Day 9_Class_Thursday (Sept 29, 2011)

12:30 - 12:45PM

1. Went over what would be needed for the animation
1. Voice over(s)
2. Flash - for processes
3. 3D - for demonstrations

12:45 - 3:00PM

1. Looking up more information on DNA profiling
2. Group meeting 
1. Mapped out the process for DNA profiling into a series of steps (approx. 4)
2. Figured out the set up for the animation
1. It's going to be interactive with action script (done by Alex)
2. It will play as follows:
1. Intro with text (voice over?)
2. Menu will come up presented each step of the process
3. The menu will be action scripted and each listed process is going to be a button that the viewer will click
4. Once the selection is made a voice over will start playing in accordance to the animated part of the process they chose
1. This process allows for the audience member to watch only the parts that they want to watch as well as viewing at their own pace
3. Right now the following are going to definitely be in 3D
1. DNA Helix
2. Electrophoresis Gel w/and w/out the DNA sequences in it
1. Need to research this more before it can be modeled
3. Individual Assignments Due on Tuesday
1. Alex- Action Script
2. Georgia- Animatic/storyboard
3. Laura- Model: Helix, Electrophoresis Gel
4. Reference Links
1. Info Page
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_profiling
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YOtmuut2g4&NR=1
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pawqx6vQNgE&feature=related
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI1N6MEtihk&feature=related
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QYgN-toA1A&feature=related
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x2Lh5Rq8e0&feature=related
7. 3D Representation
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-wh_-tLI70&feature=related
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi63VjfhsfI&NR=1

Day 8_Home_Tuesday (Sept 27, 2011)

Thursday September 29th, 2011

12:00 -12:15PM

1. Looked up processes for Forensics
2. Read through most of the processes

Day 8_Class_Tuesday (Sept 27, 2011)

12:30 - 1:10PM

1. Played the final video project for the class went over the processes etc.

1:10 - 3:00PM

1. Checked moodle
2. Downloaded the evaluation page
3. Filled it out
4. Had a group meet up about the next project to figure out whether or not we are working in a group again for this
1. Three out of the four of us are planning to work together on a collaboration on forensic science : DNA. Each of us will be doing a different section of the process.
2. Research will be done btw tuesday and thursday

Home/Outside of Class:

1. Research processes of DNA forensic science.

Day 7_Home_Thursday (Sept 22, 2011)

Tuesday September 27th, 2011

11:15 - 12:00PM

1. Dropped in and edited video
2. Dropped in and edited sound
3. Exported

Day 7_Home_Thursday (Sept 22, 2011)

Monday September 26th, 2011

10:00 - 10:40PM

1. Showed loops
2. Showed how I integrated my loops into the video
3. Explained how I could put in additional video over the original footage that I have
4. Added text

10:40 - 11:10PM

1. Browsed sounds with Georgia

11:50PM - 12:00AM

1. Got Chris's files
2. Put them in WK4's folder plus date
3. Setting up folders for future organization (the rest of the semester) while waiting for the sound files from Georgia
4. Will get from her before class tomorrow and drop it in

Day 7_Home_Thursday (Sept 22, 2011)

Saturday (September 24th, 2011)

