Bomb Matte Painter...Right?

Well let's get things started...

I'm officially done with my second Compositing Class! So for our Final we were directed to do a Matte Painting for Film students that also go to our University (Full Sail).

You should know where I go by now right?

We were able to be on site while the shot was taken and ask questions about what they were specifically wanting us to do with the film we were soon going to be given. Things like what is the atmosphere they are going for? What buildings? Any Foliage? What are the aspects of the Camera? etc. In the end we were able to take a couple pages of notes and prepare ourselves for the future en devour of the work we will be doing. As soon as the month was starting to come to an end the Final Project file is opened and we were able to access all the information we will need to produce the painting they need. And here is what I came up for a "Warm Pittsburgh Night." <-- Do mind that this is my very first Matte Painting.

Let's Not Get Motion Sick!

If you get easily motion sick this is not for you..WARNING WARNING!

(Just ignore the above text, you rebel you!)

         This month I was partaking in two different classes again. In my previous post you will see I talked a lot about my Scene Finishing Class; well it's time for my Visual Effects 2 Class to shine. So my approach for the third project is very simple based on the fact that I did part of this for my Student Presentation Project. Though, my final project I thought I would do something a little bit different; but in the same direction as the other one. First, let me explain what we did for our Student Presentation. My partner, Sydney Shambo, and I did a demonstration on Motion Graphics using a Visual Effects Program called Cinema 4D. I thought I would take that knowledge that I gained from that specific research and presentation and use it for my Final Project, but with a bit more flare added to it. So in the end I plan to get Cinema 4D to create a fun motion graphic using the words “Visual Effects!” (Just because it would be fun since I am in this designated class for this specified month.)

      

        As you know we can do a million and one things with Motion Graphics by looking at the Motion Graphic we did for our Student Presentation below.

        So it was really easy to learn about different techniques and watch a lot of demo reals about different types of Motion Graphics done in Cinema 4D. By just typing in "Cinema 4D Motion Graphics," I was able to pull up some pretty helpful tutorials and videos to walk me through and show me how to create my own signature Motion Graphic.

        This whole experience in Cinema 4D has really been quite an adventure and experience. I have learned a lot of things pertaining to Visual Effects World and Motion Graphics. I'm truly grateful that I kept with the theme of Motion Graphics for my Final. It's such a big thing now a days and it's nice to finally get in the groove and understand what the big whoop is about and learn some new things that we are normally not taught. With hard work and determination I was able to create two different Motion Graphics; one for my Student Presentation and another for my Final. Both turned out better than I could of thought of when starting out. Since Cinema 4D is such a new software for me I was nervous learning how to use it since it took me so long to really get to know our regular system, Maya. Though once I was in the software and figured out the navigation's everything just came so easily; and it also helped that it's a program designated for Visual Effects and not really anything else. (So no extra buttons and gadgets that could potentially screw up my project in the end.) When it came to construction the Motion Graphic everything was a breeze. Once I viewed the tutorials and several references I was able to get the gist of things and really go to work with my production. I was having a blast going through the settings and changing things with just a slider and seeing the outcome really fast show up on my screen. I think the only problem I came across was Rendering and trying to figure out how to Play blast within Cinema 4D. Since it is so new to me I had to find videos and get some help to figure out how to do these simple things. Yet, other than that I had no difficulties in construction my Motion Graphic. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, hopefully you'll enjoy it as well.

That was sure long?

Oh The Troubles We Have

And the frustrations starts to sink in...

One word...

Troubleshooting!

Well it sure has been a while since my last post; but I do promise I will surely make up for that. For the reason is I am taking my second Compositing & Scene Finishing class! This is all very exciting for me because I have thought about countless times in becoming a Matte Painter since my Traditional Art heavily influences my actions for the future. Though, before I could reach the fun portion of the month (i.e. Matte Painting), I had to undergo several other projects. Yet, only one really stood out among the rest, which was the Trouble Shooting Project; the reason this project stood out to me was because I was able to be an individual and create something within my imagination as long as it was comped together correctly and looked like they correlated with each other.

Here let me explain:

(Below you will see a track of a girl looking up and to the side of the screen. No expression and no exaggerated movement. This was filmed for us to track and roto the face and movement of the girl to place in our final scene. I started with setting up my scene and inserting the video; after this I used roto to select the specific pieces of her face that I needed for the next step. Once finished I was able to track and place the geometry on top to see if any of my markers jump. This track was not needed for the final, but it was a quick exercise to show us what we would have to undergo in order to collect the right data to insert into Nuke.)

(Next below this video you'll see another video. This is my final Render from Nuke and my final project for the Trouble Shooting Project. Since we were not able to drag our own tracks within Nuke, our teacher gave us a pre-made track with all of the armor geometry placed upon the girls motion track. This made it a lot easier for us to start applying what we have learned so far in this class and create a beautiful piece once finished. My intention was to create a desert soldier scene; which I believe I was able to achieve. I learned about so many things during this project; several Nodes were brought to my attention when the Lab Instructors had to help me get my sun positioned correctly. Though with success comes struggle. The biggest struggle was actually getting things to look like they go together. The background and soldier just would not comp together correctly; yet as you can see in my end result I was able to figure it out once I was able to step away from the computer and take a breather. With that breather I was able to sit back down and figure things out; and in the end the struggle was worth it as you can see.)

Nothing is easy and I've learned that here at Full Sail and it never fails to surprise me when going into new projects every month. In the end I'm usually happy with what I've accomplished! Everything takes time, and with time will come experience, and with experience will come an amazing finished piece that will inspire others and get peoples attention!

Bang Bang

BANG BANG..goes the animation for the month!

