Bonus Points: Lighting a Scene in Maya

Building a Scene in Maya

Side Quest: San José Tech Museum

A couple weeks ago Michael and I took a walk down to the San José Technology Museum! At first he accidentally lead us to the art museum and we bummed around, but after realizing there isn't much tech there, we went across the street to the real museum. I saved the whole adventure as a snapchat story which converted into a video clip for some reason... so here I've pieces together the adventure without the videos.

Here's us entering the museum. We were fairly impressed at how large and artistic the building was structured. We started our journey by going to the top floor.

Without knowing anything about the museum, we were pleasantly surprised to see that it's main audience is children... meaning there was a lot of hands-on equipment... meaning we were really excited to touch all the displays.

Here's a simple machine where you can learn binary. By connecting the circuit, the input changes from 0 to 1. I spelled Michael's name out for him. It was pretty cool.

In between the two areas up top were some robots! Here is a sorting bot, lovingly named Alphabot who spells whatever he is told using the little wooden blocks. The children were having a time by just punching in random letters. Michael and I felt our hearts go out to Alphabot.

Also there's Buster. He's cool we asked him for some selfies. He talks and gave Michael a fist bump.

On the other side of the top floor was just more activities, mainly involving sound/music and genetics. There's another part I forgot to mention, but it's these small devices where you scan your ticket and take quizzes.

Then we took a venture to the underground level. Here they had displays for robots and body-tracking technology.

This is a furby display that Michael and I were extremely charmed by if not also very frightened of. We watched a little boy with his mother play with the controls. We never touched the thing.

Here's the body tracker, and Michael playing it. Then a picture of the earthquake room.

Before the simulator goes off, we're allowed to build some foam buildings. Michael's is the large building, he thought a good foundation might make it last. I just made a lot of small stacks. it was fun to watch them fall.

Right next to the earthquake section was an area dedicated to space travel and mars. There was a cool jetpack chair thing, but the line was too long.

Another area taught us how to pick locks and be bandits! :)

We finished the day by getting sick pennies of course. It was a good time that smelled heavily of popcorn and filled with the sound of laughter. See you next time, SJTech!

Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action

My first two term paper scores were both above 80; I will not be writing a third term paper.

Outline of the Third Term Paper

Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action

Introduction:

·         -Modern technology has yielded us efficient modes of transportation such as cars, airplanes, and trains. But in entertainment, whenever we imagine a new vehicle or weapon, it’s often in the form of a human. And not just a human-sized robot, but a giant robot.

·         -Thesis: The different portrayals of giant robots in different media.

Body:

1.       -Pacific Rim (2013)

o   Full CG modeled and animated Mechs

o   No use of scale models

o   The realism of the environments makes the audience believe the depth of the situation. That the most powerful weapon at our disposal are these giant robots with random powers.

o   288 ft. tall

o   American

2.       -Super Sentai/Power Rangers Series

o   Using Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, the 37^th Super Sentai team (2013)

o   Guys in costumes

o   Scale models of cityscapes used

o   Not filmed in slow-motion, but the actors move slowly to create a feeling of weight. We can tell that the film is at 1x speed because of the overlap and drag with some of the monsters’ costumes.

o   Uses the same type of explosions for the mech that they use for the human-sized actors

§  The particles are the same, but the explosions should be larger because of the amount of particles involved at that scale.

o   Is built on a proud tradition of using practical effects since 1975.

o   They probably have the budget to create full CG fight scenes being one of the most successful franchises in Japan.

o   There are a few scenes that do use CG, but it’s only in the transformation scenes that are stock footage used in every episode.

o   ~42m = ~138ft

o   Japanese

Conclusion:

·         -Comparison/contrast

o   The ability to control the effects of the city (as well as wind, rain, and lighting) are accomplished at an astronomically higher level in Pacific Rim than in any iteration of Super Sentai.

o   However, the two styles of giant mech fit the tone of each story. Pacific Rim is a more realistic world, and thrives on creating reality, believability, and therefore suspense. Super Sentai is geared towards smaller children, and is a campy show overall.

