Virtual Environments - 2D & 3D Visualisation

Live Client Underway!

2012-01-25T15:02:00.002Z

Warehouse Lighting (unfinished)

2012-01-13T09:45:00.001Z

Fifth Context Image

2011-11-23T21:21:00.000Z

Fourth Image for Context

2011-11-22T02:13:00.000Z

Context Image 3

2011-11-21T02:01:00.002Z

Second context image

2011-11-18T16:14:00.000Z

Having to upload here then link the url to my tumblr account because it doesn't seem to like uploading images.

First Context Image & Tumblr Account!

2011-11-17T00:54:00.000Z

I am going to give tumblr a try. I like it's look and simplicity and it's very easy to see whats going in.

The address is cdawilliams.tumblr.com

Oh, and here is my first context image as promised!

Simulated Client Project

2011-11-04T14:27:00.000Z

Updated Money

2011-10-12T17:03:00.000+01:00

I got a lot of good feedback on the money but out of the bad, the most recurring comment was the fact the band keeping the money together was too white and made it look fake.

In attempt to rectify this I went back into photoshop and amended the original image. By adding a new layer with a crinkle style image on, and inversing the colours I came up with the new money band. Hopefully this one will add more to the realism than the previous.

Simulated Client Checklist

2011-10-12T16:27:00.000+01:00

The simulated client project is now all planned out, and to help make it flow as easy as possible I've constructed a list of all models needed to produced for the final piece. I'm not going to post the list but like the previous post, I'll put up some stills on this post for some tasters.

Images below, off to do some more modeling!

Test Render for Simulated Client Project

2011-10-06T01:37:00.002+01:00

Just a teaser for a possible idea for the Alumni simulated client project.

Don't want to give a way too much at this point.

Been playing around with a new feature to 3DS Max 2012 - They've replaced the old Havok Reactor with a new modifier called MassFX.

It feels a little smoother and easier to use than I found with the old Havok Reactor.

Below is a render of one of the last frames from using the MassFX modifier.

I'll be looking at doing more work with it for the alumni client project.

**Updated**

Little Summer playing about

2011-08-13T15:21:00.000+01:00

Just a hand, decided to make 3 finger bones this time round. Might model a full working robot but I'm trying to get more into the visuaulisation and environment side of things, over rigging and animation.

Finished Animation

2011-05-27T16:57:00.001+01:00

Wasn't going to post it on the blog as I wasn't completely pleased with it, but I suppose it's good for development.

 Below

Some screenshots too:

500~ Words Rational

2011-05-27T16:50:00.002+01:00

Overall I really enjoyed this assignment, I felt it tested our ability to effectively develop an idea for a story, model, rig, skin, use of textures & materials, animating, and post-production. All of the basic fundamentals for a under-graduate practitioner.

I found myself doing more design work prior to starting the practical part of the project this time round, which I'll put down to experience. Changing my mind about which way to go with a story, continually redrawing character designs, and constantly changing environments I felt all contributed to the final piece.

I enjoyed making the environments, having spent more time on it this time than on the previous assignment. I wanted to make more of an effort to capture the look & feel, trying to keep it as true to the original as possible. The second environment changed frequently but in the end I was reasonably pleased with how it came out. It was pretty accurate to some scenes from the film, but with a few strange differences to orientate it more to the conflict between the characters.

My favourite part of the whole project was probably modelling the characters, it took a while at first to get them from looking so 'blocky' but I feel I progressed from earlier designs. I can't say I'm completely happy with the final models, however I am happy with the level of progression made from starting the assignment.

Rigging - eurgh. I actually found rigging rather easy, and the more time I did it (which was a lot!), the easier it got. There were a few issues at first, that I couldn't explain, but performing the same task over and over eventually hammered them out. I never used the CAT-rig, as I felt using it would have been cheating a little. I was pleased with how well my rigs worked but I felt that my ability at skinning didn't really capture my ability to rig. While I understand the basic concept of skinning I feel I need to spend more time on it in future as its skinning that can make even the best of models look awful when it comes to animating them.

I spent a lot of time unwrapping one of my characters, which gave me a fairly good understanding of how to do it effectively and efficiently, hopefully my characters portray this. Unwrapping was obviously a big part of making my Joker character look right as without I wouldn't have been able to do the face paint.

As an animator I feel I still have a long way to go, my biggest problem is one I could easily change but it's a personal flaw, Timekeeping & Organisation. I tend to rush as I want to see the finished result, this generally makes my animating ability look weak as it doesn't flow or look realistic. Over the Summer I intend to rectify this.

Overall I felt that I had improved on many aspects from the previous assignment, and identified some key places I need to improve, and where my strengths lie. As for the animation itself I am reasonably happy with the final result, I wish I had spent more time on it, and had better planned out the plot. There wasn't much fighting in it, which I felt there could have been more, then again there wasn't all that much in the original scene. Finally, I really enjoyed doing this project, and hopefully spending a little time this Summer to improve in places will see even better results next year.

Little Teaser from the Fight Scene Environment (Incomplete)

2011-05-18T17:53:00.000+01:00

Thought making a realistic Bat Signal would add to the effect, especially making it actually produce the batman logo shadow.

Second Environment Influence

2011-05-07T12:49:00.000+01:00

The second environment will be the fight scene environment. I've gone with a Tekken/Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat style scene, this will basically be a square platform featuring assets influenced by both characters. Dobermans side will be quite dark featuring props like a Bat-signa, possibly looking like the entrance to the batcave. The Jokers side will be a little twisted, currently I'm thinking Jack-in-the-boxes scattered about, Joker-bombs and twisted staircases.

Images below showing different things I might include or that might influence the design.

Post-Production Cartoon Style Effects

2011-05-05T17:34:00.000+01:00

I decided early on in the design process to make the animation look more like a cartoon/comic as this was the original nature of Batman. Below are a few different techniques I've used to try create that effect.

UVW Unwrap Complete. Time to animate.

2011-05-05T15:26:00.002+01:00

Small Update

2011-04-23T00:37:00.000+01:00

I say small because it looks that way but actually I've done a fair bit over last 2 days.

Small modifications to mesh of Doberman - Basically giving nose and mouth a more dog-like look.
Completed bone rigs for Doberman
Redid bone rig on JokerRabbit from scratch as it wasn't done that well the first time so I started from scratch and spent some time on the envelopes and now it's looking really good.
Morphers on Joker done too, along with eyes done for both.

Next up:
Morphers for Doberman, complete envelopes and sort out textures for both.

Bone Rigs for both characters

Doberman & The Joker

2011-04-02T03:30:00.003+01:00

Just a few shots of the two together. Still need to scale them with one another to make it seem more realistic, and a few more tweaks needed on both, as they're are still some areas of each I'm not happy with. Also, I have put them into the first environment to see how it could eventually look.

Start of Scene - Batman masked in darkness

Lights on to reveal Batman behind The Joker

Joker Rabbit well on his way.

2011-04-02T03:16:00.000+01:00

So here are a few stills of my joker rabbit model. Worth noting that, like the previous post, the textures you can see are just shiny plastics to give it some effect and will not be used in the final piece. He, along with Doberman will be unwrapped after I have finished rigging them both.

Still a few tweaks needed here and there, oh, and eyes would probably be helpful (AND WHISKERS!)

Joker Rabbit

2011-04-01T23:14:00.003+01:00

Few stills from the newly started Joker Rabbit. The different materials used are just to give more definition to different parts of his appearance. He will be textured properly when complete but I just wanted to give some insight into the way I was going with it. The material is just a glossy plastic to make it look all shiny and new.

[Additional Images Added]

Small Update

2011-03-31T00:45:00.000+01:00

Added new texture for door, changed some of the blood splats on the walls and added some bloodprints for effect.

How 3DS Max should be used.

2011-03-30T21:02:00.000+01:00

I recently bought a 40inch television which I now primarily use as a monitor, and I must say 3ds max is now much more fun to use! I use my old monitor as a secondary one for iTunes/Firefox/Reference Images/Seperate windows which I don't want over 3ds max.

The 'Darker' Knight?

2011-03-30T20:36:00.000+01:00

I've decided that I want my interpretation of 'The Dark Knight' to be a little darker than the original. Below are a few stills from my scene to give you an idea of what I mean.

Scene ReVamp

2011-03-29T20:35:00.000+01:00

I decided to put some of the techniques I picked up whilst working on my showreel and apply them to my final project environment. I think it's an improvement, little more of a realistic feel. Not completely happy with it but I can come back and alter things later if needbe. Tomorrow I am dedicating the day to perfecting the character models, bones and rigs.

Just because it's easter doesn't mean I have to sit about doing nothing!

