ericdingthesis

[ericdingthesis]

Pitch/Pre Visualization Near the End of the First Semester

So there are only a few weeks left of the first semester how much have I accomplished?  

I’ve spent a lot of November try to decide whether I should extend my thesis or not. I was unsure about my progress and whether I had enough time to produce a completed and amazing project. The main difference between my undergrad Senior Design Project and my Master’s Thesis to me is simply that there needs to be an enhanced quality and documentation. 

As I worked on my first prototype, my pitchvisualization, I came to the realization that I didn’t really like this script, and went back to the drawing board. Fortunately for me, a few things came together that really helped accelerate the process this time around.

With a lot of discussion between the head of IDM, Scott Fitzgerald, my counselor, Eric Maiello, my thesis instructor, Dan Taeyoung, and the information I gained from Todd, I moved forward deciding to just finish thesis on schedule.

Having less time actually makes it easier for me to make a decision on what I should do and what I don’t want.

On top of that, I finally got my thesis project advisor assigned to me, and I got Todd Bryant, who’s work directly applies to the field I’m trying to learn from. I got some great feedback and asked a lot of questions, and he told me one of the strengths of virtual production is the ability to modify the creative direction throughout the production process. 

I settled with a new concept, a loss of time, an exploration of the mind, but very abstract. Those to me are really easy to pull off, but can also be heavily iterated upon to create an even more cohesive and amazing expression of ideas.

 Without a worry in the world, I stepped forward to build out a new prototype that would serve as me pitchvisualizaton and first pass previsualization all in one. 

When I work, the ideas just flow, and things just keep going. I just need to get started. So I did, and one week later I completed a rough previs. 

The images will hopefully be replaced with animated sequences, but for now you’ll just have to imagine this world/universe that I’ve built. 

[ericdingthesis]

First Prototype and Feedback

I’ve been working with Unreal and trying to improve my skills while working on my pitchvisualization for the past few weeks. And progress hasn’t been stale, but I’ve been so busy that it’s been difficult to properly put time into my thesis.

With only a single motion capture file and limited time I built out a scene using pre-made assets

It felt like too little content so I went back and added a few more shots, but overall I consider this to be me not making the progress I had originally hoped. On the good note, the pitchvis progress doesn’t hinder my overall progress, on the bad note it still means that I don’t have as much time as I think I do in terms of working on this project.

The one great side to this is that my pre-thesis class finally had project advisors assigned to us! Albeit 2 weeks later than expected but still very welcome as I definitely need some advice on the timing and production of this project. I still am not even 100% sure of what I want to make for my final film. It is rough.

This thesis project has already allowed me to learn so much and my final project that will be shown is in the simplest sense going to be a demonstration of the knowledge and experience I’ve gained brought into a tangible experience that others can observe and be wow-ed by. 

[ericdingthesis]

Reaching Out to People, Learning the Art of Making Connections

I wanted to make this a separate post as this is a bit of a tangent from my physical progress on my thesis, and more mental/industry knowledge kind of thing.

So in this past semester I’ve tried to reach out to as many people as I can in the industry to make connections, gather knowledge on the industry, and guidance on how to get into the industry.

My first contact was Jack Chen, an ITP grad working at the Mill as a technical artist that I reached out to last semester via Linkedin when I first became interested in Virtual Production, I saw that his work was in a similar vein to what I was interested in. I met up with him again this semester the week before my thesis brief was due and he gave me a lot of good insight and helped me pivot my thesis project from a portfolio building multi-work series to a heavier focus on a single larger project. 

Jack gave me a ton of amazing advice working on my thesis and a lot of insight on what he does exactly day to day. 

I then next reached out to Kevin Peter He, another ITP grad that recently became the creative director of Zerospace, a virtual production studio with an insane amount of the latest technology. He gave me a more in depth understanding of the virtual production industry as a whole as well as his entire journey. I will say I was a bit too nervous and stumbled a little on my words so I feel like I didn’t leave the best first impression, but he did give me a ton of great insight as well. 

I reached out to the other creative director of Zerospace as well, Eric Chang, whom I talked to a bit last spring when Todd Bryant told me to go to a Vicom meetup at Zerospace and talk to him. Unfortunately this time I got no response. 

I then had a friend connect me to Grant Ng who is an IDM grad and currently a Motion Capture Supervisor at Prysm Stages and previously worked with on virtual production with Marvel on She-hulk. Grant’s story was amazing and he had an incredible depth on the virtual production industry, I really felt like I had a better grasp of the industry leaving that conversation as well.

Jack Chen recommended that I reach out to Ryan Paz, another ITP grad (noticing an interesting trend here...) that is focused on the virtual production scene and told me about his experience at Unrealfest as well as his class project with Noah Kadner himself (the guy that wrote the Virtual Production Field Guide that I am heavily referencing in my research for my thesis project and paper). 

