Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Post Thanksgiving Update

Well, here we are again. As of now, I can say that I am 2/3 of the way done with my key animation, maybe a little more than that. The animation that I do have done is a little shakey but if all goes to plan I will still be able to go back and fidget with minute details. What I have to present is basically the final scene. Due to unforeseen complication I had with creating the assets for the scene I was not able to be completely done at the end of Thanksgiving break. So, for class I will show the transition from the microscopic world to the object that it makes up. This object is a star that is shooting off fragments of galaxy-like cells. As with molecular structures, the star will collide with another that will essentially bring birth to the universe.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Update for Tuesday Nov. 23

I have the animation for the second scene done as planned in my schedule. there are still assets that need to be put into the scene but they are minute details that I am trying not to get tied down with. I have already begun creating my assets for the third and final scene.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Update for Thursday

At the present moment I still am not done with my first scene completely, but this is intentional. I am trying to make it a rule of thumb to just finish the overall project and go back to clean up some of the small rough spots. I am still going to try and get the quality down as I work but the clean up will come later. So far I am moderately on schedule with my original schedule but will update it minorly.

As far as the second scene goes, time has been spent experimenting to try and get my idea to work. For the second scene, the viewer will be given a broader scope of the space and the next sequence in the composition. There will be multiple little orbs that will start to link up. The look is to be akin to the neural system and the firing of synapses. It is to speak on how the creation of the universe is the same as that of the creation of man. Thus, speaking more on how each individual is a part of the universe on even the most microscopic level.

November 18-23: Second Act started on. Work a bit on getting aesthetics to work with the narrative.

November 23-25: Second Act done and Third Act begun.

November 25-30: Third act done and resolution begun. If ahead of schedule at this point, will go back and do revisions to make piece more polished.

November 30-December 3: Project complete

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Update for Tuesday November 16

I have the majority of scene 1 done. Although I planned to be completely done, I suffered minor setbacks. Fortunately I have just one or two shots to do and I will be done and ready for the next scene. What I do have completed is the beginning of my animation that leads up to the big explosion. I definitely have to make the explosion bigger as well as clean up some rough spots. Other than that, I am not far behind on my schedule.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Calendar for the Rest of the Semester

November 11-15: Revisions to story and finalization of aesthetics. Will revise and finish composition (one major scene) began on November 10.

November 16-18: Will begin on second scene.

November 18-23: Second Act done and third act begun.

November 23-25: Third act at least halfway done

November 25-30: Third act done and resolution begun.

November 30-December 3: Project complete

Aesthetics


So, for my revisions I have took all my critiques and tried to mesh them all together. While doing more research on my topic, I got hit with the idea of having a series of four events taking place. I will treat each explosion/creation as a landscape that the viewer will journey through. As for my aesthetic, I spent a lot of hours working on it and here is what came of it. I wanted the aesthetic to carry a realistic feel. I want to challenge myself in seeing how far I can go in implying depth and space with 2 dimensional assets.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Final Project Ideas

For my final project, I plan to expand upon my orb idea. I had so much fun doing that experiment, and it opened me up to many possibilities with it. After sifting through my thoughts, I just decided to pursue the one that I always seems to keep coming back to. I want to create a short musical piece that will affect the objects in my composition. I want the piece to travel the 3d space and to have rhythmic lighting. The viewer will experience the harmony of an indeterminate number of orbs reacting and playing off of each other. I will create the music myself, and I plan on it carrying an atmospheric tone. The piece should not be very long.

The basic idea for the piece is infinity. I was stuck on this idea proposed by many discovery science program about how there may be multiple universes, or how there is a bit of the universe in each living thing. The orbs in the piece will contain a galaxy of its own. The spheres will start off kind of big at the beginning of the piece, giving the illusion that they are masters of these little universes. As the piece ends, the viewer will zoom out to reveal the there are infinite amount of spheres that in turn make up a universe.


Here is one example to visually explain what I want to do. At the end of Men in Black, it is revealed that the entire story takes place within a little marble.



And these are example of audio animation and how I want to animate this project.






Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Final Project Ideas

Well, its time again to come up with a concept for the class. After this weekend, I think I want to employ the techniques I learned to my final piece. I still have to mull over what exactly it is that I want to do, but it deals greatly with the 3d aspect of the program as seen with my demo for class.

Effects Fiasco Roundup

I must say, this has been a very fun and interesting weekend for After Effects. Not everything has gone to plan, but I think I produced some decent demos. I really wanted to see how far I can take myself in this program. Even though I used tutorials for some of my experiment, it was still a challenge to pull everything off. There were even some projects I started that did not work out at all. I made three experiments in all and I will to sum up my process the best that I can.

For my cavern project, everrything came together at random intervals. I took the photo of a glossy blue surface and set the spherize effect to it. I set the key frames of the spherize to and animated it pulsating. I then took the photo into Photoshop and adjusted the colors via curves to give it a fleshy tone. Last, I focused on having a wet lens effect. I used cc Mr. Mercury and adjusted the levels of the longevity, gravity, velocity, ect.

For my water, I had to create a texture. I took a solid and added a fractal noise effect, adjusting the spline to make it more unified and softer. I added colorama, to change the grey to a cooler color. I then added a ramp to give it varying degrees of light. Last, for the texture I added a cc starburst. I then made another comp. I made another fractal noise solid, but this time I made the fractal type swirl to give it a wavy look. By setting the evolution, I was able to give it motion akin to waves. By taking these textured comp and nesting it into another, I lastly added an adjustment layer. On the layer I added a turbulent displace. By keying the offset, it made the waves look as if they were flowing in a specific direction.