Week 8 - Progress
- Leighanne Fernandes
- Nov 20, 2020
- 6 min read
Updated: Nov 22, 2020
I believe I have been equally as productive this week and that's a major relief. I have been receiving good feedback from my advisors as well. It is extremely reassuring to know that I can get out of this endless loop of self-doubt while going solo.
In this journal, I will document my progress as well as a lot of project management duties I've carried out to ensure a smooth workflow efficiency. I will also mention a few changes I needed to work on the Quality Assurance Checklist and the reasons for this.
Progress Updates
My shot 3 Animations are 90 percent approved. Knowing the perfectionist I am, I will try to aim to get that 10 percent approved as well and put it to render on my computer overnight rather than on the farm.
I made a few changes to this shot by replacing the ground and pavement with just a VRAY plane that will stretch to infinity. Because of the spotlight lighting on this shot, I think it will give a very impactful tone to this shot while setting an isolating mood. This is something I want to achieve in the initial stages of the animation. Thus, this goes back to the Quality Assurance Checklist where I will ensure each shot expresses the right tone and mood as intended.
SHOT 4
Scene set-up:
I was finally able to get some progress on this shot. The walk cycle was holding me back so I tried working on the walk cycle earlier this week, sent that for approvals and worked on the scene build up in the mean-time until my next meeting with Rashed. Below are some screenshots of the lighting changes, and scene build up elements that I showed Bing during my advisory meeting this week. I worked on the past feedback to add shadows and dim the spotlight.
I also realized as I was working on this shot that Amos hadn't textured all the houses as he mentioned before he left. So I had to texture everything from scratch. Yes, I had to do the thing I dreaded for weeks and that contributed to my anxiety symptoms. However, when I got into the mood of doing it, things just flowed along.
I also asked Naya for a few Decals and stickers that could be customized and added as easter eggs. I needed a Post box logo for the mail boxes and couldn't use the actual United States Postal Service Logo. So using inspiration from it, we made our own.
If you notice closely on the blue mail boxes, you'll see that its subtly there.
The feedback received on this was very good. Bing liked the direction in which this was going and the only thing pending for this shot to be approved is the actual Walk Cycle animations. He also mentioned that he didn't like how the houses slow down as they fall, which I agree as well. I have to play with the curve editor and make the fall either linear or slow in and linear the last frame. That way it will look like its falling with an impact.
However, I also took the time to enhance the shots further with lighting and texturing. I will be adding a few more elements to make the place look like its been lived there through his feedback such as adding some bushes, clutter, trash etc. Below are some more rendered shots.
As you can see, the smooth transition of lighting and build up really makes you feel like you are witnessing it with the character. I'm happy with how these shots are going and I'm nearly done with this shot to put to render.
One of the biggest things I realized is that I forgot to test these shots with the toon filter. So here are my test shots with the toon shader and without.
The first image is with the toon shader applied to the whole scene while the second only applies it on the character. Personally, I like the one with the full toon effect but I wish there was a way to reduce the line depth in the BG. I'll send these to Bing for his feedback and try figuring a way to achieve this.
Animations:
As for the animations for this scene, it needed a lot of rework. The walk cycle wasn't looking too good. The jacket's puffiness was obstructing the motion of the walk cycle as well. Rashed suggested I look into cloth simulation, which I tried and didn't work too well. The best solution I got from experimenting with the jacket was skinning. He then recommended I use morphers, but that would take me extra time. Hence, I tried modifying the shape of the jacket so that it looks less puffy.
In my meeting with Rashed on Thursday, I made him watch the animatic. From watching it, he said that the current walk cycle wont work for the character's personality because of the shot and its dynamism. He showed me a different pose where Miles tucks his hands into his jacket. This was my initial idea for the walk as well but I don't know why I didn't go ahead with that thought. He then guided me with a very cool workflow using an Adjustment layer in the CAT motion tab to split my animation into layers. He said that I could work with just the legs first by manually blocking it out, then adding an adjustment layer and working on the arm movements for just one cycle. I can then loop the arm movements, which would save a lot of my time.
Hence, I will rework my animations and get this shot done with ASAP.
In other news, a collaborator Dalia from the other team showed me updates with the OMELAS shot in the third ACT. I showed this shot for feedback to Bing and he gave these pointers as feedback:
1) Add bigger lumps with less frequency of snow at the corners
2) Add girders behind the sign
3) Add some dirt texture around the edges to look worn out
4) Add water dripping effect or rust or anything dripping effect under the sewers
I'm liking the shot so far and Dalia said she can work on these changes over the weekend. We also discussed whether I should render snow simulation or just use an overlay. Our best decision was to use an overlay because of workflow efficiency. Hence, I will not be needing weather simulation for this shot anymore.
This brings me to the changes I need to make to the Quality Assurance Checklist.
I wanted to add the new workflow method Amit showed me. However, as I was experimenting with it this week, it wasn't really working out and it got me stressed even more. This means that I have to carry out in the normal way for working and go back to rendering. The render farm would be a hassle, honestly. I left my folder to upload on google drive overnight. It took around 17 hours to upload the assets. This means that if I do end up rendering on the farm, it will take twice the time to transfer onto my computer.
Hence, I decided to just do the renders on my laptop. I will have to over-optimize the scenes so that my laptop can handle it. God bless me!
Anyways, the below pointer on Simulation might need to be taken out from the Checklist because I will no longer be needing it. I am not using the jacket simulation because I resorted to Skinning. I am not using the weather simulation too and will be adding an overlay in post (if needed). Hence, the only simulation I will need is the Kite simulation. It isn't worth a checklist for that.
Simulation:
Simulation in animation is the manner in which an object reacts to physics in a scene (Brian, 2009, p.1). Techniques which deal with rigid body simulation in relation to the software’s algorithm to produce more realistic output is something I want to focus on (Milenkovic & Schmidl, n.d., p.1). In my case, I will be looking into the simulation aspect for the kite flying in the wind and basic weather simulation for a particular shot in ACT 3.
Project Management
Honestly, I don't have the mental energy to keep track of my progress through gantt charts because I know I am weeks out of schedule. It will stress me out more. Hence, I have been writing down daily schedules and planning ahead only week-by-week. I try to keep realistic schedules but sometimes I can't complete everything on my checklist.
I'm really pinning all my hopes on Week 10 where we will be having a five-day holiday so that I could be the most productive during that time! I really need to get things done and dusted!!!!
Until then, this has been my progress for the week. Not too happy, yet not too disappointed with it. But I really need to get things approved and rendered soon!
References:
Brian (2009, Dec 29). What is the Difference Between Animation and Simulation? Retrieved
Milenkovic, V. J. & Schmidl, H. (n.d.). Optimization-Based Animation. Retrieved from
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