Research

Today I started to think about a time and place to set my scene as my previous tests were generic. I've decided on setting it in an old Tudor style house but in the present day. I chose this type of house as it allows for more intricate details and a lot of modern stuff is kept simple and plain. However it is set in the present day so it doesn't necessarily have to be filled with old fashioned furniture. After that was decided, Ive been collecting images of different style of furniture that would be found in the house. I'm setting my scene in a dining room.

I did another simple test in Maya before starting some visual research.



I looked as different tables, chairs, radiators, rugs, clocks and wall candle stick holders. I found over forty images in total and here are just a few...

I would like to use beams like these in my dining room.




I found a few interesting styles of bookcases. Here are the most unusual. whether or not something like this would look right in my scene, I don't know.








I was also deciding whether or not to have radiator's open or covered by a cabinet.


I've looked a different styles of tables.


I was shocked to find what the first result of typing rug into Google images was.

Experimenting in Maya

Today hasn't been the most productive day.

Stuck for ideas, I decided to use Maya to create some basic interior sets.
My starting idea was to use a mirror as a way of spying into a room, not quite getting the full picture or the room.



I was then thinking about what might be happening in these spaces. My first thought was of a group of people, possibly a family gathering of some kind in the room. with the mirror only revealing small portion of it. I was then thinking of using shadows, cast onto a wall as I wouldn't be modeling people in the scene. this resulted in few more tests shown here. (the pillars are substitutes for people in these tests)




Going back to the original scene, I realised that the mirror wasn't showing much more of the room than what was already shown through the door.



So I moved the whole wall back to see if it worked any better. It didn't.



My final change was moving the mirror to the other wall so it could reflect another something else. In this case, a window.



This image looks OK but I feel the mirror has lost its purpose now as it isn't really spying into a room but actually out of a window. I want the viewer to feel separated from whats going on in the scene, like they are missing out on something.

I'm wondering whether or not to scrap the whole mirror idea, although I liked the idea I donut think I've been able to get it to work very well.

Please someone tell me that I haven't been investigating a dead end.

I would have hoped to have a more finalised idea by now.

Halloween

Halloween (1978 directed by John Carpenter) is probably the first horror film I've seen and I enjoyed it, although it wasn't scary. Ive been comparing reviews of this version with the 2007 remake. All reviews I've looked at on the original are positive. The film utilized a lot of moving camera shots to make the viewer feel as if they are the characters creeping around corners. Even when the camera isn't moving you are sometimes looking at the film in the eye of a character. A review by Tim Dirks from FilmSite.org, described the view of the camera as "seen from the subjective vantage point of the killer's or 'peeping tom's' eyes." This sense of spying reminds me of some of Edward Hoppers art work where the views are seen from a distance, usually divided by a window, into a place. looking at some reviews on the remake, they all seem to comment on that they gave the characters too much back story so that the mystery as to why the villain is killing is explained, which ruins the film. In a review from IGN Todd Gilchrist said that it "is about graphic brutality and absolutely nothing more."

Pirate Treasure

Ive done the Maya tasks although I realise there are several differences and a few mistakes. (thats what comes from not watching the video tutorials)



Ok, I'm posting this image of the treasure chest but I've noticed some things that look odd. I will actually look and the videos to check that I haven't missed anything and will post an improved image later. Anyway, for some reason the the gold coins in my picture look like they are lit from underneath (this does not notice in the sample image) After investigating I found an area light underneath but I know thats not the reason why it looks the way it does as the intensity is way down low, so I can only assume that the gold shader is not quite right. perhaps I should look at the video tutorials once in a while. The gold doesn't look very bright on top either which is odd for a sunny day.

I also realise that the rivets are missing from the chest and I will add them later.
also the wood is coloured more that the sample image, I thought the scene looked cartoony anyway so i hope that doesn't matter too much.

Older stuff I've only just got round to posting...

I'm reviewing the animations we saw on Fridays Maya tutorials.

Kiwi and EX ET are two fun stories which both contain humour and even have their sad moment at the end. Although EX ET had a big twist at the end. The Windmill was more serious. All three contained a problem which needed to be solved (a creative child, a bird that couldn't fly and a village that stopped when the windmill stopped). They all concluded their stories in different ways emotionally. Kiwi had a sad ending although rather funny at the same time. EX ET ended cleverly with the feeling of being satisfied and The Windmill had a definite happy ending. These are three good examples of stories that are simple, simply explained but gripping at the same time. My favorite is Kiwi. The character was enjoyable to watch and the animation was brilliant, with a lot of little details.




Here are some tileable textures I made using the photos provided in lesson.

The beans was an absolute nightmare, both tiling and erasing all the white highlights. its not perfect, and I cant think of what use they would be to anyone... except for maybe a design of a table cloth...



This texture I remember being very difficult. i can see, looking at it now that it has a few rough edges, but is still perfectly tileable.



The brick texture was by far the easiest to tile. Just a few tweaks with the colour, erase a few scratches and aligning the divisions correctly.



