Week 12 - The End is here...
- Leighanne Fernandes
- Dec 17, 2020
- 6 min read
Well, its been a long journey and even though this is technically the end, I still have a long way to go to complete the project. However, as I am wrapping up the trimester and my entire education here at SAE, this journal will contain a final reflection as well as project progress and my schedule for the next weeks in order to get this done soon.
Final Reflection
Being a Final Major Project, I always wanted to work solo. I was tired of being brought down by teammates although working in a team was something I was pretty good at. I always wanted to experience what it is like to lead myself for once. I wanted to stop leading others while keeping my work on hold in the process. It wasn't easy.
Nonetheless, what I didn’t expect was to be left to go solo midway. With a scope that was approved for two and a half people (with the help of collaborators), being thrown to sort it out on my own was my biggest fear. I believe despite the circumstances and my health deteriorating, I was able to pull myself back up at a good pace and get things done. I was able to seek the right kind of help at the time I really needed it which allowed me to do the million tasks I never thought I would be able to do alone.
One of the biggest take aways from this experience was the ability to actually spend time on myself and my craft simultaneously. I always wanted to strive to do better but due to limitations could never find the right space to do so. This time, when i had the mental space to work without distractions or team members bringing me down, it really made me understand the value and quality to which I could push myself to achieve. I was really happy with this. I got the time to refine my art and actually take some pride in it. It made me gain some confidence in myself and my work.
Learning Curve
My learning curve has massively improved, I feel. Not only was I able to spend time developing my modeling and texturing skills in my field of specialization but also develop new skillsets in fields I don't specialize in such as animation. More importantly, I was able to experience something I always looked forward to which was directing and art directing my own work.
Modeling/texturing learning curve
Although my area of specialization is modeling and texturing, I didn't model as many assets but focused on the main character which was reasonably challenging. In the process, I explored ways to make the clothing through a new software called Marvelous Designer. I took this up as my self-directed practice last term and definitely enjoyed learning it on my own. I also dealt with a tedious task of retopologizing on a new software called 3D coat, once again as my self-directed learning for last term. Below are some links to my respective learning journal that discusses this.
Character with Jacket simulation in Marvelous Designer
Final Character with textures
Texturing (new and done this week - some of this week's progress)
I'm really happy with how the above shot is turning out. I spent almost 9 hours on this shot to make it look the way I envisioned it. This was was originally worked on by a collaborator but I wasn't too happy with the results so I redid quite a bit. I received some feedback on changing the sky colors and a bit more on the lighting too, which I will work on ASAP.
This is another shot I am happy with. I have a lot to work on during post production for this but I know what I want to achieve so it'll be faster.
Animation learning curve
Even though Animation isn't my area of specializing, I took the time and effort it perfect the animations based on Rashed's feedback. Implementing the 12 principles of Animation are actually pretty hard and time consuming but I still want to ensure good quality is produced at the end of it all. This has been documented through all my learning journals for the trimester. However, below are the shots I worked on this week. I got some good feedback on them and very small changes to make, which i will get to ASAP.
Through this practice of constant feedback from Rashed, I must say that I developed a lot of understanding in the field of animating. Subtlety is key. Through the concepts of ease in and out, arching, weight shifting and more, I was able to deliver some good animations on the shots. I never expected this to take me so much time to refine but the process taught me patience. In fact, it surprised me that i was getting the hang of it in the last few weeks. I cannot deny that it did take a big toll on me as i dreaded the animating bits of the project.
New Skills I acquired this term:
Directing/Art Directing
This was a fun experience. I made props for the Just a Dream music video and directed the beginning part of my own MV.
This is a snippet from the Just a Dream music video where the posters I made were used. I was also featured holding the poster I painted of Martin Luther King Jr.
This being a tentative edit of how the VFX eye transition will look like. I received feedback on this and will be implementing it during the post production stage. I didn't get the time to work on the feedback because I was clearly swamped with way too much!
Project Progress
As for my progress this week, it's been very good. I was able to get a lot of work done with good quality. Bing also liked most of it and provided some feedback to make some of the elements stand out better. Below are some renders of each of the shots I worked on. The animations are currently being refined.
Shot 24 - Caving In
Shot 25 - "375" shot
I named this the 375 shot because its the longest and most complex shot in the whole film. It also has 375 frames which are perfectly timed with the music. Hence, it is one of my favorites and I was really excited to work on this shot. It took me 7 hours to work on this shot and I am pretty happy with the results so far. I received feedback to make small changes top the lighting in certain areas but here is the process from lighting the scene to adding texturings to testing out the TV overlays and more. I had to edit some of the video footages seen on the TVs. I took the videos and added glitch overlays to convey the feel I was going for. The animation is above.
Renders
I will be adding a galaxy star sky effect in the BG to make the scene pop out better. A glow effect will also be added on the neon signs to make them stand out more. Overall, I am the most excited to work on this shot in post!
Shot 26 - Twirl renders
I have very few changes to make to the animations on these and it should be ready for render.
I also worked on shots 28 and 29 after feedback and still have some new feedback to work on, Below are the notes I made for these.
And with that, I am done for the week. I don't think i will be able to document my progress after this week because its no longer a requirement and I will use all the time I have to finish up my tasks. In the upcoming week, my aim is to put all the remaining shots to render on the farm while I work on the post production of the other shots in ACT 1.
As for the shots that are left, I only have two more shots that are in progress and should be completed soon. I am aiming to get all approvals by Tuesday of the upcoming week. Crossing fingers that everything goes according to plan.
All I ever hope for right now is that the project looks good and serves the quality I can confidently take pride in as a graduation project. And with that, it all ends here...
Thank you, SAE
Comments