The Struggles and Successes of A Stop-Motion

• Excuses and Background Information

The chronicle of this stop motion is a drama of epic proportions, much like a soap opera or an episode of The Real Housewives. We began with our idea of the stop-motion "Nightmares", the epic animation that was detailed in depth in the prior post to this one. This stop motion was to include a horse and a soundtrack that would accompany the video to epic proportions. This video was going to be pretty awesome and I was excited  to work with my group during the process of creating said video. However, this idea of the video could only last so long. As time passed and we came closer to our deadline, we had to make a new idea from top to the bottom. This led to the conception of our new idea, which we would carry out as our stop-motion for this quarter.

• The Creation of the New Idea

The new idea was created as stated earlier when we, as a group, realized that the creation of our "Nightmares" piece would take far too much time, effort, and resources that were available at the time. So, with a week until the deadline of this being due, we decided to hit the drawing board and create a new idea that could be done in approximately one week's time. This led us to create something simple and relatable that people could understand the meaning of just by watching the video at a glance. With this, we created "You Matter".

• "You Matter" Ideas and Meanings

This new idea for the animation was created fairly quickly and was actually pretty good for the time constraints which we had been placed into. The idea of "You Matter" is the cliche yet truthful idea that if someone is feeling down you can help them by brighting their day, and reminding them that they are needed and in fact "Matter".

• The Execution of Stop-Motion

We made the stop motion in three class days due to the time constraints. We made this animation by taking a photo, moving the card, then taking another photo and repeating this process an amount that would lead the the proper collection of frames to produce the proper length of a video so that it could be considered a source of entertainment.

• How I Assisted

I helped by moving the card many times to a point that brought me close to the verge of insanity. I also was in the final render as the sad man who on the arrival of the text message began to cry in sheer happiness of the situation, and mistakenly sent a message to Mr. Netterville claiming that he was in fact "2 Legit 2 Quit".  I helped pretty well overall, and I feel that my assistance was very appreciated to the project.

• The Final Render

The poor boy who needs no sympathy due to his nature that is referred to as easy come easy go.

The sending of the text message that would read "You Matter", and would send shivers down the boy's spine

The moving of the card through the room and under the door, for it must leave you all behind and face the truth.

The poor boy from a poor family receiving the notification that he, in fact, does matter. 

Mr. Netterville partaking in the reading of a text message.

Overall I know that the final render of this video could be a lot better. I feel that the best portion of this stop motion was the Intro and Outro credits. To improve this animation I feel that we must fix the lighting, speed and camera movement. I feel that whenever or if we ever address there problems at the stop motion would greatly improve.

We as a group know the problems that are in this video, and hope that you will be able to forgive for these horrendous mistakes and the total deficiency of the project in certain aspects. I hope that you can forgive us for these missteps as there was an effort put forth.

• The League of Extraordinary Comrades

Kelsie Wilt: The person who helped lead the project as a card maker/mover. She is also the character who first sent the "You Matter" text message.  She helped create the idea that we managed to pull off in the final render. She also contributed the intro and outro credits, probably the best part of the animation as a whole. Her assistance was not overlooked, as she was one of the leaders of this group and very helpful in the entirety of the project.

Chloe Kraus: The main leader of this project that headed the photography and managed the team. Her work was greatly appreciated, and nearly necessary for the execution of this project. Her work included pre and post production in almost all fields.

Hasset Habte: The comrade who helped create many cards and assisted in the pre production stages of the project. Well the assistance was scarce, the help that was obtained had copious amounts of benefits.

Yours Truly: I helped the project in the pre and post production phases. Ranging from being a horrible actor to doing the painstaking process of counting the photos and rearranging the improper ones that managed to break when transferred to the Mac. It was a fun time.

Stop-motion Animation Introduction

So far we have planned all of the timing and the ideas for our stop motion animation. Our animation is basically if nightmares were to become your sheets and harass you during the night. I think that once we start later this week if everything goes to plan then it will look good, and follow our original plan pretty well. Now that we have basically finished our planning stages we will begin the process of taking the shots and begin the animation.

Original Ideas and early drawings. 

The page of story-broad that has been finished. After the finishing of this project.

The pre-render of a Horse running. Which we plan to include into our animation. 

Now we just need to start the actual shots and the official stop motion to continue this project.

