NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 2 - Synoptic Project - animation and overview

In our synoptic project I created all of the scenes (models and setups), most of the lighting effects, I found and used many of the textures and I animated multiple scenes. Because of this, over the course of the Synoptic project, I have learnt many things. I have learnt how to adequately light a scene, I have learnt how to animate using a rig and I have learnt how to increase the efficiency of a scene.

Over the course of the synoptic project there have been many times that things did and didn't go well.

During the Pre-Production I gathered relative information for the synoptic project by researching different animations of a similar narrative and observing the structure of their narratives.
This then led to the three of us deciding on a series of events the story would follow. Once the structure and flow of the story was agreed upon, as a group we began creating different concept arts for each of the anticipated scenes. These scenes accumulated as a forest, field of flowers, play-park, autumn forest, snow forest and a misty deforested area; these areas were then merged together to create the storyboard. The storyboard was created by me while I was instructed by my team on what the events should look like. However, the storyboard was expanded upon later due to some aspects being changed due to the time left and the difficulty of making certain items (eg: the dog).

Meanwhile, across the entirety of the synoptic project, our group used both a shared Google Drive and Trello table in order to maintain connection between each of us and to connect our work effort together for efficiency purposes. This then allowed us to each edit and compile all the work needed, proving to be extremely useful.

The Trello table was used to give each team member tasks as well as maintain an order of task completion and to record what did and didn't need to be completed.
The Google Drive was also used as a way of maintaining order of tasks alongside data sharing, however not to the same extent.

During the Production phase I made the trees including alternate varieties. I also created each of the scene set-ups (positioning). I made most of the textures including all of the flowers. I optimized the positioning of backgrounds and planes. I edited it to add bumps, sticks, grass etc to add to the realistic appearance of some scenes. Also during the production phase, we had issues with attempting to create seamless textures however we did well because we eventually did manage to get detailed textures that were seamless (despite some flaws) and managed to incorporate them successfully.
We also created bump mappings for each texture and added them to the video.

Once the modelling and texturing was mostly complete, I began working on efficiency. For example, previously I had modeled all the flowers, trees etc and this slowed the program down, so we decide to take each type of tree into another scene and render it. Then we turned that render into a texture, we added it to a collection of single poly planes and added an alpha to each one. I also reduced the number of flowers because they were slowing the scene down, making rendering more difficult. We made some backgrounds into planes, for example the snow scene has a large plane as a mountain background, rather than making a mountain, which would have been to time consuming and would have slowed the scene down.

If I could improve the modelling further I would remove more of the models and replace them with more planes, this is because it would make it much easier to render and allow our group to create a more stylized approach.
We had issues with the lighting exposure and getting lighting on scenes to be a similar or look the same way. Lighting went well because we managed to fix the exposure errors and maintain a directional light setting. Also we used god rays to show the light narrowly piercing through the trees.

During the post-production I was assigned to do most, if not all, of the post production work on the synoptic project. I worked on all the sound and was the one to piece the video together. Unfortunately my team mates gave me the files needed later than expected. This forced me to be unable to add sound to the a majority of the video and forced me to use non-rendered play-blasts in the video.

Things didn't go entirely well with the post-production. However, midway through creating the video the computer I was using crashed without a recent save. This has taught me to always save regularly. The video was eventually completed but at a lower quality than I would have liked.

While at this point in time the video is not finalized I believe that the video is good. However, it could be improved with more time and would end up looking much better than it's previous version.
When the video is completely finished I would like the sound and rendering, at least, to be completed.

In the future, I would like to learn how to animate more effectively and how to rig models in Maya. This would be exponentially helpful and would allow me to do better on future projects.

In conclusion, I believe that we did well on our synoptic project because of the effort and animations created. If I could improve upon the synoptic project I would edited my animations to be more fluent and to make the lighting of different scenes that lead into each-other into the same form of lighting.

The Animation can be found at

https://youtu.be/iPpWDTGVfPg

NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 2 - Synoptic Project - Risk assessment

During year 2 we were tasked with creating a risk assessment based on the animation industry hazards and risks. It also could include how to use control measures to lower their risks.

My risk assessment is shown bellow.

I believe I did well on my risk assessment because of the different forms of hazards and their control methods. Despite this, I believe that I could have improved the risk assessment more if I had structured the level of risk more effectively and if I added more hazards or potential risks.

Bellow is an example of the industry standard of risk assessments in the animation industry.

BBC academy how to do a risk assessment "http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zg6xk2p"

NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 2 - Agile and Scrum methodologies

Agile is a development methodology based on iterative (repetition of processes) and incremental (focused scale) approach. Agile mostly centers around four main focuses, including: individuals and interactions, working software, customer collaboration and response to change.

