Final Product and final evaluation

This whole process to get to here has taken quite a while, mainly because this is my first year using  a few of these software’s and the learning curve was pretty steep but after watching a few tutorials and gaining some help from tutors i was able to over come some small and major issues during the production.

I tried to follow my storyboard as much as possible during the production and that is the main piece of design that i kept returning to so i could achieve a decent outcome.

My first major issues came with modelling some of my characters as i had no idea of how much time and how much harder it actually is to get some of it done to the style i wanted. Having to model an astronaut helmet and a demon like character and even a hand which i thought wouldn’t be that hard but almost ended up being the most frustrating part to make and to animate. To eventually animate it i used roots and joint points on the fingers where the joints would actually be to move the hand in the same way i had drawn on my storyboard. Character models as well was a bit of an issue trying to morph shapes into the right size, width and height was quite a challenge whilst trying to keep it as realistic as i could have to my skill level. If i return to a product like this again i will do a lot more research on character modelling to help fully understand how to get certain shapes to make the character more believable. I think i got a bit overwhelmed with all the tools that i found it hard remembering each route to go about certain scenarios. I often found that i had been or was working a difficult way and was making it harder for myself. In the future i will overcome this by watching more tutorials on ways to do things similar to what im after and hopefully learn some shortcuts within the software’s.

Some other issues i had was involving the camera and the animation timeline within cinema 4D. These problems occurred whilst setting key frames and moving an object or the camera to a position and sometimes key frames wouldn’t be placed or the objects would jump back to place when i hit play. These were the easiest things to fix because it was either because one of the key frame settings wasn’t active or i just had to move the whole object with the root/null so the movement would come with it. Although these were very simple solutions it took me a while to fix them as i am still new to these software’s.

During the production i think that i managed time okay. I did have to finish some work for the other units which did take up some of my time but i had to adapt to that towards the end of the production. I spent about 2-4 weeks researching and collecting information from different sources so i could learn more about mars and the expositions of the real mars missions going on right now by Space X and NASA. This was a big inspiration for me as i am super fascinated by space and the galaxies that i knew this was the best idea. I got a bit to into my research and maybe spent a bit too long on it but i got so many different ideas for the rovers, landscape, mars base and the atmosphere. I had a couple ideas which i wish i would’ve carried through with but due to running out of time i had to scrap the a scene and a couple small details that i feel would’ve made the animation that slight bit better and added a bit more depth to the final piece. The scenes and details i had missed out are the mars rover scene where i wanted it to either drive out of the garage and have the door open or have the rover just roll over the terrain on the planet. I chose to delete this scene as its not so important and was mainly going to be added to add some extra time onto my final piece and have some more experience using Cinema 4d. I also had to miss out some small details on the astronauts suit and i changed the style of helmet i wanted because it was to detailed and would’ve taken up to much time so i just went with a more traditional helmet with the pink glow around the visor. I left the pink glow on the helmet for a few reasons, to have some more effects in the clip and because the other helmet i was originally going to make with the gas mask part was going to be metallic black with pink LED strips on it to represent the future in a way. This was also an idea taken from ‘Dead Space’ the horror game that i talked about in my research.

A couple of my clips/models were created upside down so i had to adapt in using some of the tools and effects backwards and then rotate the clip in Adobe Premiere Pro. This happened a couple of times but caused no major issues towards the production.

The final editing part of the production was going well until i saved a file and then when i opened it again it didn’t save the separate clips how i had edited them but had pout it all as one clip and made it nearly impossible to edit as i had to add another clip in and still had some editing within the song and movie to finish off. This resulted in me starting over and adding all the clips in separately again. This meant i had to add effects to the video in the final scene with the demon such as the distortion and pitch warp to the song and add a glitch effect onto the video itself to have it bug out. That is also the reason why the blood was removed from the astronauts arm from scene 1 was removed and why in the second scene of the world blowing up it doesn’t look up to the same standards of the rest of my work. This is another thing that i will make sure i prepare for next time im making a product like this again and leave some extra time for the final production in premiere just in case things go wrong like this time or maybe even worse.

