MA EXPO

THE FINAL WORK- WORK PROCESS

summary documentation

My story comes from my old sketch book. Usually, I using sketch book to make a story, first ,reviewing my previous work and then integrate the character and idea as my wish,  so my story board some of drawing come from my old sketch book and  I added some new drawings as well. And then, draw it on computer by Photoshop. next step is put those picture into AE to make animatic storyboard, my subject was about performance and character within digital animation, when I finish the animatic storyboard ,I was try to think different format animation, such as totally 3d animation,2d animation, real-footage animation. Finally, I choose real-footage animation because 3d animation will faced lot of model work, and I am not interesting at 3d modelling, and also not good at 2d animation drawing technique, however, I had film making experiences in the past. I thought real-footage is best choice that makes for quicker process. It should be a valuable subject for me, so at the end of diploma stage I changed my subject, but it was still a challenge for me, because matching mover was unacquainted software as well.

To sum up PGdiploma  phase, I was failed at this stage, that time I was confused about my subject, now that I think of it, because lots idea and new technology all at once. Think back then study new things and struggle with yourself is time-consuming than manufacture. Because I am always like try to be perfect. Especially my animation work, in spite of, I am not good at technology but I would like to try, obviously, it was take me long time at manipulate AE and match mover, after watch some people use Bonjou to match mover from video tutorial, then I want to try is too, it can scale the virtual camera data from boujou, that is friendly use for me ,so I use bonjou as match mover software after my test, I was compare match mover and boujou effect, I will show my process later. Actually, I take long time at study it, I was use just two weeks to product the final composed film and I totally concentrate on that project, and even I can’t sleep without intention at that time. I was just enjoy at manipulate when I understand how I works. My computer working 24 hours when I was sleep, it will render 3d character for next day test, I am really enjoy at this process, despite there is always a lot of problems. But now, I conquer it, so let we have look how the process of my test and final work.

This year’s study I learned how to study by myself, this academic year is a challenge year for me, it is not only rich my academic theory but also training my personal capacity, personally speaking, from MA course I learned I have to take responsibility for my work and myself. And I am deeply grateful to my supervisor team, your rigorous scholarship let me have a clearly critical thinking on my personal work ,I think that will help me do more better at futher research and work, even just study by myself, I think my final work is a strong evidence that provide I reached my goals. I think my final animation work achieved my expected result.

What I am not achieved I think that is about “humours”, I organized a focus group, there are 4 person include myself, the members given some useful and helpful opinion, but it is come down to cross-culture animation, that will extend large amount of academic knowledge, I have not ability to extend this big topic at this year, it will be my next research. Also, I will continue test and study virtual model composed into real-footage at my next practice, because this is valuable research

This is my summary documentation, at the end I want to say thanks again for my supervisor team, David , Andy , Sean, and also thanks for my lovely classmates. My overseas study is colourful because of your accompany with.

virtual model composed into real-footage is valuable research,

Composed virtual model and real-footage, is a popular and essential effect at modern new technic film, such as transformer, The Da Vinci code, Harry Potter, etc., lots of film and animation I can’t say them all today, because almost this technology is an essential effect whatever film or short advertisement.

short film -- VFS

                                   Da Vinci code

                              harry potter-- VFS

reference:
youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zTqp7BAob7U#!

a good sample for final show

match mover

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEupMxyGmfg&feature=related

easily understand tutorial

maya camera tracking

ereaser play_dead action

For this pose,I designed this action aim to act in cooperation with the girl real person who turn up at video background. My research take on match virtual character into real footage.Accroding to my script that must be concern some interactions between real person and virtual eraser,I believe interaction makes sense of reality that is vital purport to take this practise.If just put a virtual things into a real background,only an experiment or test a new surroundings that not enough to show the realistic significance.

So except the first action--sneak walk I also want make a interaction between real actress and virtual eraser.
Usually,the step of 3D animation should from designed action use Video recode as reference to control the timing and spacing .It is also a good way to find suitable pose.Next step will be at software,from Key Pose -- Blocking  to Polish.

This is the Key pose

I use step form playblast.usually at key pose session,sample clearly show the key action is best. so step is stright forward to the next point and as step.that will show action like pose to pose.
STEP--Diagram

Next one is

at this step,add more anticipation and shake at the end,and one more anticipate act before playdead,let it hold its breath and rigid. i think this is basic anticipation before playdead. it would make playdead more sense of humorous.

Convert AVI to TGA sequence

search websit for format transform, there are many small software to use,but  AE can make avi to tga as well

use render queue--set out put setting as TGA and some data do change what you need

and then choose scales start frame and end frame to match mover: there is point need to metion for me in case recurrence,just quickly remeber:

 CTRL + click yellow numbers , there are frame / seconds/ frame+ seconds

sneak walk and problems need solve it

mental ray render sneak walk, for the next step will render body and shadow only without other things,but i still has problem about Match Mover.

