Concept images for final project

For the past two weeks I've been looking at the storyboard concept for my final film !

The premise:

Set in a dark room, a 2D woman is taken hostage in a camera film negative. She must overpower her captor to become 3D.

I've used a style board  to put together a rough visual guide, which will provide a visual framework for the story and images to evolve from.

These images are for working reference only - they are not my own work...

UV Mapping - basics

UV Mapping in Maya

This reminded me of pattern cutting in costume making...

I am used to XYZ axis in AutoCAD and Google sketch up and today I learned a about the UVW axis -  XYZ axis' are used in all 3D modelling software...to avoid confusion, mapping is known as UV (not sure what happened to the W!)

Here's some basic UV mapping, applied to a pre-made object of a torso...

Final film research: Dark Rooms !

Research for final film....

I've had some vague ideas about 2D & 3D transformations but no underlying structure or theme....

so I have been letting the ideas soak...

I was chatting with my husband last night and we started talking about dark rooms. I had a call scheduled  with my very good animator friend Karen Watson http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2ba84caa82; to brainstorm and give shape to some of these ideas I've been having....the two conversations ignited an idea and the story idea arrived ! 

Today I've been researching Dark Rooms and the photographic dark room printing process....

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Print-BW-Photographs-in-a-Darkroom/?ALLSTEPS

And I've found these images on line...the top one is from a photography student's blog....http://arlettaelizabeth.blogspot.co.uk/2014_11_01_archive.html

I love this image; the colours, the loose neon style of text and the whole general feel of the image.

The striking simplicity of the colours in a dark room, plus the process and the subsequent analogies and metaphors will be perfect to tell the story...

First attempt at a walk cycle

I've been reading 'The Animator's Survival Kit' - Richard Williams
and thought I would try out some sketch ideas for a walking man...
I drew the images on detail paper, using a base line for the character to make contact with...the contact drawing seems to be very important...
I then took a quick photo of the sketches on my phone and imported into my old version of Photoshop CS2, and tried out a rough walk cycle; using simple block colours, lighter and darker tones to differentiate the left and right arms and legs....
Each frame was set to .5 second, the timing is a bit slow and I think I might need to add some in-betweens, to make the walking smoother...

Really pleased with this first attempt though, and like the simplicity of the character...

Playing with eyes

Whilst researching Pixar's Inside Out, I came across some youtube tutorials for colouring in eyes.
Sketched one in my book, then photographed it and imported it into photoshop...
and played with colours and highlights...

Animation basics

My first attempt at animation!

A test of a bouncing ball....using the basic animation tool in Photoshop CS2...the timings seemed to become slower, particularly noticeable on the first drop, once exported as a .gif.

I've spent the afternoon reading half of the 'The Animator's Survival Kit' by Richard Williams. What a brilliant book.

It's inspired me to dig out some life drawings from 2010....looking forward to starting classes again!

Next experiment will be a walk cycle!! 

2D-3D Character Design

2D - 3D Character Concept/Design

Pre-production

Brief:
Design a Humanoid character concept/design.

Deliverables:

• Character Concept Art
• Model Sheet
• Turnaround
• Storyboard
• Animatic

I've brainstormed, mind mapped, sketched, researched digital images, looked at adverts, film clips and youtube tutorials to begin to formulate ideas for my final film.

I am making the leap from static visual to moving image - this is in terms of research and creation - plus creating an online sketch book https://uk.pinterest.com/andreamcswan/animation/ in addition to my hard copy sketch book....

Ideas for 2D world and character...

Flat cut out layers. White to colour. Grid reference visible. Bombed out exposed interiors. Geometric white cloud skies. Rigid modernist, regimented and controlled enviornment

Themes of Isolation towards belonging; Harm to Justice

The protagonist = A female character. Drawn outline, semi-transparent. Layered and fragmented

The setting = a 2 dimensional, flat, white world. Bombed out houses. Glass. Restriction. Maze?

The Antagonist = Self doubt and self deception. Plus an 'outside' force. The 2D police? A mangle? A vice?

The change = She overcomes self doubt and deception and transforms into 3D

Who is the main character? Why are they isolated? Is it self-imposed?
What has she lost?
How did it become lost?

What are the obstacles in her path that prevent her from regaining what she has lost?

What is the change that she goes through to overcome her obstacles?

What is the result of this change?
Tone - Dramatic, with possible humour?

Film references to date (suggested by Brendan Body and peers)

'Please Say Something' David O'Reilly 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2YdJy0w66Y&list=PLR6NkeqscAx1G47ES3keltSaZi4DNOpXk&index=2

'Ryan' - Chris Landreth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbkBjZKBLHQ&list=PLR6NkeqscAx1G47ES3keltSaZi4DNOpXk&index=3

'Inside Out' Pixar - Bongs Shortcut
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nlF4BVJBgU&list=PLR6NkeqscAx1G47ES3keltSaZi4DNOpXk&index=5

.

