Beyond Imagination >>>My NYU Senior Thesis<<<

Here's the final video of my senior thesis at NYU.

I passed my thesis.....Finally Over...

Today i passed my thesis. What a relief!!!!

Actually, to be honest, i was very nervous. i didn't know what they might ask me, or how they would react. When Justin went before me, i noticed panelists' reactions toward him, and noticed they are not overwhelmed. They were nice, calm, and were not freaked out for something they didn't like. Then, i realized that maybe it won't be that bad, and i hoped for the best.

Then came my turn, and i introduced myself w/ my thesis statement, followed by my thesis video. After watching my project for 3 times, the very first comment i heard was from Patricia when she said " Well done Anita, very nice job". Then i figured, Oh well Anita maybe it's not going to be so bad. As i said in my previous post, i was a little worried about my color correction but i guess it was alright.

I think because i had shown my work to Patricia and Myles a lot of times before, they didn't have anything major to say.

I just had a comment from Myles about shadows, which he and i had already discussed and i was telling him that i'm having some issues w/ tracking the shadows to the little girl.

And Patricia said same thing about my saturation of background and foreground, which again we had already discussed, and i worked on that after our meeting. Because of the time short, i wasn't able to follow all of her comments. She had suggested during our meeting to keep the action going on in every shot, and that i fixed by editing out my shots. Regardless of these minor issues, Patricia and Myles loved my piece. After they said this like 3 or 4 times, i was relaxed a bit, and my hands stopped shaking.

Then i looked at David, to hear his comments. I was a little worried about his comments, because he had never seen my work since last semester, and even then i had shown him only my storyboard.

But, it turned out to be that David liked my thesis a lot as well. Seeing him smiling at me, made me relax a little, and i was ready to listen to his comments. He loved my beginning shot, and he absolutely adored the camera movement from top to bottom, and he liked the sky there as well. Only comments he made was that sky was jumping in each shot after that. ( it's because i intented to do that way. I thought if paint strokes would flicker a little, it will show as if paint is being painted on, and each time it flickers, it develops a differnt stroke ). But i didn't say anything because it might turn against me, so i kept my mouth shut. But he said it's not a bad point, but it's just something that i would be considered about. Another comment he made was about the movement of the trees, and flowers. He loved the way i moved them, but he suggested it would be better to keep that movement on for a while. ( i tried doing that in Maya by adding turbulence, but i was having some issues. it took me 3 nights to render only 200 frames, and after all that when i looked at those frames in After Effects, trees were still. so without wasting any more time, i added turbulence in after effects. it looked a little fake, but it added movements to the trees, which i wanted). And another comment was about the end part. That actually is my fault because i edited out some shots, and after that my shots got a little shorter, and music was still going on. so i left an empty image of sky. He suggested it would be better to fade out everything along w/ music as soon as my animation was done. but because i knew it's my fault, i kept my mouth shut again.

overall, i think my presentation was really good. it wasn't as long as i expected to be. everyone said at least 3 or 4 times that they loved my piece, so i thought it's going to be alright.
And that it was.

i'm so happy it's over. and i'm really proud of myself for finishing what i started.

Thesis Panel ---->>>Tomorrow May 9th<<<----

Tomorrow is my thesis panel. I will go in the evening session, and my turn is second. It's good that i'm going second because i hate to go in middle, or at last. By the time my turn comes, i'm tired of biting my finger nails, my cold shaky hands, and my heart skipping every other beat.

But i'm thinking of going to the morning session as well, just to see how it goes. I just want to see what happens there, what kind of questions they ask, and what is it that i should get myself ready for so when i go in my own session, things don't come as surprise to me. God knows why i'm so nervous. I'm a bit worried about my color correction. I'm not very good at it, but i tried to do my best. All week long, i was worried about this day, and now that finally i'm about to be face to face with panel, i think it's going to be fine. I just want to be done with it, so this fear that i'm holding on to myself all day long will vanish once for all.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and hoping for good results. As my mom says, "rest is all up to God".

Final Thesis Production Book

Here's a link to the final production book of my thesis. i had to fix some things in previous post of my book, and i fixed those in this one. Hopefully, now everything will be fine.

Final Thesis - Beyond Imagination

Here's the final quicktime of my thesis - Beyond Imagination. I am happy with what i have so far. Could've done a little better job if had enough time to tweak everything that i wanted to after listening to other faculty members but no regrets. All that i did so far is good. I'm really glad because i accomplished what i wanted to do for my thesis.

Thesis Delivered

Today, May 30th, I delivered my thesis. Sound so easy right? But no, it wasn’t as easy as I thought. It was one of the most horrible day of my life.

It’s easier said than done. I been saying so far that things went so smooth and easy in this production process for my thesis but today I was proved wrong. I decided to wake up early today so I could give my books to be bound at kinkos, and then I’ll go to labs to burn video and data dvd. I woke up late, and went to kinkos at around 11 am, just to hear that their machines were down, and they were working on it. That came as a big shock to my heart, and I felt as if my heart skipped a beat. I thought I was going to kill someone right there but it wasn’t their fault that I left things for last minute. They still took my papers, and assured that I’ll get my books as soon as possible once machines were running. They took my name and number to call me when it’s done. I came to labs to burn my dvds, and that was done in no time. I waited for phone call from kinkos but nothing happened. I couldn’t wait, so I went there, and found out that they were done w/ 3 of my books, and were working on 4th one. A guy from kinkos came over to me, and said they couldn’t bound the 4th one because machines went down again. I was almost about to cry because it was already 3 o’clock, and books were due at 4 pm. But, things were not that bad because he said those 3 books were free of cost. That brought a little smile on my face. I grabbed my 3 books, and ran to NYU to deliver what I had so far. I delivered my 3 books, along with video and data dvd, and took my 4th book to village copier right behind NYU building. I gave it to a lady, and asked her to do it as soon as possible because I needed it in 5 minutes. She was nice, and she bound my book in no time. Once I got that, I paid for that, and I ran back to NYU to deliver that. FINALLY, I was relaxed. When I came out of the office, I closed the door behind me, and took a deep breath. What a busy day!!

That was so close. I thought I’ll never make it. I tried to calm myself down but my hands kept on shaking. I never experienced such thing like this in my entire life. Well, I guess that’s what happens when we leave things for last minute. So, from now on, I will never leave things on last minute.

Now that thesis is delivered, I have nothing to do. I’m just waiting for May 9th, when I’ll present my thesis in front of panel, and I will get my grade. God willing, everything will go fine.

Last one on one session w/ Mike.

Today, April 29th, i met Mike for our last session before thesis is due. There was nothing really to show or tell. I was working on my documents for production work, and at the same time, rendering my last shot. Once all are done, all i have to do is deliver it.

Today, for the first time, i saw all CADA students a tiny beeny relaxed. Before i saw everyone was running here and there with their problems of rendering, lighting, animation, and so on. But today, i saw everyone with some relaxation on them. Mostly everyone was looking at their renders being done on computers, and just like me everyone was working on their production book. It's nice to see how all of us came through this together.

And, i spoke to Mike today about the actual presentation day. I was asking him about how is everyone in panel going to react, what kind of questions they will ask, how should i get myself ready for that day, and so on.

For my overall production of thesis, i'm happy with what i have so far. I couldn't really follow all comments that i got from everyone because of time short. For example, Patricia had suggested to keep all shots in motion because i have motion going on in one shot, then in second, i have no motion in beginning, then after a while things start moving. She suggested to fix that in editing. I tried doing that, but the problem is my overall timing on music don't match with animation then. there are certain sound effects ( chimes ) that need to happen at specific time but when i edit shots, that timing gets messed up. So, i don't know if it's good thing or not. If i have questions on this panel, i'll explain why i couldn't follow this suggestion.

