Week 1 – Creating brief, moodboard(s) and colour palette(s)
Our first task was to draw up a brief for ourselves to help with defining our idea and managing the scape of the project.
I knew the basic concept so none of my idea strayed from that but some were more complex than others. The latter two idea involved characters but I know that would be quite ambitious in the time scale, but I wanted it to be an option in case I had more time.
Progress over winter break
I started working and formatting the idea over our winter break so I collated a moodboard for the kinds of buildings I wanted to see on the street
My own rough sketch based one building style from the moodboard
Over the winter break I also started working on the initial idea for the portal. I did this in After Effects following a tutorial
Making the portal
^ Render of the portal
^ a rough comp of how I envision the project at this stage, made in Maya
Colour palette for cartoon/3D environment
Colour palettes I created for the project. I had a couple of options here but knew I wanted primarily bold bright happy colours
Week 1 – Starting Modelling
This week my primary goal was to start the modelling of the 3D cartoon world
Additionally I made a Gantt chart to plan out my project and hopefully help keep me on track.
My Gantt chart
Week 1 Presentation
Here you can see that I went back to my moodbaords to improve them and give myself a more cohesive idea of what I wanted to create.
Feedback from this presentation
The feedback from my presentation was overall positive. My lecturers really liked the cars and the style of the modelling particularly the windscreen wipers. They thought that cars were in keeping with the style I was going for and it was nice for me to know I was heading in the right direction.
Their main advice for me was to focus on modelling the buildings and the street. My initial building in my presentation although made very quickly didn’t use reference enough.
I was approved to use reference very liberally so that was my plan for week 2
Another thing that was recommended to me was to model a bunch of reusable assets that I can create once and use that throughout the project for example windows and doors.
Week 2 Presentation – Feb 26th
This week was a week to showcase my progress with modelling and make sure I was heading in a good direction. I also had an idea for the portal that I wanted to gain feedback on
^ These are the car designs I came up with. I was happy with these and felt good about how they set the tone for the aesthetic of the piece. Feedback on them was good too and gave everyone a good sense of the projects direction
^ Here you can see I followed feedback to liberally use the reference as the base for my building model. One piece of feedback I was given was that the scale of the car was too small when placed next to the building, which needed pointing out and was easy to correct
^ Also in response to feedback I started working some assets that I could reuse throughout the scene such as windows and doors
^ Above was my new idea for the portal. To make the transition smoother I thought about making the portal feel alive with flowers and leaves so as to bring the real life environment of the park into the 3D cartoon world. This idea wasn’t favoured in feedback as there were concerns about time and effort expenditure which is very valid. I think concerns were also raised about the conveying of a portal being more lost compared to the obvious portal design I had already created in After Effects
Week 2 Presentation feedback
The main feedback from this week was reservations about the portal taking more time than the affect effects comp I have already made. The main focus needs to be the buildings still. Priority should be getting the street sorted and the camera and car animated.
Week 4 Presentation
Week 4 Presentation Video
Main improvements for this week were texturing, new assets and improving the portal.
^ How I decided to texture the first main building
^ Additional assets that I made which I feel fit the aesthetic well and add some nice things to the street
^ Improving the portal by changing it’s colour and glow
The feedback for this week was good with the main messaging being to just keep carrying on with the project, making new assets. Also to focus on merging the new 2D image with the cartoon world.
A big point that was reached this week was that from feedback we decided to go with the straight road style rather than having the car go around a corner. This simplified the project for me and I think does achieve a better result due to the camera movement I am able to achieve and how it fits with the style.
Week 6
Week 6 Presentation Video
This week involved quite a lot of experimentation. In order to merge the 2D and 3D more seamlessly feedback suggested that I maybe try and make a bridge. Something that could link the two and also be present in both the 3D world and the 2D image.
Unfortunately I found this pretty tricky to achieve. Primarily sourcing a good picture but also the modelling was on the harder side too due to perspective. In the end I ended up deciding not to pursue this idea as I thought if I couldn’t get it supremely accurate the idea wouldn’t look good
As an idea to make up for not doing the bridge I stumbled upon this picture of a cafe which I thought style wise was very in keeping with the aesthetic of my piece. I thought maybe I could use that as an effective portal transition so I recreated in 3D and came up with some portal comps to demonstrate
While this idea was well liked and showed a good amount of technical skill, the downsides of it came from losing the narrative and the abruptness of a building being the other side of the portal. No longer was the car able to drive into the distance/through the portal if there was a building right there.
