Creating Stereoscopic 3D Images

This assignment was way easier and more fun than I expected! It's exciting to be able to create 3D images whenever I want now. :)

Recreating Cameras and Lights in Maya

I unfortunately had a lot of trouble with this assignment! Even with the help of some tutorials, I couldn't figure out how to get shadows to cast on the plane that the object rested on, so I couldn't successfully recreate the image. :(

Original Image:

Maya "Recreation":

As you can see, there are no shadows being cast on the ground. I wish I could have solved this issue! Maya and I aren't very good friends.

Building a Scene in Maya

Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action

My first two term paper scores were both above 80; I will not be writing a third term paper.

Outline of the Third Term Paper

Introduction

-          Comparing the visual effects of tornadoes in the movies Twister and The Wizard of Oz

Twister

-          Computer-generated effects by ILM (new tech for 1996)

-          Fairly realistic

-          Some of the ways in which the tornadoes interacted with larger objects (like trucks) wasn’t accurate

-          The protagonists of the film would have never been able to outrun or survive being in the center of the massive tornado

The Wizard of Oz

-          Tornado created using practical effects (with cloth wrapped around chicken wire)

-          Pretty realistic (even was featured on The Weather Channel)

-          Characters would not have survived being in the twister

-          The house would have been destroyed if it had really been tossed by a tornado

Conclusion

-Very different approaches to depicting tornadoes

            -Both successful in realistic appearances, not as realistic in interactions with characters and objects

Stop-Motion Character Animation

I created this stop-motion animation at my house using an old Yeti toy I had lying around. I quickly drew up a plan for my animation (pictured below) and got to work. Some of the photos ended up looking funky in the end, because I had to remove hands and I am not that adept in photo manipulation in Photoshop. Then I messed around with timing a little in Windows Movie Maker and voila! 

The animation plan

The labeling of the strength cup

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?

Scientific laws in film and television, whether animated or live-action, don’t usually match up with reality. Take Newton’s Third Law, for example; “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”. This is very commonly misused or overlooked in media. Whether for comedy’s sake or to make a stunt work in a fantasy film, in the world of entertainment media, correct physics isn’t always the goal. Epic films like Lord of the Rings, popular shows like Pokémon, and Disney films like The Hunchback of Notre Dame are just a few examples of media that have broken this law of physics. Let’s examine them more closely.

               The Lord of the Rings trilogy is vast and epic and occasionally breaks the rules. One scene that has always stood out to me as a moment of bending the rules with physics is how Legolas mounts his horse before a battle in The Two Towers film. Legolas, while on foot, spots enemies approaching and as his army rides up to join him, he mounts his steed while the horse is in motion. He does this by grabbing a side of the horse’s neck, somehow arcing himself like a pendulum in the air towards the side where he has gripped, and then launches himself up onto the saddle.

Granted, this is a fantasy film and Legolas is an elf, so we can suspend our disbelief a bit, but this does go against many laws of physics including Newton’s Third Law. With every action, there must be an equal and opposite reaction, and that is not the case here. First of all, if his steed was trotting towards him, the weight of the horse would either knock him over, or if he had already gripped it, its gaining speed would have pinned him against its body; he wouldn’t have been able to get enough leverage to attempt to mount it from the front. The horse running forwards would be one action, and the reaction of him gripping the front of the horse would be for his body to move towards the animal.

               In the popular anime Pokémon, the antagonists Jessie, James, and Meowth of Team Rocket always “blast off again” when defeated by the heroes. This usually does not follow Newton’s Third Law; take this clip for example.

A Pokémon called Lickitung rolls into Team Rocket—this particular monster weighs about 144 pounds (according to the Pokedex), which would be akin to another human running into them. This knocks everyone (including the Lickitung) off the roof, where instead of plummeting down to the ground, they rocket (no pun intended) off into the sky, until they are merely a twinkle. There is no reaction present that reflects Newton’s Third Law here. When the Pokémon hits them, were it heavier than just a human, it may have launched them off the roof, but the impact probably would have rolled the Lickitung backwards. Instead it’s launched into the atmosphere with Team Rocket. The Pokémon also couldn’t have possibly launched them into space, even if it was significantly heavier. Team Rocket’s reaction to the rolling, was highly exaggerated. A more realistic scenario would have resulted in them merely falling off the roof.

               The Disney film The Hunchback of Notre Dame is overall a more dramatic and serious movie than most Disney animation, but it still has its slapstick moments in which laws of physics are broken. During the Feast of Fools, the lead Quasimodo gets humiliated and tortured in front of the festival attendees. The dancer Esmeralda comes to his rescue and frees him but because of her actions the city’s guards attack her. Then the action sequence begins as she makes her daring escape.

