Fantastic Voyage - Reflective Statement

This time last year I was very unhappy with what I was doing creatively. The course I was pushed onto just wasn't for me. So choosing to come study at CAA was a very big step for me. And I have to say I've loved every second of it. Even all the stress and low moments. And I wouldn't take back my decision for the world. Fantastic Voyage was a dream come true for me. Getting to direct, produce and animate my own short film was just amazing, and one year ago I never even thought I'd ever get to this point in life.

Although my short film could use many improvements (mostly in the animation portion), I am very proud of what I've managed to produce on this course. But I do admit, I bit off a bit more than I could chew with this project. I went in excited and wanted to impress. I really wanted to use NCloth, so much so that I never created a backup plan when NCloth went downhill. In hindsight, creating a version of my rig that allowed me to move the dress/poncho/filament as separate parts would have been the best thing before experimenting with NCloth, and I'm a little mad at myself for being so lazy with the rigs and just wanting to dive into NCloth. I really needed that backup plan with the dress rigs, because my animation suffered as a result.

I need to improve in this planning aspect, otherwise, my work could suffer in the future. I also want to improve in the animation aspect so that my characters don't look like they're floating in space. I'm looking forward to my second year at CAA, and I hope to improve in all ways possible next year and over the summer.

Toolkit 1 - Maya Tutorial Submission + Reflective Statement 2017/2018

Intro To Autodesk Maya

1. Modelling in 3D Software

2. Block Modelling

3. Materials & Textures

4. Common Shaders

5. UV Layout

6. Animating in 3D Software

7. Animation Part 1 - Using Rigs

8. Animation Part 2 - Using Motion Paths

9. Animation Part 3 - Using MEL

10. Animation Part 4 - Dynamics

Modelling 1: Digital Sets

1. Part 1: Modelling

2. Part 2: UV Layout & Texture Preperation

3. Part 3: Lighting

4. Part 4: Texturing

5. Part 5: Bump & Specular Maps

Modelling 2: HS & Organic

1. Hard Surface Modelling

2. Organic Modelling Part 1

3. Organic Modelling Part 2

4. Organic Modelling Part 3

5. Organic Modelling Part 4

6. Organic Modelling Part 5

Lighting and Rendering 1

1. Sampling and Noise Reduction

2. Ray Depth

3. Maya Lights

4. Light Filters

5. Stylised Exteriors

6. Standard Surface

3D Animation Principles

1. Key Frames & Curves

2. Travel & Rotation

3. Settle & Rest

4. Secondary Animation

5. Squash and Stretch

6. Anticipation & Follow-Through

7. Walk Cycle

8. Pose to Pose

Intro to Pre-Viz

1. Pan, Roll and Pitch Shots

2. Dolly and Crane Shot

3. Tracking and Coverage Shots

4. Camera Shake and Contra Zoom

Rigging and Skinning

1. Biped Rigging Part 1: Feet & Legs

2. Biped Rigging Part 2: Spine

3. Biped Rigging Part 3: Arms

4. Biped Rigging Part 4: Head, Neck and Final Grouping

5. Skinning Method 1: Interactive Weighting, Component Editor, & Paint Weights

Visual Effects 1: Deformers

1. Non-Linear Deformers

Reflective Statement

I came into this unit with a little bit of 3D experience under my belt. I worked with 3DS Max back in college, so I knew the terms and general modeling skills already. However, I didn't know Maya and learning the program and what it has to offer has been a great experience. I've enjoyed learning how to model and found it the most enjoyable aspect of the learning curve. I also enjoyed texturing, rigging and skinning (though they are all something I have to get better at). One thing I couldn't wrap my head around was animation, and it is something I will aim to get better at next year.

Toolkit 1 - Organic Modelling 4 + 5

Toolkit 1 - Anticipation and Follow Through

Toolkit 1 - Travel and Rotation

Toolkit 1 - Animation Showreel + Reflective Statement 2017/2018

Reflective Statement

Since I started late because of transferring I didn't get to learn the basics of Adobe Animate as well as I'd have liked. Which meant my work attitude suffered as I fell behind as well. As a result, I don't have as much work as I'd have liked to have for this submission. Next year I plan to fix my work ethic toward animation, and the toolkit in general, so I don't have so many gaps in my work. The work I have done I am proud of, I especially like how my flour sack animation turned out. I hope to improve at this kind of animation, and animation in general throughout the coming years.

Toolkit 1 - Life Drawing Submission + Reflective Statement 2017/2018

Reflective Statement

At the start of the life drawing sessions, I was very nervous. I'd never done it before, and I wasn't confident with drawing a nude person. As I went on I got better at stepping out of that comfort zone, which resulted in my drawings being more confident, and my experiments with materials getting better. I found I really liked working with charcoal, I like the coverage you can get with flat colors, and the small details you can get with the end. I feel like I have a better understanding of human anatomy now, though I do need to improve with faces, hands, and feet, which is something I will try and focus on more next term.

Toolkit 1 - Non-Linear Deformers

Toolkit 1 - Interactive Weighting, Component Editor, & Paint Weights

Toolkit 1 - Biped Rigging Legs, Spine, Arms, Head

Fantastic Voyage - The Art of Pollination Waltz

Fantastic Voyage - Final Film

Fantastic Voyage - Art of Progress 02

Fantastic Voyage - Compositing Test

After 2 hours of making these custom "old reel" effects, I finally have a base composite to work off. I can basically add my renders one at a time after they're finished rendering from Maya and add them to the pre-comps I have within the existing comp, without having to add the same effects every time. I'm aware the colors look quite de-saturated right now and I am planning to brighten the colors a little more in my next test. Also, after many tests and asking for help, I have decided to leave out the NCloth. It was getting too complicated and just wouldn't work for me. Perhaps in the summer, I'll find time to render a version with the NCloth, or I can revisit this project again in a few years when I feel more confident with Maya.

Fantastic Voyage - Model Turnarounds

Toolkit 1 - Arnold Standard Surface Shader

Fantastic Voyage - NCloth Update

So today I did another NCloth Test and found out that the clothes just aren't working well in my scene at all. So as annoyed as I am to announce this, I've made the decision to get rid of all my NCloth. While this does mean the Poncho, Dresses, and Stamen will be stationary (since I can't go back and re-rig at this stage), I will do my best to make the animation engaging with what I have.

Fantastic Voyage - Pre-Vis

Yesterday I made the decision to sway from the green background and keep the original silvery purple. I understand by doing this I risk the feedback that it doesn't look like a meadow, but other color combinations I tried just didn't look as good. From this, I went ahead and changed the texture, edited the scene a little again and playblasted all of my pre-vis. I used the pre-vis to block out the location and speed of the camera and characters and where they would move when. Now I'm going to put in all the animation scene by scene.