Extra Credit

Fun at the Star Wars exhibit!

I know you asked for a scan of the ticket but my scanner decided I had too many material items in my life and I won't be able to replace it till after Christmas. I hope the photo works.



Creating Stereoscopic 3D Images

I know I don't have anything from campus. I was planning on an outdoor scene but a severe cold left me unable to go outside, since the cold air was destroying my lungs.

Understanding that this will impact my grade I tried to make the best, descriptive images possible from my home. I also worked to really push the 3D as much as I could, working with the figurines and interesting 3D objects I have at home to add to my images.

"Bundled"

"Gamers"

"Something Doesn't Belong"

Recreating Cameras and Lights in Maya

The first idea of success:

 

A step back and behold the serious reconsideration:

Building a Scene in Maya

Initials!

 

Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action

An extremely common special effect in any action adventure movie is a large avalanche of some sort. Whether it's a mass of zombies plummeting around the world mindlessly, a natural and believable avalanche of snow or rock, a mass of garbage inside of an impossibly gigantic incinerator or a starship full of organic tennis ball critters, large amounts of small particles or objects get thrown around quite a bit in television and theater, live action and animated features. Large scale slides of small objects overwhelm and carry characters, and it's always fascinating to watch when countless pieces of rubble or debris that would crush or suffocate characters, because the phenomenons are so large and uncontrollable. One prime example of this is from Pixar's "Toy Story 3"; the incinerator scene where Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the toys fall into a pit amongst great amounts of crushed and chopped up garbage, being carried by the flow of garbage towards an incinerator in the middle. Another, and personal favorite of mine, comes from the original Star Trek television series, Episode 15, season 2, "The Trouble with Tribbles", where an avalanche of Tribbles (small, round bodies of fur with no visible head or extremities) fall out of an overhead storage hatch which once contained grain by the thousands, and buries Captain Kirk in many tiny tribble bodies. Both of these scenes required many special effects to be used to create the illusion of millions of individual items or bodies, while actual production means meant only a handful of items could be created or directly controlled.

For the Toy Story 3 incineration scene, which was undoubtedly one of the most powerful in animated film, the secret was making you believe that the entire room was full of individual and unique trash items, while rendering limitations meant they needed to create as few pieces of CGI trash as possible. According to Side FX.com, a popular website dedicated to decoding CGI methods, "Pixar VFX artists treated each item of trash as an individual particle that could be procedurally animated using Houdini particle networks", meaning that en masse the trash pieces were assigned to react like individual snowflakes or clods of dirt. The effects teams then wrote in codes that produced several more "trash particles" around each individually manipulated trash so that manipulating one particle would affect many others surrounding it. The meant that in foreground scenes with thousands of pieces of trash, groups of trash could be animated and manipulated at a time, drastically cutting down on both the animators' and rendering computers' workload. Shading and single-flow animations were used for mid and background garbage, which is what made what appeared to be millions of individually moving pieces of trash on the sides of the incinerator pit; an otherwise impossibly expensive task requiring far too many computers to completely render. In fact, only the garbage in the close-up shots which were immediately touching the actual characters were unique and manipulated individually; Pixar hand created all of the trash that came in direct contact with the characters to lend credibility to the rest of the background debris. The result was a highly detailed close-up shot which let you automatically accept all of the simpler, more uniformed background to be as unique and dangerous.



On a more old-school shooting set that had, originally, almost no computer graphics added in whatsoever, the "Trouble with Tribbles" episode of Star Trek, the Original Series, featured thousands of tribbles created and stored in a bottom-opening storage area. Rumor has it that at the last moment the episode's directors requested the props department create thousands of small creatures that supposedly replicated by the tens as soon as they were fed. Frustrated by the impossible task the props manager grabbed two circlets of fur and sewed them together, creating a fuzzy ball in moments. Still, only a certain number of these creatures could be made in time and on budget, and when a scene called for the show's hero to be buried up to his shapely pectorals in the critters some careful editing and on-the-floor tricks were used. Firstly, the hatch was moved to be above the hero, so that just before a commercial break it could swing open and an initial flood of tribbles could come pouring out. Return from the commercial break and the hero is already pec-deep in the little beasts, most of whom are concealing a tent-like contraption beneath, which seems like a mass of fuzzy bodies but is actually only one glutenous critter deep. From the initial shot to a closeup waist-up, where they could be deeper to allow him movement, the only last touch was to occasionally thrown single tribbles out of the hatch, as is there were so many in the hatch that they  are still coming out. Not only was this a low tech, low budget solution to the problem of lacking a horde of animals, but one can only imagine how much fun stage hands had chucking fuzz balls at the overly dramatic actor's face during filming.

