Motion Capture

During my time in third year at Uni I've had a lot of experience with motion capture and I've found myself using different softwares like IPI motion capture and OptiTrack. The two different motion capture softwares have been very interesting for me to use but one of the softwares definitely stands out the most and that's the OptiTrack system. This is because it is so much more user friendly and technically it is better than the IPI software because it can track a persons performance clearer and faster than the IPI software can. But the down fall the OptiTrack system is that it cost so much to use and for me it is very hard to get my hands on a version of it.

The only reason I didn't use the OptiTrack system for my extended practice module was because it was booked out when I wanted to use it and by the time I could book it out it would of been too late for me to use it.

However, this has made me determined into experimenting with more motion capture and different ways in which you can use motion capture in animation. I also wanted to recreate my final animation because I feel like I can capture the performance so much better then I originally did. Hopefully I'll be able to as my tutor mat if I can have another go with the OptiTrack system so that I can experiment with it's abilities and expand mine.

As well as motion capture I also want to delve into facial capture to improve on my character animation abilities and I'd like to look into capturing multiple performances. My ideal thing to experiment with would be the Medusa Performance Capture that captures facial movement, but this software is used in industry and was used in films like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Doctor Strange, The Jungle Book and Maleficent. the video below shows how the vfx and motion captures were create for the character Maz Kanata from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Daryl Obert

Daryl Obert is another YouTuber who does tutorials about Maya, however he is different to Mike Hermes because he produces more motion graphic type 3d animations and creates visual effects within Maya. Daryl teaches you more about ncloths, Bifrost, rigging and nParticles hens why I've also been watching the tutorials, it makes my understanding of Maya and its effects clearer. 

He also has this thing on his channel where he makes a playlist and creates videos dedicated to Mondays and called the playlist Maya Mondays. With Darly he has many tutorials on liquid simulations so this really helped me in the Context of Practice module where I created particle and liquid simulations. Looking through his YouTube page he does loads of tutorials that really interest me but some of the things that he uses in the tutorials are pre-built and he doesn't explain how he built them because they are not an essential part of the tutorial, which makes some of the tutorials frustrating due to the fact that you can't follow fully what he id doing. 

Another thing about Darly Obert's YouTube channel is that he uploads his videos quite slowly so he doesn't have as many as Mike Hermes but the videos that he does do are very different from Mikes. Plus his videos are quite up to date with the new technology that's out there which is good because I like to keep up with the latest of technologies. 

There was a couple of videos that he made that really helped me during my time at University especially when doing my dissertation on particle effects in Maya. The videos that he did tutorials on where about the feature Bifrost in Maya which deals with liquid simulations and the videos were all about editing the attributes in the simulation to achieve realistic effects. For example he talks about voxel sizing, density, time scale, droplets and stickiness strengths of the liquid attributes. This was a huge help for me to understand. 

Mike Hermes

Mike Hermes is a YouTuber who creates Maya tutorials for people ranging from beginners to experts. He mainly works in Maya but he does do Maya plug-ins as well, he focuses on modelling, rigging, animation and design. 

I've been going to Mike for many of years now if I have ever wanted help trying to model something that I didn't know how something should be modelled properly. Plus Mike is great at showing you how to place different textures on to the model to make them look more realistic, and he shows you what is the bast way to apply the textures when using different renders. 

His channel is solely devoted to teaching people how to create 3D objects within Maya and in my opinion he is one of the better YouTube tutorial guys that takes to time to fully explain what it is he is doing in his scene. For beginners this guy is great to learn from because he is very detailed in what he it doing and creating, also he takes his time and goes slow. 

He's also made videos on how to animated dynamic bodies and ncloth which is the kind of thing I'm looking for seen as though I'm going into the visual effects and 3D animation industry and need to learn about effect in Maya. One of the tutorials that he's created explains how someone can model a 3D object that can float in water, and me thats already created water effects has found this tutorial quite interesting due to the fact that learning this technique would increase my abilities as a 3D and vfx artist. 

