Evaluation: Look Development

Shot Development

Look Development

December

As part of the Animation Process and Practice unit we had to take on the task of ‘Look Development’. This involved us assembling in groups to collaborate and produce a final composition inspired by an original source. Using the knowledge we had gained from the previous unit, we would take the technical aspects further to produce the final piece.

As I was in the 3D group for the character performance piece, I chose to continue in the 3D medium. My partner Siobhan also chose 3D before and continued with the medium in this project. We chose our group because we believed our combined strengths would produce an effective result. We understood our strengths and weaknesses and used this knowledge to assign our roles within the group.

Siobhan’s strength lies within pre-production/production including concepts, modelling and texturing whereas I discovered my strengths lie within production/ post-production during the technical phases such as animation, lighting and compositing. I only discovered this late in the project, which did cost the group time. However we adapted to the situation and worked to what we knew.

Our original ideas were too demanding and our tutors advised us not to proceed with the underwater settings. This was due to a great number of potential problems and the difficulty of an underwater scene. We had to consider the physics of water and particle effects and how all of these things would affect us down the pipeline i.e. rendering.

Siobhan then produced a swamp concept; inspired the illustrative styles from the likes of: ‘Scooby Doo’ and ‘Disney’. The style as seen in the concept art is very illustrative with a well throughout colour pallet. The lighting focusses the audience on the shack in the distance to convey mystery. The trees enclose the audience with a sense of thickness and depth to the dense swamp.

Moving onto the scene, we chose 3D as our medium to produce the final scene. We intended to create a 3D scene with an illustrated style with soft shapes and water colours much like a painting. This was inspired by the concept art produced by Siobhan, and we chose to keep this style for the final piece. We chose the 3D route because of our acknowledgement of the progression of the industry, with the rapid advancement of technology we believed we could achieve an effective result.

I experimented with a number of tools in Maya to achieve the result I intended: illustrated yet believable trees. Late in production I had to hand over the role to Siobhan in exchange of the role of lighting.

Pre Vis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsZNIgdshtk

As we wanted to capture an atmosphere within the scene of ‘spookiness’ and ‘mystery’ we thought a lot about our composition including: lighting, spacing and the colour pallet. I believe we could have created a better atmosphere with the addition of lights and fog effects to add further depth to the scene. However due to time constraints we could not have added these elements without being late.

Late into production during research of sources such as films and games, I discovered that game trees are flat textured with a painting UV. These tress looked fine from a distance, it was upon close inspection I discovered this. If I had knew this before I would have completed the texturing much sooner and incorporated this knowledge in the final piece.

Final Video: https://youtu.be/fC-HxQlUCa8

The final scene is not as effective as I had intended. This is because of the style of the video, it has not rendered as intended and does not match our expectations. This is to be expected in a creative production, but does not make it less frustrating.

There would be a number of elements I would change to the final piece. For one I would have spent more time with the texturing, giving feedback rather than struggling throughout the project. I would have handed the responsibility over sooner to then support with feedback. Because I am not pleased with the final look of the trees as they appear rather flat and plain. As shown in the concept art, the trees are covered in moss which adds the elements of time and life to the work.

I would add additional effects such as fog which would be an appropriate atmosphere for a humid setting. In addition this would have aided the ‘spooky’ theme we were trying to achieve. To have achieved this we would have had to research the effects within Maya and how long a particle effect such as that would have taken to render.

I would have spent much more time on lighting, experimenting with the colour, the effect through fog and on surfaces such as the moss growing on the trees. Again this would have taken too long in the time given. Both learning how to apply these effects and the significant increase in render time this would have added.

Next time I may do a project such as this I would plan to use a dedicated render and stick with it, such as Renderman. I intended to work for those results, and I must plan ahead in good time to understand the requirements of such results.

Overall I have found this project enlightening and challenging. I have learnt that projects do not work as intended, no matter how prepared you believe you may be. Despite our preparations of role assignment, we still changed in favour of completing the task on time. I found it especially difficult accepting I did not have enough time to learn texturing and give the responsibility to Siobhan; by the time I discovered this it was too late. If I had accepted this earlier I would have had much more time with work I could understand and experiment further with improving our final piece. There have been elements I have enjoyed including the animation of the camera and the fireflies within the scene. I have learnt that Look Development is a very long and difficult process of experimentation and tests, which I did not enjoy all of the elements such as the texturing. As a group we worked effectively together offering feedback and support for each other, I should have communicated effectively with my team about how difficult the texturing was for me. I will listen to the advice that Tim Searle gave me at ‘Manimation’ in November, to keep things simple, understand the limits and make the best of them. Understanding my limits as a student in knowledge and time, and develop these by understanding how to use these effectively. 

