This week we had the last meeting before the submission.
On the meeting I saw my animation in the Unity and the look of it with the “ghost” effect:
Meanwhile I have continued working on the perfecting this memory as well as working on the memory of the scanning machine.
I also had an idea to place cockroaches in the building to create some movement of the real objects among the ghosts.
I animated it running and ask VR members to place it into the project.
This week I have continued working on a “Toy memory”. The main difficulty for me was to work with the rigs. Since we got only mesh models for the characters, we had to rig them ourselves. By using mixamo rigs software I was able to add rigs to the characters, however they didn’t work properly. I spent a lot of time trying to fix the issues and in the end decided to work with what I have. This issue have made the animation process much more complicated. Despite it, I was able to show my first version of the animation on this group meeting.
Although the animation did receive a good feedback especially on the emotional side of it, I had to do lots of cleaning.
On the meeting we have also discussed models for the “scanning machine memory”. After the discussion I was told to use the same grandmother model for two people.
This week we had another online meeting with our group members.
We have talked about how to change the scanning machine memory since the models had to be full sized. Our partners suggested not to use a parent and a child models since there already are quite a big amount of kids in the scene and they didn’t want the scene to give a wrong impression.
We have discussed to use other models such as a grandmother in a wheelchair and a man. This could show that there are different aged characters and we are not focusing only on young and middle aged people.
I dived into searching for suitable models for this “memory”. The main issue was that the character has to be rigged for the better animation and it has to be suitable for the VR so it has to have a low polygon amount.
I have found a few models and waited for the opinion of other group members:
While I waited for the response of others, I have started to work on another “memory” – a kid is playing with the toy while their mother grabs them and walks away.
At first I had to rig the characters and after I have created some references to better understand the movement:
This week’s meeting was concentrated on the sound design for the project.
We created an asset list will all the sounds we will possibly need for our animations. From my side I specifically paid attention to the scanning machine animation as it will need lots of digital sounds as well as voices on the hands owners and environmental background noise.
We have also discussed this animation and I showed the current version. Although I got a great feedback on the animation itself, I have been told that it has to be done again. The main issue is that the models have to have full bodies so the player can see them fully. The models I have received before didn’t include other parts rather than the hands. It means that I will need to start this animation from the beginning.
In the class we learned about face capturing:
In the collaboration project I continued working on the scanning machine animation. Although we had some changes.
Instead of the previous model of the scanning machine we decided to use a different one:
We decided to put the animation in the middle on the scene to be visible for a viewer.
I have worked on improving the animation and make is as believable as possible:
In the class we had an industry talk about creative computing. Important books for the topic:
For the collaboration project we have agreed on dismissing a diary and a poster idea and instead focus on the hand scanner. The animation will consist of a child’s hand being gently placed into the scanner by adult hand. This will be also accompanied with voices to make the idea more clear.
I have finally received models that I can use for the animation. It includes the hands and the scanner:
For the purpose of a better animation I have filmed a reference:
I was able to create a rough animation for this “memory”:
The purpose was to show an emotion only with the hands. The kid is supposed to be afraid since they has never done anything like that before but their parent tried to calm them and gently put their hand on the scanner.
This class was about creating a MetaHuman using an Unreal Engine Meta Human software. It helps to create a unique model (including animation) of a highly realistic human.
I also tried to make a model of my classmate Gloria since at the previous class I have made her scan. The result was impressive:
This week we have also visited a Frameless exhibition. It was an incredible immersive experience that have inspired me a lot.
This week we had our regular meeting with our group members. The focus of the meeting was more on the model on the main building and VR effects used for the characters.
We have also discussed that it would be very helpful for the experience as well as for the animations to make ghosts glitching.
Since the models I could use for the animation were still in production, I focused on some ideas for the “memories”.
Specifically I have chosen to work on the ideas for propaganda posters and a diary.
Propaganda posters references I have found:
At first we were thinking of going more towards the communist style as shown in the references, but after a discussion we agreed to have less agitation in the posters.
The animation behind the posters would be to create some movement in the scene and also add voice interactions. An example of the moving image of the poster was taken from the newspapers in the Harry Potter’s world:
The other idea for the “memory” interaction was a diary. To better describe my idea I have added a few references on the diary itself and the way cockroaches would escape after opening it:
This class was all about creating our own world. Thinking of all the detailed aspects of the world is highly important since we communicate with the viewer through it. We need to know what rules are established in the world, what creatures are there (if any), what is their purpose, what is the history of the world and so on.
We have also worked with Photogrammetry in reality capture. With the help of learning the interface, we tried to scan the given object (in my case it was my classmate Gloria) and put it into the software:
The result needed cleaning which I did with the help of a lasso tool and added texture:
This week we had another meeting with our group members. On the meeting were presented first drafts of one of the models that we can later use for the animation. It is a model of the mother the main ghost in the story.
We have also been shown examples of particles that would be attached to the ghosts. For me it was very beneficial because it showed me how much detailed the animations will have to be.
Before the models will be ready for me to animate, I was developing the ideas for “memory” animations:
Some of the “memories” I could animate are
I have also suggested an animation with the diary where the player will be able to open it and several cockroaches will run away from it. This animation could not only show how much time have passed since the building was crowded with people but could also illustrate the last thoughts the owner of the diary had.
This suggestion was turned down by the external collaborators.
This week we had to present our project to the whole class. This was very important as we were able to introduce our tutors and classmates to our work, show the workflow, describe the project and specifically the part of the project that we agreed on creating.
We have also had a second meeting with our project members where we were able to discuss more specifically what are we going to do.
In this meeting we started to discuss objects that can trigger “memories” of the ghosts. Most of the “memories” are shown with animations. We brainstormed what can be found in the chosen environment hundreds of years after and how it can help understanding the environment.
I gave ideas on what animations can be done to each specific object. For example, a teddy bear could be held by a child and then accidentally left behind because their mother made them leave the room; a photograph of a family could start to move while the player interacts with it; a framed newspaper or a poster could also start to move when the player sees them and etc.
At this stage we have also discussed the floorpan for future navigation in the VR experience:
This week we also had a second Unity introduction with Herman Ho.
He showed us how to make objects move in a loop.
In this class we discussed the concept of avatars – what are they and what is their purpose.
Avatart is a static or moving image or other graphic representation that acts as a proxy for a person or is associated with a specific digital account or identity.
What is the role of avatars in digital spaces?
We also had to create a 3D avatar from the drawings we did during the exquisite corpse game:
This week we also had our first lesson with Herman Ho who introduced us to Unity. He told us about the animation industry and showed unity interface. We were also able to create and navigate the whole scene:
We have also imported assets that Herman created for his own project and with the help of those we recreated a Japanese street in Unity:
Herman showed us how to experiment with different lights and effects and create an actual experience:
This week we faced with our first challenges in the group project – scheduling a meeting. Since this projects contains of more than 11 people it has been quite challenging to agree on the time slot that is convenient to everyone.
I have also shared it on the pallet board and it seemed a quite common issue for other groups too:
Nevertheless this week we have had our first meeting where we have been introduced to other participants including externals:
We discussed our timeline, responsibilities and a provisional moodboard: