Animation Portfolio Blog

Story Animation (no addendum here; the whole thing’s a meme anyways)

            The story animation we did in October was definitely my favorite project of the year. I learned how to animate a nonsensical story about a snickers bar with bunches of bad memes and entertaining moving text. I chose this project because, as I said two sentences ago, it was my favorite one to make. I think my greatest strength was the timing on the text, while I really could’ve done better at getting the little things, like walk cycles and the multiplane midway through, to look functional. If I could change anything, I’d keep the original scene that the tree scene replaced (director’s cut note: there was a bridge).

Ice Cream Spin (three hundred sixty-degree table spin with a sick olly after*)

            This project was a bit more recent, and a lot simpler. The assignment was to make a bowl of ice cream, a cone, and a scoop spin around a lazy susan. While it was simple and pretty serious, I think the music I used in the final video was a pretty good pun. I did learn quite a bit from this one! I learned how to use keyframes, I taught myself how to make a sign and sign holder, and learned how to use bump mapped textures (somewhat poorly). I’d love to use what I learned on other stuff, but I’m not sure what just yet. If I could change anything, I think I’d get the bump maps to work right. I did like the project, though.

*sick-nasty olly not included

Bounce Animation (really dropped the ball on this one, am I right?)

            This one was done early on in the year, and there’s not much to say. Again, I love the music I used, but that’s not very technical. The animation was a basic demo to show us some basic stuff with Adobe™ After Effects™ (CREATIVE CLOUD ONLY 20$ A MONTH BUY NOW USE CODE KEEM FOR 20% OFF). We made a ball, a foreground, a background, and a sky layer, and then we made the ball bounce up and down (without squash and stretch, probably because it was just supposed to be a two-day project). With what I learned from this project, I made some pretty high quality arcs in my story animation. For example, when the tree says “no” in the story animation, that’s some top notch arcing, it even bounces off of the dinosaur’s head (you can read about that animation right HERE). If I could change anything, I wouldn’t; I’d like to keep it as a benchmark for future generations.

Sick-nasty Hammer and Nails (stop, hammer time and et cetera)

            For this Maya Project, I made a pretty cool hammer with some nails and even an

all-wood backdrop*! There were a few challenges with this one, just because it took some time to get everything to look right (starting from primitive polygons is pretty darn annoying, let me tell you). I chose this project because it was pretty fun to do, all in all. It’s pretty presentable, too. I bet I could do some real cool 3D modelling with this, because it taught me how to make faces and such. If I could change anything, I’d spend a bit more time on it, for sure. The hammer itself looks kind of off.

*not real wood

Stalin’s Cook Walks to The Gulag

            In this animation, Boris, a skeleton and cook to the infamous dictator Glorious Leader Josef Stalin, is sent to a lokal gulag for making Josef’s stew wrong, as kapitalists tend to. This animation was fun to do just because of all the rigging I did on Boris’ model. I’d say I did pretty well on the character, but the background could use some work (if I could animate the very^veryveryvery cold wind I probably would have, but I didn’t know how to do that yet. We also learned how to scan in drawings, and how to make walk cycles, which I would’ve had to know for the story animation anyways. In some ways, especially how the character is drawn, it paved the way for the story animation. I chose this project because it was pretty goofy and fun to work on. Also, the word “duderooni” is pretty cool.

Graphic Design Reflection

What'd I do this semester? Well...


I did some photoshop tutorials, which you can see here. 

Next, we made a post-card in Adobe Illustrator with a template of a raccoon. 

         This postcard was done on a 4" x 3" canvas with bleed. There wasn't too much to note here, but I'm proud of my theme with the raccoon inside of the present. The whole shebang took about two weeks to get done, if I remember correctly. I learned how to use a few illustrator tools via making the raccoon. I also learned how to use live trace. One challenge I faced was compiling everything together in a format that could be printed. I did not receive very much feedback. I changed the font around a bit throughout, though I'm still not too content with it.

Third, we did a vectorized self-portrait in Illustrator.

        I never made a blog post about this, but I took a picture of myself and turned it into a vectorized self-portrait by using the pen tool in adobe illustrator. I'm honestly not a huge fan of this one, it could've used a bit more definition in the face. It looks kinda low-quality. It took a couple of days to complete.