The Art of Seeing

2011-03-22T19:37:00.000Z

I both enjoyed and hating this assignment. Initially I hated it as I thought time spent taking pictures was time not spent modeling and producing stuff for my showreel and end of year project. HOWEVER! Once I started it, I did actually enjoy it, and if it wasn't for the fact my camera only allowed me to take 280 photos before insisting it was full, I'd of probably continued taking more. Probably worth mentioning the reason there aren't 280 photos on the flickr account is because my housemate was doing the same assignment so we went out together and halved the images for our accounts. Otherwise it may have looked like one just took the images from the other.

After about 2 hours of taking photos it was hard to stop, and everywhere we went we were just looking for more interesting things and textures to capture. At this point the camera ran out and we began deleting less exciting photos for new ones.

Anyway, here's the link to my flickr page. I've separated the images into 'Sets' so they're easier to browse. and have now added all today's images to my computers texture library. In the end, it wasn't such a bad assignment!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cdawilliams/sets/

ShowReel

2011-03-22T11:19:00.001Z

Well it's been a busy few weeks but here it is! The final copy of my show reel. Still not 100% pleased with how it turned out but can't say I'm completely disappointed.

Enjoy!

Don't forget to watch in HD!

I have been working hard!

2011-03-14T00:17:00.000Z

As the title says, I have actually been working my socks off recently. Mainly on my show reel. I don't want to really give away too much at the moment as I was hoping just to post the finished piece.

I've been taking care to make sure its produced to a rather high standard, as I plan to use it not only for the assignment but also to give to 'would-be' employers.

Rest assured, you'll see it soon! I may put a few taster/teaser stills up later, but currently I'm just perfecting everything.

Joker Rabbit designs

2011-03-02T17:09:00.000Z

I was debating between modeling all characters then spending a day rigging all together or simply completing each character one by one.

I have decided to model them all, then rig them all, then unwrap them all. I find it easier to work this way as once I'm in the flow for modeling I find it difficult to change my mindset towards rigging, and the same for rigging. I find it easier to to just rig them all consecutively.

Below are my designs for Joker Rabbit. I don't think he will be as difficult to model as DoberMan, as I found the suit and dog features were the most difficult to do.


Rough Draft of Joker Rabbit


Rough Draft of Joker Rabbit Inverted

Joker Rabbit - Front


Joker Rabbit - Front (Inverted)

Joker Rabbit -Side

Front&Side

Front&Side Inverted

Doberman Redone

2011-03-02T16:50:00.001Z

Due to some unexpected issues with Doberman I had to completely restart the model. This wasn't much of a set back, and if anything worked in my favour. I wasn't completely happy with my old model, the head wasn't formed very well, and everytime I tried to use the connect tool on the edges to make the hands it crashed 3ds max. After trying everything to get around this I decided to just remodel the whole thing. This, in my opinion, has worked out for the best. The new model looks as good, if not better, than the old one. Also it is a lot less complicated and messy in terms of vertices and faces.

Old DoberMan

New DoberMan - Front


New DoberMan -Back

New DoberMan -Side

New DoberMan - Orthographic

Influence for the DoberMan Design

CGTextures

2011-03-02T16:43:00.000Z

After Roma's lecture and seeing the massive collection CG Textures had to offer I decided to join. There is a free membership which allows you to download 15mb a day, however that doesn't allow access to the highest resolution images so I paid for the 'Private Use' package. It works out at about £56 for the year but lets you download up to 100mb a day and grants you access to the highest res textures. So far I'm pleased with joining.

http://www.cgtextures.com/

Playing around with the scales

2011-02-24T00:55:00.000Z

So as the title says I've been playing about with some of the scales to try get it looking more realistic. I had always planned for the arms to be over-exaggerated and cartoony but not so much so that it looked as though he'd be dragging his knuckles acorss the floor.

Attempted to add a little more definition to his arms, a little to the back, and playing with the smoothing at the chest.

Front

Back

Its been awhile since my last post, but work has been produced!

2011-02-23T19:53:00.000Z

I'd like to say I've been so busy doing course-related work that I've not had chance to post but unfortunately I've just been very busy with other things. So today I finally got round to doing some more work on Doberman. He's still a work in progress, it's been a steep learning curve interms of developing muscle and suit definition but I've almost got the hang of it. I need to work out some of the scaling and add more definition here and there but he's starting to take form.

DoberMan (Batman) & The Joker Designs + DoberMan Final Design

2011-02-14T15:15:00.000Z

Here are some of the initial designs for both DoberMan and The Joker, I have also included the final design for DoberMan. I am literally about to start modelling DoberMan, Andy said the final outcome of my animation will mainly fall upon my modelling ability so I'll be taking extra care to really capture my design and create a design model that I can proud of!

Initial DoberMan Design

DoberMan looking more like a pictured.

Face designs - Trying to capture the eyes and mouth.

First Front & Side image - Not final. Work needed.

Final Design - Front Shot (Stamp Modifier added in Photoshop for definition)

Final Design - Side Shot

Inverted Colours

The Dark Knight script

2011-02-14T13:29:00.000Z

The whole dialogue for the Interrogation scene is quite long, fortunately for me, there is a copy of the entire film script online. This saves me the effort of having to go over the scene from the dvd over and over in order to get it all down.

So below is the dialogue from the scene I will be reinterpreting, minus the little quotes I'll have the Joker saying during the fight scene. Also I've highlighted which bits of dialogue/screen play won't be appearing in my version of events, however this is not the final cut as I think even with taking out the snippets which take place outside the room it will sill be too long.

INT. INTERROGATION, MCU, GOTHAM CENTRAL -- NIGHT

The Joker, in near darkness. Gordon walks in. Sits.

THE JOKER
Evening, Commissioner.

GORDON
Harvey Dent never made it home.

THE JOKER
Of course not.

GORDON
What have you done with him?

THE JOKER
(laughs)
Me? I was right here. Who did you
leave him with? Your people?
Assuming, of course, that they are
your people not Maroni's...
(off look)
Does it depress you, Lieutenant, to
know how alone you are?
Gordon can't help glancing at the mounted CAMERA.

85.

THE JOKER
Does it make you feel responsible for
Harvey Dent's current predicament?

GORDON
Where is he?

THE JOKER
What time is it?

GORDON
What difference does that make?

THE JOKER
Depending on the time, he might be in
one spot.
(smiles)
Or several.
Gordon stands. Moves to the Joker. Undoes his handcuffs.

GORDON
If we're going to play games, I'm
going to need a cup of coffee.

THE JOKER
The good cop, bad cop routine?
Gordon pauses, hand on the doorknob.

GORDON
Not exactly.
Gordon steps out. The overhead lights COME ON. BATMAN IS
BEHIND HIM. The Joker BLINKS in the HARSH WHITE LIGHT.
WHAM! The Joker's face HITS the table- comes up for air-
CRACK! CRACK! To the head. Batman is in front of him. The
Joker stares, fascinated. Bleeding.

THE JOKER
Never start with the head... victim
gets fuzzy. Can't feel the next-
CRACK! Batman's fist SMACKS down on the Joker's fingers.

THE JOKER
(calm)
See?

BATMAN
You wanted me. Here I am.

THE JOKER
I wanted to see what you'd do. And
you didn't disappoint...
(laughs)
You let five people die.

(MOR E)

86.
THE JOKE R (cont'd)
Then you let Dent take your place.
Even to a guy like me... that's cold-

BATMAN
Where's Dent?

THE JOKER
Those mob fools want you gone so they
can get back to the way things were.
But I know the truth- there's no
going back. You've changed things.
Forever.

BATMAN
Then why do you want to kill me?
The Joker starts LAUGHING. After a moment he's laughing so
hard it sounds like SOBBING.

THE JOKER
Kill you? I don't want to kill you.
What would I do without you? Go back
to ripping off Mob dealers? No
you...
(points)
You. Complete. Me.

BATMAN
You're garbage who kills for money.

THE JOKER
Don't talk like one of them- you're
not, even if you'd like to be. To
them you're a freak like me... they
just need you right now.
He regards Batman with something approaching pity.

THE JOKER
But as soon as they don't, they'll
cast you out like a leper.
The Joker looks into Batman's eyes. Searching.

THE JOKER
Their morals, their code... it's a
bad joke. Dropped at the first sign
of trouble. They're only as good as
the world allows them to be. You'll
see- I'll show you... when the chips
are down, these civilized people...
they'll eat each other.
(grins)
See, I'm not a monster... I'm just
ahead of the curve.
Batman GRABS the Joker and pulls him upright.

87.

