Growth

Falling Out

Matt Cameron, one of my classmates, is currently directing a short film titled "Falling Out" (production diary here). The logline for Falling Out is below;

A pregnant woman struggles to find direction after a nuclear blast decimates Scotland. Locked in a bunker with a jaded survivalist and her dying boyfriend she faces tough choices in this brutally changed world.

I will be assisting Matt in creating some of the visual effects which will be added to this film - in particular, using 3D computer graphics and animation to create a dynamically-driven nuclear explosion which can be composited onto a live plate at the beginning of the film.

So far, I have recreated the camera setup in my 3D environment (so the CG cameras match the real-world cameras), and completed some early explosion tests. Over the next few weeks, I hope to tighten up the explosion (which is not nearly nuclear enough) and generate some nice high-definition renders which will be suitable for the opening shot of Falling Out...

RealFlow Character Fill

Over the last couple of weeks I have been working on a shot for one of the other students on my course. Kaye is working on applying an illustration style to an animated commercial, and her blog can be found here.

After creating her animatic, Kaye's opening shot showed a 3D character filling up with liquid, and she had decided to use RealFlow's liquid simulation tools to achieve this. I already had previous experience of working with RealFlow and was able to help her in building this sequence.

To begin with, I imported her character model (built using Cinema 4D) and created emitters in each of the feet. My target was to fill the model in approximately 180 frames, as this is what Kaye had advised. I started by filling the model using these two emitters, and adjusted the emission speeds to suit the fill rate I wanted. Around halfway up the model, it became slightly more difficult, as I had added two additional emitters (one in each hand) and then needed to try and balance the levels of the fluid (this involved manually keyframing each emitter and re-simulating the liquid several times, a time-consuming process). Upon reaching the head, a fifth emitter was added, to speed up filling the volume (as the narrow neck creating a fountain-like bottleneck). Finally, a polygonal mesh was added, and the radius size adjusted so that the mesh was not larger than the original model.

At this point, I passed the source files back to Kaye to implement in her own project. As an additional step I imported the RealFlow files into Maya and created a simple render to show the outcome of this short project;

Needs more juice...

Similar to my last blog entry, my efforts are still divided between two main projects;

The Going Live project has been making excellent progress. The team and I have continued improving the visual outcome of the 3D elements. With a texture in place, lighting and rendering have started to progress rapidly. Animated shots are being lit, rendered and composited, so that final testing can take place.

Although I have taken on the role of CG Supervisor, I have been involved in other areas, and responsible for others. I was involved in tracking the camera footage and creating a 3D pre-visualisation of the sequence. I have monitored the 3D pipeline continuously, and offered advice and created fixes for problems - this includes working with others in modeling, texturing, rigging, animation, and lighting. I was responsible for creating a dynamic cloth system which would allow for easier animation, and I have managed the rendering process (involving creating render layers and using the render farm). Finally, I get to pass rendered scenes to the compositing team, who can work their magic... and before I know it, we will have finished the advert!

Returning to my cell visualisation work, I have reached a temporary plateau. I have developed my pipeline/workflow and have implemented new and improved scripts to manage the new data that I have received from my colleagues in the Mathematics division.

However, the vast quantity of data has been as proving difficult to process efficiently. After some development, I have speeded up the process, but this still takes a considerable amount of time to complete. Fortunately, I discussed this with my project supervisor/programme leader, and agreed the use of high-specification computers in the University, where I can process data quickly, making use of round-the-clock facilities. This week, I will begin using these facilities, to start working with this new data that I have received.

It is important that I begin this early, as the sooner the numerical data has been translated into 3D space, the sooner I can begin developing the visual qualities of the mathematical models. Completing this visualisation process becomes even more important, as the mathematical models will be presented as part of a conference in June - giving me a deadline to work towards...

More Data

Over the last couple of weeks, I have had to divide my attention between multiple projects.

The 'Going Live' project has ramped up into production, with modeling and rigging now complete. Animation has started, and texturing is currently underway. My role as CG Supervisor has been demanding, as all of these CG elements have been happening in quick succession. On top of this role, I was also responsible for implementing a customised nCloth dynamics system for our 'character'. This was created alongside the rigging process, to ensure that these components would work together happily, and after resolving a few technical problems, the system is now working nicely. My next task was to create and organise the appropriate render layers in Maya, ready for rendering and then compositing to take place (hopefully late this week or early next). Although I had worked with render layers before, this project requires more variants than I am used to working with, so has taken a bit of time to configure and setup properly. Despite all this work taking up more time than initially expected, the project has made good progress, and continues to do so.