Other than that, i'm all set for making of production book, and burning my stuff on a dvd to hand in.

It's been a great semester, and a lot of work. I learned a lot of things, and no matter what, i'll always remember this time in future.

Final Audio by Andrew

Yesterday, i received final version of the audio for my thesis by Andrew. It sounds really great. Those two changes that i asked him to make, he did, and everything is going really smooth now.

I will render out the new audio with thesis soon, and will post it here. but i'm thinking to finish working on shots, and then i'll render out the final version.

Meeting with Patricia

Today, i finally had the chance to speak one on one with professor Patricia. i just wanted to show her what i have done so far, and see what she thinks of it. I had sent her mp4 of my thesis, and she told me today that she really loves what i have so far. Only problem was that there was a little issue of saturation in some shots. These are the same shots that i had problem with also because to me, they looked low res all the time. I had already discussed with Mike about this, and was working on those shots to fix them. I told Patricia that yes, i'm working on that now. One of the another comments that i got was that i stopped movements of things at the end of every shot, where instead things should keep on moving. She said it's not something major issue, but it's something that i should be concerned about. Other than this, she loved end titles as well. She suggested that instead of fading flowers and titles at the same time, maybe i can fade some flowers, and let titles stay. Then another title would come, and flowers would fade out. Again, she said it's something that i can do after thesis as well, because titles look great just the way they are now. BUT, i really liked her idea, and i'm trying to get enough time so i can show my titles like she suggested. It's not very time consuming, just moving a few keyframes here and there, but rendering is always the issue.

I'll see how much i can fix before actually handing in thesis.

Now, i'm relaxed because i have shown my work to almost all faculty members and have gotten their comments. Well, not exactly all of them, but the people i know will definitely be sitting in the panel on the day of my presentation. I wanted to know their comments, and feelings about my thesis, and see what else would they suggest to improve it more.

Post Production Book - Not completly done

Thesis Post Production Book

I been working on thesis production book. So far i have done most of the work. i lost my paper of buddy notes for faculty critique. Iman is being really nice to me to write it over for me. as soon as i get that paper from her, then i'll attach that as well here. Also, i haven't attached my blog page yet.

Thesis previz book - Colored

Click HERE to view thesis previz blook.

Last semester, i was missing my Shot Sheet in previz book. That's why, i had to add that to this new previz book. Also, last semester i had it printed in black and white. But now, we have to hand it in color, so i am making sure i have all documents attached.

Meeting with Andrew

Today, I met with Andrew Markus (Creative director of “4 Score + 7 Music”). I had a few comments during my last session with Mike to do some minor edits in music. It’s not that music had anything wrong with it but to make it better, Mike suggested some tips. That’s why I had to go see Andrew today to discuss with him about these edits.

Andrew is really nice guy, and he loved my thesis. He said he's having so much fun working on the music for my thesis. I gave him a copy of the recent version of my thesis, so he can start working on it. Overall, everything went fine during meeting and he has no problem with the comments by Mike. He agrees with those comments, and said he will start working on it as soon as possible.

As of current updates on thesis, I’m working on the documents for the final deliverables. I figured, if I start working on it little by little everyday, then I’ll have enough time to show these to Mike, and see if everything is alright. That’s all for now.

End Titles Fixed - ( not finalized )

I have fixed end titles as suggested by Myles, and personally i like it a lot. I was thinking to add different type of border for each titles that would come up. As of now, i just have 2 flowers on each side, but i'm working on more flowery borders so it would look nice with titles.

Meeting w/ Myles about Titles

Today, April 11th, i spoke w/ Myles about my recent updates on thesis. I wanted to get his feedback especially on titles, and so i did. He liked it overall, and was very happy w/ what i have done so far. He also suggested like Mike to add some turbulence on the trees ( which i'm working on now ).

He really loved the music that Andrew sent me.

And about titles, I'm really glad, i spoke to him. He gave me really great ideas, and i must say, if i don't use it, then it's really shame for me.

His idea was that since i'm using handwritten style for titles, which according to him is really strong, so he suggested to show my titles as if i'm designing a greeting card. I mean it was really great just to see him scribbling on the paper with my black marker, because it looked so great that i wanted to use just that as my titles. But he suggested to look at some typography, and pick up a style from there.

I can't wait to see how it would look when it's done the way Myles showed me.

My Thesis...Done??? Almost ;)

Well, this is what i've done so far. All shots, and scenes are done, and in place. I'm now working on shadows, and trees need to move a little, so i'm adding some turbulence in Maya. Once that's done rendering, i'll replace these still trees, with the trees that has movement in them. Also, i'm working on butterflies, because they need to glow. So, that's coming up. And, last but not the least, i'm working on titles. I got really great idea from Myles to make my titles look great. So, that's also coming up. Other than these, i'm a little relaxed now because it's almost done.

Another one on one session

Today, April 7th I had another one on one session w/ Mike about my progress on Thesis. I have almost all of my scenes and shots done. I laid down everything in FCP, including the audio that I got from Andrew, and showed it to Mike.

I am almost done but before that I have to tweak out some stuff.

I got a couple of suggestions to make it look even nicer.

- Butterflies’ wings need to fold a little more, and use Edge rays to make them glow
- When hands grab butterfly, they should stay a little longer, then open
- Inside of the hands when grabbing butterflies, should be a little darker
- Maybe add a little turbulence on little girl’s skirt when she’s walking away
- When she’s running after butterfly, tilt the camera to make it look natural
- Scale down the butterfly she’s running after
- And grass should grow right after she steps on the dry ground
- Add turbulence on trees

About End Titles

- don’t use wipe on, wipe off
- stay in one color
- talk to Myles to discuss more about titles
- fix “center for”, instead of “center of”

About Andrew’s Audio

- music should have a little more chimes when she’s running after butterfly
- when hands open, more music should happen like when “beyond imagination” shows up

That’s all. Now, I’m working on making movements of trees. I must say adding those effects in Maya to make tree move like it’s in wind, is really taking forever to render. I put it to render since morning, and it only rendered 10 frames so far.

Other than this, I sent an e-mail to Myles yesterday to discuss w/ him about my titles. I will see him on Wednesday.

And I have to send an e-mail to Andrew about these two more changes in the audio.

Final Audio from Andrew

Today, i received the final audio file from Andrew. I like it a lot, infact I love it. I'm going to render it out with the final composition of thesis on monday, and show it to Mike when i have my appointment w/ him at 4 pm. I'm sure he'll like it.

Other than this, I'm just tweaking out more stuff as i see more to tweak out.

Today, i didn't do anything on thesis because i had so much high fever that i decided to rest all day. Now that i'm feeling better, i'll get back to work starting 2morrow.

Shot 5

And here's shot 5. Still work in progress. There's not much to do here, except that now i notice after i see the render, that i need to add some more flowers, maybe i will go back in maya and grow some new colorful flowers. And i have to add shadows, and there's tree on left side of the screen with red flowers that cut off. I need to move it forward a little so it doesn't stay under the ground layer. Other than these little tweaks, i'm done with shot too.

Shot 4

For shot 4, i was thinking that i need to add more flowers in the background to show the change happening in the story. That's why i had to go back in Maya, and play around with some new flowers, and i added those here. Now i think it looks completed.

Shot 3

Here's shot 3. What i love about this is the dark fog, and placment of every element. i don't think i have anything else to finalize in this shot. So it's done.

Shot 2

Here's Shot 2. Comparing the look of shot 1 to this, i think it's not the same darker looking shot as shot 1. I'll have to go back to it, and use same amount of fog that i did in shot 1. And shadows were giving me some problems, so all i did was just used some blur so it doesn't look as solid as the original walk of little girl.