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM, MCU, GOTHAM CENTRAL -- NIGHT

One of the Detectives moves for the door. Gordon stops him.

GORDON
He's in control.

INT. INTERROGATION ROOM, MCU, GOTHAM CENTRAL -- NIGHT

Batman HOISTS the Joker up by the neck.

BATMAN
Where's Dent?

THE JOKER
You have these rules. And you think
they'll save you.

BATMAN
I have one rule.

THE JOKER
Then that's the one you'll have to
break. To know the truth.

BATMAN
Which is?

THE JOKER
(smiles)
The only sensible way to live in this
world is without rules. Tonight
you're going to break your one
rule...
Batman leans in to the Joker.

BATMAN
I'm considering it.

THE JOKER
There are just minutes left- so,
you'll have to play my little game if
you want to save...
(with relish)
...one of them.

BATMAN
Them?

THE JOKER
For a while I thought you really were
Dent, the way you threw yourself
after her-
Batman DROPS the Joker- RIPS up a bolted-down chair-

88.

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM, MCU, GOTHAM CENTRAL -- NIGHT

Gordon MOVES for the door-

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM, MCU -- CONTINUOUS

Batman JAMS the chair under the doorknob- PICKS up the Joker
and HURLS him into the two-way glass. The glass SPIDERS.

INT. INTERROGATION ROOM, MCU, GOTHAM CENTRAL -- NIGHT

The Joker, bleeding from nose and mouth, LAUGHS at Batman.

THE JOKER
Look at you go... does Harvey know
about you and his-?
The Joker SMASHES into the wall- SLIDES to the floor. Batman
stands over him, a man possessed-

BATMAN

WHERE ARE THEY?!
He GRABS the Joker, holding him close-

THE JOKER
Killing is making a choice...
Batman PUNCHES the Joker across the face. HARD.

BATMAN

WHERE ARE THEY?!
The Joker FEEDS off Batman's anger. Loving it.

THE JOKER
...you choose one life over the
other. Your friend, the district
attorney. Or his blushing bride-to-
be.
Batman PUNCHES the Joker again. The Joker LAUGHS.

THE JOKER
You have nothing. Nothing to
threaten me with. Nothing to do with
all your strength...
(spits a tooth)
But don't worry, I'm going to tell
you where they are. Both of them,
and that's the point- you'll have to
choose.
The Batman stares at the Joker...

THE JOKER
He's at 250 52nd Boulevard. And
she's on avenue X at Cicero.

89.

Batman DROPS him.

Fight Scene HealthBar Layer

2011-02-08T19:04:00.000Z

This wasn't on my list to do for this week but I decided to get it out of the way early. It's not complete yet, partly due to the fact I'd like some proper stills from the animation, however I used some stills from the film to give you a rough idea of what I was aiming for.

Audio Stripped from video and cut into samples!

2011-02-08T17:48:00.001Z

Can't really show audio, so instead I've provided a screenshot of what samples I shall be using.

The audio file labelled "Interrogation Dialogue" is the big speech starting when Commissioner Gordon enters the room and ending when Batman leaves. The other samples are to be used as quirky little shouts when they're fighting to add additional effect!

To do list:

2011-02-07T15:31:00.001Z

Thought it would be an idea to set myself a sort of goal for next Monday.

Storyboard down on paper
Shotlist
Audio stripped from the video, from original film scene (Complete!)
Additional Joker samples from the rest of the film to add more effect to the fight scene, e.g. "Why so serious", "Lets put a smile on that face", The Jokers maniac laugh, etc. (Complete!)
Atleast one character modelled and work begun on bones

So I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to lighting..

2011-02-06T21:12:00.000Z

I've been experimenting with different lighting techniques, hoping to get the kind of contrast I've been looking for and thus far have had no such look.

When I render out using the default scanline render, with only the light closest to the door on (introduction to the scene before Batman is revealed) it looks about right, however with all the lights on using the default scanline its not bright enough in the room. However, when I render out using the mental ray render, with all the lights on, it looks how I would like it to look. The only down side to this is, when only the door light is on, the rest of the room is then too bright.

I'm going to keep working on it, and reading up on more tutorials, but if anyone has any input in the meantime it would be appreciated!

Some render shots below!

Default Scanline Render - Only door light on.

MentalRay Render - All lights on.

In the shadows

2011-02-05T21:49:00.000Z

Rethinking some of the lighting. Initially I was using photometric lighting but I'm going to run a few tests with standard, mainly as I can alternate the intensity more. Unfortunately, I have work shortly and have run out of time today. Hopefully I'll get some time tomorrow to push on with the lighting and start work on the second part to the environment.

Oh, and the main point to this post. Below is a render of the current scene, but this time I've added shadows. Enjoy!

Roof & Lighting fixtures done - "attempts" at ligthing started

2011-02-05T21:14:00.000Z

So below is the almost complete environment for the initial scene. Its starting to come together quite nicely, just a few things need tweaking. The main things that need to be finalised are lighting and textures, but the idea of doing everything early is so I have plenty of time to make any alterations later.

Trying to portray the contrasting light is proving quite difficult. I like the first shot, as it shows the shadows and indicates that Batman would be well cloaked in the animation, however when the lights then come on and the room is illuminated, its not that much brighter. I've been playing with the lighting for about an hour and still haven't got it perfect.

I've also been reading a lot of online-based tutorials so hopefully this will all sort of click at some point.

Let there be light!

2011-02-05T19:25:00.000Z

Desk lamp finished, and have also added a bit of lighting for effect. So far I'm pleased with how part 1 of the environment looks. I've obviously still got a fair bit of work to do, especially with the modelling of 3 characters, an additional open plan environment, and the animating of the entire thing. Oh, and then the final touch ups in after effects, but so far I'm on track! I think.

Anyway, images below from the environment. I've also modified the layout of the room slightly, making the pillars of the walls thinner and making the windows larger. Generally just make the room look more like the original scene from the Dark Knight.

Handcuffs complete!

2011-02-05T15:35:00.000Z

I had a lot of fun making these, Not 100% happy with the body of the cuff, and I made us of the Boolean feature for the crudely done key holes but I am pleased with the way the actual constraints part of the cuffs came out.

Images below of cuffs and cuffs in the environment.

And the cuffs merged into the rest of the environment

Prop-wise, only the coffee cup and table lamp left to render for this part of the environment. Excluding lighting fixtures, mind.

New Year. New Look.

2011-02-01T18:15:00.000Z

With a new year I've decided to "revamp" my blog. Heavily influenced by my favourite colour (purple, if you hadn't guessed), and the prevous design practise project's robot. The new blog also features a brand new banner! Photoshop'ing this blog into the 21st century! Now, back to some actual course related to work.

Please, Batman. Take a seat.

2011-02-01T15:37:00.002Z

Chairs and Table for the first environment complete. Not sure if I'm completely happy with them but they'll do for now.

Tried to use the reflective windows in the stills to make it look more like an interrogation room. Just need to model some handcuffs, the desk lamp and Commissioner Gordons coffee cup.

Modified

2011-01-31T13:43:00.004Z

I watched the Dark Knight again last night and realised that my interrogation room wasn't completely accurate. The window spacings and the fact the pillars between the window protrude out weren't in my version. Due to the layout of my room it's quite difficult to alter the spacings now, however I have added the pillars so hopefully it won't affect the final outcome too much!

Environment under way!

2011-01-30T23:54:00.003Z

My environment is in two parts; the interrogation room from the original scene, and the open-plan fighting ground. Today I've been working on the interrogation room for the start of the animation. I spent a lot of time messing about with textures to try make this part of the animation is true to the original as possible. I also spent a bit of time trying to go about it with the fewest possible polygon count.

Anyway, below you can see a few stills. I've yet to create the roof, lighting and furniture, but the initial layout and a few textures are there.

Creative Inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes, but mainly in the form of existing films..

2011-01-27T20:34:00.001Z

So I’ve had a brainwave (is that still politically correct? Hopefully I won’t offend any epileptic surfers), I was watching Tim Burtons, Alice in Wonderland last night and really liked the scene near the end of the film where both sides meet on the giant checked board, surrounded by ruins. At this point I remembered what Andy had said about the fight scene for my animation, I liked the idea of the room falling away and both Batman and ‘The Joker’ falling downwards whilst fighting. Sort of like the initial falling down the rabbit hole in Alice and Wonderland. My idea is that, as the Joker reveals to Batman that the only way he’ll get what he wants is to break his (his being batman) “One Rule”, at this point the walls get ripped/blown away to reveal a giant two themed board. One side of the board will be over the top, crazy and generally joker-themed, where as the other side will be quite dark, a little scary but with something symbolic of justice, indicating Batman side.

