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. 

Outline for the Second Term Paper

Intro
a. The Law of Inertia states that an object moves with constant, uniform motion until acted on by an unbalanced force. A force is balanced by an equal force acting in opposition, such as the floor pushing you up versus gravity pulling you downward.
b. The momentum of an object depends on its velocity and weight (mass). 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. Sometimes, if it’s done too quickly, it can be visually jarring to an audience.
b. Thesis: 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 believability, as opposed to a completely correct representation.


Body
I. Tangled (2011)
a. The escape from the castle
* In this scene, Flynn Rider makes his great escape from the castle after being captured under false pretences. He gets help from the “tough guys” of the film.
* He is catapulted from inside the castle courtyard, into the air/over the wall. While in the air, he remains in and upward/straight stance.
b. Landing:  Flynn lands perfectly on top of Maximus the horse (who is on the other side of the castle). Neither of them have any reaction to the momentum Flynn exerted.

II. The Spy Next Door (2010)
a. Bob Ho is a spy who takes on babysitting his neighbor/girlfriends’ kids. When his cover is blown, the kids soon join him in helping fight “the Russians”.
* In this fight scene, Nora (the youngest; 4 years old) stands up to the biggest Russian and shoots him with a small gun-like device. It shoots a “bullet” that catapults the Russian to the end of the hall, causing him to break the door and part of the wall.
* Highly un-believable, even though the laws of physics were broken for comedic purpose.

III. The Avengers (2012)
a. The fight scene (towards the end)
* Thor falls almost straight down, at lightning speed (YES pun intended), to the ground.
    ~ hits the floor, stumbles a little as he’s getting up, then gets up like nothing has happened and
        walks towards the other avengers completely unharmed.

Conclusion
a. 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.

Reverse Video Reference

Here are the reverse reference clips. This exercise was a bit more challenging than I thought, but here are my best attempts at getting them right. (I took quite a few takes of each one)

CLIP A

CLIP B

CLIP C

CLIP D

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

Stop motion has always been very interesting and fun to experiment with, for me.....but having to create a stop motion film is much easier said than done. My process for this started with the idea, which does not come easily. I originally had an idea of having a character lifted up by an air lift (like those that lift window cleaners), then drop the ball and have the ball bounce until off screen. However I had many issues with my first video:Too many photos, too dark, phone wasn't positioned straight, trying to fix it in Photoshop etc. Didn't really fix it.

So I re-shot and re-shot and re-shot until I could get everything to work right. So I opted for a video without the character. I focused more on the physics of a ball bounce and trying to get the ball bounce to look believable, without the character. Sometimes less is more.  I used my fridge, a magnet and my yoga mat (as a ground plane. I used tape the first time......that didn't work because it wouldn't show up).

So here is my falling ball bounce animation and my reference. I used the same plan as before, just with out the additional character.

animation reference

Stop Motion with title cards

Stop Motion, ball bounce only

The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

        It is FROZEN everywhere!! Almost anyone today can say they have seen, know or heard of a little musical film phenomenon called Frozen. It was released by Walt Disney Pictures on November 23, 2013. It was directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee and produced by Peter Del Vecho. Along with loveable characters, catchy musical numbers and wide popularity, Frozen has become the highest grossing animated film of all time. When making an animated feature, in order to grab an audience’s attention, there needs to be a good, solid story. Without a good story, the film will not be as memorable and an audience may quickly lose interest. In addition to the story, animators have to create believably in their characters and their environment. Physics is a huge contender in helping create these believable environments. 

                                                       
        Based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Snow Queen, Frozen tells the story of two sisters, Anna and Elsa of Arendelle. Elsa has supernatural powers that Anna is very fond of. After an accident, Anna’s memory is changed so that she will never remember her sister’s powers. After the tragic death of their parents, Elsa is forced to take over the thrown as queen. However, since neither Anna nor anyone knows of her supernatural powers, she is self conscious about being accepted. Her powers are later discovered and fearing for her life Elsa flees the kingdom, covering it in snow and ice. It is thanks to her sister Anna and a few other friendly characters that they are able to save the kingdom and give Elsa her confidence back. In this world of Frozen, creative modifications to physics are made to create a believable yet imaginative environment in which the characters exist.