Book References so far:

Dobbs, D. Fleming, B (1999) Animating Facial Features and Expressions.Charles River Media Inc

Frazier, C. (2003) The Illustrated Voice. Graphis, Inc

Maestri, G (2002) Digital Character Animation 2. New Riders Publishing

Nie, Y (2011) Illustrators In and Out. China Youth Press

Shulevitz, U. (1985) Writing with Pictures. New York: Watson-Gupthill

Week 5: Contextual Review. Storytelling and Mudbox!

So this week....

I have found free parking! And also get the benefit of a 1/2 mile walk per day, along the Perth Road!

I handed in my first course essay...
Brief:
Write a contextual review and subject a piece of literature to critical analysis.


Storytelling workshop - looking at themes, tone, structure, active questioning. This workshop was brilliant!
Mark Grindle http://writersfactory.co.uk/mark-grindle/ provided us with a comprehensive set of writing tools and methods, which will help us shape and refine the ideas and story for our final projects.

And today. Mudbox!
http://www.autodesk.com/products/mudbox/overview


Wow...

Check this out.
A simple cube, with a glass finish. Amazing to 'sculpt' in real time, as the highlights and shadows are perfect
and there is no lag whatsoever...

Cube, with an added new subdivision (a tighter grid mesh) which refines the image.

Playing with the sculpt tools.

Commands were sculpt, grab, scrape. I found that if I held 'ctrl' then the sculpt command was reversed and I could push the surface in. Release 'ctrl' to pull.

 The blue is the 'freeze' command. Any part of my model that I don't wish to modify

A simple sphere with a chrome finish. Similar move controls for the X,Y.Z axis to Maya

We imported an object file (.obj) of a basic head model into the modelling space

And then played!

This is my first attempt at a 'character'. The mud naturally lent itself to 'slack' flesh, so I had fun creating an old man...a tad grumpy too!

I used the reverse sculpt command to push deep eye sockets.
The mirror command (along the X axis) was great for creating symmetrical shapes, such as the
ears and the back of the scull.
I turned it off when creating the eyes and features, as I was taught in life drawing that faces
aren't symmetrical and they look more convincing if uneven.

Skin tone was tricky to create...the colour hue kept looking darker than the swatch, so I am going to check out Digital Tutors and practice!
Here's a quick dry brush of some hair...looking forward to following some tutorials to find out more about creating hair!

Week 4: Maya 3D polygon modelling software

My first experience of using Maya...http://www.autodesk.co.uk/products/maya/overview

Comprehensive 3D Animation and Modelling software

Having used AutoCAD for 16 years and some experience in Sketch UP, there were similarities, but it was advised that I 'unlearn' all that I know.

Our task was to create a simple room, bed, wardrobe, desk and chair. Once I realised that I could use the elevation and plan viewports to position the objects, rather than grappling with what looked ok in the 3D port, my objects ended up in the correct location....rather than floating around in space.

Steep learning curve!

4 viewports. Front elevation, side elevation, plan and 3D

Using edge loops, curves and cut outs to faces

Using curved splines and extrusions to create the chair legs

The basic room, without surface colour or texture

The Bompetition

48 Hour Film project 2015
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (Dundee University)
MSc Animation and Visual FX

Week 3: 48 Hour film

Brief: 

You are required to produce a film in 48 hours. The genre of your film is up to the group. The brief is very open except for the stipulated requirements you were given at the briefing session.

(Quicktime Movie. H:264 ) 

Required props: Hat, Umbrella, Mobile Phone. 

Quotes (from a selection of three) : "Don't ask me about my business";

'The Bompetition'

With: 

Katherine Melville

Nelysa Nurshafira Mohd Roslan

Saikrishna Srnivasan

Shooting outside the McManus Gallery in Dundee....with the bag full of unusual hats

I learnt a lot from watching the others on our team use Adobe Premier and After Effects. We used and Youtube clips to figure out how to fade sound in and out; plus how to create a split screen shot at the end of the film.

Our final Adobe After Effects screen shot - with animated Google map pins that drop down onto the cityscape of Dundee...

I discovered that we needed to import only .png files into film...not j-pegs. This is the poster that I created in Illustrator and we imported it in After Effects...

Week 3: James Bond movie facilities and Green Screen tuition

The facilities at DJCAD and Dundee University are incredible...

I can print objects in 3D; burn j-peg photos onto wood; laser cut intricate designs; and make an Oak model of my own head at the click of a button....(and play ping-pong whilst I am waiting)

Entering every facility is like walking straight into a James Bond movie...

Green screen, perspective, zoom focus, tracking, motion blur avoidance and tuition in setting up and operating a professional video camera, dolly and track...