Multimedia blog

New blog

2011-11-29T13:53:00.001-08:00

http://theworksofantonychapman.blogspot.com/

I have a new blog for this final year of uni
Link is above......

Rationale

2011-05-28T02:50:00.000-07:00

For this project I was required to reinterpret a script in my own way. We were given a choice of three scripts, or were allowed to choose another suitable script if we wanted, however the Frankenstein script fitted my idea perfectly.

My original idea, and the one I eventually saw through to the end, was to use the Frankenstein story as a base and change it to be a story about the creation of my alias/avatar, Rawrberry. I also changed Dr Frankenstein from the traditional mad doctor in an evil looking castle to a more fitting old man in a greenhouse, thus fitting with the whole creating a strawberry/man creature.

The first few weeks were spent sketching ideas for what Rawrberry and the doctor could look like, as well as ideas for the greenhouse and the building it sat upon. I wanted the house to look slightly ominous, thus fitting with the idea of my doctor being more obsessed with is work then his decor as it were, and overall I think I achieved this with the use of low level lighting and long corridors.

With the doctor I was going for a sort of menacing look mixed with the "your granddad in his slippers" look, which again I think I achieved. Saying this however I wish I had spent more time on the modelling of the character, as there are a few glitches that could of been ironed out, namely his shoulders and his elbows, which had a habit of twisting oddly no matter what I did. Overall though I am happy with him.

The Rawrberry model I made I am not very happy with at all I must admit. He fits in well enough, and he does in fact look like a weird strawberry/man creation, however I feel like I could of achieved so much more with him in terms of shape and movement. However he fits the part and does what I needed him to do so in the end I am satisfied with him.

On this project I feel I have improved in many aspects of my work. Firstly my modelling ability has grown I believe, which given my interest in the visual side of 3D I think is certainly a positive. Also my rigging and animation skills have vastly improved since the bots and bananas project, allowing me to do more with my doctor than I could of ever managed with my robot.

In conclusion I am happy with how this project has turned out. I am happy with the models, for the most part, as well as the animation in general. Despite this I still feel that more time could of been spent making the animation look more polished and flow better, and that the models could also of done with a bit of polishing. Another thing I would of improved on is the addition of sound into my piece, rather than just having music playing. I think this would of tied off the work nicely and is certainly something I will look to improve upon in future projects.

Final Animation

2011-05-25T07:14:00.000-07:00

Frankenberry(Rawrberry) from o0Rawrberry0o on Vimeo.

Continued some more...

2011-05-25T02:48:00.001-07:00

Just a few more shots from towards the end of my animation, including Rawrberry(Frankenberry) and some more of the details from around the lab.

Continued

2011-05-25T02:40:00.001-07:00

A couple of shots from my lab, these are the some of the first images you see in my animation, after the initial fly through, as my doctor walks into the lab and looks around, more to set the scene for the viewer.

It has been a while but now time for a mega update

2011-05-25T02:32:00.000-07:00

Right I know it has been ages since an update, but the workload on me has been pretty steep. But enough of the excuses, on with the update.
These shots are from my opening scene, and basically, in keeping with most horrors,
they are pretty dark and slightly ominous. Pretty unoriginal I know but it works I think.

Flickr

2011-03-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

Ok so I must admit that I have been having some issues with doing this. Mainly have an awful camera and difficulty getting my hands on a new one. However I was finally able to take some pictures and upload them, organize them etc. This here is a link to my page which I will keep adding photos to now that I have a means to do so.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/o0rawrberry0o/

Been a while, but here we go...

2011-03-11T09:24:00.001-08:00

So it has been a while but finally here are the first couple of pics from my lab model for my Frankenberry project. Bare in mind that these are a work in progress, for the most part this is me playing with the lighting.

Doodles...

2011-01-24T13:14:00.000-08:00

Here are just a few doodles I did whilst I was throwing ideas around. They are not overly good but they get the point across

SteamPunk

2011-01-24T03:24:00.000-08:00

Right, as you already know I am setting my project in the Victorian era, thus I have taken the decision to use elements of SteamPunk in my work. My doctor may be slightly off his rocker, but he is still a genius and a brilliant inventor, thus he would have various contraptions that he has invented and uses in his experiments. SteamPunk allows me to create these futuristic contraptions whilst still retaining the "YE OLDE" Victorian feel.

More Environment

2011-01-24T02:27:00.000-08:00

Environment

2011-01-24T02:10:00.000-08:00

Seeing as I am setting my story in the Victorian age I have gathered a load of pictures of ominous looking Victorian mansions as a reference. Simple eh..... well this is just a basis, I want the house to retain a Victorian essence, however I also want it to express an almost future look. So plenty of glass and steel mixed with Victorian architecture. Yes it sounds like an odd combination but I reckon it will work with the story.

Mad Scientist

2011-01-23T14:17:00.001-08:00

As I have chosen Frankenstein as the basis for my project I of course need a scientist, preferably a mad one at that. However this is a picture that caught my eye and makes me think about what I want my scientist to look like, as I rather like the whole gas mask approach as I think it makes him look far more menacing. However I still want to be able to see his eyes so I might aim to make a half gas mask, more like a breathing apparatus than an actual full gas mask.

And finally...

2011-01-13T07:42:00.000-08:00

I found this picture of sombody who was as annoyed with the traditional look of Frankensteins monster as I was. He has used the same passage of description as we were given to create his version of the monster. This follows the text to the letter, down to the yellowing skin and black lips. As a reference goes it is pure gold, as it helps form a picture of what the words are saying, and thus gives me a very strong point from which to start.

And now a few more...

2011-01-13T07:37:00.000-08:00

Once again...

2011-01-13T07:22:00.001-08:00

This version of Frankensteins monster may not have the long hair that I described in an earlier post, however it does display the more human looking side that I want to capture in my own work. The stitching on his face reinforces the fact that he has is Frankensteins monster, and that he is formed of different body parts stitched together. It also gives his face a pained, grimace like expression that I feel works well with the character.

And some more...

2011-01-13T07:18:00.001-08:00

Here again is a similar character design to what my initial idea is.

