Update: July 2013

It's a new month which means it's time for a little update of current projects I'm working on.

From last month's post, I mentioned that I wasn't working on any real big projects and that I would be focusing on working on improving my modeling skills and experiment with other texture maps. Well, that is still the case. For the past month, I've been working on improving my modeling skills and decided to specifically focus on making organic models. For some reason, anything organic gives me a hard time to model. Maybe because the contours are different or something but whatever the reason is, I'm not that good with them. With that in mind, I decided to work on organic models a little bit. I managed to work on two separate, organic models. The first one is called "Fisheye" which is my spin-off take on one of my friend's logo, and the other one is just a random tree.

With the Fisheye model, I also decided to try a different texturing technique called Toon Shader. The shader is suppose to give a 3D Model the illusion of it being a 2D model no matter how you view it. As a result of modeling an organic model and applying a texture I wasn't familiar with, I was able to come up with a model representing my work. Not the greatest as I'm still trying to work on improving my organic modeling and not to mention Toon Shader is completely new to me. However, seeing how I struggle with both areas, I still like the final product I was able to produce.

As for the tree model, it's nothing really special. It's just another attempt on improving organic modeling. For modeling my first tree, it didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would. I wanted to make it look a bit cartoony and I think the texture I applied in the model reflected it. I really think I should've made the tree bark texture a lot darker but at the same time, the lighter color gives it more of a cartoon look.

Both models are available for viewing under the "Current Projects" tab at the top of the page.

I also mentioned that I may have a potential documentary type project last month. Well, that fell through as my friends decided not to attend the event due to the changes the event upheld. As a result, my friends have decided to ask for my assistance in August where there's an event that they do not plan on missing. The subject is basically the same thing as mentioned last post so I won't repeat myself here.

So my projects for this month is going to be similar to last month. I'm going to continue improving my modeling skills and experiment with different texturing techniques as I go along. I may move away from organic modeling for a little bit since I've kinda had enough of it for the time being. There is a revolver reference image I have that has my attention so I may model that for this month's project.

One last thing before I end this post, I've decided to put in a Gallery page to put various models I've done using AutoDesk Maya. Figured it'll be the best way for people to give me critiques that way and check out some of the works I've done.

That's it for this monthly update. I'll continue to post a monthly update for my projects. As always, feel free to critique my work, good or bad. It really helps me in my work. Also, go ahead and check out my "Current Projects" tab. It'll contain everything I'm currently working on. Until then, have a good one.

Update June 2013

It's been awhile since I've updated my blog. Been a little busy with things after graduating from the University of Utah with a Bachelor's Degree in Film and Media Arts. I guess I have a paper that says I'm not a complete idiot in the field of study. Anyways, I'll try to be better at posting monthly updates about any media related projects that I'm currently or will be doing.

For starters, I'm not doing any major projects at the moment. Instead, I've been trying to improve my 3D modeling skill set. I've been doing a lot of Environment and Props modeling over the past month, an area where I'm comfortable with but doesn't hurt to improve on. I have expanded my knowledge in the area of texture mapping by using other different maps that I've never used before such as Specular Maps. I plan on creating a gallery for these models just to show what I've done but that's just an idea for the time being.

I may have a potential project coming up this month that involves helping two of my best friends shoot a video that they would like to post on a blog that they are planning on creating. They plan on creating a blog that focuses on the Culture of CosPlay and they have asked me if I would be willing to help them do any of their videos. The potential video project that I might be doing for them is an interview/documentary video at a CosPlay event that takes place during the middle of the month. We are still in the negotiation process so nothing is solid as of yet and there may not be a video project for them this month but if they do go through with creating their blog, I may have some potential projects coming up.

Anyways, that pretty much covers up what is going on for this month for me. If anything else comes up, I'll definitely make a post about it.

Robot #7 Dance - Jabbawockeez

Robot #7 Dance - Jabbawockeez is my Senior Animation Project. It's basically using the same robot character model from my previous project with Kelly Root. In this animation, it acts as somewhat of a spin-off where you just see the robot dancing.

You can watch the original animation where the robot character was involved here.