Shot-1 -

Here's the render of Shot 1. I think it's finalized. However, i still think it could look more darker, scarier by adding a little more fog.

Rendering Issues...

I'm having some issues in my thesis for the first time ever. It's not that i didn't face any problems so far, but i think this issue is really big, and i'm getting tired of it.

I'm using Sapphire plug-ins for one of the paint effect, and it turns everything black while rendering. i thought it's something that i'm doing wrong or maybe it's because file is so big, that's why it's happening. But after trying it 3 times, and getting same results, i figured it has to do w/ Sapphire. As you can see in the image, it's rendering fine, until elements turn black.

So, i decided to work in labs from now on. I'm almost done w/ everything. I'm just rendering out to see how it's looking, and going back to tweak some stuff here and there and re-rendering.

List of End Credits

Beyond Imagination

For my Family
Mom & Dad
Munish & Sandeep

Senior Thesis By
Anita Rani

Thesis Advisor
Mike Cushny

Original Music
Andrew Markus
4 Score + 7 Music

Little Girl Acted by
N. B. Nusrath

Special Thanks
CADA Faculty
All CADA Friends

New York University
Center of Advanced Digital Applications

Showcase Images (1280 x 720 )

Here are 3 Images for Showcase in 1280 x 720 Image size format.

Images for Showcase

These are the new 3 images that i worked on for Thesis Showcase. I think these are much better than last ones. Last time when i was working on these images, i was just saving a frame from animation itself. But after i spoke with Mike this Monday, he explained that it doesn't have to be a frame of animation. Instead, it's a composed poster of all or few elements. Hence, this is the result. Now, all i have to do is burn these on CD, fill out that form, and i'm done. Then i can go back to work on my Thesis.

End Credits - Not Finalized

End Credits - Not Finalized

Color Combinations for End Credits..

Now that the written style is finalized, i'm working on color combinations. I want it to stay in the same feel as of thesis, so i am using a couple of colors from my thesis look.

This is the color combination that i was thinking to go for previously, ( purple + green ) but then i thought that it's up againt sky, and it might not stand out. I had used purple for my Industry Review, and as you can see it in my last post, it doesn't stand out more. Therefore, I need some darker colors, so it would stand out, and easily read.

Then, i tried some color combinations using Red, and here's what i came up with. I think it will stand out more against sky, and it's perfect. There are a lot of choices to play around with just as i had for purple. But to make things easier, i'm going to use Red + Green.

That's it. Style is confirmed, and color is confirmed. Now, i'm going to work on animation of End Credits. Hopefully it will turn out to be great.

Does my Thesis Title look like Simpsons???

During my Industry Presentation, i was told that my hand-written style of Thesis title looks like Simpsons, so i thought of looking for an image of Simpsons title, and here it is. As you can see, Simpsons is also written against sky, and i think it's kind of hand-written, or maybe IT IS hand written. That's two points same as of my thesis. BUT, it doesn't make it look like my style of writing at all. Just because it's up against sky, and it's hand-written doesn't make it look same as of my thesis title.

Above is the image of Simpsons, and below is the image of my Thesis' Title.

Here's what my title looks like. There's a lot of difference between Simpsons look, and my style of writing. Maybe it looks like Simpsons to them because it's against sky as well as Simpsons. But as far as looking same as that of Simpsons is concerned, i don't think it's true.

I tried a lot of different ways of writing my end credits, and this is what i finally liked. I discussed this w/ Mike and he also thinks that this look is fine.

I could've tried more style of hand-writing, but at this point, we're running out of time, and i really don't think it's good idea now to play around w/ different styles of writing. So, i'm sticking w/ this.

one on one session w/ Mike

Today, I had my meeting w/ mike for first time after our industry presentation. I spoke to him about my report, and about those 4 DISAGREES that i got from one of the panelist. Today mostly i worked in labs because i had to use one of the plug-ins in AE. I got to work on most of the shots, and it's coming along very nicely.

I am having problems w/ shadows, and i spoke to mike about that. For some reasons, shawows are not following character. Character goes one way, and shadow goes opposite. Mike spent some time fixing that problem w/ me. Also, we worked on my paint effect technique to see if it doesn't look low res.

I showed him my 3 images for the showcase, and got some comments on that. I will try making them look like poster. I was just taking out images straight from animation, but after today's meeting, i got some feedback on how to make those images look more better. so, i'll start working on that now.

For next week, i'll have to finish up all the shots and bring them in Final Cut Pro to show Mike.

Faculty Report - My comments on report

Faculty Review : My Comments on Report

My name is Anita Rani, and my focus is motion graphics. For my thesis, I’m using a painting technique to visualize a little girl’s eagerness to catch a butterfly in her dream world environment. For today’s Faculty Review, I don’t have much to show. I did some 3D flowers, and trees growing techniques, and I have a shot of painted hands grabbing butterfly. I tried to finish painting hands because I want to get comments on how does painted hands look. Whether I should paint them more, or maybe in different style or something.

During my presentation, i thought i will get some comments on my 3D stuff, or my paint technique...but instead i was told to keep everything in the look of my animatics...For them, my animatics was really outstanding than my original production work. Even though, it's work in progress, they still thought my animatic style was gr8. i was told that i have natural talent to tell story, and to draw well. they thought my production work looks way too perfect that it's taking me away from "my style", which is hand drawn...and i had comment about keeping title in hand-drawn technique as well....they didn't have any issues about my frame by frame painted hands....they said my 3D look, is looking way too perfect that it's not looking as animatics...i was also told to just add color to animatics, and that's my thesis right there...Overall, they didn't have any major problems...so i guess it's alright...

After reviewing my report....i think i didn't have any major issues. I just need to work on my 3D work, that will keep the look of my animatics..... I just had AGREE/STRONGLY AGREE for most of my critiques.....and basically....as i said in my last post, i will discuss this with Mike on Monday of what should i do...because right now...i'm so confused that i don't even feel like working on anything... i'll continue painting butterflies....and keep the trees on hold until monday....that's it....

So in Conclusion, after knowing their comments, i'm really confused now...does it mean i'm putting too much time making my piece look "perfect" when in reality just hand drawn or painted would be the best way to go? i told them that the only reason i'm using 3D is because it gives me freedom to grow stuff the way i want it to be...and to make it my personal piece, i'm adding my painted textures onto the 3D brushes...

Industry Review, ( My comments on report )

Industry Review : My Comments on Industry Review Report…

My name is Anita Rani, and my focus is motion graphics. For my thesis, I’m using a painting technique to visualize a little girl’s eagerness to catch a butterfly in her dream world environment.

During this presentation, students will present their thesis animation in front of industry people and get comments. I think, so far I’m on right track. I’m done with almost all of the shots, and scenes. It’s not completely done, but it’s close to being finished. I am still working on the final look of my thesis, and that is to add paint effect on to each layer, and make it look like painted brush strokes, rather than looking like solid 3D trees, and branches. I still haven’t added any shadows, depth, fog, and camera movements. Audio is still work in progress. For presentation, I’m using same audio file that I had for my Faculty review, and unfortunately, now that we are working on final piece, and lots of stuff is being added, and removed, my project is getting longer in time wise. And my audio got short. So, I had to loop it, and put a little blend in the middle. I’m sure I will get comments on audio because there’s a little click in the middle where I added some blend, but right now, I’m not worried about audio because I want to get comments on my animation, and look of the thesis.