The Mill

The Mill are a multi based company that produce a range of things from VFX, colour, auto, design, animation, interaction, virtual reality, gaming and beauty. The Mills visual effects are a combination their talented artists and their technology with creates inspiring or invisible work, but always unforgettable. Some of their most recognisable work comes from their advertising where they've produced work for Lloyds, Halifax, Virgin Media and audi.

Most of their work comes from advertising and live action with a bit of animation and vfx, however they have worked on feature films dating back from 1997. These films included Gladiator, BLack Hawk Down, Tomb Raider and the first two Harry Potter films.

One piece of their work really stands out to me because I feel like it is one of the best vfx projects within an advert. This project was the Virgin Media advert where they created an action pack spot, depicting the inside of a virgin media fibre-optic wire as an ever-extending tunnel, showcasing the unparalled entertainment waiting for views.

Behind the Scenes: Virgin Media 'Delivering Awesome' from The Mill on Vimeo.

Another good thing about The Mill is that they have so many partnerships with other companies which would mean that they get plenty of workflow coming in and they'll be able to distribute the workload out between different partnerships. As well as this that also have studios in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago so they are not just allocated and restricted to Europe.

They have very much influences me in becoming a vfx artist and I have applied for a couple of jobs at their studio, but unfortunately I haven't heard anything back from them so I might have to try and chase them up on that.

A Large Evil Corporation

A Large Evil Corporation in an award winning animation production company based in the middle of Bath. They do other things like petrochemicals, arms manufacturing and GM Foods but their main focus is on animation, especially advertising. The company produces work at a high standard in CG, mixed media and motion graphics and they place as much character, charm and humour that they can in their projects.

In their most recent work they've used the same aesthetic for the characters from the funko pop figurines, this makes their work more suitable for children and more approachable to a larger range of clients.



This short was created but them with the characters designed by Funko showing off there animation abilities and showing off there connection with Marvel Studios. It's nice to see how effective a simplistic design can create powerful characterful animation, I feel by watching most of the animations done by A Large Evil Corporation this it their aesthetic and way in which to make an animation (but not with the funko style). You can see what I'm talking about in their showreel below.

Axis Animation

Formed in 2000, Axis animation studio is an award winning and international studio filled with directors, artists, animators, writers and producers that create content for the biggest names in video games, film television, commercials and online entertainment. With the work they produce they try and create beyond the clients expectations and get under the projects synopsis to deliver there animations. Doing this they challenge themselves, with there passion of craft, to leave a lasting impression on the work they create.

With Axis Animation they don't care what the brief is or who the client are their creative output has to be engaging, distinctive ans entertaining. Doing this Axis has won numerous industry accolades, including a prestigious Cannon Gold Lions Award, New York Festival Awards, D&AD Nominations, London International Awards, Promax Awards and a Best Animation BAFTA.

They have worked on high end video games such as Halo, Call of Duty, Needs for Speed, Alien Isolation, Dead Island and League of Legends. So you see that they are pretty good when it comes to CG / 3D animation. They have yet to create a virtual reality animation or game but with what they are creating now they seem to be going in the direction of creating one. Axis Animation studio also travel round Europe and England going to festivals showing off there visual effects and giving talks on their projects, as well as giving talks on recruitment and how people can join there team in the industry.

Axis 2016 Animation Reel from axisanimation on Vimeo.

Axis Animation studio is forever growing, they now have made three different studio with distinct goals, strategies and talent bases. Axis Animation original created CG content for video games, commercials and online content, now they have expanded they have another studio called Flaunt that deals with more softer content working with client in entertainment, commercials and broadcast that are more character based and humours. Axis has also created another studio which dedicates its time to VFX they calle this studio Axis-VFX, they deliver cutting edge visual effects for TV and independent feature films.

Motiv Productions

Motiv Productions are a small but perfectly formed team specialising in video production, motion graphics and animation. They produce online promotions, TV commercials, commercial film and case study films where they strive to produce content and experiences that move, excite and empowers the audience. One of their quotes in the studio is that "in a world where everything is a flash in the pan, we intend to create memories".

