Category: Maya

It was clear that my animation still looked like it was made in a 3D program and it needed some more colour and a background

I added a Background of some water as i felt it complimented the palette and also would work well for sound effects

Here is the final result.

I am considering adding a green background and keying it out so that i can add moving water which i think would make it look a lot better.

Although overall i am quite happy with the result of my dopamine animation

Rendering out my animation

Here i am rendering out my animation with a 1k Square aspect ratio.

Here is the result of my first render which i took into Premiere Pro to loop and sounds

I am now beginning the process of colouring and choosing what presets i wanted the different shapes to have in my animation.

I went with a shade of dark green for the taurus and chose a “jade” preset as i wanted the shape to have a nice reflection as this will add to the animation and make it look better.

on the first ball that squeezes through i went with a copper colour which looked okay but i wanted tot render out the design before making any change, so i had something done at this point

On the second ball i went with a bubble preset and tinted it blue to stick to the pallet.

trying to stick to the original colour pallet i had set out for my self i aimed to give the rest of the shapes a shade of blue.

I began attempting to create a light source, although my light source provided very little for my Arnold viewer to work with so i decided i would have to figure out a different way of lighting up the animation.

I wanted to make sure that my animation was bright and had a clear consistent colours.

Screenshot from Arnold Render View

I added a skylight which gave a much more intense and bright look and made the bubble really stand out.

Apply airbag preset in order to give sphere a bounce 

• Add collision thickness to shapes
• Create camera 
• use specific presets to make the sphere squeeze through in a satisfying manner
• add more subdivisons in order to make the squeeze look more natural and “squishy”

After trying a few different presets such as “beachball” and “waterballoon” although Using the “airbag” preset to add movement looked the best.

after adding a camera i chose the “1k square” resolution as this was the most commonly used aspect ratio from what i had sen in other dopamine animations.

I also chose this considering it wold fit well on social media on apps like tiktok and instagram as this is where the majority of these sorts of animations end up.

Beginning the process of constructing Dopamine animation

NCLOTH 

Create passive glider 

I wanted to create something that would squeeze through this taurus in a way that would be smooth and satisfying to watch on repeat.

I went with a sphere as it complimented the shape of the taurus and would give me alot of room to work with when it came to shading and colouring .

This week in Maya we have begun the process of creating a satisfying animation, this needs to be an animation that 

• Loops
• Is colour cohesive
• Satisfying to watch 
• Smooth and flows well

There are very many different references to get inspiration from on this project, I will copy some nice examples below. 

For this Project I want to make sure my animation is the best by following these design guidelines I have laid out for myself.

• Camera will hold one angle so that the movement is easy to view and render. 
• Color palette i will follow is in the range and complimentary of #19A7CE (image below)
• Animation is slow and smooth, using a lot of frames to ensure smoothness. 
• Animation will be color corrected and trimmed in after effects after it is rendered to ensure it loops smoothly and pops. (may add a glow, shine, sun flare or other effect if necessary)

As you can see from this compilation of 3D animations it follows

• nice colour palettes
• costumed sounds
• satisfying to watch

This week we were learning to use “bullet ”. This is a maya plugin that is used to replicate the physical gravity of earth with certain objects within a project file. 

Using passive and live options you are able to create models that can move and loop through objects that are stuck in palace (passive) and objects that would move in a normal situation (live).

In order to learn this  we have been working on a mouse trap style pin roller. 

Here is where my pin is at right now. 

Pros

• i really like the colours and the reflection of the materials within this animations.
• the movement is clean and flows well
• the reflection and plate used to create a background is fitting and cohesive with the colours
• The ending makes sense and feels like a fun gumbal machine

Cons

• final movement could be smoother
• hard to see the pile of gum balls at the top of the structure
• i had some issues with the shape of the dominos, because of the physics in bullet being rather sensitive i did have to alter the shape of a few dominoes in order for gravity to pull it in the right direction and i think this takes away form the overall consistency within the piece.

Week 1 maya 

Intro to Bullet and basic dynamics systems in Maya.

• What is bullet?- a tool to recreate realistic gravity to apply to animations.
• Why is it useful – allows us to use realistic animations that move and look like they ma be filmed as objects move and fall.

Build a rube Goldberg sequence.

• Examples
• My concepts

i really like the colours and the song that goes with this, i think the music makes it a lot more impactful, also i think the camera movement is done very well, the clip is very realistic and can only tell its made in maya with a trained eye.

The “Bullet” plugin is an important tool in Maya, a 3D program widely used in animation, film, and video game industries. The plugin is a physics engine that simulates realistic physical interactions between objects, such as gravity, collisions, and forces. It enables 3D artists to create dynamic and realistic animations, including destruction, explosions, and simulations of fluids, cloth, and soft bodies. The “Bullet” plugin also allows for efficient and precise control of object interactions and helps to speed up the animation workflow. In summary, the “Bullet” plugin plays a critical role in enhancing the realism and believability of 3D animations created in Maya.

(OpenAI’s ChatGPT AI language model, response to a question from the author, March 29, 2023.)

• Adding skin to the facial model was done by selecting the surface of the model that had been created, and selecting the option to add a texture and finding the skin file that is shown below.  
• Texturing and doing eyes was slightly less complicated because the surface of the eyeballs is a much more simplistic shape, allowing for them to be centred more easily.