Final Blog Submission

Today is the final submission of the blog for our semester 2 assessment. I thought that it was worth explaining what would be the best way to find relevant information on the blog. I will be continuing to work on a making of to supplement the film and production bible prior to the presentation on Tuesday. 

Using this blog:

Under blog archive at the right each post is listed with the date and the title for reference. I have also arranged each post under different categories or Labels which can be accessed on the right hand side so that all posts pertaining to the relevant categories can be viewed chronologically in one page even if they are interspersed throughout my blog. I have put a guide to the labels below. Please note some posts will be shown under more than one label as they were appropriate in more than one category:

1. Experiments - Practical work completed or tested for the course, storyboards, program of study,

                          basic match moving/ film/ HDRI tests etc.

2. General - Posts like this which are less project/ module specific or ones which are related to my

                    attitude or opinion of animation in the broader sense

3. Inspirations - Critical reviews of films, artworks, buildings or photographs which I feel are useful

                          references or examples for my main Master's project

4. Leap Year - A side project carried over from last year which I will be using as a way of testing 2D

                        textures on 3D models

5. Presentations - Completed final presentations or assessment work which was required throughout the

                            semester to pass the modules

6. Research - Similar to inspirations research is more practical and reflective and contains analysis of

                      certain sources and exercises such as the extract which was required for Research and

                      Methods module.

7. Waverley - Everything which is directly related to the practical project has been given this label.

8. Collaborative Work  - Work I have done with or for other animation students.

I hope you enjoy my blog so far and thank you for the time to look through it!

FINAL Program of Study

Friday Review

Although its nearing the end, throughout the course I have continued to watch architecturally based visualisations and have found both some lovely and awful examples out there. Curiously though unsurprisingly it remains that the projects undertaken by those with a CG/ Visual Effects background are infinitely more successful (in my opinion) than those created by companies with a strictly more architectural background, a difference which can be seen in the two examples below...

The Good...

This is a lovely little video about a Jewish memorial by award winning Russian compositer and 3D artist Efim Armand. Its a rather simple beautiful architectural piece created in 3Ds Max and Vray with lovely camera movements and pacing. Someday I would very much like to aspire to this level of 3D mastery or at least get a better understanding of cameras to get some more realistic effects in there. Its rather inspiring although makes going back to work on my own project slightly disheartening...

Memorial from Efim Armand on Vimeo.

The Bad and The Ugly

..or it did until my good friend and fellow animator Kieran Baxter brought this gem to my attention. This video is the actual 3D fly-though for the proposed V+A museum in Dundee. I understand that it is supposed to be an online interactive piece which would be fine but promoting it as an architectural visualisation film its a prime example of everything I'm trying not to do and what I think is wrong with architectural visualisations. From the insipid music to the unnecessary camera movements it feels dated and rather nauseating, removed and un-engaging. With exactly a week to go to this very hour I may not have a finished polished piece but at least it feels more creatively inspired than this. Enjoy? 

Final Countdown

So to keep myself on track I've revised my schedule with regards to progress I have made, adjusted work hours and confirmed dates from tutors. With two weeks to go its do-able but will still require a lot of work and more effort than I can conceive. Its very important I leave a lot of time to editing as narrative is a key exploration point in my program of study and at present the shots are rather disparate. I'm also hoping I'll have enough time to add some music or sound to tie it together as I really think it would benefit from it. I've also attached a  sketchily updated production chart indicating where I am. With luck the external firework shot will be done tonight leaving me the weekend to tie up loose ends on the shots, fix progress and organize what I need to print etc. for the show. Although nothing is quite perfect or the way I want it yet its getting there.

Tutorial Form and Schedule Updates

Prior to meeting with Jeanette later I've created another tutorial form and updated my schedule.

Aims + Outcomes

Last rather dull page I'll be uploading. A useful one though which should help me keep on track in the next few weeks, as long as I demonstrate and achieve what I've set out to do then its all good. 

More Theory

Another few pages for the production bible.  When I get onto the practical section I will stop uploading these until the final thing is done however many people have been asking recently what it is I'm doing and why so these pages are a good way of summing it up. 

Production Bible Begins

I've been meaning to start this for a while. Although not an essential requirement for the course I think it will help to explain my development in a more tactile way than the blog, will act as a good supplement to my portfolio and will help me to collect my thoughts. It will take a bit of time to complete but is something I can do a bit of each night/ while things are rendering and should be useful/ worth it.

PoS 04

I decided to re-write my programe of study so that it reflects more clearly what it is Im hoping to achieve in the remaining 5 weeks. It's getting very scary how close we are getting to the end but have to say I'm looking very forward to the finish. Been a tough few weeks!

Jeanette Tutorial 07

On Thursday I had my tutorial with Jeanette. I think both Jeanette and John are concerned over my progress however hopefully by the time I have the new maps done and have a meeting with Dylan on the 19th where I stand will be much clearer to both myself and the tutors. Overall though despite knowing that i will not get the project completed I feel that the peer review helped me clarify how I would like to present my work and what I am aiming to achieve by the start of August. To aid this and to help explain to my tutors I plan to update my Program of Study while my aims are still clear in my head to help me explain it better and give me more of a focus to work towards. 

