hello. my name is MCKAY

I'm Out

2009-08-23T20:12:00.001-07:00

Thanks for stopping by. Since I am now graduated, this blog is history. It's been fun.

For more of me, check out:

www.mckaymarshall.com

and

www.mckayandamanda.blogspot.com

Modeling Final

2009-03-28T11:55:00.000-07:00

For my final project in my intermediate 3D modeling class we had to choose a character to model. I went with this guy (pictured below). Disney typically does not appreciate non-affiliates using their pride and joy, so I'm not sure how long this post will be up. If I go missing, look for me on Small World.

More 3D Modeling

2009-02-25T15:07:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest from my latest 3D modeling class. We had to model a hard surface object (anything that does not deform). While my model is nothing spectacular, I'm really happy with the renders. Have a look:

All Too Familiar...

2009-01-26T11:52:00.000-08:00

If I had a nickel for every conversation I've had like this one... and typically with people other than my father. But I still love how he yells, "applications, Dad!!"

Inbox: ZERO

2009-01-26T08:37:00.000-08:00

One of the best feelings in the world is having absolutely nothing in the ole' inbox. Today it happend by 8:28am. A new

personal record. Oh, and if you're waiting to hear from me, better drop me another.

3D Modeling

2009-01-21T13:27:00.000-08:00

Hello ether, it's been a while. Two more quarters to go 'till graduation. This quarter brings Intermediate 3D Modeling with it. For the first week, I modeled a Snowspeeder from my very favorite movie, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Take a gander:

Ryan & McKay's Vacation

2008-06-21T07:17:00.000-07:00

Killer Worm

2008-06-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

For my 3DFX class we had to animate a killer worm. Hence...

The road breakage still needs some work.

The Bench

2008-06-08T10:30:00.001-07:00

This was my final project for both my Production Studio, and my Advanced Compositing classes.

Shot 1 Breakdown

2008-06-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

For extra credit, I made a breakdown of the first shot of The Bench. This is an important part of the VFX reel.

New Site

2008-05-11T17:01:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited to be launching my first ever professional site. While still in early development, this site will be home to my latest reel and professional resume. Have look at it here.

BENCH ANIMATIC

2008-05-07T00:26:00.000-07:00

So for the 3 of you who have been following along, this completed animatic will shed some light on the the Bench Concept. For additional details on the project, see the preceding posts. The audio is subject to change.

CLEAN PLATE

2008-05-03T19:13:00.000-07:00

This is the establishing shot for my bench sequence. In an effort to simplify the aesthetic, I removed many signs and other eye-catching elements. I also removed some foreground objects just to free up some space for all of the vegetation. Can you tell the difference between these two images? One is the original photo, the other is my "clean-plate".

BENCH MODELING

2008-05-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

While the location of my bench FX sequence will be photographs, the bench itself of necessity will be this 3D model. This is the first time I've attempted to model something that will have to pass as photorealism. It took me about 8 hours total to model. Many people can do this in about half the time.

THE BENCH

2008-04-15T01:11:00.000-07:00

I'm going ahead with this concept called "The Bench". It will be an intensive VFX sequence requiring skills I do not yet possess. It is easily the biggest project I have ever attempted. The beauty part is that It will fill the requirements of all 3 of my current classes. So I will have 3 opportunities throughout the week to work on it. I've changed the idea from fast-forward, to reverse time-lapse. Here is a breakdown of what I will be pitching tomorrow in class:

SEASONS

2008-04-11T01:22:00.000-07:00

This quarter brings 3 new classes: Production Studio II, 3DFX II, and Advanced Compositing. I am planning on doing a massive combined final project exploring the lifespan of a common city park bench. It will be time in fast-forward complete with storms, overgrowth, and deterioration. It is still in the pre-vis phase, but here are some rough seasonal comps of my idea. No bench yet.

BIG MEDIUM SMALL

2008-04-09T00:32:00.000-07:00

This was interesting. By changing only camera and lighting, we had to effectively convey different environmental SCALES using the exact same scene of 3D spheres. One big (like buildings or monuments), one medium (like marbles or billiard balls), and one microscopic (like pin heads). Here are mine. Can you tell which is which?

It was interesting to think about these three different environments and how the camera would interact with each. Here are the three schools of thought:

• Big: Camera at low angle with wide angle lens; wide or no depth of field; lighting with a smooth falloff.

• Medium: Camera at high angle with medium telephoto lens; minimal depth of field; lighting with faster falloff.

• Micro: Camera at long telephoto (flattening the image); extreme depth of field; lighting high key.

Falloff refers to how quickly the transition from light to shadow occurs on an object or scene. You'll notice that on the BIG scene, the transition is much slower and smoother than the medium.

Coming to a Sports Authority Near You...

2008-03-30T21:18:00.000-07:00

A recent project at Nike had me designing animations for the Nike in- store "RUN" displays. Two vertical 16:9 HD displays that play Nike content all day everyday at a recently opened Sports Authority. As an added bonus, Manda has blogged-up some hot-bloggin video of the display : ) Click here for Manda's Blog

Toumai

2008-03-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

During this past quarter I was fortunate to collaborate with a fellow Motion Graphics and VFX student. His name is Carlos Stevens, and he is really talented. He was graduating and asked me to compose the music for his senior project. You can see the entire animated piece by clicking on the picture.

