Exploration 6

- Which type of light would be best to replicate a bare light bulb? point light
- How do lights affect 2D and 3D objects differently? 3d objects create shadows
- What is Ambient Light? Omnipresent lights that eveny illuminate every 3Dlayer in a comp, independently of where the layer's position or orientation.
- How is an Ambient Light different from a Source Light? ambient light has no direction, position or cone, nor do they cast shadows.
- What is a Parallel Light, and why would one use it? a kind of point light but rather you have control over which direction the light rays are aimed.
- Describe the term Falloff, and what is the term used to describe realistic falloff? This occurs usually when light goes in different directions from a single source, which results in a gradual decline of the intensitiy of the light, causing shadows to grow larger over distance. 
- What happens to a layer as it rotates away from the light source. The shadow becomes less defined
- Describe a light's Cone Angle? Angle that determines how widely the light rays are sprayed reaching a max value of 180 degrees.
- How do I move the light without moving the POI? shift+command+ axis
- How do I move BOTH the light AND POI at the same time? moving the light normally
- Which type of light is the ultimate 'FILL' light? ambient
- What does the term 'Diffuse' mean? to lower the brightness and intensity of a light.
- What does the term 'Specular' mean? controls the additional "highlight" or hot spot that appears inside an illuminated area.
- Can a precomp layer cast shadows? Yes
- What are the 5 requirements that must be met for shadows to work? 
Light must have its casts shadows option enabled
a nonambient light must be aimed so that it illuminates both the layer you want to cast a shadow and the layer you want to receive a shadow.
The layer casting the shadow must have its cast shadows material option set to on
tje layer receiving the shadow must have its accepts shadows material option set to on
there must be some space between the layer casting the shadow and the layer receiving the shadow


- As objects get closer to the layer receiving it's shadow, does the shadow get sharper or more diffused? sharper
- If a layer's  'Light Transmission' is set for 100%, how does that affect the layer? 
- A 'GOBO' is like a stencil placed in front of a light.  Does the layer have to have an alpha, or can the luminosity of the image work? 
- Adding lights really slows down the render of a scene, what are 3 things that you can do to speed up visual feedback? turn of the render 

Lighting

For our lighting exploration I wanted to explore something different, I decided to play around with an environment composed of a pyramid. Revealing only the sides using light to create a sensation of suspense until the end where the entire shape is revealed.

For the exploration I used a plugin called Trapcode lux which allows you to see where the light was coming from.

EXPLORATION 5

This exploration focuses on the animators ability to tell a story using a single image.

in your career, you will undoubtedly be given a single image and asked to turn it into an interesting animation.  The best animations are ones that tell a story through camera moves, and depth of field.

Phase 1: Research various images that you feel you could tell a story through your methods of animation.

Image Chosen:

      

I chose image 1, maily because out of all of my images, I feel that without a need for explanation or background story, it evoques a feeling on its own. The viewer puts their own experiences into the image to tell their own story.  

In this sense, the story I would like to tell through this is the departure of two soldiers to war, whilst saying goodbye to their wives. Revealing at first only the two people in the foreground and as the camera moves, reveal the couple the lays by the bus along with their suitcase.

ART Network

The Project Overview
To design a 5 sec production company ID for ART Network at Ringling College.  This logo ID will be used at the conclusion of all the shows that are produced by ART Network.    There will be two versions required:  1) with the animated graphics over a background, and
 2) a keyable version that can be placed over any background.

Part I:

Create five different concept statements (what's the big picture? whats the big idea?

Write down 50 different ideas for concept statements, and from those choose the best 5 to present.

To me it's always been easier to write down and brainstorm with pen and paper. Somehow I feel that I get more inspiration when I'm thinking outside of the computer.

The following is a scan of my brainstorm process for my 50 different concepts.

After choosing the different concepts to present, I then went on to find images that I felt transmitted the feeling or mood that I would want to portray with each mood board.

1. Spontaneity and impact. Party Box filled with surprises, props and crazy objects that make an impact. Which is in effect what we as artist strive for with our work.

2. As artists we strive to speak up, and express our ideals. We reach out to you through different channels of communication, tv, sound, voice, technology, writing, drawing, etc. What language do you speak?