I want to first give credit to Kelly Root for the design of the model. Since the model was his creation, it would be inappropriate if I didn't give the proper credit where it's due.

My main focus for this animation short is to focus more on the animation aspect. This is my 4th animation project ever using AutoDesk Maya so I'm still relatively new to the capabilities of the program. Out of all the developmental stages of creating an animation with Maya, my weakest area by far is animating. As shown in my previous animation, the scenes where I worked on where extremely weak, especially compared to Kelly's animation. I really wanted to improve on this aspect so I made it my focus on this animation, taking everything I learned from Kelly last project and other resources and put them together to see what I can do.

The setting and other objects in this animation are relatively simple and nothing complicated. They're all very simple objects to make and since the camera will not move, I didn't feel like it needed any more than what's been occupied already. The lighting is unrealistic. Again, the main focus on this animation is the animating and everything else isn't the main focus.

The choreography I used as a reference is a performance done by Jabbawockeez in America's Best Dance Crew Charity Event. The soundtrack I used is from the same performance as well. Because it's a live event, the soundtrack has cheering and applause from the audience in it. I never got around to try and filter it out. Also, the soundtrack used abruptly ends at a certain point so the ending of the animation seems really sudden. By the time I realized this, the project was near its due date so there wasn't much I can do about it.

This animation took about 4 months to complete. Pretty much the expected time frame given my schedule that includes work and homework from other classes. I didn't run into many problems this time around with the program itself. The only real problems I've run into during this project is mostly from the creative standpoint. I didn't entirely want to copy the entire choreograph by the Jabbawockeez so at certain points, I had to put in some of my own choreograph in. Also, I tried to include the animation principle, exaggeration, so incorporating my own choreograph into it gave me a chance to play around and come up with something that fits under that principle. I had some timing issues, mostly the ease-in and ease-outs so there are some areas that could definitely use some of that. The rig built for the robot is limited in some areas so there were some parts where I had to really improvise to get the result that I wanted.

Overall, I really love this project. By far, I think this is the best project I've been able to produce. Watching this after watching my previous projects with Maya, I can honestly say that I've improved with each project I do. I'm still learning the art of animation and I want to continue to improve in that field. For now, I'm particularly proud of this animation.

This project was shown at University of Utah's Animation Screening, part of University of Utah's annual EAE Week on April 24, 2013. A video link for this animation can be found under the "Completed Projects" tab at the very top.

Demo Reel Posted

Technically, it's not much of a demo reel. I really don't have much to show. The video is basically just showing my Robot #7's Dance video. All my previous Maya work weren't too great so I didn't make a formal demo reel. I figured since Robot #7's Dance is the best animating project I've done up to this point, it's best to just show the best I've got. Of course, the demo reel will change once I do more quality projects and such but for now, this is all I have to really show off.

Robot #7's Dance Completed

After 4 months of hard work and stress, my Senior Animation Project, Robot #7's Dance, is finally completed. For details about the project, just visit the "Current Project" tab at the top of the page. For the video of the animation, please visit the "Completed Projects" tab and click on the video link. It should take you to YouTube where it is uploaded. Would upload it here but for some reason, I can't seem to upload any sort of video here on blogger.

There is a warning I want to say concerning the video. The soundtrack that I used for the project abruptly ends so the ending seems a bit rushed. There's nothing I could do about it since by the time I realized it, my project was very close to the due date.

I am particularly happy how this project turned out and I'm also very proud of what I've done in this project. My goal when I started this project was to improve on my animation and comparing this with my previous Maya projects, I've done exactly that and I've come a long way. I'm still learning animation so I am nowhere near where I want to be. However, I am improving and hopefully, I can continue to do that.

Anyways, enough of my babbling. Hope everyone enjoys the animation. As always, any type of critic/suggestions/feedback are welcomed. Also, if anyone has any ideas or suggestions on an animation, feel free to pitch me the idea. I do need a new project and I'm open to anything. Until the next project, please enjoy Robot #7's Dance!!!

Blog is Now Fully Ready!!!