Stan the Rubberband

2008-03-30T01:01:00.000-07:00

We cleaned out our office this weekend and I came across this small poster I had made back in High School. It was in my government class. The assignment was to make a campaign poster for a fictional character that we designed to fit the roll of a Presidential Candidate. I had completely forgotten about the assignment until I walked in 2 minutes before the start of class and noticed that I was the only one without a sizable piece of poster-board at my desk. Each student had obviously devoted hours of work creating their posters, and I had nothing. So I snagged a piece of printer paper and quickly designed my campaign around a lovable and modest figure I named Stan, the Rubber-band.

When class started each student took turns showing their poster and talking up their candidate. When I stood up it became apparent that I was alone in my decision to have an inanimate object running for the office of President. I also was the only one whose poster was on an 8.5x11 piece of white paper. I explained that Stan was not only part of a loving family, but that he had plans for the economy; he was helpful, and patriotic. And yes, he was a common rubber-band.

At the conclusion of my presentation, my teacher had 4 other students stand up beside me. He said, "these are the students who are eligible for extra credit". I wasn't sure why I was in the mix, but he continued, "we will decide who gets the extra credit by who receives the loudest applause". We each took turns holding up our posters and listening for the classes response. Apparently, and much to my surprise, the class liked my poster the best and the clapping proved it.

I wasn't a popular kid in school-- It certainly wasn't a matter of loyalty when the class unanimously agreed on my poster. On that day I learned that sometimes what this world really wants is creativity. I got 105% on this silly project.

Bloke Dynamite

2008-03-27T17:48:00.000-07:00

Finished up my intermediate animation class which is all character animation. For my final I did, well... you can just watch it. You'll see. It's no Monster's Inc., but its all I got. Actually, character animation is about the hardest thing in the entire world. It takes days to do seconds of animation -- nay, weeks if its to be done well. Actually character animation sucks. And I intend never to do it again (unless an assignment calls for it).

Ahhh, on that note--watch this:

Labyrinth

2008-03-27T17:24:00.000-07:00

I just finished a 3D dynamics class. In this class we got to simulate collisions, gravity, turbulence friction, and all sorts of other physics-intensive things. For my final I animated a labyrinth with a free rolling ball-- whose movement was calculated entirely by simulations. My instructor really liked the camera move. And props to Amanda for the idea to use Rachmaninov.

Click To Play

Airplane Opening Titles

2008-03-27T14:55:00.001-07:00

Among the classes I just finished was one called Production Studio where we had to pitch a concept and carry it through from storyboards to pre-visualization to animation and modeling to sound design. Well at least for some students it was all of those things. About half of the class didn't finish their projects.

In honor of my father-in-law, I did an (abbreviated) opening title sequence for the old Lloyd Bridges, Leslie Nielsen Classic, Airplane. Here-tis:

Click To Play

Lighting and Texturing Class

2008-03-13T23:40:00.001-07:00

This quarter is almost over! I'm so glad. This is my final render for my L&T class.

Animation Class

2008-01-31T12:25:00.000-08:00

Here's what I'm doing in my Intermediate animation class. This jump took 3 hours to polish. My instructor's feedback was that the key poses were not dramatic enough.

Click To Play

get quicktime here

3D FX Class

2008-01-31T12:12:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest from my 3DFX class. We're studying particle systems.

Click To Play

Compositing

2008-01-16T10:01:00.000-08:00

Compositing is the art of combining multiple elements into a cohiesive "composition" or "comp".

Here's a great process sequence that was initially created with 3 guys and a cameraman.

Animation Class

2008-01-16T08:03:00.001-08:00

Here's an animation I'm turning in for one of my first assingments in intermediate animation.

Click To Play

click here for quicktime

Brainwashing

2008-01-14T08:37:00.001-08:00

Take a look at these logos. Can you tell which product or company they represent? There are few corporate symbols that require no qualifying words. These are the money beets.

I just got an internship with nike. It's very exciting. You can see some of types of projects I'll be working on here.

oh dear Star Wars Fans...

2007-12-19T14:04:00.000-08:00

Evidently back in 1978 a Star Wars holiday special called "Life Day" aired. George Lucas was preoccupied with the production of Empire and gave the go ahead for this monstrosity. He now spends all of his money trying to destroy all surviving copies of it.

If you missed it (as I did having not yet been born), here's a quick 5 minute recap. You may want to brace yourself.

My Internship at the Trailblazers

2007-12-19T11:25:00.000-08:00

Well my internship is done and I am no longer everyone's best friend with the Blazer-ticket-hook-ups. It was a fun and labor-intensive journey working in the broadcast floor of the Rose Garden. All and all it was probably the most diverse internship one could have asked for. No coffee runs or filing papers; instead I got to do some very hands on things with quite a lot of freedom.

