Snow simulation in Premiere

Due to the issues faced creating realistic snow simulation in maya I was forced to look at alternate methods. Maya was unable to successfully render snow with Arnold. I first turned to nuke and tried to create snow in this. I have experience in this from a previous module but this simulation looked too regular with very little realism. I then turned to Premiere pro editing software. Using the screen edit overlay interpretation, I was able to add snow effects which can be found at this link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEhD5WwCo44

Week 13 progress

         This week seems to have gone quite well, I am still polishing the animation in places with renders adding to the success of the week, User testing has proven that the animation is becoming more emotive and powerful with elements starting to show of some work that I am very proud of. With the pros, however, must come a series of cons, the first of these being the university servers crashing two days in a row, crashing every item of software.

     Secondly is the issue that I have had with adding fluidity to the speaking elements of the animation. The sound has been edited better in other places though and I feel that I just need some time to think through the best possible characterisation and go from there. The audience needs to feel the character's emotions from this.

      Finally, the snow simulation issue is still in place with the rendered shots. I will continue to look into this but it seems like post production snow simulation, via Premiere Pro or Nuke will have to be the way to go.

Here is the week 13 progress. Partly rendered. Partly playblast. 

Words appearing on screen

I'm still having issues with the shot where the character speaks to himself and voices what is going wrong and how he feels. This shot needs to be strong, powerful and full of emotion allowing the audience to understand the character more.

I have tried a few methods to get this shot to work and as of currently it still feels out of place. At the same time however, it is necessary to create the transition from the icy scene to the therapist scene. As of currently, it just doesn't fit. Further feedback and suggestions are required from testing and audience/supervisor feedback would be greatly appreciated at this point in order to create better fluidity.

More test renders week 13

This render is very nice and looks like a cold snowy area where the shadows are cast accurately and the lighting puts the sun at a low level which nicely replicates the low sun that would be in the Arctic.

On this test render the snow looks realistic but stylised and really makes the character look  small highlighting his isolation and loneliness.

Rendered image test

I am very happy with this render. The water is visible with slight reflection as is the ice. The noise that I left on the mountains thanks to lowering diffuse in render settings and texturing has added a more snowy and grainy effect. The sky is fitting to the environment well thanks to the HDRI image that I used for the physical sky.

Here is a link as reference to the HDRI as it is not my own image

http://goodstock-live-images.s3.amazonaws.com/images/db/3698/MK_04302016_001_hdr.jpg

The only issue that I have found is the snow simulation not coming out in the render. I have tried fixing this issue in render settings and with lecturers but in the end regardless of particle size, I have been unsuccessful. The plan now will be to render further and look at possibly creating the snow in post production, using either Premiere Pro or Nuke.

Production schedule update

As of the final week of semester, the production schedule has managed to work quite well. I am currently ahead of the production schedule that was outlined in week 1. I am happy with the overall progress and have managed to successfully animate to a standard that I am comfortable with at this stage. I will now do some more test renders in order to get the environment the way that I want it to be.


 

User testing week 13

What is your Degree Program?

Interactive systems and video game design (3 Year)

What do you think the story is about?

Originally, I thought it was about some sort of tragedy, then I watched further and realised it was mental health. However, I did not expect OCD. This may be because I do not suffer from it more than the animations fault, but it clarified mental health issues.

Comments on the environment and overall timing & pacing of the story?

As I previously said, it was not completely clear until the end of the animation what it was about. I also am slightly unsure the environment is the best choice, the ice was a good idea giving the feeling of aloneness and a feeling that everything around you is falling apart, however the whole setting being in the icecaps, disassociated me from the feelings, as it did not identify with the subject on a personal level and thus didn’t feel the full impact. The idea would be better if you expanded the feelings the animation portraits, to people who do not suffer from OCD, such as starting in a neutral environment and eventually the environment turns to the snow environment

Do you feel the message is conveyed clearly?