Scrum is one of many implimentations of Agile Methodology. The scrum method is creating incremental builds that can be delivered to the customer in a two to three week time period, so as to show the progress of the project and to receive feedback as well as any changes that are wanted by the client.
Scrum is ideally used in the project where its requirement rapidly changes.

NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 2 - story-boarding and play-boarding

Storyboards and playboards are similar but have many differences that distinguish them from one-another.

Storyboards are mainly used for animation and films as there is only one main story that follows through in a planned, sequenced order.
Storyboards often consist of images and words describing the story with arrows: showing movement/ action and camera movement (zooming, panning, etc). Storyboards will also likely have written dialogue to show what is happening in more detail.

An example of a Storyboard:

Playboards on the other hand are more commonly used in videogames and are sometimes used in animation, however sparingly.
Playboards often are pictures of a game level (or animation scene) in a 2D or 3D scene at different camera angles, such as first or third person. However, this is not always the case and they can often be represented in flowchart form.

Playboards, alongside storyboards, include arrows that are used to depict the movement of the playable character and the outcomes of the movement.

Examples of Playboards:

Dickson Matty (November 20, 2018) The difference between Playboards and Storyboards!. Available at "https://matthewdicksonsite.wordpress.com/2018/11/20/the-difference-between-playboards-and-storyboards/" Last accessed (08/06/2019).  (Mario playboard)



Google Documents (Undisclosed) Playboarding and Storyboarding. Available at "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J_EdY_B9Z8R4nXGy3uoexz1IwMhiKXlSsXra2iDXy0s/edit" Last accessed (08/06/2019).   (flowchart)

NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 2 - Diagetic and non-Diagetic sounds

Diagetic sounds are noises that have a source on-screen or in the scene. These noises are not edited in due to the setting producing them, examples of Diagetic sound include:

• Characters talking to each other (dialogue/ speech)
• Foot steps
• Sound effects (birds chirping)
• Ambient sounds (passing cars)

Another term for Diagetic sound is actual sound.

Non Diagetic sounds are noises that do not have a source on screen or in the scene because they have been added in, examples of non-Diagetic sound include:

• Inner monologue
• Voice over/ narration
• Additional music
• Contrapuntal sound (sounds that do not easily match the image they are accompanying)

NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 2 - Alien Body

At the beginning of year 2 we were tasked with (over the course of the year) creating an alien using quad drawing techniques. For my alien I created multiple different drafts, however in the end I based it around a mix between a xenomorph (from Alien) and a Tyranid (from Warhammer). This led to an introcut but interesting design.

First I started by creating the alien's head (see other blog post) by creating an elongated head in Mudbox, adding details to make it appear with a more xenomorphic look before then quad drawing, bump mapping and texturing it.

Eventually, after I had completed the alien's head I moved onto the alien's body. I created it by taking a multitude of different shapes and positioning them in order to make the appearance that I wanted. I made the model in Maya and then imported it into Mudbox. I sculpted it at a higher poly count to add a higher multitude of detail.

Once I had completed the alien's body I retopologised it and re-imported it back into Maya. Despite the fact that I retopologised it, it still had an incredibly large poly count and made it significantly harder to quad draw. Also, in preperation for quad drawing I decided to remove the alien body's tail temporarily while I completed the quad draw.
Next, I began the quad draw by converting the alien body into a "Live" object and activated the quad draw tool. At first the quad draw had no issues and went incredibly smoothly. However, when the poly count began to rise, it slowly caused more and more lag until the quad draw began to become extremely difficult. While I tried to rectify this, it proved to be too difficult to fix within the time constraints that I had. Therefore, I decided to find a quicker and easier way to lower the model's poly count.


After fiddiling with many different settings and tools, I found the "reduce" function under the "mesh" tab in the modeling section. This was extremely useful as it allowed me to immedately lower the number of polys that were slowing the application down and allowed me to have completed much of the work that would have taken much longer if I had carried on with the quad drawing. On the other hand, this caused another issue as I could not mirror the object without running into difficulties. This was also eventually fixed when I bridged each of the individual models together and murged their virticies.

 Despite the set-backs, the final model looked very good, but I still needed to add textures to the model. I did this by taking royalty free textures from the internet and adjusting them to appear as alien like textures. This lead to the creation of two armour-like scales, one bonelike texture used on the sword arms and two sets of alien flesh textures. I also created a bump map for each texture in order to add more of a 3D affect and increase its detail.

Once the textures had been completed, I added them to the model. I then used any deformity within the texture to find and fix any problems with the UV mapping of the model.

Now that the texturing of the body was done, I decided to add the body's tail back and then imported the low poly alien head into the scene. This allowed me to position it on top of the alien body and begin editing the heads UV mapping, in order to make the head easier to work with.

