Growth Visuals

Now that the timing and content is close enough to being finalised, I have spent some more time polishing the visual style of the cells.

Feedback has shown that the visuals are a bit 'murky' at the moment, and there needs to be more definition - something to make the cells 'pop' and stand out. The cells move in a really unique and interesting manner, so it is important that this is the focus of the viewer (so that all my hard work can be seen!).

My project supervisor suggested I take a look at a DVD in the library by Jeremy Vickery, titled "Practical Light and Colour" (more information here). This DVD discusses the fundamentals of light and colour, and how a better understanding can improve practical work. If anything, it serves as a fresh source of ideas and inspiration, which will hopefully develop my cell aesthetics and drive towards the best outcome possible.

After watching this DVD, I started experimenting with colours and light in Maya, trying to develop something which was much more interesting, less murky, and had more focus on what I wanted the viewer to see.

Below are two renders; the first showing a still from Growth before this DVD/experimentation, and the second showing a new version, which uses entirely new lighting, colours and Maya shaders to give a different style completely.

I have yet to test this new style on an animated sequence, but I definately prefer the clarity that this updated version offers. The cells have significantly more contrast (against the background) and are less flat - by adding an edge glow, they really draw the viewer's attention.

The Story So Far...

So far, the majority of my work has focused on developing skills which are crucial in creating 3D computer generated visualisation. Having such a strong background in 3D has helped greatly, and has allowed me to focus on learning advanced techniques and understanding new concepts, as opposed to having to learn new software.

The key goal is to rapidly develop 3D skills this semester ('exploring practice') and although I will start work on related projects, these will take shape later in the academic year, as my abilities grow stronger.

My learning has been mostly self-directed, using a variety of sources. Progress using these are detailed below;

• In Silico - recommended as a starting point, this book gave me a brief introduction to using particles, and how to shade, light and render a scene containing medical data. Most of the content here is relevant to cell visualisation, and will be extremely useful as my projects develop. Some simple examples were created, and uploaded to my Vimeo page. Upon reaching the MEL sections, I realised that these assumed previous knowledge of scripting in Maya - since this was new to me, I chose to put this resource on hold temporarily. Beyond the MEL chapters, awaits some more complex tutorials on working with medical visualisation data.
• Gnomon Dynamics - I started using this material, and soon discovered that the content was of poor visual quality, and at points difficult to follow. As other sources were available, I chose not to continue working on the Gnomon material. However, I may return to this when looking at soft-bodies, as Digital Tutors does not cover this in great detail.
• Studio Projects Dynamics - another recommended learning source, I found this material relevant and easy to learn, developing skills in using particles, nParticles, nCloth and fluids. Tutorials applied skills to interesting examples, such as building a sandbox with moving contents or creating realistic looking tornadoes and volcanoes. I still have to approach the most relevant chapter, titled 'Playing With Fire' - once this has been completed, I will be in a better position to approach 'burning down' a computer-generated house.
• Digital Tutors 'Introduction to Dynamics in Maya' - this has been the most useful source of learning so far. Content is clear, easy to follow and explained in-depth. Although there has been a slight overlap in some areas (the implementation of a particle system mainly), there has been more explanation of working with the features in Maya. The tutorials also discussed the various effects available (such as fire or smoke) and introduced the different particle render modes. These topics have given me the confidence in experimenting with cell aesthetics, something which will develop throughout my programme of study (videos to be added shortly).
• Digital Tutors 'Getting Started With Nuke 6' - although not strictly essential, I chose to gain a basic understanding of node-based compositing using Nuke. This will be beneficial later in my work, when it comes to creating polished videos for presentation. 

Moving forwards, I will continue using most of the above sources, particularly Digital Tutors. I plan to finish off working with dynamics in Maya, and then return to MEL scripting, where hopefully I can begin to make sense of the content. Something of particular interest, is using RealFlow - Digital Tutors has a huge amount of lessons available, so this is something I would definitely like to experiment with.

Looking at the subjects I have studied, and the progress I have made, I am glad I have chosen this programme of study - I have enjoyed this new content, and know that I will continue to enjoy this moving forwards.

Gnomon Dynamics 1 : Galaxy Spiral

Today I decided to approach the Gnomon material, giving 'In Silico' a rest before starting on the more complicated MEL scripting chapters.

Gnomon's Dynamics 1 disc is designed as a basic introduction to dynamics, and according to the package, introduces the following tools;

Particle Tool, Create Emitter, Directional Emitters, Volume Emitters, Various Fields, Hardware Rendering Techniques

Quite an extensive list for an introduction, especially with a runtime of only 110 minutes. I say only... after getting about 9 minutes in, my imagination was already running wild and I had been well and truly distracted by the possibilites of 'painting' particles directly into a scene.

With the addition of two fields (Turbulence and Vortex) I had created a swirling galaxy system using only particles. I knew that I wanted to develop this scene further and see what I could do with it. I created a basic ramp shader and using a simple expression, coloured the particles based upon their distance from the scene's origin point.

After an hours worth of tinkering and playing around with these simple tools in Maya, I remembered the Gnomon Dynamics tutorial I should have been watching - not that it felt immediately important, I had created something really spectacular all by myself...

And so it begins...

After speaking with my programme leader/supervisor, I have decided to focus on visualisation and developing my skills and abilities towards this. This will include looking at using things such as Maya's dynamics systems, particles and scripting capabilities - all new to me.

I have chosen to spend Reading Week looking at these particular areas, and have picked two main sources to help lead my practice.

The first of these is a book that came specifically recommended - 'In Silico: 3D Animation and Simulation of Cell Biology using Maya and MEL', written by Jason Sharpe, Charles J Lumsden and Nicholas Woolridge, and published by Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. This book will be used to augment my existing Maya knowledge, and develop skills which are directly related to visualising cell biology.

The second source(s) I have chosen, is a set of DVD tutorials from The Gnomon Workshop called Dynamics. There are a great number of these, but I will be trying to start at the beginning and build a strong foundation. I currently have discs 1-3 from the University library to get me started.

Hopefully these sources will get me going in the right direction, as next week I hope to have a meeting with the University's Mathematics department, and possibly start working on a visualisation project with them.

In the meantime, keep your eyes posted for examples of what I've been doing this week... once I've done it of course!