Today, i saw my report of presentation I did on Thursday. Everything is okay, except that i got 4 disagrees from one of the panelist, and they all had to do w/ the look, style, and technique of my thesis.I actually wouldn’t really disagree because I did have “paint effect” scattered all over, and I made my project looked low res. Even though it was high def, it looked really low in quality because of un-fixed paint effect. I was trying to get all scenes, and shots done so I can show my project from start to finish. During that time, I didn’t get enough time to tweak out these little things.Now that I’m done with presentation, I can actually get some time to fix shadows, butterfly wings, saturation, walk cycles, and flower blooms. There is still a lot to do but I’m relaxed that all my shots and scenes are done. Now, I’m working on tweaks, and a few adjustments here and there. I was told to add some insects, animals, and birds etc. but I am glad I told them at the same time that I’ll take care of that with sound. If I go to add insects, birds now, then it’s waste of time. I won’t get to finish anything on time. Right now, it’s more important to work on what i planned in my previs., rather than adding new stuff.

So, in Conclusion, I’m not really disappointed about my report. It’s good, and I got great comments. Overall, it’s all good for my thesis, because I get opinions from other people of how to make my thesis look more great.

Images for Showcase

These are the 3 images that i thought i would save for showcase. Even though the look of my thesis is still work in progress, i thought it would be better to start working on it now.

Industry Review - My Comments...

Today, i saw my report of presentation I did on Thursday.

Everything is okay, except that i got 4 disagrees from one of the panelist, and they all had to do w/ the look, style, and technique of my thesis.

I actually wouldn’t really disagree because I did have “paint effect” scattered all over, and I made my project looked low res. Even though it was high def, it looked really low in quality because of un-fixed paint effect. I was trying to get all scenes, and shots done so I can show my project from start to finish. During that time, I didn’t get enough time to tweak out these little things.

Now that I’m done with presentation, I can actually get some time to fix shadows, butterfly wings, saturation, walk cycles, and flower blooms. There is still a lot to do but I’m relaxed that all my shots and scenes are done. Now, I’m working on tweaks, and a few adjustments here and there.

I was told to add some insects, animals, and birds etc. but I am glad I told them at the same time that I’ll take care of that with sound. If I go to add insects, birds now, then it’s waste of time. I won’t get to finish anything on time. Right now, it’s more important to work on what i planned in my previs., rather than adding new stuff.

So, I’m not really disappointed about my report. It’s good, and I got great comments. Overall, it’s all good for my thesis, because I get opinions from other people of how to make my thesis look more great.

Girl Walking Rotoscoped...Shot 2

Here's the video of girl walking forward in Shot 2. I think it looks much better than what i had done b4. Now, colors are same throughout whole thesis, and there's a consistant look for her. and her steps are not too jumpy unlike last time. I didn't really focus on her expressions, because she's going to be in dark environment anyway, so it would be a waste of time to pay attention to her every single little eye lash. I think it looks gr8 and i'm going to add this composition in its original place. Then i'll see how it looks.

Getting back to Work...

After the presentation, it's now time to get back to work, and learn from our mistakes...When i started rotoscoping this girl, i was using way too many detailed brushes, and every single little details, including the lines on her dress. But it complicated the stuff later on when she's walking, and running. I couldn't keep the track on for brush details, and color pallete. So, i thought of editing it out after presentation, and now is the time. Yesterday, i fixed her composition of her walk in 2nd shot, when she's walking forward. There was a little jump ( missing step ), and her dress kept on changing colors ( obviously because i had no color pallete set for her ). Now, everything is back on track, and i love the way she's walking now. I'll upload the quicktime here once i render it out.

After i'm done w/ this composition, i'm going to work on the wings of butterflies. They need to bend while flapping.

I haven't looked at my report of presentation yet, but i'm sure it must be positive. So, i'll just wait for monday to look at my report, and looking forward for my one on one session w/ Mike. Until Monday, i'll try to work on it as much as possible.

Industry Review Notes - by Iman

These are the notes that Iman took for me while my presentation. Nothing to be really sad about. These are all positive comments, and i'm really glad i had this presentation in front of Industry people because the come here only for us, only to make our projects look great. and i really appreciate them coming here to see our work, and giving us positive feedback. I'm definitely going to tweak out my thesis, and make it look gr8.

Industry Review...

Today, march 13th, we had industry review for our thesis project. Before i start talking about presentation, and how i felt about it, i would like to say about today's start of the day. Since monday after my session w/ Mike, i'm working on this project non-stop. day and nights belong to my thesis now. every night i put a couple of compositions to render, and see in morning how they turned out to be. so it's like everyday same story, me and my thesis hang out together almost 24/7. Last night, i worked on the last scene of my thesis, and put it to render. It showed the render time of about 5 and half hours. So, as usual, i put it to render, and went to sleep. by morning, i collected all files, and quicktimes and went to CADA to add sapphire so it can look like painted strokes. i found out that sapphire was still needed to add on to the system, so after it was done, i started rendering out each quicktimes of different scenes and shots to 1 composite project. since there were only 4 hours left for presentation, i figured if i go to each composition in AE, and start adding sapphire paint to adjust it, it will take forever, and i won't have anything to present. so, i just dropped sapphire paint to final composite composition, and rendered it out w/ audio. Oh, another problem!!!! My audio, came out to be short for this final project. so, i had to loop it, and i tried to blend it so i wouldn't hear that little "click" in the middle, but it wasn't that sharpened. i didn't even bother about audio, because wasn't important for the moment. i rather paid attention to sapphire. I knew it's not gonna look as good as if it was added to composition itself, and adjusted on different layers but still i wanted the panelists to see how it's looking.

One of the panelists was same as last time's presentation, so i was glad to see him because he would know why i added sapphire paint. It's because he was the one who wanted to see paint more rather than stiff 3D.

According to me, i think i did pretty well. they didn't have any major issues. they said same stuff as Mike tells me of adding more saturation, fixing butterfly wings, making trees move, adding more depth, adding more fog, making girl look consistant throughout, and ofcourse more camera movements. And....i was told to change the "hand writted" title w/ something else, it reminds one of the panelists of SIMPSONS. Well, i kind of like what i did, and i think i would stick to "hand written" technique. Maybe i need to use different handwriting, but i am really loving this hand written look because it looks as if painted signed his/her painting w/ a brush.

One of the shots where little girl is running, there's a perspective problem, and i couldn't get enough time to finish that, and panelists picked up on that and i was told to fix it.

also, i was told to keep on growing stuff in each shot so it would keeps the audiences engaged.

Oh and i was also told to add light, sun rays, and shadows, which is ofcourse my next step. and i'm going to start working on this now.

other than this, i was suggested to add some insects and birds, but i told them, that it's a little time consuming at this time, and i would rather go w/ sound effects of crickets, frogs, in the dark scenes, and then later on sound effects of birds in the green garden. this way, i don't have to waste my time adding insects and birds when i could be working on finishing this thesis. on other hand, it's not bad idea, it would only make my project look more nicer, but at this point, i'm not really willing to take this challenge because every second is important right now, and we only have 6 or probably 7 more weeks left. I'm not even sure how much time is left. I always work keeping in mind that it's due next week. This way, i get to pay more attention towards it, rather than keeping my mind off it.

The thing is, i wanted all of my shots to be completed and ready to go. so later on, i would just tweak out stuff. and i think i made good decision. now that i know what needs to be fixed, what needs to be moved, grown, or changed, I can focus on that more rather than going crazy w/ trying to finish up the scenes.

Uh, another thing, i had Iman taking notes for me. i would scan that and add here as my reference for future.

