Building a Scene in Maya with Bonus Points: Lighting your scene

Here is the maya scene I created:

[Extra Credit] I also made three lighting scenes of this one:

One Point

Two Point

Three Point

Third Term Paper: Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action

My first two term paper scores were 80 and 90; I will not be writing a third term paper.

Outline of the Third Term Paper

Special Effect: large scale of a small objects or animals in the films.

Introduction

l   In most monsters movies, monsters are shown in a large scale to represent the fear of overwhelming.

l   To create this special effect, film makers need to build up equipment and tricks when they are film the movie.

l   In order to explain how film makers to make characters large and scary, here are the two example live-action films:

n   Godzilla (1954)

n   Pacific Rim (2013)

Godzilla (1954)

l   Scene: Godzilla walks through the city, and destroy all the buildings.

l   As the first Godzilla film, Japanese company Tomoyuki Tanaka uses hand-crafted objects and low camera angle to make the monster looks huge.

n   The monster of this film, Godzilla, is actually a human in a robber suit.

n   But all buildings are small hand-crafted models, so when adult-sized Godzilla walks in the fake “mini-city,” it looks really huge.

n   The cameraman also uses lots of low-angle shots to make Godzilla look scary.

Pacific Rim (2013)

l   Scene: When the Becket brothers controls their Jaeger to fight against the monster at the beginning of the film.

l   Since Pacific Rim is filmed in recent years, the director has more freedom and technology to build up special effects.

l   Mostly done with the computer simulation (CGI)

n   In “Pacific Rim,” the fighting between Kaiju (monsters) and robots is done by three-dimensional animation during the post-production.

n   However, the director still build real pilot seat simulator (the head of Jeager) and put the actors inside. The pilot seat will physically shake so the actors will feel more intensive inside than they are surrounded by green screens (digital/visual backlot)

Conclusion

l   To create large scale objects, hand-crafted objects and camera angle ticks are needed.

l   Although CGI supports films to create giant characters, directors still need to establish some scenes or models as references.

l   This special effect is more complicated and needs more tricks and time to make it real. 

Stop-Motion Character Animation

Here is the stop motion animation:




I worked with Edie and Olivia, and we had an amazing time together!

↑Here is how we worked.

Edie and I placed the characters and Olivia directed us where to put them in appropriate positions. We used chopsticks and pasted them behind each characters so the characters can "jump" in the air. It is challenge when we have multiple objects doing actions at the same time, but we made it works. After we shot all the photos, we used Photoshop to move chopsticks and hands out. We also changed color temperature for some frames if they are so different than others. Then, we put all the photos in flash, the film is done.

This is my first time to do a stop motion animation this long. The only 36 seconds kept us two days for shooting and editing. Yet, I really have good time with my friends. Together, we solve problems, work, and think interesting ideas. It is fun to work in groups at this time.