Minor Project 13: Domino Treatment DUE 3/28

Write a 2 to 4 paragraph treatment (DUE 3/28) for your final domino project. Be sure to describe the narrative structure, sequence of events, setting, environment, texturing, lighting, rendering quality, use of sound/music and any special effects.



Narrative Structure/ Sequence of Events

A steel ball gently rolls along the floor. The viewer will interact with the ball via a camera movement to simulate the viewer as the ball itself. Just prior to the ball making contact with the first domino, the camera’s movement will stop allowing the ball to come into the visual plane. Just prior to this, the viewer will only experience the camera as if it were the ‘eyes’ of the ball coming in closer, and closer to the first domino.


The camera stops moving and allows the ball to roll right in front of the visual plane, making contact with the first domino.


At this time, the camera shot will switch to another camera awaiting just above the first domino, and will follow the subsequent falling domino’s.


A third camera will be waiting for the final shot, remaining in one place the whole time it is in use.


Setting/Environment

The dominos will be on the floor of a den. A moving ceiling fan will be in operation during some of the scenes but will not be a focal point, rather an ‘extra’ to help fill the scene.


Texturing

The dominoes are of a painted white shell with black inverse emboss dotted numbering units common to the domino. They will have a subtle bevels around the edges and have a slight Phong E reflection. The floor will take on a wood-grain apprearance showing off a light reflection as if they were unrealisticaly clean and fresh, as if it were buffed with a fresh coat of erithane.


Lighting

Some of the directional lighting will come from the ceiling fan above. This lighting will allow shadow casting of the steel ball as it moves through the scene

Rendering Quality

Standard television quality 480i mental ray as a pre-render / finishing to 1080i Standard High-Definition if lab resources and time allow.


Use of Sound/Music/Special Effects

Slight click-noises common to falling dominoes will be used and attached to each domino giving a progressive effect. The noise will be captured in Mono for the pre-render and Stereo 44kbps (or CD-Quality) for the final render.

Here is an interactive Flash thumbnail Story-Board to demonstrate the camera angles that will tell the story of a young boy's room. Each slide contains a short explaination of the camera's angle and the intent of each angle. The room is filled with action - a toy left on the bed that had not been shut off, the television was left on and the rocking chair slowly comming to rest towards the end of the clip as if the boy had just left the room and brushed against it.

The opening scene – a wide angle shot of a kids room. A sense of whimsical play – the room has a feeling of youth – childhood at it’s best. The star of the scene is the room itself... it's personality, it's feeling, and the sense of play the room eminates;

The camera starts out steady taking a wide glimpse of the entire room.

The T.V. left on and a chair in the room is rocking. The continuous loop of the camera moves in to the scene as if it’s flying through the air, taking aerial shots of animated objects - moving from birds-eye the the dramatic wide angles of the entire scene.

The camera takes an abrupt turn and flys near a toy that had been left on – sitting atop the bed.

The camera turns back and returns to wide-angle mode capturing the rocking chair slowing down as the scene fades to black.

A child’s room – coming to a Quinnipiac Computer Lab Near You!

My last blogg discussed how modeling and lighting were very imperative to impact in the field of animation. Exploring textures, effects on lighting, and texturing will help bring realism to the field of animation.

In former presentations using the Maya software, animations like “Finding Nemo”, “Monster’s INC”, and others demonstrated the importance of making ‘life-like’ textures and paying close attention to detail in terms of lighting.

Using “Finding Nemo” as an example, one can see the importance of how lighting effects the end-user. The reflections of light manipulated by the ripples about the surface of the ocean brings about this realism and creates a fun and exciting experience for the end user while not taking away from the core plot.

Had these concepts of lighting and texturing been taken lightly, this fun animation would have had a more flattened and 2-D look and feel.

Mastering the effects of lighting and texturing, one can bring a sense of realism – event to a light-hearted, fun-filled animation like “Finding Nemo” and “Monsters INC”. An attempt to master these subtle-yet-important aspects of modeling and lighting will be made this semester.

Checkout "Finding Nemo" for yourself by clicking this link

Minor Project 2: Project Brief DUE 2/7


Based on the in class discussion revise and refine your ideas for a semester project as stated in your "Mission" statement. Post on your blog 1-2 paragraphs that explains the basic narrative structure describing a beginning, middle and end.

Revised Mission Statement


My first mission statement talked about rigging a skeleton to an object to assist in animation. After class discussion, it appeared that this topic may be a bit more intense to fully conquor in one class setting.

After giving further thought, I would like to create an animated kids room. A tour of this room would include a background of a typical tv showing a cartoon, a rocking hoarse moving as if the child just left the room, and an animated electronic stuff animal that had been left on.

Most of the animation in the room would be limited – as the focus would be on the tour itself - showing the lifestyle of the typical American child. This new focus will help me to understand more intuitively the techniques needed to master texturing, modeling, and lighting.

Assignment: IDD 401
Minor Project 1: Mission Statement DUE 1/24


Post on your blog for IDD 401 your Mission Statement for the semester. In at least three sentences indicate your areas of interest and your semester project ideas and goals. Email your blog URL to mail to receive credit for this minor project.


My area of interest in IDD 401 is to better model using Nurbs. I am hoping also attaching. My prior experiences with Maya have included scenic modeling/stil life. I would like to create objects that were more flexible rather than rigid. This will allow me to learn the basic concepts of creating a movable- more real-life character/object that I can manipulate. I feel like my competencies in still-life modeling have evolved quite a bit and would like to bring in new techniques that will allow me show my artistic talent and create new life with my work.