良いお年を！

Hello!!!!!  This will be the last post I write for 2010.  How has everyone's year been?  Mine has been fabulous for the most part. :)

National Museum, S'pore (Pompeii Exhibit)

Japanese Creative Centre, Spore (manga exhibit)

I've completed a one year diploma course in 3D Animation and Visual Effects, got a job within 2 weeks of completing my final project, visited Hong Kong and Japan, attended my first concert in approximately ten years, got myself a new obsession, began new projects, finished old projects, made new friends, strengthen old relationships,visited lots of museums in Singapore, took lots of fun photos, ate lots of great and interesting food,

Paradise Dynasty - multi-flavoured Xiao Long Bao

 learnt lots of cool stuff.... (video - zbrush modelling project for school)

Yeah... it was a good year. :)

Victoria Habour, Hong Kong

 Due to the heavy workload in the first half of my diploma course, I found it near impossible to do anything meaningful on this blog at all in the first half of 2010 and it is with some regret that I did not manage to document any of my trip to Hong Kong.  I did shoot lots of photos of food though and ate my favourite roast pigeon in Hong Kong.

Roast Pigeon, Hong Kong

I only wished that I knew that my pay-per-use roaming had been turned off before I left Singapore so that I could have turned it on and updated via mobile blog at least once a day.

So just to commemorate my trip to Hong Kong so that I do not forget about it in the years to come, here is a quick and short write up. :)  I visited Hong Kong from the 12th - 15th July 2010.  I went there with 11 other classmates from my diploma class during our term break before we began our specialization term.

While in Hong Kong, I visited Victoria Peak and Ocean Park for the very first time.

Victoria Peak, Hong Kong

Ocean Park, Hong Kong

My previous other trip to Hong Kong was more than 10 years ago when I was an obsessed HK film fan and that trip was mostly concentrated around eating, shopping for HK films and TVB dramas and a visit to an old a dear friend who was then stationed in HK for work purposes.  On this trip, I met YTSL a fellow blogger and Asia film fan, whom I had not met for years and years and years.  We had dinner and watched a really funny HK film called La Comedie Humaine.  It was cool. :)

wanton noodles, Hong Kong

Aside from eating lots of Hong Kong food like awesome wanton noodles, Hong Kong will also need to be remembered for making me obsessed with going to Japan to catch Kalafina in concert. :)

While in Hong Kong, while we were making our way about the city using the subway system, I saw an ad for a Kalafina concert to be held in Hong Kong.  Now at that time, I was just becoming quite obssessed with Kajiura Yuki's music again.

Kalafina HK concert Ad, subway, HK

 After watching Noir in 2002, I had began to fall in love with Kajiura's music and that was further cemented by my love of her work in the .hack series and the Mai Hime series and sequels.  However, the lack of availability and the prohibitive cost of Japanese soundtrack cds in Singapore lead me to lose touch with her music and I listening to mostly techno/electronica fusion classical music, bossa nova, folk, country, classical music, Chinese pop music etc for a while before I began studying the Japanese language about 2 years ago.

postcard received w/cd purchase at concert

I decided sometime late last year that since I would not have very much time to study the Japanese language due to the extremely heavy workload for the diploma course, that the best way for me to try and keep in touch with the language as much as possible was to immerse myself with as much Japanese entertainment as possible.  So aside from watching Japanese dramas only for a while, I also started to listen only to Japanese music and started first with my Zard obsession when all I was listening to was Zard, then mixed in with lots of Utada Hikaru and finally, I revisited Kajiura Yuki after listening to some Kalafina music namely Hikari no Senritsu, Storia and Iirica while looking for more music to listen to.  Hahahaha... so I am slow... for some reason, it didn't occur to me to look for more Kajiura music first because I had forgotten that she also writes open and end themes for anime, not just lyric-less soundtrack music.



