Saturday 30 January 2016

@Alan - APA - Revised script. EDITED

The following is a revised script for my info-graphic. Is this a little better as I still need text but they will appear in blocks divided like we discussed.

(Speech bubble enlarges on screen text is typed out)
Are you prepared?
It's Comic Con time. 
He's some tips for you to remember.

HOW TO SURVIVE COMIC CON

(Icon of water appears  slides left for the text to appear)

You'll get thirsty, bring lots of water!

(Lots of water bottles quickly appear in the background one by one)

(The screen wipes away (top to bottom) with the edge the shape of waves)

(Icon of Money appears slides right for the text to appear, Screen wipes away top to bottom in the shape of notes falling from the sky.) 

There will be LOTS of people queuing for the ATM. 

(Icon of ATM and People appear slides left for the text to appear.) 

Bring spare money. You will need it! 

(People pile on the screen to succumb it in darkness)

(Icon of shoes pops up in the centre) 

Even a spare pair of shoes for walking.

(Shows walk of screen pulling the colour background with it revealing another colour)

(Icon of Thors hammer smashes into the floor and cracks apart, I don't know how to display a transition of it being repaired but after it will flash brand new like an item picked up in a video game.) 

A repair kit for accidents. 

(Icon of a lunch box appears and goes right of the screen and fills with snacks. Large apple fills the screen and gets crunched.)

Extra food to snack on. 

(A camera Icon flashes and goes left of the screen) 

A Camera to capture those memories. 

(Flashes go off on screen to adjust screen for a Battery symbol flashes empty on screen) 

A Power Charger for you phone!  

(scene swipes over like swiping a smart phone)

(Icon of plaster)

In case of blisters and injuries! 

(Icon of Bag drops on the side as the stuff fills it up) 

A Space for all of this and goodies! 

( Costumed figures pop up)

Always travel together. 

(Park lanscape graphic pops up) 

Go out and take a break!

(Comic con logo appears splashed on the screen) 

And Have Fun! 



Tuesday 26 January 2016

APA: Icon Development: Spray

So after some feed back from some peers I started today on looking at my icon of a spray can. I made it so that it has qualities of a comic book, suck as the thick outline and bold colours. I added the background and shading on the second one to see how it would contrast with a background.



Friday 22 January 2016

APA - Post Tutorial Reflections.

So after discussing my approach to the info-graphic, I have discovered that I haven't really formulated a script or a word plan for what kind of things will be mentioned in my video. It has also been pointed out to me that I don't need to make my info-graphic a comic strip but more so emphasises on the looks and attributes or aesthetics of the comic art form. I have started sketching out my graphics in a style that I think fits the comic genre.

Firstly, the icons or graphics that I think will be featured in my info graphic based on the facts that I have collected so far are as follows:

- A Water Bottle.
- A Deodorant spray can.
- A rucksack/bag.
- A Money note/coins.
- A Repair Kit.
- A Exit sign.

This set of graphics fit with the following facts with a that I will be including in the video:

- Bring Extra Cash to an event. The lines for the ATM are longer than the lines to the loo.
- Bring some water. Keeping Hydrated while walking for miles around the event is important.
- Bring and wear deodorant! A lot of cos-players in hot and heavy costumes, plus walking around adds to the smell.
- Bring a bag for all the goodies. A lot of things to buy, can't carry them without one.
- Bring a Repair kit. Costumes will get ripped and pulled whilst travelling to, around and about the event.
- Take regular breaks, leave the convention for some fresh air and cheaper prices.

Here are some sketches of the water bottle and spray can, please tell me what you think, and which one is closest to a more comic-ie feel and would fit into a infographic.



Thursday 21 January 2016

APA: Comic Con background/Logo painting.

So I've been bed ridden with food poisoning so I've been lightly working with a new background/logo for my infographic.


Monday 18 January 2016

Maya: Shader FX Part 6: Uv's & Animation


Maya: Shader FX Part 5: Reflection

Part 5 done.

Maya: Shader FX Part 4: Transparency


Part 4 Complete.

Maya: Shader FX Part 3: Lighting

After learning this I feel more confident with making new lighting effects, as the methods taught here are simple and really easy. This tutorial is complete :)

Shader FX Part 2: Displacement


Completed the second shader tutorial.

