MULTIMEDIA DREAMWEAVER

Client - 2D / 3D Integration

2012-02-12T05:50:00.000-08:00

So I've been messing around with 2D / 3D Integration this week as part of my Client project (Feel Good Drinks).

This is some progress on the 2nd animation for the series and some winter render tests:

Client / Research Progress

2012-02-03T05:44:00.001-08:00

Here it is:

2012-01-17T17:48:00.000-08:00

RESEARCH - ARTEFACT 1 - GREEN SCREEN KEYING

( Excuse the watermarks on some of the images - Student version of NUKE)

Okay, so my 1st Artefact was to look at keying within NUKE. To do this I had to start with learning the basics of the software and then the fundamentals of keying a green screen image. Further to this, I did some reading on "How to light a green screen", as it was going to be a big part of the project. Thanks to the videos and reading at digitaltutors.com for this!!!

So to make a start with the Artefact I began by travelling to Dovedale over the weekend to get some nice backgrounds for the comps! I got some great shots, but one of the first issues I faced when comping was the incongruent foregrounds. My two models were not dressed correctly and even once they had been colour corrected looked 'out of place'. - I used a few of them, but to get round this and for the sake of the artefact, I found some better backgrounds online.

If I am to continue with keying, next time I will know to make sure the two stills are congruent! - In this case the attire of the model must compliment the backgrounds.

As mentioned, once they initial keying had been done, I played around with the position, grade and colours of the images. The aim here was to "combine two or more images to create a single seamless whole".

Some of the problems I faced:

I hired out a D200 Nikon Camera, the Motion Capture Suite and two Lighting Kits. As you can see from the images, the lighting was one of the biggest problems. I began by attempting to get a clean single coloured lighting setup across the green screen. I played around with lights, angles and filters to eventually get the environment I was after. In addition to this, I had a third light at the back of the room to separately illuminate the subject.

3D vs 2D - Client Project Development

2012-01-15T14:45:00.000-08:00

I wasnt happy with the storyboard and theme of my client project. I almost finished my planned animation over the holidays, and it just didnt look how I wanted it to. HENCE..new storyboard:

So with my client project, I am trying to move away from the typical look and feel of 3D work and try to avoid the harsh lines and strong contrast from a render. I did a few 'mess around' renders and PS effects last week, but particularly liked the old style painted effect. Therefore, to attempt something new and different from my usual, I have now also decided to merge the 3D with other 2D elements!

This also ties in quite nicely with my compositing research as I am building up layers to create my desired effect:

Client Materials

2012-01-12T19:27:00.000-08:00

Found some images I would like my client work to resemble. I've just spent a whole night trying to replicate this...and no luck....I've got some serious material work to do / learn!

Feel Good Drinks

2012-01-09T18:04:00.000-08:00

Messing around with the look of my Client Project:

NUKE Compositing

2012-01-09T17:50:00.000-08:00

So I’ve been trolling through hours of NUKE tutorials on digitaltutors.com. – After learning the basics of the software, some rotoscoping, keying and colour correction I’ve compiled my first composite:

Background Plate
Green Screen Character
Keyed and Rotoscoped Merge
Colour Correction

It’s a great step in the right direction and some relevant material for my showreel =)
(The watermarks are courtesy of my student version)

The character doesn’t look the best, but it’s the concepts and workflow I’m impressed with more!

Client Project

2011-12-01T11:51:00.001-08:00

Egh...Im behind with this client proposal because I just can't decide what I want to do!!!

I made myself formulate some kind of storyboard tonight, so this is the result. The Character is based off some imagery on the side of one of their bottles. I think I'm going to opt for 'little big planet' style again (following my sim client) and further inspiration can be seen below.

Hopefully my Client Tutorial tomorrow will help clear things up =)

Context 3: Exhibition

2011-11-22T07:18:00.001-08:00

I WANT TO BE A COMPOSITOR FOR FEATURE FILMS / TV!
At the moment, these are going to be my 5 images for the exhibition. There are still two I will change if I have time, but for now, thats it! At first, I was having a little trouble creating images that would compliment my aspirations to be a compositor, but I think I should be able to justify my choices in the rationale:

Curious times for Conduit Productions

2011-11-03T12:19:00.001-07:00

G.S.B - Curious Times from Conduit Productions on Vimeo.

Simulated Client

2011-10-25T03:54:00.000-07:00

My final comp for the simulated Client. I don't like the voiceover...but hey, who likes thier own voice...

Apart from that, i'm very pleased with how it came out...as it was a definate improvement on the first attempt. There's always some changes i would make, but for now, I need to crack on with my research and context 3!

(Sony) Two Worlds

2011-10-24T18:58:00.001-07:00

So for now i've decided i want to be a compositor. I found this pretty interesting:

Sim Client WIP 2

2011-10-19T22:10:00.001-07:00

New Sim Client Animation (WIP)

NTU Cancer Research 2 from Jaz Worrell on Vimeo.
Draft Comp 2 for my Simulated Client (WIP)
3rd Year Multimedia at Nottingham Trent University

Sim Client WIP

2011-10-17T18:35:00.000-07:00

This past week has been quite an eye opener for me as I've had to make some decisions on exactly where I want to work in the future. As an animator?, a modeller?, a hair and fur expert?
Originally I thought animation...as I hadnt really given it a chance with a professional rig...but I'm still not certain about that. At the moment I'm quite interested by Compositing and VFX (Within the film industry), so maybe i'll head down that route.

Anyway, here's some progress with the sim client. It's not exactly what I was aiming for, but it's a start. The animation is sooooo poor...but as i said, in the long run, thats not what I want to do anymore. Any feedback would be nice =)

NTU Cancer Research from Jaz Worrell on Vimeo.

Draft Comp for my Simulated Client WIP
3rd Year Multimedia at Nottingham Trent University

NTU Alumni :: Animation WIP

2011-10-13T08:34:00.000-07:00

Work in progress with the NTU Alumni project:

BB Torch

2011-10-05T06:24:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd do a cheeky bit of modeling today to get me back into the groove. It's not finished, but I got bored =)

Pretty happy with it for a quick model session, but it reminded me I need to do a lot of work with materials to get to where I want. Stay tuned. =)

DP3 - Animation

2011-06-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

Frankenstein from Jaz Worrell on Vimeo.

DP3 - Review and Rationale

2011-05-24T07:27:00.000-07:00

6400 Frames, 8 consecutive days of 3DS Rendering and a Happy Student!

I've finally finished my DP3 Animation, making it the longest piece I have ever worked on in my chosen field. After much deliberation and lack of work following my original idea (Iron Man 2), I decided to change my plan last minute, about 4 weeks ago, and create something based on Frankenstein!

As you can imagine, this was not an easy decision, however I no longer had any enthusiasm or promise for my teddy bear heroes and wanted to start from scratch.

I immediately began research from the brief and the book...brainstorming characters, plots, scenes and environments. The main inspiration for the style and approach to my animation came from a short called PIVOT, as I liked the 'blocky' effect, and so decided not to smooth my own characters.

Originally, the plan was to texture for realism, but this new method required something different. Films such as 300 and Sin City best reflect the option I chose; selective colour and strong imagery.

Comparing this piece to my 'Bots and Bananas' animation, there is most certainly improvement. I tried to focus on being able to connect with the main character, share his emotions and perfect his movements. This is what let me down in DP2, so I wanted to make a more honorable effort in DP3.

Overall, I am reasonably happy with the final animation. Obviously my own imposed time restraints of changing my idea hindered my final outcome, however It's something I can learn from and act upon in Year 3.

If I was to undertake this project again I would focus on creating stronger storyboards, and incorporate more scenes where I could include post render effects. I liked using After Effects, but would definitely attempt something harder next time.

Good luck to everyone else, and Roll on Summer! =)

March Update

2011-03-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

Right, so I can't really get around the fact that I have not blogged in quite a while. This weeks been pretty busy with a variety of things, and there's been a whole host of things stressing me out...but I've got some targets set for Easter that need to be hit on time!

