VLOGGGGGG (5)

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my vlog! I know, I know, it's nearly 5 minutes. I just had so much I wanted to share with you! I also cut it down from over 17 minutes, so you're welcome. I am on the cusp of an interview, finally! You can see my frustration in the vlog itself. And now, for your viewing pleasure, the ramblings of yours truly!

The Slowest Week (4)

"I am sick and tired of being sick and tired."

- Fannie Lou Hamer

It's frustrating to want to do something but not have the ability to do it. This past week was entirely consumed by school work and robotics, followed by a weekend of traveling to upstate New York for a cousin's bar mitzvah, and all the while being sick. The sad thing is, I was unable to get anything done in terms of moving forward in the fine tuning of my skills in Cinema 4D. That's right...nothing.

I am not one to merely lie around and stay put like a caged animal. That's not the type of person I am. So while I didn't have the ability or the focus (a.k.a blowing my nose ever 10 seconds) to sit down and diligently work on generating more graphics in C4D, I was able to conduct some more research in between my times of celebration and illness, learning more about MoCap's interesting history.

Real talk for a second. MoCap is freaking amazeballs. I'm talking finding-money-you-didn't-know-you-had, eating-the-last-crumbs-in-the-chip-bag amazeballs. You know what I mean...

That being said, you can't expect something that incredible to have just appeared out of nowhere without having evolved and gone through some complications first.

History lesson! Motion Capture Animation is a relatively new art, only coming around in recent decades. The 1970s was when motion capturing techniques were beginning to be utilized. Rotoscoping was an original technique, which transferred an image from live action film into another film sequence using a rotoscope (shown below). Rebecca Allen, from the New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Lab, was one to take advantage of this animation tactic. Using a half-silvered mirror, she was able to superimpose clips of real living dancers onto the computer screen to pose a computer generated dancer. Allen's work was PAINSTAKINGLY HAND DRAWN, and later incorporated into Twyla Tharp's The Catherine Wheel.

As time went on, numerous other methods were developed, making Motion Capture Animation more complex yet more efficient, as well as better looking. In the earlier years of the 1980s, potentiometers were being used in biomechanical labs to analyze human motion. Tom Calvert, professor of kinesiology and computer science at Simon Fraser University, acquired these potentiometers and attached them to a human figure (the ratchet setup is shown below), using said human to drive computer animated figures.

Following potentiometers was the use of Graphical Marionettes at MIT in 1982-83, which relied on optical motion capture systems (or Op-Eye) and used sequenced LEDs attached to a wired body suit. Then came Mike the Talking Head, developed in 1988 by deGraf/Wahram using their state-of-the-art software Silicon Graphics, whose face could be controlled and manipulated by a single "puppeteer." Interesting (albeit slightly terrifying) images are included below.

Doesn't this remind you of the dental headset in the most recent Willy Wonka movie??

A quick development in the field led Kleiser-Walczak to produce Dozo, a singing and dancing woman, in 1989. They used a basic style which is still used to this day. Multiple cameras were used to triangulate the images of small pieces of reflective tape placed on a body, resulting in the output of a 3-dimensional trajectory of each reflector in space. Again, the intriguing but kind of freaky video in placed below.

As of right now, that's all I've got for you. There is obviously much more to MoCap in recent years, but we will get to that at another time. Thank you for listening to my history lesson; I tried to make it as brief as possible. Please, feel free to place comments or suggestions in the responses below. Have a great day!

(PS: I am continuously reaching out to Greyscalegorilla, being pointed in all sorts of directions by different people as to which person would be best to take up my interview. I hope to get that to you ASAP!!!!!)

Exhaustion (3)

"Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of the hard work you already did."

- Newt Gingrich

It's been quite the week, guys. On top of the generic school and homework deal, it was the week before districts!

