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.

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?

          Breaking the Law

          From its first development to the early silent films to modern times, movies were able to provide a vast new world to audiences. They could show comedy situations, romantic moments, or tense and violent scenes. Either way, films allow the makers to stretch beyond what is normal to effectively tell a story. In modern times, physics is an extremely enormous part of how movies are made. There is physics in virtually every film, and often times those films will break at least one principle of physics to better convey the story. One major principle of physics that is often broken, is Newton’s First Law. The First Law states that an object in motion or at rest stays in motion or at rest unless acted upon by on outside force. Basically if you have a ball rolling from right to left, it will theoretically continue rolling to the left unless there is something to stop it or slow it down. There are a vast number of films that break this rule, and often times while they can each be radically different films, the principle can be broken in similar manners.

          Final Fantasy VII is arguably one of the most popular titles in the Japanese role-playing game series, Final Fantasy. Advent Children Complete is an extended version of a film sequel to the original game. While in the original game, the characters would encounter enemies, and a battle would take place. The battle would be a turn-based system, where one character attacks and a time. In Advent Children Complete, in order to show a more “realistic” portrayal of the battle system, the characters in the film are fighting in real time. but are also shown leaping to extreme heights and performing superhuman feats. The breaking of Newton’s First Law occurs during  most often during  when the characters are fighting. In one major scene the protagonist, Cloud, and his six allies are in a battle with a titanic flying behemoth, called SIN Bahamut, amongst high rise buildings and platforms. Throughout the battle, the characters especially the protagonist, are constantly leaping from one building to another while attacking and even while attacking seem to not be affecting by the air around them. Remember that these characters are not flying, but are really just leaping at great heights. During these jumps, they would somehow slow themselves down in order to land exactly where they need to. Sometimes, the characters wouldn’t even slow down and just seem to travel at a constant speed through the air. During the climax of the battle, SIN Bahamut is charging up a blast while rising up in the air. Cloud jumps after it, and he is assisted by his friends or propel him upwards. One of his allies, jumps up, spins in the air multiple times and stops himself in mid-air while continually moving up to further Cloud’s ascent. The last person to give him the final boost appears on screen already in the air yet is somehow moving forward in an arc, launching Cloud up. Finally, instead of slowing down due to air resistance, Cloud just remains flying upwards through the air showing no signs of slowing down. 

He jsut doesn't slow down.

          Dragonball Z is a popular action anime based on the original manga by Akira Toriyama. In the world of Dragonball Z, while the characters are able to fly through the air, there are times when they also show feats such as leaping to impossible heights. A number of films were made based on the popular anime, one being Bojack Unbound. In this film, a few of the characters are fighting in a martial arts tournament. Throughout the tournament, the characters are constantly leaping from one platform to another. They also would encounter each other directly in mid-air and trade blows with each other. If this occurs however, the force of the punch or any attack should knock the characters backwards to the ground. Yet the characters only stagger for a moment and are able to attack right back. Newton’s First Law is broken in this case as the characters can effectively control their movements effortlessly in mid-air and it like there is no air resistance acting upon them.

          In another instance of Newton’s First Law being broken, is how often times in a superhero show, a character will jump up in the air and somehow propel themselves forward to land a kick on the enemy. This is often show in shows such as Kamen Rider, a Japanese tokusatsu show, that involves a large use of special effects, animated or otherwise. Kamen Rider Kabuto is the sixteenth installment of the long-running series, and God Speed Love is the its movie tie-in. A staple of the Kamen Rider series is what is called a “Rider Kick.” This kick is often the signature attack of many of the various Kamen Riders. In a particular scene in God Speed Love, the protagonist, Kabuto, teams  up with his friend, Gatack, and a rogue wanderer, Kickhopper, to unleash an attack on an alien commander. All three characters are Kamen Riders so in this particular scene, they all perform a Rider Kick. The kick involves them first jumping up in the air, stopping and then propelling themselves forward towards the alien, making contact. While a forward kick in the air isn’t exactly unheard of in the real world, the Rider Kick is quite impossible as the characters actually travel forward several feet at times. This breaks Newton’s First Law as while in the air there are no outside forces to initiate the forward momentum needed. The Riders do not have any sort of propulsion system attached, so they should just theoretically fall back to the ground. 