cds purchased in HK

small card received at concert

To cut a long story short, I loved Hikari no Senritsu, Storia and Iirica and virtually everything that I could get my hands on that was Kalafina and FictionJunction and Kajiura Yuki. :)  Still, I never really thought about going to a concert till I saw that ad in Hong Kong.  It then dawned on me how close and yet how very far it was for me to attend that concert.  The concert was only a few weeks away in August 2010 but I was already in Hong Kong in the middle of July with no realistic hope of attending the concert in August.  It also dawned on me that the last concert I had attended was more than 10 years ago when I saw Faye Wong (one of my previous obsessions :) ) live in Las Vegas.  This crazy desire to go to Kalafina's concert in December began to take root in my head and by September, I think, I had already began concrete plans to attend the concert in December.  The trip was meant to be my present to myself and in order to make this present mean something to me, I worked damn hard at finishing my reel by my personal deadline so that this trip would really be a celebration of a good end to what had been a very tiring year in school.

concert program

scan fr. concert program

In the end, I am glad I was in Hong Kong and I am glad I saw that Kalafina ad because that ad put in place a series of events that led me to Japan again, a country I had not intended to visit till perhaps 2011.  Not only did I love the Kagayaku Sora no Shijima ni wa (輝く空の静寂には) concert, the preparation to go to this concert led to my meeting old classmates and friends from the US and from work.  My second trip to Japan was FANTASTIC.  There were some hic-cups and a few frustrations but in the end, all I can remember is going to the concert with a very dear friend (thank you Danielle), meeting up with friends that I had not seen in ten years (Itsuko and Teiji), ex-colleagues whom I had not seen in 5 years (Koji) and 2 years (Manami) and having a ball of a time with Danielle, SY, Darlene and Christel.

onigiri & other snacks fr Family Mart

fish sperm

I also ate some strange stuff like fish sperm, visited a Maid Cafe, learnt "moe moe magic",  fell in love with Umeshu Soda, consumed enough onigiri to feed a small country and took lots of goofy photos.  Hahahaha... it was a good trip and I want to go back to Japan again.  :)




I'm happy I now have a job again.  Now I can start to seriously save again so that I can put some money away for the future and also to fund my trips and other obsessions.  =)  I'm seriously glad that I took up this diploma course too.  Yes, I know a lot of people thought I was crazy to ditch a perfectly good job to go back to school for an entire year and switch careers mid-way though my life.  But you know what?  If I didn't take advantage of the recession and reduction in earnings from my freelance work, if I didn't take advantage of the increase in government spending on subsided education for those looking to upgrade and do a mid-career switch, I would be the greater fool.  It was a risk and I am very happy that by the end of 2010, it proved to be a risk worth taking.

2010 was a great year.  It may not in the end become the greatest year in my life, fact is, I hope it doesn't because I want greater years to come.  I am greedy that way. :)  But what is certain is that 2010 was a very memorable year and a year I would like to remember for a very long time. :)

Here's to a great 2011, more good times, more good food, more fun trips, more safe journeys, more concerts, more good music, more success, more good health and more happiness.  I wish all my family, my friends and all who chance upon this blog the very best next year.  I wish you all much happiness, good health and good times. 良いお年を!!!   :)  I am off to make myself some Umeshu Soda to welcome the new year. :)

Japan trip 2 - aftermath 2

I still want to write up either one or a few proper posts about my trip to japan. But am still too tired after work and still trying to work out my currently too busy schedule to manage anything but mobile blog. Yesterday, i was still suffering badly from japan withdrawal. Hahaha... in the end i brought shinkansen girl, my newly bought kajiura soundtrack cd and a manga one of my friends had given me, to work. I bought the figure of the shinkansen girl on the odakyu train on the way to hakone. Kind of wish i bought one more on my back to see if i can get a different one or not. :) i was quite happy to find that i could read several panels of "toki wo kakeru shoujo", the manga my friend itsuko had given me. :) yay, i think my nihongo is improving. :) much as i am grateful and happy to get my new job, it's still been a huge adjustment for me. I've been working freelance or have held too many strange and flexible hour jobs for too long, that a fixed 10-7 job is proving to be harder for me to adjust to than i thought. I think, realistically speaking, i won't be able to adjust fully till sometime in jan or feb of next year after all the holidays are over and i can fully settle into the job. Very soon i'll get my first production shot to work on, i am both anxious and excited. :) wish me luck and hopefully i will have time and energy to write more about my 2nd trip to japan and also stick in a missing account of my trip to hong kong earlier this year. :)