If i had a bit more time i would have also created a better intro and outro to the video to just help boost the look and style of the whole animation but due to running out of time i had to rush but luckily i think i pulled the intro off with the text fading in. I think i should’ve missed out the fire explosion which opens the first scene but i left it in there as a little extra something so its not just a black screen with white text.

In 2 of the scenes it shows the year in which it is taking place (scene 2, earth blowing up and scene 7, right before you see the demon). I cant remember what the text was actually called but the main reason i chose that text to show the years is because it looked almost digital and i thought that would have worked well with the scenes because obviously its in the camera view and it gives of a slight futuristic feel which is another thing i intended to do for this whole animation.

Overall i am very pleased with the outcome considering its my first year on the software’s.  With a bit more experience and time spent on a product such as this i think i could get the hang of modelling and excel through some of these programs and learn some shortcuts to improve time efficiency and effectiveness. The only issues i have with my final piece is the bodies of the  astronaut and the demon but i kind of worked around that by darkening some of the areas so they are less visible and adding some detail else where to hopefully take the viewers eyes away from the bad modelling. I was also struggling to find a song to fit well with the animation and the song i chose (Bob Marley – Out To Space) was a last resort if i couldn’t find anything and would just be used as a bit of background noise so the video isn’t silent. I tried changing this up a bit at the end by editing the visuals and the audio so it didn’t feel cheated in a way by just adding a song and leaving it to play. The other issue is just the final editing with the earth blowing up and if i had, had  more time i would’ve also animated that in cinema 4d using the fracture tool. I did try and mess around with this but found it pretty complicated and as it was towards the end deadline i just had to add something to fill the gap.

 

Unit 8 – modeling assets

I started modeling the helmet for my astronaut on sculptris. It was going well until I decided to paint it which it then turned the symmetry back on and basically destroyed the image by adding 2 of each detail on the mask which is not what was intended. When I went to go back and open my old save of the helmet before I started painting I noticed that it saved as an image and not a file so I now need to start again or try a different approach.

This was my first model for my mars base with a basic design built of ordinary shapes. I decided to change it up a bit and move some things around to give it a different and original look.

This is the final design for the mars base that I made and you can visibly see the major changes that I did. I think that this structure looks a lot better than the first one because it’s different and not so straight forward and has a nice futuristic look which is what im after as this animation is set in 2069. The building on the right is the crop garden, the ring an the middle is just the corridor linking it all together. The tunnel-like object is the entrance/exit and the building to the left is the rover shelter where the rover will exit from or be parked next to. 

This is the final look of the mars base with all the textures and a quick render on cinema 4D. Hopefully, it will look a bit better in the final piece with a decent render with the right settings. The background is not yet finished and has a bit more work to do. Their won’t be that much light in the final project either that’s just there to show the model of the base clearly to give you an idea of what it looks like and the textures I have used.

To texture all of my assets and models I’m using a website called ‘textures.com’ after signing up you get 15 credits each day and that means you can download almost 15 textures a day for free unless you have one that costs 2b credits. It is a reliable website that i am finding very helpful to get the right textures and look for my animation.

For my 2nd scene, you will see the earth dying in the year 2069 and then you will see the earth destroyed again toward the end of the animation in scene 7. Here I am trying to make a fire effect in Cinema 4D. I was getting more of an explosion effect rather than fire so I may try using that effect for something else but I’m still trying to create a fire effect that I can use for my 2nd scene. If I run out of time I may just have to use a clip of fire and crop it to what I need to save time and get the right feeling. 

This was the start of my building inside the crops shelter for scene 4. This scene will consist of crops within the soil and water dripping from the pipes like a sprinkler system.

This is the final look for the crop scene. I fixed the texture on the walls by changing the projection to cubic and messing with the orientation to get the right sized squares etc. I also mad the water a bit bigger so they are more visible whilst the camera pans slowly from one end to the other. This will happen for about 10 seconds maybe less whilst you hear the water dripping and maybe the song in the background. I did have a screen recording of me playing with the settings and getting everything right but WordPress won’t allow me to post it onto my blog.

This is the start of me modelling the head for the demon entity at the end of the animation. I attempted to make the whole model in cinema 4D but the head and hood were pretty difficult so i created the head in sculptris.