It's taken awhile but finally, my blog is virtually ready for show. I've finally uploaded all my project on my YouTube account and I've created a link for each of them to the video here on my blog. I've also made a post for everyone of my projects describing the details of each project I've done. They seem like essays or maybe because I like to babble a lot so they may seem a bit long and unprofessional but I figured it doesn't hurt if I go into detail on certain things. The only thing that I haven't done is upload a demo reel for my page. Reason being is because I'll most likely use my current project as my main feature on the demo reel as it is probably the strongest showing of animation I've done to this point. After all, this blog acts as my online portfolio.

Now I want to take this time to make a quick update on my current project, Robot #7 Dance. The project is entering it's final phase of it's development. Right now, I'm currently fine tuning my animation and rendering at the same time. The animation is about 2600 frames or equivalent to about 1 minute 50 seconds so there's a lot to render. I've been working on this project for nearly four months now but balancing school and work will do that to ya so it's nothing really new on my part. Either way, it's entering its final stages so it won't be long now until it's finally completed. If I get done in time, it may even be screened during the University of Utah's Annual Machinimafest. If that's the case, I won't make a link to the final product until after the event mainly because I feel like I owe it to my university to have it show my product first before I show it to everyone else. I'll make another post when the project is completed so everyone can check it out if they want to.

Robot #7 Dance is coming soon in Late April - Early May so stay tuned!!!

A Boy and His Robot

This was my third project using AutoDesk Maya and for this project, a fellow classmate, Kelly Root, who was also in my two previous animation classes, and I decided to team up and make an animation short together. The concept was pitched by Kelly and I really enjoyed it after hearing it from him. It sounded like a very fun project and creative idea.

First off, Kelly has had way more experience than I have when it comes to animating in Maya. Apparently, he's worked with Maya well before he even took the beginning animation course that I took at the same time as my very first Maya experience. His experience showed with the two quality pieces he produced during the two previous semesters we were classmates. I was glad I get to team up with him because I know I would be able to learn a lot from him outside the classroom setting. I'm not saying my professor isn't good at teaching the materials but sometimes, it's a lot better learning from your peers because they're not restricted to the criteria of the class.

For the division of work, we agreed that each of us will have a part in each phase of the developmental process of the animation, from pre-production to post-production. This way, we agreed that if we particular struggle with an area, the other would be there to help and give advice but not to the part where the one struggling doesn't do anything in that area and don't learn anything from the struggles. The only real noticeable division of work between us is that during the modeling process, I did the majority of the environmental modeling and sets & props while Kelly modeled and rigged the two character models. The reason for this division of work during the modeling phase was because I was more comfortable modeling the setting than I am with characters. Also, I struggled a lot with the rigging process during my last project, Tigerade, that I didn't feel comfortable doing it and potential set us significantly back from our schedule. Other than that, we split the work evenly between the two of us through each phase of the development.

During this partnership, I learned a great deal from Kelly, as expected. I learned how to improve my modeling techniques significantly, especially the UV mapping. The most important things I've learned from Kelly is definitely from the animation department. As I have struggled with that area during Tigerade, it was really important to me learn what I can on animating and applying it. I still struggled with some animation as shown in the animation compared to Kelly's portion but looking at the animation done in this animation compared to my previous one, I've made a lot of progress. Still not great with it but at least I'm getting better and improving which is a good sign.

The story for this animation is that a boy genius tries to create a robot that mimics the boy's movements. This is done so through a pair of gloves that the boy wears to control the robot and the robot responds by mimicking the boys movements. Throughout the animation, the boy has trouble calibrating the robot to follow his movements exactly. With all the calibrations the boy has made, the robot eventually began moving on its own free will and eventually escapes from its creator.

This project was the most productive one I've done mainly because of everything I've learned from the more experienced Kelly. I was able to take what I already know and the teachings of Kelly and apply it to this animation. I'm still struggling in the animation department but I like to think I've significantly improved compared to what I've done in Tigerade. The end result of the animation was fantastic and I was happy about how it turned out.

Fatality

This was the first film project for my Film Production class. Technically, part of this short came from an earlier, smaller assignment in the class. All I did was take that assignment and added on to it. Anyways, for this assignment, we were to create whatever we felt like doing as long as it didn't have any synced sound. We weren't allowed to have any dialogue or background noises that was in synced with the scene during the recording. All sound must be done outside the confines of the scenes.