        Although this film is widely acclaimed, there are several instances where they laws of physics are changed or ignored. This is present through paths of action, nature elements in the environment, unrealistic falling and weather conditions. During Anna’s search for her sister, she meets a man by the name of Kristoff and his reindeer Sven. As they are headed towards the north mountain, they begin to get chased by wolves, causing them to be cornered at a cliff and they decide to jump.
        According the Newton’s Law of Inertia, an object with moves with constant, uniform motion until acted on by an unbalanced force. In this sequence we see Anna, Kristoff and Sven getting ready to jump from a lower mountain cliff to the higher mountain cliff across from them.
                                                                           
                                                    
Although Kristoff cuts the rope so Sven can push himself off. Both Sven and Anna make it to the next mountain while Kristoff barely makes it and is then pulled up; they all survive. However, if Newton’s Law of Inertia were present in this scene their path of action would have been closer to that of the sleigh. The sleigh in this scene is the unbalanced force. In addition to the gravitational pull they characters would have, this unbalanced force would have caused all three characters to actually “fall” in a more downward motion/path of action, rather than continue upwards. In addition, given the distance they need to travel, chances are neither character would have actually made it from one mountain top to the next; maybe get close but not exactly land on top of the next mountain.

        In continuation with the Law of Inertia, there is what is called Inertia and Drag. In animation, drag is the effect that occurs when material such as hair or clothing, follows behind the rest of a character’s motion.  Drag is affected by the inertia of an object, in this case the character. During the musical number “Let It Go” we see Elsa walking alone on a mountain. There is clear indication of some wind, as shown by the falling snow. Although it is not a strong force, it is present.

                                                        
        The focus in this scene is her cape and element of wind. When she sings “well now they know” she takes off her glove, throws it into the air and spins. Her cape, in this instance, does an almost 360 and after the glove exits the screen, the snow and the wind disappear. Now there is a sense that there is no additional force going against the character as she continues to walk. About twenty seconds later there is a sudden force of wind, causing her cape to drag and lift up behind her.

        So the drag occurs first, by the character’s motion and second by the sudden force of wind. The drag in this scene is not consistent and is altered to fit the song. If the wind element was present throughout the entirety of the song, even if it built up gradually, her cape would have started to drag earlier and towards the end the would not be the only object dragging. Drag can also occur when a character moves in a quick fashion.
          When Elsa does a half spin after releasing her glove, her cape drags up and a centrifugal force causes it to open outwards. Judging by the force Elsa uses to spin and knowing the wind element is almost eliminated and given that the material of her cape is probably a little heavier than regular clothing, it probably would not have spun and dragged as wide as it did.

        You will notice there are a lot of mountain shots and scenes in this film that do not quite follow the laws of physics. There are two more example in which a mountain, or mini mountain, are involved. In this first scene we see Anna, Kristoff and Olaf once again being cornered to a cliff.

                                                      
        Kristoff informs the audience that the distance is a “100 foot drop” and there is about twenty feet of snow below them. This, according to him, means that when they fall and land “it will be like landing on a pillow.” When the characters do land you see them about half covered in snow then get up and continue on with their journey. The following scene has a similar case.

                                                                            
        In this scene, Elsa and Anna are both young children. Anna asks Elsa to catch her by making mini snow mountains for her to jump on. When Elsa has a hard time keeping up she slips and accidentally strikes Anna causing her to fall on a snow hill and roll to the ground.
        These two scenes are examples of the lack of terminal velocity due to air resistance and unbalanced forces. In the first scene with Anna, Kristoff and Olaf they fall what is said to be one hundred feet and land of about 20 feet of snow. Terminal velocity states that for a size and shape, the object that weighs more has a higher terminal velocity. This would not affect Olaf as much, given that he is a snowman and would most likely blend into the snow below. However, Anna and Kristoff are human. Judging from the scene, the drop seems to be much longer than one hundred feet. If this is true, then Anna and Kristoff's terminal velocity would be very high and fast. Because of this they would not have survived the landing, regardless of there being plenty of snow.

If they were to survive the would be seriously injured.

        In the second scene with young Elsa and Anna, Anna also has a lower terminal velocity. In this situation there is an unbalanced force that causes her fall, Elsa’s miss. This causes Anna to fall straight down into a snow mountain. Due to the density of that mountain, she rolls off and gradually slows down until hitting the floor. The snow is not a large amount and due to Anna’s relative weight, her terminal velocity would have been higher than what the scene presents. Yes the snow slows her down but given that the floor is hard and covered in ice, Anna could have potentially have hit her head/body a bit harder, causing some bruising. Given these examples, it is clear that in the world of Frozen the terminal velocity is much lower, such that you would survive, despite falling a great distance.

        The largest elements in this film are ice and snow. The film starts with the season of summer. After Elsa flees due to her fear, she freezes over the kingdom. The fact that the entire kingdom is frozen for a majority of the film brings on the final, broken law of physics: Thermodynamics and heat flow is almost nonexistent.This applies the third law of Thermodynamics which states that as a system approaches absolute zero, the entropy (or heat absorbed or emitted) of a system approaches minimal value. The villagers and all other characters cannot survive long in the frozen atmosphere. As the kingdom continues to get colder and colder, the heat flow from the villagers is less and less.