One of the crazy stunts is when a guy on stilts kicks the groins of four soldiers, launching them into the sky. Newton’s Third Law is broken here, since the momentum of the kick would not have created that opposite effect. The leg attached to the stilts would have stopped and gotten knocked back upon connecting with the soldiers’ armor, instead of continuing upwards in an arc. The soldiers would have never been launched into the air, and certainly not that high, the weight of their armor would not allow for that. At one point during the action sequence, the guy on stilts gets his pants pulled down by Esmeralda. A guard chasing her gets caught in the pants, and then is launched backwards into the sky. Once again, Newton’s Third Law is exaggerated here. It is possible that the guard getting caught in the pants could have been launched backwards, but the momentum is not equivalent. He was not running fast enough for the opposite effect to be him launching into the sky. If anything, the equal and opposite effect could be him getting knocked back and falling to the ground. For comedy’s sake, it is exaggerated and he’s launched into space while making a “Goofy-esque” cry. The last stunt that stood out is when Esmeralda catches a soldier’s helmet on her head, then throws it at three approaching guards on horseback, knocking all three out. The helmet then ricochets from there into a post, cutting the post in half. Even if Esmeralda had just launched the helmet directly into the post, the opposite reaction would not have been the post being cut in half, even if the helmet was metal. It would maybe dent it if anything. The helmet had bounced off the three soldiers’ heads beforehand though, so its momentum would have been lost even more, and the post would not have split.

               Even though these are three very different genres of television and film, they all ignore the laws of physics, including Newton’s Third Law for either comedic or epic effects. There are many scenes in each of these different media which exhibit believability too, but they made smart choices in order to evoke a certain mood or laugh—the physics were changed to fit the story they wanted to tell. Newton’s Third Law would not allow a horse to be mounted that way, or Team Rocket to “blast off again”, or for any of the stunts during Esmeralda’s escape to work. They are successful in the reaction they gained from the audience, and they make viewing these shows and films that much more enjoyable. 

Outline for the Second Term Paper

I.                     Introductory Paragraph

a.       Examples are based on Newton’s Third Law (action and reaction—equal in magnitude, opposite in direction)

b.       Examples are from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Pokemon, and Hunchback of Notre Dame

II.                   1^st Body Paragraph

a.       Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers- introduce scene (Legolas mounting his horse from the front of the horse while it’s in motion)

b.       With every action, there must be an opposite reaction—explain how this mount is impossible

III.                 2^nd Body Paragraph

a.       Pokemon- anytime Team Rocket “blasts off again” (different times where they blasted off into the sky)

b.       Most times they “blast off again”, it’s not from something that would have been equal in magnitude

IV.                 3^rd Body Paragraph

a.       Hunchback of Notre Dame—much of the film is dramatic and serious, but when there are action scenes, things tend to get cartoonish. During Esmeralda’s escape at the Feast of Fools-- guy on stilts kicks the groins of five guards, launching them into the air; stilt guy’s pants get pulled down, guard gets caught in them and flung back into the sky; Esmeralda “Frisbees” a helmet at a wooden post, cutting it in half

b.       All of these “stunts” are not correct actions/reactions

V.                  Conclusion

Reverse Video Reference

I attempted to recreate certain walk cycle animations-- this proved to be more of a challenge than I thought!

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

In order to make this stop-motion animation, I took photos of my lobster plushie and a ball on the floor of my kitchen. I planned out my animation and shot around a dozen photos of it, adjusting the ball and Eduardo (my lobster) as needed. I then compiled it in Windows Movie Maker. I've done a little stop motion before but it's been a while and it was fun to see this little experiment come to life.

The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

           If you’ve ever watched a Disney cartoon featuring Goofy, you know you’re in for some slapstick humor. The world of “A Goofy Movie” is very similar to the animated world of a classic Goofy cartoon. While the characters generally obey basic laws of gravity, there are also a lot of things that the film gets away with for the sake of humor. “A Goofy Movie” is about Goofy taking his teenage son Max on a cross-country fishing trip to bond with him because Goofy fears growing apart from his son. Thus begins this charming musical journey of a father and son reconnecting, but since it’s a movie starring Goofy, it can’t be too grounded in its physical realism.