   

3) A profound look into who we are at RCAD. From the most essential microscopic elements that compose us and our work, to the outermost aspects on the surface with which you interact. Come see what we’re made of. 

4. Theater performance, we expose the truth in a different way, hoping to cause an impact and change in society.

5. Look at the beauty outside but also within, look again and try to make something out of the image. Confused or puzzled? Were intellectual beings that will make you see and think through various perspectives.

Part II

As a continuation of the project, we were asked to then take one of our concepts and begin to develop it. We were to pick a particular audio to wich we wanted to animate. Create a rough storyboard of the animation, and with it present a style frame. In other words a frame that would give the viewer the idea of how a single frame of the animation would look like.

In addition to this, before creating the style frame I chose to make a mood board, that would help me develop further my vision of the style frame.

 STORYBOARD

MOOD BOARD

 STYLE FRAME

Animation Process:

When it comes to animating I usually get ver attached to my concepts and hence very anxious to animate on the screen. So much that sometimes I forget how important the preplanning phase is.

If I could take something from this project, it would definitely be to preplan every detail before even opening After Effects.

Having not done this, or at least not thoroughly enough, the animation process resulted in me doing three different animations from scratch, instead of a single animation and refining it for each pass.

First Pass:

Second Pass:

Third Pass:

By this point of my process I realized I needed to really sit down and plan out frame by frame of the animation if I wanted to have a successful final exploration; and going back to storyboarding with paper and pen, really helped reach the goal I was striving for.

Exploration 3 = Tule Peak Production Designer

EXPLORATION 3:


This Exploration combines all three methods of combining images; Modes, Masks, and Mattes.  The assignment was to create a 7 second animated collage sequence.  The sequence identifies the role or job title and name of an individual responsible for an aspect of a film.  Such job title descriptions might include, Producer,  Director of Photography,  Casting Director, Costume Designer, Editor, Production Designer.   


Process/ Research:
For this assignment, I wanted to choose someone different, who was not a typical hollywood producer, but rather an international artist whose work I've admired for a long time.



Tule Peak is a Brazilian creative, that has taken many roles in the industry throughout his career. 

As an artist he has experimented with art direction, production design, photography, and many other positions. Nonetheless I’ve found that his best work in my opinion lies in his production design films.  

As a production designer, the artist is in charge of taking the script and translating the visual feel, atmosphere, and environment into film, bringing the story to life. 

They work very closely to the director and producer. Guiding the director of photography and other designers on set, to create a unified appearance to the film.

The images I chose are all directly related to both the artist and the job tittle. Because it is about the artist himself, I wanted to bring his story and cultural background into it, whilst also emphasizing his style. This is why I chose a series of favelas, brazilian character and typical element found in these environments.

The favelas not only to represent where he comes from, but also the very rough and “hands of feel” of his visual style. 

In addition to this, another of my images are the hanging shoes which play along with the idea of the feeling the production designer attempts to evoke in the audience. 

Last but not least, the young boys eyes looking straight at the audience, represent the vision of the artist which is what drives the entire atmosphere and perspective of the story.



Execution:
I wanted to maintain the same type of rusty, hand drawn style that he uses in his work, which is why I chose a pale and warm color palette.

Using our own luma mattes as transitions was one of the aspects I enjoyed the most, mainly because you begin to realize how all the projects are in some way interconnected, and the best part is to be able to apply your knowledge from the previous explorations into the next.

Ryan Woodward

Ryan Woodward is an illustrator/ designer as well as a storyboard artist, who's worked with Disney Studios, Marvel Entertainment, Warner Brother Studios, amongst other well known creative studios in the US.
I was first introduced to Ryan's work with the video of his conte animation for the song "I thought of you". An animation that had me hypnotized for the entire three minutes of it. Wether it was because of my passion for dancing and how it was depicted, or how the song just fit perfectly with the animation, I'm not certain, or maybe it was the combination of it all. From this moment on I become an affectionate of Ryans work. I find his work to be extraordinarily inspiring and humble. I'm not sure what that may mean but when I watch his work, it somehow transmits a feeling of simplicity and humbleness which finally made sense when I found out the type of person he truly is.

