Historic Heroes Int-Crit Presentation

Historic Heroes

Fundimental Research: Nikola Tesla

I have been researching a number of important historical figures, still in search of that spark to shed light on the path ahead. With the pun intended, I have been looking more indepth at Nikola Tesla. Tesla is famous for creating what we know as electicity, or the invention of the electric alternating current to be more precise. Based on his appearance, I have ideas of creating something powerful - and possibly evil - using Tesla.

Synopsis

Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla was born in July of 1856, in what is now Croatia. He came to the United States in 1884, and briefly worked with Thomas Edison before the two parted ways. He sold several patent rights, including those to his alternating-current machinery, to George Westinghouse. His 1891 invention, the "Tesla coil, " is still used in radio technology today. Tesla died in New York City on January 7, 1943.

Early Life

Famous Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856, in what is now Smiljan, Croatia. Tesla's interest in electrical invention was likely spurred by his mother, Djuka Mandic, who invented small household appliances in her spare time while her son was growing up. Tesla's father, Milutin Tesla, was a priest. After studying in the 1870s at the Realschule, Karlstadt (later renamed the Johann-Rudolph-Glauber Realschule Karlstadt); the Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria; and the University of Prague, Tesla began preparing for a trip to America.

Famed Inventor

Tesla came to the United States in 1884, and soon began working with famed inventor and business mogul Thomas Edison. The two worked together for a brief periof before parting ways due to a conflicting business-scientific relationship, attributed by historians to their incredibly different personalities: While Edison was a power figure who focused on marketing and financial success, Tesla was a commercially out-of-tune and somewhat vulnerable, yet extremely pivotal inventor, who pioneered some of history's the most important inventions. His inventions include the "Tesla coil," developed in 1891, and an alternating-current electrical system of generators, motors and transformers—both of which are still used widely today.
On the AC electrical system alone, Tesla held 40 basic U.S. patents, which he later sold to George Westinghouse, an American engineer and business man who was determined to supply the nation with the Tesla's AC system. He would succeed in doing just that, not long after purchasing Tesla's patents. Around this time, conflict arose between Tesla and Edison, as Edison was determined to sell his direct-current system to the nation. According to the Tesla Memorial Society of New York, Tesla-Westinghouse ultimately won out because Tesla's system was "a superior technology," presenting greater "progress of both America and the world" than Edison's DC system. Outside of his AC system patents, Tesla sold several other patent rights to Westinghouse.
At the 1893 World Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago, Tesla conducted demonstrations of his AC system, which soon became the standard power system of the 20th century, and has remained the worldwide standard ever since. Two years later, in 1895, Tesla designed the first hydroelectric powerplant at Niagara Falls, a feat that was highly publicized throughout the world.
Around 1900—nearly a decade later after inventing the "Tesla coil"—Tesla began working on his boldest project yet: Building a global communication system—through a large, electrical tower—for sharing information and providing free electricity throughout the world.

Research: Stephen's new film - Hawking

I happened upon this trailer for the newly released Stephen Hawkings documentary film whilst conducting research into historical figures. The thing I really like about this trailer is it's undeniable superhero charm and Hollywood movie feel, which comes down to the powerful choice of music and shots. It feels like i'm watching a trailer for the new Thor movie rather then Hawkings The Movie. The trailer has intentionally been made to portray that feeling of being super, and is in no way intended to make a fool of Hawking, which I like.

Stephen Hawkings is an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmologyit. Some would come to say that Hawkings is indeed a superhero in his own right, which makes this trailer prove so promising as a great piece of source information for my project.

Minor Part 2: Designs

Here are designs for the final character.

3 initial design, with the 3rd being the chosen final model

Front and side profiles (overlayed)

Final Turnaround

Final Shaded Turnaround

Minor Part 2: Motown Mum: Research

So with my final project going over well, it was discussed that I should try and redo my minor in the same sort of way: a semi realistic character based design project focused around a true story of someone I know.

My tutor Alan asked if I knew anybody else with a quirky/interesting/different sort of job/career/activity that I could possibly base the project on. I didn't really have anyone come to mind at first, but after a talk with Alan about it he managed to help came to a decision.

The motive of this project is Motown, where I will be creating Vanessa (my mother) as a Motown figure.

I already know a little bit about Motown music through my mum; she actually starred in the Motown musical "Dancing In The Streets" when it came to the West End some years back, and so naturally I have seen the show and had even gone along with her on the Dancing In The Streets tour with the rest of the cast. She has provided some useful bits of info and images to fill some gaps.

Here's some influence maps displaying image based research, I intend to follow these throughout the project.

 

Above are images of different music groups from the 1960's-70s Motown era. I have only included those that were relevant to my mum whilst she was in the show, so a looked specifically at Diana Ross & The Supremes, Martha & The Vandella's and The Marvelettes.

