This is my detailed animatic for the live brief project where I had the task of creating a visual for a speech written by the NHS.
Live Brief Project Animation from Sam Hepworth on Vimeo.
This has being my best project so far because I have learnt a lot and I have found a creative process that I can work with. At the start of the project I received feedback to do some research on the use of camera shots as at the time I was struggling to present my vision. At the same time I decided to do research on storyboards as well because the storyboards I was producing were hard to follow. After committing this research I finished my storyboard that showed the camera angles I was going to use which helped me hugely when making the animation. During the production of my animation I modelled a mine cart and this process taught me a lot about modelling in 3D and it was something I really enjoyed. Overall I am really happy with this outcome and its development, it has changed my approach to a project and revealed a creative process that makes me confident at what I do.
Tuesday 28 February 2017
Monday 20 February 2017
Patterns in Cinema 4D
In this process and production session we explored and experimented with different techniques to create different 3D patterns in Cinema 4D.
Tunnel Pattern
The first technique involves creating a really long tunnel in 3D and then applying materials to the tunnel to create patterned illusions. To begin I brought in a rectangle and then a extrude object and in the object manager I put the rectangle in the extrude object so the rectangle became a cuboid. Next I adjusted the size of the cuboid making it really long and I made sure there was a lot of space inside. I then brought in a twist modifier and applied it to my really long tunnel so the pattern inside the tunnel will spiral. The next task was to create a material to apply to my tunnel, in the material manager I turned off colour and transparency and left luminance on. I continued to add the checker board texture to the luminance tab which resulted with black and white stripes for a material. After applying the material to my tunnel I brought in a camera and positioned it inside the tunnel so the pattern was visible in the view port. Next I brought in a sphere and duplicated my striped material but changed the colour to white and green and applied it to the sphere. I moved the sphere so it was at the end of the tunnel to add and finish the pattern.
At this point the pattern looks really interesting and cool but it is still just flat colours that isn't displaying any 3D depth. I went into the render settings and switched on ambient occlusion which adds shadows and depths to the edges of the model which gives it more realism in a 3D space.
I created a animation using the pattern with the idea of bouncing a collection of balls through the tunnel. I brought in a emitter object which fires objects in the direction it is facing and in the object manager I move the sphere in to the emitter object so the emitter fires multiple spheres. Next I moved the emitter behind the camera so it shoots the balls in the direction where the camera is looking but the problem then was the balls were falling through the tunnel so I had to let Cinema 4D know that the tunnel is a object and a collision should happen. I went to the sphere in the emitter object in the object manager and applied a rigid body tag which tells cinema 4D that this object should react when it hits another object, and then I went to my tunnel in the object manager and applied a collider tag to it which tells Cinema 4D that it should react when another object collides with it. The result now is when the balls are fired out of the emitter they bounce off the walls of the tunnel and roll down to the bottom of the tunnel.
Generated Pattern
The second technique I learnt how to do was creating a quick 3D pattern that generates never ending possibilities of different patterns and colours by slightly changing attributes in the material and object manager. I started with a plane object bringing it in to my viewport followed by a displacer modifier which appeared in my object manager next to my plane object. I dragged the displacer modifier in to the plane object and in it's shading tab I add a noise effect so the displacer modifier takes effect on the plane object turning it from a flat object into a crumpled object almost like a creased rug. The plane at this point didn't look real enough because the edges were too sharp and pointed so I brought in a sub division surface object and dragged the plane in to it so these edges were smoothed out and were more rounded. The next step was to add colour to my plane so I created a material and again turned off colour, reflectance and turned on luminance. In the luminance tab I added a gradient texture and inside the gradient tab I changed the type to "2D - V" which means that when the material is applied or wrapped around the object it goes horizontal instead of vertical, while "2D - U" is the term for wrapping a material vertical around an object. I then created four colours within the gradient tab: Cyan, purple, green and pink with cyan taking up half of the material followed by purple taking up a quarter and then green and pink sharing the last quarter. Now in the gradient tab of the material I can change a number of attributes (e.g. frequency, scale and octaves) to make different patterns really quickly.
