This was a fairly ambitous project given the time we had to do it, made even more difficult by team members who werent willing to contribute. I still havent experienced being part of a talented and motorvated team of artists in any field, its something that frustrates me a bit when another opputunity slips by. A couple of them decided to pitch in last minute but basically their help was kinda pointless. One of them was tasked with doing interior models, furnishings etc, and just downloaded abunch of models. This meant that we had scenes with millions of poligons because thats what the desk had for example. These were all thrown out once i realized and I had to model those as well.
Considering I was just meant to focus on the characters, i actually ended doing all the models, materials and lighting with the exception of some of the exterior models. The result isnt great, should have been a lot better but was rushed in the end just to have anything at all to hand in. The upside was that I got a distinction for the project..
SOMA3411 VFX Project
Research Report and Presentation
As director of our group project, I used my research to consider what style and design would suit our film, and also what the group would be able to accomplish in the time given.
The Victorian steampunk environment is a technical, creative, and is often a colourful environment, there is a lot to consider, having a better understanding of what defines steampunk, would help the team to construct our environment more efficiently.
Our film is fairly ambitious, reducing the amount of assets needed will be helpful.
Producing a light hearted comical script, has given us an avenue to reduce the amount of detail needed to produce our scenes.
A good example of minimalizm being applied to a steampunk environment is the work by Shaun Tan, who created the ‘The Lost Thing’ in 2010. Its an example of how we could define steampunk in a simple form visually. The materials, lighting and animation all work to give the film a happier tone, that we are not used to seeing in steampunk. We would probably look for a bit more realism and a bit less minimalism in our style, but there's still a lot to gain from analysing the methods used while creating this film.
While as a team we are lacking in skill regarding materials in maya, Our prominent skills though within the group are drawing and photoshop. If individually, we are able to gain better control of our materials in 3d space, we might be able to create a style of materials that reflects the kind of art that we would naturally produce, and enjoy producing.
This confidence would likely be reflected in our final work. Rendering, lighting and environment will all contribute to the final look, although I think using photoshopped textures instead of using progressive materials, probably represents the groups best chance technically and creatively, of creating an artwork that reflects the teams strengths as artists and is unique to us.
Selections of textures in ‘The Lost Thing’ were hand painted then applied to 3d models. While we are not hand painting our textures, the idea of this helps to consider materials in their simple form.
If we were to aim for realistic textures, I looked into a film called ‘9’, directed by Shane Acker in 2009. The film is considered border line steampunk, which gives us a unique look at it. The creators have referred to it as ‘Stitchpunk’. It was criticised for its animation and rendering, its these errors that make me relate this to the teams style and strengths. It looks like they would have taken it further if they could have, so it doesn’t always look finished, at other times it looks fantastic. We would have similar problems, if we were to we aim for a look in the same style as this.
I found that our style would fall somewhere in between both films and this is not unlike many of the popular animations today. While our group wont be able to achieve final renders as polished as a feature film, they are still a great resource to analyse while considering the groups style choices.
I created some 3D scene compositions to use as a starting point, as well as a composition and style guide. My aim was to quickly re create the feeling, composition and sense of style that I had in mind based on my research, and apply it to the script. This would help the group move forwards with a more unified artistic focus while working on our individual contributions.
THE END
Z5116584 ‐ Bradley McGrath
Descriptor of my Contribution My priorities included, Task delegation, Script Development, Storyboard development. Initial 3d modelling, layout and Style Development. Cameras, Characters design, modelling and Animating. Modelling, Materials, Lighting and Rendering. During the process of story development, I was also creating models to be used within the storyboard, kinematic, and then the animatic, to save time in our production. This part of production went well, and the basics were all in place quickly. Once the storyboard and layout were completed, I focused on the characters and the animating. After this I went over each scene preparing them for render by cleaning up models and materials, adjusting compositions and materials, adding lights and doing some test renders. I help with the rendering and offered input while Liam completes the composition and sound in After Effects.