CoP 3: Practical Development

Carrying on with my practical side of CoP I have developed on liquid simulation by creating a waterfall to see how liquid will react with other liquid. Doing this I thought that I'd have to have two separate liquids and then make then colliders to each other, however when I tried this in Maya it wouldn't let a liquid be a collider as well. So to get around this I made two separate water emitter objects and then selected them both and created a liquid with in bifrost, this made it so that both liquids will be able to collide with one another.

Doing this experiment helped me figure out how liquid reacts upon collision with another liquid and its helped me experiment with different attributes within the liquid so that I can change the way the two liquid interact together. Below is my simulation show the effects of liquids colliding with one another.

To me this wasn't exactly what I wanted because I wanted the liquid to be thiner and quicker as it fell off the cliff rather than looking like gel. However, I will come back to this and figure out how to fix this problem, I feel like it has something to do with the gravity aspects within the simulation and also the amount of particles in the simulation. Another thing I've noticed looking back at this is that there is a watermark on the video, this is because I used Arnold renderer which needs a licence from 'Solid Angle' (a provider of rendering softwares) when rendering out. To fix this I will either have to buy a licence for Arnold renderer or use Maya's hardware 2.0 renderer to render out my simulations.   

CoP 3: Planning My Dissertation in Chapters

After having a discussion with my tutor where we came up with a structure for my dissertation I also found that I have tweaked my question so that it would suit my research more and give me more to develop on in my practical. This is what my dissertation structure looks like so far:

New Question* How to use particles in 3D software simulation to produce character for elemental effect?

Intro

Define what a particle is briefly

What am I going to be writing about?

700

Chapter 1

Define what a particle is

History of digital particle within the vfx industry

Significant world first

2500

Chapter 2

Pipeline

What software are people using

Plug inns

What issues?

700/1000

Chapter 3

Case study of water simulation in films

Another on smoke / fire simulations in films

Quotes from practitioners

2500

Chapter 4

My practical written up

What I have learnt

Simulation with a bit more character and story

1000/1500

Chapter 5

Conclusion 

500

7900/8700 words

  

CoP 3: Project Proposal

What is your Working Title for your Project?

To what extent does technological developments in production impact on animation?

Concisely, what are you planning on creating practically as a response to this proposal?

Possibly a series of environments rendered out differently using different textures and shaders to see how technology can change the aesthetics of a scene.

What was your subject research and practical output at Level 5?

Can 3D animation escape the Uncanny Valley theory?

I created two animations using motion capture and keyframe to see if the uncanny valley affects performance

What research needs to be undertaken into the general and specific contexts of your practice?

I will need to research into different rendering softwares so that I can get a good understanding of how it works and how different rendering techniques can change the look of the scene.

I'll also needs to research into different studios and see how their technology helps them produce the animations they create.

MAF will be a great opportunity for me to speak to practitioners about their studio and what softwares they use, and how that piece of software helps them create their projects.

I will be researching into Maya 2017 and finding out how the bifrost, boss, and fluid simulations work and how they've been improved over the past editions. This is to show how films have created and enhanced the look of their vfx.

To watch many tutorials on how to create these effects with in Maya.

What approaches will you take and what processes, methods, materials and tools are to be involved in research into your practice?

I'll be looking into different tutorials, about Maya, online of how to render and how to use different shaders, textures, and effects to achieve different outcomes for my environments.

What preparation or investigation do you need to undertake for your creative practice to take place?

I need to investigate into Maya 2017 and maybe different animation/vfx softwares to see how studios use it in their projects so that I can understand their methodology and effectively create environments similar to studio/film standards.

What research do you need to undertake regarding who your creativity is for?

my creativity is for beginner animators who want to go into the field of 3D/CGI animation, so the research I'll have to undertake is me experimenting within Maya 2017

also to see what other studios use and compare the outcomes of their animations/projects.

Perceived problems or difficulties

my computer might not have the specifications top run some of the softwares that I'll be using for my practical

Primary Source of Information - Description & Location - List at least 3

quotes from practitioners at MAF and ASFF

emailing studios asking what softwares they use and how technology has helped them develop their projects

Youtube Tutorials

Secondary Source of Information

List at least 10 ( in Havard Reference format )

Hayes, D. and Webster, C. (2013) Acting and performance for animation. Oxford: Taylor & Francis.

Kerlow, I.V.V. (2009) The art of 3-D: Computer animation and effects. 3rd edn. United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons.

