Creating Stereoscopic 3D Images

This project didn't seem that interesting at first and I thought it would take a long time to do. When I read the instructions and actually tried it, it was really easy and fun! I had a blast making the images 3d especially my 3d models and sculptures that I did.

Green/Magenta - Outside the Event Center at SJSU

Green/Magenta - Selfie

Green/Magenta - One of my digital renderings for 117A

Green/Magenta - Snake Eyes sculpture I did in Zbrush

Green/Magenta - Deathwing Sculpture I did in Zbrush

Green/Magenta -

Green/Magenta - Deathwing Concept

Recreating Cameras and Lights in Maya

Original Photo:

Maya Photo:

Extra Credit: Lighting a Scene in Maya

I decided to do a three point lighting system even though the extra credit was turned in late. In this scene, I used a three point system using area lights with a portal and black body system. Using the Kelvin temperature scale I used a warm and cool color in my lighting.

 Kelvin Temperature Scale Lighting

 Kelvin temperature - 4,500 degrees (warm)

 Kelvin temperature - 10,000 degrees (cool)

 Kelvin temperature - 5,500 (warm)

Results

one point lighting

two point lighting

three point lighting

Building a Scene in Maya

A.T. (Used Three Point Lighting System)

My first two term paper scores were 85 and 85; I will not be writing a third term paper.

For the First term paper I received a score of 85 out of 100.
For the Second term paper I received a score of 85 out of 100.
I will not be writing a third term paper.

Outline of the Third Term Paper

Outline: Special Effects in Animation and Live Action

I.                   Introduction  

a.   In this term paper, I will be comparing the visual effects in destruction of buildings from two movies; The Avengers and Dragonball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan

b. Thesis

II.                Body

a.       The Avengers

·        Before everything is laid out, visual development had to create various types of destruction to show what it would look like in the movie. A lot of video references were used to create a realistic effect. After the desired effect is chosen, the modelers would model a scene and do some visual effect tests and hand them off to the producer.

·        The environment was modeled in a 3D modeling program such as Maya or 3D Studio Max. The destruction was generated in Maya or Studio Max or other various programs. Then it was consulted by a physicist to see if that effect would happen in real life. Realistic textures and matte paintings was later added after the visual effects were complete. After the visual effect of destruction was applied. Lighting was finally added to give a more realistic finish. A lot of references were used so this technique is successful. 

·        Summarizing the film and backing it up with the theory

b.      Dragonball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan

·        The visual effects for the mountains, buildings, and various objects were composed in Adoble Flash and carefully hand drawn frame by frame to create an animation. Because the company is very small and not well known they do not have a full time physicist to consult each animator. Because the animation is labor intensive, little references were used and is exaggerated. For example, if Broly punched Goku, Goku would fly 50 feet and hit a mountain causing the mountain to break in half.

·        Most of the animators that work for Bandai, who created the animated series, don't get paid as much and each episode is on a time schedule so each style test had to be finished on a certain timeline. Because they have less time, the visual effects will look unrealistic and very inaccurate. 

·        Summarizing the film and backing it up with the theory

III.             Conclusion

a.       Summarization

b.      Restate Thesis

Stop-Motion Character Animation

stop motion character animation

for this stop motion animation, i was a little stuck on what idea and story to come up with. so i decided to ask my girlfriend for some fresh ideas. we ended up coming up with a story about a young man that is desperate to find a girlfriend. he only feels confident when he is drinking alcohol. the process that we decided to go with was to sketch how the scene and where the position of the objects would be. we decided to go with a shoe because i felt inspired by watching jessica tong's stop animation "footsteps".

after we sketched where each shoe would go i used a  tri pod to hold the camera in place so that it wouldnt move. we shot it during the afternoon because i didn't have a flash extension and the room lighting is more bright so we decided to use outside lighting.

we moved each shoe little by little until we liked how the animation turned out. overall it was a fun and interesting process. i haven't fully experimented with stop motion before so i had a very fun time doing this project.

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?

As a child, I watched many movies and cartoons, but I was not aware of physics or had no clue that there was some sort of science implemented in the films I watched. But taking a Physics of Animation class, it has helped me understand physics a little bit more. The only way humans can defy the laws of physics is through CGI (Computer generated Imagery) or 2D/3D animation. By creating a world with false physics, movie directors and animators have enabled us, the audience, to experience something believable and entertaining. In this term paper, I will be discussing and examining how movies and animations violate the physics in jumps and force. The movies I chose to examine are Fast and Furious 6, The Avengers, and Bleach: Fade to Black.