Reference:

http://www.zimbio.com/Beyond+the+Box+Office/articles/TzjPYG8JMuA/Pacific+Rim+How+Engineer+Sees+Jaeger

https://www.grnrngr.com/zords/zyuranger

Stop-Motion Character Animation

Hey, we're back with another stop-motion animation! This time it's supposed to be character. Hopefully it's understandable if not a bit messy:

Both the crane and the fish in my animation are folded paper. I used 26-gauge wire in the wings of the crane, as well as the body of the fish to keep them in place during certain movements. I also twisted the wire to create sturdier legs and toes for the crane that were easier to see. The toes are movable, but I wasn't able to utilize them fully.

The "water" is just plastic wrap over some blue paper, and the backdrop is a white cloth. I did have to edit out some of my hand as some shots had the characters jumping/flying.

I used Windows Movie Maker for the compositing again.

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?

     Every day our knowledge, curiosity, and theory about objects beyond our planet grows. To reach these new heights we develop technology to sustain being jettisoned out of the atmosphere and on to space. During the 20^th century space race, Werner von Braun once said, "Our two greatest problems are gravity and paper work. We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming." In animation we deal with quite a bit of both. Gravity being an unseen force that every mass in existence displays towards one another, it’s no wonder artists love to play with the effect of something that is felt rather than explained. Re-imagined across multiple forms of media, gravity can be used to create a fantastic, satirical, and otherwise fun universe.

     Just being big enough is just what it means to gravitate items towards an object… right? Well that’s the idea in the Katamari Series. In this game you get a ball that is described as “sticky”, but acts more like a magnetic or gravitational object. As your character rolls the ball along, it picks-up items to add to its mass so long as they are small enough in mass relative to the current size of the Katamari. I say mass because long, thin objects can be picked-up just as easily as small, stumpy ones. Objects can also be released from the Katamari if they are on the surface-level of the ball as the ball hits or is hit by a much-too-big object. Another evidence of gravity-based Katamari physics is when using a power-up in Katamari Forever called “Robo-King’s Heart”, all items nearby that can be rolled-up are automatically gravitated toward the singularity that is the player’s ball.

     This is an impossible case of gravitational pull since the Katamari, though relatively larger than another object, is still too small in mass to attract other objects to it. The item in question this time is clearly fiction-based, so it is more possible that it is a super-dense ball, but only as possible as we allow ourselves to believe it. We assume that the character rolling the ball does not become stuck as he is the Prince of All Cosmos and probably has some fantastic power to defy the ball’s gravity (he is about 3 inches tall at all times). A caveat here, there is a particular level where the Prince is asked to roll-up the cosmos including planets, galaxies, and eventually the biggest star at the center of the universe. In this case the objects should be attracted to the Katamari even from far-away due to its incredible mass.

     Although often frowned upon, and perhaps even politically incorrect these days, the show Family Guy by Seth McFarlane often makes jabs at how obese Peter seems to be. This joke is taken especially far during season 4, episode 17 “The Fat Guy Strangler”. During the episode, Brian tries to convince Peter that he is fat so that he can avoid a serial killer targeting “fat guys”. Peter is offended and challenges Brian to prove his point. Brian then proceeds to gently toss an apple next to Peter. The apple bounces a couple of times—taking into consideration the Earth’s own gravity—without touching the ground and proceeds in orbit around Peter’s largest diameter. Brian proceeds to throw in a book, a glass full of ice-water, and an entire television (approximately 24” standard definition, optional viewing of Example 1 below).

     It is true that we, as humans with mass, have our own gravitational pull, but our escape velocity is ridiculously low—just like with the Katamari. Peter would have to be a super-dense clump of mass to display a gravitational field similar to that of a planet. Pluto, can support a moon that is almost 20% its own mass (similar to Peter and the Television), but that is due to the total gravity of the two objects on each other. This invisible tether is only possible because of their actual mass, and not relative mass.

     A point that has been mentioned, but not elaborated upon is the term “escape velocity”. We have stated that the previous examples are just far too small in mass to contain enough gravity to hold either orbit or gravitational-pull on the surface. That is to say, their escape velocity would be based on the gravity of Earth’s natural gravity pulling them away from the other object as well as other objects on Earth passively pulling on those masses as well. Let us then travel to space, and find an object that is large enough to be considered some kind of planetoid.

