Creating Stereoscopic 3D Images

 Jimi Hendrix - Green & Magenta

Me - Red & Cyan

CVB - Red & Cyan

Recreating Cameras and Lights in Maya.

Building a Scene in Maya

Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action

I’m pretty sure everyone knows that special effects are widely used in video games nowadays as well as the past. These special effects make games realistic, believable and interesting. Special effects also add a fun visual element to the game. Weather you are playing a un realistic game, or one that is supposed to be as close to reality as possible, you will see things like weather climates.

One of my personal favorite things that I always loved in video games was the rain. Rain during gameplay has always had that visual effect of entertainment for me. Not only is this visually stimulating, but also effective on gameplay. For example, the Grand Theft Auto games have that point where rain seems to fall from the sky. Depending on which GTA game, the rain has an effect on things like driving, walking, running, and the clarity of the screen gameplay. I like that aspect of bringing realistic situations to this particular video game.

Now on Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, rain happens sporadically throughout the game. This can be random, or controlled when using cheat codes. This particular GTA game actually has poor quality of rain. It looks like the rain was not given any effort from animators. The path of the raindrops cannot really be determined. The rain is scattered and falling at random angles all at once when in actuality, you will see all raindrops fall in the same angle. This bothers me and takes away from the realistic situations that are supposed to be included in this game.

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas

This special effect was not complex at all. You can tell that one sequence of raindrops was used for every scene that it rains in the game. There is no variation between light rain and heavy rain, which is also unrealistic. The rain in this game is coming down rather lightly, and the raindrops are at a very low frequency. The raindrops look white, and are strobing more than anything. The frequency is off, as well as the velocity and the rain has no effect on driving traction. The ground should be wet and footsteps should make a splash when walking or running, but the rain has no effect on gameplay. All of these things take the fun out of the game for me.

Now Grand Theft Auto 5 rain is way more realistic. You can tell that the special effects were paid close attention to in this latest GTA game. There is difference in frequencies of rain, light rain and heavy rain, and all the raindrops fall at a consistent angle. Even in the game if you are driving by and making a sharp turn, you can see that the rain is consistent with that angle even with a change in perspective. It’s very believable and adds a little more fun and realism to the video game as a whole.

Grand Theft Auto V

The frequency of the rain here is very believable and even directly affects the gameplay. When it rains light, there is little to no effect on anything except the small splashes from the drops hitting a surface. When it rains heavy, the cars slip and slide more, the puddles are big and noticeable, and when someone walks or runs, you see splashes. Even driving cars, you can see the water rolling off the back of the tires. This is so fun because it’s realistic, relatable, interactive, and fun. The sound of the rain even sounds like real rain. All this together creates an experience in the virtual world.

These two games came out years apart from each other, but have distinct differences as stated above. When it comes to the rain in the gameplay, it’s obvious how far video games have become as far as quality. Something as simple as weather can be a big difference in a game and it’s gameplay. GTA San Andreas is and was a fun game with unrealistic characteristics such as rain, but it’s always great to compare with what they are currently doing and how they evolved. GTA 5 is clearly better and more realistic with believable weather. Weather is a big deal in video games, and GTA San Andreas and GTA V shows why and how to appreciate it.

Outline for the Third Term Paper

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas – Rain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx8y2dc5nWg

·      The rain is given no effort

o   Just scattered lines falling randomly

o   No consistent angle of the raindrops’ path

·      Made with computer effects

o   Too simple and plain

o   There is no variation

o   They used one set velocity, angle, and frequency

·      The rain is barley noticeable

o   The rain drops are spread out

o   Low frequency

·      Not realistic

o   Too much strobing

o   Raindrops look white

o   Look like rice

o   Too scattered

o   No loss of traction on ground

o   Splashes aren’t real

o   Sounds less natural

Grand Theft Auto 5 – Rain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6a_kHQIvUA

·      Rain is paid attention to

o   Light rain and heavy rain

o   Consistent angle of the raindrops’ paths

o   Angle is changed from perspective

o   Very believable

·      Made with computer effects

o   Very detailed with variations

o   They used multiple velocities, angles, and frequency for a different settings

·      Rain is very noticeable

o   The flow is more natural

o   High and low frequencies throughout the game

·      Very realistic

o   Effects the gameplay

o   Makes things wet and slippery

o   Cars lose traction

o   Footsteps and tires splash puddles

o   Sound more natural

Stop-Motion Character Animation

Stop-Motion Character Animation

*Click link above*

This animation was created in my dorm at San Jose State University for my Physics Animation class. I used my Cannon T4i camera with a tripod, my desk lamp and a can of Pringles. I tried to draw the Pringles logo on a sticky note but it came ugly. I'm no Picasso. I snapped a picture after every small centimeter of movement. Adjusting the neck of the lamp, and path of the Pringles can.

