Night Life Blog
Month
Orion’s Design. We were trying to go for a hazey, outline.
The rest of the team is happy with this design, now it’s a matter of making it work with our cardboard cut out design.
All Rigged and ready.
Mitchell Galavan
Mitchell
Here’s the next character! The little girl Altair plays with. She’s a sweet little thing, and she’s gonna annoy the hell out of their big brother.
She’s all ready to be animated, but it’s gonna be fun as heck dealing with that skirt. I think, if I do end up animating her legs, it’ll be close to frame by frame animation.
Mitchell
Each character is reaching their final design. I’ve covered some problem areas in the storyboards and given myself direction.
So, this is the boy! He's finalized, rigged, and ready to be animated. There’s some parts that’ll be finished and prepared when I know what we’ll need, at what size.
My biggest concern is that each piece needs to be sharp and vector-like throughout the animation, despite the fact they’re rasterised images. I’ll be working at twice HD resolution in future to ensure this. (3840x2160). I want every asset to be usable no matter the situation, and the best way to do this is the make sure it’s very high res.
Update:
Mitchell
In order to keep things consistent I’ve come up with a set of colour palettes for the characters, and also the painting application.
This should help keep things in theme, and visually consistent.
This is the palette for the characters. “Skin” also covers the trail. The face is separated from the trail by the drop shadow.
This is the texture overlay I’ll be using to create the ‘paper’ effect on the characters. The process is: taking a section of this using the marquee tool, copying it onto the desired section, removing the excess texture, and changing the layer style to “Overlay”.
Once you hit “Overlay” the texture comes to life and it really makes the colours pop!
This is the colour palette for the online painting tool. These are the colours our users will have access to in order to contribute to our project!
Mitchell
Following on from Roberts post earlier today I have been looking into an alternative form of sponsorship.
Crowd funding websites are becoming an increasingly popular way of raising money to fund your project.
“Kickstarter” is the most famous of these. It works by a large amount of people pledging a small amount of money. The site give you the opportunity describing the project and tell people about yourself. You set the amount that you needto raise and the duration of the project. However if the target is not reached in the allotted time no money changes hands. This is designed to protect both sides. You are required to offer incentives or “rewards” to those who donate. There can be numerous levels of rewards for different amounts. A limit can also be set on the number of each reward. The rewards are usually to do with the projects themselves. For example, if it is a film you can offer a credit or a DVD copy of the film. If the target is reached before the deadline the collection goes on so it is possible to receive more than you ask for.
After working with this website for a while I discovered that you cannot sign up to receive payments from outside the US.
Fortunately I found an Irish version called “Fund it” that works on the same principles. We are preparing a submission for fund it that will be launched when the website is relaunched.
We are looking for €500. This will be used to buy an iPad as a major incentive to encourage people to submit content. The idea is that if you submit something then you will be entered in to a draw for the iPad.
The rewards we will be offering are in three levels:
It may not succeed but the way we see it fund it is as risky and the chances of success are the same as any other type of sponsorship effort. The time commitment is also quite low so we thought we may as well give it a try. We are currently thinking for 28-35 days but that has not been decided at this moment.
As we have shifted the project to focus more on the pre-gathering of user generated content, we are currently in the process of attempting to secure sponsorship which would allow us to offer an incentive for users to participate which would hopefully result in a greater input.
With this in mind, this morning I arranged a meeting with the Societies Officer of CIT.
The thinking behind this was that many of the societies organise events sponsored by companies or arrange competitions which offer high value prizes. The hope was that in meeting with the Officer that she would be able to suggest any companies or organisations that were particularly open to sponsoring student undertakings. We could then contact these organisations greatly reducing the time spent seeking sponsorship.
Unfortunately, she was unable to recommend anyone, simply suggesting that we approach businesses that we think may be interested. Of course, this was always the next logical step but it does mean that more time shall need to be devoted to this task as we try to find a sponsor.
This is another 10sec animation test of vega in motion.
Learned lots here.
I can import previous After Effects projects and re-use assets and animation elements, which is good, very good. I reused the overlay.
Between getting everything just right, creating the assets, and figuring out better ways of looping things, this whole thing took about 6 hours. More in depth animation takes more time, more assets, which means I have to be on-top of my planning and software.
There’s two striking things I learned: Moving backgrounds are going to be a big challenge, but ‘stitching’ our crowd-sourced backgrounds and elements together will make the production flow better, and will make for some really interesting and varied backgrounds to fly passed. I’d very much like to avoid Hannah Barbera style cheap, looped backgrounds.
The next thing I learned is that the eyes of a character must be treated as individuals in order to make for smooth animation.
Mitchell
As we have decided to shift the interactive element of the project to pre-production, we will no longer be going ahead with the installation that we had planned to implement.
As a result of this, the script has needed to be re-written with the branching narratives being removed.
Below is a link to the updated version of the script…
I spent a little while figuring out how to work with animating this project, it ended up being vastly more time consuming and challenging than I’d expected. Yet, I think that’s my fault. I thought I’d try and use Photoshop’s built in animation tools.
Big mistake.
Eventually I came to my senses and just used After Effects. The result’s alright, I added some squash & stretch to the eyes which really makes them ‘pop’ in a nice way, and I think I’ll be keeping that in mind for the full piece.
Otherwise, I’m going to have to figure something out with the flames. More frames need to be generated, of course, but I think I’ll try tweening some kind of transformation between them so it doesn’t like to jittery and weird. Although, this is subjective, and it’ll ultimately depend on the rest of the group’s opinion.
Also, next time I think I’ll make some frames with the flames 'breaking away’ from the rest, to maybe give it a more natural feel.
There’s also a flame frame in there that looks bad, I’ll have to be more diligent in watching for that.
Mitchell
Today we had a meeting with Trevor in order to discuss the current direction that the Night life project is currently taking basically giving him an overview of what we have done so far and out intent going forward.
In discussion he suggested that maybe a good route to go down would be to focus less on the Interactive installation portion of the project and instead shift the interaction more heavily towards the pre-production stage with our gathering of user-generated content.
Citing the work of Aaron Koblin, specifically his video tribute to Johnny Cash, he showed the potential that this method offered. In the piece, Koblin took the music video for Cash’s song ‘Ain’t No Grave’, and broke it down frame-by-frame. He then asked users to select a frame of the video and then to draw it in whatever style or way that they chose to. The video in question is viewable at the link below.
http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com
As you can see the result is very impressive, literally each frame is a unique individuals contribution and they all combine to create an interesting animation collage. The project members present agreed that the effect created in Koblin’s work was very impressive and seeing it in action we have decided to go one step further with our asset collection stage, and possibly remove the installation portion.
We still need to work out specific details and will post them here once we are decided.
Today we discussed the project with Trevor and the conversation led us in a slightly different but still exciting direction for the project. We’re gonna rework the public contributions aspect to be much more engaging and easy to use, and focus on that as the interaction aspect of the project, doing away with the installation idea.
Implications this will have on the project:
Another important point Trevor made was that despite this is primarily an animation project, we have yet to show any actual animation work, so experimentation with that needs to commence very soon.
As mentioned previously, the script for Night Life as been finished.
If you feel like contributing art or textures you can get an idea of the sorts of things we’re looking for by clicking on the download link below.
An important element of our meeting was access to Primary Schools. The more Night Life matures, the more I feel kids would love to be involved with Altair and Vega.
It’s important to remember Paul was most keen on the idea of integrating our project work into the currently present Primary School curriculum.
Through this, we can possibly open up the project to Primary School students, which could be invaluable to both spreading the word and getting adorable content. We can organize small in-class competitions through participating teachers in order to generate motivation and interest.
