DiM
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DiM is a senior animated short film about a group of workers that are enslaved and oppressed by their boss, The Ringmaster. Through self- discovery, they realize the power that they always had within themselves, and use it to defeat him.
DiM
Andy Yankovich, Ari Dimercurio, Arturo Valdez, Ashlynne Doidge, Autumn Jones, Ian Alcairo, Jaylen Dunbar, Kathryn Goettleman, Mazie Neil, Paulina Nunez
Below is the iterative process that documents the problems, solutions, and additional elements that occurred during the creation of this film. Enjoy!
Iterative #19
I have finished the animation for sequence 8, and I have moved on to finishing up some animation in other scenes. The main issue for the moment, is finishing the animation and getting it into Unreal Engine. The sooner we finish the animation, the sooner we can import it and render more shots. Also my lighting partner and I have completed the lighting in the dungeon, and we have started the on lighting in the stage area.
Lighting Progress
Iterative #18
I have been making some great progress with my animation for sequence 8. I have gotten plenty feedback on my animation and I am entering the polishing stage. Therefore it should be finished within the next week. I have also expressed interest in lighting in addition to another group mate. We have started meeting up and hashing out ideas to improve the lighting in our scene. So far, we have added some blueish/greenish ambient lighting by the walls, so that the lamps can be a warm color for some good contrast. The color of the ambient lighting is inspired by the color of the lights in the bathroom dance scene from The Joker movie. I hope to use the lights in the lamps to create some overhead lighting that resembles the lighting in The Godfather. These elements would create a feeling of stress and increase the dramatics.
Lighting Progress
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Iterative #17
Over the past two weeks, I worked on importing Rory's and Lizzo's textures into Unreal. Unfortunately, there was another problem with the textures' appearances on the models. My texturing partner figured it out though. I ended up texturing another model with the incorrect UVs. Therefore, I communicated with the animators, and I figured out which models had the correct UVs. After that, I retextured them within a couple hours, and imported them into Unreal. After successfully applying them in Unreal, I decided to help the animators. I took the task of completing sequence 8, which is our final sequence, and it only contains two simple shots. As someone who does not have the best animating abilities, I wanted to pick up on the very simple shots since that would still help ease the workload, and help us reach out goal faster.
Iterative #16
Over the week, I textured some pretty important props such as the rug and the vanity. I also imported those models and textures into Unreal Engine. In addition to this, I did a bit more set dressing, and imported more textures for other props. Next week I can work on bringing in textures for Finn, Rory, and Lizzo since the problem with their UVs is solved. Our project manager figured out how to fix everything, and keep most of the UVs. Therefore, I only have to do some retexturing, and I can finally get those textures into Unreal Engine.
Rug Vanity
Iterative #15
In the past two weeks, I got a lot of props textured, and I have started importing textures into UE5. I have also began on some set dressing. For some of the props, I had to bring in a newer version because the UV's of the old versions were different than the ones I textured. I have also changed Lizzo's main color to magenta since everyone wanted a CYM theme between Finn, Rory, and Lizzo. Unfortunately, we are having a difficult time getting the character's textures to look right in UE5 because in the software, the UVs have changed and we do not know why. This makes the textures look very choppy and glitchy. My other team members and I are going to look into this problem over the week. This may be happening because of the rigs. Hopefully we can figure out this problem soon so that we can continue to make progress.
New Textured Props New and Improved Lizzo
Iterative #14
I have continued to work really hard with the texturing captain to make sure that our styles are cohesive. We are very close to finalizing the textures. We could finish them next week. However, my other teammates are having problems with Finn and Rory's UVs. This means that there is a possibility that we might have to retexture them. However, they are working to make sure that we wont have to. Since we are almost done with character textures, I started texturing props. Lastly, although we moved the deadline up to the tenth, I am not worried about our wok because we have made a lot of progress as a whole.
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Updated Characters' Textures Prop Textures
Iterative #13
I worked on textures for Lizzo and Rory over winter break. I have also done iteratives of them over the past two weeks. The texturing captain, and I have been meeting up with each other to make our styles more cohesive. We have also been receiving feedback from our group members and professors. The character textures should be finished and exported by next week. Then we can start texturing props. Our team is ahead of schedule and I feel really good about our progress. I am positive about the flow of our group, and as long as we keep up the momentum, we will finish our short on time.