Maya: Shader FX Part 1: Intro to Shader FX Networks

After much annoyance, I think I might have figured out why I could not do the tutorial on my own laptop, but in either case I have completed this tutorial using the university PC's.

Sunday 17 January 2016

ADA: Adaptation A Ideas for design approaches.

Adaptation Part a – Design Approach

APA: How to survive research.

So I have been looking into other Survival guide info-graphics and presentations, just to get an idea as to how it can be done. I found a couple of inforgraphics that display different types of information that I found interesting, particularly in the methods used to display the information as well as the colours used and the music too. Bellow are a few that I thought were interesting.

Thursday 14 January 2016

Adaptation Film Review: Mary and Max (2009) Adam Elliot

Instead of having lectures, we will only watch films.This first weeks film has left me with mixed feelings. It is titled simply as Mary and Max. 
Mary and Max a film by Adam Elliot.
Mary and Max is a  tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York. This film is strongly influenced with Australian humour, something I have to keep remembering. The context of this film is dark, funny and at the same time deeply disturbing. Which is what made this film a very good thing to watch. Some scenes, like how when Mary's parents are described you just have to empathic with Mary as she's only 8 years old and does not understand what is actually happening with her parents. When it comes to Max I was a little confused with how to react to him. Whether to be sorry for him or just want to climb in the screen and slap him for being so stupid. I do think he was right to react to Mary in the way he did, it prolonged their visit, and also affected Mary quiet a bit. Seeing that scene where she was about to take her own life, showing us the little baby in he stomach really made our ours widen in shock. It made me feel relieved when the old man from across the street overcame his fear of the outside and saved her life and the child's. 

My rating. 

Maya: Game Assets - Modelling Part 3: High Resolution - Progress

I finally got it to work. Now I need to do it to the rest of them, the only difference is that the last two squares are not lined up.

Wednesday 13 January 2016

@Alan - Problem with Shader tutorial.

So I have run into a little snag with the ShaderFX first tutorial. I have opened up the shader menu to add the texture map to the diffuse channel but it seems like nothing happened. When I want to add the texture map that is, attributes menu is not appearing.




Tuesday 12 January 2016

AP: Intro to Mudbox - Lesson One.

Today we began our tasks in Mudbox, I had a little issue with the first section but I did manage to edit my own sphere and have created something rather cool :)

APA/APB - Post Tutorial write-up

After the discussion with Alan, I have come to a complete halt with Adaptation Part B as my original plan to use the story behind Balto has been crossed out. No Quadrupeds. Now I just need to do a lot of research into what I could essentially replace this idea with.

Adaptation Part A went extremely well as now all I need to do is come up with a graphic direction to take the info graphic. Some ideas consist of possibly comic book style, with bold lines, panels, red and yellow colours and a font that of which revolves around acme and cartoons.

Sunday 10 January 2016

Maya: Gaming Pipeline : Modelling Part 2: UV Layout.

I have had a little hick-up with the unfolding of the Stone Cap but I can work with it when it comes to laying out the textures.

Maya: Gaming Pipeline : Modelling Part 1: Low Resolution

I think I was the first to submit this, which is unlike me but I feel motivated and it seems pretty simple.

Saturday 9 January 2016

Movie Review Submissions.

Here are the links to the movie reviews I have done for the last term.

The Hero's Journey
Archetypes
Narrative Structure & Hollywood
Character and Hollywood Formula

Quality and Hollywood Formula Part 1 - B-Movies. (Absent)

NC: Movie Review: Comedy and Laughter

Big Bang Theory.



The Big Bang theory is essentially about A woman who moves into an apartment across the hall from two brilliant but socially awkward physicists shows them how little they know about life outside of the laboratory. It's an American drama sit-com that has spread like wild fires across the world and into the homes of many. I personally love this show, as it shows that even the weird, the geeks, get life problems. Get relationships, love, marriage, all of that. 

The comedic side of this show comes from all the little quick whit, sexual innuendoes, from the relationships and from Sheldon's reaction to everything. Everyone has their own way with him and yet he's still caught up in his own little world. There isn't just comedy in this series, there's also romance and hardship. Which really breaks apart the sit-com from the drama. You can really relate to the characters, as each ones has something about them that you can link to your own life.