Quarter One Project in a Nutshell

• Conception

My project is a 3D character that is a man wearing bikers clothing including a helmet and boots. I decided to make this project mostly because at first I had wanted to make a 3D model of a heavier man. I then had many changes during the design process and then I eventually messed around and made a helmet which worked very well for some one that would be a biker or a race car driver. The other things that were considered were: Business Man, Gabe Newell, a 19th Century british industry tycoon, a football player and a king. I eventually got to this Motorsport man which has been enjoyable. 

After I had made the decision to make the man how you see him now, I then used Lynda.com, and John Pace for help at the beginning and throughout the project. These resources were the biggest help to start off the project with the sculpting and changes that I had made to the Default Mudbox human model. Then It was time to begin the long journey that would eventually become the "Heavier Man in a Bikers Outfit"

• Planning

I had a prior blog over the plans that I had made to compete this project in an acceptable time period. This can be referenced by searching throughout the blog, or i can just tell you the based of it here. I basically planned two weeks to finish the molding and sculpting of the Model, which I also used to help me create the Helmet and Boots. After that I took a week to create clothing. One more week passed and it was time to troubleshoot the problems with the face, and some of the other areas of question, after that I began to start a long process of texturing and the shading of the model. I would then add the environment and further add lights to pretty the scene, I spent the last days rendering the "last version", which would then be further improved.

• Creation

I began the process of creating the 3D model with commandeering the default human model from Mudbox, I then preceded to use blood sweat and tears to sculpt the mans body to the proper proportions which I would enjoy and find acceptable for that of a human. After that had been finished I went on to the Helmet and the boots which would be some of my favorite parts of the final model. Then the next week or so was spent on the creation of clothing such as his leather jacket, or his beautiful slacks. I kind of wish that I had had time to rig this charter and make him move or less awkward in a way. But that time was not available due to only have 6 or so weeks to work on this. Overall the Final Render is pretty good in my opinion and I quite frankly do enjoy it.

• Self-Critique/Class Critique

I disliked the "Pre-Final Render"'s lack of environmental texture or coloring. Also the face being the definition of the "Uncanny Valley" was scary. Those are definitely the worst parts about the pre-post render. I have been working to improve this and the final render should come with this blog. Also the camera movement was jerky, and almost nauseating.

• The evolution of the Man

The very rough concept of what I wanted the bodies proportions to be.

The first changes that were made to the model which include the sculpting. The creation of Boots, a Helmet and the rough clothing.

First render with no environment, minimal lighting, and bad textures.

Slightly changed now with an attempt at an environment and better lighting and textures.

The over light and broken reflection, shader and texture ridden render.

The render that fixed many of the broken shades and reelections of the helmet and the clothing.

At one point this was the "Final Render". This had been updated due to the criticism which I had known would come, and updated to make it look more interesting. 

• Final Render

I personally am very proud of the final render, as it looks much better then any of the previous. The lighting, model, textures and camera have all been improved and it shows in this final render.

The "New Final Render" of this man, with improved lighting, quality, textures, and colors it looks much better. It also fixed broken things such as the jerky camera movement.

Overall I enjoyed this first quarter project, it allowed me to make whatever I had decided that I had wanted to. It was a good learning experience and I know next time that I make a 3D character I will use some of the tips and tricks which I learned during this project.

The Kind of Final Update

I am pretty sure this will not be my final render for this First Quarter Project. I have worked on lighting and minor environmental stuff for the past week or so and I am pretty fond of the result. I decided to make a man in bikers clothing with a helmet, boots and a leather jacket. The man is somewhat general in appearance and appears to have a little bit of a heavyset figure. I had decided to render it in mental ray, and have shadows and other reflective lights make the model act as if they were the center of attention. I pretty ok with the final result overall my favorite parts are probably the helmet and the boots, because I find there designs interesting. The biggest problem for sure is some of the polygons that would most likely wreck this if I attempted to rig it, and the face basically being the definition of the uncanny valley. Other then that I enjoy the final result.

The majority of the stage environment and the model of my character.

Closer view of the model of my character.

Angled view of a closer version of my character.

Right side of my character.

Left side model of my character.

Close up of the face and helmet model of my character, and the uncanny appearance of his face.

Back of the helmet and light reflections.

The boots.

The face of Mercy

I have also realized with the render of the video you can see the endless black abyss that is where a root should be covering it, This will be addressed however do to the lack of time to re-render this is how it will look for now.

If you care to see the process of how I made this character feel free to look at the prior blog posts.