Stylizing Timelines cont...

Test 1 for graphic pen filter. This effect isn't looking as horrible as it did in first inspection. Maybe playing with the levels of light and dark might help the objects to stand out under the graphic pen effect.

New Research

ORIGAMI, the style choice for this animation has been staring me in the face and I completely over looked it. It is the most obvious and logical of answers, for the majority of the project and the original concept it is somthing I should have seen. The style of origami paper folding rifts on two concepts of the silhoette scene,(my main story)1, the use of paper, coloured of otherwise and the history of east asian art. Tests need to be carried out to be sure this is the right way forward.

Papery Candle Test

Stylizing Timelines recap.

Maya Render


Graphic Pen


Poster Edges and 50% desaturation


Grey Scale


A combination of graphic pen and desaturation


65% desaturation and a papery bump and texture


65%desaturation, poster edges, and a papery bump and texture

The paper bump is seen clearer in previous posts about the papery renders


Papery bump and texture, grey scale





Papery bump and texture, grey and white scale. In this one i tried pushing the contrast in light and dark to its limits.


The same as above with red time line

The paper bump map within these renders may need to be pused further. the more I test a try out new styles, the more I like the idea of this scene being made out of paper. Papery textures and styles need to be experimented and pushed further.

Stylizing Timelines cont...

Stylizing Timelines cont...

It is time to take the idea of styling the timeline scene above and beyound the effects i have tried. It is a given that from the original renders from maya, the saturation needs to be decreased by at least 50%, so from now that is the first edit of every render.

I thought about what the original concept ment to me. The idea of using shadow pupets ment the theory behind the use of paper cut outs to teel the story, so why not have everything on the time line textured with crumpled paper.










This is somthing that has worked well for the clock texture, this may have been more success full for the clock than the ships as the clock is created from texture files where as the ships (up to now) didn't need to be. However the reverse can be said the edgings of the texures, the poster edge effect works well for the ships image however it is far to potent for the clock scene. Is there a comprise for this? I'm not sure, more tests are needed with other key shots to see. Further tests and changes need to be made to the ships to make this idea work. The colour of the sea itself is still to in-your-face at the moment.

Interim Crit and the last 5 Week Plan

Are a successful interim crit, I now know exactly what is left to be done within the last five weeks of the project.

Time table of whats left to be done:

Week 11:
By the end of this week I plan to have completed all of modeling, lighting and animation process. I have a few small items to model and add to the time line to clear up understanding of the 1701 Captain William Kidd event on the timeline. I need to model his hat and a treasure chest to clarify the idea of piracy. I also plan to begin more texture test to find the right style to pull every aspect of the project into line.

Week 12:
I plan to complete and re-texturing and stylising from week 11 and start tests for creating the appearance of distance with simple differences in the camera focus. I plan to test two versions of this to find what works, firstly with itself in Maya and secondly in post production (probably the bets option) in After Effects.

Week 13:
By the end of week thirteen I plan to be ready to begin rendering. If I render within this week, it leave me time to make amendments as and where needed, in case there are any problems. Before I start the rendering process in this week I plan to create a time based animatic with as many sounds needed as possible to carry out one final check on the animation speed, lights, textures, etc.

Week 14:
I plan to have finished all renders within this week and be well into the post production editing, sounds, and levels of camera focus.

Week 15:
By the end of week fifteen my animation will be complete (figures crossed). At this stage and with this forward planning time table I can foresee a few days leeway which allows for any problems which I may into.

Over the next five weeks alongside my project I plan to complete at requirements of the profession portfolio, along with business cards and website.

Light Tests 1

Light tests useing spot lights over each event and directional lights .

Render Test

A full render of the timeline sequence to test camera speed and angles, lighting, tetures and animation. (no particles render tests yet.)

Captain William Kidd on Time line

Filling scene.

After working through and putting together the time based animatic, and adjusting the camera work accordingly i have found that there have been around 100-150 frames of unexpected dead space as the camera realigns itself to move past the first event to the second. This space has needed to filling with other time line related events. After looking back over the history books for 1600's I found every little in the way of events that would be easily scene on the time line. I narrowed it down to two events which would stand out and provoke interest in the audience. The first was the marriage of Prince William of Orange and Mary Stuart in 1677, the second was the hanging of the unfortunate and infamous Scottish Pirate, Captain William Kidd. I chose the second of the two events as it was a hanging with a difference. From the images I have seen, and documentation I have read, Kidd was arrested and shipped back to the England where he was trialed in May 1701 and sentenced to death for his first and only of piracy and murder. This unlucky man had even the disastrous death. On his execution, the hanging rope had broken, before he was hanged properly in the second try. His body was disposed in a cage on Thames River as a warning to any potential pirate.

Time Line Scene

New and Improved slowed and steadied camera. with the previous pre-vis the camera was a little too fast and eratic. I have spent today redoing the camera (and corrisponing animations)to allow the audience time to float through the scene to there destinaton. There are further refinements to the camera and surrounding animation to be carried out to make sure the camera stays on track with the time line itself, there are a few frames where it still wanders off center. I also have a 150frame dead space where the camer is turning as it follows the timeline to the next event. I this dead space I plan to add ann event in the distant as I have done with the Great Fire of London. I not quiet sure what should fill this current void, but my first idea was a wedding scene of Mary Stuart and Prince Willaim of Orange in 1677. i shall need to look back over the time of this period once again.

