final product! WOO!

FINALLY! im finished! i cant believe it i actually got to this point and i honestly cannot express how happy i am. im really proud of how bobbie turned out and i cant believe that he was even better than i expected :)

just a few notes though, first, i wouldn't mind working on it more as soon as semester finishes. i've learned alot about 3d and i would love to expand what i know further. second, i would probably work on my camera angles more so it would feel like he is more into the scene. i would also probably focus more on texturing and modelling the character. though, rigging wont be so bad but again, i need to learn more about it in order to get there.

i will miss this class but i might maintain this page as my main blog page for my work in progress for future work in the industry and freelance. so, this will definitely be kept update from time to time. :)

to end this post, i would like to thank Robbie Reid and Andrew Joseph for being awesome teachers and friends and stuck by me through all my ridiculous amount of questions and partial mental breakdowns (LOL). Grirk Plongmak, Welson Ling and Kevin Fu for helping me with rendering out my scenes after 6 hours of my stuff breaking. :) Lastly, i would like to thank Jarrad for supporting and teaching not just me but the class everything about visual effects and what we should look for and all that jazz.

the final product for this project will be submitted in class :)

will definitely blog more soon. but for now, au revoir! :)

trish x

showreel breakdown and turntable

i've managed to create a breakdown video that will show what i've been doing for my robot.

i've made this with quicktime's screen capture program which was easier to use as compared to microsoft silverlight, which is a screen capture program for windows. credits to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8avMLHvLwRQ for giving me the music for my breakdown reel.


i also created a turntable to showcase bobbie's texturing. its pretty amazing what i've learned from good company and to be able to create something in such a short period of time. i definitely can say that i will practice more on the 3d side of things.

the better resolution version can be found with me and is to be submitted to the class.

final video to be uploaded soon!
trish x

post production and more bits and pieces

i was able to finish my scenes as planned but i know there is still alot to do in such a short amount of time.
i am quite proud of the turn out and i really cant wait til this is finally finished.

for most of the scenes, i had to go and re render most of them again. i know, its pain in the ass to create but its worth the time especially if you are aiming for perfection (which is what im doing). i had to re render out the scene where the robot has to be a blur in the background when i the tap is dripping, when he poses at the end and when the tap get hits by the wrench. these scenes require my attention the most and i have to redo every animation on it, plus the different passes, to get it to the level where it is now.

here are just some snippets of the scenes in after effects. these are being colour graded to suit the scene and added with particle effects for a more realistic feel.

the last bit that i really have to do is add the wiggle on the tap scene. the reason why i wanted to add the wiggle is because of it will give us the hint of strong the impact as he hits the tap. and to do this, i had to look at the tutorial for it which can be found here: http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/camera_shake_with_wiggler/. it was a really easy tutorial to follow and it explained to me the purpose of each tool in after effects.

now off to add sound effects!
will blog more soon!

trish x

re rendering and all that jazz

when building my scenes, i realized that i have alot more to work on. aside from the fact that i still have to build my scenes, i also had to re render the bits and pieces that needed my attention.

one of the major things that i had to re render was the scene where the robot is travelling on top view. i had to render it out because of a strange thing that it does with the lip of the sink. it doesn't seem to catch any shadow at all and it has a "skipped" effect on the final render.

what i did to get around it in the first hand was to remove the problem area entirely. obviously it didn't work and for some strange reason, it left me with a strange white mask.

so i went back in and recreated the basin. it worked for a little bit. but, since i created it, i cant unsee it everytime i play around with it on post.

will blog about it soon

trish x

reflection pass and other things that almost drove me to insanity.

as suggested by the title, i had to make the reflection pass for my assignment and it did almost drove me to insanity because i wasn't too sure on how to make it. but with the help of my supah awesome friend Andrew (Hi Andrew) i was able to understand it in a simpler way possible.

the idea of the reflection pass is to render out subtle reflections on the surface where the model stands. take this one scene as an example. we see here bobbie casting a shadow on the wall but at the same time casting his reflection on the floor. the reflection here is a bit too strong though but forgive me, its my first time having a ball at this.

