15-16 Feb 2021

In the morning I do the last preparation for the implementation of the new file structure and referencing system. I saw that Emma already animated the spaceship landing. Initially, I thought that I want to understand how to use the Maya reference system first before I explain the plan to the team. But at this moment I felt that I made a mistake and guilty for not mentioning about it earlier because Emma probably needs to animate the scene again using the new file if we are going to implement it.

Later that day, I explained what I have prepared in our Discord channel and pointed out all of the advantages of using the reference system in out project. I want to get approval from the team first before I push the new files to our collaboration folder.

Antoni then suggested me to improve the background with bigger mountains at the back and I agreed with him. I imported several mountain models from Emma’s file into my background model. I optimised the model first and arranged the mountains to fill around the existing background. I think it’s definitely looks much better now with all the mountains.

As the team approved the implementation of the reference system, I uploaded everything I have prepared to our collaboration folder. I didn’t delete the old file but put them in a backup folder in case we want to revert to the old file and structures.

17 Feb 2021

This morning we had class with Luke where he demoed about how to use zoetrope technique in Maya. Zoetrope is a premade effect in image sequences format where we can apply it as textures on a plane. It’s like a sprite. It can be very useful for previs project for making quick effects like smoke, fire and muzzle flash without the need to make an actual simulated particle effect from scratch. There is a huge library of zoetrope in the university network and Luke shared folder for us to use.

In the afternoon, we had another weekly video meeting on Discord. We discussed a bit about using zoetrope for some effects in the project. Antoni and Ghera looked into the zoetrope folders to see some of the effects, and we were particularly excited with the sandstorm effect which could be useful for some of the shots in the story. Antoni and Ghera actually was thinking about using actual particle simulation and already researching and experimenting some of the effects. So we decided the VFX team can use any technique that they prefer since they probably want to learn and improve their skills for making an actual effect and not using premade image sequence effects.

For sound department, Ben said that he and Cally have been discussing to split their work where one of them will work for the sound and music on Act 1, another on Act 2 and both of them for Act 3.

During the meeting, I took the opportunity to explain more about the new file structure to the team especially to Emma, Antoni and Ghera. I shared my screen to show them how to use it and what they should do when opening and creating new files so that the referencing will work properly.

After that Emma and I discussed about to split the works for the animation tasks. Emma will do shot 02, 03, 04 and 05, while I’m going to do shot 06, 07, 08 and 09. Emma mentioned that she was a bit concern about the space buggy model for shot 07 whether it can be used or not. I agreed to look into the space buggy file and will do the rigging if it’s not yet rigged so that it can be animated for shot 07.

At the end of the meeting, we decided to have an additional shared folder on OneDrive which will mirror all of the contents from the collaborative folder in the university network. The OneDrive folder will also work as a backup in case anything happened to the primary folder.

18 Feb 2021

Early in the morning, I drew a techvis for shot and camera planning of Act 2 from shot 10 to 18. It can be very useful when we proceed to animate Act 2 later. I planned to have variety of camera angles and movements for this act.

At 11.00am today, we had booked a one-to-one session with Luke today to look into our project and give his opinions and suggestions. Only animation and visual effects team were in this session since it will discuss more towards these departments. Luke seemed pleased with our current progress. He then showed us on how to use a CamShake plugin in Maya to help us making a camera shake. Luke said that camera will at least has tiny shake motions even when static which will add a level of realism.

Luke demoed the plug-in using the university computer, and I asked him whether the camera shake will still work if we take the animation file to work on our own computer or we need to install the plugin first. Luke explained that the camera shake will still there, but we won’t be able to edit it if we don’t have the plug-in installed.

We then discussed a bit more with Luke about using the zoetrope technique or actual effects. He showed us some examples and said it’s up to us to use any technique that we prefer.