin modeling

below are the mood boards i put together of various arms n hands, this helped me come up with the design, and I also kept them as reference when I began to model. I really liked designs from deus ex human revolution which is why quite a few of these images are from the game art, the sleek, shiny and futuristic designs really appealed to me.

 

Hands were a big problem at first i wasn’t sure if i wanted more of a glove to encase the robotic elements to the hand but in the end I decided to meet half way, with an outer shell to cover the internal elements of the hand, which in turn i didn’t have to model. Ive never modeled a hand before, even an organic one, so this was going to be a challenge in itself. I also found it quite difficult to draw hands let alone model one.

 

Industry rant

 

A rush to 3D

Before I got any feedback on my arm design, I began to model in 3D, what a big mistake this turned out to be. You’d have though id understand by now to stop rushing things along because this is exactly the way you can make a tone more work for yourself, which is exactly what happened. Thankfully I’m still on my degree course so the development presentation with my tutors and peers made me see sense. At first I protested and retaliated with the fact I had so much to get done. That’s when I realized the more work I put into perpetration, the more chance id have of not going back to the drawing board. Below is how far I got with my 3D arm from the concepts Id done in my last post, I was trying to wing it and didn’t create any specific images for a guide i just up one of the concepts images on a plain to model against.

You’ll be happy to know Ive scrapped this and decided to do more research and design a new arm with the earlier concepts as a starting point

Arm concepts

Here are the first rough sketches I did for the arm to find the style and shape. I wanted plenty of smooth curves for the plating to hide the majority of the function inside the arm. I also tried to implement a visible screen indicator on the arm so the user could see how much power was left in the arm. Another idea was to have a screen that comes out from inside of the forearm (bottom left)

Below I began to plan ideas for the hand on how the arm would connect to the body.

Arm Design – Hans Alexander Huseklepp

Came across Industrial Design Student Hans Alexander Husekepp. The prosthetic (pictured above) arm he has designed is very stylish, the form and function work really well together. I like his use of the model to showcase the arm and show how good it could look when in use.

When compared to a typical prosthetic arm this is much more attractive and seems to function better, but why is this? If we look at other arms most tend to bear resemblance to robots such at the terminator baring all the mechanics and metal pieces. I think exposed inner workings are a definite put off. At the same time I can appreciate that the function is more important to somebody who has lost and arm. The reason I think this functions well could be to do with the use of Globe joints which have more freedom of movement This design has a cleaver way of encasing the working parts in a sleek plastic like material. Textile materials have also been used on the hand which I think contribute in covering the ugly parts and at the same time making it look more comfy like a glove. I would prefer to shake this hand rather than that of the terminator!

Another feature to consider is the extended functionality on the forarm, which is a display panel showing how much energy the arm has, reception for mobile or possibly wifi and even the time. This would most definitely be an extension of our ability’s because we could do away with out watches and phones.

I shall try consider all the above elements why designing my arm.

His main web site was down so I couldnt investigate any further.

Thinking about function

Put together some images found with a focus on function, I think a good place to look is industrial robotics, things like cranes and robots which aid us in particular job roles show a high level of functionality and I can see things like pistons and hydraulics used in many films/games for mechs, spacecraft and so on. This is good to get an ideas of parts including joints and pivot positioning working correctly.

Below we can see how concept artists uses these kinds of references or hava learnt about real life function in machines to aid there designs.

An Arm of thought

Looking at different kinds of prosthetic limbs Ive made a decision to base my design on the human arm, reasons being are because it involves a lot of moment and hands are something id really like to focus on, Im terrible at drawing them let alone designing a robotic one. Id like to create the fully 3D arm and present it in a short advertisement of some sort.  Ive begun looking at prosthetic arms to get a feel for there look and design to spark ideas for a starting point into the design. Im trying to keep the project balanced so I don’t create too much work for myself. Id really like to fly through the design process and get the arm finished so I can spend more time of the animation.

Here are some images ive found of arm prosthetic, ive also thrown the T-800 arm in to show a bit of contrast between reality and film, all these arms look very unsightly indeed, but I think this is down to function, these arms are designed to work rather than look good, I want my arm to look stylish and futuristic but at the same time have believable function. (something to consider when I start sketching my ideas)

The New Direction

Taking into consideration all of the skills I’ve learn over the past 2 years in study it would be a complete waste to rule out animation in this project. I need a concept that will push my abilities further and allow me to develop. Considering all the aspects of research id already done, Ive decided to create a short CG advert involving Prosthesis, a non fictional, cybernetic product which could be something used in film or game.

Here are some mood boards with adverts from film involving CG and game characters that have cyborg attributes .

Above cyborg based characters in games for this generation of consoles seem to be very similar high in detail designs, lots of reference to human anatomy in regards to muscle groups. I think technology/graphics in games has involved so much that we like to see as much detail as possible to generate more realism giving us a more cinematic experience when game playing.

