Creating Stereoscopic 3D Images

Location on campus, me, and some cool objects!!

It was fun creating these photos! 

Recreating Cameras and Lights in Maya

For this assignment we had to recreate a photo in maya. This was very hard to do because it's not easy creating "real life" from a 3D computer program. However I did my best.

ORIGINAL PHOTO

MAYA RENDERS

Maya render

45 degree angle

Extra Credit: Lighting a Scene in Maya

My initials are "V" and "E". Below are all the photos: Non-lit and 1, 2, and 3 point lighting. 

no lighting

One Point Lighting

Two Point Lighting

Three Point Lighting

Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action

My first two term paper scores were 95 and 94; I will not be writing a third term paper.


[ Regardless, I did enjoy researching when writing the outline for the third paper. It's amazing to see how far special effects have come, even if they still don't always look "realistic." Sometimes traditional animating is still the way to go! I've learned a lot from researching for these term papers so thank you!! ]

Outline for the Third Term Paper

Special Effects in Animation and Live Action

INTRO
a. Visual effects have been a present feature in films, both animated and live action, for many many years. For this paper I will be comparing the visual effects of water/sea storm from two Disney films: Pinocchio (1940) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)

BODY
I. Pinocchio (1940, animated) – Monstro the Whale scene
- Water waves and effects (bubbles, ripples, splashes etc). was hand drawn and painted by animators and visual effects animators.
- Waves closest to the camera had thicker line quality and those furthest had thinner line
quality. This gave the illusion of depth.
- Cell paper would have the waves traced on it. Visual effects animators would then shade the waves with blue and black  pencil leads to give the waves a sculptured look/feeling.

II. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007, live action) – Maelstrom scene
- Shot in a large warehouse with life scaled ships (for actors to use)
- Used real water effects for rain, large splashes, etc. as much as they could in order to a) make it feel real (if you want it to look real, use real elements) and b) so the actors felt as if they were in a real storm (i.e. acted with that element; not having to mime it).
- Digital Effects
    * ILM Studios (750 shots in 5 months) and Digital Domain (300 shots)
    * water fx
    * Maya
- Given this is a live action film and having more resources helps for a more authentic “real” look.

CONCLUSION
a. Both films are successful, in my opinion, in creating these water effects. In Pinocchio I believe there can be more credit given to the fact that it was hand drawn, even if it does have a “fake” look to it as it is cartoon. In Pirates of the Caribbean, having some real water elements and using 3D, computer effects help give a more realistic setting. However using 3D and computer graphics can also be an obvious use of its “artificial-ness.”

b. Throughout the years, visual effects in films have come a long way. Visual effects then were limited the resources available and most of the time were hand drawn. Today we have many computer programs that help with creating better looking/realistic effects. Both methods are successful and do have their flaws but are nevertheless amazing and deserve much credit for their creations. 

Stop-Motion Character Animation

For this Stop Motion assignment, I decided to team up with Allegra Colston. We knew we wanted to work together for this assignment. Our planning started with Skype sessions, since we could not meet often. We first showed each other different objects around our homes that we might be able to use. We agreed on using the my artist Manikin and her Penguin and Turtle wood figures. Then we brainstormed our story. We had the idea that the Manikin was going to a zoo or zoo exhibit and was fascinated by the animals. Our focus animal was going to be the Penguin. The following are our storyboards:                                         

  (Veronica - thumbnails) 

 

(Allegra's thumbnails)

We combined both ideas and came with with the following story: A person goes to a zoo exhibit and sees these cool animals. The turtle does not react as much to the human taking pictures, so the person moves on. Once reaching the penguin, they are fascinated and quickly take the camera out. While they are doing so, the penguin decides to leave, resulting in an empty habitat area with no penguin = no photo.

That was our original concept. We then thought up designing our habitats for the animals. We used clay, construction paper, illustration board, shoe boxes (for bases) and books for more height). We also used cotton balls & plastic wrap for the Penguin Exhibit, and grass, dirt and brown clay rocks for the Turtle exhibit.



As we were shooting, we decided to add a “NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY” sign to the Penguin exhibit. This would eventually change our ending. The Manikin, being too excited, takes a photo of the Penguin with flash anyways. The sad result of that is that it ends up killing the Penguin.

Both Allegra/Veronica shared the work equally. While I/she focused more on the camera work, I/she focused more on the animation; collaborating back and forth. We each made of the habitats for the animals and I/Allegra made the tiny camera for our person to hold. Veronica/I also made the “Welcome” sign and the “No Flash Photography” signs you see in the video. After much time, the end result if our animation!! We had a lot of fun making this and hope you enjoy!!

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction

In the world of film-making there are many freedoms for creativity, especially when using CG components. This is prominent in many genres such as animated films, action films and super hero films. In using computer generated images, the creative teams are able to create different worlds, environments and push the physics of human capabilities. However, pushing the laws of physics too far can have its disadvantages. For this paper I will explore the pushing of some of the laws in these following films: Tangled, The Spy Next Door and Marvel’s The Avengers.

There are two laws of physics that are evidently incorrect in these films; the Law of Inertia and the principle of Momentum & Impact. In physics, the Law of Inertia and the principle of Momentum and Impact are incorrectly illustrated in many films in order to create a sense of believe-ability, as opposed to a completely correct representation.

