INTERACTIVE :: 24/11/16 - MOTHECY

Patrick finished the game last night and we all got to look at it this morning!  I'm so happy we managed to get it done on time, and for a first attempt at Unity, everything's looking great!

Here are some screenshots from the game

And the downloadable file can be found here!

CINEMATIC :: HAND-IN BRIEF

LOLITA ANIMATE CC

{Working Title}
By Adrian Melster

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TRANSDISCIPLINARY FRAMEWORK:

Lolita Animate will be a physical garment or full co-ordinate outfit that features the stages of animation in its composition and design.  It will combine the garments and aesthetic of Lolita fashion with physical dressmaking and the animation process, starting from basic form to final cleaned up product.

Lolita refers to the practice of adult women dressing in excessively frilly, doll/princess/maiden inspired clothing (Younker 2011).  It is a fashion trend that emerged in the mid to late 1990s and functions as a blanket term for a number of sub-styles (Classic, Gothic, and Sweet being the notable ‘main trio’), often referencing various forms of contemporary popular culture, including Western Goth subculture, manga, anime and Visual-kei (Monden, 2013).  The Lolita aesthetic emphasizes features of Victorian-era girls’ dress, such as lace, ruffles, high necklines and voluminous skirts (Winge 2008).  These form a very distinctive silhouette and present a refined, elegant, and doll-like appearance.

These aesthetics will influence the subject of an animation, and the physical garment(s) will represent the animation canvas similar to the way the digital artist would use programs such as Adobe Animate or Krita Animate.

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CREATIVE PROCESS:

The Lolita Animate project aims to combine signature elements of Lolita Fashion with the process of creating an animation.  I would like to explore the theme of ‘layers’ that the fashion and digital-art process both share in order to create an animation-inspired garment or co-ordinate.  

The Lolita’s outfit, is made up of pieces and layers from the head to toe that must be co-ordinated together in order and place to create the overall ‘look’ that the Lolita is known for.  For this project I am focusing foremostly on the skirt and the layers within that - first of material that forms the fluffy petticoats, and then the skirt itself, which serves as the final visual; a denser, detailed, and presentable layer.  Other aspects of the outfit contain things such as matching colors, themes and the individual pieces of clothing to make it look like a well-organized whole.  

Animation is similar, being made up of layers of art and individual frames, from sketchy basic shapes to rough frames and render passes, with the final completed drawing or animation being the only layer that the audience generally sees.  Each of these is a frame in itself, conveying movement in spite of its disassembled state.  The final pass has the potential for multiple layers as well due to aspects such as linework, color, order, and individually functioning pieces.

I am primarily focusing on the visual aspect and individual frames of these layers, and how they can be applied to the garment(s).  Because of this, the final product will not be animated itself.  I would like to experiment with the layout, depiction and subject matter of the animation process in relation to the garment,  keeping it true to the Lolita aesthetic and appearance but still expressing movement and animation.  The garments will also be handmade by myself, using tutorials provided by the online Lolita community.

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SCOPE OF THE PROJECT:

Ideally the project will conclude with a completed petticoat and skirt (or multiples thereof) that feature the experiments with layers that I will be conducting over the course of the project.  A complete Lolita co-ordinate outfit that reflects the animation stages and frames is another potential goal of this project, though it may be harder to achieve due to money constraints.  I would like for the final garment to be something wearable that can be combined with other pieces of Lolita attire and still feel like a fashion piece, as well as convey the ideas and processes of animation used in the experiments.  Results will be photographed and uploaded to social media sites such as Facebook, Blogger, and Tumblr, and the resulting garment(s) will be used and worn as a regular piece of clothing.

The animation component of this project will be completed using digital art programs such as Krita and Adobe Animate.  These will be used to create the base frames and designs that will feature on the garment(s), and the explorative aspect will experiment with how these can be added to the clothing itself and still retain meaning.  This animation will be limited to 25 frames (1 second) - a calculation based on the number of repetitions in the pattern of my own lolita garments.  This restriction may change depending on my findings over the course of the project.  