Here's a brief list of what I did in those 12 weeks:

-developed countless in-arena and broadcast graphic animations

-ran camera for player/coach interviews

-edited highlight reels/commercials/dance-squad auditions for an MTV reality show

-acted as production hand for a location commercial shoot

-acted in commercial

-donned the mascot uniform for a role in another commercial

-created (from start to finish) my own "ask a player" half-time entertainment

I had to present my internship to my instructor and other interns. Here is a video I put together for that presentation. It's a little disjointed without my presentation's segways, but it will still give you a good idea of where I was working. and who I was working with.

Click To Play

Biomechanics

2007-12-04T02:27:00.000-08:00

In biomechanics we are evolving our own animal populations. In order to do that, we have to come up with some naturally occurring, selective pressures to make them evolve. I am working with a bunch of pigmy marmosets. They're moving out of the rainforest and into higher elevations and rockier terrain. Here's how I coaxed them into moving:

Bright Wolf

2007-12-02T22:28:00.000-08:00

In my nonlinear editing class, we received footage for a BBC production of a show called "Bright Wolf". It is the overdramatic (and downright ridiculous) story of a family who evidently was cursed to be werewolves. I guess. Honestly, I know no more about the movie than what is presented in the clip below.

!!!CAUTION!!!

Recommended for ages 13 and up

Click To Play

click here to download/update Quicktime

This short clip took about 8 hours to edit. That may sound excessive, but you have to consider what must be done to get to this point.

All of the footage came in on a single DVCPRO cassette. Our first task was to screen and log the footage. This is where that slate came in handy. Using the shot numbers, I created a small clip for each different shot. This helps with the edit, so you don't have to scrub through a huge section to find what you want. You look at the script notes, find the shot number, and locate your corresponding clip in your editor. Logging and capturing took about 2 hours

Now it may seem obvious how to assemble the shots because the script is already laid out before you. Just follow the script dialogue right? It will assemble itself! Not really. Each line has at least 2 different angles (some with as many as 5), with 3 to 4 takes per shot. That's why it's called, "editing". If it was simply putting the shots in the order of the script, it would be called "assembling". But editing is going through and finding the best takes and putting them in an order that serves the story best.

Some shots are expositional, and some are functional. In the clip above, it is necessary to the story for the first guy to say "she didn't want the D'Aubney line to continue." That serves the story, and must be in there. It is expositional. But what about the shot (half way through after the lamp bursts into flames) when Emily is shown looking screen left, and then up the stairs? This is a functional edit. It serves the audience by telling them that we are going from the front door, to up the stairs. It does this with Emily's "eyeline". Simply by allowing the audience to see Emily shift her gaze, they will know that the following shot is showing what Emily is looking at. This also allows the audience to draw more conclusions about the relative position of the actors, and layout of the set. Functional shots are not always obvious from reading the script. They tend to come out in the edit as needed by the picture.

Other considerations to the edit include timing and pacing. When Sir Edward is rambling on and on at the beginning how his wife wouldn't have him, and she hated werewolves etc., the cuts are few and long. Oh, by the way-- Shots, which used to be called set-ups, are also sometimes called, "cuts". Usually by editors. This is because in the old days, you would actually cut the film. So at the start of this clip, the cuts are slow. This matches the dialogue, and the pacing of the scene. Then Christen shouts, "Get away Emily, go now!" (He's such a caring werewolf). From this point, the cuts get quick. They match the pacing. She's running for her life, is pushed aside by a warlock, and Sir Edward is knifed. The adrenaline in the story translates through the quick cutting of the picture to the audience. If we saw long, drawn-out images of the warlock smirking, and Edward holding his gun, it wouldn't be as exciting. It would be a different story. This all comes out in editing.

Editing and Location Shooting Stuff

2007-12-02T21:19:00.000-08:00

When shooting a movie, each time the camera is set up, it is appropriately called a "set-up". On a given day in an efficient shoot, there can be as many as 30 set-ups. This information is good to know, because later when you're bragging to your friends about the production you're working on, you say things like, "yeah, we were hustling. Yesterday we shot 30 set-ups." Set-ups are simply known as "shots" after production.

Sure it sounds easy to move a camera into 30 different positions, but when you move the camera, you also have to move the: lights (which can include hundreds of light stands and cables); monitors (with stands and many cables); set dressings; actors (including extras); chairs to accommodate the cast and crew (there is actually a person whose job it is to move chairs around the set all day); wind machines; flags and masks and cookies (all things that affect the lighting--all of which have many stands); tracks and cranes (if the camera will need to move); scaffolding, rigging, traffic; and so on.

This is the reason expensive actors have stand ins. It takes a long time to move all of that stuff, so stand-ins literally stand on the actor's marker while the DP (director of photography) meters and calibrates the exposure and lighting. Meanwhile the actor sits around and drinks coffee and says things like, "Get my agent on the phone!"

Within each set-up (or shot) there are multiple "takes". Before the director yells action, the Assistant Camera (or AC) "slates" the take by holding a clapper in front of the camera and saying something like, "Toy Story shot 153 take 4-- marker!" At which point he will clap the clapper and the director will yell action. If the AC is a pro, he'll clap it with one hand, but that's hard to do.