3:40 - 6:45PM

1. Checked blog for what I'm suppose to do this weekend
2. Opened up butterfly.c4d file
3. I deleted the plane
4. Put in a Sky object
5. Activated the color module and set it to a shade of green
6. Named new mov file render butterflyloop2.mov
7. Rendered out to folder WK4 on working volume
8. Saved
9. Imported butterflyloop2.mov to final cut
10. Set marker to where I want to drop first animation
11. I dropped the mushroom file into the timeline in the overhead found that I need to do the same thing that I did with the butterfly file
12. Opened up the mushroom file
13. Changed the mov file name
14. Deleted the plane
15. Placed a Sky object in and activated the color
16. Set the color to green
17. Set my render
18. Went back to the project file in Final Cut
19. I opened up the butterflyloop2.mov in the video editor
20. Moved the image over to the left using the wireframe option
21. I then dropped it down into the timeline at first it showed up but then I added the chroma keyer and it won't show up on the video screen
22. I've taken it out and dropped it back in multiple times 
23. I'll try reseting the animation clip to see if that will get it back
24. It turned out that since I was only moving the wireframe it was messing with the rest of the video so I moved both the wireframe and the image then dropped it in and added the chroma keyer
25. I set the edging details but I can't quite seem to get the green trim off 
26. Rendered that section of the footage out and tested
27. I realized that I'm going to need another track for the clips I get back from Chris so I created another one
28. Moved the clip up to the the top track, track 3
29. Set up the clip duration to 1;17 it was originally 6;11
30. Tested again
31. I realized that the shot isn't stable so I now need to find a way to get the image anchored to that point
32. Looked it up
33. Found a link that and watched but it is Final Cut in association with a program called Mocha that is being used. I had finder look for mocha and had no success so the computers don't have the program but the method seems to work well. (Link posted below)
1. http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Use-Supreme-Tracking---Final-Cut-Pro-161792925
34. Looking to see if there is tracking in Final Cut
35. Looked on youtube and found one that was in another language then located this one
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1UYwBW1eCw
36. It looks like something that I should be able to do so I'm going to give it a shot
37. Imported mushroomloop3.mov
38. Saved project file
39. Opened new project file under name of Tracking Test
40. I went through the video tutorial and found that it isn't very hard to use at all (even when you have a lot of points set up to track with the mask)
41. But it's not exactly what I'm looking for so I looked for another tracking tutorial
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZP6oHsigdI&feature=relmfu
42. This one is a bit more helpful only I'm not completely sure as to how I'm going to applying it to what I'm working on right at this very moment
43. Made two more tracks (6 tracks total)
44. Took clips from the video file h4.mov and dropped them into tracks 5 and 6
45. Went through the process of the tutorial from number 35 and put it into Final Cut
46. Then dropped the mushroomloop3.mov file into the timeline on track 4 and applied sped up the animation by 444.19% shortening the length of it down to be equal with that timing of the clip
47. Then I applied the chroma keyer
48. That's when I realized that I didn't have the mushroom in the correct spot so I went into the final viewer and selected the options to use the image and wireframe and moved it into the space that I wanted
49. Tested
50. The motion tracker for the mask is blurry but I think I can go back and fix it but I'll leave it for now. I have the links in order to look back on if I need them.

Day 7_Class_Thursday (Sept 22, 2011)

12:35 - 3:00PM

1. Checked previous blog for reference as to what I'm finishing up today before I put it into the Final Cut project file
2. Opened both of the c4d files to work on
3. I looked back into the butterfly file first and found that the motion was pretty much how I wanted it to play in c4d but then I went and checked on the quicktime video and for whatever reason it isn't functioning the same way so I'll bring it into final cut as is to see if that will fix it
4. Rigged mushroom character with joints
5. Had to refresh myself on how to skin and weight it through the help menu
6. Then corrected his weighting
1. I'm not sure as to why but there was no shading on the character when I went to correct his weighting so it was a little more difficult to weight right
7. Animated him so his arms are waving up and down
8. Rendered him out as a quicktime video file name MushroomLoop2.mov
9. While it was rendering I went into Final Cut to see how my Butterfly file was doing
10. When I popped it into Final Cut I realized that it had more than one shade of green due to the auto light the comes up in c4d it looks interesting but it's not what is necessary in order to it put in I just want the image itself so I have to go back and re-render it
11. The mushroom character's BG should work just fine it's a single color of green with no highlights 
12. Though if I remember correctly the sections where it would be best to put them in are being added to by Chris so I'm going to need his files so that I can cut and paste and not overlap anything that he has done. For now I'll put them in since the scenes that he has are going to be under the track that I have work on

Work for the weekend

1. See if there is a form of masking tool inside of Final Cut that can be used in addition to the Chroma Keyer
2. Reset render for butterfly
3. Place animations in overlapping track in Final Cut
4. Put in text
1. Title
2. Credits
3. Additional text in video

Plans for Monday Night Meet-Up

1. Place the reworked clips from Chris
2. Place remaining animations into video
3. Drop sound into Final Cut

Day 6_Class_Tuesday (Sept 20, 2011)

12:30 - 3:00PM

1. Two of the three butterfly/moths were no longer working when I had them play so I deleted them and animated the color on the object
2. Put in a plane for a BG and colored it green
3. Tried making it so that it flutters forward but the morph isn't as strong as I need it to be
4. I'm thinking that I might just have it stay still and flutter on the table to save me the trouble
5. Decided to leave it stationary and exported as a quicktime movie to the working volume as Butterfly_9_20_11
6. Created a mushroom creature from a sphere
7. Colored in 3d paint
8. Despite the hypernurbs I put it through the coloring is appearing pixelated
9. I tried going back and fixing it but it didn't do the trick
10. Thought about animating it then decided to just put a green BG in and see if I can move it around in final cut
11. Set up render settings
12. Rendering
13. Oh and I had rendered the butterfly earlier
14. While the mushroom was rendering I looked at the render for the butterfly and it seems to twitch and not do the minimum range of motion that I had set it up to do. I could probably get away with leaving it as is but I already cut out the flying motion and so I would like to get the fluttering wings as it sits as accurate as possible to make up for that fact.
15. Checked out the render for the mushroom I'm going to go back and remove the edges so that I can get rid of the gridded mesh that shows up on him and in addition to that make it so that he actually moves. The best movement will probably be with his arms.