Pictoral reference

2011-01-13T06:55:00.000-08:00

This is the first picture I found of Frankensteins monster that does not follow the traditional sqaure look, and oddly enough it is actually similar to what i had in mind.
It may not have the yellow skin or anything, however it does have very drawn skin, the milky eyes and long, flowing hair. As a starting point I doubt I could of found better any sooner...

Initial ideas

2011-01-13T06:44:00.000-08:00

Right....
New term means new project, and what have i got for you now you may ask..well!
Basically I have chosen to do my version of the Frankenstein script, mainly because is seems to appeal to my slightly odd nature, that and I think the Matrix will be massivly overdone and the fantastic voyage has so many long and confusing descriptive words it makes my head hurt.

So Frankenstein it is! However I am not going to go for that traditional square head, bolts in neck look, oh no! I am going to use the desription from the book, which describes him as follows:
Limbs all in proportion
Yellow skin
Covered in muscles and veins
Long, flowing, black hair
Pearly white teeth
Milky white eyes
Shriveled skin
Straight black lips
Now this I know sounds oddly like the description of a traditional Frankensteins monster, however the fact that the skin is yellow, and that he is meant to have dead eyes and long flowing hair makes him sound more like a zombie than the traditional look of a sad, square man. Thus this is the look I will endeavour to achive.
More to follow....

Diary & Rational...

2010-12-09T15:44:00.000-08:00

Well here we are, end of the first term and I have managed to get my work finished and handed in. So this is meant to describe what I now know about the industry and where I feel I fit in amongst it all. So here goes. I have realised that in the 3D industry you normally have only one job, be that rigging or texturing or something along those lines, and doing it all by yourself can lead you to a mental breakdown. But I feel that the part that I would fit into best is the modelling part, creating the Creatures, buildings, vehicles etc, that go into the final product. The reason behind my thinking are thus; Modelling is what I find most enjoyable. Creating something that looks intricate and impressive is what I like doing. As far as texturing and rigging go they aren't really my cup of tea as it were. I mean I am pleased with how many of the textures came out on my final gather, and if pushed to do so I would gladly do the textures, but if I had to choose I would stick to the modelling. Rigging, and thus the act of animating the models was the part I found the hardest. This is partly due, obviously, to the fact that this is my first time at doing any, and given time I could probably develop at least a decent ability to produce short animations, but on a large scale it is simply mind boggling to me.

Within my animation my pride and joy has to be my Robot, Norm. The model itself is based off the one we got taught in our seminar, at least the arms and legs are, the body, crotch plate, spine and head are all of my own design. I feel that the way I have modelled him really brings across his sadness and his misfortune, mostly conveyed by his downward slanting eyes. This was a concious decision of mine right from the start, that he would look a tragic figure, thus making the audience feel at least a little sorry for him. The other character, the mouse, was part of my original story line, however his role changed slightly from revenge seeker to just plain mischief maker, and this I feel is very fitting for what is, after all, vermin.
The environment is something else that I am rather pleased with. Although not massively complex it serves its purpose. I especially like the fact that you can see the street reflected in all the windows, adding masses of depth to the whole affair.

All in all I am happy with what I have produced, especially as it is my first foray into the animation side of 3D. Given more time there is certainly plenty I would change, however as it is I am pleased with the outcome.

So here it is...

2010-12-08T17:41:00.000-08:00

Like it?

2010-12-04T09:18:00.001-08:00

A lonely Street

2010-12-02T08:07:00.000-08:00

Due to a very last minute change of mind I have started (and nearly finished) modelling a new environment for my "Of Bots and Bananas" Sketch. This is essentially a lonely street in an undesirable part of town. The shops are all based on those shops that just look cheap and nasty, the ones you would never normally go into. But among these shops I want to have a very shiny and bright "Liqueur Store". This is now the main focus of my narrative as I will explain in a later post.

Why so sad keanu...

2010-11-25T06:44:00.001-08:00

Right let me start by saying that I have not, I repeat not, called my robot Keanu. However the pose he is in kind of reminded me of those sad Keanu pictures, hence the title. But in all seriousness I created my robot to look sad and downtrodden. He is meant to be based on the idea of Charlie Chaplin, the "Happy Hobo" style as it were, however minus the happy in my robots case. I wanted him to pull on the heartstrings of my audience, I wanted them to feel sorry for him as he is such a tragic figure who is having a bad time of it. This also means that when the "Gag" happens to him there is both a mixture of humour and the "awww" feeling.

Introducing....

2010-11-24T05:47:00.001-08:00

Introducing....

2010-11-24T05:47:00.000-08:00

Now that he has colour...

2010-11-23T10:58:00.001-08:00

Has been a while, but here we go...

2010-11-18T08:10:00.000-08:00

So I know it has been a while since I added anything to my blog. There is a very simple reason for this, I did nothing that would of been of interest to anybody. For the past couple of weeks I had been working on my essay, which I think we can all agree does not make for interesting viewing. However I now have a new screenshot of my "bot" as it stands at the moment. The rigging is complete and I hope to have a video of him in full motion soon enough. Also he currently looks too "smart". I intend to work with the polygons to cover him in dents and such, so that he is more in keeping with the hobo effect I was going for. I have also created him to be hunched over, a result of his life not going to plan and the weight of worry upon his shoulders so to speak. His face has also been designed to convey a sense of sadness and depression, with downward slanting eyes and a "bot beard" look to his lower jaw. I have yet to decide whether I want to add a mouth to my robot. so as it stands he currently does not have one.

So here be some arms

2010-10-28T03:36:00.000-07:00

So in Andy's seminar this week we learnt how to do basic rigging, and here is my attempt at it. I have made the hands do a series of poses just to get my head round creating motion and using the keys on the time line. So basically this is what I have come up with. A lot of the movements, although slow, do appear to be a bit more human than robotic, but I think this adds to the whole thing, giving my robot a more human feel makes it easier to relate to him.

Basic motion

2010-10-21T04:47:00.000-07:00

So basically I just took my original truck and created a short animation simply by rotating the tires and moving the whole thing along the scene. It is very basic but is, after all just practice for the main project.

Looking at slapstick

2010-10-14T07:32:00.000-07:00

Above are a couple of examples of slapstick in a more modern setting. The first is from robot chicken, the second is Rowan Atkinson from Not the Nine O'clock News.

