Final Animation

Here is my final animation sequence. The particles react similar to the way Kevin Bacon interacts with the cars as he runs through the parking structure. The particles that fly off in the beginning of the sequence fade out where as the ones later on swarm around. The blue and red clouds are there for the symbolism between good and evil. The entire sequence is constructed around the elevation of how the characters and camera move through the scene as I discuss in my diagram.

i spit hot fire

Since I had a slight fascination with the fire effect in Maya I decided to post an animation of it. Here the lighting strikes and starts the fire. I could not figure out how to fade the lighting out so its not one continuous bolt, or how to have the fire radiate from the where the lighting strikes. I would have also liked to put some fireworks in here but for some reason that wasn't working either.

more tests

These two clips show a few more experiments I tried to some measure of success. The camera is the same as the previous clip but here there is a transparent object that the particle cloud is colliding with and breaking apart into smaller pieces. Here I decided that the original particles would terminate when they collided with the object.



This is a view from the top of the same animation. As you can see the particles split when they collide with the object in the center of the cloud flow. You may also notice that the particles that split off to the bottom portion of the animation react differently than those on the top. That is because I applied a gravity field on the lower portion of the screen.

nothing

Here is an orthographic view of the previous animation. Since my source movie and my diagram talk about he change in elevation as you move through the scene I would like my final animation to do the same. While the animation is running, beneath it I have the idea to view the entire animation sequence from various orthographic projections.

animation trial 1

Since I have decided to use Maya to animate my clip I needed to figure out how to use it. This first clip was making sure that I could render the clip for my final. Here I created a camera, gave it a path, threw in some particle movement along a plane and rendered. I wish it was really as easy as that sounded but it did take some time to figure out how to animate the camera.

Animation Study

This animation is one that I want to study in order to bring me closer to one that I wish to pursue. In here, the camera and the blue object are the objects that move throughout the rest of the objects. I want to use this to study what it would be like to move everything else within the animation to make it look as though the blue block is moving. I want to look out how lighting, and shadow should be used in order to make this possible as well as whether or not I may have to move the camera to invoke some type of movement.

Composite Diagram

The orange and red blocks are the composites from my previous diagrams. The orange is representative of whether Kevin Bacan, the camera and the gang are moving either independently or with each other in the frame. The red bars within them show the angle that the camera is viewing the character at, whether front side back or oblique. The green, blue yellow red and orange lines show the elevations on the characters and camera within the parking garage and whether or not they are on the same level. The pink lines are when Kevin Bacon sets off the car alarms and the camera vibrates vertically with his movement.

3d model

When talking about how to animate for this week the idea of actually modeling the scene and the elements within it was discussed. Here is the parking garage in which my scene takes place with the paths of Kevin Bacon and the camera modeled as well.

scene diagrams

This first diagram shows the angle that the camera follows Kevin Bacon at during the scene, from either either "B" behind, "S" side, or "F" front. If the green bar is in between two letters then the camera is on the oblique. Each blue bar is 5 seconds within the scene.


This is a diagram on the movement within the scene. It shows whether both the camera and the character in the scene are moving together or independently from one another. The "K" is Kevin Bacon, the "C" is the camera and the "B" is the Bad Guys at the end of the scene. The transparent bars reflect the paths of similar color that the character or camera follow in the scene.

3d Prints

Here are the 3d prints from this semester:
final tile piece

second tile trial

fender

front car hood

Final Tile process

After my last post I decided upon using a piece of the fender I was working with rather than the entire fender. Using this piece I started creating a structure that resembled some sort of weaving pattern (the third image below). Once I had that pattern I then began manipulating the entire pattern to create a more complex series of geometries. I mirrored and offset the pattern and then finally applied both maneuvers to end up at my final tile.

tile trial part 1

This is a screen shot taken from my first attempt at the tile. While trying to work with the entire fender, I ran into some problems manipulating it in form-z. The program was unable to crop the fender at certain points like I wanted in order to make a repeatable pattern. Since I can not use the entire fender to construct the tile as I would have like I have decided to recreate a part of the fender that best represents it as a whole and create my tile using that piece.

