Project 1

For the first two weeks, we discussed the storyline of our project and what effects we wanted to use in the video. I helped with the drawing of the storyboard.

In the following week, we distributed the roles and tasks as to whom should do which effects.
This is the production pipeline of our project.

For my part of the project, I was tasked to create a 3D model of a lego cube, which is also the box containing a virus in our video.

Using Maya, i created a cube then adjusted its dimensions as well added other parts (the 2 cylinders on top the the box/lid) to have it resemble the lego cube used in the video.

Then also using Maya, Ii animated the box shaking (as if the virus inside is trying to escape).
When the box is unable to hold the virus any longer, the box jerks open.
(shown in the gif)

Here's a the playblast of the box without effects added.

Then I exported the image sequence and used After Effects to add in the particles.

I used an effect, CC Particle World to create various particles that explode out of the box. (As shown in the gif)
I adjusted the x, y and z controls to make the particles sort of fly towards the camera with guidance from this tutorial, http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/particle_explosion/.

Here's the rendered video to show how it looks.

And this is the final render of our project.

Overall, I think that this project is quite interesting as it requires us to model 3d objects and use them in our story. Teamwork and communication is also important as it allowed to work closely as a group and successfully produce results for this project. We were able to actively discuss what effects our project should have and how it should be done.
I volunteered to model the box since i had more interest in 3d modelling than After Effects. It took me a moment to recall how and what to use in Maya because it has been quite a while since I last used it. And although the end result did not actually turn out the way I thought it would, I enjoyed the process of making the video.

Week 2: Zombie

This week's lesson required us to place an animated 3d object into the rendered video of the image sequence from the first week. We had to place the running zombie and human at an angle such that it will look like it is part of the actual images.

This lab exercise was also easy for me because it was basically following instructions on how to do it.
It is pretty interesting as well as useful on how we can model objects & add them into videos for when we can't find the props we need.

Week 1, Lab 3

3. What are some important factors in matchmoving, ie. what factors contribute towards a successful or unsuccessful matchmove?
The 7 rules of matchmoving that contribute towards a successful matchmove are

1. There must be something to track.
2. Track things at different depths.
3. Use helper frames (take at least 10 pictures from different angles)
4. A little bit of foreground makes a better matchmove. (reveal camera position more accurately than anything else)
5. We cannot track anything that moves.
6. Avoid having have too much foreground.
7. Use a scale reference. (measure the distance we will be tracking)

Week 1, Lab 1: MatchMoving

For the first lesson of this module, I learned how to use MatchMover to track points of objects in an image sequence. In the first exercise, we used auto tracking to track points of the lion statue.

Here's the rendered video.

We also learned to manually track points in a video and add in a 3d object.
& here's the video.

It looked complicated at first but it was relatively easy since we were given instructions in the pdf file.
Overall, I think auto tracking is much easier than manual tracking because sometimes manually, it is difficult to find good tracking points.