Ryan Woodward came to Ringling for three days to give us a one day presentation, and storyboard demo at the beach! Unfortunately for me it was impossible to attend either events because of job responsibilities, but I was fortunate enough to talk to a friend who did attend, and left absolutely no detail behind when giving me a summary of both events.

The first thing he said to me about Ryan Woodward, was how amazed he was of his simple and easy going personality. Of course when I first hear this, it all just comes into place as to why his work evokes that feeling; and I think this is one of the most incredible things about a real artist, is being able to transmit that through your own work.
He mentioned that the demo at the beach was incredible. The simple fact of being able to have a lecture by one of our favorite artists at the beach and get critiques and feedback instantly, was priceless. One thing that I cannot erase from my mind, was how calm and simple he is. I would think, that with the intense type of life he lives, it would be very difficult to find a balance between you, your work and your family. Nonetheless he is able to do it, which gives you hope to some extent to think that it is actually possible to be good at what you do, and have a balanced life.

"Never say no, just grab opportunities, even if you dont know how to do it, get in there and try it out and find a way to do it" This was a phrase by Ryan when talking about the different opportunities life may bring to us, and how no matter how afraid we may be to face a challenge that seems impossible; we have to give it a try. No matter how difficult it may seem, never say no. Give it a try, the worst that can happen is you fail, which will only make you stronger, but you learn on the way. These are key words that have stuck in my mind ever since; Because it's true. No one has ever reached success without failing first, or without taking risks. If we want the chance to succeed at what we do, we must give ourselves the opportunity to get that chance, and grab it as it passes by. I feel this is Ryan's moto and philosophy, and it's incredibly inspiring to see how someone has reached such success by following this simple idea of life.

Unfortunately although I would have loved to be able to meet Ryan personally and listen to his talk both at the beach and later that night; I'm grateful the school was able to give us an opportunity like this one, to be able to learn from one of our most admired artists, and even have the chance to sit through one of his lectures and learn from his personal experiences.

Quiz 2 Motion Graphs

GRAPH 1 - The red line stands for the Position of an object along the X axis.

If the POSITION of the object is at the location 10 in X at frame 0, and at the location 80 at frame 60 (60 frames is 2 seconds)

Where is object positioned at frame 30?

HINT:  The RED straight diagonal line indicates that this is a linear motion.  Halfway through the time, the object is halfway

through the motion.    The  GREEN horizontal line indicates that there is no motion, because the value for the green line never changes over time.

Answer: At frame 30 the object is positioned at location 45.

GRAPH 2 - The red line stands for the POSITION of an object along the X axis.

The objects position value doesn't change very much at the beginning of the animation,
then towards the end, the values change quickly.   Does this graph represent an ease-in or an ease-out for the first key?
HINT:  When we think about ease in/out, it's best to think, "Ease Out of a Keyframe, and Ease In to a Keyframe"

Answer:  The graph represents an ease-out for the first key.

GRAPH 3 - The red line stands for the POSITION of an object along the X axis.

The objects position value change very quickly at the beginning of the animation,
then towards the end, the values change very little.   Which keyframe (first or second) has the ease in applied to it?

HINT:  When we think about ease in/out, it's best to think, "Ease Out of a Keyframe, and Ease In to a Keyframe"

Answer:  The second keyframe has the ease in applied to it.

GRAPH 4 - The red line stands for the POSITION of an object along the X axis.

Describe the motion and direction of a ball using this graph for the X position.

HINT:  Use frame numbers, and proper terminology such as linear, deceleration, acceleration.

Answer: The graph begins with the ball at a location of 10 on the left side it accelerates (ease out) towards the right, at frame 01:00f it begins to decelerate (ease in) until it reaches location 80.

GRAPH 5 - The red line stands for the POSITION of an object along the X axis.

Describe the motion and direction of a ball using this graph for the X position.   Note the value of the first key.



Answer:  The motion begins with the ball at location -10, it accelerates to the right (ease out) until frame 01:00f  where it begins to decelerate until frame 02:00f where it reaches location 60.

GRAPH 6 - The red line stands for the POSITION of an object along the X axis.

Describe the motion and direction of a ball using this graph for the X position.

NOTE: The handles have influence on the curve.  The longer the handles, the more influence.
The shorter the handles, the less influence.  The handle is always TANGENT to the curve at the keyframe.


Answer: The motion begins with the ball at location 70 it begins to decelerate to the left until frame 01:00f where it comes to a stop and turns around and accelerates towards the right until reaching its original position at location 70.

GRAPH 7 - The red line stands for the ROTATION of an object around the X axis.

Describe the direction of the rotation of the ball using this graph for the X rotation.  Use frame #s to help in your answer.

NOTE:  The handles are always on the 'outside' of the curve. That's because the quickest way between points is a straight line, the handles pull the curve away from the straight line.


Answer: The ball begins to rotate at frame 00:15f (front to back towards the inside of the screen, or away from us) -10 degrees.

GRAPH 8 - The red line stands for the SCALE of an object on the X axis.  (The Y and Z scale is at a constant 100.)

Describe the scale of the ball using this graph for the X scale.  Use frame #s to help in your answer.

NOTE:  The handles can be broken to achieve an abrupt change of speed like in the graph above.  To 'break' a handle, you can click on the PEN tool in the tool bar, and select the CONVERT VERTEX tool.  (Looks like an upside down V )

Answer: The ball begins with a scale of -10% (ie backwards) constantly grows crosses the cero (practically invisible) horizontally to a scale of 80% at frame 1:00f. Immediately at frame 1:00f it decreases in size in an accelerating motion, to around a scale of 75% and then continues to decrease in size with a decelerating motion until it reaches a scale of 60% at frame 02:00.

GRAPH 9 - The red line stands for the POSITION of an object on the X axis.  The green is the POSITION on the Y axis.

Describe the motion of the ball using this graph for both  X and Y position.  Use frame #s to help in your answer.

HINT:  Negative values in Y translate the object upward.  Positive values translate the object downward.
NOTE:  Red is the color given to the X dimension of the transformation... Just like the red arrow indicates the X axis. Green is given to the Y dimension of the Transformation.   Blue to the Z dimension.

Answer: The ball begins at a location of -10 and height of 50. It quickly travels to the right side of the frame to location 80 upwards at a height of about 27.  At frame 1:00f it stops and begins to move slowly to the left still going in the right directions coordinates (80,0).

GRAPH 10 - The red line stands for the POSITION of an object on the X axis.  The green stands for the POSITION on the Y axis.

Describe the motion of the ball using this graph for the X and Y.  Use terminology and frame #s to help in your answer.

NOTE:  You can modify the handles on more than on keyframe at the same time.   So be careful when you are selecting keys that you don't mistakenly adjust handles on keyframes that you didn't intend.

Answer: the ball begins at an x location of -10 and height of 50, it quickly moves to the right to location 80 and begins to accelerate downwards to frame 00:15f. Here, it turns around and accelerates to the left, but continues it's path upwards, until around frame 01:07f where it turns around once more and accelerates to the right again at location 40, while in the y axis its decelerating at a height of  -10 meaning its going up. 

At fram 01:15f  it changes direction on the y-axis at y= -15 and begins to accelerate upwards, whilst on the x-axis its accelerating at x=40, until frame 02:00f  its a location of 60 height of 0 (60,0) meaning on the top right of the frame.

GRAPH 11 - The blue line stands for the ROTATION of an object around the Z axis.  The object is the pendulum on a clock.
The anchor point is at the top of the pendulum so it swings back and forth like you would normally see.

Describe the motion and direction of the pendulum using this graph for the Z rotation.

NOTE:  To have smooth transitions across keyframes, make sure your Handles are perfectly horizontal.  (like above)  You can hold the Shift key down to keep the handles horizontal.   The last key should have had a horizontal handle to ease into the final position.

Answer: It begins at a position of 90, and moves counter-clockwise -60 degrees, then accelerates in the other direction (clockwise) to reach 40 degrees, at around fram 01:04f where it comes to a stop, and changes direction, turning counter clockwise to reach -20 degrees. Comes to a stop, and accelerates in the other direction, clockwise to reach 0 degrees (ie. the center).

GRAPH 12

Describe the motion and direction of an object if this graph was for the POSITION of an object.

NOTE:  Color determines the dimension!

Answer: The ball begins at  a location of -20, height outside of the frame at -10 with a dimension of 30. At the second keyframe 00:15f, the ball has traveled downward to the right to location (5,15) and moving going away from you until value -20.


