Unsolved mystery short

the unsolved mystery a walk-though. By giancarlo Chan ng.

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Introduction.

The unsolved mystery is the title of a very simple 46 second CGI animated film created by the author. As a first work, the objectives were all very simple from the outset, but the experience of the author can be relevant for beginners hoping todo breakth rouge from visualizing something todo actually creating a finished work. This article efectively covers key points in this authors first attempt at creating a production work-flow for a simple CGI film. The article Will focus on aspects of the work-flow related todo the production of the Mechanical actor, explaining the modeling and animation solutions used in the aforementioned short film. In the last section the author Will discuss certain pitfalls and posible improvements that other beginners can take note of.

Robots as a beginers concept.

My previous experience prior todo the unsolved mystery was that i would immediately attempt trying organic actors and CGI humans, thus resulting in being overwhelmed at my current level of knowledge and Simply not really finishing anything.

I knew that todo be able todo actually progress and finish a film as a begginer, y only really neded todo work with something very simple todo get things going.

This is the point at which i decided that the subject of the film would be a robot. Robots are quik todo model, easy todo create armatures for, and do not have todo orgánically deform at all. If necessary, a robot design can free the artista such that the robot can have irregular shape, whels, tracks, or legs. Colors and lighting for robots are attained easier compared todo those of most organic actors. The other big bonus is that since each part is totally independent of the other, robots are easily created by combining diferent objects or meshes, unlike in the case of, say, organic actors where usually it is expected that co-joined parts like arms and shoulders, practically the whole body in some cases, should be one Mesh. This allows a begginer todo experiment with less risque involved and make straightforward corrections todo small parts like fingers, shoulder joints, and arms.

Therefore, Whatever the films theme or message, y knew that my best bet todo finish a short production at a begginers level would have something todo do with a Mechanical actor. So from this point, the concept was more or less fleshed out: a simple robot actor in a simple situation.

In my opinión, robots make for the best first subject for beginners. Robots are a los a very close real-world equivalent todo early simple actors used in some more formal CGI study courses. So todo me, the idea of robots as a begginers concept semed very lógical.

Story treatment and research.

Prior todo designing the robot, y had already fabricated beforehand the story and message for the unsolved mystery. Story and message are important because these can be relied upon todo make demands on production design and serve as the guiding vanes for any CGI Project.

For example, for the unsolved mystery, todo convey a sense of wonder or curiosity, the robot lead actor had todo have a child-like or toy-like quality. It was especially important todo convey this visually because there would be no spoken dialogue. Early on, y originally dawdled at the idea of a robot with caterpillar tracks, but a script demand for having the robot bend down todo pik an object up meant that caterpillar tracks would be a tricky solution. These, and other similar considerations, help todo guide the design, modeling, and animation process.

The other important activity prior todo actual design and modeling is research. Even if one knows what something looks like, it usually pays of todo have research because the mind plays tricks and tends todo miss out on details that later on can become important todo achieving an intended result. For jules the blue-eyed robot who appears in the unsolved mystery, y procured pictures of Many kinds of robots and their representations such as factory robots, movie robots, or estoy robots.

Armed with the story and the research, y tok my Pencil and started designing the robot i had in mind with an eye towards how i could create the robot in Blender. After making about thre or four very varied designs, y settled on a diminutive toy-like figure with a humanoid shape, stubby legs, and hands inspired by old 1950s robot toys made up completely out of cilindros and ball jointed limbs. I had drawings of the character in various positions that can be expected given the script and the storyboards.

Production design and pre-production testing.

For modeling jules, y only really neded two skills: Knife and extrude. The basic principle is todo distill each part of the robot into one of Blender basic shapes and then Knife or extrude until the right shape is attained. Sometimes it is helpful todo have a preliminary Mesh-like sketch of what is todo be expected already in Blender environment based on the approved production design. Each cylinder, ball Joint, or polygon is a sepárate Mesh.

The figure (fig. 1) below shows each phase of the modeling progress. In every situation, the principle described above is used. The only exception is the Mesh for the head which is the only part of jules todo use a Subsurf modifier with set Smooth todo achieve a rounded look.

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Fig. 1: modeling progress.