I want to give thanks to my two friends, Parker Haws and Austin Johnson, for helping me out by being my actors for this project. Parker and Austin doesn't have any formal acting experience but I think they did alright for virtually their first time acting as well as what I wanted for the project. All shots were done at Parker's house with natural lighting. The option of checking out lights from the university's film department was available but since I hardly know a thing about lighting on set, I rather use natural lighting than potentially make it look completely weird and unnatural with the lights. Besides, there was barely enough room at Parker's place to shoot the scenes. There wouldn't be enough room to add more equipment to the place even if I did want to play with the lighting equipment.

The concept of the story came from a smaller, earlier assignment as mentioned before. For that assignment, the class were to draw three random cards from three separate jars, one jar contains cards representing a place, one an item, and one with a person. With the three cards drawn, we were to create a one-minute video based on the cards drawn. For me, I drew out A Warehouse, A Balloon, and A Drug Dealer. We were also given the opportunity to change only one of the cards drawn to anything we want if it doesn't work out in the long run. Since there are no warehouses anywhere near where I live, that's the one thing I changed. Unfortunately, there isn't really anywhere that was "shady" in my neighborhood either to fit the Drug Dealer card I drew so I ended up doing it at Parker's house. In the end, I think the setting worked out mainly because it somewhat adds to the comedic factor but also my thinking was a drug deal could happen anywhere, even in a normal looking house. This smaller assignment was only one-minute long so there rest was shot on location and added on at a completely different time.

As for the story, it's basically a comedic approach to a drug purchase gone wrong. The balloon prop was used as the "drug" sold by the drug dealer. To attempt to make it a little more amusing, I had Austin, the customer, buy the drug of Parker, the drug dealer, with Monopoly money. During the confrontation, I thought it would be fun to do a fighting scene and top that off with a Mortal Kombat Fatality spoof.

For my very first film project ever and being a director, it was a lot of fun. Maybe because it was due to the fact that I was working with two good friends of mine. It made it enjoyable and there was a lot of fun moments between us during the shoot. For example, the fight scene took a whole lot of time to get right mainly because they would mess it up somewhere along the choreography I came up with. It was quite hilarious watching them do that scene. I probably had enough footage to make a blooper reel if needed. Parker's little sister who's just a couple of years younger than Parker probably enjoyed watching his brother fail. Anyways, it was a fun project to do and I'm happy with the end result for my very first attempt in making a video short from the beginning to end.

Tigerade

This was my second Maya project. For this project, the main focus for this assignment is character rigging and animation. As the semester progressed, my class learned about how to create a rig for a character and then using the rig we designed for our characters, animate it. There are no other specific criteria for this project.

The modeling process wasn't that hard. Then again, I didn't model a very complicated character. I wanted to keep it simple since the focus was rigging and animation for this course anyways. I figured if I focus too much on the modeling, I may miss something and fall behind with what I was suppose to learn during the semester.

I was glad I thought that way because creating a rig for the character was quite overwhelming. There are a lot of details to pay attention to especially when it comes to constraints of a particular joints. There is a lot of information just for rigging that it's can completely be it's own class. The stuff learned during the semester about rigging was kinda rushed due to the fact that we had to learn everything during a semester so some information I gathered were a little confusing to the point where I just got lost. Overall, I got the basics of rigging but what really gets me is the different constraints applied to specific joints. I was able to create a reasonable rig for my simple character but not without a lot of confusion and hours trying to figure things out.

Originally, I wanted to animate my character to do some crazy, complicated dunk to make animation the forefront of the entire animation short. However, I spent too much time figuring and creating the rig for my character that I fell behind my original schedule so I had to make some adjustments to my original story. Instead of doing a complicated dunk, I changed it to where there are just simple animations, but a lot of it during the course of the animation. I don't have a background in the animation due to the fact I wanted to make it seem like one of those commercials where you see the entire basketball court but hardly anything beyond that. I guess I could've done more to it then what I have in it but I was falling behind and I just didn't have the time for it.

