Project Complete

Here is the project description I included with my final hand-in.

DIS2105 Assignment #03
Ethan Morley 23385928

For my motion graphics assignment, I created a kinetic style animation with using vector images and “camera” movement. To link to the quote of “design is thinking made visual” by Saul Bass, I took a fairly literal approach in terms of the narrative behind the animation. The story starts with a blueprint/design of a product on a piece of paper (the thought/idea), then it zooms in and an animation of the process of building the product within a factory will happen on the screen (made visual).
All the images are vectors created in illustrator and then imported for ease of animation with many different effects and transitional animations applied to them. The theme is greatly influenced by a factory setting; therefore most of the imagery will be of spinning gears, industrial pipes, metal, sparks and machinery.

Sound

after browsing through soundtrack pro's free samples, I gathered a large range of mechanical sounds and ambient noises that will fit well with my project.
The files I used can be downloaded from:
http://www.mediafire.com/?ti38r7och63c49n

I don't know if I applied sound correctly, or in the most efficient way, but this is the way I did it:

Final Touches

I have made the entire animation, now it is time to smooth out any transition and put some final touches such as glow/blur effects etc to make it looks a bit more dynamic.

Loops

I needed to loop a series of spinning gears/cogs appearing at different times.

These tutorials helped me out here.
It would be perfect if I could loop full compositions, but apparently after effects CS5.5 can't do that.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-loop-an-animation-in-After-Effects-CS5/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN2cEiNySpM

Attempting to use the camera

After learning a few things about the camera tool, I think that if i set up my compositions to look like this, I will be able to navigate through it using the camera

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDK00n50bvg

Starting to animate

I have begun assembling the elements in After Effects and animating them,
 mostly using transitional effects.

Illustrator Elements complete

I have completed all of my illustrator vector elements based on the list with a few adjustments, ready to be animated in After Effects

More Inspiration

I found some more animation websites that don't really have the same style as what I am going for, but are still very motivating

http://bitey.com/

http://www.ediblecastle.com/

Inspiration

I have found my main source of inspiration, "TARBOY"'s website containing other inspiring animations by the same animator

http://www.tarboy.com/

Plug-in Research

After discovering the possibilities of plug-ins, I have looked up a resource that I might use later within my project to make cool effects

http://filmmakeriq.com/2008/12/aftereffects-plug-in-round-up/

Camera Research

The camera tool will play a large role in my project apparently, so I have done some research and found some tutorials to help

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf-k5co1BSs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-rSmdMIGPs
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-after-effects-cs5/using-camera-tools-and-changing-camera-settings/
http://library.creativecow.net/tutorials/adobeaftereffects/camera

Background Colour Options

At first I was planning to have a flat yellow background, but thought it would be best to look at other options. After seeing it on screen, yellow might not be the best choice. I am liking either green or grey at this point.

Vector Elements

I have begun to make the vector elements in Illustrator to then import into after effects

*remember*
Don't import as footage, import as layers

List of Elements to make

Before I can begin animating I need to make the following vector elements in Illustrator and then import them into after effects:

1. Block
2. Background
3. Blueprint
4. Jar/Liquid
5. Tube 1
6. Tube 2
7. Pipes
8. Hammer arm
9. Claw arm
10. Screwdriver arm
11. Ball
12. Crack
13. Beam of light
14. Cogs
15. Conveyer belt
16. Flamethrower
17. Boxes
18. Truck
19. Factory
20. Guy

Storyboard

I created a basic storyboard to show the overall narrative of my animation

Moodboard

My moodboard explaining the overall graphic style and inspiration behind my project

Synopsis

My synopsis/plan of what I intend to do as included in assignment 2:

For my motion graphics assignment, I intend to create a kinetic animation with heavy use of vector images and camera movement. To link to the quote of “design is thinking made visual” by Saul Bass, I am going to take a fairly literal approach in terms of the narrative behind the animation. The story will start with a blueprint/design of a product on a piece of paper (the thought/idea), then zoom in and an animation of the process of building the product within a factory will happen on the screen (made visual).

 A visual explanation of this can be seen within the storyboard PDF that has been attached in the same folder as this document. The overall style will be heavy use of 2 tone silhouettes; a basic, flat background colour and black figures in the foreground.

All the images will be vectors created in illustrator and then imported for ease of animation. Examples of this theme can be found in the mood board PDF. The theme is greatly influenced by a factory setting; therefore most of the imagery will be of spinning gears, industrial pipes, metal, sparks and machinery.

The main source of inspiration for the entire project is a flash animation called “Tarboy” that can be found at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACHVwA1D8fE. Though it was made in flash and not after effects, it is still a good example of use of kinetic animation without any text.

Week	Activity
#9	Concepts, sketches, scripting, storyboarding
#10	Create images in illustrator/photoshop for importing, begin animating
#11	Continue Animating
#12	Final touches

 

Basic Sketches

I have got the idea to do a mostly industrial themed kinetic animation and started doing some rough sketches of things I might include in my animation.

Mostly mechanical objects like gears and pipes and other machinery.

Assignment 2 Inspiration

A huge source of inspiration behind this is the animation "TARBOY".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACHVwA1D8fE

along with other kinetic animations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNxoLJy3m3s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt5LVnbJzGM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IajePuYnu0k&feature=fvwrel

I don't particularly want to explore typography animation, but the way the camera moves and the overall silhouette/vector style is definitely something I am interested in.

Assignment 2

All updates from this point on will be related to assignment 2 until indicated otherwise

Finished product

My final pdf can be accessed here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?y8cb9oc23z1xcv0

Final Process

 To create my final images, I first scanned my pencil drawing into photoshop and positioned it in place over the base photo

 Using the pen tool I then traced over the pencil drawing to create clean line art

 I then made a duplicate of the line art to fill in with colour on a different layer without making the line art look unsmooth after using the fill tool

 I went in over the colour with the pen tool again to create masked areas to then fill in to shade my character

Turning back on the photo layer and touching up the character.

Final Character sketches

Here are the sketches that I will scan into photoshop to use for my panels.

Photo edits

As the 5 images are repeated three times, one for each age gap, something needed to change between the three ages. Because I am trying to portray progressive monotony and disappointment, the young photos will be in full colour, the middle aged ones will start to lose saturation and the final 5 representing old will be black and white to show how dull the character's life has become

Second shoot

After deciding on what photos will suit my assignment most from the first shoot, I reshot some new ones in order to be used in the final storyboard.
Currently cannot decide for the bathroom shot between the shower or the entire scene of the shower. But these are definitely the photos to be used

First shoot

These are a few images from the first photo shoot I took. I have no intentions of using these in the final, just to get an idea of how the panels might be laid out. I took photos around my house relating to the different stages of the story. All supposed to be common sights from within the hour of 7:00