Final Project (with a few corrections)

My Final Project

I would have liked to insert close ups so that some of the Effects would have been shown off a little better, and I would have like to add a fade to the end of the clip... but time depleted

WATER

I would like to have the character in my final to trigger a fountain to start flowing. I have three ovular basins set up, and as the character activates the fountain, I would like the water to over flow from the top basin downward. As the water reaches the bottom basin, I don't want the water to overflow anymore.
I also want to control the water to some degree: I don't want it to splash from the basins, and I want it to be somewhat heavy so that it flows directly to the next level of the fountain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6sYX8Dmwnw

This is a link to Pixar's One Man Band short on YouTube. In this short film, there is a tall fountain that is in the center of the set. I like how the flow of the fountain is calm and steady. Also, this fountain is similar to the one that I would like to include, because the water flows from a high bowl to a lower bowl without much splash.

The Element of AIR

I've had a difficult time deciding what will demonstrate the power of AIR (because air is invisible). I've considered a small scale tornado, or some vapor emitting from a point. I needed something that fit into a 3ft x 3ft scale approximately.
Then I thought about a cloud. I felt that clouds demonstrate air flow and also could fit into the scene nicely.
So then I needed to consider how this cloud would act. It could be light and fluffy, like a cloud in the sky, or it could be more interactive like dry-ice.
I felt that dry-ice has more potential to show the movement of air; however, I don't want the element of AIR taking on the feel of water, so I have to be careful.
I like the weight and movement of Dry ice, but perhaps it would be effective if I have the substance die off, or dissolve into "thin air". This would separate the substance from feeling like water.

some references that I'm keeping in mind for this substance are: Dry Ice, cigarette smoke (for how the smoke dilutes and dies off), and the color of real and natural clouds. Also, the film How To Train Your Dragon is useful when studying animated smoke. The scene that comes to mind is when the main character (Hiccup) is battling the two headed dragon and one of the two heads spews a green gas. The green gas has a similar weight and consistency as to what I'm looking for.

Dirt and Grass

For the element of Earth, I've been working on making a chunk of dirt with Grass growing out of it. As the character "activates" the power of earth, I want the grass to grow from the dirt, and the dirt to shake. As the dirt shakes, I want the grass to be interactive and shake as a secondary motion.
To make this believable, I'll need to texture the dirt correctly and give the grass just the right amount of bounciness.

I've observed different photographs of dirt and realized that it's moisture really depicts it's consistency. Dry dirt looks more dull and crumbly, while moist dirt has more saturated colors and looks like it would hold together better.
For my project, I'd like more saturated colors, so that means moist dirt would work better for the scene.
I've created a texture for the dirt that has the 2D "mountain" texture as it's color attribute, and a 2D "noise" texture as the bump map. The mountain texture has two colors that you can modify, and so I chose a redish brown, and a yellowish-brown that seem to work.

For the grass I've noticed it's age depicts its springiness. Young grass tends to be more thin and bouncy, while older grass grows thick and more sturdy. Also young grass tends to be a lighter green color, while older grass tends to darken. The dirt that grass grows in also alters its appearance. Because my dirt is well saturated (and rich), I want the grass to appear strong and healthy.
I've decided that most country clubs maintain their grass the best, and so I would like my grass to take on the feel of that which grows on a country club golf course.

Movement

For my final project I want a character to summon the four elements, and so I need to consider how he will move. I would like him to be levitating, so I need to consider how he moves through the air.
The last Airbender also tackles a similar challenge:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7XyGs8xmhs

This is a link to the trailer on YouTube. In the last Airbender, the characters "bend" the elements through martial arts. What I liked about this film was that their motions reflected the element that they were "bending".
Keeping that in mind (their motions reflect the element they are bending), I would like to do something similar.
Inspirations that I can draw from are: martial arts, swimming, gymnastics, and ballet.

I want fire to be direct and sudden like it's being fired from a gun. With the water, I want the character's motion to look like he's moving through water (similar to when you push off a rock under water). With Earth, I want the motion to be sudden and strong. I want the Air to be summoned with much more graceful and elegance. I feel these motions will reflect the consistency of the elements.

Final Project Inspirations

For quite some time, I have been fascinated by the concept of elemental powers such as FIRE, WATER, EARTH, and AIR.

I used to watch Captain Planet. This show was about Mother Nature gifting five individuals with Elemental rings, that, when combined would create a Super Hero. Each individual had only one power, but when the Super Hero Captain Planet was summoned, all of their abilities would be contained within him.

As I went through grade school I became obsessed with Poke'mon. Poke'mon is an abbreviation for Pocket Monsters. The world of Poke'mon contains monsters with Elemental abilities, and humans who train them. Bad Trainers often abuse their poke'mons' abilities, which provided the plot structure for the series. Several Poke'mon battles occur in which case the Poke'mon are instructed by their trainers to use various fight moves based on their elemental abilities.