Good and Bad

So had a good chat with Dylan this morning who helped me to clarify some issues I was having regarding my workflow and progress with my Masters project. He has helped me to break it down into some stages to work on over the remaining 7/8 weeks which should prevent the onslaught of panic I am feeling. I do have to revise all the models and am looking at having to re-do the textures and UV maps (once again). It is deeply frustrating as I am back to where I was in February but overall its probably for the best. 

By the next meeting on Tuesday 19th: 

STAGE 1 : MODELING

- Rename model and elements

- Redo, Break down, finish and finalise all models

- Set up a final Maya project with the finalised work

STAGE 2: UV 

- Redo and break down the maps further into more appropriate elements/ useful maps

- Revise layout and overlay where applicable, use extra layers to modify details

- Keep the current 2K maps for the distant shots

- Use a series of 4K, 2K and 1K maps and identify which are to be used in which shots

- Create a series of default maps against which things can be tested

- Create bump maps based on the revised UV maps

STAGE 3 : MATERIALS/ TEXTURES

- Create and apply new textures for the shots 

- Update Glass and Metal elements to mia_materials

Basic timeline:

3D finished (modeling, texturing, rendering, match-moving, tracking lighting) : 24th June.

2D finished (rotoscoping, compositing, rendering) : 5th August.

Scary. 

Blog Submission - Guide To Navigating It

Although I will be continuing to work on the practical elements of the course in the coming week, this morning is the final submission of the blog for our semester 2 assessment. I thought that it was worth explaining what would be the best way to find relevant information on the blog. A current state of construction of the model will be presented in the Exploring Practice presentation on Wednesday afternoon.

Using this blog:

Under blog archive at the right each post is listed with the date and the title for reference. I have also arranged each post under different categories or Labels which can be accessed on the right hand side so that all posts pertaining to the relevant categories can be viewed chronologically in one page even if they are interspersed throughout my blog. I have put a guide to the labels below. Please note some posts will be shown under more than one label as they were appropriate in more than one category:

1. Experiments - Practical work completed or tested for the course, storyboards, program of study,
                          basic match moving/ film/ HDRI tests etc.

2. General - Posts like this which are less project/ module specific or ones which are related to my
                    attitude or opinion of animation in the broader sense

3. Inspirations - Critical reviews of films, artworks, buildings or photographs which I feel are useful
                          references or examples for my main Master's project

4. Leap Year - A side project carried over from last year which I will be using as a way of testing 2D
                        textures on 3D models

5. Presentations - Completed final presentations or assessment work which was required throughout the
                            semester to pass the modules

6. Research - Similar to inspirations research is more practical and reflective and contains analysis of
                      certain sources and exercises such as the extract which was required for Research and
                      Methods module.

7. Waverley - Everything which is directly related to the practical project has been given this label.

8. Collaborative Work  - Work I have done with or for other animation students.

A useful post which is indicative of the overall blog is the mind map which can be found at the link below and the search function on the top of the blog will assist if anything seems to be missing.

blog mind map:
http://what-would-sant-elia-do.blogspot.com/2011/11/spicynodes-edit-nodes-edit-content.html

I hope you enjoy my blog so far and thank you for the time to look through it!

:) 

Waverley Production Chart

Programe of Study and Schedule Semester 02

Tutorial Form 05

250 Word Extract

Gothic Edinburgh For Lucy - Variation 02

Next ones will be more townhouse/ tenements but a little bit of Baronial is always fine. Also I've spent some time setting up my line-weights/ CAD layers now which is a big but useful job and make it far easier and quicker to draw in the future. 

Supervisor Meeting Jeanette 4

Jeannette's Comments:
You are continuing to make good, steady progress. Your blog updating your storyboard is much improved and the feedback from The Mill during their visit is really valuable in helping you to refine aspects of your animatic. The next stages are going to be more complex as you explained that you have not tackled UV maps, texturing etc. before. However, you are well on track and I am sure that, with some guidance from Chris, you will be able to manage these new technical skills. One of the first things you need to do though is start collecting and experimenting with sound so that you have a few experimental pieces to discuss with Dawn on her next visit. This could take a bit of time, so the earlier you can start this, the better.

Meeting Notes/ Conclusions

- Photo-storyboard is working. 

- Keep working on current aims.

- Test different inside views of the internal space, perhaps playing with the scale even further to get the desired effect.

- Good schedule and keeping on track so far.

- Consider involving Kareem in the lighting and Hai for UV Maps/ Matt Painting advice. 

Going Live

We have begun the 'Going Live' project in kind conjunction with The Mill from London and while none of the final work nor details can be put on this blog or anywhere near the public eye I can confirm that it is finally underway and our roles in the project have been decided. After completing an online Belbin work-personality test it was determined that my role is a Judge [combination of co-ordinator and monitor evaluator] and so amongst other 2D composition, concept and colour jobs I have become project manager / co-ordinator for the project. Exciting. We have a good team this year and although a bit nervous am excited to see what we can create. 

Weekly Presentations Begin

Quick slides based on my existing presentation for the first of our Thursday peer reviews/ project update presentations.