Next, we made 11" x 7" infographics.

        The project was to create an 11" x 7" infographic about a subject we enjoy. I did mine on a timeline of music throughout the 1900s, and while I got it done late, I'm moderately proud of my work. The project took a couple of weeks give or take, with some crunch time afterwards to get everything done.  Most of the more complex stuff, like the treble clef and the fun facts at the bottom, were made using live trace. That tool is a lifesaver. I think it could've used more color for sure, but I don't have many complaints otherwise. Because I finished this project later than I should've, I didn't receive any feedback. 

Then, I took a detour.

This project was mostly done using free time in other classes, but it's kind of graphic design. I used tips from this CRT screen effect tutorial to do the CRT lines, though I didn't curve the image as the tutorial said to. The slogan on the design, "Abolish Video Games" was taken word-for-word from a fearmongering piece on some blog pretending to be a news site back in November. I thought it was a pretty comical phrase, and it got to be a running joke among some friends of mine, so I made the design because a few of them showed interest in having that as a shirt. However, I never got any response the later few times I brought it up, so for now, the image is shelved. This one was done in 16:9 aspect ratio, though I suppose it could really be any size as long as the grid is intact. I'm proud of my work on this one, and kind of sad it never came to anything.
Most recently, I made a slideshow over Swiss Design, or New International Typeface.
       This project was a bit more than I bargained for. While it took less time, it definitely took much better time management. We had four days to make the slideshow and two to research. The slides had to be done in the design style we were researching, so I tried my best to make mine fit the theme of Swiss Design. Most of the slideshow is meant to be accompanied by someone who knows what they're saying, rather than just a guy who reads off the slides. While I originally intended to have 7 designs total, only five slides were made, which I'm kind of sad about.

Here are the slides. If I could fix one thing, I'd add a bit more pizzazz to the minimalism slide, ironic as that is. I like my color scheme, since it is swiss design, and the plus motif as well. Keeping one consistent scheme throughout the whole thing was a good decision. Initially, the Grid System and Sans-Serif fonts slides were different. For this powerpoint, I used univers light, a notable font in the movement.

TIME MANAGEMENT

I'll be the first to admit I'm not awesome at time management. I did my share of fiddling around during this semester, but for most of the time, I really was working. If I were to point at one example and say, "I'm not wasting my time after I do my work", I'd point to that "Abolish Video Games" graphic. While I don't have a copy of the Adobe Creative suite to do anything from home, I have done some work at home. 

AREAS OF STRENGTH AS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER

• I don't constantly ask for help or directions.
• I work relatively fast.
• I'm reasonably precise in Illustrator (lining things up perfectly in that darn program puts the "fun" in "frustrating", let me tell you).
• My work is, more often than not, on time.
• I'm not difficult to work with by any means.

AREAS OF STRUGGLE AS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER

• I don't use my time very wisely sometimes.
• I'm afraid of criticism and, as such, improving my work is slow going.
• I'm easily distracted and staying focused is sometimes an issue.
• Sometimes I just get absolutely stumped but my ego stops me from asking for help.

CONCLUSION
        The most fun I had this semester was when I messed around with the photoshop tutorials after I finished them (on a separate layer, of course). If I could change anything, I'd likely put a bit more effort into my Behance. That thing's dead, Jim. Next semester, I'd like to get all of my work in on time. Ultimately, I think this semester was beneficial to me.

Infographic Blog

Over the past month or so in Graphic Design, I made this here Infographic, which is about progression of music in the 1900s. It isn't incredibly detailed, but I really put some effort into the structure and some of the layout. As for why I chose music as a topic, I chose it because I like to listen to music. Not a super interesting reason, but a reason all the same. The layout was done via a wireframe, a large piece of paper which I used pencil and pen on to sketch out a basic framework. It looked close to the final product, but no information was provided. Because the project was done rather late, I received little feedback from peers or the teacher, though I still received some good advice (shoutout to Mrs. Smith, you're the real M.V.P.!) Most of the process was four artboards, a line tool, a lot of rulers, and the image trace tool. Picking a new font per era was pretty slow going as well. 

In conclusion, I think that this project was pretty well done, even if it was done pretty late.