As for the story or the concept of this animation, it's basically a commercial spoof or parody of the Gatorade and Red Bull commercials I've seen on TV. It's more towards the Red Bull commercials with their trademark quote "Red Bull, it gives you wings." I needed a fictional product name and since I play a lot of basketball and drink Gatorade, I used that as a base and created Tigerade. With a product name, all I needed was a catch phrase so I used Red Bull's quote as a base and came up with "Tigerade, it gives you MAD hops." From there, I just needed to create something to center around that quote. Instead of making it boring where I could have a character who couldn't jump but after drinking the product, it can finally jump higher, I changed it up a little bit. I went with more of a comedic approach which I applied in the animation.

This was probably the most difficult project I've done mainly due to the huge amount of information given in such a short time about rigging and animating. It was a lot to take it and I wasn't able to fully absorb all that information. I wasn't exactly happy how my animation turned out but that's due to the fact I struggled during the semester to process information given so I have no one else to blame but myself. The way I see this animation is a piece that measures my progress of where I was at in the area of rigging and animation at that time and would go back and see this piece to see how far I've gone in future animation projects.

Practice Makes Perfect

This project was done in my Introduction to Animation class. For this project, we were to make a 2D animation of our choosing. The only requirement was that everything was to be edited using Adobe After Effects to generate our final product. My choice was to go with traditional animation where you draw the movements and such on separate pages.

I'm not particularly a great artist but I thought to experience animation, I should experience animation, which I believe, in it's earliest form and that's frame by frame drawings. I didn't have the drawing board with the begs for this assignment so I had to draw everything out as close as I can to the page before. I basically just used basic tracing paper that you can get from your local art store. Nothing too fancy or complicated.

The drawing process took quite a bit of time. I had to draw quite a bit more than I thought I needed. Once everything was drawn out, I scanned every image I had and then used Adobe Photoshop to crop, resize, and some image tweaking to make the pencil drawings more clear. After that, it was import everything into After Effects and start rearranging the files and produce the animation I wanted.

I also want to give a special thanks to my friend, Drew Bingham, for helping me out with the project. During this assignment, I didn't have my Adobe Suite on my computer as I had lost my copy of it so until I could get a new copy, Drew was kind enough to allow me use his computer for this project. I definitely felt bad for bothering him during the project but I live quite a ways from my university so I had to do what was best for the situation I was in. On top of letting me use his computer, he also helped me out doing some of the Photoshop work as well, which I'm really grateful for. He's an undergraduate graphic designer at Weber State University so if he had something to say about Photoshop, I wasn't going to argue with him and listen.

It isn't the greatest animation but it was still a fun one for me to experience traditional animation at its earliest form. I can say that it's probably the most difficult thing to do. It makes me realize just how much we take technology for granted and also just how far animation has evolved.

Sweet Bakery

This was my very first ever, 3D computer animation project. This project was created for my first semester of computer animation. For this project, we were to pick a painting of your choice and make models as close to the original painting as possible. Once all the modeling is completed, we were to do some simple animation with the models to make an animation short.

Since this was my very first exposure to AutoDesk Maya, everything about this project was produced based on the knowledge I've gathered from the class lectures throughout the semester. My professor would lecture about the basics of Maya and after every week, we had a small assignment that relates to all the materials she lectured during that week. In doing so, my knowledge of the program grew every week and was able to put that to use for this project. The end result of this animation is based on what I learned throughout the entire semester so it's not the best animation ever but it was the best I could do with what I know.

Obviously with no experience with any sort of 3D animation, the learning process was probably the most difficult thing about this project. Learning about the Maya program wasn't bad but there were a lot of stuff that could get overwhelming had I not taken notes or paid attention during the lectures. The weekly assignments based on the lectures was a great measuring stick for my progress as it gives me an idea of how well I know the material based on the score I receive on the particular assignment.

By the end of this project, I pretty much got the basics about the modeling process. I did struggle with the texturing section, however. It was completely new to me and some of the stuff about texturing I didn't get the hang of such as laying out a models UV or applying Bump Maps to a model. I didn't have that much trouble with the Photoshop portion where I had to edit and/or create my own textures. It's just the whole UV mapping that really got me and to be honest, at the end of the semester, I was still struggling to understand it entirely. I think that weakness showed in this animation. In the end, I did what I could with my knowledge of the material and make it work with what I wanted to do overall.