Each phase of the animation process will be saved and converted to an image sequence, which will serve as a template for the designs and layouts that I will be applying to my garments.  This sequence will also feature on social media and be noted as a guide and inspiration for the pattern and shape that the garment takes, serving as a contrast between the physical and digital aspects of the final product.

As this project focuses on clothing as a base, a lot of it will have to be made physically - either by hand or with a sewing machine.  The cost of material is something else I need to consider, and whether or not I can make a convincing garment with potentially cheaper materials.  Patterns and tutorials for basic Lolita clothing are available for free online, and I intend to use these to create the garments for my project.  I expect the first few attempts at creating clothing from scratch will not be the best, but I can use any early prototypes for practice experiments and exploring my capabilities and timeframe.

Other constraints and parameters to consider are my limited sewing ability, and the time it takes to make lolita garments.  The skill I have to recreate something digital may also apply, as I feel fabric printing is not an option for me at this point.  Because of this I may have to turn to traditional mediums such as inks or fabric paints, and will need to understand how it can be applied to different types of material.

Documentation of the process and records of change will be posted to Blogger.

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OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT:

Through experimentation with layout, layers, and subject matter, a complete and functional garment will signify the success and end of this project.  The piece must clearly express features of the animator’s process, and focus on the theme of layers, while still being a recognizable Lolita garment.  For the animation component of this project, research will be conducted for the most suitable subject matter, and one final animation will be chosen out of 3-4 test animations for the print/decoration basis for the garment.

Quality will be measured on how presentable the garment is and whether or not I would feel comfortable wearing it in public.  This mainly applies to the amount of ‘poof’ to the petticoat layer, and the neatness of the skirt’s design/print.  A good petticoat produces a distinctive silhouette, and a good skirt should sit nicely on top of the petticoat while maintaining a distinguishable print.  As long as the print does not look rough, rushed, or unrecognizable I will consider it a success.  Animation must be fluid and utilize as many of the 12 principles as possible, and remain on-model and recognizable for all 25 frames.

In terms of the subject of the animation, I would like to create something simple that fits into the Lolita style/aesthetic.  It must use aspects such as Lolita symbols/motifs, colors, and patterns.  It must still be recognized as an animation, even in the form of its individual frames.  It will be created in a combination of Adobe Animate and Krita - Krita for its easier sketchy style for rough frames and passes, and Animate for its stability feature and cleaner lines that would provide a much more refined final pass.  These will be rendered out into an image sequence, which will then be applied to the garment.  The subject and depiction of the animation is an area I would like to dedicate a decent amount of project time to.

As someone who is quite new to Lolita, I hope to gain a better understanding of the fashion itself, as well as learn how to better craft garments for my own personal wardrobe.  I also feel as though I could use this project to improve on my basic understanding and technique of 2D animation and familiarize myself more with the programs involved in its use.  I feel as though there is a lot I can learn from it overall, and I am eager to explore new ways of combining two subjects that I am passionate about.

Members of the Lolita community might take interest in the theme of animation I intend to use, and understand the struggle of making classy garments from scratch.  The sewing and cosplay communities might also take interest in the way the garment is made and any shortcuts and issues I run into.  This project could also find appeal amongst the abstract art crowd, as it stands out as an art piece due to the focus and treatment of layers that I am exploring.  There is a significance to the idea of the layer and extra meaning behind it based on the process I am trying to show and describe, and I feel like other artists with similar projects would appreciate the effort put into that meaning.

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PEER FEEDBACK:

The biggest challenge that this project will face is making sure that the garment does not simply turn into Lolita with an animation theme/print.  I understand that many may assume it is so at first glance, and so peer feedback will help me get to a point where the observer’s interest is piqued enough to examine the deeper meaning.  

I would like to use peer feedback to help influence the kind of displays and layouts I choose for the garment(s), as I want the final product to appeal to a wide variety of people.  Their feedback is also important to the initial animation phase of the project and will help deciding what the most aesthetically pleasing and appropriate subject matter should be.

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REFERENCES:

Fubari, N., Perkins, M., Krischer, O.  (2013)  Asia through Art and Anthropology: Cultural Translation Across Borders [book].  London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury.

