The view from the Northwest tower was terrific! So many endless posibiltites and ideas filled my head. I felt fairly secure up among the roof tops, as there was a large sturdy looking concrete wall surrounding me, a positive aspect, but then something struck me that was so very obvious that I stupidly had not even thought about, until now. The moat! We would have to make sure that all members of the team are able swimmers and that there are more rubber rings provided. Electrical equiptment would need to be kept as far away from areas of water as possible, and perhaps protective material would be needed to cover particular items.
There is very low lighting in some of the more interesting areas, so I would have to consider where all the electricity points are and what kind of lights would be the safest to use.
Along my travels around bodiam I came across a dimly lit room with a sign stating that bat's are living in certain areas of the castle. This may cause some minor problems, whilst filming at night time. All members of the team would need to be made aware of these flying friends, so as not to cause alarm.
Another thing that bothered me, is that the toilets are located quite far away from the castle ground. We might have to consider providing portable toilets onsite. I think it is ignorant to assume that everybody is healthy , and some may find the bathroom distance distressing if they have a medical condition/problematic bowels or bladder. I feel that it is essential to provide nearby toilets and a cafe or food stall for the comfort of the staff. They will not perform to a high standard if they are left feeling neglected.
With electrical equiptment, it will be important to have all cables tapped down and visable to the eye, always running parallel to the paths, or cables completly covered, to prevent trips and nasty falls.
Friday 25 March 2011
Pre Production Brief
For this topic we have been asked to produce a series of documents, showing knowledge and understanding of the planning that goes in to creating a media product such as a short film, trailer game or animation. As a group we went to Bodiam castle and the Smugglers caves in Hastings, to analyse these places as possible filming locations. We were first asked to produce a RECCE report based on one or both of the locations. I chose Bodiam castle. While I was on site I made quite a few pages of notes as I went along listing all the noticable hazzards and problems that might occur. I used this document to help me write my risk assesment chart. When I was walking towards the castle from the car park, I noticed that the ground was rather uneven in parts and particularly muddy. I felt that Elderly people or those with a disability may find it difficult to pass this area safely. Just as I began to think of ways around this problem, I saw a Natrual trust transportation buggy fly by with several passengers on board. I then noted the possibility of hiring out a couple of these buggies for our project. Other solutions included filming in stable weather conditions, providing protective footware, and placing boards over the muddy areas. As I made my way to the gatehouse I began to feel excited about the prospect of using this location in my project. The gatehouse itself was very atmospheric and reminded me instantly of the temple of time in Zelda, Ocarina of time.
As I climbed the spiral staircases to reach the roof, to survey the view, I felt a little uneasy as the walls seemed to close in on me. I have always been fine with heights, but I do tend to feel quite clausatrophobic at times, and panic when having to use lifts or the underground. I felt that it might be necessary to employ extra staff on location to offer assistance to those who are unsteady on their feet, or scared of heights or enclosed spaces. Perhaps some reflective material could be placed in areas of the corridoor which may help create an illusion of space to help those prone to panic attacks.
As I climbed the spiral staircases to reach the roof, to survey the view, I felt a little uneasy as the walls seemed to close in on me. I have always been fine with heights, but I do tend to feel quite clausatrophobic at times, and panic when having to use lifts or the underground. I felt that it might be necessary to employ extra staff on location to offer assistance to those who are unsteady on their feet, or scared of heights or enclosed spaces. Perhaps some reflective material could be placed in areas of the corridoor which may help create an illusion of space to help those prone to panic attacks.
Monday 7 March 2011
3D Animation
Today we started to look at animation on 3DS Max for the first time. We learnt that the coordinate system must be 100% accurate in animation. To set the frames per second we had to click on the time configuration button.
Here in England we always work in PAL which is 25 frames per second which is the closest to film which is 24fps. In America they use their own variation which is called NTSC, this 29 something frames per second. Not very accurate I know but I cant remember the exact number now. I will find out later and post it on here. We usually need to work with 1X for the speed.
For our first exercise we created simple box shapes and converted them all into editable polys.We moved all of our boxes and observed the results. It is more important then ever to name all your shapes sensibly and uniquely to help with the selection process. It is then easy as pie to use the select by name tab located along the top.
To start animation we turned on the AUTOKEY and a noticable red box and line appeared on the screen. It is also important to check your pivot points aswell. We were shown how to change these if we felt it nessecary. For this we had to go to the Hierachy tab/panel and select Affect pivot only and then move the postion to one that is suitable for your purposes. This panel is also good for grouping objects together. We were told that we must deselect affect pivot only when we had finished moving pivots into position.