Everyone I’ve talked to so far has given me such unique insights on the industry and amazing guidance on the skills I should develop and ways to get a job. I feel truly blessed that this many people have even agreed to meet up with me. 

I definitely look to keep the train going and make more connections. I’ve sent out an email to one of my undergrad professors that works as a media project manager at Microsoft as well tried to connect with one of Grant’s friends that works at ILM, still waiting on their responses so we’ll see how things go on from here!

I’ve learned so much not only about the industry, but also just in terms of reaching out to people, making connections, and how to talk and socialize as well in a professional manner to make these connections, it’s been a scary journey I won’t lie, but I don’t regret it one bit.

[ericdingthesis]

Building out the Pitchvisualization, the Learning Arc

So production for the pitchvis for my thesis officially began last week, and in the ensuing seven days I’ve spent whatever free time I have not doing schoolwork trying to get progress building it out.

One or two of my peers believed that since I had no script or creative idea but had the understanding of what I wanted to demonstrate with technical skills, I had no project, and I agree with that.

So the next day I built out a storyboard when I had a bit of free time by drawing with my mouse.

It was a terrible start of course, as I wanted it to be short but demonstrate my ability to create these environments and utilize motion capture all in one.

In the meantime my comp sci major roommate suggested that I build a Gant Chart to track my progress for my thesis project. So I did.

I know I’m a storyteller and so far this isn’t amazing and compelling storytelling to showcase my progress, but sometimes breaking storytelling norms is in itself a form of storytelling, so yeah, I’m not lazy I’m just breaking norms.

Anyways afterwards I realized my script sucked, so I listened to some music. And I realized that I kind of liked creating narratives for the music as I listened to it, and I know I’m not quirky or unique for doing that but it kind of gave me an idea for a script. So I wrote one.

Also don’t zoom in on the image just read it here if you’re genuinely curious: Link

Anyways now that I had a script, it’s time to build out the short film, normally you’d think the first thing I do is make some cool environments and materials since that’s literally what my technical demonstration was supposed to be about right?

Well since I wrote that question out obviously no, I went to get motion capture first. Not because that was the first thing I wanted to put in (but also yes I wanted to first build out a rough frame), but also because I have VERY LITTLE experience using Motive (the software that links up with the Optitrack cameras and captures the motion) and I’ve never even touched Autodesk Motionbuilder in my life. 

So I went with my girlfriend and we (just me) spent four hours trying to learn the entire pipeline from Motive to Motionbuilder (to clean up mocap and attach it to the model skeleton) to Unreal Engine. 

Also I built out the first few scenes of my new script, this time drawing with an actual proper drawing tablet that I got in 2019 as a high school graduation gift. 

You can see how much more detail and care was put into the drawings (kinda not joking). Unfortunately we didn’t get much motion capture done since the previous user of the mocap gloves didn’t charge them and also I spent 3 hours learning the pipeline of bringing the motion capture to Unreal, but now that I got that down the rest of production should go pretty smoothly. 

Right now I have two levels of completion I’m prepared to aim for because I’m not 100% sure how much I can do in a week. Level one is just motion capture and basic cubes, lighting, and camera moves. Level two is replace cubes with actual buildings and props. 

Anyways if you’re here just to look at my 100day unreal render challenge here ya go. There’s 6 cuz I posted 8 last time (mon - mon), this time is (tues - sun)

[ericdingthesis]

The Start of Actual Prototyping

While I haven’t begun building anything in Unreal yet, I’ve actually begun to prototype in the sense that I built another more refined mood board that reflected my specific interests going into this short film. 

It will be very interesting tying in the themes and concepts that I am working on and traditionally there will be a lot more time put into this part of the process, but alas my thesis is due mid-March and that is pretty much non-negotiable, so onto the next phase we go.

The idea of the Pitchvis is that it should be simple, take little time, and has low polish. It is the low-fi film. Not a proof of concept, but a proof of proof of concept(???). 

Above image is the most recent mood board I created, looking to tackle visual themes like Cyberpunk and Neo-Noir and also looking at the blend between virtual and reality. This is what I’ll be referencing a lot when it comes to building out my pitchvis, which will go into production over the next two weeks.

As always I’ve been updating my timeline for my thesis with each week as I get a better understanding of my workload and how much time I have available.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1HyzpS0l-PabCyaqVNNbVu7iej3od1t94WVprIO22PyA/edit?usp=sharing

I’ve also been continuing my 100day Unreal composition challenge, here are the images I’ve made over the last week, which tackled cinematic shooting, animated materials, lighting, and niagara particle systems. Enjoy them below!