After my meeting with mathematics last week (and several more since), my cell visualisation workload has increased also. I have received new data from both students, and I am currently in the process of writing scripts that will translate these into 3D scenes inside Maya.

The first new data set contains fibres (to be added to cells), which are based on xyz locations and xy rotations. I had not scripted rotation values yet, so this was a good opportunity to expand my knowledge of MEL. I am currently awaiting the full data-set for this part of the visualisation, so will continue to work on this moving forwards.

The other data set adds oxygen density to a scene containing cancer cells and blood vessels. This file contains over 30 million lines of information, and weighs in at around 800mb - making it rather difficult to work with. I have tried different approaches in visualising this data efficiently, such as adjusting transparency on cubes based on the density value or scaling particle clouds. Unfortunately, there are about 10,200 points per frame, so these methods take far too long to calculate. I am currently testing a new method, which creates a single polygonal plane, with the required number of vertices. The script then runs through each vertice, and moves it in the y-axis based on the density value (between 0 and 1). A ramp shader then adjusts the transparency of the plane based on the height (where 0 density is fully transparent). This creates white, cloudy patches where oxygen density is high. Although this still takes a long time to process, it is considerably faster than the other methods.

Most of this work is still on-going, and has 'arrived' at the same time, making it difficult to balance. Fortunately, I have been able to allow extra time in working on these projects, so hopefully the worst of it is over now...

On a more exciting note, three of my videos were used at an event in Dundee on Saturday 12th March. The videos are 3D visualisations of mathematical models which are being used to predict cancer growth and development, and were developed in collabroation with a PhD student in the University's mathematics division. They were shown at an event called "Sensational Women in Science" as part of the Women in Science Festival 2011.

Also, some of the other data I am currently working with will be presented at a large conference later this year (in June), so I have a deadline which I can work towards.

Biomedical Visualisation

With a new year, comes new ideas and refreshed inspiration!

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been developing my MEL scripting abilities - something necessary if I want to work with importing numerical data into Maya. Although daunting at first, things have gradually started to make sense, showing the logical development of the stages involved in trying to achieve my goal.

Last week, I had a major breakthrough in using MEL, and was able to create a script which would read one of the mathematical data-sets. The script works on a line-by-line basis, reading comma separated values and placing those into individual variables, which are then used to create objects and keyframe animation. Upon running the script, all actions are automated, and require no input from the user - this simplifies the process, and speeds up creation of a Maya scene greatly. It also ensures that no mistakes are made, as long as the script is correct and data is formatted consistently.

An example of the type of data being used can be seen below;

The purpose of this script is to convert raw numerical data into something visual, built in 3 dimensions. Currently, the script uses simple polygonal spheres to represent cells, although in the future this could be changed to use particles, or something different entirely. An example render of the scripts process can be seen below - the results are dramatically different to looking at thousands of line of numbers;

At this stage, I was confident in my MEL writing abilities, so created 2 more (similar) scripts which would work with the other mathematician's dataset. This data is entirely different however, as the cells are placed in 2 dimensions, and instead of changing size/radius, they change colour based on a numerical value. This posed it's own problems, as I would need to have a new shader for every cell, if I wanted them to change colour individually. The scripts for this data work, but are still in early stages - no renders have been produced as of yet.

Beyond being able to get data into Maya, I was then free to experiment with the visual aspects of representing the data. I tested several techniques which would be useful later on, including using render layers (for alpha channels and depth passes), adjusting camera settings in Maya (to create depth of field) and compositing render layers using both Nuke and After Effects (using short image sequences). Although familiar with compositing techniques in Photoshop, I wanted to familiarise myself with these methods when working with videos and image sequences.

As the final part of my experimentation, I started working with the first data-set in 3D, and added a camera and some basic lighting. I rendered 3 passes - 'beauty', alpha and depth - and composited each of these layers using Photoshop. After some experimentation, I realised that I was happy with the result, and would be confident in replicating the visual style using finished image sequences. The completed composite can be seen below;

Although I am only 2 weeks into this semester, I have made tremendous breakthroughs in my own programme of study, particularly with using MEL to import numerical data. I hope to continue this progress throughout the semester!

