Final product of the final animation! Warning: the music may be loud at parts (during crescendo)
The initial end credits go by fast to match with the music, then a full 5 second frame for all of the info; you can pause it to read all the info (since it is quite a bit to take in at just 5 seconds of screen time).
Font used: Zapfino
Music: Autumn Movement 2 Adagio Molto; Spring Movement 3 Allegro Pastorale
Completed render for Final 2D/3D animation! Successfully imported into Premiere and ready for titles and sound! That will either be completed Sunday or Monday evening.
I did not anticipate the end of the year to approach so quickly. I failed to take into account the amount of time I needed to complete illustrations for my other two studio classes. Thus, this affected my ability to finish the final animation for this class in a timely matter.
However, class time today gave me time to catch up; all I need to do now is render everything and put it in Premiere. Sounds, titles and credits should not take too long (maybe a few hours).
Finished animation of camera and orb
Adjusted lighting
Batch rendered some spots
Orb leaves 2D world (fall/winter) into 3D world (spring)
This and the Factory may be my two favorite animations I've made!
Primary 2D render needs to be lengthened, though I do not know for how much. I ,ust finish secondary animation first to determine that.
Added flowers and light (the trees seem to be incandescent in any light, despite all glow and incandescence being turned off. Grass and flowers are not lit by any light.)
Animating orb and camera= lots of keyframes
Need to finish orb and camera animation, add extra frames to 2D animation, tweak lights, then render final product.
I was hoping to render the entire flat scene today, however, the render data is not turning out the way I intended. Troubleshooting has lasted two hours now- I have the scene the way I'd like it, though the render sRGB gamma settings are on in both the Render View window and the Render Settings, the images are very different. From what I have seen, the gamma/light settings remain the same in both even though the output varies. It must be some other hidden option in the Render Settings, because that is where the issue is occurring.
Render View Window (sRGB gamma ON)
Actual Render (sRGB gamma ON)
After playing round with the settings, I found a look I can live with. I will screenshot it in the next post. It will have to do, since I need to finish the entire render by next week.
Renders: I usually use RGBgamma when rendering (and Maya Software, because mentalray doesn't usually work with what I make). This time, mentalray completely dismisses the trees and grass, and RGBgamma makes the atmosphere very dark. Experimentation with gamma rendering will eventually happen, since I am not sure what the other settings even do.
I had plans to work on my final animation this weekend, even more so that it was a long weekend (having no classes today due to Patriot's Day), but alas... I did not get around to it...
It is not that I did not do anything this weekend; I worked on illustrations, started a paper, and caught up on my sleep debt.
This class was spent figuring out trees and grass. Some difficulties kept me from progressing faster, but now that I know how to identify the problems and fix them, as well as finding the brushes to paint on trees and grass to fill the void, later progress should not be as hindered.
Also, there is are flower brushes; I can sprinkle flowers throughout the grass!
Looked online for some free .obj tree files. Then, instead of just putting a grass texture on a plane, I want to have actual grass blades visible. I found some .obj grass files, which work well, but then I found out Maya has tree brushes and grass brushes! I am so excited to make the scene now that I know creating it won't take ages! However, when using trees and grass, whether with brushes or free files, there is so much information for Maya to calculate that the process becomes slow. Moving grass across the screen takes about a second longer, which feels much longer than the instant navigation of a regular polygon. Still, with the possibility of using pre-made trees and grasses instead of having to create my own from scratch, I am relieved that I can now use this time to go right into making the scene and animations!
Only four weeks left of the semester! Time crunch to fit in all of my final projects and papers for each of my classes. For 3D Model/Animation, we must incorporate 2D and 3D into a single animation.
My idea is for the camera to follow the short journey of a glowing orb through a 2D forest (at first convincingly multi-dimensional), then transitioning into an actual 3D world, leaving the flat space it originated (now revealed to be a 2D space). The orb becomes the moon(?).
That's about it. Should be simple enough. I'm sure there is some deeper meaning lurking within this piece somewhere.
More sounds! I recorded some more sounds, edited others in Adobe Audition, and had to look up the ones I could not create myself. (I will need to adjust the volume in some parts). It's getting better! Some parts are still too silent (empty, since nothing is moving to add sound to), so I'm considering adding some ambient noise or soft music? I will save and export both as options.
This is the first effort of recording of sounds for my factory. There isn't much there; I forgot certain actions that need sound, so I will most likely redo the recordings with more of an idea of what I want.
Sound room! Now that I figured it out (and nearly going deaf in the process*), I recorded some sounds in the sound room! It was rushed though; I was in the room for about 2 minutes when more students came knocking on the door to use the room... I wanted to take my time, but I am too kind to keep them waiting (also, knowing that people need to use it while I'm in there causes me to rush anyway), so I recorded some mediocre sounds that I thought could work.