 

In conclusion, if they're tumbling down from a height or slowly sucking the characters along a slope, made up of organic cooing fuzz-balls or unsightly, unpleasantly mashed garbage, avalanches are powerful, fun, intimidating story telling devices that often am up the stakes in a story line. Whether or not they're CGI or creative camera angles and prop effects, the key to pulling off these shots is making the foreground custom, varied, and flexible, while keeping the background both complex enough to not be repetitive but simple enough to not overwhelm the rendering farms or underpaid prop interns. As far back as Star Trek's Original Series and as modern as the recent Pixar films, as high tech as computer CGI or as low tech as a man with fuzzy fabric and a hot glue gun, the principles of creating a believable  avalanche sequence have remained unchanged, and the results have only gotten more exciting. The mindlessness and loss of control that are associated with such masses is a story telling device that can raise the stakes of any action sequence, but only if done correctly, and ultimately the medium is far less important than the principles, and will be successful as long as the same rules are followed.

Outline for the Third Term Paper

1. Introduction
A. Subject matter: Large scale slides of small objects/masses which overwhelm and carry characters. It's always fascinating to watch when countless pieces of rubble or debris
B. Examples
1) Toy Story 3; the Incinerator scene
In this scene Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the toys fall into a pit with an incinerator in the middle amongst great amounts of crushed and chopped up garbage, being carried by the flow of garbage.
2) Star Trek (the Original Series) Episode 15, season 2, the Trouble with Tribbles
Avalanche of Tribbles that fall out of the storage hatch which once contained grain buries Kirk in many tiny tribble bodies.

2. Toy Story Incineration Scene
A.  "Pixar VFX artists treated each item of trash as an individual particle that could be procedurally animated using Houdini particle networks." They then wrote in codes that produced several more "trash particles" around each individually manipulated trash so that manipulating one particle would affect many others when they were near the
- This is what made what appeared to be millions of individually moving pieces of trash on the sides of the incinerator pit.
- Pixar hand created all of the trash that came in direct contact with the characters
- Shading and single-flow animations used for mid and background garbage.

3. "The Trouble with Tribbles", Star Trek, ToS, s2e15.
- thousands of tribbles created and stored in a bottom-opening storage area
- hatch opened so that all of the tribbles with tumble downwards
- Additional tribbles continue to be tossed down from above to give the illusion that the room was packed to well past capacity.
- Majority of the tribbles were not shown as falling, but having fallen into a specific set-up (around Kirk)

4. Conclusion:
- Avalanches are very interesting visually, good for story arcs where the characters need to be overwhelmed or caught up in a situation
- Animated sequences need a lot of tricks to create what looks like a many-itemed flow but which has as few complicated or directly controllable pieces as possible
- Hand-crafted items are best if pushed into the front or done off-screen in order to give the sense that a lot more happened/fell than was actually created.

Cited resource pages:

Side FX.com: http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1967&Itemid=68

Stop-Motion Character Animation

 

 

So I learned a LOT from the last stop-motion animation. Namely: too many joints = too many problems.

For this round I used very simplified figurines that could still semi-move, while trying to not compromise the complexity, as well as adding story telling and more characterization. It took a few do-overs (and a few pumpkins) but I finally got something I feel is presentable. The biggest challenge turned out to be the lighting, which left me struggling over a few days to capitalize on the only decent natural-lighting I have available.

