Creating Stereoscopic 3D Images

The anaglyph color pair for all images are Green/Magenta.

Recreating Cameras and Lights in Maya

Photo 1: Original Image

Photo 1: Maya Render

Photo 2: Original Image

Photo 2: Maya Render

Photo 3: Original Image

Photo 3: Maya Render

Photo 4: Original Image

Photo 4: Maya Render

Bonus Points: Lighting a Scene in Maya

no lighting

one-point lighting

two-point lighting

three-point lighting

Building a Scene in Maya

Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action

Introduction

1. Two films – Rain in films is very stylized depending of what type of film it is set in.
2. Thesis – Both movies had their own way of making this rain look realistic on the silver screen.

Body Paragraphs

1.  Disney's Brave (2012)

a.  Describe scene:

                                                              i.      Running away from home.

                                                            ii.      Merida builds a shelter for her and her mother.

b.      Techniques used to create the special effect

                                                              i.      How was it made

                                                            ii.      How does it looks and acts

c.       Was it Successful/realistic?

                                                              i.      Why was or was not successful

                                                            ii.      Need improvements?

2. The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

a.       Describe scene:

                                                              i.      Neo fights Agent Smith at end of the film.

b.      Techniques used to create the special effect

                                                              i.      How was it made

                                                            ii.      How does  it looks and acts

c.       Was it Successful/realistic?

                                                              i.      Why was or was not successful

                                                            ii.      Need improvements?

Conclusion

1. Most films today have some kind of special effects in them. It is more prominent in CG animations then live-action. Depending on if it is an action or a romance, live-action films have all kind of special effects.
2.  Rain is just one of many special effects that we can see in today’s films.

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?

As long as there have been science fiction films, they have been messing with many of the physics you see in the films. Directors and special effects artists do this to entertain the audience; making sure their attention is on the silver screen and nowhere else. One of the simpler ways to do this was to make the explosions more theatrical. Because they make explosions so grand, it is hard to have normal looking explosions in a film or television; we are all used to the big bangs and fire being so immense in the explosions. You might think that you can only find it in older films; however, you can see the elaborated explosions in modern films as well. The three films that I will be talking about more in depth about why explosions are not accurate are “The Matrix Reloaded”, “Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope”, and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”. These three films have great examples of exaggerated or not even plausible for its environment explosions, which could never happen in our reality.

The 2003 film “The Matrix Reloaded”, the second movie in “The Matrix” trilogy has unique physics. This film can get away with this because it is set in a world that is similar to ours, but the people set free can bend physics almost to their will. The explosions in the film are realistic looking; however, are not plausible to appear the way they do on the silver screen. One moment in the film where Morpheus is shooting the underside of the ghost twins car’s gas tank; it explodes into a big fire ball. Right when the ghost twins got out of the car and were blown up into the air, you can see a blast wave or shock wave emanating from the car’s blast. However, if it had been shot realistically; the gasoline would not have a blast wave. The gas tank is a mixture of gas and air which would make a deflagration wave. This type of wave makes the sound of a loud explosion but has no shock wave. On a side note, the shock wave and the fireball from the blast would have killed Morpheus because he was standing lest then 30 feet away from the car. You can also see a blast wave later in the film when Naomi blows up a power plant, it can be seen emanating on top of the water. But unlike the gas tank, this is a detonation wave; a dangerous shock wave that can be seen in Atomic bombs. You see that the bomb was set on nuclear pressure line; it is not a nuclear blast, but will have a blast wave to it. 

Time of Explosion: 0:32

Power plant Explosions showing shock wave above the water.  

Another example of explosions that could not happen in “The Matrix Reloaded” is the scene where two semi trucks crash, head-on at a very high speed. Because the sequence was shot in slow motion, the explosion is dramatized to make the explosion and Neo’s rescue look more impressive then it would have if shot in normal speed. The audience sees the explosion develop for about 12 seconds before the scene ends. When in reality, we would see this in maybe two seconds or less. Even though the two trucks had a head-on collision, there is no way of knowing if the two would explode in the way that they actually had in the movie. Furthermore, at the end of the movie where the sentinels send kamikazes sentinel bomb to blow up Morpheus ship, the Nebuchadnezzar. You can see a second big explosion, which has to be around 2500 degrees Fahrenheit, because it is a blue colored flame.  Higher temperatures of the flames have a cooler or blue tint to them. It is really unknown what is inside the ship; however, it appears to be run on electrical power, using batteries or other electric sources. It looks cool on the silver screen, but it is unlikely that there would be a blue flame in this scene.