Now I’m thinking have some arcade style fighting game narration (i.e. “READY! FIGHT!” and “K.O.” – similar to the likes of ‘Tekken’ and ‘Street Fighter’) along with health bars, name plates and possibly time left and rounds. Using After Effects I could add glows to fists for when they make contact to simulate other existing games. Hopefully this will contribute to the style I’m going for with the fight. The fight will end with Jokers health bar hitting zero, the fight narrate shouting “K.O.” and Joker telling Batman where both locations of the victims are, at which point Batman will either simply leave via the door (same as original scene) or go back to his roots and using the trusty Bat-Grappling hook and to fly out of there in a typical batman style!

Character Appearance and Scene layout

2011-01-19T22:43:00.003Z

In a typical adaptation style I have decided to turn all the characters in the scene into an animal counterpart.

Batman being 'BAT'man the obvious choice would be to have his character be a bat, though I'm not sure if I like the thought of Batman still being a bat. I could make Batman be a different animal and try make it seem ironic, but which animal I'll use if that is the case, I don't yet know.

I quite liked the thought of the Joker being a rabbit, purely because you can make a rabbit look quite erratic, having said that you could probably do the same thing with a lot of other animals, plus Andy used rabbits as an example in the seminar and I don't want to appear to be directly ripping ideas from other people. However, as it stands, a rabbit is still my most desired animal for a Joker style character. My thoughts flick to the Rabbit from Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland.

Commissioner Gordon seems the most difficult to pin a character too. He’s only seen very briefly at the start of the scene but he sort of sets it up for Batman so I would prefer to keep him in the scene, but as for what character I'll portray him as is a different story. I like the idea of him being some sort of Walrus, used in childhood cartoons to portray old men. The actual character from the film is quite thin so it won't accurately represent him but I suppose it's an adaptation, it doesn't have to stay true to the original!

I would prefer for the scene to stay true to the original, a dark poorly lit square room, which when illuminated is quite overwhelming in contrast. We’ve been talking about making everything within the animation consistent, so although I’ve changed the original cast to their animal counterparts I’d still like to keep the room the same. For the sake of keeping theme I have considered keeping the layout roughly the same but maybe making the interior (as that’s all we can see anyway) look a bit more like the wooden house seen in Disney’s Tarzan at the start of the film, possibly composed of bamboo/realistic wooden branches and rope ties with maybe a lantern for light instead of modern day lighting.

So I've been really indecisive

2011-01-19T22:12:00.003Z

I've decided to stay away from the scripts we've been given because I don't want to end up with something similar to other animations; however, in doing so I've been having some serious decision issues with what exactly I will do.

Initially I thought I'd do a scene from a recent topical film or a timeless classic film; with this I considered scenes from the likes of 'Inception', Lord of the Rings', 'Pulp Fiction' or 'Iron Man'. I couldn't quite think of any particular scene from Inception that would make a good adaptation, and I didn't like the thought of doing Iron Man as I felt it would seem more like I was taking an easy way out in the sense that we had already covered the rigging of robots in the previous term, and with Iron Man being predominately robots, I saw no other way around this. I liked the idea of reproducing a scene from Pulp Fiction, specifically the first scene featuring Samuel Jackson and John Travolta. However, I felt the scene was too long and contained too much dialogue to fit into a roughly 3 minute animation.

Now, having spent much thought on this and having watched countless films I have finally settled on (drum roll please) 'The Dark Knight'. Personally, The Joker was my favourite character from the film, but there are many scenes from the film that I could have chosen. In the end I have decided to go with the interrogation scene between Batman and The Joker. If I did it to timescale then I'm looking at it starting in the dark room with the Joker and commissioner Gordon, and then ending at the point where Batman pulls the Joker over the table for a somewhat dramatic finish. However, if I wanted I could cut the dialogue down a bit and probably get in the whole scene, during which Batman roughs up the Joker a little.

Virtual Environments - Term 2 Project

2011-01-13T10:51:00.005Z

For our latest project we are to produce a 3 minute animation using either one of the pre-determined scripts or optionally to devise one of our own. If we chose to use one of the three scenarios presented by the brief then it would have to be our own take on the script, not just imitated.

By the sounds of things, the majority of students have opted with the ‘Matrix Dojo’ Scene because it sounds the most appealing. Initially I was undecided about which to do, but having scrawled out a mind map I have decided to do my own adaptation of another existing film.

Animation finished! Design Practice 3 over.

2010-12-09T18:21:00.002Z

I'm glad this project is over at last, though I put that down to rushing it to meet the deadline, if I had been a little more organised then it would have been much more relaxed, pleasant and, in my opinion, done to a higher standard.

I was happy with the modelling and rigging out the robot itself, as well as the look of the environment. I enjoyed experimenting with some of the textures, however I believe I still need to work on this aspect of modelling.

In my opinion my strength lies in the modelling and rigging, as apposed to actually animating. Even so, I enjoyed doing this project, and it shed some light on areas I need to improve upon; namely lighting, animation, and most importantly, organisation and time keeping.

Below is the my finished animation.

It's aliveeeeeeeeeeee!

2010-12-04T19:34:00.002Z

Robot complete! Not finished with the texture, but I just wanted it to look fairly tidy for now.

Below are a few images of the robot in its complete form, some poses included.

Stop and Stare, because currently I have no mouth.

2010-12-04T13:41:00.005Z

Robot nearly complete, with just eyebrows and mouth left to go.

Influences

As I said in an earlier post, the arms were influenced by the arms from Spiders Man, 'Dr Octopus', and some sort of aquatic probe I came across whilst browsing robot pictures on google for inspriation.

Having designed the arms I decided, for the sake of continuity, I would design the legs similarly. By this I am mainly referring to the ridges in the pipework of the legs, and the three toe-like supports at the end of the foot that mimic the three point pincers on its hands.

The Hip, Chest and Spine all have a similar sort of design, this wasn't really influenced by any outside sources but I thought it looked quite futuristic and again, for the sake of continuity, made the spine and chest plate follow a similar sort of design.

The head and eyes were influenced both by the Stabbing-robot from Futurama, and from Disney Pixars, Wall-E.

Below is the image of the almost complete robot. Robot and Environment will be uploaded by the end of the day. Then for the fun task of texturing, animating and rendering. Hoozah.

Robot Update!

2010-12-02T13:17:00.003Z

My robot is finally almost finished so I thought I'd post a few shots I'd taken early on during production.

The arms were influenced by Dr Octopus from the Spiderman comics/film, and the idea of a spider struggling to get out of a bath seemed quite comedic in terms of the robot falling over during the animation.

For the sake of continuity I used the same ridge patern for the legs and arms, and attempted to make the feet look similar to the pincers on the hand.

Both arms and legs together. Very crudely teztured for the moment.

The Spine and Head had been created however I decided to recrate as I wasn't happy with it.

Animation Setting Ideas

2010-10-14T14:38:00.002+01:00

I went home this weekend and whilst sat at one of the stations I had some ideas about location of the animation.

Naturally, my first one was a Train Station! Seemingly innocent location, despite having very large, very quick trains speeding through there, throughout the day.

I drafted a storyboard of one of my ideas (to be scanned and put up shortly)

Then decided to attempt to model a train station for the animation, this is the result:

Of Bots and Bananas

2010-10-14T14:28:00.002+01:00

So, I've slowed on posting recently. This hasn't been because I find the whole thing tedious! Purely because Virgin Media don't deem the Internet as a necessity for University students.

Anyway, this years exciting new project in short) is to design a robot and have him trip in a comedy fashion. To aid with what is, and isn't funny we've been looking at slapstick comedy through out the ages. Charlie Chaplin and Tom & Jerry are both fine examples of this.

I've broken down into bullet points, what I believe makes a good slapstick animation:

* Exaggerated, over the top violence - The more, the better - without the use of blood/gore
* Believable - The audience should believe that what they are seeing is possible, no matter how remote the possibilities of it actually happening.
* Correctly timed sound effects - Little things like 'slipping' noises and over the top bangs can make the difference.

**More to come**

Because bigger, is better.

2010-10-14T14:24:00.002+01:00

Below is an unfinished mockup of some of the heavier weaponry fixings likely to be seen in the finished ship.

I've designed this particular model to look like it has to be manned by onboard personnel. The interior of the weapon is yet to be finished, but this model gives a rough idea of what it could look like when complete.

Ready! Aim! Oh yea.. we haven't built that yet.

