sophiephys23

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Creating Stereoscopic 3D Images

This was a fun assignment! I used Red/Cyan 

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Recreating Cameras and Lights in Maya

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Building a Scene in Maya *cough* blender *cough*

For this assignment I decided to use Blender. I’ve has it on my computer for a couple of years and after watching the Blender Presentations I was inspired to try it out.

Since I had zero modeling background I found a very helpful tutorial that laid out all the steps and helped me learn a few shortcuts!

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The Nexus of Art and Science

In every film Disney creates they are always trying to push the limits of the technology available to help them create believable stories. This need to push the boundaries was very prevalent in Disney’s 2016 film Zootopia. When Director Bryant wanted to make a movie about talking animals in a world inhabited with hundreds of different creatures the team knew they wanted to do it right. From the largest of elephants to the hairs on the tiniest mouse. While developing the look of the movie they needed to do research, specifically on how to make the fur believable.

Disney and Pixar are know for doing extensive research before diving head first into any project. This process was repeated when starting Zootopia. Right away the need to have realistic fur was of top priority for the films team. This meant getting the best reference possible. They spent around eight months figuring out how the different types of fur on each animal was effected by the light around them. This pushed the software team at Disney to not only improve software they already had but also create a new one.

At Disney Animation they use an application called Hyperion for rendering scenes. Hyperion uses a way to follow light called path tracing. Just as the name suggest the path a light ray would take is traced around a scene until it hits the camera. This kind of path tracing was first used in Big Hero 6 but when trying to trace the path of light through a furry mammal that can take a lot of time. Time, which the production team did not have considering the film had been in development for around five years. To combat this engineers went ahead and get the average amount of hair per animal and plugged in the average amount of scattering that would occur when light passes through the fur. By finding the average they were able to tell Hyperion when to stop tracing the light around once it hit the maximum number.

Now when creating the models for all the animal characters each had a specific amount of hair strands on them. The main characters Judy (a rabbit) and Nick (a fox), each had over 2 million hair follicle. Meanwhile a giraffe averaged 9 million hairs and a tiny rodent was over 400,000. Image having to animate all those hair individually, that would take even longer then rendering that fur. How Disney fixed this was by adapting an old software they had called XGen to get better control on the hair movement and patterns. To give each animal their own distinct pattern they brought back iGroom, a tool that is apart of XGen in order to have better control when adding hair to the animals. iGroom allowed for groups of hair to be moved at once, instead of the individual strands, to create longer or shorter hair follicles.

With all of these great advancements in animation technology it does not just help the look of the movie when striving to have the fur believable all of these advancements were created to help the story. Everything the Zootopia team did in research all the way to development was to tell the story in the best way to convey the message of the film, a message about bias and prejudices we experience in our daily lives even if we are not aware of it. As stated in the beginning Zootopia was released May 2016, right from the start many Americans could tell 20106 was going to be a charged year. By the time the film was officially released talk about racism in America was being discussed on the local news daily with protest sprouting up all around the country. The timing of the films release could not have been more perfect. It was a great coincidence that while adults were having conversations about their own biases toward other groups children were able to see it in a digestible way for them. Disney is well known for being a culture influencer and Zootopia was able to solidify that statement. By putting in the time and caring about the story the Zootopia team was able to tell a very personal story that related to real life on such a great scale. Everyone who saw the movie was able to take pieces from it and apply to their daily lives.

Disney has always been a pioneer when it comes to creating new technology to tell stories with. From the very first animated film they all the way to the present every advancement has helped Disney tell better and better stories. For Zootopia they advanced their work with animal fur to make them truly believable for the audience to relate with. When tackling a topic as heavy as ingrained prejudice and bias not only does the animation need to be able to give the best performance but also the story needs to be clear and well defined. Those 8 months of fur research at zoos and natural history museums were put to good use in advancing the needed programs for the film to look its absolute best.

[sophiephys23]

Outline for the Second Term Paper

Nexus of Science and Art

Paper Outline

Title: Disney’s Zootopia

Introduction

1. Give a very brief explanation of Zootopia and the challenges they faced with having animals covered with fur and showing the audience the correct scale for each animal.

2. Talk very briefly about how hair in animation has evolved with Incredibles, Big Hero 6, and Frozen.

3. Talk very quickly about how other movies show scale when working with animals. Specifically Sing (Everything human sized not animal sized)

II. Evolution of hair and their process

1. Talk more about the different types of animals and how the directors wanted it to help out

2. Describe the research that went into Disney getting the fur correct

Disney did extensive research into how each fur of an animal is different from others. The white of a honey badger is not the same as the white you get from a polar bear. After figuring out how the fur worked through light they plugged all this information into their old programs to keep them updated with what is needed.

They create a way to “groom” the fur on each animal for the animators so they wouldn’t have to animate each hair individually

III. Social and Political implications of the movie.

1. Zootopia came out during a very politically charged year but keep in mind that the film has been in development for at least 5years.

