Performance capture is a type of acting involving body sensors that track movement. Cameras at different angles record the movement in order to create a three-dimensional position of the character. The data is mapped on a digital model in 3D software, like Maya for example, so that the digital character moves like the recorded actor.
Below is a video featuring James Cameron and the performance technology used in Avatar.
"We don't have to necessarily believe that they're 100% photo real and we don't necessarily have to believe that they actually exist--but we do have to believe them as emotional creatures," Cameron says on the Avatars in the film.
I find the head rig most interesting. It's a helmet like structure that fits comfortably on the head, along with a camera that captures the facial expression and performance.
So over the weekend I decided to experiment a little bit by creating my own moving shapes that "bounce" with the music. I'm not exactly sure how much I can write about this, but I'll definitely give it a try.
Making this did take me a little while because I had to try and remember all of the different elements that we used in it. In order to try and make it come out good, I wanted to make two different sets of Treble and Bass. However, I made each respective pair have the same settings for Treble and Bass. I didn't try and make one higher than the other so the bouncing ratio was different. If I wanted to redo it, that's one thing I would change. But anyway. I wanted to try and make each shape be seen by rotating the rectangles as they get larger. So in order to do that I created the 4 rectangles - actually two and then just duplicate that specific layer - and rotated two of them in order to give it that look of more than there actually are. This was done for both Bass and Treble. Once that was done I added a circle to cover up the middle parts so it looked as though the rectangles were coming out of the circle. Once the whole piece was done I had to make some minor changes to the background and the color of the shapes so it was colorful and bright, but that was nothing too major.
Anyway, all in all, I really like doing this specific project. It is always so much fun and I always smile ear to ear when it is all said and done.
This week I'm posting about Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. This is a movie based on a graphic novel and because of that it incorporates a lot of graphic novel and video game elements as effects. I enjoy this movie quite a bit because of these elements and how the effect the look and feel of the movie. There's a lot of effects used to add excitement to the film by making it feel really fast paced and choppy. More importantly I feel like a lot of these effects are totally replicable with the skill set we now have in After Effects. I post a lot about effects like this, by that I mean effects we are able to replicate, but that's because I think it's really cool. Being able to look at a movie like this and say "I could do that" is pretty cool. granted it takes a lot of work to mimic anything like this but with the exception of the flaming sword I think it's all stuff that we've gone over in class. There's a lot of 2D elements layered over the video track, like the "LEVEL UP" graphic and the others like it. Those are things we could make in Photoshop or Illustrator and incorporate into a movie with ease. I just can't believe how cool effects like this are so simple to create. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of time effect to put these things together but it's totally doable with what we know now.
So as most of you probably know, Hayao Miyazaki announced recently that he is officially retiring from the film business. For those of you who don't know, Miyazaki is a renowned animator and film maker. He was the creator of "My Neighbor Totoro", "Howl's Moving Castle", and "Spirited Away" to name a just a few. It is because of this that today I chose to post a scene from "Howl's Moving Castle". I chose this particular clip because there's a lot going on in it. In this scene the interior of the castle is transforming into a small almost cottage-like setting and that process is shown here. Along with that, there's the wind that billows Howl's clothes, and Calcifer, the fire demon's sudden transformation. I think looking at a piece of hand drawn animation is not only an opportunity for admiration, but also to understand where a lot of the techniques we use today came from. Things like tweening and other processes we still use today started with animating in this manor. I'm always impressed by the shear amount of work that goes into something like this, and by how much movement and life these animators can create with 2 dimensional images. Animation like this has amazed me since I was about 6, and Miyazaki was always a prevalent part of that inspiration.
