LookingOutwards-05 – Page 2 – [OLD FALL 2018] 15-104 • Introduction to Computing for Creative Practice

Austin Treu – Looking Outwards 05

In this post, I would like to highlight 3D graphics in general, referencing a few projects throughout. If you were to graph the speed of technological progress in the last century, I’m sure it would look like some sort of exponential function. Disney Pixar’s Toy Story was the world’s first animated movie featuring 3D graphics. While it was technologically impressive for its time, the animation from that movie looks incredibly primitive today to anyone’s eyes. Compare that to something like Avengers: Infinity War. While it uses human actors with motion capture, nearly everything in that movie is animated using computer-generated graphics. The resolution, textures and shading are so good that they can make these extraordinary scenes and events seem as real as the movie’s actors. And this is just in a period of 23 years! I cannot imagine how far we’ll go in the next 23! Currently we can animate things to look real enough to trick our eyes into thinking something presented to us in a VR headset is real, but this is just the advent of VR. Progressing with these sorts of graphics capabilities presents a fascinating picture for the future. We could have movies that take place around us that are so realistic that it’s impossible to tell them from reality. Maybe they could even be able to generate graphics around the viewers and involve them in the action. Whatever happens, the result of the future of 3D graphics will be fascinating.

Jisoo Geum – Looking Outwards 05 – 3D Computer Graphics

INTANGIBLE MATTER 2016

By Lucy Hardcastle

work: https://lucyhardcastle-thefifthsense.i-d.co/en_gb/

Intangible Matter is a browser-based interactive motion graphic created by Lucy Hardcastle, which recreates a visceral experience of the Chanel perfume No.5 L’Eau.

For this particular project, Hardcastle collaborated with web/content developers, sound artists, and animators who work with software such as Javascript, Maya, Adobe programs, and etc. What I admire the most about this project is its full utilization of every possible artistic element in the creation of the final browser. The web form allows people to interact with the content physically, while visually engaging them with grandeur motion graphics. In addition, the sound embedded in every theme brings the audience even further to the experience. While Hardcastle’s artistic sensibilities are best represented in the visual rendering of texture and intangible experiences, I believe that the interactive feature of the final art form – how users have to click and complete every task to move further – works as a powerful element that makes this project unique.

YingyingYan – LookingOutwards-05

Closer view of the 3D world Tomer created

Somerset Isle is a 3D rendering project done by an environment artist from Vancouver, Tomer Meltser. He got his inspiration from the world heritage site Chew Jetty in Malaysia. The project includes a walkthrough video and a series of images from the rendering. Most of the items he used in the render can be found in the ArtStation website.

The faded background creates an interesting atmosphere.

I was looking at a list of 3D renderings drawings, the spatial atmosphere in Tomer’s image totally caught my attention. The environment he created is very dreamy, has a sense of unrealistic yet realistic at the same time. It is conflicting, but that’s the feeling I got from looking at this project. I know 3D artists use Rhino, Vray, AutoCAD, Photoshop and other software that I am using in the studio right now. But Tomer totally made a new world with all the software! Those tools are so much more powerful than I thought. Maybe he’s 3D graphic did not involve any algorithm, and does not fit the Looking Outward requirement this week. Yet, I think the drawings he made are super cool, so I feel the need to share this.

Somerset Isle | Environment Reel 2018 from Tom Meltser on Vimeo.

Lan Wei-LookingOutwards-05

The project is called When Leaving Becomes Arriving and the video is an excerpt of it. It was done by Rebecca Ruige Xu (Director/ Computer Graphics), Sean Hongsheng Zhai (Computer Graphics) and Nicolas Scherzinger (Music) in 2015. The softwares used are Processing and Max/MSP.

What fascinates me of the project is that the graphic style is like a pencil painting on paper but the effect is with depth in it. Maybe because of my architecture background, the spatial effects in computer graphics always interest me a lot. The dynamic effect is also very successful with the patterns popping up and fainting away. The graphic has some relationships with the music but I feel like it also has its own logic. So I guess the graphic has some parameters controled by the music and at the same time has randomness.

Looking Outwards-05 3D Computer Graphics-Veronica Wang

This is a project by Saatchi & Saatchi IS in Poland. It’s a series of advertising/branding illustrations for Nobile Sports in Poland, and the dotted line in each image represents the pattern on their surfboards. I think it’s a clever idea and the graphics of the miniature scenes were very nice.

The illustrations were done using Cinema4D, and they modeled each element in the software for rendering and color is added later on.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/51225177/Nobile

Rjpark – Looking Outwards 05

Image of Kawaguchi’s 3D Computer Graphic

The 3D computer graphics I chose were made by Yoichiro Kawaguchi, an international computer artist from Japan. He creates a lot of graphic art that has soft, fluid shapes and forms and he gains his inspiration from patterns in seashells and spiraling plants. You can see a lot of that in his art; each shape/object has a circular, spiral pattern within it. I admire the fact that although his work is random and chaotic – placement of shapes is random and shape sizes are different – in a sense, there’s consistency and similarity too, mainly due to the patterns within these shapes. It’s both hectic and peaceful to look at. In terms of the algorithm, he imitated growth patterns from seashells and plants using a function/technology called “metaballs”, which produces organic-looking n-dimensional objects.