Above – Some screens for films I robot, Starship troopers and the Robocop remake teaser, I like the way these films use advertising within their fictional worlds to give the story’s more realism. Some do it in a very humorous ways making a mockery out of current/future social and cultural states of the world. This is something I can focus on at a later date when I finalise my idea. I think this can also have an effect the design of a non fictional product.

Switching up the module

After my one to one with my course tutor, I decided to take my project in a different direction with more scope to develop my skills in 3D. Considering the research id already done for the Alita Project I still wanted to have a transhuman/cybrog theme to base my work around. I decided to create a robotic arm and find some way to advertise it in a short 3D animation. The main areas I would need to tackle would be design, modeling, animation and editing. I think this is a wise choice because ill be pushing myself much further and this also steers me away from the path of self indulgence which I was about to take.

So far Id found other Arists who were doing a similar things bu using photography with digital paint and 3D elements. Id decide to give this my own spin combining my own designs and applying them to 3D The two artist below were to become a main focal point for inspiration from my initial ideas

MichaelO was one of the first Artists, using digital paint over photographs. I love the realism and how he puts his own style to the work by painting over the original image digitally.

Photographer Benedict Campbell had used a similar method but instead he also implemented 3D into his work I felt that this was an interesting idea which gave more of a gritty realism to the idea of a female Cyborg with endless possibilities.  I could also utilize my 3D skills by trying to achieve something similar in regards to the mediums used. (see Campbells work below)

Here are some of the concepts ideas I began playing with before the project changed. I used both sketch and 3d/digital paint and photo manipulation to begin experimenting with what could be done.

I organized a photo shoot in order to get some hi res photos to manipulate, this involved contacting a student from photography and collaborating to get plenty of stock images to use. Lucky Lauren was yet again at my aid to model for me!!
It was great to work with another student with a different skill set and its made me more aware of the power behind collaboration.

Below is as far as id come in regards to using the photos id taken, id began to mask out the main elements i needed from the photo and Id also began modeling the 3D assets from my concepts drawing. This was to be the end of this initial idea as the project changed direction.

fictional materials

I have looked at fictional materials using wiki as a starting point. This will hopefully spark some ideas for creating my own fictional material for my robotic parts if I decide to go down that road.
The possibility’s are quite limitless but most fictional materials are based around facts from non fictional materials. The properties for these materials can also be that of fiction. some examples below

(above) Anitgravity – Unobtainium

(above) Adamantium beta is a new metal created as a side-effect of the process of bonding true adamantium to Wolverine’s bones

(above) mimetic polyalloy ability to transform shape to a similar mass due to its liquid metal compound

Other properties allow materials to conduct energy or produce energy through exposure.

There are also negative sides to fictional materials which can include, negative reactions from exposure like radiation, also instabilities to things such as atmospheric temperatures. Weaknesses such as the t-1000’s poloyalloy when exposed to liquid nitrogen or a magnetic field.

It’s interesting to see that a fictional material can but used again an again in different story’s and different worlds within fiction. Mithril has been used in games including Simon the sorcerer, War hammer, world of war craft and even the final fantasy series. Unobtainium is another example of this having been used in The core and Avatar.

Last of all the appearance is a key element to creating a new material. Again many are devised from looking at existing materials and slightly altering thinks or adding/mixing colour and texture. Adding other things such as glow sparkle and shine or even reduced reflective surfaces can contribute towards the effect of a new material. I think how the material looks is equally if not less important than the description because most metals can look similar I dont think I could tell you what the visual difference is between adamantium and titanium .

All of this research will be very useful if I decide to create my own fictional materials.I wish id have looked at normal materials first because now im gonna be bored stupid from it after this post.

Blinky

This is a fantastic short I came across on youtube whislt looking for Roboty things as I do, Straight away I wanted to see who was responsible and find out some info on who work on the project. The design of Blinky is just great especially considering the role his character plays. The way he has a perminant smile and speech really adds to the effect of appearence and I couldnt help but react emotionally towards him. One striking effect in particular was the rain element in the garden scene. According to the info on Vimeo the rain elements stretched out the vfx over 9 months thought its not certain how much of this time was spent on the rain effect. Its interesting to see how  just one small element from the narrative can shape the visual effects development (time well spent. Another key point was the fact that the visual effects had zero funding for the project and 45k euro was spend on the rest.  Ruairi Robinson not only wrote directed and edited the short but he also did the VFX which included the design, modelling and also the voice of Blinky. Even more so he jumped in the mo cap suit for the animations! I think this is a very impressive feat and it shows how much work one person can put into a project. When I consider myself working in the industry I  Like the generalist approach. Being able to consider all elements of the VFX production I think give more control to the artistic direction of the work. On the negative side it also takes longer to complete.

Audience & comunication

I have been pre-pondering on what an audience my think of the character once completed and printed on a poster or up in a gallery. What could I do to the over all presentation of the piece to involve an element of reason to display a character design as a piece of art.

