Creating Stereoscopic 3D Images

 Red and Blue

Green and Purple

Image in Maya

Side Quest - CTN Animation EXPO

This has been my 4th year working at CTN. The first year I was was a volunteer and the last 3 years I've been a staff member of the event, working at the Store Lead! It requires more time commitment/responsibilities during the event but I get to see cool and different perspectives of the event. Whenever I'm in a room of crowded people, I tend to get really shy but working the event gives me the confidence to go and take chances. This year, during my breaks, I made a huge effort to get my work reviewed by professionals. At first, I was a little nervous to expose work to such amazing animators - but then I realized (with the help of going to talk of Michal Makarewicz) that if I want to work in the animation industry, I should get use to showing work in progress and not let perfection get in my way of learning! Overall, it was one of the best CTN experiences I've had and I'm so glad and honored to work it also.

Unfortunately, I have this bad habit of not taking photos of myself - these are some pictures of the store I took:

HOWEVER, in my search, I found that Pixar recruiting tweeted a photo that I'm in... I hope this count as a picture with me there:

Since I work the event, I get free admission to the event, thus no ticket... so instead, here's the email of confirmation that worked the event:

Dear Diana Martinez,

Congratulations and Welcome!!  You have now been cast as a CTNx Staffer!     Thank you again for your patience with our process and for assisting us in the production of another world class CTN animation eXpo. We look forward to having you as part of the CTN Crew!   One thing new this year is that we have broken up the staff into groups and each group and a Lead that you will report to.  For those of you that were just recently scheduled you will be recieving an email with information on your area and how to check in   Complete eXpo Information: The CTN animation eXpo (CTNX)  Putting the Talent Center Stage Dates: November 21-23, 2014 Venue: Burbank Marriott, Burbank CA, 2500 Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA 91505 Parking: $9 per day   Website: www.ctnanimationexpo.com There is some great information about being a volunteer here:http://ctnanimationexpo.com/axFaq.php?cid=5   A lot of updates will come from our new staffing website at http://www.staffing.creativetalentnetwork.com    Thanks again for all the support.  from the team@CTN   Don't forget to join the CTNX Volunteer Facbook page athttps://www.facebook.com/ctnvolunteers

General Info:

Your agenda

Area Name:CTN Store

Date:2015-11-19

Start Time :02:00 PM

End Time :10:30 PM

Venue:Burbank Airport Marriott Convention Center

Position:Lead

Area Name:CTN Store

Date:2015-11-20

Start Time :03:00 PM

End Time :08:00 PM

Venue:Burbank Airport Marriott Convention Center

Position:Lead

Area Name:CTN Store

Date:2015-11-21

Start Time :02:30 PM

End Time :08:00 PM

Venue:Burbank Airport Marriott Convention Center

Position:Lead

Area Name:CTN Store

Date:2015-11-22

Start Time :02:30 PM

End Time :08:00 PM

Venue:Burbank Airport Marriott Convention Center

Position:Lead

Building a Scene in Maya with lighting

One Point Lighting

Two Point Lighting

Three Point Lighting

Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action.

Diana Martinez

Phys 123

11/18/2015

Third Term Paper - Special Effect in Animation and Live Action

Special effects in animation and live action filmmaking has become one of the most common things used in modern day filmmaking. In my paper, I will compare and contrast the creative visual effects used in the animated film, "The Lego Movie" (2014) with the realistic live action film, "The Avengers" (2012). While there were distinctly different stylistic approaches used, both films broke new ground in digital technology and problem solving in order to create some of the most memorable shots in the film.

“The Lego Movie’s” visual effects was both extremely creative and entertaining. The filmmakers specifically wanted the film to feel like stop motion even though it was animated using entirely 3d software. In order to achieve this look, months and months of research went into studying how stop motion looks the way it does and asking the question: How can I make my 3D animation feel like stop motion? The reason for this design decision was that the filmmakers wanted the audience to feel like they themselves were playing with the lego toy. In essence, they wanted the audience to be imagining with the movie. So, in order to tackle some of the most difficult effects such a water or fire, the team decided that using large clumps of bricks to create that effect would probably be the most successful. Often times the fire would just be a cycle of a few lego bricks to simply show the action. Other times, effects animators created a “particle simulation” so that an explosion would be generated using different bricks. Both of the different effects can be clearly seen a when Wyldstyle and Emmet are escaping the bad guys on Wyldstyle’s motorcycle in the beginning of the film. The fire shooting out of her motorcycle is a simple cycle animation, while the explosion in the background as they land on another road is a simulation. This mesh of effects creates an new and unique experience for the viewer. It’s refreshing to see a film use the effects to push the story and create a believable, yet imaginary, world.

