Lip syncing animation test - Pulp fiction

Here is a little test for a facial rig we lip synced. It turned out pretty well....

Truck test

Here is a quick batch render for a truck I made in Maya....... TA DA

Concept art

One main part of our new assignment is concept art and modelling.
After doing one week of concept art, I made a final digital one and more.

                                                               Here are some of the designs.

Assault Course Animation

 

 

Over the past few lectures we have been making a Assault course

 

 

 

Halloween Scene

During the run up to Halloween, in the past few lectures we have been making a Halloween scene.
We have made pumpkins,  a haunted house, a spooky sign, and a graveyard and combined them all together to make a cool Halloween scene.

This is what we have made so far. it will be animated soon and textured better.

Here is the finished animation of the Halloween Scene

 

Bouncing ball

Over the past few lectures we have been making a little bouncing ball animation.

Here is the test for it

 

 



Lego Project

 



Over the past few lectures we have created a Lego man. we did this by moving edges, faces and vertices to get the shape from a reference image.

Here are a few renders of the final product.

 Here are some of the final renders.

Reviewing reviews

Assignment 2 – Reviewing reviews

Inside out

 

Once I received my project brief I straight away knew I would pick a film to base my reviews of. The most recent film I watched was Inside out and it was also a recommendation so I decided to choose this. After doing a little bit of research of the film itself I was happy with this decision.

 

Objective review – The Guardian

This review I have chosen here basically sums up the plot to inside out being about a little girl’s life and seeing how her emotions react to everything. There are 5 emotions in total and the film mainly focuses on two of them called joy and sadness as they are two opposites it works best. The review talks about the messages being delivered across to the audience and how it can reflect in modern day life. It says that the sad moments can mirror from Toy Story 2 or up.

 

Bias Review – INSIDE OUT MOVIE REVIEW Schmoesknow (YouTube review)

This review I have chosen shows personal opinions towards the film Inside out. They start by saying it is an amazing family film not just for kids to enjoy but for adults too. They say the jokes put in the film are not stupid ones but are smart for kids to sometimes understand but also for adults to understand so they feel a part of the film as well. They also thought this was one of the best Pixar movies they have seen one of them giving it a 5/5 and the other one a 4.75/5. The whole review is just them basically saying how awesome the film is.

Comparing the reviews – Critical analysis

These reviews are both very different by the bias one actually giving more of a detailed review whereas the objective one sort of just tells the story and how it affects the audience.

Both of these reviews do help you understand the story and why you need to go and see it. The comments made do differ in both reviews as in the bias review they also talk about how the voice actors who played the parts of the different emotions were great and Pixar got it spot on were as the other one didn’t.

But the majority of both of the reviews were very similar and there message was being put across in a very similar way.  The Critical analysis was a written document from the guardian and the bias review was a YouTube video. The YouTube video seemed to be more helpful as it has more of a bigger audience looking at them compared to an online newspaper, especially for this target audience. Both of the reviews focussed more on the emotions compared to some of the other characters involved like the little girl and Mum and Dad who also played a big part, the reason behind this was because they are the main purpose of this film and it’s what the film is always focused on each and every one of their emotions.

Both of their purposes for reviewing inside out was to help the audience decide whether they want to watch the film or not, and they both did convince me to watch the film.

They are both very well structured one vocally and the other in terms of a document each going across one point at a time and not rushing through the whole thing even though there reviews weren’t very long. I would say that both of these materials have been presented clearly and accurately which is key when trying to persuade someone to watch the film in a way.

The YouTube video more entertains you where as the other one is more serious. I was attracted to the YouTube video more as it has some humour in it as well as trying to get their opinions across.

Overall even though they do review the same film they both doing in a slightly different way and it’s your own personal opinion on what review you think it better.

 

Inside out review

After recently watching inside out I have decided to review it. Inside out for me was a fantastically made film, I enjoyed the whole film and would recommend the film too anyone. The film is basically focused on a little girls emotions and how they see the world through the little girl’s eyes. It is a very recent film as it was made in 2015 so it’s very up to date when it comes to animation software, voice acting e.c.t.

I was very impressed with the quality of this movie which I’m not surprised by as of the £175 million budget spent on making the film. This film is obviously a family friendly film which you can tell just from the front cover (beside). The colours used are very bright and eye-catching and it’s what a child would want to watch as it looks like a happy film.

I love the animation style within this film, as it’s a Disney Pixar film you can see how it looks similar to Toy story and Finding Nemo. You can see this because of the eye style which stays the same through most of Pixar’s films, so you know when it’s a Pixar movie.

Going back to the quality I was really impressed with the graphics in this film they were top notch when it came to the overall look of the characters and how they were animated. Whilst watching the film it looked like the emotion characters where actually real as it was so precise, and it felt like you could actually connect with the characters as it’s almost based on how you picture your own emotions to act.