Patterns Using Particles
The last technique I learnt was how to create a pattern using the emitter object. I started by creating eight materials all using just the luminance effect consisting of two shades of grey, a yellow, a orange, a light blue, a dark blue, white and finally black. Next I brought nine planes in to the scene making seven of them squares and two of them thin long cuboids. Then I applied the two cuboids the black material and then the other six planes each a different colour from the remaining materials. Next I brought in a emitter object placing all my planes inside it in the object manager and then placed the emitter on floor in my viewpoint facing up. In the emitter's settings I turned on "show objects" and "render instances" so I can see the emitter firing the planes in to the air in the render. Next I changed the speed, variation and angle so the emitter spits out the planes at a nice pace while they fly out at an angle so they all split up. After finishing setting up the emitter I brought in a background object and applied my luminance white material to it so in the render behind my pattern it is white. Finally I brought in a MoText object making it say "Post Modernism" as that is the style of pattern I have made and positioned it right above the emitter so the planes fly past it towards the camera.
What Did I learn?
Before this process and production session I had a slight idea how I would approach creating patterns in Cinema 4D but I didn't realise there were some many options and additionally an unlimited different patterns to make. The techniques I learnt have improved my approach to making patterns and textures in Cinema 4D and have prepared me to experiment with my own patterns if I need to. A feature in Cinema 4D I didn't know about before this session was the ambient occlusion option which is really helpful especially when you need to emphasise the depths of making an object 3D.
Tunnel Pattern
The first technique involves creating a really long tunnel in 3D and then applying materials to the tunnel to create patterned illusions. To begin I brought in a rectangle and then a extrude object and in the object manager I put the rectangle in the extrude object so the rectangle became a cuboid. Next I adjusted the size of the cuboid making it really long and I made sure there was a lot of space inside. I then brought in a twist modifier and applied it to my really long tunnel so the pattern inside the tunnel will spiral. The next task was to create a material to apply to my tunnel, in the material manager I turned off colour and transparency and left luminance on. I continued to add the checker board texture to the luminance tab which resulted with black and white stripes for a material. After applying the material to my tunnel I brought in a camera and positioned it inside the tunnel so the pattern was visible in the view port. Next I brought in a sphere and duplicated my striped material but changed the colour to white and green and applied it to the sphere. I moved the sphere so it was at the end of the tunnel to add and finish the pattern.
At this point the pattern looks really interesting and cool but it is still just flat colours that isn't displaying any 3D depth. I went into the render settings and switched on ambient occlusion which adds shadows and depths to the edges of the model which gives it more realism in a 3D space.
I created a animation using the pattern with the idea of bouncing a collection of balls through the tunnel. I brought in a emitter object which fires objects in the direction it is facing and in the object manager I move the sphere in to the emitter object so the emitter fires multiple spheres. Next I moved the emitter behind the camera so it shoots the balls in the direction where the camera is looking but the problem then was the balls were falling through the tunnel so I had to let Cinema 4D know that the tunnel is a object and a collision should happen. I went to the sphere in the emitter object in the object manager and applied a rigid body tag which tells cinema 4D that this object should react when it hits another object, and then I went to my tunnel in the object manager and applied a collider tag to it which tells Cinema 4D that it should react when another object collides with it. The result now is when the balls are fired out of the emitter they bounce off the walls of the tunnel and roll down to the bottom of the tunnel.
