Learning to Track..

I found the lecture at college hard to follow, it wasnt explained properly. So I decided to do some research into this, and found MatchMover and Toxik - the two programs which came with Maya 2010 would help with tracking.

I then did the tutorials that came WITH the packages, and found it was easier to use then MayaLive on its own. So I've decided it would be sensible to use matchmover,, rather then MayaLive, to save time. Its also mentioned in the brief I believe, Im actually surprised we didnt get taught anything on MatchMover or Toxik. It was MADE for compositing..

I personally installed Maya 2010 because I upgraded my OS for my MacBookPro after getting it back from the applestore its been kind of weird. Some of my fellow students refused to installed Maya 2010 for they've been working on their digital environment project very hard, and didnt want problems involving new sofeware failures and such. However, just the other day, we got told we actually NEEDED maya 2010 and that tracking may crash our systems and stuff, their were many people struggling with tracking on maya 8.5.. probably a bug? if so.. WHY warned the everyone so late into the term? Many people were panicing over this matter.. I feel really bad for them.. =(

The Timing this term has beeen terrible.

Picking a suitable bit of footage...

Initial Idea001 ::
A GIANT DINO in the middle of.. TRANSPORTER
But then I heared loads of people were using a dino in their scenes.. I didnt want to follow the crowd..

Initial Idea002 ::
Dancing moom in the middle of Brown Eyed Girls: abracadabra dance MV.(akoreanmv)
But animating was HELL..

Initial Idea003 : :
The crazy jogging girl in a yellow bruce lee looking outfit in BATTLE ROYALE.
have a bouncing character I model myself; bounce along with her while she jogs.
However, Tracking was apparently overly complicated as I was told during formative.

Initial Idea004 : : BATTLEROYALE
The crazy jogging girl stabs one her horny class mates as the dork repeativly threatens her.
I was thinking of adding a stupid chunky robot sitting behing her watching looking all confused going HUH? then pokes the guy as blood gushes out. *pokepoke*
But this time.. the lighting was complicated.. bcause of the scenes complex outdoor shades.

DURING FORMATIVE:
I was then advised to do an INDOOR scene, since lighting would be much easier to manipulate.
soooOOO....

Initial Idea005 : :
The class room scene in BATTLE ROYALE. Where everyone gets introduced to the motive of the game. I was thinking of having the bouncing character jump in happiness as the teacher explodes in anger, whilst the students fear for their lives. JUST to break the tension =D
But again.. this idea was turned down.. for the dark room.. even if i copied the actual lighting in the room.. steve advised me it wouldnt look good at all..

Initial Idea006 : : THE CAVE scene in BATTLE ROYALE.
Have the cute bouncing character react to its "owners" pain. expressing sadness as it bounces on the side. However, after talking to steve about this.. the lighting would not only be compicated.. but the empty space i wished to put him in was blurred. There was almost nothing to track.

SINCE all the scene i chose in Battle Royale had soOO many problems. I decided to pick a VERY SLOW scene from a drama. A Korean drama, thats the slowest a drama could get! Steve advised for a VERY still scene, almost like a still picture..with a slight pan. soooO I then went on flicking through the episodes and found...

Initial Idea007 : :
In the Drama BoysOverFlowers, there was a typical ending. A gang of friends walk towards the sunset smiling. I was thiking of adding moom to the gang =D
But then I thought.. that was so not challenging.

soooOOO in the end I came up and STUCK to..idea 008! =D

Initial Idea008 : :
Its a scene where two of the guys (best buds) talk other something. As they do, one of them pours a cup of two for the both of them, hands it over to the other guy, then talks whilst looking out of the window.
In this scene, theres a CLEAR patch on the sofa. the camera pans up to da view of the sofa. As the chracter moves towards the window. the bouncing chracter would bounce FROM the sofa TO the ground space behind.

Look forward to the storyboard.. coming soon.. =P

*sigh* new brief

Im uploading all this in one go, since I've been too lazy to blog. Been concentrating on my digital environment project for majority of the term.

Aims of the Unit

• To enable students to supplement possible career specialisms within the animation industry through the development of ancillary skills.
• To enable students to further develop portfolios of work demonstrating advanced proficiency in the specialism of their choice.
• To provide experience of establishing and developing personal project schedules and tracking progress towards project completion.
• To further develop critical awareness within the students of their personal skills, and the ability to generate research strategies for continuing enhancement.

Project Brief

For this project we will be building on your existing animation and compositing skills. You will be introduced to Maya Matchmove camera techniques, lighting, advanced UV editing and modelling and have opportunities to improve your rigging and animation skills. To make it all manageable you will first be introduced to project management and tracking software.

As a side note, all my fellow students all recieved the FULL brief VERY late in the term. We were sent a VERY condensed summery of the brief with no actual criteria, or what we would be assessed on, AFTER the snow weeks. The brief wasnt available on moodle either. Apparently it wasn't, after checking it out for myself, the page was clearly empty. Maybe a small mistake? It might've been put on hidden for a very long time. However, even without a brief, the short summery reflected the same messege as our last project from last term, therefore work was easier to plan out. The only addition would be to create a blog each, a small schedule and a key value to add to the sense of quality;Tracking.