Compositing

December 

After I had rendered the scene in Maya, exported and encoded the media it was time to continue to compositing. Compositing is the process of combining all of the elements within a production into the one piece. This could include: images, sound, music, video, effects, etc. 

For the post-production phase, I used Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere and Adobe Media Encoder. 

Within After Effects I added effects to the render including elements of rain, camera blur and particle effects. These are all effect incorporated within the composition as I believe these are all suitable elements to make the scene effective in its presentation. I explored and experimented with other effects before I discovered the right ones. These other effects were not suitable for this particular scene; however they may be useful in the future. 

Throughout this process I discussed with my team about feedback which meant going between multiple versions and software to achieve the result we wanted. 

After I had complied and rendered the effects in After Effects; I imported the elements of sound, video and image into Premiere. Using free sourced sound from ‘Sound Bible’, I incorporated natural sounds to the swamp environment such as frogs and rain noises. This adds depth to the scene as the audience uses multiple senses which emerges them into the setting; becoming an experience. 

The post production phase was interesting as I did expect it to be as delayed as it would be. This is due to the feedback and communication within the team. I believed the process would be rather linear, moving from one process to the next. Instead I took a step forward then two back, to change element’s for the team and improve the composition. I have learnt to adapt and predict the unpredictable in results; any process can be rather fluid, be it going backwards or forwards. 

Render Development

December

Once I had completed the lighting of the scene, modelling and texturing was completed. It was time to compile these elements together into the single scene. Siobhan had lead the pre-production stage, now I was leading the post-production including rendering and compositing. As mentioned in a previous post, this required a technical understanding to ensure the scene could be rendered in good time.

I faced many problems regarding the rendering. I had to change a number of elements within the scene such as the number of trees, the size of the whole scene and the number of lights. All of these elements increased the time of the render for each scene. Initially I intended to use Renderman for this project; because Renderman is one of the better renderers with the best results which I believed would enhance out group’s work. However I found this needed complete dedication and a deep understanding of the software; which I did not have time for within this project.

My second choice of renderer was Mental Ray, because the results can still be good quality. I used mental ray for a while throughout the project; however towards the end of the project the render times became very long. Even after reducing the file size in a number of ways, Mental Ray continued to have problems with rendering. On multiple occasions the render would stop for no reason with no warning leaving me to believe it had rendered.

As time grew shorter I had to make the decision of using a different renderer, to ensure the scene was completed before the deadline. I began to explore other renderers:

As shown different renderers provide different results. For our project I chose the Maya Software renderer because it had one of the shortest times, and the results weren’t as dark as the others. The results weren’t exactly what the group initially intended; however we understand the choices we needed to make both creative and practical to ensure the project is completed on time. 

Pre-Vis

November/December

Part of the project requires the group to produce a pre-vis of the scene. This allows us to see the fundamentals of the scene without concerning ourselves over details. Allowing us the time to critique and change anything that does not work before committing to it.

With the created scene I created a playblast of the scene. This is a low resolution playback of the scene with hardware texturing.

I found problems with lights, models and composition. These changes I made with no severe problems. The group agreed to proceed with producing the final scene. This would move into details such as the quality of the render to ensure the best image is produced. I find the Pre-Vis a crucial part of any creative production to ensure the final product is what we intended as well amending any changes now rather than later. 

Lighting Development

November/ December

After I had changed roles from Texture-er to Lighting, I had to learn how to light a scene effectively. I incorporated what I had learnt from collage on the photography course.  Many of the principles are the same much like a set, with main lights and highlights etc. In addition to memory I researched professionals experience from films and games which I found very helpful.

I found lighting was key in a number of ways, and that there is a lot of meaning in every light within any scene. Applying this to the work I tried to light the scene in such a way the audience would be directed to the house in the centre of the scene. The house is the centre point of the scene, surrounded by mystery and kept secret of by the swamp.

As the swamp is enclosed I considered the light would be diffused through the leaves, no harsh shadows. The lights would be ambient to illuminate the scene; allowing the audience to differentiate shapes and the space. Fireflies would fly around the scene giving a mystical essence to it with the soft glow hovering above roots and water.