On the other hand Elsa appears to have no heat flow whatsoever. She is neither affected by the season of summer nor the fact that the kingdom’s temperature is probably below freezing. This would mean that Elsa’s temperature and that of freezing are the same. Given this is an animated film, of course, everyone survives and no one is put in any grave danger due to the temperature of the given climate.

        I saw this film twice in the movie theaters because I loved it so much. I was very pleased with the overall look of the film, it’s musical numbers and the twist ending. I never gave much thought on the physics, or lack of, in the this film until this term paper. It is amazing what animation can do. That’s the beauty of it. One can exaggerate, use un-realistic settings or elements, and break laws in order to create an engaging feature film. Although the laws of physics are purposely broken and this film may be a bit of a “fixer upper,” it makes for the magical element in the story and believability in the world that is FROZEN.

Term Paper Outline: It's Frozen

Introduction

1. Animated Feature: Frozen (102) minutes
2. Thesis Statement: The world of Frozen utilizes creative modifications of physics to create a believable yet imaginative environment in which characters exist.

Body Paragraphs
1. The Law of Inertia is ignored
- Kristoff and Anna jumping off a sleigh, from lower mountain to a much higher mountain, but do   not follow the path of action of the sleigh (falling downwards) and instead land/reach the higher
mountain.

2. Inertia & Drag is altered
- Elsa’s long cape during “Let It Go”
* wind element is present at the beginning, cape drags on the floor (not waving)
* wind element suddenly stops, cape swings around (when she takes off her glove)
* wind element is suddenly very forceful, however her cape is the only item moving with that       much impacted force.

3. Lower Terminal Velocity
- In this world the terminal velocity is much lower, such that you would survive despite falling a great distance.
- Anna and Elsa, as children; Anna jumping from mini ice mountain to mini ice mountain, then falling to the ice covered, hard floor. Realistically she would have been badly injured.
- Kristoff and Anna falling off a cliff, without sustaining any injuries. "It's like landing on a pillow."

4. Thermodynamics almost non-existent
- This is present throughout most of the film (after Elsa freezes over the whole village)
- Temperature, realistically, would be freezing or below freezing
* villagers would not survive with just a blanket
* Anna falling from horse, to snow, then having dress frozen after landing in river.
* Snow Storm ~ all characters are walking normally (if walking against a strong wind). However, they should have been blown away immediately or have slipped/fallen (given they were on ice and in a huge snow storm).

Conclusion

1. The laws of physics are purposely broken to sustain a magical element in the story.
2. This movie is a bit of a “Fixer-Upper.” 

Video Analysis of Path of Action

Jump Photo

Tracker Video Reference

All Jumps video reference

Tracker Video Analysis of Falling

Here we have the chart of my ball bounce: Tada!!

And here we have the cut down version video:

And this video is all 5 bounces:

I did it!! I used Tracker. It's pretty cool actually being able to graph out a ball bounce. Yay :)

Shooting Video Reference

Video Reference #1 (all 5 throws)

Video Reference #2 (the throw I used)

Fourth Down at Half Time image

Mini Portfolio

Hi there! My name is Vanessa Esparza. I am an Animation/Illustration major and Theater minor student.This is my third year here at SJSU, but I've been in college for about 7 collectively. I transferred/moved a bit. Throughout my years in college I have taken quite a few classes in figure drawing, digital paining, graphic design, and one class where I used Flash. However, it wasn't until I got here to SJSU that I really was able to really have more of an understanding for it all; taking the ANI classes. With being a Theater minor, also something I enjoy, it has helped with my animations; it's acting on paper. So it's really been a good thing to have as well.

Currently I'm taking ANI 115, ANI 130A, PHYS 123 (of course) and RTVF 110. Career wise I would love to work as a Visual Development or Character Designer. I'm still developing my own style and have done some of my own characters; few but I have. I'm always excited to learn new things and apply them to what I already know.

This is one of my own characters. She started as a doodle and I decided to give her a bit more attention. I'm still working on making her better but I like working with developing my own characters.

ANI 113B Forrest Assignment - "Regret" (Photoshop)

ANI 113B Forrest Assignment - "Murderous" (Photoshop)

These two are Forrest works I did for ANI 113B. I used the story of La Llorona (The Weeping Woman) to create the scenes.

 ANI 114 - Change of Emotion Animation

This was one an emotion change animation we had to do for ANI 114 last semester. I used my niece as reference for the little duck character. 

The First Post

Physics of Animation!!!
Hello! Here's to an awesome semester :)