2. Disney brought in experts to have productive talks about discrimination and racism so they could best convey that for the film.

3. The film talks about the quiet majority coming take over a minority. With violence breaking out and Judy being the one who figures out how to keep her prejudices in check.

IV. Conclusion

Zootopia is a film that revolutionized the way animators are now able to deal with fur and hair. While these physics breakthroughs are impressive they help to enhance the powerful message the film is trying to convey.

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Character Animation

https://youtu.be/qaavESpaxwU

TaDa! Here is my adorable character animation inspired by my cat Cleo. When I first came up with the idea for this animation I wanted to make it out of clay thinking it would be easier. Turns out that it wasn’t. So I scrapped the idea of using clay in favor of making a paper puppet. I made the basic model of the cat then broke it down into different shapes to be cut and taped together. I was able to have it stand up thanks to a small piece of paper in the back taped to the table. The cup is one of my roommates who let me barrow it and I achieved the movement by using a rubber eraser to have it stay in place. The program I used is for the iPhone and called “Stop Motion” it is an easy app to use and I highly recommend it.

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Script, Boards, and Reference for Character Animation.

In my stop motion animation I want to have cat. This cat is sleeping peacefully until he is rudely interrupted by their owner. The owner is on the phone and place a glass of water right next to the cat a very loudly. This small cup of water startles the cat awake but he slowly gets up to investigate what the cup is. He sniffs the cup then lifts his paw to poke at it but his owner makes a noise to stop him. Now this cat is still mad that he was woken up from his nap so her proceeded to tap the cup again. His owner notices and tries to stop him again and he stops. Now the third time around the cat is now ticked off more. He will do what he wants to do. While looking straight into his owner's eyes he slowly tips the cup over. Then, he lets it fall and turns towards the camera as his owner freaks out. The screen goes to black and the short ends.

I want to focus on the acting in the cat. To do this I will make the cat and owner out of clay and the cat will have bead eyes. The glass of water will be a small doll cup and the water will also be made out of clay. I want to keep this short and simple. No flying planes this time...

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Reverse Video Reference

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The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

For my physics of animation paper I have chosen to look at the French animated TV show Miraculous Ladybug. Each episode of Miraculous Ladybug runs about 24 minutes and follows the adventures of a girl named Marinette while she tries to balance her regular and super hero lives. The episode I picked to focus on is episode 1 on the english dub titled Stormy Weather. A girl loses a contest and is not chosen to be the face of a weather station. The girl becomes jealous which opens her up to be akumatized, turned evil basically. It is up to LadyBug, Marinette, and Black Cat to stop Stormy Weather from turning all of France into a Winter Wonderland.

A common law of physics broken in many animations, Miraculous Ladybug included, is gravity. This constant force helps us the audience feel grounded in the worlds but when something doesn’t feel right or solid it is noticeable. One example that stands out is when Alya, the girl with glasses, picks up Monan, the child Marinette is babysitting. When Monan is lifted up into the air there is zero resistance. She is weightless by the looks of how quickly Alya grabs her. Another way gravity shifts in this universe is how when Marinette as LadyBug is able to jump from place to place without losing a sweat. This may be attributed to her being a superhero with superhuman abilities while in costume. If so how can her superhuman abilities defy the laws of gravity to have her run up a vertical wall in a perfectly horizontal run. In the real world this can not happen but since this is a children's show about superheros you need the classic running up walls to give that super feel. With a show about superheros of course you need a supervillain. In comes Stormy Weather

Miraculous LadyBug is an episodic series, so each episode has its own plot and villain. In episode 1 the major villain is a character called Stormy Weather. From her very creative name her power is that she can control the weather. Turning bright summer days into gloomy winter snow storms. Right off the bat controlling the weather is physically impossible to do. No one can and not one should be able to control the weather. For the sake of cartoons Stormy Weather is able to create powerful gust of wind. Throughout the episode Stormy Weather uses these gust of wind to get people out of her way. As Stormy Weather is walking out of the music production building and into a crowd of people she literally blows them away. The amount of force her winds exert is enough to not only blow the fence keeping the crowd back but also all the people. Finally at the climax of the episode where LadyBug and Black Cat are fighting Stormy Weather they all are in a tornado. Very dramatic to have the final battle in a tornado but it is inaccurate. LadyBug and Black Cat are standing on the ground. There is no up draft caused by the two winds colliding. If an actual fight were to happen in the middle of a tornado then the parties battling would be pushed upwards off of the floor. Another example of Stormy Weathers super villain powers at work.

Finally, the actions and reactions in the show poke holes into the laws of physics. A large moment was when Stormy Weather uses her winds to blow Black Cat out of her way. When he lands he hits a car then in propelled into another car, just like a pinball. He goes at a constant rate with no added energy coming from the cars he is propelled off of. A very questionable reaction comes from Marinette using her LadyBug yo-yo to slice a hole in the bus that is about to crush her and Black Cat. This cutting action is impossible with the small yo-yo LadyBug has. The amount of speed she would have to create to slice through a bus is impossible for her to make on her own. This can only be attributed to her superhuman speed granted to her by the suit.

