When we filmed last Thursday in front of a green screen, I was the first to go so I didn't really know what I was doing. Luckily we had a little Harry Potter wand so I casted a spell ("Wingardium Leviosa!") in hopes that I will be able to animate a feather or something hovering in the air. Then I casted some kind of shield of invisibility around me (or something) that I will hopefully be able to use particles when we learn those. I had a lot of fun watching everyone else's little skits, especially Ben's fight on a rooftop. I may end up animating that clip instead...
I'm still not quite sure how I would animate the feather realistically, so I may also end up doing a tracking shot like we did in class, in which I'd film something around campus, key out the sky, and put something ginormous in the background, like one of those tripod alien ships from War of the Worlds. Or maybe an oncoming tidal wave. Hmm....So many options....
Anyway, that's what I'm thinking so far! I had never really thought about how difficult it is to film in front of a green screen before last week. There are so many parameters you have to make sure are working correctly before getting a good shot. I have to say, I'm still a big fan of building your own sets, just because it gives the actors and audience something "real" to look at, but a green screen can be sooo helpful. Adios!
One of my fav quotes from Talladega Nights. I know this movie is stupid, but I love it.
Made this in After Effects. I was surprised I didn't use any presets like I was planning on doing. Instead I just had fun rearranging the text around the screen. The audio clip is from The MovieWavs Page (www.moviewavs.com), which I was highly impressed with. They have a huge database of downloadable audio clips from different movies.
Anyway, I think this project actually took longer than I thought. It was a breeze at first, then I realized that many hours had actually passed... I never realized just how many words people say in such a short amount of time! I had fun doing it, and it was surprisingly easy, so hopefully I'll make more soon!
This kid has too strong and disturbed of an imagination.
Or maybe that's just me.
Here I have made a few billboards as you saw from my last entry. The hands and sheet (background) were done in Photoshop and imported into After Effects. I used only one camera to zoom in on the shadows and one spotlight to cast them.
There are a lot of things I want to change about this, but I have run short on time to get the assignment in (my own fault), so I'll submit this and then correct it later this week to my liking. :) I've been out of town since Friday for a grad school interview/program, so, naturally, nothing got done for school this weekend! And I'd do it tomorrow before class but I just got a job (yay!) that I have to work.
But enough of excuses! For the things I would fix: SOUND EFFECTS. I have a folder full of potential sound effects that I really want to play with, like the sound of a kid laughing, dogs barking, birds squawking, and a monster laughing. And a burp. Like I said, once I get enough time I will mix them all in Logic Pro. I also really hate that little jerk the camera does at the beginning when zooming in, but it just takes so long to render out (this one took about 30 minutes, maybe a little more) that I didn't want to sit through it again. Finally, looking at it now, I would like to experiment with making the sheet a bit transparent and adding one or two low key lights behind it, just to add a little realism. Oh, and the shadows need to be darkened. I can see a bit of the edge of the left hand where I had attached it to the arm.
I really enjoyed this assignment and I'm actually pretty pleased with how mine came out. (I had been scared to death of doing something in 3D!) I gave myself nightmares creating that monster hand. It actually looks kind of like a dragon in its shadow form, but if I were to pull the camera back and let you see what the actual hand looks like when its mutated...it's just terrifying.
And for the record, I don't hate children, I promise.
Here is my progress so far in making a short bit in AE called "Shadow Puppets." The idea is with one camera and one light I can show a kid playing with shadow puppets against the backdrop of this sheet here: Here are some of the hands I'm using. We've got an alligator:
and a dog: I have already set up the scene in AE, but I haven't recorded any movement yet to show you. You'll have to wait till next week for that!
All of these files were made in Photoshop using the pen, brush and paint bucket tools. I also have versions of them where the hands are actually separated from the arms so that I can animate them separately in AE. My only worry is that the files are too small and will end up pixely when animating them. I'm planning on using the puppet tool on the hands to make them bend. That way the pinky can move on the "dog" so it can bark and the "jaws" of the alligator can move. All you will see is their shadows, so it doesn't really matter how distorted they end up being.
I'm going to try and find some nice sound effects in the UT sound library once again. The dog should be easy enough, but what does an alligator sound like?
~Becca
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
IT SNOWED IN AUSTIN, TEXAS.
I just have to get the word out. Yesterday it snowed on at least three separate occasions, and if you're not from here you won't understand the joy a native Texan feels when that fluffy white stuff falls from the sky. IT'S AWESOME. It inspired me to do a very stark and deceptively simple-looking animation of a boy watching the snow fall outside his fogged-up window. I wanted it to look sort of sketchy, like a drawing, which is why it's only in black and white.