At home/outside of class:

1. Add motion to the arms of the mushroom
2. Correct the butterfly's wing flutter
3. Render them both out to check for any further problems
4. Find a trial version of final cut & download it

Day 5_Home_Thursday

Tuesday

11:30AM

1. Tried opening up files that I brought home into C4D which I had reinstalled on Friday September 16th 
2. It turned out that I had only installed a c4d server client and absolutely nothing else so then I went to the classroom

12:00 - 12:30PM

1. Updated blog
2. Opened up files 
3. Continued work from Thursday's class

Plan

1. Loops
2. Video editing

Day 5_Class_Thursday (Sept 15, 2011)

!!!***Found my student copy of C4D***!!!

12:35 - 12:48PM

1. Editing blog

12:49 - 1:40 PM

1. Working on loops
1. Downloaded two butterfly models from TurboSquid.com
2. Imported them
3. Tried playing with the texture of the first one then dumped it and opened up the second file
4. Set morphs to one of the butterflies
5. Animated it 
6. Looked for a way to copy the morph
7. Figured I would try through the means of applying the morph to children which comes up as an option when you right click on the applied tag
8. IT WORKED!!!!
9. I disengaged them from the parent and they retained the morph from the parent
10. I Then moved them around and started changing their color

1:40 - 2:00PM

1. Blogging the above
2. Taking a minor break

2:00 - 3:00PM

1. Changed the pattern of morphs in the timeline
2. Got updated mov file from Georgia
3. Made sure I have all my files to work with*****(SEE NOTE)
4. Continue editing blog postings for the rest of class

****NOTE: 

          I'm going away this weekend (to a steampunk convention) so there is a strong possibility of me not getting to do much if any work this weekend with the lone exception of my character creation homework which involves 50 character drawings due at 3:30 PM on Monday. I'm debating bringing my computer since I found my student disk, and perhaps even download a trial version on final cut (express) or buy it either or at this point.

If I don't do any work by monday I'll try to squeeze something out on Tuesday before class.

Day 4_Home_Tuesday (Sept 13, 2011)

Plan for Thursday Day 5

1. Working on loops
2. Finishing off the editing on the video

Day 4_Class_Tuesday (Sept 13, 2011)

12:20 - 1:50PM

1. Filming footage
1. Multiple scenes
2. At Alex's house

1:50 - 3:16PM

1. Reconnecting video files in Final Cut test project file
2. Logged footage captured into Final Cut
3. Saved it as a Hallucinos project file
4. Took raw footage dropped it into the timeline and exported it to the Working Volume on Georgia's computer
5. Gave a brief explanation on how to edit footage within Final Cut
6. Did a small demonstration to go along with it
7. Added a track to the video section of the timeline
8. Blogged

Day 3_Home_Thursday (Sept 8, 2011)

Tuesday

11:50 - 12:15PM

1. Gathered outfit for footage

Day 3_Home_Thursday (Sept 8, 2011)

Friday

11:00 - 12:00PM

1. Brainstormed loop ideas
1. Mushroom with legs swinging
2. Butterfly that changes colors
3. Bright lights of various colors moving around
4. Some kind of morphs
5. Melting objects with the melt tool

Day 3_Class_Thursday (Sept 8, 2011)

Thursday

12:30 - 3:15PM

1. Discussed the animatic/storyboard as a group figuring out: what shots to do, what to animate, how to animate, props, and what tests to complete by end of class as well as some test filming
2. Opened Final Cut and established the program
3. Imported filmed footage and animated footage (3D)
4. Looking up chroma keying online
5. Cut a piece of film and put it into the time line and then took a piece of animation and did the same
6. Went into the effects menu clicked on video filters then selected chroma key attaching it to the film
7. I went into the settings making it so that it was set to blue
8. In the viewer I selected the tab that said Chroma Keyer
9. Clicked on the eye dropper tool towards the bottom right and selected color straight from the film
10. The top video is always going to be on top so make it the source and the video file underneath the matte
11. From there its a matter of what you want to pop I did two versions: one with animation in the background and the second with the animation in the foreground
12. File names ChromaTest1 & ChromaTest2
13. Final Cut's current settings are set to the specifications of ChromaTest2

