Metamorphosis

Finished animation!

Wed, 04 May 2011 09:27:18 +0100

Finished animation!

http://www.mtgrafix.com/dynamics/auroramore.html

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0100

http://www.mtgrafix.com/dynamics/auroramore.html:

There is not a lot in terms of tutorials for creating an aurora effect in Maya. However I have managed to find this one website where someone has done something similar that is being very helpful to me in explaining particles/curves/motion etc.

This is the music I will be using for my animation. It is a...

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:43:00 +0100

This is the music I will be using for my animation. It is a short 1:30 piece from the Umineko no Naku Koro ni OST. This music will not just simply be placed over the entire animation… I will have to edit the parts I want with the appropriate part of video.

Song: “White Shadow” by dai.

Aurora reference video 2 Second video. This one shows terrain...

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:39:00 +0100

Aurora reference video 2

Second video. This one shows terrain under the aurora which will also be very useful for reference in the later part of my animation.

Aurora reference video 1 On my storyboard I have not planned the...

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:38:00 +0100

Aurora reference video 1

On my storyboard I have not planned the aurora part of my animation. I don’t see the point of planning movement that is seemly random and doesn’t really make any difference what it will do. Instead, I pasted the link to 2 youtube videos showing examples of aurora movement. I will base the aurora in my animation from these 2 videos.

This is the first one, showing just the why the aurora moves in the sky. This will be most useful for the beginning scenes where the snake first starts the metamorphosis.

I have produced a storyboard for my final animation. I have...

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:37:00 +0100

I have produced a storyboard for my final animation. I have written notes on movement/timing etc which aren’t visible on tumblr so here are links to larger files:

http://i55.tinypic.com/2a7sjr8.png

http://i55.tinypic.com/jigwvb.jpg

My idea is a combination of narrative and aesthetics… The story deals with a snake which is run over. The “spirit” of the snake then metamorphosises into colourful swirls in the sky… this is the aesthetic part. A large portion of the animation is going to be focused on an aurora in the sky. The snake-like shape will gradually expand into a full blown aurora. The finishing scenes will also show landscape, and to make this short animation more… “complete”… I am ending the video with a link to the beginning: the car zooming past.

Images of aurora. Colours and shapes which I find interesting,...

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 01:08:00 +0000

Images of aurora. Colours and shapes which I find interesting, relating a bit to the effects in the music video a few posts down. I also researched these because the shapes the aurora makes in the sky is shown in swirly lines, similar to the snakes. The first image shown here is a drawing of the aurora and so the lines are exaggerated. The last image is a slow shutter speed photo of when a car has driven past, showing the lines of the lights with the aurora in the background also.

I think I am getting closer to deciding on a rough idea with these as I see a good room for development in this half narrative half aesthetic idea of snakes and colour swirls in the sky.

I did a quick search on snakes after my previous piece of...

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 00:56:00 +0000

I did a quick search on snakes after my previous piece of research. These are some images I thought were interesting. They all show the idea of a snake-like object used in different examples. I could use some of these to change the snake in to.

I found this image interesting as it is very stylised but still...

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 00:50:00 +0000

I found this image interesting as it is very stylised but still includes snakes and nature objects. The woman is drawn in a simple way, but her hair is a colourful tangle of small creatures and plantlife. This could also show metamorophosis… in a Medusa kind of way.

This music video shows some kinds of abstract pattern which is...

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 00:45:00 +0000

This music video shows some kinds of abstract pattern which is used to make something not very interesting into a capturing visual experience. I have struggled to show what I mean by aesthetic before now, but this video pretty much sums it up. It is not metamorphosis by itself, but I would perhaps like to use elements of this…

Looking back through my research for ideas I find this image to...

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:30:00 +0000

Looking back through my research for ideas I find this image to have a lot of potential for development probably the most. A snake is quite a simple object and this image captures a kind of fantasy aesthetic that I’d like to have as a main part of my animation. The snake can be textured simply, and here is shown “biting” his tail in effect making a circle. I could use snakes/similar to create shapes. However this by itself is not metamorphosis…

In the background are other shapes, colours, simple images… I am indeed not a fan of Kelly but I do really see this as a useful piece to my project.

I was browsing for more ideas for my final animation and came...

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:31:29 +0000

I was browsing for more ideas for my final animation and came across “sand art.”