     The video game series Ratchet and Clank, when travelling through space, you can land on smaller planets, some not much bigger than your own ship, yet they display all the same gravitational properties as bigger planets. Planets so small that Ratchet can jog the circumference in under a minute. A planet of that size would have a notable gravitational pull, but its escape velocity would be so low there’s no way that Ratchet would be able to even walk without launching himself out into space. Some of the small planets are metal constructs that utilizes magnet boots Ratchet wears, which is a good idea, but his jumping and running animations remain unchanged. He jumps the exact same height on a planetoid than he does on a full planet (ranging from the size of Pluto to Jupiter) regardless of magnetic footwear.

Ratchet is jumping from pad-to-pad here, but as you can see the planet's curvature would make its gravity fairly weak. There are even smaller planets than the one above (and not all of them are molten on the surface).

     The physics in animation is often broken, and what better way to break it than with an invisible force of the known world? Games and movies may not always be accurate, but sometimes they are true to how we feel. When we jump it's usually not that high—average adult height is about 16 inches—but sometimes we feel as if we're flying 16 feet in the air. Just like how sometimes we really can feel so large that objects begin to gravitate towards us. In a fictional universe, it doesn't matter if the physics are real as long as we believe the story, because without an audience, media has no purpose. So we push that reality, we push that fantasy, we push that feeling to make the audience laugh, keep them immersed, and keep them entertained.

Example 1. Peter's Gravitational Pull

Example 2. Katamari (This playthrough is a bit lengthy, just skip to the middle if you want to see a bit of the gameplay.)

Sources: 

http://www.askamathematician.com/2010/04/q-how-big-does-an-object-have-to-be-to-gravitationally-attract-a-human-or-have-a-molten-core/

http://historicspacecraft.com/quotes.html

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/gravity-and-density.361570/

Outline of the Second Term Paper

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?

Introduction

• Gravity - "the force that attracts a body toward the center of the earth, or toward any other physical body having mass. For most purposes Newton's laws of gravity apply, with minor modifications to take the general theory of relativity into account."
• 8 miles in diameter is roughly the smallest a planet would need to be to sustain a running human.
• Thesis: Gravity is often re-imagined in movies and video games to create a satirical or fantastic universe.

Body

1. Family Guy

• S4 E17 "The Fat Guy Strangler" - Brian throws an apple and a TV at Peter to show that he has his own gravitational field.
• Objects don't begin to display a gravitational field until 
• Escape velocity would be ridiculously low.
• Ridiculous, but funny.

2. Katamari

• A Katamari is described as a "sticky" ball, but displays properties that is more likely to be gravitational pull due to super-density. As the ball gets larger it can attract larger items, and sometimes items can be knocked off.
• The Prince and his Cousins are also inexplicably unaffected by the Katamari even though they are small and remain small.
• Escape Velocity would change depending on the size. 

3. Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time

• Travelling through space, you can land on smaller planets, some not much bigger than your own ship sometimes, yet they display all the same gravitational properties as bigger planets.
• Jumping animations are the same when Ratchet should be able to push off from the planet more easily.
• The jumping and walking animations are also the same when Ratchet is using his magnetic boots, but it should be more difficult to lift his feet if it is truly supporting his weight
• Escape velocity of the smaller planets would be very low.

Conclusion

• The physics in animation is often broken, and what better way to break it than with an invisible force of the known world? Games and movies may not always be accurate, but sometimes they are accurate to how we feel. When we jump it's usually not that high-average adult height is about 16 inches-but sometimes we feel as if we're flying 16 feet in the air. Sometimes we really can feel so obese that objects begin to gravitate towards us.
• It doesn't matter if the physics are real as long as we believe the story, because without an audience, media has no purpose. So we push that reality, that fantasy, and that feeling to make the audience laugh, keep them immersed, keep them entertained.

Reference:

• http://www.askamathematician.com/2010/04/q-how-big-does-an-object-have-to-be-to-gravitationally-attract-a-human-or-have-a-molten-core/

Side Quest: Cal Academy of Sciences

Today I dragged my boyfriend along to the Cal Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. It's a fantastic place where you can learn, admire, and even interact with various animals and minerals. Here's us in Golden Gate park on our way into the academy.

