Project Evaluation

I did enjoy this project. This project taught me the importance of time management and how useful a schedule really is. Although the finished outcome and idea was not what I had originally set out to do, I am still pleased with the way it turned out, particularly the animation of the flying saucer/ UFO. Three weeks away from the final deadline I decided to change my choice of clip and animation idea completely as I reached a point where I could no longer progress with Maya Live as the initial clip lacked sufficient useful tracking points. I decided to choose the clip which my brother chose for his project, as it was a locked off camera shot and roughly 30 seconds long. I wanted to avoid tracking in Maya Live as it was confusing and tedious, plus I did not fully understand the way the tracking system worked. In addition Maya Live seemed to decide for you when it thought a tracking solve was successful.Even when the majority of the track was in the green. Needless to say I found Maya live rather annoying. I also wanted to avoid as much masking as possible as masking can sometimes look cheap and awkward to look at. I do not mind masking straight hard edges of buildings for example, but masking moving characters and objects is complex and laborious. I put of pride and effort into my work however time was running out which is why I made a conscious decision to change my idea radically to a much simpler idea in order to finish the project in time. I wanted to make sure I met the deadline and show something completed.

I learnt to appreciate the planning stages and that ideas can change radically during the project's development. I felt that during this project my modeling skills improved as I was able to model a simple 3D model design that was close to the original drawing. I also felt that my animating skills also improved as I was able to animate an effective fluid flight path, I also began to get to grips and understanding the graph editor. This project informed me of how crucial lighting is in order to create the illusion that the 3D model exists within the film footage. Lighting is what makes something look real or fake. My lighting was not spot on by any means but it was close to what was required and seemed to fit the lighting of the original footage. My knowledge of lighting within Maya and Lightwave is certainly improving and I am beginning to understand what settings do what and how to change light modes, colour and drop offs.

My Thoughts

I did find this particular project difficult more so than the last Industry Exercises project. This is probably because I wanted to focus more on the animation included within the film clip. The animation took quite a while because I wanted the UFO path to be as fluid as possible. I also wanted to include some secondary animation to the underside of the flying saucer to make the UFO more interesting.

I have to admit that my time management for this project was not as good as it should have been and my planning was not sufficient. I devoted to much time to the other project and did not maintain a balance between both projects. This can be demonstrated by how I had to make a radical decision to change my approach and idea to something quite different. I basically chose to work from scratch more than half way into this Industry Exercises Visual Effects & Compositing Project. Although I did change my mind quite late into the development process, I am pleased that I managed to meet the deadline and hand in a completed piece of work. Despite the fact that I had little time I managed to produce an effective piece of animation. My aim was to animate a design of my own and merge it with a movie clip so that it blended in and felt like it belonged with the original footage.

2001 Clip Sequence & 3D UFO

Above is the 2001 clip & UFO animation sequence starting from the bottom to the top. I was very pleased with the flight path and how I managed to texture the UFO so that it reflected the sky on the top and the desert landscape underneath. I was also pleased that the directional and ambient light I used was close to the lighting setup within the original footage. The shadow I animated and parented underneath the UFO in Adobe After Effects added depth and realism to the model. These components helped to create the illusion that the UFO did belong to the original clip.

Final Cut Pro & Editing

Editing this sequence was quite simple. I imported the original film clip with the sound into Final Cut Pro. I then deleted the video but left the sound. I then added the composited 2001 clip with the animated 3D UFO model into the video slide. I made sure that the sound was synced with the new video footage. I added a few sound and video transitions such as fade-ins and fade-outs. I then added a new sci-fi spaceship rumble bought from sound dogs to give the UFO some weight, thus making it blend in with the original film clip.

Adobe After Effects & Compositing

The compositing stage using Adobe After Effects was quite simple as very little masking was required. I simply imported the Lightwave rendered targa sequence into After Effects so that the flight path was within the top left region of the frame amongst the blue sky and distant mountain range. I then decided that a shadow animated and parented to the UFO would add depth and would thus make the UFO more realistic.

After doing this I learnt that I could have created a plane in Maya and extruded it to create a hilly region such as the one depicted in the original footage. I could have animated the UFO with a directional light present so that a shadow would be cast on the plane. I could then select both the UFO and the plane and make them transparent so only the shadow would be rendered. This would have created a more convincing shadow. However I think the shadow I created in Photoshop and animated in Adobe After Effects was decent enough to create the illusion of depth.

I could have even included a dust layer to suggest surface displacement caused by the UFO. This perhaps would have added an extra element of realism and detail which could have enhanced the animation.

Animating

This was perhaps the most difficult aspect and development stage of the entire project. I spent roughly two weeks making sure the animation was convincing and fluid. I had to start the animation of the UFO from scratch a few times as I was unhappy the way the animation looked. To begin with my animations were far too jerky and uneven. I then began to get the hang of the animation and created an animation I was happy with. This was due to the fact that I gradually set up key frames within the flight path and used the graph editor and the spline tool to smoothen the animation and make it more fluid.

I also animated a secondary ring extruded within the geometry of the UFO itself to make the animation more interesting. I decided to add more moving parts because the UFO flying on its own looked too bland and uninteresting. When also trying to incorporate a spin to the UFO's animation, for some reason the orientation was altered and instead of a constant spin being introduced Lightwave alterd its pitch and caused the UFO to bank. This was a complete accident however this fortunately made the animation look even better in my opinion as the flight path was no longer flat and uninteresting. Now the animation suggests that the UFO is attempting to adjust its flight path and balance after making turns.

Lighting

To light the 3D UFO modle effectively I used the original footage as reference and created a directional light source from behind the camera. I also placed a very faint ambient light below to give the impression that the ground below was reflecting light on to the underside of the craft.