VFX shot acquisition

For this we went over a presentation detailing all things camera related to give us an understanding of them before we engage in filming.

Firstly I learnt about camera exposure. For this I was taught the factors you need to account for when finding the correct exposure. The first is the lens aperture. This functions like the human light where the shutter works like a pupil so the more light intake the smaller it is needed to be. The next one is the sensitivity of the camera sensor to the light. The final factor is the cameras shutter speed.







The next thing I went onto learn about is the focal length. This means the distance between the center of a lens or curved mirror and its focus. The camera we are going to use is the 41mm. This means the view can be seen by the human eye because the eyes focal length is 50mm. Additionally  the use of the black magic cinema camera means that there is going to be a crop factor of 2.28 when filming.

The last part of the presentation taught me about matching lighting. The  360 degree cameras purpose is to record an High Dynamic Range Imaging. it is placed so it records an HDRI of the lighting of the shoot to replicate them on MAYA in the future.

VFX production

The picture above shows the 360° camera taken from the day of shooting. Despite this there was no intention of taking a shot with that camera as the cinematography was pretty simple.

 Here you can see the place where we filmed all of the shots. This is taken from 'Google maps' because on the day i had to secure my phone as it fell out of my pocket in the first shot. As well as this i took the picture of the distortion grid required for post production.

For the filming i played an extra who ran away from the robot. Again this wasn't a hard process as all I had to do was run for a couple of seconds.I thought it was a strong point for me as i did what i needed to playing the extra.

Overall when the time arrived the shoot was successful. The biggest issue was finding the right day to shoot the sequence. We spent much time waiting for the right day holding off on shooting but that day never came so we had to make with what was given to us by filming on the day that we did. This day the weather was rather unforgiving and the cold weather started to show in the final product. Although the weather did give everyone motivation to complete the shoot as we all wanted to return to class to escape the unbearable weather. From the shoot I think i could have worked more on my enthusiasm whilst shooting as the weather put me in bad morale which meant I gave an performance which was unrealistic to what the shoot was meant to be about throwing off the tone.

VFX pre production

This is a Gantt chart which is commonly used within the industry. The purpose of it is to stay organized while filming by sectioning out all tasks into various time frames. In addition to organization the Gantt chart is also used to to make sure no one falls behind and stays on track with the task at hand with the overall result being a more efficient project.

 The next part of the pre-production phase was to create a risk assessment. This is a table devised of possible scenarios which could jeopardize filming. That is why creating one of these is important so if one of these likely events happen students and staff know the appropriate response.






















Shot list
Afterwards a shot list was required. This is a table filled with all the shots needed and the specific factors which are needed to know about them. As well as this the details on what is required in post-production needed to be stated in order to know what was being done with each shot.



Overall the pre-production phase is probably the most diverse thing as it isn't too related to the project. It is the easiest though because this phase is mostly setting everything up in preparation for the actual production

Rotoscoping animation

For this week assignment i had to create an rotoscope animation. Rotoscoping is the process of drawing over live action frame by frame to create realistic movement. This method was popularized by Walt Disney in his animations at the companies earlier stages. The theme of mine was energy so i was to produce a short animation with energetic movement.

For this i chose to rotoscope over a video sequence of a footballer doing keepie-ups. Overall i found this to be fun and rather relaxing. Rotoscoping turns out to be not a hard process but a long process. As of that i found it rather enjoying. Overall i found this to be my best work of art so far in this unit.

However given the option to attempt the task again i would base it on a different video. This is because the speed the person is moving at i found it to be hard to rotoscope at certain points as the players arms would be blurry making it harder to copy it down precisely.

Pre-production blog

Synopsis

Callum Hudson is an elite footballer at the top of his game. However, this does not stop him from acting like your everyday egotistical footballer. Just before his big transfer away from his club, he encounters a member of a criminal organization who had lost thousands of pounds on betting on his transfer he attempts to stop Callum from leaving but he was having none of it and kills the man in self-defense after he attacks him. He is then sentenced to prison for killing a man in self-defense. After prison, Callum goes on a journey to go after the people who set him up for murder as well as choosing to define himself as a hero or vigilante.

Next Gen week 31 year 1

Due to the current time frame i have been soley focusing on my games document. firstly I listed veichles and weapons which my game would contain. I rather enjoyed that part though it did put me off as it was rather engrossing into all of the cool things available in my imagianry game. from there icreated a fake HUD for what my game would contain.I mocked one up using photoshop. The issue of it was i feel it is too simplistic yet i know its the format that most companies use when developing that type of game because they don't want it to either distract or put off the player. This is what i've found common when trying to create this game. This is the middle ground as I want it to be complex to appeal to those I am pitching it towards but simplistic for it to be a real game that people would buy, The process for this has been long but i am glad that it is because this is something where i have all the creative control and it is a topic in which i have been studying for so i have some experience.

The biggest dowside of this all is that this isn't actually real nor am i a proffesional so creating something like a demo for this is too complex. Aditionally because of this Iam relying on more off what i've wrote and learned than what iv'e created because as this is my first time i want more detail into the written work to demonstrate my understanding of what iv'e been taught. I would have preferably balanced both of them out but given the time constraints I doubt that is possible.

Regardless though this has been a great experience where i have given an idea i am really proud of and have turned it into more than a mere concept which i am greatful for.

Deformer animation tasks

This blog post is dedicated to deformer animation. These are short animations which have the purpose of demonstrating some of the 12 principles of animation.

