Creating Stereoscopic 3D Images

 Red/Cyan

Recreating Cameras and Lights in Maya

Original

 My Render

Render at 45 degrees

Building a Scene in Maya

"TL"

Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action

My first two term paper scores were both above 80; I will not be writing a third term paper.

Outline of the Third Term Paper

Introduction

Snow visual effects

  

Thesis: The comparison of visual effects of snow fall in Legend (1985) and Game of Thrones and how even with different methods that they were both able to achieve realistic qualities of snow.

·       On the film: Legend (1985)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB5379zBbtA

1.    Practical effects designed by Nick Allder

2.    Type of material used

3.    Design of the set to create the snow filled forest

4.    How well the layers and randomization of snow felt

5.    Fantastical snow

·       And the television show: Game of Thrones

https://vimeo.com/104403406

1.    Rodeo FX incorporating cg for particle and fluid simulations

2.    Texture

3.    Randomized and well layered

4.    Weight and the rate it falls

5.    Blending in effortlessly

Conclusion:

Although both examples had different access to the types of medium that were available, both Game of Thrones and Legend are able to create realistic and beautiful snow because of the understanding how snow works.

Character Animation

I chose wet clay as my medium for stop motion animation. I created a simple blob type of character and played around with different key poses to get a feel of how flexible the medium was. This was animated straight ahead with an iPad using the app Stop Motion Studio Pro.

My desk setup:

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?

      Explosions that don’t hurt the main or supporting characters is a phenomenon I like to refer to as “plot device armor”. Hollywood is infamous for abusing this type of writing style to protect the characters from any real danger. For that reason, I excluded video games and cartoons because they generally don’t rely so much on realism as long as the story is told in whatever stylization is desirable. Take for example in a video game like Borderlands 2; if high jumps don’t even hurt when the character lands, then the rule of grenades ignoring friendly fire is tied to how the game should be played and the gage on fairness. However, when it comes to films there are expectations of certain level of realism. Idealistically, the realism shown may seem plausible at first, but in reality we are tricked by Hollywood fakery because it’s mainstream to favor more towards entertainment than realism. Explosions not behaving like real explosions or ignoring Newton’s third law is a common entertainment value in film making. Newton’s third law is also known as the conservation of momentum. It states that the first body will exert force on a second body of the equally same and in the opposite direction. The type of explosion that we’re looking for are detonations that create shock waves because of on the high rate of combustion. The characters that are presented in the films Sin City, Hot Fuzz, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier are examples where they are selectively impervious to explosions and defying Newton’s Third law.

Miho's reaction to a grenade (1:31)

        Sin City (2005) is movie riddled with cinematic fiction because the physics are purposefully done in a broken manner. The type of entertainment Sin City was going for was some realism, but with their own set of laws that obviously do not obey laws like the conservation of momentum. A grenades sets off close to Miho’s proximity and sends her flying off gracefully because she apparently can't be damaged by explosions. Not even a singe is left on her for some realism. In reality, the projection that the grenade sends her flying wouldn’t be as theatrical but a more violent reaction to the action. The given radius of the grenade would likely do more than just an effect of “rocket boosting.” To better understand what is going on with Miho’s impervious reaction to the explosion; we must determine what type of explosion it is. The grenade is spherical and most likely the common type called fragmentation. The shards are meant to be damaging after the detonation. For a character like Miho, she’s unphased by the shard and detonation damage. Based on Newton’s third law, Miho will feel the momentum of the high pressure in the detonation and will react by being sent in the opposite direction. The way Miho is sent flying is choreographed to make Miho look resilient, but in reality she would feel the shards, pressure, and heat produced that realistically ruin her steady composure.

