Creating Stereoscopic 3D Images

Alternative Non-Maya Option-Lighting

Key Light

Key Light + Fill Light

Key Light+Fill Light+Rim Light

Alternative Non-Maya Scene Assignment

My initials are R.O.

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?

The presence of gravity is evident basically everywhere. Most people know that when you drop something, gravity will force it to fall to the ground. In fact, as soon as any item is dropped from any height, it is automatically considered falling. To get complex, one must account the weight or the force applied to a falling object to properly calculate the time and the way an object will fall. However, since people’s minds move at such a fast rate, it is easy to forget about how gravity is applied to everyday life. The media, for years, has flaunted this aspect numerous times in films. Whether it is death-defying leaps, falling scenes from skyscrapers, or over exaggerated jumps, there is usually a sense of faulty gravity. One must realize that a scene in a movie is not generally shot with a single camera. Moviemakers will use effects to their advantage in various ways in that the scene is reenacted several times using different angles, lighting, and composition in order to portray a more dramatic effect. When it comes to movies, real applied gravity does not actually matter because it is all in the intention of the director to make a good movie using things like effects to their advantages in order to please audiences world-wide.

In many of the kung-fu films with dramatic fight scenes, the fighters portray swift and intricate movement when engaged in fighting. And just like any stereotypical action kung-fu film there needs to be swordplay and constant running. The movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, not only plainly over exaggerates this stereotype, but also seems to eliminate the laws of gravity thus allowing them to float from building to building. Some of the characters in the movie are somehow able to effortlessly jump on the tops of buildings and trees when fighting.

The specific scene that portrays these obvious flaws in gravity is when the masked thief, who is secretly the character named Jen, goes at night to steal the legendary sword called the Green Destiny from the village of Yu Shu Lien. Yu spots Jen in her mask and then pursues her through the village. This scene is remarkable because as soon as Yu sees Jen, they start running on walls and jumping from house to house as if they had powers that allowed them to do that. The scene was definitely action-packed and the fast kung-fu fighting would have anybody sitting at the edge of their seats.

Though the scene was entertaining, there are times when they were fighting that seemed too graceful and uniform as they fought. It is obvious to know, as the audience, that wires are carrying the actors as they jumped and fought throughout the village. Clearly one could see that the characters are merely jumping and floating as if they had the same gravity as the moon. They could jump to another building with ease and without the having to roll as they hit the ground because of their gracefulness with the wiring setup. As they fought, Jen would try and jump away from Yu, but Yu would always grab her and pull her down smoothly. If when Yu pulled her down while in Jen’s mid-jump, the real reaction would be that she would likely fall at a faster and harsher rate leading her to possibly trip and fall to the ground. There is another part in this scene where they would run along the wall reaching probably over fifteen feet with ease from a simple run starting only a couple feet away. Again, the wires are obviously being used for this stunt, as gravity would have been a major factor attempted in real life. For someone to even run up a wall at a diagonal angle over even ten feet, they would have to have accumulated a significant amount of speed and maintained a grip with their shoes that didn’t allow gravity to pull their center of gravity, which is at about the waist area, away from the wall and ultimately make them lose traction.

A lot of the movements in this scene are unbelievable but one has to admit that the scene was indeed gripping. All of the fast paced fighting and quick camera changes along with the flying through the village really made the scene enjoyable.

Another movie that presents major flaws in gravity is in the movie, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. This movie is based off the popular video game made by Square Enix. Though, the actors are based off of fictional characters in the video games, they all possess their own special abilities. Pushing away from the fact that they are just video game characters, it is easy to see that the laws of gravity would be over exaggerated for kids and players sakes. The movie on the other hand portrayed the video game type of genre very well, seeing that they can move extremely fast when fighting.

In the final scene, the main protagonist, Cloud engages in a dual with the evil Sephiroth along a city with the intentions of saving the world. The laws of physics is probably the last thing on people’s minds in this scene. The scene is utterly brilliant in that the intensity of the fight between the two in combination with the epic soundtrack and fast camera movements, that it is easy to forget one is watching computer-generated imagery; a definite thumbs up to the movie maker.