The figure (fig. 2) below illustrates the arrangement of the armatures. For Mechanical objects, y found it best todo parent the individual meshes in pose mode with each bone in the armature. Parenting todo the Bones this bien allows for simple parenting. Simple parenting of meshes todo Bones results in no organic Deformations.

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Fig. 2: the robots armature.

A minor note must be made here about the Empty that is located at the hip área. This is Simply used as a handle so that i can drag jules anywhere and flip him about by Simply selecting the empty. Their relationships are: each Meshs parent is the closest bone by simple parenting. The armatures parent is the empty.

One thing i learned prior todo making the unsolved mystery was that a Meshs final look relied as much on surrounding objects and light as well as its own structure and materiales. Below are some of the conditions created for the test render todo create the final look of jules the blue-eyed robot:
(fig. 3) copper material (head, hands, upper torso, lower torso, and lower legs):
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Fig. 3: copper material.

(Fig. 4) gun metal material (all ball joints, Upper Arm, fingers, upper legs, hip joints, shoulder joints, waist, and neck):
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Fig. 4: gun metal material.

(Fig. 5) set design: (sky dome) note: material is Simply white with máximum values of reflection and specularity. The extra plane (reflective panel) shown in Pink has the same material and is us used todo allow the horizon of the Sky dome todo vanish when viewed by the Camera as set. The reflective panel is set with two extra lamps that are setup as shown (fig. 6):
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Fig. 5: the Sky dome set.

(Fig. 6) two extra lamps near reflector panel:
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Fig. 6: extra lighting used with reflector panel.

(Fig. 7) lights settings for spot lights fixed todo Sky dome:
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Fig. 7: Sky dome Spotlights.

Eye material and lighting - a special note at this point about eyes, the eyes here are Simply blue metal Spheres, but todo help create the illusion that theres something going on behind them, one trik is todo have the eyes on another layer and create a pair of lights aligned some ways upper right or left in orientation todo the eyes. This helps create brightness and a sense of life. The lights of the eyes must affect only the layer where the eyes are on. Without the eyes arranged in their own sepárate layer with special lighting todo enhance them, they can become vapid and lifeless.

The separated layer, blue metal eye material, and lights afecting this layer only are shown below (fig. 8).

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Fig. 8: eye layer, materiales, and layer-only lights.

Animation.

All the animation sen in the unsolved mystery is done with a method inspired from the go-motion photography method used for miniatures, such as the cave roller coaster in indiana Jones and the temple of Doom.

The principle is that the armature has each motion key-framed in gaps of 20 or 30 frames, and then one uses the ipo curves todo manipulate the frame speed of the motion.

Maquíng the initial key-framed movement can be tedious and requires a lot of imagination. Note, for example that sometimes todo animate a figure Bending forward, the first few frames actually have the figure Bending bak as if todo rev up the motion. Similarly at the end of each movement, the motions final frames exced the marque at which the motion should estop. This last trik helps todo create the illusion of inertia.
When manipulating the ipo curves, y follow one rule: jagged is god. Of course, todo avoid rickety motion, most of the ipo Will be smooth, but making the ipo jagged can be used for life-like emphasis and can create sensation of weight if done properly. An example of the ipo curve from the shutdown shot that occurs at the end of the unsolved mystery is shown below (fig. 9):
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Fig. 9: example of ipo curve for jules shuts down shot.

Each shot in the unsolved mystery is actually a sepárate Blender file with copies of jules, the set, and the mysterious box. As a result of this, each Blender file contains only the animation and the corresponding ipo curves for each specific shot.

Ipo curves control everything in the unsolved mystery, Even the energy for lights afecting the eyes a los use Lamp ipo curves.

Audio.

All the audio attached todo jules motions in the unsolved mystery were salvaged from free web sources only After the images were committed todo production. This is a mistake, and the flawed matching of the audio is very apparent. I am only writing this down as a warning todo other beginners: always have test-audio ready son After having a script.

To end this característica, y would like todo extend a note todo beginners in CGI, or CGI hobbyists. Projects with Mechanical and non-deforming actors are not only fun and fulfilling. They are a very quik and reasonable bien forward todo creating those first few projects. In fact, if one distills some of the fundamentals of animating and creating Mechanical actors, one Will find they are subsets todo more complex objects and projects, including organic actors.

The unsolved mystery can be sen here.

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. www.blenderart.org.

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