Category: project 1

The coursework of this semester is very tight and the workload is heavy. Time is a big problem, but the courses are very interesting, and it slowly progresses from the basics.

Sessions with George

In George’s class, we experienced the process from designing a scene to completing a short film’s key shots. It was a very comprehensive experience, and it gave me a new look at the workflow.

In the past, I always finished the 2D design and storyboard and started the 3D animation directly. I didn’t pay attention to the camera and started the K animation directly. I don’t have a clear understanding of the importance of the lens, which causes me to spend a lot of time on rework if I want to modify it later. But according to the process learned in the class, I completed it step by step systematically, which helped me better understand the importance of the camera for 3D animation. It is very important to ponder and determine the lens language in the early stage, which can help save a lot of work in post-production animation and modification.

To summarize my experience:

1. Don’t be limited to the model at the beginning, you can use geometry to build the scene to provide the idea of the story.
2. The shots of the storyboard should be continuous and not too fragmented.
3. Pay attention to agreeing with the character’s position in the camera. Don’t let the person be on the left in the last second and on the right in the next second.
4. The mood board can provide big ideas and inspiration for the whole project, and the collection of materials is also crucial.
5. 3d storyboards are storyboard-based creations, but can be adjusted appropriately. For example, try a large angle or a special angle, because perspective is a problem in hand-painted.
6. In an animation with almost no lines, the body language of the characters is crucial. The performance of actions and expressions is sometimes enough to describe what the story roughly happened.
7. The length of the shot should match the speed of the character’s actions.
8. Adjust the body first, and then detail.

This was a very good experience, which made me pay attention to the importance of camera language and physical performance. A good short film can tell a story without too many words.

Sessions with Nick

Mechanical items have always been an area that I have never touched. Because it has a lot of parts and needs to understand certain principles in order to produce machinery that conforms to scientific principles. I have never dared to try to make a machine, because I can’t grasp its construction.

In the class, Nick led us to complete the production of the robotic arm and let it move. This is a very cool thing! It’s my first time to make a robotic arm, and I have been exposed to many maya advanced rigging, which gave me a deeper understanding of rigging.

And only using the shader ball that comes with maya can also complete very cool material effects. In the past, I used SP to draw textures, and this semester’s course also gave me a better understanding of Maya’s built-in functions. Good results can be achieved without external force.

The mechanical arm is very challenging for me, because it is not just a machine, it must be able to imitate the movements of the human arm, but it must also reflect the mechanical sense. Although the robotic arm I made in the end didn’t show much imagination, I was very satisfied. Because I think it is the most important to learn some principles and skills when making mechanical items for the first time. I believe that if there is a chance to make a machine next time, I will definitely finish it better than this time.

Sessions with George

According to the teacher’s feedback from the last time, I added some hand details of the character, as well as text descriptions at the dialogue.

In addition, notes are made next to the characters’ expressions of joy, anger, sorrow and joy, so that the viewer can understand.

Two time periods, past and present, are distinguished by using text to illustrate the seasons.

• Link to the unmarked remark version:

• Annotate the remarks version link:

The following few pictures are the characters’ expressions, and the order is: surprised, angry, sorry and sad.

Session with Nick:

1. Import the deducted image into MAYA
2. Readjusted robotic arm animation
3. Export the adjusted sequence frame into AE
4. Form the final movie

This week I combined the arm with the body and added some special effects using ae. I’m trying to make my robotic arm look a little cooler.

Movie Link:

Progress:

1）Integrate in ae

2）add some special effects

Streamer effect:

1: Create a new composition and add an empty object to the material. And add a tracker, manually adjust the tracking point. After editing, click “Edit Target”, select the empty object for the layer. After confirming, click Apply.

2: After confirmation, you can click on the empty object, and press the U key to view the location information. keyframes will be displayed

3: Create a new light and connect the parent and child to the empty object. During dragging, you can use the shift key to quickly locate.

Add a new Solid Color layer and rename it Particles.

4. Search for particular in effects and presets

Note:

Select light as the emitter type, and the name should be the same as the name of the light layer
Adjust the speed to 0 to make the particles gather
Change the number of particles to 2000 to make it appear as lines

5. Adjust life seconds and life cycle

The triangle makes the particles appear thick at the beginning and thin at the end.
Adjust color.