What is the clapper for you ask? Well, unlike your camcorder at home, a film camera has no microphone. There is a second unit of crew members who consist of the location sound-mixer and a boom-operator (who holds that long fishing pole with a microphone at the end). These guys record all of the sound that will either end up in the movie, or be used later as reference when additional dialogue is overdubbed. The clapper comes into the scene so that the picture AND the sound both have a starting reference point to line up on. This is why the slate also has written on it what the AC called out before he clapped it. Later, in post-production, the film editor can SEE the picture of the slate, and HEAR the audio that goes with it, and line it up on the clap point.

But I digress. My point in telling you all this was to explain how it relates to editing. During the shoot, a person (usually a woman because they are exceptional organizers) functions as the "script supervisor". She will monitor the script as the shooting rolls along and watch for continuity issues. Continuity issues can arise when scenes that will be cut together, don't quite match. For example, if a zombie was walking down the street holding an axe in his left hand for one shot, he should not be holding the axe in his right hand for the next shot. This would present a continuity issue, and would look bad in the final edit. The script supervisor also monitors which dialogue was recorded in which shot. She dutifully tracks shot numbers and takes, marking them across the master script.

Her notes look like this:

These notes show which shot number corresponds to which part of the script, and how many takes were shot per shot. These notes become invaluable for an editor. That was my whole point to this article. I had never seen scrip supervisor's notes before, but I certainly would not have had as easy a time with this project if I did not have them.

Experimental Video

2007-11-29T20:41:00.000-08:00

Before my class set out to create our own experimental videos, we had to do a lot of watching. Here are a few of my favorites by Don Hertzfeldt.

Distorting Time

2007-10-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

Here is my first project in my Experimental Video class. My instructor called it our "palate cleanser". We each drew cards with random words or phrases. The card I drew simply said, "Distorting Time". Here's what I cam up with: (Play it with sound, much of the experience is aural)

Click To Play

(click here to download/update Quicktime)

Experimental Video

2007-10-30T02:44:00.000-07:00

This quarter I am taking a class called Experimental Video. Experimental Video is devoid of any specific narrative form, and relies heavily on emotional response. It often features the bazaar, the silly, or the grotesque. Here is an example of my favorite that we've screened so far. It's called Primiti Too Ta. It was originally just a poem that experimented with various vocal sounds using nonsensical words . Then someone animated it using only a typewriter.

History Detectives (30 second spot)

2007-10-28T22:41:00.001-07:00

This quarter I'm learning AVID. What is AVID you ask? It's the industry-standard editing platform. Everyone cuts on AVID. Movies, commercials, music videos, and even the Trail Blazers. Here is an assignment we did for PBS's History Detectives. We had to do a 30 second, and 15 second spot.

Click To Play

History Detectives (15 second spot)

2007-10-28T21:29:00.001-07:00

Although it's shorter, a 15 second spot is much more difficult to edit. If that's hard to believe, imagine describing a show to someone who has never seen it in only 15 seconds.

Click To Play

Around The Room

2007-09-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

Rotoscoping is the art of tracing around something frame-by-frame. It allowed Audrey Hepburn to sell Gap jeans, and Elvis to sing live with Celine Dion (both of whom would turn in their respective graves). Roto is not fun. It's an entry-level position. No one wants to do it. So when I wanted 5 versions of my wife to wrap a present while walking around the room, I had no idea how It would be accomplished. Now I do. Roto is no funo, but my wife was sure a good sport. Thanks Amanda.

Click To Play

Around The Room [Technical Breakdown]

2007-09-21T21:59:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in an effects shot you need the camera to do the same thing over and over. Pan left, then crane up while dollying back etc.. Because these intricate moves would be impossible to perfectly replicate with a human operator, big robotic arms are used that can follow precise computer calculated choreography. These robotic arms are called Motion Control Rigs.

Motion control was first used in Star Wars. One of the most famous scenes attributed to this type of camera work is the astroid field in The Empire Strikes Back. The Millenium Falcon was actually stationary while the camera flew passed it. Then it was replaced with a spinning astroid for another pass of the camera. Then another. When you put them all together, we see the spaceship and astroids flying by. Because the camera movement was identical with each pass, the elements fit perfectly together into one scene.

With motion control you can also duplicate the same person into one scene. My inspiration for the Round the Room shot (above) came from a music video by Michel Gondry.

In this video the lead singer walks around a city street about 4 or 5 times, and each time she gets back to her starting point, she runs into the former her. You can see the video I'm talking about here. Be sure to watch the whole thing (about 4 minutes) so you can see just how many duplications they do. Not only is the singer duplicated, but all of the action in the background as well.

So I wanted to recreate this effect, but I didn't have the needed $15,000 to rent a motion control rig. So here's what I came up with.

What you're looking at is a camera on top of a pot, on top of a rotating spice rack, that is powered by an inverted drill. The real trick is to match the exact speed between each shot. Since the drill-head spins as fast as you pull the trigger, I taped the trigger down at an appropriate speed, and used the battery as the on-off switch.