Home Assignment:

1. Continue tests
2. Set up backgrounds
3. Do loops

DUE: TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 13TH

Day 2_Home_Tuesday (Sept 6, 2011)

Thursday

11:30 - 12:30PM

1. Looked up and downloaded 3D models for kitchen as well as pieces that could be put into kitchen
2. A lot of the files are coming up as code and I'm not sure how to go about using it in that form so I'm just going to looking at other ones
3. Tested downloads none are useable. Looking for more.
4. Found a kitchen download that worked I removed some components of it and changed the textures, right now it's a salmon pink it was originally wood paneling
5. Organized new folders on portable hard drive for project and future projects
6. Organization is as follows: Fall11>AnimationPro>WK2>Pro1>2dAni/TurboSquid>3DModels/Film/FinalCut
7. The file for the 3d model kitchen is in a folder called Kuechenzeile which was copied over to the 3DModels folder with the new file name Kitchenette1.c4d
8. Located a model for a table that was closest to available one
9. Placed in TurboSquid folder on portable hard drive

Day 1_Home_Thursday (Sept 1, 2011)

Saturday

3:00 - 6:30PM

1. Worked on Setting up topics for group forum

Day 2_Class_Tuesday (Sept 6, 2011)

I)Had a meeting about group dynamics with Steve Immerman (President)
  A)Chris had to leave due to family emergency
II)Continued talk about group goals in the classroom
  A)Established goals for each person in contribution to the project
III)Went over storyline Ideas
  A)Alex - Drew up kids being bored
      1)"Hey kids try this!"
      2)Stuff appears after the quote
      3)Cereal (gross)
      4)Room (loops)
          a)Mushrooms
          b)Muppets vomiting
          c)Toasters shooting rockets
          d)Jack-n-the-Box
      5)Kids in alley/Bad Trip
  B)Georgia's Thoughts
    1)Normal kids at first
    2)Trippy things made with masks
    3)Did drawings for concept
    4)Looked at cereal commercial
IV)Proof of Concept
  A)Animated cereal
  B)Filmed on green-screen
  C)Actors
  D)Animatic
V)Needs for Filming
  A)Table
  B)Cereal box
  C)Chairs
  D)Bowls
  E)Silverware
  F)Toast
VI)For Thursday
  A)Props
  B)Animatic
  C)Loops
  D)Backgrounds

Day 2_Class_Tuesday: Meeting on Group Dynamics (Sept 6, 2011)

I was rather surprised by what we went over in our discussion of group dynamics. I was aware of humans being pack animals by nature but despite that there is a lack of communication that always seems to loom overhead no matter how positively or negatively a group functions together.
The part that attracted a lot of my attention was when it came to the approach or avoid theory or the more commonly known fight or flight. Reflecting on my own experiences with people I realized that I tend to avoid conflict more so than rising to the occasion not even when I know I'm right or that I should.
Awareness being a huge thing when it comes to group activities was something that I had never really thought of, but when it's posed as a form of communication or awareness of others then it becomes clear. Individually we all have needs, likes, and dislikes that we have to make aware to the group that they are participating in for a chance at a successful group experience.
I myself wish that I had gone over these details before so that I could have bettered myself for group events, projects and the like. Knowing how to react and treat individual situations better so that there was less struggling, frustration, lack of understanding of roles as well as being able to differentiate values from person to person.
I'll take what was discussed with a grain of salt though, primarily because of the bad experiences that I've had with groups that I've had to take complete control over and do all the work myself to ensure a good grade. In addition I'll work on my own group behavior and use this in my current and and future group projects both in school and otherwise.

Day 1_Class_Thursday (Sept 1, 2011)

I)Brainstormed ideas for execution
  A)Watched DayBreak   B)Decided to do an animation that was akin to it 
  C)Discussed everyone's strengths, weaknesses and goal

  D)Found out that animation was just a piece of the project not the entirety

II)Reworked Plan for Project

  A)Cereal Commercial
    1)Hallucinos
      i)Slogan:"The things you thought you ate"
 B)Length approximately 30 Seconds total
 C)Timeframe: 3 Weeks (September 22nd)
 D)Days 1-4 Planned out
 E)Agreed to not post home assignments until day of
 F)1 Camera will be used in Hardie basement in conjunction with green screen