Unit 33 Stop Motion Animation Diary Of Progress

Unit 33

Stop Motion Animation

Diary Of Progress: Adam Brocklesby

13th October

today i started generating ideas for my animation idea, i have already decided that it shall be a Plasticine stop motion animation but i struggled to come up with an idea, the ideas were

1. A morph parody involving breaking the fourth wall and generally making fun of the canon content we're parodying,

2. A Lurpack advert spoof where the character i create gets in a fight with the Lurpack man for playing his trombone all the time.

3. A dockside setting where thy try and tow a ship into the port but end up sinking both it and themselves.

4. a space setting where an alien kid is pestering his dad until he turns around the ship from the planet they were going to destroy, revealed at the end to be earth.

in the end i decided going with the morph parody would be the best idea as i had a clear idea of where to go with it and had settings and props easily available for it, as art supplies and any random room would ad to the feeling i am going to try and get across.


16th October
today i made a start on the storyboard for my animation project. It is hand drawn and uncoloured like all storyboards, although now i have started it i realise that aside from the things i have already thought of i still have a lot to do, such as the bits in-between what i have already thought of, seeing as i have until next month until its due i feel i will be able to leave it for a while.


18th October
today i started working on my script for my animation project, using the things i have learnt through my years in college and self teaching i knew what text to write it in and how it should be laid out, figuring out what they could say for a short was difficult, as i had no idea what the actual duration would be until we get behind the microphone, i managed to get it done today, although some improvisations may have to be made if there's either not enough or too much.

20th October
today i started working on the paperwork that would have to be handed in alongside my work, including an audience evaluation and who my animation will be aimed at, also started today was my Generation of production ideas, basically this meant looking at possible outcomes still going along the ideas of the story line i have chosen, such as different backdrops, different reactions, lights, cameras, frame-rates and settings, when that was done i then looked at possible formats, i was shocked at the wide range of formats available to me even though i thought i had already chosen. but i soon found the one right for me.

25th October
completed another page of my storyboard and worked more on my documents

26th October
completed another page of my storyboard and worked more on my documents

3rd November

today i made my models from Plasticine and got ready to animate them, i sculpted them by hand and by a pair of scissors and then set them up in the room i was to be taking the photo's in along with props and lights, this took all day as i wanted to insure my models were of the highest quality i could manage, then when i got home i was able to finish my storyboard, but i must come in on Tuesday as well to start animating.

4th November

today i came in to college to start animating, usually i despise coming in on a day off and today was no different, i managed to get the majority done but had to leave in order to catch the last bus or's i would have been stranded.

5th November

today i had the whole afternoon to get my photo's done but again i had to hurry towards the end to get the pictures i had taken on the computer, then the memory sticks so i could get them home to edit the next day, which is a day off so i have all day to edit them and arrange them into clips.

6th November

after editing 104 pictures yesterday i still had around 200 left to do, it took me a good few hour's but then made them into the clips i was to use for my animation, it took a while longer than i was expecting but then i was able to put them on my hard-drive, this got stressfull as the computer decidd to play up but i eventually managed to get them done.

7th November

today as i had not much work to do i was able to make a good start on my animation project in martins class, thankfully Shane told up the deadline was Monday instead of today so i had more time which was needed, so i had nothing to do until Monday.

10th November

today after much hardship and audio mixing i managed to finish editing my animation, now all thats left to do is upload it to moodle along with everything else.

Task 5: Stuff For Chris

3D
Lighting
lighting in maya is done by adding either a light or a spotlight and then pointing it at the model, the spotlight simpoley points a beam of light at the modle and lights up one part (side) of it, while the normal light illuminates in all directions and when place in the center of the model can give it the apearance of glowing,

Textures
textures in maya simply means colours and patterns added to the model or different parts of it, such as wings or legs can be red and rams or engines can be grey, these are added through the use of lamberts and UV's. patterns and already made designs can be downloaded from the internet or made yourself on photoshop and over such programs.

Fogging
fog can be used to portray weather or make for an earie onomous feel to a setting, such as silent hill, this can also be used in shadow


Constrictions
Polygon count
the polygon count is an important matter in maya and 3d moeling and does tend to get away from you using excessive amounts when it comes to complex shapes or things such as spheres, this can increase memory consumption and render time, this means that this can be a major problem and computers with extensive memory and only files for 3D modeling have to be used when creating something such as a 3d modeled movie such as the popular dreamworks movie 'Shrek', or Disneys 'Finding Nemo' or even cbbc TV shows like 'BAMZOOKIE'.