Show Flyer

Mum performing in Dancing In The Streets

Chosen dress

 Here we have images from the West End show. After doing some initial designs I decided on the white dresses worn in the map above. I have only been allocated a few weeks for this project and feel that I will get the best results with a more simplistic approach.

Transcription:- Technical Paper; Eyebrow Modeling in Maya

Eyebrow Technical Paper Presentation

Transcription: The Twins Design

So I've finished the prop robot model, now for the designing of the twins.

My idea is to have the twins as merchandise in an electronics shop (like HMV for example) and have them on the shelf. They essentially are a new brand of speaker docks just released under Les Twins new branding line, so of course this means they are made of plastic.

As you may be able to tell, I have decided to now merge my first idea of the boy character with my second robot character idea in order to make a better transcription. The transcription is of Les Twins dancing, only here my characters are a product of Les Twins. Im making both Larry & Laurent. Les Twins docks will be playing their own iconic music which they have made specific choreo's for.

Above are all the most obvious influences of the character design. You have a picture of Les Twins being the main focus behind character design, some funky ipod docks and a steve jobs action figure. The ipod docks are what I am utilising to make my characters into, the environment the panda dock is in is also where I plan to stage my animation. The steve jobs action figure is an example of the finished product, which is essentially a middleground between the real thing and the object. Another good example of what I'm strive for with my characters is Buzz Lightyear, but a Larry & Laurent version.

Here is a secondary Influence Map detailing all the other things I'm gathering reasearch and ideas from. I found that the characters in The Boondocks have a good likeness to Les Twins, I have been looking at them to help me get my ideas across in my sketches. The other hip-hop style pictures also help in the same way.

Character designs.

Transcription:- Robot progress

The model is nearly finished now, I am just about to go and modify the design of the mid section after feedback of it maybe not being able to move very freely.

Heres some sketches of different modifications, I'm leaning towards the bottom design...

(@Alan) Transcription:- Idea Adjustment

So my character at the moment is too generic, it hasn't any relevance to anything so it just a robot.

I had a think about this and before I totally start something new, I've come with some propositions.

Since I have what some may call a futuristic designed robot, I thought urban and electro music of today would be great to transcribe, Glitch Hop and certain types of Dubstep in particular. What better to use then a robot, right?

Since I want to make a transcription of a dance routine, I've researched and found some things of interest.

In the world of hip hop dance today, a twin duo known as "Les Twins" are doing it big and are quite successful at the moment. One of the reason they are starting to get noticed globally is that they have come with a new type of dance called "New Style Hip-Hop" which is ultimately like a hip-hop revival. New Style dance incoroprates a lot of experimental type moves, some more robotic and expressive while others quite suttle and smooth. The dance is in reaction to how the glitch hop genre they dance to, which sounds very "glitchy" at points, ofcourse.

This new cult was not said to have been started by the twins, but they are making it their own. Heres some footage of them.







In this video they are dancing to Dubstep, but this one especially shows the possibilities of how I can approach this animation.



The reason I am proposing this stuff is that I want to make my animation current/fictional, not set in the past. Also, I think this is different in a way, its a fussion of Glitch/Intelligent Dance Music (IDM) and Hip-Hop, so its not just a robot doing the robot! This kind of music tends to be paired with robots and machines because of the sound effects (a bit like in the dubstep transformer video in my previous post), so because its a robot I can push its performance a bit further and make it do some radical moves, like the robot in this animation showreel.

                                       Robot parts at 0:26 & 1:00

This is the song I have in mind to use



This tune is good for a lot of reasons. There is a lot of glitches in it which provide good opportunities for things like fluctuations in the animation, different comical interactions etc. In post production this could also prove useful for edits in the flow of the animation (adding/removing key frames to create the jumpy effects)

In conclusion I would like to transcribe Les Twins. I wish to do this using Glitch/IDM/Dubstep music and a robot.

I hope this gives a broad idea of what I want to do and is not still a no-no.

Transcription:- Influence's & Sketches of Final Character

I was looking at both organic and non-organic characters for inspiration. Heres what I found most interesting.

Influence gathered from looking at other robot characters

Influence gathered from looking at cartoon characters

I decided to move away from humans and looked more at animals and robots.

Transcription:- Initial Character Ideas

I think the idea of my character actually being the music dock, instead of having headphones on a person dancing to the music, would be quite clever. Ive seen you can get these fun looking docks in the shops.

I have already done a few little sketches of a character before this idea sprung to mind. I wont go off the original idea just yet, I might try to combine the 2; having a hip-hop looking male char dock?

UPDATE: Transcription Idea Influences

Soooo....I havent been on the blog lately. Here's an update on my progress, starting with initial influences and early stuff.

After a talk with Alan, i've decided for my transcription project I am going to transcribe a montage of music into a short animation, styled a little like an advert. Since there a lot to do when it comes to making animation, I plan to keep the character and environment simple so I can focus on the animation itself.