One big part of the film for me is the voice acting because if the voice acting is terrible it sort of ruins the film for me. The casting was chosen very well for all of

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the characters and they are all a fairly well known cast, Each emotion had to portray that emotion with their voice so for Anger the voice actor would have to naturally have an angry voice or be able to pull off an angry voice without it sounding fake and actor Lewis black did exactly that which I think is great.

Obviously the only way great acting can be pulled off is with great sound. The actors voices where clear and loud so you can hear every word throughout the film whereas with some films the dialogue can be quite low and be difficult for the audience to hear. The music used in this film is also very good and fits the film very well and also has a similar sound to other music used in past Pixar films which is because the composer has   composed for other Pixar films like The Incredibles, UP, Cars 2 and Ratatouille.

There are lots of techniques that this film used well such as good composition, cinematography, story e.c.t. Which could only be achieved if the right person was picked for the job.

Great composition is used in the image taken from the film above of Joy (one of the emotions). They are clearly making Joy the centre of attention as of the depth of field included within this scene so the only part in focus is the character herself so the audience can really connect with her, which makes the film look really cinematic and high budget.

Overall this film was really enjoyable but there were some parts during the film where I sort of was just waiting for the film to get somewhere as I felt some scenes where just dragged out and a little bit tedious where as they could have been made more interesting.

This scene in particular I wasn’t too interested in as there was nothing really happening visually except for the characters talking to each other so this is probably my least favourite scene.

 

This scene here was my favourite scene as it was the one that made me laugh the most for the whole film as it’s very clever how a little argument they were having become so dramatic for the emotions. It was also the scene that was included in the trailer so it’s what made me want to watch the film in the first place.

Comparing my review to the others –

I liked the other reviews but I think mine is more detailed then theirs, because I have talked a lot more about the characters and how they affect the way the audience looks at the film.

Our reviews are very different to each other as the others were basically just saying how much they love the film and how great it is, so you should go and watch it, but I wanted to express how I feel towards the film in a personal way. 

The other reviews could have been improved for me if they offered a lot more detail instead of just telling the audience the plot and saying how awesome it is. But overall they do give some good points and good ideas are put across.

Reviews included –

The Guardian – Inside out: http://www.theguardian.com/film/inside-out

Schmoesknow – Inside out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_G0QXEoQMo

 

By Adam James

Chess Game - 3D Modeling

Within the past few lectures we have created a chess board in Maya

The lighthouse - Assignment 1

Research

After being given the assignment I decided to research into the history of the my chosen theme. I chose the theme of Western as I thought it was the best one that I could be creative with. The theme of western was very popular in films within the 50's and 60's. In most stereotypical western films there is a good guy and a bad guy who normally have a shootout between each other and the story progresses from there. The setting of westerns are normally in an empty desert with nothing but a town and horses and carriages.
I researched into western themed lighthouses and couldn't find any proper ones so I decided to experiment and look into western water towers, which are high and supported by a wooden structure. A wooden structure would be good to incorporate in my lighthouse.

The wooden structure of this water tower is something I will put in my final 3D model in my own style to hold up the lighthouse.

The composition of this image is something I want to incorporate in my final 3D render, with the wooden fence and the lighthouse in the near distance behind it.






Initial Idea

My initial idea for this project is to make a western lighthouse and put it in a western ranch type setting. There will hopefully be various objects towards the western theme around the setting. I have decided that the lighthouse will be used to guide riders whilst they are riding in the dark so they can see where they are going instead of boats into shore.


Mood Board

I have decided to Choose the western theme within this assignment. Here I have gathered a few images in this mood board. These images are objects and setting in which I could include which would surround my lighthouse. All the images I have chosen are appropriate for this theme.

I have taken this image from the film The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The whole theme around the actor is the wild west as of the hills, trees wooden carriage, abandoned graveyard. The clothes the character is wearing are all the same colour as the background which is brown and black.

Here I have gathered a few images of varies lighthouses and there designs. As I have chose the western theme I think a wooden lighthouse would be suitable, as most places in a typical western town are made of wood. All of these lighthouses are different even though some of them look the same, some of them are completely cylindrical whilst others have more sharp edges as you go along. Some look quite old where as others look new.

This Image has been taken from the film Shutter Island. This image has great composition showing you the whole picture with a wide angle lens. It clearly isn't a nice and happy place to go and visit as it has a very dark blue colour grade across the whole image.


Concept art

Concept 1-

Concept 2-

Concept 3-

Building the 3D model

Snapshots-

 Here I have just opened up Maya and started to model. I have picked a simple sphere and cylinder to work with. I will start of by getting the basic shape of the lighthouse by just extruding, scaling, using the Booleans tool etc..

The basic mesh of the cylinder is complete and the small details are needed to start.

I have started to create the basic mesh of the western style doors for the lighthouse. These doors were made by using a cube and scaling the cube thin. Then pushed the vertices of the cubes corners inwards. All this needs now is a good texture.







I have now started to create holes in my lighthouse mesh by using the Booleans tool. The bottom part of the lighthouse wasn't done perfectly and is something that I could have improved.