Orrery...yeah I had the same look on my face ¬¬

2010-10-13T14:15:00.000-07:00

So this is known as an Orrery. An accurate one shows our solar system in a simple way and how the planets orbit our sun. Mine, dear friends, is not as yet accurate. So forgive the rather fast inner planet but this was mainly to give me a taste of getting a basic animation to work, and in this respect it has done. Whilst making this model, and through the seminar I learnt about Hierarchy and what parts have to be slaved to what. The actual term is linked to but it gets the same meaning across. I also added some extra moons to some of the planets, and before you say it yes I did look them up so I know which planets have moons and how many there are. The next stage would be to add some detail to the whole affair, such as lighting effects and materials, but for now it will remain as it is as I have a presentation I need to create.

So, nearing completion...

2010-10-03T13:35:00.000-07:00

So, this is the car after some tweaking, and I must say I am rather pleased with the whole thing =) I added an Omni light to the scene and played with the materials a bit, I also created clear windows and added some interior detail.

So...Has been a while...

2010-10-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

So hey

I know it has been a while but I haven't had access to 3DS MAX at all over the holiday.
Anyhow this is the first of my new models since getting back to Nottingham. Basically, to fill you in, I got obsessed with Red Faction:Guerilla, completed it in a day and all. However what I found I liked most about it was the designs of the vehicles. Thus this creation was born. So far it is just a basic model, without the detail I want added. I also gave it a basic colour scheme so that it was easier to view. The main chassis was made from just one box. I manipulated the polygons, extruded faces and all that to create the angular shape of the armour. Like I said earlier, I still need to add more details and create a better colour scheme, but that will follow in the next few days =) Enjoy...

Rational-Interactive Media

2010-06-04T04:03:00.000-07:00

Right, so what to say. Firstly Flash is a pain, constantly ignoring you and doing its own thing and then messing up at a crucial moment. Despite this I managed to get a working quiz finished, and one I am surprised to say, that I actually like. Ok it's not the best looking quiz, and there are certainly some bits that need fixing and sorting out, but besides these little issues I am happy with it. The inspiration came from any basic internet flash quiz I have ever played. It's a series of quick fire questions with helpful pictures along the way. I also tried to include a video question but seeing as the video was on my laptop it would not work on the net. I now know that I need to upload it to the web and then it should hopefully work. The background itself is a wacky combination of colour and shapes with a musical feel. I felt that this certainly worked for my quiz, hence its presence on every page. The scoring system on the quiz works well, although in my presentation I put the wrong code in so it just navigated back to the menu straight away. It records the right answer and adds it to a tally on the last slide. Annoyingly I wasn't able to figure out the code for recording the right and wrong answers and displaying them at the end. There isn't really much more I can say about this really. I had no intention of being a Flash wiz when I started the year, and I think this shows that. However I am still happy with how it turned out and hope it gets me at least a half decent grade.

Rational-Virtual Environments

2010-06-04T03:16:00.000-07:00

So I know this is a bit late but hey.

My lair that I created for my virtual environments project is, sadly, not what I initially had in mind. However due to polygon issues and the need to restart it has ended up like it is now. The inspiration for my lair came from the idea of having an ex soviet union KGB style man. Bearing this in mind I went for a very soviet era Russian look, with simple concrete buildings and functional fittings. I also kept the lighting low to try an add a bit of a gloomy atmosphere to an already gloomy scene. The main inspiration came from looking at photos of old Russian cities, and how they followed the same pattern of simple block type apartments. I also noted that there was a large amount of Soviet propaganda pasted onto the walls, and thus I have tried to capture this feel by placing it around my lair, almost like pictures. The colour scheme is a combination of concrete outer surfaces, as was common in the photos, and then simple interiors, in true communist fashion. The only major difference to this colour scheme is the red carpet in the main hall. I made this red as I thought it helped to emphasise the villains connection to Russia and what it used to be like.
The other additions to my lair include a garage which I have kitted out with tools that would be used to fix the large truck inside it, and then the large truck itself. The truck started life with a more complex track system then the one that is in my lair. However these tracks were well over a million polygons in themselves, so after some remodelling I ended up with he truck seen in my lair. Saying this I'm still happy with it, just not so fond of the tracks. The inspiration for the truck came from looking at old half tracks and armoured personnel carriers. Thus I created a high sided, tracked vehicle. I also have another truck within my lair, and this is more of a high performance truck than an armoured beast. This is reflected in the fact that it has wheels and a streamlined body instead of tracks and a heavy armour shell. This truck was more inspired by racing trucks than half tracks, thus the streamlined body. The workshop in my lair contains what I feel to be my best models, the guns. These were inspired by my old Warhammer models (sad I know but they were good inspiration. I also added tools and shelving to the workshop to give it a bit of a filling as it were. It was around this time that I started laying with the renderer and discovered the Raytrace materials. From this point on I used them almost exclusively. The last building in my lair is the shooting range. This is simply a long building with targets at the far end. The targets were simple models with a bitmap attached to them to create the bullseye.

The compound itself is something right out of a prison, and this also I thought suited my villain down to the ground. The high walls and watchtowers mean nobody can get close without being seen and thus dealt with. Overall I am please with how it turned out, but will certainly be doing lots to improves it.

A quick look...

2010-05-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

Ok so my laptop keeps messing up, end of the world? I think so! And just as those tories cam into power...Coincidence? I think not!!!

Anyhow enough political ranting and pot stirring for the moment.

Basically what we have here is the one rendered shot of my armoury I was able to get before my 3DS MAX had a memory crisis and crashed for the 10th time. This is not wholly completed but shows what I am basically going for. Any how enjoy...

Has been a while...

2010-05-12T12:40:00.001-07:00

So between working on my 3DS MAX project and casting a vote that made very little difference I haven't had much chance to update my blog. Well here is the latest major addition to my lair, a tanker kind of vehicle to kit out the hanger/garage with. It is almost all one piece, having started life as a simple box which I then edited polygon by polygon. The track system was fairly simple in that I created one wheel and then just cloned it and resized it where needed. The tracks themselves are simply tubes which I have extended and extruded to create the raised parts. The colour scheme is a simple military green with grey detailing. The reason I chose this scheme is that this is a working vehicle and not one used for being flash, thus what is the point in having an over the top, colourful paint job. SO this is what it finally looks like, enjoy...

Weapon obsession continued

2010-04-28T14:09:00.000-07:00

So I am not sure about this one. I want a grenade launcher in my arsenal but this model isn't quite what I expected to come out of my mind. However it does have a rather interesting look to it so I reckon I will keep it. I might well work on another version but not right now as I have other models to make =p Until then...

2010-04-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

So after a long night of work, here is some more...

2010-04-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

These pictures show some of the changes I have made to my models. I made grips for the handles on both the rifle and the pistol as well as removing the flash suppressor from the pistol and shortening the barrel. I did this because the pistol looked way too front heavy, meaning the barrel would drop when firing. Plus it just made it look way to bulky anyhow. I also created a sniper rifle modification by adding a longer barrel, a bi pod and a scope on top of the rifle. This allows me to load out the armoury with all the weapons you would expect an evil villain to equip his henchmen with. Anyhow enjoy...

And the next instalment...

2010-04-27T15:52:00.001-07:00

Ok so I appear to of got a little obsessive tonight with the whole modelling thing, thus this second creation for my armoury. This pistol follows the same basic design as the rifle, as is standard with any evil armies arsenal (why spend money on different style weapons when you can make similar ones for cheaper and spend the savings on more henchmen?) Anyhow since I did the rifle first and this follows the same basic design and is obviously smaller it took less time, around about 30 minutes in fact. Now that's two weapons down and maybe a couple more to go, will keep you posted my loyal fans!

And the chewy armoury filling...

2010-04-27T13:44:00.000-07:00

So as you can see this is a gun. I know your probably reeling from that shocking statement but one can't help that. The reason I have created this model though, apart from being rather fun, is to allow me to create an armoury in my Super villains lair. Now I know what your saying, villains don't use guns! They use some over the top mega death ray cannon that always blows up! Well true they do, however my villain is somewhat of a genius, and as such has hired henchmen to help do his evil bidding and run the lair. These stupid yet tough men are not above using your conventional, everyday firearms and as such a need for a place to store them was found. And when you have an armoury, you must have weapons with which to fill it, hence this rifle. It is just one of many weapons I am creating to fill the armoury, other screens will follow in the next day or so showing the others I have created. Till then I leave you with this...

Total time to make said rifle was about one and a half hours. I have yet to add materials to it however. I am waiting for the seminar on adding them so that I have a better understanding of how to do so and thus can make it look rather good.

Just a quickie...

2010-04-26T06:05:00.000-07:00

For my visual essay I have had the idea of using 3DS MAX to create an art gallery as it were and then have the viewer take a virtual tour around it. I originally thought this idea would be mine and mine alone, however after browsing some of the other blogs I have discovered somebody else as crazy as me =p Well I am sticking with the idea and will post screens once I have the basic thing done...

So I have been commissioned...

2010-04-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

All right maybe commissioned is the wrong word but what has happened is that one of my friends has asked me to design and make some buildings for an RTS game he is working on. Am I excited by this idea? You better believe it!!! RTS games are my number one favourite of all times and being able to be part of making one (no matter how small or low budget) fills me with so much enthusiasm and excitement that I haven't stopped drawing ideas since he asked me. As I have my virtual environments project to do at the moment I will be working on the models for this over the summer but rest assured I shall be posting screens on here throughout so keep coming back to see what I have made =)

Welcome to my lair! Mwhaha

2010-04-26T05:55:00.001-07:00

Well here we have the first look at what is soon to become my lair. As you can see it is a bit on the large side, and at the moment seems to resemble a German bunker complex but that will soon all change (hopefully!!!) I realise the brief said to do around 4 rooms but I got a bit carried away with my design, mainly because I was enjoying it so much, so I have a dilemma, I either give up my life and do all the rooms or I spend time on 4 of the rooms and then leave the others as sort of a continuous project. The second is more likely, as this means I can keep adding to it and make it rather formidable =) What I have so far I found pretty easy to create, and was able to do it within a couple of hours, the interiors will obviously take more time but I am confident that I can create something rather cool with this =)

After more work on my cannon

2010-04-04T15:37:00.001-07:00

After more practice I have made some changes to my original cannon. I have made a new support for the rear of the cannon, making it look more like the picture I used as a reference. I have also added metal work to the wheels and a towing ring to the rear support. All in all I think these improvements help to make it look much more realistic and I for one am happy with it =)

Finally getting the hang of this... sort of

2010-04-03T09:06:00.001-07:00

Well I set myself the task of getting to know 3DS MAX over the Easter, thus giving myself a bit of a hand when I start the lair project. As such I borrowed a book from my library called the 3DS MAX 2009 Bible. This book is 1200 pages of tutorials and tips, starting from the basics and moving up to more complicated stuff. So here is the first tutorial I decided to have a go at, a cannon! There are several pictures, the more basic one is where the tutorial leads you too, giving you a basic cannon with out much detail or originality, or for that matter very much colour. The others show how I have edited the materials and added additional details, such as the pile of cannonballs and the handles on the back of it. I have also added a light source in the shape of the sun and a horizon line. Now that I am getting more used to the program I am really starting to enjoy using it, and seeing as this is the pathway I want to take next year this is certainly a good thing =p I will updating my blog with pictures of further projects I try, so keep checking to see what I have made =)

Thinking of lairs.....

2010-04-02T03:37:00.000-07:00

Right, well seeing as I will be starting the Virtual Environments project in a weeks time I think its time I started to look at how I want my lair to look. My biggest influence I have to say is the work of 2K games, in their games "Bioshock" and "Bioshock 2". The architecture of Rapture is what brings the games to life, and as such I want to try to incorporate this into my lair. It's a combination of 50's and 60's Architecture and what deep sea architecture would look like from that time. It kind of reminds me of the old style diving suits, but in city form, if that isn't a weird comparison...

