tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63019862635772478072024-03-05T10:48:17.159+00:00Polygon SoupUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-53005914848003894452020-02-21T10:17:00.000+00:002020-02-21T10:17:10.658+00:00Blendy Curve Fun!Wow, it really has been an age since I last posted anything here but I think it is time to breathe life back into the old blog!<br />
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It;s been a busy.... erm... half decade since I last wrote anything here, I'm still plugging away with Maya though, making things move, look pretty and scripting little tools to help me with my work which is why I'm making this post.<br />
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<iframe height="360" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9jL37wY1CwEc05EenJqOG5jelE/preview" width="640"></iframe>
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A while back I made a tool (see video above) to assist with a workflow that I wanted to employ in a short film but life and things got in the way of production and the tool got forgotten and sat gathering dust in the bowels of my google drive until recently when I had another idea of how I might be able to use it, below is a proof of concept for that idea....<br />
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<iframe height="360" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k5-lZ9J7YzpRNGJMwQinDa7sqBsndD8A/preview" width="640"></iframe>
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It seems that a lot of my ideas make it as far as proving a concept and then they grind to a halt..... it might be the academic in me only requiring the sweet fix of new knowledge or it might simply be that to progress beyond proving concept usually requires time and money - two resources that are in short supply in my world!<br />
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So, as I don't appear to be able to produce anything to completion I figured that I would release the script into the wild to see what super awesome stuffs you might be able to make with it. Here's a video to give anyone interested a very rough explanation of the tool and how to use it.<br />
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<iframe height="360" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9jL37wY1CwEMDRYUVpKOGVRTVU/preview" width="640"></iframe>
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And here's a linkety-link to download zip file containing the script and bonus shelf icon....<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/17fhGy9FcYwQg-RS0zii1IOv5ubhwkw4c/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">CLICK TO DOWNLOAD CURVE BLEND TOOL</a><br />
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<b>Note:</b> PFX will only follow the animated curves when the animation mode is set to DG (Preferences > Animation > Evaluation > DG)<br />
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Feedback is always welcome and, if you do download the tool, I'd love to see how you have used it so please share :)<br />
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Cheers,<br />
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Mat :)<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-4044407638727197062015-05-20T10:27:00.000+01:002015-05-20T10:27:07.257+01:00Robots, Drawing, Pubs & Rigging........I'm embarrassed by how long it's been since I last updated my blog.... nearly 6 months... gulp!!<br />
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I've just been super busy with work and with my studies but now I have finished studies until September so I will hopefully have a bit of time to follow up on some ideas that I have had for small project over the summer.<br />
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So, because I've been bogged down by my studies and I've made no progress with any personal projects for some time I'm at a bit of a loss with what to write about..... I could talk about what I've been doing for my studies.... I reckon it'll be more interesting than reading about what's been going on at work for me for the past few months.<br />
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In between work and family stuff I've managed to complete a few modules towards my masters in animation and digital effects this year WOOHOO! It's been a really interesting and sometimes stressful time but I've made it through my first year with a few projects to show.<br />
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So here they are....<br />
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For the first module we were required to model a character (check the concept we were given below) using whatever 3D software we were happiest using..... I chose Maya. Although we were given reference for the character, see the image below, we were allowed to embellish the design if we wished.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf6Y5BpchAmUrSM3rAEJe5kvsJN3hN5422OIKBSfE3ly7VxgDh8CnXEfobcVGqzmXl9MfRhlhxqTiYr8uNyW2QMVfh9swoGv3DRwAw1gqTLd328ckkb9A4B0-mVuAKiCvmkVn7Xki_B4Y/s1600/Concept+Art.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf6Y5BpchAmUrSM3rAEJe5kvsJN3hN5422OIKBSfE3ly7VxgDh8CnXEfobcVGqzmXl9MfRhlhxqTiYr8uNyW2QMVfh9swoGv3DRwAw1gqTLd328ckkb9A4B0-mVuAKiCvmkVn7Xki_B4Y/s320/Concept+Art.bmp" width="254" /></a></div>
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I decided to make my character a robot roadie, he needed to be a bit heavier, more utilitarian and more beaten up... oh yeah, I figured he should have guitars strapped to his back and be striking a pose on top of a marshall amp.... ROCK'N'ROLL!!!!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9IC99euTyU_wUv7IkJSZ8IDrw-O05gWec6Dh9LfEMdGqP0A8vE2NTOg1RYyISo6a2XlnBaLszCBUhGWR_4jM82YdNJps1F7lSsBIZFPgMmV1S1bK48xwnb5U-ZT2DxCkoACqq7rAeHmo/s1600/finalRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9IC99euTyU_wUv7IkJSZ8IDrw-O05gWec6Dh9LfEMdGqP0A8vE2NTOg1RYyISo6a2XlnBaLszCBUhGWR_4jM82YdNJps1F7lSsBIZFPgMmV1S1bK48xwnb5U-ZT2DxCkoACqq7rAeHmo/s640/finalRender.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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While there are issues with the render I'm pretty happy with how R0-D turned out. I managed to find a few new tools to use in Maya and reacquainted myself with Mudbox while making him. I think that the biggest step I took in this project was to finally get around to using some of Mental Ray's shaders, yeah MR has been a part of Maya since version 5 (about 10 years) but it is only now that I have started to really use and appreciate it's shader nodes, yay for personal progression!!<br />
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The second module was about drawing, mainly life drawing... before this project it had been a long time since I had picked up a pencil and drawn anything through study so I was a bit apprehensive to begin with, I soon got into the swing of the module and really enjoyed the experience. We had to produce a life drawing portfolio and a humanoid character in a number of poses, the portfolio was really developed through the classes and the character was done in our own time. Below are a couple of images from my life drawing portfolio.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvpEpwDA_MF0bHvi1MxofPnwxrQby4tyf7xwz5dg9iW9MAVdqKmsjg8II7pZ4Df2LoUcEtIqNtClXOD1Ale3HDPegba-SLvV5D_175_r7nGrpPjli40bVMaGzCV2jvM4uO_brvVkpQAQI/s1600/11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvpEpwDA_MF0bHvi1MxofPnwxrQby4tyf7xwz5dg9iW9MAVdqKmsjg8II7pZ4Df2LoUcEtIqNtClXOD1Ale3HDPegba-SLvV5D_175_r7nGrpPjli40bVMaGzCV2jvM4uO_brvVkpQAQI/s640/11.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4EK01cjmm7cyp4YVTFiY6PqIZOOlTqWOqtYs0Jm9EHYYw7r7z5M-2rWljGtse-r93l2MR4QJcXNEDLMKio1DilDhTEDf2GZDvVfC5SVungEdxktLpEn9UY_pXamnFVPnz1HQyoXS7uYY/s1600/07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="572" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4EK01cjmm7cyp4YVTFiY6PqIZOOlTqWOqtYs0Jm9EHYYw7r7z5M-2rWljGtse-r93l2MR4QJcXNEDLMKio1DilDhTEDf2GZDvVfC5SVungEdxktLpEn9UY_pXamnFVPnz1HQyoXS7uYY/s640/07.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And here are my final character images, I was reading <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Incal-Alejandro-Jodorowsky/dp/1906838399" target="_blank">The Incal</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Jodorowsky" target="_blank">Alejandro Jodorowsky</a> at the time and so the character was rather inspired by the artwork of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Giraud" target="_blank">Jean Giraud aka Moebius</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWGpveFY4mvWQEFg3kXv6KyGxpJYTXGq0LdCfYHh2jCA5Nry28YOjDDuwU6azJcaGvCuddRC91Yd4lLjcsK39qdCSKNr31ASBbPpUdKEHdu-Xm0NekDUyMTBal-meviMeEU7u9Kvcma0/s1600/04_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWGpveFY4mvWQEFg3kXv6KyGxpJYTXGq0LdCfYHh2jCA5Nry28YOjDDuwU6azJcaGvCuddRC91Yd4lLjcsK39qdCSKNr31ASBbPpUdKEHdu-Xm0NekDUyMTBal-meviMeEU7u9Kvcma0/s640/04_comp.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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My next module was to develop a CG asset, this could be for games or visual effects, I chose the latter. The idea was to select a local landmark building and model, texture and present it, the building had to be at least 10 years old. I went for a small pub beside the university The Globe Inn.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtQmkeK9-o1V_d8s2hi_yAc5mxbUjn2uzGHiUnkNw7wh6P52RhwlpuyT9RZ8HEow8ELF_e_BOPPRBVyNO_RASZfMcVWnYRr_WQTyywxgcxAR_YFB-kzDY8eFHbBCBa2HT28EXTX6FRRP0/s1600/Globe_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtQmkeK9-o1V_d8s2hi_yAc5mxbUjn2uzGHiUnkNw7wh6P52RhwlpuyT9RZ8HEow8ELF_e_BOPPRBVyNO_RASZfMcVWnYRr_WQTyywxgcxAR_YFB-kzDY8eFHbBCBa2HT28EXTX6FRRP0/s640/Globe_2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I chose the pub because I pass it on a regular basis, ideal for collecting primary reference, it is a detached building, meaning it can be modelled in isolation and because it sells beer.... which is just a bonus really :)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz6nzU7JM5hDabLlT2y_6WorFA2NX3MIXa1ZEjUGEX3wEw_tSZFcrxS76HbODgKPWxU0HvfBJ8rnS9qZdsNJbxV4gPNKOvwS1AAKBVg8HUwraPNib_R_1cOoLxuwfkI1X5GQBdcBPvnDw/s1600/Globe_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz6nzU7JM5hDabLlT2y_6WorFA2NX3MIXa1ZEjUGEX3wEw_tSZFcrxS76HbODgKPWxU0HvfBJ8rnS9qZdsNJbxV4gPNKOvwS1AAKBVg8HUwraPNib_R_1cOoLxuwfkI1X5GQBdcBPvnDw/s640/Globe_1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I had a lot of fun making this, I developed my understanding of architectural and hard surface modelling, texturing and rendering, learnt a bunch more stuff about Mental Ray and had a few pints along the way.<br />
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For the last module I had to model, rig and demonstrate a character in whichever modelling and animation package I preferred... yep, I went for Maya again. I really went to town on the technical side of things with this module but unfortunately left very little time for myself to animate the model.... a couple of hours. So apologies for the standard of the animation in the following video but it represents a whole load more than that.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/127909884?byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe>
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My main learning achievement for this was to create the user interfaces. I really wanted to develop a character which was animator friendly so accessibility of controls was paramount. Making a separate user interface for the animator to be able to access functionality without having to deselect controls or open multiple windows was one way to do this. So I polished my MEL scripting skills, considered what functionality I would like from a character interface and built what I consider to be my most robust rig to date.</div>
