Stereoscopic Awesomesauce!

Me on campus!

My room mates painting!This one is my dad. We were working directly across from each other on our computers. Like father like daughter.

Lighting a Scene in Maya

This is my one point lighted scene. I just used a spotlight and played with the penumbra.

This is my two point lighted scene. I used the same spotlight, and an ambient light.

For my three point lighted scene, I used the same ambient and spotlight, but put in a rim light to get the highlights on the 'B.'

MAYA!

Science Fact, or Cinematic Fiction? Horton Hears a Kung Fu Robot!

Horton Hears a Kung Fu Robot


When the only force acting on an object is gravity, it will follow a parabolic arc when it falls. The animated films Robots, Kung Fu Panda, and Horton Hears a Who, all depict at least one scene where a jump or fall is animated incorrectly according to the laws of physics. These errors can be found in one scene from each movie. The most commonly found errors in these three scenes related to the path of action, angle trajectory, spacing, and speed changes.
In the 2005 animated film feature, Robots, the main character, Rodney, takes a unique form of public transportation called the “cross-town express.” In the Robots universe, characters board the cross-town express by climbing into round metal chambers. These chambers are then catapulted to various destinations in the city. Through careful observation of this scene, it is clear that the path of action, trajectory, spacing, and speed of the catapulted chamber are incorrect according to the laws of physics. First of all, the chamber does not follow a parabolic arc. Instead, it looks as if it is catapulted at a 45° angle, then jumps vertically on its path of action. It then continues moving in a slightly angled straight line. The path of action for this fall seems to be more of a shallow wave ending with a straight line of action, when in reality it should be a long, shallow parabolic arc. The speed of the metal chamber is also incorrect.
Tangential speed is also related to the distance the chamber travels. However, the tangential speed of the throwing arm on the catapult is incorrect. If the chamber moves fast on the catapult, it is more likely to move faster in the air when it is released. The catapult’s arm would have to be longer for the cross-town express to fly as far and fast as it does in the sequence. Observing just the animation, it is clear that the speed changes are due to the spacing of key frames and in-betweens.
Whenever the chamber is moving slower, there are more frames and they are closer together. This differs from when the ball looks as if it is moving fast, which occurs when there are fewer frames and they are spread farther apart. However disloyal this sequence is to the laws of physics, this exaggeration of spacing and timing makes the animation entertaining. Such is also the case in a scene from Kung Fu Panda.
The final fight scene in DreamWorks’s 2008 animated film, Kung Fu Panda, also demonstrates an incorrect use of parabolic arcs. Such errors include an incorrect path of action, mid air suspension, and the unrealistic speeding up and slowing down of falling characters. In this scene, both Po and Tai Lung leap off a building, and struggle to catch a golden “sacred” scroll. First of all, Tai Lung and Po do not follow parabolic arcs. After Po leaps off a couple airborne roof tiles, his path of action travelling towards the apex is almost a completely straight line with a small angle. Po stays suspended mid air while Tai Lung leaps straight up. After Tai Lung reaches his apex, he hooks around (still suspended mid-air) to drop kick Po. In reality, Tai Lung would have fallen far behind Po. Additionally, Po would have fallen to the ground at least three seconds before Tai Lung even leapt into the air. Furthermore, both fall straight down after they reach the peak of their jumps. In nature, they would complete a parabolic arc, and travel much farther horizontally than where they landed in the scene.
The timing of the fall is also flawed according to the laws of physics. Both characters appear to pause mid air, then dive straight down rapidly. In reality, they would complete their parabolic arcs, slowing in and out at the apex, and then accelerating to the end of their fall. Moreover, the speed of both characters increases abruptly when they start falling to the ground. After Po is drop kicked, he speeds to the ground by the force of Lung’s attack. After that, Lung dives after him mid as if he is diving into a pool. Even though this is not physically possible, the animation was designed to exaggerate the falls and jumps for dramatic effect, so lots of anticipation was used. The anticipation shown in the sequence is incorrect according to the laws of physics, but it makes for strong storytelling. Such is also the case in a scene from Horton Hears a Who.
The animation in Horton Hears a Who was pushed to intelligent and entertaining extremes. However, the exaggerations do not adhere to the laws of physics. The most noticeable physics error can be found in the scene where Horton runs through the jungle to catch a speck. While Horton is stampeding, a monkey tribe catapults a banana boulder at him, which falls incorrectly according to the laws of physics. First of all, the boulder does not fly in a parabolic arc. Instead, it’s launched at what looks like a 60° angle, which would take the boulder half as far as it travelled in the film. Conversely, the banana boulder flies in a straight line for almost two seconds, and subtly hooks to the left of Horton before it impacts the ground. Surprisingly, the hooking is not the only strange movement incorporated in the banana boulder’s path of action. In addition to hooking, the boulder appears to move in three long vertical waves. This is only obvious because of the manipulated timing of the boulder’s fall.
The tangential speed of the catapulted banana boulder is incorrect. For it to move that fast, the catapult would have to be longer. However, if the catapult were longer, the boulder would achieve more height in the air, causing it to land even earlier than it does in the scene. Moreover, the speed of the banana boulder changes mid air four times. In the sequence, the boulder catapults into the air at a high speed, slows down twice-mid air (progressively getting slower), and speeds up before it impacts the ground. This would not occur if the boulder were falling in reality. In nature, the banana boulder would speed up as it is catapulted, slow a little at the apex, and then speed up again it approaches impact. However incorrect this sequence might be, it is highly comedic, and any flaws in the physics of the sequence only enhance the entertainment value. This is the case with all three films.
Most physics errors are well disguised in Robots, Kung Fu Panda, and Horton Hears a Who. Interestingly, the same errors were present in all three movies. In defense of the films, these physics errors could have been intentional. The dramatic pauses, changes in time, and height give the scenes anticipation, one of the most important principles of animation.