Well, they really liked my project, and suggested a couple of techniques to make it look more nicer. it was all for good. and not only me, but everyone who presented today did a great job. i think we all are ready to finish our thesis. Then, finally we can relax. but there's still time left for that moment.

one on one session..

today, march 10th, i had another one on one session w/ Mike. I was given a couple of suggestions to make my project look more nicer. My butterflies are flying really flat like a cardboard right now, so i need to fix that. Mike suggested some techniques that might make those butterflies look natural. I have to work on little girl's walk , because it's missing a few frames, and that makes it look jumpy. I still need to work on some saturation of the layers because they all kind of look at the same level. Other than this, to make this piece look like real forest type of environment, Mike suggested to add some fog. However, i couldn't get the 3D fog to work, so i rather would go to just blurring the layers.

Other than this, i am really looking forward to Thursday's presentation. The more i work on my thesis, the more i feel like i should fix that, i should fix this....and i know it's gonna keep on happening until the end of this project. I'm not overwhelmed or something, but i really treat this thesis as if it's my baby, and it's growing little by little everyday, and i just want to see it grown up. In this case, i want to see my thesis finished, and ready to submit to some festival or competition. but there's still some time for that. for now, i need to tweak out some stuff.

Close to being done...

Here's another shot that i completed today...It's the shot when flowers start growing, and everything turns from dry dark, to beautiful green.

Unlike my last shots, i added some darkness, some contrast, and some ramp to make sure it doesn't look "too perfect" for being dark and dried. Last time when i had my appointment with Mike, he showed me how to make my shots look darker, and kind of foggier....and i followed that same technique here...

Now, i'm going to work on the shot of little girl's walking on, and flowers blooming after her...i'm not sure if i'll be able to finish it b4 2morrow's appointment with Mike...but i'm definitely sure it will be done b4 my thursday's industry review....

Right now, the look of this shot is not the final look. Later on, i'll take all shots, and add sapphire effects on it to make it look painted. Then, it will be completed....

........Okay now, getting back to work.........

Last Shot - Video

Here's the video of last shot...As i mentioned earlier...i think butterflies need to fly faster...and i'm definitely going to add more butterflies...

Also, i'm missing Glow coming out of hands when they open...the reason is that i need to work on this glow when i'm working in Labs...and i'm not really sure about how would i add glow here...last time i had a glowing ball, but to me it looked more like "not" painted..it was more of like broadcast type look..and that's not what i wanted...it was a good glowing ball though...all i need is just "glow" coming out of hands..and i need to spend some time in labs in order to get that result from Sapphire Effects. So, that being said, i'm keeping glow on hold as well...if i get to do glow b4 thursday's presention, then it's good for me..otherwise...i will work on it after presentation..

I'm just hoping to get all shots done b4 presentation and in good solid look as well...

Okay now..let's get back to work...Enough said for now...

Painting little girl..

Right now, i'm working on painting little girl's shot when she's running after the butterfly....as i'm painting more and more..my hands are getting used to it..and i'm coming up w/ new shortcuts to get to the same result...As i'm working on it for more shots, i'm thinking of going back, and re-doing some of the shots to make them look more nicer...but NOT NOW.. i need to get all elements together first, and then i'll think of cleaning up...


Once i have these last two shots done, THEN i can relax...but right now i don't think i have time for breaks...

Last Shot ...

Finally..butterflies flied...and all for good....i didn't give up until all of them were on their track....so far, i have like 5 or 6 of them flying...and i rendered it out just to see how it's looking...what i noticed was that butterflies need to fly a little faster...that's all i think i need to fix...however, maybe they could fly a little more natural...but right now, i need to pay attention to other two shots that i still haven't even touched...i'll post the video of this shot soon...

Flying Butterflies...

Since yesterday, i been working on my last shot of the thesis, where butterflies will come out little girl's hands, and start flying here and there...for some reason, i'm not getting their movements right....i mean they do fly right..but it doesn't look natural...and if this keeps on going like this, i am not sure how long will take me to fly all those butterflies...i don't think i should waste more time on this because i still have two more shots to go. as a matter of fact, i'm seeing mike on monday anyway, so i'll discuss this w/ him. and who knows, maybe i'll get this problem to be fixed by then....i'm hoping to get those other 2 shots to be finishsed as well...one of the shot that still remains is the shot when little girl walks and flowers bloom following her...and second shot is when she's running after the butterfly to catch her....so, it's still a lot to go....

Let's get back to work....Enough talking!!!

Final Look of Title..

Well...i tried, tried, tried, and tried....finally...i think i got the look of it....I tried writing my own name to see how does the flow of my hand movement looks like....after that, i kept my hand in same position, and wrote title of my thesis at the same time...and here it is!!!!!!!...

So, for thursday's industry review, i'm going w/ this look....Though i wouldn't still consider it final...Maybe i will get some feedback on this...let's see how it goes...

Working on Title Look

When i had my faculty review, i was told to stay away from bothering to look for the type face of my thesis title...instead i should do it w/ hand written....so here it is.... In fact, i was thinking to use hand written style as well, but then i thought maybe it's not good idea...but now that even industry people also like everything to be done in hand made style, i have done some examples....i was trying to write title of my thesis w/ my handwriting...and i think it's going somewhere...However, i like the top one...I might use this for the Industry Review for next week, and if it's not accepted, i'll change it...This is good enough for the Industry Review...

Flower bloom

And here's the shot painted flower being bloomed...i think it's okay...i still think that when flower blooms, maybe something should happen, or maybe i should show some cracks in the grass...or i'm not sure what i'm thinking...what i'll come up with something...

this shot is not finished completely but it's good enough to show Mike 2morrow...as i need to know how much still i need to work on.

Oh yeah...i need to render this flower being bloomed AGAIN, because if you look close, stem of flower is "dancing" nonstop....and i don't like it...i rendered this flower a while ago when i didn't know how it would look after being rendered out...while rendering, i had it checked on "texture animation"....so it's not a big issue to render it again, and fix this tiny problem...

other than this, i worked on my another shot when little girl gets surprised after seeing flower being bloomed...i'll upload that video here as soon as i'm done rendering it out...

shot 2 - Finished painting Girl

Recently, i finished working on this shot for my thesis. For this, i had to rotoscope little girl's video to paint her. somehow i feel her steps need to be increased but then again, she needs to walk a little, and then she stops when she notices a dry plant in front of her. so i think it's not bad. if anything comes up for this shot, i'll fix it before next presentation.

Another thing, i fixed sky for this shot. now it looks as if it's really up there instead of being a plain image of sky.

to make this shot look like it's dead dry, i added a few dried plants here and there. i think it looks okay, but let's see what comments i get after my next session with Mike.

one on one session

today, feb 25th i had another one on one session with Mike. I didn't have much to show because all week i was sick, and couldn't really do much. i had some something new to show him, and that was my hand painted trees. i wasn't happy with those trees as much but i still thought of getting second comment. and it turned out to be that Mike didn't like it either. i was thinking maybe 3D trees all over thesis is too much, and i should add some of my hand painted. but then again, i should keep everything same throughout, and not mix or match anything. so that was done...

other than this...i talked about our presentation that's coming up in 2 weeks. i figured that i still have a lot to do, and i mean A LOT. i have to finish painting little girl, so i can get some feedback about her. i still need to work on the shot that have flowers growing on sidewalks.

so, there's still a lot to do, and very little time left. Enough said, back to work.....

working on painted look of girl...

this week, i'm quite busy with painting little girl for my thesis. i already finished her part for shot 1 when she's introduced. Also, i finished painting her walking for 2nd shot. This is the shot when she's walking in dry forest, and looks at the flower bud. i'm hoping to finish painting her before my next one on one session with Mike for next monday. this way, i can get his comments about the look of little girl. i must say it takes a lot of time paint her. even though i'm skipping every four frames in between, still it feels like a lot.

i will post the videos soon, to show what i did so far.

for today, i'm going to work more on little girl for her part when she gets surprised to see flower bud.

one on one session w/ Mike

Today, feb 21st, i had my another one on one session with mike. i showed him my recent updates, and got a few comments. i was afraid that maybe what i did so far is not good enough. i mean it's not that horrible, but somewhere in my heart, i was happy and un-happy at the same moment. that's why when Mike asked me if i'm happy with this, i had mixed feelings. well, it's because i have problem with keeping things in perspective. i have look at the original stuff to see how things are, how they connect with each other, and where finishing line vanish. my trees were looking good in the garden, but grass was still not good enough. compared to what i had before, i think latest one was much improved. i had go outside and look at original landscapes, grass, trees, and see how should i place grass in the garden. my sky was still a problem. instead of showing depth in sky, i just had a flat image of it in background. i had a few suggestions on that as well from Mike of how i should paint sky, and have a little movement in that as well, so it doesn't look so stiff. As i said grass was not very good ( according to me ), and to fix that problem Mike suggested to add some noise in that so i could see some grains.