Time of Explosion: 1:33

Time of Explosion: 0:00

In 1977, “Star Wars: A New Hope” blew open the sci-fi genre into a new generation that would last to this day.  With the new Star Wars trilogy right around the corner, we look to the original films for inspiration; however, there are some odd space physics happening with their explosions. When Darth Vader tries to board Princess Leia’s ship, the Stormtrooper’s blow a door open to get onto the ship. You can tell that there are some firework sparklers mixed into the explosions to make it look more impressive. I believe that they were trying to make it look like sparks of metal from the door being cut and blown open; however, it just comes off really cheesy looking.

Firework sparklers in the explosion.

A lot of movies set in space, have amazing explosions that could never happen in the real space. In “Star Wars: A New Hope” there are many scenes where ships are being destroyed in space in big fire balls; however, in space there is no atmosphere for an explosion like we see in the film. You can see this when Luke and Han destroy the tie fighters as they escape from the Death Star for the first time. There is a large fireball that emanates from where the tie fighter(s) explodes. There with be debris from the tie fighters that could make it look like a smoke cloud; however, there is no way that it would burst into flames the way it does. Flames need oxygen, heat and fuel to survive; there is no oxygen or very little on board the ship to see this spectacular explosion. If they shot this scene realistically the blast would have happened within a couple of seconds then dissipated from our sight. Other scenes with this quality of unrealistic explosions are the detonation of the Death Star and the planet Alderaan. Like with the tie fighter, the Death Star has no atmosphere to speak of that could warrant such an amazing ending to the film. On the other hand, Alderaan does have an atmosphere, but the super laser would have heated the surface of the planet, destroying the atmosphere before the planet exploded.

Time of Explosion: 0:45

Time of Explosion: 1:03

Time of Explosion: 0:13

          Improbable explosions are not just seen in older films, but can be found in newer films as well. One such recent film in 2014 that has questionable explosions is “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”. In the opening rescue mission of the S.H.I.E.L.D ship, Natasha (Black Widow) and Steve (Captain America) are fleeing away from a hand grenade that Cap had hit to the corner of the room. When the grenade does go off, you can see a large flash of light, followed by many firecracker like sparks. When the scene cuts to a different angle, the fireball from the grenade looks like it is right behind Natasha and Steve.  Where the grenade was located, the explosion would not look the way it does on screen. Another unrealistic explosion in “The Winter Soldier” is when Natasha shoots a grenade from what looks to be a M203 Rifle Grenade Launcher at Winter Soldier; however, it hits the truck that was right in front of him instead. When I slowed down the speed of the film, I notice that the grenade had shot past the Winter Soldier, making it physically impossible for a grenade to hit the truck in front of him. However, the explosion of said truck is what I am interested in. A normal grenade does not make such a large explosion as seen in the film. The explosion in the film had help from gasoline, you can see the tell tale signs of bright yellow and orange in the fire. Grenades do not have gasoline in them. When in really a grenade goes off, you really do not see a flam or fire from it, just a lot of dust or other debris that gets kicked up.  You can also see this same type of wrong use of a grenade when the Winter Soldier shoots a disc-like grenade so it hits the underbelly of Nick Fury’s car to flip it on its roof. The explosion in this scene seems to be coming from the back of the car, but the grenade was placed in between the front wheels. The explosion would not be this intense to cause the car to flip.

S.H.I.E.L.D ship explosion.

Time of Explosion: 3:20

Time of Explosion: 4:06

           Science fiction breaks the rules of normal physics to make better films, it also makes the movies that much more entertaining for the audience. This concept is not new to the cinematic universe. Even though films are trying to become more realistic; they are still trying to keep the audience entertained at the same time. It is understandable why directors and special effects artists tweak the physics and realistic look of explosions. As we saw that this is not just for Sci-Fi films; but ones set in the real world like “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”. Yes, Captain America is from a comic book and is that type of film; but, it is set in our universe and set of physics. Unlike “The Matrix Reloaded”, they can make up their own set of physics because they are in a computer universe. “Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope” is a little bit complicated, it is set in the future where no one knows how their ship(s) are truly powered. But space is space, and with no an atmosphere, there can be no Earthly explosions. Spectacular as it may be, none of these explosions in these films are very plausible.

Outline for the Second Term Paper

Introduction

1. Three films – explosions in film are exaggerated or not even plausible for its environment.
2. Thesis – Many movies there are exaggerated explosions that could never happen in a normal reality.

