As I continued to progress in my project, I found another obstacle that faced me. If the piece was to be used for an advert then there would be copyright issues with using artists work.
I decided that I would have to create all of the art on the walls, and the only way to do this realistically within the time frame given, was to create a modern gallery containing abstract art.
Here are some of the art styles whose work I decided to base mine on.
Before this project began I was not very familiar with the full potential of certain adobe softwares. However, I decided to ask friends. Greg Martin and Ollie Kane were very helpful to my queries.
Ultimately, Greg helped me in understanding the basic tools in packages such as Illustrator and Photoshop to create images that could easily produce abstract art.
For my floor texture I simply used and re-modified a wood plank in PhotoShop.
Below are the different types of wood that I used. Essentially they all came from the same wood texture, but have been altered using effects such as color correction, brightness and contrasting etc.
Although it was not entirely necessary, the below shot has all of the wood textures side by side. However, the only part which contributes to this UV's texture is the central part. However organizing things in this way allows me to try and match up, if not contrast appropriately the plank being worked with, to the planks that are already done.
From image to image I only set up changes to occur on the darker side, the other side will be better if they look well matched in its laminated floor style that is common to new galleries.
From here we can see all of the different textures that will be used. I decided that 6 different styles of wooden planks would suffice in creating the initial variation in the planks. Now I would have to start thinking about tweaking lighting along with the textures.
Here is a screen shot of the process of setting up the connections for the wood textures (only colour)
Now that I was totally happy with the animation, I had to do the final touches by creating a realistic feel through basic texturing and lighting then to be output with good rendering techniques.
Here are a sequence of images that indicate the procedural steps taken to prepare decent lighting. The key thing that i was trying to achieve was to form an even distribution of global illumination photons in the scene which could be tweaked. At this stage, however, there are no textures available. This lacking of the textures would completely change the way it looks. However, the key to global illumination is presenting the scene with an even distribution of photons at the correct intensity. This means that as soon as I do have my textures set up, it would only be a matter of tweaking, rather than beginning the entire lighting process from the very beginning. By the end we can see a nice distribution of uniform light that will be tweaked later on.
Now that most of the technicalities have been addressed and solved for the greatest part, I started developing the animation of my final scene. I thought that it would be a very nice addition to the animation if the gallery filled up with picture frames and artwork. I felt now with my re-evaluated idea, I could incorporate an interesting play on perspective so that each letter of the logo was positioned within the gallery at different places and with different scales, so that at the end of the animation the sky arts logo would come into focus. Here's is my first draft of this basic remade idea.
And from the renderable Camera...
then continued to refine the actual animation until arrived at this stage.
Now the only thing left to really complete this script is to create a slight edge if realism by randomizing the way in which the effect happens.
In my mind there was two ways in which this could be done-:
1. By selecting every tile and allow one of three things to happen. Either lat the animation go forwards by some factor, go back by some factor, or simply stay where it is.
2. Vary the height at which the effect occurs between 2 float numbers.
I set out to do this and achieved it in quite a simple manner.
Here are three videos which indicate the three stages of the effect.
Wave Effect 1- No randomisation
Wave Effect 2: Random animation shift
Wave Effect 3: Randomizer of both the animation shift, and a random height scaler
Now I decide to test my idea on an even further more similar looking object, i.e. floor tiles which look similar to the design of parquet floor. Here are some further examples of how I re-tested my script before I finally implemented it into my scene.
Here is a screen shot of the user interface that I created to ease the use of my script for later.
I have not quite finished all of the features, but in terms of functionality the script is fine.
Here is the first test that I felt would replicate my scene:
Now adding a dynamic Camera, the visualization becomes even clearer. I have also created a rowPhase shift that looks more appealing.
Now I can start integrating this into my actual scene.
Now that I have done The greatest Part of the work, the script is still not entirely finished yet. In case you did not notice, so far the only attribute that is being altered. Now I had to experiment on a less symmetrical object- i.e not a sphere. The total effect that i desired to achieve was to have a floor panel, one side which is dusty/dark, the other which is shiny bright and laminated. Over the animation I would want the dusty sides of the laid panels to flip over on to their better sides in the wave like manner. Now I had to transfer rotational attributes. Here is my next test.
