jamesdaividhunt

[jamesdaividhunt]

timetable

semester 2

January

Week 1 - look/ read through all previous research and work, find issues and things in need of improvement. 

Week (2 to 4) - research of project.

Week 2 - colour schemes and characters.

Week 3 - off due to operation

week - off due to recovery

Week 4 - history

February 

Week 1 - models, designs and more inspiration.

Week 2 -  idea scheming for new design of characters.

Week 3 + 4 - rework boat model - remove issues

March

Week 1 to 2 - design and model goblet stand for project.

Week 2 - construct cloth water and objects to move it up and down 

Week 3 - 23rd lockdown due to corona virus.

Week 4 - discussed progress so far

April

Week 1 - discussed issues with the lack of storage space and inability to continue work

Week 2 - told about plan B that those who couldn't work at home could do.

Week 3 to submission day - improved Tumblr, type my 1500 written piece.

[jamesdaividhunt]

written document

Jamie Baulcombe-hunt

My final project is based on my love of sailing and the structure of it is based from “The Voyage of the James Caird”, a story of Sir Ernest Shackleton and 5 companions, who in 1916 undertook a voyage of 1300 kilometres, on the high sea, to get assistance for the rest of Sir Ernest Shackleton team, the rest of his crew are stranded on Elephant Island as a result of their failed Trans-Antarctic expedition. Shackleton and a team of 5 sailed in a lifeboat only 22.5 feet through 60 feet high waves and powerful hurricanes, this voyage took 16 days and they did all they could to survive the sea, they were willing to risk their own lives to get help for the rest of their team, which they did, they got to the mainland and found help for the rest, these six men saved the whole crew with a modified rowboat and I admire their courage. I chose the story because of my interest in sailing, which is a hobby of mine and I wanted to animate something that means a lot to me.

What I did last year was a rough draft of what I wanted the animation to do and look like. This was a good time for experimenting and discovering what works and what doesn’t, such as the layout I originally chose. I was going to use both 3D and 2D in my animation for the layout, however due to the lack of appropriate software available for me to use outside of classes and a short timeframe I decided after the trail run during the 1st semester, it was not going to work out the way I was hoping. I created the boat, water and the goblet platform using the 3D software Maya. As for the characters and all the moving parts inside the boat, such as the rigging and the rudder, they were to be created using After Effects. this is what the original idea was but now I changed it to make it all 3D. The way I want to display this is by having the focus on the boat and the sea, to demonstrate how rough and dangerous it can be.

I completed the structure and build of the first version of my boat in my first semester and I will be using the same one for my final project, it will have two sails that will move around to the wind, this is to make it appear that there is wind. I will also add animation to the rigging and the rudder because they will be in constant contact with the characters. The rudder is located at the back of the boat and is used to help steer the boat in the right direction. The boat will be moving in all directions, bobbing around due to the high seas, this will be where I animate the motion of the boat and I will be using multiple cameras for the whole thing because I wish to get close ups of the characters at different angles as well as other shots of the boat at all different angles too.

As for the water my idea was to make a cloth effect that will move to objects going up and down underneath it, this way was easier to create due to the simplicity of it and yet it was creative and a different way of displaying the water effects. I have researched and viewed many versions of water, mostly in pictures and I wanted to create my own version. To make the ripples in the water I created multiple different shapes and had them placed underneath, I gave each of them animation and at different speeds they went up and down pushing on the water creating a different ripple each time. I moulded different and odd forms as my shapes and a couple of spheres, these were also made to be invisible so that if any of the shapes came through they wouldn’t interfere with the project. The idea seemed like it was a little farfetched and that it might not work, but it actually work very well and look great and it was a unique way of displaying it, which is what I wanted.

My original idea for my characters was to create them using either shapes or a simplistic look, as in basic construction, this was because at the time I thought of making them similar to their surroundings (murky and grey, possibly black and white), and that I would give the ones that move or need to be noticed one faded colour when they are in motion. However this original idea did not sit with me for the lack of style would have made them more noticeable and I really didn’t like the idea, so I altered it and gave my character a makeover, now they have their own unique style and look. I kept there faces blank because I’d like to have them express themselves with there bodies, show a new way of  expressing themselves. This new form and there new look is much better and I love how they came out. Now that they are done in sketch format I will make them in 3D Maya, model and animate along with the boat and water.

