ianfong - Tumblr blog

[ianfong]

The final animatic. I probably should’ve roto’d the glow on the bilby in the closeup. While it may not be the best product, i’m happy that i learnt a lot from the course.

[ianfong]

Reflection

As it comes to a close towards the assignment, there are many things i have learnt through this experience.

First and foremost, simple is better. I went ahead and created too many elements, that i had to cut some corners which is a mistake that i’ll probably learn from. to make a pleasing shot, i’m thinking that strong 3d models along with materials will set you up for a good composition. I thought lighting was going to be the main aspect of image creation. 

Continuing on from this, although i want to learn animation, i should probably focus on 3d modelling in a 3d modelling course.

Also, i have learnt that rendering can be expensive, depending on your model input. This will heavily dictate my future projects in making cost saving choices.

Things i did well on though? i think that the idea of putting the god rays between the trees was a good idea at the time, just not economical (if only i had known). Also, i liked how i did my camera animation, although i couldn’t show it in my final work because of cost issues.

All in all, it was a fun project and i learnt a lot. While i didn’t enjoy the last minute change, i hope that i will able to pursue something like this in the future. 

Last minute rendered images used for animatic.

these turned out too dark, after the volumetric lighting was turned off. I probably had to separate the AOV’s and boost the lighting in certain areas. 

These beauty passes came out ok.

[ianfong]

Too ambitious :(

It appears i have overestimated the power of computing. While the first portion of my scene rendered out fine (albeit costing nearly all my free credits), the next sequences would cost me probably approx $500 aud, after calculating a splurged $30 into this project... *sigh*... i thought i was going to be able to do this for less than $100 aud... too bad. im going to have to simplify my scene.

[ianfong]

Week 9 - test look of house

apparently you can’t get alpha with PNG’s. luckily not all my pictures require Tiffs.

A potential look for the over world. 

[ianfong]

Week 8/9 UV’s and textures.

I recently found out that ‘sci-fi’ elements are much harder to make convincing to an audience. From my project experience, adding a particle accelerator was maybe not the best idea. its hard to make look good. While i could continue to add more elements, to make it more convincing, unfortunately i’m running out of time. Depending on how good the uni computers are, i may have to leave them as is.

My house is also not looking the best... i’ll ask my tutor tomorrow as to what improvements i can make to make it better and weigh up weather i can make the adjustments.

the chamber is also looking a little sparse, but the render times on my computer are taking up a lot of time. its unfortunate but i might have to leave it as is.

[ianfong]

Cutting out the spinning part and scaling the flythrough to take up the additional frames. i think its ok, but the entry i forgot to scale.

[ianfong]

Rendering out what i have to see what i have so far on potato settings in Arnold, (-2,0,0,0,0,0). Because I extended the corridor from the original mock model, the scene goes by way too fast which was already too fast.

It looks like i’m going to have to cut the final spinning shot inspired by the Beauty and the Beast ballroom scene; in order to make room for the fly through which is a big shame (i.e. less character animation tests for me).

I also have to add some lights in places i forgot.

[ianfong]

Week 8 - God Rays

I think i have to make a compromise between seeing the interior space clearly and choosing God rays within my space for mood. I think i’m going to go for the God rays, as it’ll lessen the workload, which is starting to pile up, and i think it adds something to the piece.

Still need to work on getting the particle accelerator in.

My house at the top, needs texturing.

id also show the corridor i have, but Maya crashed, which after putting on volumetric lighting, i need to figure out a way to fix my lights.

[ianfong]

Week6/7 MASH modelling usage

When making my hidden cave, I learnt how to use the MASH networks to line up a bunch of rocks into my cave. If anyone reads this, the MASH network reliably works if the units are in cm, which is a bit anoying considering the scale of my project. 

[ianfong]

Week 5 previsualisation

Some painting sketches to get a sense of the look and understand the scale of the space.

[ianfong]

Modelling Techniques

The lower floors will be produced from the ground plane, by extruding, scaling and extruding again.

The big shapes of the cave/basement will be made from the coffee cup exercise, using the CV curve and revolve tool.

The cave will then be smoothed and textured through displacement maps and manual adjustments through the move/rotate/scale tools.

With all the geometries, careful consideration of keeping quads will be utilized for subdivision modelling by using the multi-cut tool, edge loops and bevels.  

Extruding along curves will help in making tree branches, along with adding a taper.

I think this covers most of the modelling techniques i will be using to make my model.

[ianfong]

Another test for my animatic. This time, using a simplified 3D model. I had to use a low resolution codec to fit the tumblr 100mb limit. I think it shows off what i want to accomplish for the most part. to get the result to finish, i need to flesh out my 3D model, fix up my camera work, and composite any effects in the final stages. Overall, i’m hopeful but a bit weary that the project will be successful. 

[ianfong]

Decided to put my 2D planning animatic to plan the shots i want. its not complete and probably doesn’t make too much sense, and amendments need to be made for the secret particle accelerator bit. ill clean this up and have the previs done by next week. 

[ianfong]

Week 4 - Final concept + new setbacks; but solutions found

A setback that occurred during this week was realizing the file size limit for Assessment 2 is 200mb. Using the video space calculator <https://www.digitalrebellion.com/webapps/videocalc> at the required specs gives me around 19 sec max of footage!

I was hoping for more.