6. Add deep glow to make glow effect

7. Make final adjustments to achieve the desired effect

Sessions with George

According to the teacher’s feedback last week, the lens was modified. I adjusted the duration of some shots, and added some actions in close-ups of the hands, such as holding, sweeping, etc.

Now it looks much better, and the camera doesn’t shake anymore.

Modified animation link: https://syncsketch.com/sketch/MTE4Y2Q1NDQx/

Modified 3D Storyboard：

Feedback:

1. Some fighting moves can be added, which will have more impact.

2. The enemy walks a bit faster when entering the arena.

3. This kind of hand movement is good, and it can be added elsewhere.

4. The knee is shaking a bit here, look at the curve.

5. The speed of the weapon falling to the ground is still a bit fast.

Session with Nick 

This week I did animation compositing, using Davinci Resolve Studio. This is a very magical experience, I have never deducted pictures from the video. In the past, I always thought that in order to ensure the accuracy of the image, people would need to buckle one by one, but I didn’t expect that there is such a simple and fast method.

1. Change the settings, from 24 frames to 30 frames per second

2. Freeze the background video and do keying processing

3. Output video

robot arm animation link: https://syncsketch.com/sketch/MWE2ZTU4NTI1/

Sessions with George

According to the teacher’s feedback last week, the lens curve was adjusted to make the lens transition more natural. And based on the storyboard and feedback, the shot was modified to make it smoother.

Animation Link：https://syncsketch.com/sketch/ZmZmOTFkZjEx/

Feedback：

1. Cut this shot in half

2. The person does not need to move, the camera cuts directly to him picking up the weapon

3. Here, the effect of people stalemate at first, and then bounce off quickly

Time may be a bit long

4. The shot of the weapon reaching the ground should be longer

5. Pay attention to the size of the characters

Session with Nick 

Continue to refine the model and paste the texture. This week is mainly to check for leaks and make up for vacancies, preparing for the next week’s synthesis.
Download software:

Progress update:
Details are added to the original simple texture, and different color materials are used to distinguish the structure.

Slowly exploring the nodes, I may still be a little confused about it.

But I believe that if I try to learn more, I will be able to understand it.

Sessions with George

According to the teacher’s feedback last week, adjust the lens of the animation and add details.

Animation Link：https://syncsketch.com/sketch/MTYzMmUxOThi/

Feedback:

1. The time of some action shots can be compressed or extended
   For example: the fighting time can be compressed

2.The camera where the enemy moves and takes the weapon can be deleted

3. Change the camera angle and turn it into a side grip

4. A close-up of the weapon landing directly

5. The shot of falling to the ground is removed, and the ending directly ends with the action of committing suicide. Excessive black field

6. Some lenses will shake a little, adjust the curve.

Session with Nick 

This week I imported the video into AE and added details to the arms. Through nodes to make different materials.

1) How to make an object shiny？

By adjusting the color and material of aiStandardsurface, a shiny metal effect can be produced.
Mainly metal and plastic

Finally, adjust the parameters to achieve the desired effect.

Sessions with George

Based on last week’s feedback, I removed and modified some shots. Added some facial close-ups and action close-ups to make the lens language more fluent.

Made a simple 3d storyboard

Feedback:

1. Adjusted the order of shots and deleted some redundant shots.

2. Add detail and think. Past: Why is he angry? what happened?

Another story：

3D storyboard

animation link：https://syncsketch.com/sketch/NmRjNzMxMDgz/

Session with Nick 

• Finishing our rigging and uv’s and shading basics
• Finalising the model and continuing to rig
• Setting up for the compositing of the arm into live action

This week I added details to the upper arm section of the robotic arm. And add the elbow controller, and adjust the layer level.

Make sure to tick each item to make the effect more complete.

Create a double-layer robotic arm inside and outside, and add controllers on the shoulder and elbow. Controller order: shoulder-elbow-hand

Use the curve editor to control the speed so that the shoulder armor and the shoulder controller can match.

Shader balls and nodes make materials.
This is a challenge for me as I’m new to node. When I do it, I think a lot, why are these two connected, and what is the principle behind it. But it is undeniable that the node is very convenient and effective.

