3D Animation Meets 2D in this Amazingly Colorful Music Video

I'm not sure how many people are familiar with Animal Collective, but their music is awesome and they usually have some great videos that go along with their more catchy songs. "Floridada" just came out and it's exactly what anyone would want out of a music video. Weird patterned 3D people having a baby by doing yoga? Check. Epilepsy warning? Check. Amazingly smooth and fun painted 2D animation? Double check.

Who says 2D animation can't marry 3D animation? It just did. In this music video. So enjoy! Get up and dance! And don't forget about that epilepsy warning there are some seriously bright flashing colors in this.

Paste of Love

"Paste of Love" is a great example of syncing up sound and dialog to an animated story. The way in which the lips move on the characters is also creative since they are a toothbrush and squirt of toothpaste.  Ending gives a little bit of a twist, overall thought this was a good job at 3d animation from the University of Applied Sciences in Germany.

An Object At Rest

An Object at Rest is a short animated film I found while looking through Vimeo's collection of animated shorts. On their front page there are some incredible examples of animated shorts including Wire Cutters and Ascension to name a few. An Object at Rest was the one that caught my eye though. A charming little short about how a mountain is worn down over time, the style is almost whimsical, and the tone seems to be cheerful but with some darker undertones. The water color style and pastel colored pallet help aid this style.

I never really understood how vast a resource Vimeo is, but now I think I'll be using it much more in the future.



An Object at Rest

Archer

So the new season of Archer is here and that means more antics from H. Jon Benjamin's character Sterling Archer. Other than the hilarious plot of the show, Archer has a unique style of animation that combines 2D and 3D animation into a show. The backgrounds are 3D whereas the foreground, usually the characters, are 2D.  The scenes in the show where this is most noticeable is in the car chases. The best way to illustrate this is to watch "Archer and Conan's Day Out" above if you haven't already.

La Noria

I'm not sure if you have seen this yet, but if you haven't I highly recommend that you check this out. This film, La Noria, which is currently in the works is an animated horror film in the animation style of 3D CG, its very creepy looking but beautifully animated. It's not being done by a particular animation company which is pretty cool in my opinion. It is the director, Carlos', passion project that he is working on with animators from all around the globe. They do sometimes work together in person, most of the work and meetings are help via Skype. While this film is still a bit of a ways away it is definitely something to keep your eye on.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/la-noria-film#/

Death to All Bees

Death to all Bees was created by Studio Smack and was commissioned by Greenpeace NL. This short clip uses 3D modeling to create the Bees seen in the film and then with the combination with perviously shot stock footage creates a humous PSA about exterminating Bees. If it is not clear why exterminating bees would be humorous it is because with out the bees pollenating plants life would be very difficult. Check it out for yourself down below.

The Peanuts

The Peanuts is an American comic strip that was written and illustrated by Charles M. Shultz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000. The comic eventually grew into a well-known franchise, including famous films, books, and characters. Recently, Blue Sky Studios just released a new Peanuts film, however, the film included a 3D animation world while the old fashion Peanuts lived in a 2D animation world. However, Blue Sky was determined to stay faithful to that world in which it was built on. That meant they had to come up with a technical solution that would ensure the studio that they were consulting with the original comic strip to create the film. Personally, I thought the film was adorable, it had all the classic characters we had come to love, with just a little more flare. It was interesting to see how they took a 2D animation world and created into a 3D animation world, but still had that nostalgia feeling about the story. The Peanuts is such a classic franchise that everyone loves, and the definitely did not disappoint when it came to remaking a new film featuring the world.

Content may be questionable, but techniques are undeniable.

For those of you who don't know, there's a whole unwritten subcategory on Youtube called Youtube Poop videos.  These videos consist of various nonsensical topics that just take random subjects and distort them with audio or video techniques, and some Youtubers go as far to make their own stories with the distorted content.  While some are incredibly easy to make, others take some very advanced techniques, like some of the techniques we're learning in class right now.