Moving forwards, I would also like to continue developing my technical skills and abilities - this will ensure that I have the best opportunities to create high quality work, with no restrictions on the software I can use to achieve this. I hope to continue working with RealFlow, and hope to have some visual examples soon. I also plan on developing skills in using Houdini, another 3D package, with a more technical focus.

Reflection On "The Story So Far..."

In a recent post, titled "The Story So Far..." I talked about the work I have been doing, and the progress I have made with the various sources of learning. This post aims to expand on this, with some added reflection on my programme of study, and the 'journey' so far.

Initially, I commenced my studies at DJCAD with the intention of focusing on 3D animation - specifically gaining a better understanding of the principles of animation, and how to apply them in being a better animator. This interest came from the work I had undertaken as part of my Honours studies, where I created a short animation depicting a story from Greek mythology - "Theseus And The Minotaur" (this was an individual project).

However, after taking advantage of the opportunity to attend presentations by a wide range of people, I gained an insight into using 3D computer graphics as a visualisation tool - this was thanks to an insight into the work being done by John McGhee and Chris Rowland, although I was more interested in the idea of biomedical visualisation.

This change in direction forced me to change my programme of study to something more appropriate, and as discussed in "The Story So Far..." I have since spent time developing the necessary skills in 3D computer graphics.

These skills have been relevant to my programme of study, as I am currently involved in two projects which make use of this new technical undertstanding. The first project is in collaboration with the University mathematics division, and involves developing more visual methods of visualising mathematical data (more specifically, cell visualisation). The second project is a visual-effects based project, in collaboration with another MSc student. As part of this project, I am responsible for 3D modelling, and creating a dynamics simulation.

Although each of these projects have had difficulties, good progress has been made and the experience has been invaluable. If the projects did not have any problems, I would not have learned nearly as much as I have, and I would not be as prepared for future projects as I am now.

Now that I have a stronger understanding of 3D computer graphics and their use in visualisation, I can focus on the application of these skills, and concentrate on completing these projects.

Moving forwards, I would like to continue developing my 3D abilities, and gear this specifically towards using RealFlow for advanced dynamics simulation (allowing me more flexibility in the type of visuals I can create) and learning MEL scripting within Maya (potentially giving me the option to automatically generate visuals from huge amounts of mathematical data).

Considering the drastic change of direction in my programme of study, I am glad I started developing skills in visualisation. Moving forwards, I am excited by the range of projects out there, and look forward to developing my own visual style.

Playing With Fire

Adding more special effects to my arsenal, Studio Projects Dynamics moves onto creating and controlling fire (using Maya fluids). Using fire is something which will be particularly relevant to a side-project I am currently involved in, and one of the tutorials involves burning down a 3D model of a house, which hopefully will be useful.

Starting off slowly, the first example introduces using fuel and heat within a fluid container. As this is not particularly exciting by itself, there is not much to show, so below we can see the second example - a simple flame created entirely in CG;

After working with a simple flame, a preset was created, and then imported into a new scene featuring a simple house model (provided on the tutorial disc). The flames were scaled up and tweaked to suit the new size. The house structure was already broken in segments, so these were converted to nCloth components, ready for destruction. Randomness was applied to the building 'burning down' by using keyframed ramp shaders with noise applied. The finished render can be seen below;

This chapter was one of the most important topics I have covered so far (and very relevant to the side-project) which allows me to transfer the skills learned during this tutorial, and apply them in a more creative manner.

Inspiration 1 : Cell Visualisation

In collaboration with the University mathematics division, I am working on cell visualisation - starting off with mathematically generated data, I am importing this into Maya and defining the aesthetics of the scene, making the data more accessible and visually exciting.

