One Small Step for Me, One Giant Project to Handle
The Hype of Animation Finals!
Within Animation, we learned much from this past semester of fun, trial, and error. So, for our final animation project of the year, we decided that since Jessie Blom, Greta Lundy, and I worked so well before, we combined our forces once again to bring forth the best of our capabilities in our own respective way. We immediately got to story boarding our final piece. But finding a concept was difficult to do, as we wanted to be as creatively free as possible, but still have at the very least, a hint of the plot. We threw around ideas, nothing really sticking until Greta comes up with the idea of a visitor on an alien world. Our group loved it, Jessie even saying that the encounter should be with a robot. The creative process truly started when Greta sketched out a basic plot from our idea, and we then got to work instantly. Greta would animate and create the robot, I would create the opening title card, and Jessie would wrap the whole thing together. It would be hard to do, as it encompassed our entire semester of learning into a single project. But again, it was to show off the skills we acquired from the semester, and it was an ambitious, fantastic feeling of pride when we put ourselves to work. So we set out to complete our goal, displaying the best of our capabilities to a single, coherent idea that was just as creative as we were.
The Process Begins!
After being introduced initially to the tutorials of Video Copilot and seeing how detailed and simple they could be, I discussed with my partners on what type of sequence would be used. Would it be mysterious, foreboding, magical? But in the end, there was a tutorial on a grid looking sequence, robotic and calculating. After seeing the entire overall look of the piece, I knew it would be fantastic. So, having a cool lightning effect within Adobe After Effects and editing it to look like a grid layout, duplicating the layers, and having them fade in and out was the first step, simply achieved by utilizing the many positive aspects of After Effects. But then the second step emerged, having the letters emerge from a moving, 3-D background. I had never done this before. So, I converted all of the layers into a 3-D layer like the tutorial said to do. However, the effects kept creating problems within After Effects. They slowed down rendering with each one I added, and even changing one detail within the keyframes of my work caused it having to be re-rendered to even see if it would work. But then, I discovered the perfect looking grid fad-in that I stuck with for our title sequence. But since we had extra time as I finished, I chose to use a fade out effect on the text layer and I believe it turned out fantastic. Greta had used Maya to create the stunningly beautiful robot. Jessie had made the background in Photoshop and brought the whole thing together with After Effects. We had finished before the deadline of May 19th, so we enhanced our effects and made them better with mine taking more time with the fade out effect, and Greta added more fluidity to her robot. We managed our time well, I believe, as we had enough time to enhance the effects and footage we had rather than attempt to cram everything at the last minute. I've actually had to render out my project 3 different times to make sure I got everything right.
The Robot
Afterwords and Last Words
This entire year was full of firsts, exciting and new animation skills being awakened as well as the high point of my creativity. I loved what I've done this past year, my animating skills have greatly improved and I've done things I've never thought of before. Green screens and After Effects and 3-D animating has me excited at the endless possibilities available to me now. Although I love the project as it is, I would change the color of my grid effect, to match the robot a bit more. I also would want another idea to attempt, maybe have someone live with the robot like a sitcom. Or one idea I wish we had done was to have the video go a bit longer, and have a different encounter with a creature be highlighted. But I did enjoy creating the grid effect itself, so that part would stay the same. I also enjoy the look of the robot, and how it moves, so I would retain those things as well. But one thing I would keep the same about this project is the people I was with to create this project, as it wouldn't be good without Greta or Jessie. I will draw out some of the effects from After Effects, like the lightning to help make better looking openings. Perhaps I will find the other effects and make my own original openings. I also want to experience the 3-D converter in After Effects, as it was an interesting thing to try and succeed at. I hope that next year will bring more excitement and thrills to the field and help me achieve my dream of being an animator at Disney.
The Hype of Animation Finals!
After being introduced initially to the tutorials of Video Copilot and seeing how detailed and simple they could be, I discussed with my partners on what type of sequence would be used. Would it be mysterious, foreboding, magical? But in the end, there was a tutorial on a grid looking sequence, robotic and calculating. After seeing the entire overall look of the piece, I knew it would be fantastic. So, having a cool lightning effect within Adobe After Effects and editing it to look like a grid layout, duplicating the layers, and having them fade in and out was the first step, simply achieved by utilizing the many positive aspects of After Effects. But then the second step emerged, having the letters emerge from a moving, 3-D background. I had never done this before. So, I converted all of the layers into a 3-D layer like the tutorial said to do. However, the effects kept creating problems within After Effects. They slowed down rendering with each one I added, and even changing one detail within the keyframes of my work caused it having to be re-rendered to even see if it would work. But then, I discovered the perfect looking grid fad-in that I stuck with for our title sequence. But since we had extra time as I finished, I chose to use a fade out effect on the text layer and I believe it turned out fantastic. Greta had used Maya to create the stunningly beautiful robot. Jessie had made the background in Photoshop and brought the whole thing together with After Effects. We had finished before the deadline of May 19th, so we enhanced our effects and made them better with mine taking more time with the fade out effect, and Greta added more fluidity to her robot. We managed our time well, I believe, as we had enough time to enhance the effects and footage we had rather than attempt to cram everything at the last minute. I've actually had to render out my project 3 different times to make sure I got everything right.
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