Term Paper: Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction

Animators do many things to CGI animations to make things entertaining. Many things that they create are really unrealistic when you take a look at physics. Cartoons and video games are known to have whacky, funny, and crazy things happen, but this is all to entertain the audience. When we do take the laws of physics into consideration, we can see what actually is so unrealistic about scenes.

In the scene of Space Jam when team Looney tunes plays basketball game against the Monstars. One of the players named Stan, is actually a human in this Looney Tunes Land. A few of the obviously large Monstars, (animated monsters) landed on top of Stan. They get up leaving Stan laying there flattened like a pancake. He then is pumped up with air by 2 animated characters, which resulted in him floating up in the air like an balloon filled with helium. The air plug was released and Stan propelled through the stadium like a deflating balloon.

The issue here is with squash and stretch. Realistically, given that Stan is an actual human, he should have died form the large amount of force of impact. He would’ve been squashed like a bug due to the momentum of the Monstars landing on top of himinstead of stretched like pizza dough. No human body can stay together after something like that.

Another issue has to be how he was pumped up with air. First of all, a human cannot be pumped up with air like a balloon and have the effects as if it was helium. Realistically the Stan’s weight should have held him to the ground because air is not a force that will lift him off of a surface. Air resistance would not have lifted him up because his body mass was more powerful. His whole body would not have formed the shape of a circle because the air would have only caused pressure in his lungs. His lungs would’ve bursted in his chest killing him.

The Space Jam film animators did a great job making these situations somewhat believable, but looking at it from a real world stand point, it’s really impossible for these things to actually happen. This movie gives viewers entertainment in a new way, so having cartoonish things happen to humans is actually not looked at as fake in this film, its believable.

Another scenario from a CGI animation that doesn’t make sense in real life is the Skadoosh scene in Kung Fu Panda. Panda and Tiger get into a heated battle, and Panda wins with in an unrealistic way. Tiger lunges at Panda from a long distance after gaining much momentum. Right before they collide, Panda lunges belly first from standing still off of two feet and bumps Tiger so hard that the force sends him sky rocketing straight up into the air.

This scene is not really accurate when it comes to momentum and force. In the real world because there is no way Panda’s feet can create that much force to send an object as big as Tiger flying sky high out of sight. It is believable in an animated since because he did have special super powers, but realistically, those powers wouldn’t have this type of effect. You couldn’t see the apex of Tiger because he was so high in the air, but it did take around 12 seconds for Tiger to come back crashing into the ground.

Once Tiger crashed into the earth’s crust, a hole shaped into a body was imprinted into the ground. The issue here is that in the real world, the body would’ve splattered like an egg. There’s no way the force of gravity will leave an body shaped hole in the ground as deep as portrayed in the clip. Although this scene is not realistic, it is an animation that is believable. No one wants to make a cartoon character actually die like that and actually show the blood and guts flying. It’s catered towards a young audience and makes them laugh.

Here we have a scene from a video game – Grand Theft Auto 5. This CGI animation is actually supposed to be realistic, however there are things that the game allows users to do that is clearly unrealistic. There is a point in the game where the character free-falls in the air. The only problem is the free-fall looks more like a gliding motion. The character propels forward as if he is wearing a jetpack. The sight looks like superman flying, which is humanly impossible with natural force. The angle of the character’s path is way too close to horizontal (0 degrees).

This is an issue with the path of action. In the real world, a person freefalling would obviously drop straight to the ground. This is due to the gravitational pull from the earth, and the object’s mass. Air resistance can give an object the ability to glide as well as other forces going against gravity. In this case, the path of action was not realistic. This does add to the fun of the game, giving the users a sense of what it would be like if people could glide thorough the air like superman.

All of these scenes have things that make them very unrealistic to physics in real life. Animators obviously know what is possible and impossible, but the point is to make the scenes believable in the world of animation. Having an CGI animation with realistic physics takes the fun out of everything.