Teddy Bears Picnic

Early sketches and storyboards for my new production to be created in 3D animation (Blender).

This is the sketch of the bear I want to model in Blender.  He is a bit wonky right now but I love his character.

He is also the basic template for all the bears.  I plan to create hats and bows etc to differentiate the sexes.  This template will be used for both the adults and children.

The first two sketches of my storyboards.

When you go down to the woods today, you'd better go in disguise.  Can you see Foo in the second shot?

This is the original storyboard idea I had for my 3D animation but was advised to simplify it for the actual animation.  I will probably use the the bottom storyboard as a closeup of the picnic and what the bears are going to eat.

Every teddy bear who's been good is sure of a treat today.  There's lots of marvelous things to eat.

Starting with After Effects

Todays class was working with Adobe After Affects.  We were given some exercises to create an effect with a logo and played with animating a Superman logo.

After Effects is essentially a swiss army knife for video. It can do lots of different things, and it can do many of those things very well. It is not always the best tool for the job. The first thing that you need to realize is that After Effects is not designed for editing video. Editing, in this sense, refers to the most basic operations that you would perform when creating a movie video -- dropping clips onto the timeline, chopping them up into pieces, cross-fading between them, etc. For these basic types of things, you should use an NLE (non-linear editor) such as Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, or perhaps even Windows Movie Maker. As I said before, After Effects can do many things. You CAN edit video in it--but the experience will be very frustrating!



Elements of Design Poster

The brief:


To design a simple poster using shapes and type in Illustrator based on the poster below:

From the website and blog of:

Paper Leaf

We had to sketch our ideas out and then in Illustrator created our idea.  This is my version using the seven elements of design:

THE ELEMENTS OF DESIGN


The Elements of Design are the things that artists and designers work with to create a design, or composition. The Elements are: line, shape, space, value, color, and texture.


Line … The Graphic Unifier. Curved, Straight, Directional Thrust: Horizontal, Vertical, and Diagonal
A curved line is dynamic, ever changing, and more natural, than the straight line, which is more static in character. Direction, while often listed as a separate element, is technically a part of the element "line". The diagonal line is more dynamic and is quicker to draw the eye. It can be used to create movement and depth. Horizontal lines are more static and tranquil therefore calmer, more passive. Vertical lines evoke strength, power, but less dynamic than diagonals.

Shape … Natural, Geometric. Positive and Negative.
Geometric shapes are more passive, decorative, and static than organic shapes. Repeated shapes can be used to create movement. Repeating geometric shapes increases the decorative effect. Look beyond the obvious shapes of heads, bodies, buildings, etc., and view your subject as abstract shapes. Change many of the obvious shapes and create new more interesting shapes. Try to find interlocking shapes. Keep the background shapes in the background, but look for places to connect the foreground and background.


Space / Size … Large, Medium, Small. Proportion or Scale. (The Golden Mean)
The comparative relation between things. Employ large, medium, small concept. Size can be used to make things appear nearer and of greater importance. Size relationships can be used to create depth (Perspective).


Value … Range of Light to Darkness. A gradient.
Value can be used to create mood, i.e. dark and mysterious, light and airy, gray and dull. High contrast in value moves things forward; low contrast makes them recede. (Arial Perspective)


Color … Hue, Chorma, and Value.
Hue is the specific name of a color, red, yellow, blue (primary colors).
Chroma, also called saturation, often called intensity, refers to a colors strength or weakness, bright or grayed.  Color Value refers to the lightness or darkness of the color, not to its intensity or to a specific hue.


Texture … Rough, Smooth, Soft, Hard.
Texture is the quality of an object.  A rock may be rough and jagged.  A piece of silk may be soft and smooth.  Texture also refers to the way a picture is made to look rough or smooth. An artist may create real texture in art to give it a visual effect or to evoke a feeling.

Bathurst Now and Then (ABC Open)

Ford 1 - 2 Finish Bathurst

Oxford Hotel, Bathurst NSW

1-2 Finish. Pit Straight, Mount Panorama, Bathurst.  One of the most famous Wins at Bathurst was in 1977 when Alan Moffat & Colin Bond made that special 1-2 Finish across the line in their Ford XC Falcon Hardtop's.  Original Photo taken in 1977 by Ray Price.  Courtesy of National Motor Racing Museum

Tipping Garage Service Station

Brown Family Cottage, Bathurst NSW

Oxford Hotel. Located on the corner of William and Piper Streets, The Oxford Hotel was built in the mid 1800's much as changed since the hotel was built. One of the top venues in Bathurst to visit.  Taken approximately in 1919.  Original photo by Albert E. Gregory 1856 - 1940. Courtesy of Bathurst City Library and Bathurst and District Historical Society.

Tipping Garage Service Station.  Was originally located here at 175 George Street Bathurst. The buildings still remain but the business is long gone.  Original photo was taken around 1919, by Albert E. Gregory 1856 - 1940 photographer.  Courtesy of Bathurst City Library and Bathurst and District Historical Society (LHP5231)

Brown Family Cottage, Bathurst NSW.  Can still be found at 194 Peel Street. The original facade has been rendered, the concrete footpath is now grass and the curb has been replaced.  Original photo taken approximately in 1919 by Albert E. Gregory 1856 - 1940. Courtesy of Bathurst City Library and Bathurst and District Historical Society (LHP4196).








Luke from ABC Open sent a brief to myself and Lyn to take photos around Bathurst for the ABC Open Now and Then Series 2.  These are my photos.  I set up my tripod on a pedestrian island to get the angle of the Oxford Hotel as close as I could. 

Now and Then Workshop with Luke Wong

Whilst on a break from studies, I signed up to do a free workshop with ABC Open.  The workshop was run by Luke Wong a Producer for ABC Open.  The workshop was based on their current Now and Then series.  

"Now and Then: Series 2 is a photography project first inspired by the flickr group, Looking Into the Past, which uses a technique that's become hugely popular around the world. By holding a historical image in its present day location and rephotographing it, you can create a window into past events and the lives of people who've stood on the same ground as you.  They originally launched Now and Then: Series 1 in October 2010 and were flooded by over 1000 contributions from all around Australia."

The brief was: 

"Bathurst's iconic Mount Panorama race track turns 50 this year!

To highlight the occasion, the National Motor Racing Museum has kindly provided some historic photographs to use for the Now and Then project.

Come hold up a window into the past and discover the drama that unfolded at the finish line in years gone by.

See the dramatic change of pit lane and some of the classic cars that once roared down the straight."

At 9.45 am I rocked up with my Nikon D5100 DSLR with tripod in tow.  Ready to learn more about my camera.  Luke supplied Canons for the rest of the attendee's.  The day was sunny with not a cloud in sight although by the end of the session we had cloud cover and the temperature was a tad chillier.

During the session we practiced using our knowledge of depth of field, shutter speed and ISO camera settings.  Luke was on hand to help us as we trudged up and down the Pit Straight finding the right spot to take our photo's.  He also took photos of us and did a quick interview at the end to each of the participating attendees.  Luke was awesome.  He also took us back to the National Motor Racing Museum, where he set up his laptop and showed us how best to edit our RAW images using ABOBE's Lightroom.  We then uploaded the photos to Flicker ready for the story behind the photo by the manager of the museum.  Currently found here:  Now and Then 2 ABC Open Mt Panorama Pit Straight

Advanced Features of Computer Applications

These images were created using Actions in Photoshop.  Actions are a series of commands that you can play back on a single file.  For example, you can create an action that applies an Image Sixe command to change the size of an image, followed by an Unsharp mask, filter that resharpens the detail, and a save command to save the file in a desired format.

Actions are like macros and are shortcuts.  Below are the results of playing around with pre-made Actions and ones we had to make up for class.

Operate Computer Packages

Work done in class using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator CS5. A lot of my work got corrupted when my uSB drive died.  I rescued about 90% of the files but not all the ones I
Teacher:  Simon Fraser

Using Layers in Photoshop

Using the Gradient Tool in Photoshop

A logo created in Illustrator

Using Actions in Photoshop

Using the Pen Tool in Illustrator

Using the Paint Bucket Tool Photoshop

Creating Basic Shapes in Illustrator

Created in Photoshop