Creating Stereoscopic 3D Images

 

 

 I used a scene that i made in maya earlier in the year and tried to make a stereoscopic image of it. I think it works quite well except for the boy in the front.

Recreating Cameras and Lights in Maya

photo

Building a Scene in Maya

Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action

My first two term paper scores were 85 and 85; I will not be writing a third term paper.

 here's a speed painting i did from a scene from UP.

Outline for Third Term Paper

INTRO

A.      Recently there has been a lot of Sci Fi movies that involves outer space.

B.      Talk about Upside Down (2012)

C.      Talk about Ender’s Game (2013)

D.      Focus on how they make the special effects of dual gravity

BODY

A.      Movie description of Upside Down (2012)

a.       Movie is about the Romeo and Juliet spin where the two lovers are from different planets.

b.      Gravity in these 2 planets has 3 laws.

c.       Physics is correct but is dependent on how it is a different universe

d.      Different Shots of the anti-gravity in action in this movie

B.      Movie description of Ender’s Game (2013)

a.       Adaptation of the famous children novel.

b.      Many shots in this movie will require anti gravity shots

c.       Different shots in the movie that shows anti gravity

C.      How do they do it?

a.       Source http://vimeo.com/61920024 by Vision Globale, that did the VFX for Upside Down

b.      Source http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lxUIM6bYQo explanation of VFX for Ender’s game 

c.       Green Screen.

d.      Special Effects animation done on certain things like the upside down rain in Upside Down and Only shooting the face, or only keeping the face of the actor and animating the rest of their bodies in CG

e.      Wires where the characters hang from and move to create anti gravity

f.        Various camera set ups, including Milo motion control solution with fixed cameras and tracking software in Upside Down; rotating around the characters in Ender’s Game

g.       Filming two set shots simultaneously in Upside Down

h.      3D compositing of many different things to help show the idea of dual gravity and its effects and Outer Space in Ender’s Game

CONCLUSION

A.      Upside Down Might not be the most correct movie physically. And we can find loopholes in the laws themselves but it is an entertaining movie to watch and to see because of its visual effects

B.      Ender’s Game looks impressive in its special effects efforts to ensure a correct physics in this world and it makes audiences excited to see it

C.      Special Effects can achieve feats of visual to create amazing worlds for audiences.

Stop-Motion Character Animation

This stop motion animation was made together with Jessica Tong and Edric Yamamoto. At first we were thinking of using rubik's cubes and transformers, but it got a little complicated and so we decided to simplify. Ed has his son's shoes and we thought we could use just the shoes to tell a story about a person's life. So we begin to brainstorm about a concept and a story, then we set up our stage. 

 

 we used an app on the ipad called StopMotion and used clamps to attach the ipad to the ladder. The app takes pictures and combines it into a video for us. It also has a playback setting, undo and onion skin - which helped very much. We diffused the hanging lamps with just paper and tape and add another light source to create even lighting.

Edric made platforms for the shoes so they'll be able to pose in different positions while Jessica started planning how to animate the walk. We did the walk in 6 frames per second and 4 frames per second. We have passing positions and contact positions for each one of our walks. we decided to create cycles that blend into each others to show continuity of character and we tried to simulate camera pan by moving the shoes back and forwards.

 We also used tapes to mark where the edges of cameras are. also to mark where the center for the shoes are. to keep track. A mark on a piece of cardboard become a measurement to make sure the shoes are moving at a consistent pace. 

As you can see from the picture, I animated the sneakers and also the heels. we all took part animating step by step and we all took part in planning the story, timing and movement. It was good to work in a group because we can make sure everything was on place. 

of course sometimes there are interruptions.

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction

Our world is governed by the laws of physics; but in the imagined worlds of the cinema, many times this is not true. We watch movies to escape the humdrum of normal life; we enjoy seeing things that are not easily seen and or possible. Movies show us incredible feats of speed, unbelievable special effects and awesome choreography of action. Many of the things we see in the movies are impossible to do in real life. Sometimes these things are done because they are ignorant of the laws of physics. Other times it is purposely done by the directors and visual developers to create a satisfying experience for the audience as well as enhancing story. One Law that is very easily recognizable is Newton’s Third Law. Newton’s Third Law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. You can see this when you sit on a chair or when a bird flies and why it hurts when you punch a wall (because the wall’s force is pushing back on you.) This law is the reason why things recoil also. In a lot of movies this very fundamental law is often bended. Often it is bent so much and so often that people forget that the law of action and reaction applies to certain actions.

