Extra Credit: Lighting a Scene in Maya

One-Point Lighting

Two-Point Lighting

Three-Point Lighting

Building a Scene in Maya

Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action

My first two term paper scores were 95 and 90; I will not be writing a third term paper. Thanks!

Outline for the Third Term Paper

Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action

Special Effect: Explosions

Games: "The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker" and "Battlefield 4"

The Legend of Zelda:

Wind Waker: Extremely stylized. There are little plumes that are designed, then combined, overlaid, and animated to create a animated explosion. Not a lot of variation from explosion to explosion. Works very well because of the stylization of the game. (Overlaying of graphic plumes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zG5gHLCp7g, explosion examples: http://youtu.be/Ob-yWsolAzw?t=13m56s)

Battlefield 4:

Realistic explosions that are simulated using a virtual physics engine. Requires much more processing power than the explosions in Wind Waker. Attempts to simulate realistic chaos in an explosion, while making it feasible to compute. Very successful because it is able to balance what is designed and what is calculated by the computer, and the result looks quite realistic. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2vOu8QkPd0)

Outline:

I. Intro:

Thesis: Explosions can add a lot to the epic feeling of a video game, and can be done right in multiple ways.

II. Body:

The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

• ·         Explosions are extremely stylized to fit in with the stylized world.
• ·         All of the explosions for a bomb are really basically the same explosion, but it isn't distracting due to the extreme stylization. When the explosions go off, the camera shakes a bit (as well as the world) to add to the impact.
• ·         Works very successfully for the game as the explosions look visually appealing and add to the feeling of action in the world.

Battlefield 4

• ·         Explosions are far more realistic and use more of a physics engine to simulate them.
• ·         There is a large variety in the explosions, and depending on what weapon you use, what you are exploding, and where you hit what is exploding the explosion will look different.
• ·         Works successfully because the play station has enough processing power to calculate the complex explosions that the creators have set up. Things blow up in an way that is done as realistically as any game ever has.
•  

Conclusion:

Whether simple and designed or more chaotic and physically accurate, explosions can add a lot to a game.

Stop-Motion Character Animation

This was such an incredibly fun project to work on, and I worked on it with some very entertaining people--Kristin Campbell, Eric Garcia, Lancing Chen, and Sony Tran. The work between us was quite well distributed I thought too and everyone had some part in almost everything that we did, which made for pretty a smooth production process. I supplied most of the equipment for the animation: the computer, software (monkeyjam), camera, tripod, and clay for the animation. Since I was operating the camera and software most of the time I was able to add input on how the characters were staged and posed in each shot, and I helped make sure that each character and object animated as smoothly and realistically as possible from frame to frame. I also helped physically animate the murderer, who had some rather tricky movements. After watching Cassidy Curtis' lecture we felt inspired to include a smear frame even, which added a lot to the feel of the stabbing motion I thought. It was so interesting having to animate everything straight ahead, and it took a significant amount of thought to plan out each character's movements and actions. We adjusted the timing after everything was shot and done, and then took it into premier pro where Eric added a title and credits. Then Kristin, Eric, and I added some sound effects to give the animation its finishing touch! I had such a great time working on this project and creating something with my brilliant friends!

Smear frame

Our animation setup

Cast Group Portrait