We have probably reached one of the final stages of this script. In this amendment of the script we can see that I have managed to pass on rotational Keyframes to the rest of the objects in my tiled floor. Now all of the tiles are moving in exactly the way that I want. This was the test that I had been striving to obtain.
So, I know now, that if I have a grid with m rows and n elements in each row, I can take any animated object's necessary Keyframes, copy them all to the objects which will be offset by some element phase. Once I am happy with the way that one row is looking, I can bring back the keyframes from all the rows so that they offset by some rowPhase. With this, I can constantly tweak my animation until I am absolutely happy. Ultimately this gives us the wave phase that I had been aiming for.
Having written the script which gave a certain look for each row, I now had the problem that the next row starts too late, and the same for every row ahead of it. So now I modified the script to perform a phase shift on the entire next row, bringing its starting wave back some time . This way I can bring back its key frames enough so thats soon as the first row goes off, the next row does the exact animation but only a fraction of a second afterwards. Now perform this On every subsequent row procedurally. You now have the effect of a wave going across your floor. Here is the first successful test in this regard from two separate angles.
Notice now that I now have complete control of the off set in between the rows. This increases the re-usability of my script, and allows the user to create a wide variety of effects.
My next job was to now use the current wave version 3, and somehow apply a kind of phase shifter in between each element within a row. I struggled to find a solution. After much development I managed to come up with a script that only created a shift in between each element Study the test below. It even may seem like a success, however, all that it does is give animation to all of the elements with some shift.
these are the numbers of each element within the grid. So we give object1, an animation that we like. We then say give your keyframes to the next, object2. then do the same for all of them.
Luckily the folling grid is very small, with only seven elements in each row. When the last object in row1, has finished, then row2's first element would start moving.
However imagine if the grid had 25 pieces in it. That means we would have to wait for all of the first rows animation to finish before the second one begins. In this grid you may notice this, but what I want to achieve is a wave effect. The script still requires work because our parquet wooden floor could have dozens of tiles in each row.
My next step was to generalize the maths to this problem such that it would not only work with specific grids. I wanted to create a tool which would be used on a number of cases. So if the User had a floor tiled with 20 tiles in a row, and there are 40 rows, all he would have to do is type in those values, and the effect would work every time. Here is a demonstration that indicates how the script evolved and became more useful.
After logically laying out the problem in my head, my goal was simple:
For any n by m grid of tiles, numbered in a certain way, then can I pass on another objects key frame data and then offset their animation to make then occur at the same time. This would be able to create a wave effect.
first I had to work out the maths behind the situation. I would copy the keyframes from one object- the master animator. the script would paste all of the necessary keys to all of the objects in the scene with some neighbouring shift. So the first object would go, the next would move, and then the next. After the first row had finished moving, then the next would go, however this is not the effect that i want.
My first goal was trying to get the shift between rows. Here is my first Test.
The following is the first basic layout to my animation using some of the basic ideas that I originally set out to do. Out of all of the music availible I felt this one (Organic3000) was the best to use.
I first created the letters in 3D using a very interesting method that was suggested by a friend of mine (Greg Martin). He suggested that the best way to get a 3D object out of the logo given was to open the file in Adobe Illustrator- manipulate it the to attain the curves that map out the letters completely, import those Illustrator curves in their vector format in to Maya. We then get Nurbs curves in Maya that accurately map out the letters "ARTS". Using this as a basis, we can use simple operations in Maya such as lofting surfaces and planar to create all sides of the letters. Although from here one can easily covert these into polygons, it seemed that the renders of grouped surfaces worked perfectly well in my tests.
I simply blocked out the modeling to give myself the basic idea of scale- in this case it was simple a cubic room that used a scaled polyCube.
I then experimented with the default dynamics inbuilt to Maya to create the swirling particles that come from behind the camera then under the logo. This was easily achieved by using a curve to map out the exact path that i wanted the particles to take, and then using effects to create a curve flow along the given path. This would later be used as the basis of instancing where by all of the particles could have been replaced by a piece of geometry or sprites that would have the required musical notes.
I then created the final particle effect by using two emitters synchronized with animation to create what would later be some type of confetti.
The camera animation was dynamic and was used to make the viewer observe specific parts at given times. I wanted it to be slightly obscure that the letters were only slightly visible against the white back ground. the first thing to view is the music notes flying past. the camera follows their motion until we reach the next effect i.e the confetti makers. The confetti makers would then lead on to the letters above that would have the fluid effects splashing paint against the logo above, finally that is the main focus of our piece.
After receiving both praise and guidance in the formative assessment, Alex mentioned one suggestion that made me re-evaluate my idea. He thought that the inside of the box could be for be in the inside of a gallery. Building the idea up, I researched into the various styles of galleries. They usually feel into two types: classic/traditional galleries and modern galleries. Brainstorming further I then thought that it would be very nice to see then inside of an art gallery old/empty which renovated to reveal the logo.
i first thought of an interesting effect that could lead the animation. Researching galleries, one thing was common, they predominantly have wooden floor. I felt it would be amazing if each panel of old wood raised up and flipped into a renovated panel on its other side. And it would be very nice if this effect happened as a wave.
From here I felt that why not have the gallery be empty and gradually fill up with paintings over time? if this was a gallery then we could else have sculptures as well as paintings. The logo could present itself as pieces or art within the gallery. Now with this basic structure, it seemed a good idea for the lighting to follw the direction on the animation.
This would be a tremendous challenge on many levels. One would be to find a way to create effects that I have never done before. Then to model and texture a realistic Art gallery. However the idea has a very nice theme to it and i have decided to follow this idea. The next few days will be spent on R and D to script the effect.
Whilst researching on the web, I found a large number of resources that Taught many various techniques in to the making of certain effects. Here are some very interesting videos that can make quick recipes for effects.
Here are examples of a few very interesting particles effects that I came across for my project. Some of these are not directly relevant to my project- however I am particularly interested in particle effects and dynamics and it was a great eye opener to me for all the possibilities that are open with various software packages. The following videos are examples of scripting techniques that I look forward to discovering for myself one day.
The next and probably most central effect in my scene is the fluid effects. My initial idea was to create some paint multicolored fluid to splash against the 3D text "ARTS". This will probably be the most challenging effect to get right as there is an added complication to simulating fluids- Having a multicolored fluid that would create a wide range of dripping paint.
Having done some research into fluids and fluids effects, I found that there a wide variety of softwares availible that can be used to achieve this. Of this- it seems that Maya is the weakest software in this particular regard. There are packages that specialize in dynamics which may be entirely different softwares altogether such as Houdini and RealFlow. However I would be limited to using just Maya in this project. This is a very important point and may be the cause of problems in the future. I have found that of the many programs that are available- one must first find out which ones are the best to invest time in- This is more a thought for the future, but a valuable lesson.
Here are some videos that I found that created the fluid effects that I hope to achieve.
To develop my ideas further I searched the web for ideas that were similar to what I want to accomplish. With this is mind, i would be able to have a better idea of how to achieve certain effects.
The Following effects show examples of curve emitters/stroke emitters. These are very similar to the effects that i wanted to achieve along the the walls. These are examples of 2D effects but similar things can be achieved in 3d by animating textures.
Seeing some of these videos inspired me. My favorite amongst all of the above is "Living Canvas". It has taken the idea of bringing to life an inanimate object through similar techniques to the curve effects. This particular piece made me think if there was anything that i could do to my own work to make it more relevant to the theme.
Here is a small test that I did to see how textures can be animated. In this way I would be able to achieve my growing vine effect along the side of the walls by using a pre-made piece of geometry.
I did this by locating the appearance attribute in the attribute editor. By clicking on the icon next to transparency i was able to use a ramp texture. This may make more sense when we think about color, however, if we were to use greyscale- black indicates no transparency where as white indicates total transparency. This is very useful on its own, however, transparency is a keyable attribute and therefore we can animate it. Using this logic with the guidance of my tutor, i managed to make a very simple test that opens many options. Here is my quick test.
Here is a rough idea of what I would like my final product to be. The idea would be to start off with a blank/ white screen. Perspectively however the camera is within a white box/room and we also are facing a set of 3D letters saying ARTS- however they are initially also completely white too and would not be visible.
The central animation will be how the white sign will be splashed/ drenched in multi coloured paint to reveal the 3D logo in a very interesting way through perspective camera angles.
From start to end the insides of the walls will have very interesting pattern traversing it towards the back of the wall until the end of the animation.
As the music begins to play a set of musical notes from one side of the screen will glide down from the side where the camera is to underneath where the logo is. after spinning around once, two confetti makers will activate and shoot confetti into the air on either side of the logo. Towards the very end, two firework rockets will explode behind the logo.
I also thought of having another effect to apply on the floor but this can wait for now- perhaps coloured ripples.
Here is a rough sketch of what the piece may look like (I left the logo black to give the viewer an idea of its three dimensions).
My idea was developed on a basic and abstract theme. I wanted to stay away from the traditional perspective advert- The idea has been done by channel 4 branding and I feel it could be more original. Instead I wanted to symbolize how "colourless" life would seem without arts and the expression of yourself. Through patterns, music , colours and celebration, this idea was intended to create a sense of what art is. I particularly like the way it starts off as a blank canvass which eventually ends up full of interesting concepts. I intend to keep filling smaller bits of animation until I am satisfied with it.
Here is an interesting play on the logo. I tried to find clever ways of manipulating the letters of the logo to create an iconic symbol- to me the most interesting was "Film" as the sky arts channel is heavily involved with artistic films as well as music concerts etc.
The attempt was to show a film projector icon: I made an effort to create original concept rather than directly following the sky arts video guideline where they play on 3D perspective. This idea may be very interesting- here it is only demonstrated in 2D, but this could be extended to 3D too. The words may be modeled in maya very simply yet some smart animation could be very effective.
Before beginning Research and Development (R & D) I started a quick brainstorm to give myself idea of what I want to express in my video. With “ARTS” being the theme, ones options are so broad and thus a mind map acted as a filter for the next stage. Here is my initial mind map. It has a multitude of ideas in it, many of which may not be used. However, there are a few aims and constraints that I want to follow: I want the animation to have many layers. i.e. I want a wide variety of animation composed together. In this way I will be able to incorporate a wide number of ideas into one piece. For example the centre of the screen will have a “centre piece” animation with many bits of other clever animations emphasizing/revolving around (and maybe reacting with) the centre piece animation.
The centre piece animation will most probably involve the logo "Arts" and the small bits of animation will most likely involve dynamics and particles etc.
It may seem vague at this stage but the ideas will clarify after some research is done. Then I can start making storyboards to lead up to the animatic.
The purpose of this course unit is to choose one of three industry related problems. After reading the briefs and analyzing the pros and cons I decided to choose the "Sky Arts" project. In this project (Which in fact is a competition open to all animators) the client wants a student-made creative and inspiring 10 second animation to advertise their product logo based around the word "Arts".
The reason why I was initially drawn to this brief was the abstract nature of its scope. It has the least number of constraints in terms of artistic creativity. Although I do have an affinity to classical 3D character animation, I also find some of my favorite animations have no characters and sometimes no story line either. One small part of an animation can use "special effects", from leaves falling/blowing in the wind, to interesting curves that follow interesting paths! Even the use of colour theory and music can create moods which form atmosphere.
Through out the research of this project you will see links to videos that will be a reference for what I may wish to implement in my final piece.
Being a second year student at Ravensbourne we are now being encouraged to specialize in certain areas. I have an interest in scripting and would like to use some aspects of Maya's particle systems and dynamics to make abstract effects. It may also give me a chance to start experimenting with compositing softwares such as Adobe After Effects.
In some ways, this project is an ambitious stepping stone for me. To succeed in pleasing the client I will have to create a product which is original, creative yet accessible. This means that I would have to research in to other similar ideas to keep my idea from becoming too abstract. The initial weeks are generally dedicated to research, storyboards and brainstorming.
As the project goes on I am sure that the ideas will mould and evolve- Let us see how it develops.