 Body Paragraphs

1. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
1. Car blowing up after Morpheus shoots the underside of the gas tank (01:29:40).
2. Semi trucks crash into each other at a high speed (01:36:48).
3. Power plant explosion (01:44:49).
4. Sentinels’ sends kamikaze sentinel to blow up the Nebuchadnezzar (Morpheus ship) (2:03:52).
2. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
1. When Darth Vader aboard princess Leia’s ship, blows the door down/off (00:03:29).
2. Luke and Han shooting and destroying tie fighters (01:36:04).
3. Explosion of Alderaan (00:59:09) and the Death Star Death Star (01:54:17)
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).
1.  Natasha (Black Widow) and Steve Rogers (Captain America) jumping away from bomb on S.H.I.E.L.D ship (00:13:06).
2. Nick Fury’s car flips after Winter Soldier shot a grenade under car (00:32:26).
3. Natasha (Black Widow) and Steve Rogers (Captain America) in old Army base missal (01:06:18).
4. Natasha (Black Widow) shot grenade from gun at Winter Soldier; hits truck (1:23:47).

Conclusion

1. Science fiction breaks the rules of normal physics to make for better movies, it also makes the movies that much more entertaining for the audience.
2. Films are trying to become more realistic and still keep audience entertained at the same time.

Reverse Video Reference

The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

In the 2013 Walt Disney Animation Picture Frozen, physics deviates from normal physics in several ways; even though the film seems to be placed in our reality. Frozen was so popular that in 2014 it had won an Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globes for Best Animated Feature Film.  Just like all believable films, physics is key to its success. Believable does not automatically mean realistic. Depending on how the film’s story and universe is set in, animators can get away with pushing physics to the limit. In Frozen, the animators had to create unique physics for the supernatural powers seen in the film; furthermore, they have exaggerated the paths of action and used motion blur and stretch to its advantage.

Path of action is “the trajectory of a moving object”. In any film you will see path of action being used in two ways: the normal path that you see in our reality or the path that is exaggerated. Frozen has examples for both of these path of actions.  An example of an exaggerated path of action in the film is where Anna is dancing with a statue of a man’s head. She was spinning with the statue and it accidentally slips out of her hands; making it land on the top of a five layer cake on a table which is located on the other side of the room. You never see where the table with the cake is located in relation to Anna in the film; however, with the angle that the statue was going, it would have landed somewhere in the middle of the cake, not perfectly on top of the cake. You can also see exaggerated path of action in the scene where Kristoff, Anna, and Sven jump a 30 foot span to get away from a pack of wolves.  It is very unlikely that any of them would have made it across the span. Sven and Anna would have fallen to their deaths, identical to how the sled Kristoff was riding started to fall to the grown after hitting its apex.  They did not have the right speed or angle to actually make that jump in our reality.

 Anna lets go of the statue and it fly's into the top of the cake.

Kristoff, Anna, and Sven jump a 30 foot jump.

Frozen also has examples of path of actions you would find in our world. Such as, when Anna throws a snowball at Marshmallow, the bigger scary snowman, and hit him on the side of his shoulder. However, it’s unlikely that the snowball would have made it to the snowman from the distance Anna was at; it shows a great example of “Fourth Down at Half-time”. Other scenes where the path of action is like our own would be where Sven bucks Kristoff off his back so that Kristoff makes it to the other side of the ice water. Also, when Kristoff is being thrown out of the Trading Post into the snow by Oaken; however, it is unlikely that Oaken could have thrown Kristoff that far from the building because of Kristoff’s weight and size.

Krisoff following the path of actions.

Kristoff is being thrown out of the Trading Post into the snow by Oaken.

Notice the beautiful, smooth path that the snowball takes.

            Motion blur and stretch is very important to an animated film. Motion blur is the apparent streaking of rapidly moving objects in a still image, movie, or animation. When watching a film, animated or not, and you stop it in the middle of someone or something moving, it seems like they are being stretched or pulled away from another part of their body. They do this to objects and characters because it makes a more realistic motion blur when played at normal speed. It can be used in a subtle way, such as when Anna is being pulled away to dance with the Duke of Weselton, to a direct way, as in the “Let It Go” song scene. During the “Let It Go” song, Elsa’s face and hands stretch in odd shapes when she uses her powers. When you slow down the film or freeze it at the right time, you can see her hand is stretched out; this makes her hand looked deformed. Playing Frozen at its normal speed you can barely tell the stretching is happening; however, at some points you can tell something is not quite right. A great example of stretch is when Anna punches Hans in the face and knocks him off the ship towards the end of the film.  When Anna’s fist hits Hans straight in the face, his face and body start to move backwards; however, part of his face is being left behind causing the unhuman looking face that you see in the film. In “Let It Go” and Hans getting hit in the face scene, when you watch it at normal speed you cannot see the weird stretch shapes the animators create.

Notice the motion blur as they move along in the scene.

Note the way Elsa's face and fingers look in this still(s).

Normal Hans...

....Not normal Hans. Great example of stretch.  