I put them into Premiere and the sounds do not really go with the materials that are in the animation... I need to record new ones; but I can't tonight because the room is in use by others and it is getting late (I have other work to do).
I decided to try and use the sounds I have anyway, but as soon as I had them all in the way I want them, I adjust one of my title frames and suddenly I play it back and there is no sound! The files are there, where I put them. I adjusted the volume to make sure I did not mute it by accident, but I still don't hear anything. I hear everything else in the animation lab, including the taps of me typing, but not a sound from Premiere.
Not sure what to do now... I have to get back to my dorm and leave this mediocre animation to be played soundless for tomorrow? I'd really rather record new sounds for it anyway, but now I can't tonight...
Well, I'll try again tomorrow (or this weekend, depending on the availablility of the sound room).
~Jennah A
*I tried to edit the sounds to make it more like electricity, and I didn't know what to do with some of the settings. So when I played it back, the feedback was incredibly loud and high pitched. My ears and head felt weird for about 5-10 minutes afterward (and my ears still feel ache-y even now).
I added some light and had to fix the water (since the particle/fluid mechanics were taking so long with no progress). That only took me a few hours...
Rendering went pretty fast: 800 frames in 25 minutes. However, the first time I forgot to add the sanitization lights (red to test, green to confirm) and had to add those and re render. After that, I realized that my second rendering was without the room back drop, making the frames very dark... So then I rendered it a third time (by now, the accumulative times it has taken to render it correctly has now been 1.5 hours, when it could've been 25 minutes the first time).
Done for the night... it looks good enough in Premiere.
Now all I need is title frames and sound.
Last Wednesday and this past Wednesday, two candidates for the illustration department gave presentations at Montserrat. Eric Telfort and Britt Snyder explained what they plan to do for classes, their visions for the job, and expressed their skill through slideshows of their work and experience. Telfort fits quite well with the atmosphere of Montserrat; passionate and excited to tell his story and teach students to improve through various skills. Snyder has an experienced background and much to offer the department, though not nearly as exciting and passionate as Telfort. Those strengths alone make both pretty decent candidates for the college, though it is up to the rest of the student body and faculty to decide which is better suited for the future of Montserrat. I am impressed with the options so far! Both are excellent painters, illustrators, and designers!
created a fluid container (not sure what to do with it now... I will look up tutorials)
created a room that the animation will take place, textured it
Set Backs:
accidentally copied the ground layer 16 times, then those copied layers somehow duplicated as well (had to delete all 32 unneeded layers)
tried to fill the box with the metal bearings; duplicating them took awhile; using gravity to arrange them in box naturally was unsuccessful (gravity ignored all the passive rigid bodies and just went right through them every time)
had to delete all of those gravity bearings and create/duplicate all new ones and place them in the box manually (then make them rigid bodies so the main bearing does not go right through them in the final scenes)
Weekend was busy once again. Wasn't able to make it to the Hardie to work on my factory; I have mainly been going back and forth between reading a memoir for Narratives of Self and painting/sketching two illustrations, all due within days (at most one week) of each other.
Though, I am confident that I can catch up. At least two more work-in-class days and one more weekend to add textures and animate! Also the sounds... I will do those soon too. In the end, I need to remember to leave time for rendering! It can be done!!
It's been a weird week; the weekend itself was distorted by an unusual sleep schedule and the apparent need to socialize (even if it was just for that one day; watched a movie). It was enough to throw off my entire week, so unfortunately, I have not worked on the Factory Project since my last post. I have been bustling around to keep up with my other classes that this one somehow fell to the wayside...
I'll just have to work that much harder in class today and over the weekend and next week; I don't mind, but I'd rather not give myself such trouble again (as in that one bad weekend that sets me behind in everything).
Simple rendition of possible storyline/animatic for Factory. Simple camera angles and object in focus will allow extra time to go into animating parts in the factory, gathering sounds, and rendering.
Designed in a way to mimic an hourglass shape; the rusted or dirty material falls into the top chamber for some time in an electric shock-type surface therapy, then falls to the bottom where water will cleanse the soot off; the finished product is refined and ready for reuse. Also the chambers can represent the hemispheres of earth; the northern half was destroyed (the chamber where dirtied objects first enter into), but then in the south the ruined material becomes repurposed (the water cleans away the remaining damage and soot).
Still having a hard time deciding how to begin the animatic... how the factory is introduced is very important!