They jump...

then kick forward.

          Ultimately, physics is essentially meant to be broken in the world of films and various media. If we weren’t allowed to break principles, there would be no interesting shows or movies. Audiences want to see something out of the ordinary and the only way to do that is to break the principles of physics. Newton’s First Law, is broken almost constantly, as seen in the movies, Advent Children Complete, Bojack Unbound, and God Speed Love. If these three films decided to follow the laws of physics the storyline would just not make sense, and essentially would not be entertaining for the viewer. Physics will always be broken in one way or another in films, and is not uncommon in other media such as television and video games. The mere “ignorance” of the principles of physics allows for the creation of a unique world, one that is so different from our own, that as an audience, we can’t help but watch in excitement. 

Outline for the Second Term Paper

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction

Outline

Introduction

1. Physics are always broken one way or another in media, films, tv, and games alike.
2. Talk about Newton’s First Law, a law that is often broken to showcase special abilities
3. Acceleration is constant unless acted upon by an outside force
4. Introduce the three films that break this rule

Advent Children

1. Introduce Advent Children, talk briefly about it
2. Specifically introduce Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete
3. Characters will often jump high into the air and change their direction in mid-air without any outside force 
4. They jump and travel at high speeds through the air, do not lose speed
5. The scrnr where the characters join together to fight an enormous creatures across the city

Dragonball Z

1. Briefly explain about the world of Dragonball Z
2. Introduce specifically the Dragonball Z: Bojack Unbound
3. Characters travel through the air as if there is no resistance against them
4. They can jump at impossible heights for a normal human and land safely on top of buildings
5. During the first part of the movie, the characters are fighting in a martial arts tournament, showcasing the superhuman abilities

Kamen Rider

1. Introduce Kamen Rider, talk about its premise
2. Talk about Kamen Rider Kabuto: God Speed Love specifically
3. When executing a ‘Rider Kick,” the characters jump into the air at great heights then move towards the ground diagonally without an outside force
4. Throughout the movie, the characters will will be fighting an alien, and use their finishing move, the “Rider Kick.” There are multiple scenes of this.

• Conclusion

Reverse Video Reference

I uploaded my clips on youtube.

Here are the links (in order)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrea6o9NhDY&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jy9zd4iotM&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SurXZMlZL4g&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ9UMDmTaMs&feature=youtu.be

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

For this assignment, I decided to do something simple. It was just a quarter falling off a platform, however it isn't a rolling quarter, but I wanted it to be sort of like a character falling off and staggering a bit. I just went frame by frame and moved the quarter little by little. I needed a solid color background, so I used the back of my drawing board. I did my best to keep the camera steady without a tripod or stand as I didn't have one readily available.

Admittedly, I could have done better. I had an an idea at first but due to poor time management this weekend, I ended up leaving things to the last minute.

The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

The Physics of Rise of the Guardians

          As children, we believe and look up to heroes whether they be real or imagined. They give us hope allow us to dream, and fuel the imagination. These heroes can be all sorts of different characters ranging from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Superman. One story revolves around the Guardians, a circle of magical beings that watch over children and protect their dreams. Dreamworks Animation’s 2012 film, Rise of the Guardians, is a fantasy film based on William Joyce’s The Guardians of Childhood book series. The films tells the story of Jack Frost, who has been recently chosen as the new Guardian to join Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman to battle the ever-increasing threat of Pitch, the Nightmare King. Even though the universe is home to these magical beings, the world is still very similar to our own real world. In short, the laws of physics apply in this world, however, in order to portray the magical power of the Guardians, the film will often break it’s own laws to do so.

         One of the firsts to be broken, nearly right from the star of the film, is movement. The character of Jack Frost is introduced, and while his outer appearance is that of a young teenage human boy, he is actually a Guardian. Because of his Guardian status, he is able to do various things most normal people cannot. Some of his feats include jumping to great heights and landing ever so softly on rooftops and telephone poles. First off, humans do not have the capability to jump to such great heights that reach  rooftops. Second, even if humans were able to do so without any assistance and they land on the ground, they would not be able to slow down the falling speed. Most likely, a human would injure themselves gravely if they attempted to do so. 

Look out below!