Miraculous Ladybug is a superhero, cg animated, kids shows with fantastic stunts and action. No matter how high the flips are though there needs to some sense of reality for the action to be grounded. That believability comes from obeying the laws of physics that the audience has lived in. But in animation those rules can be bent to help the action seem larger than life. In Miraculous Ladybug gravity is bent to help the heroes stay in the air longer or run up walls. The villain can manipulate the weather to give a good backdrop for an epic battle in a tornado. Even with this the actions and reactions taken after are pushed too, as seen with Black Cat being treated as a pin ball. No matter how out there the physics in this animated universe get it only helps to drive the superhero story forward.

[sophiephys23]

First Paper Outline

I. Introduction

1. Miraculous LadyBug Ep. Stormy Weather

2. Computer Animated TV Series.

3. Thesis: In the show Miraculous ladybug they break the laws of physics to help exaggerate the super hero movements of the characters. This can been seen fully in the episode Stormy Weather.

II. Gravity

1. Alya picks up Monan and throws her around with zero resistance.

2. When Marinette and Adrien run up the sides of a building. Then they run along the side in a fully vertical fashion with zero resistance.

3. When Marinette is jumping around the park when she first sees Stormy Weather she goes at a constant rate or speed. There is no energy lost as she moves from a low jump to a higher one.

III. Stormy Weather…

1. Stormy Weather is the main bad guy and she has the power to control the weather! Her being able to do this messes will so many laws of physics.

2. When she uses her gust of wind to blow the crowd away the amount of force needed to blow a human off their feet would cause other things to blow away as well.

3. When Stormy Weather fights Marinette and Adrien the last battle is in a tornado. But they are flat on the ground. There is no updraft from the force of the wind.

IV. Action/Reaction

1. When Adrien is pushed back from the wind of Stormy Weather he falls very far away and then does a comical pinball gag with some parked cars. The amount of force needed for him to do that would also kill him…

2. Marinette pulls on Adrien's belt cat tail as they are trying to not be blown away. The amount of force needed to go against the wind would not only snap his tail off but also dislocate Marinettes shoulders.

3. Marinette uses her Yo-Yo to cut a perfect circle through a bus flying at her and Adrien… Just no…

V. Conclusion

1. In any superhero cartoon all science is used as a base for the action but they need to break some rules to help exaggerate the action for the story.

[sophiephys23]

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

If you noticed my previous post of StoryBoards and Script I changed my idea 100%. As I started to film my first idea I thought more about what Lego Brick Films mean to me. When I watch a clearly homemade BrickFilm it warms my heart because the person who made it went out of their way to create a cute film. The biggest challenge besides my idea change was filming the plane. The floss kept turning while I would go take a picture. In the end I’m very happy with how this turned out. 

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Script, Boards, and Reference for Basic Animation

Stop Motion Script

By: Sophia A.

Description: Two lone lego figures spot one another from across the plane. They make eye contact and one of them goes in! They fight for a bit, A punches while B blocks. Then B goes in for a counter move but fails as A is more aggressive. B is on the ground then pounces again on top of A because B never gives up. Sadly A holds B over their head and runs to throw B off the ledge of a table. A throws then looks down to notice that B is holding on for dear life. A crushes this fingers and B falls finally, the camera zooms as B falls. Then back to A who turns away and walks towards the camera. The screen goes to black. Credits roll, but afterwards we see B is still alive, The End?

Props Needed: Lego Figures (x2), Large Lego Grey Plate, Backdrop that won’t change for a long time, Two desk lamps for even lighting, Tripod for phone to keep it stable.

Production notes: Makes sure that the lighting doesn’t change at all and get the right sounds for impacts, If needed go to the Lab to check out recorder(but that’s super fancy) Keep it short and sweet. Look back a lot at the shots to make sure they all match up right. Remember to have a fun time playing with Legos! NO BLOOD!

P.S. I would like to thank my wonderful roommates for helping me shoot this and being good sports about me having them punch each other...

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Tracker Video Ball Drop

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Shooting Video Reference

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Mini-Portfolio

Hello! My name is Sophia but I also go by Sophie,I have no preference. I am currently a second year in the A/I program, I have an adorable cat, and I love comics.  Currently I am taking ANI 28 and 113A. I’m really excited to be taking ANI 28. Being able to give a drawing life makes me so happy. So being able to take this course, Phys 23, I hope to take what we learn here and using it in my work! 

Below is a piece I did last semester of a character of mine 

And here is a very short animation I did. The purpose of it was to play around with some paper cutouts. Nothing too crazy. More importantly here is an adorable picture of my cat!!!

Here is a really cool animated music video that I played on repeat all summer. The music is from Siames with animation by Rudy co. Down below is a link to the video!