STORYBOARD FOR THE ANIMATION

Here the storyboard

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WRITTEN SCRIPT

I would never good at writing, especially in English. However, when it comes to create some stories that I like my brain will work it out. Hope this story is not that much grammar-wrong.
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WRITTEN SCRIPT

In deep down of a corner of The Great Internet, a mail virus is waiting for an email to come for him to infect. Opposite to the other sides on the Internet, here is the place for darkness and silence, it is deserted. The place has no bound limitation, it is huge but with, no sky, no ground, no others, almost nothing, excepts the “Wireless link ground” only for virus to stand on .

The virus is sitting there  on the “Wireless link ground” , no, actually, he is lying lazily without doing anything. He is bored, so so bored; there must be no emails for long time. He got no friends, no family and even he was the only virus appeared here. All of sudden, the ground starts flashing; far away, there is a small light sits on the “Wireless link ground”; the light flashes attractively to gain attention from the virus. An EMAILl!

“EEEEE – MAIIILLLLLLLL” – the virus sounds happily

He stands up, start moving toward the email. He is moving faster and faster, happier and happier. At the halfway, “FLUFF!” the email disappeared.

Poor him, he was waiting for so long for this. He is so sad right now, a gloomy face he is showing.

The ground under the virus’ feet starts flashing again. Another email has come. His face changes suddenly into happy, even happier than the last time. “go, go” He moves once again.

“Clang, clang, clang!” his steel feet make real loud noises in this dark place. “FLUFF!” again, the email disappears. Do not ask what he will feel? His gloomy face again tells it all. Suddenly, “Swish!” another email appears. Today must be his lucky day, he got “3 emails” already! Failure after failure, he realizes that it is now time for being serious. Gathering all his strength, he starts moving really fast, no actually he is running.  On the way toward that email, another one appears in a corner not far from him. He takes a glance at the new email, but he knows that he is getting the first one, it is very near. “FLUFF!” not again, yes, that email disappears.  Gahhhh, he stops immediately but his speed makes him slides few more meters. His face turns out real serious, he then makes a swift invert direction. He is heading toward the newest email appeared. Not running for long, another “fluff” sound makes his face back to the gloominess.

So much disappointed, so much sad, the virus is also exhausted.  He gradually takes a look at his left hand side then right hand side; there is nothing but the darkness. He is saddest ever, his face faces the ground, and he tries to stretch out his body to lie on the ground. The ground once again flashes. This time is the shininess is covering the ground, the light is so great. Ambience is all over the place. A very very big email starts out bursting from underground but it is very far from the virus. It is felt like at the almost at the end of the virus’s sight.

The virus was stunned by the light for a moment. He can’t believe what he is seeing, this is a big, fat chance for him to infect into a sweetest home ever a virus can make. He gathers all the strength and runs at full speed; really fast and there are no obstacles in this such deserted place. There he goes, and everything seems to be alright. Yes, he almost gets that email, the distance is dropped down really fast. All of sudden, he feels so happy, and still there the stunning effect he got from the light, at his full speed, his feet don’t work properly. They start step on the others, the virus can’t control his feet anymore. “CLING, CLANG, CLING, CLANG…!” the loudest noise he ever made. He is falling down to the ground and is rolling at really fast speed.

“No, no” – he thinks he has to make it. The most serious face he ever made. He is taking so much effort to try to reach the email while rolling on the floor. And it would be the longest slide he ever made in his life. “ZZZZZZZZZZWWWWWWOSSSSSSSHHHHH!” “Reeeeeeeeerkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk” really loud and annoying sound like you use something hard to scratch a blackboard.

The virus’s slide stops right in front of the email; very close to. It is close enough for him just to reach it by his big claws while lying on the ground. “FLUFFFFFFFFFFF!” the place dims down darker and darker.

THE END.

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INITIAL ROUGH IDEA ON ENVIRONMENT

I imagined the environment my model would live in is very dark, and it is a huge place where my model is the only thing exists in that world. However, the some reflection lights or ambient lights form the ground would light the scene and my model. So these are still my very rough ideas, I need to fix it on the way to the final animation.

MODEL IN MAYA

I put everything I got into Maya, and started modelling. I didn't record much of the process on modelling, just had the final model. Actually it took me 4-5 hours to model it completely, I did it slow because modelling is still new to me, some problems still needed to be solved through the way.

The difference compares to the hand drawing : eyebrow, the joints
Eyebrow : I thought I put eyebrows to express emotions better than smiley faces or something like that.
The joints between legs : I would like to make it look alien or something out of space, so floating joints and electromagnetic would be fit more properly.

MOTION & EMOTION SKETCHES

To decide the look on my chosen model, I carefully sketched the ways how it would react (emotions) on some particular situations and how it moves in real life (motions).

MOTION

EMOTION

CHOSEN MODEL

I got my model yet with lots of legs and two big claws (maybe he can do something with those claws just in case). Here is my baby's pictures

And I spent a little bit time to render it (:P had fun though)

Also for modelling purpose, I also drew the model in orthographic views. (Top, Front, Side view)

Front view

Side view

Top view

ROUGH AND QUICK SKETCHES

I started with something looked almost like a real common crab but with 4 legs and 2 claws.
The I tried different shapes on the body as well as increased the legs to get something more interesting and kind of alien (I would like to make my model looks strange).
The sharp legs won't please my eyes, so I changed my idea into legs with a small kind of balls or metallic sphere at the bottom of each legs.
The next few trials, I put a big eyes on its face in order to express some emotions with eyes.

PRECEDENT IMAGES

So my initial ideas were some kinds of creatures with lots of legs. And then I ended up looking for some images of crabs and spiders.

PRECEDENT ARTIST - RESEARCH

I would love to see Theo Jansen's works. I knew him 2 or 3 years ago while surfing on youtube for some inspirations. His creatures are made from hard work, from a real artistic heart. They always inspired me a lot. In a very complicated hierarchy system of lots of pipe and joints, the creature formed beautifully and lively.
One style I could recognized that the creatures have lots of legs and big body, somehow I felt they look like a spider or some kinds of crab.

FINAL SUBMISSION PROJECT 1

Well, we got extension there which I didn't know, that's why I pushed myself to hell to finish the project up (2 nights...). To be honest, when I knew that we got extension I did appreciate my works so much, and I was like "Yes, finally, we got some more time, I will definitely polish the final up"... So I took one more day to fix the audio, lights, effects and so on... Also fixing the material on melted substance. Here is the final outcome
(upload in full, high-quality)

PLEASE WATCH IN HD

3 Render images & explanation paragraph :

FIRST-ATTEMPT HAND-IN

So after fixing the shattering effect, my final scene is completely ready... So I rendered it then put in After Effects to finish and tune up... (some lights, particles and sound effects)
Audio used : VideoCopilot SoundFX package
Flare effect applied in After Effect : Plug-in called Trapcode Optical Flares
Just for referencing purpose, so I uploaded this in draft quality video (will take lots of time for the high quality, I will spare for the final submission)

Comment : I was little bit rush to put it into the final but it is still my pleasure... Somehow, the synchronization between the visual and audio is not really good, maybe if I had had time there I would fix it definitely. So I did want to make it on time. Also another problem was the melted rubber was not good, too much bump-map effect, a little too reddish there...  

FAILURE ON THE SHATTERING EFFECT & REWORK!

Like last time, for the shattering glass ball scene I used the Maya 2012 built-in tool called "DMM" (Digital Molecular Matter - I need to turn it on in plug-in manager). I had some trials and it turned out well but at the very end, when combining with the other elements (cameras, lights and whole scene) it didn't work properly, I did look up for solutions but still had no idea how to fix....
Fail! 

Comment : The impact is fine but the after effect is so so bad, the glass pieces are too big and fill the camera lens, no way we can see through and even too dark... I need to find another solution


So after 1-2 hours searching for solutions, I ended up looking at the website : creativecrash.com which is the home of thousands of 3D program plugin...
Words, terms did use to search : shatter, shatter glass, destruct, explode... and also tried DMM
And very interesting I found one (it's very new - in 2012) the "DMM Baker" plug-in. It is an extra plug-in which helps the DMM in Maya more useful. Quick description : Author : Arthur Graff, it will finalize the effect when two DMM objects come to impact (kind of re-rendering), also controlling the DMM settings in more ways then the usual plug-in can provide...

Link DMMBaker : DMMBaker

Also I consulted the tutorial for this plug-in : http://vimeo.com/groups/ati/videos/37973773


So I need to allow the DMM Geometry Cache to save the shattering scene, the combined it with the whole final scene more properly.... Also I did some experiments with layers to create the final effect, because the DMM cache didn't show up while rendering so need to duplicate and apply layers.

Here the trials with DMM Baker, the outcome is magnificent and so much better than the last one

It was very near to the final one already.

DEVELOPE WORKING ON CAMERA! ... ALSO THE MATERIALS

Once again, I tried to play around with cameras, also animate them... But after some trials, I just realised that I just need 1 camera for the whole scene and animate it...

Here the camera work

Comment : Almost my final, but still need some fix because I need to work more on the shattering scene.

Next step will be very very near to final, the playblast is still very rough though, but try to provide a visualization what I did work on... MATERIAL and COLOURS change through time, the camera is fixed properly...

 Comment : The playblast was in high-quality mode, so the material shows some details and all colours, but the final must be different because the rendering will be with more better better settings... playblast is still draft clip.

APPLY LIGHTS INTO SCENES

Applying lights is easy but making them work well and fit perfectly on the scene is way too hard. I focus on the ambiance and angle of lights. (The video file is too large to upload, but doesn't matter there are just fixed lights, not much movements)

Screenshots :

MORE TRIALS! (Research on Camera as well)

All the previous works don't have the ground for it. To be more realistic, I tried to put a plane into. So I tried to fix it to bounce more properly and to work perfectly.

Comment : With the plane, the scene is much more better, deeper and felt more realistic

CAMERA WORK
All I've learned from the tutorials at school are much useful. I did try to look up on google but the camera work tutorial doesn't show that much useful. The tutor showed me how to work with cameras, animate them and even apply motion path for cameras. I open a new scene to figure out the way to work on camera.

TRIAL SHATTERING THE GLASS

I think the hardest part for my project I was working on was this one - shattering the glass ball. I looked up around on google, learnt some.
First trial) Shatter built-in Maya

Outcome :

 Got bored little bit, I know it's too rush to put the light in the first stage of the process but why not trying out ..
Shattering glass ball applied light

TRY, TRY AND TRY!

Then I started my idea, so I tried melting the ball...

Comment : I tried Squash deformer and Wave to make this, the effect is totally fine. I like it.

Try to combine both.  (bouncing then melting)

Combining with Bend deformer, I created the next step for scene... Everything was going well (even took me 4-5 hours already). Actually I failed a lot but still tried to upload some of my succeeds.

Comment : The outcome is magnificent, love the way how it moves (luckily I got there), but still need some sudden movements to make it more dramatic.

Comment : Throw up in the air, twisting around combining with bend and squash...! This is my 5,6th trials of this type of twisting scene... This one is pleasant...!

FIRST EXPERIMENT EVER!

I tried to make a bouncing from what I've learnt from the class (graph editor, keyframes...

Comment : Just one ball, not good enough but yeah, that's a good try I would say.
Here some fixed with graph editor

 

3 WORDS LEADING MY DESIGN

I made up my mind, what should I do next? The question is simple, but the answer is not... So I chose three words to lead my mind :
1 noun : waves
1 adjective : flexible
1 verb : twist

INSPIRATIONS

The video Nokta's showed in class I did watch 2 years ago and it was way way awesome. I love that video so much. I got inspired some movements and the fluid forms from the clip.

Also the very cool videocopilot.com website made an ad for their own new app on iphone so-called DEMOOON - CAM! Here the full video (Have fun watching it)



But why I brought it up here, because the part when the glass ball shattering... Yes, that's it... The ball brake into pieces in very slow motion and one piece in the "thousands of pieces" throw right into the cam, make a hyper close-up scene, etc..

On videoCopilot they also have the tutorial for the shattering ball... I have learnt from it but not much (I will consider this later)

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/epic_shatter/

MORE DETAILED CONCEPTS (PROJECT 1)

Concept 1 - WATER DROP

Here are more detailed concepts, much better quality... Also I provide PDF files within

Concept 2 - PAPER

Concept 2 - PAPER

Concept 3 - RUBBER BALL

Concept 3 - RUBBER BALL

Concept 4 - CLAY

CONCEPTS FOR PROJECT 1

Fast description : 4 ideas includes

1) Water drop => Moves, spins, twirls, twists => Stretches out into a puddle => Vapours and turns into steam => Accumulates into a water drop again

2)  Paper => Rolls => During rolling, gradually changes and turns into fabric => Stretch out plain => Hardens & turns into steel sheet

3) A bouncing rubber ball => Some bounces, melts into liquid form => the matter moves up & down, makes waves => stronger and stronger waves, bring up some spiky waves => waves reach their max, pulls off the ground => twists, twirls and turns into a glass ball => hangs on in the middle of the air then drops down and brakes into pieces

4)  A block of clay => Pulses strongly (like a heart) => some pulses, turns into Ceramic (smooth & glossy) => gradually makes some tiny waves => turns into a block of coal

RESEARCH ON FORMS

Most common states of matters in the world : solid, liquid & gas, 3 in general but variety in particular... I would like to research specifically on some I feel really interesting, also I will focus on the forms.

STEAM, SMOKE : move kind of randomly, softly & gradually... Also I like how the smoke blurs the objects behind them, make some sort of fairy scenes.

 TWIST, TWIRL, TORNADO-LIKED : I just like the way how these are incredibly formed, the movement is so strong, steady and fast; the size is huge

WAVY, SPIKY FORMS : I combine those two types of forms, one symbolizes the softness, flexible and the other one symbolizes the stiffness, thorniness... They are so contrast & beautiful....

LIQUID, MELTED FORM : soft, harmony, flexible & reflective...

ROLLED FORMS : flexible, soft, elastic...