               As all animation students know, the principle of “squash and stretch” is a very necessary tool to prevent an animated piece from looking too stiff but while retaining the volume of a character or object. In “A Goofy Movie” many objects are stretched beyond their physical capacities, and in many instances, what should have been a fatal accident is merely a humorous slapstick incident. At the beginning of the film, Max oversleeps and is woken to his dad barging into his room to vacuum. Goofy sees that Max’s room is a mess and starts to vacuum up everything on the floor—this includes large objects like clothing that could never fit through a vacuum nozzle. It all gets sucked up without an issue, which couldn’t happen in our world, but works for comedic effect in animation. Later in the film, when Goofy is pitching a tent he is interrupted by the arrival of his neighbor Pete’s huge trailer. The trailer sets up its many features as soon as it’s parked, which includes blades that shoot out to clear trees out of the area, a deck that swings out with everything (including drinks, chairs, and flower pots) all set up, an already filled hot tub which bursts out of the side, a basketball court, a rooftop bowling alley, and an entire pool which is also already filled. All of this is automatically set up in a matter of seconds. Not only could most of the objects not fit inside a trailer, but things like water would never stay contained in something like a hot tub or pool when “folded” back up and not in use. It would be amazing if a trailer like this could exist in our world, but it simply cannot. 

At the end of the film, when Max and Goofy return home, Max stops by his crush Roxanne’s house while Goofy works on some car repairs. While Max and Roxanne are talking on the porch, the car that Goofy is working on explodes, rocketing him into Roxanne’s roof. Goofy is perfectly fine and he and Roxanne shake hands in greeting. If this happened in our world, Goofy would never have survived that explosion or the impact into the roof (he also likely would not have arced into the roof in that manner)—it works for animated slapstick purposes. However, there is another moment near the end of the film where Goofy almost goes down a waterfall and he and Max react as though he is in real peril, which suggests that despite all of the slapstick humor and “low-stakes” stunts in the film, things such as terminal velocity still exist in this animated world.

               There are many cases in “A Goofy Movie” where characters defy gravity. Near the beginning of the film, Max tries to impress Roxanne by dressing as their pop idol Powerline and dancing to one of his hit songs. He swings from a rope at one point, arcing over the heads of the student assembly, doing twists and even dunking a basketball through a hoop. In our reality, his weight wouldn’t allow him to do so many stunts, swing that distance, or arc in such a way. 

During a montage later in the film, Max and Goofy attend a ballgame and when Goofy tries to catch a foul ball, he falls over the balcony, gets caught on a wire, and is dragged down to the dugout where he has time to get a player to sign the foul ball, before rocketing back up to Max safely. Were this to happen in real life, it would likely be fatal and Goofy certainly wouldn’t have enough time to have a baseball signed. Because this is a light-hearted montage, we believe that Goofy will be okay and survive these incidents, which is much different than the emotional high stakes near the end of the film. At one point in the movie, Goofy and Max get into a fight over map directions and while they’re out of the car arguing, their car starts to roll down the winding road around the Grand Canyon. This leads to many antics of the two characters trying to catch up to their car including opening doors as it moves, Max riding his skateboard under the car to get to the open door on the other side, the car itself running off the road onto an unfolding thin steel road barrier and then bouncing from rock to rock until it arcs into the river below with Max and Goofy on top of it. If this were to happen in our reality, Max and Goofy would never have caught up to their car and if they did, they would not have survived the journey down into the river below. Since the car followed the cartoony rules of “squash and stretch” it also wasn’t crushed on the rocks during its descent, and the animators changed how it fell into a more pleasing arc for the audience to watch. Realistically, this would have ended with the car smashing into one rock and then tumbling into the waters below, instead of bouncing from boulder to boulder before arcing from a boulder into the river. Despite these crazier moments of the film disobeying the laws of gravity and the correct weight of objects, there are moments in the film where weight does work correctly. For example, when Max and Goofy enter one of their motel rooms, they jump onto the water beds which could have been really over-exaggerated in the animation, but the way the beds shift underneath them is actually pretty believable.

               Finally, there is Goofy’s “perfect cast”, which is demonstrated a couple times during the film and deserves to be examined in its own section. Goofy first shows Max how to do the “perfect cast” at a lake while camping. Goofy does a lot of spinning in the air with the fishing line twirling around him—it does not tangle at all, which it would in real life. When Goofy finally arcs the pole backwards, the line flies all the way from the lakebed to Pete’s grill where it snags a steak. It is somehow able to be arced back in a similar fashion but with the heavy weight of the steak now attached to the line, which wouldn’t happen in our world. The line flies back over Goofy’s head all the way to the other side of the lake and lands with the steak still on the hook. The other performance of the “perfect cast” happens in the dramatic scene near the end of the film when Goofy is truly in peril. Max and Goofy were drifting in the river on their trashed car when the water starts rushing as they approached a waterfall. Goofy finds safety on a log by the river and snags the car with Max still on top of it with his fishing line. When this inevitably doesn’t hold, Max is saved by the fabric on the underside of the car becoming a makeshift parachute (which certainly wouldn’t hold his weight in a non-animated world). Goofy, trying to rescue Max, ends up back in the river and he goes over the falls. Max then has to make the “perfect cast” in order to save his falling dad. Not only does he have time to cast it (along with all the necessary spins) but the line doesn’t tangle, the line somehow reaches all the way down the falls to catch Goofy, the fishing line doesn’t break, and the makeshift parachute is able to hold both Max and Goofy’s weight. Needless to say, neither one of them could have survived this situation in real life and the “perfect cast” is more like the “impossible cast”, but in this animated world it made for a very emotional and tense scene.