File size
the file size to any project never mind 3D or maya can be a problem, but 3D and maya are where it comes into the spotlight most often, 3D models depending on the complexity can lead to a very large file size that could drain the entire computetrs maemory and lead to extremely slow running times, so maybe deleting unecasey files would help or a backup hard-drive.

Render time
render time is one of the longest things to do if you leave it to the end, its only a matter of pressing the 'Enter' button and waiting for it to compute and process what you have done so far, the longer the intervals between rendering times the longer it takes for it to render, rendering frequently will cut down on this time and make the program run smoother as an added bonus although it is sometimes easy to forget if you get wrapped up in your work.



Uses Of 3D Modeling
Models + Animation
models can be used in simulations like in flight simulators or space flight simulators such as the ones used in training exersizes, also they are used quite often in games such as fligtht simulationb games made for PC. another usde is trying to creat a simulated presentation of what might happen to something if you put in certain co-ordinates. like many different5 gaqmes on the intyernet or military invention testing.

TV & Film
while 3d modeling isnt that common within TV shos a few have managed to pull it off such as 'The Penguins Of Madagascar' by Nickelodion and 'The Producers' by Aardman Animations. but the most successful by far is its usage in films, in Pixar/Disney films such as 'Shrek', 'Madagascar', 'Toy Story' and 'Monsters Inc'.

Web
3D Modeling has a great many uses on the internet such as web or industry logo's and online games as well as PC games that connect with the internet. also, little cartoons made with 3d models can prove to sometimes be popular over video sharing sites such as Youtube, Dailymotion or Atom. such as the semi-popular cartoon creation program online where you get two 3d characters and a series of motions for ytou to select and with them you can make your own cartoons, albeit there not great but its still an acheivement.

Games
3d modelling is the most commonly used today in video games for almost every game consol today such as x-box and playstation. in fact amost every console game that has came out since 2000 has used 3d imagery and modeling for its scenes, images, characters and settings. the popular games Skyrim, Halo and Grand Theft Auto.

Education
another main use for 3d modeling is its applications when it comes to the animation sector and educating the young in not just 3d modeling but alo other sector and curiculum classes, such as mathmatics game using differint 3d shapes to help kids work out the area's. like in the online games on Coolmaths.com

Task 4: 3D Model Construction

Primatives and surfaces
these are the shapes and what you create in 3d modeling, you can create youre own or use the ones that come ready made, this is more practical as you can shape and resise these to fit your needs anyway so its really just the simpler option. below are examples of these ready made shapes.

Cube
the cube is an extremely basic shape in maya but with the use of modelling, contorting and making several other cubes that can attach to the first shape.

Sphere
this is a more complex task for 3D modeling, a perfect sphere from which can be moulded wheels and hemispheres and all sorts of rounded objects

Cylinder
this can have a large assortment of uses, for exapmle the can be morphed and formed into useful shapes, an exapmle is when I made a spitfire and for the fusalodge I used a basic cylinder, then morphed it until it was the right shape.

N.U.R.B.S.
when you make lines and join them together rather than making and using basic shapes like the above, but this is much harder to do than what I just said above so often its best just to go with these shapes and conjoin and morph them to get the shape your after.

Sub Object
Vertices
vertices are basically the co-ordinates for the shape in the space you are drawing, complete zero for each one would put it in the dead center of the drawing feild, there are 3 co-ordinates, X, Y and Z, each one acounting for how far forward, how far to the side and how high it goes.

Lines
lines are straight and they connect the vertices together and hold it, without them there would be no shape at all, much like the steel supports of any house you see.

Curves
curves are also sort of lines only because they curve they are classified as diffeertn but you need there in order to make circles or spheres, if you look closely you could see that they actually made up off lots of straight lines at different angles.

Edges
edges are the lines at the end of the shape, say if there was a cube then the 12 lines that made up that shape would be the edges, and all the other lines running through the faces would just be lines

Polygons
polygones are the name for the faces in a conjoined manner, such as the amount of different faces that have been made when lines close off a shape and make a face.

Elements
basically this means things like fire, water, wind, ect, all sorts of things that can make a scenic background that you've created look more realistic if you had say a lake of water or some wind in the trees.

Faces
faces are the flat plains made when several lines or curves close off on themselves and form a shape, this is what fills that shape and makes it non-see-through. they can bend and contort to match the shape the lines and curves set out for it,

Meshes


Wire Frame
the wire frame is the outline of any 3d shape before you add the faces to fill in the grid, like the wire frame of a paper mache model or like the steel girders inside every building.

