Week 13 Final Blog + Cultural Analysis - Animation Studio 3

Week 13 Final Blog

And so the last week is here, concluding my time with Animation Studio 3. It's certainly been an interesting time, with many highs and lows, and above all else it was important for me for my growth as a 3D artist.

While it was a shame that MUNIN wasn't successful the experience will be vital in preparing me for future projects and to help me avoid the traps that snagged me here. Having to assemble the showreel for this project was a tricky process as I didn't feel much love for the assets I contributed and didn't find them to be worthy of showing off, But given the lack of options they would have to do. The cultural analysis threw me off for a bit due to how it was described and at first I didn't understand the point of it. After asking about it though it made more sense and it wasn't as intimidating as before. Some parts were hard to describe about the project though and it left me with many moments of heavy thinking about how to answer it.

The Duo project was the main focus for this last week and it was definitely tiring to say the least with the amount of rendering and tweaking required to get our desired results. The sketch to Maya process went alright for the most part but the projection texture was a hassle as I was unable to figure out how to have it facing the same direction as the render camera. I connected the texture projection to the camera and found an option that looked like what I wanted but it was locked and looking online for help didn't get me results, forcing me to manually line it up, which in the end looked successful but on Thursday I found out it was slightly misaligned, which frustrated me to no end. It reminded me of how I really need to focus on improving my problem solving skills, especially if I pursue a freelancing career. I hated the feeling of uselessness that came with that dead end I ended up in and it makes me wish I could have done better. It also didn't help that I didn't feel much motivation for this project. Given the short time we had for it and its sudden appearance due to MUNIN's cancellation I just lost a lot of my motivation and I can't help but feel that my heart wasn't fully in it, not helped by other project's demands for my attention. I also felt bad that my partner had to do most of the work, while I knew the majority of the project would come from his 3D scanning I wasn't able to do much while waiting for the assets to sketch the textures for. Perhaps this contributed to my lack of enthusiasm for this project. Despite this feeling though we were able to finish it at the end of the day.

After all is said and done it has been an important 13 weeks for me and I'm glad i decided to return to this course. Hopefully I will take what I've learned here and apply it better for the next units ahead. I will also get a head start on my portfolio during the break and give myself some challenges to keep myself productive.

Cultural Analysis

The MUNIN project focuses on a sci-fi brutalist style within the thriller genre. There are many elements for consideration of analysis/modification for the intended audience.

The script is not only important for how a scene will look and play out but also in how its dialogue is handled. Choice words are important for conveying the intended plot and it is important not to include any lines that may be interpreted as potentially offensive. The script for this project was minimal so the main focus would be focused on the visual storytelling, in which the genre focus was vital here. In comparison to the Horror genre which goes for shocking via explicit content, thrillers downplay straight up violence for atmosphere, enhancing the despair of the situations and getting under the viewers skin. This is best seen during the pod teleportation scene as the main protagonist struggles in agony as the clone kills them off. I feel like there wasn't much needed to be changed script wise as it fit the genre well enough. The camera angles were appropriate, Sound was focused on emphasis of silence, and slow tempo, low key lighting is present and the location is on an isolated location, ticking the boxes of conventions of the thriller genre.

The brutalist aesthetic threw an unorthodox wrench into the mix however as its style is not usually seen in a sci-fi aesthetic so an appropriate combination was required to marry these two concepts together and to help enhance the themes of MUNIN. The rough, sterile look that comes with this theme complimented the themes of the genre and enhances the structure of the architecture, making the room a looming presence for those within them. Its cold, practical structure helps to enhance each room of the ship and the lighting to make them feel big, foreboding and atmospheric.

Representation comes in the form of the singular character Seija, filling the potential role of the main lead of this piece. Women representation can be a rather divisive topic depending on how it's done as they can carry the sense of forced implementation to them, and can become controversial if characterized with a stereotypical personality, overly sexualized for no reason or stuck in a stereotypical situation like the damsel in distress trope. The script was careful here and Seija's design reflects this with a gender-neutral outfit (the spacesuit) and head design, which are also appropriate for the space environment making it practical. 

Overall there really isn't much that needs to be changed from the original script, aesthetics and representation as they carefully follow the established conventions of the thriller genre, utilize the chosen aesthetic in an appropriate way that compliments each other and enhances the themes of the genre, and have a tasteful representative of a female character. If I felt like there needed to be any changes, I would suggest looking further into the genre's conventions to potentially add further refinements to the above and a possible experimentation with another aesthetic design to possibly find something that could work better than the Brutalist design. 

