Nina Denning

8. Compositing and Video Editing

Posted on 22 July, 2016  in MDU115

After the scene is finished and rendered, the 440 pngs are then exported into a folder where they can be imported into adobe premiere pro to have the final edits made and extras such as a title and audio added over it. I didnt have access to a current adobe premiere pro so i had to use an outdated version and compile the pngs into one lengthy 64 minute movie, only to file it down to a 16 second shot. It was exported as an MP4 and retained a good sum of its original quality.

PNG’s ready to be imported into Premiere

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7. Lighting and Rendering

Posted on 22 July, 2016  in MDU115

When trying to apply shadows to my scene to give it a less flat feel and provide the critters with some more depth I found light shadows underneath worked really well until rendered out where they looked a tad dodgy and slowed down the process considerably. Since the file didn’t need to be A+ quality, I decided to remove the shadows as my scene moved a bit too fast for them to make much of a difference. However I did apply an illuminator on the skydome as it created some ugly harsh shadows I didn’t like. For this task I rendered the file as a png with medium quality levels as it only goes for a few seconds. At first my render looked extremely bright and had no depth so I went back and applied an environment exposure assistant to help tone it down a little.

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6. Animation and scene assembly

Posted on 22 July, 2016  in MDU115

I was eager to move on to the animation sequence since key framing is something I’m very interested in. The version I had of the key frame timeline differed slightly to that of the tutorial but it didn’t affect its guidance too much. It was recommended to use Auto-key but I found Set Key to be quite useful as I changed my mind on movement a lot. I liked creating the movement of each object individually but found my timing was a little off, unfortunately my computer also refused to allow me to change the poses of the crabs so I did what I could without moving their claws. The trees, crabs, shells and starfish were easy to put into place but the animation for the chest took me a while to figure as my lid was opening before my chest fell, moving keyframes around fixed this. Merging all the intended features was fine but my grass just wasn’t loading in. Overall scene assembly was fun and creative.

Scene assembly and animation frame.

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5. Rigging

Posted on 22 July, 2016  in MDU115

After giving up on my texturing (after MUCH frustration) I decided to not waste any more time and continue with the rigging. The process didn’t seem difficult since the hinge on the back is really the only thing that needs a pivot, though a hierarchy needed to be added with a base shape to be the master control. I needed to link the lid to the base and the base to the master control, and my added handles needed to be attached to my base. The linking went well though I had a little difficulty getting my pivot to face the right direction since my “affect pivot only” button was affecting more than just my pivot. I got there eventually, for the most part.

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4. Texturing

Posted on 22 July, 2016  in MDU115

I could successfully fit all my pieces in my map and uploaded it into Photoshop, I have a fairly strong knowledge in this program unlike 3D MAX so I felt it would get easier from here on out, I was wrong. For some reason my textured sides looked terrible on my model, not only being blurry and broken but had misplaced lines all over the place. My UVW looked reasonable compared to the tutorial but it just didn’t cut it for this process to work. I considered going back and re-doing my UV-MAP, but I was sure it wouldn’t make much of a difference unless I re-did my model which would’ve been extremely time consuming even though it would’ve been faster since It was my second…third.. maybe fourth time around all these processes.

The UV map is uploaded onto the model so when the UV is painted over, it has an equivalent effect on the model. Certain colours are used in the process to give it a certain colour palette for a stylised look.

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3. UV Mapping

Posted on 22 July, 2016  in MDU115, Uncategorized

I began “unwrapping” my model and soon came to the conclusion that my ‘slight’ changes made a huge unavoidable impact on my UVW. I spent a long time creating my UV Map, and eventually got into a really good step by step process of selecting polys, putting them into my planar map, ‘breaking’ 90’ angles, scaling them down, relaxing them and occasionally having to flip them vertically or horizontally while adjusting their size according to my checker pattern. I did notice a few of my nets that in the tutorial were meant to snap together were too different to do so, so I went with the ‘unique’ process of adding them all in individually ready for texturing. A few of my nets were a little wonky or distorted but that’s the result of my accidental edge movement in my modelling process.

