alanna. @ouralanna - Tumblr Blog

Blog Post #11

Hi everyone! Welcome to the final blog post. Thanks for coming.

For my augmented reality experience in the future, I thought it would be interesting if the camera could recognize objects and see how contaminated they are. I am inspired by the movie Wall-E and especially now during this pandemic, I think a tool like this would be really useful.

Here are some screenshots of my progress. I had a lot of difficulty with this project but overall, I am quite satisfied with the outcome because its execution has led me to other ideas I can foster.

First I made sure my image tracking was successful and then I moved on to making textures. I wanted to make it feel really gross and disgusting, to convey a germ-like substance being tracked on my objects. I feel like I succeeded in this pursuit.

I struggled with unity crashing on me a few times and this was quite stressful as you could imagine.

Here is the link to my final video showing the AR capabilities. It can the target images and show how contaminated they are.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DB73k1h0LuMcScNaDQb_rxtGN8cEmjml/view?usp=sharing

I learned a lot from this project. And I can for-see future projects that could utilize these same techniques.

Thanks for a great semester!

#Blog Post 11 #Blog post #Project 3

Blog Post #10

This week i focused on learning about AR and watching tutorials. I felt very overwhelmed with the scope of this project, as I am still unsure in my capabilities with unity.

I found a lot of helpful tutorials that I will be using in the future for the final of this project.

That being said, I worked on thinking about what exactly I wanted my final to focus on.

I thought similar to Pokemon Go, I could design some creatures that could pop up on the screen when you explore a room. I thought this would be interesting because I could spend a lot of time drawing these creatures and then figuring how to translate them with unity. I thought this would be doable but I still wanted to work on more ideas.

My next idea was focusing on the idea that cats really like to sit in boxes. I thought it would be cool if the AR recognized the box and made a cat appear to be sleeping inside. I thought this would be fun to draw and would result in a really cute surprise and end product. I also think this is doable but I am worried that since the drawing would be 2d that it would look odd in a 3d space.

My last idea is probably the most applicable to the prompt as something in the future. I thought it would be interesting if the AR could recognize certain ingredients and provide an interface overlay describing how these ingredients can be used in recipes. For example, if you hold up an egg, the interface would pop up showing you the nutritional value of the egg and several recipes that you could make with the egg as an ingredient. I think the interface would be interesting to design and it would look the most seamless since the interface would just be an overlay that would show when the correct ingredient is brought up on screen. I feel like this one is the most doable and I think I am going to go in this direction.

This week I am going to focus on finalizing the project meanwhile looking at more tutorials on how to exactly do this.

Thanks!

#Blog post 10 #blog post #project 3

Blog post #9

Hi all!

Welcome to my blog!

This week we started learning about game objects and unity. I decided to follow along with a tutorial to get acquainted with the program. Our assignment for this week was to create an environment/scene with assets...so I did just that!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PELoyIT437Y&list=LL9HnUe0_bD5Le2gc0Oan_9g&index=2&t=1009s

This tutorial had a FPS controller game object that I wasn’t sure how to operate or download. I wish I knew how to function this because it seemed really cool, hopefully we will learn more about it in the future.

First I started with a terrain and experimented with raising and lowering the terrain with the brush tool. My computer sort of struggles with this program.

I downloaded some free assets which included grass textures and many trees. I also played with adding fog, and directional light, and some other post edits. I wanted to get into color grading and those kinds of things but I couldn’t figure out how the tutorial managed to do this. Hopefully, we can learn about these things in the future!

I also added some grass as another asset, but I was struggling with camera functions and how to move it sort of freely, so I couldn’t exactly get the camera positions that I wanted.

Other than that, I feel like I still have a lot to learn when it comes to this program. But i am willing and excited to learn more and see where it goes.

Thanks!

#Project 3 #Blog post 10 #Blog post

Blog Post #9

Hi all!

Final critique is here for Project 2!

Here are some stills from my interactive poster. I decided to do something inspired by summer while being locked up in quarantine. i picked a song that reminds me of summer along with fruits that I associate with warm weather.

There are some passive elements of animation such as the song duration circle? moving and the fruits “floating”.

Some of the interactive elements, include the play button to listen to the music (which can also be paused) and when you hover over the fruits the text changes respectively to represent the fruit.