         Although some of the film’s characters are magical beings, they all generally move as they are supposed to. For example, Santa Claus is a magical being, yet is also a large individual, therefore he moves like one. On the other hand, Jack Frost once again breaks physics in another way. Jack is able to freely fly through the air, essentially being carried by the wind. He moves effortlessly, spinning and swerving a fast speeds at times. This wind also carries throughout his normal movement as when Jack jumps or lands on buildings, there is a sense of floatiness to him. This makes it feel like Jack is lighter than the air and the wind picks him up easily. Typically if flying through the air, a normal human would not be able to change his or her direction without any outside force. Jack can also instantly create a trail of ice for a sled to slide on. The sled itself breaks a few laws as well. The sled slides along the trail over cars and such with no signs of slowing down. In the real world, sleds will slow down on ice unless there is a steady incline, which the scene lacks. In the film, it is shown that Jack can walk on water, which causes every step he takes to turn into ices. Even if the water did not turn to ice, there is no doubt that Jack would be able to walk solely on water breaking physics even more. As far we know, humans cannot walk on water, even with the necessary equipment, it is difficult to do so. Alone Jack breaks a few laws already, however this is to portray Jack’s role as a Guardian, and as such is necessary for the film.

The Need for Speed

          Speaking of Jack’s ability to turn water to ice with his steps, the Guardians have magical powers that allow some of them to freely control various materials. One example previously stated, was Jack Frost and how he is able to manipulate ice and snow and use them to his advantage. He can make snowfall in an instant, and even while indoors. He can create ice to frost up on a window, or as previously stated before, turn water to ice with just his footsteps. A few of the other characters are able to freely manipulate various properties as well. The Easter Bunny, also a Guardian, can form instant tunnels to his destination with the tapping of his foot. Not only are these tunnels through the ground, but they already lead to the preferred destination. In the real world, not only would it take years upon years to dig a tunnel that deep into the earth, the travel through the tunnel alone would most likely lead to instant death. 

Physics = No

           Likewise, the Sandman, yet another Guardian, is known for his ability to send children good dream by sprinkling dream sand over their eyes. This “dream sand” behaves very much like real sand, however the Sandman, is able to manipulate it in an extremely imaginable and unrealistic way. The Sandman is able to use his sand not only for giving good dreams to children, but as weapons and full-working vehicles such as whips and a biplane. In the real world, we can create sculptures out of sand, but we cannot actually use them. A real world sand sculpture of a whip will look like a whip but cannot and will not act like one. The antagonist of the film, Pitch controls the darkness. In real life, darkness is just the absence of light. It cannot be freely controlled or take a corporeal form as we know it. Pitch, being the Nightmare King, blows the physics of this out of the water, able to freely control and bend the darkness to his liking. The darkness will also take the form of corporeal creatures to represent its threat. Of course, for the purpose of the film, these properties are meant to break the laws of physics as they are supposed to portray beings of magical power and if the properties of sand (magical or not), ice, and the like behaved like it does in real life, it is unbelievable to the audience.

The Nightmare King

Sandman doing his thing

Riding in style

          In addition to breaking the laws of physics, the characters also break the laws of time and space. They are able to travel across the earth in mere moments, traveling across continents  and different dimensions even. A previously stated example was the Easter Bunny and the tunnels he made. These tunnels can take him across the globe in seconds with no harmful effects on him. Santa Claus can either use his sleigh or create portals to travel freely between the North Pole and anywhere in the world. The film indicates this with a lack of passage of time. If it is daytime while they’re at the North Pole, it is still daytime when they arrive in a small town in the United States. They travel to destinations instantaneously in only a matter of seconds. In the real world, we cannot bend the laws of time and space. When we travel it will take time and sometimes a lot of time to do it as we must also travel across different terrain which can be dangerous or even uncrossable. Even the fastest transportation currently available to us is unable to travel at those speeds. Not only that, but the speed of the movement alone would most likely cause death to normal humans as we are unable to withstand the amount of force that it must take.

Who could that be?

          Interestingly enough, as mush as the film portrays and invokes a sense of magic to the audience. there is still a sense of realism amongst the film’s characters. The children in the film act normally and do not have any magical properties at all. When they interact with snow, the snow is normal and there is nothing magical about that as well. However, there is one particular scene where a girl, Cupcake, lifts a rather larger-than-normal size snowball. While it is possible to create a snowball of a large size, it is uite difficult to carry it, let alone throw it. Just as well, aside from the manipulations of the Guardians, everything in the world of Rise of the Guardians is fairly standard with the laws of physics not being broken. 

Snowboulder?

          Ultimately, the world this film takes place in is one that is actually very similar to the real world. Children play in the snow, and hunt for eggs, and sleep at night. It is the characters of the Guardians who break the laws of physics in this world. They are able to bend space and time, freely manipulate various properties of matter, and even break the laws of gravity. You can say that physics just doesn’t apply to the Guardians. The magical powers of the Guardians give them a position as people who protect children. They must be portrayed as powerful beings, but also warm and loving characters as well. In a film such as this, the laws of physics are required to be broken, as doing so allows the film the portray a unique set of characters that stands above the rest. Animation is sometimes about exaggerating what’s real to portray a fictional world as realistically as possible.This film is one of my favorites, not just because of the art style but because the concept of a group magical, benevolent beings that protect children is unique and appealing to me. The sense of wonder the film invokes sort of forgives the shattered physics present in the film and makes it much more entertaining to the audience.

First Term Paper Outline

Rise of the Guardians Outline

I. Introduction

1. Introduce “Rise of the Guardians”
2. This film takes place in a world similar to ours, except there are beings that work to protect children. 
3. The universe the film takes place in breaks many laws of physics as we know it in order to provoke a sense of magic and wonder

II. Body

1. Traveling Time
1. The characters are able travel across the earth in mere moments for example, traveling from the North Pole to a small town in America.
2. The Easter Bunny can easily travel across the globe through a series of tunnels he creates by tapping his foot and can get to his destination quickly.
3. Santa Claus can create portals to travel from the North Pole to anywhere in an instant.
2. Manipulation of Properties
1. Jack Frost is able to manipulate ice and snow and form it into however way he wishes.
2. The Sandman can manipulate “Dreamsand” which acts and looks like real-world sand. He can form it into objects and vehicles if he chooses to do so.
3. The Easter Bunny can form tunnels in the ground by tapping his foot. The tunnel will already extend to the destination.
3. Movement
1. Jack Frost flies around in such a way that it seems like he is carried by the wind. He runs and jumps across buildings, wires, and streets landing without so much as a thud, which gives the feeling of floatiness and mysticism.
2. When Jack walks on water, every step turns the water into ice allowing him to walk freely on water. (Also ties in to manipulation of properties).
4. Contradiction
1. As much as the film portrays magic, the children in the film act normally and follow the normal laws of physics, such as when having a snowball fight. There are no outside forces that would generally affect the snowball.

III. Conclusion

1. Because of the magic that is present in the film, physics often do not have a profound effect on many things
2. Having the laws of physics broken allows for the story to establish a world that is unique and entertaining,as seeing the magic gives wonder to children watching the film. 

Video Analysis of Path of Action

My younger sister did the jumping. I make an appearance at the end.

Tracker Video Analysis of Falling

I couldn't get blogspot to upload my video so here is the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta4QNmfpe1Q

Shooting Video Reference

Mini-Portfolio

This is the final piece for my forest for Ani113b. This project took me so long to come up with the right concept and maybe 4-5 major overhauls of the piece. In the end, I'm glad I was able to get something such as this after a little bit of help.

Day 

Night

The following video is a sequence of a morph of the teamup between Engine Sentai Go-Onger and Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. It is from a long-running Japanese tokusatsu series called Super Sentai, which back in 1993 was adapted into Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (based on Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger). 

I am Kevin, majoring in Animation/Illustration. Right now I'm a fifth year at SJSU but only about a third year in A/I. I was previously a biology major but switched to A/I during my second year, so I have taken a couple of science classes but I don't remember too much of the material. I did however really enjoy my astronomy class. After graduation, I hope to work as a visdev artist, preferably for films and lately, have been thinking about going into character design specifically. Also judging by the above clip, you can probably say I'm something of a Super Sentai/Power Rangers nerd. To be honest, that is true, as I'll always have a soft spot for brightly colored warriors of justice.

P.S. If you ever want to know more about Super Sentai, I'm always up for a conversation!

The First Post

Hi all! 

This is a blog set up for my Physics of Animation course. I'm looking forward to the course and I hope you'll enjoy it as well.