NEXT-GEN Nescot week 16 - 3D animation storyboard (Exploratory vehicle)

During week 16 we were tasked with using our exploratory vehicles to create a short animation in Maya. For this task, I created an animation storyboard of the spaceship to give an idea as to how I would map out the movement of the spaceship and minor background animations. These were used to give an extensive appearance to the spacecraft, however in the final build they are hard to notice.

Draft concept of the animation can be seen below

 

After putting the stroryboard together, I created the animation of the spaceship with a blank background to plot the movement and appearance of the animation. I then animated the jet engines to rotate in the opposite direction of the ships movement to make it look more like it was propelling the ship. I also animated the jet engine's fire to move slightly during the animation depending on the speed of the ship. This was done by using the storyboard for inspiration and as a directional source for the animation to follow.

Animation draft can be seen below

Overall I believe I did well on this assignment because the animation of the spaceship closely resembles the storyboard and has a smooth and easy to see movement pattern. On the other hand, I believe that I could have improved on this animation by adding a rigged character and making them get out of the spaceship after it landed.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 15 - VFX/shoot photos

During week 15 we were tasked with creating a Vfx robot video, for this video we (as a class) were featured as background characters running from the robot.

While we were filming this we were using two different cameras, one of these was a video camera while the other was a 360 degrees (angle) camera.

Firstly, we used the video camera with a "distortion grid" which calibrated the camera to have no glitches or odd shapes within it's imagery. We then used this camera to take the videos of each shot.

Then we used the 360 degrees (angle) camera to take a picture of the surrounding area to be used as a mapping in Maya to show the movement of the robot.

Finally, we added the videos into Premier-Pro and added any rotoscoping needed for the shots in NukeX.
 
Overall I believe that the filming of the final product went well, but our co-ordination as a group during the filming could have been improved upon.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 15 - VFX/Pre-production

During week 15 we were tasked with creating a Vfx robot video, during this time I created some pre-production documents to describe what I would do (or have done).

                                                           Shot List

I used a shot list to prioritize the different sections and shots for my Vfx robot and editing of the scenes. I did this by separating the shots that need Vfx from the shots that don't need Vfx, then I gave a description of each shot.

Scene	Shot	Movement	INT/EXT	Time of day	Shot Description	VFX
1	1	None	EXT	Morning	Student stands listening to music.	n/a
1	2	None	EXT	Morning	Student gets a message and looks at it	Phone screen
1	3	None	EXT	Morning	Student shrugs	n/a
1	4	None	EXT	Morning	Student swipes message away	Phone screen
1	5	Pan	EXT	Morning	Students run from robot	Giant robot
1	6	None	EXT	Morning	Dnf (did not finish)	Giant robot/guy vaporised
1	7	none	EXT	Morning	Dnf (did not finish)	Static

FILM PRODUCTION RISK ASSESSMENT

Hazard	Persons who may be harmed	Property which may be damaged	Risk controls already in place	Risk Assessment (LOW, MODERATE, HIGH, EXTREME)	Further action required to control risk
Falling over while running.	Student (one running).	Phone/ items in bag	Option to leave bag behind the camera to avoid dropping it.	Moderate.	n/a
Knocking over camera.	Student/teacher (cameraman).	camera	Camera is on a large tripod with a handle to move the sight of the camera.	Low.	n/a
Collision between runners.	students	Phone/ items in bag	Option to leave bag behind the camera to avoid dropping it.	low	n/a

During the assignment we were tasked with creating a risk assessment to show the different hazards while filming the videos for our Vfx video. This allowed us to show the risks and ways of avoiding them while also showing the possible consequences of each one.

                                                        Gantt Chart

I also used a Gantt chart to create a schedule for my Vfx project, this allowed me to designate time to do specific things for my Vfx project and show the duration of each segment of the project at the same time.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 15 - VFX/Shooting the videos

During week fifteen we were tasked with creating a Vfx project of a robot invasion. For this project, the class was used as background characters (to run away from the robot and build up to the robot) in the project.

The first shot showed a classmate on their phone before receiving a message, telling them to "get out". In reality the phone was turned off and was used to add a rotoscope on-top of the (blank) phone screen. The scene shooting went well because the lighting and weather was good on the day of the video, however, later on in the day the lighting began to fade and it became very cloudy towards the afternoon.