Some struggles I had with this, was I wasn’t able to figure out how to play the music if something inside the screen was pressed I was only able to get it to work with a button. Ideally you would be able to touch the play button and the song would play, but alas I couldn’t figure this out.

If i had more knowledge on how to do this, I would have added my entire summer playlist on here and had when you clicked the fruits it would shuffle the song.

Anyway, I really learned about coding through this project and surprising l would love to do more projects oriented around this!

(so you can try it out for yourself)!

Present link: https://editor.p5js.org/aconwa19/present/bIQzIKGHl

(so you can see my code)

edit link: https://editor.p5js.org/aconwa19/sketches/bIQzIKGHl

Thanks!

#blog post #blog post 9 #project 2

Blog Post #8

Hi all,

Here is my 7th blog post where I recreated a poster that already exists but made it interactive using code.

Here’s the original image and inspiration.

https://editor.p5js.org/aconwa19/present/-24OOxzDR

I made it interactive by allowing for the light switch to be pulled on and off which makes the color appear and disappear when you pull the light switch.

The code was really difficult to perfect and even then there’s still ways I would want to make it better, but I just don’t know how to. I created two functions, a lot of variables, states, images, and a constraint system, as well as using mouseClicked and mouseIsPressed.

Some things I want to improve are: I wish that there was more of a delay when turning “off” the lamp. I wish the colors would turn “off” when mouse is released instead of when mouse is clicked...but I was not able to figure this out.

I had a lot of trouble figuring how to complete the light switch, I used a lot of tutorials until I figured out how to write it myself using the logic. The next challenge proved to be linking the light switch being pressed to turning the colors “on” and “off”. I had to create a system with variables, where 1 meant on and 0 meant off and assign actions to each number.

While the end product is quite simple, a lot of work went behind making this work. It was really satisfying to figure things out and finally have them working the way I wanted it too!

Thanks!

#Blog Post 8 #Blog post #Project 2

Blog Post #7

I struggled a lot initially with this exercise because I bit off more than I could chew. I was a little too ambitious and wanted to include soft body dynamics, which I learned super quickly is really hard to do.

Here is some of my inspiration for this exercise. Upon studying these references, I learned very quickly they were really complex, complicated, and hard to understand as a beginner at coding. So I quickly moved on to my own devices to make my exercises.

My verb was “believe”. And my first idea was surrounding the idea of ghosts, because they are something I believe in. I wanted to use soft body dynamics to give the text a wavy, ghostly feeling but I couldn’t figure out how to do this.

Instead I took a simpler approach. I used color to make my word disappear. I thought that the verb “believe” was an interesting concept so I wanted to play with the idea of impermanence and watching it disappear but knowing that it is still there but hidden. I thought that the changing colors gave it a mystical, fleeting and magical feeling.

For the second one (interactivity), I wanted to see how difficult making a spotlight to uncover words would be. This proved to be really easy to get a hang of. I wonder if I could add resistance or easing to the spotlight so it could be more realistic. I am not sure how to accomplish this though.

Alright, that’s all for now!

Thanks!

#Project 2 #Blog Post #Blog post 7

Blog Post #6

We are now entering Project 2! Welcome to my sketches.

My first sketch is in black and white. It also has a few elements that are circles. I like to imagine what this sketch will look like when it is set in motion. I would want the smaller circles to “open up” when hovered over to reveal text. Maybe the larger circles could work as spotlights that could reveal text and follow the mouse/cursor.

My second sketch is my attempt at adding color to my design. It has a few more elements including circles and rectangles. My idea is that the circle could move horizontally across the line to reveal text. In addition, maybe you could click the circle and it would enlarge and take you to a new screen.

My third sketch is thee most ambitious attempt yet. It has multiple elements, squares, rectangles, circles and overlapping shapes. I couldn’t figure out how to get the text to show up on top of all my layers (I am still confused by this). However, my idea to incorporate motion is that each square would be different and constantly moving and changing. When you click on a square, it could enlarge to show a bigger composition and reveal text through transparent shapes.

Out of all my ideas, I don’t particularly have a favorite yet. Only because I don’t know how feasible my ideas for motion are.

Additionally, I have to figure out how to add more text to my compositions. Since I don’t have any content or information... finding out what to put on these posters was a struggle.