2010-09-20T14:09:00.003+01:00

So the ship realistically (or atleast being as realistic as you can when talking about spaceships) can now fly and look.. somewhat like a ship (if we're willing to call that a defining attribute) however, anyone you knows anything about sci fi can tell you, every time a ship goes into space, there is usually some sort of space battle (See; 'Lost in Space', 'Star Wars', 'Star Trek', 'Serenity', 'Stargate', for details.), now everyone loves a good space battle, however the length of a space battle is usually determined on how big/powerful your weapons are in comparison to the other guys(or girls for sexual equalities-sake) So as in our case we have none, and robotwars style ramming is out of the question we're gonna need some, and as weaponry is my favourite.. let's make them big.

Unfortunately I've only yet designed one sort of turret, influenced by the ones seen during the Deathstar trench scene during Episode 4.

And, as you can see, the base of the turret follows the same style as the engines on the back. This I believe is the kind of thing which will make it look rather good after everything is finished.

More coming soon.

We're entering.. Lightspeed?

2010-09-20T13:38:00.008+01:00

Or atleast we would be if we had any sort of propulsion. So I had finished tinkering with the hull design, for now atleast, and it was time to make the damn thing move. Or atleast make the idea of it moving slightly more feasible and realistic than a float hunk of metal in space with no visible engines.

First I designed a possible engine. Now I agree it could possibly pass as a mere pipe. However let us use our imaginations, and pretend there's s a blue glowing light emitting from the back. See it? Good. Engine, not pipe.

Now with a clever bit of cloning and scaling, we can actually some sort of propulsion going on, atleast the means to!

I quite liked the look of this, however the spacing is a little off. More tinkering will take place before we're able to launch!

I had another concept for possible engines, this next one is influenced by the ship Destiny, as seen in Stargate Universe. As you will see on my design, the engines aren't the same but I liked the concept of long engines that filled the rear of the ship.

Destiny, as seen on SG:U

To create a similar sort of effect that Destiny has for my ship I would need to remodel the backend of my ship, I may look into this more later but as I said, I've been taking ideas from other ships, not just stealing them.

The skys the limit. Unless you have autodesk.

2010-09-20T13:25:00.004+01:00

So a friend of mine is looking at producing his own sci fi films and asked that if one day I'd be able to produce him something realistic enough looking to actually be used in such a film.

Now I didn't want to make a promise I may not have been able to keep, but brushing up on autodesk and trying some different techniques couldn't hurt!

Below are some of the models I've produced over the last few weeks in order to give myself a better feel for the software, and for modelling objects based on already existing ones.

Using the plane primitive I textured a complete image onto it of the rough look I was going for to help during the shaping process.

For a better insight of what it might eventually look like I started playing round with a few textures.

This is one of the final shapes of the ship before additional modification began, unlike the one below, this is the ship in it's standard form.

This ship is the same as the one above, however, out of curiosity I decided to see what effect the TurboSmooth modifier would have on it. I think it looks rather good, however given that I'm aiming for it to look more like the initial picture, I will stick to not using that specific modifier for now.

Snake Tank

2010-09-20T13:18:00.003+01:00

So this is probably the first thing I've done with almost-customer specification. My housemate had asked if it were possible for me to design him a new snake tank using autodesk. Having given me all measurements I started working on it.

It was quite fun modelling something for an actual purpose rather than just because I can.

The model is to scale, meaning if he specified something was 'X' amount of millimeters long physically, then the model represented this on a 1:1 ratio.

Below is the finished tank whilst empty, and the finished tank with a few makeshift items in there to hopefully please it's new owner.

Autodesk, helping construct the ridiculous.

2010-09-20T12:58:00.006+01:00

So after running through some tutorials I got a little bored and strayed from the target. Constructing a blockstone walk way, for what seemed to be some sort of Aztec culture, wasn't nearly as exciting as modelling weaponry.

Stonepath, or Minigun? You decide.

Now, Miniguns are definitely up there on the list of 'Cool Weaponry' and very few things can top that. Unless! You take a page from the Gears of War book where, in short, anything with a chainsaw on it, is ultimately more cool than anything without said attachment.

Some projects never really getting moving, especially when they're just a pair of wheels with no form of power behind them. Modelled some tanktracks with the intention of finishing it off, and hopefully I will! At some point.

Summer Tinkering

2010-09-20T12:32:00.003+01:00

So for the Summer, Andy tasked me with buying a book on Autodesk and working through the tutorials ready to start in October.

Learning Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 Foundation for Games

A lot of it was basic techniques covered in the seminars last year, however it did go into a little more detail when it came to textures and some techniques for building more complex primitives from simple ones.

Below is the screenshot of my finished piece for one of the tutorials I followed.

The book was a bit misleading in places but I think that may just be possible discrepancies between the book and the current copy of 3ds max I was using.

PASS!

2010-07-08T23:36:00.003+01:00

So I passed with what would effectively be a 2:1, Despite this mark not counting towards my degree I am still pleased.

As of october I will be a 2nd year on the Virtual Environments pathway, and to be quite honest, I can't wait.

I finally get paid tomorrow as well, so will be purchasing the Autodesk tutorial book, as advised by Andy Love, and spending any free time this Summer (when not working!) making my way through the tutorials!

So it may be summer but I will be posting any work I get done on autodesk on my blog, especially now I'll be working through this book.

Peace out.

So I'm done for the year..

2010-05-30T10:17:00.002+01:00

All done, just need to sit around and wait for the results of the year to roll in..

Andy has assigned me a little task for the summer. Basically I need to read some 3ds max book and work through the projects, and have them complete by the time I come back in October. This should be easily done! I am amazing afterall.

Full time work, full time socialising and hopefully filling in the blanks with autodesk, I feel I'm going to have an enjoyable 4 months of supposed 'holiday'.

I have really enjoyed this first year, abd am looking forward to starting again come october on the virtual environments pathway.

Peace out.

Sooooooooooo...

2010-05-28T10:36:00.000+01:00

Visual Essay - DONE!
Flash Quiz - DONE!
Virtual Environment - DONE!
Short Film - DONE!

And that's the end of my first year, let's just hope for a pass!

Virtual Environment Complete!

2010-05-28T10:34:00.001+01:00

Here is the YouTube link for my Virtual ENvironment:

Despite many technical issues with my copy of autodesk (mainly not being able to move objects after they have been made) I was able to complete my environment. I am pleased with how it looks, however I dislike like the lighting and some of the textures.

Anyway, here:

Models from Virtual Environment

2010-05-28T09:46:00.003+01:00

Below are some of the individual models from my 3D environment. The movie will be uploaded shortly.

Virtual Environments - Structure down!

2010-05-18T18:49:00.003+01:00

So I've spent a good few hours now getting the structure of my lair planned out. Almost at the end of this stage and I'm really happy with it. Next, just to model and put in furniture, texture, lighting and animate! I'm really enjoying this project, which will probably mean this will be my pathway of choice next year.

Below are a few screenprints of my lair so far, enjoy!

Flash Quiz - Not out of the woods yet!

2010-05-05T16:10:00.003+01:00

So basically my flash quiz is done, however I have two:

Quiz One:
This quiz is almost like the interactive narrative piece, it's linear and only moves forward. You answer each question by clicking the answer of your choice and at end it gives you a score based on the amount of questions answered correctly. This quiz also uses a sound clip and movie clip in some of it's questions. It doesn't however, let you know which answers were right or wrong (just gives a score value).

Quiz Two:
This quiz is a lot more random, the questions are always display in a different order, as are the answer combinations, when clicked it will tell you if the answer was correct or wrong before letting you continue and at the end it tells you both the correct and incorrect answer score. The only issue with this quiz is that because it uses a random function I'm having issues trying to get my head around how I'd implement sound and video.

Theme:
In the end I chose a Disney themed quiz, this is for two reasons; it appeals to the younger audience, and I like Disney.

Moving Image Project - Figure COMPLETE!

2010-04-14T10:09:00.006+01:00

So the film was finished two weeks ago but due to the holidays it's taken me till now to upload it. There are 4 current copies floating about; There's a longer version after the first edit, without a musical backing track, there's a shorter version, also without a backing track. There is also a shortened complete copy with a backing track, which I edited, and another version with a recognised artist as a backing track that we are told we can use, just it would be void from entering any film short film competitions due to rights.

This is my final edit of the film, should it ever want to be submitted into a short film festival it now can due to the use of loyalty free music, kindly found by Tom Hopcraft. I think the music fits quite well. The music is somewhat open to interpretation, in the sense that during the more happy contrasted scenes it could be portrayed as quite a happy tune, but during the more gruesome contrasted scenes it definitely has a darker twinge to it.
(I'll upload the films to this post shortly - When they're done)

I enjoyed this project, there were times where certain people let their roles go to their head (I didn't really have this issue being just a humble lighting organiser - clearly no bitterness here), but other than that it was a good laugh and turned out well in the end. Now I just need to find the will power to finish the interactive media project.

