Author: Caroline James

https://pin.it/3gVptQd

I found this advert on Pinterest and loved how the renders were spinning around each other in a circle. I looked up how to to achieve this and found that it was called a repeater effect.

I looked up some tutorials on this and found several. I liked this one on how to do a Phenakistiscope. This is one of the oldest forms of animation. It is kind of like a flip book in that there is one frame and the rotation of the drawing at a certain speed creates an illusion that the images are moving. It can be achieved using a record player moving at 45rpm. I first rendered 360 rotations of the cans and the aubergine and peach.

I then imported that in to the scene in aftereffects and made a separate composition that was long and skinny because that was going to be duplicated around the anchor point in the centre.

Inside another composition, that scene called aubergine is altered by putting on a freeze frame and then adding a expression on the Time and the Rotation. This would take the time from the aubergine comp, which was 40 frames and take a freeze frame of the aubergine on each frame and rotate it in a circle by 9 degrees (360/40). This created the image above, 40 images of the aubergine, each image is the individual frame. I then took that image and rotated 45 times in one minute. This then achieved the illusion that each still was a rotating aubergine.

I then put the original rotating aubergine in the middle.

I also did a spiral one

I started off creating an animation of the aubergine, keying its position and scale so it looked like it was falling and growing at the same time.

The I took that duplicated that composition so there were serval in a loop. Then took that loop into another comp and used the time and rotation expression and duplicated it around in a circle which created a spiral.

Thoughts

I still fine expressions in After Effects quite daunting, but, I’m glad I gave it a go. The original tutorial was actually intended for someone to print out the stills and then put it on a vinyl, however, I’m glad I stuck with it and saw that the illusion works digitally as well.

I wanted the advert to be as elaborate as I could do it. I wanted it to begin with a space scene and a planet that was the shape of a peach. I originally wanted to have a can also racing towards the planet like an asteroid that blows up the planet and it reveals a juice explosion. However I thought this was a too many simulations and effects to learn before the deadline. I still want to create the planet but instead there will be a can floating past.

I had already modeled the peach so it was a case of adding that to a new scene and texturing it to look like a planet.

I found a different tutorials showing how to create planets using texture packs. I first went to a website that had free textures. They only provided PNGs so I used adobe Substance sampler to create Normal, displacements maps etc.

After that, It was a case of using nodes to create the texture using the maps. I also used that same website to download a cloud texture and then a volume shader to create an atmosphere. This was the finished result.

I needed some close up scenes and then a slower zoom out but once I rendered it out I really wasnt happy with the result.

So I tried again but instead I used the nodes to do it procedurally. So this time I used a found a different tutorial.

After this I was able to texture, light, and scale the planet. All of these elements helped sell the appearance that it was in space.

These are screen shot of the shader node lay out for the planet and the cloud surface. It was about utilising the musgrave texture in blender and plugging this into the texture and roughness.

I also played around with the scale and used the compositor in Blender to add glare nodes to create an atmospheric effect and I was much much happier with how this turned out.

So I animated the camera, the sun and the can floating past. It actually took me a while to get it all to the speed and smoothness I wanted. I went into the graph editor and had to play around with the easing out to make the camera and the sun stop very smoothly.

Thoughts

I really liked the way this turned out. I thankfully utilised the university render farm otherwise I think it would have crashed my computer. I think playing with the compositor to get that atmospheric effect was a great touch and something I think ill consider in the future to up the look of my renders.

In Blender I am now preparing the more of the scene and have imported assets that I created in Maya in to blender. I want to texture the aubergine but I did not produce UVs in Maya. This means then I was shading in Blender, I was not getting the desired affect. The actual vegetable part was working but the leaves were looking bizarre. I am still unclear on how to successfully UV so found this tutorial.

Shading

I found this tutorial helpful and taught me how to use the node shader in blender. I was quite intimidated by nodes in 3D software but found this to improve my understanding, although I could not follow it all as it required buying a plugin so I just followed the parts that were relevant to me.

After attempting the tutorial several times I got to a point where I was kind of happy with the shading. But it wasn’t optimal. I decided that there were loads of other things I wanted to do so I made the decision to stop there and seek help another time.

This is the shader in Blender, I used the texture node and plugged it in to the colour ramp.

I then added a textures to the can to make it looked smudged and cold. I did a very similar thing to what I did with the peach and the aubergine by adding in a texture node, then plugging that into a colour ramp along with a fingerprint texture. After plugging in the label and then adding the condensation. I was super happy with the outcome.

Thoughts

I was very happy with how the shading turned out. However, still am not proficient with UV mapping which shows if you look carefully at the peach and aubergine. Nevertheless, I am pretty happy with the outcome.

For the advert I attempted to recreate water and and splash simulations. I first tried in Maya to manually create the condensation using the FX tools.