My Context 2 work seems to be going well, but there's still a few things that I am unsure about. Bit late now you might say...but the majority of the work is done:

Material Library:
http://www.flickr.com

The progress of this module however now seems to be shadowed by my serious lack of work for DP3. I don't know what it is, but I've hit a brick wall not being able to make things look how I want them to...and as a result have done nothing to it in a good few weeks. I have a partially modelled environment, and partially rigged characters...but if I'm perfectly honest it looks mediocre. (Putting it politely):

(This Screenie is fine, its the work im not showing that im worried about!)
By friday I NEED to have sorted this out as Easter has been set aside for animation.

Alongside this, I have been working on my submission for the DISNEY INTERNSHIP, a LOGO ANIMATION for a worldwide company, and some MODELLING WORK.

Stay tuned =)

Context 2

2011-02-18T15:36:00.000-08:00

jazworrell.co.uk

My Portfolio work in progress:

The main image is from my robot animation and now plans to be an interactive flash interface. My work was originally going to 'slideshow' across, however the feedback from the seminars suggests I make it more interactive.

Anymore feedback would be greatly appreciated. =)

Furthermore, if you are looking for hosting, I would recommend:

I'ved used them for years, theyre cheap and you get cpanel inclusive.

Transformer in Progress

2011-02-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

Well, strangely enough, its been a while since i last posted on here as I've been working quite hard over the last few weeks. I dont want to give too much away as im still refining some details of the scenery and script, but here is a screenshot of my little USB robot.

Things have changed slightly as I wanted to give myself a bit of a challenge so have decided to model a Mouse-BOT Transformer. No idea how this is going to turn out, but at least there is progress. =):

As you can see, it's been rigged and im having a lot of fun 'transforming' the beast!

Environment: The Creative Office

2011-01-26T10:30:00.000-08:00

I decided to begin modelling my office, and thought I would base one of the desks on my own. The following renders are of some work in progress...and ive added in my lil USB bot to show scale etc:

That keyboard was a nightmare!

The Revised Project

2011-01-25T06:59:00.000-08:00

So yesterday we had our DP3 Presentations. There were a few areas of my idea that were a little 'shaky', and the feedback from the session has allowed me to develop a stronger understanding of what is required, and what I can do.

I will still be working from the Iron Man 2 script, however my storyboard has changed slightly. The animation is set in a creative office where one individual makes cute, cuddly toys, and the other, metallic robot drones and creepy creatures!!!!

After the lights go out, the toys come to life and begin to harass the two 'poor' bears sat on the desk. They are chased to an unknown area of the office where an epic battle ensues. That's the basics...but hopefully I can post some visuals soon.

Anyway, to start things off, I began modelling a teddy bear last night for one of the roles:

First model for one of the lil USB drones:

An Idea of scale:

Project 2

2011-01-13T12:42:00.000-08:00

So, this is the start of DP3 Project 2. Wow, it's going to be a good one!

Ive been contemplating all Xmas over the film / clip that I would like to work from. The ones provided had some great potential, but didn't inspire me enough.

THE IDEA:

After a lot of consideration I think I have finalised a scene from Iron Man 2 to conceptualize in my own way. I have a lot of ideas for this piece, and we have a lot of time to make it our own. From the first animation project last term, i learnt a lot, and plan to produce a 3 minute animation I am truly proud of!
INSPIRATION:
The following clip I found over Xmas is the sort of work I would love to produce in the future. It has inspired me to make this next project the best I can, and i hope to create the same beauty within this in my own work:

ShapeShifter from Charlex on Vimeo.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

So I went home from the lecture yesterday totally pumped about this project. I got to work on one of the bots...so here is a render of some work in progress. =)

We got there!...almost

2010-12-07T15:41:00.000-08:00

Well. I got it done. A long story short...I am pretty happy with the final animation. I feel I have gained some valuable knowledge from this project, and I look forward with great anticipation and excitement to the next assignment. I STILL have to do my animatic...but that's for another post.

A bit of self criticism now. My texturing and lighting needs a lot of work! I am grinning with great gratitude that I got it to turn out as it did. MY modelling I am happy with. Animation was fun... but there is still a lot of work to do!
Anyway, let me know what you think please! Enjoy:

The Librarian from Jaz Worrell on Vimeo.

Ps. The storyline isnt that strong...