the reason why i need a reflection pass is because the surface of my scene is quite shiny and it needs that subtle reflection to sell it more.

now to the important bit: adding the actual reflection pass. it was pretty easy once i learned how. it was just a matter of copying all of the exsisting elements from the scene and pasting them in the new scene with the label "reflection_pass". next is to tweak with the surface shaders and override the reflection limit (right click-over ride command) and just mucking around with the mental ray settings.

when you are rendering this, just go to passes, then click on the button that says create new and select reflection passes. dont forget to tick the claptrap on the bottom of the first screen to enable this on your layer.

and yes, approximate time of waiting for this to render is about an hour tops. which was good cause the whole time i was waiting for it, i had a good snooze to just get myself psyched up again.


 and here is what it looks like for the meantime:

it definitely needs to be re rendered with the shadows though. for some reason, the shadow pass didn't render out properly. but im happy with this outcome.

overall, i've finished with all of my scenes. just alot of tweaking to do and lots of colour grading/matching and sound effects. i plan on finishing this assignment early on so i can just fix bugs and all that before submission date. hopefully, i can get alot of stuff done for my assignment over the week im away for adelaide that way theres much less hassel to do for everything else.

whoo, final 3 weeks to go. i really cant see myself finishing just yet. ;)

more soon. til next time :)

trish! x

feedback session

it took me a few days to realize that i have not been updating this properly but instead writing down everything in my notebook. i really should get with the program and start writing down everything that happens in class in this blog instead :)

so anyway, i finally showed jarrad what i had done for the class and as it turns out i need to do more for this assignment that i thought. here are just some of the recaps i did for this project.

feedback:

sink top view: fix the shadows. it doesn't bounce properly on to the sink so the shadows don't seem natural. try to dip in the sink.
on close up shot: rotation of the robot isn't parallel to the floor.

general feedback;
-shadows need to be darker
-scenes 1 and 2: character is too crisp, add a motion blur to make it blend more with the background (do it in post). another suggestion was to add a Z depth pass which will slightly blur out the edges of the character.
-add  reflection pass so the floor would catch a glimpse of the character passing by.
-colour matching and motion blur

my personal feedback:
-arm flex need to be worked on more. (probably redo the IK handles so it will the same as the character)
-create a pipe wrench for a finishing touch.

there is honestly alot more to do in this assignment. will blog more about it  as soon as i get it working!

more sson!
trish x

a sneak peak :)

here's the first bit of my project. it took me about two days to get everything together, which isn't as bad as i thought and the only reason i stayed long on one scene is because i have being "nit-picky" abiout my robots movements.

originally though, i wanted to use the set driven key tool tutorial  http://lesterbanks.com/2012/01/introduction-to-set-driven-keys-in-maya/ but it wasn't working and i some parts of the scene required my robot to stop. so i scrapped that plan and just keyframed my wheels :)

in regards to wheels though, let me just say that i am glad that i had help with the wheel revolution from an actual physics student (and no, his name isn't wikipedia). the original wheel spins were a bit too slow so he calculated the actual rotations the wheels should have. here's the notes we shared in the afternoon :)

i learned that the rotation of wheels will depend on the radius and the circumference of the wheel. you have to use pi in the equation because wheels tend to be infinite and pi is an infinite number. you also have to remember to measure the distance the wheel will travel on to calculate the revolutions. :) that's a crash course in physics for you guys who are doing 3d and needs to manually find out how your wheel revolves :) hopefully, i've explained this correctly or sheldon will want my blood. LOL (thanks jackson!)

now, without further ado, here is the preview for "plumber"

i need to re-render some parts of the scene because i can see some unecessary rotations, shadows and movment that affect the whole thing. none the less, im quite happy with my progress. :)

now off to finish more stuff. stay tuned for more progress!

cheers!
trish x

creating scenes.

while creating this assignment, I found out a couple of things.

