Experimental here we come!!!

Well I've changed my direction and I feel much happier with the results, the edit works better and the music that Ben has produced has made all the difference to the believability. I have now re-titled my project as I felt it needed to reflect the changes that I have made to the piece. It is now called 'The Uncanny Doll Valley'.

Here is my final image for you all to reflect upon.

Editing

I am at the stage where I am editing my footage. I have done a first draft and I don't think the results are very good, the overall effect is quite disturbing because the animation is lacking realism and the dancers are scary looking. This isn't working out as I'd planned. I think I'm going to have to think again and maybe produce something in keeping with the style so far. I think I need to make my composition more experimental as this is the only way that this will work.

This is the first draft:-

Getting around problems

I decided that I would go the simpler route and duplicate my characters using after effects and green screen. The decision was also made because the animation that I'd done so far wasn't perfect and I felt that it would be easier to composite footage together with some effects and make the overall project more interesting. I have used my first model to create two other girls and I have adjusted their costume, lip and eye colour to make them different. I'm quite happy with the results and now that I have done this I can render out all my footage with a green screen background and use After Effects to removed it.
I think the best way to remove the background would be to use colour keying. I have done this before, however, I thought it important to source a few pointers from the internet for doing this in a more accurate way and I think the results that I have produced work quite well. It's obviously getting very close to the dead line for this piece and therefore I need to use this week to edit and composite my footage. I'm also going to have to get a hard drive to transport all my footage because the files are too big to fit on a USB stick as I need to use a more powerful computer to render out the After effects project in university. I tend to find that my computer doesn't give a very good finish to projects when produced with After Effects, maybe it's too memory intensive.

Frustration

I've tried to copy the the animation from one character to another using the trax editor but it's not really working out as I'd hoped. I'm not sure whether each individual element of movement needs to be duplicated as so far I've had not luck. I've tried copying the pelvis movements as a control but it's just not working as I;d hoped. There seem to be just too many variables for me to get the combination right. I think I'll try one more time. I haven't got time for this problem with everything else that needs doing. The rendering of the character and camera choices and movements will no doubt take a week or two, so I need to get this finished and move on to editing.

Test animation

I have done a basic test for copying the animation from one character to another. I used a cube and a sphere, using the trax editor and the character mapper. The movement is working out fine but the scale isn't working. I don't need the scale to work as my character doesn't change size but I don't know whether this may cause problems when I try it on the main animation because of all of the movement and keying.

Duplicating the animation

The main problem I have found about doing this project is that I have no knowledge of duplicating animation from one character to another. I have been researching on the internet and haven't found anything of use. I been into university and spoken to Andrew and whilst he doesn't have a solution to the problem it was useful to brainstorm with someone with knowledge. It also became apparent when I was talking to him what a mess my rig is in. I think I knew this but we have found a solution to this. I'm going to copy all of the key sets from the pelvis on the circle and detach it and redraw a new one and copy the keys over. I can then group all of the elements of the rig together under one header. The problem I was having is that for some reason the circle that controls the pelvis is fixed which means when you want to move the whole character the model distorts and cannot be relocated. By following the steps above it means I can pick the whole character up and move them easily which will also help me when I come to copying the other girls.

I think I can duplicate the animation using the trax editor and the character mapper function in Maya. I think I will try this with a simple object and see if it works before I try it with my complicated model.

The best solution that we came up with if I don't manage to duplicate the girls is the use of After Effects it may mean that I have to produce a composition film, which may look better anyway. I can render out each girl in their various coloured costumes and head dresses, I need to move the stage across for each one so that they look like they are positioned accordingly in comparison to each other and then take the footage and composite it in After Effects. It works out kind of like doing a green screen where you superimpose someone.

Animation

I have set the stage and put a single dancer on it. I'm concentrating on getting her animated moves correct prior to adding the other dancers. The reason being that I am duplicating the animation for each girl, therefore if I can do a nice piece for one, it is a nice piece for all. I'm struggling to make the animation realistic at the moment she is still stiff and mechanical looking. I have been into university and I have shown Carol who has suggested the following ways of improving what I have without starting again.

Anticipation
Overshoot movements
Keep the various parts of the body animated slightly out of sync
Add more up and down movement

I have taken these on board and I've changed the moves that I have done so far. I have posted up a before and after playblast to show the differences I have made.