There are serval problems need solve it:

• Baris told me use z depth to render body and  shadow
• before Match Mover, must convert AVI to TGA file,and then take those sequences into match mover
• texture of the eraser

for the texture i want use real material:

tooth and eyeball textures

 i like this eye ball lambert is best i think in here.

 teeth --anisotropic

 phone

 bline

 bline

just try ocean shader,I won't use it

good

http://vimeo.com/7980975

http://vimeo.com/8078010

render setting for z depth

render art websit--- good example

http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-rendering/

when i need know how to render body and shadow

some Q n A at http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showthread.php?181681-How-to-render-shadow-only

How to render shadow only

Hi guys,

I am sure this is an easy one for many, but this is really frustrating me. I rendering a scene and would like to only render the shadow on a particular object. I want no light to reflect off that object infact i want the object to be invisible except for the shadow.

I have tried to remove "Primary visibility" in the Render sats of the object but that also turns off the shadow effect even though i have checked it to receive shadows.

Without using a compositing program, how do i render just a shadow on an object please.

Many thanks in advance.
Mike

Ok, i have solved it.

Just incase anyone is interested, simply right-click on the object, select "assign new material" then select background.

It is that easy :-)

mental ray sunddenly gone

My maya mental ray just disppered suddenly,then I found the reason and how to fix it from this websit http://3dg.me/3d-graphics/maya/mental-ray-in-maya-disappeared-bring-it-back

Probably, one of the most common question about Maya is this one: - Where is my mental ray?! Any Maya user faced this problem at least once, and beginner 3D Artist is easy to be confused with this. He look in Render Settings menu and there is no any sign of mr anymore. So - what to do for bring it back and why mental ray disappears so sudden anyway? Read the answer next.

Observant users for sure noticed that mental ray disappears after Maya crashes or unexpected PC reboot. That's the main reason why it gone - Maya developers decided to automatically unload and un-plug mental ray in case of unexpected shotdown of Maya, i.e. if Maya "hangs" and was killed through Task Manager or so on.Because mental ray in Maya is just a plug-in - it can be enabled and disabled just as regular one, in dedicated for this menu. So, for bring it back you need just go to Window --> Settings/Prefrences --> Plug-in Manager, find in the list Mayatomr.mll and check Loaded и Autoload. That's it, mental ray should load and work as usual now.

match mover

useful url http://vimeo.com/search?q=match+mover

good web for designer

http://www.artsthread.com/

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playdead key pose

this is just  key pose of play dead,how to control emotion of eraser at playdead,that is need find more references as follow

weight paint-- some experences

this is weight paint controler of head, at the begining of weight make me concused. there are many of elements need to test,hot key shift is smooth weight paint ,ctrl is out of inflence, small animation after rigging  is best way to test each contraler.inflence make modle follow the control but it depends which type of character you want to show.it concerns the texture of the body, in this action i want show an eraser so it is concernd with how much area follow the controler.before i had met a problem that is when you make a controler action over several times, the controler deviat the body and even its position is terrible twisted, i was can't understand about why it always happen, in fact, its action overed or you need fixed the weight,but i think a succesful weight should already designed and test well so some times you use others modle to make animation occered this problem that means maybe your action over animate on this body. 

test rigging and weight

 front

back

edition 02

new edition01

edition 01

film test, there is big problem

I use different tips to test the shot,but big problem this time is each shot has different tips. which make misunderstand,and when i cut the film i feel not good what ever position and actor's performance, let we have look first.



foucs group

Focus groups: according to my basic research, set up a focus group to talk about humours in animation between British and China by showing example films and discussing the humour.

To also answer the following questions by showing a movie and discussing the humour.

1.     How many different types of humour?

2.     How their culture influence animation between two countries. Give example

3.     Humour common between two countries.

4.     Globalisation influence people’s point view about humour

5.     Is there a change in humorous animation and what is the audience reaction?

change little bit details of storyboard

in this short, use eraser's eye to watch girl, use sound and shot shake, to present nervous emotion.

this is whole story, for the eraser's performance, eraser performance ---single performance as below

hunour Silhouette Animation and tradition culture

this animation was created by Wan gu chan, in 1958, there is a group to work on it support by Shang Hai film company.

this use stop motion, but the style comes from chinese tranditional shadow puppet or called Wayang kulit,basic on my research and this investigation, I try to find the links and relationships between hunour animation and traditional culture.

                                .

There is an article about shadow culture, "The Aesthetic Study of the Clown Sculpt Design for Shadow Play "Shadow play art is a Chinese tradition folk art form have a long history . It is a synthetical art that syncretized various artistic form, such as Sculpt art, performance, music, literature, and so on. It is a combo of intuition and process.（Wang kan,2011).It seems that shadow art has same attribute with animation in function.