I have attempted to think from an advertising perspective and looked into ways to give reason for showing a cyborg character to the general public. Advertising seems to be involved in communication on a different level than film or gaming as it aims at persuading people or giving them an idea to which they had not considered. I been looking into advertisments which could relate to an image that translates awarness by showing something very graphic. Domestic violence sprung to mind when I considered images of a female subject. The story telling is in the image itself with most of the ads I looked at. A good example is the image found just below. we could instantly assume that this woman is a victim because of her black eye and the arm, which at first appears to be her could be be that of a man because of the amount of arm hair. Our brain reads the image and determines what it could mean.

At first I came up with the ideas of creating a domestic violence awareness image but using a damaged female cyborg,  in an attempt to persuade viewers to think about the real thing just like seeing a crash test dummy in a car accident (below)

Although taking advertising for awareness into consideration I would like to focus more on a product based standpoint because I feel awareness could dissolve the fantasy element of my character creation due to the fact its trying to point at reality too much and its a rather depressing subject dispite its importance. I still think its a great idea to advertise domestic violence in this way and maybe i’ll look into this at a later date.  With considering these ideas its given me more of a focus to investigate a meaning for my design process.

Project Alita

After the submission of my individual practice proposal, I can now begin to blog the early concept ideas regarding the project. The project is based around cyborg character design though photography, image manipulation and Cgi. I hope to develop a high res image for a female cyborg through these various types of media.  I have also considered animation prospects towards to project  which I will develop along side the initial idea of a still image.

The main inspiration for the project comes from anime battle angel Alita created by Kishiro Yukito.  Alita is a female cyborg with a range of attrubites to which I can pitch my character design ideas around. Through out the project I hope to develop a solution for a detailed character representaion though sill imagery and possibly incorporate some animation with live footage.

 

Awsome car chase

I came across this Cg animation on vimeo, This appeals to me because of the cinematic car chase sequence. I also like the mix between realistic external visuals and the cartoon like characters inside of the cars. I think this is a nice contrast between the different looks to the animation. The chase is extremely exaggerated which only compliments the power of 3D animation! I think some of the shots in the loop scenes using a fish eye lens are very cool and increase the intensity of the animations. I also like the twist at the end with the live footage mature women letting us know is just a video game, I think this adds humor to the short. It show that shorts can be such a mixed bag of media and can be powerful was of showing your abilities a team or artist.

Mo-Cap-Action!!

Something that excites me in particular about the game industry is how the more advanced games become the more it seems able to give use more of a movie like experience to enhance the immersion people get from playing video games. One particular strength to this is mocap technology although having been round for quite some time, advances in technology have allowed mocap to give actors more ability to influence the animations of the game characters. To the point where game developers can look for a particular kind of actor to play the role of a game character as if there were to play a role in a movie. A good example of this can be taken from British actress Camilla Luddington who was chosen to play Lara in the up and coming Tomb Raider game. According to a web documentary (link below) the developers wanted an actor who could breathe life into the character, someone who was willing to push the characters emotions through the game and with the latest mocap abilities they were able funnel the actors talents into the character. This shows us how the game makers use film to create an even more cinematic experience for games. As im more into film than gaming it makes me consider the path of games as it take more elements from the film industry as ideas and technology advance.

new-tomb-raider-app-and-web-documentary-zachary-levi

Future forms of life

The piece was inspired by Artist Theo Jansen who had a particular focus on artificial intelligence. Jansen creates artificial machines that are able to react to their environments.

Without going into too much deal about the artist that inspired the piece I find myself drawn to things that have been inspired by other artists. I think 3D artist have such good opportunity to do this kind of thing because they are only limited by their creativity. Using inspiration creates a kind of rhizome effect as people like my self can trace the roots back and learn about where the ideas came from and so on. As for the piece I think this is a very skillfully put together 3D animation combined with live footage and the camera tracking is executed very well. This makes me think more about the different ways motion/Camera tracking can be used and how simple each scene can be to still create a great effect.

Cloud computing

Recently I’ve been reading about cloud computing which is allows users to base and control applications via the internet. End users are able to access cloud-base applications through a web browser or a light-weight desktop or mobile app while the business software and user’s data are stored on servers at a remote location. I’ve been thinking of ways I can keep my self up to date with whats happening in the creative industries and the same time become more productive with my own projects on the move. Since I’ve recently upgraded to an android I’ve started using apps and online services to access files on my home computer through my mobile phone which gives me the power to have the data i need where ever I go. Also Android applications such as sketch book pro give me the power to get my ideas down on file and send them to other artists working on a project with me. The opportunities seem endless.

Competitions

Thought Id do a post on publicity and its obvious that one of the best way to get people see  work is to enter online competitions, especially if you end up winning/runners up. This is something id like to start doing because I think it will allow me to show confidence in my own skills by being happy enough with a piece of work to show to the world. Also by subjecting my self to more criticism in order to improve and learn new things. A good example of this is the challenge page on the cg society website. One competition that interested me was called Armed and dangerous, which was to basically create a character using mudbox armour with whatever weapons your imagination could fathom. This amount of freedom is good to exercise the character design methods and processes and learn an unfamiliar program if not already using. Further more you had the opportunity to download a temp version of mudbox to take part. Looking at other people’s ideas towards the competitions is very inspirational as it lets you understand things about your own level seemed work much better and some not so good. Below is the winners image. PS the artists also post workflows and different stages of design with there images, this give you good insight to what they did to create the piece.

 

Greyscalegorilla

As part of my creative industrys blog I had to include Greyscalegorilla, This site isn’t just a good source for cinema 4D tutorials, it also offers lots of advice regarding the creative industries and works as an active community to help with your creative work flow, Nick is one of the lead artists on the website and his story is a good example of a journey into the creative industries. Having worked everyday jobs he took a similar degree to my own which involved film and animation leading on to jobs creating tv commercials while working in the industry he finds time to update the grayscale gorilla blog  which talks about design and teaching within the creative industries. I think this is such a positive thing especially for people like my self who are constantly learning new things regarding the creative practice. A link to Nicks Creamyorange portfolio below, I always like looking at this page due to the amount of different work that’s in there. It always reminds we to look at other forms of being creative with different mediums within the digital realm.

http://www.creamyorange.com/

Benedict Campbell

Im very interested in the work of Benedict Campbell as his art have inspired some of the work I intend to do in my final year at degree level. I have a great interest in combining CG with live footage but in this case also with photography. Campbell’s Cg and photography and CG work is phenomenal and even better when mixed together. Most of this transmedia style work involves robots which is also another great interest of mine. I love it when an artist has his own style of work in which you could tell apart from other work, although there is similar work out there I like the fact that he puts his own twist to things.

I managed to find an interview in 3D Artist for more about Campbell from an industry perspective. He explains how sketching out your ideas first is vital to create a starting point to avoid any kind of limitations to your work in which you can build on from there. I think as obvious as this seems to me now after 2 years on a digital film, games and animation degree, its always good to be reminded of this because sometimes we face the danger of becoming too dependant on the software. I sometimes forget the freedom for creativity a pencil and a sketch book can provide! His journey into the industry started out with photography which I consider to be a fair breath away from any kind of 3d work when I look at photography students in my college. Then I realise that photography is a massive part of 3D when it comes to texturing, compositing and film.

Cambell saw the more potential for 3D when he was directing a perfume advertisement which used a virtual 3D set. From this point he started learning the skills to use 3D software such as Bryce and when on from there. I could write about this guy forever I find his journey through the creative industries fascinating.

Campbell mentions an interesting point regarding the photorealistic in comparison to his own work.  I totally agree that some CG artists spend too much time (including some friends I know) trying to make things look so photo realistic that the final product may look real but there is no creativity or power/meaning to the image. Campbell deliberately tries not to follow the reality side of things which is why I’m more drawn to his work.

Visit Campbells site to see more of his work including photography and illustration http://www.benedict1.com/

Exoids

My Class mate Chris posted this amazing CG short from the Gnomon school of visual effects, It’s a truly fascinating piece of work and ive watched it about 10 times now. I like the grungyness of it all , which I think really immerses you into its world. I think the character design for Gus nitrous smartly combines Slug with machine in a very interesting way. Looking at the creative industry side of things the video has been put together by the Gnomon School of Visual Effects. Students are able to take part in production roles for projects including Exoids under the guidance of professionals. I think this is a very good approach to learning and preparation to ready them for the industry and I can see the similarity towards work experience placements or even internships.

I’ve pasted the credits below, I like to look at these more and more because it gives me a good insight into the work and man power needed to create such a cool piece not to mention the list of different roles within the industry.

Writer and Director: Aristomenis Tsirbas
Producers: Alex Alvarez, Darrin Krumweide and Aristomenis Tsirbas
Music: Truceline
Gus Nitrous Voice: Robert Nelms
VFX Supervisor: Aristomenis Tsirbas
CG Supervisor: Vito Birardi
VFX Coordinator: Ashley Woodworth
Concept Design: Neville Page, Jia Le Zhang, Charles Boston, Nathan Healy, Ousmane Dop, Kelton Cram, Ismael Salcedo, Travis Bourbeau
Sound Design: Santiago Gonzalez Cortes
Main Title Design: Eric Carl
Organic Model and Texture Team: Neville Page, Mark DeDecker, Padhia Avocado, Nuttavut Baiphowongse, Tony Tang
Model and Texture: Hunt Dougherty, Diego Gonzalez, Ethan Ayer, Iordanis Kioumourtzoglou, Joy Lea, Hartwell Durfor, Richard Daniels, Marco Amador, Martin Smith
Animators: Javier Zumaeta, Adam Nixon, Tom Heyerman, Heejin Kim
Riggers: Ken Chiang, Diego Gonzalez, Adam Nixon, Pedro Bellini, Harvinder Grewal
Visual Effects: Daniele Volpe, Adedunmola Olanrewaju, Shahin Badiei, Tom Heyerman, George Liu
Matte Painting: Sonja Christoph, Charles Boston
Compositing: Shahin Badiei, Aristomenis Tsirbas

RoboCop remake – ED 209

The viral teaser for the new Robocop remake doesn’t give a great deal away, about how the film is gonna look of feel but it give some good insight into some of the designs behind Omnicorp which is the company that creates Robocop in the film. As the original ED 209 is one of my favourite robotic characters in a film ever! I needed to do a quick post to compare them and share a few thought and feelings about the new look.