This is the final model for his face. i also painted it in sculptris so all i need to do for his model is get the body ready. The top of his head that is coloured black is the sections that wont be visible because of his hood so you will just about see the bottom half os his eyes which will glow red in the final scene hopefully along with his robe.

This is my first attempt of making a hand for my first scene, i already have the camera model created so all i need to do with this is texture and animate the hand opening slowly somehow which im unsure at this moment of how im going to do it.

This is a test video I made during the making of my demon model to see how the glowing eyes worked out. Personally, I think it looks really good and will suit the final scene and hopefully leave the viewers confused or wanting more.

This is going to be there first few seconds of the clip but coming from the back as the camera pans around his body to show the glow of his cloak. (The background isn’t in the scene at the moment so you can fully see the landscape and earth behind him)

Once the camera comes face to face with the demon thing, his glowing cloak will fade and put the glowing red into his eyes whilst slowly zooming in to the destroyed earth in the background to finish the animation. (The earth being destroyed and set on fire will be edited in after effects once all of the modelling is done where i will also add a song i have picked and hoping to edit slightly)

This is the opening scene where the hand opens up and the camera swirls up into the atmosphere. I will add a blood effect on the astronaut’s arm to help give the feeling of death in after effects along with the rest of the animating.

I chose to blur out the background slightly so the focus is mainly on the hand and the camera as it rises up. (The background of the stars is not yet added but will be when fully rendered)

I created this radio/speaker to justify the song i chose to be playing in the background (Bob Marley – Out to space). Its located above the garage that i made for the rover but unfortunately due to running out of time i will not be able to actually create the rover.

i still have 1 scene to finish but whilst im doing that i decided to start the final video in Adobe Premiere. Ive never really used premiere much as last year i was more focused on after effects but from watching tutorials on youtube i was able to create multiple effects during the animation to enhance the feeling of the game trailer. I also added subtle transitions in-between clips so its not choppy  and has a slight fade to the next scene.

I added a glitch effect to the video by using different tools in the effect search bar. I used an effect which gave it a static feel once you see the demon character I also added a slight distortion and pitch warp effect to the audio so the song glitches the same time as the video to make it not seem out of nowhere.

 

This is a screen recording of how i am rendering my clips in 1080p. This is one of the smaller clips of the camera just panning into the earth. I used this little clip for the screen recording because the rest of the clips are pretty high quality with loads of things going on so this was the quickest clip i had to render.

This is the last scene i had to make. I think this scene turned out really well as thats basically what i wanted as a final product with the reflectiveness from the visor showing the hand and the camera.

 

Song links and tutorial links:

Unit 8 – Task1: FMP Animation ideas and research

Idea 1: My first initial idea was an animation of the last man on earth going into space escaping the burning planet of earth as he goes to live the rest of his life in a secret space station that was in the works by NASA that never got finished. As he lives his last moments alone and scared of what could happen, he watches Earth burn and rot but he is not alone and has to adapt to his environment with limited supplies and no one to help him. This would have been an educational video with a subtle meaning of earth dying because of humans and global warming and what will happen if we don’t sort out these issues we are having at the moment.

Idea 2: My Second idea is similar to my first idea but changed up quite a bit. It will start with the astronaut (last man) in his space station who has died by an unknown reason and the opening scene is the final moments of his life as his hand opens releasing a video camera as it floats through the atmosphere and then years later is found by an alien that you don’t actually see apart from the hand. It then cuts to a found footage type of view where you see his life in space alone and him watching the planet die and burn. when the video player stops the camera pans out and you get a glimpse of what the planet looks like now and who was watching the tape.

Idea 3: My final idea is almost the same as ‘Idea 2’ but instead of it being on a space station, it will be a small base on Mars that was created for research years before the earth was dying but that’s where the last survivor ended up feeling too because it was his last choice. I’m still going to stick with the same idea of all the same scenes in that order but just move where it all takes place and maybe switch up the final entity that appears at the end.

 

Elon Musk is the ‘founder, CEO, and lead designer of SpaceX’ and he plans to send a test ship weighing 100 tons to imitate the size and weight of the ship that will have the first group of people. They need to wait for the right opportunity where Earth and Mars are aligned closest because they orbit each other almost like an egg shape. The first ship will have 100 people on so they can hopefully start life with crops, solar panels and hopefully develop a new civilisation. The plans are to start a whole city and then branch off and create multiple cities and finally inhabit Mars.

