Self-Reflective-Journal: Week One:
During Gregory's class, we had an introductory lesson on motion visualisation. This class was interesting because we would be making our own thirty-second video of a subject dancing or doing some certain motion that tells a story and emotion wanting to be portrayed. During class, I took notes on ideas I thought developed and looked and the many exemplars for inspiration. This project would be individual and all to us to decide how we incorporate abstract bodily movement that is imaginative and innovative.
After the introductory lecture, we had a lab with Emily. This would be exciting because we could try out the different nParticle effects on Maya and experiment with the basics to get a solid idea of how the emitters and controllers work in the scene. I read through the pdf of the week one particle tutorial and experimented around with different sizing, speed and height of particle matter and how it interacted with the environment i.e. cubes and objects. I felt like I got a rough idea of what would entail for the next twelve weeks and the skills I would learn to have.
When setting up the particle emitter I went to the FX menu, chose the nParticle menu and created an emitter. I then made my emitter 'Omni' (particles emit in all directions) and checked the playback speed was set to 'play every frame'. In the emitter tab in the attribute editor, I had my gravity changed to zero so the particles were sporadic and there was no leading force of gravity. Then I made the emitter type directional and set the distance/direction X to 1. I had a passive collider to collide with my particles, which was a cube poly model. This was under nCloth> create passive collider. We could also change the radius, particle shape and colour in the nParticleShape1 tab.
← Preset effect and emmiter for nParticle tutorial.
← Emmiter node which can change the emmiter type (i.e. will be curve, surface, or directional). This make the particles move specifically to the emitter type. We can also change he rate of the emission.
We can also change spread and distance direction in emmiter tab.
← Outliner for nParticle
← Nucleus setting in Attribute Editor.
Gravity settings set to 'zero' to omit particles everywhere (no gravity).
← Link to playblast of nParticles simulation
← Rendered View
Five Motion Visualisations: Week One:
Gremmler, T. (2016). Kung Fu Motion Visualization. Vimeo.com. https://vimeo.com/163153865
Tobias Gremmler is the artist behind a captivating motion visualisation video. The video showcases a wide range of motion-captured body movements, each with a unique set of effects and emotions. Among them, I found 'Velocity Transforms into Matter' particularly fascinating and inspiring. The way the particles of matter trail the body's movement is not only satisfying to watch but also symbolic in conveying the subject's motion.
LABELS, H. (2020, August 8). ENHYPEN (엔하이픈) MANIFESTO : DAY 1 “Foreshadow.” Www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_48aC7yC-I
Enhypen is a Korean Kpop Band. This trailer is animated drawings frame by frame with various colours and tones with the contrast to darkness beside it. This trailer shows how the body moves in creative unbounded ways. We can see in the story the video tells that there are two subjects, a blacked-out figure who is the darkness and the opposite of a colourful subject being chased and having to fight back to live. It is quoted in the commentary "That infinitely deep deep well of a
shadow was the foreshadowing of the things to come", the blacked-out figure is a metaphor for not losing hope and how things can be hard at times but we have to all fight our own battles.
I liked this video as it showed two figures in a simple animated style solely showing emotion through the bodies' emotive actions and interaction with one another. I feel like this could be an emotion I explore and create as an effect in Maya.
BewhY. (2020, December 22). [SweetHome OST] BewhY (비와이) - 나란히 (Side By Side). Www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I6QyhwE-LE
This is an animated music video. This is a thriller-horror theme which was unique and fascinating to watch. I like how the drawings expressed deep emotions that could make the viewer feel on edge and ponder how the story would end. I think that these types of ideas of the different shots of the subject can be analysed and represent a bigger symbolic meaning through its use of body movement and how it expresses fear, worry and anxiety. Seeing how they make their subject show emotion is a great way for me to plan my motion visualisation on paper.
I also like the theme of black and white colours that are simple yet intricately used with sparse colour in suspenseful and important storytelling moments.
Lazer, M. (2016). Major Lazer – Light it Up (feat. Nyla & Fuse ODG) (Music Video Remix) by Method Studios. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2LpOUwca94
This music video by Major Lazer was a popular video when I was in primary school. Remember this video, I realised this was my first encounter of what motion capture was. I personally think the abstract effects used for each model was creative and fun to watch. With different body models to shapes and colour's, the dancing was exciting to watch and get inspired for what effects I could possibly use. I personally like the shatter blocks and particle matter that would get thrown around and fall to the ground. It was intresting seeing the models bodies go from a definite object to intresting shapes and matter that could be unrecognisable to a human but still moved similar to one dancing. This was a great video for ideas and theme.
League of Legends, & NewJeans. (2023, October 4). GODS ft. NewJeans (뉴진스) (Official Music Video) | Worlds 2023 Anthem - League of Legends. Www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3GouGa0noM
This was an animated motion-captured music video. This was great to see the high level of animation and mocap data used to create such quality. I like all the cinematic shots and colour theory used. This type of motion capture was more fighting-style than dancing or sport, but I chose It because of the models used and how traditional mocap was used to make a character. I like the dynamic bodily movement and camera shots that panned around the subject. I believe this helped me evaluate how I'd use the camera in my scene and the colours I focus on using depending on the emotion and theme. This was a good video to get ideas on dynamic poses and camera angles.
Conclusion:
In conclusion I believe I want to focus on a singular subject who is facing their own inner struggles. This will be sjown through the dancing the subject will portray.