I’m really please that they have kept the original shape and function of ED because I can relate to the new design in a reminiscent sense and I think it carries on the original purpose in which ED 209 was created specifically for the film. There are obvious differences between the two and I think that technology has a lot to do with this. Because we have the power of CG opposed to stop motion, we can create much more complex designs which CG allows us to animate. The one thing that does seem to stand out is how slightly similar the new ED looks when compared to the robots in Michael Bays Transformers films but again I think this is due to the increased details in which we are able to develop robots with CG software. I feel that this is a current trend and concept artists are no longer restricted as now anything they draw can be brought to life thanks to CGI.

using a reference site

I came across a website that specialises in providing artistic resources for character design. http://characterdesigns.com/ The website is full of photography, textures to help inspire artists to develop their designs. I think the site is very helpful because artists can search through a vast collection of photo references to use with their work which can save lots of time not having to head out with your DSLR every time you need new reference sources. although I think its very necessary for an artist to get out there and explore the world for I ideas and reference off their own back, this site can do nothing but help.

Some images for a photo shoot below, I feel are full of inspiration for story lines and character ideas.

End credits – Running Scared

This is the end credits of one of my fav action thrillers, Running Scared. It shows a sequence of illustrated motion graphics that tell the whole story again with specific scenes from the film. This looks very acheivable with compositing software such as after effects. Illustraions can be put on to 3D plains, animated and viewed through a 3D camera to focus on specific parts of the illustrations.  I like the dark and grungy feel that makes it work so well with the drive of the film itself. another example of this van be seen in the new The saints ICA trailer for hitman Absoultion to show its works very well in both film and games. check it out below.

Carlos Huante

Looking at Huantes work inspires me to pull up my graphics tablet and spend hours in photoshop, playing with all the ideas I have floating around inside my head. But the facts is, at this stage in my study im still discovering the different aspect of being a digital/VFX artist. In one of the latest 3D artist magazines Huante explains how its essential for you to know the area you wish to work in the industry from the word go. While ive always known I have a passion for drawing it raises some serious questions  as to making the decision about what I wish to do in regards to a specialism. I’ve built up a general ability towards VFX as a whole over the past 2 years and id say that my drawing ability has certainly helped me in all areas. In my final year I will attempt to give me self more focus and direction so that the work I produce should show the path I need to follow. For the most part Ive decided to take the path of a character designer so I can make use of my drawing abilities and explore every aspect for my final year. My two areas of focus will be digital and 3D art which will show development and a final piece to present in my end of year show. Looking at Huantes work its easy to see why he is working at professional level with his high contrast of concepts and ideas which are to me, a very high quality with lots of variation in what he creates. I also like his choice of posing his character, in such a way that we can see the whole shape and form with nothing hidden. I think this is a good idea for  allowing other people involved in the project get a good feel for the designs. I think this give models an easier job if they were to model without multiple image plains. See some of Huante images below. I chose these because I particularly like his darker work.

 

 

 

Choosing software

Now im in the 2nd year of my degree, ive began thinking about the industry more and considering my job prospects. I’ve been looking at various job roles for 3D artists and one thing I really have started to wonder about is software. What can I do to better my chances of employment in regards to my ability to use different software and how do I decide which software to learn in order to develop my skills and prepare myself for the industry outside of college. College or university can never prepare you enough for the industry so It’s important to start familiarizing myself in what programs are out there and what they do. Lucky for me a recent article in 3D artist gives some good insight into choice of software! The articles main focus is about preparing yourself as nobody can predict the future as far as to which software companies will be using. It also states that a good artist never stops learning. These are very valid points but at the same time it tells us that without talent simply learning the software will only be able to take you so far. Fundamental understandings of colour theory, composition, animation and drawing ability and so on, are the foundations for any artist to apply his abilities to which ever software they decide to use. I think this is true because when I see a showreel its hard to notice what software has been used. So this tells me that talent can be of better use than knowledge of software and technology because you can apply talent to any software you might use. software knowledge can be used with other software to a certain extent but talent and software skills go hand in hand as one without the other will result in hindered results. Whilst im using Maya at college I figure it would be of great benefit to explore other software by implementing there uses and putting them in the pipeline of my work flow, for example using mudbox to create my texture maps rather than doing everything in Maya. This way I can learn new software whilst working on a project with Maya.