We went inside and got some tickets for a planetarium showing, then headed downstairs to the aquarium. This is the first time I've seen their albino alligator, Claude, out in the open! 

(Japanese Sea Nettle, Philippines coral reef, Spotted Jellies,
Cleopatra Beetles, Python Cuddle Puddle)

We saw "Habitat Earth" in the planetarium. It was an animated experience which spoke about the way organisms are connected, and our impact as humans on those ecosystems. Especially with the advent of technology, we are able to carry foreign species around the globe, creating extreme changes in earth's habitats.

I prefer their other show "Fragile Planet", but the planetarium is always a treat to be in anyway.

After the show, we were able to see a travelling exhibit from New Zealand about whales. Wyatt is standing next to them so we can see a bit of size comparison. They also had tools from the Maori (the indigenous people of New Zealand). I was informed later... that photography is prohibited. Sorry.

Downstairs from the display,is the tropical vivarium where they let butterflies and Macaws fly free. They also display quite a few amphibians, reptiles, and arachnids (behind glass).

There was a final display called "Color of Life". A display of various animals' ability to camouflage. I wanted to see their Day Octopus very badly, but I think they took him out of the tank. :( 

Here's a small newt, though.

And that was our day. Here's a picture of a sick pressed penny I got. Also a sketch I did of a horny toad with a wristband and my ticket from the Academy.

Reverse Video Reference

Hoo boy this took a lot longer than I thought. ;; Out of context these look awkward and hilarious, but we were supposed to reproduce the reference that would be used for a provided animation. Thanks Michael and Jasmine for teaming-up to film!

(Now with bonus music)

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

Hello there. This week we began learning about the trials and tribulations of stop-motion animation. In order to create the gravity test featured below I took some quick steps:

1. Create a plan! I had a different idea, where the bomb was going to roll down and bounce, but it was far too big and heavy for me to feasibly do that. So Octopus we went. After making ideas for the arcs, I marked the physical path with masking tape.

2. Action! Using the plan, I safety-pinned the Octopus's arms together to create the streamline shape that travels when it picks-up speed and shot all of those frames. Generally I just used masking tape to stick it to the wall (and to tilt the lamp). After shooting the frames of the arms together, I shot the frames with the arms jumbled about or in otherwise strange shapes. I had a tough time piecing together the turns, because the face would be in some arcs and not others. So that was a challenge I should have planned for better.

3. Edit! In a lot of the frames I accidentally left my phone and tape rolls lying about. I went in digitally to edit the pictures with clean frames, or at least less distracting pixels. I also bumped the tripod a few times trying to review footage unfortunately causing some of the frames jiggle. Once those were cleaned-up, it was simply a matter of putting them in a timeline and adjusting timing/cutting frames to create the illusion of bounce.

And here's the final short:

Thanks for reading!

The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

     As humans continue to develop technology, the idea of AI technology turning against its creators becomes less fiction and more science. The rate of evolution in technology exceeds the rate of human development, and each day we become more reliant on its operation and convenience to us. This scare is realized in many science-fiction movies, but has a quirky twist in the animated feature Summer Wars.

     Directed by Mamoru Hosoda and released by Madhouse animation in 2009, Summer Wars takes place in a universe where people have developed a virtual world called OZ that parallels Earth. After creating an account in OZ, a person can choose to give their avatar any and all privileges of their real-world selves. In fact, OZ’s security is so good that even world leaders feel safe storing their nuclear codes on OZ. Havoc begins when the American Government releases an AI program—essentially a virus—called Love Machine into OZ. The AI works of its own volition, driven by the desire to learn and play games and steals accounts—along with their privileges—as a way to satiate that desire.

     Summer Wars follows both real-world and virtual-world characters. For the most part, OZ continues to follow the physics displayed in the real-world, but diverges sometimes for the sake of caricature and fantasy. Analyzing the effects of scale, gravity, and squash and stretch in and out of the world of OZ creates both a contrast and connection to the real world.