3DS Max- Ice cubes

2010-03-24T09:17:00.000-07:00

So this is a tutorial I found on another Blog ( Jazzs' blog to be exact). It is a really good tutorial on how to make a basic ice cube model and also shows you how to apply a material that looks like ice. This took a grand total of about 10 minutes but really helps you to learn the basics. It also helps my confidence in getting to know the program I am hoping to be using for the next two years =D

So remember Heavy Rain???

2010-03-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

This is just for a little bit of fun. This guy is a games reviewer who says all the things that magazines and such aren't allowed to. It is a refreshingly new look at how to review games and one that always has me in stitches =)

BTW the size of the video is being annoying so to watch it fully just click on the vid and it will take you to his website where all the videos are, then just have a browse and a giggle...

3DS MAX - Did the Devil finally get into software creation?

2010-03-17T17:03:00.000-07:00

Well this is just a quickie... just downloaded the trial for 3DS MAX so that I can get a head start on learning it over the Easter holidays, thus removing some of the pressure of learning it when we come back after.. and I have to say I have not seen a more complicated program on first view before, sooooo many buttons, all of which do scary things, even though I can't tell what they have actually done. It's going to take some learning but then hey, what am I here for right?

First movies, now games. Is 3D taking over?

2010-03-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

http://gizmodo.com/5493828/screw-avatar-3d-gaming-is-what-will-get-you-to-buy-a-new-tv

This is a link to an article talking about the latest in 3D gaming. It talks about how it helps with the field of depth when exploring the game and how it helps with shooting and targeting. I for one like the idea of 3D gaming, being an avid gamer myself ( I am sure you all know this and am tired of me saying it all the time =p) Anything that helps to involve a player more is a bonus in my books, thus this kind of thing gets me excited. Read it at your leisure...

Context 1 lecture- exercise

2010-03-17T14:55:00.000-07:00

Well this quite simply is what the title says it is, a task we were set in our lecture... so here goes...

From interviewing somebody using the questions I thought up I have come to the following conclusions:

1. People are developing their skills alongside the other projects we are doing. The person I interviewed is undecided between Web and Virtual Environments, and as such has been working on Web page projects for clients as well as giving 3DS MAX a go, and their conclusion is that they enjoy both but 3D is unnecessarily difficult!

2. I also found out that a lot of the knowledge we are gathering and the help we are getting is coming from other students, including first years. This is mainly due to our different interests and backgrounds. This collective of knowledge is certainly a bonus to us all.

3. We have also developed our skills since starting this course, moving into more complex areas of what we are interested in. We have also started analyzing what we do in a much more effective way, allowing us to get more from what we do.

Looking at music

2010-03-10T14:27:00.000-08:00

Well looking at the music for our moving image has led me to look at music from the 60's/70's for our voice over scenes. This music will only be played in clips, as the scenes aren't overly long, but will hopefully help set the idea of this girl living in the past as it were, her thoughts always going back to that time. A good source for this music, in my opinion anyhow, is the OST from "The Boat That Rocked" as it has a good variety of music from the era we are looking at. In particular I have been listening to the slower, more "sad" songs as it were, as they help to set the idea of this girl being upset or sad, and also being apart from the rest of the world.

These are just a few songs I have been looking at. Feel free to search them:

. The End of the World - Skeeter Davis
. You Don't have to say you love me - Dusty Springfield
. Knights in White Satin- The Moody Blues
. Father & Son - Cat Stevens
. A Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum
. Romeo & Juliet - Dire Straits

Another curious thing- lego moving into games?

2010-03-10T14:10:00.000-08:00

http://kotaku.com/5490093/lego-universe-beta-ready-to-brick-your-computer

http://kotaku.com/5489855/prince-of-persia-lego-playsets-chesty-jake-wears-a-shirt

These are a couple of links just showing what appears to be Lego trying to appeal to the youth of today as it were by cashing in on the popularity of the games industry. The first link shows a sort of World of Warcraft style free roaming universe, except in Lego form, and the second shows Lego "Prince of Persia" sets, again cashing in on the Game and recently turned Film. Mega Blocks did something similar to this with the "Halo" games series, bringing out complete sets, vehicles and character figures.

New obsession + curious thing

2010-03-10T14:04:00.000-08:00

Right I can now say I am getting obsessed with Gary's Mod, a sandbox tool that you can access through Steam. Quite simply you can use any object from Steam as a prop and create pretty much anything using them. This can range from a series of short films to just having a laugh by making a trebuchet out of a shipping container and some wooden posts and launching cars across the map. Whatever it is you like to do you can on this program. It even lets you get as detailed as changing facial expressions and fingers. I am currently playing about with it relating to the story board for our Moving Image project, just for a bit of fun, and will post screen shots when I can. Until then enjoy this little video from a master of the program.

Curious thing of the week- 3rd space vest

2010-03-03T13:46:00.000-08:00

I know this might look odd but bear with me on this. What we have here is known as the 3rd Space vest. Basically it is a gaming accessory that has been developed and released recently. What it does is quite revolutionary, it registers hits you take in game and then translates that to a force in the vest (ranging from a small force for light hits up to 10lbs for heavy hits). It uses pressure pads to create this feeling of force, 8 in total, and is meant to help the player feel more immersed in the game they are playing.

This vest, in my opinion, goes hand in hand with trying to make games more lifelike and more like you are actually there. This is already being achieved with high spec graphics, and the vibration through the controller in your hands whenever you fire a weapon or interact with something. This is the next stage, allowing you to "feel" the game through your entire body.

In some ways this looks like it could be a lot of fun, taking hits and feeling them. In other ways I feel this is a bit of a fad item. After a while you might well get annoyed with feeling every hit you take and then stop using it (at £150 this is a bad thing!) I personally though would buy one if I had the money because I like the concept of being more immersed in my games, as games and everything about them are a big part of my life.

Moving image, Inspiration

2010-03-03T12:16:00.000-08:00

We have taken inspiration from "Let The Right One In" in the form of the connection between two characters. Our script centres on this notion, the connection between a girl who is not used to people noticing or communicating with her, and a man who changes this.

We have also taken inspiration from the film "The Sixth Sense" Our film takes inspiration from this with our male characters ability to communicate with the girl (who is in fact dead and is now just a ghost) We are using the idea that our girl is a ghost as it helps to explain how she has become so good at reading people so quickly.