Here is the completed Santa Hat using Maya's Fur. The tutorials ware surprisingly straight forward to follow. I have messed around with fur before and have been amazed at how all it requires is pointing, clicking and tweaking.






Here are some textures in Photoshop a while ago without using any photos, just messing around with filters etc.

These are not tileable though.






This wood texture is tileable, although not perfectly.

Three Squared

Here are my examples where you can clearly see the images dived nicely into thirds. The time you can see it the most is when characters are talking face to face.

WallE




The Dark knight




Transformers



Spiderman

More Sketches

A few more Sketches of scenes at different angles. The first isn't interesting but the other two I think are better.

Not much to say about this.



This is yet another attempt with the idea of reflecting a room in a mirror. This lead into yet another picture.



This picture is much the same as the previous but it has been divided up into two sides and I was thinking of having a different mood or atmosphere in each side and conveying that mood in the weather outside of the windows. Then all that is needed is some sort of subject in either of the rooms. I'm not sure weather this image is too broken up or weather having two moods in one picture would work or not.



I hope to finalize an idea within the next week. I think it is likely that I am going for an interior.

David Hilliard

Ive been exploring even more websites. David Hilliard is a photographer who tries to "create order in a sometimes chaotic world". (http://www.davidhilliard.com/about.html)

All of his images are divided up into separate photos. most are divided into three although my examples are of two and four (just coincidence). The distance between the viewer and the focus of the picture relates to the emotional distance between characters.

This image shows two people and a dog in a friendly atmosphere and the view of the camera reflects that. The camera is leaning in just like the characters and makes you feel like part of the scene. This image is a complete contrast to Gregory Crewdson and Edward Hopper's work where they are quite distant from the subjects.



This image feels lonely as the main focus is the empty chair with the character next to it. The distance from the camera is far away. We feel as lonely as the character in the scene.



In this country and a lot of others, we read from left to right but in other countries, they read from right to left. This tree in this example leads you into the picture but so does the wall but because we read left to right and the fact that it covers a lot of the picture helps us read it in that direction. The tree stretch along the picture amplifies the distance.

I still haven't come up with any specific ideas for a scene but distance can be increased by streaming objects together and framing it in this way might be useful to know.

Three posts in one day thats a world record... for me that is.

Mirrors

I was talking to Jackie and she suggested that I look at meanings behind mirrors, as one of my images involves looking into a mirror, reflecting an entire room I found that depending on whats directly reflected in a room can be good or bad. ie if it is reflecting something good, it doubles, if it reflects something bad, it doubles. Mirrors can be used to make rooms look bigger by reflecting space. To be honest, i'm not sure if it has helped in anyway.

Gregory Crewdson and Edward Hopper

Ive done some more research on Gregory Crewdson and found on his website some press reviews. Interiors magazine talked about that he always pulls the camera back at a distance. Any interior scenes are always looking in from another room or window. This is much the same as some of Edward Hopper's work. Its almost as if the viewer is spying on someone. If your spying on some one, your wondering what they're doing and in a lot of these examples you can see that they are caught in mid action. The difference with the second image is that it is very still. It is like a setting on stage. The camera angle is straight forward. I think that the key thing in all these images is that you are never truly inside them.


Gregory Crewdson




Edward Hopper

Sketching out ideas

The past couple of days I have been experimenting with camera angles and possible shapes for interiors to use. I haven't gone in depth into what might or might not be in the rooms yet. Although I have added a few random objects as an example of how it might look (other than that, they can be ignored).

Here are some digitally remastered sketches for optimum high definition viewing experience!!!

My first sketches were of an inside of a train. I was thinking that there could be all sorts of things left on a train which could be used to tell something. I have for the moment discarded this idea as it would probably be easier to make from a technical point of view compared to my other ideas. (ie a lot of duplicating seats etc) I want to aim higher, particularly as this is the first time CG has become the main part of the project.





Here are some sketches of some rooms and corridors. (ignore the random objects).



The first is just a simple square room. not much else I can say about it.

The second and third are of corridors and they both have pathways going around a corner. (and yes, that is supposed to be a shadow of a Dalek in the corner with a hand on the floor.)

Here's a clearer sketch.





I've also been thinking about the angle of the horizon line for an outdoor scene.



The first one is concept art style. which shows a wide open view of space with low horizon line.

In the second view, it is slightly closer and with a high horizon line it limits the amount of information in the scene. (that's just my opinion anyway)





This sketch was inspired by a Doctor Who episode (I think I'm referencing Doctor Who too much). For those of you that watch it, it is the episode with the live scarecrows "The Family of Blood". At the end of the story he traps the aliens in different places. One of them is trapped (if I remember correctly) in the corner of your eye. So you might just catch a glimpse perhaps in a mirror or through a crack in a doorway. So this sketch is at an angle where most of the room is seen through a mirror, while at the same time, still hiding a lot from view. In order to draw the sketch correctly I modeled a quick (very quickly) a simple box room with a door opening and a window opening and add a mirror as well. The render is very basic but it showed all I needed for a a sketch.