Outline for Second Term Paper: Horton Hears a Kung Fu Robot!

Introduction: When the only force acting on an object is gravity, it will follow a parabolic arc when it falls. The animated films Robots, Kung Fu Panda, and Horton Hears a Who, all depict at least one scene where a jump or fall is animated incorrectly according to the laws of physics. These errors are most noticeable in three scenes containing incorrect parabolic arcs.
Body
1. Robots: Rodney rides the cross-town express. The initial launch/throw is incorrect because:
a. It does not follow a parabolic arc. It dips and goes in a straight line at some points.
b. The shots suggest that the cross-town express is thrown out of perspective.
c. The tangential speed of the throwing arm is incorrect. The catapult’s arm would have to be longer for the cross-town express to fly that far, even though it is very long already. This would also affect the parabolic arc (how long and tall it is). However, it is entertaining, and the rest of the physics of the cross-town express appear to be relatively correct.
2. Kung Fu Panda: The final fight scene between Po and Tai Lung fails to follow the laws of physics because:
a. Tai Lung and Po do not follow parabolic arcs when they are mid-air. Their arcs would also be much longer considering the height they reach in the jump. In real life, they would travel much farther horizontally.
b. They both fall straight down after they reach the peak of their jumps. In nature, they would complete a parabolic arc.
c. It is not timed correctly; they both pause mid air, and appear to dive straight down rapidly. This would never occur in nature. Po also accelerates in his fall. In the real world, he would be decelerating. He speeds up when he’s been in the air long enough to start coming down again.
3. Horton Hears a Who: A monkey tribe catapults a banana boulder at Horton. The boulder flies incorrectly because:
a. The boulder does not fly in an arc. It flies in a straight line. Additionally, the boulder appears to move in three long vertical waves. In real life, the boulder would have landed much earlier.
b. The tangential speed of the catapulted banana boulder is incorrect. For it to move that fast, the catapult would have to be longer. However, the boulder would then achieve more height in the air. The scene in the film already shows the boulder flying lower than physically possible.
c. The speed of the boulder changes mid-air. It seems to slow down and speed up irregularly. In nature, it would speed up, slow a little at the apex, and then speed up again as it falls.
Conclusion:
These errors are well disguised in the films, and hardly noticeable if one has no knowledge of physics. Interestingly, the same errors were present in all three movies. In defense of the films, these physics errors could have been intentional. The dramatic pauses, changes in time, and height give the scenes anticipation, one of the most important principles of animation.

extra credit 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)."

Anette HANDshaw

Here's my character walk! I animated it listening to Annette Handshaw's (1920's flapper/jazz musician) music, so the character turned into the female hand, "Annette HANDshaw."
It took me many tries. It's difficult to animate your own hand with a different personality than your own. That, and hands are just wiggly. I never knew how fidgety I was until I tried to animate my hand.
I tried a walk cycle first. It took many tries before I developed a method for animating it. I had to map out my keys on the "ground" where I placed my character. I numbered the in-betweens and labeled my passing position and contact poses with capitol letters.
I had to twist my arms around a lot to film this. I was shooting with my right hand, on my mac computer, peeking at the computer to make sure each photo was right.
A lot of work, but I think it was worth it.

Enjoy!