Before After
Iterative #12
After texturing the Ringmaster, I was asked to export the textures and put them into Unreal Engine (UE). I had a really hard time putting them into the software and it got really frustrating. However, two of my teammates helped me bring it into the software. The problem was the naming conventions. I was also tasked with texturing Finn, but I was struggling to import him into substance painter. Because importing the Ringmaster's textures in UE was the priority, texturing Finn was put on hold. Since Finn ended up not being textured, our texturing captain decided to take the job so that I can texture Rory. Hopefully I would be able to import Rory with minimal to no problems. I also experienced some shade from the texturing captain, and the main animator in my team because Finn was not able to be textured. I do not think this is fair because everybody on the team knew all the struggles I was dealing with that kept me from texturing him. This is one out of many times the main animator has had disrespectful behavior towards team members when they were unable to do their job. Even though this is a little frustrating, it will not hinder my ability to work on the short.
Iterative Review #11
I have finished texturing the Ringmaster. It was fun exploring our art style and applying it to him. I like the circus aesthetic and diamonds, so I explored that while creating the textures. I was able to do this in addition to my other work which was very convenient. My team members also really liked my textures. In addition to this, one of my teammates and I did some foley work with our sound and music person. We created sounds for the characters' light orbs, their footsteps, and swooshing sounds for the action packed scenes. Working with sounds brought a new perspective to the project for me. I learned about how the effects of different sounds can impact the overall mood. Especially the smallest sounds. Lastly, the team is still dealing with communication issues from one team member. Our professors are also aware of this. However, since it seems like we have done all that we could do to get this team member on board, we just have to move on and finish the project without worrying about them. I agree with this decision because we would not be held back by one member, and continue to be proactive.
Pictures of the Ringmaster
Foley Materials
Iterative Review #10
I have not done much work for this project this time because I have been busy with my other classes and student organizations that I am in. I am also starting to experience some burnout. Other members on my team are also starting to experience burnout too. However, I am still committed to my team and this project. The good news is that I will be starting on texturing the characters. Since texturing is my specialty, this may increase my motivation. Also, since the Mocap team is ahead of schedule, this only leaves one more day of Mocap to do and we will be finished with it. Therefore, I am not worried about Mocap. Although I am struggling with motivation right now, I will do my best to make sure this project is done and to keep up with my team.
Iterative Review #9
There have been good progress made in the Mocap part of this project. I have been working with actors to figure out when is the best time to work with them to record. After another animatic pass, I received some great feedback on the Mocap. I also got more members from my team to volunteer and help me with it. This is great because I have had a difficult time dealing with the Mocap actors showing up on "Mocap days" at inappropriately late times. They would show up an average of 30-60 minutes late and sometimes cancels at the last minute. This takes away from valuable Mocap time where we could get a lot of progress done. It takes about an hour to calibrate the suits and they know this. I also feel like it is unfair to me when I always show up on time and have to wait for them. I have told them how important it was to come on time when one of them came two hours late one day. However, one actor have started to show up on time. This helped a lot in our last session because we also got calibration done in 10 minutes. This resulted in the recording of six shots, putting us ahead of schedule. However, because the other actor fails to show up on time and cancels at the last minute, I have went to the other volunteers to take their place so that I can continue to keep things moving. I have put into account that this one actor does have health problems and that may effect the "Mocap days." But on most of the days where they are very late, they give me invalid excuses such as, "I do not manage my time wisely on days I do not have class." On the other hand, the decision to work with volunteers brought new ideas to the Mocap process. We also got a lot of work done on new scenes, and we redid all of the scenes we planned on redoing. Lastly, our Production Manager and the rest of the team decided to write an email to the actor about how their actions are effecting the team. This will hopefully clear the air and increase production.