The first deformer was to create a animation which has the look of bowling. Overall This task turned out pretty swell with the biggest issue being I had to restart due to technical difficulties. The bowling animation represents the eleventh principle being solid drawing. This is because it includes the basic principles of drawing form,weight and volume solidity whilst showing it in a three dimensional perspective.

https://youtu.be/8C0o9q68xOE - Bowling animation

Additionally I had to create another animation which creates a cloth like affect. For this I had to place a plane on top of a circle on MAYA. The plane was best suited to having 30 by 30 sub divisions which was a number good enough to make the plane act out like a cloth.From there I animated it out to create the final product. This falls under the second principle which is anticipation because it prepares you for a large action specifically being the cloth falling.

https://youtu.be/kUGXRvMRJ74

This animation contains two principles. The first shown is squash and stretch. This is because the animation gives the perspective that the object has weight and volume as it moves. Additionally it also shows overlapping action as some of the object catches up with other parts of itself. The other cuboid shows arcs as it follows an arc.
https://youtu.be/Q0TpPD6B_Fc- deformer animation

Overall this wasn't too bad of a job on my behalf because I show some of the principles clearly though I would have liked to make the animations longer and maybe demonstrating more of the principles.

Animation-walk cycle

This weeks task was to create an animation showing the human walk cycle. For this i had look at the walk cycle and note it all down across 5 separate layers. For this I started out by adding 5 circles in a pattern which would be the head of the person. Additionally from there I would add another 5 circles bellow them which would act out as their hips. From there I would draw the rest of the person. Whilst doing this I specifically found the onion layer tool helpful. This tool allows you to see all previous frames which meant I didn't need to constantly check back which made the whole ordeal more efficient

If I were to re do it again I would draw all the limbs again because at times it looks sloppy so i would like it to have a more clean look to it.

Final art fundamental

This is my final art piece for my art fundamentals. This piece is based off the brief we were given. For it we had to give our own interpretation to the term toxic jungle the resulting image is my interpretation. This is a digital art piece made possible by the use of Photoshop. For the brief i wanted to create a piece which showed a derelict city and its monstrous inhabitants.

With this task i liked the interpretation based task as it allowed me to be imaginative and more creative with the task at hand. This is evident with the monster shown in the background. I wanted it to be unique so i created the creature from scratch. In addition to this i used various brushes with the intentions of various effects. I used a spray brush to create the blood splatters to give it a more realistic look as well as create a story. Another use was in creating the grass in the piece. An additional affect was to create hair used on the back of the creature.

However, only certain parts of the image are toned. Not all of it is which would give it more detail and would really bring the image more to life. Another thing is just it is quite bare looking and i think adding more objects would just give it more detail. Another thing I've noticed is the part that draws attention to they eye is the red sky background which wasn't my intention to do so.

Next gen year 1 week 30

The previous week i continued on with my Games doc. For it I went on to what would be the controls of the game. This required a lot of detail as my game is to have two different game modes which both require their own controls for. Detail in the controls is heavily required as you have to think of everything that is possible within your game. Towards the end of the week I completed the controls and moved on to the selling points of the game. These being the concept of the game and its unique selling point on top of the games synopsis. I have completed them but i feel more detail may be required in order to really sell the game i'm pitching.

On the VFX project i finally completed the shots. Whilst editing the footage on NUKE i encountered a big error but with assistance it was resolved. Also continuing the in it I finished modelling the robot as well as completing texturing it.

next gen year 1 week 29

As it was a bank holiday on Monday all lessons were cancelled. As a result our blogging session on top that our VFX and core principles of game design never happened.

Therefore beginning Tuesday we had a session with our coding teacher to help get rid of our nerves and a last minute check through of possible topics and questions. Going into the exam the next day i felt well on the topics and my code.

The next day was the day of the exam. Beforehand i managed to get an extra revision session to add to my collective notes to give me confidence. However whilst the exam went on I felt terrible and tremendously nervous. It took me while to understand the questions and what they were asking. The wording was different which heavily threw me off originally but before the end of the exam I managed to wrap my head around most of the questions and attempted all of them. Currently I am waiting on the specific results but my mind is at rest  so know i can focus my mind elsewhere.

During the coding lesson i spent my time working on my games doc. During this I changed my idea. At the time i had went with a board game i was making. However i couldn't fully flesh out the idea and how it would work out. So i decided to work on my other option. For this i spent my time drawing what would be the games protagonist. I personally need something to base my work on so i drew over someone to base the look upon.

next gen year 1 week 28

Last week I was taught a new tool. The tool I used generated the Photoshop image process into 3D. The task in hand was to create a maze. For this I generated a generic maze and adding it into Photoshop whilst behind the maze adding a greeble texture behind. Afterwards i added random shapes to it. From there I went to generate the end product in 3D which is an amazing tool. My biggest regret was not noting down the process as this tool looks to have importance.

Continuing with my VFX project I got to tracking both phone shots adding a working animation on both of them. I currently need to rotoscope the thumb so it is above the phone screen layer.

In coding we continued to prepare for our coding written exam by doing extra pieces of revision to help everyone pass. With the exam quickly approaching to an extent i am feeling slightly more confident than before with intentions to pass.

Animation exercices

This is some animation which i created. This animation was created using MAYA. This software is primarily used for modelling but for this I learnt of the animation uses. Animating on Maya works similar to adobe animate but with another dimension involved.

Overall my biggest strength was completing the task at hand. Whilst i was competent whilst making the animation and fully understood the task at hand i would like to revisit this and the animation process as I felt I was rushed whilst creating it therefore if given the time i would like to redo it. Overall as there was a lot to take in so some information may have slipped past me.

If i were to repeat this task i would try to use all the time i had i would use the time to the best of my abilities as animation requires lots of attention and is a very long process and before go through the process again to be certain of it.