Here the artist uses sand to create pictures, and moves the sand in different ways to create new pictures. This is clever in itself but I thought it related well to my idea as the images produced are made of quite simple shapes, and the look of the pieces are abstract. This is the kind of style I would be thinking of using in backgrounds, for example.

Here comes the hardest part of a project...

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 18:08:29 +0000

Deciding on an idea.

Yet, it has to be done. I have been thinking for the last few weeks since I did most of my research, what idea should I follow.. what would make the best animation. I am trying not to think about the limits of my Maya ability. There will be a solution to everything, I’m sure, if I took the time to learn while going along.

Looking back through all my research, the thing that doesn’t involve character animation, and tricky nature scenes (who wants to try making that reflected plant image in Maya, haha) is the dead cow. I have quite a few ideas of how I could develop this, but I’d also like to incorporate some properties of my other research. For example I really would prefer to do an aesthetic piece over a narrative, but I do not have any ideas for aesthetics on their own. Using some things from the Kyle Cooper video combined with the cow could produce something interesting, and a combination of aethetics and narrative.

Also as I’ve been working with Maya, I’ve been thinking more in terms of basic shapes, and it’s reminded me of some drawing classes I’ve had and what some teachers have told me about capturing form. Even in “learn to draw” books, mostly everything is constructed using circles, squares, triangles. It could be a path I could go down if I were to make my animation more abstract (e.g. use the fact that objects are made out of shapes to my advantage in creating a particular style).

Well, it is something that I will be thinking about this week, and I can hopefully graze a final idea from all this.

Learning Maya: Polygonal Texturing Today I completed the...

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 15:41:00 +0000

Learning Maya: Polygonal Texturing

Today I completed the texturing tutorial for the penguin we modelled previously. (However I used the pre-modelled file off the disk for this). Here are a selection of views of my finished penguin. Using the UV texture editor and 3d paint tool among others I “coloured-in” the model. I found this to be much easier and of interest to me personally than the modelling. The only problems really that I enountered whilst doing this was that it was difficult to accurately paint the body using a mouse and as a result I think the painting could be better. I enjoyed learning about the available textures in Maya, and was particularly impressed with how the ramp texture can be used to create the eyes!

On a side note, for some reason there was a small strip in the middle of the penguin’s chest which I could not paint no matter what I tried. It is visible in a few of these pictures but at this stage it does not concern me much, as I will be able to focus better on perfecting the model when I have a better knowledge of the software.

The Metamorphosis: My Thoughts

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:02:00 +0000

For this project, I decided to read Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. At first I wasn’t really expecting much from a story who’s plot was “a man wakes up, he’s now a huge bug.” BUT, after reading it all, I conclude that it is actually an amazing piece of literature!

The quote below is taken directly from the book. It is getting towards the end of the story, and at which time I am feeling so sorry for poor Gregor.

The book starts out pretty much stating that this man has awoken, and now appears to be a large insect. However, the character doesn’t really react to it, he seems just to accept it, and through his thoughts you get to know him and his human life. Kafka does a very good job of making the reader care for his characters. Even the father, mother, and sister are all presented very human-like, with weaknesses and strengths that makes them seem real.

The story progresses, and mostly centres around the thoughts of Gregor, and his adjustment to life as a bug. Towards the beginning of the book the whole family struggles heavily with this change, but what affected me most whilst reading was how the situation degrades. How Gregor as a person is forgotten about, and how he comes to be neglected, even though he provided for everyone before. I think it shows a lot about human nature.

The thing that most confuses me, is why did Kafka write something like this in the first place? What inspired him? Are there any morals to the story? I did honestly expect the situation to be resolved, and there to be a happy ending, a conclusion really. But however, besides the fact that a man has transformed into a large insect, I think this story is much more life like than pretty much.. any plot for a book, a film, these days. It’s very deep.

In regards to metamorphosis: The changes seen here are mental rather than physical. Gregor wakes up as the bug, so that isn’t described. Rather, his mannerisms become more bug-like as the story goes on. The family also changes. Everyone moves on. The last words of the book: “their daughter stood up first and stretched her young body.” I thought this was an odd choice, as the main focus of the whole of the rest of the text had been Gregor. But it describes just that; everyone moving on. (Yes.. I feel it’s a pretty sad ending to a story I’ll never hear anymore of!)

"Perhaps the cleaning woman intended to retrieve the things when she had the time and opportunity, or..."