Everytime i look at my thesis work, i feel like i haven't done anything. it always feel as if i didn't even start yet. i was glad to know that i am not the only one who feels like this. i was talking with Russ, Seon, and John, and figured that they have same feelings as i do. Oh well, it's one of those days. We'll get over it . ( soon )

Animatic - ( Pre-production )

Click HERE to see Animatic with Audio. It's still same animatic that i did for last semester. What i had uploaded before was with rough audio. I decided to upload final animatic with the audio file sent by Andrew.

Tree with painting effect

After i had comments about my 3D trees looking "solid" , and NOT "painted" enough, i decided to give them some other effects in AE. This is what i came up with some playing around with some of the effects. Though, this effect does make my trees look painted, trees are looking as if they are dancing.

Today, during my meeting with Mike, i discussed this issue with him, and he showed me a technique to avoid this. We tested this same shot using that technique and i'm glad, it look way better.

I'll post that video file soon.

Trees in position with painted grass

Recently, i was working on this shot's tree placements, and especially "grass". I don't know why but it looks like as if trees are floating in the air. I think problem is that i placed trees before placing grass. If i have grass layers set, and in "landscape" kind of view, then it will be easier to place trees.

Trees

I been workin on this shot for last 2 days....it's not even close to being finished yet. My trees are still in 3D look. Right now, i am just fixing their placement, grass, sky, and flowers. Then i'll look into some effects that make it "not" look so 3D, and yet keep the look of being painted.

One on one session with Mike..

Today, i had one on one session w/ Mike. I got chance to review my report w/ him, and i also shared my own notes w/ him. So, what i really need to focus on now is the consistency of the look throughout my thesis. For that, Mike suggested a few techniques. The thing is , my 3D elements, even though they are painted, look so cold, solid, and stiff. The look of my painted hands, is really painterly, and is soft compared to rest of the 3D. So, what i have to do, is come up w/ a plan so that my thesis look same throughout. During meeting, Mike went over cloning technique, some filtures, and some of the tutorials online of how to make my 3D elements look same as of rest of the thesis.

So, now i have to play around w/ at least one shot in my thesis, and use this technique of making everything look same.

Once i'm done with this, then i'll have to show that to Mike to see what he thinks of it.

I don't know why but i think it's taking a little longer than i thought for the overall production process of my thesis. Oh well, i guess this is the reality of production process.

Faculty Report

After reviewing my report....i think i didn't have any major issues. I just need to work on my 3D work, that will keep the look of my animatics..... I just had AGREE/STRONGLY AGREE for most of my critiques.....and basically....as i said in my last post, i will discuss this with Mike on Monday of what should i do...because right now...i'm so confused that i don't even feel like working on anything... i'll continue painting butterflies....and keep the trees on hold until monday....that's it....

Yesterday's Faculty Review----my response...

So, it's finally over....we had faculty review by Industry people....after my presentation was over...i thought i will get some comments on my 3D stuff, or my paint technique...but instead i was told to keep everything in the look of my animatics...For them, my animatics was really outstanding than my original production work. Even though, it's work in progress, they still thought my animatic style was gr8. i was told that i have natural talent to tell story, and to draw well. they thought my production work looks way too perfect that it's taking me away from "my style", which is hand drawn...and i had comment about keeping title in hand-drawn technique as well....they didn't have any issues about my frame by frame painted hands....they said my 3D look, is looking way too perfect that it's not looking as animatics...i was also told to just add color to animatics, and that's my thesis right there...Overall, they didn't have any major problems...so i guess it's alright...

So, i think my presentation was way better than i had thought, but i still haven't looked at the report by them...i'll get it today...

After their comments, i'm really confused now...does it mean i'm putting too much time making my piece look "perfect" when in reality just hand drawn or painted would be the best way to go?
i told them that the only reason i'm using 3D is because it gives me freedom to grow stuff the way i want it to be...and to make it my personal piece, i'm adding my painted textures onto the 3D brushes...

I'll add more about my comments once i see the report today....

for tonight's presentation

This is what i have for tonight's presentation...i just nested all quicktimes into one project, and have same audio playing that Andrew sent me for my animatics. That's all i have to show to panelists for tonight. I hope it's more than what they are looking for....I was hoping to paint over live action of little girl running after butterfly, so i could get some feedback on that as well, but i just didn't have enough time. Oh well, at least now i know how long it takes to paint over live action.

Painted-trees-growing

Here is the shot of trees growing with painted textures that i did using Corel Painter. Last time, when i uploaded this shot, i had texture animated as well, which made it look like christmas trees. to avoid that, i had to re-render these frames, and here they are now.

For tonight's presentation, i'm just going to composite all the quicktimes i have of different shots. If any confusions occur, i'll just point out and tell what they are, and what is the significance of each shot in my thesis.

i'm going to show my animatics first, because i'm not sure who will be in the panel to look at our work, so if any one of those haven't seen my animatics, will know what's going to happen.

That's it for today!!! I'm tired :(

Painted Flower Growing

Here's one of the shot that i want to show for sure, because it has my painted textures on the flower, and it's pretty close to the camera. Last time, i had this flower's texture animated as well, then i re-rendered it, and had texture box checked off. Now it looks natural rather than looking like Christmas tree.

Blocked painted hands in shot

Here are painted hands in the shot. As i said, i'm not comfortable with the outlining of the hands, and i will definitely remove it....but i'm leaving it the way it is "For now", because i need to work on other shot of growing flowers for 2morrow's presentation.

Painted Hands - Grabbing butterfly

Finally!!! i finished painting these hands which are going to grab butterfly in one of the shots. I want to show this particular shot for 2morrow's presentation. One reason is because i need to know what penalists think of when this "live action" will take over the look of being "painted". To me, i think it look pretty good, i am just not comfortable with the outline that i have around hands. i am thinking of taking it off, and adding highlights or shadows. but not now!! i need to get stuff together for tomorrow's presentation.

Obviously, i'll add this shot into its original place, where glow will come out of the hands, and painted butterflies will come out. I don't know if i can put it together b4 2morrow's presentation. If not, then i'll just show these shots individual, and point out to each what they are and what is their significance in my thesis.

One of the shots that i'm really dying to show is the close up of flowers blooming, when little girl will come closer to look at flower buds. Reason, i want to show that particular shot, is because it's the overall look of my thesis, and that is "painted". Because i'm going to add my own "painted" texture in maya's paint effect, so it's really important for me to know panelists' opinion.

Trees growing

Here's the shot that i think i'll show in presentation..only problem is that it has texture animating also...i have re-render the frames without this animation of texture now. i think i should add a little more into this shot, so it would look a little closer to being finished.