Motiv Productions are based in Leeds so they are a local studio so this would be a good studio for me to work for. These would be a good studio to start off at because they are small but hard working and they create high quality material in animation and motion graphics which I can both do. They produce a range of animations being 2D or 3D and shoot live action shots with animated material over the top. Also their clients range from Jet 2 Holidays to William Hill to Enterprise Car Club as well as other Colleges and Universities.


Motiv Productions Showreel 2017 from Motiv Productions on Vimeo.

Double Negative

Starting off with just a team of 30 people, Double Negative has become one of the worlds leading visual effects companies around. Through their steady and constant growth Double Negative has always sought to retain both the creative, drive and involvement of its artists through the projects and a close working relationship with the client. They do this to ensure all films, big or small, receive the same quality standards from there services.

They have won Academy and BAFTA awards for films like Inception, Interstellar, Ex Machina, Harry Potter and my favourite Sherlock Holmes. In 2013 saw the launch of Double Negative Film which specifically provided VFX support and investment to British productions, the first being Ron Howard's 'Rush'.

Not only do they do visual effects for films they also have a part of Double Negative for TV shows which has been running for three years now. All TV shows are produced in a way in which a film would be produced and their most recent projects include: Agent Carter, BrainDead, Fungus, Outlander, Mr Selfridge and Death in Paradise. And even more recently they have opened a new department devoted to creating feature animation films that work with IP creators and filmmakers. This division is currently working on its first major animated feature.

As well as this Double Negative has a learning resources page on there website so that other people can learn what they are doing and have help in making it in to the visual effects industry.

Framestore

Framestore is a studio in London where over 1500 artists and producers work to create films, adverts and content. Their skill set is wide ranging due to all the talent and visionaries at Framestore that create award winning craft and relentless creativity with the newest technology to create the best experiences.

Widely known for their visual effects, they have produced historical creations in some of Hollywood's biggest films. They started off in 1986 in Soho, London where their proposition was simple, it was 'use technology to create the most extraordinary images possible'. In 1996 their work on Gulliver's Travels started them off in the world of visual effects due to the audience comparing it to the film Jurassic Park. The quantity of shots, and the complexity of the many effects used to create the unreal worlds proved a giant success for the team.

Their first BAFTA award was for the work they produced on BBCs 'Walking with Dinosaurs' because of the two year work recreating creatures from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous eras. They then moved on to work on Harry Potter, where they created such creatures like Buckbeak, the Basilisk and Dobby the House Elf.

Ever since then they moved on to creating Oscar and BAFTA award winning film like The Golden Compass and Gravity. Then in 2014 they created an incredible immersive experience for the great HBO show 'Game of Thrones' at SXSW Interactive Festival. The team used an Oculus Rift headset and a realtime Unity game engine to create the experience, then shortly after Framestore announced that they are going to open a dedicated VR studio to further experiment and create with the technology.

 
Framestore Showreel from Bootleg London on Vimeo.

Framestore has become so popular because of there work on high end films and abilities to create unreal environments and creatures out of CG and place them into the real world. They focus on creating the newest and best animations and films using the newest technologies, making them one of the best visual effects studios in the world.

Blue Zoo

Blue Zoo is an animation studio down in London which creates short films and adverts best known for their animation for kids on the Nickelodeon channel or on the Disney channel. They are renown for making creatively playful CG character animation for broadcast. Operating since 2001 Blue Zoo are always looking to create animation with the newest of technology whilst maintaining the characteristic appeal of the animation. An example of this is when they produced an animation in virtual reality called Hoodoo, where all the animators had to learn new software and create 360 surroundings for the animation whilst keeping it full of characterful emotion.

I feel like Blue Zoo have gotten to where they are at right now from being innovated, passionate and experimental. I think this because they do things a bit different over at the studio, they let other people have a chance to direct and produce their animations just like with the animation Hoodoo.  
Blue Zoo Animation Showreel 2016 from Blue Zoo on Vimeo.

I find that Blue Zoo being a more CG and 3D based animation studio has increased the amount of success it has had because in todays society we lean more towards animations that look like they're done in reality but are actually produced on a computer. CG and 3D are becoming the norm thing to do when it comes to animation and we seem to be developing better technology so that CG and 3D can allow us to create out of this world animations and imagery. And because Blue Zoo keep up to date with all the new tech and software they can keep producing the high end animations.

