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Category: Advanced and Experimental 3D computer Animation Techniques 1

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4.1 project 1 Advanced and Experimental 3D computer Animation Techniques 1

Week3: Manipulator

In this week we worked on the articulation of the wrist and the sketching of the robot arm, for which I searched for many reference images.

I have referred to the structure of a mechanical prosthesis and found that the design of the robotic arm conforms to the musculature of the human upper arm, with particular emphasis on the position of the joints.

We learned a fast and efficient way to create mechanical surfaces

  • When a smooth mechanical surface has some sharp twists and turns, we can use the inset edge loop tool.This tool helps us to add looped edges to the turn more quickly
  • The five fingers of the robot were created with reference to the skeletal and muscular structure of the hand, paying attention to the angle and position of each finger, and k-keyframing the fingers repeatedly to prevent them from going through the mould.

We also animated the fingers holding the ball, first assigning hierarchical relationships to the fingers and then creating different movements of the five fingers by adjusting the movement curves.

and here are my preliminary designs for the robot arm. I tried to use what I learned to make the small arm of a robotic arm. I want to make a robot arm that is not too over the top and there is a lot of room for refinement in the current model. :）

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4.1 project 1 5.1 FMP Advanced and Experimental 3D computer Animation Techniques 1

Week4: Preview video of changes and character design

After directing a new version of the split shot, I made the following adjustments in this version

Firstly, the overall speed has been reduced so that each key shot stays for 1-2s longer.

Changed the multi-distance shots in the first act from pushing close to the camera to rotating shots. Maintaining the character in the top right visual centre, first having the trees in the scene obscure the main character, then slowly changing the camera angle to bring the main character out.

Secondly I noticed that the split shot had to be timed to take into account the continuity of the action, with two different angles for the same action shot.

Then I optimised the shot, for example, in this scene, the character is repositioned to the third of the frame, with the whole body in the visual centre.

Finally I sketched the design of the monster character, inspired by Nuo-myeon, which has a dragon like mask with a red and green colour scheme, the story takes place in the New Year and the dragon is a representative of the zodiac, so I designed the character’s head as a Nuo-myeon dragon mask.

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4.1 project 1 5.1 FMP Advanced and Experimental 3D computer Animation Techniques 1

Week3：3D Preview Video

This week I created a 3D split preview of the film，and there are some tweaks from the previous week’s static 3D subplot.

Compared to static storyboards, dynamic split-screening focuses more on the movement of the camera, the timing of pushing the camera closer and further away, how the camera follows the character’s movement, etc. Here are some of the important points I learned about split-screen design during the production process.

Crossing the axis
In this shot the girl’s character appears on the left side, after which the shot keeps her on the left and the monster on the right side of the girl. The camera also stays to the right of both characters

Movement curve
The movement of the lantern is designed so that the glowing lantern moves in an S-shaped curve and the lantern is the only warm glowing object in a cool colour scheme.


The characters are always on the left side of the camera in order not to overstep the axis, for example in this shot the little girl appears from the left side of the camera when chasing the lantern

Next some details of the production process

The first scene, in which the girl chases the lantern, is shown alone in the woods in a distant advancing shot to give context.

The girl’s lantern flies away and the girl makes a wish

The lantern is blown by a strong wind and is about to fall

Girl following the lantern and run into a cave.

Coming inside the cave, the huge monster looks down on her

The girl is terrified, but the monster gently fixes the lantern

As the lanterns are released, the camera follows them into the sky, looking down to see the warmth of the light on their happy faces.

The sky is full of lanterns and theirs rises slowly. (End)

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4.1 project 1 5.1 FMP Advanced and Experimental 3D computer Animation Techniques 1 Maya

Wek2: 3D storyboard

Story plot：

  • There is a monster with a terrible mask live in the foreast and people were afraid of him. During Chinese New Year, a little girl was alone to release the lantern in the forseast, she make a wish to latern that not to be alone anymore. When the lantern fly to the sky, a strong wind suddenly blew and the lantern almost going to fall. The little girl chased the lantern and accidẹntally walked into the monster’s residence. The monster made the girl frightened at first, but the monster is actually very nice and fixes the lantern，finally they fly the lantern together.
I ended up picking one of the stories to create a 3D storyboard.(Read in top-to-bottom order)

Production process

  1. The corresponding scenes were first built: the forest, the scary and mysterious cave, and the room where the monster lives

The forest：The forest is in cool colours, a cold winter’s night when a little girl flies a lantern alone.