 

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction

When it comes to physics in animation and many high-stakes live action movies most of the laws of physics have their turn being twisted, ignored, or re-valued. Special effects leave the live-action movies just as susceptible to defying physics in both slight and extreme ways. However when one evaluates just how much any individual aspect of physics is affected, it's quickly clear that of everything gravity is the force most toyed with, stretched, or broken. Gravity, in terms of cinematic story telling, is a very useful tether to relate the described world to our world, but in application it is far from a constant set of rules that characters and objects are restricted to. When it comes to altering gravity film makers usually make changes to a character's center of balance, alter gravitational effects on individual objects, or at times pull on the gravitational stability of buildings in order to make more intense action sequences that are just believable enough to thrill an audience with a heightened sense of reality. The phenomenon of altering gravity is not restricted to animation, live action, movie, or television show, to being believable or extreme, or to science fiction, fantasy, or action adventure movies.       When it comes to an extremely versatile personal center of gravity few characters flail so much to ultimately defy impossible positions as Jack Sparrow from the popular Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. In these live action movies the pirate captain regularly finds himself making daring plan-as-you-go escapes from soldiers, rival pirates, and angry sea entities, often with an acrobatic skill that is hidden by an average muscle distribution and an uncommon amount of dreadlocked and adorned hair. One of the very first examples of Jack Sparrow's dramatic handle on a personal center of gravity occurs in the beginning of the first movie, when he launches himself into the air and lands on a thin wooden beam, where he struggles with catching his balance (20:08). This is a subtle example of breaking the laws of physics and one's personal center of gravity, especially as he leans forward and back in a very basic effort to catch his balance. Even without factoring in the momentum he gathered in the spring-loaded arc he swings to the beam on, or the fact that he is handcuffed with movement-impeding shackles, even a basic and stationary attempt to recreate the balance catching reveals how dramatically outside of reality the self-catch is. Jack's center of balance is far outside the base of support he has available on such a narrow beam. Even if his arms were free to fully utilize counter balance measures (he does flail a bit, of course) the idea that he would be able to recover from such an extremely off-balance center of gravity is, by the most whimsical standards, laughable. And that's not factoring in the wind that would be blowing in from the ocean, or the afore-mentioned force resulting from the launch from at least two stories below.        People are not the only objects granted clemency from any recognizable gravity, as the force is played with with individual objects as well. In the quirky science fiction series Warehouse 13 two special agents, Pete and Mica, find themselves the victims of a localized gravity-swap. Thrown into the ceiling by a machine that alters gravitational pull (24:30), while not technically objects but simply two large-ish masses it's applicable to look at them as large flour sacks. Flour sacks which with a simple flip of a switch suddenly collapse into the ceiling as if they were just dropped onto it. This is an interesting phenomenon of gravitational alteration, especially since it's also worth noting that while H.G. Wells appears unaffected due to wearing magnetic boots (which somehow also control her hair as well), the rest of the objects in the room remain in place as if the room's gravity is normal. So either the popular literary mastermind was obsessed with nails and glue, or gravity is being REALLY weird in the very specific location of the house where Pete and Mica were standing and then being pressed into the ceiling (hair and all).       Nothing, however, pulls at an audience's sense of gravitational awareness like a building suddenly acting out of the norm. To pull off bringing entire structures into alternate gravitational science the audience must be wholly sold on the idea that the building has enough mass to exist while not enough to counter whatever is being done to it. Case in point: the house from the animated movie Up. Since the house remains in the air supported by thousands of balloons for pretty much the entire movie, the question of gravitational affect on the structure is a fairly consistent problem to be addressed. It's pushed around by wind, as balloons deflate it hangs lower to the ground and moved like it is restricted movement-wise when it doesn't have enough to lift it. This is completely ignoring many laws of physics, of course, but gravity is ultimately the cheated party in the matter. after all, on an episode of Mythbusters (where they like to challenge all of these rule-breaking ideas) they found that to simply lift a four-year old girl it would take so many helium-filled weather balloons that it would be all but impossible to blow up and attach them all to the object that needed lifting (Episode 5 of season 2).         In conclusion, although many aspects of physics are regularly bent or altered in cinema and television, gravity is almost certainly the most commonly ignored and abused. The force itself, and its effects on body, object, and structure, is distorted in almost any nameable science fiction or action movie. Most of the time it tends to be subtle, more or less linked into our real-world understanding of the force, in order to make a connection to our reality that often masks dramatic and intense law-breaking. This stretch of an inescapable truth, however, creates the heightened reality that makes us believe in the supernatural abilities of a pirate, and wonder at the notion of a house flying away supported by balloons. And as long as some of the effects are observed in a realistic light we are more than willing to allow the abuse to natural law to forward a story, be it science fiction or just a whimsical version of our own reality. PS: (foot note apart from paper word counter): I know you said only three movies or shows were required but Mythbusters is the best example to disprove the notion, so I enter them as my first surprise witness and not an actual example of defying gravity in popular media. PPS: I feel like Max or Mary from Max and Mary with many P-P-S's all the time. PPPS: Here is a picture of the House Cat, revealed to be the crime boss he is: PPPPS: Yes I'm shameless in seeking extra credit opportunities. But to be fair I wanted to include a paragraph about the amazing gravitational alteration involved in the destruction of Sauron's tower and you didn't want more than three movie examples so I feel something extra must be included. PPPPPS: Just in case you never watched Max and Mary, you should. It's on Netflix. And it's wonderful.

