Conclusion for 3DPF

10 weeks had passed and it was the submission for Project 2.

Recalling the 1st few lessons when i still do not understand what 3DPF is about. We start doing things such as the MatchMoving. We watch video on the 7 Rules for Match Moving. After watching, we are taught to do a Match Moving on a lion statue with Zombie and Human running around. To me, it was hard at 1st however after doing a few times i somehow understand. One of the thing that i think i had learnt from this is the RZ Camera. On the 1st MatchMoving lesson i asked Mr George "Why i cannot see my lion", and Mr George teach me the difference between Persp and RZ Cam.

After the lion statue, we are asked to do a Competition which i at that time thought i will fail. I do not understand what are we supposed to do as are we mark based on Maya? After Effect? I was also appoint as a Leader and i was scared as i do not understand what are we doing. As time passes, more and more idea seem to come and i was able to lead my Team in doing the Project. When doing the Project, i learnt that in a Team there will be different roles such as Animator, Model-er, After Effect. These were the things that Mr George wants us to understand which is the Production Pipeline. After understanding, we put in lots of effort and hard work does paid off, my Team are shortlisted for the Security Competition !

After Project 1, it was another confusion. As we left 2 weeks and all of us thought that we will not have enough time to be able to complete another Project not even said what are we learning. We are also asked to do a Survey to choose. I chose Character Animation and it was also the choice of many others. Mr George starts to become fierce from this onward as i think he wants all of us to be able to focus and have Responsibility. He also set a Time Grace of 10mins instead of 15mins ! As the lesson passes, i can see that we had learnt much more things from Mr George and the Grace was shortens due to not wanting to miss out things. We had done Spiderman where we learnt about Poses, etc. Next is Big Dog. Last it was the Walk Cycle that are also for our Project 2.

In conclusion, i think that 3DPF is a relatively fun module as Mr George and my classmates are there to help each other. Mr George also make 3DPF to be fun instead of following Powerpoint slides and make the lesson boring. However i think that 10 weeks is relatively short, it should be in Semester mode and not Term mode.

Project 2 - Emotive Walk (Angry Walk) Cycle

Attached above is my Emotive Walk (Angry Walk) Cycle Avi.

At a start, i was lost and i do not know which emotion to do. I do lots of research such as viewing how other had done, how human react, etc. After a few days, i decide to do Angry walk. This idea came across when i was watching a drama show and a kid stomp his feet.

I list down a few things that need to be implemented to show that a Model is being Angry.

- Stomping his feet.
He/She tends to put more strength on his lower part. One of the behavior that People does when he/she is Angry is by Stomping his/her feet to show that he/she is piss.

- Fisting (Finger all tighten)
He/She tends to show more strength. One of the famous behaviour is clenching of both fist to transmit the strength into the fist. Research has also shown that the harder one Person clench his/her fist, the more angrier he/she was in that scenario.

- Arm swing
He/She he tends to exaggerate his action. One action will be the arm swing.

With this 3 i thing that i could animate a some-how-realistic walk !

Project 2 - Walk Cycle

Attached Video is my AVI for Project 2 - Walk Cycle.

This is different from the Walk Cycle we had done as this was 1s (24Fps) Walk Cycle instead of 1 1/2 s (30Fps). However, i made reference to the Walk Cycle i had done for the lower parts (Pelvis, Legs, Etc) and manage to did the 1s (24Fps) Walk Cycle.

The Upper part is much more harder. One of the harder part is that to make a Model walk realistic it should behave like Human. Hence when we are walking we are not very stiff, this meant that i need to relax a few control such as the Fingers, etc. Also, when we are walking we will tend to move (Swing,Bend,etc). Hence by adding in this few things, it will make a walk more realistic and differ from a robot.

Angry Walk Cycle (Reference)

Youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS634XtXGO4

For my Emotive Walk Cycle (Angry), i make reference to the video attached.

To me, this walk is realistic. The swinging of arm and stomping of feet show that the Model was frustrated. I will implement both of them to my Emotive Walk Cycle (Angry).

Shadow Effect Research

Above Youtube Video teach me how to do a Shadow Effect in Maya. Our Project 2 is a Human Walk Cycle. I think all human being will have a Shadow when he/she is walking if there is light. Hence i added Shadow into my Project 2 to make it more Realistic.

I created a Shadow by using a Spotlight in Maya. The hardest part of this is the Adjusting of the Spotlight to match the Human that i am animating. If there is a slight difference, the Shadow casted will be distorted and not realistic. I also did some changes from this Tutorial such as adding a Directional light also which show the Ray of light that is being shone.

