I am now in finals for Computer Animation! It's super exciting, but it also makes me nervous at the same time.
Anyway, before we continued on to finals, we had to pass an Art Test of our chosen discipline. I chose Environment Modeling and we had 3 assets to model, texture, and light.
The first assignment was just to get our feet wet. We had to model a basic wrench, but texturing was not required. Simple lighting was okay for this project. Overall, I didn't run into any trouble with it. Everything flowed smoothly with this assignment
Our second project focused on a vase. For this, our job was to model, texture, and light the scene. The model when fairly okay. The cloth was a little changeling to model and texture, and I know I need to practice modeling fabric and folds, but overall, it was fine. The project as a whole seemed a little daunting at first, but once I started working, everything seemed to work out.
For the final assignment, we had a concept art piece. We had to match the modeling, texturing, and lighting as closely as possible. This was mainly a texturing project, since the reference was an illustration and not a photograph. Painting the texture went by fine. Matching the hue and saturation became a little challenging, but overall, I was able to match it to the reference. The only thing that I was kicking myself for was that I forgot to texture the small door hinges before turning it in. Oh well. I'm still happy with the overall result.
Above is the flipbook and render of my Houdini Pyro assignment. For our next project in Visual Effects 2, we had to use the Pyro option in Houdini to create fire. I chose to create a torch, for this one. I had much more trouble with this assignment than the first one. Overall, I just have a harder time understanding Houdini, but I did try my best. I could use a lot of work, though. The fire itself is too large to be a real torch. Also, it fluctuates too much. Still, the color is fairly nice
Here is the plan that I typed out before starting.
For this assignment, I will be making a torch fire. To start
off, I will model a very simple torch in order to have a prop in the scene to
add to the effects of the fluid. Once the models are placed and scaled
correctly in Houdini, I will then start the fluids by creating a torus to emit
the Smokeless Flames. Setting up the container is the next step. This must be
done before adjusting the motion of the fluid. I will adjust the Division Size
so that the container has more resolution. I will also make sure that the
voxels remain square in order to not cause distortion. For even more control
over the motion, or if I wanted to view a certain part individually, I can go
into the Pyro node attributes for the container.
Next, I
will adjust the motion of the fluid so that the flame looks more believable. I
will do this in they Pyro Solver of the AutoDopNetwork.Under the Simulation tab, I will start by
adjusting the Timescale in order for the fire to move faster. However, because
of this, I will need to also adjust the substeps of the fluid in order to not
lose detail. I will also make the flames shaper, or more crisp, by lowering the
Temperature Diffusion. The Cooling Rate will be raised in order to keep the
flames small and contained.
Continuing
on with the movement, I will go into the Combustion tab and slightly adjust the
Gas Release to cause a small burst for the initial ignite. I may also look at
adjust the Ignition Temperature, to make sure that the flame starts burning on
frame 1, and Flame Height, in case the fluids need to be taller.To finish up the motion, I will go into the
Shape tab and adjust the Confinement. This will create the swirling effect of
the flames that we see in torch fires.
Once the
motion is all done, I will move onto the shading. Going into the Shop network,
I will start by adjusting the color in the Color tab. I will switch Constant to
Artistic, so that I can create the strong color variation of fire. If needed,
this is where I would do any type of color correction before rendering. After
the material has been finished, the only thing left to do is to complete a
memory cache of the simulation and render. I will do this by creating a camera
for the render view and then creating a Mantra-PBR node. From here, I will set
up my render options and render out an image sequence. This sequence will be
taken into either After Effects or Nuke and be exported as a movie file.
Here is the playblast and render of my assignment for my Maya Fluids project. For this, we simply had to make a fluid container in Maya and adjust the attributes to fit our reference. We were required to do some sort of fire, so I chose to do a fireplace. Overall, I am fairly happy with the result. It could definitely be a lot better, though.
Here is the plan that I wrote out before starting. As always, it's best to have a plan before doing anything.