Pre-vis

As the end draws near, I have put together another pre-vis with sounds that are closer to those for my final piece. The modeling, rigging and animating, step ever closer to their final stages, this pre-vis has shown me exactly what is needed in the final weeks before I begin to render. Much of the camera work needs refining and their are still some characters missing from the final scene with others which move to fast. This pre-vis piece has been about sound and timing rather than the content, hence a grey backing for the silhouette scenes which will later be changed to the fiery back drop of the candle flame.




(double click the link to watch on you tube)

Render Problems

I have come across many problems with with my cannon ball splash scene. The first problem was getting the particles of the splash to render at all. Alan showed me a renderer from a much older version of Maya, the Maya Render Buffer which has allowed me to render the particles of the cannon ball splash. The Maya Render Buffer has nearly as many function as the normal Maya hardware and software renderer we generally use. However with all these controls at my disposal, I have still had a few problems when putting the layers together. It appears that so far through my testing I have not created an alpha channel for the particles layer, there fore the particles do not appear in the scene as they should.

Having found the alpha the final text below (the 3rd clip) works out the best, however i have used the particles layer in the final render 3 times as it looked very translucent.

light test

Light Tests. Using spot which is parented to the camera to light the way. An ambient light is set to a low intenstiy to dimmily light the surounding darkness. Also a point light is located within the flame to intensify its light.

Test Render Problems

Once again, as with every project so far, By week 10 or 11 I am having rendering problems when it comes to test render of individual frames to check lighting, positioning, etc. with error messages saying that the memory is low, and crashing computers, resulting in a batch render of interval frames needed to be carried out in order to check the frame.

Guy transition

This version of the idea for the guy burning away like paper is more successful than the previous, however there are still a few bugs to be ironed out.

Guy transition

Thinking back over the post and the comments left, I agree that the animation itself i not right, but the idea is there. what i was trying to get across is that the hat burns away like paper. the last post was not successfull in demonstrating that. I did not mean that thatwas the final animation for the transition section. I have searched the internet to find a demontration of what the transtion should burn like.



I shall need to go back over the last transtion test with new trials to creat the effect in the clip above.

Transition test - Guy Fawkes to Gunpowder Barrels

Final tests for the transition between Guy Fawkes and the gun powder barrels. There is currently a problem with the way in which the particles do not follow the dissolve of the of the curve as the head burns away like paper.

Fire Background Test

Testing the fiery background, has resulted in a final idea. This will be the way in which i will create my background light source for the silhouette scenes. In this version of testing I have created the fire itself in Adobe After Effects following a tutorial found at http://www.communitymx.com/content/article.cfm?cid=1A9CF. The fire has been created using after effects particles systems which grow and similar to those found in Maya, but being in a 2d space this idea worked best for my 2d scenes. I now need to find the best the way to use this fire style for my flame in the 3d scene to create the transition.

Backing track

Trying to find the right sound to accompany my animation has been no easy task. I have been on the hunt for something that is typical music of fire festivals that are held around the country in celebration of bonfire night.

The closest to the type of music that i have in my head is found in the link below, however the search continues as this is not a good quality at the least:

Opening Cont..

Moving into the clock representing moving through time works a lot better than the Dali melting clocks. The idea for this test is that the time line comes out of the back of the clock, and is attached to one of the cogs. It is a part of time itself.

Opening Cont..

I have created a quick test using deformer blend shapes to mimic the melting of the clock. The look alone of the style of animation does not fit with everything. I agree with Phil from our last chat and the previous comment left, the style of surealism is to much of a mix match to tie in with the rest of the animation. This test was to satisfy my curiosity and a starting steping stone in finding the right way in which to introduce the piece. I shall next look at the mechisims which make a clock tick. (Try to understand the mechanics, prepare to be baffled and confused :-S)

Opening

I have spent some time thinking about the best way to introduce the amiatoin. Starting on the timeline itself feels like you are just being thrown in at the deep end without any idea of what is going on. The animation is about history and time, the introdustion begins on a time line, so in keeping to this I looked at works by Salvador Dahli and his melting clocks. This is the sort of thing which should introduce the animaation, it is also a type of branding which could follow the serise which could develop form this one animation.

To introduce the animation a clock face with the title of the animation should melt away to reveal the camera moving along time line. This intro will be created in the same style and colour pallette as the time line scene.

Previs

A pre-vis with sound. So far all the sound effects are out of sink with the action, much of the action needs to be refinded and shifted around a bit to. From creating this pre-vis piece I can see straight away bits that are to long, others that are not long enough and a few that I have yet to start on. there is also an underlying sound track which is currently missing as I have having trouble finding an approprate piece. I am looking for sound that is very traditional for fire festivals. I piece in particular that I remember was played at the fire match through Rye, bonfire night last year, but I dont not know the name of the piece. The piece was very drum based and was played during the dancing of the foxs.I confident that I will find the music that I am looking before the end of the project, although I do have some concerns of that style of music fitting in with everything else. I can only try it to see.