dsdn 101 | project 3 caritas clip - hand-in

My Caritas video as per our project three brief:

After starting with a very different vision, where I planned on using characters based on the drawings of my three year old daughter to animate my clip, I decided to simplify things. After our initial presentation before study break, I decided to use photography combined with illustrations so that it had the same feeling but incorporated a real human into my story.

I actually dreamed about this clip a couple of weeks ago, a hand rubbing each drawing out as the viewer is shown the options available to participants in the Caritas Challenge. I got out of bed and ran to my desk to put the white board on top of my keyboard so I would remember the idea in the morning. This is exactly what my dream looked like, so I am pleased from that perspective.
I really wanted to focus on how the challenge offers a variety of choices as stated in my initial brief. (here). I am satisfied with the level of success I've had in this regard.

Software stuff:

I downloaded a really great application called DSLRemote  that allowed me to shoot all my images (I imported a total of 777 JPEGs into Premiere Pro for the editing phase) at regular intervals and remotely (from the PC) without jerking the camera. Thus I had a high level of control over the smoothness of the finished product. It was a trial download but even at 175 USD it made me want to buy it due to its ease of use and the superior results.

I really got to grips with Adobe Photoshop during this project. I have a much better understanding of how the layers work and now have a huge amount of keyboard shortcuts committed to memory - (hopefully, for a while). It's such a versatile programme and I loved the simple animation tools Elle showed me - this helped visualise my scenes quickly as I worked.

I was a little intimidated by the seriousness of the Adobe Premiere Pro workspace when I first opened it up. It looks like it's really complicated but actually it's not that bad. I owe a big thanks to the Youtube tutors who basically taught me Pr in half a day.

Contributors & acknowledgements:

On that note, a big shout out to my music guy Luke Williams who is eleven. He composed AND played the 60 second piece you can hear playing during the clip. It works perfectly with the imagery and I was really lucky to have him contribute to my project. Same to my budding artist Rory who is prolific in her design and art production. I REALLY want to make a story out of her characters now that I have all this animation knowledge. Double thumbs up to G who is the ultimate gaffa/grip/best boy and PC fixer dude. He's also a pretty awesome husband.

Oh and finally one last thanks to my three 101 tutors, Brooke, Dana and Eli who each gave generously of their time and experience this trimester and helped inspired me with my work. I seriously loved this paper.

Overall, even though I can always see things I could improve in my final hand-ins, I am really happy with this clip. I'll wrap this up before this starts reading like an awards acceptance speech.

Here it is...enjoy:

©2013 helenkwilliams

dsdn 111 | project 3 final hand in

Project Three

Final model

This storyboard (as previously shown here) presents my initial development

After this I went away from the idea of a container or box and focused on the lock. I devised a plan in Solidworks as seen here

Storyboard of movement for first version of model

 The feature that was the most complex was the locking mechanism - the lug:

The lug involved a fairly simple design for a locking mechanism - though not simple enough

And started working on making a prototype in MDF. The problem was that the size (as per the dimensions above) made the construction very difficult. I also made a model in pine wood to try and devise a way to make my curved lock work however it became apparent that the curved lock was too detailed (in that size) to build so I went back to the drawing board.

I adjusted the lock so that it incorporated wire into the catch mechanism...

Wire in sectioned version of final model

All that was required was to design a 'D' shaped catch which would be made from a semi-circle of rubber (with corner sliced off) sandwich between two pieces of Sculpy (one circular, one 'D' shaped)

Front face of final design

I was lucky enough to have access to my father-in-law's workshop:

drill-press, file for corner fillets, the iPhone curve - ha!, rubber section being made from piece of rubber window squeegee

The evolution of the model

3-step movement of model

High quality image of presentation drawing

My vellum/drafting film illustration hand-in - the drawing I had originally intended to hand in was left at home on hand in day

Decal for presentation wallet:

This forms the bottom layer of the illustrations accompanying my model and is folded three ways so that the name appears on the front

Summary: Two to five sentences that explains the principles and ideas expressed in your work, and reflect on the value of the skills and processes you learned in Project Three.

Inspired by the joint that works the human jaw, this model was based on that joint's ability to first slide out of its resting position, (which allows the up and down motion), then rotate freely.

The lock position and six black dots have been geometrically designed to provide the operation code.

The user must locate the correct code or 'sweet' spot by placing the upper piece on the lower one (the clue is in the two sets of three black dots and the shape of the central lug) in order to ROTATE in an anti-clockwise direction to a closed or LOCKED position.

I have revisited the skills I learnt last year in DSDN 104 by designing my model first in Solidworks. Due to the initial intricacy of my design I was unable to finish it by hand so the most important decision I needed to make was when to redesign to suit my resources. I really wanted to create an aesthetically pleasing piece which I am proud to say I achieved.

Movements

Upper piece: Rotate/Pivot

Lower piece: Lock/Catch

Materials Used

Upper and lower wood shapes: bass wood;

Lock: aluminium wire, Sculpy and rubber (sandwiched between the circle and ‘D’ shaped Sculpy pieces);

Six black circles: inlaid Sculpy.

dsdn 111 | final model - the movement

dsdn 111 | progress update

I have put aside my container idea because there seems to be a lot of negativity about it and because it will be hard to do it in the cylinder shape without a lathe.

I was finding the slide and lock feature that I wanted to include in this project really difficult to finalise in reality - I am not a skilled carpenter and am worried about chiseling a finger off! So I went back to the idea of modelling it in Solidworks or 3ds Max.

I decided to find a way to lock three layers together with the bottom layer being hinged to the middle and then the top locking the three together. The solution lay in creating a section of a screw so that a thread was formed for the top layer to attach to.

The top literally screws into place and I have added the four circles as a kind of code for telling the user when they have placed the top layer in the correct starting position.

At this stage the prototype is made with 3 mm mdf, I will refine the final form by either adding a wood veneer to it or making it in solid bass wood which would necessitate changes in the thickness of each piece.

I will incorporate rubber into the model by cutting a narrow strip from a glove and using it as the hinge that connects the bottom and middle layer. I have recessed the point where it would be glued so that the two lower layers will connect at all points.

I am going to build a piece of recessed wire into the design so as to satisfy the wire requirement of the brief.

At the moment the dimensions of the model are exactly those of an iPhone (this is how I first tried to explain my idea to people - using two iPhones sandwiched together) however I feel this might be too large and may scale it down to the size of a credit card.

The final model will still fulfill my own wish to produce an 'executive toy'. I can imagine wanting to endlessly and absentmindedly play with the lock feature of the movement.

dsdn 101 | project 3 developing work - hand-in

I spent the best part of the weekend trying to get to the point where I could upload my work but realised today I could get a lot more out of presenting a more complete draft done in Flash.

So I more or less got the story out within a 48 second time-frame (with a couple more minor scenes to go) and in fact this was an excellent excercise in terms of understanding how the story will play out.

I have two options for sound - both composed by family members, one on acoustic guitar and the other on piano. There will also be additional sounds added to the clip where appropriate. I did not add any audio to my submitted clip.

I used all the art work except one image from my file of R's characters and saw how they will work as I progress with After Effects and Premiere. I am keen to receive feedback too.

Here is the clip:


The message at the end reads as follows: This is not my stop motion animation.... Because I am still assembling my frames for my SMA I have put together a quick Flash version using the artwork I will use in my final submission – it has been a useful exercise as it has allowed me to work out my timings more accurately. It also helped me to understand the overall feeling of the clip – what is funny and what is boring. The clip finishes at 48 seconds at the moment so I have 12 seconds to complete the clip. Which should be perfect. Thank you for watching...