Storyboard

Progress Report

I've learned a lot from doing this project as it incorporated a lot of elements I've never used before, primarily implementing dynamics.

Dynamics were, admittedly, very hard to wrap my mind around at first glance. However, after hours of experimentation, I've reached a better understanding of their concept as well as how powerful their application can be. They really gave the pin a realistic spin and feel.

I was also happy that I could bring my other skill (video editing, after effects) into play. I see myself combining multiple applications and techniques as it was an enjoyable experience.

One area that I do believe needs work is the texturing of the wood. No matter how much I played with it, I couldn't get it to look exactly how I wanted. There is also some clipping issues that need to be fixed, but I'm not sure how to do that.

Production Log

April 20th, 2010

- Initial idea drafted

- Storyboard created

April 23rd, 2010

- Initial run (Dynamic experimentation)

April 25th, 2010

- Scene one finished

- Scene two started

April 28th,2010

- Scene two finished

- Scene three started

- Scene three finished

May 1st. 2010

- Editing starts

- Editing finished

- Post-production starts

May 3rd, 2010

- Post-production finished

- Blog updated

Screenshots

Final Project Proposal

My final project will be a continuation of my midterm, but I will replace ALL of the key frames with Dynamics. For times sake, I will remove the character animation for the PushPin, but will use After Effects to "give it life".

My goal is a mastery of dynamics while also weaving a storyline.

Production Log

February 28th, 2010

- Created storyboard
- Began designing pushpin

March 2nd, 2010

- Finished pushpin
- Started on floor

March 9th, 2010

- Finished floor
- First pass at animation for push pin

March 16th, 2010

- Finished first pass
- Began smoothing out animation (jumps, bounces, speed)

March 21st,

- Renders made and posted.

Progress Report

So far, the project has been going better than expected thanks to my prior knowledge and experience with Autodesk Maya. The Push Pin itself is modeled using one piece of geometry to avoid any problems when I start animating the pin itself.

However, the animation and spin when the pin bounces feels unnatural. It is moving too fast and also does not have the hang time that an object has in the air. Also, the texture on the "floor" plane is very staticky and glitchy; it needs adjustment.

Before I move onto animating the push pin, I want to fix these above issues as well as incorporate some editing techniques used in traditional film making to create a more complete and immersible animation. I'll be looking more at our original ball tutorial as well as how a human body moves around to get a sense for how the push pin should act.