Time and Patience, a Preview

As our final project in Animation this year, we were tasked with creating an animation based on the concept of time. As much as I love going along with the crowd [/sarcasm], I had some other plans, so I had to work the time animation into my greater scheme.

My grand plan for the end of this year and next was to create a full stop motion film, but I'll explore that a little more later. Given the very finite amount of time I had to get such a project done this year, I decided to make it my primary goal next year instead, and build a trailer for it using the last bit of time I had this year. In order to work in the time animation (which I built later) I decided to create a calendar to show the passage of time during a particular scene in the trailer. I use a calendar to show the passing of several months. Unfortunately, the fact remains that the trailer is unfinished. Like Primitive, it has a number of promising tests and almost all its assets in order, but not enough time to complete it. Despite these shortfalls, I am still possession of a number of promising test shots and early parts of the trailer. It's rather ironic how an animation about time ended with me running out of time to complete it in its entirety. What I still accomplished was more along the lines of what the project originally intended, and I'm glad it turned out as well as it did.

This was the final result of the calendar animation. Many of the days shown carry some personal significance, from my sister's birthday to one or two date-related pop culture references (5th of November anyone?). It was created using the page turn effect in After Effects. While this aspect of the program did some of the heavy lifting, it still required some elegance to make everything work adequately. Parts like the depth of the drop shadow and the details of the page turn effect itself  are most notable among these.

These are two characters from next year's project. The image is a pose test meant to see how well I can articulate a pose for each. One can see a slight difference in their posture, with the one on the left being more formal and reserved, while the one one the right stands in a more brash and aggressive pose. as the project will have minimal to no dialogue, expression and body language will be everything.

Above is the trailer's first scene, the main character farming. While it doesn't appear too exciting (and it really isn't without more context) it effectively illustrates a rough cut of how the characters in this animation will move. Once more assets are in place, the set will have small strings of fishing line attached to key character points to move them into positions they wouldn't be able to hold themselves in otherwise. This idea of rigging is used by many stop motion animators, and serves them well in creating dynamic and moveable characters. 

But back to the necessary concept of time, and how it will be used. Time will pay a pivotal role in the main film. Time changes people to make them think in ways they otherwise wouldn't. Time alters its hosts both physically and mentally, and is a driving force throughout the universe, as well as society itself. the most important aspect here is one of change, and whether even the most hateful and spiteful beings can learn to forget their feelings of hate. My project will explore that theme through the eyes of a soldier involved in a conflict similar to the First World War. Throughout the film, his time with an enemy family will change his perception of the world, and of the war. The calendar animation earlier chronicles that change in time, and will be expanded and changed for the much larger project.

In short, next year's project began with these simple tests and a single calendar. the concept of time is often a vital one in storytelling, representing change, both in society and in ourselves. I'm glad I had the chance to get a jump start on this exciting new project this year, and I look forward to bringing this project to you next year. In the meantime though, I'll be sure to keep you all updated on some smaller stuff, as well as some professional projects. I'll see you all soon.

Hello loyal viewers! Responsive Web Design is an approach to web design aimed at creating an optimal viewing experience. Things like a page adjusting to fit a phone size when looking it up on your phone. This approach has grown in recent years due to the exponential increase in smartphones and tablets, making it necessary to have responsive web design to fit the smaller screens. This is done using a media query, a CSS rule that adjusts the site given the screen size. Breakpoints are also used. These breakpoints are a means of acquiring knowledge about a program during execution.
I did a search for best responsive websites, the one I found was accroachcode.com. It was drastically different given certain width while still maintaining a charming look.

This is a screenshot of the website at desktop view. At the top it has a menu, banner, and a link to a project list. Below that is the main home page graphic. Below that is two text columns detailing the site's information.

Not much is different down on tablet size except the complete exclusion of the header area. The menu, banner, etc. have all vanished. All that remains of the header is the logo.