When It was getting close to the end of the first semester I hit a bad patch and was off for a number of days due to illness for various reasons and missed quite a bit of classes and fell behind so I had to get extra time to do my work and catch up. This was close to Christmas so time in university was very limited and I had to work in the library, where the internet was not very good and caused a lot of problems. Due to the limited time, bad internet, glitches and stress I was unable to complete my test run to the standard I wanted and I had many problems in presentation. I was honestly disappointed with it but it was a test run and it showed me that it is difficult to create an animation that is both 3D and 2D let alone trying to combine them into one piece.

The second semester was going on smoothly for I knew what went wrong last time and I knew what to do to change and perfect it. However due to unfortunate circumstances, my time to do my work in university was stopped by the sudden hit by the corona virus which led to the university being completely shut down. This caused a great issue for me because I could only do my university work on campus and everything was closed, even the library. This left me stuck and I even tried installing the programs on my computers at home. Maya seemed to have installed and was working fine- however I found a great number of program functions such as skeletons and render were not working. I tried to re-install the other programs I needed but none of my computers had the capacity to install all of them, not even one program. This was due to all their large sizes of the program. This left me stuck but I was not the only one with this issue and due to this the lecturers gave us a plan B. This was to work on our Tumblr and send that to be marked instead of the animation. I was really disappointed that I could not do my animation since I put so much thought into it, but I am grateful that my lecturers found a way around the issues so that we could all submit something for our final year.

Over all I think my work has gone extremely well despite all of the issues I have had. With the Covid 19 epidemic I was unable to complete my final project, but even so I was able to get a great deal more on my Tumblr to explain how my work has gone. I enjoyed researching about The Voyage of the James Caird and all the different styles that were used for paintings. I am happy with all the help and support from the university and my lecturers in these tough and difficult times. If I hadn’t got the aid and support I don’t think I would have been able to do the amount that I have done. If I was able to do this again I would invest in a laptop or computer with a larger storage space for all the programs I needed. I would have look more into The Voyage of the James Caird and I would have looked for further information about the voyage itself including reports/diaries from the time.

[jamesdaividhunt]

updated storyboard

With this, I started to experiment with colours, both of the surroundings and the characters. I came to a decision on character colour schemes, which are shown in a post below.

[jamesdaividhunt]

Here are lots of different shades of colours. I used these as inspiration for the colours of the sea which I can blend to look like the post below. 

Use of the brightest colours for life jackets will help to symbolise their importance against the dark colours of the boat. Showing how wearing the correct clothing is very important when at sea, to ensure that you can be seen and rescued if need be. 

Earthy tones should be used for the background to offset the sea.

The boat will be given dark colouring to give a dangerous feel to it, it would stand out against the earthy colours of the background and bright life jackets of the sailors. 

The dark colouring is to signify the dangers of sailing and the bright to show that you can enjoy this safely.

[jamesdaividhunt]

moodboard-colour

Here we have a variety of colours and ways to display them.

I love how the different colours merge together like an ocean current. As much as I would like to make a bright and colourful ocean effect, this project needs to look serious, to show the dangers. With this in mind the water needs to look deep and dark whilst having the fluid movements shown above.

This would be achieved by using dark colours such as greys, blacks and very dark blues for the water, using a swirling pattern to symbolise the rush of the water and the waves crashing over the boat.

[jamesdaividhunt]

moodboard 

This is a group of sailing aspects such as uniforms and boats that I used for ideas of style types and inspiration. I wish to show the experience of being in the sea. I want it to look intense and as if its set in our time, whilst still appealing to the classics sailing genre.

[jamesdaividhunt]

Going from the bottom up, these images show my progress in my new design of modelling the scene. The platform the scene will take place on is coloured like a compass and constructed like a cup or goblet. Underneath the blue N cloth fabric, which is representing the sea, is where the invisible shapes will be. These will then move to create the waves.

I have a model of my boat already constructed and ready for use, although, at this stage, I still need to create the characters and the water.  

[jamesdaividhunt]

updated character build

These are the final designs for the characters. They represent the style that actual sailors have. They wear buoyancy aids, wellies, wet suits, wet pants, thick coats and more recently hoodies. This will bring more realism to the animation and characters.

I have added a colour version too, to show how they would be styled with colour.