Mitchell
After reading and re-reading the script a number of times, I drew this.
Mitchell
This morning we met with Paul to discuss the current state of the project. The meeting went well. We were advised to adjust the website to make it clearer what we are asking the public for, which will be fixed soon.
We were also advised to engage in user testing for the website, which not only will help find any problems on the website that we overlooked, but will also look good in the hand-up document at the end of the semester.
We also discussed our approaching schools to collect work, and we agreed that primary school students are more ideal as at that age they are more open minded and enthusiastic about art, especially the type of art we are looking for.
We were also advised to give examples on the website of the sort of imagery we are looking for.
One of the leads that I spoke about yesterday in Liverpool has followed up with me. This is not a guarentee of participation but it does spread word even further and boost the chances of more uploada. This is very encouraging in the early going.
As mentioned previously myself and Ken have completed work on the script.
One of the key aspects of the story is how the narrative contains a number of scenarios and that the scenarios displayed shall be dictated by user interaction before viewing the piece. In order to illustrate how this will work please see below for a graphical breakdown of the story flow structure.
The titles of Scene 1,2 etc are simplistic but the theory remains the same. The scenes in blue shall remain constant throughout all viewings while only one red scene out of the options given shall be placed within the timeline. Each red scene shall correspond with an interactive element and, depending on which elements are selected by the user, this will then determine which red scene is played.
At the moment, with the number of scenarios that we have written there are 24 different possible narratives that are available to be shown.
We are preparing to promote the website extensively but to get us started in the mean time I have followed up a couple of leads I had.
I contacted a friend of mine in Liverpool who teaches students that are in a similar area to our own and many of whom are from artistic backgrounds.
I also contacted my old Secondary School about encouraging some of their art students possibly taking part. I also enquired about the possibilty of talking to the art teacher there and maybe some of the classes to promote participation directly.
This is a strategy we are hoping to adopt across a number of schools as we see it as a good way to get a firm commitment on participation. This can only enhance the project.
We decided a more direct approach was needed in conjunction with our other efforts just in case they are not as fruitful as we hope. As we have all learned from previous experience drumming up participation online even amongst friends can be difficult.
The website is now finished and ready for users. We’ll be working on extensive promotion very soon both online and offline.
So as I sat sketching faces I thought “Man, cardboard sure doesn’t have a whole lot to do with lines”. It’s more like the idea of silhouettes from painting, the stronger the outline, the stronger the subject. As in, you can’t rely on the inner details to define the object, the shape of it has to play it’s part. It’s just how things work.
This was after I drew the following.
Not long after that, I ran with it, and combined it with Alder’s star designs. It’s stronger. It’s our love child.
Mitchell
Working on more faces.
Nope.
-Mitchell Galavan
Man. Back to the drawing board.
Mitchell
Previous blog post covered some theory. Here’s the result.
Mitchell Galavan
So I just uploaded a bunch of different star faces, and a lot of them were just for playing around, and really could never feasibly be in anything ever, some of them were pretty serious. I don’t think anyone wants me to go through which is which.
Essentially, it boils down to this:
No Emoticons. This isn’t a slight against anyone’s previous artistic endeavours, no matter how devious… but since we’re dealing with small yellow orbs here, it could be pretty easy to just accidentally make emoticons. But then, having eyes and actually looking at the content can help with this.
Less is more. I’d like to think I’m an advocate of this sentiment, in this case it makes me very sad. I could in no way shoe-horn the child scarring wonder of the Ren & Stimpy show or mentality into this project. The limitations of the desired style, and it being straight up unsuitable for the script just knocked this one on the head an hour into some Photoshop play.
Somewhere in the middle. Loony Toons was another staple of my childhood. Of anyone’s child hood. Before Hannah Barbera came in to cheapen the whole thing up with mind alteringly awful programming, Chuck Jones and Tex Avery created some of the most wonderful shows ever. Expressive, fun, and just…. God damn fun. They don’t need any more adjectives than that.