I decided to keep the model and the portal transition available but try to come up with another plan in the meantime
Week 8
Week 8 Presentation Video
For week 8 the major updates were adding in the bird (designed and modelled by me in Blender) and also working on the filmed footage.
The bird was well received and I really like it as an additional detail especially with how it adds more movement and fits the aesthetic.
^ These are some screenshots from longer clips of footage I took in Regent’s Park for the 2D footage seen through the portal. Although I was happy with these clip given the time of year. Feedback was that they weren’t quite enough to make the piece interesting and move. What they were missing was leaves on the trees blowing in the wind or some birds flying past
^ Here is how 3 of these shots would look in the portal
^ Here you can see how I started working on the integration of the 2D and the 3D. Starting to make an environment that would blend the two
Feedback form this week was to try and film a new piece of footage and to keep working on the environment while focusing on integration
Week 10
^ The major updates this week were from filming new footage that included some more moving leaves and more greenery.
^ This is the result of my integration of 3D with 2D. Having some sort of marked entrance was suggested during feedback and I’m really happy with what I came up with. I think it fits the scene well and definitely adds some definition between the parts.
^ Here you can see that I also made some new buildings which I thought for the style better and were also a bit more complex than the ones previously. Now that I knew I wouldn’t be using the coffee shop asset for the portal I decided to bring in it in the the street view so as to not let it go to waste. Additionally I really like the chairs and tables outside that make the street look a little bit more interesting/diverse.
You can see my references and the result buildings
Week 11
Week 11 – General Presentation
Week 11 Presentation Video
^ This week I work don the overall design of the world. I added more interest to the back left of the ending shot by adding a road drain as that space was a bit empty. I also worked on shading to try and add a bit more dimension
The biggest area of focus was again with the integration of the 2D and the 3D, I worked to add sky and clouds so that the background was cohesive.
Additionally this week I added a secondary bird this time smaller, blue and in the foreground of the piece, I feel this added more to look at and made the environment feel more alive. I also made the birds’ wings have stepped interpolation on their animation style. This means I got rid of the in-between frames and easing of the animation instead making the movements sharp. I think this really aids the style of the piece,
Week 12
Week 12 Presentation Video
On week 12 I acted on more feedback on the integration of the 3D and the 2D. I dropped the curb in front of the park road to make it seem as though the car could just drive on through and also animated the car so that it was driving through.
The biggest change/improvement however was the portal design. Feedback on week 11 was that the portal kind of didnt fit either the style of the 2D world or the 3D world but instead was existing in this third space that didn’t really blend. I was tasked with trying to create a new style of portal that would suit the scene more.
For this I used Cinema 4D which was a fairly new piece of software for me however I knew it had the capability to control the start and end length of 3D curves which is exactly what I needed for this portal.
Luckily it wasn’t too tricky to figure out after some trial and error
^ Here you can see many variations of the portal animation while I try to figure out which one looks best and tells the best narrative. I came up with two designed one which I called “vanishing” as it kind of chases it’s tail and grows longer at the front while shortening at the back and another which I called “pinwheel” which is the classic Looney Tunes style swirl.
In the end the favoured option was the second one which combines both designs, opening with the vanishing portal and closing with the pinwheel
Overall I’m really happy with this addition and feel it does integrate a lot better with the style of the piece. I also think it stands out more against the background than the orange glow did
The car now does drive up into the park, and also vanishes when the portal leaves which I think completes the story really nicely. We end the scene back in the cartoon world except missing that car
Week 13
This week I have a output that includes audio, for which I collaborated with one of UWLs Music Technology students
My main improvements this week were:
- Making the portal thinner
- Making the birds have slight vertical movement
- Working on the layout and scale of the trees to match the 2D footage
Week 14
On Week 14 my final finishing touch was to make sure the car stayed moving while the portal closed so as not to break the illusion of it driving through
Final Audio Update
I collaborated with an audio student at my university to create some sound for the piece and this was the result. I think it works well and adds a bit more life to the project, I really like how it lightens the mood.
Final thoughts
Overall I am happy with this work, I think the elements fit together nicely and it forms a cohesive scene. My work shows a lot of different skills and highlights the kinds of projects I would be keen to work on in the future. I learnt a lot along the way and changed my ideas quite a few times but I stuck with a core concept throughout which I feel served me well. I could have been more ambitious with scope but I’m pleased with what I was able to make in the time
Project Breakdown