Curious thing of the week- Curious Displays

2010-02-23T05:35:00.000-08:00

http://kotaku.com/5477917/what-life-as-a-sim-might-look-like

Curious displays is a graduate thesis piece produced by Julia Yu Tsao. It takes the ideas of using half inch blocks that float around and act as a form of reminder about different things, sort of a free floating diary or calendar. The block diary it appears can receive updates about appointments or meetings that have been changed and update you about it. As an idea I think its pretty amazing, however we are nowhere near the technological ability yet to create it, unless done digitally or projected. As a concept though it really works and would ensure we no longer have that issue where we lose the remote down the side of the sofa!

Visual Essay- 2K games first look

2010-02-17T11:29:00.000-08:00

Interactive media- Quiz menu idea

2010-02-17T11:15:00.000-08:00

Menu Idea 1- Interactive media by ~XxXRawrberryXxX on deviant ART

This is a menu idea I have been playing around with on Flash. It makes extensive use of motion tweening to give it a bit more variety then just a bunch of still slides. For the final piece I will change the colours about (I used black and white for the test based on their contrast) The final one will also have questions after the menu (obviously!) so that it actually resembles something along the lines of a quiz! Overall I'am pretty happy with how this has turned out, and with a few tweaks it could look really good. Guess this just goes to show that anyone can learn Flash, as long as they can make it past the initial WTF is going on moments!

Context 1 practitioners- 2K games

2010-02-10T17:54:00.000-08:00

2K games has to be my favourite games developer currently. With games such as Borderlands and Bioshock 2 under their belt they are at the forefront of games design. Borderlands takes the basis of an RPG (role playing game) and speeds it up by mixing it with an FPS (First person shooter). The biggest hook on this games is the way the creators have animated the environments, characters and weapons. They have used cell shading to really give the game a different feel, and in my opinion it really works! The RPG element and sandbox nature of the environments really help to keep gamers interested, with randomly spawned enemies and the ability to level up and customize your characters skills being another hook. Bioshock 2 is the latest title to be released by this legend of a company, and as I said in my previous post about it, this game resonates with me on a massive scale. Again a lot of thought and time has been put into the character and environments, really playing on the run down nature of post first game rapture. I'am using 2K games as one of my practitioners in my context 1 visual essay as they are by fa my favourite games developer and influence a lot of my designs, ideas and thoughts.

Looking at flash quizzes...Inspiration!

2010-02-10T11:07:00.000-08:00

http://www.notdoppler.com/theimpossiblequiz.php

This link leads to the infamous Impossible Quiz, a flash game that probably every procrastinating student throughout school and university has played or at least heard of. This, in my opinion is simply down to its addicting play style. You have just over a 100 questions thrown at you one after the other, until you either run out of lives or complete it. Most of the questions are clever plays on words or use pictures as the questions. The reason its addictive is because it so fast paced, you always want to get to the next question, but often die before you get there. It plays heavily on the learn from your mistakes way of completing a quiz, meaning you will always go back because you learn the answer for a question and thus can get through it quickly to questions you haven't done before. It also uses bright colours and simple music to tie in with the theme of the game, a simple quick way to waste a bit of time when you should really be concentrating on something more important.

Design practice 2- Interactive media issues

2010-02-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

Well once again Flash is causing me problems. In the seminar I was able to create two buttons that upon being clicked glowed wither red or green. I was going to use this to indicate a wrong or right answer in my quiz. However once I got back home I have found that it doesn't work for some reason on my laptop or any of my friends. I have used the same code and everything but obviously something is different, and Flash being Flash could mean it cud be any tiny ting hidden amongst the lines of code. Once I have figured it out I will put it on here to allow you to have a go.

2K games and Bioshock 2- a game for those liberal people out there

2010-02-03T16:04:00.000-08:00

Ok so as a few of you may know I am a bit of a games nut, and accordingly I follow loads of games companies on facebook and the like. Anyhow the big story in the line at the moment is the imminent release of Bioshock 2. For those of you who don't know it is the sequel to the first game (obviously) and takes place in the city of Rapture. Rapture is the brainchild of Andrew Ryan, a liberal man who builds a city on the bottom of the ocean. The reason for this? By building his city at the bottom of the ocean he has created a haven for all the liberal people who are tired of their governments oppression. In his own words "A place where the artists will not fear the censor". This is an idea that has meaning to me, not the whole building a city underwater part, but the idea of having a place where the artist has no need to fear censorship, where freedom of speech and the freedom to view what you want is available, not just talked about. People may claim to be liberal with their thoughts and ideas and governments may say they are more understanding but there is still so much that we are never told and are not allowed to see. In the city of Rapture there is no censorship, there is no god, there is only freedom. The second game has you returning to this utopia of free speech and expression, this time as a Big daddy, Raptures diving suit clad protectors and hunters. This is a step away from the original game that had you playing a brainwashed man sent to kill Raptures creator. The visuals are still incredible, with Rapture being bought to life with next generation graphics. The platforms such as the PS3 really help to bring this fictional city to life, allowing you to get a feel for it. Granted the city is very run down ever since everything went wrong, with plasmids (gene replacements that give the users powers such as fire or lightning) the populace went mad and started to regress, becoming horrible, twisted parodies of their former selves. Now these splicers as they are called have regressed to new lows and stalk around Rapture in a perpetual hunt. As the protector it is your job to rid the place of them. In doing this you get to explore what remains of a true liberal paradise, and thus see the aftermath of what happened to Rapture and its citizens. I'm massively excited about this game and cant wait to play it. Release date is the 9th of February and I will certainly be at the front of the queue to get it. I will also write another post about Bioshock 2 once I play it, looking more into the character models and environments.

Context 1 Assignment

2010-01-24T11:07:00.000-08:00

Part A

My creativity, over the past few years, has been a combination of a way of getting into university, and thus improving myself, but also about being an outlet, for my thoughts and emotions. It has, for the most part, been a solitary experience for me, with limited group work. I do enjoy group work, but also find that I work better when I can act and work on my own idea in the way I like. Primarily this has always been about me, it has helped me through life at times, allowing me to release and show how I feel, but in the future it will be about other people, getting a message or a meaning across through my work. My way of working was my own decision, as I found that it is what has worked best for me. In the future I want my creativity to be able to allow me to get a point across, or a message. My main aim is to create something that others will be able to relate to, that will entertain or appease them.