Generated Pattern
The second technique I learnt how to do was creating a quick 3D pattern that generates never ending possibilities of different patterns and colours by slightly changing attributes in the material and object manager. I started with a plane object bringing it in to my viewport followed by a displacer modifier which appeared in my object manager next to my plane object. I dragged the displacer modifier in to the plane object and in it's shading tab I add a noise effect so the displacer modifier takes effect on the plane object turning it from a flat object into a crumpled object almost like a creased rug. The plane at this point didn't look real enough because the edges were too sharp and pointed so I brought in a sub division surface object and dragged the plane in to it so these edges were smoothed out and were more rounded. The next step was to add colour to my plane so I created a material and again turned off colour, reflectance and turned on luminance. In the luminance tab I added a gradient texture and inside the gradient tab I changed the type to "2D - V" which means that when the material is applied or wrapped around the object it goes horizontal instead of vertical, while "2D - U" is the term for wrapping a material vertical around an object. I then created four colours within the gradient tab: Cyan, purple, green and pink with cyan taking up half of the material followed by purple taking up a quarter and then green and pink sharing the last quarter. Now in the gradient tab of the material I can change a number of attributes (e.g. frequency, scale and octaves) to make different patterns really quickly.
Patterns Using Particles
The last technique I learnt was how to create a pattern using the emitter object. I started by creating eight materials all using just the luminance effect consisting of two shades of grey, a yellow, a orange, a light blue, a dark blue, white and finally black. Next I brought nine planes in to the scene making seven of them squares and two of them thin long cuboids. Then I applied the two cuboids the black material and then the other six planes each a different colour from the remaining materials. Next I brought in a emitter object placing all my planes inside it in the object manager and then placed the emitter on floor in my viewpoint facing up. In the emitter's settings I turned on "show objects" and "render instances" so I can see the emitter firing the planes in to the air in the render. Next I changed the speed, variation and angle so the emitter spits out the planes at a nice pace while they fly out at an angle so they all split up. After finishing setting up the emitter I brought in a background object and applied my luminance white material to it so in the render behind my pattern it is white. Finally I brought in a MoText object making it say "Post Modernism" as that is the style of pattern I have made and positioned it right above the emitter so the planes fly past it towards the camera.
What Did I learn?
Before this process and production session I had a slight idea how I would approach creating patterns in Cinema 4D but I didn't realise there were some many options and additionally an unlimited different patterns to make. The techniques I learnt have improved my approach to making patterns and textures in Cinema 4D and have prepared me to experiment with my own patterns if I need to. A feature in Cinema 4D I didn't know about before this session was the ambient occlusion option which is really helpful especially when you need to emphasise the depths of making an object 3D.
Thursday 16 February 2017
Info Graphics
In this process and production session we experimented with Info Graphics which is when data and graphs are presented in a creative way. We were given the task to collect data about ourselves and present it in a map and a bar chart.
The Map
In Illustrator I created a simple map of my journey to University from my accommodation in Huddersfield. I started by importing a map of Huddersfield in to the first layer so I could work over the top of it and use it as a reference. Where the university is close to the town centre I used the line tool to draw a graduation hat and at this point I decided to use the Marker Felt font through out the project. Next I analysed the map for the most iconic land marks in between the university and my house and created drawings to represent them. Now I had enough of the map shaped out to draw the line that represents my journey from the house to university. I continued drawing more lines that showed the rivers going through the town centre near university. Finally I made the background colour behind the reference map green because it is the common colour I find on standard maps.
When I finished my map in Illustrator I imported it in to After Effects and put it in to its own composition. Next I animated the red line that represents my journey to university with the stroke effect. I started by using the pen tool to trace a path on the red line which allows the stroke effect to follow this path and then I made a keyframe at the start of the path within the stroke attribute and then another keyframe at the end of the path. Finally I changed the stroke colour to cyan so now in the animation a blue line follows the red line from my house to university. Now I created a zoom that at the same time follows the blue line and to do this I created a new composition and placed my new animated map as one layer. I clicked the 3D effect on the one layer in my new composition which puts the map in to a 3D space allowing me to tilt the whole thing on the X, Y and Z axis. Now all at once using keyframes I changed the position, the scale, X axis rotation and the Y axis rotation to create the illusion that a camera is zooming into the map and following the animated line.