One of my favorite kinds of Youtube poop videos involves Michael Rosen, a children's story author who has videos of himself telling the stories.  What makes him great material for Youtube poop videos is that he makes so many funny noises and faces, so some amazing imagery can be concocted.  Some of them are absolutely hilarious, and this one in particular utilizes some notable editing techniques like keying, motion tracking, and even some forms of 3D animation.  Sure the story can be strange and offbeat, but the editing is actually really well done.  There was plenty of effort put into this, unlike a lot of other Youtube Poops on the web.

The Michael Rosen Venture

More on 3D Facial Projection

This is in response to Tracy's blogpost about Lady Gaga's performance at the Grammy's on Monday. I also thought it was super cool and I was all "OMG HOW DID THEY DO THAT?!?", although I wasn't surprised that Lady Gaga partnered with Intel to use technology in her performance. I did some more research on it and I learned that Intel worked with Japanese artist and scientist Nobumichi Asai to create 3D facial projection. It's basically animation on a person's face in real time.

If you look closely in the video Tracy posted, Gaga has these tiny dots on her face. These are used to make a 3D scan of the face; then they create graphics based on the 3D model. Last, they project it on the face, like a mask. Intel is inside each computer and is involved in each part of the process. Asai says that his work wouldn't be possible without Intel.

About his work, Asai says, "I wanted to focus on the expression of [beauty] and [make-up art] instead of technological gimmicks and impacts. But this demands a higher level of technological precision. A subtle mismatch in projection would ruin the effect."

He also uses his work to showcase his Japanese culture, "When I look around nowadays, it is quite rare to see women with traditional Japanese aesthetics. My intention is not to communicate [make-up] as influenced by other cultures, but to express [kesho (Japanese word for make-up)], Japan’s unique set of aesthetic ideals that have been passed on through generations. I feel that conveying this message is important for the traditional and cultural aesthetic ideals of [kesho] to thrive."

This could take performance art to a whole new level. I'm excited to see other artists use this technology in the future.

Pixlpit

This is Youtuber and animator Pixl Pit.       

https://www.youtube.com/user/pixlpit/

I've stumbled upon a few of this guy's animations on Youtube before and I really like them.

Most of the animations I've seen from him have been where he takes the audio from another Youtuber's video and uses it to shape what he makes, while also often adding in some of his own audio to fill gaps. All of his animations on youtube are 3D and made in Maya. In addition to that, he also renders in RedShift and uses After Effects for compositing.

How I Made: Smoke, Space, and Snow! - Pixlpit Tutorials

At 0:43 seconds he zooms out, and you can see that the landscape he's working is actually a "bunch of pancakes." As someone not very familiar with Maya or 3D animation, I found it very fascinating that he was able to construct this environment from a few of simple forms. Furthermore, I liked that he was able to manipulate how it was viewed by changing the zoom and angle of the "camera" (I don't know how this is done specifically in Maya, but in After Effects there are cameras that achieve this). I don't know how helpful the tutorial actually is, but it's cool to watch his process and see how he makes these things.


Here's another video he did using the sound from another Youtuber's video.

The Walking Dead: Learning 3D Cameras in AE

When I was first introduced to the camera and 3D components of After Effects this past summer I watched this animation as a great reference for some of the possibilities that the program allows.

The animation was done by Daniel Kanemoto for the television series The Walking Dead. Kanemoto is also the creator of Ex Mortis Films and has done other interesting animations for well-know names such as Animal Planet and Nickelodeon.

Kanemoto's The Walking Dead opening sequence was done using 2D drawn images placed in 3D dimensional space, (X,Y, and Z axis') where the Camera moves around within this space. The animation is cinematic, clever, and captivating, and it can all be done in After Effects!

Watch The Walking Dead animation here: https://vimeo.com/15266890

You can take a look at Kanemoto's other works here.