Part B

Through research I hope to learn new abilities, new ways to communicate my feelings, my ideas, to other people. Research is a way to help me do this.
In terms of research I find that the descriptive path is one that I follow a lot, investigating a new program, concept or individual, to learn things about them that I didn't previously know. For me the explanatory research path is one that I feel is not relevant to my way of working. I do not often research to find out why something is, but how it is what it is. I'm more interested in the path taken to achieve the final product, as you learn more form the process then you do from the finished product, and learning more is what research is all about for me.

Orange rock corps

2010-01-20T09:01:00.000-08:00

This is the orange rock corps advert that was played in cinemas a while back and still is in some. It features a group of people who have been rewarded with tickets to gigs for volunteering to help refurbish a comunity space. What caught my eye with this advert was the use of short stills of each person being put together to form a stop motion animation of sorts. The full advert is just over a minute long an features well over 100 people, either standing or performing a small part of an action (aka drinking water, or brushing their hair back). I particularly like this ad as its playing to what I'am interested in most, animation. I am currently creating my own version of this advert using Lego figures that I have managed to gather, and hopefully I will be able to post the video, or at least a video in progress, of the work.

Avatar- Stunning!!!

2010-01-09T06:27:00.000-08:00

I will just start by saying that I loved this file. Visually it was stunning, story wise it was moving, and it was certainly long enough. What would you expect from the most expensive film ever made. The animation is flawless, throughout the entire affair. Normally the CGI sequences seem tacked on in films, or don't blend very well. However not in this one. Seeing as the CGI is the main part it has worked very well. Story wise I gain the impression that it is based on the plight of the Native Americans. There is a very wild west, tribal feel to the entire film, which I personally liked. All in all I believe it to be a great film, and certainly a must see.

Overall what I think caught my eye the most was certainly the CGI elements. The movie and characters, as concepts, were thought us over 10 years ago by James Cameron, however the technology at the time was not able to recreate the characters to his liking. Originally the characters fell into a problem known as the uncanny valley hypothesis. This is the term used to describe a persons reaction to the life like looks of something. It is known as the uncanny valley as the shape of the graph looks like a valley in shape form. The more lifelike the CGI models in Avatar, the more engaged the audience would be, thus Cameron waited until the technology caught up. This film is a clear indication as to how far the animation world had come in the past decade. The characters are so detailed that you almost feel they are alive, the scenery so vivid that you feel like you are actually on Pandora.

Pixilation project- Completed version

2009-12-13T15:10:00.000-08:00

Stop motion- Warriors dance Prodigy

2009-12-09T13:26:00.000-08:00

I really like how this video is done, using torn up cigarette packets to create the party goers. I especially like how they tear up and then form the figures.

Finished interactive narrative

2009-12-08T13:56:00.000-08:00

Interactive narative project F by ~XxXRawrberryXxX on deviant ART

This is my finished interactive narrative project. To be honest im not overly pleased with how it turned out. Sure, the mechanics of it all work, the slides connect properly, and it has a simple enough story to follow, but therin lies the problem. I feel that the story is just too basic, with not enough different choices for the user. Also the photos are not of the best quality, and although I intended to take new photos, I never got the chance due to the time taken by the pixilation project. However despite all this I did enjoy this project a lot, even though Flash was a tough program to get to know. I think given time and enough practice a lot could be achived when using it.

Lego camelot

2009-12-03T08:23:00.000-08:00

This is a video response to Monty pythons Camelot song from Monty Pythons Holy Grail. I like how true to the movie this animation is, it folows the real time acting to the letter, with clever lego substitutions throughout. I also like how smoothly the whole animation runs.

This a stop motion lego production of a scene from The Matrix. Again i like how true to the story this animation is. I also like how the creator has managed to recreate the bullet time moments with clear lego discs, giving the effect of the air rippling as the bullet cuts through it.

Influences...and a bit of fun

2009-12-02T13:38:00.001-08:00

This is by far the most influential thing for me when it comes to pixilation and stop motion. Robot Chicken is a TV show created by Seth Green. It uses toys of all types to create simple, short sketches. Some of the skecthes are obscure references to old TV shows or childhood stories, and others are based on more famous (or infamous) things. This skecth for example is based on both the X men and the Police Academy movies. I like the fact that the show uses a combination of toys we have probably all played with at some stage, and custom toys pieced together from parts of other toys. For the most part the characters are instantly recognisable, helping to draw the viewer in, and the comedy is random, bordering obsurd. All in all i love it and as far as influences go I think this is definetly a big one. I like is so much I have all 3 series out on DVD so far!

Pixilation seminar 1

2009-12-02T13:32:00.000-08:00

Well what can I say. I enjoyed doing pixilation so much and its only the first seminar. Going out and doing our own stop motion was great, if a little chilly. As a group we managed to get about 370 individual shots in about 40 minutes and suprisingly, seeing as this was our first go, it runs relativily smoothly. After coming back from the seminar I decided to do my own. I bought a cheap lego kit and created a story based around that. I managed to get about 330 shots before the camera died so now im just waiting for it to charge then i will get on with doing ore of it.

Interactive narrative......so far

2009-11-25T15:54:00.000-08:00

One typical morning by ~XxXRawrberryXxX on deviant ART

This is my interactive Narrative as it stands so far. I originally had trouble getting flash to work how i wanted it woo. It took a while to comfigure it to show the photos i was using, which didn't help when i was trying to sort out which slide should navigate where. However once i had got past this roadblock it started to make sense. i have the basic workings sorted now, and just need to finish one branch of the story and neaten the whole thing up. That said however, now that i look at it, I have to admit im not overly happy with the photos. To me they look rushed and would benefit from being redone before the final deadline. However it works and that is always a step in the right direction.