               “A Goofy Movie” has many impossible moments in it, but it makes good use of its slap-stick animated world. It does not follow many laws of physics, especially when it comes to gravitational forces affecting certain weights and terminal velocity (except when it was a real threat during the dramatic climax of the film), but these laws are broken for a purpose. The creators intentionally broke them to add to the comedic value of the film and to support the “goofy” world that these characters exist in. I am incredibly charmed by this movie, and I was delighted to examine its improbable physics. 

Outline of the First Term Paper

The Laws of Physics in A Goofy Movie

I.                     Introduction

a.       Introduce “A Goofy Movie”

b.       Hypothesis: The physics in the “Goof Troop” world of “A Goofy Movie” are very different than our reality.

II.                   Squash and Stretch—Objects being stretched beyond their physical capabilities or characters surviving fatal accidents

a.       Goofy vacuuming up large objects in Max’s room—the nozzle wouldn’t be able to handle objects that size or be able to suck them up so quickly

b.       Pete’s huge RV, setting up all sorts of equipment—the porch bursts out with intact flower pots/tables, the hot tub bursts out already filled, etc

c.       The car explosion one, not killing Goofy, and two, arcing him into the roof of Roxanne’s house

d.       Max and Goofy are both truly terrified at the prospect of Goofy tumbling down the falls, showing that even though this film is primarily slapstick, rules of terminal velocity remain more or less intact

III.                 Balance and Weight- Objects or characters defying gravity

a.       Max swinging from rope for his Powerline dance number in front of the school— his weight wouldn’t be supported by it or at least he wouldn’t be arcing in that way

b.       Goofy at the ball game—falls from balcony while trying to catch a foul ball and is caught on a wire, continues to plummet down to dugout where a player has enough time to sign the ball, and then Goofy is rocketed back up from the wire back to his seat

c.       Runaway car scene—many antics with Goofy and Max keeping up with the car and the car balancing on a thin steel road barrier, bouncing from rock to rock, and arcing into the river

d.       The way the water beds in the inn react to the weight of the characters is pretty accurate

IV.                 “The Perfect Cast”- This is a special section for Goofy’s “perfect cast” that he demonstrates to Max (and that Max later casts himself)

a.       The demonstration cast—Goofy twirls the line around him multiple times as he spins getting the launch of the cast ready (it doesn’t tangle at all). When he arcs it backwards it flies all the way over to Pete’s grill, snags a steak, is able to drag the steak back with it as it’s swung back, and lands with the attached steak on the other side of the lake.

b.       Goofy in peril—the whole scene can be examined—first, Max is in peril, Goofy is able to stop the car with the fishing line, Max has a makeshift parachute from parts of the car. Then when Goofy is in peril, Max casts “the perfect cast”—line doesn’t tangle, the line goes on seemingly endlessly and catches a plummeting Goofy, his weight is supported by the fishing line, and the makeshift parachute successfully holds them both up

V.                  Conclusion

a.       Our world versus a slapstick animated one

b.       The laws are intentionally broken for comedic value and to support the “toony” world these characters exist in

Video Analysis of Path of Action

Five Jumps

Single Jump

Tracker Video Analysis of Falling

Hopefully it's cool that I didn't have a bouncing object?

Shooting Video Reference

Here's the photo breakdown of the very reliable "Fourth Down at Half-time" rule.

And the video of me trying to catch a ball.

Mini-Portfolio

Hey, my name is Marie Dal Porto and I'm an Animation/Illustration student. I hope to focus on storyboarding and perhaps character design. I just started my third year in the program, and I'm really excited to move forward! I haven't taken any science classes here, as I'm a transfer student, but I've always gravitated towards biology/animal studies when it comes to science courses.
This semester I am also taking ANI 113B (also known as the "tree painting class"), ANI 115 (short film animation project), and RTVF 110 (Media and Culture).

Here are a few examples of my work:

A fun collaboration piece I did for a GISHWHES (Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen) prompt. 

A page from my school portfolio of figure studies.

My ANI 51B (Intro to Computer Animation) demo reel

The First Post

Hey, this is just a placeholder post! Excited to start this Physics of Animation Class!

Here's a photo of my dog.