Imaginarium

Founded in 2011 by Andy Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish, the Imaginarium is Europe's leading motion capture studio, Using the latest technology and highest standard of execution they create the ultimate next generation of storytelling  within film, TV, video games and digital applications. Based in London, the Imaginarium has brought together some of the best visual effects and performance captures technicians to provide the highest level of character creation and storytelling.



The Imaginarium is developing and producing its own films and TV projects with interactive materials using their unique motion capture. They are aiming their films and TV projects at large international audiences and they are also preparing a slate of TV projects that will bring to life its own creatures and characters, as well as adapting pre-existing stories and character brands.

They have worked on such films as the 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' franchise and the Godzilla films, as well as Andy's performance in Lord of the Rings as the character Gollum.

I'm really interested in this studio because of my recent project that I produced for my final year at University. I created an animation using motion capture however I used two xbox kinects to capture the performance where as this studio used a whole room filed with camera to capture the performance. However, back in the beginning of April I did experiment with a system called OptiTrack whiuch is a motion capture software like the one at Imaginarium. This meant that I got to put on one of them suits with the dots on and do a bit of performing myself. This is when I realised that I want to also make a career out of working with motion capture because of the amazing abilities that can be achieved with the system. Also it's really fun to see real time animation when using motion capture where you can see what your character looks like moving whiles you're still in the suit.

Oliver Winwood

Oliver Winwood is a VFX supervisor over at Motion Picture Company (MPC) who has worked on many films like Harry Potter, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman, Prometheus and many more. He works in Maya and is a 3D / VFX artist and had another job title as technical director at MPC. Oliver works in Houdini with particle simulations and has produced crowd simulations for films such like World War Z.

Oliver started off at Colchester Institute where he studied art and design but specialised in graphics. He then moved onto a place called Escape Studios which is an successful and respected academy with high ties with cutting edge studios around the UK. Moving on to Cinesite Studios afterwards where Oliver was a 3D technical assistant for seven months until he finally landed a job at MPC in 2005 as a data wrangler and then working his way up from there to become a VFX Supervisor.

Back in December 2016 I contacted Oliver so that he could help me with my dissertation about particle effects and simulations. I did this through Linked In first and then moved on to email when I became better acquainted with Oliver. I received loads of help from him about how he creates particle simulations and effects but like I said before he uses Houdini so I couldn't use most of the information he gave me due to the fact that I don't have the software Houdini.

    

Oliver Winwood had the job that I aspire to have when I enter the industry, so seeing what he has produced is a real eye opener to what I have to achieve in my work. The things that I'll need to work on are my particle simulations and dynamic effects so that they come to be equal to Oliver's so that I could get a job doing what I love.

Isite TV

Isite TV are a video production company that produce advert for multiple different companies ranging from washing machine companies to kids toy companies. This company is a small growing business that has earned over three million pounds over the past year alone and are the up and coming CG/video editing company in the UK. Isite TV is located in Colchester in Essex so they are close to the action in London.

Unfortunately, they have not produced any character animation within the studio but I feel with whats going on in the entertainment industry that they won't stay like that for long and will eventually produce some animations that include characters.  

http://isite.solutions/en/portfolio/

They seem to produce CG animations in a way in which it looks quite futuristic and modern, where they use simple but effective techniques like 3D tracking, roto and cleanup. I feel like they have evolved so mush due to the fact that they treat every video as like a mini movie in itself, where they utilise the latest video, audio softwares and use the best technologies as well as a variety of media assets.

 

Jellyfish Animation

Jellyfish animation studio started off as a two man band in 2001, but grew to become a multi award winning animation company that has employed over 150 artist across three different London studios. Jellyfish animations produce high end visual effects and animations for feature films, T.V, long term animations and motion graphics. They also operate and provide a post visualisation service to large companies and features.