Growing up, I enjoyed watching these four elements. For my final project in special effects I would like to create a small scene where a character summons these four powers.

IN A STORM

For our midterm project, my group is adding a couple shots into a scene from Pixar’s UP. This particular scene takes place when the main character’s house flies into a storm cloud. Our group is going to need rain, and clouds to create believable shots. Above, are some pictures from the scene.

Similar scenes from other movies that served as useful resources were: the final fight scene at the end of Dream Work’s How to Train Your Dragon which takes place within a huge cloud in the sky, and Paramount’s Stardust. In the movie stardust, there is a pirate ship that flies through the sky (for almost half the film), and the pirates on deck are lightning thieves, so there are some really good references of storm scenes that take place right inside the cloud!

Prince of Egypt Sound FX

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EHP5eVkH6Y&p=B7A7226D23FE2FF1&playnext=1&index=39

This is part 3 (of 3) on the making of Dream Works The Prince of Egypt. They talk about all sorts of effects that they had to composite into the film, and the difficulties they faced. The movie was made in 1998 (approximately), so most of the effects were ground breaking at the time.

In one scene from the film, there are Hundreds of Hopping frogs, pestilent insects, Thousands of interactive locusts, clouds, lighting, and meteors on fire with small explosions as they hit the ground. This is that scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oX-Kcx2BAc

Breaking ground... And other stuff for that matter

When breaking stuff in Maya, I tried to think outside the box as far as references go. I observed paper ripping. I ripped a page of a magazine, a blank white piece of printer paper, and a piece of construction paper. The magazine had the cleanest rip, and the page appeared thin in comparison to the other two pages. The construction paper had a very jagged rip, and different layers within the paper were revealed after the paper was ripped.

Over the summer there was a wall of shale near my friend’s beach house on Lake Erie. I was unable to visit it recently; however, over the summer I use to like throwing the shale at a concrete wall. Without leaving a mark on the concrete, the shale rock would explode into thousands of pieces (depending on the force that I threw it at.) This memory is a useful reference for observing how force and momentum influences how an object will shatter.

Other memories that serve as good references (for shattering objects) are when customers at Vidler’s accidently drop something fragile that breaks upon contact with the floor. (ALL SORTS OF OBJECTS HAVE BEEN BROKEN THIS WAY!)

RAIN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lpoeXpc7dQ&feature=related

Don’t mind the first 13 seconds which is a clip from shrek, but the rest is a clip from the movie Forrest Gump. 2 minutes and 36 seconds into this link Forrest says, “One day it started raining and it didn’t quit for four months.” This is a great scene from the movie, that shows all sorts of rain. The clip includes heavy rain, light rain, and even rain from ALL directions. For the last 5 seconds of the scene, the rain stops suddenly and the sun comes out. The lighting and effect of the scene completely changes.

This clip is really useful as a reference because of its many variances of rain. There are different times of day and different amounts of rain that are useful to study.

Fluid

I love the appearance of fluid effects. When I was younger I used to enjoy dropping food die into water and watching it dilute. The following links are two scenes that really inspire me because of their usage with this effects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGDM5svwFN4 -Dumbledore’s Army from Harry Potter 5 produce Patronus spells. The Patronus spells look like a fluid effect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrVdCkKxty4 –Nightcrawler from the opening scene in X-men 2. Teleportation appears to use a fluid effect.

I really like how fluid appears to trail the animals produced from the Patronus spell in the fifth Harry Potter Film. How the fluid dissolves into the air behind the spell, and how they glow creates a beautiful appearance. Also I like how Nightcrawler from X-men would disappear and reappear. The fluid used with him wasn’t filled with as much motion as the Harry Potter scene but the effect had gave life to his actions.

Fire

I was observing fire and how it looks/works. Based on it's size and temperature it works and appears quite different. A small match of fire flickers and is quite weak, especially when it is moving. The air nearly puts out the flame if a match moves too quickly.
A bonfire is quite different. Once it gets going, a three foot fire crackles and produces quite a bit of heat. It flickers more toward the tips of the flame at a fast pace. When a log is taken from the bonfire, still ablaze, it can continue to burn but becomes weaker the longer it's away from the fire.
Weak fires are more effected by the wind, and also stay closer to their fuel source; For instance, when a log is taken from a bonfire and the fire is strong it will burn about three inches tall, but as it becomes weaker and closer to going out, the fire clings to the wood for dear life, and reduces to less than an inch in height.

CEREAL!

This week I got some golden grams cereal for breakfast. I made sure to pay attention to how the cereal hit the bowl, and how it flowed from the box. As far as bounciness went, the first layer of cereal to hit the bowl fell flat and left the surface a little but for the most part the cereal just stayed where it landed. As it toppled from the carton it seemed to require a couple shakes to actually leave the box. The golden grams appeared to group together due to their shape but not their stickiness. As I poured the milk, the cereal pieces began to float. Then I enjoyed my breakfast.