3D Animation 6/5

 Working on rounding her out now. Lots of extra edge loops to help with the shaping and stop the mesh vertices jumping around so much inbetween modes. The head needs a LOT of work still, but the body is getting there, although there is one line of edges that just stick out in the material for some reason and I havent managed to smooth them out yet. Normally wouldnt be an issue but I want to take the new modelled legs and turn them into the trousers, instead of the quick and dirty ones I currently have from weeks ago. Need to make some ears and hair as separate objects as well, to float over the head

Research 4/5

Work in progress. Atm its still mostly a photographic composite but the outlines are starting to come together which means so far im on track for this weeks goal of a final image ready to colour.

I do wonder whether instead of splitting the image in half for each diptych, I change the orientation to portrait and have 6 versions so that each colour can be a direct comparison instead of one half vs the other.

Screen Arts 4/5

1980's Computer Animation & Motion Capture

Yoichiro Kawaguchi

A programmer and animator, he was a pioneer of computer software that grows images in an organic way, called Growth Model. His program uses algorithms to generate brightly coloured worlds. 

Dragons Lair(1983) was a video game that was created by ex-disney animator Don Bluth. It caused a stir in arcades due to its full quality animation sequences.

Commodore 64(1983)

. The commodore 64 was one of the first affordable home pcs to be released. This opened up access to everyone and created a generation of computer artists and programmers.

Autodesk Maya

Wavefront Technologies was formed in 1984 by Bill Kovacs, one of the software developers for Tron. His partner Roy Hall developed video manipulation and animation software after Kovacs left the company. In 1995 Silicon Graphics bought Wavefront Technologies and Alias Research to merge them into a new company, that produced Alias/Wavefront advanced computer animation software. After a collaboration with Walt Disney, Alias/Wavefront was turned into Maya in 1998.

Softimage released in 1988 became the industry standard for animation and preferred choice for character animation. The first version of 3DS Max was released in 1990 by Autodesk. Autodesk later purchased Maya and Softimage to become the market leaders in 3D animation software. Maya won the oscar for technical achievements in 2003.

John Lasseter worked for Disney, creating the CGI test version of Where the Wild Things Are however since Tron wasnt that well received Disney decided to can the animation project. Spike Jonze eventually made it in 2008 using facial CGI. After he left Disney he worked at the Graphics Group unit of Lucasfilm. He helped create the first photo realistic CGI animated character in Young Sherlock Holmes(1985). In 1986, his division of Lucasfilm was sold by George Lucas to Steve Jobs as he needed the money. Lasseter worke don short films for the newly formed company - Pixar Animation Studios.

Motion Capture

Rotoscoping was used for the main character in Gullivers Travels(1939) and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs(1937).

Jim Henson's Creature Shop worked with Pacific Images to create a digital version of Waldo from The Muppets that could be controlled in real time. Robert Abel and Associates created a motion capture sequence in 1984 called Sexy Robot. In 1990 Jeff Klesiser and Diana Walczak worked on a motion capture music video for Perla Batalla. 1990 was also the year that the first failed attempt at motion capture in a feature film occurred - Total Recall. The Lawnmower Man in 1991 contained short mo-cap shots, just like Peter Gabriel's music videos.

Video games were the first industry to extensively use mo-cap, the first one being Atari's Highlander: The Last of the McLeods in 1995. GTA3(2001) was another milestone for gameplay and mo-cap

The first fully animated film with mo-cap was Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists(2000), Final fantasy: The Spirits Within was the first attempt at photo realistic worlds with mo-cap in 2001. Lord of the RingsL The Two Towers(2002) had Andy Serkis as Gollum  and again as Kong in King Kong(2005). 