Alongside my own work, I have found some examples of cell visualisation that I am particularly interested in. The first of these is a clip called "The Inner Life of the Cell", created in 2006 for Harvard biology students, by a company called BioVisions. Although this animated sequence looks dated, compared to today's standards, the content (and it's importance) are still just as relevant today. A tremendous amount of effort was put into to this project, and those working on it were constantly aware of the relationship between the quality of the visuals and the accuracy of the data. One criticism I would make, is that the scenes are often very 'busy' and feature lots of moving items and lots of different colours. Although this means there is more to look at, it can also make the shots somewhat confusing, as there is no clear focus. "The Inner Life of the Cell" can be seen below;

BioVisions have also continued working on molecular animations, with their latest video titled "Powering the Cell: Mitochondria" (a clip can be viewed here). This video is a significant update to the other one above, primarily thanks to the improvements in technology over the last four years. Although the concept is the same, the video has been output in high-defination, and this is definately a noticeable improvement. The visual style has also 'quietened' down somewhat, and is much more pleasing to the eye, as can be seen in the image below;

Moving away from this type of visualisation, I am particularly fond of "Nature by Numbers" created by Cristobal Vila. This is an expertly created piece of work, and focuses on how nature is driven by mathematics (at it's core). The content is of excellent quality, and there are segments where it appears that some sort of dynamics system has been used to drive the animation - something I am currently developing skills in. The overall look of the video has a very polished feel, something I would certainly hope to achieve by the end of my MSc programme! The video can be seen, in all it's high-definition glory, below;

After looking at other examples of work out there, it is clear to see that there is a great deal of importance placed on both the quality/accuracy of the data, and the appeal of the visuals. Trying to find this balance however, can pose difficult, and it is important for an artist to find an individual style which suits them. As mentioned in a previous post, this reinforces the importance of experimention - practice makes perfect.

Context & Review (Animation) : Ren & Stimpy

Alongside my fellow zookeeper Mark Haldane, we were tasked with choosing a short clip which showed 'animation' in an interesting way.

After looking around online, we decided to go with a clip from a Ren & Stimpy episode, titled "Sven Hoek";

First things first - some of you may not be familiar with Ren & Stimpy (as it premiered in 1991), so here is a brief overview;

The show features two lively characters, Ren Hoek (a chihuahua) and Stimpson J Cat (a cat, as his name suggests). The show was known for its crazy characters, situations and events. It also featured a large amount of comic violence, alongside quite dark humour (for a cartoon). One of the regular featured techniques used throughout the show, was the inclusion of detailed 'paintings' - these would often be far more gruesome and detailed than the animation itself, adding only to the intensity of any on-screen antics.

We chose this particular episode, as it portrays the strengths of the animation style which The Ren & Stimpy Show used.

The most obvious thing to notice, is that all of the animation is extremely exaggerated. We both agreed that this was used effectively, and although it ensured that the cartoon had a crazy look/feel to it, it was not simply crazy for the sake of crazy - the exaggeration was used to clarify all of the expressions and movements, leaving very little to interpretation.

When comparing this over-exaggerated style to a real character, it becomes almost impossible to replicate realistic movement. It is for this reason, we felt that Ren & Stimpy needed an over-exaggerated style, because then their actions and expressions would be even clearer than normally possible. It also ensures that the story is being received as it should be.

Throughout the clip, Ren's anger is very obvious, and this is enhanced by theatrical movement, and strong staging/posing. It is so obvious, that whilst watching this character, it became clear that the clip could also be watched without sound, and the action would not be confused or misinterpreted.

Although this is the case, the show's creators decided to add to the intensity of the situation, by using very focused shots, which used eerie music, and removal of the scene's background to build tension. By removing the backgrounds, we are forced to relate with Ren and his anger'; by alternating backgrounds quickly, it adds to the intensity of the scene, and makes us connect with Ren's emotions quicker.

Overall, we felt that Ren & Stimpy captured the intensity of a characters emotions well, by using exaggerated animation, and slowly building tension. Also, it's hard not to love Ren & Stimpy as characters!

My colleague Mark has also added a blog entry discussing Ren & Stimpy, which can be found here.

For those interested in seeing the full episode, it can be found online in two parts; here and here.

Context & Review (Story) : Second Wind

For this session, we were tasked with choosing a short video which dealt with 'story' in an interesting way, which we would then critique, and present our findings to the group.

