Thesis Animatic Update

shot 2 texture test

shot 2 RGB

Bird of the third dimension

This is a render of the bird character that will appear as if portrayed in normal space, not affected by the abstract perspective.

Thesis Animatic _ 02

Animation Test

To reiterate the importance of cognitive science to this thesis, I would like to highlight again on the visual abstraction and how I intend to use it to direct attention.

below is an example





I've found what’s happing on screen is creating a striking disconnect between the flat elements in the ‘background’ and the moving elements. Hopefully this will produce interesting eye tracking information.

Texture Pipeline

Textures in the 3D space will be broken up into 3 distinct materials. Initially, these materials are represented by three separate colors: red, green, and blue. Each material will include a layer of painted detail in addition to the solid colors. These details will maintain their spacial relationship to the shapes they are applied to. The solid colors will eventually be removed and replaced with flat patterns and textures that will appear to be behind each object. To help distinguish objects from one another, the darkness and lightness that naturally occurs on each facet of a 3D object with a light source will be maintained.

Nuke pipeline:::
My first attempt at swapping out colors involved using a chroma key to pull out a specific range of color from images rendered out of Maya. This process was not as accurate as I needed it to be, and the result varied from image to image. I needed a pipeline that would work in all cases.

Next I tried limiting myself to three colors, RGB, and moving image channels around, which turned out to be faster, cleaner, and worked well enough for multiple cases. The unfortunate downside is that each image sequence out of Maya would be limited by these three colors only, and I would be forced to render out multiple passes from maya to give myself the texture diversity I want in the final comp. For example, the main character requires three colors alone, and does not share any textures with objects in the environment. He would be one pass out of Maya, each boxcar type would be another pass, the ground and railroad tracks might be another, etc.

Here is an example of this effect currently used today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWtecq1hRDw&feature=related

Story Change

I changed the story for a few reasons. One of which was because I felt
as though the abstracted visuals I plan on taking advantage of are
better suited for a storyline that takes place in a fictional world.

Swapping between the abstract view and the normal perspective view is
no longer a factor in this animation. One focus of this thesis is
placing an importance on the bond between visual abstraction and
storytelling. The 'look' of this final piece should not be treated as
a replaceable component. Instead, the story is relying on particular
elements to be depicted in certain ways. With this in mind, I felt
that having part of the story depicted in a more traditional manner
did not add anything substantial to either the story in its entirety,
nor to this thesis. When viewed as a whole, the concept for the
original story also seemed to emphasize a positive bias towards the
normal space perspective, such that it acted as the 'reward' for the
main character. While indeed, elements are to be composed abstractly
for the audience's benefit, I decided it would be better if characters
in the story remained unaware of the visual abstraction.

I thought this was interesting

The game uses eye tracking to determine where you are in relation to
the physical screen, and then compensates by adjusting the virtual
camera.

Rigging

The standard rig is controlling null objects which are above the
geometry itself, allowing me to manipulate the geometry while
maintaining joint based control over the character.
Problem areas include:
- Shoulders/clavicles are non-human, I had to use Set Driven Keys* to
constrain movement.
Animation changes - After doing test animations, I realized I needed
additional rig controls to avoid geometry clipping, as well as to
grant the character a wider range of movement.
- eye needed to move forward and back
- Added a few fail-safe controls to avoid clipping. These were
controls that would allow me to freely move entire components of the
body separate from the joint based rig.
Clusters have to be set to relative, otherwise the lattice points they
control will receive double transforms

*at its lowest level, set driven keys are used to form relationships
between two or more attribute variables.

Modeling

Translating the character from 2D to 3D was made simpler by the flat
shapes in the design. The challenge came when making sure each
component was able to shift and rotate appropriately in relation to
surrounding components.

At first, the eye, chest sphere, and hip joints were built as convex
3D objects. This produced a spherical shading gradient, which I
decided to be undesirable for this project. Instead, I opted for flat
circles that would eventually aim at the camera, preserving the
illusion of a sphere while eliminating the gradient.

The red chest "orb" was moved behind the 'rib' elements, to make it
less prominent. I did not want this object to be as important as the
eye in the animation.

Other examples of where I strayed from the concept image include: I
removed the slits in the chest, added single hinge joint objects to
the elbows, and added a wrist object to place the fingers on.