Hot Fuzz's Naval Mine Explosion example

         At the end of the Hot Fuzz, when the naval mine is set off in the police station evidence room and yet it only kills the one person in the vicinity because Tom Weaver was evil. The mighty plot armor again saves the day or else the movie would be a tragedy and not a comedy. The type of explosion conveyed in this movie is definitely to hype up the entertainment value because the thought of rusty, old naval mine finally going off would be a big payoff. A typical naval mine’s explosive energy is 500 pounds in the form of a detonation. Similar to the grenade, part of the damage done to humans is from fragmentation. The other damage are the shock waves produced are lethal amounts pressure. The main character Nicholas Angel is only about 5 feet from the explosion and easily survives because the movie wasn’t written to be realistic. The fact that only Tom Weaver dies means everyone else was too important to die. When writers selectively choose deaths, they need to understand the consequences of how infuriating that can be to the audience. If the context and tone of the movie is not obvious enough, then the audience will question why everyone is not dead. For an explosion that destructive, bodies shouldn’t even be intact due to fragmentation. Therefore, the movie’s tone is meant to be a less serious and realistic movie and more for humor.

The Falcon's reaction to an aircraft explosion (1:15)

      The type of explosion depicted in Captain America: The Winter Soldier should have the most realism because the tone of the movie is less stylized or humorous than Sin City or Hot Fuzz. A scene that the audience may have not immediately doubted is when the Falcon is dodging a barrage of tracer turrets and a bullet happens to hit an aircraft and exploding near the Falcon. A common type of explosion used in cinemas are vehicles explode due to the gas tank hit by bullets. While gas indeed is flammable, the vehicle exploding is less plausible because it is highly unlikely the gas tank has large quantities of pressurized oxygen to produce the correct chemical reaction to induce the explosion. A slight, but rare chance of explosion is when the bullets used are tracer ammunition. The bullets can be seen visibly even during the day because they are ignited with flammable powder. However, there still needs to be the right conditions to make this explosion happen, the right distance of the rounds being fired to create the right friction and the gasoline tank to still have some sort of pressurized air within. Due to movie magic, the explosion happened because of the right type of conditions happened to have been there. The Falcon was sent flying into the opposite direction because of the first source will exert force equally onto him. However, he appears suspiciously unscathed from the explosion and is more in pain by the landing of the fall. In reality, the fire or shrapnel would have seriously wounded the Falcon, especially since he has less armor covering him overall and doesn’t possess superhuman defense. While inspecting the stills, there does not appear to be any visible damage of the explosion on the Falcon, making the danger appear less of a threat and more of a distraction.

        The illusion of indestructible good guys can be an uplifting but also misleading type of quality in character development. However, because Hollywood is filled with copious amounts of ridiculous explosions that the viewers are usually accustomed to the fact that explosions can selectively hurt people and to amp up the fun factor. An understanding of the physics of explosions and adding a sense of real danger is an important factor for not only the film makers but the audience as well. The diligence of acknowledging the movie’s tone and intentions and even just a basic understanding how the world works can either make or break a movie.

Outline of the Second Term Paper

Intro

When it comes to explosions, it’s a must in most movies because of the excitement. There is a suspense of realism that the explosion may seem plausible at first, but in reality we are tricked by Hollywood fakery.

Explosions not really behaving like real explosions or tampering with the action/reaction effect is a common theme in movies where they ignore realistic physics. The characters are given an indestructible quality that ignores the devastation of a real explosion.

Thesis: The characters that are presented in the films Sin City, Hot Fuzz, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier are examples where they are impervious to explosions.

•  Sin City (2005)

 One of Miho’s grenades sets off close to her proximity and sends her flying off gracefully as if she were too cool to be affected by explosions. Not even a singe is left on her for some effect of realism. In reality, the projection that the grenade sends her flying wouldn’t be as theatrical but a more violent reaction to the action. The given radius of the grenade would likely do more than just an effect of “rocket boosting.”

• Hot Fuzz

At the end of the movie, when the mine is set off in the police station evidence room and yet it only kills the one person in the vicinity because he was evil. The mighty plot armor again saves the day or else the movie would be a tragedy and not a comedy.

• Captain America: The Winter Soldier

When Falcon is dodging the attacks from the turrets and the action sequence ends with an explosion of an aircraft that should have created a reaction that affected the Falcon. However, he appears unscathed from the explosion and is more in pain by the landing of the fall. In reality, the fire or shrapnel would have seriously wounded the Falcon, especially since he has less armor covering him overall.