Within these cartoons is where animation’s soul lies, and it’s something I wanted to capture. It’s a little over the top sometimes, and what we’re aiming for is nothing like this… So I won’t be capturing that either. But I can enjoy the toons, learn what I can, and figure out ways to warp these little stars into little personality machines.
Oh Tex, you were the man.
Mitchell Galavan
Today myself and Robert finished work on the script for our animation. It has been specifically designed to allow for the interactivity we are proposing.
Each group member will take the opportunity to read the script over the rest of the weekend. There will be a meeting on Monday to flag any problems or concerns. If there are no problems the script will be signed off on and work on the storyboards will begin. If any issues arise time will be taken to rectify them.
As soon as it has been signed off on the script will be posted here for download along with a simple diagram detailing the design of the interactive element of the script.
- Ken
Just got a response regarding the domain sooner than expected, we’ve been accepted and confirmed, I’ll be setting up the website with the domain later this evening as well as this blog on a subdomain if possible.
Acquiring nightlifeproject.ie has taken a lot longer than expected. I am using letshost.ie as they are the cheapest available. They then act as a go-between with the IEDR who handle the domain registration, requiring the following:
Thank you for your application. As you are applying under the Natural Person category,we will require the applicant to submit a copy of one of the following documents:-
- Irish passport
- Irish driver’s licence
- Irish revenue document, Social welfare document/card showing PPS no.
- Irish birth certificate
- Irish marriage certificate
- Irish utility bill (e.g.: UPC, SKY / ESB, Airtricity / Bord Gais / Eircom / Vodafone, O2, Meteor, Three - bill pay phones only).
- A copy of a bank statement for a personal account, with the financial details blanked out.
We also require information outlining the applicant’s claim on the proposed domain name. This must show their claim, intent and connection and be a clear reason as to why the applicant wants the particular domain. It must be complete relevant and legal. Please submit a letter from the applicant on official letterhead (if applicable) outlining their claim on the proposed domain name. The claim must relate to the domain holder and not a 3rd party.
So I submitted a scan of my passport along with the following letter:
To the IEDR,
I recently bought the domain nightlifeproject.ie and wish to register it.
I am a final year multimedia student in Cork Institute of Technology. “Night Life” is the name of my bachelor project. It is an interactive animation project, the story being about 2 stars, hence the name night life.The website will be used for collecting publicly submitted assets for the animation production, as well as promoting and showcasing the final work.
As proof of time and effort invested in the domain, the site (in progress) is currently available at http://nightlife.aldercass.com
See also the attached scan of my passport as proof of citizenship.
Yours Sincerely,
Alder Cass
alder.cass@gmail.com
086 128 1153
I am now awaiting their response. I expect we’ll have the domain by Monday.
Since the backgrounds rely on the participation and contribution of the public, we decided that as soon as the website is up and running we will approach local primary school teachers, asking them to spread the word among their students and get them to contribute artwork. This could take the form of a contest, a winner being given a copy of the animation on DVD once it is completed. We may even convince teachers to make an in-class activity out of it. This would be a great way of collecting a lot of backgrounds to use and to generate public interest in the project.
This task will need to be approached with the utmost professionalism. We will need to create posters to distribute to the teachers, as well as contacting them beforehand to organise meeting.
Interfacing with teachers will mean being able to get participation from children without having to deal with all of the red tape and difficulty with interacting with them directly.
Since the backgrounds will be publically submitted, resulting in a mis-matched and diverse range of imagery almost reminiscent of a scrap book, we have decided to make the other visual assets (characters, props, etc.) follow suit by utilising a paper cut-out style similar to the following:
Although that artwork is created traditionally, the same effect can be achieved digitally quite easily through the use of texture overlays and drop shadows. We will be collecting our own textures; card, paper, wrapping, any materials one might find in a scrap book. These will then be scanned for digital use.
