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.

Reverse Video Reference

Clip A

Clip B

Clip C

Clip D

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

I started by planning out the path of action of this shot, figuring out where the coin would end up and how the coin would rotate during the fall.  I then took reference of a rolling quarter and nickel.  I used my cell phone's camera to take pictures with a make shift tripod to get as steady of shot as possible.  As a result I got a shot of a quarter rolling into a nickel pushing it off a ledge.

Term Paper: The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

What goes into making a successful animation or film?  There’s story, characters, entertainment value, emotion, and a slew of other qualities.  But the one of the most important qualities is believability.  A successful film will create a world, whether realistic or cartoonish, where an audience can watch the film without questioning its plausibility.  And believable physics is essential in creating a believable film.  Without believable physics, it takes the audience away from the story, characters, and everything else mentioned before.  As an animators we have the opportunity to push physics to wherever we want, as long as the audience believes in “our” physics.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 [Cloudy 2], has Flint Lockwood return as the main protagonist with his companions: Sam Sparks, Officer Earl, Chicken Brent, Manny, and Tim Lockwood.  After having covered his hometown in giant mutations of various foods from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs with his “Fldsmdfr”, he and the rest of the citizens of Swallow Falls take refuge in SanFran Jose California with the help of Chester V.  Flint later returns to Swallow Falls with his crew to save Swallow Falls and the rest of the world from impending doom. There they find that the food mutations have evolved into sentient lifeforms.  And so begins their journey through this new Swallow Falls.  Directed by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn, in the animated film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, they push the physical limits of characters and physical properties to create entertaining gags that would be impossible and/or deadly in real life.

One of the more outstanding physical qualities in the world of Cloudy 2 is the unrealistic body movement and physical limitations of its characters.  The most prominent characters that break the physical limits of reality are Flint Lockwood and Chester V.  For example when Flint Lockwood types anything his hands literally flop/slap the keys of the keyboard.  However, while Flint is slapping his hands on the keyboard, he is still able to operate his computer without pressing any specific keys.  At the same time, Flint’s arms are “typing” so quickly his arms bend in a way that they look like they don’t have joints.  There are even still where the illusion of speed is created, by having Flint typing with 3 arms.  Another scenario in which Flint breaks real physical limitations is his elevator ride on his first day working at Live Corporation.  Flint is shoved into a packed elevator and his nose gets caught on the door.  The elevator then shoots downward at a high velocity, which in reality would have caused severe injury to his nose.  The elevators travels so fast that his coffee leaves his cup and has him turn the cup upside down to catch his coffee.  He his then shot out of the elevator at the same velocity and gets up relatively fine with a slight rub to the head.  If this sequence was attempted in real life, there would be many deaths and injuries.

Throughout the film most of the characters though exaggerated still retained a sense of realism.  Their movements were based on their center of gravity and their bodies realistically held its weight.  With Chester V his body movements were a spectacular example of pushing non realistic movements while still retaining believability. Chester V’s actions would “follow through” in reverse order.  Instead of his hands following the movement of his main body, his body would follow where his hand went.  At one point Chester V walks two of his fingers on his desk, then raises the rest of his body over his two fingers without crushing his fingers our losing his balance.  Cloudy 2 makes Chester’s impossible movements believable because the film had already established its physical limits or lack there of.

Body limitations are not the only physical boundaries to be broken in the film.  In many instances the force and weight of many objects are ignored to uphold the film’s comedic tone.  At one point in the film, three small cucumber lifeforms catch a timbering metal tankard with their face.  Not only would the force of the metal tankard immediately crush the cucumber creatures, but the creatures catch the tankard with open hinged mouths.  If by chance the pure weight of the tankard wasn’t enough to crush them, the force of the fall would at least snap the little area that holds the cucumber creatures’ heads to their bodies.  Another scenario is earlier in the film where Flint is gathering his crew to travel back to Swallow Falls.  Flint finds Brent working as a sign spinner for a restaurant.  Brent had just throw his large sign high into the air, and upon seeing his friends catches the sign with his buttocks.Even with protective taping a large arrow advertisement would have significant force when falling to cause serious harm to anyone trying to catch it with the cleft of their butt.  Yet in this animated universe, Brent is able to catch it without harm and state his catch phrase.  Lastly, there is sequence where a fully equipped police car (motor and all) is able to float with five people, a monkey, and a leek aboard.  The car even goes through a river raft scene in which the car falls off cliffs multiple times, and did not submerge once throughout the entire sequence.