I decided to model using quads only, but not concern myself over
modeling for sub-divisible surfaces, especially now that I do not plan
on switching between the cubist view and normal perspective in the
animation. Intersecting objects (links between shoulder and forearm)
are acceptable. Hard edges define the boundaries of each component
regardless of whether or not the object is a single mesh.

Character Concept 02

Character Desgin

I wanted to make the lead character belong in this expansive field of
boxcars, so I vaguely based him on the look of older locomotives. This
is especially clear in the exaggerated chest and sternum.

I used Adobe Photoshop to create this concept image. To best represent
the final vision of the project, I had to think geometrically,
restricting curved edges to a very select number of components
including the eye, center 'orb', and small rivets.

The collection of color shapes was interesting, but to add a level of
cohesiveness I overlayed details that permeated multiple components.
Doing so really brought everything together, and was the inspiration
for separating base colors and detail textures when shading the 3D
elements in the final composition.

Once the body was completed, I felt that giving him some sort of staff
or pole to hold would better sell his purpose to an audience. The
staff suggests a level of authority, and immediately says to me (when
held in a specific way) that the lead character is guarding something,
or blocking the way. My goal was to make it apparent that this
character was either a shepherd or scarecrow for the trains he
oversees.

Character Concept

Above is a concept for the lead character. Currently I am working on translating him to 3D (progress below). Part of that process involves selecting key components that I will later add additional controls for the camera influenced skewing. I've decided to model using quads only, but not concern myself over modeling for sub-divisible surfaces, especially now that I do not plan on switching between the cubist view and normal perspective in the animation.

Animatic Test

Key points of Daniel Reisberg's "Cognition":

Objects are recognized not only by the features and qualities that we traditionally define them with, but by our organized perception. For example, three dots arranged in a certain way can still suggest the shape of a triangle, when we know that the essential features of a triangle are three lines and three angles.

Attended Channel vs the Unattended Channel - Our focus can be narrowed to the point where some stimuli are ignored despite being presented in close proximity to where our attention is held.

Change Blindness - The inability to detect changes in scenes they are looking at directly. Perhaps this is why in some cases, inconsistency between shots is acceptable simply because the audience does not notice.

Visual perception has been compared to a searchlight beam that can 'shine' anywhere in the visual field.

Early Selection vs Late Selection - Early selection describes the hypothesis that the attended input is identified as privileged from the start, so that the unattended input receives little analysis (and so is never perceived). Late selection suggests that all inputs receive relatively complete analysis, but it is only the attended input that reaches consciousness, and in turn, remembered.


I recently picked up the book "Picture This: How Pictures Work" by Molly Bang. It describes how certain configurations of shapes evoke different emotions from a viewer, and how our eyes tend to travel within an image based on those configurations. It will be extremely helpful as I plan out the final compositions for each shot of my animation.


This article here describes how artists who worked on the 3D adaptation of "Astro Boy" needed to compromise with certain design elements during the transition from 2D to 3D. For example, the character Astro Boy had been drawn with  his hair maintaining the same profile regardless to the angle at which he was viewed (similar to Mickey Mouse's ears). The solution was to switch between different hair shapes depending on which would look best for the composition of the shot.

Script Second Draft: Shot List

Fade In:

shot 1 - Wide Shot of a factory floor. Two "dead" robots slide out of the way as we slowly dolly in to see our hero robot, a red light glowing above it, indicating that it is still functioning. The Faint sound of a motor starting and stopping can be heard.

shot 2 - Medium shot of the hero robot, looking at from the front, again the red indicator light in view. Sound of the motor a bit louder.

shot 3 - POV shot. We see a close up of a claw, opening and closing slowly, the object that the factory makes is just out of reach.

shot 4 - Full shot of entire robot, from the side, claw opening and closing, still slowly.

shot 5 - Wide shot from up high, through a shattered window/ripped wall siding, a figure appears in the foreground, hero robot still visible in the hole.

shot 6 - From the opposite angle, behind the hero robot, JASPER jumps through hole, still unclear as to who/what he is, leaves frame, then comes back into view as he approaches the hero robot. His eyes follow the entire length of the machine, inspecting, eventually grabbing the 'head' of the robot and peers into the eye.

shot 7 - POV, we see JASPER's cubist-style face inspecting the eye, and then beginning to move screen left.

