Creating 3D Stereoscopic Images

This assignment was insanely fun. I throughly enjoyed your class. Thanks for a great semester!

All of my photos can be viewed with green/magenta glasses

Recreating cameras and lights in maya

IMG_5907.jpg

Maya Recreation

45 degree turn

Creating a Scene in Maya

I was a little hungry when I did this...

Scene Created in Maya:

Extra Credit One Point Lighting:

Extra Credit Two Point Lighting:

Extra Credit Three Point Lighting:

Scientific Truth or Cinematic Fiction?

Decibel Levels and the Effects of Sound on the Body

I would like to discuss the use of sound in movies. Specifically the effects they have on the ears and body between the extremes of the decibel levels: threshold of hearing to threshold of pain. The three clips I would like to use are from Horton Hears a Who, Iron man, and Bass Cannon (a music video by Flux Pavillion). These three clips have extreme examples of audible levels found within the decibel scale, and use them in different ways.

The first movie I chose was Horton Hears a Who. This entire movie is about microscopic people that live on a flower and communicate with the only character who can hear their tiny voices, an elephant named Horton. Animals, in our universe, are known to have more advanced hearing relative to humans. According to a wildlife preservation site, elephants can communicate long distances via low frequency sounds called infrasound (taken from www.upali.ch/communication_en.html).

There is not much information on the lowest possible decibel level an elephant can hear, but if you were to look at a decibel (dB) level chart, the lowest recognizable noise for humans is at about 10 dB, which is quiet whispering or leaves rustling in the wind. The scale begins at zero, which is the lowest volume of a sound the human ear can hear. Since animals’ hearing is more acute than humans, we can safely assume they are capable of hearing noise at 0 dB.

For sound to travel great distances it would need a lot of force behind it or, in other words, it would need to begin at a high volume.  Another way to assist the distance sound travels is if certain wind speeds are at play while the sound waves are traveling.

To sum everything up: elephants are in fact capable of hearing infrasound which is noise that is inaudible to other animals and humans, most other animals have more acute hearing relative to humans, and to perpetuate sound over a great distance, it would need a lot of force behind it. With all of this in mind, let’s look at the plot of the movie: an elephant named Horton, who only differs from the other animals in his world by the fact that he has massive ears, is able to hear extremely low dB levels produced by the microscopic Whos’ in Whoville living on a flower that Horton carries around. The primary character that Horton communicates with is the Mayor of Whoville who does at times speak into a sort of megaphone tool when talking with Horton, but will most of the time move around and speak at a normal conversation level (about 60-65 dB).

Due to the size difference in these two beings, the volume of sound produced by each would be dramatically different. For instance, Horton’s voice would be far beyond the threshold of pain for the Mayor, and, conversely, the Mayor’s voice would be too soft for Horton to hear. Even if Horton did have super sensitive hearing and was able to pick up the sound waves produced by the Mayor’s tiny vocal chords, he would not be able to communicate with the animals in his world in the same manner. The voices and noises of things in his world would seem to him to be a much more intense volume that we would see him collapse in pain every time a character spoke to him in the normal 60-65 dB level range. Being that this is a children’s movie, this would have been most inappropriate. For sheer continuity and aesthetic reasons, the director decided that the elephant’s massive ears would be enough to catch the miniscule sound waves produced by the Mayor or Whoville, without effecting the way his ears perceive natural noises in his own world. From a cinematic stand point, these were wise decisions, they just do not mix well with what is plausible in our universe and therefore stand out as being a cinematic fiction.

The next movie I chose was Iron Man. This movie is about a man who is an exceptionally brilliant scientist and engineer, Tony Stark. He creates and builds weapons that are meant to be used by the United States Army. After being kidnapped and he finding out that his company has been selling weapons to the enemy forces as well, he creates a suit that allows him to fight the terrorist forces and help the people he has put in danger. The whole feel of the movie revolves around the fact that this man is far superior knowledge wise to anyone in our universe, and can create amazing machines that are more advanced than any technology we have yet to encounter.