In contrast to “Lego Movie’s” heavily designed special effects, “The Avengers” aimed to create extremely realistic visual effects. In fact, the film broke ground on the technology used to create the realistic effects. The effects were vital to the film’s success since the setting was in an actual place,  New York City while also taking place during present day. If there are any blatant imperfections the filmmakers could risk the audience’s detachment from the movie’s suspension of disbelief. On of the most important shot… if not the most important shot of the entire film was the shot at the climax of the movie, when all the superheroes finally work together to defeat the villain. There is a complex panorama shot of New York City, circulating to each superhero as they fight. It is a very long shot (about 45 seconds) in which the artists needed to essentially build New York  City in order for the camera to move around realistically. The way in which they were able to achieve this was by having a team of artists go to NYC and film over 1200 locations as reference. Also, there was a lot of compositing used to get each character in the scene. In fact, the original shot of Captain America (played by Chris Evans) fighting was eventually scrapped because the choreography didn’t fit the story moment (of the superheros fighting together). S0, the artists used the special effects rig of captain america to animate his entire fight in that scene instead - but the animation and visual effects have such great quality that the audience does not even notice that it’s not actually Chris Evans fighting. Instead, it’s captain america fighting, which is a true testament to the quality of storytelling. So, for “The Avengers”, the visual effects such as, explosions, breaking of buildings, movement around the space, etc., needed to be realistic so the the surrounding area stayed believable for the characters to perform.

In looking at both films: What are the design decisions and why the movies chose to follow that direction? Are they similar in any way? My answer to that is while the style varies between the two, they are similar in the fact that the visual effects was used as a tool to create a believable world for the audience to accept. “The Lego Movie” needed the audience to feel as though they were children playing and imagining stories with legos. “The Avengers” needed to appeal to a variety of audience members, from the average movie-goer to the classic comic book nerd. Shots in that film such as the sweeping panorama fight shot were both an important story moment and homage to comic book lovers. It is clear that the filmmakers of both films considered the audience’s entertainment first. While both movies were revolutionary in the visual effects, the success of the films were entirely because of the story, characters and the creating of the believable world.

In conclusion, there are many different stylistic approaches to visual effects that must be determined by the story. The use of special effects in a shot can highlight the filmmaker’s intention but must never take over the story. And in words of the great Bill Sienkiewicz, artist and comic book writer, "when the special effects are at the service of the story and draw you into it, that is really the magic." In other words, filmmakers fool the audience first with the story and keep them that way with the special effects. And successfully fooling the audience is one of the best feelings in the world.

Outline for the Third Term Paper

In my paper, I will compare/contrast the creative visual effects used in the animated film, "The Lego Movie" (2014) with the realistic live action film, "The Avengers" (2012).

1. The Lego Movie used a distinctive stylistic approach in creating the visual effects.

- the film is created to feel like stop motion but used digital technology to craft each effect to look as though it was made out of legos.
- to tackle one of the hardest effect, water, the filmmakers played into the fact that the characters are toys and have limited movement in order to allow the audience to believe the effects

2. The Avengers broke ground on the technology used to create the realistic effects.

- panorama shot of New York and how it was compiled and built digitally.
- realistic explosions and breaking of buildings to make the surrounding area believable


3. Combining both films: What are the design decisions and why the movies chose to follow that direction?

Lego Movie wanted the audience to feel as though they were children playing and imagining stories with legos. The Avengers wanted to appeal to a variety of audience members, from the average movie-goer to the classic comic book nerd. Shots such as the sweeping panorama fight shot were both an important story moment and homage to comic book lovers.

In conclusion, there are stylistic approaches to visual effects that are determined by the story.



"Special effects are characters. Special effects are essential elements. Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they aren't there."
Laurence Fishburne

"So, when the special effects are at the service of the story and draw you into it, that is really the magic."
Bill Sienkiewicz

Stop-Motion Character Animation

My boyfriend has a GI Joe on the book shelf and I was inspired play on the toy's accentuated masculinity. Using the toy, After rearranging my apartment a little, I placed him in front of a bare wall to give a clear staging of his performance. I also used scrunched up post-it notes for the release... I had a lot of fun completing this project! My cat Tabitha supervised the whole production and even had to step once or twice to make sure things were working smoothly. Below are some "behind the scenes" images of her in action...