Artistic/Creative Thinking and Me

I've never really considered myself good at creative and artistic thinking. I get too bogged down in either why any sort of creative idea that I come up with is either too difficult for me to actually do or too silly for me to seriously consider actually following through on. Conversely, I do consider myself pretty good at learning how to use a particular application with which I could create creative and artistic works, such as Maya and (hopefully) After Effects. The issue then becomes getting those two things to work in tandem, so I don't either have what I consider to be a good idea that's way too difficult for me to actually do or know exactly how to make something, but think that the idea is too stupid and scrap it.

It took me a little while, but in the last class that I took that involved thinking like that (my Maya class), I was able to create some pretty cool stuff when I got my act together. I figured that I'd share one of the only animations that I made there, because I like how it turned out and it could give anyone who hasn't seen Maya before a very small (and very simplistic) glimpse at what can be done in it. The animation is of a toy robot assembly line, because toy robots can be made out of simple polygons and those are easy to work with.

Apparently Quicktime files don't work too well...

Amazing student film done in Maya

https://vimeo.com/152985022

Above is a link to a short film I found today on Vimeo from Jacob Frey.  It was his senior thesis film from the Institute of Animation, Visual Effects and Digital Post-production in Germany.  I just find it to be so amazing that people our age are capable of producing 3D animation that looks this amazing. It's a simple short story, but I would say it could hold it's own against anything Pixar or Dreamworks put out in terms of technical quality.

Bingo (1998 Maya Animation)

I watched this video last semester in my Computer Art and Animation course. I thought of it as soon as I heard we would be learning how to animate in Maya. It was created to demonstrate what one could do with the software in 1998 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bingo_(1998_film).

(Unfortunately, Wikipedia seems to be the only detailed source of information regarding this animation.)

I think this was a great story to tell with animation. The professor who showed this to me
liked to say that animation is an excellent medium to create what's not possible in real life. A good example of this is shown at 0:42. The clown's head begins to grow larger as he yells at our protagonist, creating a much more threatening image. Had this scene been created with real people, it certainly wouldn't have been as fear inducing as it was here. This exaggerated image helps the viewers empathize a bit more with the small man in the chair, by showing us exactly how afraid he is. Not everyone is scared of clowns--even if they're yelling-- but I'm sure anyone would frightened of the giant monster portrayed in the short.

Despite its age, this animation is certainly still a gem and is worth a watch (or two).

Learning 3D in Maya and Max

3D modeling and animation is something that I really wish. We have learned a bit of Maya in class, but I wish we could have taken more time to really go in depth with the program and make more 3D animations using it. But thanks to this class I have scratched the surface of Maya, and I am planning as a personal project to learn as much about it as I can to take my VFX to the next level.

But besides Maya, there is another program that I have been desiring to learn and try: 3Ds Max. Its another program very similar to Maya (they both come from Autodesk). And in some ways, I feel like I know how to use this program, and I haven't even used it yet. 

I think the reason for this bold claim is because I watched this particular mini series on YouTube from BrandonJLA about learning 3Ds Max. Brandon is famous for being the 2nd in command to Freddie Wong on YouTube back in the early 2010s. They post a lot of cool videos that have a lot of VFX and 3D animations. The programs that they use to make their videos are After Effects and 3Ds Max. Both of these programs are very comment among YouTube and Independent filmmakers. But like any 3D program, many have found it intimidating to learn 3Ds Max. So Brandon takes the audience through the program, how to use it, how he learned it, and some of the pitfalls of 3Ds Max.

I've watched this series of videos a few times, and somehow I feel like I really understand 3Ds Max on at least a basic level. But I just find it humorous that I feel like I know it, and yet I haven't even used it yet. But I am planning to very soon. 

The only problem is that 3Ds Max is exclusively on PC. You cannot download it for Mac (unless you dual boot your Mac to run a Windows operating system, but that process can be very annoying). And as a Mac user, thats kind of annoying, especially when Maya can be used on both Mac and PC (which is ironic since both programs come from the same company). But hopefully I can dowload it on my familys PC back home (if the specs are at least the minimum that I need to operate it).