Original character build

The first build for the characters was to make them the same and focus more on the background and the boat, but that would make them stand out too much so i changed the design of there build and gave them their own looks.

I have based my designs off the images below due to the use of their limb movements and more, i thought it would bring more life to the animation.

Moodboard-characters main inspiration

The main body mass build was inspired from the character called morph, i find the simplicity of this character interesting. A simple build who can “morph” into different things. He can express his emotions through his body.

Many adverts display alternative ways of expression emotions, such as using unusual things with no human faces as such. A clever advert can make you feel sorry for a carrot at christmas! 

The simple nature of adverts such as the “change4Life” adverts cleverly express themselves without faces and still get their point across. I like the idea of using the surroundings and objects to express moods and emotions rather than using facial expressions.

Moodpboard-character+ style inspiration

This is inspiration for possible character designs which I will be using to help develop the detail into the characters designs I have already sketched. I want enough detail in the characters so that they look good but I don’t want this to distract people from the scenery, as this is the main point of my work.

[jamesdaividhunt]

I have researched old boat styles and models to see how they were constructed      to use as inspiration for my boat in my animation and to further my knowledge of older boats.

[jamesdaividhunt]

This is how I want to try and stylise my final piece as, I will find a way to make water with good effects. I want to try to capture the constant ripples of the waves in the water.

a journey of 1,300 kilometres, undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions

my plan is to create my project, using a combination of 2D and 3D animation.

the 2D section will be of the characters, whilst the sea and the boat shall be 3D

my plan is to create the voyage on the sea and demonstrate the roughness that can be found on the seas, such as cold or/and thunder storms , high tides and more, using a combination of 2D and 3D i will create a visual presentation animation of “The Voyage of the James Caird”

[jamesdaividhunt]

This was the final animatic piece from last semester, it shows the basic of what I wanted to show but the water in particular was a bit disappointing. I was running behind schedule and I  feel I ruined it by rushing. So as an improvement and part of my process of the development I will find a better way to make water and give it wave effects.

The characters will also be upgraded to 3-D format with clothes and more accurate body forms. They will still not have facial features and will still be different colours to make them stand out from each other. The characters will be upgraded because I have designed them with clothing that fisherman and sailers wear. However, they won’t have facial features because I want them to express their emotions through their body movements and body language.  I also want the animation to show what the different roles on a boat are and I want this to be the main focus of the video so it can teach people about these roles.

This first animatic was to show the animation only and not the area around it, like my newer design, with the model cup/compass style platform. The water was an exception as this was also meant to be moving. The water was originally going to be 2-D but this did not work as well as I’d hoped it would so I changed it. I am now using N cloths to make fabrics out of shapes and using crafted shapes that will be invisible and move up and down underneath the fabric to create the effect of waves. This would make a nice ocean style and hopefully show creativity and development in my works with water effects.

[jamesdaividhunt]

Above is my first design for the animation with the 3-D and 2-D mix as an animatic storyboard and it really hasn’t changed. The only change I made was not using the mix of medias and only using 3-D. The main purpose of this video is to show each section, and bits of the boat, that you use to go and to show sailing in the ocean. I hope to show the enjoyment of sailing and the dangers of it too, so people take it seriously.This is the old animatic, however, as due to the epidemic and lack of access to program/equipment I am unable to make an updated animatic.

Everything above this post are for my new and updated storyboard, this is what the whole animation would look like, the previous one was used for the first semester. I also changed a few things,

I also wrote down what's is happening in the scenes and what frames/camera views there are.

What I didn’t show in the final animatic  version, shown first, is what it would look like outside of the water area. What I have now modelled the scene to look like is what looks like a cup or goblet shaped and coloured like a compass.

[jamesdaividhunt]

final project next step

I got some tips and advice for my finished piece around Christmas time and I have decided not to put 2D into my animation because it took a long time to do. I underestimated just how long and almost missed my extended time. It was tedious, I didn't have the right equipment and did it by hand using the mouse, which was tricky and unsuccessful in look or effect.

I have decided that I will do it all in 3D because I am more familiar with it and I am partly there with the boat already done. I think I will be able to do this with a better finish.

I will research how to make water effects and make a proper sky.

The characters will also be 3D and will clothing characteristics but no facial features.

The boat is pretty much the same as the one from the 3-D and 2-D mix, as I found the shape, size and texture good but I will try to add more sail motion and add moving rope too.