Creating Stereoscopic 3D Images

So for this assignment, we had to create our own stereoscopic 3D images. I remember first seeing this assignment and thinking how cool it was. I didn't realize it was so simple either!

Self

Central Classroom Building at SJSU

v

House across the Street

Over the summer, I downloaded a free rig for Maya and did a 2 second animation. This was how I posed it. This one was probably one of the more successful one.

Recreating Cameras and Lights in Maya

Original Photo

Maya Version

Different Angle

Extra Credit: Lighting a Scene in Maya

I turned in the assignment late so I don't get any extra credit points, but I did it anyway just for fun.

One Point

Two Point

Three Point

Building a Scene in Maya

Special Effects in Animationi and Live-Action

"My first two term paper scores were 85 and 85; I will not be writing a third term paper."

Outline for the Third Term Paper

Introduction

• When there are settings that take place around large bodies of water, an appearance of a few waves is bound to happen
• Often times, the waves are used to depict a large storm and provide the setting for an epic battle of some sort
• It is quite difficult to accurate the movement of waves realistically, as some films do it well while others don’t quite get it right

Body

• The Last Airbender (2010) directed by M. Night Shyamalan

• Introduce The Last Airbender 
• In the climax of the film, the protagonist summons a large tidal wave to take out attacking enemies on board ships
• The waves and water were created by visual effects artists from Industrial Light and Magic; the scenes are shot on a green screen background then the artists will animate and render the water into the scene
• The behavior of the tidal wave does reflect on the surrounding water, whereas the waves are relatively minimal when it should be a bit more violent as a result of the tidal wave
• The movement of the water is realistic, but when the tidal wave is formed it doesn’t look as real, it still looks too graphic

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) directed by Gore Verbinski

• Introduce Pirates of the Caribbean
• Being that a large part of the film takes place aboard ships, the setting would mostly feature waves
• These waves and the whole setting on water is also creating with visual effects, animated by artists
• This film is successful in recreating the behavior of waves when ships are sailing
• During the climactic battle scene, a maelstrom occurs and two ships are battling in the midst of it. The scene shows the water acting violently, crashing on to the ship and rocking it back and forth
• Even though this film was released three years earlier than the previous one mentioned, the effects of the water are much more believable

Conclusion

        Waves are difficult to create accurately as in general, their behavior is so erratic and unpredictable. Advancements in filmmaking and technology have improved the quality of visual effects dramatically. However just because a film was released later does not necessarily mean it will always have better visual effects as mentioned previously. Films are generally successful in recreating the behavior of waves and its effect on other objects and in doing so, can provide a more realistic depiction of it. The more real it can be, the better the film can ensnare its viewers into the world it is depicting. 

Stop-Motion Character Animation

For this assignment, I teamed up with Justin Ho to create this. He provided the Gundam, (the robot) and I provided the Rider (the grasshopper-looking guy). We initially came up with a story and storyboarded it out, with 4 characters making an appearance. However when we got to shooting it, problems arose where the stands we were trying to use were not doing its job and the figures wouldn't balance.

So we then just simplified it and it made it so much easier.

Justin did the moving of the characters and I handled the camerawork. After we finished shooting everything we needed, Justin and I worked on syncing the audio and video together, and the final result is above. 

Doing this, I learned stop-motion requires A LOT of planning, even more so than traditional and 3D animation in my opinion. But in the end, I generally had fun doing it. Plus it is nice to see things come to life.