Creating Stereoscopic 3D Images

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Building a Scene in Maya

Outline for the Third Term Paper

Topic Special Effects: Conventional Explosions

• Explosions were used as early as 1936
• Alfred Hitchcock: Sabotage
• Used cuts to showcase an explosive packaged
• Then cut to a close up of the package to safely capture the package exploding
• Then cutting a smoke on top of the original film.  Albeit crudely
• Brief Ideas behind making Explosions in Film
• Main concern when creating explosions is safety
• Before CG a popular method was the use of miniatures
• I.e mini buildings and trucks
• Joe Viskocil best known for his work in producing the explosion of the Death Star in Star Wars
• To get the spherical shape of the explosions (since there is no air/gravity in space) Shot the effect with the camera looking up
• Some of the materials used in creating explosions
• “Black Powder”
• Mixture of sulfur, potassium nitrate, and charcoal
• Small shavings for debri
• Plaster was used for models to make nice building debri
• CGI explosions
• Many explosions in film are now made with CG explosions
• Often created with stock footage and then composited into the film
• Stock footage is general purpose footage for effects, though some movies may call for shooting their own explosions.
• Animators/compositors take these explosions and then blend them into the film, so that explosion looks seamless
• Using color correction
• Animating lighting, debri, smoke, and impacts
• Animating cartoon explosions
• Often depends on the style of film
• Is not often confined to the rules of realism
• Though consequently can emphasize the cartoon nature of the film (which may or may not be intended)
• Known for animating explosions
• You Yoshinari
• Known for his extravagant explosions
• Characteristics
• large cloud-like ball of fire
• Dust clouds
• and various colours bordering on the inside of the explosion

FILM EXAMPLE #1

• Independence Day
• White house explosion
• In the science fiction film an alien ships shoots a laser downward onto the white house
• Causing the white house to explode and taking a helicopter within the explosion
• Success?
• Lighting? Yes
• Since this was on a miniature set, with real explosives there was not much room to fake the lighting
• When the explosion happened that’s the lighting they got
• Scale? Yes
• With the use of low shots the film was able to depict the scale of ship and white house in a way that looked realistic
• Movement? Yes
• The explosion accelerates outward as it engulfs the white house from the center out
• The helicopter is seen being pushed by the force of the explosion momentarily before being engulfed in the fire
• Trees in the foreground seemed odd, they hardly move and when the explosion occurs seem pretty sturdy
• Successful explosion

FILM EXAMPLE #2

• Gurren Lagann http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6qTsuBX_6I&feature=youtu.be&t=1m07s
• Any explosion in the film
• The Dai Gurren uses its signature attack to destroy an enemy Warship to obtain victory
• The Warship then begins to slow out into a explosion and the erupts into a crazy explosion light show
• Success? No not really
• Lighting? 50/50
• Shadows darken as the explosion becomes the dominant light source
• but when the explosion changes color the environment stays the same
• Scale? Again 50/50
• The first shot when the explosion starts looks fine
• Due the low shot looking upward
• When cutting to the second shot, scale is lost as it cuts to a wide shot of the environment, and it becomes unclear where exactly the previous shot was held in that environment
• Movement? No
• The explosions begins slow without the rest of environment slowing down, therefore it’s not in slow motion
• The debri from the explosion then causes more explosions, without any indication of explosive material
• As the dust from the initial explosions begin to settle
• Shimmering lights indicated a second explosion in which there are combinations of pinks, yellow, and blue greens.
• Without certain chemicals, these colors are very unlikely
• Especially of this magnitude
• The explosion somehow settles into a mushroom cloud
• Again with ambiguous scale
• Overall not a very realistic explosion
• But can be argued that with the extremely cartoon nature of the film, that the explosion fits with the film's tone
• Also it looks awesome

Conclusion

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Stop-Motion Character Animation

Using the set up seen above, Neal Salud [http://nealphys123.blogspot.com] and I created the short film "Dennis and Pig".  We initially took time in modeling objects/characters from clay, to get an overall feel of the medium.  While I finalized our story, Neal finished the characters.  When filming, Neal and I took turns when animating and shooting our shots.  "Dennis" was made to be able to articulate sufficient motion, but simple enough that animating him would become cumbersome.  Using the a tripod with an iPhone, sketchbook, and paper,  Neal and I were able to create a heart warming story of a clay boy overcoming a barrier to unite with his friend.

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction

The entertainment industry have always balanced a fine line between reality and fantasy.  Whilst some films and games may strive for creating a realistic experience, some look to break away from physical reality.    A physics law that is often ignored or broken is, Newton’s Third Law of Motion.  This law states that for “every action force there is an equal reaction force in the opposite direction.  The action and reaction forces occur simultaneously in pairs, and though the magnitude of the forces are equal the resulting accelerations often vary.  These productions often break away from physical reality to create surreal scenes in order awe the audience and leave them with their jaws on the floor.  For example Movies such as Kung fu Hustle, defy this law to create ludicrous, yet entertaining fight scenes.   In other productions, specifically video games, it leans away from the reality of physics to maintain fair gameplay mechanics.  Video games such as League of Legends and Street Fighter are prime examples of video games dropping reality in favor of gameplay balance.

The film Kung fu Hustle directed by Stephen Chow.  In this film the main character Sing aspires to find his identity and his place in the world.  He hope to find his worth, by joining the notorious Axe Gang.  With his affiliation with the Axe Gang, Sing is drawn into supernatural disputes between legendary kung fu masters.  Throughout the film the are numerous displays of feats that break the law of physics.  Some examples are musical instruments creating blade constructs, cartoon running speeds, and the thrust of a hand creating a crater in the ground.  

In a specific case there is the Landlady character who possesses the ability of the Lion’s Roar.  This ability allows the Landlady to intake immense amount of air and the release the air in a powerful scream.  This force is so powerful that it is able to send bodies flying and dismantle entire buildings.  Excluding the fact that she is already generating an impossible amount of force with her body, the action force generated project from her yell, the opposite reactionary force would cause her to fly backwards.  However, her body stay firmly in place without moving.  Some may argue that with the supernatural environment this film has setup, she may have displaced the reaction force into her feet with her kungfu.  But even then the force exerted by her feet would cause the floor she’s standing on to crack and sink.  

A secondary example within this film was their physics of jumping.  Throughout the film there were times where fighters would jump high into the air to perform their spectacular aerial feats.  The physical forces occurring in a jump are when the body exerts force into the ground and the reaction force that accelerates them upward.  With that in mind, the force that these kung fu masters generate when jumping that high would be pretty substantial.  Therefore they would reach the apex of their jump at very high speeds.  However, with wire tricks and special effects they are able to “fly” around mid air as they dodging and fighting as they please.  

Moving onto video games, the ever popular online game League of Legends pits five players against five players to see who can first destroy the enemy base.  With a total of 118 unique champions players able to choose a champion that fits their play style. Of these 118 champions each have their own spells and abilities to use in battle, but many of them do not abide by Newton’s Third Law.  The game is designed to drop realistic physical properties such as action and reaction forces to vary gameplay and keep the game fair.  Sometimes a character’s spell would normally do damage and displace the target, but if the subsequent damage was enough to kill the target they often die on the spot.  In a more specific case, there is spell that the champion Jayce uses known as “Shock Blast”.  This spell shoots a ball of energy that then emits a powerful explosion upon contact, in reality one would expect the target to be sent flying or at least forced back.  But within the game the spell merely does damage, this due to the fact that Jayce already has a displacement ability and give his character an unfair power advantage.    Another example is the champion Lee Sin who possesses an ability called “Raging Dragon Kick”.  This ability upon use will kick the target, displacing the target in the direction of the kick.  The displaced target will also knock subsequent enemies upward.  If viewed from a realistic point of view, upon making contact with subsequent enemies, the initial displaced target would be expected to slow down due to the reactionary force.  However, in game that is not the case at all.  In this case, the use of cinematic fiction is to allow the player to feel like that ability has a large impact when used.  Another intriguing note is that the reactionary force for the subsequent enemies will accelerate them in an upward direction.

The video game Street Fighter is another good example where realistic physics are dropped for the sake of gameplay.  In this game players fight in one on one matches choosing from a variety of fighters with different weights and body sizes.  Zangief, Balrog, and M.Bison are some of the larger characters within the game.  Zangief for example, is said to weigh around 253 pounds.  In reality if any of the other smaller characters were to apply force to the larger characters the reactionary force would case a more intensive acceleration for the smaller character.  Yet in the game, no matter the character’s size any force applied results in similar acceleration from both parties.  This is to keep the game fair and hold the large characters in check from having an unfair space advantage.  

Animators, whether in games or movies often bend the laws of physics to cater toward their goals.  League of Legends, Streetfighter, and Kung fu Hustle were just some of the few examples that went against Newton’s Third Law.  These example showcased how to alter or ignore the reactionary force, whether the force wasn't equal or wasn't in the opposite direction. Sometimes the rules are bent to create amazing feats that leave the audience flabbergasted.  Other times it’s to uphold fair and varied gameplay.

Outline for the Second Term Paper

• Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?
• Topic: Action and Reaction
• Brief Summary and Definition of Concepts
• For every action force there is an equal reaction force in the opposite direction.
• Action/reaction forces always occur in pairs.
• Action/reaction forces are simultaneous.
• The magnitudes of the action/reaction forces are equal but the resulting accelerations are usually not equal.
• By the Law of Acceleration, when objects or characters push apart the heavier one will accelerate less than the lighter one
• When a character pulls or pushes another character the action/reaction forces are equal but the accelerations are usually not equal.
• If both characters pull or both push then there are two action forces and two reaction forces.
• The reaction force due to the gravitational pull of the Earth (weight) is negligible.
• When a character jumps, the downward action force from the legs results in an upward reaction force exerted by the ground.
• THESIS: Video games and movies, often defy the rules of Newton’s Third Law in order create entertaining spectacles and/or maintain fair game mechanics.
• Possible Movies to use
• Kung Fu Hustle
• Lion’s Roar
• Impossible force generated from the woman’s lungs is able to send men flying
• The reactionary from her yell would cause her to fly backward, Or if she were to push the reactionary force to her feet, she drive enough force into the ground to crack it.
• Jumping
• With the amount of force the push to create their supernatural jumps, the reactionary force would cause them to reach terminal height very quickly
• But from wire tricks and cg, they “fly” around mid air, dodging and fighting their foes.
• League of Legends Physics for the sake of gameplay
• Many Characters spells upon killing a target will “drop” physics
• Often times, when a character’s skill/spell would normally displace their foe from the reactionary force, if subsequent skill kills the target they often die on the spot.
• For the sake of game balance and skill traits, the force generated from other skills/spells are negated
• Lack of Ragdoll physics, prevent Realistic body reaction from force
• Example Jayce
• Champion is able to shoot a “Shock Blast”
• This shock emits a powerful explosion upon contact.
• In reality would send target Flying
• but in game the character merely takes damage
• Example Lee sin Raging Dragon Kick
• Champion ability will kick target, displace target in direction of kick, displaced target will knock up subsequent enemies
• In reality upon making contact with another enemy target, the reactionary force would cause the initial target to slow down.
• In game the initial target does not slow down at all
• Also when hit with a actionary force going forward, the reactionary force of the target is up?...
• Street Fighter/ (any other fighting game)
• There are often a variety of body types and sizes within Street fighter
• Particularly large characters are Zangief, Balrog, and M.Bison
• In reality if any of the other the smaller characters were to apply force to the larger characters
• The reactionary force from the large character would cause a more intensive acceleration within the smaller character
• In game, no matter the character’s size any force application results in similar acceleration from both parties.
• Conclusion
• Animators, whether in games or movies, often bend the laws of physics to cater toward their goals.  Sometimes the rules are bent to create amazing feats that leave the audience with their jaws open.  Other times it’s to uphold fair and varied gameplay.

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