Compositional Surfaces

I continued with my trend from last week looking at aerodynamics, only this time in reverse. I went from making a piece into an aerodynamic form, to taking a form and putting it back into an aerodynamic whole. Or at least that is how my intent started until I found a pattern I liked. I did however keep to my initial idea as best I could

Versioning?

While reading this article I could not help but be reminded of the first candidate that presented last week. From what I can remember her presentation was all about using parametric modeling to create these patterns that eventually evolve into architecture. At the end of her presentation someone asked her if she uses precedents in her work and she said no. From what the article says, there is no source or copy that is used, the architecture just responds to any range of multiple influences, similar to that of a highway. The road widens or narrows depending upon traffic patterns, moves in and out within the landscape and must also take into account the physical capabilities of the car.

The fact that no source or precedent is used bothers me. Throughout studio we have been told to always use them in our work, in order to defend our work. The reasoning behind not using precedents just does not make sense to me, it goes against what has been instilled in us throughout our education.

areodynamic matrix

My idea behind this matrix was areodynamics. The race car as a whole is areodynamic, but the fender itself is not. After I did a few readings and looking at the car as a whole I tried to apply those priniples when I put together the matrix. The two moves I applied were a widening of the body and an attempt at what would be a spoilier on the rear.

Roller Coaster Studio

Roller Coaster construction is determined by the site, and from the process that Alejandro Zaera-Polo describes, the design process was a roller coaster ride in itself. The geometries and structure of his project were changed several times throughout its duration, with the final product differing greatly from the proposal. He says that he would not have been able to adapt to the new versions of his design if he had not broken free of the standard architectural design conventions.

As I read this article I could not help but relate much of it to our studio. The most literal interpretation being the constant ups and downs, good days and bad days that fill our week are similar to that of a roller coaster. The other, related to a comment that some seasoned architects refuse to learn anymore because the have developed their own style and that's what they choose to work with. Sometimes our studio critics try and make us work similar to themselves, giving out certain requirements that they seem to find necessary. The need for everything to be hand drawn for instance, some critics are stuck in the "static past" of architecture and feel that is all that is necessary. Not to say hand drawings should be thrown out, but a generous blending of hand and computer modeling is the direction that our generation of architects is heading in.

Doctors are always reading and always learning, till the very end of their careers. Architects should be doing the same, there is no reason for them to stop learning. For all intents and purposes, architects are the surgeons of the built environment, designing the skin that covers the earth.

car parts

skin and folds?

I feel that Deleuze has given the perfect example of an architecture that we (subconsciencely or otherwise) strive for. The majority of us try to incorporate some form of curve, fold, or skin into our designs for studio because we know that we are capable of building forms like these now. But why do we? I think that we are trying to make a more appealing architecture, and in order for architecture to be more appealing it must be accepted by our senses as something pleasing. I am unsure why but the form of the curve, that occurs naturally in our environment, has something beautiful about it that I think we want to bring that beauty to our buildings. Although Deleuze's idea gives the five senses to the building I feel as though the principle is the same. He is representing the senses we are trying to appeal to withing the folded, organic, baroque building.

He also says that folds are matter, rather than what a piece of cloth makes. This was interesting because it then gives the ability for anything and everything to become a fold. This idea lets folds exist not only in the physical world but in space and time as well, and can connect all these levels at the same time. This confuses me, but I find the idea facinating. If anyone can elaborate on this I would appreciate it.

car choice

Greg Lynn Articles

The Probable Geometries article was a difficult read that I am still not quite so sure that I fully understand. There were however several points that I did find very interesting within the article. The segment where he relates architecture to writing was something that I had never thought of before, not relating the two but the meaning behind it. All the architecture I have ever been involved with has always been an eidetic form, that is to say always has a definite mathematical and repeatable outcome. I had never thought of architecture before as something that could be "incomplete and amorphous."

The article on Blob Tectonics was another interesting article that seemed to build upon the idea of writing architecture. The amorphous characteristic of writing architecture seems to relate to the idea in the blob article about architecture being influenced by outsides sources, such as spaces, surface tensions, and gravities. Although the article on probable geometries was difficult, the Blob article was somewhat able to reinforce this one particular point and help me better understand a new way of approaching architecture.