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I developed quite an understanding of low-tech, home made, facial motion capture for this module, while it was fun and very educational but it was a lot of hard work so I think I wall be trying out more mainstream mocap solutions in future.</div>
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So, a busy year with plenty to show for it. I'm pretty proud of the projects and the skills which I have developed throughout this year considering I work and have a family... it's been tough but worth it, roll on next year!!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-88340691103692471012014-11-25T16:31:00.001+00:002014-11-25T16:31:32.302+00:00Lights, Camera, Scan......So, today I had a really interesting afternoon at <a href="http://www.ten24.info/" target="_blank">Ten24</a> in Sheffield where they make their bread and butter through 3D body scanning.<br />
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<a href="http://www.ten24.info/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbdMtJCoh8sh0hpECqSNkM65KsPZvGsZgQnKF-Sy4hrWqh-e2gnFbnwOynjqXENkEgcdDM-0MIkPhsIxXo-U3VDc6PmQVuKZuJmTXSGUgwFsM96N7GHx84KLh0P-GgrcEPFt-UGOhik1k/s1600/LogoBG.png" height="168" width="400" /></a></div>
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3d body scanning is the process by which a subject is photographed from many angles at once and then a 3D model, which can be used in video games or visual effects, is created from the images. The process is similar to that used by <a href="http://www.123dapp.com/catch" target="_blank">123D Catch</a> but Ten24, being a specialist company and not a free app, produce a much higher quality product.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjruUufP8t-ReXB5npngkn9YoPo6-tW0FfDHipdLYAVVh7MZ25jsmErjPE4Z-La3u6FGUkX_JM5mnoZjTAWIZWHQMfK_DazFW5CTKXiURkWpjKwHerMn1f8lEPZ0jCHe_l5gapjcFJSNWY/s1600/ten24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjruUufP8t-ReXB5npngkn9YoPo6-tW0FfDHipdLYAVVh7MZ25jsmErjPE4Z-La3u6FGUkX_JM5mnoZjTAWIZWHQMfK_DazFW5CTKXiURkWpjKwHerMn1f8lEPZ0jCHe_l5gapjcFJSNWY/s1600/ten24.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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Above is an image of their camera rig.... lots of cameras all of which are synced to fire at the same time to capture whatever happens to be in the middle them. As the studio was already set up, the shoot for each person only took a matter of seconds. It was a case of getting into the right position for the hand or head to be captured and take the photos.</div>
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With the information captured the next step will be to let the computer do it's job to create a mesh from the images. The raw mesh will be very noisy so then it is down to Ten24's skilled artists to clean it up and make it suitable for use in whatever capacity it has been commissioned for, or to be put on sale in their <a href="http://www.3dscanstore.com/" target="_blank">store</a>. This part of the process can take some time depending on the model and their workload and I am very much looking forward to receiving my head scan when it has been completed in a couple of weeks.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-36733284588620754502014-11-21T11:32:00.004+00:002014-11-21T12:14:18.962+00:00Bradford Bound.....<br />
The Bradford Animation Festival has been running this week and I've been lucky enough to be able to attend along with students from the <a href="http://www.leeds-art.ac.uk/study/undergraduate-programmes/ba-(hons)-animation/" target="_blank">course I teach on</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/bradfordanimationfestival" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXsT0WEBepDd80WAywUJ5WXtne19FTcI4ucQMw3YvI6tGLbQjmFRNCys7FnPfWR5MqFGVXa1kgDit48BJJrUevw2bgsxr2IE4TuaRQfgolAADPzkUt0h_FOV6PU_lxtg6qLXNjFr9E0IQ/s1600/20th-baf.png" height="280" width="640" /></a></div>
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BAF has been running for 21 years which makes it the UK's longest running animation festival and when you attend it is easy to understand why it has been so successful. the atmosphere is friendly, the events are excellent and the venue, the <a href="http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/" target="_blank">National Media Museum</a>, is wonderful. </div>
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The future of BAF appeared to be on the rocks for a while last year when budget cuts threatened to close the Media Museum. Fortunately though, for Bradford and the Festival, the Museum was saved and will hopefully remain open for a long time to come.</div>
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So, the festival, what did I see... I felt the majority of the animations that I was able to view this year have had a serious tone or have been rather abstract and, while I can appreciate a merit in the technical aspects of these pieces of work and the labour that has gone into their production, I found it rather difficult to engage with many of them. This hasn't diminished my enjoyment of the festival in any way though, I believe that it is important to personal and professional development to view art in any form as it can inform decision making and offer questions which, in response, may led to creative opportunities.<br />
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<a href="http://www.brothersmcleod.co.uk/365film.shtml" style="text-align: right;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulGJfwcduYScsSVV-ss6g1O5-CrYdmaRUPAkEHjqssMUgr3WM_2oswcGZ2oiVJRDfAtAzhTP44BEXieuiIR5mbW0GPgaKoPt3VudemLzeUjfJSSVbw_u6uC7KHgaVi1XMiAGxwwUlyeA/s1600/365-350.jpg" height="119" width="190" /></a><a href="http://vimeo.com/76137304" style="text-align: right;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiB-j1NH_3oYro6F24SuQPp59BsMhvp-c5Xnt1qUEioEoGXBSLD1C00KJk8Q17epOcS4NbzVNbOsK2vlU2kPakUl92cjFfGipCB7QLDb1vnaTnVCIuJSObGTOKdF3HTHffN8UZ1YFcw28/s1600/PommesFrites350.jpg" height="119" width="190" /></a><a href="http://vimeo.com/73650274" style="text-align: right;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcvPKxhuZcTa7nXKoB35CmEtf_VS35pxPCEGcHQfSoQihdEVVO5oX4xbfFtr7jIaMhfizGPK-EZ7PdvEohx08v0tk27MzjzcQPp2IwVc52iidNhrUUGwL1KwkkgyhLY-Yj-3kABRthqGI/s1600/Padre350.jpg" height="119" width="190" /></a><a href="http://www.traileraddict.com/8-bullets/trailer" style="text-align: right;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_ylG3nxPsNGUrbRu1GpZDxHChPdBfqnLvNF32NRFHvIxg2Zg8DYiNmlrrIajgQzbB9rVpe8uhO0VyofoG9WIU7N6amVTMnXyixM_rXQs1bMR1-iVHTD2t_26rSf3FI2PoY9v78b3aLA/s1600/8Bullets350.jpg" height="119" width="190" /></a><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3753556/" style="text-align: right;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEW6YNqdq5glVsKAc_eSZDeW59AxosS21Fxu4jYcqoAb7XI7hvLO79CtT7cKjVYSenDDzUZzFaUWjO9HJqNocnEPtTgS1Aq7gp25DVSSj4wH1vPuCrvVSwPd64xHCSVuCuRUZcPy-WoKI/s1600/Brutus350.jpg" height="119" width="190" /></a><a href="http://vimeo.com/76512663" style="text-align: right;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWhz_HUHwjmxBTXy40Q1g0uorsJUYrRgvb7tiLYkIIwJMV9BaVaGve52m9jfbNrJHsusDIze9jFt0ZN6hN-Nuuwr9UZxcKE24fLrUI5qx2YsT-nJ6cwXoug3Ll1Cy8S4fxTQyqNtlKS-U/s1600/Mute350.jpg" height="119" width="190" /></a></div>
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The festival speakers were, as always, excellent. In particular I enjoyed the presentation from Mark Shapiro of <a href="http://www.laika.com/" target="_blank">Laika</a>. He talked about their most recent film, <a href="http://vimeo.com/100580923" target="_blank">Boxtrolls</a>, and the work that went into it's creation...One thing that stands out for me from his presentation is the importance of team work and hopefully everyone who was there understands and can appreciate, if they didn't already, that creative practice need not be a solo effort and, that by working as a part of a team in which each member has their own specialist skills, it is possible to create something far beyond that which might be possible if you are working alone.</div>
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Take a look at the <a href="http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/bradfordanimationfestival" target="_blank">festival site</a> for a more in depth account of the goings on there this year and for an opportunity to <a href="http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/BradfordAnimationFestival/GalleryPages/Audio.aspx" target="_blank">listen</a> to some of last years guests in podcast form.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-56872332836792287492014-11-04T10:34:00.003+00:002014-11-21T12:09:57.140+00:00New Project Alert!....I'm really pleased that I've begun work on a new project, it's the one that I mentioned in the end of my post about the <a href="http://polygonsoup.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/childrens-media-conference-2014.html" target="_blank">CMC</a>.<br />
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This project is going to be big and so I felt that it deserved it's own blog, check it out <a href="http://virtualpuppeteer.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">HERE</a>... I've attached a link to the side of this blog which can also be used to navigate there if you like.<br />
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<a href="http://virtualpuppeteer.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1c14nygVoYpCTCTN7TxTTpZuafbPuMhjwKf_2b1Q1uctgVGLBFiGX0CD7p-iL1HaypSW0Vi8AR9jvI1wEqgVvOffWlwVtrVf4a074HrnttZL0ojvmFF5ExMBw9XDKO0fGYhKMxhe1o8w/s1600/VP_banner.jpg" height="260" width="640" /></a></div>
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Virtual Puppeteer will document my journey towards the development of a control system that I will be able to use to animate characters in my masters animation project. This project doesn't actually begin for a year or so but I feel that I will require this time to learn the skills that will enable me to develop a controller which I can use to emulate the movement of a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY" target="_blank">muppet</a> style puppet.<br />
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Don't despair though, I will continue to use Polygon Soup in the same way that I always have.... by posting whatever I've been doing at irregular intervals.... the new blog is exclusively for the research and development of my puppet project.<br />
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So, it's exciting times as I take my first steps on this journey of awesomeness. Feel free to drop by and check for updates or you can follow the blog by clicking it's subscribe link.<br />
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Mat.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-69384647730807901492014-07-08T13:20:00.000+01:002015-02-12T16:14:25.440+00:00Childrens Media Conference 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/events/cmc2014/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0u1RhBjZJPPIDNxwoc8ZH-YVb1K5JUogI8AF3Vi8wR_1G3SOQQr3osUBdlRd6a67ZEqmkFr5SQMTycSGMifjiw8f4WfJGZvYdDyHX_x-9IUa3pSKGDLMHR30CboakE8I-g2giqb8jPo/s1600/the-childrens-media-conference.png" height="102" width="640" /></a></div>
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July 2nd - July 4th this year saw the <a href="http://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/events/cmc2014/" target="_blank">Childrens Media Conference</a> being held in a number of venues across Sheffield city centre and I was able to attend as a part of my CPD through my work.<br />
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This was my first experience of the CMC and my initial impression was one of anxiety and of being overwhelmed by a large room full of strangers. Strangers to me at least, as it appeared that I was the single person to have arrived without a colleague, without an agenda and without an idea of what to expect.<br />
