3D Stop motion re-shoot

Despite my best efforts in Post production my original footage for my 3D stop motion shoot will have to be 90% scrapped & re-shot!
I have keyed out the greenscreen and started to drop the background elements in for the test, however the camerawork is beyond any post-production miracle. This has hammered home the point that its important to get it right 1st time on camera, and maybe also that the best form of control in a test is to do everything yourself including the camera!

* one shot has a part of the background not covered by the greenscreen in-shot - I cloned a part of the replacement foreground over the mistake which makes it slightly misaligned by millimetres



* the camera is unsteady and constantly shaking and moving the shot = I attempted to motion track the keyed out footage and the background image together constantly repositioning it to rectify the bad camera work, but the result is still sub-standard.

* because the camera was not being white balanced between changing positions or the changing of lights the colour of the puppets skin tones & the greenscreen change between certain shots = I did a curves adjustment in the colour correction menu in an attempt to match up the different colour shades however this made only marginal difference.

* Also because of the bad lighting there was slight shadowing round the puppets outline, keying became difficult to get to be incredibly accurate = I had to trim and feather the outline between the green background, shadowing and the actual puppet this led to slight bleeding-in between background & props/armature

Creatives Oath!

While researching light animation an animator for haitsu (Ipad light animation vid) stated they got their ehtos for their company from a creative advertising business in Japan - the manager had given them a creative code of conduct, I thought I would stick this code up to remind myself to complete this craft development module in the most thorough and innovative fashion possible!!

1. Create work for yourself; don’t wait for work to be assigned to you.

2. Take an active role in all your endeavours, not a passive one.

3. Seek out large and complex jobs. Trivial tasks debase you.

4. Welcome difficult assignments. Choose them. Progress lies in accomplishing difficult work.

5. Once you begin a task, complete it. Never give up.

6. Lead your fellow workers. Be an example for them to follow.

7. Set goals for yourself to ensure a constant sense of purpose. This will give you perseverance and hope for the future.

8. Move with confidence. Confidence gives your work force, focus and substance.

9. Find new solutions. This is the way we ensure satisfactory service.

10. When conflict is necessary don’t shy away from it or be afraid. Conflict is the mother of progress and the source of aggressive enterprise. If you fear conflict, you will become timid and servile


http://www.dentsu.com/

attempting light animation

As I have completed my initial Augmented reality test and I am halfway through with my stopmotion greenscreen & 3D test I am looking to start my light animation test mixing up light effects created with lighting shot on a camera recording at a slow shutter speed, composited with 3D computer generated light effects and patterns.

Computerised light animation

Plugin test - Trapcode Form from Rbelion on Vimeo.

Natural on-camera light animation

Light Animation from jyoti on Vimeo.

stop motion greenscreen & mixing with 3D

I have completed my test filming for my Stop motion Armature against a green screen.
I plan to :

-to key out the greenscreen in after effects



- to replace the background using still images and animation footage


- to insert 3D models into my scenery


- once at sufficient knowledge insert a 3D generated & animated character into the scene for the armature to interact with


# 3D BACKGROUND PROPS = Mannequin, Russian Doll, Escher stairs/images, dali elephant/ walking crescent moon
# Melt/liquify face as a layer on the realtime mannequin

Augmented reality test completed

I have completed my first test using augmented reality technology & 3D modelling

I have documented the step by step technique of how i created my AR test in a powerpoint presentation :

Ar presentation

View more presentations from ricardoblancodean.

Once I had created the 3D model and installed the Augmented reality plug in to use with my webcam - I printed out a coded marker for the camera to register the 3D model onto




Once i had printed out my A.R. Card I had my completed test, heres the result:

Augmented reality test

I have decided to add an attempt at creating a piece of Augmented Reality technology to my craft development practical work. With looking at the way current trends are going, the increase in consumer products using AR, and with most big media companies looking to making moves into this area I feel it will be important to learn the very basic steps of how the technology works.

Augmented reality manifests mainly in Apps or advertising and utilises Webcam interfacing, 3D animated modelling and targeted information streaming over an interface.

here is an example from the largest AR comapny in the UK: Hidden creative


To create my very own example of an AR enabled product i will first use a free downloadable 3D modelling tool: Googlesketch to create the 3D content
http://sketchup.google.com/product/gsu.html

I will then use an AR media Sketch upo plug in - this plug in product will alllow me to set virtual markers for the 3D model. these markers will be set on an object (ie a piece of card) which when shown in front of a webcam will bring up the 3d model, this will then move along with how the card moves.

I will post up my resulting test soon!

turning actors into animation - greenscreen

I have shot some greenscreen footage of myself which I intend to use for several animation tests using different methods.

I intend to use the Maya 3D modelling motion capture method I posted previously. to see how effectively I can digitally replace and manipulate an actor without the thousands spent on mo-cap suits & equipment.

I will also do some more traditional digital manipulation without 3D modelling, using digital rotoscoping.

I feel doing several different test using seperate methods of animation and manipulation will enrichen my craft development & allow me to come out of this module with a good grounding in al forms of animation whilst sticking to the brief of researching and applying myself to a certain style or craft.

I will post the test up on this blog once I have completed them.

plan of action

as I am quite interested in mixing live action & animation in a 3dimensional space, I am going to do some simple experiments in 3D modelling and movement with MAYA. I will chart my progress from being a beginner in the software to whichever state of knowledge i end up with by the end of the module.

I am also looking to attempt a form of 3D light animation - projecting it onto surfaces in a real enviroment and using stop motion animation and/or After effects CG light effects to give it contrast& movement, hopefully something similar to the iPad light animation video previously posted.

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/light_streaks/
http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/light_streaks_2/

http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/products/all/knoll-light-factory/

I will also attempt several more traditional forms of animation in a 3D space, this will include shooting a stopmotion armature puppet in a 3D greenscreen set, as well as rotoscoping a live action actor against a greenscreen background.

I am making contact with several visual effects and animation companies in Leeds & manchester to further my understanding of the types of projects these companies do, what their personal experiences are, and to increase my networking links into the industry

rotoscoping using cs4

this will be the method i will use for my rotoscoping animation tests using a mix of after effects, photoshop and illustrator - so I can use the actors footage as a base, use illustrator to create a new character on top of the footage and photoshop to add visual flair, then manipulate it all together in after effects to have the finshed rotoscoped technique

OR
to get a sanner darkly interpolated rotscoping style i can use this example:



"I used Adobe After Effects. Each color is a "solid layer", and each shape is an animated mask using the pen tool. just layer them the way they need to be, you may have to use the same color more than once; for example, the black around the eyes is a different solid than the black over the lips. it's very time consuming, but it does look pretty cool in the end."