Which reminds me: along with all of that school work, we had final preparations before our first FRC competition of the season (shoutout to Hatboro-Horsham and the 35 other teams who showed up to compete). This is some tiring stuff, I'll tell you that. It's only been one day of competition so far, and it's already been exhilarating enough to keep the team on the edge of their seats...literally. I mean we were screaming our faces off, with chants and cheers, as well as a little more...emphasized shouting, I should say (*cough* *cough* telling the players on the field what they were missing).

Any who, somehow along the way, I was actually able to fit in a little bit of animation this week. I focused on Soft body Dynamics, meaning I created some entities and had them interact with each other. You can see in this video that they sort of molded to fit around one another, hence the "Soft" in Soft Body Dynamics.

They look like bubbly plastic balloons, don't they?

To create this animation, I worked with a few other aspects of C4D. For instance, to get these bubbly blobs to move around in the center, I essentially turned down gravity in the animation and turned up turbulence, allowing them to stay afloat while moving around as if there was a wind-like force pushing them.

I also worked with some other feature of C4D that I've never touched before. To keep these inflated balls contained, I created a box around them, and spent a lot of time generating different sized balls and constraining them inside the box. Then, after setting up my camera angle, I was able to have the balls contained in the frame. This also helped create more interactions, for I made the balls soft-bodies (i.e. able to be manipulated) and I made the box a rigid body (i.e. a non-transforming wall).

As of right now, it is 10:30 at night. I have another full day of competition tomorrow, so I'm going to cut it off right there. Enjoy your weekend everyone, and don't forget to root for Miss Daisy 341!

Please mention in the comments any questions you might have, random comments that come to mind, or simply ideas of what you would like to see on this blog.

Alright, Here's the Deal (2)

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it."

- Charles R. Swindoll

First off, let me just throw it out there that calling someone a
"nerd" is not an insult, and it shouldn't be taken as one. Being a nerd is kick-ass! We make the world go round. We go ballistic when something tech-related happens, and we get interested in the things that most who disregard us couldn't live without. We solve Rubik's Cubes and we write code, we investigate the unknown and the results of our endless curiosities never cease to amaze. Most importantly, I mean come on, we make the best jokes:

Point of the story: don't take "nerd" or "geek" as an insult. To those who use it as one, all I can tell you is that we are the fellowship and you are the orcs and uruk-hai in the battle of Helm's Deep. Enough said. *drops mic*

I digress. This past Thursday, after spending the whole day performing a long robotics demonstration at Boeing, C4D was downloaded and unzipped on my laptop (Lenovo y50, by the way, which I recommend). I have started to mess around on my own, trying to stay away from tutorials for the first few days so I can learn a little on my own. However, I could only go so far before I thought it would be good to get some guidance so I no longer have to just randomly click around and see what happens. I have actually created many things that I am proud of, such as transforming a ball while moving the camera's angle:

In terms of setback, some of the animations that I work with take longer than others. This doesn't seem to be relative to their size, but more pertaining to what the animation is (I guess the intricacy of the animation?). Either way, I wouldn't necessarily call it a setback, but it certainly can get frustrating when I spend a lengthy amount of time changing the specifics of an animation and then have to wait anywhere from 1 to 15 minutes just to preview it.

Like I said, this doesn't pertain to every animation I create. It doesn't limit my fun or my learning either. I certainly have gained a lot of knowledge since I first downloaded C4D. Dynamics, for instance, applies directly to the motion capture I hope to get into soon. Some time spent researching the history of motion capture led me to understand the importance of dynamics, which is a process in the software that follows the rules of physics to describe how the object would move in a real-world scenario. This picture represents the idea of dynamics, with the interaction between the sphere and the stack of blocks.

I will have a video uploaded soon of a rendered sphere flying through a pane of glass that demonstrates this concept. You will most likely hear this term used in future posts on this blog, so it's good for both you and I to have some sort of understanding of the word.

I have also sent out an email to Greyscalgorilla in the hopes that they will respond and I will be able to utilize them as both my interviewed expert and perhaps an informal tutor. Other emails will be sent out in the upcoming days, reaching out to other professionals and hoping that at least one responds in the next week or two.

I'd like to end with this, which I hope you will respond to in the comments: What is your favorite style of food? I'm looking for something new to try, and I hope you all have something unique to share!

Peace ✌

Narrowing the Focus (1)

"You can never plan the future by the past."

 - Edmund Burke

Hey there! Welcome to the world of MoCap (Motion Capture Animation). We'll be spending the next 6-7 weeks together as I enter the universe of MoCap, which is when the actions of human actors are recorded and that data is used to animate digital character models in 2D or 3D computer animation. Let me tell you, coming to the conclusion of learning motion capture animation was no easy task.

A little bit about me: my name is Daniel. I've been an avid photographer, a semi-professional cuber, and have found myself involved with the ins and outs of logical and creative thinking for my entire life. From juggling devil sticks to cooking exotic cuisine, my interests have no bounds. Some would say this makes me a well-rounded person. I would say that it makes pursuing just one skill a much more daunting task.

A few of my initial ideas to pursue for this extensive Genius Project included furthering my juggling abilities, cubing with one-hand/blindfolded, and learning sign language. These were all intriguing ideas that presented unique paths, but I decided against each of them, considering my pre-existing knowledge of those subjects. After weeks of research and many, many late nights of Google searching, I was able to create a final list comprised of two ideas: flair bartending and other uncommon forms of juggling, or motion capture animation. Being underage and not allowed to mix my own drinks, I landed on motion capture animation. And let me tell you, I couldn't have been happier with my choice! This video says it all:

The "Daniel, what the hell are you talking about?" looks from my friends and family were honestly more encouragement for me to continue on this track. I want to do something cool and unique, that nobody else would have thought of. I want to show people the insane amount of work that goes behind movies like Avatar and Planet of the Apes, and video games like Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Now you may be thinking Daniel, how on Earth are you supposed to do all of this in the 6-7 weeks allotted? Where is this knowledge coming from? How do you plan to move forward in your project? What are some words in other languages that express feeling we don't have words for in English?

Relax, relax. It's all going to be okay. To answer the latter question, the word "Iktsuarpok" is Inuit for the feeling of anticipation when you're expecting someone at your house so you keep checking outside to see if they are there.

I have provided a general timeline/outline to my project, with resources and a potential professional for interviewing. Hopefully this puts your mind at ease:

1. Research the history and world of MoCap, learning its significance in the world (week 1)
1. Read up on books and watch documentaries
2. Download Cinema 4D, which will be referred to as C4D in the future, and familiarize myself with the user interface (week 2)
1. Utilize Greyscalegorilla for tutorials and tips (will be a potential expert for interviewing)
3. Work with animating still objects (week 3)
1. Learn about textures, dynamics, lighting, and more!
2. CHECK-IN 1: Do I have a basic understanding of the program? The graphics?
4. Import pre-made motion capture data and begin to animate it (week 4)
1. Turbosquid
2. Mixamo
3. Unity Asset Store
4. CHECK-IN 2: Am I on track for a short film? Do I need more time to practice this? Can I prove my understanding of the program and the aspects of good animation?
5. Install C4D Plug-Ins and learn their ins and outs (week 5)
1. HDRI, TOPCOAT, etc.
2. CHECK-IN 3: Does the addition of Plug-Ins make things too complicated? Can I prove I have a good grasp on the concept of animating motion capture data?
6. Rig an in-home motion capture studio IF TIME AND COST SEEM FEASIBLE (week 6)
1. If #6 seems too overbearing, then I will continue utilizing the albums of downloadable motion capture data to broaden the animations I create (week 6)
7. Finally, I hope to create a short film displaying all I have learned and how far I've progressed from the start of the project (week 7)
1. CHECK-IN 4: Final Check-In! What have I learned? How has my knowledge grown? How have I grown? What does my current understanding tell me about the process?

Stick around, and I will reveal to you the world of Motion Capture Animation from the perspective of an amateur animator. Trust me, there's more to it than meets the eye.

Thanks for listening to my spiel!