That’s all for now. Thanks!

#Blog post #Blog post 6 #Project 2

Blog Post #5

The final critique is here!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y7j0SydkjfeQL0-mq2M3DCr0t8mIFomo/view?usp=sharing

Here is the Link to my video just in case the video is too big for the post.

Process

I learned a lot about my own aesthetic during this process. I spent a lot of time hand lettering and thinking of economic ways to reuse parts in my animation. Which can be seen in the scenes that use overlays of the simple subway routes. Overall, I spent a hefty amount of time on this animation trying to experiment, try new things, and simultaneously produce something I really liked.

More about process:

I made separate compositions for the typography scenes that focused on the subway route. All done using paths in aftereffects and my own hand lettering. I used a displacement map effect to give it a more humanist quality.

Additionally, for the cinema 4d scenes, I used my palette to keep the cinema 4d scenes consistent with my hand drawn illustrations that I would later overlay on top as either textures or later through compositing.

For the flourishes, I made separate compositions with a simpler subway route animation which I used as overlay animations for the cinema 4d scenes and on the background of the typography scenes to attempt to make it more cohesive (which was my overarching goal).

Challenges

I struggled a lot with aftereffects and compositing afterwards, just because I wasn’t able to get the movement that I wanted exactly 100% perfect. I also wish now, that I had done the overlay, to have picked a different palette, because sometimes the combinations of colors were not the strongest.

If I could do this again, I would probably find a way to incorporate more 2d animation, a stronger color palette, and a better way to make the movement animated through after effects less jumpy and more smooth.

Thanks!

#Blog Post 5 #Final critique #Blog Post #Project 1

Blog Post #4

I will have to provide a google drive link in order to watch my medfi video as it is too big a file to upload on Tumblr. Thanks!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J5ncnbkfQ6zrhqhFnOthg3X96PQTn_W_/view?usp=sharing

Process

First I redefined my storyboard, then I focused on creating the 4d scenes that would be used in my animation. I spent time animating these scenes with the intention of doing 2d animation on top of them later. Learning the mechanics of how to animate in cinema 4d was a little tough, but once I got the hang of it, the only thing holding me back was the rendering time.

I am still considering what textures to use.

Most of my time was spent clarifying my storyboard, and thinking about ways I could animate my scenes in the most effective way possible. I also briefly considered adding some simple scenes that would better exemplify my subway theme. (But I wondered if it would be cohesive)

Struggles

I struggled a lot with the rendering time of these 4d cinema animations, as they took a lot longer than I was expecting.

Plan

I plan to flesh out my animations further and also develop the text more thoughtfully.

#Project 1 #Blog post 4 #blog post

Blog Post #3

Process

I made 2 objects, a subway train, subway chair, and 3 unique subway scenes for a total of 5 rendered objects or scenes.

First, I made this subway train based on a tutorial to help get the basics down of the program. This train is based off a Tokyo subway line. While I admire the style and aesthetic of this train, I see where improvements can be made as it was the first thing I finished (and I was still learning the program). I will probably redo this train to more closely resemble a New York City style subway train. I used this artist’s tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8FB9iEVO8w&t=26s

Next, I made the environment that this train would live in. I wanted it to be completely enclosed. In order to make this underground subway, I visited the Clinton Washington station and took a lot of pictures so I could easily reference all the components of this subway station. I quickly learned how to do the cloner tool and how to group some of my objects. I also played a little bit with light but was not quite getting the results I wanted...I resolved this later in my process.

Next, I wanted to do an outdoor scene. This was an opportunity to play around more with the clone tool to create buildings and things in perspective. I also saved my files as AI (illustrator files) in hopes to give more detail to parts of the scene that I plan to keep static. (This explains the plain background because I am planning on drawing in the sky and cityscape with photoshop). And hopefully, saving the files like this will allow easy workflow to add 2D animation with photoshop and aftereffects. This is where I learned about the physical sky function and finally got the lighting look I was going for.

Next, I wanted to focus on another object that I could add to my indoor scenes as they looked boring in comparison to the outdoor scenes. I made this commonly found subway bench and experimented with adding textures. I am still unsure how to approach textures with cinema 4d.