Walking Cycle - Part 2

Above video is a continuation from Walking Cycle - Part 1. In this exercise i improved the 1.5s(36 Fps) Walk Cycle which i had done in Part 1. One of the thing that i had improved is the Leg. For both the Leg, i had added a few more Key Frames and Animate the Foot Control, which slightly tilt the Foot when walking. Another thing that i had improved is the Pelvis which will "Sway" to the left or right depending on the which Leg is moving. For the Pelvis it is harder as i need to Adjust 2 Graph, in order to have a smooth Graph, i need to be focus. Overall i had complete the full 1.5s(36 Fps) Walk Cycle, Comparing with Walk Cycle - Part 1, it is much more smoother and realistic. I had fun animating this !

Big Dog Exercise

This exercise allows me to do simple animation. Following an actual Footage of Big Dog Robot, we need to animate the movement similar to the Footage. Mr George also show us a much slower version of the Footage which allows us to see what should we edit Frame by Frame (Second by Second). We also added a floor and texture it for the Robot to stand on.

Spiderman - Pose 3 (Cool)

Spiderman - Pose 3 (Cool)

This is the Final Cool Pose for Spiderman. It is somehow easy. I also added a "Stone" for Spiderman to stand on i also added texture to the "Stone".

Spiderman - Cool Pose (Working Files)

Spiderman - Cool Pose (Top)

Spiderman - Cool Pose (Side)

Spiderman - Pose 2 (Shooting Web)

Spiderman - Shooting Web Pose

This is the Final Shooting Web Pose for Spiderman. This exercise is harder as the Spiderman's leg is hard to control. A slight changes it will be out of shape.

Spiderman - Shooting Web Pose (Working Files)

Spiderman - Side Shooting Web Pose (Working Files) 

Spiderman - Side Shooting Web Pose (Working Files)

Spiderman - Pose 1 (Upside Down)

Spiderman - Upside Down Pose

This is the Final Upside Down Pose for Spiderman. Mr George explains clearly and also write down the value for us to set the control which made this exercise relatively understandable.

Spiderman - Upside Down Pose (Working Files)

Spiderman - Side Upside Down Pose (Working Files)

Spiderman - Another Side Upside Down Pose (Working Files)

Walking Cycle - Part 1

Above Video is Part 1 of Walking Cycle exercise, in this exercise i need to animate a few controls by setting Key Frames so that the model will look as if it was walking. This was a 1.5s(36 Fps) Walking Cycle, it was called a Walk Cycle as it was mere a 1.5s video that is being kept on repeat to make it seems like an endless walking. Mr George explain to us that in order to animate something we need to understand it such as when we are walking our head will move up and down, it was never constant. Thus, i need to animate the Pelvis Control so that it is constantly moving up and down like a motion. Mr George also explains that when we are walking our leg and our hand movement are always opposite to keep the balance. Overall it was an relatively understandable exercise as it was being explained to us clearly. Hope to do more in Part 2 Walking Cycle !

Final - Project 1

Final Video (Youtube Link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVCr5xI3bts)

The link above is our final touch up  for Project 1 (Computer Security - Think Before You Click).

For my part (27s - 47s), i am the Main Animator for the team. I animate the Viruses, Anti-Viruses, Crown using Maya by setting Key Frame. One of the scene i had animated was the Virus's King hit a firewall inside the Computer. I implemented the Shatter Effect that i have read up (Previous Blog's Post). However i did not render well as when i nCache the effect, the wall are being shattered before the Virus's King hit it. I think i can improve it by rendering the 1st scene (Before Hit) and then nCache the scene after that.

Another scene was the Anti-Virus's Leader shoot at Virus's King. I add effects that i have learnt in MGE such as the Muzzle and adding Sound Effects in it to make it more realistic that the Anti-Virus's Leader shoots the Virus's King. Both Muzzle and Sound Effects are used similarly for the Anti-Virus Vs Virus scene.

For the other scenes (Anti-Virus's Soilder marching in, Viruses being eliminated, Etc), it is much easier than the previous 2 scenes mention as it make use of simple Maya's Key Frame to animate which i have learnt during IN3D. However to make it much more realistic i have to Key Frame it properly so the Anti-Virus's Soilder march in instead of float in. I had also added "Emotion" to the Viruses such as Viruses being scared when the Anti-Virus's Soilder march in using Maya's Key Frame which make the scene much more realistic.