Iterative Review #8
I put a halt on rigging to focus on motion capture. I watched an hour long video that had an overview on how to use the Xsens software, and it walked me through the process of doing motion capture. I also took a lot of notes on it so I can remember the process better. Two of my teammates were the ones who put on the suits and acted out the scenes. My job was to set up the software, make sure the suits are properly calibrated, troubleshoot problems, and organize which scenes are going to be performed. My team promoted me to Captain of the Mocap Department. During the process, I ran into a lot of problems. The notes I took helped me out, but there were still some problems I had to figure out myself. Most of them involved the calibrations. It took about two hours to get the calibrations to our liking. I also forgot to save some of the calibrations so we had to repeat the process the next day. However, I figured out how to save it, and calibrate the suits correctly through trial and error. Also, we managed to record a lot of scenes. Therefore, despite all the problems, we got a lot of progress done. We also ran into another problem. I forgot to change the names of the files every time we would record a new scene. This resulted in a confusing mess when we tried to open a specific scene. I took charge of organizing them. I tried to rename the files so that they correspond with their scene instead of the generic name the software gave them. However, when I tried opening them back up, Xsens did not recognize them. I fixed this by giving them their original name and it fixed the problem. I put them in their own folders to avoid confusion. Therefore, I successfully organized them and I feel more comfortable using Xsens. I also feel like I have learned a lot about it, and I am confident that future Mocap sessions will go smoother than before.
Iterative Review #7
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I have been working on a basic rig for one of our characters. I was advised by my professors to create the rig in Unreal Engine 5. I struggled with this because I have never rigged in Unreal Engine before. I only managed to convert a static mesh into a skeletal mesh, and the skeletal mesh only had one bone that controlled the whole body. I remembered my professor mentioning the mesh to metahuman feature so I asked him for more information about that. He explained what it is and gave me some resources to start my research. After researching this feature and experimenting with it, I realized that this feature will not be able to be used on the characters my senior short film contains. The characters are very stylized, and some even have animalistic features. This will not work because metahumans are very realistic, and you need a realistic style model to turn it into a metahuman. Although I was quite frustrated with this, I stepped back and realized that not only is the model I am working on incomplete, I also committed to only making a basic rig. Creating this basic rig will help me in the future when I modify it on completed characters. After reorganizing my thoughts, I realized that my only options were either using advanced skeleton, or building the rig from scratch. Because I have had a terrible experience with advanced skeleton in the past, I decided to build the rig from scratch in Maya. I am very confident in my abilities to rig because I have had some practice with it over the summer. Because of this, I managed to complete the basic rig in two days.
FRONT
BACK
SIDE
THREE-FOURTHS
Iterative Review #6
My group and I has had a lot of growth in story development and we are positive that we will be able to create a solid animatic by the next animatic pass. During the process of all this, I helped my group create thumbnails so that we can visualize our thoughts. We also split into little groups so that certain things can get done in a timely manner. I joined the art group and have been collaborating with them on environment and character design. I mainly focused on the environment design and I have drawn some concept art for the pit. I have also drawn masks because they might be used as decorations inside the pit. Although I have been working on the environment, I also add my input on the character designs. We are currently have issues with working on one, cohesive, style. To fix this problem, my group and I have decided that volunteers, who have a particular style in mind, create a style sheet and present it to everyone. From there, we can create our own style that is representative of everyone's thoughts.
Iterative Review #5
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This weekend was very productive for my group. We made thumbnails for Acts I and II. One of the problems we have is that we are having problems with communication from one of the group members, and we never have our full group present. There are also problems with people meeting deadlines. Therefore, we are going to go over our contract during one of our meetings and address these issues. We are also going to address these issues during class next Friday.
Iterative Review #4
I have started on storyboards before we changed the story. It is really challenging because it is my first time doing storyboards and I am not used to drawing digitally. However, I managed to complete three shots that I am very proud of. Also, since we have decided to change our story, we have not been able to start on new storyboards. We need to put all of our ideas together before a shot list can be made. This is a little stressful because I do not think we will have an animatic to present of Friday.
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Iterative Review #3
In the last two weeks, I have been focusing more on other classes than Production 1, which resulted in me not doing much in that class. However, I managed to complete some concept art for our tent. A lot of members in this group have been focusing on other classes too. This has become an issue because we end up doing everything at the last minute. However, we have come up with a solution for this. We made the decision to have something completed by Thursday. This will make this class more of a priority for everybody. Also, there was a lot of progress with storyboards, modeling, and concept art over the weekend.
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Iterative Review #2
I made some concept art, color palletes, and applied some cameras to our animatic. Also, we've updated our Miro board.
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