 
Conclusion:
The illusion of indestructible good guys can be an uplifting but also misleading type of quality in character development. However, because Hollywood is filled with copious amounts of ridiculous explosions that the viewers are usually accustomed to the fact that explosions can selectively hurt people and to amp up the fun factor.

Reverse Video Reference

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

For my stop motion animation I did a ping pong ball drop and to liven it up a bit I used a sock puppet character eating the ball and throwing it up back out. I first took some reference videos of a falling ping pong ball to get a sense of spacing and path of action. I shot a top angle with Stop Motion Studio Pro on my iPad. 

Extra Credit

My first time visiting The Walt Disney Family Museum!

The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

The Emperor's New Groove is a film that stands out in the Disney animated feature film collection because of the bold shift in slapstick comedy that resembles more closely to the style of older animations like Looney Toons. Some background trivia of The Emperor's New Groove was that it was originally directed by Roger Allens and called Kingdom of the Sun. The story resembled closely to the Prince and the Pauper allegory and was meant to be a serious musical. However, Allens was unable to meet Disney's deadline and the project was handed over to Mark Dindal. With this kind of decision made by Disney, The Emperor's New Groove potentially could have been in development limbo because of the complete overhaul of the story. The story changed to a comedy, but we still are able to care about the characters. The audience sees the transformation of a self-centered prince named Kuzco warming up to the kind villager named Pacha. They have crazy adventures and thwart the plots of Yzma and Kronk. Dindal ditched what Allens had mostly created and went with a zany and comedic story more in style of Looney Toons physics. The reoccurring gags of characters floating in space before a deep fall are just one of the few examples of Dindal's broken, but believable physics in the animation realm. Walt Disney’s Feature Animation The Emperor’s New Groove exists in a realistic world but is also contrasted with comedic qualities of improbable path of actions, squash and stretch, and exaggerated forces that break the laws of physics.

One of the key elements of cartoony physics in Dindal’s film are the improbable path of actions and broken gravity. When Kuzco is being carried and the chair tips way past the edges of the stairs without ever falling, this implicates the center of balance is ignored in order to get the exaggerated path winding up the stairs. The servant and Kuzco would have fallen off the steps to an immediate death at that height.

As a contrast, the audience is anchored back into the physical world soon after the stairs scene. Ignoring the fact of a ship somehow ending up inside the palace, Kuzco swings the champagne bottle initiate the ceremonial ship launching. The bottle slows into arc and at the apex would smash the hardest at that point.

A common theme in jumps is the character being suspended in the air. Kronk follows the cracker Kuzco throws and starts with a parabolic arc in the jump. However, when Kronk reaches the apex, the timing is exaggerated to hold Kronk’s pose at the apex and he falls straight down. This was an intentional path of action that the animator’s chose because a realistic fall would be painful and not sell this scene as well. When the audience sees the intentionally incorrect path of action, we don’t feel so bad when Kronk hits the ground.

An example of broken gravity is when the chef throws items into the suitcase. The spacing feels uniform because the way the items fall into the suitcase make it light and not following the laws of gravity. This type of uniform animation was shown to emphasize the large amount of items thrown into a tiny suitcase. The way the items land neatly make it more whimsical instead of an angry action.

During Kronk's stealth mode scene, he breaks the law of gravity and an unrealistic path of action. Kronk would most likely have a mixture of rolling and bouncing down the stairs, however he is given a ridiculous fall so he always bounces up and lands on his face or bottom on every step. The fall was planned that way by the animators because of the slapstick humor, it’s a “clean looking” fall that doesn’t make the viewers feel bad for laughing at Kronk.

Kuzco and Pacha are stuck at a cliff edge and used teamwork by locking arms and pushing against each other back to back was believable realism until Kuzco’s mouth is full of bats and the bats burst out and that force. It builds up to the point where the bats flight was able to defy gravity by carrying both a llama and a human to the right, up, and backwards back to their original starting point on the cliff. That type of backwards and circular arc is outlandish but necessary. The animators chose to have the scene done like this because even though all of Kuzco and Pacha’s hard work were literally rewound; they learned more about each other during that dangerous situation.

