It's been a little while since I've updated my blog since things have been so busy at work. Unfortunately I have been unable to work on R&J as much as I would have liked, but I've enjoyed it while I had the time to sit down. These simulations are based off of Phil's animation for the dream/queen mab piece of music.
I used CV curves to extrude along, and then converted the NURBS object into a polygon mesh so I could then turn it into a mesh light. I created an animated colour spectrum in AE that was driven by the music that I could then plug into the colour channel of the light. These curves are created using dream data that Ethan used to create various elements for this project.
Here are a few tests inspired by the 'intro' animatic for this project. I used the 'explode' feature in MASH to break apart some cubes... for #9 I animated some of the 'distribute' settings so the fragments eventually form a ring. For #10 I focused on a closed ring of dancing shapes. For #11 I exported the simulation to an alembic cache, then imported it several times and rotated each ring +20 degrees so they create a sort of spiral. I then combined the rings into one mesh and added a flare deformer to alter it into a more wormhole-like shape. I then animated the camera so the focal length becomes more distorted and gives a dolly zoom effect. I think it's a bit too fast and chaotic, but hopefully interesting at least!
Not a massive update here, I've been really busy at work and things have been in a little bit of a limbo at the minute. However I hope to begin having more tests up for this project once I get a better idea of what 'feel' each bit of chosen music should have...since we now seem to have our chosen segments.
For this test I essentially took my previous cone animation, exported an alembic cache, then imported it. I then flipped it upside down and adjusted the lighting. I think it looks really interesting and intimidating. I think it would look better with some depth of field as I keep mentioning, I just don't currently have the time or space to render that pass. I suppose I need to clear out my computer soon to make some space.
Things have been a bit crazy and busy juggling my new job at The Flying Colour Company, work as a UCA Ambassador and work on Romeo & Juliet. However, I finally had some time to properly put together some things I've been working on. For these tests I wanted to try changing the 'mood' of these shots a little bit since we will have different pieces of music from the sounds of it, so instead of pastel colours I went for dark shadows and bright red spines/cones.
The first experiment was a bit odd, but I thought it looked interesting...I much prefer the second test though. I may try duplicating the cones and flipping one upside down so it resembles stalagmites/stalactites. I like how it looks more hostile and alien, which may suite darker portions of music depending on the final clip selections. I think it's good to have a variety for now at least until things become more solidified!
Since my previous post about the Spectro plug-in, I've continued to play around with it in various ways. At the time I had received some feedback about having the geometry 'transform' in some way. The experiment below does not quite represent that as I was (and still am) getting used to how the plug-in works. However, it did produce some interesting looking results.
These next few tests build on top of each other. I first worked with a sphere and some deformers that were driven by results produced by Spectro after some editing of the texture/some other nodes. After some animation on the sphere, a golf ball-like shape appears as the sphere itself shrinks down.
The golf ball shape has similar deformers attached to it as the sphere did, so they moved very similarly. From there some diamonds begin to appear and move around the deforming golf ball. Then a more angular shape begins to break and eventually begins to deconstruct slightly (using the 'explode' feature in MASH) and so does the diamonds.
After this I then returned to my initial Spectro experiment (the grid of reflective cubes) to see what else I can do with it. I added a color node to my MASH network after looking through some files Ethan sent me. I then animated the offset node so the cubes disappear and reveal a water-like surface. I tried for a while to get the colour on this surface to animate as well, but the node does not seem to like to work with planes. I did also try projecting the colour after re-mapping the Spectro ramp as well as using layered textures and shaders but had no luck.
So instead I added some spheres that materialise on the surface, which then change colour. I'm not super happy with the animated result as it seems to be quite harsh and 'pop' in some places, but I think it at least looks interesting.