Lamarre, T. (2009) The anime machine: A media theory of animation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Monaco, J. (2008) How to read a film: Movies, media, and beyond. 30th edn. New York: Oxford University Press.

O’Connor, J. (2010) Mastering mental ray: Rendering techniques for 3D and CAD professionals. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley, John & Sons.

Krotoski, A. (2011) Storytelling: Digital technology allows us to tell tales in innovative new ways. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/aug/07/digital-media-storytelling-internet (Accessed: 5 October 2016).

Murphy, S. (no date) How ‘life of pi’ became a visual masterpiece. Available at: http://mashable.com/2013/03/12/life-of-pi-technology/#.SWTQqg9taqZ (Accessed: 5 October 2016).

TheAloomaX (2014) VFX: Going behind the magic, episode 1: ILM creating the impossible. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDoVcGPw_3o (Accessed: 9 October 2016).

Jeff Aberle (2016) Maya 2017 Bifrost rendering water and foam Tutorial. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Drhfp4qLZc (Accessed: 5 October 2016).

Jeff Aberle (2016) Maya 2017 Bifrost Tutorial breaking waves. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OThS0plEv0A (Accessed: 5 October 2016).

TheAloomaX (2015) Visual effects: Going behind the magic - LIFE AFTER PI (official VFX documentary). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgSPys9PatU&list=WL&index=19 (Accessed: 9 October 2016).

CoP 3: Triangulating My Research

In my dissertation I am asking 'To what extent does technological development in production impact on animation?', but I'm also addressing the use of particles in 3D software simulation that produce character for elemental effect. The reason for this is because I have an interest in visual effects and particle simulations and how they developed over the years and what technological advancements have been created to produce effective visual effects and simulations. Throughout my research I have come across multiple papers, practitioners, and studios that create particle simulations using different softwares and techniques. Here are some different ways in which technological developments in production have impacted on animation.  

Devon Penny and Nafees Bin Zafar, authors of 'Rapid: An Artist Friendly Particle System' state that "a particle system is a heavily used tool in every effects animation department in the world.", and that they have developed a new system that would allow easier use of particles, while allowing them to leverage existing procedural point manipulation tools to control simulations. (Penny.D, Bin Zafar. N, 2015) They called this new system 'Rapid'.  They've created this so that other artists would be able to create quick simulations and complex effects using Rapid.
Other practitioners have also come up with new ways of speeding up the production process using different technological developments they have created. Muller.M, Charyapr.D, and Gross.M have developed a particle-based method for interactive fluid simulation and rendering. Their thesis is based on smoothed particle hydrodynamics and uses special purpose kernels to increase stability and speed. The results are not as photo-realistic yet as animations computed off line. However, give that the simulation runs at interactive rates instead of taking minuets or hours per frame as in today's off line methods. ( Muller.M, Charyapr.D, and Gross.M, 2003).
There are two systems in which particle simulations are used the most and they are Bifrost in Maya and RealFlow in Hybrido. They are both very powerful FLIP solvers, realflow has been considered to be the industry standard for dynamics, however Bifrost is a recent integration tool added into Maya and it can now create large scale fluid dynamics. The differences between them is that in Maya, Bifrost has some fields like gravity built in so you don't need to do anything extra to get them applies to your particles. However, other nodes will need to be added like colliders or killplanes. Where as with Hybrido, RealFlows relationship editor, when you connect nodes together RealFlow automatically works out what the connections are. So if you have a daemon connected to a Hybrido domain, it makes the particles be affected by the daemon force. This makes it a nice workflow and once you get use to it, becomes one less thing to remember. Another thing different about these two systems is the actual simulation itself, in Maya it doesn't cache any of your simulation automatically, instead it caches it to a scratch location, which means if you close your project and then reopen it the simulation will not have been saved and you'd have to resimulate. On the other hand, in RealFlow, whenever you simulate it will automatically export the thing in your scene to your disk under your RealFlow project. (LeFabvre, D. 2015)    

CoP 3: My Reading That Reflects My Practical

I have already found a few readings which reflects on my practical, where I research into particle simulation, and I've come across multiple papers on water simulations speaking about how they have effectively used particles to create a realistic and believable simulation.