A lot of times people forget about the recoil that happens when one shoots a gun. In a movie that is all about gun shoot outs, Shoot ‘Em Up (2007) shows us ample amount of gun fighting with our main character Mr.Smith (played by Clive Owen) who is trying to save a newborn baby from an army of gunmen. Multiple times into this movie we can see Mr. Smith gunning down throngs of opposing gunmen, with many different types of guns. Nowhere in the movie did I see anyone experiencing recoil caused by the firing of the gun. There are even shots of Mr. Smith going down a fireman pole while gunning down people with a machine gun experiencing no recoil at all. While I do realize that this movie is supposed to be over the top it is also a testimony to how much recoil a gun has; television has shown so often that recoil do not happen that audiences are used to seeing that response from firing a gun. Not only are there no recoil to the gun firing, there are also too much reaction from the victim who are shot in this movie. The amount of force exerted by the bullet will be dispersed by the human body and the body should not be propelled from the shooting. Even though the physics are wrong in this movie, I do believe that it is done on purpose. The audience needs to see their hero strong, unaffected by silly things such as recoil. They need someone to whom they want to be or one that they can relate too. Everyone wants to be the capable gunmen. Also, the audience needs to understand when a cast has been shot. I believe that is why the actors react in that manner – even though it is not physically correct.

We can also find mistakes in the movie Wanted (2008) starring James McAvoy as a disgruntled office worker that discovers the world of professional assassins with superhuman killing abilities – that is the ability to bend the path of action of bullets. We will focus at the last few minutes of the movie; the scene takes place in the office building. We see one of the assassins in the elevator, when suddenly the metal of the elevators wall spontaneously crushes – supposedly as a reaction to the extreme force that the assassin’s feet is exerting on the metal wall. This is impossible. The reaction happened before he pushes on the metal wall, and in fact – the feet did not even push into the wall. This scene was an attempt to show action and reaction; but instead it rings false because the forces that are supposed to be equal are instead unequal and the timing is not simultaneous. Another example is the jump the assassin took right after he bolts through the hallway of the office building. He hardly makes any anticipation, the assassin did not look like he exerted much force when he jumped through the glass but the assassin flies through the air as if he’s propelled by a cannon. Not only was the jump distance feels too long, the hang time the assassin had from that jump also felt very wrong. Realistically, I imagine the force it took to break the glass would be enough of an opposite force on the assassin that it would make the assassin fall short on his jump. In this case I believe they try to adhere to the laws of physics – but in the end the effect they want to achieve on the audience was to astound. However it is not done well and it fails to look believable, which harms the movie because it takes the audience’s mind outside of the story.

Lastly we will examine The Matrix (1999) starring Keanu Reeves. This movie does happen in another world that is not earth; however there are several things that I found a little odd, even though it could be explained by it being in another universe. In the scene where Neo and Morpheus is fighting their moves feels a bit airy – as if gravity is not acting as strongly upon them. This is reminiscent of old Chinese Kung Fu films that I use to watch as a child. They have light movements and high jumps without any anticipation because in real life they wear harnesses. (often the harnesses can be seen, especially in old movies.) I suspect this is what the actors are doing in this scene, we can see that the anticipation that Neo takes before leaping is definitely not equal to the powerful jump that comes afterwards. Scientifically, the force that Neo pushes on the floor should equal the amount of force the floor affects him. Since Neo uses little force on the floor – the floor should give little force back. This however did not happen, which is why the audience will feel as if the movements are odd.

In conclusion, Laws of Physics such as Newton’s Third Law are consistently broken by movie makers for many different reasons. The action genre legitimizes the overreaction of certain forces to indicate outstanding strength, drama and movement. Many different deviations can be seen through unequal forces, not simultaneous timing and the overreaction of forces or the lack of recoil.  This particular physics are done on purpose to dramatize and to excite the audience. The job of an action movie is to excite the audience and to thrill them this is why they bend the laws so much to their breaking point.