There is an article about animation humour research and clown of shadow art,title is humours research about clown of traditional shadow and modern animation(Cui Qiang, 2012) 传统皮影戏中的“丑角”与现代动漫趣味性的研究).this article releted with humours, but need purchase,I will try to found the book edition and read it carefully.

reference:

YOUTH literator:

Cui Qiang, 2012,Humours research about clown of traditional shadow and modern animation,VOL.6传统皮影戏中的“丑角”与现代动漫趣味性的研究) NO.1002-2139(2012)-06-0122-01

http://www.qikan.com.cn/Article/wxji/wxji201206/wxji201206105.html

Lun wen wang

http://www.lunwenwa.com/biyelunwen/sblwinfo-11369.htm

Finished Model

Just finish modle,and next step will be texture, rigging, lighting and animation.

Eraser model finished today, I was rended it but render setting has problem, so I just use easy way to show,before rigging, it still need to recheck, my next step is new story board about this eraser, I already thought well, but have not drawing down. it will be appared at next passage.

my eraser animation action

The model is almost finished, except  the legs and hands, and I need Baris to help me check my model,and then the next stage is rigging, and animating.

For the action of eraser, I want to use small movements to show its personality, and I have a good example for this.

Chinese 3d animation and with their humours

3d animation in China is a growing industry, especially mature 3d animation technology. Chinese animation developement has been divided into 2 stages, early and modern, because it has changed in many aspects.  Modern humour themes no longer reflect traditional culture and have become borderless. some artists believe that the loss of traditional culture elements makes modern animation weaker, because it lost its personality. However, other artists disagree. They argue that humorous animation is just leisure; good animation makes people laugh and does not have to be related to culture. In my opinion, to a certain degree, both points of view are correct. it depends on the situation, valuable artwork must be linked with culture it cannot just make people laugh. Just because our modern life has changed due to internationalization and globalization, it doesn't mean traditional culture has disappeared.

when animation as tool to show the humours --- between China and Britain

Some animation work just an one of way to show the story,there are many animation story come from film,talk show,  comic dialogue, this is popular way in China.

as below i will show different edition humours animation as tool to help humours talk show become vivid. the three video all comes from the same sound track, that means they all comes from the same content story background named "dou ni wan"  name in english called "joking you" .

kuai le yi zhan---------- flash edition "joking you"

this animation made by a company "kuai le yi zhan" ,this kind of humours animation need listen to the background, if without sound you can understand what story they want to told, but if you just listen the humours story ,like listen a humour radio,then you can understand  the content and also feel funny, however, animatic picture can be a miscellaneous function (辅助手段) to help speech make it more vivid,,

this is other edition Clay animation---"joking you"

this is original one sound track all comes from Mr. Ma

script of "joking you"

story created by Mr.Ma , Sir Ma San-Li is famous person in China who creat humouris story,he is chinese comedian,"joking you"is monologue comic talk comedy.

a thief who is Stealing clothes thief, named joking you, he use this name trick children,one day a 5 year old child help their mother look after the cloth out side the door, because their mother busy on other things, a thief come and talk,with children,and he said: shall we play toghter, what's your name? children said: xiao hu.

he said my name is jo-king you ,first name is king-you last name is Jo,, call me jo-king you !! quick ! call me ...call me jo-king you,

xiaohu be surprised and can't help it, and innocent said:,joking you,

and then thief take the cloth and run away,,,

xiaohu ask their mom,said: some one stealing our cloth,

he mun ask: who stealing cloth?

xiaohu said:joking you !!!!

mum angry : what? such a naughty boy. and mom continue to busy with their things.

for a while, thief come back and take other one and run away,,,,,

xiaohu anxious and go to ask his mum:some one stealing cloth...

mum ask again: who?

xiaohu anxious said: joking you again..mum

mum angry: go to out side and look after the cloth, if some one stealing cloth,call me,,

xiaohu can't help with again.

until mum come to xiaohu,and found the cloth gone, disappeared ,and ask xiaohu, what are you doing at out side,why cloth disappeared? xiaohu said：some one named Jo -king you stealing our cloth, mum ...was told you ....

mum immediately faint..

That is the general content of story, it seems not easy to understand for foreigner, the story undertake culture of china and some history that is reason why different country has different laughing point.Similarly,i am a foreigner in U.k.also difficult under stand British humorous speech ,

because of culture and language make different country people has different humours concept and laughing point.

chinese humours animation has heen changed betweent early and modren

To compare with early and modren chinese animation, the humours styles has heen changed, the changes come from politics, life styles and international exchange.