Moving Image - First Edits

2010-03-24T14:04:00.002Z

So I've started editing our film, as I said in a previous post, I was not happy with any of the Award ceremony scenes but I've tried to improve it through some specific scene cutting.

All scenes have now been cut and ordered, and I'm very pleased with the way the basement scenes turned out. I've added a few sound clips to simulate the sound of a bigger audience during the award scenes, having manipulated the original file in Adobe Soundbooth this has come out quite well.

I still need to play with the scene transitions, add more sound clips and add some sort of effect over the basement scenes to give the audience the idea that they're watching a flashback, and not a real-time scene.

I will be doing this over the next few days, and hopefully it will all turn out reasonably well.

Moving Image - First thoughts on footage

2010-03-20T00:41:00.002Z

Having captured our film today I found myself feeling a little mixed. I found a lot of the basement scenes had come out really well. In terms of mood and feel, they hit the nail on the head, and the actors and actress themselves played their roles well. However, all the scenes shot for the award ceremony were of a lower standard.

The disappointment with the award ceremony scene may have been due to lack of planning and organisation on the 'extras' part. The whole scene didn't feel as realistic as I'd of liked due to the fact we simply didn't have enough bodies to fill the seating, and had to make do with the few we had.

Having watched the whole footage back twice, it has occurred to me that zooming in and out, and moving the camera with actor is ineffective and a poor use of screen spacing. I also thought the lighting could have been better during the awards scene.

Hopefully we can still make the film work with some heavy-duty visual editing, along with some well placed audio work.

Moving Image - Filming Stage Complete

2010-03-18T19:14:00.002Z

So earlier this afternoon we finished the second half of filming off for the 'Moving Image' project. It only took us two days of filming in total. This is due to the fact that half the scenes were filmed in one location, and the others in a different. We were on set in total for around seven hours.

The first day of filming was not as smooth as the second, and we not everything went as planned, but we made the most of the resources available and pulled it together overall.

The second day of filming was much better planned, much more organised and generally flowed a lot better. I think this feeling was shared all round.

Overall the moral and motivation was very good, everyone performed their role extremely well.

I attempted to document some of the filming process by taking along my camera, below is a slide show of the images taken over the two days. As you can see, it was a lot of fun, and both actors/actresses and the film team enjoyed themselves.

Tomorrow we will start editing the film. I am looking forward to the editing, but not to using the Universities painfully slow computers in which to do so.

Visual Essay - Example Images

2010-03-11T14:48:00.003Z

Below are a few images that I feel are relevant to the pathways I am currently considering going into next year.

Gollum: Possibly my favourite character from the Lord of the Rings trilogy - What I found most impressive about his character was the way he was implemented into the film. Andy Serkis, the actor that plays Gollum, has all his movements and facial expressions mapped so that a CGI version of Gollum can be layered over later. Andy also played King Kong, in Peter Jackson's 2005 rendition of the film. I have chosen this image because I feel it relates to both the 'Moving Image' and 'Virtual Environments' pathways, and I am interested in both of those.

The link below follows an interview with Andy, and how he goes about creating the voice for Gollum and the story behind it.
Andy's Interview with The Guardian

Video showing exactly how much Andy's facial expressions play a part as Gollum.

Video showing how it's done.

Wall-E: Looking at the film as a whole, not just at the specific character. I find Pixar always too an amazing job when it comes to animation. What probably impressed me the most when watched it was the life-likeness of Wall-E's hands, feet and head movement. I could tell they had really spent a lot of time giving him real human characteristics to reflect the character has was trying to portray in the film. I have chosen this image as it relates to the 'Virtual Environments' pathway, and this is one of two pathways next year I am considering taking.

Avatar: Hopefully it didn't need any introduction, though this image isn't exactly the clearest I could have chosen for the film. The entire Avatar world was created in CGI, and having experienced the film in the cinema (in 3D!), I found they had done a phenomenal job. Many people have said, after seeing Avatar, that it's ruined other CGI films for them, as nothing compares. Including promotion costs it was estimated that James Cameron spent somewhere in the region of $500 million, and still turned over an enormous profit, in one weekend it managed to make $232.2 million worldwide. So clearly CGI is a big money spinner.

The cash figures are irrelevant, I chose this image because I thought it was topical and best represented CGI, and in doing so, the 'Virtual Environments' pathway.

Visual Essay - Pathway thoughts

2010-03-11T14:24:00.002Z

I am most interested in 'Moving Image' and 'Virtual Environments'. However, having not yet done much on 'Virtual Environments' I don't think it would be fair of me to make a justified decision.

Since the start of this academic year I have done both 'Interactive Media' projects, and I feel that this really isn't for me. The whole process does not seem to interest me, and I find it quite tedious.

I am currently doing my second 'Moving Image' project, although I did not enjoy the last one very much, I am thoroughly enjoying this one. However, as we're only halfway through the project I'll reserve final judgement until it's complete. Though this is an aspect of media I will be considering in the future.

So far I have only done the Pixilation project in the 'Virtual Environments' part of the course. I enjoyed the project but having to take that many photos started to become monotonous. I look forward to the next project, as this is one of the pathways I am considering following next year.

Interactive Media - Quiz Topics

2010-03-10T16:33:00.004Z

So far my biggest issue with producing the quiz was not the actually coding, but on what topic to base it on.

Originally I was going to simply do a 'General Knowledge' quiz, though this seemed a little bit easy, and would make giving the quiz any sort of generic theme difficult.

After spending much time thinking about I have come up with a few possible topics on which to base the quiz, they are as followed:

Transformers - Theme-wise this will be relatively to achieve, as they have the whole 'roboty, futuristic thing' going on. It will also appeal to fans and, having watched the old cartoons and new films, it will not be too difficult to think of the questions and how to incorporate the use of sound and a movie file into it.

DC/Marvel Trivia - Again, generic theme throughout, easy to think of questions and quite topical, especially considering all the latest Hollywood blockbusters are based on the comics. Only thing to consider would be whether the facts were based on the films rendition of events or based on the original comic. Either way, I will have to make it clear before hand on what source the trivia is based on.

Twilight - Having a lot of female friends that love the books and films, this topic seems very much targeted at a more female audience. Creating a theme will be easy and already knowing the target audience will make this very easy to produce. As with the DC/Marvel style quiz, this will also require me to decide whether I base the quiz on the books, or the films. However, having never read the books this might be quite difficult and require outside sources to make sure it's accurate.

Any film-based quiz would be easy to produce, in terms of theme and simplicity, but now it's just deciding on that topic.

Film - Interpretation

2010-03-05T17:27:00.005Z

For our latest project we have been tasked with producing a short film. We have been given a rough script and stage play, and from that we're to interpret it ourselves. In addition to that we have to add a new scene to the script of our own choosing.

Our script was called ‘Figure’; we have interpreted this quite sinisterly, and have decided that the film will have a lot of contrast, switching between very bright, light-hearted scenes to very dark and sinister scenes.

The film itself follows a young man called Stan who, like his father, believes true art is about intricate detail, detail that cannot be produced by modern day methods such as computers. We see this young man win an award for his accomplishments and get recognised for his talent. However, we soon learn that behind all that ability lies a much darker, sinister secret. Everything Stan produces is modelled off unwilling, live individuals, and once Stan has finished producing his models, the original is 'disposed' of.

The film flicks between Stan receiving the award, with frequent flashbacks to him initially modelling his award-winning figurines. We have also added an extra scene featuring Stan's dad, and Stan himself as a child, in which Stan witness' his father doing the exact same thing when he was younger. This scene is in place to give the audience a better idea of why exactly Stan does, what he does. Playing off the idea that children of an early age are easily influenced, especially by a fatherly figure, and will grow up to believe some things are acceptable, even when they're not.

The films continues to switch back and forth between real time (The award ceremony) and flashbacks of the past (Stan at work in his workshop, and from his childhood) until the end. We plan to make the film very dark, and eerie through use of lighting, clever camera shots and carefully chosen background music and sound effects.

I am thoroughly looking forward to working on this project.

Interpretation - Lighting

2010-03-05T17:27:00.003Z

My role is to make sure that the lighting for each scene is ideal for the mood/feel we're trying to create. As our film has a lot of contrast between scenes this should be fairly interesting.

The scenes in which we see the main character receiving their award will have to be relatively bright and cheery to portray a light-hearted, yet exciting atmosphere, whilst at the same time still remaining quite dark lighting-wise. This is due to the fact that a typical awards ceremony will only have lighting cast on the stage while the rest of the venue remains in darkness. This is to create focus on the person currently on stage.

