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.