BEFORE


AFTER

Setting the stage

I have spent time looking for pictures of theatre stages on google images to see what I could find for ideas for the stage sets etc. I want to keep it as simple as possible so not to detract from the dancers, neutral colours but still in keeping with a realistic stage.

Here are few of the images I found:-


http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/graphics/empire_theatre_stage.jpg


http://theaterseats.htroom.com/images/TheaterStage03.jpg


http://www.theglasgowstory.com/images/TGSB00373_m.jpg


http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2007/06/15/theatrespotlight460.jpg

Ithink the last picture is more like the idea I had simple but effective. Here is a still image of my theatre set, I though I might put a cut out silhouette audience in After Effects in due course.




I have slightly changed the stage now that I have the dancer on it. The changes are more for scale and realism issues, I have expanded the space on the stage behind the curtains which the audience probably won't see but I wanted to make sure it looked real. I have also added a bit of detail around the stage so it's not so plain.

Dance moves

I have been studying the film clips and shorts that I found on YouTube to see if I could put down some basic dance moves on paper, basic stances and strong outline shapes, I have a series of about 13 strong silhouette shapes that I'm going to use. I wanted to storyboard prior to starting the animation so I think I will sit with the music playing and get some inspiration. The dance is going to be slow movements as I don't want to make things impossible to animate well for myself. Up until this point the animating side of the whole process is the bit that I'm least comfortable with so I need to work really hard to achieve what I have in my mind.

Animating

I have decided that I will get on animating the first character of my dance troupe and try and copy the key sets that I make to each new girl in due course. I feel that I need to get at least the lead female dancing and then the others can fall into place once I am happy with the results. For obvious reasons I would like to do good animation not just a vast quantity amount of bad animation. I'm feeling quite positive. The other thing that I have decided to leave until later is the few accessories that make the girls look different, I can always add them towards the end.

Blend shapes

I can't decide whether to do blend shapes with the characters face so that she has expression, I should do I guess because I don't want her to appear stiff and unnatural, the only thing is that I don't want to move her face too much. Maybe the odd smile and blink would be sufficient. I might just stick with three basic blend shapes for animating, smile, left eye open/close, right eye open/close.

Rigging the model

I have had a few problems as I expected rigging the model. I found a tutorial to help as I felt that it was important to have a good rig for moving the character around and to try and make the animation process as simple as possible. I wanted to have inverse kinematics for the arms as I thought it would be easier to position them by dragging the wrist instead of rotating the shoulder and elbow joints. The arms are a little dysfunctional in some of the positions, but I feel at this stage they are a good as I can do with the time constraints, I feel that I need to start animating in order to meet the deadline. I have had a few problems as well with deformation of my character when moving certain parts, when I finished rigging and bound the skin to the skeleton I have quite a bad deformation under the arm which meant that the side of the body came out as the arm went up in the air, I have sorted most of the issues out using the paint weight tool which adjusts which skeleton joint has influence over the different areas of the skin. I'm still struggling to get the paint weight tool to function properly and I'm wondering whether I have a bug in my Maya programme, it certainly doesn't appear to be doing what the tutorial says!
Anyway I think I've fixed the problems to a sufficient degree to animate. I can't be a perfectionist unfortunately as don't have the time, I need to leave it and move on.

Character colourways

I've just stretched the model and changed the colourway.
I can't decide at this point whether to make all the clothes the same and just vary the eye colour, hair colour and accessories ie. cane, bowler hat, top hat, feather etc.
I may need to adapt the face slightly to suit so that each girl is slightly different.

Here are a few more render pictures:-

Decisions, decisions

Initially when I started this project I was going to draw stylised sketches of the final dancer idea that I had and model it in Maya. Whilst I am still modelling in Maya I have decided to model the character using photos of myself. I felt that the models I have produced so far are only as good as the sketches I have done and because of this mine aren't up to scratch, in my mind, what better than using real reference materials. Don't get me wrong I am not looking to produce a model that looks like myself I just feel that the photos are a strong base to start from. I don't wish to share these pictures of me in my underwear with you but I have got to a stage where I am almost finished the generic character for the dance troup.

Here are the single render shots that I have done to demonstrate where I'm up to:-







I'm pleased with the results.

Initial sketches

Here are a my initial drawing sketches based on the research I have done so far for my project.










Some of them are obviously better than others!