Professional Article Review: Simulating A CRT Screen In Photoshop

This article details how to create the ever-popular CRT or "tube TV" effect. This requires several files to be made for use as brush layers. Since this article is a technical tutorial, the author doesn't have much of an argument. The article is very helpful, as it delineates step by step how to create this effect. However, there are simpler ways to do this particular effect, which I've also seen. The author's method is most likely the best, detail-wise, but there are simpler ways of making a similar effect in Photoshop. While the article was thorough, the formatting of the page forces more scrolling than should be necessary, though that's not all on the author himself. Of course, there's no real way to find this article without looking for it. There's one real obvious application for me, and that is that I can make CRT lines (and fuzz, if I apply myself).

Source: Sanchez, Diego. "Simulating a Computer Screen in Adobe Photoshop - Layers Magazine." Layers Magazine. N.p., 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 16 Dec. 2016. 

If you want to find the article, it's here: http://layersmagazine.com/simulating-a-computer-screen-in-adobe-photoshop.html

Professional Project Review: "Adam" Unity Tech Demo

This video here is a demo for the unity engine, titled "Adam" for pretentious biblical allusion points. Does it look cool? That's because it is.

"Adam" is about a robot escaping from just kinda leaving robot prison and meeting those two whacky wobblers in that thumbnail to the left. It's just supposed to be a tech demo, after all. however, while most tech demoes, trailers, movies, et cetera are made and rendered on big, heavyweight render farms, this one can be rendered flawlessly in real time by a 500$ (at the time of writing,) graphics card in 1440p, which is double the resolution of a standard monitor or (at the time) television.
but the technical feats aren't the only redeeming feature of this piece, nosiree bob.  The art direction is fantastic (I'll admit I'm an absolute sucker for sci-fi).
The team who made Adam did very well on the character designs and even the story to an extent, since they had to tell it in five minutes. The characters are detailed and even though many of them are identical at base, the slight variations among the robots and even the soldiers had a bit of individual personality.
However, they definitely could've improved the project by having a definite end to the story- it kind of just ends with our guy, Adam, standing out in front of the two differently skinned machines.
The animation is pretty sound. For example, when the robots are being shot at, there's some squash and stretch, as for a very short time Adam reels back in shock and falls over.
In conclusion, Adam is a competently done, good looking technical demo for the Unity engine.

Technical Tutorial: How to Make a Sign in Maya

In this tutorial, I'll be showing you how to make a sign like one might hang on a wall in the 3D modelling program Maya.

FIRST, create a long, thin cylinder, like so.

SECOND, duplicate it, then turn each of the cylinders at opposing 45 degree angles, so that they make a sharp angle.

THIRD, create a thin torus, change the first two rotation variables to 45 degrees. Place the two opposing angled cylinders so that they're close to intersecting. Then, place the thin torus at the center, as pictured.

FOR THE SIGN, make a cube and drag it out into a long, skinny block, like pictured, at about 1.25x thickness jutting out from either side of the cylinders.

NEXT, assign a material such as Phong E that has a bit of shine to it to the toruses and cylinders, and brighten the color up to more of a light grey/darkish white, as pictured.

Finally, give the block part of the sign either a wooden texture of your choice, or, if you don't want to give it that "royalty free unity asset" feel, assign it a lambert material, and color it brown.

Personal Project Blog

First of all, if you haven't already, you can watch my animation here.  
     
What was the scope of the project?

        The scope of the project wasn't huge, but I think that was good as it gave me more time to make the animation satisfying to watch.

The Process
1) Storyboarding:

The file with the characters in it

My storyboard, pictured to the right, was pretty simple: the president needs to eat a snickers, so he sends his personal dinosaur to go and get it. The dinosaur goes to get the snickers, and in the process, has to have a short civil disagreement with a tree.

Next, I did the drawings for the characters. Aside from the INCLUSIVE, PROGRESSIVE orange-man hybrid, all of them made it into the final animation. The dinosaur, who was called Reginald for a while, had his from the back perspective added later. The president also went through a change or two. I lost a file where I'd had a hole in the desk and an eye poking out of the hole. And no, the yellow background wasn't always there. Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot of storyboarding done.