At the climax of the movie, the character Obadiah Stane, who was thought to be a mentor figure to Stark, turns against him and reveals himself as the true villain of the movie. He “stuns” Stark with high frequency device that he says was considered to be “too inhumane” for the army to use. The result of the extremely high frequencies to Stark’s bare ears temporarily paralyzes him. Other effects that can be seen throughout Stark’s body are that blood appears to rush to his head, and he appears to be in immense pain.

These effects appear to be realistic to an extent, however, Stane then continues to speak to Stark and unfold his villainous plan. Stark moves his eyeballs which signifies that he does indeed hear what Stane is saying. Effects of this intense frequency would result in hearing loss, and, perhaps if the technology is advanced enough, could potentially cause paralysis. The key here is that afterwards, the victim would not be able to hear what the attacker was saying to them. So while Stark appeared to be in pain and lost control of his nervous system are plausible to our laws of physics, the idea that he could still have the ability to hear is a little preposterous.

It is understandable why the director would have made the choice to merely cause paralysis on Stark rather than permanent hearing loss. This turning point in the movie was meant to be the climax and lead up to the victorious triumph of Iron Man versus Stane. At this particular point in the movie, he was meant to appear powerless. The director achieved this by using the same kind of technology that caused the conflict, action, and resolution of the movie. Had this device permanently handicapped Stark, it would have been extremely dramatic, but also an extremely disappointing ending as there would be nowhere to go from having a useless, deaf superhero. So while this scene does fit in nicely to the rest of the movie, it does not coincide with our real world laws of physics.

The last cinematic clip I chose was the music video for Bass Cannon by Flux Pavilion. This music video can be found on youtube from this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htm_956k5ps. It features two scientists preforming experiments on several different subjects. The experiment appears to be testing the audible tolerance levels of the subjects. The physical effect it has on the subjects bodies’ is what gives this clip away as being cinematic fiction. When the tests begin, the sound coming from the amplifiers appears to be so impressive, that it not only creates massive sound waves, but also propels the air in front of the speakers which can be seen in the movement of the hair and mouths of the subjects.

As the scientists increase the intensity of the speaker volume, the effects in the bodies of the test subjects include bloody noses, eyes rolling to the backs of their heads, appearance of being in extreme pain, and large gusts of wind blowing past them. All of these effects are meant to convey that the sound coming from the speakers is so intense that it can manipulate the air resting in front of it and push it at the test subjects. We visually see the effect of this when their hair and faces are blown backwards.

At about 1:45 minutes in, the tests pause momentarily and then begin again, but this time, the test subjects appear as though they are being exposed to volume close to the threshold of hearing. This is when their noses bleed, eyes roll to the back of their heads, and one even begins to have body spasms. Along with these side effects, one could also expect loss of hearing if the dB level was truly this loud. So these aspects make the scene plausible to our laws of physics, but the volume pushing the air at this great magnitude give it away as cinematic fiction.

The point of the video is to give the audience the sense that the sound is truly impressive and visually, all that is conveyed. The only piece that doesn’t work is the notion that sound waves have the ability to move air particles at that speed and scale.

Looking at each of these scenarios and how they were used give completely different impressions of the decibel level from the threshold of hearing to the threshold of pain. They also give false accounts of what is possible at these extreme levels for cinematic drama and to make for more interesting footage. Through this investigation we’ve seen cinematic use of highly acute hearing with Horton Hears a Who, extremely high and dangerous frequencies in Iron Man, and the extreme of the dangers of the threshold of pain with Bass Cannon. Looking at these uses of sound and their effects on the body give each scene and cinematic clip a different feel while still maintaining their own aesthetic specific to each one. I feel that each director was successful in selling their perception of sound to the audience and it definitely did take a closer look to see that there were errors in what they had portrayed. 

Outline of Second Term Paper

Introduction

I would like to discuss the use of sound in movies. Specifically the effects they have on the ears and body between the extremes of the decibel levels: threshold of hearing to threshold of pain. The three clips I would like to use are from Horton Hears a Who, Iron man, and Bass Cannon (a music video by Flux Pavillion). These three clips have extreme examples of audible levels found within the decibel scale, and use them in different ways.