shot 8 - Full-Wide shot, angled slightly downwards and above the robot's claw, JASPER moves towards camera, picks up object that the hero robot was reaching for, quickly inspects it, then tosses it behind him. The hero robot pathetically follows it with eye and claw as JASPER grabs another object from his pouch/belt.

shot 9 - Cut to a closer version of the previous shot, JASPER places another object onto the assembly line, grabs the hero robot's eye and points it at the object. The robot stares.

shot 10 - POV from hero robot's perspective, of a MIRROR, the reflection being obviously clear and not in 'cubist mode'

shot 11 - THE EXPERIENCE

shot 12 - Medium/Full shot of the robot looking around, more animated than before. It eventually looks down at it's hand, lifts it up and starts rotating it playfully.

shot 13 - Medium shot of JASPER, looking amused. He begins to move forward.

shot 14 - Close up of JASPER's hand patting the hero robot on it's 'head'. JASPER then moves away.

shot 15 - Wide shot of factory floor, slowly pulling back. As JASPER is leaving screen right, we see the robot still playing with hand. The shadow of JASPER passing through the hole in the ceiling moves across robot, catching its attention as it looks up and watches him leave.

Fade out

Short Animation Analysis

Matt had asked me to analyze four animated short films, describing their story structure, use of style, and whether or not it was necessary to use animation to tell the story in the first place.


Knick Knack
What first struck me about this short was how quickly the characters appealed to me. Within the first few shots, I was interested in who these characters were, and how they might fit into the story. The music, vibrant colors, and subtle animation had me hooked from the beginning. Also, the strict reliance on the three act structure made the film easy to follow. I imagine the choice to use 3D animation came more from a "because we can" attitude rather than from a decision based on what would best fit the story. Obviously the technology was new and not very sophisticated at the time, but overall it did not take away from the story, how it was told, or how entertaining the end product was.

Nose Hair
As this short progressed, I begin to lose any semblance of a recognizable story, at least not in the same sense as "Knick Knack". As exciting and abstract as the visuals were, towards the end and from a storytelling perspective I was asking myself ‘what was the point’. The storyteller obviously wanted to depict visual abstraction, so in this case animation as a medium made sense. The sketchy pencil style aided in the manipulation of figure-ground, and the constant shifting of the environment kept me interested.

Balance
I imagine the most important obstacle the director of this short had to overcome was selling the world to an audience. It takes about a minute to finally get a wide shot of the environment, but by then the balancing mechanic had been properly established throughout a series of close ups, medium, and full shots. I did find myself asking a few questions about the character’s intentions as the short progressed (Have they ever done this fishing thing before, what were they expecting to find, why were the characters up there in the first place, etc). Eventually I ignored those questions for the sake of accepting what was going on in act 2. The use of stop motion definitely gave the short a handmade look, and felt appropriate for the story.

The Writer
Of the four, I think this example begs the question as to whether or not animation was a necessary medium for telling the story the most. The limited motion of the visuals suggests to me that the film’s focus was on the narration. The visuals do help put the spoken dialog into context, but I wonder how I would feel about seeing something like this in live action, or as an audio clip, or with animation that was a bit more intricate and fleshed out. In terms of style, I felt the audio and video matched well.

Script Update: First Draft

"Awareness" (WIP)
by
Nick Avallone


Act 1

Open with a wide shot of what looks like an abandoned assembly line complex. The audience's view of the scene is flat, abstracted, and fragmented, only barely decipherable (the same can be said up until Act 3). The faint sound of a tiny motor starting and stopping can be heard echoing the background.

Cut to show a variety of damaged assembly line robots, all frozen in time, in the middle of a task for which they were built. Off in the distance we catch a glimpse of a bright red LED. The sound of the small motor is now a bit stronger.

Finally we see one machine still functioning, its large single eye fixated on a thin box just outside of its reach. A two-fingered clamp attached to the machine is stretched out as far as it can go, opening and closing slowly, in an attempt to close the lid on the box. We now see that this is the source of the sound from earlier.


Act2

Another wide shot looking through a large hole in the roof of the facility (the working machine still in view) a character steps into frame, objects hang from his belt, one of which being a hand held mirror that reflects a strong glare in the vibrant sunlight. (We'll call him JASPER)

Cut to the opposite angle, JASPER hops down from his perch (leaves frame) makes his way towards the machine, and comes into frame where we get a better look at him.