The cave：

The entrance to the cave is designed in the shape of a monster’s mouth and the protagonist, a little girl, runs the cave after the hole in the wall, which leads to the monster’s home.

The monster’s room: The walls of the room are covered with various masks. The roof is hung with lanterns and is a room with warm tones.

2.Set up the camera after building the scene:

In the design process I applied the principles of split-screen design that I had learned in class, placing the main characters and important objects in the visual centre，and used various shots in conjunction with the rhythm of the plot, such as medium close shot, medium shot, full-length shot.

Last step, I layout of all individual shots on the same page:)

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4.1 project 1 5.1 FMP Advanced and Experimental 3D computer Animation Techniques 1 Maya

Week1：Three stories and producing of three scenes

I conceived the third story, which was a reference to traditional martial arts films, where two warriors meet and fight, with one of them eventually winning. The rhythm of the fight between the two characters can be expressed by the distance between the characters and their movements, and when they get closer to each other the rhythm will be faster. It was interesting to see how the characters moved in the subplot.

Moodboard of three ideas：

  • 1. The first story takes place in the ruins of an ancient Egyptian castle, with a predominantly yellow colour scheme, a combination of desert and ancient architecture, and a scene with many stone temples and triangular structures.
  • This is the video of model, the scene with tall pillars and the idols in front of them, the symmetrical structure of the temple will make the scene look more solemn.

  • 2.The second story is a mysterious ancient Chinese temple. I did some research on the Nuo masks in western Hunan, where there is a tradition of touring the gods during the New Year, Nuo masks are masks that symbolise the gods and are worn by people during the New Year to dance and pray for all to go well in the new year, with different masks representing different gods.

Design of scenes：

The scene model：

  • 3. The third scene takes place in a more modern martial arts film, where chivalrous men in a modern metropolis compete in a martial arts tournament.
  • This story focuses on the action of the fight and this is a reference to some of the action design.On the right is a reference to the scene, and on the left are some storyboard.

and modelof scenes：

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5.2 Thesis Advanced and Experimental 3D computer Animation Techniques 1

Week2：Experimental Animation

Inspiring filmmakers and visionaries around the world, Metropolis set the standards by which futuristic films were visualised, judged and appreciated, with Alfred Hitchcock even copying a specific special effect from the film called the Schüfftan process.

The technique consists of covering part of the camera’s view with a mirror, allowing filmmakers to assemble an image from multiple parts. It was widely used in the first half of the 20th century before being almost completely replaced by the travelling matte and bluescreen effects.

German cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan in the film Metropolis (1927) The director of this film, Fritz Lang, wanted to insert actors in miniature shots of skyscrapers and other buildings, so Schüfftan used a special mirror to create the illusion of actors interacting with the huge, realistic scenery.

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Advanced and Experimental 3D computer Animation Techniques 1

Week2：Mechanical Hand

In this week we used maya to model and animate a mechanical hand. The basic principle of a mechanical arm is to take the joints apart following the human skeletal structure and add more details on the joints and fingers with sci-fi elements.

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Advanced and Experimental 3D computer Animation Techniques 1

Week1: Ideas

This week we learnt to render a series of shots in maya and use different shots to explain the story and through this showcase ideas about graduation designs.

  • The first scene shows two scientists who have developed a monster that has escaped from the lab. They have opposing views about the monster, one of them thinks it should be killed, the other thinks it has feelings and should be captured and brought back to the lab. Two scientists stand in front of the laboratory where the monster was once kept and argue fiercely

One of the scientists followed the monster to the remains of an ancient building in Egypt. The scientist tries to kill the monster, but is unsuccessful. On the roof of the building, the monster prepares to kill the scientist.

The scientist who thinks the monster can be saved arrives to find his friend in crisis and he calms the monster and protects his friend.

  • The second idea was to create a story about traditional Chinese customs, inspired by temple fairs and ‘Nuo Mian’. ‘Nuo Mian’ is a mask that people wear during the Chinese New Year parade and the legend says that the person wearing the mask is a messenger of the gods. Most of the processional masks are designed as very majestic images of monsters.

In a village there was a monster with a terrible mask on his head and people were afraid of him. This Chinese New Year, a little girl was alone to release the lantern, she wished not to be alone anymore. When the lantern flew into the air, a strong wind suddenly blew and the lantern looked like it was going to fall. The little girl chased the lantern and accidentally walked into the monster’s residence. The monster is very frightened, but the little girl is very happy when the monster fixes the lantern and they fly the lantern together.