Building a scene in Maya

Extra Credit

Star Wars at the tech museum!!

Why is my  father in a glass case???!!!

Stereoscopic 3D Images

self portrait

Star Wars Exhibition: Wampa

Campus Site

Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action

Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action

Visual effects have being used since the day movies where invented and thru out years many techniques have being developed to make effects as realistic as possible. In the early ages of cinema, movie directors were experiencing with different resources in order to get the effect they wanted and had to use handmade props. For example to animate a dragon in a movie made in the 1930’s, filmmakers had to use maquettes, string and a toy dragon. It may have look fake but the audience had an idea that it was a flying dragon. Many years later, technology became advanced and so did visual effects due to CGI green screens and computers programs that could make objects realistic and in 3D. For this paper, I will be comparing two movies, The Day after tomorrow (2004) and The Wizard of Oz (1939) and how they created the effects of twisters. The day after tomorrow and Wizard of Oz had their own perception on how a tornado should look like and be as realistic as possible, however both effects used to create the twisters had flaws and qualities.

           

The Day after tomorrow is a movie about natural catastrophes and extreme weather changes in the U.S such as snowstorms, tornadoes, floods, and massive hail and how people try to survive. In one of the scenes, Hollywood is being destroyed by three giant twisters, demolishing everything that gets on its way. But when taking a close look, it is easy to notice that it was made digitally because it would look like it could belong in a video game. All this magic was created by a computer program called Maya. Maya is a program that allows artists to create objects in three dimensions and put realistic textures on objects. Not only is the object in 3D but it can also be animated. Because Maya provides such a variety of tools it is easier to experience with different brush tools and create this cloudy texture that tornadoes have while they are spinning and the ones in the movie have a believable texture. Not only the texture was accurate, but the speed of the tornados was about 300 miles per hour which is the most extreme according to some researches. These colossal tornadoes are unreal size and the amount of damages done in the city is proportioned to the size of the twister, which is why the tornadoes were able to destroy most skyscrapers.

Although Maya may have helped in creating a realistic tornado, it was not as “realistic” as it is the real world. A person that has no experience in the art industry may think that those tornadoes look so real that they can get trapped and fly off. However, a person like myself (Animation/Illustration major) can easily spot the difference between a real and digital tornado. A fake one would have a video game texture, it would look too perfect, the lightning would be off, and the disproportion of the natural disaster. When watching the movie and comparing it with actual videos recorded twisters, the three in the movie seemed that they were see thru and made out of glass, whereas the real ones look like grey cotton candy.

Everyone in the U.S at least watched the famous movie about a girl, her dog, and a yellow brick road. The wizard of Oz is a story is about Dorothy who dreams about the Land of Oz and where she meets her companions the lion, the thin man, and the scarecrow. The movie starts with a scene with Dorothy in her family’s farms in Kansas and the overall screen is in black and white. After she comes back from the Doctor or the medium, it starts to be windy and when she gets home it is extremely windy and tornadoes have formed. Unlike the digital twisters used in The Day after tomorrow, the ones in this movie were man-made from thirty-five foot long tapered muslin socks. There were wires and cotton inside the tube to hold while the tornado spun. To make the tornadoes move across the screen, a rod was attached to the base of the tornado and was then pulled on opposite direction to give that snake shape going back and forth.

Since this movie was shot in 1939, and beginning of the movie was in black in white, it is difficult to tell whether or not the colors were accurate but the values are correct. Those tornadoes happened to be the first hand-made and also considered to be the most realistic props for a movie. When comparing to another video of a real tornado the one in Wizard of Oz have a slender tube, it looks like it is made of rubber and the texture is not the same. Unlike the ones from The Day after tomorrow, the tube look almost rubbery instead of being build with dust and cloud, it does not have this “cotton candy” texture, just flat muslin. Just like the other movie both the speed and the destruction impact of the tornadoes were accurate and believable. Before Dorothy lands in the Land of Oz, she is still inside the house, who is trapped in the twister. Once an objects comes in contact with a tornado, it is torn apart. In the movie, the house is spinning inside the twister but still remains in contact. In real life, if the house would have landed on the ground it would have collapsed and possibly killed Dorothy.

             When I compared the visual effects of tornadoes of The Day After Tomorrow and Wizard of Oz, both had qualities and flaws. The Day After tomorrow used modern technology and computer program Maya to recreate massive tornadoes while The Wizard of Oz twisters were built out of muslin socks, wires, and cotton. Depending on the year a movie was produced and on the resources used, both movies had different interpretations of tornadoes, yet making them as believable as they could.