All the music and sounds were from a program called GarageBand that the film department of my university offered. There weren't any restricted criteria when it came to incorporating music with the animation so I tried to find sounds that would fit the mood I was attempting to create in my animation. In the end, I got what I wanted and more from the music and sound effects and I think it fit really well with the fun, joyous nature mood.

It was a great experience learning about 3D animation and animating in Maya. It made me want to continue my education in animation so by the end of the semester, I had planned on continuing with the animation courses provided at my university. I didn't hesitate signing up for the second portion of Computer Animation class offered during the following semester.  It was because of this class that I decided to get into the animation business.

Tae Do (Part 2)

For this project, my friend Quinn Seal asked me to help him make a video based off of a Korean MadTV under the same name as this post's title for his Korean class. The "Part 2" part of the title is really just for comedic reasons. There really isn't a Part 1, at least that I know of. Basically, it's just a parody of Korean drama where everything is exaggerated. The most noticeable exaggeration are the English subtitles. Quinn and his group members wanted to do the same thing as the Korean MadTV version but with changes to prevent any sort of trouble or issues, even if it's for educational purposes.

The time given to me for this project was extremely short. I was given about a week's time to do everything from shooting on location to post-production. I was also doing an animation for my animation class at the same time so my time constraint was made even shorter to balance the two projects. The camera used for this video was all shot with a point-and-shoot camera. All dialogue was recorded through the mic built into the same camera. In other words, it was an extremely low budget video.

With the time constraints given, the shoot took approximately two days to shoot everything needed. Because it was shot on two separate days, the place we shot at was a bit inconsistent. There were some changes between the two days at the same place but it's subtle enough to where it's not entirely noticeable unless you really look. Post-production took approximately three more days to put everything together and incorporate the soundtracks Quinn gave me to be played at certain parts as well as adding my own soundtrack for the "Showdown" scene and sound effects. In a short five days time span, I was able to produce this video. Even though it's a low-quality, low-budget video, I'm still happy about how it turned out, especially with the time constraint given.

As for working with Quinn and his group, it was a lot of fun. I had to quickly figure out what they wanted for this video because I was asked to do this project on short notice. Quinn provided me with the reference video so after watching it, I got the general idea of what they wanted and I was able to create a shot list for the shoot. Quinn and his group members don't have strong acting experience but they knew what they wanted and whats needs to be done. They all knew their characters' parts and how they should act in each scene. All of this made my directing job a whole lot easier. The only trouble I really had was that someone had to tell me when to cut the camera. I don't speak Korean so I don't know when their done with their line or not.

It was also very amusing because of Julia. Julia is one of those people who just can't stop smiling and/or laughing. It was a real struggle for her to try to be serious for her character. I swear we had to do multiple takes on her because she just wouldn't stop smiling or laughing. It got to the point where we all just kinda gave up and try to use whatever shots we had of her to hide her smiles/laughs in post-production. There are some scenes where it's impossible to do so but in a way, it makes the parody a bit more entertaining since the entire thing is suppose to be comedic anyways.

Overall, it was a very fun project to do even though I was already in the middle of another one. I'm still impressed I was able to produce a decent video in such a short period of time. It felt good for me and the fact that Quinn and his group members got a good grade because of what we made. This video is the first video I've ever shot outside of my school classes and during my own time. I really enjoyed the experience of helping out a good friend of mine do a project as well as take what I've learned in class and apply it outside the classroom with what was given to me.

The Making of a Machinima Video

This is the second project done for my Film Production class. For this project, the required criteria are it had to be a documentary, synched sound was not allowed, and I was not to be on camera in my own video. All interview answers from the interviewee were to be recorded but cannot be shown on screen talking.

At the time this project was assigned, I was already involved in the final Machinima project for my Machinima class. I figured I would make a documentary on my group for the Machinima project to kill two birds with one stone. I guess in a way, I was a bit lazy but there weren't any rules against it and do two projects at the same time during the semester was a lot of work. I just did what I could to minimize the workload but also do a good enough job to meet the requirements of the assignment.