Yes, it made me think about how it is to have OCD

Other comments and feedback?

No.

This feedback is interesting as up to now the feedback has been mostly positive, saying that the message has been conveyed clearly. This one does however state that the message was not entirely clear until the end of the animation. This is part of what I was going for, that sudden shock factor at the end but this user found that the icy setting took him out of the emotional aspect of the animation. This contrasts with everyone else. I suppose that is just an element that not every piece can reach every audience.  

What is your Degree Program?

Interactive Systems and Video Game Design (3 Year)

What do you think the story is about?

At first the Animation starts of with an individual walking across a frozen lake and enjoying himself, then the ice begins cracking and the man becomes distressed whilst he attempts to flee from the danger. He finds himself trapped on both sides and after all of the ice cracks and separates leaving him isolated and panicked on a small floating section of ice. He begins wallowing in self agony as the scene transitions to him sitting dejected on the step of an OCD Mental Health Clinic with a Doctor/Nurse reassuring him that he'll be OK. The scene transitions from that to narrated texts and ends on a final text line.

Personally I didn't expect it to head in this direction although the Title "Cracked" conveys a shattering on the mind like how the ice splinters and fractures. I'm not sure exactly what conveys this as OCD as I saw this as more of an Anxiety Attack and the feeling of helplessness the protagonist has in his situation makes it seem more so.

Comments on the environment and overall timing & pacing of the story?

The environment design was decent the background to the tundra looks good. I think the Ice he's walking over could be more translucent to convey to the viewer how fragile it is and the dangerous water underneath, The show Particles look very square and pixelated and square I think a larger snowfall density and a better pixel resolution would improve this aspect.

I think the facial features on the man are well done, they are exaggerated to the point where they convey the emotions probably but not to a point where they become overly cartoon-like. The animations on the man also fall between a nice area of partial exaggeration but grounded in a reality. Another thing I like was the camera following the ice as it cracks and the scene transition from the man's thoughts to outside the clinic.

Another issue I have is with the Audio. The ice cracking sound is very clearly a plastic noise, it lacks the crunch Ice has as it breaks. Also the voice lines that are said seem too quite to be heard properly mainly on the male voice lines, this could be an issue with the Earphones provided but it warrants a check and maybe a re-recording of those line to be more audibly clear and if too loud can then be reduced during the editing process

Do you feel the message is conveyed clearly?

I think there are decent context clues to what is been conveyed but I personally would've have diagnosed his issues not as a form of OCD but rather another form of disorder that causes anxiety and feelings of uselessness 

Other comments and feedback?

I think having him fall into the water and him having to drag himself out of the water and onto the ice island he ends up on would've make the danger of the situation more real to the viewer. Overall I'd say it's pretty decent especially in the character modelling and animating department but I think the theme wasn't conveyed to me as well as I expected

This feedback is great. Lots of depth and adds great context to the animation as well as people believing it to work as anxiety as a whole.

Task list update week 13

Week 12 update

Still some issues that I plan to fix but here is the week twelve progress. Coming to the end of semester, it is all about polishing the animation, making sure the character come across nicely with the story and that the technical aspect is of a good enough standard.

Test Render final scene

Here is a test render of the final shot. I like the lighting and have made the sign smaller, the characters also look good in the shot. Maybe the buildings are still slightly out of style than the rest of the animation. I will take this up again with my supervisor.

Ground texture reference

Image reference for this texture taken from Unreal Engine. The texture is T_Grounds_D.tx    This image is used to create the ground texture in the final scene.

Fixing the little things

As the ice rotates in the following scene, it is subtle. This sort of subtlety also needs to transfer onto the character. In this scene, the rotation tool was manipulated slightly in order to create a subtle character rotation on the ice block giving more of a realistic flow. The shot in question is pictured below. The polishing process continues with fixing different issues.