Outline for the Second Term Paper

Introduction:
Thesis: Gravity, in terms of cinematic story telling, is a tether to relate the described world to our world, but it is far from a constant set of rules that characters and objects are restricted by.
- Gravity is altered or ignored when it comes to three main groups: the personal gravity centers of individual characters, in objects, and even in buildings and large structures.
- This phenomenon is not restricted to animation, live action, movie, or television show.



Examples of defying personal centers of gravity:

a) Pirates of the Caribbean (Jack catching his balance on the wooden beam) 20:08
- This one is subtle, but even without factoring in that he's swinging upwards and into a narrow beam while handcuffed, an attempt to recreate the range of how much Jack leans forward and back, even while flat footed on the floor, minimally requires an immense amount of control and counteraction with a lot of flailing arms. Without these actions Jack's center of gravity is far too outside of
b) The Matrix (Neo bending backwards to dodge bullets)
Who doesn't remember the iconic, impossible move? He was re-writing gravity along with time when he did this move.
c) Mulan (Chien Po carrying the soldiers/a horse) 58:45
- one character picks up his entire squadron, who are holding a rope tied to a horse bearing two more (by the way, dangling off a cliff), and without any change in posture to accommodate the change in center of gravity walks calmly backwards far enough to get the horse back on the cliff. Either he's got a body mass equal to the mountain itself or gravity isn't pulling him over like it should.



Objects defying gravity:

- Warehouse 13 (Pete and Mika suffering from reverse gravity and being thrown to a ceiling) 24:30
- Ok, not technically objects, but as two large-ish masses it's applicable to look at them as large flour sacks... which with a simple flip of a switch suddenly collapse into the ceiling as if they were just dropped onto it. It's also worth noting that while H.G. Wells appears unaffected due to wearing magnetic boots (which somehow also control her hair), the rest of the objects in the room remain in place, as if the room's gravity is normal. So either Wells was obsessed with nails and glue, or gravity is being REALLY weird in that specific location of the house.
- Captain America (Bomb Planes)
- first flying and clearly being seen at 1:41:11, we are lead to believe that the "planes" are actually gigantic nuclear bombs meant to take out America's largest cities, yet also be fully capeable of flight and supporting three grown men in battle armor (and the Hydra armor more resembles old fashioned deep-sea diving equipment), with only one large propeller on the back to keep them going, and two stubby wings to stabilize them.
- This might keep them moving forward while falling, but not doing twists, turns, and gaining altitude as they do in the movie.



Structures defying gravity:

- Up (The house being lifted and flying away supported only by balloons), Pretty much the entire movie.
- Proven by Mythbusters to be all but impossible (Episode 5 of season 2 "Ping Pong Escape"), since they needed so many large helium weather balloons to lift a 4 year old child they could barely even gather and control the required number.
- Avengers (heli-platform carrier rising out of the ocean) 33:32
- Technically an object, but included due to scale
- Lord of the Rings; Return of the King (Sauron's tower suddenly and inexplicably being pulled down and into the ground) 2:45:36
- 2 explanations. Either gravity suddenly and inexplicably intensified to the point that the building could not withstand it and crumbled, or that the structure was initially unsupportable and held together by Sauron's magic, which vanished with the ring, thus leaving the tower to topple. Neither of these explanations conform to our understanding of gravity.