Originally, I was going to do all the camera work. However, mid-way through the camera shoot, I had to step out to take care of something with the Film Department. Some of the members of my Machinima group were not going to be there by the time I finish so while I was gone, I asked Andrea to take over for me. Unfortunately, she failed to use the tripod that was provided so the majority of the shots that she took were all shaky. I wasn't happy about it but with the time constraint from both projects, I didn't have a choice but to deal with what I got.

The questions being asked are pretty general. Basically all I asked was what their major was and some of the experiences they've had while working on a Machinima project. I used a lavaliere mic provided by the Film Department to record their answers so it was very clean and clear. Everything went smoothly and I didn't really run into any troubles other than trying to steady the shots Andrea made during post-production. Wasn't very successful for the most part on that problem.

At the end of the documentary, I thought it would be great to at least put a finished product of a Machinima video to really give an idea what is being created. With that in mind, I used "The Brake-Up," my second Machinima project, as the example. At that time, my Machinima group was making "Daunting Inferno" but it was in the process of making it and I wanted a finished product so I went with "The Brake-Up" instead.

Overall, it was still a fun experience. It was my first time doing anything like this so it was definitely a learning experience and at the same time have fun with it. My Machinima group were great and were good sports about it too. Most of the people in the group were a bit camera shy and weren't too comfortable with the idea of a camera taping them but I did my best to make them feel like the camera wasn't there like making jokes and such.

Daunting Inferno

For the final machinima project, I was once again teamed up with the two Film students from my previous project and two new CS students. These CS students too know the programs so the group was evenly split once again.

The story for this project was pitched by one of my Film major partners. It was actually, a last-minute idea that he came up with just before pitch ideas were due for the class. Turned out to be a decent idea. His philosophy was that what we were going to be doing would be easy on us because we didn't have to do anything too complicated and would limit some of the frustrations that we've had throughout the semester with the programs we use.

The division of work was broken down based on the settings where the animation takes place. I was assigned with all the scenes where the main character talks to the camera. The work load for me wasn't to bad as all I had to worry about was lip-syncing and facial movements. Too bad the lip-syncing portion of the work didn't turn out very well again. The timing isn't right at all. I began to think that maybe the program just doesn't like me at all. That was until the rest of the group was having the same problem. In the end, we did our best and try to weather the storm.

While working on this project, I was also working on a documentary film for my Film Production class. I figure this was an opportunity to kill to birds with one stone: Do a documentary about the making of a machinima video while working on a machinima project. For details on this documentary project, click here.

This is animation is a documentary-type short where a guy tells about his burden having born with powers. Having powers isn't always the best thing and sometimes, it's just a burden as is the case with the main character. His powers is a burden to him as people spontaneously combust if anyone is near him. By the end of the animation, he finally finds a path that his powers are no longer a burden to him.

Despite all the sound and lip-syncing problems with this project, the project was shown at the annual University of Utah's Machinima Fest. This event is a host to projects done by students and are shown off to all that attends the event. The works are based on digital entertainment done by students such as animation shorts, such as the ones I was a part off throughout the Machinima class, and student-made video games. It was a special moment for me to see something that I was a part of to be shown on the big screen for large audiences to see.

The Brake-Up

For the second of three machinima project, I was paired up with four new members. Two of them were Computer Science majors and the other two were Film majors like me. It was a pretty good split between majors and would come in handy throughout the partnership.

I was really excited to be working on this project once I heard the pitch for the story. It was really creative and was the only one that really caught my interest. Once the group was created, my two fellow film majors and myself quickly put together a storyboard and showed it to the two CS students. They liked what we planned out and our group quickly got off to a good start.

With an almost even split between the Film and Computer Science majors, we were able to really work well together as we each shared ideas in the field that we're familiar with and help each other out at the same time. For example, the CS students were able to get used to the software we were using so they were a huge help whenever I had trouble with the program and such. In exchange, the film students were able to give them an idea what looks good in a particular scene, what kind of reactions would the character have in a certain situation, and other film related contents. This collaboration was both effective and knowledgeable.