The Bar Chart
My bar chart was created on Illustrator and it showed how much time I spent on social network websites in a day. The bar chart was very simple, I created rectangles to use as the bars and the websites I use are Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and Youtube. I wanted to make the bar chart more inviting to look at instead of black and white so I coloured the bars in the colour used in the website's logos or what is seen on their webpage.
I imported my bar chart in to After Effects to animate and to join it with my map animation. I wanted to make the bars in my bar chart appear one at a time from left to right and to do this I used the time line to create keyframes when the bars were at their shortest, then I created more keyframes when they were at the size that represents the amount of time I used them further down the timeline. After creating the animations for each bar I moved them in order on the timeline with Facebook first and then ending with Gmail so when the animation plays Facebook extends first followed by the other bars going to the right.
The Transition
The animation would be slightly more confusing with just the map followed by the bar chart so I created a quick one second transition introducing the bar chart. I created the transition on Illustrator coming up with the simple design of the word "Time Spent" as the same font as the bar chart and map inside a rhombus. I wanted to follow a similar colour scheme but for it to stand out more so I swapped the colour around having a black background and green text.
I imported my transition design in to After Effects to animate with a number of choices of transitioning techniques to choose from. I only had one second of animation for the transition so I didn't want a transition that travels across the screen because I feared that it would happen to quickly for the viewer to read the text. I found that using the opacity feature in After Effects was the most feasible making my transition screen slowly appear and then disappear. On the timeline where I wanted the transition to start I created a key frame and set the opacity of my "time spent" layer to 0% and then I went to the part of the timeline where I wanted the transition to end and also set the layer's opacity to 0%. Now in the middle of these two keyframes I created another keyframe and set the layer's opacity to 100% so now the layer will slowly appear until the opacity its 100% and then slowly disappear completely.
The Final Outcome
What Did I learn?
During this session I learnt why info graph animations are made and how people go about making these animations. A cool feature I learnt how to do in After Effects was using the stroke feature combined with the pen tool that makes a paint stroke follow a path that was created by the pen tool, we used this to represent our journey on the map.
The Map
In Illustrator I created a simple map of my journey to University from my accommodation in Huddersfield. I started by importing a map of Huddersfield in to the first layer so I could work over the top of it and use it as a reference. Where the university is close to the town centre I used the line tool to draw a graduation hat and at this point I decided to use the Marker Felt font through out the project. Next I analysed the map for the most iconic land marks in between the university and my house and created drawings to represent them. Now I had enough of the map shaped out to draw the line that represents my journey from the house to university. I continued drawing more lines that showed the rivers going through the town centre near university. Finally I made the background colour behind the reference map green because it is the common colour I find on standard maps.
When I finished my map in Illustrator I imported it in to After Effects and put it in to its own composition. Next I animated the red line that represents my journey to university with the stroke effect. I started by using the pen tool to trace a path on the red line which allows the stroke effect to follow this path and then I made a keyframe at the start of the path within the stroke attribute and then another keyframe at the end of the path. Finally I changed the stroke colour to cyan so now in the animation a blue line follows the red line from my house to university. Now I created a zoom that at the same time follows the blue line and to do this I created a new composition and placed my new animated map as one layer. I clicked the 3D effect on the one layer in my new composition which puts the map in to a 3D space allowing me to tilt the whole thing on the X, Y and Z axis. Now all at once using keyframes I changed the position, the scale, X axis rotation and the Y axis rotation to create the illusion that a camera is zooming into the map and following the animated line.
The Bar Chart
My bar chart was created on Illustrator and it showed how much time I spent on social network websites in a day. The bar chart was very simple, I created rectangles to use as the bars and the websites I use are Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and Youtube. I wanted to make the bar chart more inviting to look at instead of black and white so I coloured the bars in the colour used in the website's logos or what is seen on their webpage.