The Fast and Furious franchise was released in 2001. The film is centered on illegal street racing and heists from the point of view of a group of best friends. The creators made sure to exaggerate some of the physics in the movie to give the audience more of an excitement. One example, in Fast and Furious 6 Dom and Letty are on the opposite side of a bridge. Letty is held captive in a marine tank. As she is being held captive the leader of the heist decides to run over cars and shoot them down with his tank. Letty is then forced to stand outside of the tank to lure Dom to the other side of the bridge. One of Dom’s team members made it to the other side of the bridge and decides to crash his car in front of the tank in order for them to stop the rampage. The tank flips over and Letty is then thrown across the bridge. Dom sees what happens and he decides to try and save Letty. In order for Dom to get to the other side, he maneuvers to the front hood of his car and crashes it on the railings. The force of the impact causes Dom to fly through the air and catch Letty in the process. Somehow Dom and Letty land on top of a moving car to break his fall. According to the First law of motion, it affects humans in a moving vehicle because, no matter how fast the car is moving, we will be moving that fast. So, if Dom is traveling at 70 miles per hour and the car crashes, Dom will also be moving at 70 miles per hour and continue to slide until he crashes into something else much heavier than Letty. Realistically, it would be near impossible for Dom to travel that far and high and be able to land on top of a moving car to break his fall. In the beginning of the crash, Dom’s knees are slightly bent to create a greater jump force. The arc of the jump and distance is greatly exaggerated in the film. Dom is quite a muscular guy so he would have to weigh about 200lbs. We can see that Dom’s push height is roughly about 10 feet, because he is standing on top of a car, and estimated the distance to be about 60-70 feet.  So Dom’s jump magnitude would be seven times. Another scene that slightly defies physics is the clothesline scene where Dom lifts a very muscular person and the Rock jumps and clotheslines the person. Wrestlers have quite a bit of mass due to their muscles. In the film Dom, the Rock, and the muscular guy are roughly six foot high. Dom violently lifts the muscular guy so the total height is about 12 feet high. Ideally a six foot person can actually jump a little higher than a basketball hoop which is about 10feet high. Because the Rock is wearing tactical gear and weighs about 230 lbs the Rock’s vertical jump is reduced greatly. In these scenes, there are several hang times. This allows the audience to convey the action in the scene as if it were true.

In the live action super hero film The Avengers, the Hulk is the alter ego of Bruce Banner, an emotional physicist who physically transforms into a massive green giant monster that is well known for being incredibly strong and defies gravity by jumping extremely far. During a battle scene, the Hulk jumps towards an enemy that is on a 400ft building and smashes him to bits. Let’s examine the Hulks mass compared to a normal human. Let’s assume that a normal human has a mass of 70kg or 150lbs. Because the Hulk is Bruce Banner they should have the same amount of mass, but the Hulk has a mass of about 290kg or 640lbs of pure muscle. Also, in the comic book the Hulk is approximately 9 feet high but in the film he is roughly 7 feet high. I estimated that the building in New York is about 400 feet high. A regular person would have to jump about 57 times his height with four times his regular body weight. Realistically, a person weighing over 600lbs would not have the capability to run or jump as high as the Hulk because our bones can only take a certain amount of weight before breaking. According to Stan Lee, the Hulk has an average force of 4.08 x 10 (to the fifth) Newton’s. That is roughly how hard the Hulk has to push on the ground in order to jump. If the Hulk has a large amount of force, would he break the concrete as he leaves the ground? First, I have to calculate the Hulks feet size in length and radius which is about 17 inches in length and 6 inch in diameter.  So the Hulk’s feet would cover roughly 0.14 m(Squared). So, (4.08 x 10x10x10x10x10x10 Newtons)/(0.14 m2) = 2.9 x 10x10x10x10x10x10x10 N/m2 = 2.9 MPa (Mega Pascals). According to “The Engineering ToolBox”, concrete has a compressive strength of 10 MPa. Ideally, a person that weighs 640lbs with a great amount of force, he should still be able to crack the concrete.