Some pieces of reading that has influenced me are as followed:

Muller. M, Charypar. D, Gross. M 'Particle-Based Fluid Simulation for Interactive Applications'
V. Kerlow. I 'The Art of 3D Computer Animation and Effects'

In Muller. M, Charypar. D, Gross. M's  'Particle-Based Fluid Simulation for Interactive Applications' the paper talks about how they have proposed an interactive method based on smoothing particle hydrodynamics (SPH) to simulate fluids with free surface. This meas that they will be experimenting with real time fluid simulation and improving it by using point splatting and marching cubes-based surface reconstruction, which is fast enough to be used in interactive systems and to allow for user interaction with models consisting of up to 5000 particles. They're doing this because typically fluid is simulated off-line and then visualized in a second step, which makes it harder to control the fluids behavior. This relates to my practice because I am experimenting with ways in which I can create character for elemental effect, so that processes they have used and produced can help further develop and increase the amount of time I can spend on each experiment. This is because in their results the simulation runs at interactive rates instead of taking minuets or hours per frame as in today's off-line methods.  

In Isaac V. Kerlow's book 'The Art of 3D Animation and Effects' it teaches you in chapter 12 all about Motion Dynamics and within this there is a section about Particle Systems, which tells you what a particle is and how it can be used. "Particle systems are used to represent dynamic objects that have irregular and complex shapes, each with its own behavior. Particles have a life snap during which they are created, behave a certain way, age, and die. Particles can also be used to control the motion of three-dimensional models - such as snow, water, or even a flock of birds..". This as help me understand what a particle is and what I can do with it with in my practical element. "Modeling with particle systems is based on employing simple shapes, usually small spheres or points in three-dimensional space. These shapes, or particles, have growth attributes. When these attributes are simulated, the particles have a specific behaviors that result in specific particle trajectories." This has helped me figure out how to make objects into particles and control their behavior. Reading this book will also help me in the long run because it will also teach me how to composite my practical together and teach me what other things I can create with particles, i.e. fire, smoke, clowds, and snowstorms.

CoP 3: Group Tutorials

In this group tutorial we went around the room and briefly explained what we were doing for are dissertations and how are practical was going to reflect on it. This was so that we as peers had a chance to bounce ideas off of each other and help us get an idea of where everyone else is at, it was also good that we could benefit from each others feedback as we are all as a group working on applied animation.

The feedback that I got given was that for my practical I had to experiment more with the look/aesthetic of the simulations I will be producing, try and experiment with hybrid animation so like 3D simulations on a 2D background, and also to narrow my practical down so that I'm focusing on particles and physic simulations. This was all good feedback for my practical side of the dissertation and it will help me explore more into how particles work within a simulation.

However, for the actual written side of the dissertation I feel like more needs to be done because the feedback the I got was that I need to read more papers about Maya/particles/simulations etc. I also got told to look into films/animations which have a disaster element to it because it would of used smoke/dust/particle simulations within the film. A thing that did interest me though was something that my tutor asked me during the tutorials and it was "is a simulation an animation?", this could be an interesting topic to talk about in my dissertation, because people might argue that simulations are all done by the computer just by placing in some numbers and equations.

Looking back at the feedback I think that me plan of action is to read some papers about particle simulation and also research into films and how they apply the effects onto their footage. I also want to research the history of visual effects and how far it has come/developed over the past couple of years.

       

CoP 3: Starting My Practical

 For my practice I decided that I wanted to research into Maya 2017 and see want was new about it and how the different features have changed. Mainly I wanted to look into the Bifrost aspect of Maya and experiment with particle simulations because this plays a huge part in film and animation and most people don't really notice the effects/simulations in the films, this could be because the the simulations look so realistic so it just blends into the background or that they just don't care as much about the animations/simulations.

I chose to do this because I wanted to increase my abilities within Maya and learn more about what the software can create/produce. This will also give me the knowledge for when I go into industry and help me understand how to experiment with aesthetics in 3D animations/films.

Within Maya I will be developing my abilities to create liquid simulations and particle effects, and I'll create short animations showing what particle simulations Maya can produce and the different techniques you can use which will change the aesthetic of the animation. Whilst doing this I will also explain how the effects are applied to films and animations by breaking down the different steps and showing you how it is placed together onto films and animations.

I've already started producing simulations. I started by researching into liquid simulations and watching tutorials online to show me how its done in Maya. I began by doing a short simple wave simulation just to get a feel of Bifrost within Maya, I created this using the Bifrost liquid and creating a Motion Field using the Boss ripple / wave generator so that I could get a realistic wave motion on the liquid. I also experimented with the different attributes of the liquid and experimented with the 'Master Voxel Size', which means the resolution of the liquid, this will let you increase and decrease the amount of particle that are in the liquid.        