Finally, with all of my knowledge I created my own subway station that is half indoors and half outdoors so I could get the lighting style I was looking for. I experimented more with the physical sky function and found out the full extent of possibilities with it which was really exciting.

Struggles

I struggled in the beginning because, in my opinion, cinema 4d is not that intuitive. I was also very limited by my computer and had to work in the computer labs (which have very particular hours). I also did not know where to start when it came to textures. Especially, since I want to optimize the workflow and add detail work and 2D animation with photoshop, I just wasn’t sure how to approach this at all. As stated, I wasn’t entirely sure how to do this so I exported my files as AI files (illustrator files) in hopes I could transfer them to photoshop more easily.

Plan

My plan is to revamp my subway model and figure out what textures I will apply to these renders. I will also spend time learning how to optimize the workflow between Cinema 4d and photoshop so I can add the necessary details that I am looking for. I am also excited to learn how to animate these further and how to use the camera functions (as I feel like that will be essential to what I’m going for).

#Blog post #blog post 3 #Project 1

Blog Post #2

Difficulties

I quickly realized that the way I drew my stills and organized my layers was not really optimized to be animated from in After Effects. My layers were not isolated or organized in a way that could have been easily animated. To combat this, when I go forward drawing new scenes, I have to keep in mind how I isolate and organize my layers in the mindset that I will be animating them later. I also realized that for the look I want to achieve, I am going to have to do a lot of hand-drawn animation in photoshop before transferring it to After effects.

Inspiration

The song “As the World Caves” In by Matt Maltese has the exact “vibe” I want to encapsulate with this title sequence. I, also, was inspired and impressed by the film “Call Me By Your Name” because of its slow pacing and writing. To clarify, that “vibe”, I want my title sequence to show the romanticization of strangers, loneliness, regret and most importantly wanting to nothing more than to see these strangers succeed in their pursuits. I also realized through editing, there’s a lot of different ways I can portray text through light, shadow, manipulation/transformation and perspective, which was exciting.

Process

I spent a lot of time watching tutorial videos, to just purely see what was possible with what I already had. I took my stills and converted them to PSD files to preserve the layers. Some stills I made the mistake of merging all the layers down, so I was unable to animate in the way that I wanted to.

With the files that would cooperate, I played around in after effects with shape layers and the wave effect. I struggled for a while trying to figure out how to get the layers to move in sync with each other, but I realized later a null object layer would have solved this problem. After doing a brain dump on these stills with a rough idea of what I wanted it to look like, I spent time thinking about how I actually wanted these scenes to look. I wanted to add hand-drawn animation (blinking, expressive text, looking out the window, etc) in combination with the after effects’ animation.

Then, I added all these files to premiere to piece them together with my thumbnail sketches. The quality took a nosedive which I wasn’t sure how to remedy. I also realized I really disliked the text in premiere, and will have to do research on adding text in aftereffects or hand lettering a design in photoshop.

Moving on, I think I am going to redefine my thumbnails, possibly produce a clearer animatic with a plan for the hand-drawn animation, think about the text I will be including and how I will render that information, and refine my color palette in accordance with light.

#Blog post #Blog post 2 #Project 1

Blog Post #1

What is the concept of your project

I want to create a title sequence for a made-up movie about a strangely empty city. I want to contrast organic (curvilinear, soft) forms and straight (angled, sharp) structure as two opposing forces. I also want to focus on color and color shift. Additionally, I want to experiment with expressiveness and subtlety through 2D and 3D animation.

What are some sources of inspiration

I am probably most inspired by the end credits of Ratatouille, not only because it is my favorite movie, but also because it has a really good sense of composition and color. I also looked into other animated film title sequences, like the Incredibles, Madmen, and Catch Me If You Can. I really liked the variety in composition, theme, scene content, and color all of these had and it is something I want to try to emulate with my title sequence.

What are your intentions?

The message that I want to convey is one that ironically enough, I’m sure I’m not alone in; I want to create a narrative that shows how living in the city can be really lonely or isolating sometimes. There is a quote by Charles Bukowski, that I am both inspired by and want to emulate the feeling of; it is as follows, “there is a loneliness in this world so great that you can see it in the slow movement of the hands of a clock”.

Link to source material:

Beautiful Brain

Ratatouille end credits

Madmen

The Incredibles

Catch Me If You Can

Inspiration (visual board)