For this assignment, I plan on making a fluid fireplace
scene. To start off, I want to model simple props for the scene. These will
include a fireplace mantle, a grate, and a large log for the fluid to be
emitted from. These models will be simple and quick because more time should be
spent on learning the dynamics of fluids then modeling. Once all of the assets
are placed in the scene, I will create a fluid container to fit the size of the
fireplace cut out by changing the size and resolution in the Container
Properties tab. This way I can make sure that the fluids are contained to the
specific area of where a real fire would take place. Also, having the fluid
container match the direct size of the fire will cut down on simulation time.
From here, I plan to turn the log
model into a fluid emitter. Once the log is emitting fluids, I will start by
adjusting the density. The fire needs to stay someone transparent, but if it is
too transparent then it will appear as smoke. Raising the density should fix
this. I will not adjust the heat very much, if any, because I don’t want the
fire to rise very much. The same will be said for fuel. Because this is not an
explosion, I do not want to add fuel to the fluid dynamics.
Next, I will go into the fluidShape
tab and adjust the motion and shape. Here, I will adjust the Boundary in order
for the simulation to not cap off at the sides. I will also pay attention to
the Dynamic Simulation. I will adjust the Simulation Rate Scale, in order for
the simulation to play faster. This will help to speed up the flames. Continuing
on with the finer details of the motion, I will move to the Content Details.
Under this tab I will raise the Dissipation to shorten the lifespan, slightly
adjust the Diffusion, and raise the Density Tension so that parts of the flame
can flicker and break off. I will also try the Swirl option under velocity.
Still, this is an option that will only be slightly adjusted, because the fire,
for the most part, will stay stationary. Ultimately, this section will take a
lot of tweaking for me to find a shape and motion that best matches the
reference. Most of my time will be spent on this section.
Once the motion follows the
reference as closely as possible, then I will move into the shading of the
fire. Under the Shading tab, I will change the Color to black and adjust the
Incandescence color ramp, because fire is self-illuminating. I will also make
sure that I add a small amount of Glow to the shading. Because fireplace flames
are thinner at the bottom than at the top, I will adjust the Opacity ramp in
order to match the reference. Once I am finished adjusting the shading
attributes, and I notice any pixilation issues, then I will slightly raise the
Shading Quality. After all of the fluid dynamics are finished, the only thing
left to do is to add an illuminating point light, texture the props in the
scene with a lambert, and then finally render.
Here is my assignment for Lesson 2. For this we used a provided sound clip in order to practice lip syncing. This was definitely not my strongest project. Some of the poses could have been pushed more, and towards the end of the clip, the character feels as if she is mumbling. It seems pretty chatty towards the end. Still, overall, I felt that I did a decent job. Critiques are welcome
Here is a compilation of some of the activities that we have done in class. Most of the activities, I had no trouble with. Of course, some of the animation could be better, as far as poses pushed and such, but overall, I am fairly happy with how these turned out. As always, critiques are welcome.
Activities included: Parent Constraint, Stop, Take, Lip Test, and Cycle
So, here is my first project for Character Animation 2. Overall this project went pretty smoothly. I didn't really run into any issues, and I'm fairly happy with the final result. I started out this assignment by drawing up some pre pro, then I blocked out the scene. After doing multiple passes with the animation, I finally finish. A couple of the poses could be pushed, but over, I'm pretty happy. Critiques are more than welcome.
Here is my 4th and final assignment! The left image is the unaltered one while the right is the color corrected image. All we had to do it take the final render passes into Nuke and so some color corrections. We also added a depth of field effect to the entire scene. Turns out, I actually created an Instagram scene. Ha! I wasn't quite sure where to go with this part of the assignment because I couldn't really get a feeling from the random objects in the scene. Also, it looks like something happened to the left side of the color corrected image. I wonder if a node was accidentally pushed to far to the right and I didn't notice it while in Nuke? But, I tried my best and at least it has some color correction.
I'm not going to lie, the second part of assignment 2 (which is Lesson 3) kind of kicked my butt. I was having the worst time getting the caustics on my soda to work, so I ended up fighting with it. Maya won. I was going back and forth with raising the caustics, by floor being blown out, and lowering my soda color. Overall, not a fight I wanted to face. After I got my critique, I realized that one of my issues may have been that the soda was set to Thin Walled, instead of Soda. I haven't checked it yet, but I hope that that was the only issue. Also, I completely forgot to add carbonation bubbles to my soda. Oh well. Something to remember for next time. Other then that, the paint on the scraper is too reflecting and the box could you more bump value.
