Further Testing of Oil Footage as Animated Texture on Model

Expanding upon my last post I have done some further testing of image sequences on the lens headed character. In the following video I have added an image of a lens to the image sequence before exporting from After Effects, using this process will mean that we can use After Effects to create any sort of footage that can then be exported as an image sequence and applied as a texture within Maya. 

I also wanted to experiment with the reflectivity of the glass in the characters face, here I have moved an image plane with a Surface Shader applied to it around the scene to test the reflections. I like the effect that this has and think this technique could be used to emphasise particular areas of the animation.

Projecting video footage on to 3D objects

Having modeled a basic character based on my designs in a previous post I have been experimenting with having the live-action footage from our experiments as textures on objects within Maya.

In this example I have created extracted the 'lens' in the characters faced and duplicated this. To create the look of glass I have enlarged the duplicate and added several extrudes to create a raised surface. I have also added a spot light as the main illumination in the scene, I have set the light decay to Quadratic, this creates a more natural look as the fall off of the light is closer to that of light in reality. This means that the further away the light is from the object the less like there will be, with a setting of no decay the value of the light will not change no matter how far away the light is from the object. I also added a point light behind the character to highlight some of the rear details and have added two planes with surface shaders applied to them to create reflections.

I first tested a still image as the texture on the lens to see what it would look like. Clearly in this image the lighting is too dark so I also needed to adjust this. I also used an image of a camera lens underneath the frame from the video here, adjusting the coloration of the video footage is something we will address at a later date.

In order to project the video onto the lens I first created a simple UV layout for the lens, I then created a UV snapshot of this and opened the file in After Effects, this allowed me to maintain the dimensions of the UVs and import the video footage over the top. I then create a spherical mask to mask out the area of the video that was outside the lens. 

Using a mask to create an image sequence

Doing this in After Effects then allowed me to export the footage as single frames (an image sequence), I was then able to set this image sequence as a texture for the lens object in Maya. It took me a while to achieve this correctly, the main problem being the naming of the files, it seems Maya is rather particular about the naming of the files in an image sequence. I eventually found that naming the images image.00, image.01 etc was the correct naming system in order for the image sequence to work. I then exported a few frames in order to ensure that the image sequence was working. As I am working with the Mental Ray shader mia_material_x I was unable to test the image sequence in the scene as the shader just appears as black.

I also created a transparent, reflective material for the outer lens, although I am not quite happy with the results, this purely functions as a test scene.

Image sequence as texture on lens, outer lens with bevel to create reflection 

Having achieved this task we are now aware of the workflow for applying image sequences to objects in Maya and the way After Effects can be utilised to create image sequences from video footage. Below is the test of the image sequence.

Fun With Oil

©Conor Page

Music: Polaris by Hiddeminside

Fun With Corn Flour and Sound

This is the video I managed to capture from the experiment. Unfortunately, I do not think it is good enough.

1. The white balance is not correct.
2. Not enough light (bigger aperture, more lights).
3. Slow shutter speed.
4. Would be ideal if we could get a green background.
5. For better results and stronger speaker/ sub would be needed.

These are all things I am going to adjust in tomorrows experimental session. One of the bulbs blew leaving us with only one light. This left the scene a little dark. I did not want to open the aperture to wide incase of not having the whole scene shape. I also did not want to change ISO because of noise. To lighten the scene I slowed the shutter speed, but this has resulted in very blurry results. because of this, in tomorrows session I will be strict on variables and note down all the numbers being used.

© Conor Page

Corn Flour Experiments

Today Conor and I experimented with corn flour to see what results we could get on camera. I photographed some of the experiment whilst Conor filmed it. 

The first mixture we made did not have a thick enough consistency and didn't create the results we were hoping for. We also experimented with different audio options as we were unsure whether it was the strength of the audio or the consistency of the mixture. Although the vibrations from the speaker created some interesting patterns in the mixture we still didn't create the effect we were hoping for.

By adding more flour we were able to create a thicker substance that resulted in the following images. We also experimented with adding food colouring.

Experimenting with Sound and materials

Corn Flour Experiments

Whilst researching experiments involving different materials that we could recreate and film for use in our animation, I have come across some interesting experiments involving corn flour and speakers. When corn flour is mixed with water an interesting consistency is achieved in which the mixture behaves like both a liquid and a solid. This experiment is often carried out for the interest of children, however combining this with colours and other materials and placing the mixture over a speaker could certainly achieve some interesting results. This technique could also be combined with CG to create something unique.
   

Slow Motion colour in water



Building on the experiments already carried out by Conor this video presents an interesting approach to filming liquids in water in slow motion, the idea of placing coloured gels in front of lights is particularly interesting.

Experimenting with Ferro Fluid


These experiments create a similar effect to that achieved using cornflour. These experiments involve combining printer toner with oil and using a magnet to cause the mixture to react.

Iron Filings


Whilst looking at videos made with iron filings and magnets I came across this video of iron dust appearing to 'dance' in time with music. This looks amazing and it would be very interesting to experiment with this technique.

Post by Jess

Good Idea

After looking through this book, Animation Portfolio by Andrew Selby, I stumbled across this.

I haven't seen this particular animation before and it may sound stupid but I come across this and thought what a good idea. It has also made me realise that this project is exactly for this. Think outside of the box. Anything and everything can be used to our advantage, aesthetically and technically, and anything and everything should be used. With out experimenting, good ideas wouldn't exist.

Just this image alone sparks so many different ideas in my mind. I doubt I will be able to get through them all.

Hopefully myself, Jess and our experimentation will create a good idea or many and this will be implemented into a final piece.

©Conor Page

Andrew Selby, 2013. Animation (Portfolio). Edition. Laurence King Publishers.

Fun with Liquid

Continuing on from yesterday. Here are the clips from todays experiment.

This is how my set up looked this time round.

I am pretty pleased with the outcome of this experiment and will be revisiting this again as well as the milk experiment however, I will change some of the variables to get a different outcome. 

I used note books to stop the light from the light box reflecting on the glass of the jar we was using. Next time round I want to experiment with the material of the Jar I use to see if I can get a clear material less reflective.

The white round object is actually from a large lamp shade and it was used to soften the light it was used for. Here I am using it not only for a white background but to bounce light back to lighten up the object. It was very effective. For future experiments I will consider having a green background to key out the background for compositing. 

I spoke with Jess about this over an instant messaging service and she liked the outcome. We both agreed on doing these experiments larger scale to find out what we can get from that.


© Conor Page.
Music: Polaris(Intro) by Hiddeminside

Fun With Milk

I decided to go ahead and experiment with milk and food colouring to find out what would happen.

Here are some of the results. 

This was the set up I was using. Unfortunately I did not get the results I was looking for form this. Compared to the video I posted earlier, I was expecting the colouring to sit still within the milk until soap was added however, this was not the case. For some reason, I do not know, the colours reacted with the milk before adding any other substance. I tried ink and food colouring. They had differing effects but still reacted in similar ways. I still filmed this because this could be used later in production. 

I will carry on experimenting with this to see what other effects I can achieve.

© Conor Page 2013

Reference images for ruined environment