Minor Project: After Effects Autotrace & Reshape Attempt #1

I wanted to experiment with some other ways I may be able to morph objects if I decide I want to do this. I went into After Effects and used the autotrace tool to create masks that could be used for the reshape effect. I also then precomposed these layers so I could create another mask to trim off any bits of the underlying crystal that extended beyond the orb layer too soon. There are a few odd glitches in there, and I think that is because it seems the points on the masks change each frame...so I think that makes the correspondence points bug out and flip. Saying this, the objects were both animated and moving, so perhaps if I choose to use this method it'll be important to have the objects mostly stationary to prevent jumping. It is far from perfect, but it is a start.

Minor Project: Word Maps #2

Here are some more word maps relating to the words in my poem. There are a few that I skipped, but if I feel I need to I'll return to them (or any of these).

Minor Project: Word Maps #1

I decided it would be useful to look over my script and try to deconstruct some of the words I chose to use in my poem. The phrases I wrote in my poem came from instinct, but as I try to create my film it may be useful to have a look at what some of the words mean so I am not too literal with their interpretations. Here are some of the words from the first four stanzas of my poem, I plan on going through the rest of my poem to deconstruct some more words later today. I think this exercise will help me consider what I feel and what emotions I want to portray while creating my textures and lighting the objects.

Minor Project: Skin Displacement Attributes/Height Map Animation Test

After experimenting with inverting the height  map in my last experiment, I decided to go into After Effects and morph the original height map with an inverted version. I then brought this into Maya and ticked off 'image sequence' so the map was animated. I also then animated the height channel in the Displacement Attributes. I found this made the orb appear as if it was pulsating/beating/breathing as the orb's pore-like structures turned into bumps. I found this test very interesting and fun to see the results, and I think I may play more with changing the displacement textures in After Effects to see what I can do with it. I may also see how I can change/animate the other texture maps that affect the underlying layers of the skin (radius).

Minor Project: Skin 001-012

After my previous displacement experiments I decided to start working with some skin textures. While this isn't as extreme as the previous experiments that were focused on displacement maps, I found these tests interesting. I tried focusing on the idea of pores and bumps inspired by actual chicken skin, human skin, and human skin affected by keratosis pilaris. I played around with the SubSurface colour and the Radius colour - using the presets, some texture maps (they are not the most realistic but they worked for this experiment), and some other colours I chose. I also changed the settings a lot on the SubSurface Scale, the displacement height, and the repeat UV settings.

I also tried inverting the texture maps (mostly the height map) so I could swap the texture from being like pores to being more like external bumps. I also changed the Coat colour just to see what would happen. I tried to keep in mind what I think/feel when I think of human skin and chicken skin, so hopefully that influenced my textures. I plan on continuing to experiment with this to see what results I can get, although next time I hope to use more realistic maps and try out some more extreme settings. If I were to choose the spheres that I felt resembled chicken skin the most I think it'd be 009 and 011.