I found lighting a very technical role with values within the editors. How these affect different materials, as well as monitoring potential render times. If I made the scene too complicated the render time would not be possible to complete before the deadline. I have learnt a great deal about the importance of light within a scene.

In addition to lighting, my role included maintenance of the scene. I had to monitor the poly count to ensure the render time would not be too high. Create the setting for the scene, creating the composition. This required a lot of problem solving, patience and technical understanding of Maya. I have learnt a lot about the technicalities of Maya, solving problems and applying them to my work. 

Texture Role: Changed

Look Development: Swamp

18th November 2016

Towards the end of the project, I found the texturing task very difficult. I couldn’t achieve an effective style which matched the concept art. I am still not sure if this was due to art itself, Maya or myself being over-critical (most likely the last one).

Discussing with my group, we decided to exchange roles of texturing and lighting with each other. We found that I understood the technical aspects of the project such as lighting and setting whereas Siobhan preferred the creative aspects such as modelling and texturing.

After we had exchanged roles I felt I could progress with the work effectively. Despite our original agreements at the start of the project; we saw a problem which could hinder our project and we adapted our roles to complete the project effectively.

From this I have learnt that roles aren’t necessarily ‘set in stone’. At first I beloved I could learn how to texture effectively, with time and effort I can learn and apply these new skills to the project. However we saw it was taking too long for me to learn and apply these techniques; if I continued the texture role I could have jeopardized the project for both of us. I have learnt to accept defeat for the benefit of the team, this means I can learn these skills in my own time and not the expense of a group project. 

Continued Texture Development: Bark and Leaves Edition

24th November 2016

Continuing the look development project, I have experimented with different materials in Maya to gain the best results for our work. I have tried lambert, Blinn and other base materials; from this I manipulate the materials attributes which produce interesting results.

I had to create a texture for the tree trunks, leaves and moss. These are all different materials with very different properties co-existing within the same scene. I have tested different ways to gain results such as bump mapping, UV editor and Mudbox. In this test I have used bump maps alongside a basic colour. This way the object is lightly textures to produce an illustrative atheistic.

This was problematic because I could not use a traditional texture as this would make the object realistic; therefore I chose a non-conventional method to produce an interesting texture. An example of this is the bar of the tree, I used a tree trunk bump-map, I then turned the depth very low; the final texture is rather abstract and does not appear like the original texture.

The leaves were very problematic as I had to test several materials and altering their attributes. I had to research the structure of leaves and consider their transparency within an illustrative setting. Therefore, I used a leather texture, turned the bump map low and the transparency to estimated 60%. This created an interesting effect of the leaves being slightly transparent with a leaf texture.

I will have to continue work on these textures such as the shack, moss and the water which makes up the ground of the setting.

Manimation: Children's Media Conference 2016: Volunteer Edition

Thursday 17^th November

On the third day of MAF, Manimation took place across the road at the Auto-Trader building on the sixth floor. As well as MAF, I also volunteered for Manimation because I enjoyed the experience last year.

There were a number of talks with heads of the BBC and other speakers including David Sproxton discussing the animation industry. Topics of technological advancement and creative proposals were just a couple of the points raised at these talks, which allowed professionals to engage with each other. As a runner I took the responsibility of assisting managers of the event and making entrants feel welcome with drinks and snacks.

In my spare time I took the opportunity to participate in the VR demonstrations which I found very enjoyable and inspired me about my future career. I am keenly interested in developing VR and augmented reality as I always look out for ways to move forward. This would be the technological advancement I could be working on in the near future; therefore I must develop an understanding of these technologies.

In addition I took the opportunity to speak with a number of industry professionals; an event such as this is a fantastic opportunity for professionals and students to mingle. Overall, I found this a fantastic and enjoyable experience which has given me new insight into the rapidly developing technologies and this affects my practice. 

Manchester Animation Festival 2016: Volunteer Edition

Tuesday 15th - Thursday 17th November 2016

Another year has already come around to welcome the Manchester Animation festival to HOME again. It was a fantastic experience and I am even more pleased to say that I was fortunate enough to volunteer this year at the event. However I had to balance my timetable with the Manimation festival which was on the Thursday, so I couldn’t volunteer for the full three days unfortunately.