“The stainless steel ship is designed to send up to 100 people in space at once, with a Raptor engine that uses liquid oxygen and methane instead of the rocket propellant used for the Falcon 9’s Merlin engines. That’s important because, Musk hopes, humans will be able to establish propellant plants and create fuel from Mars to return to Earth — or even continue their journey and establish a planet-hopping network.”

NASA has missed 3 opportunity where they could have sent rockets to Mars and starting testing but they were canceled due to the changing of presidents and the changing of what they focused the government funding on and only sent rovers ‘Spirit and Opportunity’  in 2003 and ‘Curiosity’ in 2011.

This is an image I screenshotted from NASA’s Mars exploration site, it has loads of information on the planet itself and the progress and discoveries that they have made on the red planet. This image shows that Mars has a much lower climate where the atmosphere is -81 degrees on average. This means that to inhabit Mars, humans will need suits strong enough to withstand the depths of space and keep us warm enough so that we won’t freeze over there. The latest finding on the site was on:

30 July 2018 “Mars terraforming not possible using present-day technology”

Terraforming Mars is one of many ideas to inhabit the planet so that humans can live on it. This includes making living life again on the planet by basically making trees, grass and water to improve the oxygen levels and lower Co2 on the planet so we could one day breathe the air on Mars and look back at the planet. Mars already has clouds just as Earth does.

Also on the site, they have Past, Present and Future descriptions on plans and the whole exploration so far on Mars. It states that in 2020 NASA will send over another rover to collect samples on the dust and environment on the planet and radiation levels to help improve human knowledge on how to survive there. Other companies and private businesses are planning to gather information from the planet such as:

1. NASA – Mars 2020 Rover
2. European Space Agency – ExoMars rover
3. The United Arab Emirates – Hope Orbiter
4. Japanese – Orbiter
5. Chinese – Rover
6. Space X – Dragon capsule

Mars has 2 moons named “Phobos” (fear) and “Deimos” (Panic). Both the planets were discovered by American astronomer Asaph Hall in 1877.

Suits needed to survive on Mars?

These are both concept suits I found on google for suits that we may be wearing on mars in the distant future.

 This is a concept design for a space suit from the horror game series ‘Dead space’. This suit is suitable to design for what I am looking for because it is slick and has a futuristic feel to it which is needed as the scenes for my astronaut are in 2069 so technology would have developed a lot by that time. I like the style of the almost rusted look to the metal with the neon blue to represent the health bar on his back and his visor. I won’t need anything on his back because you will only really see his torso and mask as it will be close up. I still like the idea of the neon visor and I think I will twist that in my own way to achieve a different result. My suit will most probably be black with some neon lights to make the mask and suit pop in the darkness of space.

In Mars the temperature is below -80 degrees on average so it will need to withstand the pressure of the atmosphere in space and keep the person inside warm enough to not freeze to death. He will need a mask designed to let him breathe on Mars as the planet is about 90% Co2 which is why we can’t breathe the air on the planet.

  This is a similar design to what I am going to attempt to make. I like gas mask feel it has and I think would suit the environment the scenes are set in. I will most likely change the shape and style a little bit but keep the gas mask look and add some neon colours to continue with the futuristic style but still believable for the year and ensure it is still fit for purpose. I will remove the camera on the top of the helmet because that is unnecessary as he will be holding the camera in his hands.

Alien concept

 This is a demon like monster from the game ‘Brutal Legend’ back in 2009. This is a close representation of what my final Alien that watches the footage of my animation will look like.

 This is a ‘Keeper’ from Call Of Duty Black ops 3 Zombies. Both of these demon creatures have robes and i like the neon red design on the robe of the second image. I might change that up by making his eyes glow red but have his hood actually covering his eyes so you just see his mouth and the glow of the red of where his eyes are. I think the robe on my design will need to be covered in red dust/dirt because obviously hes on mars and that would probably be mostly on the bottom half of his body then slowly fading as it gets higher up.