My UV-MAP.

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2. 3D Modelling

Posted on 22 July, 2016  in MDU115

I followed the tutorial slowly and carefully though I ran into my fair share of tedious problems that after spending an hour or so trying to fix, only to realise it was a single button stuffing me up which made it a really good and slightly annoying learning process. The chest was formed from two main rectangles, continually using the ‘inset’ and ‘extrude’ function to create form and depth into the polys. Creating ‘loops’ and ‘connecting’ edges played another important part in the modelling process. Eventually, after restarting numerous times due to crashes, my terrible incremental saving and frustration I made the simple chest model mesh, with a few slight changes I made such as the lock and handles which I soon came to regret (cocky amateur). I did learn however that even slight movement of edges will eventually prevent you from creating a neat UV-Map, though there was no going back.

My treasure chest model mesh.

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1. Pre-Production

Posted on 22 July, 2016  in MDU115

This project required very little pre-production since the whole sequence had already been planned out and made, though the centrepiece treasure chest needed to be created in 3DS-MAX from start to finish. I did look at different styled treasure chests before starting the project to get some ideas of style, colour and model shape but I must have been dreaming because I have never before used 3DS-MAX, so instead I wisely decided to stick with the tutorial.

This is the production pipeline provided for the treasure chest.

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Review of independent media – Draw with me

Posted on 5 July, 2016  in CIU110

‘Draw with me’ is an animated short created by Mike Inel (story and animation) and Daniel James (music and sound). It’s a drama based around two characters, a boy and a girl with animal characteristics, separated by an unbreakable glass. A very strong concept told undeniably well without dialogue in under three minutes.

When a boy meets a girl on the other side of their world dividing barrier, they learn that drawing and writing on the glass wall with charcoal is their only form of communication. They spend all their time “together” and seem content until the loneliness sinks in as they aren’t (really) together. Frustrated and saddened by their separation, the boy starts punching the wall over and over until it cracks, but it isn’t meant to be and the magical barrier takes his hand in punishment. The two meet again as the boy admits he cant draw anymore, the girl is cloaked concealing her arms as hes presented with a gift, shocked at what’s inside he drops the box, revealing her arm coming out, rehabilitating his drawing again.

The animation carries a sketchy look, which works well as the characters look like they were just drawn –refer to the title. With a very opaque colour pallet used, Mike Inel really captures the tone and emotion of each scene with soft warm and cold shades along with soothing glows of light. The unique characteristics of this short are really what pieces together the story and makes it work so well without looking dull and emotionless. Though we do get a feel of what their story world is like, its hard to capture all the rules the universe follows, there are a few illogical appearances of items such as the box for the arm and the changing of clothes but these unexplained traits does give the audience a sense of curiosity for their world, that it may not be as bland and empty as it seems. The short is a drama but it does feature some comedic effects in the drawings to lighten up the ‘sad’ mood and even though the characters don’t have dialect to give them individuality its easy to perceive their distinctive character through their writing and drawing behaviours along with their expressions emphasised with their animal-like ears. The music and sound carries whatever the plot and character expressions lack, accentuating the highs and lows and subtleties of the short.

The concise plot in this short is very relatable to all sorts of audiences; whether they’ve got a loved one far away, out of reach or are surrounded by people but still feel lonely and cant break the barrier. For me this short film screams ‘long distance relationships’ where the glass wall represents a means of communication such as social media and other communicative devices like skype, although you are talking with that person and may be able to see them, you’re still so far away and cant break through to them no matter how hard you try, its not the same as being ‘with’ them… at least that’s my interpretation.

Overall, ‘Draw with me’ is a delightful elucidation of love and friendship with sincere themes, conveying meaning through the art of a very unique animation, simple but expressive. I would love to see an extended version out of greed for more but it is moderately paced with a solid structure and unanticipated climax and ties up neatly with an ambiguous ending. ‘Draw with me’ is proved a successful much loved short as it has over 3 million views on youtube alone and has sparked many creative minds out there to create hundreds of art based on the short. Here’s a link to the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRkgH7Uu-hA

Reference: Mike Inel – Draw with me. (2009).