Here is a close up of each item
Also, Here is the sticker that I did for the bottle. I wanted it to match the box stickers.
Lesson 2 is finally up! It definitely took me long enough to update. For this assignment, we laid out the UVs of a scraper and textured it. Also, we added stickers and paint marks to a cardboard box, but the base of the cardboard was already done for us. I really enjoyed this assignment. I love texturing, so I very much liked this project. Also, I got the chance to practice more digital art. Not only did I lay out the scraper texture, but I painted the stickers as well. I had fun doing it and it helped relax my mind to just sit and draw.
Here it is! Here is my first assignment for my Visual Development Class. My Render is on the left while the reference image used is on the right. This assignment was fairly simple - just use lighting and render settings to match the reference image. Overall, I had no issues with this assignment. I had to fight Final Gathering a few times to try and get a clean render, but other then that, everything was pretty smooth sailing!
So, here is my third assignment for Character Animation 1. I can say, the animation could definitely be better, but 3D animation has not proven to be my calling. Oh well. For this assignment, we were required to do a 5 step walk, a turn around, and to push the button. My walk is a little swingy. The hips seem to over rotate; however, the assignment required that our Rotation Y on the hips must be at least 35 and -35. I didn't quite agree with this, but I supposed the requirement is there in order to clearly see an over exaggeration. Also, I feel that my walk is too large. It's large in movement and makes the character appear goofy. Taking smaller steps, or adjusting the legs down can probably fix this. Still, at least my character makes it from Point A to Point B.
On the right is a playblast of my third assignment while on the left is a render. For this projects, were were focused on learning soft bodies. I was pretty apprehensive with this so I just stuck with the default scene. I didn't want to get ahead of myself. But, as I worked on the assignment, I found the overall project to be fairly simply. Yes, is was the scene provided, so all of the goals were set up for the soft bodies, but actually getting the movement to slow and melt the way I wanted it too wasn't as difficult as I was expecting. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. I do suppose I could have spent more time adjusting the fluid of the flame, but the main assignment was to focus on the soft body movement.
This is my second assignment for my Visual Effects 1 class. For this lesson, we had to work with particle systems in Maya Dynamics. The left video is a playblast, while the right is a render.
The only part that I really struggled with on this assignment was the smoke. For one, I was having issues just getting the particles to form in the shape of smoke. Also, I was having trouble with texture of the smoke. No matter what I did, the smoke always rendered flat, so I added a fractal noise to the smoke once I composited everything in After Effects. Other then that, I'm fairly happy with it.
For this assignment, we focused mainly on Rigid Bodies of the Maya Dynamics system. The first video is a playblast of the scene. This is from the actual render camera and follows the motion of the ball. The second video is a failed render. I was having issues rendering this scene out for a while. Not only would it not render all the way, but it rendered from the wrong camera. But at least I had something to turn in.
What are you going to do?
Oh well. Overall this scene wasn't too bad. I had a little bit of trouble getting the balls to move fast enough through the scene, so I had to key gravity in a couple areas. It's pretty noticeable, but I tried to hide it. Also, at the very end of the scene when the ball is launched into the air, I feel that it moves too slow before hitting the rotating bowl.
Animation, Lighting, and Textures by Hannah Epling
For this assignment in Character Animation 1, we were instructed to create 7 dynamic poses: Relaxed, Fear, Anger, Happiness, Sadness, Disgust, and a Balanced pose. Overall, I felt that I did pretty well, but the Fear pose could have been tweaked just a bit. This silhouette is not quite as readable as it could be. But overall, no complaints.
So, here is a playblast Part 1 and 2 of my first Character Animation assignment. The character, nicknamed "Eggy" starts by walking across the scene, then turns around at the mailbox.
As far as the walk itself, it does seem a bit bouncy and the feet tend to stick just slightly. Along with this, the turn-around could have been swung out more. Doing this could have avoided the character being so close to the mailbox at the end. Also, his body could have rotated slightly more at the end.