Another example of defying the law of physics is in 2D animation. Bleach is a Japanese animated film in which the characters can fly, levitate, and even teleport to different locations within a radius. In Bleach: Fade to Black, Shunsui Kyoraku is fighting a demon, towards the middle of the battle he jumps and then levitates in the air and then quickly moves towards the demon. He moves so quickly that he teleports behind the demon and attacks him. First, in order for a human being to levitate he would have to exert enough force vertically upwards and equal to the gravitational force. Second, any small displacement of the levitation object, or human, a returning force should be exerted to stabilize the human or object. This can be achieved by magnetic or aerodynamic forces. The male characters in the animation seem to have an average weight of 150lbs so in order for them to levitate and they would have to exert enough push force to be able to levitate which is physically impossible for any human being to do. Another battle scene is when Soi Fon is fighting a demon. She jumps and does an aerial tornado attack. In order for Soi Fon to levitate and create a tornado she would have to exert a large amount of push force from the ground and then create another large amount of force to generate a miniature tornado from her arms. The amount of force and energy it takes to create a tornado is unthinkable but it only takes about 4500 pounds of force to break a human bone. That would mean Soi Fon’s bone would have a large amount of density that can withstand a large amount of force to create a tornado.

Many of the films we watch today don’t rely on real physics, but instead “fake” physics because we only watch movies for entertainment. In the Fast and Furious 6, when Dom flies through the air to catch Letty. The physics was obviously broken and very laughable in the audience. The Director tried to make the physics as normal as possible, as if it would happen in real life. In a way, it portrays his character as a caring man that he is willing to do anything to save the love of his life even if that includes flying across a bridge and landing on a moving car. In the Avengers, the Hulk is a massive monster that is incredibly strong and can jump 57 times his height. The Director wanted the viewers to understand that the law of physics doesn’t have to follow the real world because as long as the audiences are entertained, science doesn’t have to be correct. As for Bleach, 2D animation has no limitations. It is merely for entertainment. Even though the law of physics is broken in this film, the Directors have found a way to make the film believable enough for people to enjoy. To conclude, physics in film can be done in many ways to achieve a believable world for viewers to enjoy. When it comes to real life films, Directors have to know how far to push the law of physics because if they push it too far it won’t be believable for the audience to enjoy.

           

Outline of the Second Term Paper

Outline: Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction

I.                   Introduction  

a.       In this term paper, I will examine incorrect or slightly exaggerated physics of jumps in animation

b.      The physics of jumps can be examined in different types of film. Below are some examples of films that bend the laws of physics of jump.

                                                              i.      Fast and Furious 6

                                                            ii.      The Avengers

                                                          iii.      Bleach: Fade to Black

c.       Thesis

II.                Body

a.       Fast and Furious 6

                                                              i.      Dom crashing his car in order to fly across the bridge to catch Letty and land on the other side of the bridge. 

                                                            ii.      The Rock clothes lining a muscular guy and jumping higher than a normal wrestler would jump.

                                                          iii.      Summarizing the film and backing it up with the theory

b.      The Avengers 

                                                              i.      In the final battle, hulk arrives and jumps about 400 feet high

                                                            ii.      Considering hulks mass, how come he doesn’t crack or break the concrete as he jumps.

                                                          iii.      Summarizing the film and backing it up with the theory

c.       Bleach: Fade to Black

                                                              i.      As Shunsui Kyoraku is fighting the deformed monsters, he levitates in the air and moves so quick that he disappears and teleports.

                                                            ii.      As Soi Fon is fighting, as she is levitating she jumps back and creates wind effects.

                                                          iii.      Summarizing the film and backing it up with the theory

III.             Conclusion

a.       Summarization

b.      Restate Thesis

Reverse Video Reference

In this project I had to act out some real life references. I had to act out the following animation clips and shoot video reference in which they had to be as accurate as possible. Some of the acting was hard to do because I'm not very flexible and my rhythm is very off! Although, Clip C was very difficult I did the best I could to shoot references :) 

Clip A: 

  

Clip B:

Clip C:

 Clip D:

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

*I'm not sure whether the video is lagging or it is just my computer*

*Just in case the Vimeo video is lagging, here is the youtube version*


Here is my first time doing a Stop Motion Animation. This is done for my Physics of Animation class. First, I had to think of what kind of object I wanted to use for my stop motion. I gathered my objects and references and composed my scene. I decided to use one of my digital paint rendering from ANI 117A and decided to do a leaf drop. Second, I drew out my path of actions and key framed the main positions. Third, I made sure my room was well lit to match my background. Then I positioned my leaves to match the path of actions; which I had to do it blindly. It was hard positioning the camera without a tripod so I photographed it the best I could. I actually positioned the leaf on a bright white background so that I could delete the edges quickly in Photoshop. I used a Nikon camera (I don't know the model) which came out pretty clear. After, I uploaded the images in Photoshop and cleaned up the edges. I carefully timed each frame (JPG) making sure some frames were on 2's or 1's (slow in - slow out). Lastly, I composed all the JPGs into the Photoshop Timeline and exported it as an avi and converted the file into mov in After Effects. It was an interesting projecting because I had never done stop motion before. I would definitely try it again! Cheers

Also, some parts were a little quick especially in the beginning. I had a hard time making it smooth in Photoshop so I did the best I could.