Conclusion:
- Although many aspects of physics are regularly bent or altered in cinema and television, gravity is almost certainly the most common. The force and its effects on body, object, and structure is distorted in almost any nameable science fiction or action movie. Most of the time it tends to be subtle, more or less linked into our real world understanding of the force in order to make a connection to our reality that often masks dramatic and intense law-breaking.

Reverse Video Reference

Film 1:

 

 

 

Film 2:

 

 

 

Film3:

 

 



 

Film 4:

 

 

 

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

So I decided to reach for the stars, having never done a single bit of stop motion animation in the past. I used my friend Jackson for reference. Mostly because I can niether run nor jump and my own pathetics for the purposes of this assignment were horrifically embarassing.

Sorry for the crappy video quality. It was nowhere like this

to use, but unfortunately my roommate won't get off Guild Wars 2

and this is the best version I could get loaded with the crap internet

speed.

I know I included a shot with me walking into the view, but as added proof of our longterm relationship, here is us last Halloween as Hawkeye and Captain America (I'm the one with the bow):

For the record, I explicitly told him not to hurt himself during filming.

Therefore his limp isn't my fault.

If it had been me running and jumping there would have been blood and bone visible.

He's an English major, not A/I, but that doesn't seem to hold him back too much.

For the tracking I followed both Jack and the sword seperately, shown here:

For the actual animating bit, well..... it was a real pain. I see why others finally went with very simple objects. Keeping the multi-jointed Batman figurine in line was next to impossible. Ultimately I reshot the entire move four times, but ran out of time just as I thought I might be getting the hang of this stop motion thing.

Ultimately this was the best of the lot:

 

 

 

In closing, to show you how seriously I took this whole thing, I had my roomie snap a picture of the setup I used to get this done. You'll note the Director's Hat, which is evidenced from all bonus features ever as being a director's key to success in all movies.

 

It should be noted that I am not tall at all, and standing on another chair, so in effect I built an entire second-tier story for my bedroom specifically for this challenge!

Term Paper 1

Tobias McKenzie
First Term Paper
9/18/13

Kung Fu Panda 2

      Kung Fu Panda 2, the 2011 film produced by Dreamworks Entertainment and directed by Jennifer Yuh, is an eclectic mix of different elements of an imaginary world where humans do not exist, and a China-based culture and world that centers around the use of the very human martial art of Kung Fu. The animals are all based on and proportioned to the species of earth, although most move around on two legs and are anamorphic, dressing and speaking as humans do. The world also seems, at first glance, to be similar to ours in terms of gravitational pull and the effects of force on the creatures and objects in it, with some obvious overlooks such as the fatter creatures like pigs and sheep defy gravity and anatomy to walk on their tiny hind feet. A critical and careful defiance of many rules of force, however, surfaces when one studies and keeps track of the effects of forces affecting the content of the world, a shifting and inconsistent set of rules that suggest the gravitational force of the world to be exceptional, and to have created some very interesting world rules of interaction between force and mass.

     One of the first things immediately noticeable is in the inconsistent strength and jumping ability demonstrated by the main character, a panda bear named Po. Considered in the world to be obese, slow, and extremely clumsy, Po often struggles to make it past even the most basic and normal obstacles in his world, such as when he can barely sit himself up and needs to be helped up by other characters (25:20). This seemingly understandable behavior and struggle is completely ignored, however, when the panda is performing his Kung Fu, which allows him the ability to leap impossible distances such as leaping off a cliff and into a battle at 7:33, move with incredibly dexterity and coordination, leap over flights of stories up a falling building (48:13), and up into the air at an impossible height at 1:10:42. He's not the only one, either, the Crocodile character can leap up what appears to be at least a full story into the air with little effort (16:18), and a hollow-winged bird character, Crane, is able to carry Po flying (6:40), and the Prayingmantus character can pick up Po (10:23), a pig on a rock (8:05), and manages to kick a gigantic metal cannon into the and through a tower floor (45:43). The evidence suggests that once entering a mode of Kung Fu the characters take on special strength and physical density, as non-Kung Fu-characters struggle with carrying heavy items more in line with general notions of strength, such as the rabbit who struggles with carrying a gigantic dumpling at 15:48. These inconsistencies all point to a baseline of real-world imitating gravity which can nevertheless be broken at any time, and start to apply a new gravitational defying set of physics that is not demonstrated enough to be speculated on, other than it's initiated by the use of the world's Kung Fu.