But first, I present to you.....

Performance Issues

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction.

Diana Martinez

Phys 123

10/28/2015

Science Fact or Cinematic Fact?

In film-making, it is extremely important to create an entertaining story for an audience. One of the most important ways in creating an entertaining story is through the suspension of disbelief. In other words, creating such a captivating story and world that the audience completely forgets that they are sitting on a couch at home or movie theater in downtown San Jose. However, one big way a filmmaker may break an audience’s suspension of disbelief is if the physics in the story world completely disobeying the laws of physics of a realistic world. There are of course exceptions to that rule, like if the story takes place in an imaginary world or is a spoof on physics such as Wild-e-Coyote. But for the sake of this paper, I’m going to point out situations where a film is set in a realistic world but disobeys the laws of physics. Resulting in the suspension of disbelief to be broken. The law I will be focusing on is Newton’s 1st Law of Physics, which is “Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.” The films on trial for breaking this law are “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, “Speed” and “Live Free and Die Hard”.

In the film, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (2014), directed by Jonathan Liebesman, there are countless physics wrong-doings. The worst in my opinion is the scene where the turtles continue fighting while the truck they are riding in is rolling down the mountain side. This description in itself should be enough for a physics expert to cringe and shake their heads in disgust. For, unless the turtles are super men, no one would have survived that entire scene due to the force applied. Megan Fox's character specifically, would have died being flung out of the truck while she reaches out to take a photo. This change in story  would have made a much more interesting ending to say the least. There is a lot of external force being applied to each character, however none of them seem to be affected by it. Given the fact that the film had a ton of fighting, this entire scene could easily be cut from the movie without any story points being effected. Adding the actual physics to this scene, of characters getting flung out of the truck, could actually add to the drama and improve the stakes. This is a situation where good physics would improve the story.

In the film “Speed” (1994), directed by Jan de Bont, the story takes place in a realistic functioning setting. A case where physics is broken is in the scene where the bus of people miraculously flies over a break in the road. It is so wrong it’s almost laughable. This is shame because it’s a very serious moment where the hero (Keanu Reeves) faces a life or death situation, yet the moment is completely muddied up by incorrect physics. The road shows no indication of a kicker ramp, which is needed to achieve that kind of a jump. There was simply no motivation for the bus to behave in such a way it did. An object cannot continue moving on a flat line of action when it’s falling and gravity is at play. Either the director needed to show an indication of a sturdy item to act as a kicker ramp or re-think this scenario. Also, showing the bus going a almost 70 miles per hour is redundant to whether or not the bus will fly through the air. 70 miles per hour is not enough speed to defy gravity. This is another situation where accurate physics would actually improve the story.

The final film to be discussed is “Live free or Die Hard” (2007), directed by Len Wiseman. The scene at fault is the helicopter scene where Bruce Willis’s character decides to drive a cop car at a helicopter to make it explode. He then  jumps out of the moving vehicle just before it collides. In reality, both characters in this scene would have died. Bruce's character conveniently stopped rolling just before he collides with another object. Given the car was driving at full speed (or almost full speed) he would have been flung out and critically or fatally injured upon impact. Also, the bad guy jumped out of a helicopter showing no effect. His body simply could not withstand the force that was inflicted and his head surely would have hit the pavement after the second fall. Additionally, similar to the bus from “Speed”, the cop car getting flung up toward the height of that helicopter is unrealistic. The car is only shown crashing into the road divider, which magically has the ability to kick the car up and soar through walls without losing speed. Had this obeyed the laws of physics, Bruce’s character would have failed in his epic attempt at defeating the bad guy. In contrast to “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Speed”, I am a little more forgiving of this movie given that it thrives on Bruce’s character doing epic and unrealistic fight scenes. However, I would definitely appreciate the movie more if the filmmakers found a way to keep the action more grounded to laws of physics and gave ample set up and pay off the extraordinary, over the top actions peppered throughout the film.

In conclusion, it’s important for filmmakers to do their research. If a story wants to heighten the stress of a situation, it can not just magically not follow the laws of physics that were established at the beginning of the movie without proper set up. The audience might end up laughing at the intended serious moment or emotionally check out of the movie due to suspension of disbelief being broken. I think it is important to try to work within the confines of  reality, it just may result in a better story and a much more happier physics professor.