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Thankfully there was free wine and after becoming acquainted with the bar I felt confident enough to reconsider the environment that i found myself a part of.... the First Timers Reception.<br />
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<a href="http://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/blog/2014/07/03/first-timers-reception/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH8DapAvRDCKNmOQpOy9G_BGlI8zuQk27BNQxJ7QEUV5V4odSkLwntqT_CFniNZvcLX-S6_fYY_uMv6yy-pa8H7elyKzs4xvcrWXFNwkIEGh0FQBh0KldHbie-Eog-2RckBJ4YNxvdRjk/s1600/First-Timers.jpg" height="404" width="640" /></a></div>
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That's me coming down the stairs, wine in hand.....<br />
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Despite everyone being friendly I found it quite difficult to simply approach people and speak with them in this networking event. This was most likely because most people there had reasons to be there and speaking to a lecturer from an art college wasn't one of them.<br />
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The thing is, the CMC is a very industry oriented event in which people meet people they want to meet, pitch ideas to whoever they hope will think their idea is great and chat with old colleagues from various arms of the media industry.<br />
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My appraisal of the First Timers Reception may appear to be a little cynical but this is simply because I felt that there was no reason for me to be there.... I had nothing to pitch and I had nothing to offer those who were there to pitch. This doesn't mean that this event is a waste of time for anyone who works in the children's media industry though and it certainly didn't tarnish my opinion of the conference events which I found interesting, thought provoking, entertaining and inspiring.<br />
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Rather than write a long piece about each of the events that I attended I have simply listed them below with links attached to their official, and much more professionally written, CMC report.<br />
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/blog/2014/07/03/opening-keynote-report-2/" target="_blank">Opening Keynote</a> - Dylan Collins</li>
<li><a href="http://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/blog/2014/07/03/millenium-gallery-drinks-reception-report/" target="_blank">Millennium Gallery Drinks Reception.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/blog/2014/07/04/coming-together-falling-apart-report/" target="_blank">Coming Together or Falling Apart?</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/blog/2014/07/04/learning-landscape-report/" target="_blank">The Learning Landscape.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/blog/2014/07/04/second-screen-report/" target="_blank">Second Screen: Changing The Way We Watch TV.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/blog/2014/07/04/focus-europe-works-report/" target="_blank">Focus On Europe: What Works Where?</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/blog/2014/07/04/tech-meets-storytelling-report/" target="_blank">When Technology Meets Storytelling.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/blog/2014/07/04/whatever-happened-heroes/" target="_blank">Whatever Happened To The Heroes?</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/blog/2014/07/04/creative-keynote-malorie-blackman-right-seen-need-heard-report/" target="_blank">Creative Keynote</a> - Malorie Blackman.</li>
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Unfortunately because of work commitments I was unable to attend any of the sessions on Friday but each of them has been well documented on the CMC website which, while it is not the same as actually being there, offers a good opportunity to catch up with what happened.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-10383165745766670742014-04-16T15:04:00.000+01:002014-06-23T08:43:24.219+01:00No Spring Chicken....A bit more progress on the digging character, this time he's rather worryingly doing the chicken.....<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/92139092?loop=0 title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe><br />
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This is really just an exercise to test the bind on the character but it was peculiar enough to make me render it out and present it as part of the workflow of this project.</div>
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I downloaded the mocap data from the <a href="http://mocap.cs.cmu.edu/" target="_blank">Carnegie Melon University</a> database.... it's pretty extensive and most importantly it's free for anyone to play with!!! The data hasn't been cleaned up or adjusted and, as you can probably see from the rendered animation, I've not bothered doing any of that for this test as I am just checking the bind.</div>
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Initially I wanted to rig the character with IK, FK and a third skeleton that could be controlled by mocap data but I have decided to forgo the IK and FK parts and have opted to have only mocap driving the main body of the rig.I did still bind a version of the character with a manual rig and IK FK switching on the arms and legs.... I will probably only use it for posing still renders rather than animation but it was a good refresher exercise in rigging and binding.</div>
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The hands and face of the character do still rely on manual keyframes which, in this video I have not demonstrated but please believe me... they work. I have used a couple of simple lines of MEL script to drive the mouth and the eyes, it uses noise over time to drive the rotation of the joints... I felt that the lack of movement ni the face of the last video was a bit unsettling... I suppose that in it's own way this new video is equally, if not more unsettling but it's not because of the face being motionless.</div>
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The next stage for this build is the blend shapes for the facial expression and geometry correction in extreme poses.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-73031524140624668882014-04-06T16:23:00.002+01:002014-06-23T08:43:40.984+01:00Texturing & Re-targeting......<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So, a progress report on my character is probably about due so here goes.....</div>
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Since my last post I've made quite a bit of progress on the old guy character that I'm working on. I spent a little more time on sculpting and then moved onto texturing the mesh.</div>
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As I'd been using Mudbox for the sculpting I thought I might as well investigate it's texturing tools as well, these allow you to paint directly onto the model in 3D space.... this workflow was a revelation for me. For years I have created 2D textures in Photoshop using the UV maps that I have made in Maya as a template, this workflow is fine but even the best UV maps can distort the finer detail.</div>
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Mudbox still uses the UV map as a template but being able to paint directly onto your model means that what you see is what you get, there's no need to jump between Photoshop and Maya to check that the texture is fitting properly or to tweak UV's after the texture has been applied. Obviously, 3D painting tools are not a new thing, it has actually been possible to paint textures in Maya for many generations of the software but the functionality has been more suited for roughing out rather than detail work. The painting tools in Mudbox, are fantastically responsive, working on layers allows the build up of texture and being able to use reference images as colour stencils is genius.....</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgqdYpykhpjl0vpMfMDeY5V__cY3c57zKaG0VJwBdBLrGwDcjkbH_1FCYpHH_LgApZL-1SbjDs3xPu21z0sBXonL4f9PvVzRJmto2h4Y7A6YhCdW13U6Nh_YKoknHVwyarMvNZN9Vnhm4/s1600/evolution.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgqdYpykhpjl0vpMfMDeY5V__cY3c57zKaG0VJwBdBLrGwDcjkbH_1FCYpHH_LgApZL-1SbjDs3xPu21z0sBXonL4f9PvVzRJmto2h4Y7A6YhCdW13U6Nh_YKoknHVwyarMvNZN9Vnhm4/s1600/evolution.gif" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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The above image illustrates a visual evolution of the shader network that I have used in Maya for this character. Until this point I had never really used the Sub Specular Scattering (SSS) shader so I figured that with all of the other new knowledge that I have crammed into my brain through this project, a little more development wouldn't hurt.<br />
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The SSS shader works like skin, different layers allow light to penetrate and scatter as it interacts with the material. Rather than my getting bogged down trying to explain it all here's a link to an explanation from Autodesk.......<br />
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<a href="http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/sss-skin-shader-tutorial.pdf" target="_blank">Mentalray Fast SSS Tutorial</a><br />
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Another area that I've been looking at since my last post is joint re-targetting through the Human IK (HIK) system in Maya. Since this character is going to be used as a motion capture puppet I figured it would be prudent to begin to develop my understanding of how this system works.<br />
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I figured it would be more entertaining to see the old guy move than a naked rig so I quickly bound a very rudimentary skeleton to the mesh and defined it as an HIK character. The fundamentals of the HIK system are pretty straight forward and the GUI (see below) pretty much guides you through the process of setting up the character.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6e1VR_Pnn_kzA0SWIDFGPxF4yjDxYiJ4dz2ZNV1879Co8Oe5Wo2vd_xujmC2ITYWRj7n-b23Bbj_R1Ad2v8fEA296OmfiwwatBDV50W93Y-OvWfzbZTDALoM8-dQ-0pzoM-jhs94yb0/s1600/HIK_GUI.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6e1VR_Pnn_kzA0SWIDFGPxF4yjDxYiJ4dz2ZNV1879Co8Oe5Wo2vd_xujmC2ITYWRj7n-b23Bbj_R1Ad2v8fEA296OmfiwwatBDV50W93Y-OvWfzbZTDALoM8-dQ-0pzoM-jhs94yb0/s1600/HIK_GUI.JPG" /></a></div>
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It is as easy as selecting a joint on your rig and then assigning it to the relevant indicator on the GUI. So, after defining my simple rig as Character 1, I defined a mo-cap example rig as Character 2 and used it as a motion source for Character 1.... it's really that simple.</div>
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Below is a render of the driven motion..... Like I said the rig is very rudimentary and there was no attention paid to setting the joint influence but it kind of works. I find that because there is no facial or finger animation the resulting motion is rather unsettling, dead eyes and limp hands give it a peculiar reanimated appearance reminding me of <a href="https://vimeo.com/19024160" target="_blank">Overtime</a>, a dark tribute to Jim Henson from Supinfocom</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/90951127?loop=0 title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe><br />