For this shot, i painted out the textures of trees, flower petals and leaves in corel painter, and brought that in Maya to make it look like painted elements.

Meeting with Mike..

Today, feb 5th, i had my one on one session with Mike. I showed him how happy i was with paint effect working right for me. now that alpha channels were fixed, all trees, flowers, and leavers were showing the texture that i painted using corel. i had also painted hands ( 4 frames ), i showed that to mike as well, to get his commnets on how these hands are looking. on the trees, my textures were also animating, and somehow it looked like Christmas trees. in order to avoid that, i had to re-render those frames with texture animation checked off. that should fix the problem...

so far, i think things are going smooth....and now i just need to get things together for thursday's presentation...

it's so cool to share my knowledge with others of what i know so far about paint effect. when others see my trees, and flowers growing in mays using paint effect, they always ask me how i did it. up until now, i have showed a couple of students of how to do it. for some reason, it makes me feel happy to share something with others that i know i can do pretty well.

Fixing up Paint Effect

i was having some issues with paint effect. for some reason, i couldn't get the effect right. everytime i tried to map the painted image ( jpeg ) onto the leaves and flowers, i got it wrong. it would just flatten out everything for me. i couldn't see the shape of leaves or flowers. it was really annoying. i couldn't wait to fix it because if i don't fix it now, i wouldn't get chance to work on more files. all files were linked to this growing flowers effect. so, i decided to go to the labs, and find Mike to help me out with. before i knew it, my problem was fixed and i was finally relaxed. all i needed to do was in photoshop, when i create my files, i had to make an alpha channel for the leaves, and any other files that i needed to use for flowers. and that fixed the problem. WHAT A RELIEF!!!!

Glowing ball in Scene

I added the glowing ball into the scene that i used for animatics, and replaced two of the butterflies with painted ones just to see how it looks. (disregard the way butterflies are flying right now ) I think i'm satisfied with glowing ball, but my only concern is that it looks really "graphical" compared to the rest of the project which is "painterly" look.
I hope it doesn't create any issues in the future.

Glowing Ball - try 2

And here's the video of glowing ball that i was working on recently. All i did is just made a circle in photoshop, and brought that into photoshop, and made it look a little fancier with some lens flares, and i added some shine on it as well.

Glowing Ball - try -1

Well, here's the video of glowing ball that i was practicing last semester. Though it does have some glowing effect, i still think it needs to be refined.

Painted Butterflies

These are some of the butterflies that i painted using Corel. As of now, they all have same shape of their wings but i'll make some different shapes as well. For now, i just wanted to paint them, and let them fly and see how it looks. Background is just an image i grabbed from my reference images.

Scene 1, Shot 1 - Try 2

Here's the 2nd try of scene 1, shot 1. Last time, when I had trees mostly with greens. This time, i kept all trees in dried look. It's still work in progress but i just wanted to render out whatever i had, and post it up here.

Thesis Production - Shot 1- without Light

Here's the same shot without light. I had rendered out the first time with light on but it looked a lot darker than i had expected. so i thought of rendering out same shot w/out light. here's how it looks.

Working on Thesis Production

Finally, it's about time that i can get my hands on production part of my thesis. I been working on it right after the end of Fall semester. I just wanted to see how would it look like when all painted elements are put together.

Even though I didn’t get to finish everything of shot 1, but I tried to put as much effort onto it as possible. I painted the textures of trees in corel, and same with sky. Camera movement is a little rough right now but it’s still work in progress. Same goes for light as well. Sky needs to be worked on. Right now what I have is the dark looking sky for the shot 1. grass is not in the scene yet. i just added a green solid in place of grass. My focus was mainly on trees, and their texture.

Thesis Book - Pre Production - Try II

Thesis Book - Pre Production

Here's what i have done so far for the pre production of the thesis book. it's the revision of what i had done before. I had some problems in research paper, and about placement of the documents. I fixed that little issue, and i think it looks pretty good to hand in.

thesis documentary

Here's what i have done so far to add to the thesis previz. book. this is the first part that includes all the documents like thesis statement, synopsis, storyboard etc.
in the 2nd part of the book, i have created the pdf. of the blog, and animatics along with proof of concept.

so far, i think things are on right track.

Meeting with Mike

Today, December 5th, I had another one on one session with Mike. I had missed my last session because of my mom's surgery, so for this week's session, i had a lot of questions to ask, and lots of things to show to Mike. so, here's what we talked about....

1. i got a dvd of tutorials about paint effect, which i think is door opening scene for me. it's really gr8 to go through those dvds, and see all of those possibilities that i can play around with to make my thesis look as beautiful as i want it to be.

2. i have to start working on gantt chart...( which i haven't even started yet ) :(

3. for next semester, my thesis should be finished by 9th week, so i can keep the last 3 or 4 weeks for fixing out any mistakes.

4. i need to get my stuff ready for book that's due in about 2 weeks. ( which i'm not worried about at all, because my stuff is ready, and in placed. all i have to do is print, and get the book ready.

5. finish POC.....( which again, i'm not worried about, because, all i have to do, is replace the flower texture with my painted ones, and i'm done)

6. i need to have shadows on those flowers, and need to get rid of that glowing glittery stuff in the middle of the flowers...

pretty much that's it.....

Growing Tree - In Maya

Well, here's the video i was mentioning earlier. I tried growing this tree in Maya, and instead of just going with what Maya could do for me, I pasted my own painted flower petals, and leaves. I think it works pretty well.

I did have some light here, and i must say that it's not very good. that's why tree looks a little darker. but it was just for a try, and i'm very much pleased with the results.

FINALLY!!!

For the last couple of days, i been going over a lot of tutorials to see how can i bring my own painted elements onto the brush strokes in Maya.

Finally, I think, i got a little closer. I tried animating a tree, with painted petals for flowers, and painted leaves. I think it works pretty well. There is a little lighting issue that makes it look a little darker, but other than that, i think texture looks fine. I'll upload the quicktime, once i'm done rendering.

Proof of Concept - try I

Click HERE to see Proof of Concept

I still couln't find out how to create our own brush with the textures that i would paint in Corel Painter but i did try something out. I tried blooming the same flower myself that Mike showed me and it worked pretty well. It could've worked much better if i could make it look like "painted".

Shot List - Try I

Click HERE to see Shot List

The reason i took a little longer than usual to do shot list was my confusion of the differences between scene and shot. Now that it's clear, i completed my shot list. also, i had to revised my storyboard according to my animatics, so it took a little while on that process also.

now that i'm done w/ shot list, i'll go on to work on my Proof of Concept.

Storyboard Revised

click here to see revised storyboard.
Before doing Shot List, i was looking at my animatics and my storyboard, and it looks a little different. while doing animatics, lots of things changed in storyboard. so i thought of making storyboard look same as animatics.

Comments on Andrew's Audio

Andrew ( http://www.4scoreand7music.com/ ), Creative Director for "4 score + 7 music", is working on audio of my Thesis. His first try on audio came out to be really good, and i showed the rendered of it w/ animatics to Mike. He really liked it, and thinks it will work out nicely.

So, I'm relaxed about audio, and can focus fully on production of my thesis.

Growing Flower in Maya

This is the video of same flower in Maya that Mike did for me. Isn't it so cool? Watching it grow changed my mind of NOT using Maya.

Well, the reason i didn't want to use Maya was because i was thinking since my focus is Motion Graphics, maybe i should stay completely in 2D world. But, it's not so bad using Maya here and there.

Sometimes what happens is that we look all around us in search of something, not realizing that what we need, is right in front of us. In this case "Maya" !!

Growing Flowers is not that hard....