first off, i realized that most of my scenes were similar to still images and only a couple are actual moving videos (like the dripping tap and when the robot is moving along the surface). this is a good thing because it cuts down alot of work for me when it comes to motion tracking, the semi-good news however, is I have to be ridiculously patient when it comes to key framing with my characters movements. the first video below is my first attempt at doing/creating my assignment. i have to say I do have the patience for key framing and it brings out the extreme OCD side of me that many people like to point out. :)

it wasn't the best though. it was dull, lacks shadows and the perfect lighting and so on. so i went back into maya and did the whole thing again.

i was lucky to have some of the people in my class to help me out with this assignment. they gave me really good feedback and tips on how not to hate maya and make my workflow better (THANKS ANDREW AND ROBBIE :]). they taught me how to create shadows in maya and how i can recreate a few elements in my scene to make the shadows flow alot more smoother. below is the final result of what i did for the whole day.

im planning to have a go and try to finish all of the scenes since im heading to adelaide in 3 weeks time and probably wont have access to any comupter with 16gb of ram in them for a week. that way all i have to do is tweak it by bits and pieces, but for now i'll see how this all goes.

off to do more work!
cheers!

trish x

stabilizing scenes

just testing out motion stabilization for one of my scenes. the first being the shaky image (even though it was on a tripod). its a good piece of footage but i need it to be more stable so i can track my robot better. :)

the second one that i have was with stabilization. it is a bit better than the old one.

in all honesty, i haven't done image stabilization in such a long time, so this is kinda a second or 3rd time of trying this out. i have to say i had to find my old notes on it and experiment with the different controls in order to achieve this. im currently working on how to use boujou for my scenes. it is a good motion tracking software for 3d especially when you want your scenes to be perfect for your models.

now off to finish scenes off!
blog more soon!
trish x

Animatic

here is my animatic reel for class. i have to admit, 30 seconds does tell a pretty good story and the feedback on cutting it short does help.

this is pretty much the story line for bobbie and his plumbing. im welcoming feedback before i hand this in and its definitely the first time i've finished something early (for a change!)

off to animate bobbie.

post more cool stuff soon!
trish x

schedule and more progress.

here is what i have to do so far for my robot project.

at the moment, im on the correct track for this assignment. its just taking me a while to upload stuff  because i actually want something to show before i write about it. 

and at last, i was able finally finish his texture. he has a new "sexy texture" that gives him an older appeal. all i have to do is to rig it and make it work :)

in his old design, bobbie didn't have any pupils in his eyes. it gave him a "creepy" look (or so have other people pointed out in class) and i decided to avoid that. Kiran from my class gave me the idea to give him pupils to give him a more puppy dog-esque look and avoids the whole creepy stature to him

his rusts look a bit more realistic as compared to the old rusts that i textured on him before. it reflected how new i am at texturing and i kinda wanted to prove to myself that im better than just that. so i took all his bits and pieces and made him a new texture that fits to an old rusty robot. i intentionally left the door bit with the old texture so that it will give him the illusion that he was spare parts on him which completes his old look.

one thing im proud of though is i textured the wheels on him. it was the first lesson i learn in texturing and i absolutely am proud of myself for doing this.

aside from texturing my robot, i also have been busy with filming my bathroom sink. it was the setting of my project so i used it to film every angle that I've drawn in my story boards.

here are some materials that i've used:

 i had to use a camera and a tripod to minimize the camera shaking. the camera that i'm using is a nikon L110 that i've borrowed from my friend Isabelle (thanks bells!). it had a good high definition video recording which i needed for this assignment and thats a good thing because i need my tracking to be at its fullest.

here are the tracking marks for my sink. i was told not to use tape cause it sticks and my mum hates that. so I used a red whiteboard marker to create the dots in the video. they come of easy and it definitely is seen against the white background.

i also had to use our baby tripod for those close up shots of the sink since this camera needs to be focused first on the specific area before you record the video. 