I actually made the window and the animated snow in Flash, simply because (to make a long story short) the Communications building was shut down early yesterday evening and opened late this morning due to snow/weather issues. I don't have AE on my laptop but I did have this, so...yeah.
Anyway, I imported the window and snow into After Effects and created several masks over the windows with varying levels of Feathering. (That's the foggy stuff covering the glass.) The boy was drawn by mouse (ugh) in Photoshop, each body part/article of clothing on a separate layer. I imported the layers into AE and had to reposition everything and parent the limbs together, which was WAY harder than it sounds. I animated the two masks on the lower left windowpane (one is set to add, the other subtract) to change size and shape as the boy's hand goes over them, one in a circular motion, the other from left to right. One of the requirements for the assignment was to add an animated mask wipe, so I had the kid literally wipe away the mask. Aren't I witty?? ...
It's hard to see the mask because everything is white, and if I could go back and change it I would give the sky a different color so you could see the fog effect better. Unfortunately, because I did the window in Flash, I'd have to go back through the whole process again to add the background. Maybe one day I will be able to afford AE...
Now, many of the following effects are there, you just can't see them because they were done for editing purposes. My first problem was the window frame (the cross thing in the middle of the window). I forgot to fill it in with white, and when I added the snow animation in the background you could see the flakes through the frame. I had to go in and animate white paint to cover up the snow bits whenever they pass through the frame... A real pain, but that's what I get for forgetting! I also had to go in and erase a TON of stray black paint that randomly popped up in the window. My laptop's screen isn't exactly clean and new, and I hadn't noticed those issues when I was working on it at home. If you went into the AE file you'd find all sorts of random keyframes where I just had to erase little specks of stuff!
When I can find it, I'm going to add sound effects for when the boy wipes away the window. The Communications department is really good about maintaining a nice sound effects library for students to use, but I couldn't find one for wiping glass. Perhaps Google holds the answer. *shrug*
Well, enjoy! Today it's bright and sunny outside, which is nice, but I sure do love the snow. :)
I know, I know. Not much different than last time. This time, though, I used "nesting" to make my Skyscape picture shake in the background by turning its layers into a pre-composition and applying the Wiggler effect and Motion Blur to it. I also added a Wolfen to chase my Arwing. You may not be able to tell very well, but I added very slight ease in/ease outs to the ships as they zoom in and off screen. I actually am not too happy with the result (I think it looks a little stilted, especially toward the end there...) but, like I said last time, I'm learning.
Again, sound was done in Logic Pro. I used a combination of F5 and Marchetti sound fx for the Wolfen, and added a few more Harrier and Gnat fx to the Arwing. I also added an avalanche rumble.
Next time I'll do something completely different, I swear! This week was just kind of crazy because I have two midterms in the next two days. :) Happy Mardi Gras!!!
An Arwing from Nintendo's Star Fox series zooms off into the distance.
I'm learning After Effects for the FIRST TIME EVER so please don't be too harsh. I'm not going to lie, AE scares the crap out of me. As soon as I open up the interface and see all those little buttons and parameters I automatically go into panic-mode. So I'm still learning...
The ship has both a motion blur and a gaussian blur (however you spell it) applied to it, and I sketched out its motion path. I would've simply manually moved its position, but AE kept making its path curve instead of the straight line I wanted. Another thing I'll have to figure out. You can't really tell, but I manipulated the Arwing's rotation a bit throughout its flight to give it a bit more movement. If I had time to be really nit-picky, I would go back and quicken the Arwing's launch in front of the planet and slow its disappearance into the background a bit more, since that's how movement and depth-perception work in real life...
I wanted to make the background sort of shake using the Wiggler effect just before the ship passes by the camera to give it a little realism, but I'm not quite sure how to do that, yet, since my Skyscape picture was divided into many layers in AE. I'm sure there is a way to group the layers in the program and then apply the same effect to all of them, I just don't know how yet. I also wanted to make the engine glow on and off, but, again, I'm still figuring it all out. :/
The sound effect I created in Logic Pro. It's the combination of a Harrier engine revving, a Gnat flying by overhead, a flanged whoosh noise, and a synthy sort of 'waah'. (It's hard to explain that last one!) The result sounds a little too jettish for me, and, looking back, I should've added a space depth effect so it's delay would've sounded more like the ship was in space. Then again, in real life there is no sound in space, so I guess I can do whatever I want! I had to manipulate the panning and volume of all of those sound fx so that they went from right to left, soft to loud to soft, following the Arwing's flight.
If I had time, I would've made a space battle. Perhaps for my next assignment...?
~Becca
P.S. Sorry for the poor video quality. I had originally posted it on Vimeo, but it's STILL "waiting in line..." I posted it yesterday. I don't know if it's normal for it to take so long (I'm new to Vimeo), but I went ahead and posted it on my YouTube account. So there ya go!