      The second break from real-world physics is the handling of moving or non-solid objects in the movie, most noticeably the cannonballs that are fired throughout by the main antagonist, and the rain droplets that are handled and controlled by both Shifu and Po. Although clearly outside the realm of possibility Shifu first demonstrates the rolling and catching of the droplets at 4:40, and then Po imitates it again at 1:02:22. It might be argued that all water in this world reacts as such, however at 23:43 Po experiences water droplets behaving normally (that is, they splatter and divide upon panda-contact), and again is affected normally by the rest of the rain that produces the droplet at 1:02:22. Water aside, even solid objects are malleable in their effect of contact. The cannonballs, projectiles of solid metal (the type is never specified, but based on it being taken from pre-industrial Chinese cooking utensil one would assume it is iron, or something similar), alternate between being able to destroy solid structures on contact to being stopped by the flesh and fur of a panda bear. Although the machine initially kills Master Rhino (off-screen) after the scene at 16:45, with the proof of a destroyed walkway and broken weapon at 41:45, and an entire tower is brought down by the power of a barrage of similar weapons at 48:00, not only is the cannonball stopped from obliterating Po at 58:28 but by 1:15:11 he is all but catching and volleying the balls back, the cannon balls he's grabbing from midair and launching back destroying a fleet of warships. The physics involved in the same types, or in the case of the cannon balls, exact same objects reacting so different to flesh versus wood, stone, and earth indicate a severe departure from our physics.

    The last main break from physics lies in the inconsistencies in sharpness and toughness of weapons and other solid objects. For example, near the beginning of the movie Mantis is able to cut sword blades multiple times with nothing but his front legs (8:14), but later on after being captured in a relatively tiny-barred cage he is unable to break himself out, although the metal is visibly thinner and he has space to maneuver inside, thus canceling any argument about his ability to perform a similar move. In other instances the interactions between certain masses are simply departed from the physics of our world, such as when Shen cuts effortlessly through a wooden beam and door with a dagger made of steel (16:30), the canon balls being stopped by a metal cooking pan at 58:20 when they brought down an entire tower and through a stone wall and three piled ships at 1:11:40.

     In conclusion, Kung Fu Panda 2 toys a lot with the weight and strength of its Kung Fu using characters, multiple characters ping pinging back and forth with unrealistic ability to being barely able to handle an average weight challenge. Certain substances and objects have their own gravity and force,  such as water, the cannonballs, and weaponry, allowing them to be handled in unreal ways, though they are often completely muted by the flesh and blood (and Kung Fu) of the characters they interact with. All of this leads only to the conclusion that the universe has a very different, multi-layered set of physics that departs from ours almost altogether. Still, although a lot of the force used and weights shift throughout the movie, it is consistent enough to become believable and normalized over the course of the story, and does not interfere or become too blatant to the point of being a distraction. Instead it allows for humor, story progression, and a sense of real power being held by anybody using Kung Fu, lending a magical element to the world.





Post-essay note: I understand this paper is late. I have no excuse; I forgot it was due this morning. All I can offer is an apology, a note that the premier of Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. last night distracted me (I threw a party for the premier of the show I've been awaiting since I first saw Avengers in theaters.... 14 times), and I understand it's not an excuse (unless perhaps I have an explanatory note from Director Joss Whedon, who is my god and religion, explaining that these are sacred holidays to be observed. I've emailed him and am awaiting his responce).

And I solemnly promise to complete assignments the day they are assigned or first opened to submission so that this does not happen again.

Merry S.H.E.I.L.D. Premier!

And here is a cat who lives with me's twin brother (he's the good but stupid one, whereas I live with the evil genius):

Paper 1 Outline

Paper Outline: 

Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

I. Introduction

a: Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

b: Although theoretically taking place in Ancient China, on Earth, several common laws of physics are permanently bent and altered.