Below are some things i've seen on youtube that I feel give an idea of what im aiming at.  I plan to make my character dance to the music.




This video "Dubstep Hands" is a something like a music visualisation but it also incorporates a person dancing and tutting in time to the music. His movements express what the music is doing, he moves faster as the music speeds up and does bigger moves at the drops.



The Transformer video, titled "How Dubstep Is REALLY Made (HD)", is a montage of clips from the film Transformers, orchestrated by a dubstep tune in the background. Transformers in this case is used expressionaty, as if to tell the songs story visually, thus transcribing it from one media to another.



Posting this robot video simply as reference




Again for reference on animating dance.

My Overall Contribution to "Night Of The Monsters" by Silver Talon Studios

Pre Production

Research;- Concepts relating to the story
Research;- Animals (Tarsier)
Research;- B-Movie Trailers
Research;- B-Movie Characters & Themes
Research;- Culture, Fashion, Environment & Era
Research;- Monsters (B-Movie Styled)
Research;- Owls (For Owl Monster)


Development;- Monster Designs
Development;- Panther Man
Development;- Panther Man (Continued)
Development;- Bird Man Concepts
Development;- Environment Design
Development;- Military Base & Science Lab Designs


Production

Concept Art;- Environment Concept Using The NEW Adopted Style (Gas Station)
Concept Art;- Gas Station (Revamped)
Concept Art;- Military Base
Concept Art;- Science Lab
Concept Art;- Science Lab (w/Added Cages)
Concept Art;- Town & Alleyway Designs (Pencil)
Concept Art;- Alleyway (Final)
Concept Art;- Town (Final)
Concept Art;- Poster

Modelling;- Jeep (For Military Base)
Modelling;- Military Base
Modelling;- Aeroplane
Modelling;- Military Base Facility Building

Rendering;- Promotional Screenshots

Narrative:- Night Of The Monsters Final Animation

Night of the Monsters

Character Design Classwork Links

I began the course in week 2, so..

Week 2: Shapes

http://niftysean.blogspot.com/2011/09/character-design-class.html

Week 3: Drawing in the 3rd diension (body shapes and faces)

http://niftysean.blogspot.com/2011/10/character-design-class-2-body-types-and.html

Week 4: Drawing Stuff

http://niftysean.blogspot.com/2011/10/character-design-class-3-objects.html

Week 5: Personality; The Sparks Of Life

http://niftysean.blogspot.com/2011/10/character-exercise-superman.html

Week 6: Distinctive Characters

http://niftysean.blogspot.com/2011/10/character-exercise-ninja-silhouettes.html

Week 7: Monsters & Creatures

http://niftysean.blogspot.com/2011/11/character-exercise-week-7.html

Week 8: Working In The Real World (Jetpack Jones)

http://niftysean.blogspot.com/2011/11/character-design-class-week-8-jetpack.html

Week 9: Setting The Scene

http://niftysean.blogspot.com/2011/11/character-design-week-9-stark-tower.html

Week 10: Submission & Critique

http://niftysean.blogspot.com/2011/11/character-design-presentation-ninja.html

Character Design Presentation: The Ninja Scrolls

The Ninja Scrolls Presentation

Sidekick Influence Map

Sidekick Development Sum-Up

I've had troubles with the sidekick character, jumping from mystical bird creatures...to black cats and back to more traditionl birds. These are the little designs I had lined up to resolve what I was goin to do. I tend to not spend a lot of time on designs in which im not confindent will go towards being a finalized concept, hence the quik sketchwork.

This was my very first idea, I wanted to "create" a bird like creature from imagination, however I was told this wasnt a good idea..This was inspired by the bird from "The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker"

Cat sidekick, for the ninja

Big Cat design

Here I turned to more traditional birds, such as doves.

These were designs that I particularly liked, but still went ahead a bit more just to see what else I could do. The sidekick at this point was not intended for the musketeer.

These were the last designs I done before focusing on my final, resolved idea. I went from a dove, to a small sparrow like bird, finally to a slightly bigger falcon hybrid which I decided to stick with.

Updated Synopsis

Cardinal Richelieu, aiming to seize more power from king Louis XIII of France, steals some ancient Japanese scrolls of power. Each scroll has the power to summon an almighty ninja, who possesses legendary power only spoken of in folklore. These ninjas had been sealed away in the scroll many years ago, never to be summoned since. In his flurry to proceed with his plans, Richelieu summons the deadly Shadow Demon to do his deeds.

Now, king Louis is forced into refuge with his trusted band of loyal musketeers. Laurent & the musketeers must defeat the Cardinals ninja guardians and restore the rightful king to the throne, destroying the ninja scrolls in the process…

Musketeer Tweaks

After looking into the history of musketeers a bit more, and adapting my story and synopsis accordingly, ive decided to also tweak Laurent a bit and make him a little more traditional. The influence map above is what im going by.