Upon further analyzing the physics of the film - disregarding the special powers that some of the characters possess – the character’s action are hardly believable if not totally surreal. They are carrying around huge swords with ease, cutting through boulders with a simple, but swift swipe, and also jumping and fighting in mid-air. When Cloud delivers his final attack, they are literally suspended in the air - even talking for a second - somehow splits his sword into several pieces, which spreads around Sephiroth, and quickly slashes Sephiroth with each one before all the swords fall to the ground. This would be unthinkable if done in real life.

Now, unlike Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, the CG animation in Final Fantasy allows a more eye pleasing fight scene as opposed to the evident wires carrying the actors. The CG animation played well with the fast paced action in this movie because they could obviously speed up frame rates or make characters movie lightening fast and still make it believable, without making it too uniform. One must realize when applying proper physics in real life, this is totally impossible, but since it is merely a video game with fictional superhuman characters, these movements are possible with just a little over exaggeration from the moviemakers.

A movie that is a little different that the fighting scenes mentioned above is Inspector Gadget. This movie was obviously made for a younger audience where the subjects of physics do not really apply. A lot of the movements or actions in the movie are highly over exaggerated where the director most likely did it for comical purposes. Since this movie is based off the old television cartoon, it is only respectful to maintain the cartoon-like feel when Inspector Gadget gets himself into a crazy situation.

Along with the over exaggeration of physics portrayed throughout the movie, the scene which probably made the least amount of sense, when thinking of the aspect of gravity, is the final scene when Inspector Gadget and Brenda are falling down from a high skyscraper. Needless to say, they are probably falling at such a fast rate since they are combining both their weights as she was basically hanging on to his back. The unbelievable part of this scene is when his hat produces a simple umbrella to come out of his hat, which allowed them to float down to safety. To think that a simple umbrella would hold up the weight of two adults falling from a tall skyscraper is ridiculous. But one must remember that this is based of a cartoon and this movie was posed for younger audiences where an umbrella would be suitable for a comical relief. Allowing an umbrella to save the main characters definitely maintained the humorous feel of a cartoon, which made bending of the laws of gravity plausible in this movie.

From the examples mentioned above it is evident to see that these movies are mainly poised for entertainment to the viewers. When the movie’s storyline is good, it makes it easier to delve into the story. One has to realize that if most movies were and could only be realistic, the media today would not be where it is today. It would be like comparing a high action-packed adrenaline filled movie to a documentary about slow moving animals. Without the over exaggerations of gravity in certain scenes, a lot of the scenes would be less anticipating and ultimately dull. It all comes down to what the director wants to accentuate in each scene, that really makes the scene.

From zero gravity kung-fu movies to intense sword fighting in mid-air to floating down to safety using an umbrella, the laws of gravity has shown the flaws in these scenes. But although they may contain flaws, that doesn’t mean the scene does not please the viewer’s eye. These over exaggerated scenes were appropriate for the type of movies they portrayed. The stereotypical kung-fu film, the video-game based movie and the cartoon-based movie, all allowed the bending of real gravity to show a movie effect. Again, it is all up to the director or moviemaker to choose which aspect of a scene to highlight or stretch. As an audience, we must remember that, the directors use these effects to make a good movie and more importantly make the viewers satisfied.

Outline for the Second Term Paper

Broken Laws of Gravity

I. Introduction

-State and explain laws of gravity.

-Some concepts and movies break the laws of gravity.

-Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

-Final Fantasy

-Inspector Gadget

-Thesis Statement

II. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

-Introduce movie and background.

-Flaw: Characters can jump/float onto buildings. No gravity

-Only certain characters can float. Possibly a power?

+Explain movie advantage.

-conveys “stereotypical” kung fu film.

III. Final Fantasy

-Introduce movie and background.

-Flaw: Characters can jump and fight in mid-air.

-They jump high numerous times and able to regain posture quickly.

+Added movie effect for dramatic feel.

-Posed for action.

-based on the RPG video game and other anime.

IV. Inspector Gadget

-Introduce movie and background

-Flaw: Gadget seems to get blown away farther than physics allow.

-Since he is a man with gadgets, he is able to do things abnormally.

-Goes flying when gets hit.

+The movie is based on a cartoon and is targeting child audiences.

-Comical effect.

V. Versus

-Using examples from movies.