Project research

I thought it important to gather some photos that would be of interest to my project idea.
Whilst the type of dance routine idea needs some firming down I've looked generally for pictures with girl dance troupes in, which will assist me with the final look of the project. These images are generic and I may concentrate more on one particular era.






All these images were found using Google images search engine.
I also wanted to ensure that I had some film clips of dance routines to enable me to try and choreograph something realistic. I searched www.youtube.com whci seemed the most obvious place to look.

Below is the embedded videos for my research found on youTube:-



This is the poster that I have, this is where the original inspiration came from for the project.

Project Submission Proposal

Submission Proposal for Double Project

Project Title Proposal: Virtually Vaudeville

Brief Overview Of Project:

The idea for this project is taken from a stage poster which dates back to approximately 1975, it is the promotional poster from Chicago the musical, directed by Bob Fosse and starring Gwen Verdon. The poster shows a series of stylised dancing girls and the idea of my project is to model, rig and animate a 3D version of a stage girl troupe dance similar to that of the Can-Can but using a modern interpretation of the music. The piece is an short animation to enable me to develop my skills in animation and modelling and will ultimately be useful as a piece for work for my portfolio, which will help show my versatility. This project will require the character modelling to be as good as possible due to the flexibility required to prevent distortion of the limbs when the dance moves involve high leg kicks and large actions. The piece will be stylised and the figures elongated and curvaceous to add a statuesque and elegant feel to them, they will not be modelled using human proportions. Because it is 3D reproduction of a stage show I will try and keep the lighting effects and atmosphere of the theatre as realistic as possible with the use of stage spotlights and the smoky, dusty air.

Research Thesis Subject Area:

The research for this project will delve into the study of women, dance and sexuality in the theatre. Looking at a time line starting from when women were first allowed to take to the stage and in what context, working through history to the point in where women were allowed use sexually expression through the medium of dance.
When were women first allowed on stage and in what capacity? What were the rules of engagement where dress and clothing were concerned and how did history evolve to allow sexual expression from women through clothing and dance? The thesis will look into any significant turning points or controversy in the history of women, dance and the stage through the ages. Studies will explore French stage entertainment, dance troupes and study the movement and history of well known dances such as the Can-Can to provide insight into it's popularity as a world famous stage performance. The majority of pictures and some factual research will be sourced via the web. This is a thesis will be a work in progress and I will potentially look at the following books to aid my project and theoretical research:-

Dancing Desires: Choreographing Sexualities On And Off Stage (Studies In Dance History). Jane C. Desmond

Broken Boundaries: Women And Feminism In Restoration Drama. Katherine Quinsey

Race, Sex And Gender In Contemporary Women's Theatre. The Construction Of Woman. Mary F. Brewer

Dance, Sex And Gender: Signs Of Identity, Dominance, Defiance And Desire. Judith Lynne Hanna

Fatal Desire: Women, Sexuality And The English Stage 1660-1720. Jean I. Marsden

The First English Actresses: Women And Drama, 1660-1700. Elizabeth Howe
Dance And Gender. Kim Grover-Haskin

Redressing The Canon: Essays On Theatre And Gender. Alisa Solomon

Proposed Schedule:

Weeks 1-3:
Set up blog space on-line for demonstrating working practices. Research and find appropriate film clips with of stage shows such as Chicago and film clips of the French dance troupes doing the Can-Can or similar. Provide proposal information to the musician to start work on the modern interpretation music for short animation. On going blog and research for thesis.

Weeks 4-5:
Make stylised character sketches along with of sketches of appropriate dance moves and costumes. Choose a basic character figure which can be adapted easily within Maya to be more than one person using different hair colour & style, costume and eye colour. Produce a sketch for the final stage appearance and feel. On going blog and research for thesis.

Weeks 6-7:
Model the character in 3D, along with the various adapted versions for multiple characters. Model a basic stage set with large tie back curtains. Texture the character models and scene. Receive music. On going blog and research for thesis.

Week 8:
Rig the characters from scratch. Story board the dance routine and the camera shots. On going blog and research for thesis.

Week 9-10:
Animate the central character. Add animation to all other characters. On going blog and research for thesis.

Week 11:
Render animation and pull into Premier for editing. On going blog and research for thesis.

Week 12:
Edit work and add titles using After Effects. Add music and theatre/crowd sound. On going blog and research for thesis.

Week 13:
Room for error and finalising paperwork.

Week 14:
Submit all elements on data disc or DVD including blog URL.