Week 12 Blog - Animation Studio 3

Week 12 Blog

With one week left to go before the unit's conclusion the deadlines are sneaking up over the horizon. With recent house moving tasks to do as well as other assignments getting in the way it's been rather awkward this week getting everything sorted out.

The report took longer than I would have liked as I found trying to write up a more formal analysis to be deceptively tricky compared to what I've done for these blogs, but thankfully I got that sorted out in time. It was good to have another self reflection to see how my thoughts felt compared to the KPI answers.

After some messing around I found a method for getting the sketchy texture designs I want for the duo project. I used my surface pro as a sketch screen by choosing a camera angle of the asset, locking the view and doing a camera UV, placing a sheet of paper over it and sketching out the outline of the shape, placing sketches of details where needed. From there I scanned the image onto my computer, brought it into Photoshop to layer over the UV map and link it to the asset in Maya. While a bit tedious it does the job and will be what I need to make the visual style that I want for the project. My teammate has finished with his scanning and his given me the assets to draw on which will keep me busy this weekend. Now that I've figured out a method to do the style I want hopefully it wont be too time consuming to get everything done in time.

Week 11 Blog - Animation Studio 3

Week 11 Blog

With the aftermath of the project's cancellation past us, I now have to focus on a new duo project using our remote practice skills to meet the criteria. Overall though it has been a slow and uneventful week and I can't help but feel like the motivation has been a bit lacking due to the sudden cancellation of our previous project.

It's hard to get invested in a new project after spending so long with the last one and given how little time is left it feels awkward to try and squeeze this new one in. But what's done is done and we have to do what we can do. I'm not sure how I'll go with the drawing aspect giving my current skill set but hopefully I can make something nice. While my teammate sorts out the 3D asset scanning I'll focus on figuring out how to project drawing textures onto 3D models in Maya. 

Week 10 Blog - Animation Studio 3

Week 10 Blog

And so we entered the storm, and in the end we were swept away by the crushing waves. With the project being cancelled, it lead to a gloomy Tuesday afternoon. It seems like it wasn't meant to be, and it was unfortunate that it ended up that way. I imagine some may be thinking of who to blame for the way it turned out but I don't want to think like that, in the end we all go down together, we shouldn't villainize each other.

The last client meeting we had definitely felt like a killing blow to me personally, particularly with the ship texture I showed to him, which was less than satisfactory. I felt gutted that it was such a damp squib to end it on and I was convinced that that alone would lead to a life lost (although with what happened it didn't matter in the end). I felt quite drained that after coming back from a hiatus where I had a failed project before that I had another project that fell apart. I guess it's just one of those things that you have to be prepared for, you win some you lose some. If there is one thing that I  will be taking from this conclusion is the factors to avoid in future projects.

The main feeling I felt in the aftermath was guilt as I felt like I let down our producers. Given all the hard work they put in to keep the project together and to organize meetings and sorting out tasks they did a good job with all that, I can't help but feel like I let them down. While they and the lecturer assured me I was doing enough work for the project I can't help but feel like I still could have done more, especially early on in the semester, heck my time sheet reflects that. When the time comes for me to do the capstone project I will take the mistakes I've done here and make sure to avoid them for that and other future projects. It has definitely been an important learning experience for me and even with the sad conclusion we ended up in, I'm glad to have gotten the chance to do a project like this. It has been vital experience to me and the most relevant unit I've done at SAE so far.

With the new duo projects assigned to us (which involves the remote study skills) I'll have to shift my attention to refining my drawing skills which will be put to the test as I have to combine it with photogrammy. I'm unsure as to how this will go and it certainly will prove a challenge but hopefully it goes well. Having to do a lot of house moving stuff this weekend I didn't get much time to look at it so the next week will be a grind to get that ball rolling, hopefully it won't be too stressful. The post project report will also be a good chance for me to do more self reflection on myself and with how often I've been reflective on myself lately I should be able to get a lot out of it. Hopefully with the above I can end the semester on a high rather than a low.

Week 9 Blog - Animation Studio 3

Week 9 Blog

This week was not pleasant to say the least. With another pressuring deadline to make for next week that's put another life on the line the heat is on and I can't afford to slip up now. And yet I can already feel tensions building in the group as tasks aren't met and obstacles block our progress. I have to admit even I'm starting to feel uneasy with the situation and fear things could escalate if the next meeting doesn't go well. This is no doubt a make or break moment and how we end up after the meeting will determine that.

The above along with the struggles I had in Thursday's class to focus made me feel nauseous that afternoon which was straight up unpleasant. Honestly I'm surprised I was able to walk to the train station that day after all that (It felt like Hell). With the added pressure to memorize all the nuke functions to make up for our lack of refinement with the program doesn't help with the matter and is another distraction I just do not need at this point. Monday's waste of time of a subject also factored into my frustrations as it ate up my whole Sunday which could have been used for the project but were instead forced to meet the requirements of another bloody mundane presentation for an already redundant unit. The all nighter I pulled on Monday didn't help with my mental stability as I felt like a zombie throughout all of Tuesday, with even a small bit of light making my eyes twitch.

I think it's safe to say that after all this I will never want to think about brutalist designs ever again, trying to get that aesthetic down with these designs has been borderline aggravating, going through rejection after bloody rejection. I'm sick of it! I just want a fucking design to get the greenlight! Thankfully the ship design seems to be getting there, hitting the right middle ground of patterns we were looking for, the rooms on the other hand still throw trouble my way. Having to reconstruct the gym and eatery from the ground up didn't help things and trying to find influences for the gym was near impossible given the fact I could barely find anything similar to the subject matter online to help me craft it. Are futuristic gyms really that niche?

The UVing process was straight forward with the props and didn't give me too much stress...the same could not be said for the lab room and that damn hole in the ground. It was a stretchy UV nightmare and I had no option but to cut it from the ground to try and get it looking natural which in the end it couldn't match the scaling of the floor. To add a cherry on top when submitting it to the producer, the damn cylinder representing the wires on the back got in the way as I forgot to take that into account. I should have deleted that damn object then I could have saved that embarrassing moment and talk down from said producer.

Speaking of which I have become concerned with the leaders attitudes towards us in feedback. There are signs of underlying irritation in their words (red flags popping up with their image feedback's on UVs) and I fear this will lead to internal conflicts within the group. I don't want to antagonize anyone (I'm not someone who enjoys conflict) and I can understand the stress they are under with what they have to do and their other commitments, but I can't help but get nervous about their attitudes towards us and how sour it could potentially turn, and all it will take is one badly timed comment or an absent member on the worst day for it to knock the pillars over and bring in disaster.

Compared to last time when we had a life on the line where I felt more optimistic about our chances I can't help but feel anxious about it this time. If we do avoid the loss it will keep us afloat....if otherwise then god only know's how the atmosphere is going to feel after that blunder. If I start to feel a pain building in my stomach...I'll know things have gone south...

Week 8 Blog - Animation Studio 3

Week 8 Blog

And so we enter the beginning of the real meat of the challenge of the project. With vital deadlines coming up and daunting tasks coming over the horizon, I'm going to have to gird my loins and brace myself for the grinding session. Not too much has changed attitude wise to these weeks but a few notable things have popped into my head that are worth expanding on.

The first being the tour of the jumbla studios, which we all attended on Thursday. Given how many courses I've done at this point I had no interest in their offered courses, not helped by the focus on motion graphics which I have no interest in and the rather underwhelming presentation. Seeing the inside of the studio was alright and reminded me of how their kind of setup would be ,y ideal workspace given its layout and spacious feel, rather than tight cubicle setups. Overall though it was mostly a waste of time and I didn't get much from it.

On the work side of things I can't help but feel a sting of frustration with the direction of certain aspects of the project, particularly the ship and lab designs. Ever since we lost the life over the decision on ship design I can't help but feel like I've not been able to bring much to the table in those asset's directions. While I understand we needed something to present to Rikki and the given design's have been fine to work with, I feel like I've failed in the design department. Having to use the lecturers designs makes me feel like I've contributed less to the design and I am just adding to it instead, which is rather demoralizing. I should be able to get ideas on the table and yet trying to get the ideal design has been nothing short of trial and error frustration.

The feeling would still haunt me as I got assigned to the texturing task of the ship. Texturing has not been a specialty of mine and while I've gotten my head around UV mapping, making textures is a rather daunting task, especially making one to match our chosen aesthetic design. Once again it felt like trial and headaching error to find out worked and trying to paint detail that doesn't look obviously painted on was not easy. I tried looking into it in Substance Painter but my lack of knowledge on the program proved troublesome and I didn't get far in the end. I'll have to do more investigatin with this throughout next week.

On the remote study end of things I have been dedicating more time into that after my embarrasing display last meeting. Given my furstrations with my approach previously I decided to look at new sources to try my hand at and I decided to focus on the Mark Crilley book "Mastering Manga", which focused on Anime styled drawing, going through the basics parts of the body. I like this style in particular and with it's more simplistic approach to designs compared to realistic styles it will be less difficult in comparison. The book has many step by step tutorials covering different parts of a character and I started from the beginning with eyes and heads (front view and 3/4 view). The eyes went pretty well and after trying the tutorial I tested it with other designs to see how they would go. The head took a bit more focus to get right as getting details like the hair right was more challenging in comparison. But I managed to follow along alright and did it again with a different design.

My eye/face sketches

After the late nighter I had on Monday going into week 9 for the models, I'm expecting an uphill battle from here on out. No doubt the pressure will be on now that production is around the corner. I'll have to do my best to remain vigilant and not let the stress keep me down.

Week 7 Blog - Animation Studio 3

Week 7 Blog

I'm a little unsure as to how this week went down overall. There were some good things accomplished but at the same time I still felt anchored to the usual flaws which got to me on Thursday and Friday.

The most important thing for me this week was no doubt the KPI as it proved to be a good reflection on my progress as a whole and out of all semesters I definitely got the most out of it this time. In my time away from studies last year I became more self relfective of my life which made the KPI more relevant to me compared to previous classes. Animation studio 1 I didn't feel much for it and Studio 2 It felt a bit empty as I was doing solo stuff, which made co-operative questions irrelevant. This time however I felt like I had alot more to work with and with the many ups and downs to come from this unit I went to town on the questions, going into as much detail as I could.

The meeting with the lecturer was also good as that allowed me to further expand into my answers and to see what his views on me were compared to how I saw myself. I've felt more confortable talking about myself to others in recent years so I find these to be good in getting my thoughts straightened out. For the most part he agreed with my self assessment and added onto various others which were certainly familiar to my mind, from my outlook on the given tasks, my general anxiety,the frustrations I've had with communication and other familiar issues I've had in the past. It felt good to talk about them with the lecturer and I found what he added to be useful to my self refletion.

I'm doing a bit better with the Nuke stuff now that we've gotten the heavy math stuff out of the way, which early on was a turn off for me for this program. I do well with this node system of connecting things together as it's visual design is pretty straightforward, only getting a bit out of hand depending on how the layout goes with the connections (which mine did get a little bit messy at one point). I also finished modelling and UVing the assets needed for our scene which thankfully didn't end up taking too long to refine.

Thursday and Friday were a bit of an off day for me though which came from two things in particular. The first being the rejection of all of my lab designs from the lecturer, which while I know these things can take time to nail down It was still demotivating to have to go back to square one on the design yet again. My patient with this rpom has started to thin and I just don't know how many more attempts I can do before I chuck my hands into the air and say "F**k it!". It also didn't help that we still don't have a ship design pinned down yet even with all the stuff we made. I fear that if Rikki keeps asking us about it and we still don't have anything to show him there we could end up putting doubt back into his mind and I would rather we avoid that at this point.

The second being my remote practice and the lack of it I did for the meeting. With the project being top priority and my roadblock from my last attempt at head designs I ended up pushing it to the side and having nothing to show for the meeting. To be honest it was embarrasing having to admit that to the group and it was the main reason I didn't even bother to go next when it was brought up. I knew this wouldn't be easy given my current skill set, troubles with motivation and my general issues with short attention spans but it did feel terrible to not give it a proper shot this time. I ended up in a bit of a slum throughout that day and I had to take the day to get my mind back in place, which thankfully I did for Saturday to resume my work and to catch up on lost time for the remote study. I decided to look for different tutorials related to that subject and have decided to check out two books that may help guide me back on track. The first book being Betty Edwards "Drawing on the right side of the brain" which has been recommended by many artists, and the second being Mark Crilley's "Mastering Manga Vol 1" which has nice step by step exercises to get me started and tackles an aesthetic style I quite like and want to do. I will give these books a good read through and see if they can get me onto the right track with what I want to accomplish.

Along with that I will also go back to the drawing board with the lab design and hopefully get some interesting designs out this time. Perhaps I could try them out with the shader to see which ones go well with it. Who knows, it might make certain designs more interesting.