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ANIMATION COMPLETE

Above is a render of the completed animation side of the project. Due to time restrictions, and the the work load involved in creating an animation from scratch - I have had to cut the overall length of the clip down to a minute and a half from four and a half minutes.

In the clip I have used a combination of:

3D animation in Maya - camera control and using short scripts (MEL and Python) to control transforms and deformations of the models for long periods of time in order to avoid having to animate everything frame by frame.

2D animation in After Effects - frame by frame animation utilizing AE's expression control (script input) to add, smooth, deform and control animation throughout the sequences.

Green Screen & Chroma Keying - in after effects also, utilizing a green screen I have built over the past two months. Not much coding involved in this part of the project, but thought it would be interesting to mix up the media and explore different avenues in this project.

WHERE FROM HERE

After exploring using different ways of using scripting in Maya and After Effects (MEL, Python, AE Expressions), it is now time to cut up the clip in Premiere and render out the separate clips. From there I intend on building a script using Python (or Processing if faster) to re-sequence the animation together.

WHY?

Although this may seem like a tedious task considering the animation is already rendering out completed from After Effects, I am interested in investigating how software like this sequences clips on a basic/fundamental level. Having an understanding how and why video software works is something you do not generally learn from tutorials, and may lead to better ways of developing the software for the future.

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FINAL CLIP

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POSTER

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ANIMATION PROGRESS

After our concept presentation, it was suggested that I create all of the snippets of animation that are to be composed sequentially, render them all out individually, and then use programming to call of the individual animated snippets sequentially to the music.

Once I have achieved this, and if I have enough time to develop the coding aspect further, I will consider exporting python from maya and manipulating there then bring it back into the final composition.

Above is a render of my progress so far with the animation.

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PAPER CHANGE 01

For my paper change in this shot, I used part of this tutorial here on Video Copilot. Using this reverse disintegration technique, it appears like something is consuming the hills

For the paper change in the second to last shot - I think I am going to have to create a whole bunch of trees and have them sprout up rapidly amongst the trees.

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EXERCISE 4

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PLAYBLAST

Above is a low res version of my playblast with some not fully mastered sound. Still working ont he forest turning to paper aspect of the animation, and need to get the sounds perfected - not entirely happy with a few of them.

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I used this tutorial to create my own low polygonal trees to composite into the second to last shot in the sequence, of which the textures will change from the tree (sampled from the footage itself) to paper

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CONCEPT IN CONCRETE

In The above video I have put together what is the introduction to my animation for the song NO by Bit Jax. From here, I intend on creating three spheres in maya and giving them different deformations. The MEL and Python will then be exported for me to be able to manipulate so I can have the three different animations reacting to three different parts of the music: high hat, kick, and snare. I am also going to code up a few 2D animations all reacting to those three variables created by the music, using the same colour palette as in the above video.

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A few images for inspiration

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This tutorial may be handy for my paper change... I hope

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TRACK TO ANIMATE