     Let’s begin with size and scale. Both size and scale are fairly consistent throughout the movie giving characters strong silhouettes and believability that they are not solely abstract. Since Natsuki’s avatar is so close in design to herself, it may be assumed that it is similar to that of a human. Her avatar is an average 7-heads high, while Natsuki herself is only about 6-heads high. At an average of 9.4in for the human head, we can estimate the height of other avatars next to Natsuki’s. (1) Alternatively, some of the avatars hold props and we can measure them that way. In the end, we find that the average avatar is around 3.5 to 4 feet tall. Just as in the real world, the smaller avatars have quicker more frantic movements. The human-sized avatars are a bit slower, and move as humans do.

     When Love Machine assimilates avatars, it has the ability to summon them at any time. At its peak, love machine steals 412,308,249 accounts. When all of them are used at once, the individual avatars work in unison to create a singular entity. We believe that it is large because of its slow movements, but we know that it is large when we see its relative size.

We can also calculate the speed they're travelling. These pictures are about, two frames apart, and at 4ft long, they travel a distance of about 24 feet. That makes 288 feet per second with Kazma getting pelted by thousands at a time.

     Speaking of all the avatars brings up another point: flying. General travelling through OZ seems to be done via flying, but the characters stand on solid ground once a destination has been reached. Flying seems to have no rules: the characters have full control over when and where they go, stop, and change direction but they follow have a god sense of timing by using slow-ins and slow-outs. Idle avatars as well as objects in OZ’s flight zone seem to float as if they were in zero gravity space. If we are thinking of applying Newton’s Laws here, only the idle seems to make sense. Otherwise, the unbalanced forces that allow the avatars to fly is willpower alone.

Gravity does exist in the realm of OZ. In the beginning we can see avatars falling and being pushed down. Gravity and air currents both effect clothing and hair.

     Shown below is what a possible limit to flying in OZ is. At one point in the film, Love Machine is trapped and being flooded with water coming through circular vents. The stream of water in the example is a bit wider than Love Machine is tall, and we can calculate the stream’s force finding the gallons per that 6-foot diameter of water. (2) Love Machine tries to fly against the current, but is ultimately knocked down by 7,840N of falling water—that’s more than three-times the force needed to crush a human skull! (3) 

     So then, how much punishment can these characters take? The smaller, and weaker the avatar seems to be, the more leeway there is to make it squishier and cartoony. Love Machine jumps on Kenji’s replacement avatar and it squishes to show his character is weak. The character, though cartoony, does bleed and display damage, bringing-up the possibility of death in OZ.

     Fighting can be done on any device—computer, hand-held game, cellphone, etc.—and is shown as a series of button commands that translates into the character moving. It is not quite clear how such differing ways of coding translate to doing so much in the virtual world. There are fighting scenes between King Kazma and Love Machine that establish them as solid beings. They fight like humans with strong and solid bones.

     During the final scenes of the movie, King Kazma delivers a final blow to Love Machine. Earlier it was established that Love Machine’s head was solid, perhaps due to its unknown power. Here we can see that Love Machine’s head is stretched beyond any physical reason due to the force of Kazma’s final punch.



     This is at the climax of the movie. It is when we as the audience have accrued so much tension and disdain against the antagonist that we want justice to be served above and beyond reality. So we believe it when Love Machine’s head becomes bent in this way.

     The physics for scale, gravity, and squash and stretch only display a fraction of the fantastic world that is Summer Wars. Real world physics—which are not talked about here, but since we live in the real world we already have a base to compare to—contrast the physics of the virtual world by establishing a connection to reality. By establishing similar physics in OZ, drama and tension are successfully added to the situation. When the laws of physics are broken, it is always with the intent to either emphasize imagination in the virtual world or to accent plot points in the movie.