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The actual rig that I eventually apply will have facial controls as well as hand controls which will be animatable through keyframes... I don't think I want to start looking at facial mocap for this project but who knows I might end up doing just that!!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-14961614251041867302014-03-26T20:22:00.001+00:002014-06-23T08:44:04.538+01:00Getting Muddy....In the little time I've had to play recently I've managed to make some progress with the character that I started in the <a href="http://polygonsoup.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/can-u-dig-it.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbfpSrY65kGet6HrnoZcx-Ei_cCaXAe9JkjHepYqnUNUUcjQ2UWS1qoEiyKfu9BkgcW6Yu2MpMAeQfUAFyY4dr440zBd4f7YvdSVbiRe6zRfs7v5ZFUNudwmUdwzn7RgrJzLkLgmtbfMY/s1600/sculpt_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbfpSrY65kGet6HrnoZcx-Ei_cCaXAe9JkjHepYqnUNUUcjQ2UWS1qoEiyKfu9BkgcW6Yu2MpMAeQfUAFyY4dr440zBd4f7YvdSVbiRe6zRfs7v5ZFUNudwmUdwzn7RgrJzLkLgmtbfMY/s1600/sculpt_1.JPG" height="296" width="400" /></a></div>
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One of my aims in this collaborative project is to develop an understanding of the sculpting software <a href="http://www.autodesk.com/products/mudbox/overview" target="_blank">Mudbox</a>, it's toolset and the workflow between it and Maya. Up until this point I've never really had the desire to sculpting software but packages like Mudbox and Z-Brush are becoming a more and more integral part of the production pipeline and so I figured it was time to get my hands dirty.<br />
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I think that my reticence to use sculpting software stems from the heavy handed approach that so many artists have demonstrated through their practice. I have found that there is an abundance of work created through these packages which carries a certain look, a look that screams "sculpted" at the top of it's voice. Deep gouges and symmetrical lines are the most common offences and it is this style that I am hoping to avoid in my efforts.<br />
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Anyway, once I got over my fear of carving heavy marks into my model found the transition to sculpting pretty rewarding, the tools in Mudbox are very intuitive and after I had learnt to navigate 3D space with my Wacom it became a rather therapeutic exercise. Developing a workflow took a little time but I soon realised that, much like sculpting in real life, it's best to work down to the building finer detail from larger strokes.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/90147536?loop=1 title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe><br />
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Now that I have a project that benefits from the use of this software I am beginning to understand it's potential and will most certainly be using it again in the future. I still believe that it is important to understand that not everything needs to be sculpted and good old fashioned texture and bump maps are still absolutely valid practice in the professional workflow.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-9632427430509890352014-03-05T18:09:00.001+00:002014-06-23T08:44:21.714+01:00Can U Dig It?......I've recently been working with artist <a href="http://www.garrybarkeronline.com/" target="_blank">Garry Barker</a> to realise one of his characters as a 3D model and it's already been an interesting learning experience for both of us.<br />
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<a href="http://www.garrybarkeronline.com/page2.htm" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqkcMH_caM23h8eY404oZ5QUAHTLT0ntpe2YmQ8W0foeQQ2xmJb-U0M7NRTOIXdHv90L8zeJtpTANtLlyTGpkapFKWnuv8bhJnqi-2nAOAeIswNUIC-sZY9L8qYXiSCJSIn9dVXI9-s4s/s1600/Magic+mountain+Full+image+low+res.jpg" height="481" width="640" /></a></div>
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For me, this project began when Garry and another of my colleagues, <a href="http://ludicspaces.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Annabeth Robinson</a>, had been discussing ways that Garry's digging character could be presented through alternative media, this led to talk of motion capture which ultimately requires a 3D model which in turn led to my own involvement.<br />
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Although there is plenty of reference through his work and the attributes that make up the character are pretty identifiable, it was difficult for me to consider it as a 3D model so I figured I might as well ask Garry to provide me with some orthographic drawings to work from. I thought that this wouldn't be particularly hard for him considering it is his work after all and the character shares a very similar blueprint to the rest of the figures that he draws but, it turns out that asking an artist who deals in two dimensions to consider anything that they've created and then drawn countless times as a three dimensional object that can be animated might throw up all sorts of new thought processes for them. He got there in the end and produced some images that I could easily work from in Maya.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSPsr8HdbRkuloKPEeOKIP3VMf-GDuAljkitSz2Tocy3hGkZwS1aGTf813V5ZUR14gHhd6yDuw91jKjmkkiGU_SvgWQTbQ6jXgl81Fx-sksoz7BLqh12Kb60bCF7VfYhmJipyNHzyUYvg/s1600/Original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSPsr8HdbRkuloKPEeOKIP3VMf-GDuAljkitSz2Tocy3hGkZwS1aGTf813V5ZUR14gHhd6yDuw91jKjmkkiGU_SvgWQTbQ6jXgl81Fx-sksoz7BLqh12Kb60bCF7VfYhmJipyNHzyUYvg/s1600/Original.jpg" height="276" width="400" /></a></div>
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The character style is rather doughy, no insult intended Garry, which leads to interesting proportions and an asymmetric look which is very different from the style of <a href="http://polygonsoup.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/little-green-man.html" target="_blank">character</a> that I might normally build. Still, modelling is modelling and this figure didn't really cause me any problems in it's construction.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisBf7LBn-kFdwQm41HOts9FEQHoEgDz1RHQB-1gEdV_UjnwX0SjhOEDDqFo862VSYzqSVhq3gT3OAiMahL5DphpBrjmHx4coSNfVfQLiZvHuFAeay-iTnUZGE2frT8Aaiqyb0qYva4l2w/s1600/GarryRender_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisBf7LBn-kFdwQm41HOts9FEQHoEgDz1RHQB-1gEdV_UjnwX0SjhOEDDqFo862VSYzqSVhq3gT3OAiMahL5DphpBrjmHx4coSNfVfQLiZvHuFAeay-iTnUZGE2frT8Aaiqyb0qYva4l2w/s1600/GarryRender_2.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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I'm pretty pleased with the base mesh, pictured above, the geometry is clean and even without textures and bump maps it has a pretty good level of detail... I could feasibly rig it right now and have a nice model to animate or motion capture but why have a nice model when a flippin' brilliant one could be the order of the day..?<br />
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So what's the plan?<br />
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I'd say a bit of learning in the form of Mudbox, sculpting software which I am a familiar with but have never tackled anything like this before, and muscle systems, dynamic deformation that has been available in Maya for some years now but something that I have never really had the desire to use. I also intend to develop my understanding of Mental Ray shaders, in particular the SSS (subsurface scattering) shaders that allow rendering of realistic skin.<br />
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So, I've got my work cut out for the next while..... I'm not sure how long this is going to take considering the limited free time I have but I'm pretty excited about developing it into a pretty amazing puppet that can be used to bring Garry's art to life.<br />
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I'll be posting progress here as and when it happens.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-9487075511926532052014-02-10T14:34:00.001+00:002014-02-10T14:34:19.853+00:00Rain, Rain Go Away......Hi, I know... it's been a while hasn't it.... have you missed me?<br />
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I was hoping to have something super awesome to present for the start of 2014, something that would reflect a new beginning, the journey into the unknown....... something to inspire my creative practice for the coming twelve months.....<br />
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Rain.... that's what you're getting, just rain..... well procedural rain, but rain nonetheless.</div>
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I think I've been inspired by the weather over the past few months, I don't know what it's been like in whichever country you're reading this in but here in the UK it's not been too pleasant.... rain, floods, weather warnings, the whole bag!</div>
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So what's this all about then, procedural rain.... how does that work and why have I bothered?</div>
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Well, it's a technical exercise really... another one that I will develop further and one day hopefully use in my creative practice. I wanted to find a solution to making rain in Maya that didn't look like it belongs in a computer game, not that there's anything wrong with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcLXckOZK-U" target="_blank">rain</a> in games.... </div>
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"The rain in games falls mainly on the planes" see what I did there... heh heh.</div>
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Anyway, like I said I wanted to find a solution to particle based rain that looked cool with splashes and ripples and other rainy stuff and the solution is presented in the video above.</div>
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The splash geometry was made using Realflow, imported into the scene as a .bin and then converted to a geometry sequence. When the falling rain particle hits the ground it triggers a collision event that plays the RF geometry sequence through a particle instance, the secondary particle is set to live for the duration of the geometry sequence.<br />
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The ripples were created by calculating the collision point of the rain particle on the ground and then applying density to the equivalent point on a 2D fluid container. The resulting texture has been used as a displacement map on the ground geometry, a single face polygon plane.<br />
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There's plenty of scope for development in this technique, here's a couple of avenues I intend investigating....<br />
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<li>transferring colour from the rain particles to the instanced splash</li>
<li>transferring colour from the rain particle to the fluid container</li>
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Stay tuned for updates :)</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-16741596034104002072013-11-16T09:58:00.000+00:002013-11-17T10:21:31.266+00:00Rotoscoped Nightmares......Ok, so no posts for a month and then two come along at the same time...... typical!<br />
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As well as attending <a href="http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/bradfordanimationfestival">BAF</a> I have managed to do a bit of practical work this month in the shape of a rotoscope and stop motion animation... check it out!<br />
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Since my work is primarily computer based I've neglected my drawing skills over the past few years and decided to learn how to hold a pen again by rotoscoping the "here's Johnny" scene from The Shining.</div>