The scenes taking place in the workshop area will be a lot darker, mainly because the scenes themselves are of a darker nature. I will be trying to create enough light in these scenes to illuminate the key features whilst still giving the effect of a dark, damp and sinister looking workshop.

I have looked at a technique called 3 point lighting for use in the Award Ceremony scenes; this eradicates all shows on the subject and illuminates them from behind, making them the main focus of the shot. This technique relies on 3 lights positioned at fixed points around the subject. This method forms the basis for most lighting techniques.

Fire

2010-02-26T12:59:00.003Z

Interactive Media - Research into existing ideas

2010-02-02T11:39:00.003Z

Below are a few images of current existing TV Game Shows - I felt that before I started to design my own, it was a good idea to look at some that already exist and see what influences their layouts.

Based on simplicity, the 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' layout is probably the easiest and basic idea. It's clear to see who the user is competing on the show, what the question is, and what the answer choices are.

Countdown is also very aesthetically pleasing, everything is in a very clear format and easy to read. However, the concept behind 'Countdown' is not what I am looking to do for my own game.

I like the concept behind 'The Weakest Link', and the layout of the screen, however I don't think like the fact the questions aren't display for the audience/user.

Research Seminar Task

2010-01-25T14:44:00.000Z

What has my creativity been for in the past few years?
A lot of my ideas come from films and music videos. I like realism in my work, maybe not specific to the content, but the look and feel.

Who has it been for?
Mainly friends, I find it easier to motivate myself to work when it's for someone else's benefit than my own.

Why have I done it this way? Has this been my decision or someone else’s?
It's just the way I work; I have the same process with cooking. I can't find the enthusiasm to cook for myself; however it's much easier to cook for someone else.

What do I want the future of my creativity to be?
Currently, I have no idea - I'm hoping I discover this over the next couple of years. Or at least have a better idea.

In what specific way(s) can research help me get to these new places?
Research can help me to see what I truly enjoy, and what I deeply loathe. It can allow me to see what I'm getting into within a specific area before going any further into it.

Which research starting point do I feel most drawn to?
Exploratory - I like the fact it's open ended and ongoing, meaning I can research new things but leave it open to push the boundaries further.

Which do I feel wary of?
I don't feel wary of any of the research starting points.

Which seem irrelevant?
Descriptive - Not irrelevant, but felt like it was just a standard part of the research process, rather than a specific method. I feel this is done passively, so doesn't really exist as a research starting point.

Purely Boredom

2010-01-19T02:26:00.001Z

Clearly the next Hollywood blockbuster!

Active Learning Task

2010-01-18T14:17:00.000Z

In my own time I watch a lot of films, play a lot of video games, and generally experiment with Photoshop. I don't tend to read a lot of material in books as, suffice to say, I have a relatively short attention span! However, I do tend to read a lot of relevant material on the internet, such as; game/film reviews, and image editing/manipulation techniques and tutorials.

Whether I was doing this course or not, I think it's safe to say, I'd be playing video games. I like to keep up to date with all new releases, not only because I rinse through them rather quickly, but it's interesting to see how different game developers vary in their styles. For example, currently; THQ = brilliant, Sega = failing.

Also, I have a PS3, whereas my housemate has a 360, which is interesting when comparing the difference in quality and performance. More specifically, the use of bluray discs.

When it comes to films, I'm a huge fan of most films made by Disney/Pixar, as well as following any films based on the Marvel and DC universe. As before, even if I wasn't doing this specific course, I would still be watching films; however now, I find myself paying more attention to camera techniques and the use of product placement.

As you can probably tell by looking at some of last year’s projects, and looking at my blog I enjoy experimenting with Photoshop. I used to produce small films through gamecams, though these were more walkthroughs than actual videos.

Pixilation Piece

2009-12-15T21:09:00.000Z

Water Colour brushes preset

2009-11-26T19:31:00.000Z

Starting playing with water colour brush presets I downloaded and working them with layers and blending options. Idea came about after looking at some graffiti, and I thought this might be an interesting idea to recreate. Below is an image of my house mate; I have removed the original background, changed some of the lighting and added some brush effects, along with some filters to create this effect.

This is no purpose to this, I just like experimenting with colours and felt it was reasonably relevant after Jools lecture on colour.

Interactive Narrative

2009-11-22T21:57:00.001Z

I have finally finished my Flash project for the interactive narrative assignment. Overall I am happy with the way it turned out. The only aspect of flash I really struggled with was the implementation of the buttons, however, after playing around with it I discovered it was more of a temporary bug with my software than an overall issue.

I really enjoyed this project and will probably be doing more in my spare time. Below is my finished piece, however I haven't decided whether I want any sort of background music playing. I think it is fine without but it might add to the effect having some horror-themed music for backing.

Uni - Interactive Narrative by ~Cdawilliams on deviant ART

Microsoft's Project Natal

2009-11-20T14:52:00.000Z

Found this whilst browsing the web having heard about it in work.

"Project Natal is the code name for a "controller-free gaming and entertainment experience" by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game platform. Based on an add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, Project Natal enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controller through a natural user interface using gestures, spoken commands, or presented objects and images.

The project is aimed at broadening the Xbox 360's audience beyond its typically hardcore base. Project Natal was first announced on June 1, 2009 at E3 2009. Microsoft said that over a thousand software development kits began shipping to game developers that same day.

Though Microsoft has not officially announced any price or release date projections for Project Natal, it is expected to be released in late 2010. Project Natal will reportedly also serve as the basis for a "new" Xbox 360."

Taken from source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Natal

It also goes into more detail about it on there.

I like the concept, and the trailers I have watched about it seem very impressive. However, I think the whole thing is being exaggerated slightly. It's taken the idea introduced with the Nintendo Wii and adapted it, as I said, it's an interesting and fascinating concept but realistically I don't think it'll work as expected. I've heard rumours of a release date in November 2010 (just in time for Christmas funnily enough). Waiting to see what happens.

Flash Project - Zombie Nation - Short Explanation

2009-11-19T18:39:00.000Z

My idea was to have a short, user-interactive story in which you control the decisions of the main character during a zombie encounter. It will consist of several real-time photos that have been manipulated for effect in photoshop. The user will then have to navigate the character through the attack with different choices effecting the eventual outcome. Drawing was an option with this idea but given the fact I'm not the greatest of artists, and I rather like the use and finished look of digitally manipulated images I have chosen to do it this way, despite it probably taking a little bit longer to produce. Throughout the encounter, the user will have the opportunity to flee the scene or stand and fight, making their way through different rooms and having different options set for them.

Zombie Attack! - Draft Images

2009-11-17T21:38:00.000Z

Having decided on roughly what will happen as the Flash plays through I have decided to create a few draft images to see if my idea is feasible. The first images have been solely produced on photoshop having taken the real-time images with my camera, however I am also contemplating just using some clever make-up and touching up the images with Photoshop to reduce the workload when it comes to editing all the frames.

Below are a few images I created to see exactly what the final piece my look like if all images follow the similar pattern. All the images are fairly large in dimensions at the moment but will be reduced later to fit the flash slides.

Original Image:

Draft 1 - Natural

Draft 1 - Altered

Draft 1 - Leftside Human

Draft 1 - Rightside Human

Draft 2 - Natural

Draft 2 - Altered

Draft 2 - Leftside Human

Draft 3 - Rightside Human

If I continue with this idea and spend a little time on each image I think it could work rather well. The images above are just draft images, both have their good qualities and bad, this will help me to better the design on the next.

Below is the third draft, using the best features from both and ignoring the bad.

Draft 3 - Natural

Draft 3 - Altered

Draft 3 - Leftside Human

Draft 3 - Rightside Human

Flash Project - Zombie Story Idea

2009-11-17T21:25:00.000Z

Having been to both flash seminars I have started to gain some sort of understanding of what flash can do, and how I can go about achieving what I wish to. I don't think I want to stick to a linear route as I would like the piece to have some form of user input navigation, allowing the user to decide the routes they wish to take during the narrative.

I have always liked the idea of Karma, in terms of your good and bad actions in life can ultimately predict the outcome later on. This is occasionally used in modern video games, titles includes; Fable 1 & 2, Fall Out 3, Infamous, etc. This allows the user to have some sort of control of their character, allowing you to make good/heroic choices or bad/evil choices, which in turn effect the outcome of the game.

This I believe, especially at my level of experience with Flash, would be quite difficult so I think simply giving the user some sort of self-chosen navigation will suffice for now.