II. Weight/Strength alterations

a: Po jumping far more than he should be able to (based on size, weight, and leg length) (3:56), leaping up to the roof of a first story building (8:50), falling down from a tower and surviving unhurt (47:23), leaping off a cliff and into a battle 7:33) 

b: Being blown out of a tower and across a city, into a harbor, and surviving.

c: Characters carrying  Po being carried by Crane flying (6:40), but later  Viper struggles to bear the panda's weight during the cart chase (37:12).

d: Mantis carrying a pig on a rock (8:05)

e: Mantis picking Po up (10:23) 

f: The continuation of the Cart Scene chase, despite not having any visible force pushing the cart uphill and then into dramatic jumps; (38:15)

g:  Contradicted when Po struggles to walk or even sit up (25:20), Contradicted by weight struggles with a bunny carrying a large dumpling 15:48

III. Unrealistic handling/catching of moving or non-solid objects

a: Shifu and Po catching, rolling, and then letting go of single droplets of water (4:40, 1:02:22)

b. Po caught, juggled, and volleyed cannonballs back after being fired on to rip apart more ships (1:15:11)

IV. Inconsistencies in sharpness and  toughness of weapons and other solid objects:

a: Mantis being able to cut sword blades with his front legs (8:14), but is is unable to break out of a cage with thinner metal bars than the swords.

b: Knife cutting effortlessly through a wodden beam in the door (16:30)

c: The interactions of the canon balls, which is stopped by a metal cooking pan at 58:20, and can be , Cannon balls still bring down an entire building, rip through a stone wall and three piled ships (1:11:40)

V. Conclusion

a: KFP2 toys a lot with weight and strength, multiple characters ping ponging back and forth with unrealistic ability to being barely able to handle an average weight challenge.

b: Certain substances, like water, or objects like the cannonballs have their own gravity and force, allowing them to be handled in unreal ways.

c: In the universe objects' mass and strength change, from the organic to the inorganic.

d: Although a lot of the force used and weights shift throughout the movie, it is consistent enough to become believable and normalized over the course of the story, and does not interfere or become too blatant to the point of being a distraction.

Video Analysis of Path of Action

 

 

I didn't break my ankle jumping!!!

 

I thought the only way to celebrate such unpredicatable results was with a Minion!Me.

Tracker Video Analysis of Falling

Well that was only excruciating. I can only assume the virus in the computer mucked something up so I couldn't download Tracker.

Thank the dieties for housemates with computers who are bribeable with cupcakes.

 

Note: Sorry about the background noise in the video. Computer was muted so didn't realize it was playing Star Trek Next Generation as audio until I just checked it now. Not entirely sure how to remove the sound but will work on that for the next assignment.

Assignment - Video Reference Ball Toss

Nothing like a weekend virus to make you tardy turning in homework. Apologies for the lateness.

Mini Portfolio

 These are the charcoal reversals I've done a year ago and last semester. I got caught up in the switchup of Ani/Art classes so I got to do two! Actually enjoyed the excruciating pain and black boogers.

 

This is my scooter, Razo, which I modeled in Maya. He's significantly more beat to hell by now.

 

Still life from 113A.

 

 

A couple Sketchbook pages:

 

 







 

 And finally the only video of any of my work I have, my animation from waaaay back in Ani 28! (Back when it was Art 28). It's titled "The Moral of the Story Is....". 

 

Let's see now. A bit about me..... I'm originally from a tiny island off the coast of Maine. My graduating class was 4 (including myself). I'm an animation major, this is my seventh year of college and fourth year at SJSU (and no, the moisture in my eyes is because I stepped on a tack or something). I've completed all of the lower division courses and am applying to the portfolio review this semester. Again. But I'm optomistic!

I'm extremely nerdy, occassionally obnoxious depending on who you talk to. I do a LOT of social work with LGBT youth and college kids. I grew up on Star Trek ToS and Sherlock Holmes and discovered comic books and Marvel when X2 came out in theaters. BBC could conscript me for anything at all and I'd gladly pay my plane ticket over and sign my life to them.

I did last year's underwear run in Batman briefs and rainbow angel wings. I have a guinea pig named after Claudia from Warehouse 13, but my housemates and I just call her Poo 'cause damn. And she doesn't even eat as much as the guinea pig I left back in Maine because Southwest doesn't transport rodents (what they call them) or livestock (which the US government classifies them as).

And despite appearances I am trying to keep this short. Looking forward to this semester!

~ T

 

The First Post

I know how to use Blogger! Muglug!