Uncanny Valley - Theorised by Masahiro Mori

The uncanny valley is the theory that when AI humans(robots/cgi) get to the point that they are looking and acting like humans, it causes revulsion or and uneasy feeling in the human observers. The valley is the dip in the positive reaction to the robots human appearance when it gets too close. The theory also says that if the robot becomes completely identical to a human, that uneasy feeling disappears and the observer response becomes positive again. David Hanson has done further research into the uncanny and  has discovered that making the robots face look slightly cartoony or stylised makes the observer response positive again.

Uncanny Example

3D Animation 4/5

Bring a synopsis of where Im at for my 3D character for wednesdays live chat.

Plan of attack

• get animatic done before next week so I can get feedback and change some things before its due on the 15th.
• get character modelled/textured/coloured ready for rigging
• restore my old sleep/work schedule to try and help with the crap motivation I currently have
• consume copious amounts of alcohol, turn into a blubbering mess and somehow pull a completed assessment out of my butt to hand in on time (or is that third yr??? 😆)

http://phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd030718s.gif

Drawing 30/4

Realism drawing of the statue of david

This is after I took Chris's recommendation and shrunk his head as I had drawn it too large originally. Still a snail when it comes to drawing but at least Im happy with how it turned out. I think his legs might be a lil too big as well but its hard to tell due to the viewing angle of the statue.

Research 1/5

Confession time. Due to a "well timed" existential crisis, enforced lockdown and crap self motivational skills I have completely disconnected from my project. This week has been spent attempting to get into a new sleep schedule, routine with online classes and give myself a mental kick up the ass so to speak. I have 3 weeks to get my research done but I think with a lot of  time invested that I can still pull it off.

Today I spent researching frames for my final piece, although due to the lockdown I am pretty sure I will have to submit the images digitally due to lack of printing access.

Ideally I need the frames to have a flat edge so that when they are hinged together, it sits nicely when folded or open.

The Warehouse - $7.00 for two Living & Co Certificate Frames. (10-14day delivery, black or white)

https://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/p/living-co-value-certificate-frame-a4/R2458489.html

https://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/p/living-co-value-certificate-frame-a4/R2458491.html

Kmart - $2.00 per Norway Certificate Frame. (10 business day delivery, only comes in black)

https://www.kmart.co.nz/product/norway-certificate-frame---a4,-black/804513

Harvey Norman - $6.99 per frame. (No delivery estimate, black only)

https://www.harveynorman.co.nz/cameras/frames-and-photo-prints/photo-frames/ur1-a4-certificate-frame-black.html

Briscoes - $5.99 per Brooklyn Cambridge frame. (7d delivery time, only in black. Has bevelling on front so not sure if it would work)

https://www.briscoes.co.nz/product/1084362/brooklyn-cambridge-photo-frame-a4/

Spotlight - $9.00 per Frame Depot twin pack. (no delivery estimate, only extended wait time. black or white)

https://www.spotlightstores.com/nz/home/photo-frames/single-photo-frames/frame-depot-twin-pack-element-frame/BP80404380

Alternatively use foamcore? $7-$10 at Spotlight for 5 A4 sheets. (not as sturdy though, needs to be self-adhesive)

https://www.spotlightstores.com/nz/craft-hobbies/basic-craft-supplies/felt-eva-foam/foam/jasart-5-mm-foam-board/BP80513441

Tonights task is find some of my old camping photos of the canterbury plains/tasman valley and nail down the final base photo. I am aiming to have the image ready for colouring by next friday, leaving me two weeks to play with colours.

Audio 1/5

1st class back.

Cleaning up audio.

First step is removing any unwanted audio then consolidate clips to a single track per person. Holding shift stops the clips moving to either side when shifting tracks. Alt is to select single parts of a clip instead of the entire clip.

Ideal sound should be sitting around -12dB.

My group is: Zeta-Rose, David, Me, Jordyn

Audio Spotting

Spotting, or sound mapping, is watching footage(or reading a script) and writing down what sounds are needed and when.

The Big Five:

1. Dialogue
2. Ambience
3. Sound Effects
4. Foley
5. Music

also Room tone.