Im going to have his mouth closed but show 2 huge sharp teeth pointing out almost like a sabre tooth tiger. but on the bottom set pointing upwards to give the ‘Alien’ thing a demonic feel.

Moodboards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Storyboard and concept drawings 

With the astronaught i only really need his shoulders and helmet so what is circled is what is being used. The dark shaded areas on the helmet and torso are the parts that will be neon pink and the rest of the suit will be black with scratches and dust.

 Creature/alien in the final scene. His robe will have a neon blue on the cross and the stripes on his hood. The robe itself will be white and be dirty from the dust on the planet from about the waist down. He will have glowing red eyes but his eyes are not actually visible from the shadow of his hood so all you see is his nose and mouth.

• Scene 1 -hand slowly opens releasing the camera that floats of through space.
• The next 4 scenes are images that the astronaught had got whilst being on the planet and shows his life and how he survived. Earth dying in 2069, Mars base, Crops garden and a Futuristic rover.
• Scene 6 is basically scene 1 but you are looking from the camera’s POV as the astronaught films his last moments then the camera will float off.
• Once the camera goes away you see the hands of an unknown creature look up from the camera and looking at what the earth looks like now in the year 2077.
• The final scene is a mid shot of the ‘Alien’ creature on mars holding the camera.(he found it after the 8 years)

 

 

References

Humans on mars in 2050 — https://www.inverse.com/article/54358-elon-musk-explains-how-it-s-possible-to-build-a-city-on-mars-by-2050

NASA’s Mars exploration program —- https://mars.nasa.gov/#

Suits needed for mars — https://www.google.com/search?q=suits+needed+for+mars&safe=strict&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi-77e3hLHhAhV9ShUIHSdvCHMQ_AUIDygC&biw=1095&bih=990&dpr=2#imgrc=VGZFkPWJnKh51M:

Dead space suit — https://www.google.com/search?safe=strict&biw=1095&bih=990&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=jyOjXMOEOMyBjLsPp8yB0AU&q=dead+space+rig+concept&oq=dead+space+rig+concept&gs_l=img.3…18960.24437..24517…0.0..0.53.536.13……0….1..gws-wiz-img…….0j0i67j0i30j0i8i30.G54diKAMTrw#imgrc=zr52GpqKIIQDqM:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Humans on mars in 2050 — https://www.inverse.com/article/54358-elon-musk-explains-how-it-s-possible-to-build-a-city-on-mars-by-2050

NASA’s Mars exploration program —- https://mars.nasa.gov/#

Suits needed for mars — https://www.google.com/search?q=suits+needed+for+mars&safe=strict&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi-77e3hLHhAhV9ShUIHSdvCHMQ_AUIDygC&biw=1095&bih=990&dpr=2#imgrc=VGZFkPWJnKh51M:

Dead space suit — https://www.google.com/search?safe=strict&biw=1095&bih=990&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=jyOjXMOEOMyBjLsPp8yB0AU&q=dead+space+rig+concept&oq=dead+space+rig+concept&gs_l=img.3…18960.24437..24517…0.0..0.53.536.13……0….1..gws-wiz-img…….0j0i67j0i30j0i8i30.G54diKAMTrw#imgrc=zr52GpqKIIQDqM:

 

 

 

 

References

Humans on mars in 2050 — https://www.inverse.com/article/54358-elon-musk-explains-how-it-s-possible-to-build-a-city-on-mars-by-2050

NASA’s Mars exploration program —- https://mars.nasa.gov/#

Suits needed for mars — https://www.google.com/search?q=suits+needed+for+mars&safe=strict&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi-77e3hLHhAhV9ShUIHSdvCHMQ_AUIDygC&biw=1095&bih=990&dpr=2#imgrc=VGZFkPWJnKh51M:

Dead space suit — https://www.google.com/search?safe=strict&biw=1095&bih=990&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=jyOjXMOEOMyBjLsPp8yB0AU&q=dead+space+rig+concept&oq=dead+space+rig+concept&gs_l=img.3…18960.24437..24517…0.0..0.53.536.13……0….1..gws-wiz-img…….0j0i67j0i30j0i8i30.G54diKAMTrw#imgrc=zr52GpqKIIQDqM: