The Film is here

Vimeo would only allow a 500gb limit so in time the 1080 HD YouTube version is on its way.

The Film is here

https://vimeo.com/85704098

Well it’s been a long road. During the last week I have been at uni from 9am till 11pm from Tuesday till Friday. Saturday 9am till 8pm then Sunday where I rendered from home then I drove to Steve’s house to compile the films images to meet the dead line which we didn’t make, so then Monday from 9 till well pretty much now I’m still at uni doing mo cap and uploading  the film to Vimeo uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. From Tuesday till Saturday I was running off 4 or 5 hours sleep which I got after driving home from paying for city parking. 

I am so tired. Through the pre production and production I have learnt a lot. I have learnt a couple of new nodes in Maya, picked up some new techniques, dos and don’ts during film project’s a lot of stuff. I am actually proud of the film and how it turned out. But I don’t think it’s there yet for any big name film festivals but it has prepared me for greater things. A 4:30 min long film is not an easy thing to achieve for 4 people and I also believe I have gained stronger friendships along the way.

When showing the film and a number of people still need a bit of explaining in order to understand the whole thing. I do like the way that most people realize the pose in the beginning and the pose at the end have story reference to one another. 

My most favoured shot is the reveal of the monster jumping out the corridor. 

My acting choices from my original idea had to change because of the anatomy of the monster having very small legs. This created a challenge for the film as the monster had to be ferocious and fast to create a sense of intimidation but when animating the character if I had done solid foot planting it would ether make the monster slow or make the monster have sliding feet across the ground. My choice I went with was the jumping from the side. I believe it gave the audience the sense of fear it needed because of the speed. Then I put a bit of icing on the cake by doing mood based lighting to the character. If you look where the light is coming from in the scene it kind of doesn’t match the environment for a reason. I went with a subtle but not to noticeable lighting with the character where it’s like the horror films where they hold a torch under their face. 

Some people may not like the idea and I’m sure realists will hate seeing lighting that doesn’t mach the environment but I don’t think that they will really notice unless someone told them.  Also the colour of the mouth was unintentional but it makes me think he is really going to eat me due to the white teeth and veins at the back. Big thanks to Eddy for such a great displacement map. 

Back to the analysis of the production.

The film as a whole is great for what it is. A student film, but the things I would have to do differently are making my points and opinions more heard. I should have made myself more demanding when the scope (quantity of work) got out of hand. I would only like to make decisions that are based on facts then decisions based on feelings in the future.

Example 

Person 1 “I think we should do option X because it would be cool” 

Me “option X would be cool however you need to take into consideration how much time that will take away from all of the other things in the film”

Person 1 “oh no but it would be cool we gotta do it.”

You see person 1 is making decisions based on feelings not facts. In the future I plan to not let feeling based decisions rule the majority of a project. That way a solid understanding of an achievable scope could have been reached where its quality not quantity. It would make things especially easier when working with perfectionists. 

Now I have to say people who make decisions based on feelings usually have the most passion in creative production so I’d have to do it where they’re not getting put down and kill their creativity. That being said that is the future.

Because the film had such a big scope I do see a level of quality had been sacrificed. It was such a heavy work load that it even effected my other assessments. 

How this film will affect me in the future 

My goal in life is to be a lead animator who leads both professionally and ethically. Will I show this film to future employers? Not the whole thing just the best bits that I worked on. After working with some people who are perfectionists who had trouble dealing with sacrificing quality to meet a dead line, some people who need more communication and guidance and others who come up with new idea constantly and want last minute changes. I have gained the feeling that I think I am another step closer to working with the big employers.

People like liquid animation that have very strict dead lines or adapting to people or clients who need specific tasks done on the spot, even providing information to my team so that we can have a similar work flow so that we work as one big unit. I feel like I have really pushed myself almost to the limit and feel like I could animate tomorrow morning. I value the time I have spent with my team on a friendship level and professional level. Seeing what I am capable in a group has been one major eye opener for me and a new love of 3d lighting has been found.

Last but not least I am so glad I did I cert 4 in I.T and computer networking because if we didn’t have a render farm we would still be rendering. 

On the left are the lists of shots being rendered. Rendering a film at HD 1080 takes quite a lot of time. I am proud of the group for being able to learn from me as to how to add shots to the render farm.

Week 6, 7 and 8

So far the film is going ok. There have been some major changes over the last couple of weeks. Some people would think changes half way during a production is an unorganised production. However if anyone has ever done a project management course or has every met a project manager will know that no project will ever go according to plan. There are always people who can be sick or people can under deliver what they promised.

 (I am no exception and in not targeted at any one). Most changes that have happened have been to make the film more achievable hooray. Like making the film shorter, utilising already known technology, simpler shots and so on.

The dead line is still creeping up on us and I am happy to say that over the holidays I feel we will have a solid work flow so that everyone will be able to work autonomously. This to mean means that I will be able to get into a routine or work flow where I am able to constantly churn out animation and content for the film.

Story board

There is a new story board I think it’s the 5th or 6th draft now were we have now come to a point where some more sold critical thinking has been implemented, Just what I wanted. I believe a short sited individual would think that 5 or 6 drafts mean’s an unorganised group. But for a critical thinker it means that some solid time and effort has been put in to make the story told with quality and achievability. I am much happier with the current story board and animatic because the changes have made the film much better with how the story is being told the mood of each action, the acting choices, the cuts, Audio and Everything. I am now much more existed to work on this film because of how happy I am with how the production is now going and when you are existed to work on something I believe it shows in the final result.

Character rigs

           

A number of rigs have been made for the film; so far the advanced skeleton has been a major time saver. Our lecturer and team player Louie has been most exceptional with helping out with the project in this department. Not all rigs are completed but what is really good is we prioritised the characters based on the importance and screen time in the film. For example the mother doesn’t move much so her priority is lower that the boy Liam who is almost in every shot. With this taken into consideration we are able to work on the major animations of the film and not have to wait for other tasks to be completed before being able to work. 

The rigs themselves have all the required controls for the first pass of the animation. The face controls have not been added yet but with the power of referencing rigs they can be up dated into a scene without issues. I find the rigs are great and I have found that I may want to use the rigs outside of the film for my own personal work in show reels and such.

Motion capture

In week 6 we hired out the auditorium to create some motion capture data for our film. We tried to get a full Saturday however this is not available to the animation students. We felt that the motion capture we had was not entirely up to scratch and we also wanted to utilise a full auditorium with more acting space for capture.

           

With the room being bigger we set up the cameras equal distances in a circular pattern connecting them to the computer where we used the application motive to capture the data.

With motion capture some time has to be taken into consideration for wanding. Wanding is the process of teaching the software and cameras how far away tracking points are in 3d acting space. Each camera can only pick up 2d information so someone with a wand has to move markers around teaching the cameras and software how to calculate 3d space.

With the time spent bringing all the equipment up stairs and Wanding this left us with about 2 hours of acting time. We got a lot done however the desire for more time is always wanted. It was great day and very productive, we got a lot of scenes captured, however taking the data and applying it to a character was not as simple as open and play.   

Unfortunately the feedback we get from teachers about how to use the application motion builder is quite limited. Students have actually spent more time teaching themselves motion builder in the motion capture class. With the level that JMC’s motion capture is at the moment students don’t actually produce content they are entirely proud of. One lecturer stated that he believes the motion capture will not be good this semester because it’s new equipment but it will be great next semester once the bugs and issues have been dealt with.

I think it’s quite funny when a teacher states it’s easy to do but when you see them do it them self’s they realise they are wrong. There is currently limited number of teachers who know how to use motion builder to clean the motion capture data and produce great results.  

With these facts and circumstances there is a good chance that most animation will be keyed animation. I currently feel pretty confident in motion builder however people who have to teach them self’s how to do things can end up with a number of bad habits in the industry. If we key animate the film there are more resources and support available for us. If we use motion capture there are limited resources, and we most likely won’t be able to get the auditorium again if we need to do more shots. The smaller rooms at jmc just don’t really cut it when animating in larger environments so at this point it looks as though motion capture is not really working out.

Please don’t get me wrong I have gained a major educational benefit from learning motion capture and appreciate the work and effort jmc put into the motion capture classes it’s just doesn’t look at this point as though it will really be viable for the film. I feel as though the motion capture I have done at jmc has been an amazing educational experience but the current facts and resources are not a risk I am willing to take on this film. Maybe someone will come along and show a process that will change everything, but if we needed a shot and we could not get the auditorium then we are in some hot water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeQxyndoqfk

Blocking animation

           

Currently we are into the good stuff. With the rigs and the environment’s we have so far the animation blocking can begin the fun stuff. Animation we are going to block out the animation so far with simple rigs and have a blocked out animation next week. Doing a draft of the animation first will give us the ability to review the film as a hole and identify any areas that may need changing. Can’t wait to show the final pass as a full sequence.  

Critical Thinking

in reflection to coming up with more ideas for the story i don't think we are doing enough critical thinking upon each idea.

To many times in my life as an employee at work places i have had employer's come up with a new strategy to sell stuff or do things. i then ask "but what if this happens". there response is "trust me" and then i am left to deal with the exact problem i just predicted. 

its because there is not enough  Critical Thinking. 

from this day forward if a new idea comes up. i want to see solid critical thinking in the idea. Seeing as though we seem to be doing pre-production stuff in a production class, we should of had better critical thinking in our pre-production class so that we could have avoided the issue of having to make so many  changes. 

asking our self's the hard questions and having a solid understanding of the amount of time we have left in my opinion is a start. then tailoring the film to those restraints are ideal. 

sorry to the teachers who have to mark this but please watch this video then look at my pictures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OLPL5p0fMg  

Week 5

Week 5 - Changes in the Story

In week 5, I have been modelling more assets to the boy Liam’s house. The project is moving forward, however, the deadline is moving closer. We need to be up to face rigging and animation blocking by next week. However, the group as a whole doesn’t seem to be able to agree on a solid story at this point and what I thought was an opportunity to reduce the scope of the film has, possibly, turned into making the story more complex. I need to get my point across that less is more. The length of the film in my opinion should be around 2:30 minutes and this will make the film more achievable. Unfortunately, I was sick on Friday and I obtained my current information through Facebook so communication issues may have occurred. Nevertheless, I am concerned that the scope of the film is too big to be more achievable and I feel I need to get the group to stay on track with what is really achievable in the time frame. This brings me to talk about compromising.