And finally, there is the most iconic feature within the film where food comes to life.  In Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, it is established that Flint’s invention the FLDSMDFR can alter water molecules to make any food.  However, near the end the machine goes out of control creating continuously larger food and hints at these foods having life.  In Cloudy 2, the FLDSMDFR has indeed created sentient life forms creating various food pun animals like Shrimpanzees, Flamangoes, and “Jellyfish”.  A peculiar example is the susheep.  Even though this sushi and sheep hybrid is made up of separated rolls of sushi, the animal is able to function normally.  While the front roll with the head leads the animal, the rear roll follow while the middle roll literally floats in between.  Another example is the spider and hamburger hybrid, unfortunately they did not have a “scientific” name for it.  The“hamspider”,  if you will, travels with the use of its french fry legs, however in real life french fries would not be able to sustain the weight of a giant hamburger.  The “hamspider’ is also able to produce cheese webbing that holds the same consistency of actual spider webbing.  There are also creatures that are just various foods with a face attached to them.  In the film there are marshmallow critters that are able to encase Flint in their bodies without suffocating him and also protecting him from harm.  And then there is a strawberry name “Barry” who not only speaks but then befriends Flint and co. at the end of the film.

Cloudy 2 went above and beyond the wacky nature of the original film.  The crazy character movements, physical gags, and cute life forms kept me interested throughout the film despite the lackluster story.  The animators did a great job in manipulating the physical properties of characters and objects to create hilarious gags and jokes from beginning to end.  And even with the zany nature of the film, it kept its believability by staying within its established physical limits.  If real life physical limitations were taken into account the film would become incredibly boring.  Many of the gags and jokes would cause death or critical injury if attempted in real life.

Term Paper Outline: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

1. Introduction
1. Animated Feature Film- “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
2. Thesis- In the animated film “Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2, the animators push the physical limits of characters and physical properties to create entertaining gags that would be impossible and/or deadly in real life.
2. Body
1. Unrealistic Body Movement/Physics
1. When Flint types during the film he flays his hands up down
1. His hands slaps down keys but is still able to create coherent sentences
2. Chester V
1. His body movement is impossible
1. He points his hand to point (A), his body then follows through to point (A) ignoring weight or physical constraint
2. Can place his body weight on two fingers to then move his body above his hand and sit down
3. Body is still when other body parts are moving
4. Flints coffee floats out of his cup back into this cup
5. Holograms are able to paint, but when interacted with glitch and disappear
2. Ignoring of force/weight
1. Cucumber beings can take the force of a timbering metal tank
2. Green Onion can carry said metal tankard
3. Brent is able to catch a large plastic sign tossed from out of frame with his buttocks without harm
4. A police car is able to float on water with 5 people, a monkey, and a leek riding on it.
3. Sentient Life Forms made from the Fldsmdfr
1. Various food pun animals are made from the Fldsmdfr after the human citizens leave swallow falls
2. A sushi roll with separated parts are still able to function as a singular being
3. Marshmallows are able to swallow Flint to save him.
4. A hamburger-spider protects it’s home, but also acts like a dog
5. A strawberry befriend the main characters and is named “barry”
1. Has french fry legs which can stand the weight of giant hamburger weight
3. Conclusion
1. Physical limits of characters and objects are intentionally pushed beyond reality for gags and jokes from beginning to end.
2. If physical limitations were taken into account not only would the film become incredibly boring, but many of these gags and jokes would cause death or critical injury.