General Ideas for Body

Horton Hears a Who: The first movie I chose was Horton Hears a Who. This entire movie is about microscopic people that live on a flower and communicate with the only character who can hear their tiny voices, an elephant.  Elephants in our world are known to communicate long distances via low frequency sounds called infrasound (http://www.upali.ch/communication_en.html). While animals do have relatively better hearing than humans, the of the elephant having super naturally acute hearing as the movie suggests is unlikely and therefore, a cinematic fictional device used to perpetuate the aesthetics of this movie.

Iron man: The character Obadiah Stane “stuns” Tony Stark with high frequency device that paralyzes him. He then continues to speak to Stark and unfold his villainous plan. Stark moves his eyeballs which signifies that he does indeed hear what Stane is saying. Effects of this decibel level would result in hearing loss, and, perhaps if the technology is advanced enough, could potentially cause paralysis on, but then the victim would not be able to hear what the attacker was saying to them afterwards.

Bass Cannon: This music video can be found on youtube from this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htm_956k5ps. It features two scientists preforming experiments on several different subjects. The experiment appears to be testing the audible tolerance levels of the subjects. The physical effects it has on the subjects bodies’ is what gives this clip away as being cinematic fiction. When the tests begin, the sound coming from the amplifiers appears to be so impressive, that it not only creates massive sound waves, but also pushes the air in front of the speakers which can be seen in the movement of the hair and mouths of the subjects.

            After discussing each movie and clip specifically, I will go in to detail and discuss why this is incorrect according to our laws of physics and why it would work the aesthetics of the movie.

Conclusion:

Looking at each of these scenarios and how that were used give completely different impressions of the decibel level from the threshold of hearing to the threshold of pain. They also give false accounts of what is possible at these extreme levels for cinematic drama and to make for more interesting footage.

Stop Motion Character Animation

This assignment was fun. I found that having the experience with the previous stop motion assignment helped tremendously when doing this assignment. I spent less time trying to figure out how to put together my animation and more time on the animation itself. I had some issues trying to get my mannequin hand to stand on its own so I had to hold it in place for some shots and then later photoshop my hand out (as shown below). I am satisfied with how my animation came out and quite enjoyed this assignment.

Reverse Video Reference

Walk Reference for Clip A: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpQnk_3JrL8&feature=youtu.be

Walk Reference for Clip B: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oisA7GjALSU

Walk Reference for Clip C: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez0442iEnIQ&feature=youtu.be

Walk Reference for Clip D: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4o2iFfXbtY

First Term Paper

I would like to discuss the laws of physics applying to the world of Kung Fu Panda 2 by DreamWorks. Kung Fu Panda is a movie about a panda bear named Po who learns Kung Fu from other talking animals. The sequel, Kung Fu Panda 2, is the back-story of why Po lives in the village he grew up in with his adopted father, a goose. The main difference between this universe and our own, is that all of the animals have the ability to walk on two legs, talk, and preform Kung Fu. With that aside, the majority of the time, they obey the laws of physics that are specific to our universe.

DreamWorks is known for making 3D animated movies that appeal to children. The universe made specifically for Kung Fu Panda 2 allows for dramatic, comedic, and intense scenes that all fit within the levels of appropriateness one would expect to find in a children’s movie.

This universe allows for certain things to happen that would be impossible to achieve with our laws of physics. An example of this is the weapons used by the Kung Fu masters in the movie. When the characters are simply carrying them around, they appear as if they are made from cardboard since they are so easy to maneuver around. This observation was made by looking at the ratio of the weapon's size to how heavy it should appear. The continuity of this illusion, however, is broken when the characters use the weapons to fight with. They then appear to be made of metal, wood, stone, and other much denser materials. The audience is given the impression that they are heavy objects when they slam into another character or the ground, as they will fling said character to the side or create craters in the ground. The animators could have made the choice to visually shift the weight of the weapons for two reasons: to give the illusion that the characters are strong and can effortlessly wield their weapons, or to not draw attention to the fact that the characters are carrying around heavy masses.