                                 

Chinese Animation '' Mr.mindlessness and Mr.sulkiness" created by  Director Zhang Song-Lin ,in 1962, this story about two funny children, one called Mr.mindlessness and other named  Mr.sulkiness, mindlessness is a forgetful boy,sulkiness has odd temperament,He is not to do as you suggest, he alway say unhappy when he speak.

《没头脑和不高兴》由张松林导演并在1962年由由美影摄制完成。影片描绘了两个有趣的小孩，一个叫没头脑，这小孩不管干什么事，总是丢三拉四的。另一个小孩叫不高兴，他­有一种怪脾气，你要他东，他偏向西，一开口就是三个字不高兴。


modren Chinese animation still  Reflects strong culture background, not only at basic story,but also character design

Chinese animation get in touch with tradition Chinese Oprea ---- Chinese humour

this is part of Journey to the West, a story about a monkey. A chinese animator used this script to create an animation.this scene is called Tian gong meaning heaven. there are many Supernatural  and immortal Beings living there, monkey king creates havoc in heaven .

Early chinese animation humourist figures come from traditional chinese opera and the chou actors' performance. 

comedy humour

humour and humourist in Traditional Chinese Opera----- Chou actor

Basic on my research aim, to investigation of humor with in English and Chinese animation,I would like to explain humour culture behind animation first.


This time I will talk about Chinese humour and humourist in traditional chinese opera which was a fashionable and main way of entertainment in the past.


There are 10 roles in the Peking Opera, "The ten Chinese characters shown on the left probably say everything about the roles in Beijing Opera. The top five characters list the five role catagories. The rest tells what roles appear in the plays, from the powerful supernatural beings to animals like tigers and dogs. There are currently four main role categories in Beijing Opera."( It's China)


the top four characters "Sheng, Dan, Jing, Chou," for instance, are just the terms for four different types of roles. Every type has its telltale facial makeup and decoration.

"Sheng,

Dan,

Jing,

 Chou,

“丑角” in English is "Chou"


The Chou (丑) is a male clown role. The Chou usually plays secondary roles in a troupe.(Wichmann, Elizabeth ,1991, p.12)


"Chou" is a humourist in Traditional Chinese Opera, his performances are similar to a clown, the meaning of clown in the Chinese dictionary is the same as ''Chou''.


Lastly there is the Chou or comedy actor who generally plays the role of a dim but likeable and amusing character with blinking eyes and all the appropriate gestures. Sometimes the Chou can be a rascal, with a slightly wicked nature. Alternatively a scholar or prince--an eccentric or representing the sort of a scholar or prince who would not command much respect. Chou parts can be divided into two types: Wen Chou, who is usually a civilian, such as a jailer, servant, merchant or scholar; and Wu Chou, who performs minor military roles as a soldier and must be skilled in acrobatics. His costume is either elaborate or fussy if of high social standing, but simple if of a low standing. (It's China)


Indeed, most studies of Peking opera classify the Chou as a minor role. Chou is the meaning "ugly". This reflects the traditional belief that the clown's combination of ugliness and laughter could drive away evil spirits. Chou roles can be divided into Wen Chou, civilian roles such as merchants and jailers, and Wu Chou, minor military roles. The Wu Chou is one of the most demanding in Peking opera, because of its combination of comic acting, acrobatics, and a strong voice. Chou characters are generally amusing and likable, if a bit foolish. Their costumes range from simple for characters of lower status to elaborate, perhaps overly so, for high status characters. Chou characters wear special face paint, called xiaohualian, that differs from that of Jing characters. The defining characteristic of this type of face paint is a small patch of white chalk around the nose. This can represent either a mean and secretive nature or a quick wit.^----- TYFO.COM  Unknown Author (2000).



There is a famous session named ''San cha kou''
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0tqAn5MQ3c&feature=related
there is a popular saying that: "without chou not opera." It can be seen that chou represents typical humor culture as part of ancient Chinese people's life, and also influences modern life.

Chinese animation reflects the culture of peking opera, most early Chinese animation recreates classic Opera, it can be seen that Traditional Chinese Opera influences early Chinese animation.

In addition to the Peking Opera, there many different types of regional Opera, all have the same positions for actors.

Reference:

It's China

http://web.archive.org/web/20070608150745/http://china.tyfo.com/int/ent/opera/peking/peking-roles.htm#Chou

wikipedia:Peking opera

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_opera#cite_note-tyfo-46

a mime performance by Robin Williams

basic on my research aim, to investigation humours with in English and chinese, this kind of performance that is what i wantna try to say humours and funny things

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9FMrjDasBk&feature=related

software for matching ---- put digital character into real footage

AE---FOR MATCH digital to real footage

autodesk--- maya---match mover

2d concept character design-by my self