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 00:59:46 +0000

“Perhaps the cleaning woman intended to retrieve the things when she had the time and opportunity, or to throw them all out at the same time, but in reality they remained wherever they had landed at the first toss, unless Gregor twisted through the rubbish and set it in motion, at first out of necessity, because no other space was open to crawl through, but later with increasing delight, although after such excursions, tired to death and dejected, he would again remain motionless for hours.”

- Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis

More Kelly Moore… Kelly also posts the occasional photo...

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 17:31:00 +0000

More Kelly Moore…

Kelly also posts the occasional photo on her website, mostly accompanied by a poem-like piece of writing. This passage in particular shocked me (I’m a vegetarian). The picture depicted a strong enough opinion as it was, but then I read the text, with my mouth hanging open:

dead cow at four corners

the fat brown cow

prolly deserved it

one thing u cant ignore about the universe

whether u believe in heaven or karma or evolution

(chose the descriptive destination place of your choice!)

is that there seems to be an

odd circular justice in the world

and this roadkill

now isnt even good enough

for hamburger

For a moment it seems like she is getting on to something at least bordering on meaningful (with the karma and evolution), but then she goes on to talk about hamburgers…

Taking the words “circular justice” out of this context however, and it sounds like something fairly interesting.

The form of the dead cow, which Kelly has likened to roadkill (the word to me means a small creature or bird - not a COW!) introduces a new angle to my research so far, I believe. As we won’t be modelling characters at this stage, taking the lifeless form of a living creature is a possibility instead of a manmade object. This could add a bit more interest and depth to the animation.

Kelly Moore http://www.kellymoore.net/ The last 30 mins or so...

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 17:29:00 +0000

Kelly Moore

http://www.kellymoore.net/

The last 30 mins or so while I’ve been looking at this artist’s website is probably the most involved I’ve felt in my research so far. I stumbled over the website by chance and my interest was caught initially by how bad the website is and how bad the artist’s spelling is, which is not a promising start!

However, this, in combination with the actual art (many examples above), it urged me to look at EVERY post on the site. I personally do not like the style of the work, but it was the personality of the paintings, the writing, and the artist that interested me. They fit together seamlessly, and actually, this little gallery of work gave me more emotion than looking at one of the “greats” such as Dali for example.

The writing describing the pieces was especially amusing. This is what the artist wrote to describe one piece:

summers over

sould

8 by the ten oily mess on board

(clik the pik to sea moore weakly art)

Does she care about her work at all? I thought. But I have come to know that this is just her personality, in her art and also in her writing.

The pictures themselves do show elements of metamorphosis, but that was not what made me look at the work to start with.

Vivian Ginsberg...

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 17:18:00 +0000

Vivian Ginsberg Smith

http://www.viviginsbergsmith.com/index.php

This artist is a ceramic designer, however I can clearly see metamorphosis in her work. Some of the example images here replicate a flower bud blooming. I really like the shapes that the delicate outer layer takes, and how it curls as it is blossoming. To find out more information about the artist I read her about me section, part of which is as follows:

I’m drawn to spherical forms, inspired by plant and animal life. I’m constantly inspired by the connection between nature and humanity. My spherical sculptures recreate the womb, a container for life. Growing up the oldest of five siblings, and mothering my family of eight, with seven grown and one almost out of the nest, nurturing new life and watching it grow is a deeply abiding and profound experience for me, which I express through my art.

The start of this is fair enough, I know what she means. But then afterwards when she refers to the womb as a “container for life,” I start getting grossed out. I never liked biology and anything to do with human inners I always put into the “ignore” part of my brain straight away!

It is an interesting point however, that metamorphosis, that of butterflies and such, is quite gross when you think about it from a human perspective (those like me who tend to stay away from anything relating to bodily functions). This could be a point from which to start my animation from.

From the research that my classmates presented last week, I...

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 16:56:00 +0000

From the research that my classmates presented last week, I noticed that a lot of people had ideas relating to trees and nature. I wasn’t planning on researching trees etc as well but I came across this image and thought it was really nice. It is the combination of shapes, colours, and the butterflies that make it look fantastical. While one can guess that the black shapes on the left are the branches of a tree, with a tiny bit of altering I think that it could be turned into just a mess of interesting shapes. As in the first video I presented as research, this would be an aesthetic means of displaying the animation. I’m still quite interested in this idea, but still it would take a lot more thought than just branch-inspired shapes and some pretty butterflies.