But that is a project that I plan to do over the break: learn more about and practice 3D in 3Ds Max and Maya.

If you want to learn 3Ds Max in the future, I highly recommend watching this mini series from Brandon: 

    

Crafts and Animation

So for my last blog post I found another Parabella commercial for "Belgian National Lottery". This one minute animation tells the story of a snowman who wishes to go somewhere tropical and is transported there by his woodland friends. I adore the cartoonish design of all the animals and the snowman, and the clean detailed layout of the forest. But what's great about this commercial isn't just the video itself...


Belgian National Lottery from Blink on Vimeo.

It's the "How it's made" that came with it!


Belgian Lottery - Making Of from Blink on Vimeo.

I think animation has taught me that it is a large part of our visual consumption. I used to think that it was solely used for cartoons or animation movies, but now see that this skill is applied for commercial bases as well! So many big companies are using animation as a means of telling their story or representing their ideas because, let's face it, there is nothing impossible when it comes to art.

Sky Star Wars Promo

So I was surfing the net, as I am to do from time to time, and I stumbled upon this promo the UK cable service SKY put together to advertise their upcoming star wars marathon.

Besides being the coolest thing I've ever seen, this promo incorporated a lot of the techniques and skills we've learned over the semester, albeit with gorgeous execution.

Aside from the double exposure effects, there are a lot of cool 3D space camera moves, rotoscoping, and even some very slight puppet animation. It's rare to see a piece of content made independently from it's creators that really captures the feel of the original content, butt I believe this promo does an absolutely stunning job. I've watched it about 8 times now and each time I've noticed something new. I really don't have anything else to say regarding this piece. I just thought it did a really awesome of capturing the feel of the Star Wars Franchise! Hope you guys enjoy!

3D Shorts

One Day, I'd really like to make a 3D Short. Wether I have a great story or not, one day, i want to be a part of the creation of something like the video's below:
Some of them are funnier than others, but, I think any of them would have been a wonderful learning experience to gain an Understanding of Animation Workflow, Group Dynamics, and General Roles for creating Animated Stories.

Live Action mixed with Animation

I came across this pretty cool video on Youtube the other day. Typically when watching videos you don't see too often people combine live action and animation because it's not an easy thing to do, but this video does it. The concept itself has no meaning but the actual animation is pretty good! Here's the original video:

After I watched that video, I watched how it was made. That was cooler to me than the actual video. At first the video shows how the film was originally shot compared to how they edited it. I found it interesting that they used a rubrics cube for the cube, but everything else the actor had to just guess the size. After that it goes into detail on how each animation was made. I believe the program that they used was called Blender which is a 3D modeling program. I don't really know anything about it though and why someone would use that over Maya lets say. But there were a few things that they did that we learned in class so that got me excited like tracking. Though I don't know how to do that through Blender, I do know how to use it in After Effects! Here's the video on how the first video was made. I highly suggest watching the whole thing:

Do Ya Thang - Gorillaz

The Gorillaz is arguably one of the best bands to have ever graced my ears since birth. But aside form their music, they are a prime example of transmedia. What started out as a British rock band has transcended into comics, online games, and interactive holographic concerts! But what I want to talk about today is their Style-o (Stylo is one of their popular songs... This is a joke). Many times you'll find a blend of 2D and 3D animation, and practical effects in their music videos which always helps to blend the creepy, disgusting, and fantastical world of Gorillaz. "Do Ya Thang" was a collaboration between them and Andre 3000, to help promote Converse.

The video below is a making of the very same music video. Here you will see snippets of the production process. Everything from the storyboard, dressing the set, blocking the actors, and eventually modeling the band mates. It's interesting to see how paper comes to life not just through a green suit but the detail they put into designing even the skin of all the characters.