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