Problem Faced :

Actually for my scene i intends to use Match Mover, however i think i did not track it like how it was being tracked for the lion. I can't seems to be able to track and after i success tracking the image does not seem to be appearing out in Maya. I have consulted Mr George about the problem but he can't seems to be able to solve it. However Mr George spend few hours staying back and meeting me early to teach me the different alternative methods i could use such as animate using Render View (Which Is very Tedious !). Seeing that i have a hard time doing it Mr George then suggest me to change it to what i had done which is to create Polygon's Plane to act as a Background for the scene instead of doing Match Moving.

What i had learnt ?

Through this Project 1, i have learnt how a video is being made. There will be a team consisting of different Roles such as Animator, Effects, Modeling, etc. We need to Co-operate with each others in order to build up something that is agree by both parties. In a team we must understand each other and help each other, if one does not Co-operate for instance if a Main Modelling does not want to Model this will stop all the work as there will be nothing to animate, texture, etc. So in a team all people is important !

Maya Shatter Effects (Research)

I have a scene that is when the Virus hits the Castle Wall it will shatter however i cant do it in After Effects as i cant target the castle instead it is targeting the whole video. I also cant import Obj files also as my After Effects version is CS4. Hence i researched on Youtube on how to do shatter effect in Maya instead of After Effects. I found this tutorial attached above which taught me how to do up a shatter effect using nCloth and nPassiveCollider. I think this tutorial is clear cut and easy to understand however this effect is not applicable on all laptop as it require a good graphic card. I try to render on my comp a few times and it crash when i try to create nCache. Recalling Mr George once told me that Maya should actually never do in laptop as lots of Maya's stuff require a strong graphic card hence i make a trip down to the school and use the desktop to do this effect and it works. Through this tutorial i learnt how to create a shatter effect using Maya instead of AE.

Production Pipeline.

Detailed Roles Of Team's Members

Ang Zi Chao - Leader, Director, Actor, Main Animator, Sub Modeling, AE

Ruth Yang Shu Min - Writer, After Effects for 1st scene

Loh Wan Jun - Cameraman, Video Compiler, Texture, After Effects for credits

Cher Qiao En - Storyboard, After Effects for last scene and tag line, Sub Modeling

Scarlet - Main Modeling, After Effects for opening scene

Team's Production Pipeline

I (Leader) led the team on brainstorming on ideas for our Project 1.
After deciding the ideas, I led the team on discussing which roles is suitable for who.
The finalize roles of our teams are shown above. 

Ruth (Writer) convert our team ideas into a Story Write-Up
 Qiao En (Storyboard) covert our teams ideas into a Storyboard.
I (Director) researched on the different Camera Shots and Camera Movements
I (Director) directs WanJun (Cameraman) to shoot for both Video Reference and Project.
I (Actor) also acts out in the video.

Scarlet (Main Modeling) starts off by modeling the Virus, Aniti-Virus and Castle Wall.
Upon finish, he passed the files to WanJun (Texture) to start texture for the Models.
Ruth (AE for 1st scene) gets the footages from WanJun and starts to add effects.
QiaoEn (Sub Modeling), starts to model the Anti-Virus hand.
After WanJun have done texturing she pass me the files
 I (Main Animator) starts to animate the Models.
I (Sub Modeling) also model a Crown and add texture into it.
At the same time, Scarlet(After Effects for opening scene)
Qiao En (AE for last scene and tag line) starts to add effects into their respective parts.
WanJun(After Effects for credits) also starts to do up a credit scene.
When im done with the animation,
I(AE) starts to add Sound/Gun's fire using After Effects
After all of us done our parts we sent our AVI to WanJun
where she compile and submit it onto Youtube.

Roles for Project 1

Roles (Project 1)\

Leaders :

I am the team leader in the team. My team consist of (Ruth, WanJun, QiaoEn, Scarlet, Me). I lead the discussion in the team such as the discussion for ideas on what to do for the Project, discussion on who is more suitable on a specific part. Through all this discussion, i finalize the idea of our Project and also the roles of my team members. Scarlet - Main Modeling. Ruth - After Effects for the starting scene. WanJun - After Effects for the credits. QiaoEn - Sub Modeling of Anti-Virus hand and After Effects for the tag line. Me - Main Animator and Sub Modeling.

Director :

I am the director in the team. I leads my team to film for the video reference and also the Project itself. I researched on different types of Camera Shot such as (Close-Up shot, Wide shot, Point-Of-View shot, etc) and also the Camera Movement such as (Pan movement, Dolly-Zoom movement). After research, i direct my team's Cameraman (WanJun) to use what shot/movement for the specific scene. I also discuss with her whether if the shot is appropriate and also listen for her opinions.

