Initial Research
When I was tasked with putting together a proposal for this years work in digital media. I made sure i wanted to set something that I hadn’t done before and also that I enjoyed. After some research I settled on digital creation either through special effects or 3D modelling. This then developed into 3D modelling and texturing as it was a skill i had attempted but never really learnt. I saw this opportunity to add a new set of skills to my repertoire. I had wanted to teach my self 3D modelling for a while now and saw this project as a good chance to do this. In addition to this I saw a video shared on Facebook about how pixar creates all their movies it shows footage of artists creating the assets. This inspired me to look further into digital 3D modelling as it looked like something I would want to do myself.
How Pixar’s Tech Creates Worlds that Don’t Exist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwhV6jyDgD0
Basic Proposal
What is the intended idea/concept of the project?
For This year I intend to start a yearlong project which will have a clear sub goal to achieve by the end of this semester. My idea is to look into how 3D Modelling can be used in the creation of CGI shorts films. As I am relatively new to 3D modelling and Texturing. I plan to split the year into two distinct phases. The first one being improving and honing my skills to create a show reel which highlights everything I will have learnt this semester. Then the second semester’s goal is to create a short animated short which uses the skills I learnt in the first semester. I plan on the 3d animated short being cinematic and to a polished standard. Which will be achieved through the use of Unreal engine and other software such as Substance Painter and Designer. After hearing that Sport Science students have access to a form of motion capture suite which they use to record and then analyse exercise I would be interested in seeing if I could utilise this for capturing movement which could then be imported into my own work.
The basic ideas for the second semester project consist of an individual with the ability to travel through time / space, each time visiting a completely different environment allowing me to show the diversity of my skills. For example, one place may be a dense overgrown forest and then next a futuristic city. The narrative will build as the year progresses and my skills develop.
Describe the intended audience:
I feel that the intended audience for this would be an individual of either gender that has a strong interest into 3D Modelling, Video Games, Motion capture and that for the development of new technology. A secondary intended audience could be companies viewing my work for the purpose of job applications / work experience.
How will this project extend your creative and technical skills?
This project will extend my creative skill set dramatically as starting this process my technical ability is limited in this field of digital media. However, I plan to change this by the end of the year. I plan to learn these skills through the 3D masterclass I am attending and I also plan to watch a lot of online tutorials that will take me through all the processes I plan on using. I plan to become proficient in Blender, Unreal Engine, Substance Painter and Substance Designer. In addition to what I mentioned earlier about Sports Sciences having a motion capture suite, if I am able to use this I would very much like to learn how to apply motion data to 3D assets for use in my own work.
I want to learn how PBR can effect model texturing and the benefits of using a game engine for instantaneous rendering can affect my work.
Outline how the practical work will be carried out and the time-scales involved for each task. (If working in a group, please also indicate the division of labour)
The main process of my work will be split into two phases, skill development resulting in a show reel and then creation of a polished piece.
In the first phase there will be smaller stages. Starting with in-depth research into each technical areas and then varied experiments of each technical skill resulting in lots of data and information to formulate my ideas and creative input into the next semesters work.
This brings me on to my next phase in the second semester. I will start by sketches ideas of character and doing mock tests of environment and story arc’s. These sketches will be the building blocks that my storyboards will be based on. I will then put these storyboards to a selection of individuals in the form of a focus group. Which will ultimately input my final piece.
What other work (by animators, designers, film-makers, writers, digital media producers, etc.) is relevant to your project? (This work may either be relevant for its conceptual, inspirational or technical similarity):
I have been influence by a few pieces of work and individual’s. One of the pieces that influenced me the most was the demo trailer for called ‘Infiltrator’ the reason this stood out so much was that it was made and filmed in unreal engine. It is pieces of work like this that inspired me to go down this channel of digital media.
Another piece of work produced that inspired me was how a game called Hell blade was also made in unreal engine uses motion capture to provide data for 3d models to follow allowing for a more realistic product. Continuing on with motion capture I was particularly interested in Andy Serkis’s work with Ninja theory where he worked with them to motion capture his movements for video games.
Infiltrator demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EJC1edU3Y4
Hell blade motion capture video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F86pGRwsCAI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F86pGRwsCAI
List at least two critical texts that are relevant to your conceptual intentions:
When carrying out my initial development of my proposal there were a few key texts that stood out to me where that stood out to me and these were:
Mastering Unreal technology by Jason Busby, Zak Parrish, Jeff Wilson
Understanding motion capture for computer animation and video games by Alberto Menache
Link to Proposal Below: