Final Videos

Here are two versions of my final, one with spaceship noises, one without.

"Dancing in Space" Version 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ymin7MrRFg

"Dancing in Space" Version 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GxwRSQRrMA

Final Proposal

Final Proposal

1) Initial idea and complete proposal:

Animation is still a relatively new concept to me. I have always liked to watch animated movies, but I never thought I would have the ability to actually try it first hand. For my project, I decided to have spaceships fly over mountains and synchronize their movement. I'd call the animation "Dancing in Space" and it would be pretty challenging for me.  The goal of this project was to explore different animation techniques and create the idea I had in mind.  I had the general idea, now I needed to explore the possibilities. I made a few sketches in Maya to get the idea down and then I worked from there. I have a very cartoony style, so I wanted to keep things within my comfort zone. I wanted to work with my own style and make a project. I knew that I would use a slightly unrealistic creative style to keep things within the areas I know. I will create all of the objects in Maya. I knew that I would have fun with this project.

My target audience is TCNJ students. Hopefully, I can show new students that anyone can make a project, regardless of skill level. I am still a rookie when it comes to animation and I don't feel 100% comfortable working in Maya, but I have been giving it my best effort to work on different projects for the class. I have been designing and working in the program that I have never used before this class. It is a fun experience and I look forward to continuing to work in Maya to create. Overall, this project will help me further explore Maya's capabilities, techniques, and help me enhance my animation skills. 

2) Project plan:

My creative strategy is that I want to keep the animation looking simple, but have a lot going on. I will use Maya to create all of the graphics. The project will look like a cartoon to keep it going with the cartoony style I always go for. I think that it will achieve the feel I was going for. I will use some spaceship sound effects and the song "Blue Danabe" by the composer Strauss.  My technical strategy is that I am going to keep it simple. I will use Maya to create all of the images and create all of the animations.  I will try to create everything as consistent as possible. All of the spaceships will have the same shapes, but I will alter the shadings and colors of each car to give them something unique. All of the mountains will look the same.  This simplistic style will keep things easy to watch and understand for a while. 

3) Production log:

I first made a plane to get the ground established. I drew everything in polygons because I have had more experience with them. The polygons served me well during the creative process. I then designed the mountain range. I encompassed the entire mountain range in a sphere. I then attached a shader to the sphere, which would then reflect on to the mountains.I then used a polygonal spheres to create the spaceships. I combined two to give it a basic spaceship shape. Once I had this basic spaceship, I then used it multiple times to have different spaceship in the design. Each spaceship has a unique coloring and shading. Each of the cars will move in similar directions. All of the spaceships are attached to the same basic bezeir curve with transitional key frames that I established as a motion path. The transitional keys allowed for more accurate steering. For each curve, though, I altered the track in some way. I did this so that the spaceships would be similar but different at the same time. It helped me achieve the synchronous feeling I was looking for.  I experimented with lighting, shading, and motions to have cars work in different ways. I then used multiple cameras and multiple camera angles and rendered them out. After rendering them out, I combined them in Final Cut Pro with the audio and the final product was created. This animation is simple, but I look forward to working on it again in the future.

4) Self-evaluation:

Overall, this project was a success. It has helped me understand how to use different techniques. I was able to experiment with different curves and different camera angles for different feels. I also learned more about the design process. Ideas evolve over time as you continue to work with them. I like the way it came out. This project also let me experiment with lighting, shading, and animation techniques. It was fun working with the transitional key to help make movements more fluid. I can work on different ways to animate the spaceships, such as making some move differently. I can work with spotlights and different elements to keep things interesting. I still need a lot of practice with Maya, but I am excited to learn and built more complex projects. It is very exciting to say that I have animated something this complex and I look forward to continuing my success with Maya. 

Final Previews

For my final, I have made many versions and changes over time. Here are the first two I worked on. My actual final is a lot different and my next posts will describe the new project in full and you'll be able to see the finished product. Check out the first and second rough cuts here:

First one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtegXio-tV4

Second one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XaIeAa9sTw

AAUGA

I found the AAUGA user group session to be very interesting. Claire smuga talked about talking a 3d project in maya, rendering it out into composite to make a 2d image, each object in the project has different shaders. Using the mental ray render, the passes tab, create render passes to separate items out of the render. You then take the separate components (each render) and combine them using Composite. Import the files into Composite (the Maya renders will be saved as a precomp file) then provides a template to put all of the renders together. Place each render in the appropriate node. Each node has scripts attached to it to know how to properly use each precomp file. You can use this for modeling and entire scenes. Kevin kaley doing retopology of mudbox sculptures. Topology is the underlying flow of the object. Retopology helps to add density and allow for more realistic edge flow. Kevin worked on giving horns to a lizard. Kevin said that in sculpting you should use quads instead of triangles since the algorithms with brushes are built better for them. He also showed how you can add details and create new layers to smooth out the skins to make it ready for painting. Ed roly is talking about how animations can be brought into unity. We are bringing designs into unity. Ed is a substance designer. He showed us how to make a wooden wall. Brian worked with a soldier and showed us some interesting ways of design and interaction.

Reel Art

Reel Art was a surprisingly great experience.  It was a great show featuring original drawings, paintings, poetry, songs, and films. The films were excellent. It was great to see the use of special effects from Adobe After Effects in the films. It was also great to see Andrew's animation. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. I have never seen anything like it. The host mentioned that it took him over 300 hours and I believe it. So many moving and flashing pieces. It was really great to have the ability to appreciate all of the different types of art out there. I think film and music are still my favorite. They are my best and I do think that I will participate next time. Here are some photos from the event.

Mountain Range Polygons

Here's a mountain range made from polygon primitives. I used cones and a mix of shaders. I used blinns and fractals to make the textures on the mountains. I might use this creation in the future.

Low Man Animation

Here is my low man animation. I have Low man doing a stretch pose that I do every morning. It helps loosen up the joints. This animation was actually a great representation of the actual exercise.

Check out the animation here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TAToUGGf4g