Winge, T.  (2008)  Undressing and Dressing Loli:  A search for the Identity of the Japanese Lolita [article] Retrieved from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/368549 on 13/09/2016

Younker, T.  (2011)  Lolita: Dreaming, Despairing, Defying [article].  Retrieved from http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/33840753/Japan5.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ56TQJRTWSMTNPEA&Expires=1473717110&Signature=gPMji9L6BlG%2FlfAOwIVZfudUXLI%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DLolita_Dreaming_Despairing_Defying.pdf on 13/09/2016

CINEMATIC :: 13/05/16 - Updated References

Not much to report in terms of progress updates - most of my time over the last week has been spent refining the background and getting my model sheets up to scratch.  They are now all finished and ready for our second submission, but I will post them here too as proof of progress:

TURNAROUND - BIG CREATURE

POSE SHEET - BIG CREATURE

And bonus progress on my mattepainted background!  

I've run this past the tutors, who are happy with it in its current form.  After the team talked about how to progress the shots in the spirit world, I'm sure I'll have more work, creating the close up parts of the scene.

While I was working on this, I did entertain the thought of using this Nebula Painter for the background.   The app allows you to create your own nebula and save the image, which could easily be layered into the rest of the composition.  I might try it out and post the results here, as well as discuss whether it might be an alternative to giving Hamish even more work with the way things currently are.

CINEMATIC :: 20/03/16 - Creature Profile

COMPLETED CREATURE TURNAROUND:

CHARACTER PROFILE:

Name and Age: No name, Ageless
Ethnicity/Race/Type/Gender: Cosmic Spirit
What makes this character worth creating a story concept around?: Along with the other spirits, this creature is timeless, ethereal and inhuman, providing a contrast to the meditator in our story.
Most important thing to know about the character:  It can go from peaceful to frightening in less than 2 seconds
Current occupation: Protector of the realm
Physical Attributes:  A mask-like face and ethereal flowing mane. It hides spines in its tail and on the backs of its legs.
Present Problem or Crisis: A human in its spiritual realm
Basic Belief system and Political Beliefs:  Spirits = good, intruders = bad
Taste in Music, Art, Stories, Sports, Hobbies:  Probably things beyond human comprehension
Clothes: None
Description of home environment:  a vast, natural cosmic realm with floating islands and water that mirrors the sky.
Significant family relationships:  The small spirits that inhabit the world with it.  They all get along peacefully and in harmony.
Best character trait and other outstanding qualities:  Very big and very imposing.
Worst character trait/flaw:  Can become terrifying in less than 2 seconds if it feels something is wrong with you
How is the character thought of by others versus their own self opinion:  Those who see it find it frightening, but it considers itself a peaceful thing.
Sense of humor/what kind:  It takes itself very seriously in constrast with the smaller and playful spirits it lives with
Ambitions and general philosophy of life:  Keep the realm protected.
Habitual expressions and mannerisms:  Usually it doesn't have a face unless its being scary.
Fears, frustrations, emotional style and temperament: Very quiet and very passive for the most part.  It doesn't fear anything, especially not humans.

CINEMATIC :: 04/03/16 - Final Script

Taken from Oscar's Blog

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CLOSE UP OF MEDITATION TRACK ON PHONE, LOW BATTERY ON ORANGE IN THE TOP CORNER

PERSON PUTTING IN HEADPHONES

SOOTHING MUSIC STARTS

MEDITATION VOICE OVER STARTS

VOICE OVER: Hello, welcome to this guided meditation. Find a comfortable position, sitting or lying down.

INDIVIDUAL SITTING, UNABLE TO GET COMFORTABLE, SLIGHTLY TWITCHY

VOICE OVER: Allow yourself to enter a space of deep relaxation.

MID CLOSEUP BIRDS EYE SHOT: WATCH CHEST TAKE DEEP BREATHS AND FACIALS RELAX AS THE BREATHING SLOWS AND THE BODY STARTS TO CALM. SHOULDERS DROP

VOICE OVER: With your mind, slowly scan your body.

As you move from your toes up to your head, Feel your physical body being erased and released into the universe, revealing your spiritual self.