After I was set up, Amanda put on the appropriate wardrobe for the take. Because of the interaction that all the "Amandas" had with the gift, we had to complete one whole cycle before we could do a "take 2" (being sure not to touch the gift between shots). Then she would change again and I would reset the camera for the next leg. All in all we did 3 complete cycles, which took about 3 1/2 hours. I believe the end result came from the 3rd series of takes. And special thanks to Amanda for her willing and able on-screen talents.

What Do You Think About?

2007-09-21T21:47:00.000-07:00

This piece was a joint final for my Motion Graphics 1 and Intro to Video class. My idea for this piece came after enduring one of the many crappy commercials I had seen for the Art Institute. It reminded me of those old San Joaquin Valley College commercials that used to come on during Matlock. So I said to myself, hey, we're an art school-- why don't we have better commercials?

So I made a commercial. And I guess some people liked it because it was shown to the president of the school and featured at the Senior portfolio show in a local downtown theatre. Apparently my department head wants to produce it and air it - which, don't get me wrong would be outstanding - but I'll believe it when I see it. Its an "... until its hatched" type of thing.

Click To Play

The Wonderful World of Multi-Pass

2007-09-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure who is reading this blog. Every so often I find out that someone else is leafing through these entries. And while this blog originated as a place for me to show my family what the heck I'm doing out here (having fielded one too many, "What is it that you are studying again?" questions), to you non-family newcomer I say: welcome.

So what is multi-pass rendering? It is boring if you're not into that type of thing. And I don't want to bore you, I want to spark within you a new interest in the technical hurdles that must be leaped in order to furnish your sparkling little world of multi-media. I'm certain that the average joe gives no thought to how his media is created. And that's where I come in.

If you have seen Toy Story, Shrek, Cars, Madagascar, Polar Express, then you have seen 3D animation. These movies are made by literally modeling every nuance of the scene in a 3D environment within the computer. They actually take longer to make than most live-action and cell-animated (Snow White, Little Mermaid) features because modeling takes time. What's more, after it is modeled, it must be staged, animated, lit, textured, and finally rendered; the latter of which can take months to finish.

This process also applies to adding a 3D object or character into a live-action scene. The earliest and still one of the most prominent examples of this is Jurassic Park. Many of those Dinosaurs were CG (computer generated) elements and were not on the call sheet during production.

Now, back to the topic. The blessing (and curse) of 3D is that you have total control of the environment. This includes lighting, atmosphere (fog, haze), timing, blocking-- all things that live-action shooting may leave to chance or mother nature; and traditional cell animation would leave to: once it's drawn, it's drawn. But in 3D, you can build it, arrange it, rearrange it, light it, tweak it, color correct it, change the depth of field, saturate it, de-saturate it, darken it, lighten it, soften it, sharpen... you get the picture. There is absolute control over the final image.

Now I am a beginner, but let me show you an example:

This is a model I made two terms ago. I modeled it, textured it, lit it, and pressed render. This is the result of all the elements being shoved through the pipeline and

into a single frame called the "Beauty Pass". Because rendering takes so long, it is very tedious and time consuming to render, tweak, render tweak, etc.

So to avoid that waiting game we render each different aspect of the image separately. This gives us different images (called "passes") that are later composited together outside of the 3D realm. Remember, the final output is a single 2D image. Even if it is a moving image, the result is a 2D picture. And compositing a handful of 2D images is a much more controllable and quicker process than trying to render one perfectly constructed frame out of your 3D pipeline.

Here are a few different passes:

This is a diffusion pass:

This is pure color. No shadows, no highlights, no haze, just the color of the object.

This is a specular pass:

Here you get the highlights (the glint if you will) from the shinier metallic elements. These will be laid over the diffusion pass.

This is a shadow pass:

With this as a map, I can control the brightness of the shadowed areas. Because I have dark isolated from light, I can shift the brightness of the overall scene, but only affect the dark parts mapped out by the shadow pass. Make sense? Essentially, this pass gives me more control.

This pass is called the "ambient occlusion" pass:

This is one of my favorites. This pass helps define the overall depth of the scene. Lately there have been lots of commercials that feature animations with only this pass.

When you composite them all together, you have an image that is much closer to your goal. This is the final comp of the multi-pass render (the original beauty pass is below):

Summer Break

2007-09-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm done with my Summer Term, I have two weeks to myself. So what do I do when I'm not working on school projects? More projects.

Click To Play

So What If Its Ugly, I Got An A

2007-09-10T00:28:00.000-07:00

In school your job as a student isn't to learn the curriculum, it is to learn the instructor. If you can do the latter and still glean some pertinent information on the subject, props.

This piece was my final, and looks the way it does for two reasons: A: This is the last type of thing I would typically produce (IE disturbing, uncomfortable, message-oriented); and most importantly, B: My teacher seems to like things of this nature, and my ultimate goal was to appeal to his "authoritative" (albeit, twisted) tastes in art.

I got an 'A' in the class.