This also adds an interesting constraint to the design of the project: if we can’t make it out of paper cut-outs, we can’t use it in the animation. The scrap-book theme is not an explicit aspect of the project but more a style guide for us.
The crude nature of the design will also allow us to focus more on the animation itself rather than taking too long working on very complex characters and objects.
Today we learned from Trevor that the end of year exhibit won’t be taking place in Wandesford Quay Gallery after all, but in either the CIT Nexus Center or more likely the old FÁS building where Every Way Out was held last semester.
However, this doesn’t make our trip to the gallery earlier in the month a waste of time as it still gave us valuable insight into the practicality of setting up the installation and got us thinking about our limitations.
Working through various designs. I’ll be uploading them as they’re ready.
The faces are intended to be expressive, fun, and understandable. It’s important they’re appealing and nice.
The ‘star’ effect around them is merely a placeholder for these faces, and I’ll experiment with more types in time.
-Mitchell
In the previous semester I spent a lot of time figuring out and working through various styles.
I uncovered various techniques to create suitable scenes based on the preliminary script and paint locations. However, continued study throughout January has lead me to come to put these techniques under severe scrutiny. In that they look much worse than what I could be capable should I expand into new pieces of software.
For example:
This is something I created last semester.
As you can see, some elements, specifically the planet, are kind of terrible.
Using “3DS Max”, and learning a little about how to texture objects, I ought to be able to create something like this.
There’s a series of comprehensive tutorials on how to achieve this. I’ll be digging deep into them to understand how to apply these techniques to a multitude of scenarios.
-Mitchell
Been working hard on After Effects and various Photoshop techniques. I’ll begin sharing them in time.
Here’s the results of the first series of experiments.
The painting was created in Photoshop CS5, and the video in After Effects CS4 using “Particle World” and various other techniques, including “Wiggling”. “Wiggling” is a powerful 3D camera manipulation technique.
I experimented with various 3D camera functions, however, these turned out to be a little unsuitable.
I’ll keep working independently.
Mitchell
An important aspect of our project piece shall be incorporating elements that allow the viewer to interact with the piece before viewing and having their interaction dictate the events that will then take place on screen. Though how this interaction shall be carried out has yet to be decided upon.
During the time off we have been investigating a number of methods of possible interaction that we could implement into our final piece.
Using this method we would develop a series of buttons or pull switches with each switch corresponding to a particular scene of the animation. Once the switch is pulled its corresponding scene will then be loaded to be played into the animation and once enough of the switches are pulled the animation will then begin. As the main characters of the animation will be stars we envision these switches to be shaped as such and will illuminate upon being used. In surveying the site in which we hope to display our piece we have seen that these switches would be buttons placed upon the wall of the space or possibly pulleys hanging from the ceiling.
If we were to move forward with this method we would more than likely be using an Arduino setup as well as developing the appropriate back-end code.
Another method that we have explored has been to use QR Codes as an interactive element. In a way this system would work similarly to the one outlined above, in that each QR Code would correspond to a particular scene and that upon being scanned would lead to a URL page that then loads that scene into the animations timeline. These QR codes again could be embedded into star shaped stickers to keep in theme with the animation and could be scattered amongst the entire Wandesford Gallery instead of being restricted to the display area. However a downside to this method is that in order for people to interact with the piece they will be required to have a smart-phone or other device capable of reading QR Codes.
A further method we are considering would be to develop a system similar to the one seen here in the project Tangible Viewpoints.
http://mf.media.mit.edu/pubs/conference/TangibleNavigation.pdf
In considering how we would replicate this system, we envision having a webcam looking down upon a surface and on that surface projecting the image of a star chart. We would then have star-shaped counters and possibly using Processing we would be able to track where the counters are placed upon the star chart. By splitting the chart into a number of different areas and assigning each area a particular scene, the placement of the stars by the users could then be used to determine the story of the piece.