I feel like I need to develop my understanding of Bifrost more and create a couple more simulations before I move on from liquid and start producing dust or different particle simulations. I also want to experiment with the aesthetics for the liquid.

CoP 3: Methodologies and Critical Analysis

Methodology
This is a logical, systematic, and structured way of arganising a research project. It shows the evidence that you have reflected critically on various research methods and chosen which is most useful in your research, It's also unique to each project.

Richard explained that every research project needs to have a methodology, and that every research project will have some sort of methodology, even if it is still throughout, or you don't recognise it as such. He also stated that 'methodology' is a scientistic word, which intimidates connotations, but is actually pretty straightforward.

However, that main thing that Richard said was that we need to outline our methodology at the start of our dissertations, this is so the reader will understand the way, and how, you researched your project and how you are going to go about the dissertation.

Critical Analysis
Critical is from the Greek word 'Kreinein' meaning to separate or to choose. Critical is like a form of skepticism, reasoned thinking - stepping away and using evidence and logic to come to your conclusion.

In are dissertations Richard suggested that we look into where the author/artist/designer/photographer was situated to get a better understanding where they where coming from and knowing why they said the thing they said. We also need to consider different points of view and critique are own work and ask myself where am I am coming from?

Richard also told us to contexrtualise everything! and to consider how to write your argument i.e. how are you going to answer your questions? what are you going to say? have you got evidence to back up your research. As well we have use triangulation which uses alternative theories that come together in the same body of date.  

CoP 3 Individual Tutorial

On the 10th of October I had an individual CoP tutorial with my tutor Annabeth and we talked about my dissertation question and how I would be doing my research. Annabeth told me to stick the production side of animation and not the distribution because I'm more interested in it, and it will narrow my search a lot and help my practical relate more to my written work.

Looking at my questions it seemed that I'm interested in the 3D aspects of animation and the visual effects so I kind of changed what I was doing for my dissertation. I am know researching into the different effects the software Maya and to look into real time post production which to me makes more sense to do. It also means that I can improve my skills in Maya and for my practical I'll be able to create visually pleasing environments.

Annabeth has also told me to look at a journal called 'cinefex' which is all about the visual effects in films, research into a studio named 'Digital Domain', be a member of Suggraph.org which shares an interest in computer graphics and interactive techniques, and research and maybe invest in Vue for Maya a plug in that features scenic nature creation for 3D enthusiasts.

After speaking to my tutor I am now going to go to festivals like ASFF to see the ILM talk in York and Manchester Animation Festival. This is so that I can gather some primary research from the practitioners in the real world of animation and visual effects and so that I can get their opinion on the technological development within the production of animation and visual effects.

CoP 3 Lecture 1: Organising your Research

For the first lecture of the year, that was presented by Richard, he talked us through what we needed to do throughout CoP 3 and gave us some advice on how to plan our research for are dissertations. Richard started off by giving us an overview on what we need to do for this module, which included 400 hours work for 40 credits, a 6-9000 word dissertation and a practical to go along side, with 2.5 hours of support on the written element of the module. Are deadline is the 12th of January 2017 which is less than 15 weeks away but we have to submit a draft of are dissertations before christmas break.

Planning the Project
to help us plan are project we got told to write down all the questions we wanted to investigate, which for me that would be, To what extent does technological development in production and distribution impact on animation? Will technology distract from the storytelling on an animation? and How has technology developed over history?

We also got asked what is the purpose of the study? and is are question(s) researchable? and in my case I feel like the purpose of my study is to understand and explore into how technology is advancing and what we'll be able to do with it in the future, but also to show how technology is enhancing in a way that when we watch a film people are now finding it hard to determine whats reality and whats CG. I feel like my question is widely researchable so I believe I'll need to narrow my search down a lot to get plausible information about my subject.

Choosing an appropriate title 
An appropriate title must provide a thesis or an answerable assertion, we are able to use subtitles as well as are main title. I have yet to come up with an appropriate question but I feel like I need more research to be able to do so. Also the title must be no longer than 15-20 words.

Project Outline
Richard recommended that we create a timetable to help us through the CoP module so that we can put holidays, work, life into consideration. We need to think about timing and set some aside for reading, researching, and allocating time for each section of are dissertation. Richard also suggested to factor tutorials into are timetable so that we can set targets or milestones for each tutorial.

Literature Search
I need to be aware that reading takes more time than you think and how much can I actually read in 100 hours? I need to fine key pieces of text and then find time to read them, however, I've already started this and I've gathered some books and found bits of texts that I can quote in my dissertation. I've also started to critique some of the text and compared them to others.

Referencing
referencing is a big part in the dissertation because it provides evidence to your research and backs up your argument. Richard told us to start our bibliography now and build it up as we go along, this should include names, surnames, dates, places, and publisher i.e. Miles.R, (2016) 'Dissertation', LCA publishing.

Structure The Dissertation Into Chapters
A dissertation should be separated into chapters, each chapter could ideally evidence a different theoretical / methodological approach. Chapters should be different in focus and how does the chapters relate to the practical? For my dissertation I know I'm having a chapter about the history of technological development in production, and then another on the research into different practitioners using different technical methods to create similar outcomes in their projects. But I haven't full figured out how I'm going to structure my dissertation.

• Introduction - clear outline of your chosen topic, should state the overarching research, and demonstrate your methodology behind your project    
• Main Body 1 - includes the context, theme and a clear awareness of the key theoretical and contextual sources within your chosen topic. Also evidence that you've triangulated different sources to come to a independent conclusion.
• Main Body 2 - a case study of practice which investigates and analysis two or more practitioners work.
• Main Body 3 - this is a chapter where you will reflect on your own practice and compare it with your dissertation.
• Conclusion - an extended paragraph summerising the findings in each chapter and evaluating the successes and shortcomings of your research project.    

CoP 3 Summer Research/Presentation

Over the summer I gathered together some research on my dissertation about how technology is enhancing and how 3D animation and the real world are becoming one in the film industry. I did this by watching and analysing films like the life of pi and the new jungle book and how the CGI has gotten better throughout the years.

Before we broke up for summer last year we were briefed on CoP 3 and had to deliver a presentation on the research we gathered over the summer.

The feedback that I got from the presentation was very helpful in that I got directed towards looking at different rendering softwares and engines because they are the ones that have enhanced the most over the years and they play a huge part in making any film/animation look amazing.

Looking at different rendering techniques will also help me in my practical work because I will be using 3D animation and hopefully creating different rendered scenes using different renderers and then comparing the outcome of the experiment.

I also got told to explore more into studios such as Blue Zoo and Laike because they both produce the same aesthetic look in their animations but they have been produced in different ways. I.E Blue Zoo have a show called 'Miffy' which is a completely CGI tv series but it looks like its stop motion, where as Laika make beautiful stop motion animatios. I'll also compare their different technical techniques they use to create these animations.

Some of my peers recommended that I explore into looking at the people who created the tv show 'South Park' because its created in maya but its a 2D animation. another one was Lego movie because thats completely CGI but the textures and aesthetic of the animation looks like its stop motion, it might also relate to the research I will be doing in rendering because of how the characters where made so that they'd look exactly like Lego figurines.  

I talked about comparing the films 'Life of Pi' and 'The Jungle Book' and how their VFXs has increased from one to the other. However, my tutor told me to look into the shaders/textures/lighting and again rendering because the animation hasn't really developed mush between them but the compositing and rendering has.

CoP 3 Planning and Timetabling

Following on from last year where I did 3D and researched into the 'Uncanny Valley', I will be continuing from this by researching into the development of technology and how far we've come over the past few years. I will be doing this mainly for my dissertation but I'd like to do something like this for my extended practice however I don't know what I'd like to do for that yet. For CoP I'd like to research into motion capture and how more companies are using it instead of keyframe animation, I'd also like to research into how rendering engines have enhanced dramatically over the years i.e. from the film aesthetic of 'Life of Pi' to the new 'Jungle Book'.      

For the beginning of this year I have decided that I will be more organised than the past two years because this year really does matter! So I will be doing this by planning out my year week by week and knowing what to do each day. I'm doing this by creating a calendar like plan for the two semesters I have left at university, I've also printed off the module overview for CoP so that I can keep on track with my work and not fall behind (hopefully).

I feel like this year will be an interesting one because I'll be able to work on what I want and start learning new skills in the field I would like to end up in at the end of this year. With my dissertation I feel like I need to do a hell of a lot of research and create multiple experimentations within different 3D softwares so that I can have a good enough starting point for my dissertation.