Cinemax Final

2007-09-08T19:01:00.001-07:00

Here's what I did for my Motion Graphics II final. It is made entirely of photographs I found on the web. Basically, you build 3D geometry and project the picture onto the it. Then you can fly cameras around and add text etc..

Baroque

2007-09-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

Here is another project from my History of Material Culture class.

Context

2007-09-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

This was a hierarchy assignment in Typography. Design hierarchy refers to the order in which a viewer sees the elements on the screen, page, etc. Its everywhere. An old graphic design saying is: "If you can't make it good, make it big. If you can't make it big, make it red." Basically, do whatever you can to make them look at what you want them to look at. What order do you view the text on this page?

(we were supplied different content to choose from)

Summer Bubbles

2007-09-01T11:35:00.000-07:00

This is another rebranding campaign for the Cinemax Network I call "Summer Bubbles". It is simply a "look" for the network until they decide to rebrand themselves again. This look will encompass station ID breaks, program schedules, and lower 3rds (see next post below).

Cinemax Lower 3rd

2007-09-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

What is a lower 3rd? Just like it sounds, a lower third is a graphic that comes into the bottom 33% of the screen when you are trying to enjoy a show. Usually it plugs an upcoming program. A lower 3rd used to be a mere color bar with some text and a station logo. But, In the last year or so, lower thirds have become quite elaborate with characters actually moving around (dancing, fighting, posing) at the bottom of the screen. To someone not interested in motion graphics this can be pretty annoying.

This is my lower 3rd treatment for the "Summer Bubbles" rebranding of the Cinemax network:

Photography Reel

2007-09-01T04:17:00.000-07:00

In movies, the person responsible for lighting and camera work is called the Director of Photography (DP). This person works closely with the Director and has a lot of influence on the aesthetic of the film. Just like most creative positions, the DP usually has a reel comprised of his or her best work to use when finding a job.

Our assignment in my Camera & LIghting class was to design our own reel. In a photography reel its all about the picture and not about narrative. Context is nothing. It is only a showcase of what you can do with a camera, whether still or motion; and with light, whether natural or contrived.

Finished George

2007-08-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

Here's the finished picture for my Image Manipulation class. (See the rough draft below)

Cinemax

2007-08-23T17:53:00.000-07:00

This is a rebranding project for my Motion Graphics II class. From this design I'll be creating lower 3rds, and program schedules.

Image Manipulation

2007-08-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

For this assignment, we had to choose a politician and a nursery rhyme. This is a rough draft. The illusion doesn't quite work yet, and I can't figure out why. I've stared at it way too long. If you've got any suggestions, email me. More to come.

Date Night

2007-08-19T11:50:00.000-07:00

This was an assignment in my LIghting and Camera class. The goal was to take both stills and video from the same shoot to try to match exposure on both cameras. We also had to diagram the lighting setup and track camera position. All of that is probably less interesting than the actual movie below:

History Of Material Culture

2007-08-07T01:24:00.001-07:00

One of the classes I expected not to enjoy this quarter was History of Material Culture. It is basically an overview of the known ancient western civilizations (mesopotamia, egypt, greeks, romans, etc.) and a look at all of their stuff. In fact, the course would be better titled: "Very Old Stuff". Not like autographed Beetles posters or vintage dinette sets, but chariots and Greek amphora (which, I believe is plural).

My instructor actually keeps it pretty lively, and entertaining, so I'm actually learning. Go figure. One of my assignments was to create a collage of sorts, choosing an era that was covered in class. I chose the Egyptians because it was national Egypt appreciation month. Here's what I came up with, and happy EAM!

Image Manipulation Midterm

2007-08-07T01:15:00.000-07:00

We were given the assignment to chose our assignment for our midterm. I did this. Is it a recycling ad? Is it left-wing propaganda? You can decide for yourself.

Ambigram

2007-07-30T22:15:00.001-07:00

What is an ambigram? It's a word that is the same upside down, or right side up. For lots of cool examples check out www.johnlangdon.net. Here is my name. Its much harder than it may seem.

DADA assignment

2007-07-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

If you google DADA you'll probably find many images that came from the late 30's mid 40's art movement. The goal was to create a DADA image around a chosen entertainer. You can see my first try, which acording to my instructer was "too pop (art)"... so I tried again. Can you tell which is the pop, and which is the final project?

Milk Jug

2007-05-09T18:37:00.000-07:00

Today in my 3D modeling class we discussed texture mapping, and procedurals. Procedurals are mathematic patterns used to distort, color, or provide relief to an object. I made something that ended up looking like an eroded old milk jug. Because, hey, life needs an old crusty milk jug once and a while.

Power Lord 3

2007-05-09T00:34:00.000-07:00

(This one sucks) In my compositing class we were given the entertaining task of creating the trailer for "Power Lord 3". Our teacher came up with the music and narration, and we had to combine many different elements to fuel the spot. The idea was to find creative ways to use the elements: like using a candle flame as the engine on the spaceships, or creating interactive lightning on a boy that wasn't really in the scene. We also had to solve problems like creating alpha channels for elements that didn't come with any, or figuring out which composite modes are best suited for dding smoke or light into a scene.