Two Dimentional
two dimention view is when after pressing the space bar you get a choice of four view, the one you start with, or directly above, directly from the front, or directly from the side, this makes them look 2d in the last 3, you can either have all four views together so you can see what you doing from all angles or you can hover the mouse over one and hit space again and that will become the main view.

Three Dimentional
three dimention view is the view you start with, it allows you to rotate and move the camera view around through use of the ALT button and the three buttons on the mouse, rotating, moving and zooming, this alows a clear view of what your doing but is rather difficult when trying to make a shape fit an outline, so then its best to use the four views method as shown above.

Co-ordinate Geometry
there are 3 co-ordinates when it comes to moving around in maya, X, Y and Z, each one is 'side to side', 'forward and backwards' and 'up and down'


Modeling Techniques
Box
box modeling is where you use basic shapes like boxs, rectangles and tringles to make a outline of your basic shape and then edit it, this is used often in art and design so it makes sence its usage would also spread to here as well.

Extrusion
Extrusion is the primary means of adding additional geometry to a mesh in Maya. It can be used on either faces or edges, and can be accessed at Mesh - Extrude, or by pressing the extrude icon in the polygon shelf at the top of the viewport, which looks like a 2x3 square grid with a box sitting on it.

Spline
splines are good for making things such as hair and wires and other such objects, just make a nurbs cirlce, make a nurbs curve for the path of your shape, then extrude the circle along the curve. You'll then be able to move the shape wherever you want by moving points on the original nurbs curve.

Task 3: How 3D Models are Displayed

API
API (Application programming interface) is what tells different softwares just how to react to each other and work with each other,
not only that but it enables some computers to show graphics such as pictures and videos, in many cases it comes in the form of a kind of library and holds specific specifications for things like routines, data structures, object classes and variables, its basically the main controller or processor, everything you do in a programm, game or a picture, it all has to go through the 'Application Programming Interface' before its shown on the screen (monitor).



''In addition to accessing databases or computer hardware, such as hard disk drives or video cards, an API can be used to ease the work of programming graphical user interface components. In practice, many times an API comes in the form of a library that includes specifications for routines, data structures, object classes, and variables. In some other cases, notably for SOAP and REST services, an API comes as just a specification of remote calls exposed to the API consumers.''

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_programming_interface


Sub Objects
Vertices
vertices are basically the co-ordinates for the shape in the space you are drawing, complete zero for each one would put it in the dead center of the drawing feild, there are 3 co-ordinates, X, Y and Z, each one acounting for how far forward, how far to the side and how high it goes.

Lines
lines are straight and they connect the vertices together and hold it, without them there would be no shape at all

Curves
curves are also sort of lines only because they curve they are classified as diffeertn but you need there in order to make circles or spheres, if you look closely you could see that they actually made up off lots of straight lines at different angles.

Edges
edges are the lines at the end of the shape, say if there was a cube then the 12 lines that made up that shape would be the edges, and all the other lines running through the faces would just be lines

Polygons
polygones are the name for the faces in a conjoined manner, such as the amount of different faces that have been made when lines close off a shape and make a face.

Elements
basically this means things like fire, water, wind, ect, all sorts of things that can make a scenic background that you've created look more realistic if you had say a lake of water or some wind in the trees.

Faces
faces are the flat plains made when several lines or curves close off on themselves and form a shape, this is what fills that shape and makes it non-see-through. they can bend and contort to match the shape the lines and curves set out for it,

Graphics Pipeline
the graphics pipeline is what turns the 3D model you have created into what the computer displays, coinciding with the 'Application Programming Interface'

Task 2: “3D use by the interactive media and computer games industry”

while 3d can be used in in cartoons it isnt much because it takles away the humour from thingts that would be funny otherwise, not all the time mind, there are times where its made some genually funny moments, such as in the film horton hears a who, but thats becaus eit was well made and also looked 2d at times, but when you see the usual standard of 3d animation it just dosnt do much to raise even a chuckle. in my opinion its either real life or 2d, unless that 3d is plastacine, such as in aardman cartoons where they use pl
astacine to animate dthere most famouse cartoon wallace and gromit, but when they tried to have a go with 3d computer animation and made a film (flushed away) it was a tremendous hit and made some actually really funny moments, but that was because they kept there style which they usually had in plastacine and re-did it in computer animation.