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The animation is approximately one minute long and I figured that, drawing at 12 frames per second, it would be manageable for me to finish the project in a fairly short period and get the hang of using a Wacom tablet again..... sitting down and drawing, how hard could that be?....</div>
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Man alive, the effort, both physical and mental, that was required to complete this was astonishing and was something that I never expected.</div>
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To begin with things were fine but then after a while the pain in my wrist and fingers began.... the best analogy I can come up with is having done no exercise for years and then running a half marathon, my body had become lazy and the muscles required to hold a pen were useless and ached for a couple of days after the initial drawing session.</div>
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The fitness in my hand soon caught up and after a short while drawing for lengthy periods wasn't too much of an issue but the concentration required was draining. Ensuring that straight lines on the frame I was working on matched those on the previous frame became stressful and the monotony of drawing the same thing over and over and over made me begin to hate my decision to start this project.</div>
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But, I had to finish it....There was no way that I was going to invest so much effort into something and leave it incomplete.... The fourth shot was the longest and was where my motivation really began to wain. It is a torturous process and one that has made me appreciate the work of traditional animators even more than I had previously.</div>
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The drawing did get finished and the stop motion for the note pad was very straight forward in comparison... although crumpling up over 600 pages of paper does actually hurt after a while.</div>
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I know it sound's like I hated making this work but I really didn't. I am truly pleased with the results but I simply wasn't prepared for the mental rigour that was required to get me through the project and, a few days after completion, I am already sure that I will undertake some more hand drawn animated projects in the near future.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-2546784111637981882013-11-16T09:00:00.001+00:002013-11-16T09:00:16.971+00:0020 Years of BAF....It's been a month since my last post.... where did those 31 days go????<br />
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So, what have I been doing with my time..... well, apart from working and spending time with my family I spent this week at Bradford Animation Festival which was celebrating it's 20th anniversary.<br />
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Highlights of this years festival included a selection of inspiring animations from students and professionals around the world, masterclasses from Warren Spector, Dave McKean and Anna Pavlotova, industry presentations from Travellers Tales and Double Negative and interviews with Lee Hardcastle and McKinnen & Saunders.<br />
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It's been an really interesting week where I feel that the overall message has been one of preparation and pre-production. Providing that the initial ground work of a project is done prior to production then there is much less likelihood of it collapsing before completion.... I hope that all students who were present throughout the festival also got that message and will take the advice on board and apply it to their own practice.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-28267738298456348742013-10-17T08:06:00.002+01:002013-10-17T08:06:25.811+01:00Tangled Times......Once again it's been a few weeks since I've been writing in my blog but here I am again, yay, writing about stuff I've been working on since my last post.... as much as a reminder to myself of what I've been up to as it might be a document of interest to you, the reader.<br />
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So, what have I been doing?.....</div>
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Teaching and preparing to teach mainly but I have also been able to spend a bit of time working on a couple of personal projects too.... I imaging that you're wondering "what could these personal projects be?".... well there's one one that I don't want to talk about yet and another that I will happily share, hopefully satisfying your curiosity enough that you will forget about the project that I'm not willing to speak of right now.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwb9bVhGuDCyheWKGFGoIMkTtwTp_WsgqpT1TZevsYDNk0aD6uQwd8WQcZ3VECy69YaST0i59XL82mbdzws9EAyyRlDug8Bhy3twWi1pLT0pCtn799mmGhmVrlKrs6TznMzWx0UKXHviw/s1600/knotBall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwb9bVhGuDCyheWKGFGoIMkTtwTp_WsgqpT1TZevsYDNk0aD6uQwd8WQcZ3VECy69YaST0i59XL82mbdzws9EAyyRlDug8Bhy3twWi1pLT0pCtn799mmGhmVrlKrs6TznMzWx0UKXHviw/s640/knotBall.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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What you're looking at there is a product of the personal project that I'll be rattling on about in this post...... can you guess what it is yet?</div>
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You got it... my Lattice Modifier tool for Maya!!</div>
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Well, it's called the Super Lattice Modifier now and I think it's finished..... until someone suggests some other functionality that I may be able to apply through it to make it even more super.... perhaps even MEGA!!</div>
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I've made a whole bunch of changes to the tool and it's functionality and interface are now very different from the original version. Where previously I had used bevels and extrusions to create the lattice I now apply paint effects to the edges of the control object which allows for real time updating when geometry is added or adjusted making the whole process far more user friendly and efficient.<br />
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Watch the video to see how it works and stuff.......</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/76810719" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="640"></iframe><br />
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Because I've used the docking function for the interface it makes the tool feel much more integrated within Maya, a part of it rather than a separate object that simply works along side it. I needed to develop my understanding of how to build a user interface with MEL and then ditch the old version and start from scratch with the new one to be able to dock it but it is totally worth it and I believe that the new method is in fact far more efficient than my old way........ formLayout (old way) Vs. frameLayout (new way) = no contest!</div>
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One of the big new features of the tool is the ablility to keep the original mesh that the lattice is based on, so if you have a textured object/character or whatever that you'd like a wire frame render of it's as simple as clicking a check box....... that image below was made in a matter of seconds with the script.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimjISsppL-F52taTFt07_GLGgTh9IvtFAhlcf5U4Q3jdhql-GlRCiHCOCvAucbNRHKcOvY0z5L1kHsU1pbgE_OiBbgrgxPRSKp8bznqNvShvkZ1Swh0hl6bJ6pXgYT6E97BhIO8QXXAl4/s1600/heads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimjISsppL-F52taTFt07_GLGgTh9IvtFAhlcf5U4Q3jdhql-GlRCiHCOCvAucbNRHKcOvY0z5L1kHsU1pbgE_OiBbgrgxPRSKp8bznqNvShvkZ1Swh0hl6bJ6pXgYT6E97BhIO8QXXAl4/s640/heads.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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A more creative approach to using the tool can be seen below. This image was made using the new functions in the Lattice Control section. I used a Humster3D model of a Mini Cooper that came free on the front of one of my magazines and ran the Super Lattice Modifier twice over each of the main pieces of geometry. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn16kQ2022_ef0_41Y7YmVuMUo6u5vpV9oijiuWlzIrIdz-aXOUKhw7AB_gk5v2GwVkUPX-5qELdIVx_H8gXYfNy_k7qAsuSaLEsd6vRJbUqh6wPf98cALRNH78gE8XbeARxueUqwUenU/s1600/noodleMini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn16kQ2022_ef0_41Y7YmVuMUo6u5vpV9oijiuWlzIrIdz-aXOUKhw7AB_gk5v2GwVkUPX-5qELdIVx_H8gXYfNy_k7qAsuSaLEsd6vRJbUqh6wPf98cALRNH78gE8XbeARxueUqwUenU/s640/noodleMini.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Obviously, running the script twice on any geometry will create a pretty heavy scene (a little over 4 million polygons in this case) but it's worth it and as I was saving the scene iteratively after each body part there was little possibility that the scene was going to die on me.</div>
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Needless to say, I'm pretty proud of the script I've written and although it utilises many functions that are already available within Maya it makes the workflow so much more efficient and puts all of the utilities under one user interface.<br />
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Download it and have a play.... you know you want to.......<br />
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<a href="http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/script/super-lattice-modifier--2">DONLOAD HERE</a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-54946273888562101742013-09-16T13:46:00.000+01:002013-09-16T13:48:08.884+01:00Miniature Big Bang......Having avoided fluid dynamics for the last 11 years, I finally decided to find out how to use them to create explosive events, so I set myself a mini brief that would allow me to develop my skill set by applying a few new techniques in conjunction with some of my previous research.<br />
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The brief was pretty simple..... <b>Blow Shit Up Using CGI.</b></div>
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But what to blow up..... well, I figured I'd start small and use a little cat ornament that my daughter made.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixKih549kvM5k2o57zM03F0UDVMUa4Y1rjlaGcj6IigwiWEGZ8dkbnh3mgZ7BG5qRefoTCADTbo2NYF280gUZIdJxWRs4OoaIIRVQOnLiln7xhSeDSp_aDbnpkn_-9sbGayFi37BPoxV8/s1600/cat.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixKih549kvM5k2o57zM03F0UDVMUa4Y1rjlaGcj6IigwiWEGZ8dkbnh3mgZ7BG5qRefoTCADTbo2NYF280gUZIdJxWRs4OoaIIRVQOnLiln7xhSeDSp_aDbnpkn_-9sbGayFi37BPoxV8/s640/cat.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Now, it would be straight forward enough to model the cat using polygons in Maya but I figured this would be an ideal opportunity to try out something new in the shape of <a href="http://www.123dapp.com/catch" target="_blank">123D Catch</a>, a nifty free piece of software from Autodesk that will convert a series of photos into a 3D model.</div>