[ericdingthesis]

Vision-searching Thesis Concepts and Themes

Originally, I planned to create a multi-work series for my thesis. I wanted to create a portfolio of works to showcase my abilities as a technical artist in Unreal Engine.

However (and fortunately), I realized that this type of project would not be efficient in showcasing my skills as a few industry professionals that I talked to noted. The main suggestion would be to work on a single project that really showcased my talent from start to finish, and just show how far I could take an idea. 

So now that my project is mainly focused on a single project, the vision/prompt for that project becomes that much more important. Because of that, I decided I would spend the next few weeks vision searching. I’m not afraid of my ability to execute on a project, but I am absolutely terrified that if I have a bad idea I won’t be able to push through and create something to the best of my ability.

Of course, I can’t dwell on looking for an idea too long, so I’ve also been compiling a list of potential stories such that if I don’t figure out what I plan to do by next I will just settle with the current best idea.

Here’s some things I’ve done in context of looking for a good vision for my short-film.

A whole lot of music listening, just relaxing and trying to imagine a story through the song. Music/sounds are really important to me in storytelling, but if copyright is an issue for my thesis projects that might throw a wrench in my plans.

I’ve tried to watch a movie or two, I’ve had very little time, but just watching movies has allowed me to slowly accumulate a some inspiration for camera movements, shots, and lighting.

Finally, I’ve been doing a LOT of writing. Writing ideas, writing to people, writing down feedback. The only thing I haven’t been writing down is a script, but the thing is I always associate scripts with dialogue, and I don’t plan to have a single word in my short. 

However! I do understand the need to plan out what happens in the film. To help recognize what I will do for my final film, I first analyzed my main goals:

-Display technical prowess, it has to look more amazing than anything else I’ve ever made.

-Demonstrate my storytelling ability, art doesn’t always have to be coherent, but I want a method within the madness.

-Express myself, something common in the art world, art being a means of expression, I would like to input a part of my soul into this piece. 

This week, I was unable to come up with a final idea, but this week I laid the groundwork to really solidify my idea. Of course, with some conversation with my pre-thesis instructor, and two technical artists in the industry, I’ve narrowed my ideas a little bit. Focusing on a story that involves storytelling in of itself.

Storytelling has meant a lot to me throughout my whole life, so as weird as it may sound I do want to focus on storytelling in my short-film. The storyteller who couldn’t tell his own story. 

[ericdingthesis]

Familiarizing Unreal Engine 5 With Photography

One of my current greatest hurdles with learning Unreal Engine 5 is that I’ve only just begun learning the software since it came out in the spring of 2022.

I planned to solve that issue by just trying to create a composition in Unreal Engine 5 every day. Each time tackling a small thing and just building on top of it on the next composition.

Maybe I play more with in-camera post-production in one, particle programming in another, material blueprint code, lighting and cinematography, landscape and set building, and so much more.

In just two weeks I have already felt a ton of improvement and just being able to use Unreal Engine 5 more fluidly than I could in the past. Being automatically able to just navigate and bring out the proper tools for each occasion just makes the entire process smoother and also will be a necessity for when I put more time into creating a full production.

Below are some of the renders I have created in the last two weeks, I’ve been keeping an ongoing theme of using a fox statue as the main subject of the image, though as time goes on I may evolve from this theme.

Enjoy my art below!

[ericdingthesis]

Learning Geometry Brushes to Rapidly Prototype a Scene

I’ve seen how many others working in Unreal Engine talk about using geometry brushes to quickly prototype previsualizations of a scene. I first found a reference of what I wanted to build out online and then tried to mimic it using a placeholder image and geometry cubes.

I used geometry brushes (just the cube) to quickly build out metal beams and then just kept going. A really great feature is that geometry brushes automatically equip any material you select, unlike regular meshes that require you to attach a material manually per mesh.

Using just geometry brushes, a plane with an image of a city background, and some tarped crate 3d models I found on Quixel Bridge, I was able to build out a rough “sketch” of the reference really quickly I believe this took around minutes of time only. 

Then, to just see how far I could take this project, I brought in a character from Mixamo with an animation, added more objects from Bridge, and kept going with the geometry brushes to really flesh out the scene. I threw in a little bit of post-processing on the in-engine camera as well, and the result already was looking quite good. 

Here we really see the strength of geometry brushes because to get to this point I have spent only 1-2 hours building out this scene and tweaking the environment compared to the usual days that a project that looks this good takes. 

Of course I had the unique scenario where the geometry brushes could be kept in the final part of scene since they a majority of the scene was just metal beams. So geometry brushes won’t always shave off this much time.

Finally, I composited a greenscreen video of birds into the scene, added some more post-production effects, and did some video production to bring out a final product!