jamesiles-compositor-blog

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Such a weird and fabulous blend.

The Fourth Dalek

http://syfycity.tumblr.com

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My completed animated persona for university. 

Tools used

Photoshop

Illustrator

Premier Pro

World Machine

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Wow!

Quant by Vyachselav Novkov.

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After some experimentation I've decided that the best way to create the terrain for the HUD is to create it from scratch in World Machine. I can generate a mesh as a wavefront object that I can open in Photoshop. I don't know whether Photoshop can handle either tri or quad polygons but World Machine can export meshes of both types so I should be safe either way.

Once in Photoshop I can apply a simple texture and then I have the flexibility of being able to rotate to any angle in order to suit my composition. It has the added bonus of cutting down on render times too.

The images I've attached are of the terrain I've built for my project. The image shows the devices I've connected in order to create the terrain. I've attached them to a heightmap output device in this instance so you you can see a clearer thumbnail of the terrain. The mesh output device is just above.

You can see a far clearer snapshot of my terrain in the 2nd image.

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My glasses should be represented

As my glasses are an obvious physical feature I think they probably should be represented in some way. I'd rather have an interpretation than actual glasses though purely because I hate wearing them and hate how they make me look and the way people see and treat those who wear them.

Perhaps I could depict them by giving my character four eyes?

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Storyboard annotated with estimated timings

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'Syndicate' narrative film

I came across this video during my research and love the overall look as well as the flow of animation - each movement flows smoothly into the next. The music fits in perfectly with the sci fi look too. 

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After watching the mixer brush tutorial I tested out the brush and chose skin tones because they'll form a large chunk of the painting in my persona and I find them challenging. 

The top image sows the final piece produced, whilst the bottom one is a screen grab from Photoshop showing my layers and how I've organised them. As you can see, I've started to colour code layers in an attempt to improve my file organisation.

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In order to achieve the painterly look I want for my persona I've decided the mixer brush will be the best tool to use. I've not used it before so I've started researching tips and tricks for it online so I'm not simply flailing in the dark.

During my searching I found this handy introductory video by Infinite Skills that I'll be applying to my work.

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Final logo design

I've finally decided that this is the logo I'll use because the font and layout are the strongest out of all my designs. It's legible and has a nice mix of curves (which represent my softer side) and sharper parts (representing my bony physique).

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No green screen required

Now my animated persona project only has close ups I don't need to use my green screen. Instead I can use a large sheet of white card as my background. This alone will save me a lot of time because I won't need to key or roto to remove and replace the background. I'll be free to concentrate on the roto to to paint over the top of the footage for my desired look.

A1 should do it and can be blu tacked on the wall in my flat for filming the face and side view shots and placed on either the floor or a table top for the POV shots.

As a bonus I'll be able to use it to set the white balance on the camera.

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The first draft of the storyboard of my scaled down and simplified idea for my animated persona project. 

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Meeting with tutor today

This afternoon I had a short meeting with my tutor to discuss my progress on the animated persona brief. He liked the idea, however, he suggested that it was perhaps a little too ambitious at this stage and was perhaps more of a final first year project so suggested I scale it back to something realistically achievable in the time frame. Even though he's open to me proving him wrong I feel happier to take his advice and scale back because he knows what he's talking about.

Tasks

Simplify my idea

Thumbnail storyboard my updated idea

Email idea and thumbnails to my tutor

Deadline: 31/10/12

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Such a cool example of sound synch.

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New inspiration for my HUD

After much thought I feel that my current HUD design is very bland and that I should take inspiration from Jayse Hansen for the final HUD. Basic elements can be created in Illustrator then composited and animated in Photoshop as per the brief. If I want to animate the rotation of any graphic then I'll need to use After Effects, but I wish to keep its use to an absolute minimum.

So, with his work in mind I definitely want to follow the functional route in helping shape my design. My HUD will be tracking the Terra Orb, interfacing with it, and creating a terrain. Perhaps I should look at Vue and World Machine's interfaces to get an idea of the functions that might be needed.

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More research into HUDs.