Interactive narrative 2nd seminar

2009-11-14T05:06:00.000-08:00

Well im sure everyone who hasnt used flash before came to the same conclusion during that last seminar, that flash is a tough program to use. It dosnt always do what you want it to do, and the inability to see the images whilst working on it dosnt help. Despite this i believe i have made a good start on my project. i have managed to create six frames with working buttons and the buttons are coded to navigate to the appropriate frame. Since doing this I have realised that I need more photos to add to my narrative, as there are holes in the story that need filling. I also need to provide more choices for the user, as currently its more of a story then an interactive.

Knife crime interactive narrative

2009-11-06T07:08:00.000-08:00

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

This is an example of interactive narrative bieng used to get a point across. It was an attempt at making people more aware of knife crime, and the consequences of knife crime. Your given a number of choice at the end of each scene, each leading to a different set of choices or an outcome. The point of view style camera work allows you to feel like you are the individual in the narrative, and that the choices you make are affecting you, rather than a faceless camera holder, and this i feel helps to drive home the point about knife crime. There is certainly somthing nasty about being stabbed in the chest whilst watching it through P.O.V camera work.

One shot short

2009-11-06T05:57:00.000-08:00

To be perfectly honest I did not enjoy this project as much as I thought i would. It seems to me that I just dont have the makings of a film maker in me. What really bought the whole experiance down for me was the fact that 1) The movie had to be done in one shot, so this left very little room for editing, especially seeing as our group did ours as a point of view shot movie, and 2) once we had placed the tripod and started shooting the movie, we wernt allowed to move the tripod. This seriously hindered our ability to get the right shots, hence our decision to shoot it as a P.O.V movie. As a group we were hindered as well. Getting us all together proved difficult due to work, and trips home, so we had to plan, hire the equipment and shoot the movie all within two days. This certainly didnt help with the quality of the movie itself. All in all I believe that this project could have been done better, but I know that I didnt enjoy it as much as the other two projects I did.

Fantastic Mr Fox

2009-10-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

Im not sure about this movie. I saw it at the beginning of the week with a few friends. From what i sae on the trailers it looked really good. I love stop motion animation, films like corpse bride and nightmare before christmas spring to mind, and series like robot chicken. I love all these things and admire the work that goes into them. Im not saying that i dont admire the work that went into the making of Fantastic Mr Fox, it has clearly had a lot of work put into it, i just didnt like the story that went with it. I know its a Roald Dahl classic, but the producers of this movie have made changes, probably to make it appeal more to the audience, or what they think will appeal to the audience. For me it didint work im afriad.

However there were certain parts I liked about it as a movie. For starters just the fact that it is stop motion animation saves it for me. Also the style of stop motion that was used appeald to me. It has an unfinished feel to it. The animation hasnt been smoothed out to look life like, it has a subtle jerky motion to it, almost like missing out every other frame, and i personally really like this method. It's the same with 'The Nightmare before Christmas' as apposed to 'Corpse Bride', both made by the same director, Tim Burton, but both with subtle differences that makes them a world apart from eachother.

On the whole i think it's a must see movie if you like animation movies, and it does have some funny moments. But if your a die hard Roald Dahl fan or just not that into animation then steer clear or it, wait till it comes out on DVD and then rent it for cheaper

Technically

2009-10-29T05:47:00.000-07:00

Ok. I know this dosn't technically tie in with what i have done so far on the course but i just wanted to share with you a game i tried recently. It called Machinarium, available from the steam network. Its a point and click puzzle game but with an arty twist. I just love it as a game. Each and every character, back ground, speech bubble, all of it was hand drawn onto a PC tablet. I like the unrefined look of the game, the fact that you can tell it's been hand drawn and not had millions of pounds spent on making it look ultra realistic. Its a simple game that works well and is a treat to watch.

Whiteboard animation

2009-10-29T05:41:00.000-07:00

Finally found the video! Not quite sure why i was having such a hard time finding it.
This was so much fun to do!

Short movie/advert

2009-10-29T05:28:00.000-07:00

I like this video because it manages to introduce us to so many different stories in such a short space of time. This is how a short movie should be.

One shot short design process

2009-10-27T04:20:00.000-07:00

The Discovery Stage

As a group we met up at the pulse bar and had a brainstorming session. We bounced ideas of each other and wrote everything down in the hope of coming up with an idea.
We discussed ideas that would not break the rules of the project, i.e. the fact that we couldn't move the camera.

The Develpoment Stage

We decided to look more at an indoor shoot as that allowed us to make better use of the fact that we could move the camera. With an outdoor shoot there will always be too much to see for a stationary camera and this would deaden our film.
We looked at various potential locations for ou shoot, namely the university buildings and shopping areas, however these turned out to beto busy and not what we wanted for our film.
One of our group mentioned visiting the gallerys of justice and that a room there might provide what we wanted, so we went and had a look. As it turned out the location worked for us.
Now that we had a location in mind and a general idea based on that location we had to write and develop our story. As a group we decided on a court case based story and wrote out script accordingly. As it turned out the script developed with every take as we decided on more to add to it.

The Defining Stage

Once we had our story, script and location we felt confident about booking the location for our use. We were given an hour before opening time to do as many takes of our movie as we could.
We did an initial take straight away, so we could see what the film looked like and where lighting or props might be needed.
With each consecutive take our idea, and thus our film, developed and was refined until we had our final take.

The Delivery stage

This stage we havnt done yet but i will write a post about it once we have.

One shot short

2009-10-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

Well my group has filmed the one shot short. Im defiently pleased with it, great location, worth the eraly start this morning, should work out has having some interesting takes on our tape. just got to edit it now and make it better =p

Pin Hole Cameras

2009-10-07T05:09:00.001-07:00

Did anybody else find getting a picture on the pinhole cameras hard? All i kept getting was a picture of the pin hole iteself, just a black dot at either end of the page. Not the greatest picture in the world by far. My best effort resulted in a shadowy picture in the corner of the paper of a tree. It looked so easy when we were showed how, but lining up that paper was oddly difficult. Anybody else have the same issue???

First post

2009-10-07T05:06:00.000-07:00

Well hello

This is my first post, sat here with the rest of you writing your first posts too.
If we havnt met yet, my names Antony or Ant if you prefer.
Emails toni99@hotmail.co.uk if you wanna drop me a line about anything.

Cya