some of the stuff that i've used  when i was filming my scene. the camera runs completely on batteries so i had some backup ones with in my reach in case the battery died (which it did eventually!) and the white board markers to mark the area. i also had to use a 5 cent coin as a screw driver to remove the base of the big tripod from the camera, i had to switch from one stand to another so that coin really came in handy.

here is what the set up looked like. there wasn't much room for me to move in (as you can see in the mirror how close i was to the whole thing) and this was the other reason why i needed two tripods. the only light source was from the window which was great because the sunrise hits this window perfectly. that was also the time of day that i chose to create this assignment.

overall, im quite happy with the progress im getting at and i should be able to make an animatic by week 6. i wanted to thank andrew, isabelle, kiran and the guys and gals in my class for giving me feed back in regards to my sexy new robot! :)

off to more work!

blog soon!

trish x

robot design and textures 1

i finally finished my robot and im happy to say he turned out quite better than what i was expecting.

he originally had an antenna above his hat. but i couldn't get the curve to exactly what i wanted so i scrapped that i idea and moved on. 

his arms are longer from what I've drawn. i added an extra sphere to give me a rotation point on his shoulders. this will come in handy when i animate him in the next few days.

i also started texturing my robot and im afraid the rusts dont quite work as well as i expected. i think its because its too stretched around the robot that it actually looks like its made out of ceramic rather than metal.

 because of this, i might have to paint him myself in Photoshop and use those textures to complete him.

i must say though, i like the way i made his wheels. its quite detailed and it has thread marks printed on the wheels as well.

off to more colouring for my robot!

post soon!

trish x

ideas

with the help from my peers, i finally had an idea as to what to do for my assignment. for this to work, i had to brain storm heaps of ideas and stick with the one that work the most. here's the process:

Idea generation #1

Idea generation #2

i first thought of having a robot in the scene and the possibilities are endless for that one. the first brain child that i had was a robot break dancing and he was versing this guy who was also a good dancer. it was a good plan except the animation part for that might take too long for me to achieve in a span of 10 weeks.

the second idea that i had was about this robot who was a plumber. he wasn't very good at it and he can't fix anything. he encounters this leaking tap and decides to prove he can fix taps. in the end he hits the tap and it it just stops leaking.

the last idea that i had was about this guy who liked a girl and decided that he would use his robot to deliver the message to the chick that he likes. the guy would record his message on this robot and the girl would receive it as a hologram and it will contain his confession of love to her.

all of these are ideas that i loved working on, but sadly i can only pick one; and i choose the plumber robot. :)

the idea is to show case a robot that looks old. and this will be the basis as to why my robot can't fix anything, he's old. the photos below illustates what im after:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/153/421824345_7de48cdf16.jpg

http://s2.hubimg.com/u/1343513_f260.jpg

from the video origins which can be found here:  http://vimeo.com/24030911

http://www.swiss-miss.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/090709oldrobots-480x647.jpg

here are my initial sketches of B08-8I3 or "BOBBIE". In part A, we can see that there are variations to bobbie. the first one that i thought of was a design that was similar to Wall-E because the "old robot" look was really chunky and wasn't a sleek design. I had to move on from that idea because i know i can do better.

Robot Designs Part A

 

Robot Design Part B

the next design i came up with was a one eyed robot. sadly, this was a more modern design and didn't suit the "old appeal" i was after because the one eye trend was too modern for an old geezer design.

the 3rd design i came up with was based on a toilet plunger, a common household item that is used when the drains are clogged. it suits the whole appeal and frankly he was close to the old geezer look i am after. but like the other two, i had to press on with more designs.

the last robot i cam up with was based on Blinky, a robot who was meant to serve humans and ends up killing his human owner. for those who haven't seen the video, heres the link. this convinced me that "hey, i can have an old looking robot but not old when it comes to its movements". the reason i liked blinky's design was because blink has a smooth rotation around his head. i mimic this design to bobbie to give him a more smoother rotation around his head. to give bobbie that old robot look, i planned his body to be a bit chunky and a wide to give him the illusion that he is big and plump. this body houses his whole circuitry  which will be seen through the door panel in the front view of his body.

