render farm? more like bender farm

we hit a bit of a wall. to cut a long story short, we tried to render using render farm, some worked, some didnt. everything just took to long. we ran out of time to do it in 3d just because of the 2 images rendered to make a 3d image would take twice aslong to do.
we have no decided to go back to the 2d option, which means i had to go back into the scene and replace the stereo cameras with normal ones.
we have also come to conclusion that we should render on our macs, just so we know its not going to go wrong like the some of the render farm projects.

so ive been pretty busy with these problems and working around them as well as industry exercises 2 project that i havent been able to post on here for a couple of days. but i am happy to say that it is finished...i cant believe we managed to get it done on time. obviously its not 100% what we wanted. we have all decided to carry on polishing it and finally do a 3d version ready for Rave live in june.

heres a render of the scene




the things im not happy about - some of the texturing we did was not totally up to scratch - i think we should have given emma longer on the sound and even helped her out more even though i did help a little - also the final orb we were going to composit in the middle of the structure had to be scrapped due to the time frame. - and obviously the 3d aspect being scrapped really bummed me out - i think the narrative could have been made clearer also, maybe thats partly my fault with the cinematography...either way im determined to fix these problems.

things im happy with - the idea, i think its really interesting and it could be expanded on a lot if wanted to - some of the camera angles i achieved with the change in focal length etc - the animating on the character at the desk i thought was pretty cool - the general look and style of the piece.

unfortuantely the video size is too large to post so here are a few screenshots...









watch this space for the full finished version probably some time before Rave live

3D!

so it has come to my attention that we are now planning on doing this project in 3 dimensions, we have tested it with the scene so far and it works...takes a little longer to render a shot but it works!

i have now set up all the cameras, these arent any normal cameras, they are stereo cameras...i think they are new to maya 2010. This allows you to do 3d...the old 3d with the red and blue glasses. still the same principle.

heres a couple of images

showing the wireframe scene inc lights and cameras




get your 3D glasses ready here's a test of the stereo cameras



next step!...now weve put the scene together i need to start choosing which cameras need to render what frames then put it all together for post.

moddeling...again

so the modelling is finished, i dont have the full scene due to carlos having his files
but i have also finished the texturing now. i textured the models in my scene by using a combination of both maya and photoshop. creating UVs and exporting a uv snapshot to photoshop, creating the textures, fitting them together....its a very tedious job but when it goes well its quite rewarding. here are some screen shots of quick renders.

please note not everything smoothed etc.










so next on the list is to import the animation that the girls have been doing and match it up to the world so it all fits in, then comes the final lighting set up, cameras then finally render!

modelling continued...

while mel and emma animate, and joe discovers some new crazy techniques and effects. Me and Carlos have been plugging away at this modelling.

beginning of wierd strange, membrane flooring




carlos' first draft of the control desk with developed bowl and one of the pillars (size test etc.




quick render to see whether the scene looks equal and to also help with looking at the sizing of everything.




here's an image of all 5 pillars, with bowl, partial flooring and newly modelled pipes including rough orb for sizing etc



quick render of the scene without texture, surrounding walls and finished control panel.




next step is to get the final control desk and texturing...

I've strated modelling and stuff

here's an idea of the floor plan of the head environment.



my first part of modelling was to do the metal conductors



then added a tap for the 'thought juice' to flow out of.



to create the bowl and for it to be even i made a cylinder then selected the middle vertex and fiddled with the soft select drop off options

concepts

here are some of he concepts and ideas we have drawn up.

the idea is that inside the head is this round orb like thing which gives off ideas in the form of electricity. these ideas and thoughts are harnessed by these claw like metal structures which convert the thoughts into a strange liquid which is dispensed through taps at the bottom of the claw like structures. the liquid is collected in buckets by little versions of the original big character we are shown at the start. then these little people pour the thoughts into funnels which is then distributed around the body which in turn makes the body do things. there is a little man at a control desk who decides what to make the body do as if he is the driver or pilot of the body.

here are some drawings.








the group slaving away...minus carlos



now need finalised concepts and start modelling. wayhey

our idea

so after a lot of deliberating in the group we have settled on not a very predictable path.
we have decided to use the human body as our environment and are going to show a representation of how the body works. drawing inspiration from scifi films like 'innerspace' and 'the fantastic voyage', also drew inspiration from things like 'the magic school bus' and 'osmosis jones'

here's some images












when developing this idea we decided a good place to start would be the brain. so we started thinking of idea of how we could represent the brain and how it could work.










now we are gonna start doing some rough concepts and ideas of how we could make this a living breathing changing developing environment.

groups and job rolls

So we've decided on groups and job rolls.
my group is made up of Mariluz, Joe S, Carlos, Emma and myself.
Animating - Mariluz
Compositing and sound - Joe
Modelling - Rory and Carlos
2D art - Emma

we are currently brainstorming ideas and researching into interesting architecture
here are some initial photos that i found really inspiring.


sort of medievil theme





then more of a ghetto, shanty town environment

first blog!!

ok so first week back after Christmas and the start of 2 new units. This blog will be showing the progress and development of the Digital Environments unit.

here is the brief for the unit

For this project you will be working in teams of four or five students. You will all be working towards a final collaborative short film but will have the opportunity to fulfil clear and separate roles within the team.

You will be working to create an animated environment.
You will be collaborating not only with the other animators in your team, but also with designers from the environment design course.
Their designs will form the starting point for your work.

This environment will be modelled in 3D, UV mapped, textured and lit based upon the research of materials and environments as initially designed or propsed by IDEAS students. This research will consist of practical site visits (such as the trip to Barcelona and alternative London based venues) and associated drawing and photography, as well as academic research via the web and the LRC.

This environment must demonstrate integral animation, it could be mechanical such as machinery, doors, windows, windmills etc, or it could be more organic, and atmospheric, such as the effects of wind on plants, weather conditions etc. It could be a much more long term animation to show the effect of years passing, rather than minutes. For those of you who feel that you are more character animators than computer visualisers you can focus upon contextualising the designed environment by populating it with characters using that environment, it may be that the environment is being used in an unintended or unexpected way that has evolved through public interaction with the space. (Was the South Bank designed for skateboarding or parkour?).

It may be easier for you to think about defining the way in which you will approach this project by choosing one of the themes listed below.

Changes over time (historic).
Changes in weather or lighting (climatic).
Changes in use of the environment (contextual).

Although you will be working as part of a team towards your final animation, you will also be required to provide evidence of your individual contribution to the project via a blogged design journal where you will document your personal research, experimentation, and acquiring of new skills.



So from now untill next post i will be deciding and joining up with a group of people that i think will compliment each other and work well as a team.