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123D Catch is pretty straight forward to use - Take a bunch of photos, upload them, wait a short while and then download your 3D object in whichever format you want. Providing you follow the instructions it's difficult to go wrong but first attempts can be forgiven..... check out porridge cat below</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiM9EveeclwOCLVqyjG4dvwyksJCweHz8iSH-v90Xik9Fw6vPj4VLVWrN6asx7qlXehgaKeYTXx6Y3QUpaqqeY2yQxxgRyumgPuF8Fcc0AZ4YY_uuD7zHdTd8ZAtrYHrbSVMCs-W_JAo/s1600/firstAttempt.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiM9EveeclwOCLVqyjG4dvwyksJCweHz8iSH-v90Xik9Fw6vPj4VLVWrN6asx7qlXehgaKeYTXx6Y3QUpaqqeY2yQxxgRyumgPuF8Fcc0AZ4YY_uuD7zHdTd8ZAtrYHrbSVMCs-W_JAo/s640/firstAttempt.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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So, I tried again, got a mesh that I could work with and cleaned it up..... the initial output from 123D Catch will always have some imperfections, holes etc, and will also include the floor which needs to be removed. Below you can see the results of my capture as well as the horrible dense mesh that 123D Catch produces. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCPPp8t2iko80FS-_YVzWJC5tVnUibj67NFGtYZTS5-A8V0CEK6ZqNgUKyhabOuau1066xK4uK3TaEc8bBj2zWlBEZMnshvp1RBLaCAmzj7DaWXYJqgPcQLTSNdESF4wGT02wdWIOuUA8/s1600/wire.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCPPp8t2iko80FS-_YVzWJC5tVnUibj67NFGtYZTS5-A8V0CEK6ZqNgUKyhabOuau1066xK4uK3TaEc8bBj2zWlBEZMnshvp1RBLaCAmzj7DaWXYJqgPcQLTSNdESF4wGT02wdWIOuUA8/s640/wire.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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While it's great that you can easily capture objects for rendering, they are pretty much useless for anything else - especially if you're thinking of running demolition simulations with them - due to the the density and topology of the mesh. So, bearing this in mind I figured that I could make a low poly proxy of the ornament, with a clean mesh that would play nicely with DMM, and use the high poly object to create a normal map to apply to the low poly version. This can be done very easily in Maya using the Transfer Maps function. Below are the fruits of my efforts....</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrdnVBO1dNKbo1Dp9BxwpZ-fbRrCw31is9ASS_3A36Z1mmKm6DVvmFVRYDA_VPxeyIS93Bt0lbbd8kq3CdJjrVVH2aZy77ZDyeWQk_VZAVrXLBt42eTzAPxZcJjIjx5_AyP3Iw8Y-JiA/s1600/lowWire.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrdnVBO1dNKbo1Dp9BxwpZ-fbRrCw31is9ASS_3A36Z1mmKm6DVvmFVRYDA_VPxeyIS93Bt0lbbd8kq3CdJjrVVH2aZy77ZDyeWQk_VZAVrXLBt42eTzAPxZcJjIjx5_AyP3Iw8Y-JiA/s640/lowWire.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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While the low poly object is no where near as refined as the high poly version, it is clear that there are a whole bunch less faces and it's going to get blown up anyway and only one or two frames are going to be seen with this intact. If I had spent a bit more time making the proxy object I could have easily got a much better likeness.... same could be said for the 123D Catch exercise too.</div>
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With the mesh sorted I could now get on and destroy it using the <a href="http://www.pixelux.com/index.html" target="_blank">DMM</a> plugin for Maya. This is something I've used a lot in the past and I'm sure that I rambled on about it then, so won't go into exactly how I set up the scene in this post.... suffice to say it got exploded nicely! One thing I will mention though is that I wanted this small object to blow up like a massive object and as DMM works to real world scale I had to scale the cat up quite a bit.</div>
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So onto the fluids..... what can I say.... they're as straight forward as they can be considering what is possible with them but they're still not that straight forward.</div>
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Maya fluids have an enormous array of settings that can be adjusted to create reactions and interactions between emitted fluids. The fluids can only be present within "containers" that are placed within a scene but any number of containers and emitters can be created.</div>
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Without some reference I wouldn't have a hope of understanding the processes involved in using fluids but there's an awesome guide on <a href="http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/1214-Creating-a-Gasoline-Explosion-in-Maya" target="_blank">Digital Tutors</a> that helps a lot with understanding process alongside reading the manual!</div>
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One thing that is important to note is the time that fluid simulations can take and the size of the cached simulations. I have 4 cached simulations in my scene (explosion, fire chunks, cat shards, flames on cat shards) and the project folder is 61.4 gigabytes..... good job I've got a bunch of 3 1/2 inch hard drives and a hot swap dock is all I'm saying!</div>
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Once I had worked through the DT guide I used what I learnt to create the explosion for my cat ornament, there's two fluid simulations here, one for the explosion and one for the flaming chunks. I also applied fire to the pieces of cat for a bit more oomph... I think that's the technical term. Here's the rendered sequence......</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/74617933" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="640"></iframe><br />
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I only ran one render pass here rather than breaking it down into it's various components which would allow for greater control in post production. Now that I understand the processes involved in creating a nice explosion I can and will do the passes in future. I also added a bit of camera shake in After Effects and some audio that I put together using downloaded clips from <a href="http://www.freesound.org/">freesound.org</a> in order to further "sell" the effect.</div>
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I'll be making another explosion next but will be compositing it onto some hand held footage... another process to add to this complex shot!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-33284364665287513702013-08-26T12:28:00.001+01:002013-08-27T08:57:59.289+01:00Go Go Turbo Lens,,,,,,In a break from my usual ramblings about CGI, I bought a new toy for my camera the other week and figured I'd write about it because a) it's pretty neat and b) it does tie in with my CGI work in a way as I use this camera for all of the live action in my composite testing & experiments.<br />
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The new toy I mentioned is a "Lens Turbo" from Zhongyi, not one of the best known manufacturers of camera optics in the world but hey, they had a neat idea and got to market with a competitive product that caught my eye.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ryTSLkq0WF2RIZQuwV7zK8KVeVh9LWzhMaJ3CGy-dm4jXbkaURnhbfIuC4pAZ9Bj4X4at0NpkHnrvbewfbd_ro6Wr1YCBKJ-6MwM0NV-Ww9VrjwmvM-n7esrRYxVbTjHhtQsfLNP84s/s1600/IMG_20130826_104426.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ryTSLkq0WF2RIZQuwV7zK8KVeVh9LWzhMaJ3CGy-dm4jXbkaURnhbfIuC4pAZ9Bj4X4at0NpkHnrvbewfbd_ro6Wr1YCBKJ-6MwM0NV-Ww9VrjwmvM-n7esrRYxVbTjHhtQsfLNP84s/s640/IMG_20130826_104426.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The Lens Turbo is an adapter that converts the e-mount fitting on my NEX 5N to M42 thread mount which means that I can attach old, well built, manual m42 lenses to my camera body and reap the benefits of using quality glass at a fraction of the cost.</div>
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Now, I've been using various adapters for my 5N since I got the body but the difference with the Lens Turbo is that it is not a simple tube like my other "dumb" adapters but has it's own optics which lessens the crop factor of the sensor in the camera.</div>
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OK, so I should probably explain crop factor now.......</div>
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Most lenses are built with 35mm film in mind, this means that the light is focussed down to the approximate area of a frame of 35mm film or a full frame sensor in a digital camera (36 x 24mm). So if you're using the lens on a camera with a smaller than full frame sensor it will result in the image being cropped because only the light that hits the sensor is processed.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx__QGLGqrbScR1oRaRuyXkVDeNtWTxJRMgczJTXz7IyezYAKMW4INA50amt_GNlCknTEIZ7MleVjAm2PoKjHBPCR_4-YbZCzLiohkGOq6d0nQMkC7zo1dQnOBOgK5R5td9SGEym6pNZk/s1600/sensor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx__QGLGqrbScR1oRaRuyXkVDeNtWTxJRMgczJTXz7IyezYAKMW4INA50amt_GNlCknTEIZ7MleVjAm2PoKjHBPCR_4-YbZCzLiohkGOq6d0nQMkC7zo1dQnOBOgK5R5td9SGEym6pNZk/s400/sensor.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The image above illustrates crop factor nicely. The blue rectangle is equivalent to the size a full frame sensor or 35mm film and the black rectangle is equivalent to the APS-C sensor in my NEX 5N, which has an approximate crop of 1.5 meaning that a full frame sensor is about one and a half times it's size. </div>
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The white area represents the light that is cast by any lens and the grey area represents the light which is processed by my crop sensor for that lens. It's easy to deduce from the image that the field of view has been drastically reduced and that, while it would be possible to get the same field of view by taking a picture from a position further back, the depth of field in the shot would be affected as the lens would need to be refocussed.</div>
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The Lens Turbo refocusses the light from any attached lens onto the area of the APS-C sensor in my camera reducing the crop factor to a negligible amount. In some tests in which I compared a 50mm lens on one of the full frame Canon 5D mkIII's at work against my 50mm Super Takumar with the Lens Turbo the crop factor was reduced to approximately 1.08 which is a significant step up from the original 1.5.</div>
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The two images in this GIF were shot in my local park from the same spot on a tripod, and using the same 50mm lens. One with the dumb adapter and the other with the Lens Turbo, I scaled the dumb adapter image down to better illustrate the crop.......</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9G7xOohCZW7LAYriFN_BKf96Gb9XDR76Ny-pyUP-hE1ra1DY9RXnhVfH6EKOpqurSW1vlbZ95oK29qX0vB5kbbvBf-APqOATbp_-275ebPzkbT2O9V-RmqM5a8TBdvnl66Ip0cGUEKAQ/s1600/comparisonGIF.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9G7xOohCZW7LAYriFN_BKf96Gb9XDR76Ny-pyUP-hE1ra1DY9RXnhVfH6EKOpqurSW1vlbZ95oK29qX0vB5kbbvBf-APqOATbp_-275ebPzkbT2O9V-RmqM5a8TBdvnl66Ip0cGUEKAQ/s640/comparisonGIF.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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The images were shot in wide screen format as I usually use my camera for video work and forgot to change the settings but as this is simply a demonstration of the adjusted field of view that the Lens Turbo offers, and not an entry in a photography competition I figured it would be ok in this case.</div>
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Another benefit of the Lens Turbo is that because more light is focussed onto the sensor the aperture is effectively reduced by nearly a whole stop so my 1:1.4 50mm Super Takumar is opened up to about 1:0.4 which means that I can use faster film speeds in lower light and reduce noise on the image.</div>
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So far, I've been really impressed by the Lens Turbo. I think that a professional photographer or film maker would be less happy with images that have been taken using one of these adapters but as I am neither I am more than happy with the results and it would cost much more than the price of my camera body and the Lens Turbo to buy even an old full frame sensor body.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-32922322994580653632013-08-25T18:46:00.001+01:002013-08-25T19:17:53.095+01:00Off to the Orient......So, it's been a while since my last posting..... school holidays, kids to entertain, general chill out and a multitude other things have meant that personal projects have been put on hold for the past few weeks.<br />
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That said, stuff has been going on....<br />