bobbie's feet will be running on wheels. the reason for this is because he can move faster and it will save me alot of time rigging a walk cycle. his hands are wrenches which can turn any bolt and hold any object he can get his hands on. all of his animations will be done by myself.

bobbie's colours are based on rust. his will give him an older look and feel which the audience can be able to translate. here are some sample colour palettes im working on for bobbie:

http://th05.deviantart.net/fs32/PRE/f/2008/206/d/8/SV_Rusty_Robot_Vol_1_by_bupaje.jpg

machinarium band- http://www.cgsociety.org/stories/2010_01/machinarium/page02_img_01.jpg

 the texturing that i want to do to my character is similar to the machinarium band. it is on the cartoony scale but at the same time the rust texturing feels real. this give it an overall "old" look and will complete the setting.

so now that we have the characters, heres how the story will go:

the story will go in depth later on. but basically, the scene starts with the faucet dripping. then on the next it jumps to the character zooming as fast as he could to get to the leak. he assesses the situation and hits the tap with his hand. that fails the first time so he grabs a bigger wrench and hits the tap harder and the tap gets fixed. the robot celebrates, looses his grip and falls inside the drain. at the moment, it is still a working progress, but i will defenitely sketch out a more detailed storyboard prior down the line.

now im off to find more ways to make this work!

ciao!

Inspiration time

 This much I knew about myself:
1. I like robots
2. I like visual effects and 3D
3. I can create something in 3D and render it out.


For the past few days, I have been formulating ideas as to what to do for a show piece for my class. Now that i have narrowed down my show piece, here are some of my inspirations that i refer to in times that my imagination isn't working.

(a 3D model of josef)

      i like robots. i think i've narrowed that down in the things that i knew about myself. one of my favourite robots to draw is this robot named josef from the game called "machinarium" which is a point and click game. the aim of the game is to save your girlfriend from an bad guy. i like his character style because he's really simple. from his character to his render, i find that his simplicity makes him who he is.

      the next bunch of robots that i like are from the movie called "robots". their a more modern version of what robots should be like but it isn't as slick and minimal like Eva from Wall-E (more on that later.) i love how each robot has a different character, function and characteristic in this movie that makes them stand out from one to the other. 

           i also like the robots from pixar's movie Wall-E. both of the robots have different styles to them representing the new and the old. like the other movie, both robots have a characteristic to them that can be seen by just their outer shell. for instance, wall-e looks tough but his big sad robot eyes tell a different story and eve is sleek and shiny and looks very hard to control. these are some characteristics that i want to develop for my character.

(watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzCEwoKUtpA)

            the style of animation im looking at the moment is from this show called "the amazing world of gumball". it is animated on top of a series of still photographs which are then set as the background of the characters. probably compositing at its finest.

resources: 

• http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RW1rtPinZhU/Tz1ryTiAd7I/AAAAAAAAAGc/R1AhuRT_YX8/s1600/josef_turnaround.jpg
• http://www.myfreewallpapers.net/cartoons/wallpapers/amazing-world-of-gumball.jpg
• http://swotti.starmedia.com/tmp/swotti/cacheCM9IB3RZRW50ZXJ0YWLUBWVUDC1NB3ZPZXM=/imgrobots2.jpg
• http://jhonman.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/robots.jpg
• http://a3.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/110/888ccd85cdc84fd4b2311dd6871bb661/l.png
• http://amanita-design.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Josef_by_Greenlands.jpg
• http://www.tripletsandus.com/disney/Wall-E/characters/Wall-E6.jpg
• http://www.artsjournal.com/popcorn/Wall-E%20and%20Eve.jpg

a hey and a ho!

Hi the name's pat and i'm a 3rd year digital design student doing some compositing for multimedia design 292. from now on, all my ideas are gonna be in this blog page. So please, some respect. if you want to use my work in any form possible, please let me know.

thanks and enjoy the blogging!