Japan - trip 2 - aftermath 1

I'm now in a cab heading for work. I simply could not get up early enough for work this morning. I'm so missing japan now. Wished i had planned for a longer trip. Still, i know if i did i would probably not have been able to start my new job so fast after graduation or maybe i may not even get a new job that quickly. I suppose, you win some you lose some. The above is a photo of my breakfast this morning. AWESOME cup noodles from japan. I love japanese cup noodles. The texture is great and it doesn't feel all soft and lumpy like some of the brands in singapore. They also have interesting flavours. I wish i bought more but my luggage was getting heavy so i only got two. :( maybe next time i'll try and mail a whole carton home. :)

Japan trip 2 - day 6 - tadaima

Hi hi. I am back in singapore after another memorable trip to japan. Wish i didn't have to be back at work later today. I would like to watch my kalafina concert blu-ray which manami helped me buy. I think i'm going to be so stone at work later today. :) k, later y'all. :) maybe will try and write more about japan later today if i'm not too busy or if that dinner appointment i think i'm suppose to have doesn't happen. :)

Japan trip 2 - day 6 - part 3

Am now at narita airport waiting to board the plane home. I will miss you japan. I left so many experiences out in the blog. Hope to fill in the missing pieces like meetings with friends, the visit to the maid cafe etc. See you guys soon and i hope to be back again for either a kalafina or FictionJunction concert and to visit other parts of japan. For now it's back to working hard and saving hard for my next well deserved holiday. :)

Japan trip 2 - day 6 - part 2

We're currently on the Odakyu bound for Shinjuku. One of the things we were disappointed that we could not see yesterday was Mt. Fuji. However, we lucked out. :) The weather was so good, we got a good view of the snow capped peak of Mt. Fuji. :) :) you can barely see it in the photo above but it's there :) and we were very excited. Danielle and Cristel made so much noise as the shot photos of the mountain. It is a very beautiful mountain. :)

Japan trip 2 - day 6 - part 1

We woke up to a beautiful day in hakone today. Pity that it wasn't this clear yesterday because it was so misty, we couldn't see Mt. Fuji. We were thinking of waking up at 6am to see the stars this morning but we could not get up. The front desk clerk told us last night that we can see venus at the front of the hotel if we got up early but we all slept like pigs. So no venus and no morning onsen. :( now we're waiting for breakfast though. I am hungry. :):)

Japan trip 2 - day 5 - part 4

Today we went up to Owakudani to see the sulphuric fissure and eat onsen tamago. We also took a cable car ride down to Lake Ashi. Unfortunately it was so misty we could not see Mt. Fuji. :( the sun did come out to say hello on our way back and we got some nice photos. After we returned to Owakudani we had black ramen and did more shopping before returning to the ryokan for more onsen and a super awesome dinner. :)

Japan trip 2 - day 5 - part 3

It's another cold, misty and rainy day in hakone. We are preparing to leave the ryokan to spend the day exploring the area. I hope be able to find some local produce to buy for mum. We'll probably onsen tonight again. :)

Japan trip 2 - day 5 - part 2

This is our table all laid out for breakfast. Breakfast like last night's dinner was extremely tasty even though there were several strange things i think i've never eaten before. :)

Japan trip 2 - day 5 - part 1

Check out our futons all nicely laid out on the tatami mats. I loved it. It was so warm and comfortable and i slept sooooo well. Although i did have a wierd dream involving tiana, an old friend from the US, buying the Kokuhaku soundtrack and cockroaches. Hahaha... :)

Japan trip 2 - day 4 - part 4

Hi hi mum and dad, thanks for buying the the thermal for me. I'm using it now cuz it was kinda cold today. The pass few days in tokyo, i haven't been blogging much because we have been on the move so much. Will prob blog more while here in hakone and might try and catch up on some of the other days. :)

Japan trip 2 - day 4 - part 3

I'm in hakone!!! And it's awesome!! Ok it's raining and cold but it's beautiful. The place we are staying at feels very authentic. I love the smell of tatami mats. :) we made quite a sight making it here in a small mini bus which was packed with people. We were the only ones with tons of luggage and i was crushed under my own luggage, danielle and danielle's luggage. It was actually kind of funny. :)

Japan trip 2 - day 4 - part 2

Check that photo out. It looks so cold in hakone!!!

Japan trip 2 - day 4 - part 1

We are now on the train waiting for it to leave for hakone. Check out the rain on the window. We were lucky and had some great weather the past few days in tokyo. But today we woke up to a rainy and cold day. Still danielle and i left to do a quick shopping trip to get some christmas gifts for my niece. Then we had to rush back, check out and meet the others at shinjuku station to take the train to the hakone. :)

Japan trip 2 - day 3 - part 2

Today danielle and i explored shinjuku again. We went to buy some adaptors and then headed over to takashimaya square to look for tokyu hands. Itsuko, my old classmate from the states recommended it to us and we loved it. Then we met the others in ikebukuro and then headed over to akihabara for lunch. The above is a picture of a gashapon, capsule toy. I love these. :)

Japan trip 2 - day 3 - part 1

Good morning everyone. It's yet another lovely morning in japan. This is a photo i shot in shinjuku on the first day i reached japan. I'm currently still lazing in bed and still feeling all happy from yesterday's Kalafina concert and the dinner with my old classmates from the US. :) The only 美中不足 is that Kajiura Yuki, my favourite anime music, and perhaps even music composer, did not appear. It's a strange arrangement but Kalafina only exist because Kajiura put them together to sing the songs for the Kara on Kyoukai series of anime movies but she belongs to another label hence does not usually appear at their concerts. Kalafina has of course gained enough popularity to continuing singing enough songs to hold a concert, happily enough for me but if i want to see Kajiura perform in person and clap and yell out my appreciation, it will have to be at a FictionJunction concert. Yet another excuse to come to Japan again, hahaha... :) that and of course meeting my japanese friends again. Next time if i have a chance, i will try and arrange a trip that coincides with a kalafina or fictionJunction concert, then not only meet my friends who live in tokyo but also my friend who lives in gunma. Then also get those tickets to the ghibli museum so i can finally go see the place. okay, i'm going to try and kick danielle out of bed to kick start day 3 in japan. :)

Japan trip 2 - day 2 - part 3

Hello!! I lost count of whether this is part 2 or 3, if it is wrong I'll correct it when I get back. :)

It's pretty late in japan and I'm a little tired but I really want to say how much I enjoyed this concert.  Kalafina was AWESOME.  They sounded great and I had a fantastic time.

The also sang their new yet to be released song "magia" which although didn't sound perfect was still great.  It sounds different from most of their previous songs which is cool.  It also is a rockier song and the song that started the 9 song set which got everyone high.

They also announced that they will sing the theme, or ending theme song, for the 3rd season of a nhk docu. At least I think that is what they said as my japanese is a little limited. Lots of new music. So happy. :)

K, going to sleep now. :)  maybe will talk more about kalafina another day. :)  

Japan trip 2 - day 2 - part 2

This is a picture of the lemon cc hall in shibuya. The kalafina concert will be at this location later today at 430. Danielle and i came early to look for the place and then walked around a bit before we returned at 2 to buy t-shirts and the concert pamphlet. So exciting, my first concert in japan. :)

Japan trip 2 - day 2 - part 1

Good morning, :) it's lovely in japan today. Initially i thought i would update the blog last night but we got back really late so it was straight to bed for danielle and i. Last night we met manami for dinner and she took us to eat at yet another amazing sushi place. This place is in ebisu. We could not get into the one in Meguro as it was booked for a party. This is just one of the photos of the awesome sushi we ate. The chef was really funny too and we had a great time. As usual i took photos of virtually everything we ate except for maybe the pickles. :) After that we went to a nearby bar and drank and talked till 3am in the morning till we got back to sleep. I had a great time and i was very happy to meet manami again. :) :) :)

Japan trip 2 - day 1 - part 3

After we found our hotel in the Shinjuku area, we dumped our bags and headed out to explore the area. We could not check in till 2pm which was about 2 hours from the time we reached the hotel, so we left our bags under the care of the reception at the hotel and headed out to get some lunch.

Now I'm a HUGE fan of the onigiri in Japan, so naturally all I could think of getting after I left the hotel is onigiri and a hot can off coffee from the Family Mart near the hotel. Incidentally, I think this was one of the first things I ate during my first trip to japan.

After wandering around Shinjuku for a while and buying tons of Japanese snacks for lunch we headed back to check in at the hotel where both Danielle and I promptly fell asleep for a couple of hours cuz we were so tired.