nhb

nhb is a German company I came across after reading a feature some of their work in a magazine. I’ve taken a closer look at their website looking at the 2012 showreel for the 3D work they have done. Most of the work seems to be for advertisements. Although im not planning on getting involved in advertising, its good to see how 3D  is being constantly used in the many adverts we see on the TV. As a way of making money it would seem that adverts can be a very good source of income even if it’s just making money on side to fund a personal project. When my skills develop in the future I think that working in advertising could be very beneficial as the projects seem fairly smaller than a short film or game project.   Smart ‘homecoming’ A car advert in which nhb provided the VFX for a film production company. I love to see break downs with concept images to the 3d realisations. In this particular advert we see a film production company combining efforts with a VFX company merging cg with live footage. A mixture that personally interests me because of the endless possibilities! See concepts to final finish image taken from the nhb website, also a link to the trailer below.

smart-heimkehr-dc.html

Shaders and Lighting

Amber Steele has done some very interesting work with Shading and Lighting.  We all have our own specialism to contribute towards the creative industries and by looking at different artists im begining to see these specialisms stand out from their work on images and showreels. I think Amber Steele’s work contains a high element of realism which is created through here close attention to shader’s and lighting. It’s amazing to see what can be achieved through using a mixture of different software to create a realistic scene.  Thinking more about a specialism of my own I would like to begin closing in on what im best at and enhancing my skills towards to end of my degree. Still my broad knowledge as a cg artist will allow me to carry out other tasks towards a project but hopefully my specialism should stand out in my work. What ever it maybe still havent put my finger on it as of yet, plenty more things to try. Please see Ambers reel below.

Working with my green screen footage

We used masking tape crossed over for the tracking points as a last decision as I hadn’t pre planned what we were going to use. The main issues tracking the pan out shot were that the make shift dolly wobbled quite a bit and it made tracking the points quite difficult even after adjusting the footage in after effects. I think it caused too much distortion. Eventually I managed to maintain a steady track in Matchmover but the grid in the 3D view seemed to wobble all over the place even though the manual tracks appeared fairy still. I decided that the problem maybe cause by match moved not being able to understand the zoom out axis which was the z depth and because i had no mid tracking points in the shot, it cause my grid to shake as it the manual track got further away.

i found this statement on the PF track website which I think maybe a clue as to the problems I am getting, the sentence is as follows: Tracking zooms is notoriously problematic and most tracking systems will simply fail. However PFTrack is famously good at dealing with such shots, invariably succeeding to produce good camera data where others cannot.

At the curent stage Im considering attempting the track with 2D tracking only and see how that words

 

 

Environment track mini project – Day of filming

I booked out the college studio theater for a Saturday 10:00 till 16:00 to give me plenty of time to set up all the equipment which consisted of green screen equipment, 3 tungsten lights, tripod and I brought in my own DSLR camera. Sadly I hadn’t thought ahead and it was too late to book out the dolly which was already hired out. The dolly was the most important part of the shoot so that was a big error on my part. I had too helpers for the day which included Lauren from my course and an external friend who has a good knowledge of film to make sure I didn’t miss anything out when filming the shots. As we didn’t have a dolly A low trolly was adapted at the last minute to smooth the camera paning out of the shot.

Once the green screen was up we added as many tracking points as possible to ensure we had the best chance getting a good track from the footage. As oddball animations gave me know clue as to how to track the shot I just had to go on the basic knowledge id already gained from match mover and hope that the footage was useable.

Tracking markers

There are various methods of creating artificial points to track in footage and a few elements you need to consider such as colour, size and shape. It’s also of great importance to consider how many points are needed and when to place them. I think this is because certain points can be easily keyed out or some can simply be masked out.

A question that really bothered me is what are the best type of markers to use. It’s obvious that the markers have to be understood by which ever software you use and my theory is that maybe each different software understands the markers in slightly different ways. Different website recommend different kinds of markers but having looked at the reasons it seems makers with sharp edge patterns a good because it helps the software grip to the shape easier. The markers below are recommended by many sites and you can see the shape angles.

Green screen tracking markers can also be used from crossed masking tape, circular balls that stick to the walls or simple square shapes. This shows that people have experimented and come up with their own kind of markers. So I guess its down to personal preference in the end. See some industry examples below.

The internet is full information and examples on how to use tracking points. One website that stood out in particular is http://www.hollywoodcamerawork.us/greenscreenplates.html It show an arrangement of different green screen set ups with tracking points for different camera shots and pans. The tracking shapes they use are mainly square and triangular. These shapes are high in contrast but not necessarily a different colour from the green screen.

One thing I did notice in particular was the fact they always have mid distance tracking points placed on a mic stand as well as the distant back markers on the green screen. I see how this can provide more information to the track if the camera moves on every axis.

My first attempt at markers failed because I didn’t know how many tracking points were needed, I now know that you need at least 7 points in for a true 3D track in Match mover which is the main program I’ve used. so the image below was a failed track. Over time ive learnt to accept that some footage is very difficult if not impossible to track.

My second attempt was more succesful, plenty of points even though i just used basic black spots.

Mocha

For another example of camera tracking I’ve begun using a program called Mocha. Instead of using tracking points like in other applications such as Matchmover and Camera tracker, Mocha is based around Planar tracking which  grabs large areas of texture instead of pin pointing areas with single points.  Mocha allows me to created a spline which is similar to creating a mask with the pen tool in after effects, once your area is selected you can track both backwards and forwards and if your image quality is good enough it will do a really good job of sticking to your selected area. There is also the ability to create more splines and then connect them to the same track and even better is the way you can manipulate the planar surface in a 3D space so you can align it to what ever axis you need in accordance with where it needs to go in your scene, in the example image below you can see the pink grid which tells me where my planar axis is. The smaller blue shape in the middle controls the grid perspective and the red box is my original spline in which I used to track the image.

Using Mocha seems to be a more powerful extension of the basic tracking capabilities that already come with after effects. I say this because is still based around 2D imagery within its own virtual space to make it appear 3D and although mocha pro has a built-in camera solve function in which a camera from mocha can be exported it’s still limited as to how far its track can move in 3D space. When compared to 3D tracking programs such as matchmover Mocha is very limited as to how much its can understand 3D space. I dont think this kind of tracking is of much use for heavy 3D object tracks. for example if you wished to pan right around 3D in live footage. Having said all this Mocha’s tracking is extremely valuable for its main purposes. Its simple approach to tracking makes it very user friendly. These including adding and keying out particular things in your footage (rotoscoping, & mixing different live footage together.

Here are a few tests below, the first test I added extra missing bark on the tree in photoshop with the first frame then took the film into after effects and pasted the mocha track data to the layer and same with the logo.

Same was done with this hole in a stone wall, I just filled the wall in using Photoshop and its awesome stamp too, tracked the footage in Mocha and applied it all in after effects, exactly the same way I did the tree but just a different idea.

cockpit mock up test

To better understand how I could go about compositing between the 3D track with live footage and 2D layers, I made a mock-up test in after effects in 2D using 3D layers to see how it might work. So with just 3 layers I was able to create some sort of moving simulation for the cockpit scene. This has led me to the idea that once my live footage has been recorded and tracked I can render my ship animation sequence once tracked, then some how I could merge between my live footage and tracked 3D animation with 3D layers in after effects. Unit I get the footage there isn’t much else I can experiment with on this test,  so I’ll go back to looking at a different tracking programs in the meantime. See test below..

 

Contacting Oddball

I decided to contact oddball animations to ask for any particular tips how they camera tracked the particular seen im looking to use for reference. Wes Ball a digital effects artist for Oddball did respond and refered me to the behind the scenes footage of Eye of the storm but unfortunately its doesn’t really go into much detail regarding actual techniques. Never the less I watched the clips and It has given me some more ideas on how I might go about achieving the tracked footage to work with my composite. It’s also good to see how this wasnt budgeted, just artists coming together to create a music video in the coolest way! Very inspiring and well worth a watch.

environment track mini project

So far I have booked out the main studio theatre for Saturday the 19th 10 till four. This should give me enough time to set up and capture some green screen footage with tracking points for more than one track test.

I have just about finished the 3D space ship  and created a quick matte painting for the backdrop keeping along the lines of The eye of the storm by Oddball Animations. I don’t want to go overboard on the design because the tracking is the most important aspect of the project. The 3D assets and environments and just to guide the sequence.

A first attempt at matte painting. Digitally air brushed some cloud like shapes with the colours I wanted, then overlayed some cloud photos on separate layers so i can animate them separately in after effects.

For the spaceship I had a word with my course mate Jake who is known for his exceptional concept work. He kindly let me look through his rough sketches and I chose a design and developed on it slightly then created the 3D model. This really did speed up the process for making the ship, Team work!! Its kinda ended up looking like a cross between the millenium falcon and the starship enterprise as far as the shape goes, Images below

 

 

Environment track mini project

To further my tracking experimentation I will attempt to simulate a specific scene from odd balls Eye of the storm short. I have chosen the scene where we see the main character sat inside a cock pit and the camera slowly pans out to show us the    craft in which the character is traveling inside. This transition uses a combination of green screen and camera tracking. I plan to set up a basic scene using the same technique to see if I can achieve a similar result .

So far my plan needs the following:

Live footage – Film set with green screen in place, a small crew, room and equipment bookings

Compositing assets – Basic 3D models, craft, craft interior, mat paintings for sky and chairs.

I’ve put together a story board taken from the footage as a guide

vancouver film school tracking reel

Came across this cool example of motion tracking, the break down shows how the tracking points were created in a way that they could  be clear and move with the arm.  I like how they have improvised and used more tracking points extending off the arm for more opportunities to track. Not sure if this is tracking equipment you can buy or if they just created the straps and rods themselves. either way I gives me ideas for attempting my own motion tracking. This also makes me consider the use of plates for compositing later on. It’s good practice to get a decent amount of clean places to remove certain things from the shots.

