We started this week off by scheduling and holding a meeting with Christos to get the idea of the project approved and any further advice that would help us to formulate the plan better. It was concluded that the footage would be obtained by the tutor, filmed in one of UAL Halls, meaning it was our objective to created as much detailed previs as possible for the shot.
It was essential for to make a list of all the assets and props we wanted to use, which ones would have to be modelled and which we could get as CGI models online. We also had to narrow down what it was specifically we wanted to appear, happen, grow out or over and what statues we would be implementing in the shot. We were given an idea to search for second hand picture frames, roughly of A1 size. After two days going over Ebay and online shops, whilst Jane checking actual vintage stores and exploring the idea of using frames supplied by Giulia, we decided that those would need to be modelled.
For a great shot with good placement of the assets we needed to understand the best conditions and requirements for tracking and exporting that information to Maya, so we were advised to schedule a meeting with Dom, who gave us few sessions on 3DEqualiser last term. Contacting him in Discord, we managed to set the meeting for Friday, before which I had a few goes at rough camera movements in Maya.
At first, we had to decide on the lens to be used for the filming, so I made a comparison video of a 24mm and 35mm lens. As we are working remotely and don’t have the exact measurements of the room, it would be on a safer side to use a wider lens. Dom pointed out that it was necessary to have the floor in the shot at all times, as it is important for the software to know the ground position for accurate CGI placements.
Our 3rd team meeting took place of Wednesday, when we all came back together noting the progress that was made. I received the comments back on which lens they preferred, which camera movements they liked and which weren’t as good. Giulia showed the 3D statues that she managed to acquire, talked about the problem of a triangular mesh and gave some ideas of how to resolve those. Jane also found an Egyptian statue which we all liked. We then thought how to implement the idea of parallax movement inside the pictures into the scene and noted down any questions we had as well as whom we should be asking those questions. I had an idea, that it would be placed a following way into the scene in Nuke, but wasn’t too sure. We further discussed on how would a 2D animation be placed on an object like a statue and had a concept of animated texture explained to us by Giulia.
Upon further exploration of what could be placed in the shot and how it should be constructed, Giulia mentioned an art style called Vaporwave and we though of would could be potentially done to maybe implement it in the project, be it creating new lighting sources in Maya or adjusting the the colors through various passes of the statues AOVs. Another idea, inspired by one of the inspiration posts from Instagram, was to add particle movement around the base of the statues (https://www.instagram.com/p/CGgCLfNJw1M/?igshid=1jfq3fz5thdgi), which we all noted down as a question to ask Medhi, next live Q&A session.
The meeting with Dom on Friday was very informative and helpful as it gave us a better in insight at what makes a much better tracked shot. The advice he has given was targeted at markers placement, how many and where they should be positioned, the actual camera movement and how it was important to make the shot simpler and shorter. He pointed out to which parts of the previs could be re-made and suggested we have a meeting next week, after we gather the footage. I attempted the 4th time at the previs, following his advice and now animating Camera and Aim, rather than just Camera (to avoid the crazy, exaggerating movements appearing at 17th and 25th second), got to the most recent version. The simple 3D objects were also replaced by cards and locators, which are representing the markers. The shot was also cut down to roughly 40 seconds, instead of a minute and 10 seconds. To fit the time, we decided to scrap the idea for a looped video focusing on a simpler but more effective shot.
Given all the placements and position of the assets, I also created a rough plan with all the supposed measurements, given that it will fit in the physical space.