UV：

Animation：

Sessions with George

According to the feedback from last week, the details of what happened in the past were adjusted and added, and the contradictions were enhanced.

And added the end of the story. Although the protagonist has a vengeance against another person, he eventually gives up when the enemy is able to kill the protagonist. Because the enemy doesn’t want to kill at will like the protagonist in the past. In the end, the protagonist still felt very guilty, so he committed suicide with a weapon.

Feedback：

1. Modify the camera angle and lens
2. Distinguish between the past and present time, maybe you can try to distinguish through different weather, colors, and feelings.
3. It is good to stay at the end of the action of suicide and drawing the knife, and then the black scene ends.
4. Add some small movements, the movements look a bit slow and need to become smoother.

Session with Nick 

This lesson further learns about grouping and binding through controllers.
The hierarchy of the robotic arm is complex, and the constraint relationship cannot be mistaken.

1. Create two lactors; freeze

2. Create constraints to animate.

Arm-Top&outer；Base&prison ：control up and down

Point-Top&prison；Base&outer：control scaling

Parent- Top&top_axis；Basw&base_axis

After the binding is complete, animate by controlling TOP_LOC & BASE_LOC

3. Adjustment level

4. Delete the keyframe, this will restore the normal motion of the finger due to re-layering. Just re-animate it.

5. Modify the details

6. Add the curve, freeze the curve before constraining it

7. Constraint-parent

8. CTRL + right mouse button, add a new control bar

Animation link：

https://syncsketch.com/sketch/NDBiMDUyYjFl/

Sessions with George

Who is your protagonist/antagonist. What drives them/ motivates them to do what they do and how will that affect your animation/story.

Combined with the plot, I chose the second scene to continue in-depth.

Since the scene is a Japanese-style building, I chose a Japanese monk as the main character.

There are many kinds of Japanese-style monk’s clothing, and finally combined with the protagonist’s peaceful life after converting to Buddhism, he chose the Zen monk’s clothing.

Moodboard：

The past and present are distinguished by color and season. What happened in the past was an autumn dominated by chartreuse tones. What’s happening now is a winter dominated by white and red tones.

The sunny day is reality, and what happen at night is the memory of the past.

I searched for suitable characters online, and finally found two free models on the animation buffet.

Since there are no suitable free resources for Zen monks on the Internet, I chose a monk model with Chinese culture.

And changed the world view, combining Japanese architecture with Chinese architecture to create a virtual parallel world.

In this way, the enemy’s choice is not limited to the time and place. So, I chose ninjas as the protagonist’s enemies.

According to the feedback from last week, some close-ups of characters’ faces and movements have been added. And modified the angle and direction of the lens.

Feedback：

Adjust the sequence of shots in the past time to increase details. And try to add to the end of the story.

Session with Nick 

• Shading and texturing
• preparation for rigging

In this lesson, we learned the details of the robotic arm and the yo-yo. Use nodes and bend to make the movement of yo-yo; circularize to make the quadrilateral round, etc.

1. Use bend in nonlinear

A yo-yo string can be quickly made and animated.

2. Adjust the center, use the node editor and connection editor

3. Add remapValue, connect input and output

Copy Tab to adjust the values in the input and output to get the yo-yo effect.

• Input min value is the value of yo-yo to the top
• Input max value is the value at the end of the yo-yo
• Output max value is the value of the yo-yo rotation, positive or negative determines the direction of rotation

4. Rotate the x-axis, multi-line appears

The yo-yo is finished

5. Create a pipe to make the wrist part, shift+middle mouse button drag the line selected before all selection to adjust

6. Drag the small square to zoom in, so that the line is only zoomed in on the surface

7. Adjust shape with x-ray

8. Open the handle in the display to observe the center

9. Before using circularize, restore its default. Extrude.

10. Mirroring: Reset settings. Mirror successfully by adjusting direction: +, -.

11. Select the innermost side change for bridging

12. Material

13. Add details

Sessions with George

Continue to perfect 3 ideas/concepts

Draw storyboards according to the story:

First story:

Second story:

Third story:

Feedback:

The first story is just animating the reference video, if I want to continue to complete it, I can try to add some new things and make more changes. For example, it is also a level-breaking game, but it is completely possible to replace the story and design the game yourself.