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It's difficult to not to notice that my last few posts have centred on lattice creation.... I have since created my ultimate lattice tool.... well ultimate for now and until inspiration breeds something new. Anyway, it's great and I'll get it onto Creative Crash, make a demo video and write a post all about that later.<br />
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I've also got shiny new camera stuff in the shape of a focal reducer... a focal what??... you heard me, a focal reducer... I'll let you into what that does in another post that I have planned for the very near future but the aim of this particular post is not to focus on focal reducers.<br />
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I got some great news the other day about my <a href="https://vimeo.com/53253257" target="_blank">Shadow & Light</a> animation, it got selected for SIGGRAPH Asia this year and will be presented as part of their Computer Animation Festival in Hong Kong.<br />
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<a href="http://sa2013.siggraph.org/en/" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_qUIBp-P-l7xe0rrXOzKGKeaLiBUmb9yjjiEWj6GaqGqser-hEWnJss_l40JqSRCJne_3Pf6SWaZdduqLpi3nRKzAnK10qZg8T-Xnu3UaMFjIxVBHdZtW7hWTzKIxn3anGvOgnxEgqCk/s640/SIGGAsia.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I've been blown away by the popularity and success of this little animation, and I might also add a little perplexed!<br />
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Yes there is 3 months worth of research and development that went into my being able to make the film but the final product was initially made very quickly for a local event and I figured that would be the end of it, but it has since been shown at Animex, SIGGRAPH and now SIGGRAPH Asia so how did that happen....?<br />
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I guess a lot of it has to do with the fact that I submitted my work in the first place, I was brought up with the saying "shy bairns get nowt" instilled in my conscience and it has worked in my favour in this case but why this particular animation? What is it about Shadow & Light that people like?<br />
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I really have no idea.... perhaps it's a zeitgeist thing, I may have inadvertently created something that aligns with what people want to look at or can empathise with at this current time... I normally deal with narrative and don't really understand art so when I make an "art" piece that becomes popular, of course I'd like to be able to do it again but, as I don't truly understand what I've done....... well, you get where I'm coming from.<br />
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Whatever the reasons I'm well chuffed that it's getting presented on these international stages and is being shown in amongst some truly amazing and inspiring work.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-4127687261228765532013-07-23T09:55:00.000+01:002013-07-23T09:56:16.088+01:00More Latticy Goodness.....I've been enjoying the free music that has been playing at various venues in Sheffield this weekend and had a lightbulb moment... why not extrude a poly surface along the edge of a control object instead of relying on the bevel from my previous lattice tool mel script..... I know right, live music really clears the old skull wallnut eh!<br />
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So, Lattice Tool 2.0 was born......<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLcZ5_pPucsGF-WGT_HSEt5dNrnZdqlODZgFUO3eyCwY5yBBz2vpuXOBSLUEFobjNvtHh_HU0q2TImt41nIsN6EcN1ZWjYW2jYxhtRMabfI8ddv4CWKENVgFuzonxI0FprCeWy869zmxM/s1600/latticeTool2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLcZ5_pPucsGF-WGT_HSEt5dNrnZdqlODZgFUO3eyCwY5yBBz2vpuXOBSLUEFobjNvtHh_HU0q2TImt41nIsN6EcN1ZWjYW2jYxhtRMabfI8ddv4CWKENVgFuzonxI0FprCeWy869zmxM/s400/latticeTool2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The GUI is very similar to that of Lattice Tool 1.04 but without the nodes option, that will be added later, and to be honest it provides a very similar function to the original release but it is a completely new script that works in a new way.</div>
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Lattice Tool 1.04 relied on the bevel and extrude tools to create the lattice mesh from the edges of the control object and Lattice Tool 2.0 creates the lattice edges by extruding a control circle along each edge on the object and supplying a NURBS sphere to each vertex (corner) on the control object.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDXuiYuUJ2qbIQB84nWKafw4qS4sMG7AmEkZLcEdM6UcXWFLKdYdVnJs82h3xS518a8qvuc4-1X5kJ6w35u9RoSMOXG6oKB2cGeZPwBS_CW6JYDshsq1JgQpNnfiYdfcVy6yINulPV4W4/s1600/lattice2render.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDXuiYuUJ2qbIQB84nWKafw4qS4sMG7AmEkZLcEdM6UcXWFLKdYdVnJs82h3xS518a8qvuc4-1X5kJ6w35u9RoSMOXG6oKB2cGeZPwBS_CW6JYDshsq1JgQpNnfiYdfcVy6yINulPV4W4/s640/lattice2render.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Extruding surfaces along an edge is a good way to allow the new surface to follow any manipulation that may be applied to the initial object, this allowed for the scale function to be considered on the lattice as well as any non-additional manipulation to be applied without having to press the refresh button on the GUI.</div>
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The corners were a new challenge.... in order to get them to follow the control mesh I created a follicle which was placed at each vert on the control object and then the corner sphere was parent constrained to it. This is not so straight forward as it may appear as follicles are placed on a UV coordinate system rather than an XYZ system, working out how to do that was fun and also a new UV map needed to be created whenever new faces were made.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHaSssLuyXkmF8gBqZ06QY556kH7WmcRwzFzsSykpDaIF91VyNJSo7BOkLUD9KIgtCFtNeSJU2tBHwI1Uh3IW20IHoLiqeeE8tc7vimdLoPfVBl4KY8lC60WtoB5KLXp2Z0ZUtzSvPpk8/s1600/lattice2render2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHaSssLuyXkmF8gBqZ06QY556kH7WmcRwzFzsSykpDaIF91VyNJSo7BOkLUD9KIgtCFtNeSJU2tBHwI1Uh3IW20IHoLiqeeE8tc7vimdLoPfVBl4KY8lC60WtoB5KLXp2Z0ZUtzSvPpk8/s640/lattice2render2.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The option to keep the panes is still enabled and supplies the same refractive shader as Lattice Tool 1.04, this can obviously be adjusted or completely changed through the hypershade is required.</div>
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Here's a video guide to demonstrate the new tools functionality......</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/70735294" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="640"></iframe><br />
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The reason I created this new script was to enable live updating of the lattice object as the control mesh was manipulated, it works a treat but there is a down side in the processing that is required to create a complex lattice in comparison to the bevel option in Lattice Tool 1.04... however this is balanced by the fact that Lattice Tool 2.0 creates a clean lattice regardless of the input mesh whereas 1.04 sometimes had problems due to the way that the bevel tool calculates.</div>
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In making Lattice Tool 2.0 I have been able to apply all of the understanding that I garnered from creating the previous available version of Lattice Tool and have, again, learned a shed load of new functionality under the hood of Maya... I love scripting!<br />
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<a href="http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/script/lattice-tool--2" target="_blank">CLICK FOR SCRIPT</a> - Creative Crash</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-15073951304804254712013-07-14T18:34:00.000+01:002013-07-17T08:46:41.159+01:00Lattice Tool Evolution & Script...<div>
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So, after my last post I decided that the Lattice Tool would benefit from a couple of upgrades, more buttons and sliders in the UI.....</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6DsWxpNCeyZZvSBdXtALtQD5X0LX1qwQ_lyuOYsMJ05icIb_Qgkhvh7-daEZ-hpQQKx4nXhW1BKnTgZYjGK5BKVUwLsai9nbbeXdxnvWHXVI3QCWNQQia76TtalzmQ-nAjhASd_0iNOE/s1600/latticeTool1-04.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6DsWxpNCeyZZvSBdXtALtQD5X0LX1qwQ_lyuOYsMJ05icIb_Qgkhvh7-daEZ-hpQQKx4nXhW1BKnTgZYjGK5BKVUwLsai9nbbeXdxnvWHXVI3QCWNQQia76TtalzmQ-nAjhASd_0iNOE/s1600/latticeTool1-04.JPG" /></a></div>
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The "Nodes" check box toggles the creation of a sphere at each vertex point on the control object and when it is activated the "Node Scale" slider is also active and controls the size of the spheres.<br />
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The "Panes" check box stops the control object from being deleted when the "DONE" button is clicked, a glass style shader is also attached to the object... this can obviously be changed or adjusted if you want but I quite like the way it looks.<br />
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Here's a video demonstration of the Lattice Tool V 1.04 in action.....<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/70281454" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="640"></iframe><br />
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This render demonstrates the "Panes" option. The pale blue shader is created and applied to the control object upon completion of the tool, it's a simple Blinn with a refractive index of 1.4.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYapi1gIqpMs9J-JDdiUJJZpgcSy22RVzlPgykY_UOIC8O_-PODvT_KRW4AGdDrkmg72z2KK71FYQZjh9q1a7_CQekYWrP2wnVbNzGcUNm2ukPgwvGvygwlx0_WeMcJ7EzDQvUaCwao0I/s1600/panesRender.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYapi1gIqpMs9J-JDdiUJJZpgcSy22RVzlPgykY_UOIC8O_-PODvT_KRW4AGdDrkmg72z2KK71FYQZjh9q1a7_CQekYWrP2wnVbNzGcUNm2ukPgwvGvygwlx0_WeMcJ7EzDQvUaCwao0I/s640/panesRender.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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This has been an amazing learning experience for me. Having very little prior understanding of scripting I have been able to write this 350 line mel script, utilising all sorts of variables, functions and procedures, from scratch... and it works!!</div>
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It's certainly developed my understanding of Maya and opened up a whole new world of potential for future projects.</div>
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If you'd like to try the Lattice Tool script you can download it from here......</div>
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<a href="http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/script/lattice-tool" target="_blank">CLICK FOR SCRIPT</a> - Creative Crash</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-41538255473432768352013-07-10T17:16:00.002+01:002013-07-10T17:23:37.999+01:00From Dirigibles to Lattice Tools....After my previous posts I began to wonder what I could do next and I figured that a Zeppelin would be a cool thing to make with it's rigid skeletal structure and canvas outer... plenty of textures and materials that could interact with one another to produce some interesting simulation.<br />
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Anyway, I was thinking about how to make the rigid structure of the airship, not a particularly taxing modelling exercise but one that could be easier... something like the lattice modifier in 3DS Max would have been ideal but nothing like it exists in Maya 2013. Sure there's probably plenty of free plug ins that do the job but where's the fun in using something someone else has made when you can try and solve a problem yourself?<br />