As for their T.V team, they have been on the seen for over fifteen years and have produced such shows Black Mirror, Outlanders, Planet Dinosaur and Inside the Human Body. These T.V shows have earned them such awards as BAFTAs, EMMYs and VES.

There work on Black Mirror was an exciting challenge for them because of what they had to produce in the show. Automated drone insects was there project, this was where they had to create thousands of tiny robotic bees with a collective intelligence. They updated classic horror imagery and technology to realise their contemporary dystonia. Their goal was to create realistic moving bees but feature that where ultimately robotic like, this was achieved with in 3d softwares and compositing softwares in 4k resolution.

http://jellyfishpictures.co.uk/

On there site they show a VFX breakdown of how they created the bees and how they imported them into the real world. After watching the Black Mirror episode you get a real feel of how realistic the bees are portrayed, this shows how good the animators and vfx artists are within Jellyfish animation studios are. The bees really give the audience a sense of fear when they start to attack the other characters in the show, just how like a normal person would react when a bee is near them, however the team at Jellyfish upped the fear by making the bees robotic because the bees would explode when they have reached the target.

Particle Effects in Maya

Maya has many different ways in which you can create particle effects but the one that has become my favourite is the one where I can use particles to create the illusion that an object is dissolving away bit by bit. This technique is done by emitting particles from a texture on the object using ramp shaders, now I have explained this in another blog post so I won't explain it again.

This technique has build up my abilities in Maya and has taught me new skill with in the software, this will give me more on an impression when other people look at my work because of the fact that I'm not just an 3D artist who can just do character animation but who also can do effects with in Maya. It's also made me more interested in particle effects and want to explore more in this technique and effect. There has been a book that I've been meaning to get from amazon which is Lee lanier's Creating Visual Effects In Maya, where it goes through how to create Fire, Water, Debris and Destruction. The book has combined the latest studio techniques with  multi-chapter,hands-on project sand professionally-vetted workflows to bolster my CG toolkit.

  I've produced a lot of water effects in Maya but it would be great to learn other particle effects and use the instancer effect to create debris in an efficient way and produce asteroid fields using the dynamics in Maya.

Researching new 3D software: Blender

So seen as through it's my final year at Uni I have decided to dive into a new 3D software because my student subscription to Autodesk Maya will run out at the end of the year and I won't be able to afford another subscription. I've looked into different 3D softwares and I came across Blender which is a free to use 3D software where I can create and do 3D models, VFX, animation, and compositing. Blender is a public project, made by hundreds of people from around the world; by studios and individual artists, professionals and hobbyists, scientists, VFX experts, animators, game artists,modellers, and etc.

Because this is a free software I'll be able to continue producing 3D animations and VFX while building up my skills as an artist. Using Blender will give me the ability to work on different 3D softwares and make me more flexible when it comes to working in industry because I'll be able to adjust easily to new softwares.

Seen as though I'm new to Blender I've been watching many different tutorials online and I've found a great channel on YouTube called Blender Guru who produces videos for beginners and he talks in depth about the software and how to use it. He's done many tutorials and 3D environment design, interior design, lighting, rendering, composition, textures and many more. He's made a full time career out of making tutorials and he attends conferences and festivals about the software Blender, where he's recognised and loved by the community, he's produced books about the software and also works on side projects on short films. So my aim is to be able to create content in Blender as I can in Maya which took me two years to become proficient in, this may take some time but I feel like it won't take me two years because I'm a fast learner and plus when I started in Maya I was my first time with any 3D software so it took some time just working out the interface.

https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewPPrice/featured

ASFF: Industrial Light and Magic

At the beginning of November I decided to go a festival in York called Aesthetica Short Film Festival (ASFF), where one of the most famous VFX studios where giving a masterclass in visual effects and exploring new technology in films. I went because I thought that it would be good research for my dissertation but it turned out that it wasn't because the speaker wasn't VFX supervisor Julian Foddy and so the other person who stepped in from ILM didn't know mush about particle effects in 3D software simulations.

However, there was a lot of talk in motion capture and how they used it in the new Star Wars film 'The Force Awakens' and other films like the ninja turtles film. This was good for me because I am producing my final film for uni using motion capture so I got some great insight into what different softwares I could use for motion capture and which softwares are better at capturing the performance rather than capturing the features.