For my actual Flash piece I have been toying with idea of a Zombie-like attack, in which the user plays a main character and has a run in with some particular nasty specimens, and from there can decide which routes to take, e.g. Flee, Fight, Allow yourself to be eaten! This I believe will be fairly easy to do, given some practise, and will still be quite an interesting story to play through.

One Shot Short Film - Editing the finished piece & Final Views

2009-11-14T16:19:00.000Z

Editing the final piece, in hindsight, was relatively easy. We all still have much to learn when it comes to Adobe Premier but I felt that what we did learn in that relatively short period of time still made for a reasonable edit of the film.

We attempted to edit the film in the 3 hour session, however, the University computers were a little too slow to do anything too demanding, taking 40 minutes to render a 4 minute video. This resulted in me taking the a copy of the video home, having captured it, and editing it there as it took just under 3 minutes to render on my desktop.

We had already decided that blur/double vision style effects would be used on the video to give the effect of someone relatively ill slowly diminishing in condition and that a fade out/zoning type sound effect would be a good choice for some parts of the video to simulate other types of symptoms. So using this I just through in some effects here and there to make it more realistic, dropped in some closing credits and a title screen and left it like that. Hopefully when I get time at a later date I will do some more in depth editing as I felt there was more I could have done.

If I had slightly more time and a wider knowledge of Premier I had hoped to add some sort of blinking simulation to the camera to really capture the humanistic qualities. I didn't feel music would have been appropriate given the seriousness of the film, despite have a little light-humour, so I did not add a backing track. However, I did spend one evening looking for some hospital ambiance effects, though unfortunately I found nothing that really impressed me.

If I was to do the film again I would spend a little more time on the planning because, although we did meet up outside lecturers, we could have gone into more detail with the story and with props used, and possibly had a better location for the filming. I enjoyed working with my group, with every inputting something to the film - though some more than other - I felt we worked well as a team, all listening, discussing and responding to each others ideas. We all shared the same light-hearted humour towards doing the film and generally had a lot of fun doing it. I would quite like to do something like this again in the future and hopefully more stuff like this will give me a better idea of which path I'd like to select next year.

Examples of Flash

2009-11-13T16:08:00.000Z

I decided to trawl the internet for uses of flash and in doing so stumbed across a few pieces that really impressed me. The first link below was created a university student, it was pieced together from various clips they'd done in the past and was very entertaining to watch.

http://proffate.deviantart.com/art/Peter-Turner-Show-Reel-2009-143436943

It doesn't follow the same sort of method we're are currently using, in that it just runs through as a long sequence, when we're meant to be creating a piece with some sort of navigation, but it was still a clever use of flash.

The next video was shown to me by a friend a few weeks ago, and since then I've watched it more times than I can remember. There's something rather addictive about it, but again, I think it's a very good use of flash. Like the previous it has no navigation to it but is a clever use of flash.

One Shot Short Film - Finished Film

2009-11-08T11:16:00.001Z

The link below is the first edit of our groups one shot short film. I like the use of effects used, however I think the way in which the effects were intergated into the film were relatively poor, especially the ghosting blur effect.

Overall I am quite happy with the outcome and will continue to play around with the film until I am fully satisfied. I enjoyed this exercise, especially coming up with ideas with the other group members to find the best possible scenario. I personally believe we worked well as a group, all inputting in some way or other, and would like to try this sort of activity again in the future.

One Shot Short Film - Planning and Filming

2009-11-08T11:14:00.000Z

Initially, as a group, we had many interesting and unique ideas as to what could happen during our one shot film. However, then we were given a few specifications, these included; the camera had to be on a tripod and the tripod itself was not to move from a fixed position, we were also not aloud to cut during filming then continue. The entire film had to be done in one shot, hence the name. This was relatively simple to stick to, although it meant if we made any mistakes during a shot then we'd have to re-film as we were not aloud to simply edit that scene out.

During one of the 3 hour sessions we all sat down and decided to discuss what could be happening in the film, but although we all had some sort of idea as to what it should be about, only Kieron had put pen to paper, and produced a rough example of what the scene should look like. Below I have detailed the rough idea we chose from Kierons ideas, which we later adapted.

Initially the idea consisted of a patient lying on a hospital bed with two doctors either side of him. The camera was to act as the patients head and simulate head movements. We all agreed this was a clever technique and would like to take it further. However, we didn't think it likely that we could secure a room at a local hospital for the sake of a film so though of possible ways around this. After much deliberation we decided to stick to the hospital/doctor theme, with the camera simulating a patients head, but trying to do it in a real hospital was not that likely.

I suggested that maybe we should have it more like a local walk in health clinic, that way the doctors could look a little more casual and the room would not greatly influence the theme of the film. We all agreed this was a good idea and started planning a rough dialogue, general story and when it would be convenient for everyone to film it.

In the end we had roughly decided that the patient (Michael Close) was suffering from an unknown illness and had decided to visit his local doctor (Kieron Powis), with the company of his brother (Me, Chris Williams) - Accompanying the doctor were two local university students (Gigi Chan & Shelley Yijun), there to watch a doctor at work. Michael also operated the camera to simulate his head movement. Michael's visit to the doctor consists of him getting mis-diagnosed for Swine Flu on a previous occasion (we felt this a relevant topic) and still suffering from several symptoms, throughout the film Michael's condition gets worst and worst - simulated with blur and sound effects done in the later editing stages - until the end of the scene where we collapses, giving a rather appropriate ending to the film.

Having decided on a topic and planned a sort of rough guide of events we thought it was probably best to book the equipment needed, which I will list below, and the booking of the studios for the actual filming.

We requested the following in order the film;
* Sony HD DV Video Camera
* Tripod
* Lighting Set (3 lights + Protective gloves)
* Orange Gel Sheet
* Blue Gel Sheet

The gel sheets for the lights had initially been requested for use to simulate a code blue type effect in the hospital. However we decided against this and after some experimenting used a blue gel sheet on one of the lights as it appeared to give off a more natural light effect.

We also brought some of our props to make the whole film a little more realistic. Fortunately for us, my house mates doing Forensic Science, so acquiring an authentic looking lab coat was relatively easy. Also, Michael works at a costume shop so was able to get hold of a doctors stethoscope with ease. Kieron also brought along some candles and a small fake flower to add to the effect. All of this, along with the use of a computer (already situated in the room), plus a desk made for a fairly reality

After all props were in order, dialogue 'roughly' revised (mostly structured improvisation) we started filming. We thought the first run through was fairly good, however, upon watching it through the camera we had neglected to notice that whoever had used it previously had used an external microphone and in doing so had turned the internal mic down. Thus, had no sound. However, not letting this get us down we decided to go at it again, this wasn't a bad take but we thought it could be better. Having watched it through, we noted and discussed what could have been improved and set about doing that in the following shot. After watching back the third take we thought it had been done rather well, so we decided to use that one for the final editing.

Having filmed everything and decided on the actual shot to use, we packed up, returned the equipment and looked forward to editing it in Adobe Premier the following day.

Multimedia Competitions

2009-10-25T17:39:00.000Z

During last weeks tutorial, Deborah, asked us to look into Multimedia related competitions. Having trawled in the internet I managed to find the following;

Adobe Design Achievement Awards

http://www.adobe.com/education/adaa/

The entries for 2009 have now passed, however, I expect there to be another held for 2010.
This competition is aimed at creative students who have implemented their creativity into current technology, or more specifically, Adobe products. The link below contains the official rules to the competition and if you click the catagory links on the right-hand-side of the page, it will indentifiy the individual specificaiton for that catagory.

http://adaaentry.com/official-rules.php

Photoshop User Awards

This competition is open to any photoshop user, at any skill level, and requires them to produce a piece of work for a catagory of their choice. This particular competition requires the entrants to pay a relatively nominal submission fee. The prizes range depending on catagory and overall winner. I'd considering entering this kind of competition in the future if I brushed up my skills with photoshop.

http://www.photoshopuserawards.com/categories.php

The previous years winners pieces can be found here:

http://www.photoshopuserawards.com/winners.php

Image Manipulation - Misc.

2009-10-23T01:15:00.000+01:00

The images are below are a few other pieces produced. With no real theme, nor purpose.

A friend and Myself

Fruit/Vegetable skinned cars! The future!

Use of combining a Mercedes Benz MClaren with an Orange.

Photoshop: Image Manipulation - Use of Fire!

2009-10-23T01:05:00.000+01:00

These images were manipulated by Myself. Again, influenced by another photoshop user, the initial idea was enough to get the images going, but in the later stages a lot of changed to give, what I believe, a better looking image.

Before and After

Before and after

Very simple technique and be used with many different elements. Also the early layering allows for the foundations of other types of images.