For the division of work, it was divided up between us based on the comfort level with the software. We were each assigned scenes that we are able to complete based on the knowledge of the program as well as the difficulty of what is being animated. For example, the CS students were able to do a scene where the camera is in first-person, giving the illusion you were in the shoes of the main character. I had absolutely no idea how to do that. To be honest, I didn't even know you could do that. Anyways, the work load was divided up equally and the end product turned out pretty good.

Sound and lip-synching worked out pretty well this time around. I honestly think we got lucky because the program was actually cooperative during the lip-synching portion. I was, unfortunately, tasked to be a voice of a character. Not a fan of having my voice recorded.

Personally, it was still a nightmare working with the program. Still randomly does stuff you don't want it to and all other irritating stuff. I was really grateful the two CS students in my group knew the programs because I kept running into a lot of errors during the entire project. The product turned out great but not without a lot of swearing on my part...

Some Modifications and an Official Logo

So here I thought I would be able to use this blog as something where I could put all my work here but whether it's the computer I'm using or what, it's having a hard time uploading any of my videos. With that complication, I decided to change things a little and a little rearranging. Instead of posting every video for my project, I may just make a blog for each of my project and have an external link to where you can watch the video on my YouTube account. I'll also add a link to a post for each project where it'll go into detail for the creation of the project and such. These list of completed projects will be under the "Completed Projects" tab up top. Original I know. I've also made a page for "Current Project" where the page gives a description and a breakdown on the current project that I'm working on. If you're interested in what I'm working on, feel free to check out that page for up-to-date information about the project. Here's a screenshot to promote the current project:

Now I want to take to take the time, I'm proud to present my official "Asian One Productions" logo I will be using for my creations. I want to give a big, special thanks to my awesome friend James Taumoepeau for helping me create my logo. I had the logo all sketched and planned out and after sending the sketch and details to James, in a few hours, he was able to create exactly what I wanted and more. I can't thank him enough for helping me out and I owe him a lot. I'm sure you notice the logo up top but for the sake of making this post a little interesting, I'll post the little variations of the logo that James came up with as well as the original sketch.

That's pretty much it for now. Until next time.

Crab Away

This is the first project out of three done for my Machinima class. We were to use the Half-Life 2 game engine and everything else that was included to make a short animation. For this first project, it was basically get used to the software that were going to be used so quality of the animation was not particular part of the graded criteria. We were to be working in a small group of 2 or 3 people for this project. My partners were both Computer Science Majors so I thought I would be alright, hoping they know the programs and such.

Boy was I wrong. They may be CS students but they have never dealt with programs that refuse to do what you tell it to do. I can tell you, the project was an absolute nightmare for me. Being a film student, I'm not completely familiar with computer software that are outside of the normal software I use. The engine we were using was an absolute nightmare to work with. I tell the program, or command or whatever the computer term for it, to do something after x-amount of time has passed and the program was usually like "I'll do whatever, whenever I want." Was so frustrating. The program, Faceposer, was used too so we could do lip-syncing and such but when we recorded the lines for the characters and imported them into the program, it was like "What language are you speaking?" Can't tell you how many times I wanted to throw the computer for giving me so much troubles.

For the division of work, we all worked on everything equally from animating, lip-syncing, and post production. The mic we used was a low quality type mic you can pick up at your local retail store and unfortunately so there wasn't anything to stop the popping sounds. Didn't help either when the mic doesn't get quality sound unless it's right next to your mouth either. Overall, it wasn't bad working with my group members. I just had some anger issues with the programs being...uncooperative to put it nicely.

As for the story, this is basically just a commercial about getting rid of Head Crabs, creatures from the Half-Life 2 games. Yeah, I had absolutely no idea what they were when the idea was proposed by my partner having never played the game. I don't even know the characters' names that we used for this animation. It was some of the models that were already built in. My partners knew the game so I was pretty much the odd one out.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. This blog acts as my portfolio for all my film and media works. You'll see work created by me for school projects as well as projects I've done on my free time. Obviously, this site is under construction right now but I will do my best to update it as soon as I can. Stay tune for future updates!!!