-Entertaining versus dull

-Realistic versus Fake

+End all, it is up to the movie director

-The viewer’s opinion is all that matters.

VI. Conclusion

-Summary

-Own point of view

-Restate thesis

Stop-Motion Character Animation

In this video I used two transformer toy cars to animate an intense car race scene. I used a Nikon DSLR camera propped on a tripod and staged the toys on a desk. I basically just posed the transformers in each shot and used camera angles to give the movie more of an action feel. Also, in using specific camera angles, I was able to animate some parts without needing to stand the toy (which was very hard to do) and just holding it to show certain parts. All in all, the assignment was tedious, but fun.

Mid-Semester Survey

This is to certify that I completed the anonymous mid-semester survey for Art/Physics 123 and am requesting the five points of extra credit.

As a student at San Jose State, I understand the university's Academic Integrity Policy (http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/catalog/rec-2083.html).

Reverse Video Reference of Walking

The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

Critical Analysis of Physics in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers Brawl is a competition-like fighting game that feature selected characters from other honorable video games. The characters range from old electronic handheld video game characters like, “Mr. Game and Watch” to newer characters like, “Snake” from the Konami’s Metal Gear Solid video game series. In succession from its previous editions, “Super Smash Brothers” for the Nintendo 64 and “Super Smash Brothers Melee” for the Nintendo Gamecube, the computer-generated imagery was significantly improved, but the video game’s physics has not changed all that much. The overall gameplay for the game is based on fast-paced, high intensity fighting, which makes the game very challenging and favorable, but there is a noticeable amount of flawed physics in the game. There is plenty of evidence in the gameplay that show some of the faulty physics that will be later evaluated but, whether the physics of the gameplay is believable or not, the popularity of the game has definitely shown that the players could care less about the physics because when it comes down to challenging video games, the main objective is to have fun and the faulty physics only add to that aspect.

The first major aspect of the faulty physics in this video game is the gravity that interacts in their seemingly normal world. When first playing the game, one can notice that the characters are able to walk, run, and melee normally just like any fighting character in a video game. In the action of jumping, the characters show a well-defined jump that shows squash and stretch. A good example of this is shown when using the character, Kirby. Since Kirby is ball-like, the animators did a good job in making Kirby’s actions similar to a ball of blubber or a water-balloon being dropped. The characters also show an acceptable parabolic arc when doing a single running jump, but this is where the details versus exceptional gameplay come into factor. When the characters jump, the push time seem to be too fast and short to be able to jump as high as they do in the game. Then comes the second part of the jump where they tend to float down when coming down to the ground. The characters do show the squash and stretch gestures, but the floating down action is very unrealistic. Along with that aspect, the players can also control the character’s movements in the air by simply pressing a selection of buttons that will allow the character to manipulate their path in mid-air. By holding the directional pad to the right or left while in mid-air, the character will suddenly start to float down in that direction without showing much difficulty as they plainly just turn their bodies without the presence of weight-shift or transference of weight by use of flailing of their arms or legs. Even the action of them simply floating down make the game more unrealistic, eluding the fact that the characters are all fictitious.

Also the action of the double-jump that all the characters possess is of course absurd since being able to catch oneself in mid-air and be able to jump higher than the initial jump is surely impossible. An interesting and somewhat humorous action that the character, Ness, has is to be able to jump, then when he moves to another jump in mid-air, he does a complete vertical loop and seems to fly upward higher than his initial jump’s apex. This is entirely outrageous considering that being able to jump requires a floor or anything to push the feet against in order to achieve a real jump but, the characters’ jump in mid-air seem to apply force on the air below them and use that to push themselves upward.

A further evaluation of their world’s gravity is the fact that the higher the character’s damage percentage directly correlate how far they will be knocked when attacked with a hard blow from an opposing force. For instance, if Mario were to do his forward “A” button move - which is basically just a hard punch – to an already 200% damaged Bowser, Bowser would be knocked quickly across the stage, off screen and explode or fall into the abyss – sometimes blown away spinning uniformly until a twinkle of a star appears representing the incomprehensible distance they’ve been blown. When in reality, for Mario to be able to knock a heavy Bowser that far he would have to exert the force exponential to that of Bowser’s weight and attain an incredible amount of speed with his short arms. To add to this, Mario’s hard punch is directed forward in a 90-degree angle parallel to his body, but for some reason the game animation will make the opponent get knocked in a seemingly 45-degree angle meaning the punch would have been directed a little upwards. It is clearly seen when pausing the frame during the punch.