I used a particle system and moved the settings around so it was a very slow drip, like condensation on a can. I got it to a place where I was quite happy with it, However, I still don’t know why, but this particle system kept making Maya crash. I tried several times using several different tutorials and it didn’t work for me.

At this point I decided it would be easier to use Blender to create the ad. There were far more tutorials and I found a plug in that could create condensation and you can control the drip.

This is me experimenting with the droplet generator.

I was really happy with how it turned out and decided that I will use it on the peach and the aubergine.

For the project, because I enjoy modelling, I wanted to see if I could model the fruit myself. Mike had taught us how to utilise Nurbs in Maya. It was easier to manipulate the objects as Nurbs and then later convert them into Polygon Primitives. For the Aubergine it was quite simple. It was a stretch sphere then I used the bend tool to give it the aubergine shape. The leaves part was the top of the aubergine, duplicated, then I extruded some of the faces and at the top for the stork. There is a texture element that I added to make it look a bit more organic.

Aubergine

Peach

For the peach it was another sphere, that I manipulated it whilst it was a Nurbs shape. I pulled the vertices into give it the outer shape. Then I converted it to a polygon primitive and manipulated the edges to give it the crack in the middle. Then I used a cylinder and utilised the textured feature in maya.

Here, I was experimenting with procedural texturing in maya. I actually quite liked how the peach turned out. It was difficult to get the same effect with the peach segment. I think I needed to take it into substance painter maybe.

Thoughts

It was great to learn more techniques for modelling and and texturing. I am looking forward to getting to know substance painter more. I think I dont have enough time right now to use it for the models.

I wanted to create a commercial for the fake brand, “dutty Juice” I firstly started by changing the design. I wanted the logo to be smaller so that it was below the ridge of the can.

I was inspired by the images above and wanted to use this a an opportunity to use simulations to create fluid effects. I wanted it to be quite elaborate and tongue and cheek. I set out some goals to follow

• I have already modelled the Can so I just need to adjust the can Label
• Learn fluid simulations including splashes and condensation
• Gather music that will go with the advert.
• Think of slogans / catchphrases to go in the advert

I also realised that there was a spelling mistake! I also changed it so the “real squeezed peach/ aubergine” was a 360 degree label.

I also wanted to test how it looked if I took the nutritional information off the label. The energy content with the green and red is quite jarring for me.

This is the story board I prepared for the advert. I wanted it to start off as a scene in space where we see the edge of a planet, and as it zooms out the planet is actually a peach. And then it a voice says, in the beginning, there was the peach, and then there was the juice. Then a can rushes towards this planet and there is an explosion of juice.

As the weeks went on, I realised that to create the effects i needed to, it would have been a very steep learning curve and I would have also needed to utilise Houdini. Although I would love to learn Houdini, it is not practical to learn right now as there is not enough time.

I used after effects to put all the scenes together into one composition. I added music and gaussian blur in the part with the cans in the fridge and they first met each other. It was an opportunity add atmosphere and see how long it would take for each scene to play out. The whole thing is just over 4 minutes long at the moment. I was happy with the concept and how it most of the scenes flowed together.

Things I would like to work on

I would like more establishing shots of inside the inside of the corner shop, I would like a harsh juxtaposition of the roughness and the ugliness of the shop with the love that the cans feel for each other. I also need to add a scene where you see the can being out back into the fridge so there is more of a sense of reuniting.

There is alot I need to do so I think it is sensible to to take on all the modelling myself and to try and utilise the software I already know. I thought about using Houdini for the beach scene but I no longer think that this is practical.

Blocking feedback

These are the feedback sketches that George gave to me…

He said that I needed alot more overlap and follow through. I had created a really stiff body and I needed to create more of a pendulum. Something needed to lead, and something needed to follow. Plus there were times where I hadn’t added anticipation or a break down. I went back to looking at my references and tried to keep Georges advice in mind when I tried again

Blocking plus

In this version I kept an eye out for any stuck poses, and stiff movements. I really tried to go in with the follow through and remember the pendulum from last term

This was really tricky for me and I found it really hard to know which controller was best for the back to get the pendulum effect. I found it quite fiddley but started to get the hang of it after a while. I utilised the graph editor to try to make it flow more.

After doing my first pass at blocking these were the sketches that George made.

I need more anticipation on certain moves like the jump and to have a better silhouette for the lean back.

This was pass at blocking with George’s corrections.

Here I tried to concentrate on the silhouette and add anticipation. He also showed me when it was best to do IK and FK. I understood for the jump I needed to change it to FK. This made it way easier to control her legs during the jump

This is my after taking Georges notes and trying to simplify the scene. Instead of the women doing the tip tow walk off screen, she will just do a plie and jump off.

This was the first stage. I Just did the key poses here which was her sitting down, then leaning forwarding with anticipation, getting up then grabbing her back, dropping the walking stick the leaning back.

She then stands up straight then does a plie and jumps off screen.