Production
        I started by rigging up each of the characters in the characters.psd file. Next, I started on the different backgrounds (the White House, the multiplane, and the tree scene) which ended up being a bit more difficult than I wanted, as I accidentally deleted the zoomed out white house when making the closeup. Other than that, the rest of the background design was smooth sailing. After that, I had to put everything into aftereffects and get to work. In aftereffects, I also didn't have too much trouble with anything besides Reginald's walk cycle, as that turned out to be a real pain in the neck. I didn't learn a whole lot of new skills from this but I certainly did learn how to do everything with a bit more polish. If I could do anything different, I'd put more effort into my storyboarding and maybe a bit more polish into the art style, though I do like how this one turned out all in all. I'd definitely keep the tone from this one, as it was pretty funny at points. In general, this project was a laugh and a half and I think it was a worthwhile investment of time, if only to use as a "before" picture.

The file for the closeup of the president

The file for the white house

The Ps file for the tree scene

A robot friend I made midway through the project, unused

The multiplane Ps file

Here's a collage of what the development looked like.

The layers for the character file

Layers for the character file, continued

Post-Raccoon Postcard Post, Posthaste!

A postcard which I did for my graphic design class. The front depicts a raccoon in a birthday present with a couple of balloons around him and a banner above him. I enjoyed making this project.

Photoshop Reflection

U S E F U L  T O O L S

• I learned how to use the stamp tool.
• This tool is very helpful for smoothing things over. For example, I used it quite a bit on the background in the collage.
• I learned how to use the free transform tool more effectively
• Apparently you can press control + T to access more options for free transform, which is useful given how finicky the right click button is in photoshop
• I learned how to use the quick select tool
• I didn't know how to use this tool before as it was never discussed in any tutorials, but it takes a whole lot less effort versus other such tools such as the lasso (and its magnetic variant)

        One of my favorite skills to learn was how to touch things up with tools such as the clone stamp and the spot-healing brush. While it does have practical applications, I especially like all the fun that can be had using it. A few of the goofier examples below were made using the clone stamp tool.

S T R E N G T H S  A N D  W E A K N E S S E S

        While I understand how to use most of the tools, I still have trouble understanding the context in which the right click works and I don't know most of the hotkeys. I also have issues with knowing when to use different tools. If I could do anything different, I definitely would have redone the challenge photo, the face has awful contrast with the rest of the piece. As far as what I would keep the same, I really liked the photos I messed around with, especially the clone stamp + spot healing brush tool pictures with the father and daughter.

E X A M P L E S

CONTENT AWARE FILL

In this image, along with several other exercises, I moved or removed logos or blemishes in backdrop, and in the images shown, a surfboard.

CLONE STAMP + SPOT HEALING BRUSH TOOLS
This one's a bit hideous. You wouldn't notice because of the missing face, but there was actually a tag hanging off of one of the pockets of the coat. While I did mess around with a few of the other images like this, this particular image is the only one where I forgot to keep the un-cronenburged layer.

CLONE STAMP + PATCH TOOL

I had a ton of fun with this one. As I mentioned earlier, I made separate cuts of a few of the files for the sake of messing around. This one actually had two other cuts.

BLEMISH REMOVAL

In this image, I removed the blemishes from the face of a child. I also did a second cut in which I removed the face altogether and replaced it with a doodled on face.

PATCH TOOL

In this picture, the man on the right had an "unflattering" t-shirt, and using this tool the image was removed. While it isn't quite perfect, it's probably convincing at a glance.

COLLAGE

The collage was a bit weird. The point was to make one consistent image out of several, and I think I got that part down pretty well, but I used a little bit too much clone stamp tool and if you look real close it really shows.

SOLAR JUJU / SOLAR INFUSION

This project was a tutorial about smart objects, files that could be modified in a different file to change it in every other file where it's used. Pretty cool, but I struggled a bit with this one. 

CHALLENGE

With this one, what I ended up doing is making each distinct part of the photo quasi-transparent and add the photos of nature in under, though there were a few complications doing so. All in all, I think I did alright. The hair's throwing me off now, though.

I N  C O N C L U S I O N

        While I didn't like some of the tutorials, such as the Sol Infusion picture, I enjoyed most of it. I think these tools will definitely help me out in my future endeavors.