Camera tracking – Hollywood or home?

Camera tracking has very much extended the abilities of VFX within film. It has enabled us to remove our camera from the tripod and given us the power to synchronise our 3D or any other visual effects to our movements with the camera. Tracking programs can make sense and understand the movements of our camera in a virtual simulation.  Obviously this technique has been used to create effects for Hollywood blockbusters like the 300 and sin city which rely extensively on computer generated environments.

Most of 300 had been shot entirely on green screen which allowed most of the environments to be created virtually.  This has saved time and money for the creators as it allowed them to film the actors when and where ever they wanted.  Camera tracking allows these computer generated stages to take place of the green screen and move seamlessly as the camera does so that not every shot needs to be locked off.

With the many different tracking software’s available, it has allowed people to generate very similar effects sat behind their computers at home.  We can see tones of examples of amateur camera tracking on vimeo and youtube, some done  very close to professional.  I think that lower end programs or so called shelf equipment shouldnt be underestimated and that knowing the basics of camera tracking can be extremely beneficial if you’re wanting to produce movie like effects in your projects.  This thinking lead me to look at the work of Gareth  Edward.  Edwards created an independent film called Monsters which he wrote, directed and did the visual effects for. I found an article in the guardian news paper on Edwards to give me a bit more insight on how such a low budget film made it to the big screen. With a budget of around 15,000 the film was shot in 3 weeks with a 4 man crew with just 2 main actors. Edwards already had a background in VFX which he had mainly done projects from home. In one interview for THE FILM LAB he tells of how VFX artists are becoming more able to create such hollywood style effects from their bedrooms, on their home computers and that it was only a matter of time before  individuals would be able to create professional  looking films from their garages with close to hollywood effects. By having excess and knowledge to effects such as motion tracking we can see how the technology’s themselves can give opportunities to everyday people with a keen interest to use and apply its methods to their projects.

 

Links used http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfikhg_the-film-lab-motion-tracking_school

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/sep/23/first-sight-gareth-edwards

 

Tracking a car

I’ve seen various clips on you tube were people are tracking 3D cars into their scenes, this is really something id like to experiment with because I think it has many uses in regards to 3D props to be used for low budget short films and could save lots of money by getting a 3D model opposed to spending tones of cash renting out a sports car for the day.

Cars animated in moving footage, very realistic looking and it shows how animations can increase the drama of a shot. I didnt even notice that on of the cars was 3D, very impressive.

Nice track of a stationary car, not the best of renders but if i can get to this stage id be very pleased.

3D text tracking

During this brief I wanted to implement the use of cinema 4D as I know how powerful the program is for advertisement and animating text with its mo graph features.

This brought me to focus of the grayscale gorilla’s web site as its packed with cinema 4D tutorials, so anything id forgotten about cinema 4D could easily be refreshed! I stated by flicking through all the grayscale tutorials and I came across a basic motion tracking project that focused on presenting 3D text tracking into live footage. I decided to create my own representation to add towards my tracking show reel I wish to present at the end of this brief.

I basically wanted to choose a location and film a short sequence with slight movement to track in order to add my 3D elements. I decided to have a drive to Temple Newsam to collect some footage purely because it’s fairly local and has some nice scenery including woodland and some old buildings.

Once I chose a particular shot it was brought into after effects and tracking using Foundarys Camera tracker plug-in, this type of track was automatic as my text would be floating in the air and wouldn’t need to be exact, this could have also been done with after effects build in tracker. I then the first frame as a still image into cinema 4D as a back plate for the animations i wanted to make.

In cinema 4D i set up the image and ligting using a single composite tag from the image plate I then created my 3D text and sent up splines to control the flow of the animations around the image. For the shatter effect i installed a simple free plug-in called throusi as suggested in the grey scale gorilla tutorials. To render the animations to take into after effects I rendered the text shapes with an alpha channel for compositing. I used masking and 3D layers patented to the null track for the tracking system and I also made the shadows from duplicated layers of my animations flipped upside down. No shadows were needed from cinema 4D.

This was a fairly swift process compared to true 3D tracking but I think its a very useful work flow and gets the job done. I’ve realised that faster methods of tracking can like such as 2D based tracker can be just as effective depending on what kind of track you need.

See  one of the final results below.

 

 

Selling assets to make cash

It’s obvious that there is a market out there for selling 3D models,it seems good money can be made from presenting your models online with a price tag, if it’s what somebody is looking for there is a good chance they will buy!!

On sites such as turbo squid you are presented with a catalogue ram packing with 3D models for sale prices can range from up to 300 quid which is a fair amount of cash but considering the time and effort that goes into each model it’s not suprisin . 3D artists can become a member on turbo squid and their own sell models!

I found a spread in a 3D artist magazine in which turbo squid release technical tips for models, this includes so really good advice on how to prepare your models so that the customer will be more satisifed with the purchase making it more likley they’ll buy from you again! see page below.