The mobile phone size is drastically different. The header has now completely disappeared, and the main home image has moved below the main text. The area below that is now down to only one column.

Hello loyal viewers! I have a question for you all. When you access the internet and visit a website, do you use a desktop or smartphone? The number of mobile users has been increasing almost exponentially over the past several years. In 2014, the number of mobile users overtook the number of desktop users. For my school's website alone, mobile viewings have more than doubled over the past two years. Desktop viewings of the school website have fallen by over 30% over those past two years. The interesting thing comes from the times that each spends on the school site. According to this year's statistics, desktop viewers spent an average of two minutes and nineteen seconds on the site, with a 41.53% Bounce Rate (Possibility of viewing only one page before exiting site). Mobile viewers, on the other hand, spent an average of one minute and twenty eight seconds on the site with a 56.68% Bounce Rate. This information points to the fact that mobile users most likely go to a site to retrieve only a little information, while desktop viewers actually take more time to view the site.


Sources: http://www.cnbc.com
http://www.smartinsights.com
http://www.onwravens.net

Hello loyal viewers! I've been very busy over the past week working on this blog. Among the new features and edits are the favicon, view counter, translation software, labels ,font, and new style overall. Each of these new additions is explained more in depth below.

 The first new addition is the creation of a new favicon for the search bar. This allows the blog to appear more professional, as well as provide a slight idea of the site's content.

I also made some big additions to the sidebar. First, I added a translate button for all those nonexistent international viewers. I then added a view counter, so all of my loyal viewers can see how many other loyal viewers have checked out the blog. A description of the blog was added below that. Finally, I added some labels to several posts, so that my projects can be sorted through, and viewed with relative ease.

I made some serious changes to the blog's look overall, most notably, a change in the background color from white to blue. I also changed the font color to better fit with the background. I added a new Quotation of Power (They change every once in a while, so stay tuned for occasional Josh knowledge). And finally, I added a new banner image to match the favicon. I hope you all enjoy the new additions and I keep you coming back.

Hello loyal viewers! Today I have a question, what would be the coolest superpower ever? Cartoon logic! Or, as we animators call it, the plausible impossible. This video contains several fun examples of this.

1. When Donald first opens the door, Gus hits him repeatedly with his umbrella. As he does this, you hear a clanking sound similar to banging two pots together. Now, I've been hit with an umbrella, and my head doesn't sound like that. Hopefully no one's head does. But, under the circumstances, this seems quite possible. Think about a head, especially the head of someone whose intellect you wouldn't exactly compliment. You may joke about their head being hollow. This exact logic applies to a cartoon you may not think of as smart, like Donald.

2. Another example comes when Gus rushes into the house to eat. Gus hits the chair and his body appears to vibrate, similar to a guitar string. It's as if he has rubber bones. Under the circumstances though, it kind of makes sense. Gus hits the chair with a tremendous amount of force. And as we all know, if you hit something hard enough, it's going to vibrate.

3. After Gus finishes the corn, he moves on to the meat and bread. He takes a pile in each hand, then shuffles them like cards. As funny as this is, it isn't possible to just shuffle bread and meat, no matter how good of a shuffler you are. But, in a way, this does make sense. Bread and meat are both flexible, and who says you may not be able to compact them and shuffle them.

4. A fourth example comes when Gus starts on the spaghetti. From his coat he grabs two needles and proceeds to knit the spaghetti into a sock, before slurping it down his throat. Spaghetti isn't strong enough to be knitted into a sock. It would snap under it's own weight. But, since spaghetti closely resembles string, and is in many ways similar, Gus may just have what he needs to knit it into a sock.

5. Finally, a moment comes when Gus uses a loaf of bread to soak up a mug of coffee. It does this in a fashion similar to a pipet, and much faster than a sponge. Bread, even though it can absorb water, cannot do so in such a manner. But, since it is somewhat absorbent, it can be assumed that it can soak up water.

Keyframes in AfterEffects

Original Drawing of Animation