Throughout the animation there are plentiful examples of squash and stretch that break the realism of how the actual material behaves. This type of animation is a key ingredient to visual comedic entertainment because rather than using a rotoscope method of realism, the animation is able to set a tone with squash and stretch. A good example of consistency in squash and stretch is Kuzco. Kuzco was the once proud emperor turned into the llama creates a whole new side to Kuzco. Kuzco is fragile and vulnerable and learns how useless he is on his own because of his full dependency on others. To emphasize Kuzco's incompetence as a comedy element is to make him rubbery. The first time we see Kuzco squash and stretch is when he is completely unaware that he became a llama; to get the goofy chaos is making Kuzco’s limbs become rubber like and flail madly because his world turned upside down so quickly.

Kuzco’s body is in the bag, but squashes thinly and making the whole action of falling down the stairs more comedic. His bounce resembles a bouncy ball rather than a llama. The clean fall down the stairs makes Kuzco’s descent almost harmless ­and getting enough bounce to land neatly and unnoticeablely into Pacha’s cart was the intention.

Two examples of Kuzco’s rubber like qualities are apparent during when Kuzco and Pacha fell from a broken bridge and are hanging onto vines. Kuzco stretches like rubber because Pacha slams into him with his whole body weight. The other instance is when Kuzco underestimates Pacha’s strength and weight and get squashed during their trust building exercise where they have to scale up a cliff together. This shows Kuzco’s unwillingness to try Pacha’s method and has given up hope.

          Cartoon characters tend to have exaggerated strength or are affected by forces that would not blend so well in a realistic setting. Since this film is done in the real world with many good examples of realism like parabolic arcs, conveyance in weight, inertia, and etc. that not having the wacky physics would drastically change the tone of the genre.

The stairs scene was mentioned earlier, but to also note the sheer amount of power the servant has is astounding. Kuzco is on his portable throne chair while his meek servant manages to carry portable chair and his body weight while running up the winding stairs. Kuzco roughly weighs about 100 pounds, the chair is about 10 pounds, while the servant would probably be 90 pounds. Not only is the servant lifting more than his own body weight, but does this while running up steep steps. This type of superhuman abilities are used for Kuzco’s gains because of his selfish and lazy nature.

The dog balloon the squirrel pops created an explosion of air rather than a realistic pop where the dispersed air would not reach Kuzco at that distance. The exaggerated pose and secondary action of Kuzco’s hair and ears are given the effects that resembles a windy day. Also, the panthers are untouched by the wind, which makes it even more exaggerated in a strange self contained blast of air. The amount of pressure exerted on Kuzco would be impossible to contain in a balloon that size; it would explode before it could be tied into a knot. The director’s choice to create tension with a balloon animal makes Kuzco’s worries almost trivial, but the explosive wind that pours out makes it even funnier.

Yzma is shown carrying a large mallet hammer with both hands to crush Kuzco statue busts. There are repeated instances where Yzma struggles carrying the hammer and get it up into the swing position. This type of animation is realistic and tells the viewers how weak Yzma is physically. However, an interesting contrast is Yzma’s difference in strength is when she imagines herself with a giant hammer (that is probably the same one from the statue scene). Yzma holds the hammer up with ease and only needs one hand. The writer’s choice of showing us the emotional visuals that represent her internal struggles is shown with realistic weight of the hammer. As a contrast, the cartooniness of the revenge thirsty scene where Yzma represents herself powerfully when smashing flea version Kuzco. The mix of realism and cartoony sells the idea that Yzma isn’t the most competent villain and has a hard time of coming up with ideas.

 Reality

Fantasy

The Emperor’s New Groove contains realism such as qualities of weight, secondary action, parabolic arcs, and many more. There are many instances where these realistic laws are broken in order to convey the comedy. The fictional physics works because it was done intentionally and are tried and true techniques that animators have used in the past. Dindal’s approach to story telling sets The Emperor’s New Groove apart from many other Disney films because of the daring approach to referencing slapstick comedy from older animations. Dindal was able to create a realistic world that contained its own laws of physics that are still humorous to this day.

