#vrandar

Testing Out AR Features - FMP - Animation Test “Ziazan Wolf” 1

After my Summer Review I started working on my Pitch and during that process I really wanted to test the Animation style from the first style frames I created and thought about mixing it with an AR Test.

These are photos of different stages of the AR animation with moving around in different angles, close up on the image and the animation still playing, or image registering on a page with other images from a presentation slide. 

Testing Out AR Features - FMP - Animation Test “Chasing Tail” 

Exported video file of AR Test Animation through the AR Artivive App which allows you to export what the camera sees when it registers the animation to the illustration, allowing it to look like the animation is playing in real time. 

During the test I noticed the parameters of the apps registration, as soon as the image becomes distorted the animation will disappear and have to be re loaded. I can almost flip to the drawing all around without it disappearing, when the image is being moved around a lot the app will follow it through glitching ever so slightly.  

Testing Out AR Features - FMP - Process Test “Chasing Tail”

Since researching into AR and wanting to possibly make a piece to go along side my Final Year Film I decided it was best to test out AR before pitching the concept in class. 

Here I have a range of images and process breakdown on how I have created this within a few minutes using the Artivive site and App. Artivive was the main name that came up during my research on how artists create AR with their art, you simply take the image you want the animation to be registered too and load this up to Artivive home page through your account.

This is what they call the basic mode, the app will simply play the animation as long as the uploaded registration image is correct. The app registers the image on screens and printed images loading up in seconds. It allows you to export footage of what the camera sees, the only cons of the app is limited amount of AR images you can load up and of course the limited duration of the footage you can upload to the site.

3D aspect of it is super simple but quite fiddly to organise, I brok down the layers of “Chasing Tail” Gif animation making sure that I had drawn the background in full not leaving weird spots without colour. Above this I created a separate PNG of the dog house and toys which can be rotated and moved around on the 3D planes. The tricky fiddly bit is exporting the dog without the background and placing it into Premiere or After effects and changing the background layer to be green like a green screen. 

The App has a build in function allowing you to colour pick the green out automatically as it has considered the transparency isn’t possibly with only a MP4 Upload function. I’m sure once the 3D bug is sorted on the site, that the 3D aspect would stick out so well through their app as if you can walk around and see the image pop up from all angles. 

Augmented Reality Idea Generation - FMP - Concept Work

Here is the simple example of ideas I have come up with for the AR section of my project. With more development and time I’m sure I can create a nice looping animation sequence for this aspect of the work. 

AR Set 1: Multiple Sclerosis

Out of the set I think MS is one of the strongest, showing someone who is healthy slowly collapse from the pain and agitation of everything only to get up and feel somewhat stable... only to fall through the cycle again as she relapses. 

AR Set 2: The Women in Red

This one is quite simple compared to what I originally planned, I think it would be great to make a quick time version of my film twisting and turning through the plot points before it seems to go back to the begin again. I really love the red version of the image as it’s quite striking. 

AR Set 3: Ziazan Wolf

Here is a very simple concept for Ziazan Wolf, if I were to continue with this one I would like to create a haunting image of the wolf snapping towards to screen only to open his eyes to show this frighten kind soul where the darkness washes away from him. 

AR Set 4: Rise Up (Mother Nature)

Set Design Ideas - FMP - Concept Work

After extensive research into animation projection and AR I decided to create concept work to illustrate an example of what I could do with projections which will match with the four ideas I have created over the summer. 

Set 1: Multiple Sclerosis 

I based the set design on a stage which would work best with contemporary dancers such as the great multi medium Digital Dancers. So that there is both room and limited props to get in the way, allowing the animation projection to sit nicely on the background like a blank campus waiting for an explosion of colour.

I felt the subject of MS based on the storyboards I’ve started to sketch up really fits with experimental and emotional expression which you get with contemporary dance performances such as Dance Duo Charity & Andres. The idea would be that there is only three dancers with additional people being projected onto the backdrop around the Female Solo. Red would be the dance partner portraying MS bringing her down whilst Blue would be the healthy person trying to bring her back to reality.  

Set 2: The Women in Red

The Women in Red Set design was based on the Duke of York's Theatre where I went to see a performance of Rosmersholm which was dark and eerie. The idea is that it would have different set pieces before moving into the forest section where the fire projection would be made with paper fire and projected burning lights as the women slowly melts into the floor. I’m still unsure about this concept as I believe there is still room to improve this projection idea.  

Set 3: Ziazan Wolf

This particular set is based in Regent's Park Open Air Theatre after seeing a performance of Hansel and Gretel which focus on creating easily removable tree pieces to switch to different scenes. 

The idea is that the set can turn around and continue moving so the characters can continue to walk much like how the set was designed for Hansel and Gretel. The trees can be removed for when there’s a scene for a clearing and images can be projected into the background. Same can be said when forest is slowly healing, silk will hanged around the rims to be projected on. 

Set 4: Rise Up (Mother Nature) 

Rise up is based on the round, fan-shaped auditorium open space of the National Theatre’s Olivier Theatre room which features NT’s highlight performances such as Small Island it will allow room for the background visual animation to be immersive. 