            The magic in Frozen would never exist in our world; therefore, the animators had to create their physics for the magic you see in the film. When the Trolls are in there rock form, they move on their own and start to roll down a small hill to the royal family. This is similar to when an object is acted on by an unbalanced force, the law of inertia; however, for Elsa’s powers it alone defies the laws of physics and reality. In the film, Elsa turns her coronation dress into the dazzling blue ice dress; along with ice three inch heels. As we know, that is physically impossible to make a dress out of thin air. Animators had to use their imagination on how the action of the magic would play out in the scene. You can see “snowflakes” coming off Elsa’s body as her clothes are transforming; spiraling off her back like a wind was coming off it. For the dramatic ending, where Elsa makes winter turn back into summer; she uses the power of “love” to thaw the ice.  It is very similar to the “snowflakes” coming off Elsa’s body when her clothes were transformed. In the scene, the animators have to understand how ice would melt; however, they had to speed up the action to make it more magical.

Elsa's ice clothing transformation. 

Note all the different movements of the snowflakes.

The trolls start to move on their own in there work form.

Young Elsa pushes young Anna and (not alive) Olaf with the power of ice.

             In Frozen, the physical laws are typically followed the same as ours throughout the film; however, they are broken when it is called for in the scene. This variation of the normal physical laws makes the film more entertaining for the audiences of all ages. Exaggerated paths of action, stretching objects and characters to showcase motion blur, and creating a unique physics for the supernatural powers seen in the film are just some of the physics represented in Frozen. 

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

To create this animation I had to go through several steps. First, I had to draw out what set I wanted it to be place in on my magnetic white board. I wanted my “pig” magnet to jump off a cliff into the sea. Next I set up my tripod and my camera. I made sure that the scene was in frame. I used a remote to set my camera off to take a photo, so that I could stay where I was and move the “pig” without disturbing the camera.  After taking 60 photos; I put them in Adobe Lightroom and edited them slightly for lighting and contrast. Next I put all the photos and audio into Adobe Premiere. I had to play around with the timing and speed of each frame. I did this for at least 40 mints before getting the final product that you see above. 

First Term Paper Outline - Frozen (Laws of Physics)

Introduction

1. Animated Feature Film/Introduce: Frozen (2013, 1hr 42 min)
2. Thesis: In the 2013 Walt Disney Animation Picture, Frozen, physics deviates from normal physics  in several ways; even though, the film seems to be placed in our reality

Body Paragraphs

1. Exaggerated Paths of Action
1. Anna throwing a statue head of a man into the top of the cake (00:15:05).
2. Kristoff being thrown out of the Trading Post into the snow (00:38:14)
3. Kristoff, Anna, and Sven jump a 30 foot span to get away from a pack of wolfs (00:43:02)
4. Anna throwing snow ball at big scary snowman (00:58:48).
5. When Sven bucks Kristoff off himself so that Kristoff makes it to the other side of the water (01:24:28).
2.  Motion Blur and Stretch
1. Anna being pulled away to dance with the Duke of Weselton (00:21:30).
2. During the “Let It Go” song, Elsa’s face stretches in odd shapes when she uses her power (00:32:20).
3. When Anna punches Hans in the face and knocks him off the ship (1:29:20). 
3. Supernatural Powers
1. Elsa’s snow and ice making powers.
2. When the Trolls are in rock form moving and transforming (00:06:25).
3. Elsa making her own clothing and shoes with her power (00:34:16).
4. Elsa making it summer again with the power of “love” (01:28:00).

Conclusion

1. Physical laws are mostly followed throughout the film; however, they are broken when it is called for in the scene.
2. This variation of the normal physical laws makes the film more entertaining for the audience of all ages.

Video Analysis of Path of Action

Five Jumps:

One Jump:

One Jump with Tracker:

Tracker Video Analysis of Falling

One Fall:

Five Fall:

Shooting Video Reference

Mini-Portfolio

Kung Fu Panda's Shifu showing off - webneel.com

1990s Animation of Sailor Moon - ai-no-senshi.net

Pixar Brave Animation Tests - Merida & Fergus Cloth and Hair

My name is Julie Schiro. I am going to San Jose State for a BA in Design Studies major with a minor in Photograph. I will be graduating from SJSU this Spring. I have taken many Graphic Design, Photo, and Art classes throughout my studies at SJSU and West Valley college  (my Jr. college). However, I have never taken an Animation or Physics class before; so that is why I have no images or video(s) of my own work. For my last semester at SJSU I am taking 5 classes a total of 16 units: DSGN 197 (BA Senior Project), DSGD 104 (Into to Graphic Design), ART 147 (Metalsmithing & Jewelry), PHOT 110 (Black & White Photo), and PHYS 123 (Physics Animation).

When I finish school, I am interested in getting a career in my field. I want to design logos, banners, websites, packaging, etc. Also, I am interested in photographing portraits, food or anything else a businesses big or small would need.