Yoichiro Kawaguchi

Nina Yoo Looking Outwards -05 Section E

Mohammed Chahin-Road to Nowehere- August 20,2018

This project is really cute and something I would want to delve into because even though the subject looks as it if was more cartoony it actually has harsh edges and highlights to give it a more 3d generated or mechanical feel. The image generated provides a more realistic version of a 2d image causing the viewer to be tricked into thinking of the image more as an object or more able to be within their realm of “space”. The algorithm that is generated most likely entails that there are variables that need to be calculated for the highlights and shadows to work precisely where they are supposed to be because if not then the 3d image would look more 2d than 3d. The artist itself was able to incorporate their own style of art by adding these cute designs instead of aiming for hyperrealism, which is effective in 3d designs, but this artist proves there can also be 3d depth in more imaginary characters.

Daniel Teague – Looking Outwards 05 – 3D Computer Graphics

Title: Guilty Gear

Creator: Daisuke Ishiwatari

Latest releases: 2016 and 2017

While I am aware the prompt asked us to refrain from using video games for this post, I chose this video game title for two reasons: I was actually introduced to this title by my younger brother, and the interesting interaction of 2D and 3D models and styles within the latest versions of the franchise.

As previously stated, I was introduced to this title by my younger brother. Both he and I are big video game fans, but we tend to stick to our respective genres: FPS and strategy games for me, and RPGs and fighting games for him. Guilty Gear falls into the latter category, and so naturally gained the attention of my brother. Normally this would mean I would have little interest in the title, but watching him play it, I was intrigued by something. As one can see from the top picture, the game typically appears in what looks like a 2D format. Most fighting games nowadays, like most video games, use a 3D format. When I noted this, my brother corrected me, saying that, in actuality, the game was 100% 3D. As I was confused by this, he proceeded to show me how the seemingly 2D character models were in fact complete 3D models, a fact which became immediately apparent when certain moves were made or events were triggered.

This setup of 3D models in a semi-2D style absolutely fascinated me and my brother, especially in relation to anime, another media form we’re both fans of and which has often used 2D formats but recently begun using 3D as well. Many have disliked some of the 3D adaptations or additions to classic anime shows, and my brother and I agreed that the use of styles such as the type found in the latest Guilty Gear games would allow for flexibility in areas like anime that wish to both retain the “traditional” 2D format while taking advantage of the possibilities 3D offers.

This graphic style apparently involves special modeling and artistic rendering, as it takes special effort to make the 3D models look 2D from certain angles only. This likely means that special algorithms are used which keep the “camera” or viewpoint fixed in certain positions until any one of various events are triggered, or special care is required to change how the models look from different perspectives. Considering the game seems to be partially developed in Japan, where anime traditionally comes from, it seems likely that many of the artists involved in the games creation had some experience in both 2D and 3D rendering.

Anthony Ra – Looking Outwards 05

Coco – Behind the scenes

Pixar Animation Studio is recognized as one of the leading producers in animation films and design computer graphics. One of their most recent projects I want to look at is “Coco”. Coco goes beyond just the CG animation in their work and instead used VFX (visual effects).

Within this movie, one of the clips of the behind the scenes I found is the computer graphics of the movement of cloth in skeletons. Using a series of meshes, graphic artists simulate those clothing on the skeletal characters.

However, the designers issued that the problem is that skeletons are made up of really tiny bones, and because the control points have to match for the clothes and bones, the movement would make some of the bones see through from the clothes. This basically looks like clothes sinking into the cracks of the bones like something falling in quicksand.

Their solution is a concept called continuous collision detection, where meshes detect all the collisions of selected objects. This works even if the object is moving really fast, which is prevalent is any characters in animation movies.

Hunky-Dunky Creative Studio

Hunky Dunky is a creative design studio based in Spain, that specializes in 3D art and animation.

Animation from Summer Diary collection

I am completely mesmerized by this studio’s animation and design style. This design studio uses a combination of rendering and illustration techniques. Rendering is the process of adding shading, texture, and color to a drawing that creates a realistic form. Using rendering software, which is a hardware based process, 2D images become 3D.

Rendering from Summer Diary Collection

The artists, 3D Artist Yonito Tanu and Art Director Jessica Chapiness, refer to their medium as CGI. CGI is computer generated imagery which refers to a non-static image, such as the dynamic animation we see in CGI rendered movies. This dynamic form of CGI relies on algorithms that triangulate surfaces, often based on fractal algorithms that recursively zoom in further to smaller triangles.

In in interview with ballpitmag, the artists stated that they intend on “creating surreal worlds we wish to live in.” With their use of color, form, and hyper-realism- the artists have definitely drawn viewers into their surreal world.

See more of their work here: http://www.hunky-dunky.com/