Master Thundering Rhino holding his hammer

Most likely, a combination of both reasons was the incentive to break the continuity for these instances. The Kung Fu masters are indeed supposed to appear tough and strong. If they had to shift their weight to pick up and carry their weapons, as would be normal to see in our universe, that would definitely detract from the present action and would give the illusion that these characters are weak. It was wise of the animators to only use the law of action and reaction when the weapons were used to fight with rather than in scenes where emphasis was not meant to be on the weapons. Then, when the moment was appropriate, the weapons were used to fight with and caused tremendous reactions as they came in contact with another object.

My next hypothesis about the universe created for this movie is that the anatomy of the animals created in this universe does not coincide with the range of motion for animals in our universe. It appears as though, if you are an animal that is trained in the art of Kung Fu, your range of motion is more similar to that of a human being than the anatomy of that same animal in our universe. Vice versa, the secondary characters all appear to have a range of motion that more similarly resembles animals of our universe (ignoring the fact that all the animals, fowl and quadruped alike, walk upright on their hind legs).

We see this when the main characters make it to Gongmen City to fight the evil Lord Shen. Upon entering the city, the main characters find themselves having to fight the evil henchmen amongst all the town’s people. The animals that are trained in the art of Kung Fu can bend their knees and swing their arms in a manner similar to the range of motion of a human being. The anatomy of a canine in our universe, for example, would not allow for the animal to be able to swing its arm back the way the wolves do in the movie to strike another character. The same principle applies to Tigress, Po, Master Thundering Rhino, Master Storming Ox, and Master Croc.

While these Kung Fu masters have this ability, the anatomy of the village animals do not allow for such free flowing movement. They appear to be relatively stiffer than the main characters. Their entire anatomies differ from those of the Kung Fu Masters. An example of this are the sheep that live in Gongmen City. They are essentially spheres (torsos) walking around on sticks (their legs). The wolves, on the other hand, have their muscular mass spread throughout their bodies much more. The sheep juxtaposed with the evil henchmen give the audience a sense of who has the power and control in this setting. The complex muscle structure of the wolves makes them appear much larger, and therefore more impressive and stronger than the simple shapes that make up the sheep. Even from the establishing shot where the heroes observe the city from afar, the audience is visually told which characters overpower the others.

Po fighting Wolf Boss with a townsperson caught in the middle

My next hypothesis of this universe is that the density of characters changes depending on the aesthetic of the scene. This is similar to the aforementioned example that at the beginning of the movie, Master Thundering Rhino appears to be carrying around a cardboard weapon, and then it turns to a heavier object when used to fight with. This hypothesis, however, seems to follow with the continuity of the movie more when it applies to the characters.

An example of this is Po’s soft belly. At times in the movie when no serious action is going on, the animators emphasized Po’s enormous stomach by making it jiggle every time any sort of force is applied to it. The effect this produced closely represents what one would find in a water balloon drop test. Other times, such as fight scenes, Po’s stomach will appear static and move with him as he turns and does flips. In these scenes, his entire body appears to be one solid mass. It is almost as if Po is consciously thinking about what times are appropriate to allow his belly to have a long settle time, and when it is not.

Po in an action shot with a "tight" belly

This principle does not only happen to Po. The rest of the Furious Five appear to do similar things throughout the movie. Viper for example, appears to be made out of elastic material when used as a sling or rope in some scenes, and then appears to be made from bones and scales when striking a pose or slithering around in other scenes. This same principle happens with Monkey’s tail as well.

Another scene is one where the Furious Five and Po are on a boat headed to Gongmen City and Tigress instructs Po to strike her hand. The first time he hits her outstretched hand, there is absolutely no reaction or recoil in either of their bodies. Soon after, Po collapses in pain at how much it hurt to strike her hand, giving the illusion that Tigress is composed of very dense material, like concrete or stone. She then explains that she is tough because she has trained all her life. Each time after pointing out this fact, there is an appropriate reaction to Po hitting her hand. From this we can assume that Tigress is able to will her anatomy to be stiff and rigid as if she was a statue when the time is appropriate.