Compromises

           If you have an idea for a film and you want to pitch it to Hollywood or Fox.

They may like the film but you always have to make compromises. For example, “We can’t have that scene because our sponsors won’t like it” or “Your film can only be 1hour 30 min not 2 hours because we don’t have the budget”. The ability to compromise as an individual or artist is important in this industry especially in team projects.

At times, when working in a group, you have to make a compromise about what you are passionate about. I have to deal with the fact that the fight scene, which I feel proud of in the draft animatic is being taken out. The film needs to be more attainable and I’m good with this, but I think at this time the group needs to make more compromises which they may not like. In my opinion, the ability to make compromises makes you a better team player and we, as a group, have to make compromises for one another to make a viable film in the given timeframe.

What compromises you might ask? No Sacred Cows

The film needs to be shorter and achievable. Some people in the group are attached to certain scenes or ideas which may have to go. Hopefully as a group we can make compromises that we can all agree on but still be proud of the final result.

This concludes my thoughts in week 5.

Render Wrangling

Render Wrangling

In week 5, I managed to help Semester 6 students with their film by being their render wrangler. With my knowledge from having completed Cert IV Information Technology and Networking prior to my education at JMC, I knew how to set up servers and network computers. I was able to set up a render farm on Saturday with 2 rooms where all the computers were rendering scenes. Believe me, with about 30 computers to the render farm, the render times where fast. In this post, I am going to explain my process and I intend to use this rendering process to my production.

I will now explain my process in a brief tutorial. I do not want to turn this post into a lesson in networking and I.T.

The first step was to set up the manager computer so that the project files are shared over the network.  I moved everything to the projects folder.

To make the files sharable, right click on the project folder

Right click on projects folder àsharing àAdvanced Sharingàtick “share this folder”, à “permissions” tab àthen set everyone to full Control.

If you used a project file correctly all textures and references are now accessed over the network.

Step 2 Open manager, monitor and server on the central computer which manages the render farm.

Then use CMD, also referred to as “command prompt” and run the command ipconfig. The ipconfig command gives the user the ip address of their computer.

You can then set the manager monitor and server with the same ip address as the central computer which manages the render farm.

Then in Maya, you can set the project folder location to have the ip address in its directory pathway or any pathway that will work over the network.

On all the other computers, you need to run Server and set the ip address to find the manager computer.

Then when in Maya you can create the back burner jobs with the ip address added in the manager name field and set an appropriate task size and job name.

It all went well and the monitor showed that the computers were rendering.

Make sure that all referenced rigs, textures and files are in the Project folder and therefore can be found over a network. No texture should be on C: drive or any other local location or it will come up with error 211 because it cannot find the files.

When the rendering is finished, all the computers should be restarted so that the configurations are set back to normal.

Self-analysis

One of the semester 6 students said to me, “We would have not made the final film assessment deadline if it was not for you setting up the farm”. There are a number of procedures that can be done to improve the work flow but the important thing to me is it works. I am pleased that my production now has a render farm. As there are less students at JMC on Saturdays, this would be the best day to set it up as there are more computers available. 

Production schedule

Our group has reevaluated our production schedule.

I made the first gant chart and it needed quite a bit of work, our new one is something I am more proud of especially now that we have documented everyone based on what they want to do and there skill set. = )

Sun Tsu the art of war.  "If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles." our first gant chart did not reflect the knowledge of out self's. it was not tailored to utilize our team mates individual strengths. eg Ed is the best illustrator  give him the most time-in photo shop. josh is a talented environment artiest give him the time he needs for environment art and so on.  if you are wondering who our enemy is its the dead line for the project. 

Modelling the mother's body

Modelling the mother still draft stage

Over week 3 and 4 I had started the model for the mother’s.  So far things are ok. I decided to do the mother for the group because my girlfriend Amie Baldwin is quite skilled in the art of female anatomy and character modelling. To me she is an available resource for achieving quality in this character by providing feedback and identifying areas witch needed changing like the base mesh and good hand topology for a character with finger nails. 

So keeping in mind this mother is around the age of 40 ish her female anatomy is not what it used to be with a slightly hunched back, bit of a gut and not so perky breasts this character is not your conventional perfect anatomy female. She is aged. Her breasts and buttocks have been dropped to show ageing and if over analysed one could say to show her drop in youth. Stretch pants and slippers for the intention to show she is at home relaxing but well-kept finger nails to show she still care’s about her appearance.

Self-analysis  

When getting feedback from the group she may actually be a bit too old. If someone is to look at the side view some scaling needs to be done to the hands but the topology in the hands and finger nails I am quite happy with . More work still needs to be done.