Week 4 Journal Entry

In video and Audio this week we looked at the sin city effect which can be applyed in Final Cut/Premier Pro. We have been thinking we might want to tint the colours brown so its almost sepia, so this could be used to give it that slightly more unique look.

So my main aim this week was to create a MORE realistic 3d model , and after about 8-9 hours straight of playing around and trying to keep to my Photoshop picture, i get the result i was looking for....

I researched into the use of Z-spheres in order to expand on my first model, tutorials like the one below was a huge help as it showed step by step and i was able to pick up quite easily techniques and short keys.

This video has been linked from You-tube and is not my own.

I used Z-sphere's to build a Human body shape and moved them into the wanted position, once I was happy i changed the Z-spheres into a Polmesh3d, this allowed me to then edit the Poly, allowing me to subdivide to get more details into the model and sculp onto it with the brush's.

I then added colour to the model while still being in Z-brush, this was relatively easy in comparison to the sculpting part, although it was important to take time to get a clean finish, several layers were applied to the shirt in order to see the chest coming through.

Because i completed the model a few days in advance, i will have a few days extra next week in which i will be able to mess around with materials and just experiment.

This Week also We Finished the Filming of the live action part of the video. We organised an actor to come in which was a plus because there was no messing around and scenes were performed instantly. Karl edited the film to the music very well, and this looks to be the final cut.

This was acted out on campus as specified in the brief, we were very happy with the background shots, also the actor was given the props to use, and i think they look very good. Only thing i would point out is the blue guns, these wont matter though when the film is tinted brown to give it a western feel.

Note: Charlie starts to create a Opening title screen in 3ds max, his idea is to have saloon doors opening to the the film title of "The Mexican Standoff" and it will zoom in and through the text into the rolling video.

This week has been the most productive yet , getting all of the filming out of the way and having the animated charecter 75% complete, each member of the group is producing good quility work which without doubt should it carry on will create the video we visualised at week 1.

The plan for next week is to all be happy with the model, Import it into 3ds max and get a CATrig inside it, so we can start making it move.Karl needs to research into Cowboys being shot and even just work cycles, and charlie should have finished his title scene with the intent to start the mapping for the model.

Week 3 Journal Entry

This week i found both Graphics and design and 3d animation very usefull towards our project.
In Graphics and design i had to create a costume which wasnt generic, so instead of using cow hide as they would have done , I use tiger skin for it. When designing my charecter it will be important that he looks like nobody else, so i should make plenty of sketch's like these.

In 3D animation we created simple box models, although i usually use z-brush it was good to try an alternative technique and it wasnt that much harder.

This week it was my task to design the charecter , so i drew a quick sketch of what i wanted it to look like (proportion wise) and scanned it in, then finually edited the materials on Photoshop. this was a quick but effective way of producing a visual first model.

I like the red top but possibly make it look more western by making it checkered?

After i had created this first sketch, i was eager to keep attemting to get a 3d model, i had never really used Z-brush before but wanted to attempt using it, I have previous experience sculpting and this helped me.I came up with this sheriff,but it wasnt anything like what i had in mind , also it was too animated to insert into a real life video.This model would have been perfect if we were creating for a younger age range.

This work will keep developing as i go along and from it we should gain out main animated charecter. I should add the above was a test to see what i could create on the software.

 Again this week its been quite productive, I didnt get that realistic look which i wanted in my 3d model, so Im personally going to haveto put some time into that, in terms of group work, we have worked out what each person needs to produce in order for the presentation to be a sucess so everybody knows what there doing. This is what we broke it down to.....

Lance - Storyboards (Rough & Final Digital)
Concept Art
Test Animations...
Karl - Shooting Script
Weekly Action Plan
Location Research And Risk Assessment

Charlie - Research Into Special Effects (Examples of industry effects - Review of video and animation techniques)
Research Genre and get examples of concept art for Western movies.
Create a Mood Board (see the Graphics Design module on Xstream)

We realised that we have alot of work todo this coming week in order to stay to the action plan, so i think all of us are going to knuckle down and get this done.

Week 2 Journal Entry

This week Basic modelling in 3d graphics was a huge help, it helped me to understand 3ds max a little better and at the same time gave us options of what we could inset into our video footage.



I created this sink using basic shapes and modify tools like the taper option, Also i added material to the sink using the material editor and inserting an image. I also took it into my own hands to learn the particle flow system , this could become usefull if we go to add parts to the background.

This week we all had enough time to think of which idea we preferred if any, and all of us came to the same conclusion that the mexican stand off sketch would push us enough, but at the same time be within our skills to produce. I think it is important to note that this decision was made by all three of us because we all knew we could make it work.

CHOSE TO GO WITH MEXICAN STAND OFF......
This Week i decided to research into possible scenes in which cowboys used to have a stand off in.These three below are very generic places.

This town scene would be good to create on 3ds but then their would be not alot of real life in this sketch.

The bar/saloon scene could also work, but it would take alot of time to create.

The rural area looks better , because it would complement the atmosphere of the music.

At this point iIknow im limited to options due the fact that in first year we are limited to only filming on campus, so with this in mind , i think the rural scene is a better option, because the campus has some quite intresting bits on forest etc.

we now know that we are going to move forward in the rural direction, so we should explore the vacinity to find possible places that we could film in.

22/4/2012
Karl managed to find a range of places which could possibly be suitable for our filming, and after collaberation between us all we agree to use this woodland scene found on campus.

This woodland scene is quite atmospheric, and would add to the tension of the sketch.

Our Idea changed at this point at we wasnt shore untill this point from which direction the charecters would come in from, but actually seeing the area we were filming in, i was able to visualise everthing. The project is so far on track, will need to ensure the filming is done ASAP so that we can get on with the animation sides of things.

Im happy with how the group got on this week, each gradually having more individual parts to play but still being extremly productive.

Week 1 Journal Entry

Out of the three modules this week i think the most usefull material i learned was to create concept charecters like this using a mixture of human and animal, i woulnt havto use human but its a flawless technique. I shoud defonatly think about using this when making the animations.

As a group we Discussed several ideas, One Idea we liked was a sketch in which a guy sees a button and doesnt know weather to push it or not, so up would pop a devil and an angel either side of his head, and they would try and convince him wether to do it. in the end he would push the button and the place explodes.

i wanted to see how easy it was to create an explosion should we go with this idea so created a quick explosion on 3ds max using the particle Flow feature and then adding an effect over the top, Background is created by simply changing the environment and adding a bmp file. I was happy with this effect considering it was a first attempt

Anouther idea we had was a mexican stand off, between a person and an animation, for this we would havto look into Cowboy films and Spagetti westerns.

As a personal Spagetti Western fan, I automatically jump to this scene, probably the greatest stand off in a Western film, we would havto use this as a basis to our video , scenary, music and acting is all a must to pull off a sketch like this.

We now need to move to the next step and Decide which of these favored two we can move on with and start testing and Researching further.

this week the communication between the group was good , each person said what they thought even if it wasnt the same as anybody elses views, this meant that we had ideas that all of us baught into, if we want our idea to suceed we need everyone working in syncronisation.We need to Ensure that each member of the group has something todo in the coming week.

Our plans havn't changed at this point as were just starting to get the ideas flowing and sticking to the action plan, on target so far.

I think the Group has worked well this week, I notice we all quite simular and if we are intrested in what we are doing, were motivated, so we will just havto watch that we dont slack a little as we get to a little less intresting and more time consuming bit.