In 2011 Disney released a re-telling of the story of Rapunzel, in their animated film Tangled. In this version Rapunzel, daughter of the king and queen, is kidnapped as a baby by an elder woman who seeks the power of Rapunzel’s hair to keep her young. Rapunzel grown up in a tower hidden from the rest of the kingdom until one day a young man by the name of Flynn Ryder, frees her from the tower. Through many obstacles and turmoil, Flynn helps Rapunzel find her true parents and they live happily ever after. This example will focus on the character of Flynn Ryder. One of the obstacles he faces in the film is when he has to escape from the castle after he is taken into custody under false pretenses.
                                         

In this scene, Flynn Rider makes his great escape from the castle after being captured under false pretenses. He gets help from the “tough guys” of the film. He is catapulted from inside the castle courtyard, into the air/over the wall. As he’s “flying through the air” he remains in and upward/straight stance, simply rotating in the air.

When Flynn lands he lands perfectly on Maximus, a horse, who will take him to Rapunzel. However he lands perfectly, in the correct spot, without injuring neither the horse nor himself. What is important to note in this scene is the height of the castle walls, the weight of the “Viking looking guy” that does the catapulting, Flynn’s weight and the momentum with which he is falling. According to the principle of momentum, in order to stop an object of large or small momentum there needs to be a similar large force (applied quickly) or small force (applied slowly).  
     
                                        

As seen in the first photo the castle wall is quite tall; about a little less than 100 feet (estimating). The second photo, you notice the character is pretty big and built and is jumping off the second story. In the third photo Flynn is at a significantly high height and manages to clear the wall. Even though the Viking is quite big in size and weighs a good number, the momentum in which he catapults Flynn would not have been such that Flynn would go entirely over the wall. Yes, he may “jump up” at a high height but not as far and as high as the wall. The second thing to notice is when Flynn lands on Maximus.

                                     

As mentioned Flynn is falling from a significant height and his momentum, though not too fast, is quick. Maximus was not a far distance from the apex of Flynn’s fall. This would mean that when Flynn lands on Maximus with that much force, he should have at least had some upward force moving him from the saddle, and the horse should have at least moved a little in reaction to Flynn’s force and weight. Neither of them have any reaction. A good example of incorrect usage of the physics principle of momentum.

Another film which has this same issue, in many parts of the film, is the 2010 kids’ action movie The Spy Next Door. Bob Ho is a simple man living a normal life and has a secret double life as a spy. Given some unplanned circumstances he takes on babysitting his neighbor/girlfriends’ kids. When his cover is blown, the kids soon join him in helping fight “the Russians”. As the movie progresses the youngest of the children, Nora, gets good at using some of the gadgets; without her knowing. The following scene is from the final fight scene of the movie in which Nora is face to face with the largest of the Russians.

                                    

Nora is in the hallway with the biggest Russian and he tries to come after her. She then shoots him with a small gun-like device. The gun shoots a “bullet” that catapults the Russian to the end of the hall, causing him to break the door and part of the wall. Both the Law of Inertia and the principle of Momentum & Impact are poorly used in this scene. The Law of Inertia states that an object moves with constant, uniform motion until acted on by an unbalanced force. In this case the “bullet” like device is shot with a fast speed however due to the size of the Russian is stopped; in this case disintegrates. This would be the first thing to notice. A “bullet” or bullet-like device would not disintegrate on contact, especially when made of metal or harder material.    

                             

 In the second part of this sequence, we see the Russian being catapulted by the force of the bullet to the end of the hall. In this case the unbalanced force would be the wall that causes him to stop and fall to the ground. However, the momentum of the bullet versus the momentum in which he was “flying” across the hall is inconsistent. Again, the bullet would not have disintegrated and due to how fast it was going and its size the Russian would not have catapulted like he did. Another thing to notice is although the Russia is big in size and probably weighs quite a bit, the fact that he was able to break doorway and part of the wall is completely false. He may have been able to break a little bit given the force and momentum he was going at but not to the extent in the scene. This is not the only example in which the laws of physics are used incorrectly in this film. Although the physics are highly unbelievable, being that it’s a children’s film and live action it is understandable and more appropriate that such rules are broken in order to create a more fun and family friendly film.

The last film I wanted to look at is one of Marvel’s biggest move hits, 2012’s The Avengers. Unlike The Spy Next Door, this film has a lot more CG components in a live action setting. This film does deal with super hero characters that have supernatural abilities and powers, so it is expected that certain laws of physics will either be used incorrectly or completely ignored. However they still need to make it believable actions that the characters would actually have. The following example is from the final battle scene. In this particular part, Thor is joining the other avengers for the final battle.    

                              

He falls at lightning speed out of the sky, hits the ground, stumbles as he is getting up and suddenly walks perfectly when approaching the other avengers. Thor comes to a sudden stop after falling at such a high speed. In order to stop an object of large momentum, there needs to be a large force applied quickly or a small force applied more slowly.  In this scene the large force would be the ground. Though it does apply force quickly, causing that sudden stop, the upward force that the ground exerts is not evident in Thor. Another thing to notice is the momentum in which Thor hit the ground. If he is falling at “lightning speed” and hits the ground that quickly, in reality he would have either been really critically injured (due to having almost no armor) or would have died.

For these three films, The Law of Inertia and principle of Momentum & Impact are purposely used incorrectly for the effect of comedy and visual enjoyment. This does not always mean that the action is believable even in the context of the film, but the suspension of disbelief required to experience films with exaggerated realities makes up for this fact. As we saw with The Spy Next Door. That is the beauty of filmmaking and television shows that use CG today; there is so much freedom to create such different, whimsical worlds and it is amazing to see how far we have come.