The constraint has forced me to be faster with my narrative, (my inital 2d animatic was way too contrived) but i think it has actually helped me in realizing an end product. For my hidden space, i will make a secret testing chamber with a huge particle accelerator run by bilbys/rats. The space will be contrasted with organic and technological forms. I was really inspired by this image through browsing.

<https://thewallpaper.co/mobile-wallpaperfantasy-technology-wallpapers-nature-free-wallpaper-artwork-landscape-colourful-art-windows/>

I think i will use a similar aesthetic, but replace the embryo thing with another glowing red/orange ball representing dark matter coming from the particle accelerator. I guess the colour scheme of the picture above works by using diametrically opposing colours (blue green with red orange). 

[ianfong]

Week 3 - Post tutorial thoughts

Upon talking to my tutor, I’ve decided to incorporate his idea of expanding my model to include an underground space. This was largely impart inspired by Fife’s secret bunker in Scotland. This will make the bulk of my impossible space and hit the brief more clearly.

Kinnear (2020), goes into depth about the architecture and his exploration of these post-cold war environments. Some interesting points from his article include:

-       “many of Scotland’s Cold War bunkers quickly fell into states of abandonment and ruin, having been deemed obsolete and surplus to requirements by the Ministry of Defence.”

-       “Studies have shown an ideological connection between aspects of interior design (and design more widely)”

-       “These bunker micro-climates or ‘biospheres’, built to house personnel for long periods of nuclear attack and ensuing radioactive fallout”

Interestingly, a point that is raised also in the article is the reuse of these structures, how these could be appropriated to a contemporary setting. From my previous course in ‘design history and theory’, I learnt about design, sustainability, and the Montreal Protocol (the decommissioning of CFC’s). I was thinking that maybe these spaces could be turned into some sort of backup should the ozone be depleted and shield people against solar radiation. Probably not the smartest idea, given you’d need to house a sizable population underground and support life in suboptimal conditions, but I think this could tie in nicely with my “impossible space” theme. Given the global warming crisis is a somewhat relevant “anxiety in fashion” (despite the lack of action) I think this concept could prove to be an interesting fantasy design futuring exercise.

The base of my model should be in line with a cold war bunker where features such as, “raw underground spaces of in situ concrete, riddled with exposed service ducting, protruding ventilation stacks and hermetically sealed blast doors.” Should exist.

Kinnear, S. L. (2020)

Similarly, there are more bunkers in Europe which can influence my designs. See below.

Carr et al (2020)

I think the next steps are to think how I can make it look a bit fantastical.

Sources:

Carr, S, Pringle, J.K, Doyle, P, Wisniewski, K.D & Stimpson, I.G (2020) ‘Scallywag bunkers: geophysical investigations of WW2 Auxiliary Unit Operational Bases (OBs) in the UK’, Journal of conflict archaeology, vol. ahead-of-print, no. ahead-of-print, pp. 1–28.

Kinnear, S. L. (2020). Reopening the Bunker: An Architectural Investigation of the Post-war Fate of Four Scottish Nuclear Bunkers. Journal of War & Culture Studies: The Bunker's after-Life: Cultural Production in the Ruins of the Cold War, 13(1), 75–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/17526272.2019.1688987

[ianfong]

2D bilby walk cycle - rough proof of concept

Rough demo to see if i can potentially use 2D for certain narrative points for my project. No follow through on the tail, but i can always improve on that. 

[ianfong]

Week 3 - Pre-visualization ideation

For revision two of my impossible/hidden space, I’ve decided to go with ‘hidden space’ as my main theme. Upon doing a quick google image search for “hidden space”, I found many images relating to secret pathways. This made me think of multiple ideas such as an ‘Indiana Jones hidden temple’ type of thing, or a secret hideout; however I think I’ve settled on something much simpler.

I think I’m going to set my Maya scene in the Aussie outback, where there is an abandoned farmhouse with a trapdoor leading to… well it’s going to be a McGuffin device. I’ve been thinking about giving my hand at 2D animation and combine it with a 3D Maya environment (not sure if I have the time, but ill complete it in my own time if I can’t). Below are some quick sketches of my ideation process.

In doing these sketches, I had to look at reference pictures for outback Australian houses, as I have not been there in a long time. Getting a sense of the architectural design will be important in obtaining a likeness for the Aussie aesthetic.

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/outback-house.html

https://steemit.com/nature/@yahoooo/the-old-australia-outback-house

https://steemit.com/nature/@yahoooo/the-old-australia-outback-house

I also did a google search for bilbies, to see if I could come up with a simple character and have come up with one possible design (please disregard some of the terrible drawings).

https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2014/03/15-million-year-old-bilby-fossil-found/

I also plan on doing my scene as a nocturne, as I believe it will add atmosphere and narrative. In saying this, I don’t want a realistic night sky, as it’ll just be too dark to see anything. As such, I have gathered reference images to give me some ideas to the colour scheme I could potentially employ. James Gurney’s “Colour and Light” was instrumental in understanding light which some of the pictures for my idea process were taken out of.

https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/167266573648352142/

https://www.artpeoplegallery.com/tag/night-scene/

Colour and Light – James Gurney

Colour and Light – James Gurney

Colour and Light – James Gurney

All in all, I think the proposed project hits the brief ok and is in line with what I want to achieve from the course. I think I’ll need to flesh this out more in the coming weeks to week 5.