Michael Bay or Lord of the Rings

No one started the discussion so I will. Michael Bay is a better director.

Weekly and the Comment

This week we learned about lighting and just how long it takes to render stuff first hand. I want to learn how to mirror a rig's movement. The most frustrating thing this wee k was the amount of time it takes to render a stupid desk, jeez. The best thing that happened this week? I struck a deal with my mom where I get a game for each mid-term I score 85 or higher on! Here's an in depth tutorial on how to draw Shrek! http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pDuZSNJFCL8

What if Micheal Bay directed Battle of the Five Armies?

Comment your thoughts, I'm curious to everyone's insight

Lord of the Renders

This was short and sweet. 5 Armies used tons of software in their movies in order to be big. The have a special program to simulate armies marching, sort of like a strategy game. They also have algorithms for wind on the dragon's wings. In addition there's a program for destruction of buildings. Another system it had was the fire. Holy buttcheeks, the movie was done in a week, the rest of the time was rendering!
I wasn't very enthralled honestly, it was just a bunch a 3D features being showcased from a movie I don't care for, in a franchise I despise. While these features a re cool, they're not revolutionary, they don't do much aside from alleviate the workload of an animator. If we had these programs, I doubt any of us would use them, because simply, rendering takes FOREVER without that fancy crud.

You're a Bland One, Mr. Bay...

 I'll confess right now: I've never seen a Michael Bay movie, save for the first few minutes of the first Transformers, but I lost interest at the Megan Fox scene knowing the robots weren't gonna be the main focus. Now after seeing this video I'm inclined to say that the clips I saw... impressed me, though ol' Michael seems to have the personality of a pile of dirt, he's boring. Now on to synopsis. Bay's techniques are more than most give him credit for. One thing he discussed was use of alternating camera angles, close UPS, medium shots, and long shots to give a good feel of of the action, as well as the struggle of Mark Wahlberg and the others that don't matter. Something else uses is actual, real, legitimate big objects in his scenes. He got a real really big propeller, and hung a car from a crane a smack a stunt man with it. He also had a method for physics where threw a tennis ball to tell how long objects should be airborne.
Bay himself might be bland, but his cinematography isn't. I will probably use a lot of these methods next year, and this article got me excited for film class. So cut Mikey some slack, his shots aren't boring.

Comment Time!

If there is one thing I learned
this week, it's that Maya is complicated. Although we did learn how to build some stuff, like the, ugh, helmet... I'm ready to learn to animate this junk! It'll probably be like the 2D puppets, but with more Ds. The interface, and the helmet, and the cold have frustrated me immensely this week. But seeing everyone's 2D shorts made up for it all! We gotta post them on our blogs! I will as soon as I figure out how. Till then here's an interesting piece of animation history: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWo5aUzJ4_c and this for fun! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFQPDJw8B_o ( this is on my phone so I can't link the links, sorry. My computer can't connect to the interwebs)

Difference between a Dark Souls Boss and a Normal Boss

Size! Now I'm unsalty thanks to Hot Pockets! Let's do this. If you want to make someone big and intimidating follow this article's tips, and your audience's bowels will empty! The obvious one, film from a low angle so your looking up at the individual trying to be imposing. But that's not why we're here, you want the cool stuff! Adjust the space over the actors heads so that the baddy has less than everyone else! And don't show everyone in one shot, a person who's 5'6 isn't scaring anyone. You could also film with a wide angle lens to have a greater contrast in depth! But this one's personal favorite is scaling everything down so that they are truly huge!


I liked this article! It lets us know how to make people look powerful! I'm gonna use these too much next year!These are also useful now when you wanna make someone look big, or tough, or eccentric, or evil, or anything really. I feel proud that I used some of these unintentionally in my 2D short! (the Pay the Man scene)

Murderers still have Prettier Eyes...

Disney is spending time and resources making 3D eyes more realistic. In their research they found that no 2 eyes are alike, unless they're in the same head, but sometimes... Nevermind, work time. Eyes aren't the same, realism is essential to animated movies because breaking rules for fun, message, style, or creative expression is a BIG no no at these studios. So they spent a pile of money on an image capture system to scan YOUR EYES! That never hurts!


So yeah, this made me a little salty. Reality is something I've never been a huge fan of, so I'll admit I'm biased. It rubs me the wrong way that so much cash is spent on this junk that could go to 2D animation, where there's no limits, no restrictions, no need for complex algorithms to get the visual you want! But the real reason, I've seen the 3D eyes Disney has been using! They're not just good, they're REALLY good! That makes this fiasco all the more futile! There was no need! No reason! No demand! That money could have gone to something more creative!