Working with Mark Haldane, we decided to use 'Second Wind' (by Ian Worrel) as our short film. According to the creator, 'Second Wind' was created using 2D traditional animation, aswell as being coloured using Photoshop and composited in After Effects. The video can be seen below;

This short film tells the story of a man and his giant cat - loyal companions. They do everything together - travel, eat, sleep and play. Whilst playing together, the man enters a cave and finds a small glowing sprite. He ends up playing ball with this new-found friend, upsetting the cat. The cat then becomes angry towards the sprite and squashes it beneath a giant paw. The sprite is then resurrected but glows red instead of blue and tries to attack the cat, at which point the man sacrifices himself. We are then witness to a 'dream scene' where the man is revived, but with a windmill attached to his back - the cat can then blow on this to keep the man alive, bringing them together once again.

The presentation of this piece was excellent. Characters, although simple, were engaging and well designed. The cat's emotions were 'on show' throughout, creating a strong feeling of empathy - this was particularly important as there was no dialogue. This simplicity was carried throughout the visual style, creating something unique and colourful, but dark and mysterious at the same time (the subject matter of the story being told).

After watching the short film, we discussed the content, and decided that Second Wind was a tale of many things; companionship, loyalty, new friendship, perception of betrayal, jealousy and conflict. Less importantly, we also realised it was also about 'cool eyebrows, football and a bad-ass cat' - well, thats what we thought anyway.

When trying to interpret this story, we came up with several ideas;

• By using a giant cat, we felt that a fantasy/mythical setting was created - this created a 'lighter' atmosphere, and allowed for a small amount of humour despite the seriousness of the story being told.
• The importance of the cat's jealousy/anger - did this create the situation? Without these emotions the sprite would probably not have been killed, and the events that followed would have been very different.
• The idea of shared redemption - the man saved the cat despite being more focused on his new friend, and the cat saved the man becoming his life-support.
• A controversial idea which presented the cat as selfish - the cat struggled to feed itself and relied on the man to look after it. Was the cat keeping the man alive because it needed him? Also, did the cat want the necessity of keeping him alive to make sure the man did not 'stray' again?

An important visual feature to note was the use of colour. Throughout the early stages of the animation, there was a green atmosphere. This turned to blue when the man entered the cave, and to red when the cat 'fought' the sprite. It finally returned to green as the conflict was resolved - this was a great way of signposting the  different stages of the story.

Overall, we found that this short animation was well-received and provided a good opportunity for discussion amongst the group. Mark also added a blog entry discussing 'Second Wind', and this can be found here.

For anyone interested in more information on 'Second Wind', the creator has two blog posts which contain artwork generated during production; found here and here.

Target Acquired

This week I have had meetings with students from the University's Mathematics division, with the intention of beginning a collaborative visualisation project.

After introductions and a brief discussion of the topic, I will undertake work which will involve developing more visual methods of visualising mathematical cell data - that is, data generated from mathematical models designed to project movement or growth of cancer cells.

Working with students outside of Duncan of Jordanstone will pose it's own problems though - artists and mathematicians speak very different 'languages' and this will be a tremendous learning opportunity, giving me experience of working with new people, in new subject areas (cell biology and mathematics).

This also opens up a huge variety of possibilities in terms of creativity, and will allow me to continue my work as a 3D artist, developing skills in dynamics and fluids, amongst other things. I will also have the opportunity to work with real-world data, and engage in research alongside another department within the University - a positive outcome in many ways for those involved.

With a goal in sight, and areas of development to focus on, this really is 'target acquired'!

24 Hour Film Project : 'Stairs To All Floors'

Despite being fresh-faced and looking generally lost most of the time, Animation and Media Art students were thrown together and given a challenge - to create a short film within a 24 hour period.

Working alongside three of the Media Art students, I helped plan, film and edit a short film which showed a character's first day at Duncan of Jordanstone, through a point-of-view perspective. The emphasis was on the lack of sign-posting and direction within the art college, and building pace as the character gets more and more lost, achieved through lots of quick cuts between segments which gradually got faster and faster.

Whilst planning this film, we discovered lots of old signs and directions which helped add to the overall sense of confusion. One sign, which showed the words 'Stairs To All Floors' became the title of our piece, as it seemed most oddly placed - nowhere near stairs, and not pointing to anything useful, emphasizing our film's message.

Overall, we were happy with the result, although we did not have time to use the additional recorded audio. We were planning on building up the layers of noise to match the pace of the video footage, but 24 hours was not a huge amount of time to create a masterpiece...