FULL BODY SHOT: BLUE ENERGY/GLOWING LIGHT SLOWLY MOVES FROM THE FEET UP THROUGH THE WHOLE BODY, REACHING THE CROWN OF THE HEAD. ONCE IT REACHES THE TOP, THE LIGHT ENVELOPS THE WHOLE ROOM THEN SLOWLY FADES OUT, ALLOWING THE SPIRIT WORLD TO SLOWLY APPEAR. GOLD PARTICLES ARE LEFT SIMMERING IN THE BODY, AND THE ROOM SLOWLY STARTS TO TRANSFORM IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD.

VOICE OVER: Embrace the warm sensations running through your body, and drop all preconceived ideas of what you’re hoping to expect.

THE GOLD PARTICLES START TO ELEVATE UPWARDS, TAKING A HUMAN LIKE FORM, THE SPIRIT WORLD IS BECOMING EXTREMELY CLEAR, AND THE SOUL STARTS OBSERVING ITS SURROUNDINGS; A PEACEFUL/MAJESTIC FOREST WITH A LAKE IN THE MIDDLE, WITH STEPPING STONES LEADING TO AN ISLAND IN THE CENTER. THE SKY THROUGH THE TREES HAS AN AMAZING VIEW OF THE COSMOS, DANCING WITH COLOUR AND LIGHT.

VOICE OVER: with no earthly tethers, allow your soul to move freely on its own accord

SUDDENLY THE MEDITATION CUTS OFF, THE PHONE HAS DIED

THE RINGING SOUND OF TINNITUS STARTS TO BUILD

THE SPIRITS GLITCH OUT AND TURN INTO DARK SPIRITS,THE STEPPING STONES START TO FALL AWAY AND THE PEACEFUL SETTING BECOMES DARK AND OMINOUS

A CLOSEUP OF THE PHYSICAL BODY, SWEAT ON THE FOREHEAD.

SUDDENLY JOLTING AWAKE AND RIPPING OUT THE HEADPHONES, PANTING, THEN CREDITS

FINAL SUBMISSION

FINALIZED 3D ANIMATION

Sound ended up quite basic, but I feel like it got the motives across.  Embry ended up looking more thoughtful than actually upset but who’s to say his small mind isn’t already working out how to get Vasili out of that big crystal?

sound effects taken from http://freesound.org

Assessment 3 Rationale

There were a variety of creative decisions influencing my project, but perhaps the central and most important of these was the idea to portray two characters of indeterminate gender sharing an important connection - and in that regard I think that I have achieved it pretty well as the golem Embry and druid Vasili could be interpreted as either male or female in their fantasy based designs and skirt/wrap-like outfits.  Pre-production and designing a character/background came pretty naturally to me after all the work of our first semester, and when we began to work with the Maya program, I found myself remembering things from the time that I had studied it 3 years ago at AUT.  

It took a little to get used to using the program again, but the way that we learned to model the characters was much different to the extrude and adjust method that I had learned before.  I got to use both methods in the process of creating my prop and character, and I found this phase particularly enjoyable.  I would definitely like to continue to model the geo for characters, though looking back I deleted a lot of edges in my mesh that caused problems for me later on.  I know better than to do that now, thankfully.  That said there were issues that I had with my mesh, particularly his face and the indents surrounding his nose.  For a while he looked very alien despite how closely I had modelled him to my drawing, and it took quite a bit of trial and error moving vertices around to fix him.  I accidentally cleaned my history after converting my model to high poly, which was a point of frustration when trying to modify his face for blend shapes, but at the same time I’m grateful for it, since it gave him a much smoother range of motion.  There is something very soothing about modelling characters though and I would like to do more of it.  I’ve considered that it might be a field I could go into if I choose to pursue 3D further.  

Rigging was quite a bit harder and every bit as awful as the second year 3D students told us it would be.  I had absolutely no experience in this area at all and I know I struggled a little bit and assumed things wouldn’t take me as long as they actually did.  Even now I’m still not 100% sure my model has all its skin weights in the right places, and evidence of my attempts to fix things (and actually make them worse) can be seen in the final animation.  Skin weight painting in particular was what I found most tedious and perhaps is my least favorite part of character modelling this entire semester.