Outline for the Third Term Paper

For this paper I will be comparing the visual effects of tornadoes (or twisters) from two different movies, The Day After Tomorrow (2009) and The Wizard of Oz (1939).

The Day After Tomorrow

_Tornadoes were created using Maya

_Realistic texture

_Realistic Speed

_Colors slightly off due to lighting

_Still see Digital effect

_Accurate destroying impact of tornado

_Disproportioned, gigantic tornadoes

The wizard of OZ

_Man-made tornado from Thirty-five foot long tapered muslin sock

_Color looks believable since it was in Black and white

_Tube does not have a cloud texture, rather looks like a moving tree trunk

_Moving speed is accurate

_Accurate destroying impact

_In real life, when the house lands on the ground it would have collapsed

Conclusion

When I compared the visual effects of tornadoes of The Day After Tomorrow and Wizard of Oz, both had qualities and flaws. The Day After tomorrow used modern technology and computer program Maya to recreate massive tornadoes while The Wizard of Oz twisters were built out of muslin sock and cotton. Depending on the year and the resources, both movies had different interpretations of tornadoes, yet making them as believable as they could.

Stop Motion Character Animation

Pink Water

For this assignment I decided to animate a lamb in a boat and a jumping fish. First I had to sketch on a paper to figure out the movement of each elements. I used my pink towel for the water, a makeup bag for the boat, a stuffed lamb, and a hand drawn fish on paper.  The water is undulating fast due to the current and the boat moves along with a rocking motion which is why I changed the surface of the water every single frame. The boat comes to a stop, and the lamb looks over when all of a sudden a giant fish jumps out of the water.  While the fish is in mid air , the lamb gets surprised and jumps backwards. He then stands up and meet the giant fish. 

Science fact or Cinematic Fiction?

Science fact or Cinematic Fiction?

What do super heroes movies have in common? There is a hero, a lover, a psychic friend, a vilain, and of course lots of actions. Those super heroes movies such as The Avengers , Superman, or Scott Pilgrim tend to break laws of physics in order to dramatize an action, also called cinematic fiction. If a movie was non-fiction or based on a true story, then it is important to follow the rules of physics, otherwise the viewers will think that it poor editing or a science fiction world. For example, conservation of energy is constantly changed to make a hero more powerful. According to Physics, the laws of conservation of energy state that energy can not be created or destroyed but transferred from one object to another. Down bellow are scenes examples of how the law has been broken.

1. The Avengers-Captain America's shield

There is a scene where 3 superheroes are in a forest and Captain America and Thor are getting into a fight and Thor throws his hammer to the captain. The hammer hits Captain America's shield but instead of knocking it out of his hand, the shield absorbs the energy and repels the hammer as well as the other super heroes. What makes this shield unique is that it is composed of Vibranium, Adamantium, and a third element which gives it’s strength properties. The energy force that was applied on the hammer transmitted on the heroes who fell 6meters back. If this scene was reproduced in real life, the hammer would have probably landed on the floor (considering of it's mass) and if it knocked the shield, the shield would have fallen on the floor.

2.Spiderman-Sandman fight

In that scene, Spiderman is in a truck fighting against Sandman and throws a punch in Sandman's stomach. Spiderman's hand goes thru his stomach because he is made of sand however, the energy of the punch is not equal to the energy of sand that flies of Mr. Sandman's stomach. It seems that the sand is projected at a very high speed like a rocket. Surprisingly considering the force that was applied by the punch, Sandman does not fall backwards nor collapse, but just stand in the same position. Because of laws of energy, the punch would have created a different reaction and thus less sand flying of the villain’s back. This scene was meant to show the strength of both characters: Spiderman’s punch and Sandman’s protection.

3. Scott Pilgrim-First fight with evil ex

 

I personally (sorry to say this) did not like Scott Pilgrim movie because I taught the acting and plot was cheesy and cliché. However I thought it would serve as a great example to point out the errors in physics. In the video above, shows the first time Scott Pilgrim encounters one of Ramona's first ex (Matthew) and needs to fight against him in order to keep Ramona. The movie is meant to look like a live action comic book which is why most of the action are exaggerated and punctuation marks appear. Scott is fighting the first ex and throws a Drum cymbal towards his enemies' face (while randomly floating in the air). The cymbal hits his head without leaving any bruises and then Matthew does a backflip in the air. What should have happen since Scott trowed the cymbal with great energy, Matthew would be looping a second time and moving backwards instead of the same spot.

It is common for super hero movies to break the laws of physics such as conservation of energy to emphasize an action. If a hero is trowing a punch to it's enemy, the villain it will fall further out than it should because it is showing the strength of the hero. Exaggeration in action is needed to create this style of cinematic fiction.