Much like a scene in Rosmersholm water will fill the stage ever so slightly and projection will reflect on it and rims of the stage as if its flooding towards the audience. Images of other natural disaster would play in the background with the lighting assisting with the changes between the moods.  

Looking into use of VR in Drawn Animation - FMP - Research & Inspiration

Whilst investigating AR I learnt about the use of VR in animation and decided to see if it has been successfully used in films. I came across a studio that was launched in 2014 (ceased in 2017) as an extension of Oculus Rift “Oculus Story Studio” which was created to invest in creating animated films in VR.

“Dear Angelica” was one of its successes, a short film with drawings painted in Quill and created as a painted time lapse 12 minute short. It told the story on how we remember our loved ones in dream like ways, supported by narration. It was premiered at Sundance festival and had an amazingly positive response as it was an official selection. The short was directed by Saschka Unseld (who directed my favourite Pixar short “Blue Umbrella”) who has directed and pitched a range of both live action and animated projects, this being her first VR related one.

It isn’t necessarily a 2D frame by frame animation in VR but it was a stepping stone to create a short film in such a way, personally I can’t wait to get my hands on a VR headset so that I can see what the artist has created in 360 degree as I’ve only seen standard clips.

VR is becoming a mainstream platform for exclusive films and features such as the movie “Crow: The Legend” which can be viewed for free on YouTube both in standard format but also available now in VR. Few months after the animated films standard launch the VR version was made available to the public. Baobab Studios is dedicated in producing VR film and focuses on pushing the boundaries on Immersive Narration  instead of creating realistic animation.

Baobab Studios is probably the biggest VR Studio at the moment, picking up from where Oculus Story Studio had ended. It is currently being named the next possible Pixar as it has secured over $25 million in funding for the next generation of VR films, they themselves use VR headsets and joysticks in the pre production stage boarding in and painting the characters.  

Other big name studios have in the last few years started commission 360 degree experience VR shorts to accompany their films such as The Meg, Pete’s Dragon and Spider-Man: Homecoming.  It’s still early days but I’m sure with some form of experience with programs such as Tilt Brush, animation can be created in VR or AR technologies to promote short films too.

One artist who works with creating studies and illustrated VR pieces for both VR and AR platform is Estella Tse who has done a range of work with Adobe. Estella discuses how she used VR to create AR installation depicting the culture she is from, on her website she discusses the breakdown of the project and how she planned for the work be shown and seen by its viewers. 

Exploration of Augmented Reality (+VR) - FMP - Research & Inspiration 

Whilst planning ideas on how I would project animation on to a theatre set, I looked at alternative fields for my pitches if projection on set didn’t work out as planned. So I started to research into Augmented Reality and how this is being used in exhibitions and in apps on our phones as artists, such as Natalia Biegaj and Izzy Burton who have used beta apps to bring their illustrated pieces to life with AR.

More and more exhibitions are created to connect people to art through their phones, instead of taking pictures you are watching the art pieces come to life. Whether this be time lapse or specially animated pieces it causes curiosity and interest in the viewer. 

Apps such as Google play services for Arcore and Artivive help artists bring their artwork to life. Liangliang Luo is an illustrator who has recently got his AR illustration pieces “A Little Adventure” into a special The AOI exhibition which is created using Artivive. It is simple animation and shadows but it does bring the illustrative vibrant work to life as presented in his video. 

AR is now a growing industry as apps are further developed to make the creation of Augmented Reality easier for artists. With the rise of VR also comes a rise of alternative technologies that can be developed into a bigger products  such as AR which is now a lot more accessible. 

Just A Line is a really good example of AR working through the users phone as it’s own tool. It’s expression is very much like drawing in Virtual Reality (such as with the app Tilt Brush) and Long exposure light animation. It transforms the phone into a brush or allows the user to draw on the screen and move through the space whilst seeing the drawings in different perspectives.

Whilst AR doesn’t stop at Filters (Lens Studio) and inserted GIF/characters and assets onto your Instagram/snap chat selfies as the card industry is now using AR to bring messages alive as you can see in Kineticards range. 

Stepping away from AR we have a rise in animation created with VR which is stepping stone to get AR use mainstream. 

Tilt Brush has become a tool for animators who are trying to master the technology of drawing/animating in 3D space. There has been a start in this field and eventually the technology will be developed enough that there will be an easier and accessible way to animate in these applications.

Eventually technology like this might be the next tool in animation 2D/3D if it is developed enough. It is possible as many people have taken the plunge into animating 3D models or hand draw assets in software such as Quill and AnimVR.

Few artists have started to show the breakdown of their animation and the possibilities these applications have to offer VR wise in animation. Goro Fujita (popular Instagram artist) uses Quill to make painted/ink simple animated sequences in VR and even an expressive Japanese ink style gifs. Joe Daniels is another great VR animator, working in AnimVR he has created funny animations and learnt to create assets of his characters so that he can move sections around as if he is rigging his character. Two separate artist but they both expressive different style and techniques in the way they’ve animated with these VR art programs.  

This is happening whilst 3D applications such as Blender are taking steps forward to create 2D animation tools (Grease Pencil) for a software which is free to access. Which allows the user to work in a 3D environment whilst moving lights and camera angles around with 2D drawn characters on the computer.