...and here's a little bit about Annette Hanshaw
http://www.redhotjazz.com/Hanshaw.html

Reverse Video Reference of Walking

Walk A


Walk B


Walk C


Walk D


Walk E

The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

“The Watchmen,” based off of the comic book by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, portrays an alternate universe where exiled superheroes try to uncover a plot to murder superheroes, and attempt to stop nuclear warfare. Although the film is about fictitious characters, it portrays them in a very real way, referencing the darker sides of their personalities. However, the film interprets physics in a very unreal way. Characters in the Watchmen universe can manipulate their center of gravity, paths of action, and the speeds of falling and jumping characters are often variable depending on plot development. The unique physics of The Watchmen universe can be best analyzed by breaking down specific actions performed by The Comedian, Adrian (Ozymandias), Rorschach, and Laurie (Silk Specter). In each scene examined, it is clear that the Watchmen universe has different laws that apply to a person’s center of gravity, and to the basic principles of falls and jumps. Although each manipulation of these principles is repeated, they are highly noticeable and often appear awkward. Nevertheless, such manipulations help propel the story of the film, and they are entertaining.
Characters in the Watchmen universe appear to exhibit super strength. The Comedian, Adrian, Rorschach, and Laurie have the ability to lift heavy objects while still keeping their arms away from their bodies. Normally, people lift heavy objects near their center of gravity, picking things up closer to their torso. In the Watchmen universe, this would only be possible if these characters had the power to consciously shift their center of gravity so they could lift objects away from their torsos. The best example of this conscious shift would be when Adrian breaks into the Comedian’s apartment. The Comedian gets lifted several times and thrown by the much slighter built Adrian.
This also defies the principle of action and reaction in the real world. According to the lecture notes, an action is a force exhorted on one object to another object, and reaction is the force exerted by the second object back onto the first object (the inciter of the action). In reality, Adrian would fail to lift The Comedian. The Comedian’s reaction to Adrian’s action (an attempt to pull The Comedian off the ground) would be minimal. Adrian might feel his own pressure in the ground while the Comedian moved either very little or not at all. Nevertheless, even in this fictitious world, it appears visually impossible. However, it was essential to the story that a superhero like the Comedian could be defeated by another man, and the only way to portray that was through seemingly physically impossible actions.
In addition to the unique way characters exhibit their super strength, they also have a unique way of manipulating the parabolic arcs of jumps and falls to achieve dramatic landings. When Adrian throws The Comedian across a room, it looks as if the beginning and end of the throw are in a parabolic shape, but there is a pause in the middle where he is just travelling in a straight line. The Comedian reaches a terminal velocity, and hangs in the throw for a short while, then slows down and falls on the other side of the parabolic arc. This makes the hang time appear longer. Although it is not a believable throw in reality, and it looks awkward in the film, it is a dramatically effective throw and it fits the suspenseful feel of the scene.
Parabolic arcs are also distorted when Rorschach leaps from the roof of one building to another while breaking into the Rockefeller Military Research Center. In the leap, he easily clears a distance of twenty feet when the character himself looks as if he may not be an inch taller than 5’/8”. However, Rorschach’s jump could not be completed in the Watchmen universe as believably as the Comedian’s warped parabolic throw appeared. Rorschach’s stretched out arc is out of perspective, making it appear triangular rather than parabolic, whereas The Comedian’s was a warped arc, but it was in perspective.
Characters in the Watchmen universe have other ways of surviving dramatic falls and jumps. The paths of action in Watchmen jumps tend to be uneven, yet the characters survive. Furthermore, it often looks like they survive with the help of an invisible force balancing them. This invisible force would be the center of gravity, which shifts wherever it benefits the character most when they need to land effectively. For example; Rorschach runs straight up a wall of metal bars when trying to break Into the Rockefeller Military Research Center. The only way that this could possibly happen is if Rorschach suddenly concentrated his center of gravity to his feet and ran up the wall quickly. In the real world, people would die from such jumps and falls, but in the Watchmen, characters appear to have the ability to manipulate their center of gravity to survive. However, even through Rorschach leans towards his feet while making the climb, it’s still physically questionable in the Watchmen universe because he moves at such a slow speed.
Characters can also manipulate their paths of action when falling by shifting their center of gravity, enabling them to always land on their feet. This is referring specifically to Laurie when she lands through the burning brick building. For the fall, she travels more than five times her height to where she lands, breaking through a ceiling on the way. She lands in a squat with her weight on her heels, here center of gravity somewhere behind her left. In reality she would fall backwards, but in the movie, she stays standing. In the Watchmen universe, Laurie’s center of gravity would have to have shifted to her feet. She also slows down in the fall before she lands. This would only be possible if characters in the Watchmen universe were able to manipulate the rate at which they reach their terminal velocity at will. Interestingly, even thought Rorschach and Laurie were able to manipulate physics this way, The Comedian failed to do so in the opening scene.
The comedian exerts amazing physical strength throughout the movie. He is fully capable in the Watchmen universe of manipulating physics just as Laurie and Rorschach. Moreover, he died from a thirty-story foot drop when he could have changed his falling speed like Laurie. In the Watchmen universe, the manipulation of physics depends solely on the story. It was important in the story for the comedian to die, so he fell from the thirty-story building as he would in the reality. Instead of dropping straight down and slowing in before he lands, The Comedian falls very much like a cat, flipping over through the torso creating the reaction of matching his terminal velocity very fast. The transition from The Comedian’s more realistic fall to the fantastic ones performed by Rorschach and Laurie was jarring, but it made for effective storytelling. However, it did break away from the stylistic tradition of manipulating physics seen throughout the film.
The manipulation of physics in the Watchmen universe also alters the way bullets behave. However, their variability of speed solely on story progression. Such can be seen in the two scenes where Adrian catches a bullet, and when a secretary gets her leg snapped in half by a bullet. There are several ways Adrian could have survived catching the bullet. Adrian rolled with the bullet as he caught it. In the real world, Adrian would have to have been moving slightly faster than the speed of sound to survive this. However, since bullets can slow down in the Watchmen universe, the bullets must have moved slower and reached an easily predictable speed for Adrian to match with his roll. This was a completely different scenario than that of a secretary of Adrian’s earlier in the movie. Her leg was snapped in half by a bullet in one scene. However, her character was in the way of the main action in the scene, so her leg was sacrificed in order for the story to move forward.
Though manipulated, then abruptly realistic, it is clear that physics was used cleverly in The Watchmen. Characters could not possibly physically survive any of these actions in the real world, yet it’s acceptable when in the film. Weights, velocities, paths of action are variable and used as a means of support for the story. Although they would make little sense in reality, the manipulation of the laws of physics in the Watchmen serves two purposes; to move the story forward, and to entertain.