The second story is more interesting. Continue to improve the details of the story and add an ending to the story.

The third story continues to be perfected, but the plot can add some conflicts to add an ending to the story.

According to the teacher’s opinion and my personal interest, I finally chose to continue to complete the second story.

1. If I want to continue to make the first story, it will take a lot of time to complete. Because it is necessary to overthrow all the previous levels and design a new one.
2. The former enemies in the second story are more interesting and can be derived downwards. What happened in the past? Why become an enemy? What was their previous relationship like? How is their relationship now? Etc. These are places that can be discussed.
3. The visual effect of the third story is very interesting, but there are still relatively few plots, and some more can be written down. Why does the protagonist row a boat in the lake? What is the monster in the water? How does the protagonist behave after encountering a monster? Etc. These are places that can be discussed.

Session with Nick

Class:

• Modelling part 2
• Continue hand set-up
• Naming things
• Experimental modelling

1. Start infinity

Use Contant in the front and cycle with offset in the back

2. Transfer the overall joint center to the joint connecting the palm, and bake. This way it can be rotated freely.

Each finger does this.

3. Close all groups and use the shift key to quickly open them.

Created with set, you can quickly get the selected file and control it.

4. Choose a good-looking frame to freeze. Remove the rotation and scale options, and freeze the others.

All fingers only retain the keyframes of the z-axis rotation, and the rest can only be frozen successfully after being deleted.

5. Adjust the finger position and angle so that the hand touches the ball. And the rotation x-axis of the previous key frame of the base level remains 0.

6. Use cube to make palm, delete history and freeze.

7. Divide the back of the hand into two parts

8. Fill hole, and connect

Shows this effect:

9. In the same way, make the palm to complete

10. Put the fingers into two different groups of the palm to control.

11. Same as the finger joints at the beginning, use Insert Edge Loop to snap lines. Turn on Insert with flow, so that the line can retain the arc of the original object. Depending on the effect, decide whether to use it or not.

Session with George

Made three different scene drafts last week and thought about what happened to them in this world.

Continue to improve 3 ideas/concepts this week.

I searched for some related pictures and videos, and perfected the story. From the simple scene construction of the previous week to a story with plots.

scene 1: Refer to a level in “Alice in Borderland” where the hero and heroine first pass through the level together.

There is only one room in a fully enclosed building that serves as a safe house, and all other doors are locked. After hearing the hero’s puzzle solution, the heroine searches for the door, confronts the enemy on the way, and escapes from the enemy’s clutches. The hero and heroine eventually find the only open door.

scene 2: Temples hidden deep within the mountains.

Previously, the protagonist was a martial arts master who later became a monk to practise in a temple.

When the protagonist was sweeping the snow in the temple one day, his former adversary approached him and fought him to the death.

Reference：Setagaya Hachimangu Shrine

scene 3: The protagonist is rafting in the lake when a monster emerges from the water. The protagonist abandons the ship and engages in combat with it.

Session with Nick

Design and construct a robotic arm prosthesis to be composited onto a live action plate

In this class, the teacher took us to make fingers, and by completing one of the joints, we copied and adjusted and finally completed the finger making. Among them, the relationship of each level cannot be mistaken, otherwise the finger movement will be wrong.

I found some reference pictures and videos of the robotic arm, and got a preliminary understanding of the composition of the robotic arm parts. But since I have never done it in practice, I am not sure about it, so I should continue to learn more about it.

My reference:

Progress:

1. Use geometry to make finger joints, and use Insert Edge Loop to complete the shape adjustment.

This learned a new trick for me, very handy for adjusting points and lines.

2. Use the mirror image to make the model to achieve the hollow effect in the middle.

This is something I haven’t tried, never tried digging holes with mirror images. This operation experience is very easy to use and saves a lot of time.

3. Adjust the details and duplicate the entire finger. Make shape adjustments where joints bend to avoid die-through.

4. Pay attention to the level of group movement and the center of each group, and perform keyframe rotation animation through the group.

5. Using special copy, you can copy the past together with the animation.

6. Adjust the difference between each finger and the curve, so that you can get a flexible hand.

Animation link: