Dynamics

Within the film there were a number of scenes which would require dynamic simulations.

This includes the title scene, which was there to simulate rocks and sticks being shaken in a pan.

I made simple shapes and moved them into place to spell out the title of the film.

These are to represent sticks and rocks tht would have been taken from the stream.

I thought with would be a nice way to show the titles of the film, as it ties in with story and theme.
I used basic textures to make them look slightly more like rocks and sticks. And added a dirty bronze texture to the pan. To make it look heavy used, rather than clean and new. Then added a bump map to show detail.

To stick with this i wanted to show the objects moving when the pan was shaken. This was fairly simple to do. I just had to make the pan a passive rigid body and the objects within it active rigid bodies. i then had to apply a force which would cause them to move. For this i used Gravity. This meant that the objects were being affected by the scene . and as such would move when hit by the pan. I had to animated the pan moving, this then made the effect i wanted. The main issue with this however was weighting the objects correctly so they were natural. I struggled with this, but after trail and error i was left with a scene i was happy with.

(See Tech folder- Titles Simulation)


Water Plants

The opening shot of the film is set underwater. For this i wanted to have plants that would move around. as if affected by a current. I started with very basic shapes for these.

I then had to make joints, with an ik handle, that would make the plants move.

Because i wanted the plants to be floppy i added lots of individual joints.

As you can see here they bend nicely, and help give the illusion of the plants moving naturally.

Joints buy them selves would not move.

Rather than having to animate each plant moving separately, i decided to have them affected by dynamics.

i made this choice as i felt i would be able to get a much more realistic look. As i am not a confident animator.

Joints are not affected by forces or dynamics. So i had to make a hair system which is affected. i then had to connect the hair system to the joints. This meant that the joints would follow the hair curves. And therefore now be affected by the dynamics.

See technical folder. Underwater shot for final piece.

Im actually very happy with the movement. i feel it looks natural. There is no way i would have been able to get the same results by animating the plants. i dont think i could do much more to make it look better to be honest.

I didnt really find much useful reference. that looked like the storyboard. so had to do it based on what i wanted it to look like.

With this image i was able to see how the plants should at least bend.

this lead me to add extra joints to my plant rig.

Plants moving underwater.

A fluid simulation to show a waterfall.