I imported my bar chart in to After Effects to animate and to join it with my map animation. I wanted to make the bars in my bar chart appear one at a time from left to right and to do this I used the time line to create keyframes when the bars were at their shortest, then I created more keyframes when they were at the size that represents the amount of time I used them further down the timeline. After creating the animations for each bar I moved them in order on the timeline with Facebook first and then ending with Gmail so when the animation plays Facebook extends first followed by the other bars going to the right.
The Transition
The animation would be slightly more confusing with just the map followed by the bar chart so I created a quick one second transition introducing the bar chart. I created the transition on Illustrator coming up with the simple design of the word "Time Spent" as the same font as the bar chart and map inside a rhombus. I wanted to follow a similar colour scheme but for it to stand out more so I swapped the colour around having a black background and green text.
I imported my transition design in to After Effects to animate with a number of choices of transitioning techniques to choose from. I only had one second of animation for the transition so I didn't want a transition that travels across the screen because I feared that it would happen to quickly for the viewer to read the text. I found that using the opacity feature in After Effects was the most feasible making my transition screen slowly appear and then disappear. On the timeline where I wanted the transition to start I created a key frame and set the opacity of my "time spent" layer to 0% and then I went to the part of the timeline where I wanted the transition to end and also set the layer's opacity to 0%. Now in the middle of these two keyframes I created another keyframe and set the layer's opacity to 100% so now the layer will slowly appear until the opacity its 100% and then slowly disappear completely.
The Final Outcome
What Did I learn?
During this session I learnt why info graph animations are made and how people go about making these animations. A cool feature I learnt how to do in After Effects was using the stroke feature combined with the pen tool that makes a paint stroke follow a path that was created by the pen tool, we used this to represent our journey on the map.
Thursday 9 February 2017
Europe and Brexit
- In 2011 European unemployment has started shooting up compared to everywhere else in the world.
- 62% of young people (15-24 years) in Greece are unemployed.
- Followed by Spain at 57% unemployment.
Economy before and after Brexit
Banking crisis in 2008, world recession caused serious problems for Europe.
Pre Brexit
Norway really lucky from this crisis in terms of economics (very wealthy) Germany and UK are at the Okay mark followed with Denmark and France with not too bad, other countries in Europe like Greece and Spain were really struggling.
Post Brexit
After Brexit Norway are still rich, UK are neck and neck with Germany’s wealth with the UK economy increasing. The other countries who aren’t the UK, Germany and Denmark are relying on those three countries for wealth.
The UK referendum
The UK having a strong economy don’t want to be part of the EU because they don’t want to be a part of the political integration. While Germany are the same strength in economy but want the EU because they are the centre of control. The poorer countries want political integration so they can continue receiving funds off of UK and Germany.
Brexit has caused a lot of the population in the west to be delusional so they give more extreme parties popularity and power like Donald Trump in the US.
The issues with Brexit
- Immigration (Greece VS Turkey), (Germany’s unilateral approach)
- Italian Banking Problems with potential failure.
- Over-reliance on the Germany economy.
- Potential loss of UK and some trade.
- Russia and Ukraine.
- US/Europe TTIP (type of trade) failure.
The EU don’t look as they are going to change their path or polices which will affect the EU Union and its country very badly. If the EU doesn’t change Germany will dominate the European union and more countries will leave, especially if the UK is successful with its economy from leaving the EU.
If everything continues and the EU slowly disappears making countries independent there will be more trade resulting more demand for graphic designers and animators.
The positives from Brexit will be that the UK will be able to trade with the US, Canada and Australia making it more common but trading with European countries may be problematic because it is likely they will want to refuse.
Other European Problems
Russia is right next to Europe so Europe need to be cautious with their decisions towards Russia. The problem is that Ukraine sits in-between Europe and Russia and Ukraine wants to be a part of the European union but Russia wants to keep Ukraine. Europe wants to find away to make Ukraine apart of their union without upsetting Russia resulting in Ukraine's invasion.
Europe don’t have a lot of oil or other reserves of energy so they buy a lot from Russia which put Russia in a dominant position over Europe. The result of this is Europe are very careful with their energy usage enforcing a lot of energy saving methods.