Rorscharch runs up a wall





Laurie balances

Term Paper Outline

Who Watches the Physics of the Watchmen?

1. Intro: The physics of Watchmen are distorted in relation to the main characters (the superheroes) in terms of their super strength, center of gravity in jumps, and of bullets (their speed is unnaturally variable).
2. How do Characters lift heavy objects?
a. Characters can lift extremely heavy objects and people without showing signs of shifting their weight.
-Example: first fight scene, Adrian lifts The Comedian several times, and throws him several times
b. It would only work if their center of gravity shifted to physically impossible points just before lifting, punching, and jumping
Example: Adrian Fights The Comedian
c. The objects themselves lose weight before being lifted
Example: Adrian Fights The Comedian
3. How do they survive large, uneven jumps?
a. Characters can jump from extremely high places with their center of gravity off, and not fall over and/or collapse, their path of action is variable, and they accelerate and decelerate at unnatural speeds
-Example: Rorschach runs up a wall
b. Characters must shift their center of gravity when jumping for this to work
-Example: Rorschach runs up a wall
c. They can manipulate their path of action so that there is less impact when landing
Example: Miss Jupiter lands several stories through a burning building
d. Characters can reach their terminal velocity at will
-Example: Rorschach runs up a wall
-Example: Miss Jupiter lands several stories through a burning building
4. How can some people catch bullets, whereas they kill other people?
a. Bullets have variable weights and speeds
Example: Adrian catches a bullet, but secretary’s leg snaps in two when shot
b. Characters catching bullets can move faster than the speed of sound and continue that momentum
-Example: Adrian catches a bullet and tumbles down the stairs
c. Bullets slow down and speed up when the story needs to move forward
-Example: Adrian can catch a bullet, but a secretary’s leg gets snapped in half by a bullet
5. Conclusion: Although the physics of The Watchmen make no scientific sense, they move the story forward, and the errors make the film entertaining.

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

I decided to animate a leaf drop. First, I robbed the bushes outside my apartment of one of their leaves. Then, I filmed reference of my leaf dropping and planned out my animation. After that, I drew a path of action and time chart on my kitchen wall in pencil. Finally, I took photos from my webcam of the leaf taped to the wall at each charted position on my path of action. The result? A stop motion leaf drop, animated with a real leaf!

It was super fun! I can't wait to do more stop motion animation!

Jump Video Reference

Here's the original reference video:

Video analysis of path of action

Tracker Reference Analysis

Dino Drop Reference

I decided to use my blue t-rex for my drop reference assignment.

Mini-Portfolio

Greetings fellow classmates! My name is Hillary. I'm a Southern Californian Native, transfer art student from El Camino College, and animation illustration major here at SJSU. I'm newly accepted to the animation/illustration program, and I'm currently taking art 114, art 113B, Music 120 (worlds of jazz), and physics of animation.

Here's some of my work:



and my art 28 final animation:



As far as science classes go, I took oceanography and geography at my junior college. I've also taken a class in rainforest ecology through John A. Logan College, instructed by my granny. For the class, we traveled to the Caribbean (more specifically, the country of Trinidad and Tobago) and identified bird, plant, fish, and insect species, but we also went to see leatherback turtles lay their eggs. It was the most amazing class I have ever taken. There is no place on earth as beautiful as the rainforest.
Here are some pictures from paradise:

Hi, I'm Here!

Hello!
I'm here and ready for some physics!