Term Paper Outline: The Emperor's New Groove

The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

I.                   Introduction

A.                 Introduction of animated feature film: The Emperor's New Groove (2000)

B.                  Thesis: Walt Disney’s Feature Animation: The Emperor’s New Groove exists in a realistic world but is contrasted with comedic qualities of Improbable Path of Actions, Squash & Stretch, and Superhuman abilities that break the laws of realism and physics.

II.                Improbable Path of Actions & Gravity

A.                 When Kuzco is being carried and the chair tips way past the edges of the stairs without ever falling, implicating the center of balance is ignored in order to get the exaggerated path winding up the stairs. (1:95) Contrast: Soon after the stair scene, Kuzco swings the champagne bottle initiate the ceremonial ship launching. The bottle follows the pendulum arc and the timing. (2:08)

B.                  Kronk follows the cracker Kuzco throws and starts with a parabolic arc in the jump. However, when Kronk reaches the apex, the timing is exaggerated to hold Kronk’s pose and falls straight down. (7:94)

C.                  The spacing feels uniform because the way the items fall into the suitcase make it look light instead of landing with gravity dragging it down. (49:30)

D.                 Kronk would most likely have a mixture of rolling and bouncing down the stairs, however he is given a goofy fall so he always bounces up and landes on his face or butt on every step. (19:30) 

E.                  Kuzco and Pacha are stuck at a cliff edge and get carried and flown upwards by a colony of bats. (42:30)

III.              Squash and Stretch & quality of material

A.                 Kuzco’s body is in the bag, but squashes thinly and making the whole action of falling down the stairs more comedic. His bounce resembles a bouncy handball rather than a llama. (19:30)

B.                  Kuzco freaks out and loses control of his limbs; his limbs get spindly and bounce and around like rubber. His squash and stretches are super exaggerated. (24:14)

C.                  Pacha and Kuzco are tangled in vines are start arguing; Kuzco stretches like rubber because Pacha slams into him with his whole body weight. There are frames of the motion blur and to recreate in 2-D the animators created a smear frame. (39:43) Contradiction: Kuzco doesn't squash when he hits the wall right after the stretch, losing his squishy qualities in the same sequence.

D.                 Kuzco underestimates Pacha’s strength and weight and get squashed during their trust building exercise where they have to scale up a cliff together. (40:53) 

IV.             Superhuman and exaggerated actions

A.                 Kuzco is on his portable throne chair while his meek servant manages to carry portable chair and his body weight while running up the winding stairs. (1:95)

B.                  The balloon gives a feeling of explosion of air rather than a realistic pop. (28:37)

C.                  Expectations and Reality: Yzma’s hammer. Yzma is shown carrying a large mallet hammer with both hands to crush Kuzco statue busts. There are repeated instances where Yzma struggles to get to walk with the hammer and get it up into the swing position. (10:48)  Contrast:  However, an interesting contrast is Yzma’s difference in strength is when she imagines herself with a giant hammer (that is probably the same one from the statue scene). Yzma takes the hammer to crush the flea version of Kuzco. She holds the hammer up with ease and only needs one hand. (12:16)

V.                Conclusion

A.                 The animation contains realism such as qualities of weight, secondary action, inertia, and etc.

B.                  There are many instances where these realistic laws are broken in order to sell the comedy. The fictional physics works because it was done intentionally. 

Video Analysis of Path of Action

Tracker Video Analysis of Falling

Shooting Video Reference

Mini-Portfolio

My name is Tammy Lee and I am in my fourth year of Animation/Illustration with the focus on Visual Development. I'm enrolled in Ani 130A, Ani 117B, Phys 123, and Art 137. In high school I took Chemistry and Biology AP. In community college I took Physical Geography, Environmental Biology, and Solar System Astronomy. I'm a teacher at an art school for kids from the age 5-13. So far I've helped create the curriculum of the Comic classes/camp and have taught various subjects like painting and sewing. When I graduate from school, I'd love to work in Television, Film, and Video Games.

My first piece is from my Modeling class; it's a rendition of the Cortes treasure chest in Pirates of The Caribbean.

 

My second piece is from my Illustration class where I created a forest scene called "Dread."

 

My third piece is an animation called "What's That Smell?"



 

The First Post

Hi! This is the test post for my Physics of Animation Blog.