Third Keyframe: 01:05f, the ball has rotated clockwise to 10 degrees, and traveled to the right downwards to (44,40), its decelerating upwards to come to a stop at y=43.


Fourth Keyframe: the ball has changed direction in y axis, it's now traveling upwards at a value of around y= 41, still to the right at a value of x=75.


Fifth Keyframe: The ball has rotated clockwise from the previous keyframe to reach the center at 0 degrees. With a deceleration on the y-axis going upwards, on the right side at x=90.

GRAPH 13

This graph is impossible to create in After Effects, why?

NOTE:  Use AE and try it out.


Answer: Because there are two numerical values at the same frame. Frame 01:02f has a value of both 20 and about 45, which makes it imposible to create.

GRAPH 14

This graph is a good representation of 'overshooting' a keyframe?   How does this graph represent the 'overshoot'?

NOTE:  If you don't know what 'overshooting' a keyframe is check out some traditional animation books.


Answer: it quickly travels to the right, creating a somewhat upside-down parabola, and at frame 01:75f it quickly changes direction to the left a bit. Past the vertex or maximum point. 

GRAPH 15

This graph represents the Y position of a bouncing ball.  Will this make for a good bounce?   Explain why or why not. 

NOTE:  The name for this type of curve is call BEZIER.  Pronounced:  bez ee ay    (After Frenchman Pierre Bézier from Regie Renault) A collection of formulae for describing curved lines (Bezier Curves) and surfaces (Bezier Surfaces) , first used in 1972 to model automobile surfaces.  Curves and surfaces are defined by a set of "control points" which can be moved interactively making Bezier curves and surfaces convenient for interactive graphic design.    ["Principles of interactive computer graphics", William M. Newman, Graw-Hill]

Answer: No, because when it reaches the vertex of the parabola and begins to go back down again, the acceleration, before and after y=-10 must be the same in order for the bounce to work. Also, the bounce would need to occur at frame 01:15f for it to be consistent.

GRAPH 16

Would this graph represent a good animation for the Y position of a bouncing ball.     Explain why or why not.

NOTE:   When you have the layer selected, and you are in the Motion Graph editor, you can see the motion path (line of connected dots)in the composition window update instantly.

Answer: No, it won't make for a good bounce, because the angle coming up must be the same as the angle going down, which is not the case in this graph and the handles must be placed horizontal to the curve. Also the curve must be upside down for the ball to bounce realistically.

GRAPH 17

If you had to 'fix' this graph so it would be a good bounce in Y, what would be three things you might do to fix it?  

Hint :  Use the term Parabola in your answer.

Answer:
1)I would place the third keyframe at y=70, for the ball to bounce in the same y position every time.
2) move the third keyframe to frame 01:00f, to create a uniform parabola.
3) Elongate the right handle of the second keyframe and make it the same length as the left handle.

GRAPH 18

You've animated a ball bounce by hand, so you remember all the challenges of creating nice arcs, squash and stretch, good spacing.

And knowing a bit about how to read graphs, describe what you think the three curves represent.  What do you think the green curve and the red, and the blue curve represent.

Answer:
Green Curve: the displacement of the ball in the y-axis, the maximum height it reaches  y=20, and when it hits the ground y=90.
Red Curve: The displacement of the ball in the x-axis, the ball begins at x=100, and is then displaced to the left, ending at x=30.
Blue Curve: The rotation of the ball throughout the animation from frame 0 to frame 02:00f.

Question 19

Why would you NOT use the keyframe assistant > Easy Ease to create all your animation?

Answer:
Because the keyframe assistant gives you the standard easy ease value for animation. It doesn't necessarily give a realistic representation of acceleration, or deceleration because it changes from case to case. For example, a heavy ball will have a different acceleration than a light ball in a ball bounce animation, and a different value of interpolation. This is where the skill of the animator comes in in determining the best value for this to create the most realistic representation of a ball bounce. 

Question 20

Why is it so important to Separate Dimensions on a transformation when you are animating?

Answer:
Because the x-axis and y-axis dont hold the same values throughout the entire animation. Hence, the have to be approached separately, and unless they are separated from the beginning you wont be able to manipulate one without manipulating the other at the same time.