The original video of the phone can be seen below.

After rotoscoping the phone, I rotoscoped the model of the robot into the final scene (when the class ran from the robot). The scene shooting went well because of the final video is very good and blends well with the robot I later added, however, the co-ordination of the class during the shot wasn't entirely clear and needed multiple re-takes due to wrong timing and unplanned actions.

Overall I believe that the filming of the final product went well, but the co-ordination during the filming could have been improved upon.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 9 - (Toxic Jungle)

During week 9 we were tasked with creating a scene drawing of a "Toxic Jungle" where humanity has fallen to the new elements of the new world. I started this task by creating a character and scene draft, I then began to improve upon my ideas by basing the scene in front of Big Ben, and creating a draft idea of a monster battle that was interpenetrated into the final creation.

(Scene draft can be seen below)

My monster draft consisted of a large dog-like creature pouncing at the character from one of my previous drafts. I began by creating the head and arms of the monster before adding a fur line down it's back and blood on its teeth and claws.

Next I created a drawing of the final image that showed Big Ben and Tower Bridge in the background alongside some generic buildings and skyscrapers. I also added a series of spiders across the mid-ground and one behind the character to show a sense of danger.

I then created a completed version of the draft monster and added it to the mid-ground. This scenario is slightly different where the monster has killed another monster, this then shows the monster moving towards the body to eat.  

Finally, I added colour to the final creation. I did this by adding shrubbery and grass/moss to the background and mid-ground and adding a moss-like and urban series of colours to both the leaves and a more concrete series of colours for the buildings and bridge.
For Big Ben I used a select amount of colours to make it appear as closely in colour to the real monument.

Overall I believe I did very well, however, if I could improve upon this task I would have added more creatures and background scenes.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 16 - Animation exploratory vehicle

During week 16 we were tasked with using our exploratory vehicles to create a short animation in Maya. Firstly, I created the animation of the spaceship with a blank background to plot the movement and appearance of the animation, I then animated the jet engines to rotate in the opposite direction of the ships movement to make it look more like it was propelling the ship. I also animated the jet engine's fire to move slightly during the animation depending on the speed of the ship.

This draft can be seen bellow

Secondly, I added a (non-textured) background of a large assortment of cubes to give the appearance of buildings and I used a (non-textured) plane to appear as a landing area for the spaceship.

Thirdly, I added a textures to the background (large assortment of cubes), this then allowed them to actually look more like buildings. I also textured the plane and created a small landing pad for the spaceship. I then added an image into the background behind the buildings to show that the animation is in space. I did this by texturing a plane with an image of a space background.

Finally, I added glowing textures to the fire and added blue lights (glow textured cubes) to the buildings in the background and landing pad. I also added textured cubes in the foreground to appear as close-up buildings.

I believe that I did well in this task with the animation of the spaceship and background, however, I believe that I could have improved on this animation by adding a rigged character and improving the textures I used for the background buildings.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 15 - Vfx

During week 15, we were tasked with creating a video with the rest of the class which involves a large VFX (visual effects) monster attacking Nescot college.

The video can be seen below.

Firstly, we had the whole class appear in a video where we ran away form a monster/robot, then we were tasked with creating the robot/monster in MAYA so that we could model and animate it. For this, (in Maya) I used two spheres for the robot's head and body before extruding parts of the body and head to make the appearance of imprints and patterns over the top of the robot. After doing this I added items to the face sides of the head in order to create a menacing look.

Secondly, we were tasked with creating a tracker in "Nuke X" to add the image of a phone screen over the top of the (blank) phone. I started by using photoshop to create a phone screen and used it on the first shot of the phone. Then I used "adobe animate" to animate the text message getting swiped away and added that to the second shot of the phone. After this I roto-ed the thumb to appear on top of the screen so that the thumb would swipe upwards.

Thirdly, I created another Maya project and imported the robot from my previous project. After this I began adding a camera and video background to the scene, before then animating over the top of it with the robot.

Once I had finished animating the robot, I imported the robot into Nuke X and roto-ed the buidings in the scene. This allowed the robot to appear behind the buildings and emerge from behind them. Finally, I added each of the edited scenes into the final video which is shown above.

Overall I believe that I did well on this project because the final video plays smoothly, however, I would improve this by increasing the level of detail used on both the robot and the phone screen.