Regents Weak

(Note: Choosing to write "weak" instead of "week" was a conscious decision, it was not a spelling error)

• Learned

This week I learned that green screens (or the green wall perhaps) is a big pain in the butt to use. Needless to say, I have made many mistakes in my PSA that I am not proud of... Ugh...

• Want to learn

Uh, better green screening? Uh.... better lighting perhaps... Uh...

• Frustrated you

Other than what was stated above, I guess I am getting a little overwhelmed at the sheer amount of work being dumped on us at one time, but hey, that's probably how it's going to be in the real world. All I can do is tough it out and get my **** together.

• Made you happy

Drawing alone, drawing with friends (specifically Emily. She is such a huge inspiration and a big help), watching other people draw, looking at finished drawings, writing, roleplaying with my idols on Tumlr, roleplaying with people who look up to me as an idol on Tumblr (or maybe I'm being a bit arrogant. Yeah, that's probably it), and all things creative and fun that eat up your time when you're supposed to be going to bed but when you turn away from the clock, BOOM, it's 6 am already. Heh, good times...

• Link of interest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXU_y-GIFsE

• Comments

The artist kind of discussing his thought process and making idol conversation while he does the essential face challenge for his characters. He demonstrates that, when doing this, it is beneficial (or possibly even necessary) to make the same faces that your characters are to make. After all, artists are just actors with pencils.

Five Armies of CGI

Mike Seymour spoke about the various animation and rendering advances of The Hobit: The Battle of Five Armies in response to the film not receiving an Oscar nomination. He begins talking about one of the things that first brought attention to the Lord of the Rings films: the crowd simulation software Massive. Seymour explained how it was used in the newest film to create very entertaining and dynamic battle scenes between clashing armies. In addition to Massive, Army Manager was used to help the director Peter Jackson to visualize the fight scenes and decide the best way to shoot them. The Hobit installment also got to show off the power of the Manuka renderer, which allowed for breathtaking fluid and fire and destruction simulations and allowed for highly detailed renders of characters. Yet despite all of these feats, the film still did not receive a nomination which goes to show just how competitive those spots are.

I was actually pretty shocked that the film didn't earn a nomination. Like, why didn't it? I learned that good movies don't always get Oscar nominations? I don't know. I still have yet to watch the film, but I suppose that if the story was lacking, then I can understand why it fell short, but I have no clue as of this moment. Just how powerful are the computers that render these films and how do you manage an army with a single computer simulation?? Efficient use of CGI can greatly enhance your film, but despite this, it may still go unrecognized (??)

Breaking Bay

In an interview with Michael Bay on action scenes, the director states that he is always trying new things and learning from past experiences. Each new explosive effect, each new camera angle, and each new stunt is a result of this accumulation of experience. An example would be when he was trying out the Phantom Flex (a very high speed camera), the viewer's sense of time and space became distorted to the point of not being able to figure out how fast or how slow something was moving. He also discusses his different uses of camera angles in a scene where the actors have to walk across a set of wires. He wanted to show the fear in the one woman by using a farther and higher up shot from behind her and cutting to a closer, lower angled face shot of the same actor, expressing extreme distress. Again, that scene was shot with a brand new special camera and and it produced the desired effect he was looking for.

Bay also details his experiences shooting in areas such as Hong Kong where the rules and regulations are different than in the United States. The director had to improvise and use new methods to get the necessary areas clear of people.

These experiences and equipment are what make Michael Bay's movies Michael Bay's. The newest camera equipment, the practical effects, the dynamic camera shots are all what set this director out from the rest.

I suppose that Bay could serve as an inspiration for wanting to try new things, but he just came off as arrogant to me. I don't much care for Bay or his practical effects. I learned to try new things and be creative no matter what anyone else thinks (which actually applies to what I am doing now). I want to know how Bay gets a hold of all of this "never before used" camera equipment and why he is alwasy the "first one" to use them (hipster much?). Like I said in the beginning, this could serve as a sort of inspiration to try new techniques and to try things that other people may say is impossible.

I am still not a fan of Michael Bay.

Enjoying the Lazy Days

• Learned

I can't say that I've learned too much while away on my break. I guess I picked up on a few drawing tricks from watching artists over livestreams, but that's about it.

I also learned a bit about explosions :D

• Want to learn

 MORE ABOUT EXPLOSIONS!!

and more drawing/shading/coloring techniques

• Frustrated you

I'm a little nervous about my explosions exercise. I don't want it to be cheesy, but I'm worried that's exactly what's going to happen

• Made you happy

Spending time with friends and loved ones but also spending time away from friends and loved ones.  Sometimes a skype call can mean quite a bit. Thank goodness for that amazing program. <3

• Link of interest 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovb-pNuaUPU

• Neat new installment to the Culture Shock series on YouTube. Gaijin Goomba educates the watchers on the lore behind some of Fox McCloud's moveset in Super Smash Brothers. He ties them back to Kitsunes, magical fox creatures of Japanese mythology.

Eye Spy

The eyes are one of the first thing you look at in a human or humanoid being. Previously, they eyes of animated character have been cut and copy, lacking much variation other than color and size. Now, with the help of six cameras with special lenses and special lights, photo-realistic eyes can be made. The eyes are constructed using multiple different layers for the different parts of the eye, the sclera, the cornea, the iris, and the eye proxy. These layers are specially textured and put together to construct a believable eye. Even the dilation of the eye was captured and replicated in the model. These new eyes can potentially increase the quality of foreground characters and improve the quality of the animated films.

I don't know how this will ever effect me, but I suppose it's good to know that photo-realistic eyes are possible. I learned that photo-realistic eyes are made possible by Disney. How do the images taken of the eye help with the modeling? Animation and modeling is becoming considerably more realistic as time progresses. Animation may one day become so realistic that it becomes tough to distinguish between animated and non-animated films.

Character Resizing

Height, or the perception of height, is critical when it comes to characterization. Characters that are tall are typically powerful, menacing, and intimidating. Conversely, characters that are small are seen as weak, youthful, and less frightening. Skillful movie makers utilize this technique to give their characters a certain level of believability, but this can also be manually altered or warped. One of the easiest ways to create the illusion of height is to adjust your camera angles accordingly. To make a character seem taller, lower the camera so that it is looking up towards the subject. The opposite is true if you want to make the subject look shorter. Other tricks can be used such as using wide angle lenses, having the actor stand on boxes, giving the actor larger props to work with, having the subject sit in a taller seat, and altering the setting so that the objects are bigger or smaller than reality.

I thought that the article was very informative and it taught me about tricks that I never would have guessed or realized. I learned of a few new ways to increase or decrease the perceivable size of an actor. How much is too much? What is the fine line between realistic and cheesy when it comes to increasing or decreasing the size of the subject? This is a helpful and very useful trick to know and I should keep it in mind for later use.