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Curation

Posted on 5 July, 2016  in CIU110

My creative interests can be quite diverse but if I had to nail it down to a few categories id say it consists mainly of short animations, traditional and digital art, based loosely around fantasy and sci-fi realms, oh and speaking of fantasy, Lord of the Rings is my greatest cinematic interest, but since I’m doing animation, ill stick with the first three. Short animations for me are a great deal of inspiration; I enjoy watching them, reading about the hidden meanings and true intent of them then evaluating my opinion. Short films are something I will definitely want to be good at once I learn more about the technological process as its what stimulated my interest in animation as a whole. Short animations serve as a tool for me to see the different levels of quality along with differing styles, lengths, problems and solutions, so I can compare them and discover what I like and dislike. This helps me come to terms with my own capabilities and allows me to begin constructing my ideas. I hope to create some of the short animations I have planned one day, maybe even participate in a film festival.

Night Light – Animated Short Film by Qinni. 

 (Nights Light, n.d.)

As for traditional art, I started drawing since I was very young, but lost interest somewhere in-between, I’ve only picked it up again within the last year or so with the knowledge of practice means perfect. As I regained my drawing habits, I realised I really enjoy creating characters, from their facial expressions to their clothing and hair. Once I began watching Asian-animations “anime”, I discovered a whole new beautiful art style I didn’t know existed, I feel that has had a major impact on what and how I draw and the themes I try to capture. Anime could actually be its own category as its been a huge creative interest of mine – lets link them together. Unlike adult cartoons or children’s animation, anime has created its own genre so it can be themed for adults in all seriousness, but created so you forget it’s actually an animation, which is an extremely useful technique. Its not only inspired my art, but my story writing as well, anime has a tendency to have an extremely complex or basic storyline, with many plot twists and the ability to successfully portray action, drama, thriller, comedy, romance, sci-fi etc. Its also successful at creating diverse, interesting characters, something I like doing. Drawing helps you get better at character design, something I’m really interested in animation wise, It would be very exciting to see a character of my own design come to life in any sort of media.

Fullmetal alchemist: Brotherhood poster i have. 

Everyone sees game covers, posters, book covers and other digital material, but not always do they think “someone made this” but someone had to, right? All you have to do is look at the splash art for League of Legends to appreciate the capabilities of digital art. A lot of people see digital art as ‘cheating’ at art, but a lot of the same skills apply along with many, many others, just learning Photoshop is a mission in itself. I’ve come to appreciate digital art and I’m determined to improve at it, maybe even get good enough to commission one day. I not only enjoy painting characters in digital art, but I’m very interested in the environmental side of things such as background art and story world concepts, the environment the characters are in can sometimes tell more of a story than the character itself. I would love to make contributions to background design in sci-fi games such as Ratchet and Clank.

(Inner Power, 2012) – Sakimichan

 (Calbraith, n.d.)

One of my favourite digital artist commissions for book covers, heres one she made for a book I’ve recently started reading.

Heres a link to my pinterest board showing my creative interests. https://au.pinterest.com/shanina_denning/creative-interests/

References:

