Butterfly Flocking System
For this project I was assigned the task of creating an innovative piece of work within Computer Animation. The aim of this project was to experiment with new ideas and methods, and to learn more about an area of Computer Animation of interest to me. My project was a state machine flocking system of butterflies created using MEL (Maya Embedded Language). This report explains the processes I went through to create my final piece, with references to the research and design.
The Simulation of the Aging Process and Implementing Wrinkles in Computer Animation
This report discusses the physical process of aging, including the structure of the skin and wrinkle formation. Research into different approaches using the aging process in computer graphics is documented. The report proposes a tool designed for Maya using MEL scripting that allows a user to apply wrinkles or other textures, as layered bump maps, to selected faces. Further applications and future ideas are also discussed.
Low Poly Lip-Sync
Facial animation has traditionally been a difficult subject in computer animation. Good results are difficult, so game developers typically shy away from putting lip-sync in games. However with the increasing realism coming from today’s workstation quality graphics accelerators and the next generation of consoles, it is an area which needs to be addressed.
Natural Processes
Working with an external commission to produce abstaract work based on architecture surface cracking was investigated and modelled using mel.
Innovations
Behavioural systems are amazing ways of representing flocks of animals or simply one animal’s behaviour. This project aims to create a different behavioural system to the ones existing by attempting to mimic the behaviour of dogs and bouncing balls. The report will explain briefly the research into the behaviour of dogs. It will also cover important aspects of a behavioural system such as the state engine, field of view, and collision detection. The system has been written in MEL for use in Maya and the report will also explain the use of expressions in the system.