I have now textured this lighthouse with an old wood texture as my theme is western, most western objects, places are associated with a wood material.

I have now started to make the wooden fence that goes around my lighthouse. I started off by using a sphere and scaling in fairly thin and tall enough for a person to go under it.
For the archway I used a light wood texture and used text on the sign saying "WILD WEST LIGHTHOUSE".
Then I started making the wooden bollard things to hold the fence up and then made the structure itself.













I have now made another feature that I want to add into my final render, so the western theme is clearly put across I have decided to make a Cowboy Hat. I made this using a cylinder, adding edge loops to the edge parts, extruding them edges outwards to get a circle plane underneath my hat and tweaking the sides so it looks more of a floppy hat.





Then I added a material and texture on the hat with a lambert and the colour brown, but with two different shades one darker and one slightly lighter for the middle to separate the cylindrical part of the hat and the circle plane part of the hat.

I went back to the lighthouse and added a wooden structure towards the back similar to the ones in a western water tower, this is so the structure looks old and its struggling to stay up.






Going back to the wooden gates I added a little parts of wood across the bollards so it looks more like a wooden fence and then hung my cowboy hat on the edge of one of the big bollards.

I have now started to think about how im going to render my 3D image thinking about composition, lighting and shadows. I have decided to use an image plane and a background shader and place my 3D objects on the background so it looks like it was there in the first place.

These are the images I will be using for my background as they both have a western feel towards them which is what I am after.

Render Experimentation

Render 1 -

After Combining the 3D Model with the background image I have completed my first render. I like the way I have placed the objects in this image as it looks like they were all part of the image in the first place, But the lighthouse isn't attracting much attention as its way in the background and the fence is more the centre of attention, So I could improve this by taking away the wooden gates and just keeping the lighthouse or changing the background completely and picking a new background.

Render 2 -

I have tried a slightly different angle on this render. I have moved the lighthouse closer and angled the wooden fence to a front view. As the image is quite dark I lightened it up to the default render.





It works a little but better with this lighting as you can clearly see all of the objects in the scene where as before you could barely see the cowboy hat and beer bottles. The only problem with this is the 3D Objects look badly embedded.







Render 3 -

On this new render I have changed the background that the 3D Models are sitting on. This new background is a western mountain style.
This first one is a colour managed image, But I don't feel like it looks very good as it has an embedded feel towards it.

This is the Raw Image. It works a lot better as the objects blend into the background a lot more than before.
The only problem is it doesn't feel like a western place like it did in the previous render.







Stages to the final render

 



Opened the rendered image up in Photoshop.

 




Added a new layer, coloured over it with a shade of orange.

 



Added a new layer, Turned the saturation down quite low.

 



Added a light burst into the top right corner of the image.

Added a hue and saturation, with a orange/tea stain look so it looks like a western image.









Final Render

I have now finished and completed my final render. I have picked the 3rd render as my best one. I chose this one as I like the background image that the 3D models sit on. I didn't like having just the rendered image as my final design so I decided to open up Photoshop and do a few tweaks. The idea behind my lighthouse and setting is that, when horses and their riders are riding around at night the lighthouse will guide them so they can see where there going, as there are no street lights or lamps around so they will only be able to see with the lighthouse. For this final render I created the two bottles lying on the floor, the wooden fencing and sign, the cowboy hat, the haystack and the lighthouse of course.

I like the way I have positioned my final render and I believe it gets the message across quite well. The fence archway is clearly for the riders to enter and then the lighthouse is the first thing they will be greeted by.

Evaluation

What Went Well - For me the whole assignment went very well, I managed to achieve everything that I wanted to from the beginning.
I started from planning our my ideas using mood boards and research. At the end off my research I discovered that the strongest theme for me to do would be Western so I did this. I started off by creating 2D concepts of my 3D model and I can happily say that one of my concepts looked fairly similar to one of my 3D models (as shown below).

 2D CONCEPT









3D MODEL










What could have been improved - The overall look of the Jpeg image was fine but a few parts could have been improved. Firstly the texturing on the lighthouse body could have been done better as it was slightly wonky. The haystacks I made could have been improved by making them a bit more rough as they looked quite neat and tidy. Maybe I could have put more time into the 3D modelling itself, but it looked like how I wanted it too so I thought it was acceptable.

Does my research back up my end result - Yes I think my research does back up my end result as it includes ideas that I wanted to incorporate at the beginning and it clearly shows the theme that I decided to take on.

What issues did I have to face - Whilst making the 3D model, the software occasionally crashed which was quite annoying but I managed to regularly save my work. Also whilst texturing models some of the textures didn't work perfectly and I had to change them to different ones. Lighting was a little bit of an issue as to were I was positioning the lights and the intensity but after picking a nice background I managed to light it well.


How could I improve it – To improve my final piece I have decided to re texture the lighthouse using a smaller texture.

If I had more time. Next time the final 3D render may well look like this. All I did was change the texture on the lighthouse and with this texture it works a bit better, but the lighting isn’t as good nor the position.