Many years ago, a terrible war devastated the entire northern hemisphere. Only rubble remains of the material possessions and sturdy architecture that once represented luxurious living among the first world countries. Despite the destruction, the southern countries grew strong and fought to protect their livelihood in absence of their northern counterparts. Whoever was left, the best designers, mechanics, and scientists, combined their knowledge and advanced technology to create a mechanism that restores old material into new material. Resources are hard to come by, so regular factories that can no longer mass produce become obsolete, eventually to be replaced by the Future Generator. Even the smallest or most useless of objects can be restored and repurposed! Some of the featured Generators clean dirty and damaged marbles for new glass. Another can cleanse and refine metals with electricity and heat. With time, the north can be rebuilt with the same materials that made it strong in the first place. These Generators will recycle much needed resources and provide more for future reconstruction; defensive action must be taken! Set post-apocalyptically, but with shinier machines! A monstrous threat tore apart a good portion of the surface of the earth; much was lost in the wreckage. To recover more useful resources, mini factories were designed to restore damaged material for future use. Concept by ~Jennah A
I did not think as much about it during Spring Break as I probably should have; in fact, I completely forgot about the project! The week wasn't as much of a "break" from work as I hoped it would be, but time with family and some focus on illustration was necessary.
So, as soon as I entered the classroom this morning, I began to brainstorm an idea...
A factory/machine that takes rusty, worn-out objects and cleans/sanitizes them into new, shiny objects! Electricity, fire, and water will be used in the cleansing process. I would like to experiment with pulsing lights as well (glowing points that indicate when a machine has power?)
I have a vision involving mechanical arms (jointed cylinders) and/or walls that eject electricity where the old object lays in between. The electricity burns off the rust, leaving the object on fire (for refining). The object will then be dropped into a vat of water to cool it, washing off the charred surface and leaving the object clean and shiny.
That's about as far as I am with the idea right now.
Joint Tool (1 click to each: bottom, middle, and top of cylinder)
move center joint off to side just a tad bit
name those joints to tell what from what
IK Tool (inverse kinematic tool); click bottom and top joints
Bind Tool; bind the joints to the cylinder (select all joints, then add select object)
Curves/Surfaces
Create Circle, snap to top of cylinder
In Outliner, select circle and IK handle
Constraint –> Parent
Do the same with another circle to the bottom of cylinder
(The circle curves are used as "handles" to grab the joints they are connected to; without them, just grabbing at the joints may lead to accidentally grabbing a vertex and dragging it around, messing with the shape of the object)
Animate
move the joints and create key frames using the S key to animate the cylinder bending
I animated the arm cylinder slowly, every keyframe at 50 frame intervals, as if the arm is stretching, coming alive for the first time after being created!
Rendered entire Maya Word_Play into frames and imported them onto Premiere.
Premiere is really fun to use. Easy to import numerous rendered JPEG frames!
This vid is quite short, but I did not expect it to be long for such a short project.
Still an engaging project! So much to know, but very useful knowledge; it is a pleasure to have the skills even if I may not be doing this for a living. Simple 3D animation is intriguing!
Read an entire novel this weekend. Forgotten how good it feels to read for fun- probably why I spent at least 5 hours at a time blasting through the chapters...oops...
Premiere rain test successful. It rendered and imported fairly quickly. No issues.
In this test it looks pretty dark, but I will have a lighter backdrop and sun in final.
When I figure out the melt, all I will need is sounds and such! From solid to liquid it will go!
Began my project for Word Play; created a ground plane, sky, beveled word (solid=Headline A font), and just learned how to add rain! (Windows–>General–>Visor–>weather–>rain brush) Will have to research melting animation. Here's a video on making an object appear to be made of ice (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VqvNRCWKbg) However, the video does not have audio and it is a bit confusing.... I may just stick with ice texture if I do not have time to mess with all of those lighting settings.
I regret to say that I have neglected to update my blog all weekend. Not because I have not thought about the assignment, but just the fact that time seemed to elude me. With important illustration requirements increasing, previous engagements specific to this past weekend and the lovely weather calling me to sit at the beach for an hour have stolen my time away- I planned out this weekend for assigned work in all classes, but somehow it all escaped me. I had been working on my time management for awhile now and this is the first time in awhile that I have slipped. I crammed all my thoughts and ideas for the Word assignment into yesterday (Monday, which is my busiest day with classes every week). I have quite a bit to do now...
I have finally completed my flythru! Considering this is my first full animation (not including the simple ball bounce), I think it is quite well done!
It was quite fun to make, the process being difficult at first but easy enough to follow and learn.
Premiere was also quite fun to use!
Some sounds could be modified, so I may return to fix it later.
Summary: A person wakes up in a mysterious place, the sound of the ocean close by. Trapped in an odd maze-like structure, he travels to the center pillar willingly for its light. The pillar is supernatural, granting the person the ability to leave through flight, as if becoming a spirit.
???? time (over a period of many days, years, decades, centuries, millennia...)(many a .gif)
Ok, so I'm a huge Ninja Turtle fan, and in class when we talk about cgi animated movies, shows and clips my mind often goes to Nickelodeon's new version of the TMNT! The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been through 30 years of comic form (1984-on), 2D animated tv shows (1987-1996 and 2003-2009), live action movies (1990, 1991, and 1993), a cgi animated movie (2007) along with this cgi animated show (2012-on). [edit: plus teh 2014 Michael Bay movie and sequel this year]
Each movie/show has its own uniqueness while keeping some truth to Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's original comics. For this post I will just keep to the animation uses between the 2003 and 2012 shows (since they both have some amount of 2D and 3D effects).
The 2003 series was mainly 2D, with incorporations of 3D objects later on (usually in vehicles and in the tunnel sequence towards the end of the opening). I noticed many shows in this time period were doing the same thing; the gradual introduction of 3D animation to the traditional 2D form of entertainment. Personally, I preferred my 2D cartoons without the use of occasional 3D, since the cgi element seemed so juxtaposed and stood out too much. In paused images containing both 2D and 3D effects it didn't feel as forced, but when the objects moved I could totally tell. However, a friend pointed out the tunnel in the opening was 3D, which I had never noticed before. I loved this series either way!
A few years later Nickelodeon claimed the rights to the TMNT franchise and created a cgi reboot that began airing in 2012. The show also incorporates 2D effects for a comic purposes and emotion translation. Once again, I thought the marriage between 2D and 3D was odd and unnecessary, but then it grew on me. It was purposefully illustrated this way to differentiate the scenes through mood. This rendition also uses 2D effects for the cartoon shows the turtles watch in their spare time, like Space Heroes, Super Robo Mecha Force 5, Crognard the Barbarian, and Chris Bradford's 2 Ruff Crew (all references/parodies to real tv shows, like StarTrek, mecha anime [Super Robot Monkey Team HyperForce Go! perhaps?], maybe even He-Man. Also, Chris Bradford reminds me of Chuck Norris). Anyway, I love it!
Aaaand, then I also found this storyboard/animation clip, which is nice since it looks like the meat hangers (shown in the storyboard) were made in Maya! Wonder what programs were used to make this whole show????
Collaborating my love for TMNT with my artistic education! I've been thinking about it for awhile, and I feel like there is so much more to discover, but I will keep it 'short' for blogging purposes.
Approximately timed my FlyThru: it's a tad more than a minute long. Finished camera animation. It's about as smooth as I could make it at this point- I suppose at some point I could go in and add more freeze frames and manipulate the graph points to make it more appealing, but I am still pleased with the outcome as it is now.
Render Settings
Batch render
I just rendered 30 frames; it took about 23 minutes... It rendered fairly quickly before I added that ocean (animating each frame of that moving water takes quite a bit!)
Screenshot before render
Screenshot after render (no gamma)
I somehow forgot how to use premier despite being told the simplest way of using it just this morning... I opened a thing, dragged the 30 frames into left bottom window. The video itself is only about 2 seconds long, but when I hit play, it takes about 4-5 seconds to play each frame... how do I play it in real time other than clicking and dragging the curser in timeline with mouse?
Premier of 30 frames
Glad I have animations done: only Premier left to finish! I know the rendering is going to take a good chunk of time... I predict at least a few hours.
Used 'Ocean Shader' to create planes of water for ponds
Adjusted ocean shader settings to make it more pond-like and less ocean-like
Began animating first person camera/character (now at 900 frames)
Began to understand rendering (practiced rendering 10 frames)
These processes were quite fun to go through; so far the easiest way to animate water, minding the technical and physical aspects in the look of real water, being able to adjust wind speed, foaming, wave height and depth in crest and trough, etc.
Animating a camera through an environment is so neat! Figuring out the speed and specific movement takes a bit of time, but it's worth it in the end! I am excited to see how it looks after it is rendered.
Decided to make the grass into regular dirt: the rocky landscape's texture and cool values work better with the night scene and cool light source.
Played a lot with the light source/transparency/value/shadows quite a bit this class!
So many menus... so many options... I don't even remember what exactly I clicked on to do some of this, ahaha
Tried to figure out the paint tool in Maya... still not sure what it is supposed to do and how to use it. I undid what evidence was there- it did not add much to what I am going for.
Water: would like it to have motion.
Will add sketches of character/camera movement soon.
further rendering environment and ground plane; added some ponds
added simple textures to the ground, pillar, orb, walls, and sky (learned how to repeat patterns on objects; seamless sample images are best to use for this)
reverse normals on sky, so it can be seen from the inside
So many things to keep track off... I write steps down as I go (to refer to later)
Pretty decent for my first time using these programs