1. Qinni –  Nights Light.
2. Calbraith, J. The shadow of black wings.
3. Inner Power. (2012). – Sakimichan

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Future predictions

Posted on 4 July, 2016  in CIU110

In 1937 the first full length feature animation came out, Snow White, in 1995, the first full length computer animated film was released, Toy Story (“history of animation”, 2016). Both films are referred to as two of the most innovative creations in film history and both needed advancements in technology to even be created. Ever since then the speed at which new technology is evolving is increasing drastically, with 3D feature films such as Avatar, to movies taking full advantage of the power of CGI, like The Hobbit. So, whats next? We’ve all experienced 3D films at some point, there are even 3D tv’s you can buy for home that aren’t that expensive, theyre common now, but what comes after 3D? 4D films are where the audience is taken on an interactive journey, this might mean water is sprayed onto them during an ocean scene, these special theatres exist in theme parks, maybe one day that type of entertainment will reach cinemas? Maybe not. The cinematic experience relies heavily on majority rules and the majority want to keep it classic. What about the home experience of media? Virtual reality is progressing… fast! With its constant improving, and upgrading, virtual reality is proving to be the future, Xbox is already partnered with Oculus Rift (virtual reality brand) and with project Morpheus well underway (Sony Entertainments Virtual Reality Development) even playstation games will be compatible with VR. This is the type of technology that can be used in home one day. One of the most sophisticated technologies developed in this day and age is robotics, its furthest development being Artificial intelligence (AI). But AI can also be incorporated into the media industry through special software (“Animation and Artificial Intelligence | British Council”, 2016). One movie that uses this is Life of Pi, each jumping fish in that scene is programed to have its own brain and jump out of the water where and when it wants to, this gives the scene a random effect that saved a lot of time.

Gif created from the movie “Life of Pi”.

 (Life of Pi, 2012)

Although that seems complex, programming each fish, AI is being further developed in the industry, so where will it take us next? Maybe they could create an entire animated universe based around AI, with technology advancing so rapidly anything is possible. We all see these new Disney movies such as tangled and Frozen, how realistic their hair is and their movements are, but the quality of these movies is progressing, back when Beauty and the Beast came out people said that was lifelike, but now the characters have even more depth and detail. Its highly possible for animation technology to get so good in the future actors will be replaced by character models.

References:

• history of animation. (2016). History-of-animation.webflow.io. Retrieved 8 July 2016, from http://history-of-animation.webflow.io
• Animation and Artificial Intelligence | British Council. (2016). Britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 8 July 2016, from https://www.britishcouncil.org/cubed/future-technology/animation-artificial-intelligence
• Life of Pi. (2012). Los Angeles and India.

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Media use and identity

Posted on 4 July, 2016  in CIU110

For animation I use plenty of different media for research, inspiration and creation. The ones I use the most particularly are my Wacom Tablet, different art-based websites and art related books.

As art is tied in neatly with animation, its important to get a strong hold on the concept. Focusing on traditional art, they say the artist is only as good as their tools, though I don’t believe this is entirely true, I do believe that some decent art supplies definitely helps. There’s no need to go out buying the most expensive 2B pencil in office works because you’ll just end up disappointed that it does the exact same thing a 20c pencil does from Kmart, in saying this I like to buy my pencils in a variety pack (HB, H8, H7, 2B, 4B etc.) from a good brand such a steadler, this way you know they’re going to shade better together. Since I’m a leadhead, lead pencils are my favourite traditional art medium, I use them for sketching, shading and “colouring” (black and white ironically).

A few of my drawings done in pencil.

As for digital art, I use my Wacom tablet; although I appreciate traditional art and all its avenues, I’ve come to realise the potential of digital art and how it’s used in the modern world, along with its relation to my practise. After struggling for a long while using Gimp with a mouse or trackpad to create art I realised it was time to upgrade with a Wacom and Creative Cloud. This media device has definitely helped me expand the variety of different artistic directions I can take and broaden my knowledge of creative mediums.

Some of my incomplete digital artworks.

When im deciding what I want to draw or paint ill usually start by doing some solid researching, this starts off as being just for inspiration and mental stimulation but it ends up being a very good tool for referencing. For example; if I wanted to create a dragon I may want to know the best way to design the horns or wings, ill find a dozen different approaches other artists have taken then nail it down to my chosen few, where I can combine my favourite aspects of each in my own unique design. This is how I use the internet as a media, Id usually go on a website such as Deviantart, artstation or even pinterest to gather a range of different recourses to refer to when designing, I specifically have a few favourite artists I go to:

Artists tag names from Devientart.com 

When its time to start the creative process ill often need some sort of support when trying new things on my software such as online tutorials, though no information from the web beats learning from a book. Books are a media I rely heavily upon, especially for digital and traditional art, Ill read the same book over and over to further my skills and learn from other peoples art-styles. I also like seeing the progression of the the art from basic sketches to lineart to the finished product. Some of my favourite books for this are:

Books on digital art i have. 

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