DAY 1

This was a very busy day for myself as I was a runner for the team, ensuring everything was running as smoothly as I could help it. Finding missing tickets and acting as ground control as the lobbies became bustling crowds. I took the time on my break to view the short shorts which were a collection of up to two minute films created by artists and studios for the festival. These shorts were extremely entertaining to name some including: ‘More Stuff’ by Blue-Zoo, ‘Tabook’ by Dario Van Vree and ‘Full ANL’ by Aardamn Nathan Love.After that I was busy again with moving easels out of the event space after the life drawing session.

 

Once that job had been done I was fortunate enough to attend the Aardman Fellowship award where Peter Lord and David Sproxton spoke about their years of Aardman as it was the company’s 40^th anniversary. Afterwards I had my Art of Aardamn booked signed by both of them and spoke briefly to Mr Sproxton; thank you very much again if you are reading this.A fantastic start to a brilliant festival.

DAY 2

Starting the second day with the screening of short films, these were films created by artists which lasted around six minutes. These films did feel rather long; personally I felt that these films were too ‘artsy’ and were trying too hard. I much preferred the short and snappy short shorts.After that I helped at the ‘Blue Zoo HooDoo’. This was a talk by the producer and director of the ‘experience’ HooDoo. This was a virtual reality short where the audience are placed in the middle of the story and interact with the characters with interesting results. This was a very interesting talk as they spoke about the process of creating HooDoo and the problems with creating a virtual reality short.

After that I was timetabled for the Skwigly Screening, Skwigly is an animators’ newsletter/ magazine. This was a screening of artists work. I enjoyed some of the work within this screening, however there were more that were too abstract or too ‘artsy’ again much like the short films. Of course all of the work was well made and I can appreciate the work put into them; as artists we will always be subjected to opinion and bias, I am not a fan of the final product of all artists’ work.Shortly after that I participated in the Skwigly Quiz, this was a quiz hosted by the company Skiwgly which offered great prizes ranging from a statue of Gromit signed by Nick Park, animation books, DVDs and much more. We had to answer a series of questions relating to the Stop Motion industry and naming characters from beloved animated series and films. Unfortunately, our team ‘Dreamworks Teamworks’ (not responsible for the name) was one of the last teams. We chose our prizes, I won a badge which I am pleased with.Back to volunteering, I worked at the ‘Making of Ethel and Ernest’ talk. This was a talk by Steve (director of the event) with the animation director and producers of the film ‘Ethel and Ernest’. This was a fantastic talk as they discussed the process of creating such a film, working alongside the author and ensuring the style is consistent.

Finishing the day with a screening of ‘Ethel and Ernest’ in one of HOME’s many cinemas. I found this film very enjoyable and moving. It was well made in writing, screenplay and style by how I felt so involved with a family and was taken on this journey through time, growing to love these characters.

DAY 3

I did not volunteer for the final day of MAF because I was volunteering for ‘Manimation’, a separate animation festival. However at the end of the day I was fortunate to attend the award ceremony at MAF. This was hosted by Barry Purves, who was very funny and presented the awards brilliantly. There were many awards given to artists for their work for their commissioned films, short films etc. Finally, the volunteers were awarded their prizes and received a thank you for their work throughout their time at festival.

Conclusion

The Manchester Animation Festival has been overall a fantastic experience, I feel that I have learnt so much over such a short time, meeting new people and my understanding of the industry. Inspired by artists’ work and thinking about my own, and asking myself how can I do that? I am definitely looking forward to next year’s festival. 

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Texture Development: Swamp Edition

November 2016

Allocated to texturing with the group, I have the task of developing the stylised textures for the scene. This involves observing and reviewing the concept art to ensure the style and colour is captured within the models.

Concept by Siobhan Gilmore

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Within the concept, I saw the trees are coloured by the life that grows on them such as the fungus and moss, which breathes life into the image. Knowing this I used a base colour of brown for the bark and multiple layers of green paint for the moss. I saw the moss almost acted as a layer of snow where it would rest on top of branches rather than underneath; unless it was hanging from the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I experimented with different ways to create the appropriate texture including: Maya’s bitmapping, bump mapping and hyper shade as well as Mudbox’s paint tools and sculpt tools. I found that the concept art was not detailed; it has an illustrated look, which made me turn away from realistic bump mapping and texturing. Therefore I considered using Mudbox’s paint tools to paint the texture directly onto the models to create the appropriate style.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will continue work on textures by continuing to experiment with different styles; most likely to move onto UVs and Photoshop. This may produce different results I am looking for. I believe I have learnt a lot from this experience, including the level of knowledge and detail needed to produce effective texturing work.