Yes, I realize how corny it is. The compression of the online video is so awful, but you can hopefully still appreciate what was done by comparing it to the still images of the original elements.

Dress Casual

2007-05-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

For this assignment, audio was key. We had to record a dialog and try to obtain the best possible audio. After we presented it, our instructor had some ideas to sweeten it a bit more. His ideas included laying out padding on the floor to kill a lot of the echo, and hanging the mic from above instead of from the sides. Good stuff. The genius of this bit is attributed to my beauti-fly wife. She came up with the idea of "dress casual".

Toga Party

2007-04-26T18:32:00.001-07:00

This is the latest from my Motion Broadcast Graphics class. We were given the audio clip from Animal House, and the instructions were to use only text in our animation.

Cadillac and Scarf

2007-04-26T12:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a short shot we worked on in my advanced Shake Class. Here is the process:
• stabilize the car footage (remove the camera jitter)
• key the scarf (make the green transparent)
• color correct the scarf (from yellow to pink)
• warp the scarf to fit on the woman
• add interactive lighting (the flash that lights the woman also needs to light the scarf)
• put the camera jitter back in (undo the first step)

Screen Replacement ~ Explanation

2007-04-26T09:42:00.001-07:00

So anytime you see a TV monitor in a movie, it has likely been replaced. It is appropriately called screen-replacement. They replace it for a couple reasons: first, its hard to accurately expose a TV screen because of screen jitter and brightness; and second, cuing up source material to show on a screen is quite the hassle for a multiple take shot. So someone designs the screen later, and tracks it in.

That's what I've done here. A classmate and I did a bowling sequence for our assignment and wanted to show the scoreboard. Since we're not professional bowlers the actual scoreboard looked awful. Gutter-balls, and 2's and 3's-- not quite reflexive of the character we're going for. So I designed a replacement screen and tracked it in in post. (BTW: I tried to learn how bowling scores actually work. Something about adding a strike to the following frames? I still had some questions. While my manufactured scoreboard may not be the most accurate, I'm banking on my class and teacher being as ignorant on the subject as I am.) I also made a cheap looking animated graphic for the adjacent screen. Below is the original shot:

Screen Replacement-Finished

2007-04-25T23:55:00.001-07:00

This is the completed comp (our teacher goes by "Co"):

Wendy's

2007-04-24T17:22:00.001-07:00

The purpose of this assignment was to sync animation to music.

Intro to 3D Final

2007-04-22T10:52:00.001-07:00

This is the final from last quarter. The ball animations you may have already seen (though this time they are lit), but at the end is the Portland Armory. The textures on the surfaces are actual photographs that were edited to tile and then mapped onto the different shapes.

Waterfront

2007-04-14T14:11:00.001-07:00


This was my first project in my Intro to Video Production class. We had to film 30+ seconds of footage based on a theme, and focus on composition, depth of field, and contrast ratios. Our theme was the waterfront downtown. (There's no sound... just long sleepy shots.)

NBC Animation

2007-04-14T14:08:00.001-07:00


This was my first project for my Motion Broadcast Graphics class.

A New Quarter!

2007-02-03T12:12:00.000-08:00

This quarter I am taking Astronomy, 3D modeling, Intro to Audio, Color Theory, Creative Writing, and Math. I have lots of homework this time, so my entries will be more sporadic. But here are a few projects that I've completed so far. Enjoy.

Equal Values

2007-02-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

This was my first color theory project. The assignment was to first come up with a theme that we would use for the entire quarter. I chose pianos. So every project I do this term has to be some different representation of the piano. This was very abstract. So with the theme we had to do two identical compositions that matched each other's value scale. Value is the lightness or darkness of something. For example, the background of this site has the lowest value, Black. The type is a higher value than the background (its actually the highest value: White). We explored this with the roman head remember? So each color has a natural value too. Yellow is very high in value, red is very low. If you turned a color picture to a black and white, this would be very apparent. Thats basically what we did for this project, but we had to eyeball it. It was an eye-training exercise. We had to mix paint and color and cut out pieces to match values from the monochromatic (blue) comp, to the achromatic (BW) comp. We also had to include 7 different values. You do a lot of squinting. The final result is pretty vague (as far as my piano theme goes) but if you stand way back it actually starts to look like a keyboard. Oh yeah, and the different values were acheived by mixing Blue with black and/or white for the monochromatic, and only Black and White for the achromatic.

Beachball

2007-02-03T11:39:00.001-08:00


Beach Ball

Basketball

2007-02-03T11:39:00.000-08:00


Basket Ball

Bowling Ball

2007-02-03T11:38:00.000-08:00


Bowling Ball

3D Ball Animation

2007-02-03T11:09:00.000-08:00

So I am taking my first Maya class. Maya is the name of the 3D Software used in many feature films. It is similar to what Pixar uses to make a movie like Cars (except they use their own proprietary software that is constantly being modified per the demands of the movie). This class is called intro to 3D modeling. The first assignment was to model a simple ramp and floor upon which we would animate 3 different balls: Beach ball, Basketball, and Bowling Ball. We did some studies and observation (Research and Development) to see how the balls interacted with the floor and gravity and stuff. Then we had to animate everything using keyframes. Keyframes are basically specific frames of a movie where you tell the ball to be. So I would set a keyframe at frame one telling the basket ball to be 'Y' amount off of the ground, and 'X' amount of speed. Then I go to the end of the movie and tell the basket ball to be 'Y' amount again, and 'X' amount again, and the software figures out the in-between frames.