My favourite part of the talk was when the speaker was explaining how ILM created the motion capture for the character Maz Kanata. ILM used a system called 'Medusa Performance Capture' developed by Disney researchers in Zurich, and how it works in conjunction with an actor's performance to create a seemingly impossible character. The Medusa Performance Capture system consists of a mobile rig of cameras and lighting coupled together with proprietary software that can reconstruct actor's faces in full motion, without using the traditional motion capture dots. The system delivers high resolution 3D faces, with the ability to track individual pores and wrinkles over time, providing very realistic facial geometry that is ideal for creating digital doubles for visual effects and computer games (Medusa.disneyresearch.com).

   

MAF: Blue Zoo Hoodoo

This was not just your typical short animation that you just watch, this animation was a virtual reality experience animation where you place a head set on and emerge yourself into the animation and become part of the animation. With Blue Zoos Hoodoo you can be a part of the animation by interacting with the characters and pick up rocks and other things and throw them around. I found that this was the best experience I've had at MAF because of the interactivity of the animation, plus I got to chat with the co-founder and producer of Blue Zoo Tom Box and the director of the short Catherine Salkeld.

This VR experience was a first for MAF but it won't be the last because VR is becoming more and more popular with the animation industry, and I feel like this won't be the last time Blue Zoo use VR technology in their animations. This animation was simple but effective with a narrator explaining to the audience what's going on and how to play through the animation. The animation uses the story to drive the audience to interact in a way so that the animation can progress without any awkward moments where there is nothing going on. 

Another good thing about this is that Blue Zoo wanted to create new talent within the studio, so they put together a competition to see who can come up with the best story for the VR animation. The winner was a junior storyboard artist and got to direct her fist VR animation. The idea behind this whole project was to push the studio into something that they've never done before, so with the vive head set they were able to create an animation where the audience can move around and interact with the environments.  

MAF: Ful ANL

Full ANL was one of my favourite animations just because of the pure stupidity of the animation. This animation is an epic logo reveal of the partnership between Aardman and New Yorks animation studio Nathan Love. 

I love this animation because it's not serious and just shows off what the two studios can produce together. The sound design as well is great due to the fact that it makes the logo reveal more epic than if it was just a little 5 second ident reveal in front of a short they produced together. Also it makes the partnership more noticeable within the media and it puts an impact and stance on the fact that a new studio is being developed in the animation industry.  

I found it great to watch at MAF because loads of animations there had some sort of strong meaning about society, how the world is changing and all the wrong in people. Whereas this animation was just made to be funny and enjoyable to watch with no other meaning other than two studios coming together. This was a nice relief to watch after hours of watching intense animations.    

MAF: The Fox and The Whale

Going to MAF was a great experience due to the amount of new work people had produced from the past year at MAF. I saw many different animations that inspired me and I will be explaining why but I'm not going in the order in which I watched them at MAF.

To start off with, the animation 'The Fox and The Whale' was a great animation to watch just because of the beauty that is produced in the environments. The short is about a tale of a curious fox who goes in search of an elusive whale, a journey of discovery and longing. The short amazes me because of the 2D digital work which tricks me in to thinking that at some points the short it in 3D, this animation doesn't have much of a story to be honest but I feel that the aesthetic balances this out. It inspired me because for my final year animation at uni I am wanting to produce an animation that focuses on the aesthetic rather than the story, so this animation 'The Fox and The Whale' really shows me how I can do this with it's shot framing and environmental design.

The producer Robin Joseph has worked on many different films in the art department like Inside Out, Rio, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Horton Hears A Who! and many more. However, this short is his first film he's been a Directed, Producer and Writer for, as well as producing the designs, storyboards, backgrounds, 2d animation, VFX, compositing, editing and sound design. So it's fair to say he's put a lot of hard work and time into this film, which drives me to do the same thing with my animations. Not only this, but the animation exhibits how effective the music and sound is when placed with the animation creating a powerful sense of emotion and understanding to the audience.