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It was pretty straight forward to write a script that created a lattice from a poly object and it got more interesting when I decided to make the user interface for the tool, so many things to learn variables, procedures, arrays and all the other stuff that comes with programming.<br />
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I got there in the end and Lattice Tool 1.1 was born!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5-K4nQxovfY8IbPav38MG6o2joyiEBrXZPPxQ50TtAi1Wp1RIiu6wKAPCn88pU1yR5pfjdtdWB_mIMlaC0i03xHfUDHlsHDo0uD0YmmIdf6hCu5HtigG0yB2MWGstVKScns9luTcD-g/s1600/latticeTool.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5-K4nQxovfY8IbPav38MG6o2joyiEBrXZPPxQ50TtAi1Wp1RIiu6wKAPCn88pU1yR5pfjdtdWB_mIMlaC0i03xHfUDHlsHDo0uD0YmmIdf6hCu5HtigG0yB2MWGstVKScns9luTcD-g/s400/latticeTool.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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I'm pretty pleased by the fact that it works, there's always room for improvement, hence this being the second version and possibly not the last, but for now it gives the required results and is not confined to creating airship frameworks......<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFwjGuc5fEd5uvuDmZbNsyqZZ9dmrBRCaFcMWv6siPVdOey_hhto-80h_BmrWfr444ecZ16NYJQ_Kk666spTU0AxhUnQ9rpR_GLiTD2qkGoPPgcf3r1KUma9t7JnpSZJvw6VG35teTrQ8/s1600/latticeRender_1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFwjGuc5fEd5uvuDmZbNsyqZZ9dmrBRCaFcMWv6siPVdOey_hhto-80h_BmrWfr444ecZ16NYJQ_Kk666spTU0AxhUnQ9rpR_GLiTD2qkGoPPgcf3r1KUma9t7JnpSZJvw6VG35teTrQ8/s640/latticeRender_1.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The object in the image wad created in seconds using the lattice tool on a sphere... well technically it was a smoothed cube but I'm not going to be pedantic about it! Anyway, I made the video below using many copies of the object, I'm not too sure what happened to the quality when it was compressed for Vimeo (they're usually great) but it looks a bit grainy.... oh well.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/70042053" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="640"></iframe><br />
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I still haven't made my airship but I'll get around to it soon enough.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-43862596313978583202013-06-30T10:42:00.001+01:002013-06-30T10:51:54.264+01:00More Hole Than Rope........<br />
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In my <a href="http://polygonsoup.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/full-of-hot-air.html" target="_blank">previous post</a> I started to develop my understanding of a few different systems in Maya, n-cloth, n-hair and paint effects, and I enjoyed it soooo much that I felt like running a few more tests but this time with more rope..... so I made a net.</div>
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There's twenty six ropes in the net and four tether ropes.... that's a whole load of constraints (173 to be precise) but it didn't take too long to set up and I think the effect is pretty neat... Yes I could have simply used a texture on an n-cloth plane to create a net but that's not the point of this exercise, I wanted to learn more about n-hair and this allowed me to do just that.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/69405184" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="640"></iframe><br />
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It's easy to see that some of the ropes don't quite reach the edge of the net, I believe that this has something to do with the stretch attribute of the hair curves... Regardless that the net is impossible I rather like the sketchy look of it but will look into fixing things in my next investigations.<br />
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The video doesn't really do justice to the amount of detail that there is in the net ropes, I left the look of them pretty loose, kind of like they were fashioned by hand from jungle vines or something similar. Here's a close up of the net that also shows the PFX mesh towards the right of the image.....<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-4XKTExfbl56OJA5nuKt1wEaIjWodRGB5fmQBXdEFu84lcvDs5EjMgSvo2IE0UvoIKiDzn00i4nEA8yZPErX5x5sRr8EbWO2SWQQVB8KyyafHg_-bSfOz21aMCz1U_FLvthfH7ouEgzI/s1280/netdetail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-4XKTExfbl56OJA5nuKt1wEaIjWodRGB5fmQBXdEFu84lcvDs5EjMgSvo2IE0UvoIKiDzn00i4nEA8yZPErX5x5sRr8EbWO2SWQQVB8KyyafHg_-bSfOz21aMCz1U_FLvthfH7ouEgzI/s640/netdetail.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Of course, converting PFX to geometry can make for a pretty heavy scene polygon-wise, in this case the net adds up to approximately 349000 faces but it is necessary as it's the only way that Mentalray can render the paint effects strokes... It's not always necessary to render in MR but I wanted to use final gather for self shadowing in this case.<br />
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I'm really loving the unpredictability of cloth and hair simulation and I'm understanding more and more about how it is possible to control the systems and how to avoid some of the issues that can arise through using them. So it's likely that I'll be posting more investigations in the future!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-34622111236306009382013-06-22T19:00:00.000+01:002013-06-22T19:00:29.892+01:00Full of Hot Air......I had an idea to create an inflating object so that's just what I did.... Being a dynamic simulation though it was never going to be as straight forward as I had hoped!<br />
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My initial idea was to have a tethered balloon inflate and then the tethers release and the balloon float off.... each part is simple enough but then there's the "C" word.... that's right, I'm talking about constraints. I discovered that n-cloth doesn't play too nicely with constraints on hair systems and the only work around appeared to be to set up the hair systems first which was a bit backwards really as the n-cloth was driving the hair.<br />
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Anyway, after a little jiggery pokery I got it to work in the end.....<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/68914576" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="640"></iframe><br />
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For a first attempt I'm pretty pleased with it, there's issues with the tension on the guy ropes and the rope on the right isn't really behaving as it ought to at it's connection with the balloon but these are minor issues thatcan be ironed out as I continue to develop my understanding of the systems, the main thing is I have created a workflow that can produce results... happy days!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-74975820629124277002013-06-17T20:16:00.002+01:002013-06-17T20:19:52.964+01:00I Can Haz Science....I was speaking with the father of one of my daughters friends about physics and molecular astronomy.... as you do when you're waiting in the playground for your kid to go into school.... actually he was talking about it and I was standing there feeling every ounce of the intelligence I thought I had slipping away as I tried to follow his train of thought.<br />
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Anyway.... It got me to thinking I should try to make some kind of molecular animation, it's not something I've really tried before and it could look cool. I know it's not really at a molecular level but I know what mitosis is and thought it would be a good idea to start with something I know.<br />
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This the product of my efforts.....<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/68555903" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="640"></iframe><br />
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The animation turned out pretty well and it was an interesting investigation, I had a play with various ideas including blend shapes and soft bodies but n-cloth worked really nicely in the end. I only ran one cellular split and used After Effects to comp the shot together.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-17771205433306232542013-06-14T17:30:00.002+01:002013-06-15T13:03:06.827+01:00SIGGRAPH Elates Me....<div style="text-align: left;">
The SIGGRAPH organisers have put a preview trailer For the Dailies presentations on the website and I'm chuffed to bits (slight understatement) to see that they've included my work in it.... That's right, my images are being used to advertise an event at the worlds foremost exhibition of computer graphics and interactive techniques...... crazy!</div>
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Having only read the call for submissions the day before the deadline, and thinking about it over the next day, I only decided a couple of hours before closing that I had nothing to lose by submitting my work and story for the consideration of the Dailies Jury.....<br />
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<li>Devon Penney - Dreamworks</li>
<li>Hiromi Ono - Walt Disney Studios</li>
<li>Jerry Edsall - Microsoft Games</li>
<li>Robert Graff - Pixar Aniamtion studios </li>
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I really wasn't convinced that more than a cursory glance would have been made at my work considering the heavy hitters that have appeared in the previous presentations that I had looked at.... Pixar and Dreamworks I'm looking at you!!..... but it turns out that my doubts were unfounded because the wonderful thing about Dailies is that it's about the story behind the work as much as, if not more, than the finished piece itself and that everyone from industry to individual has a chance to be part of the presentations.<br />
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I wouldn't be showing my work on a world stage like SIGGRAPH if I hadn't just bitten the bullet and hit the enter key on my submission. I can only recommend that if anyone reading this has doubts over whether they should enter their own work for any exhibition, they should just do it.... there really is nothing to lose and something wonderful may come of it.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301986263577247807.post-76101595845917077332013-06-08T10:16:00.000+01:002013-06-08T10:16:58.689+01:00Further Adventures of the Particle People....I've been playing with particles again, but this time in Maya rather than Realflow.<br />
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An ex-student of mine was having issues with particle goals and so, the charitable guy that I am, I helped him out and became interested in the potential for the effects that could be created using the workflow that I had developed for him.<br />
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This is a short clip that I made as an initial investigative test to loosely attach particles to a moving object......
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/67937339" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="640"></iframe><br />
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I figured that it would be a bit more interesting to composite the effect to some live action rather than just show another proof of concept in the Maya workspace. It was was a very quick job that adds a bit more narrative to the effect and also allowed me to brush up on my tracking and compositing skills.</div>
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I'll certainly be developing my understanding of the particle systems in Maya and will post any interesting findings that I have when I have them.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0