As we near the end of this month of classes I can finally take a deep breathe and more importantly a long nap. 

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

I've accomplished so much in this class and I'm very proud with what I've completed (And my grades show). I've posted several thoughts already about this month, so I'll make sure to keep this very last one short, sweet, and simple. So I thought I would share another video that I completed in my Character Animation II Class to end these last classes with a BANG.

I really enjoy this video; my worst struggle this month was actually believing in myself. I'm not an animator as you can tell and I really struggle with that thought because that's what I originally wanted to do. But now when I look back at this class and these videos I can say that I actually did something pretty dang amazing and become more confident in my work. Everything is hard, and no one said it was easy. So just be positive and take it one step at a time. Things will work out in the end and as you can see it did for me!

Goal?

GOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL....wait....I think I got that wrong!

Well here is the final post for my Software Technology Class everyone. Before I really get into it I'd like to say how much I enjoyed this class, the teacher, and just the whole classroom scene all together. I learned a lot about the two software's we were introduced to this month; Soft Image XSI and Houdini. 

And to all of you who know what I'm talking about..it's called SOFT IMAGE! 

I know I'll be using Houdini in the future a lot if I plan to go into Visual Effects; but what's really cool about the software is I can do about anything and more in it. It may be my favorite software we learned about, but it was the most difficult one to really grasp the concept of. I still have some issues navigating because my hands are so used to the MAYA keyboard/shortcuts. Though the more I play with it I'll be able to navigate and do it a lot better. It just takes time and hard work. Soft Image XSI on the other hand was a lot easier, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it was my favorite software automatically or easy to navigate. I think what really pushed me away from it was the fact that it's an old program that I'll probably not use in the future. Sure it was really fun and a lot easier than MAYA, but I'm not a modeler so it just wasn't my favorite. But enough about this why don't we get right into our Final Project!

Basketball Shot:

So as you can see this our set up for our Basketball Free Throw Final.

Our goal was to create a Basketball Free Throw without any key frames in Houdini.

We started by splitting up roles in what to do to get the whole scene set up; it's a very simple layout with the three assets; the basketball, hoop, and ground plane. It may be simple, but it sure was a lot of fun. I modeled the basketball and set up everything in Houdini, along with doing the simulation. My teammate, Sydney Shambo (check out her blog here --> http://sydneyshambo.blogspot.com/), created the basketball hoop along with doing the research for doing a proper free throw. Between the both of us we didn't have many problems at all. The ridges in the basketball were probably the most difficult part I had to deal with, hers on the other hand was doing the math for the proper grid units when simulating a proper basketball throw (mind that the ball has been lifted in the air {Translate Y = 5} to demonstrate the average height of a person).

If you look at the two images above you, you will find the settings for the ball and hoop. Along with the node set up within the AutoDopNetwork (the node that most of the settings were adjusted in when creating the throw simulation). We had to play with the Velocity settings for the basketball a lot in order to create a proper throw simulation; with different velocities we were able to create two different arcs and throws (a Goofy throw, along with a Serious throw; based upon the arc and speed the ball is thrown). The settings for the hoop was a lot different because it didn't have to move (Static Object) so we didn't have to deal with any of the velocity settings, but what we did have to mess with was the collision settings for the ball the properly hit the backboard and bounce within the hoop. When you first import the default settings for the hoop is Hull, which causes it to have a bounding box around the asset so it causes the ball to bounce off the backboard improperly and to the viewer it looks like it didn't even touch the backboard. By going to the Bullet settings you are able to make it Concave, which gets rid of that ridiculous bounding box! So in all the ball goes in properly!

So as you can see by the two videos you can tell which one is Goofy and the other one being taken Seriously. This project in all was a lot of fun; and not as hard as we were thinking it would be. I'm really happy with the outcome and what this class has taught us!

I hope you enjoyed this as much as we did! Remember to please join us on this journey of ours throughout our experience with the CG world! FOLLOW!

Just...LET IT GO!

Clear your throats ladies and gentleman because we have arrived at the Sound Clip Animation...

I have just recently finished a sound clip shot in my second class this month, Character Animation II. If you read my 7th submission you'll read about my experience so far in these two classes I'm partaking in this month at Full Sail.

Character Animation II has been a bit more difficult than my second class, which is Software Technology. Probably because I am not exactly a great animator; but I try as hard as I can and in the end sometimes that is the best thing I can do.

Yet I received the Course Director's Award for Animation?

So enough of my rambling...

 Here is my Project 2 Sound Clip for Character Animation II, please enjoy and leave me some comments. I know it needs work, so please help me out!

Busy Bee

I've definitely been buzzing around this month with all the work I've had to do!

I'm really enjoying my Software Technology class because, well, it's a modeling class! Being a creative person, building things out of nothing is so fantastic!

Does anyone remember their Building Blocks?

No?

Is it just me?

I've been learning about different software that are a bit different than Maya, but have some of the same attributes is quite interesting to say the least. Sure some of the software is a bit strange and difficult, but so is life. I've recently finished modeling a car in that class (A 1967 Austin Mini Cooper S to be specific) and I'll make sure to post the final look of it in the next couple of days; but first I'd like to show you the process of my Final in that class. Our topic was to choose between creating a Marble Machine or simulating a Basketball Free Throw; and well based on the title of this post I believe you know which one I picked! I've just recently started the project by organizing files into two separate folders for me and my partner, Sydney Shambo (Whom if you get a chance you should look up because she is an aspiring Environment Artist; and quite amazing at it.). Then I started modeling the basketball to start so I can bring it into Houdini to start a basic simulation of a ball going into a hoop.