With the alignment section you can centre pivots to the middle of the object instantly and automatically.
Next we recorded our motion on the timeline by selecting AUTOKEY.Which I mentioned above, when it is highlighed red, it means it is recording all motion. The key frames are shown with a little green line. You can re-position these keyframes if you like, by clicking and dragging up or down the timeline. These highlight in white when moving them.
With the key toggle button is switched on you can choose to select the next keyframe or previous key frames.
We were also told about the view panel, which in this case must be set to WORLD. Paul also informed us that the GIMBAL + LOCK is a deadly combination. We are to avoid GIMBAL at all costs as this special system locks movement in one direction. The other rotations we learnt were HEADING, PITCH AND BANK.
We then moved on to looking at keyframes, 3DS MAX draws a line between these points and fills in the details itself. There are several types of keyframe.
Straight tangent - A srtaight line, so the object will move equally and maintain the same speed throughtout.
Slow in - key will start at 0 and slowly move forward and speed up
Slow out - Move quickly then slow
Bazier - You can use handles of keyframes and can control curves and bend them yourself.
We then played with the controller panel located to the far left of the timeline, in here you can access all of the keyframe movement lines and change the flow and movement.
Then we looked at parenting objects. You can create a dummy object in the helpers panel.
A dummy object doesnt show in the final render, and will often be referred to as a null object. The dummy can act as a parent (a mummy) and you can link other objects to this mummy (the children) with the link tool, by clicking and dragging the child to the parent. This will allow you to move the parent object around and have the child or children follow. The children can also move around by themselves if they want ( abit like children being rebellious) Paul told us a fasinating story about Johnny and Mummy in the supermarket to illustrate this.
Here in England we always work in PAL which is 25 frames per second which is the closest to film which is 24fps. In America they use their own variation which is called NTSC, this 29 something frames per second. Not very accurate I know but I cant remember the exact number now. I will find out later and post it on here. We usually need to work with 1X for the speed.
For our first exercise we created simple box shapes and converted them all into editable polys.We moved all of our boxes and observed the results. It is more important then ever to name all your shapes sensibly and uniquely to help with the selection process. It is then easy as pie to use the select by name tab located along the top.
To start animation we turned on the AUTOKEY and a noticable red box and line appeared on the screen. It is also important to check your pivot points aswell. We were shown how to change these if we felt it nessecary. For this we had to go to the Hierachy tab/panel and select Affect pivot only and then move the postion to one that is suitable for your purposes. This panel is also good for grouping objects together. We were told that we must deselect affect pivot only when we had finished moving pivots into position.
With the alignment section you can centre pivots to the middle of the object instantly and automatically.
Next we recorded our motion on the timeline by selecting AUTOKEY.Which I mentioned above, when it is highlighed red, it means it is recording all motion. The key frames are shown with a little green line. You can re-position these keyframes if you like, by clicking and dragging up or down the timeline. These highlight in white when moving them.
With the key toggle button is switched on you can choose to select the next keyframe or previous key frames.
We were also told about the view panel, which in this case must be set to WORLD. Paul also informed us that the GIMBAL + LOCK is a deadly combination. We are to avoid GIMBAL at all costs as this special system locks movement in one direction. The other rotations we learnt were HEADING, PITCH AND BANK.
We then moved on to looking at keyframes, 3DS MAX draws a line between these points and fills in the details itself. There are several types of keyframe.
Straight tangent - A srtaight line, so the object will move equally and maintain the same speed throughtout.
Slow in - key will start at 0 and slowly move forward and speed up
Slow out - Move quickly then slow
Bazier - You can use handles of keyframes and can control curves and bend them yourself.
We then played with the controller panel located to the far left of the timeline, in here you can access all of the keyframe movement lines and change the flow and movement.
Then we looked at parenting objects. You can create a dummy object in the helpers panel.
A dummy object doesnt show in the final render, and will often be referred to as a null object. The dummy can act as a parent (a mummy) and you can link other objects to this mummy (the children) with the link tool, by clicking and dragging the child to the parent. This will allow you to move the parent object around and have the child or children follow. The children can also move around by themselves if they want ( abit like children being rebellious) Paul told us a fasinating story about Johnny and Mummy in the supermarket to illustrate this.
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