I first started by creating a planar UV map for the alien head, then cutting the UV down the middle and moving the UV shells next to one another. This allowed me to texture each half of the face more easily.

Once the UV mapping was finished I imported the bump map I had created for the alien head. This allowed the head to retain its detail and new textures.

Then, I created a mix between each texture in photoshop, correlating to the new UV mapping. This allowed me to have all three textures while also keeping the previous bump map.

Next, I created a new bump map that was the original alien head's bump map with a faint overlay of other bump maps for each texture. This allowed me to use all the bump maps needed and to also lower their effect so that it wouldn't overpower the original bump map.

Finally, I added the textures and new bump map together, giving the same style as the rest of the body.

In conclusion, I believe that despite my troubles in creating it, my final model is very good. If I had more time I would have created the textures more closely related to my original design. If I could change anything, I would have used the reduce function much earlier than I originally did.

NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 2 Project - "Truck"

At the beginning of year 2 we were tasked with (over the course of the year) creating a car based off of a Hot Wheels vehicle that was provided to each student (different for each person).

I began this task by creating a template for the model in Adobe Illustrator and importing it into Maya. I used this to create the outer template and to help position different segments of the model at the correct placements.

First I created the front bumper, base and wheels, this then allowed me to move onto the main frame and the open pickup part of the truck. This then led to me being able to create over arching parts over the wheels, as wheel-hubs.

Once this was finished I began working on the main frame over the driver's seat and added more detail to the wheel frames and bonnet.

Eventually, when I was happy with the appearance of the car I began quad drawing the car in order to link each of the sections of the car together, as well as fixing any topology errors that were causing issues.

The quad draw was made on the right hand side of the car and was used to create the highest quality model whilst also keeping the model at a lower poly count in order to avoid creating issues down the line.


When I had completed the quad draw, I mirrored the mesh, then combined and bridged the meshes together to create a single car mesh.

Then I used the new mesh to create some minor changes to the front hood. I did this by selecting the faces on top of the hood and moving them outwards to create an extruding surface.


I then selected faces at the front of the hood and moved them outwards to create another external surface to show the small indents and features on the original Hot Wheels vehicle.

Finally I began working on the model's UV mapping in order to add textures. This was relatively easy as the car had many protruding and seperately textured points.

Once UV mapping was out of the way, I began creating textures resembling the same colours and patterns as the original Hot Wheels car. This included creating sticker like flame patterns on the sides, doors and hood, as well as creating metalic glitter-like blue for the over arching colour. I also added a black plastic texture to the pickup truck's back and interior surfaces.

Lastly, I fixed any errors with UV mapping that I had missed. This improved the appearance of the textures that had been placed onto the car, alongside creating a more universal pattern for the blue texture.


In conclusion, I believe that I did well on this assignment due to the close resemblance to the original vehicle and the final outcome of detail on the car. However, if I had more time on the task I would improve the UV mapping further and I would add more detail to the interior rather than just the exterior body panels that are noticeable.

NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 2 - Synoptic Project pipeline

During the last few weeks of Year 2 we were tasked with creating pipelines for the three industries, videogame development, Vfx and 3D animation. I did this by, firstly, creating a list of activities/ steps that are important to the industries, then I colour coded each part to resemble a section of each flowchart (eg: pre-production, production, and post-production).

For my first flowchart I decided to base the Animation industry pipeline on the way my synoptic project team decided to enact on our synoptic project. This meant that it would first start with the creation of a story or series of events set to take place, then it would branch out and lead to character designs and storyboards before carrying onto the next section. Each section was interconnected and arrows were placed to show a steady path of movement and to show what section interconnected with eachother.

For my second set of flowcharts, I decided to segment different flowcharts for each section of production. While this worked well it was time consuming and I later decided to revert towards the older style for the Vfx flowchart. The first flowchart made out of the videogame section was the pre-production phase, starting with the concept idea and ending with prototype models and animatics. I also decided to colour co-ordinate around what function the steps had.

The seccond phase (production) was set up similarly to the previous flowchart with function coloured instead of section. This flowchart began with modeling and ended with the begining/hosting of the application/game (earlier version of the final product).

The Third phase (post-production) showed the setup of servers and initial testing before then moving onto the final product and maintinace of the game. Again, this was set up similarly to the previous two flowcharts.

For my final flowchart, I decided to go back to the original design of my flowcharts and segmented the flowchart by section, this worked well because it lowered the amount of time spent and allowed me to simplify the flowchart more easily. On the other hand, this flowchart is much more clustered than others and could be improved upon by increasing the space between each step.

I believe I did well on this task due to the number of tasks already set, time left to complete it and also due to the setup of each flowchart. However, that being said it is hard to recognise where the flowcharts initially start due to my personal error of forgeting to correctly label the start and end with respective circular symbols.