Aside from this, I have also manipulated the shot where the ice cracks and the character quickly lowers. It felt too slow before with the timing and pacing being off. Having now fixed that, it will be presented in the week 12 progress for supervisor feedback to carry it forward from there. 


The next step will be to fix the shot where the character is looking at the ice cracking in the distance.

Following on from the issue and moving onto the next one, I was able to add some smaller slighter movements in the shot where the character pose was far too static. This now allows the character to have a much more natural feel to it.

Inspirational quotes

Looking through the following websites, there are some very interesting and powerful quotes about OCD.


 http://www.ocdaction.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf-precompiled/inspirational-quotes.pdf

http://youhaveocd.com/2009/08/27/insparational-ocd-quotes/

https://themighty.com/2015/10/what-ocd-feels-like/

(Just some of the many sites relating around anxiety inspirational quotes.)


I eventually settled on this one as it spoke to me more that the others. This was chosen in week 9 but it is only now that I have decided to use it to the best of it's ability.

"The biggest obstacle you'll ever have to overcome is your mind. If you can overcome that, you can overcome anything."

I decided that this quote would be by far the most powerful in my mind from the quotes that I read and even though it seems to stem from a more religious area, this quote still works in relation to anxiety. It appears to be credited to a Marc and Angel and I DO NOT OWN THIS QUOTE. I did originally have a different quote, "You don't have to learn how to control your thought; you just have to stop letting them control you."

This proved to be unsatisfactory and didn't work so I plan to use the new quote and narrate it myself for a more personal approach.

What would a therapist say?

Looking next at the mannerisms of a counsellor/therapist and the speech patterns. "Don't worry, everything is going to be alright" is something that a therapist would not really say. I actually talk to a counsellor on a regular basis and so asked her for her feedback on how a therapist would act.


Response
A therapist would try to maintain professionalism and not try to get too close. They would say something reassuring rather than something definite so as not to give any false hope.

This is interesting as the therapist character therefore will need to say something profound but still not anything that would seem out of the ordinary or unusual.

Image reference: https://aviaryrecoverycenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/see-therapist-after-treatment.jpg
   

Week 12 new sign test

This playblast is to test the layout of the sign in the final shot of the animation. according to the supervisor, the sign could work better on the door rather than be so big and on the top of the building, above the door. Having looked at the shot and the angles at which the shot takes place, the sign doesn't appear so clearly on the door as when the camera pulls out in the original shot.

The sign that i'm using is not mine and can be found at the following link  https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrink_200_200/AAEAAQAAAAAAAANXAAAAJDNjMDgxYWI0LTAxZGItNGY2Zi04YWYwLTI2YmQ3NGFlYzI1MQ.png

I TAKE NO CREDIT FOR THIS IMAGE


Due to testing this shot and seeing how it doesn't quite work in the areas that highlight proper storytelling, i think that I will continue to have the sign above the door but make it smaller in order to still grab the audiences attention but not be so large to affect the cinematography of the scene

Sound effects week 12

At the start of this week, I met with my supervisor and learnt that the inclusion of wind effects would add to the overall tone and understanding of the animation. So, I plan to use this wind effect for the animation.

Here is the link and reference:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDJ835k4RbU

Howling polar wind SOUND EFFECTS

Morgentau

Published on 2 Mar 2015

Rendering without a watermark

This week I made a discovery. The university has had issues with batch rendering without a watermark due to a licencing issue. It turns out though, if you render using a render sequence rather than a batch render then the render bypasses the watermark issue. The next week will include some further render tests to confirm the rough render time of each frame.

User testing week 12

What is your degree program?

Electronic and Computer Engineering

What do you think the story is about?

A person trying get over their anxiety problem

Comments on the characters and environment

Environment is very suitable for the mental battle going on in the main characters head.

Overall timing and pacing of the story?

Timing was pretty good. Some of the crackling noises didn’t sound right when they were played.

Do you feel the message is conveyed clearly?

I think the message was conveyed properly