We'll be heading out soon to meet 3 more friends from singapore and then the five of us will meet Manami for what we hope will be a super awesome sushi dinner. :)

Japan Trip 2 - day 1 - Part 2

I'm in Japan now. :) Waiting for the Keisei Liner to take us to Nippori where we  will change to the Yamanote Line to Shinjuku. Happy happy happy. :)

Japan Trip 2 - day 1 - Part 1

Hi hi all. I am now at the airport waiting for the flight to Japan to start a short holiday. Drinking coffee and waiting for departure. :) so excited. Keeping this short cuz trying to blog and talk to my friend at the same time. Hope my roaming works so I can mobile blog. K later. :)

First day.

Motorola Milestone - Vignette Camera software

I haven't been very active online lately because I unexpectedly and very quickly got a job soon after graduation.  About the only project I actually did manage to complete was cleaning my room.  That was a huge project on its own and took me an entire week to complete.  Even then, I still feel that there are one or two pockets of junk I need to work through. :)

I'm on the train right now to start at my new job and I am really excited and nervous.  I really wanted this job and really wanted to work for this company so I'm very happy about it too.

That said, I will still miss many things about being a student.  I will miss my flexible schedule, my occasion afternoon coffee indulgences at my favourite cafes, my morning table tennis game etc.  But I start to earn money again, yay! :)  The pass year wasn't too horrible financially because I received a government allowance every month but still, it is nice to be able to earn more now.

Okie dokes.  Almost time to switch trains. Wish me luck on my first day at work. :)

Where Worlds Meet

Hi all, I'm kind of busy right now but I really want to share this short video clip with you all.  I like how they use the "little red dot" as a visual motif throughout this video clip. Who would have thought that Indonesian President B.J. Habibie's remark made so many years ago and greeted with anger at that point in time would become something that Singaporeans use, at first with some defiance, and now with some pride.

Although it seems to me that it isn't popular to express a sense of pride and love for Singapore, I am and always will be proud of this place I call home.  I really like this video in part because it is simply my kind of video. :)  Seriously, the style of this video is something that I really like.  This video also speaks to me and expresses quietly part of what I feel is great about my country.  And lastly, I know several of the people involved in the making of this video and I think they did a great job. :)

While I feel that there are many things wrong with Singapore, it isn't all that democratic and free speech crap the West would like me to feel is wrong with my country.  I lived in the US for many years before I chose to come home and I've come to realize that I don't care what the rest of the world thinks is wrong about my country, it isn't for them to decide.  I think the current government is great and the current political system is great.

What I worry about isn't that we don't have boring US styled democracy which I don't believe in nor do I think is workable in Singapore, what I worry about isn't that we don't have "free speech" (since I really can say virtually anything I want including anti-government stuff when they infuriate me sometimes with some really "baka" policies).  Aside from feeling that Singaporeans take things for granted and complain too much, and aside from feeling that sometimes we need much more of that "go get it" spirit and more backbone rather than wait for a helping hand or direction, perhaps what I am most unhappy about now is the increasing intolerance and bigotry in Singapore.  Hence, perhaps why I like this video... "Where Worlds Meet".  Right, I want this to be a place "Where Worlds Meet" where people can look pass differences in race, religion, social status, birthplace etc.  Anyway, that's the idealist in me speaking.  :)  Anyway, enjoy the clip and the months of hard work put in by all involved in the making of this video. :)

Taste from the past.

Today is a public holiday in Singapore so after we played table tennis, we decided  to have lunch at Bakerzin, one of my favourite hangout places in Singapore.

Bakerzin launched their new menu just a few weeks ago and there were several dishes i wanted to try. One of the new dishes was this thing called the Seafood Puff.

The Seafood Puff consist of a soft pastry with several different types of seafood like squid, mussels, prawns mixed with mushrooms cooked in a rich creamy white sauce.  The dish can be seen in the picture above.   おいしそうね。:)

The dish is quite tasty but it's perhaps too rich for me, now that i'm under doctor's orders to lose weight. :) But what i really like about this dish is how much it reminds me of my mum's cooking.  When i was a child, my mum liked to make this mushroom filled pastry thing every once in a while.  It doesn't look quite as fancy or as large as the Bakerzin's puff but my mum's mushroom puff snack was a firm favourite in the house. I LOVED it and always looked forward to the next time she would make it.  Mum's mushroom puff didn't have all that seafood but the creamy sauce that filled that puff was no less luxurious and no less delicious.