All goes to show that the action and reaction is a little modified for the gameplay. But the modified gravity in the game also allows much more strategy when playing the game. To be able to double-jump is undeniably a desirable trait that all fighters would like to possess since it would allow them to possibly reach higher advantage positions or simply to evade an opponent’s attack. The double-jump could also be consistent in the instance that an opponent were to knock the character off the stage and one jump would not be able to bring them back but two jumps would be enough to be able to grab at least a ledge or possibly jump successfully back on the stage to make a full recovery. All of these modifications contribute to the fun and challenging factor of playing a video game.

Another aspect of the Super Smash Brother’s Brawl’s faulty physics is that slight compensation of weight shift. As for some of the character’s movements there is a definite show of weight shift and resistance, but some character’s actions during certain situations are a bit inaccurate. When small characters like Diddy Kong are to carry a large object like a heavy wooden crate, he demonstrates a good representation of weight shift, but upon acquiring the Golden Hammer weapon, which gives the impression of weighing a burdensome amount, he is forced to swing it up and down quickly and easily. Considering that the stage cannot be torn apart in the game, in reality, the constant swinging of a massive lead-based hammer would surely form crater-like holes into whatever stage they are on with all the speed and force it makes the character do. Along with the damage percentage topic presented earlier, the action and reaction impact of smaller characters towards larger characters also correlate to the weight shift issue. The amount of weight transferred to hit the opponent would be have to be spontaneously generated considering the smaller character’s shorter arms, little travel space, and lighter weight to be able to promote a significant blow to an opponent that would make them fly backward into the abyss.

Although this may seem entirely unfair taking into account that larger characters should be able to withstand hits from smaller, weaker characters, it all plays into the gameplay aspect of the video game. The fact that smaller characters can produce a significant amount of force would allow evening out the playing field for all players to enjoy. This also allows character choices to be more diversified because if the larger characters were always stronger and would not be able to be blown away, no one would want to choose the smaller characters and would in time make the smaller characters a hassle and inconvenient.

The character’s special abilities are also very unexpected when applying real physics to the fighting. In consideration to some of each character’s remarkable powers, some of the powers seem to be imprecise. Excluding powers like telekinesis and fire breathing, Yoshi’s ability to grab and engulf an opponent entirely in its mouth without over stretching its jaw structure or skin is extremely bizarre. Little Yoshi could engulf Donkey Kong, who is an extremely large ape, entirely into its mouth and Yoshi’s appearance would simply look as if it just had a bowling ball in its mouth. Not only that, but Yoshi’s weight shift from its center of gravity to its head portion would not lower all that much even when a heavy ape is in its mouth. In reality, Yoshi would have probably fell forward if it were to actually be able to fit Donkey Kong into its mouth. Although this seems to be quite bizarre to the eye, this again plays into the gameplay aspect because engulfing an opponent is the way Yoshi is able to grab an opponent.

The portion of this game that seems to express the more concrete and real animation is during the cutscenes. The animators obviously spent a longer time animating the cutscenes in the single player mode where the players follow a story that corresponds to the characters in the game because the quality of the computer graphic imagery is noticeably different than the gameplay. The movements of the characters and inanimate objects seem to be more tangible and smoother not including the over exaggerated jumping and slow motion scenes. There are instances in the cutscenes where a character will fall victim and be turned into a trophy. Upon some examination, the trophies fall at realistic rate and seem to demonstrate at a good understanding of physics as opposed to the modified gravity in the gameplay. Unfortunately, the gameplay and the cutscenes are totally different parts of the video games whereas the gameplay is interactive and the cutscenes are basically movies that allow higher definition of quality and realism.

In summation, the physics of Super Smash Brother’s Brawl for the Nintendo Wii is not nearly quite perfect. The overemphasized gravity that allows characters to float down or the simple punching of an opponent that forces them flying into the abyss makes the game hardly believable and difficult to take seriously. When designing the game, they should have made the physics a little more believable and possibly made the characters fall at a more realistic and reasonable rate. Aside from the realistic point of view of worldly physics, video games in general do not account all aspects of physics because then that would make the character harder to control and ultimately the game less desirable to play. With real accounted physics, the characters would have a lot of lag and would be constantly trying to regain control of their momentum; the fighting aspect of the game would greatly be jeopardized. People must remember that the sometimes the reason cartoon-like computer graphic imagery is created is to portray a comedic and purposely unrealistic game for people to enjoy. The constant explosions and flying punches only add to the fun aspect of the game, which is the main focus of a game, to have fun.

Physics in Super Smash Bros. Brawl Outline

I. Introduction: Characters from different games enter a similar world to fight.

a.) Flaws in Gravity

b.) Little characters can affect bigger characters with ease.

c.) Some character’s special abilities have faulty physics.

d.) Movie cutscenes are more accurate compared to gameplay.

e.) Thesis Statement

II. Flaws in Gravity: Gravity seems to be that of the moon.

a.) Most of the characters can jump in mid-air. Double jump

-Ness’ double jump allows him to do a circle to go higher

-When blown, can regain control and jump in mid-air.

-Ability to intercept character’s motion by slamming them down the abyss and then allowing one more jump to regain control.

+Are able to jump with parabolic arc.

b.) Characters seem to float down.

- Can direct movement when falling.

-Most objects seem to fall at a believable rate.

-When contact with floor from a great height, they don’t “squash” that hard.

+Donkey Kong falls faster than Diddy Kong.

c.) When hit hard, characters go flying.

-Sometimes will go flying into the abyss. Spinning uniformly in background.

-Explosions don’t kill them, they just get blown far. Violence, no blood?

+Characters show action-reaction when getting hit.

III. Little characters can affect bigger characters with ease.

-Diddy Kong can throw bigger object with ease.

-Obtaining hammer makes character pound fast and easily.

-Game guideline: The higher the damage percentage relates to how far the victim gets blown when hit, no matter how small the opponent or item thrown.

+Although, some show weight shift when lifting a heavy item like a wooden crate.

IV. Some character’s special abilities are faulty

-Kirby vacuums character and the character shrinks but Kirby enlarges minimally.

-Squirtle can climb/swim spontaneous appearing water?

+Snake’s action of throwing bombs are sort-of true according to our physics.

V. Movie Cutscenes are more accurate

+The animators put more justice into physics when making the cutscenes.

+When the characters turn into trophies, they drop properly.

-The gameplay ignores the cutscene’s physics.

VI. Conclusion

-Summary

-Own point of view

-What they could have done better

-Restate thesis

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

Hey all. For my stop motion animation of a falling object, I bought a whiteboard with a couple of magnets and took pictures one by one. I used a Nikon DSLR propped on a tripod for the shots. I kind of did this whole thing blindly because I was in front of the camera the whole time so it was really hard to tell if I took a good photo or not. But luckily it came out fairly well on my first try. I used iMovie to put the pictures together for the video and also added a little tune. :]

Analysis of Path of Action

shot at 30fps

Tracker Video Analysis of Falling

Video Reference

Dropping a Pepsi can 5 times.

Shot at 30 frames per second.

Video Reference

Dropping a Pepsi can 5 times.

Shot at 30 fps

Mini-Portfolio

I don't draw, but I love to take photographs.

No Smoking. Please.

I like this picture because it gives off a movie-like feel where a father and son are going fishing.

I take no ownership of this video, but I thought it was a good example of a good animation.

Now unlike most of the art students in Phys 123, I am a Pre-Nursing Major and planning to apply to the nursing program this semester. This semester is my "resting" semester as most of my classes have nothing to do with nursing, but I am taking all the areas of upper division GE courses. Currently I have an Associates in Science degree from my community college back in my hometown, Porterville, CA. The courses I'm taking now are Beginning Photography, World of Jazz, English 117, and this class. After I graduate from the Nursing program, I plan on looking for a job somewhere close to my hometown so that I can be close to my family.

The First Post

"The teacher presenting the class syllabus via Powerpoint pulls up a simple blank slide that is entitled, "Cheating" on the top part of the slide. Then the teacher quickly and humorously pulls up the next word, "don't" and proceeds to the next section of the syllabus. The class laughs as the teacher grins at the joke achieved. :]