COSC 3P98 Animation Project

Flower of Eden

By Alex Muir & Josh Lessard

Introduction
In this project, we decided to make one extremely complex model and use it as the focal point of the animation, instead of creating many smaller, less complicated models. The model we chose to build is that of a fully functional robot, complete with limbs, muscles, joints, etc. This short story takes an almost biblical look at this robot's life, as he is punished for picking a forbidden flower by having his head removed by a flying asteroid sent from above. After nearly going insane in pergatory, the robot begs for forgiveness and is granted a new head, allowing him to finally pass on to the next life.

Click here to view the animation.

Models

Sun/Asteroid/Earth

All three of these elements were obviously created using NURBS spheres. Each sphere was then given a Bryce texture. The sun and asteroid (not shown here) also had fire added to them, giving them a comet like look and feel. This is particularly noticeable in the scene where the asteroid is flying towards the earth.

The Flower

This is the "forbidden flower" which the robot makes the mistake of picking. The petals were created using NURBS spheres spanning from 0-90 degrees. The CV's were then edited to give them the desired shape. A NURBS sphere was used for the "middle" of the flower, and the stem was created using a NURBS cylinder. The petals and middle of the flower were given Bryce textures.

The Robot

This is the main model used throughout the animation. The robot has calf, quadricep, hamstring, abdominal and bicep muscles. These muscles contract and expand in response to the movement of their respective limbs. For example, curling the forearm up towards the head causes the bicep muscle to flex. The robot's torso is made of NURBS spheres that have been molded to fit their respective roles (abdomenal muscles, front armour, back armour, etc.)

The robot simulates walking very well. This was accomplished by using the leg to drive the pelvic area such that if one leg takes a step forward, the pelvic area (and thus the rest of the body) follows. This creates the illusion that the robot is keeping his centre of gravity balanced, and thus makes him more realistic looking.

Scenes

#1 - Introduction

This is a simple introduction to the animation. This scene consists of a moving camera, showing first the flower and then the robot. At the end of the scene, the robot looks down, first noticing that the flower is there.

#2 - Picking The Forbidden Flower

In this scene, the robot squats down, examines the flower, and then picks it.

#3 - Asteroid Is Created

Angry with the robot for picking the forbidden flower, the Robot Deity causes a nearby sun to spawn an asteroid, which quickly zooms out of view.

#4 - Asteroid Heads Towards Earth

This scene offers four different views of the asteroid as it speeds towards the earth. The first view is a flyby as the asteroid passes very close to the camera, which pans to the left to track it. The scene then cuts to a stationary camera, which the asteroid zooms past. The third view is one where the camera follows the asteroid and the earth appears to be within reach. Finally, the earth is shown as the asteroid crashes into it.

#5 - Impact

While looking at the flower, the robot realizes something is wrong. He turns towards the asteroid and realizes it's too late. In fear, he drops the flower as the asteroid promptly removes his head and returns to space. Meanwhile, the flower returns to its original position in the ground, and the robot's body collapses in the background.

#6 - Pergatory

Now floating around in pergatory, the robot becomes confused and disoriented. When the robot reaches up with his right hand and realizes his head is missing, he begins to go insane.

#7 - Tick Tock

Approximately 100 years later and now completely off the deep end, the robot assumes the position of a grandfather clock and begins acting accordingly. This scene was of course inspired by the vast and brilliant array of clocks in Mashaal Memon's animation. :) This representation actually turned out to be quite indicative of what is going on (the passage of time). The back and forth motion also works quite well with the song we chose (the robot moves back and forth to the beat).

#8 - Please God...

In a momentary resurgence of sanity, the robot begs his Deity for forgiveness...

#9 - Apology Accepted

Having accepted his apology, the Robot Deity grants his victim a new head, allowing him to move on to the next life...

Post Production

Once all the scenes were rendered into .sgi files, they were individually compiled into separate, uncompressed QuickTime movies using MediaConvert. Afterwards, the scenes were all imported into MovieMaker and strung together into one coherent unit. A soundtrack of WAV files was then put together and mixed in with the video, again using MovieMaker.

Next, the hunt was on for suitable audio. Many websites and CDs were browsed for proper sound bytes. Once the necessary clips were gathered, they were layered on top of the video using MovieMaker (this part was probably the most fun). 3 layers were used all together.

Our animation was too long to put into one file right off the bat, so it was split in two and compressed before being reassembled into the final product.

Feedback

Maya is an overwhelming and complex program. It is easy to see that there is nothing the human can think up that Maya cannot model in one way or another. Even for less artistically inclined users, Maya makes it possible to create complex and fantastic looking models. However, it is impossible to grasp and understand the full power of the program in such a short time. We highly recommend that the department consider creating a half-credit course strictly on using Maya. We would both like to explore Maya further because this project, as interesting and challenging as it was, did not afford us the opportunity to appreciate the program as it should be appreciated.

On the other hand, Maya also has some serious bugs that made working on this project a living hell at times. One problem in particular that we were never able to figure out was why certain scenes just refused to be rendered. When we attempted to batch render these scenes and follow the progress in the script editor, we found that it immediately reported that the rendering was finished, and nothing had really been done. Many a day were spent redoing scenes from scratch because Maya would not render the originals (and in some cases, even reproductions of the originals).

Back to 3P98 2001 Animation Gallery.