Here is my Process:

The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe - Term Paper

The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

The Wolverine:

                Wolverine is a fictional character and super hero that is well known in the Marvel Universe. James Howlett, also known as Logan is a mutant who possess animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, and self healing powers that allow him to recover from any form of injury, wounds, disease or toxins. The difference between the Marvel universe and our universe is that Marvel uses supernatural powers such as magic, superhuman strength, or cosmic forces to bend the laws of physics. In order for the audience to be entertained, Marvel had to redesign their film to be more realistic and entertaining. If the film pushes the laws of physics too much it can throw the audience in confusion as to what just happened. The movie takes place on earth; however, despite the existence of mutants and super heroes the world seems to follow our law of physics. Throughout the movie, each scene continues to break the properties of physics by exaggerating path of actions, weight, or laws of motion. At the same time, it creates an entertaining movie for the audience.
                One example is supernatural powers that some mutants have in the film. Some powers include strength, agility, quickness, bone manipulation, and self healing powers. In the bar scene, Wolverine is about to fight a group of men, Yukio enters the scene and stops Wolverine from fighting. Yukio is a skilled female ninja with agility and quickness. Her weapon of choice is a samurai sword. In the clip, Yukio aggravates the men and then quickly strikes one of the man’s beer bottle and stool before they can even move.                                                                        
                In this scene, some of the objects break the law of gravity to create an appealing scene. Newton’s law of universal gravitation states that any two bodies in the universe attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
                One example is an apple falling from a tree. The apple is accelerated, since its velocity changes from zero as it is hanging from the tree and moves falls towards the ground. Newton’s 2^nd Law states that there must be a force that acts on the apple to cause the acceleration. 

                In the scene, Yukio is slicing the stool and the beer bottle in half and it takes 126 frames for the stool to fall and 239 frames for the beer bottle to separate. On one hand, this does not follow Newton’s law of universal gravitation because the sword acts as a force that slice through an object with weight (the male sitting on the stool) and mass (liquid inside the beer bottle). The objects should be forced down by gravity but it defies it for a couple of frames. 

Frame 462

Frame 701

Frame 486

Frame 612

                Another scene is when Silver Samurai (the giant robot) tries to strike Wolverine with its giant steel sword but Wolverine blocks it with one hand. This scene bends Newton’s law of motion, specifically the 2^nd and 3^rd law. The 2^nd law states that the more mass an object has, the more force you must apply for make it accelerate – to change its speed or direction or both.  An example would be an airplane, the faster you want to accelerate the more force you must apply. To reach a certain speed you can apply a small force for a long time or a large force for a short time. The 3^rd law states that to stop or slow down an object, a force must be applied in the direction opposite to that object’s motion, exerting a force results in an equal force in the opposite direction.

Newton's Law of Motion 2nd Law

Newton's Law of Motion 3rd Law

                In order for Wolverine to stop Silver Samurai (a giant indestructible robot) from cutting Wolverine to pieces, Wolverine has to exert the same amount of force to stop the sword and then adding more force to push the sword away from his body. In our universe, humans have a limitation on strength and how much force we can take before our bones break. In our universe, diamonds are the hardest substance on earth but scientists discovered two more minerals related to the diamond that is thought to be harder. The hardest metal on earth is steel alloy, which is made by adding carbon and other elements. It has tensile (tension) strength of 122,000 psi and yields (the stress a material can withstand) strength of 67,000 psi. The Moths scale ranks elements on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being the strongest. The hardest steel material is rated at 9 and diamonds at rank 10. 

                 It takes about 67,000 psi (4,800 tons per square foot) to break a steel alloy. In the Marvel universe, Wolverines bones are coated with adamantium, a very dense, artificial, iron-based alloy that is virtually indestructible similar to steel alloy. When Silver Samurai (a giant robot) tries to strike Wolverine, he blocks the sword with one hand using his claws. This may be true in the Marvel universe but in our world a human can’t exert 67,000 psi with one hand even if our bones are coated with adamantium. It would probably require two hands or maybe more. Wolverine doesn’t have superhuman strength, but instead has enhanced physical capabilities due to his indestructible skeleton. This scene breaks the law of motion in order to entertain the audience.
                 