In traditional animation they called this "tweening" - or "in-between-ing". This meant that an animator whom Walt Disney admired and loved (probably going out for drinks after shifts etc.) would draw Mickey Mouse standing, smiling, looking forward, Then he would draw him again looking surprised to his left. Then another lesser known animator, (young, underpaid, one of hundreds that were at Disney hoping to catch a break) would draw all of the in between frames to connect the two KEYFRAMES that were drawn by Lovey Von Kissupson. It was an assembly line.

But I digress. Now we have solved the problem and eliminated the underpaid animator all together. A computer does all the thinking now. Actually, despite the amazing calculations of the computer, its still just a tool that is no better than the animator behind the keys. This is apparent by each of my ball animations. Though they resemble the weight and movement of the different balls, you can still see that there are subtle tells that it is hand animated. (other than the lack of texture and lighting etc.) Mind you, there are no gravity simulations or collision properties going on here. If I didn't tell the ball where to stop, it would continue through the floor, or float away into space.

Color Wheel

2007-02-03T11:04:00.000-08:00

This was a tough one. Using gouache paint, we had to make the 12 stops on the color wheel. The catch was, we could only use the three primaries: RYB. So we had to mix to find the secondaries: OGV. Then, we had to mix the secondaries with the primaries to find the terciaries: RO, OY, YG, GB, BV, and VR. It took the better part of a week to finish. Its not simply adding equal amounts of R to Y to come up with O. Instead, you have to start with Y and slowly nurse in the R until it looks right. I got an A on the assignment, but she did say that my YG was a tad too G, and my BG was a tad to B. (This picture's colors are not quite true to the actual thing - scanning and all)

Color Schemes

2007-02-03T10:48:00.000-08:00

Mom, you would appreciate this one. We talked about the various color schemes this week in Color Theory. Using the color wheel as a reference, there are a few to choose from. There's Complimentary (opposite sides of the wheel IE: 12 and 6 o'clock, 9 and 3 etc); Split Complimentary (Like complimentary but instead of one, it is both sides of it IE: 12 o'clock, 5, and 7-- splitting 6 into 5 and 7); Monochromatic (shades, tints, and tones of one hue); and Analogous (3 to 5 shades in a row IE: 12, 1, 2, 3 o'clock); and Triadic (3 colors, 3 spaces apart on the wheel IE 12, 4, and 8 o'clock). Make sense? Can you figure out which is which? And which of the 5 is not included? We had to represent each color scheme and include one neutral (Black, White, or Gray). These are cut up color swatches mounted about the size of a business card: 2x3.

Sculpture Babies

2006-09-07T10:35:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago my drawing class met at the Portland Art Museum to draw sculptures. Our assignment was to pick two, then draw three examples of what their offspring might look like. Here are mine. The origional sculptures are the ones on the ends.

Roman Head

2006-08-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

I had to come up with 5 different value patterns. The head was a photograph that I traced.
(click on for more detail)

Pinecone

2006-08-10T10:46:00.000-07:00

Not very pleased with the way this turned out, it was dang hard.

Value Study

2006-08-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

Today we learned about value. Value is the varying light and darkness within a composition that help define yadda yadda yadda. Nobody is really reading this anyway, just look at the picture (charcoal on newsprint).

Negative Space

2006-08-01T09:39:00.001-07:00

Using any shape (in my case, a sailboat), we were to come up with 4 different compositions: big, big and small, pointing, and complex. Click on the pictures for more detail.

Photoshop

2006-07-28T12:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a little composition I threw together in my Digital Principles class. Its actually a photoshop class in disguise. Since I new all about the "selection and transformation tools" (the subject matter for the day), I decided to make my own project. Obviously, the elements on the right were combined to form the main image. I added motion blur to the Jet, Gaussian blur to the palms, and distorted the ears and eyes on the goat.

Drawing Class

2006-07-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

Some of the many things to buy while at AIP are art supplies. Not only do I get an entire art store, but I carry it around in a little luggage-portfolio case. Not bad when your sharing a bus with half of Portland.

Pine Cone Thumbnails

2006-07-24T19:48:00.000-07:00

Among all of these little studies, our main project is to draw a pinecone of our choice. We had to begin by making small thumbnails of different angles and compositions. We had to churn out as many as we could in 15 minutes, not getting too detailed, just exploring the options.

Plane Study

2006-07-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

The only instruction here was to make sure that all of the leaf's veins were conected to an edge or another vein. That way, they make complete planes. Interesting how many dementions that one little instruction makes.