We then see him inspecting the lone robot, tapping on its side, peering into its eye, etc. Getting no response after waving his hands in front of the eye, JASPER takes the box the robot was fixated on and tosses it aside.

The machine pathetically watches it fall to the ground, points its arm at the box and continues to open and close its clamp.

Satisfied, JASPER begins to fumble with the tools in his possession, finally selecting the hand held mirror and holding it in front of the machine's eye.

Act 3

A glare caught in the reflection causes the robot to recoil slightly, refocusing its 'pupil' to compensate for the brightness.

POV shot as the brightness fades, we see a reflection that depicts the robot in full perspective. There will be a large contrast in clarity between the world up until this point, and the reflection in the mirror.

Wide shot of JASPER, the mirror, and the machine. The sound of the tiny motor has finally stopped.

Cut to a medium shot (dolly zoom) from behind the mirror, looking at the robot still staring at its reflection. Slowly, normal perspective returns to the entire image starting at the eye. Fragmented pieces become cohesive, spacial relation becomes clearer, etc.

The robot, astounded, begins to inspect itself and its surroundings, eventually fixating on its arm as it playfully rotates and moves it around.

JASPER takes the mirror away, pats the robot on the head, and takes his leave.

The final shot will be a pull out, looking at the robot still staring at its own hand, until it catches notice of JASPER, and watches him leave through the hole in the roof.

Fade to black.

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Maya Tests

The goal of my initial tests was to confirm whether or not i could manipulate geometry based on camera movement alone. The first setup was a combination of blend shapes, set driven keys, and mel scripts. I used a locator (null object) to grab data from a selected camera's location, and then fed that data into a custom attribute. I then created a small library of blend shapes to swap between based on the number in the attribute. The result was an indentation in a cup that followed the camera as you rotated around it.

- In theory the test was successful, however I will need to do some tweaking to the procedure in order to iron out some issues I ran into. For example, the low resolution of the cup geometry prevents the desired smooth transition between blend shapes, resulting in the dip appearing to bounce up and down as it interpolates between shapes.

Another test I attempted was parent constraining the facing side of a cube to a camera's position using clusters. The result is what appears to be the lack of movement in the facing side, and a deformation of the rest of the cube. I'm thinking that a level of offset while moving the camera might serve me better, and look a bit more interesting.

I'll be using a combination of both techniques to achieve a look I want on a per-shot basis. More tests to follow.

Inspiration Pack

Below are a few links and descriptions to help better describe the visual inspiration for this thesis.

Passionski
The indoor shots of the house have this really interesting flat aesthetic. What I find most intruiging (and a little mind boggling) is how easily the 3D characters seem to interact with things like the floor and table, which look like they are perpandicular to the screen. I'm looking to do something similar to this, except throw in some camera motion, and have objects in the scene change their shape to compensate.


Samurai Jack
This clip includes a few elements that should help better explain what I am going for. Most notably, the set pieces in each shot are seemingly painted to only 'work' for that shot in particular. That is to say, the imagegery is abstracted to the point of inconsistency with the other shots. The characters show a little bit of this as well. The challenge for me is to represent something similar in 3D. Also, there are certain shots that use our acceptance of these inconcsistencies to set up some great compositions. For example, at 3:44 the set piece is composed in such a way that forces your eye directly towards the combatants, when there had been no indication previously in the clip that they were in an area that looked anything like this.


Cubist Camera
This is one of the sources I used in my thesis proposal. The basic concept involves setting up a string of virtual cameras surrounding a subject within a 3D animation package, and taking a sliver from each camera to build a final image. The result depicts a subject in an abstracted form, shown from multiple perspectives. Though I'm not sure as to whether or not I will be using this technique exactly, the thought process behind the concept has helped inform some visual ideas.

Overview

This thesis seeks to develop a 3D animation using techniques such as abstract and exaggerated perspective, non-linear optics, experimental rigging methods, and optical illusion to not only develop a unique style meant to push the bounds of "expected" virtual reality, but enhance the already rich means of animated storytelling as a whole.

This past week I met with Matt Kaufhold to go over the best way to approach story development for this thesis. We talked about coming up with a general idea first, finding a way to refine that idea to fit within restrictions inherent in the context of a short film (while keeping production time in mind). Once the idea is nailed down, I will watch related short films and assess the similarities, continue on to write a script, and finally create an animatic by the end of this term.