Sources:
1. Human Head Height Chart < http://edge.rit.edu/edge/P13541/public/WorkingDocuments/Camera%20Resolution%20Validation.pdf>
2. Tank Volume." Tank Volume. The Engineering Tool Box, n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2015. <http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/cylinder-volume-d_364.html>
3. Game of Thrones Exposed: The Science of Skull Crushing." ScienceAlert. ScienceAlert Staff, 4 June 2014. Web. 30 Sept. 2015. <http://www.sciencealert.com/game-of-thrones-exposed-the-science-of-skull-crushing>

Outline of First Term Paper

The Laws of Physics in Summer Wars (2010)

Introduction

Thesis: Most of Summer Wars takes place in a virtual world, but obeys the laws of physics to create an emotional connection and dramatic gravity.

Body

1. Size and scale

• In the real world, one of the uncles brings a large boat to the property and puts it in a pond next to the house. A large amount of water is displaced to show how big the boat is in real life. The water moves slowly and it feels large.
• When Love Machine assimilates its 1,000,000,000 (check number) accounts stolen, it takes the form of all the separate avatars standing together. We know it’s huge because it moves slowly, but its true scale is revealed when a stream of fast-moving avatars are sent at Kazma.
• The avatars are moving at a speed of (measure this using frames from the movie)
• Therefore the larger avatar is (measure the height based on how quickly avatars are moving in the shot with Love Machine)
• In general, smaller creatures are jumpier, squishier, and zip around more frantically.

2. Gravity and flying

• We have a sense of how the real world works, which is by all the normal laws of physics.
• In the virtual world, gravity is established by certain scenes such as characters falling off of platforms; however, when the rules of the universe change, the characters are able to fly, seemingly without consequence.
• Flying seems to have no rules, the characters have full control over when they go, stop, and move but follow believable timing. When they stop, there is still a bit of movement, like a rock floating through space.
• Helps support the fantasy factor of the virtual world

3. Squash and Stretch

• Love Machine jumps on Kenji’s replacement avatar and it squishes to show his character as weak and squishy. The character, though cartoony, does bleed and shows the feeling of damage and possibly death in OZ.
• There are fighting scenes between King Kazma and Love Machine that establish them as solid beings. They fight like human fighters with strong/solid bones.
• During the final scenes of the movie, King Kazma delivers a final blow to Love Machine. We have already established that Love Machine’s head is solid, but in this scene Love Machine’s head is stretched beyond any physical realm due to the force of King Kazma’s punch.
• We believe this because as the audience feels tension and disdain build-up against the antagonist, we want justice to be served in a way that is beyond reality.

Conclusion

• The contrast of the real world’s physics to the virtual world’s physics establishes a feeling of reality and therefore dramatic tension to the situation.
• When the laws of physics are broken it is either to create a feeling of fantasy in the virtual world or to accent plot points in the movie.
• Some characters in OZ are cuter or more cartoony than others, and they follow equally cartoony physics to accent their character traits (and vice-versa for realistic characters).

Video Analysis of Path of Action

This week, Michael and I tried using a different, higher-quality camera. However, we couldn't figure out how to change the format from .MTS to .MP4. Luckily it worked in Tracker anyway, but I think some of the data became corrupted. :/

Footage of the Five Jumps alone:

Footage of one of the jumps in tracker:

Tracker Video Analysis of Falling

This assignment was completed using the program Tracker. This is a screen shot of a simple tennis-ball drop with a graph of the drop over time.

Here's the video of my five tests:

Shooting Video Reference

   This week we've started lessons in Basic Animation Mechanics; more specifically Timing, Spacing, and Falling. This assignment demonstrates the Fourth Down at Half-time rule, and taught me how to use the frame feature on Quicktime.

Here's the video reference for he diagram above.

(This shot was taken from around 17 seconds)

Mini-Portfolio

Development of a character from silhouettes for Ani112A:

 Personal work of an original character:

Me floating on a raft I made out of 187 plastic water bottles and a bit of garden fencing:

Hello, my name is Yuki Wong and my major is Animation/Illustration. My favorite past-times are drawing and playing video games (LoL, Diablo3, Katamari, KH, FF, etc.). Before SJSU I studied for three years at DVC and am now in my third semester in uni. I've taken physics (and astronomy) in highschool and college, but never made a clear connection between it and animation because most of those courses are mathematics-based. I'm excited and ready to learn together. >v</

The First Post

Whoop there it is.



Also it me:

(Colton is doing some pushups.)