Today, November 21st, I had another one on one session with Mike. I had a little confusion of my own about the difference between SHOT & SCENE. Mike explained the differences to me, and now i think i'm ready to work on my Shot List. Due to the confusion of these topics, I had put a hold onto my Shot List. i was just thinking that my project has just "one" scene. but after meeting with Mike, I realized that there are more than one scenes that i didn't know before.

Other than this, I got to know something really cool about my project from Mike. and that is "growing flowers technique". Originally, i was thinking of staying away from MAYA, and do everything from start to finish in After Effects but after seeing what Mike did in MAYA to grow flowers, I had jaw dropping situation. It's really cool to know that something so simple like "mouse click" can be so useful for our thesis.

Using paint effect in Maya, Mike demonstrated growth of flower. It was so cool watching that flower grow, that i changed my mind of NOT using Maya.

but still, I will change some things in there. Instead of using built-in flowers in Maya, I'll replace them w/ painted flowers, leaves, stems, and trees of my own in Corel Painter. What this will do is that it will keep my original concept of showing everything in paintery look the same, but it will overall improve my project by making everything look yet so 3D.

Finally, i have decided to use "growing flower" shot from my storyboard for Proof of Concept. It will benefit me overall, because i can show the use of Maya, and painterly look at the same time.

So far, plan is what i just said above, but let's see how well i can take this technique in my Proof of Concept.

Audio for my thesis project by Andrew

Today, November 20th, i received an AUDIO file from Andrew. I had sent him my quicktime of animatics, and he tried something that might go with the piece. Tomorrow, i'll show my animatics again in the class with this new audio sent by andrew, and see what comments i get. Personally, i like it. but then again, it comes all back to what i think, and what others think of my project. so, it's really important to get critique of audio in class.

Flower Grow - Try I

Click HERE to see my 1st test for growing flower. It's not that good but it's a good try. now i at least know that it's possible. i need to work on the placement of flower petals, and a little bit of shades on petals. i'm sure, next try of growing flowers will be awesome.

Testing Flower Bloom...

I was looking @ my style frames, and imagining how would it look when it's animating. So, without thinking of anything else, I painted a flower petal, and a leaf in Corel Painter, and brought that into AE, to see how would it look when it forms the shape of a complete flower. Adam was showing me in AE how to bloom flower just from a flat flower petal in my first meeting w/ him. So, i'm just following his foot steps. Because I had to work on Shot Sheet also, i'm wokring on this flower bloom test a little by little. If it works out to be fine...i would like to carry this beyond as my Proof of Concept, which i'm really excited about.

Music Composer Search is Over---(( Kind of ))

Well Well Well....finally...I have someone who is working on audio for my thesis...His name is Andrew Markus and he's a Creative Director for "4 score + 7 music".

http://www.4scoreand7music.com/

Isn't it gr8 when things go just the way you want them to be??

I spoke with him this morning, and gave him a link to my thesis. He liked it, and would like to work on it. He even offered me to come to his studio, and see what kind of music i like. But i don't even know the "M" of music, so what comments can i make? All i know is that my music is going to be really fantasy type, with magical chime sounds, and and a feel that just carries you away.

So, i sent him a quicktime of my animatics, and see what he comes up with.

I think i can relax now ;)

Responses of Ad for Audio Composer

Wow!!!! It's unbelievable....i got tons of responses. Even from outside of the US. I didn't know it's going to be that fast. Lots of people are willing to compose music for me. I did speak to a guy from Tribeca, and he's really willing to work on my thesis audio. I sent him a message back to look at my animatics and see what he can do.

I also have more responses to the ad that i haven't looked at yet. I'll look at all of them soon.

I think i can relax now knowing that someone is out there to help me with audio. This is the only thing that i'm worried for now. Other than this, i am so excited about my thesis project. Can't wait to work on it and see it completed.

Ad for Audio Composer

Today, November 15th, i added a post on www.Mandy.com for a digital audio composer for my thesis. In the post, i mentioned that i'm a student, and therefore, won't be able to pay, but i'll add composer's name in my end credits of the thesis, and now i'm thinking i should've added that i will give him/her a copy of the thesis project on a dvd. i added my websited on the ad for composers to look at, and as well as my thesis blog.

Hopefully, i will get some good responses soon.

Industry Review – My Comments

Today, November 14th, we (Motion Graphic Students) had our thesis critiques by Industry people. Because, it was going to be these big shot industry people looking at my animatics, and style frames, I wanted it to be looking the best as possible as I could make it to be. That’s why I been showing my animatics over and over to all instructors, and CADA students. I wanted everyone’s feedback to make sure they understand my story w/out me actually explaining what’s happening. Even though I tweaked my animatics 4 times, I’m happy with the end results.

I think my presentation went very well. Or should I say more than what I had expected. Panelists understood the concept by watching my animatics. They didn’t have any questions for me. I was actually prepared to clear any confusion they might have. But I think it’s because I been tweaking every single little mistake I made previously in my animatics, that it was so clear for them to understand.

One of the panelists did ask me if I was going to do live action for little girl, and my response was “no”. They said it might be a little tougher for me to paint everything by hands but my comment was that “we do have sufficient time to work on it” and now that we’re working on our shot lists, it will help each of us a lot to actually work on time issues.

and one of the panelists asked me about audio because he thought that my animatics was so good that i should have added more audio to make it look even more better. but my comment again was that this is for the sake of animatics, but final audio would be way different.

i did ask them 2 questions : one was, i wasn't sure of using that "surprise" voice of person when little girl gets surprised after seeing flowers blooming. so i asked them if it should stay with that kind of audio ( voice over ) or should i replace it w/ some surprising music. and their comment i think was that either one is good.

my 2nd question was about the way i had painted my style frames. i asked them if i should use just one style of paining, or should i use different brush types as i had shown them in my style frame, and their comment was that it looks fine w/ different brush strokes.

So, overall, I am very happy w/ my animatics. At the beginning of this semester, I was a little curious myself too about how would I go about finishing this project. But as time went by, and as I got feedback from Mike, Myles, David, and Adam, and my friends at CADA of course, things were getting clearer and clearer.

I can’t wait to get my hands on actually producing this thesis project.

Style Frame - FINAL REVISION

I wasn't happy with the style frame i had prepared to show to industry people for tonight's critique, so i showed it to Mike, and he actually showed me some tricks in Corel Painter to make it easier for me. Later on, he suggested to take same elements i had ( flowers, sky, butterflies), and show some depth, scale, and saturation.

Finally, what you see above as my style frame, was the end result. Though i finished this style frame 5 minutes before the presentation, i'm glad i discussed this issue with Mike because if it wasn't for his suggestions, I wouldn't have gotten the best comments I had for my presentation. By looking at this style frame, panelists were able to understand the design, technique, and look of the project. maybe that's why they didn't ask me any questions about this.

Style-Frame

I think, I should show this today in presentation as my style frame. The first one at the top was my very first try. 2nd one is what i did recently.

StyleFrame- try-II

This is my 2nd try to do something in corel painter, and paint this shot. I wanted to follow the feedback that i got so far about showing some depth in the style frames. I tried to do that in sky here. Hopefully, it should be good enough for the presentation tonight.

Animatics - Final Rendered, with Audio ;)

Click HERE to see final render of the animatics. I think it's finally done. This is my 4th revision. Not that i changed the story or anything, but i been tweaking out a lot of stuff. Especially "Audio"!!!!. I have all the shots done, animated, cameras moved, and audio laid down. Maybe i should have added more of "chimes" sound, but i couldn't find any. So, I just had to go on with whatever i had. I need to work on my Style Frames, so now that my animatics is done, I can spend some quality time on Style Frames as well.