In terms of scene setting, I feel like I cheated too much with the background.  Initially I’d planned to put a skydome of ice over the character and prop, but it made the scene seem too empty and less like the palace look I was going for.  I’ve never had much initiative with lighting either, and if it weren’t for Keat’s guidance, I know my scene would not look as lovely as it does now.  Camera shots are the worst part of setting up a scene for me, as I do not feel like I have a talent for framing and angles, and I’m just grateful i didn’t have many moving camera shots, because I really hate setting those up.

Animating the character was quite an exciting part though!  It was such a wonderful feeling, seeing something that you created moving about before your eyes and knowing that it was something you made from scratch.  I already had ideas for how i wanted Embry to move around, as a clay golem I wanted him to be heavy and his movements to be slow and reverent - childlike the way the original film clip for this assignment was.  There were ideas to contrast his warm coloration with the cold colors of the icy environment, which i think has come through quite well.  In terms of actual animation, I’ve done little bits in Maya before, but they have never looked fluid and realistic and just came off as bad and clunky.  Under Keat’s guidance, I’ve come to love the movements and actions that my character has gone through, and its always amazing to realize how such tiny details like a slight twist of the spine or bend in the knees really affects how realistic the overall animation becomes.  At times animation can become very tedious and exhausting and I found myself only able to do a set amount per day, which I know is not good practice and I won’t have such a luxury once I’m working in industry.

Overall though, I have really enjoyed 3D, perhaps even more than 2D and I can definitely see it as a field I could go into and enjoy.  I still have a lot to learn, but hopefully with practice those smaller movements and camera angles can come more easily to me and I can create truly engaging stories for others to enjoy.

19/10/15 - RIGGING SUBMISSION

SUBMISSION FOR ASSIGNMENT 3 - PART 1

As always, if the video doesn't work, it can be found on my tumblr!

01/09/15 - Completed Character Turnaround for Submission

TURNAROUND:

Again, if for some reason the video doesn't work, the video can be found on my tumblr.

20/08/15 - Completed Prop and Character Turnaround for Submission

COMPLETED PROP:

COMPLETED CHARACTER:

In the off chance that neither of these videos work, prop turnaround can be found here and character turnaround here on the daevabird tumblr.

17/08/15 - Prop Turnaround

Turnaround video of prop for Assignment 2 submission:

In the off chance that this doesn't work, the same video can be found on my tumblr.

28/07/15 - Storyboards

Completed Storyboards for submission!
I haven't really deviated much from the original idea that I had for this scenario, but framing camera shots has never been one of my strong points.  Now that I have a basic structure down, I may experiment with conceptual shots and camera angles, and I also intend to make up a proper prop reference sheet and do some color tests.  I may also do an animatic some time in the near future, as our tutor has told us many times to work out the timing of our frames!

STORYBOARDS:

26/07/15 - Concept Development

Final notes for my scenario and concept!  All put into one tidy post for submission.

SEQUENCE:
The sequence is set in a frozen room, set into motion by Embry stepping into the bottom of the frame.  He walks forward. crossing the room as the camera pans up to reveal a large, icy mirror at the room's end.  Embry approaches the mirror in awe and wonder, his eyes widening in surprise as he sees his beloved trapped beneath the surface.  He reaches his hands out and rests them gently upon the ice, and a soft piano note plays out as the panel glows in all the colors of an aurora beneath his hands.  His fingers move over each of the mirror's facets, trying to find a way to reach Vasili as they all chime softly, lighting up under his fingertips.  As the glow fades away and plunges the room back into cold light, Embry looks helplessly at his frozen lover and tears well in his eyes.

CHARACTER:
Embry is a small golem who is searching for his lost love.  He is short and quite bottom heavy, featuring a slender torso and arms, but rather large, thick legs and feet.  He is made of clay and is textured appropriately, with a fabric wrap around his waist and a headband on his brow.  He has a smooth, rounded face with large eyes and a small nose.  A few shallow cracks are present in his clay, as he has been walking for a very long time searching for Vasili.  Though he is small, he is very determined and very emotional after having been separated from them for such a long time.


GENRE:
I am taking the Family genre of Big and turning it into a Romantic Tragedy.