Immigration and Unemployment make people in Europe unhappy. The refugees coming into Europe have made unemployment its highest. Because there is no bodies of water separating the countries between each other the boarders in Europe are set up in a way where immigration is easy and hard to control.
Thursday 2 February 2017
Self Publishing: The Stencil
In this process and production session we learnt how to make our own stencils and then use them to create propaganda posters. The propaganda theme was the French revolution in 1968 and each of us had the task of pulling out a word from a bag which gives a specific theme from 1968 to focus on.
I pulled out the word "Police man" so I looked up the police from the French riots and I decided to use the basic look of the uniform they used to wear as an icon.
The next step was to draw an image on A3 paper which then can be cut out using a craft knife. After sketching ideas I came up with a simple drawing of the police man's helmet with the goggles on and then next to that another drawing of the rifles they used to carry. When I finished cutting out both my drawings I had my stencil which I placed on another sheet of A3 paper and painted over it with a paint roller so both my images were displayed in red paint.
Now I pulled out song lyrics from another bag which I made another stencil with to add to my poster. My lyrics were "Drown me in your sweet submission" and these words act as a slogan for my propaganda poster. When I cut out my words with a craft knife I was happy that I managed to finish but it took me a long time and I struggled to make it neat. Before I started cutting with a craft knife I wasn't very confident because before this session I can never recall ever using a craft knife so it was something that was new to me. Next I painted over this stencil in blue adding it to my poster.
I have recently seen stencil work similar to this which made me really intrigued to try it so I am grateful to have done this session. The stencil work I saw was from a video game named "Infamous Second Sun" where the protagonist of the game spreads his propaganda around the city of the Seattle either trying to expose the corrupt government in power or using it to make the citizens fear him depending on what the player wants to do. The character of the game is portrayed as a punk who likes to put up street art so his methods to producing propaganda is using stencils out of cardboard that he supposedly finds around the city and spray paint.
I really enjoyed this process and production session because I liked painting over a stencil I made and the results look really good. Using a craft knife to cut with is interesting as well but I became frustrated at times because I needed sometime to get use to how it worked. In the future I could enjoy doing this more regularly which will give me the practice with a craft knife.
I pulled out the word "Police man" so I looked up the police from the French riots and I decided to use the basic look of the uniform they used to wear as an icon.
The next step was to draw an image on A3 paper which then can be cut out using a craft knife. After sketching ideas I came up with a simple drawing of the police man's helmet with the goggles on and then next to that another drawing of the rifles they used to carry. When I finished cutting out both my drawings I had my stencil which I placed on another sheet of A3 paper and painted over it with a paint roller so both my images were displayed in red paint.
Now I pulled out song lyrics from another bag which I made another stencil with to add to my poster. My lyrics were "Drown me in your sweet submission" and these words act as a slogan for my propaganda poster. When I cut out my words with a craft knife I was happy that I managed to finish but it took me a long time and I struggled to make it neat. Before I started cutting with a craft knife I wasn't very confident because before this session I can never recall ever using a craft knife so it was something that was new to me. Next I painted over this stencil in blue adding it to my poster.
I have recently seen stencil work similar to this which made me really intrigued to try it so I am grateful to have done this session. The stencil work I saw was from a video game named "Infamous Second Sun" where the protagonist of the game spreads his propaganda around the city of the Seattle either trying to expose the corrupt government in power or using it to make the citizens fear him depending on what the player wants to do. The character of the game is portrayed as a punk who likes to put up street art so his methods to producing propaganda is using stencils out of cardboard that he supposedly finds around the city and spray paint.
I really enjoyed this process and production session because I liked painting over a stencil I made and the results look really good. Using a craft knife to cut with is interesting as well but I became frustrated at times because I needed sometime to get use to how it worked. In the future I could enjoy doing this more regularly which will give me the practice with a craft knife.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)