                During some scenes, Wolverine ejects his claws and cuts everything in its path with ease. In this Youtube demonstration, the person is trying to cut a steel pipe with the force of his own strength. No matter how hard he tries to cut the steel pipe he can’t cut through the steel. In the Marvel universe, adamantium can cut through steel as long as there is enough force. The law of physics is broken in this film, because no matter how much force a human can put out you can’t cut through steel like a thin piece of paper. In rare cases, samurai swords are strong enough to break through a shooting bullet, but it is only possible because there is enough force and acceleration from the bullet.
                Adamantium is an indestructible metal in the Marvel Comics. Wolverine is a superhero infused with adamantium. But since the metal is indestructible it means it is very dense. Throughout the movie, wolverine is fighting ninjas and moving quite fast for his weight and height. Also, there are a lot of issues with inconsistent weight and motion. The more mass you have the more slowly you will move. Because Wolverine’s height is only 5’3’’ with his infused skeleton his weight should be around 300 lbs. Because his skeleton is dense and heavy he should move much slower due to gravity.

                As the Silver Samurai jumps down a two story shaft, it does two spins and then lands. As Silver Samurai lands Wolverine tackles him and they both fall at the same time. As they fall at the same time, Silver Samurai starts to fall faster and then lands on the ground first and a second later Wolverine lands. Because Wolverine is infused with adamantium his weight should be as heavy as the Silver Samurai, maybe much lighter. According to Galileo’s motion of falling bodies, the speed of falling body is independent of its weight. He experimented with falling bodies and states that, in fact, the lighter body will move ahead of the heavier body at the start of the fall, and the heavier body will overtake the lighter object and arrive at the bottom earlier. On one hand, if you kick two objects at once, applying force, the heavier one will move more slowly than the lighter one. On the other hand, objects being affected by gravity (stating with the same speed and force) will have the same speed at all times. In the scene, Wolverine is tackling Silver Samurai creating a force as they both fall down the shaft. The law of falling bodies is slightly broken because the lighter object, Wolverine, is falling slower than the robot, as they start to fall the heavier object overtakes the lighter object and hitting the ground first. In the beginning of the fall, because there is force being added the heavier object should be moving slower.            

                 When Wolverine is fighting the yakuza on the bullet train the law of motion is broken.  Bullet trains move up to speeds of 300 mph. When one of the members of the yakuza is on top of the bullet train the only way to stay on top of it is by sticking his knife on the roof top and holding on tightly from flying off the train. Wolverine slices his knife, trying to knock the member off balance. It took about two seconds for the yakuza member to take a knife out of his pocket, raise the knife in the air, and then having enough momentum to stab the rooftop with the knife and gaining balance again. There are a lot of inconsistent weights and path of actions during this scene. Some examples include, a member of the yakuza levitating but sliding on his knees. Another example is when Wolverine lifts himself off the train and flies about ten feet off the train then lands. One last example of the train scene is when they try and dodge an advertisement sign and they both push off the train, they both go flying 50 feet and then land back on the train. There are a lot of inconsistencies during this scene.
                 Another scene is when Wolverine cuts a yakuza member in the leg and then tossing him in the air. The member flies in the air doing a summersault breaking the law of motion and lastly, Wolverine jumping 15 feet in the air.

                In conclusion, The Wolverine not only breaks several laws of physics to make their film enjoyable but also to relate the character to the comic books. Marvel does a good job connecting their universe to ours, but at the same time slowly introducing superhuman powers to the audience. With great attention to detail, visual effects, and great story telling Wolverine is very entertaining and enjoyable for adults as well as younger adults.

                                                                                       

Reference:

https://howthingsfly.si.edu/flight-dynamics/newton%E2%80%99s-laws-motion
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/impulse.html
http://physics.weber.edu/amiri/physics1010online/WSUonline12w/OnLineCourseMovies/CircularMotion&Gravity/reviewofgravity/ReviewofGravity.html
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16610-diamond-no-longer-natures-hardest-material.html#.UwrqOs5LOSo
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-hardest-metal.htm
http://physics.ucr.edu/~wudka/Physics7/Notes_www/node49.html
http://www.vias.org/physics/bk1_05_01.html


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