Tigress ready to fight
My last hypothesis about this universe is that the timing of simple laws of physics such as gravity and force are elongated or shortened due to what would feel appropriate to a specific situation. The heroes of the movie are able to jump from the ground, to a rooftop by shear act of propelling their own body weight. To achieve something like this in our universe, one would need some sort of sling or trampoline in order to act against the force of gravity in such a manner. Similar to this act of defying gravity, is when the heroes jump down from a very high place (such as rooftops or cliffs) to the ground. In order for someone in our universe to fall from such a great height and survive, the time of the impact would have to be elongated as to “cushion” the fall; simply landing on the ground would be too great of a pressure acting on the body and would have a tremendous reaction. Most of the time the only cushion the characters have is that they land and bend their knees, as if they only fell a distance of 2 or 3 feet rather than several yards.

Po and the Furious Five falling from a great height

         Another instance of where timing is particular to the mood of a scene is the climax of the movie. Po finds himself standing on a rock in the middle of the water, where all the cannons on Lord Shen’s fleet are pointed straight at him. The first cannon that is fired at Po is intense and dramatic. The cannon ball leaves the cannon at 1:13:23. Po then has time to compose himself, calm his nerves, find inner peace, and slip into the right mindset. The cannon ball finally reaches him at 1:13:36. The next cannon ball that is fired at him leaves the cannon at 1:13:59 and takes 35 frames to get to him at 1:14:01. If the movie was shot at the standard 24fps then we can use the equation 24/1 = 35/x to find that it only took 1.46 seconds for the second cannon ball to reach him whereas the first one took nearly 13 seconds. Allowing for the first cannon ball to take so long felt realistic in the sense that it added the dramatic uncertainty of if he would be able to deflect it or if he would be blown to pieces. After establishing that he could overpower the weapon, there was no need for it to be as dramatic and allowed for the speed to be more realistic to when a cannon is fired in our universe.

Po catching the cannon ball that was hurled at him

         The movie as a whole was extremely well thought out. The decision to have this universe overall apply to our laws of physics allowed for a realistic establishment. Bending rules at certain times allowed for dramatic as well as comical scenes. I feel as though DreamWorks did a wonderful job with this movie as everything reads clearly while maintaining entertaining continuity.

Outline For First Term Paper

I would like to discuss the laws of physics applying to the world of Kung Fu Panda 2 by DreamWorks.

Introduction: 

Describe the overview of the story, characters, and universe they exist in: Kung Fu Panda is a movie about a panda bear named Po who learns Kung Fu from other talking animals. The sequel, Kung Fu Panda 2, is the back story of why Po lives in the village he grew up in with his adopted father, a goose.

• DreamWorks is known for making 3D animated movies that appeal to children. The universe and laws of physics made specifically for Kung Fu Panda 2 allows for dramatic, comedic, and more intense scenes.
• This universe allows for certain things to happen that would be impossible to achieve with our laws of physics. An example of this is the weapons used by the Kung Fu masters in the movie. When the characters are simply carrying them around, they appear as if they are made from cardboard since they are so easy to maneuver around. This observation was made by looking at the ratio of the weapon's size to how heavy it should appear. The continuity of this illusion, however, is broken when the characters use the weapons to fight with. They then appear to be made of metal, wood, stone, and other much denser materials. The audience is given the impression that they are heavy objects when they slam into another character or the ground, as they will fling said character to the side or create craters in the ground. 
• The flexibility that can be attained from computer generated universe allows for effects such as this to become a reality. A live action shot of this same scene would most likely need cardboard props as well as real weapons to achieve the same effects. The trick is to create a universe that uses that flexibility to its advantage; the animators had the luxury of creating things that would be difficult to execute with our laws of physics to emphasize dramatic scenes, but at the same time had to keep it on a certain level of reality.  
• Introduce hypotheses about the laws of physics specific to this universe
• The anatomy of the animals created in this universe do not coincide with the range of motion for animals in our universe.
• The density of objects and characters created in this universe changes depending on the aesthetics of the scene.
• An example of this is Po's (sometimes) jiggly belly, Vipress' elasticity, and Tigress' fist while training with Po.
• The timing of simple laws of physics such as gravity and force are elongated or shortened due to what would feel appropriate to a specific situation.

Body

Hypothesis 1: The anatomy of the animals created in this universe do not coincide with the range of motion for animals in our universe.

• Why that is significant/which laws of physics that applies to in our universe/ why that would be appropriate for this universe
• It appears as though, if you are an animal that is trained in the art of Kung Fu, your range of motion is more similar to that of a human being than an animal that shares your anatomy in our universe. Vice versa, the secondary characters all appear to have a range of motion that more similarly resembles animals of our universe (ignoring the fact that all the animals, fowl and quadruped alike, walk upright on their hind legs).
• Specific examples
• Give reasons as to why animators would have made this choice

Hypothesis 2: The density of objects and characters created in this universe changes depending on the aesthetics of the scene.

• Why that is significant/which laws of physics that applies to in our universe/ why that would be appropriate for this universe
• As mentioned before, the density of certain props (such as weapons) changes in order to add emphasis to weight or how quickly they can accelerate.
• Master Flying Rhino's hammer smashing on the ground and iron pots that are thrown at enemies with high velocities. 
• An example of this in the characters themselves is Po's (sometimes) jiggly belly, Vipress' elasticity, and Tigress' fist while training with Po.
• Give reasons as to why animators would have made this choice

Hypothesis 3: The timing of simple laws of physics such as gravity and force are elongated or shortened due to what would feel appropriate to a specific situation.

• Why that is significant/which laws of physics that applies to in our universe/ why that would be appropriate for this universe
• example of where in the movie this takes place
• second example of where in the movie this takes place
• Give reasons as to why animators would have made this choice

Conclusion

The fact that this movie was completely computer generated allowed for restraints and liberties for the animators. They were able to create a universe for their characters to live in that is free from our laws of physics while at the same time, needed stay within the confines of what would be believable and what would just read as "they don't know what they're doing." The main reasons for bending the rules the ways that they did was so that they could add drama, emphasis, or comedic effects. While the laws of this universe needed to be believable, they could not be graphically realistic. 

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

Oh my goodness! This was extremely difficult and tiresome, but rewarding and entertaining in the end. I played around with several different ideas and decided that using magnets would be the most efficient way to create the illusion of gravity acting on an object. My first couple tries came out much too fast so I decided to completely reshoot the animation until the timing felt right. I am happy with the final outcome.

This assignment definitely had me working up a mental sweat!

Video Analysis of Path of Action

The Screen Shot: 

The Reference Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLst1C8Dvy0&context=C3840c94ADOEgsToPDskJN1uZ7p9Ej0nzqmfAmmZDm

Tracker Analysis of Jump:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b0ksYai0B8&context=C3840c94ADOEgsToPDskJN1uZ7p9Ej0nzqmfAmmZDm

I'm still having issues uploading my videos straight to my blog so here is the link to them on youtube.

Tracker Video Analysis of Falling

Video of Object Falling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x4erVZ71Dk&context=C3840c94ADOEgsToPDskJN1uZ7p9Ej0nzqmfAmmZDm

I had trouble uploading my video to my blog so here is the link to it on youtube.

This is the screen shot of my Tracker analysis of this video

Video Reference

Here is the my video reference. I decided to use the last toss because it appeared to be the clearest to me.

This is my photo collage that displays the Fourth Down at Half Time rule.

Mini-Portfolio

 This first image is a graphite on paper drawing of a bull skull leaning up against a drum and its reflection on said drum. This is a personal favorite of mine as it was selected to be put on display by my teacher in a students' art show.

The second picture is of a ray gun I made last semester in my beginning computer modeling class. This extreme fish eye angle of my gun was the best way I could find to get the entire object in the shot. I was extremely proud of the outcome.

This video is a turn around of my ray gun I created for my beginning 3D computer modeling class. Again, I was extremely proud of its outcome.


My name is Brie Henry. This is my third semester at San Jose State and I am an Animation/Illustration (ANI) major. I hope to earn my BFA here and go on to make 3D computer animated movies. I have taken most of the lower division requirements specific to the ANI major and should be completed with them by next semester. As far as my college level science class experience, I have only taken environmental and astronomy. I did take physics honors in high school and remember enjoying it, but unfortunately nothing since then. I do look forward to being able to apply real life laws of physics to my work as an animator via the knowledge I'll gain from this class.

The First Post

Hi, my name is Brie.