Actor :

I am the actor in the team. For our video reference, i act out as a "Computer" to see how a computer react when virus hit on it. As for the Project itself, i act as the "Guy" who feels bored and download illegal game from the internet. Lastly, the same "Guy" who shakes hand with the Anti-Virus in the last scene.

Main Animator :

I am the main animator in the team. In our Project there are parts like Virus attacks the Computer Walls, Anti-Virus marching in, Anti-Virus attacks the Virus, Crown float down. All this scenes are animated by me.

Sub Modeling :

I am also incharge of modeling. I model the Crown which is being awarded to the Anti-Virus's King when the Anti-Virus's King and its team eliminate the Virus. I also added texture and color into the Crown. I chose Blinn as the Crown should be something shining.

After Effects for Anti-Virus Vs Virus scene :

I am also incharge of adding effects using After Effects. In our Project there is scene like where the Anti-Virus shoots missle at the Virus. I have to implement sounds and also Gun's fire into the scene using After Effects to make the scene much more realistic.

Lion with 3D (Human, Zombie)

This was a continued from previous exercise. In this exercise, i incorporated 3D objects into the lion scene. Doing this exercise, i face a few difficulties but i managed to solve most of the difficulties i faced.

 The first difficulties is that when i import the 3D objects in i could not locate them. I seek help from Mr George then realize i need to go to perspective view and adjust the 3D objects infront of the RZ Camera.

The second difficulties is when i imported in, my 3D objects does not have any texture or animation. Mr George then start to teach saying the file images should go to our project images. The data must go into the project data. After doing so, my 3D objects then have both the texture and animation.

The third difficulties is that i need to be very good at adjusting the 3D objects position so that one seems to be infront of the others. However in RZ Camera. i could not rotate around the camera as it is fixed hence i need to keep change the view to perspective and adjust there which is quite tedious.

The fourth difficulties is that my character seem to be "drifting" instead of walking. I understand how to set Keyframe to move the 3D objects forward. However when i animate it, it seems to be drifting however i edited a few times before getting a "Some-how close" video attached above.

The last difficulties i faced is the same as previous, my video is still in black and white, i have tried Google-ing but to no avail. I will seek help from my friends or Mr George on the following school day.

Lion

In this exercise, i learn how to Matchmove. I learn how to convert from pictures to frames. Which end up forming the video attached above. Firstly, i load a image sequence from the 51 lion pictures setting lower field first. After i load the sequence, i can start to play the video from the start, reverse or even Ping Pong.

Secondly, after i load the image sequence i have to do an automatic tracking (Press 2D Tracking then Automatic tracking). After i done the automatic tracking, green marking can be seen throughout the video. I also found out that also in Matchmover when the top right show 2D actually you are in the 3D view and not 2D, Vice-Versa.

Thirdly, after i have done the automatic tracking i have to do a 3D render. After rendering, i can see blue cone throughout the video which Mr George said that is what we should be seeing after it is render correctly.

Lastly, i batch render it to become AVI which become the video above. However i do not know how to batch render at first as i cant see my video then i check out this tutorial
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nZJZpzv39o) then realize that i have to change the render setting to AVI. But after render then i realize that my video is in black and white. I will try to solve if i can.

In my next Blog's post i will be incorporating 3D objects into it.

Lab 3 - 7 Rules of Matchmove

Q3 : 7 Rules of Matchmove

Rule 1 : There has to be something to track

For rule 1, in order to matchmove there must be something to track.

Rule 2 : We have to track things at different depths

For rule 2, in order to have a good matchmove we must have different depths.

Perspective will become clearer if things are place in different depths.

Rule 3 : We have to get Helper Frames

With rule 3, it will help the computer to see better.

Take at least 10 different pictures in different angles.

Rule 4 : A little bit of foreground makes a better matchmove

For rule 3, in order to have a better matchmove we should add in some foreground.

Things that is place nearer to the cam is 100x bigger.

Foreground reveal cam position more accurately than anything else.

Rule 5 : We cant track anything that moves

Every things must be static. Everything that move need to be mask out.

Rule 6 : You cant have too much foreground

We lose all the markers if there is too much foreground.

Too much foreground will wash out everything we are tracking.

Rule 7 : You have to get a Scale Reference

Measure distance between 2 points that we want it to be track.

With this 7 rules apply, if will contribute to a successful match moving.