 There is one scene that I remember from one of the series, its where the character Penny dislocates her arm and Sheldon has to help her get dressed. Now as Sheldon is innocent and really does not have a concept of what he's actually doing, he occidentally cups Penny's breasts of camera. At least we are lead to believe they are her breasts, she reacts in a way that just makes you laugh. Sheldon's innocent reaction is also a smile maker as he simply just says ''No, it doesn't feel like an arm.'' And when Penny asks him to let it go. He says,  '' Okay.'' And removes his hands away, putting them is such a pose that he just realised that he touched something wrong. 

This programme is personally funny to me because of the relationships between the characters and between the characters and every day life. I love the way Sheldon can't grasp the concept of Human Connection, and how Howard is oblivious to the fact that Bernadette sounds EXCATLY like his mother when she shouts. A perfect screen play and a engaging programme all round. It will defiantly be sad when they have the end it.

Thursday 7 January 2016

APA/APB: Adaptation, Professional Practice Project.

Today started the second term's project. Adaptation. This project is again split into two projects, a 4 week and a 15 week. APA, Adaptation Part A, is the four week project where we picked out a sentence from the infamous blue box and this sentence was our starting point in creating a info-graphic. I received: ''How to survive ______''. A cliché statement, but a pretty simple concept to work from. The task given after this was to come up with ten answers to the blank in our sentence, these will be selected tomorrow by our peers. As Phil would put it, I did get fireworks in my feet, as I have experiences with info-graphics, as I have attempted them in the past. I was excited, an very much relieved, to hear that it doesn't need to be made in maya (fist pumps the air). I can use flash and after effects to create my submission. I came up with a lot of ideas, over 10 words/statements to fill that gap. The top ten however are:
  1. Zombie Apocalypse.
  2. Relationships.
  3. University.
  4.  The end of the world.
  5. Bullying.
  6. Comic Con.
  7. Every day life.
  8. Marriage
  9. Criticism. 
  10. An alien invasion/abduction.
I know, even though I haven't got my sentence set yet, but I have an idea for the ''opening sequence''. I picture the title ''How to Survive:'' In bold white letters on a light background. A think white line proceeds it and a set of words begin to rotate into the space, the background changing colour and the words bringing images to associate with them. I would use the list above and when it comes to the topic that I get I will stop the reel on that and emphasises it's selection some how. From there it will be a sequence of events that explains how to survive it, either in a number series or in bullet points. 

The second project, APB, Adaptation part B is the long 15 week project that requires me to selected a piece of non-visual context and transcribe it into a visual space in 3D. We're allowed to use a majority of everything, but avoiding the tropes and generic fairytale and fantasies. I have a few ideas in my head but until the first discussions with Alan start I am not to sure if they are feasible. 

The main idea I was thinking about is a story I liked from an animation I saw. Not the animations story but the actual original story it was adapted from. Te story is about a dog called Balto. Balto is a Siberian husky who is made famous by his efforts in saving children suffering from Diphtheria in Nome, Alaska in 1925. The story unfolds to make out that Balto was the hero, even though he and his team only finished the last leg of the run. It was another dog sled team names Togo who transported the serum to cure the children through the longest and more dangerous part of the course. There has been debate as to why Balto was also given fame, with a statue in Central park, New York, and not Togo. Or even both of them, even though the statue commemorates all the dogs and the drivers who took part recollection. But that aspect of it, the fact that if the dogs were rational thinkers, Togo and Balto would not be likely friends. This could make a really good story. The animation titled Balto, makes Balto out to be a half-wolf half-husky outcast who tries out to be a part of the team to go and get the serum from the Anchorage check point. The rival dog Steel makes it so that he doesn't. This conflict is similar but essentially, Balto goes and rescues the team, rather than what is the real story where him and his team take the serum its last leg. 

Other ideas include the tale of Pochahontas, the non-disney version.  Or possibly something from a poem or too. I can defiantly say I've took a more direct approach to this project, despite what I've been experiencing at home. 

Wednesday 6 January 2016

Maya: Head Modelling Part 4: The Mouth

Its not completely accurate, but they say that it wont be, I'm happy with it. Lets get the eyes and nose in before I have made a slender man child.

Friday 1 January 2016

NC: Character: Male Turn-around In-progress

So I am working on the turn-around for the male character. With a walking pose which will be inked and coloured.