These days, mum no longer makes those puffs. None of us in the house should be eating them anyway.  So it's perfect that Bakerzin has them now because anytime that i need something comforting or whenever i feel nostalgic, i just need to head down to the nearest Bakerzin and order that Seafood Puff. :) 

Modeling - mini cooper cont.

After playing table tennis this morning, i spent the day at des' place working on the model. The going was slow though. Will have to come earlier and work faster next time. Maybe will update with more photos later. :)

Final Project - Breakdown AND other stuff

My internal time clock is totally screwed up.  Crashed out on the couch from approx 830pm and only just woke up an hour ago at approx 230am.  Grrrrrr....  need to work on trying to regain a more normal sleep pattern. :)

Anyway, the above is the breakdown of the Final Project.  I also used this in my demo reel.  I've taken away all the names and phone numbers etc because I don't really feel comfortable with giving out too much information on the internet.

I've been taking a break from doing any meaningful VFX, 3D etc work for about a week as I needed the break away from all homework related stuff.  Now though, I am thinking I should slowly ease back into it this week because I still have things I would like to try to fix and stuff I would like to learn. 

I'm not sure what I would start with yet but I don't want to kill myself over it for now because I really need/like to get a lot of non-work related things done like:
1) cleaning my room (it now looks just slightly better than Neo's room in the Matrix). :)
2) I really want to meet up with some friends that I've neglected for months.
3) I would like to complete work on a computer I've been putting together from parts.  If I can figure out which component is causing this computer to keep shuttting down without warning, I will be able to use it is a gaming computer and then I can start playing Civilization on it. :D  I think it's a faulty power supply and I already have a spare supply that I can put in but for some reason... I feel so unmotivated to mess with it right now.
4) Work on my Japanese homework.  In order to work on this Final Project for school, I am way behind on my Japanese homework.  Tomorrow, I will sign up for my Pre-Advance class so I will need to try and finish this homework and revise as much as possible before classes start again in December.
5) Starting to draw or do digital painting again.  I really would like to get better at drawing but admittedly I have more patience with rotoscoping than with drawing. :)  So it's been a start-stop-start-stop process for me.  I did like digital painting quite a bit and there is this one photo I would like to digital paint... so may start doing that next week.
6) Get a haircut.
7) Work on organizing and uploading tons of photos.
8) Play video games.
9) Start swimming again.
10) Read.
11) Watch anime, Japanese dramas and that ATV drama I've been wanting to finish.
12) Work on models - my Mini-Cooper and other unopened or unfinished kits I have lying around my room.

Anyway, there are a couple of things I could do as well that are VFX related:

1) Trying to get that bin to sit in better in my Final Project.  But I must admit... I am a little sick of the Final Project so am not sure if I really want to mess with it immediately.  But I'm in two minds... if I'm going to mess with it some more, I suppose I should do it now while it's still fresh in my mind.

2) Fix two of my previous projects which have some problems.  I'll upload them so that you guys can take a look at it.

a) baby shot



This shot is called the Baby Shot because we only had 2 weeks to complete this shot from pre-production to delivery date.  This was a difficult shot to accomplish because Shatter and Particles in Maya were very taxing on my computer and there were some other issues with some settings in the Shatter effect that I wasn't sure how to key in correctly that caused Shatter to really stumble during rendering etc.
There are several things I would like to work on in this shot:
- The way the particles interact with the objects on the table can definitely be improved.  I should probably create a dummy keyboard, mouse, monitor etc so that the particles can interact with it in a better way.
- I think I may need to re-track this shot if I want to get the particles to interact better with the objects on the table.
- There are also some masking and shadow problems on the wall that will need to be fixed.
- The coke bottle is tracked okay but not perfectly as it is sliding very slightly.  Will need to fix that too.
- Try and get that coke bottle and that 3d arm to look better in the footage, now they still scream out "I am a 3d object" very loudly.
- And I also think the texture of the wall can be improved as well.  The shatter bits and the particles look kind of crappy to me mostly because the texture looks kind of yuckky to me too.

b) hero shot



This is the second shot that I worked on during my 3rd semester and it's called the Hero Shot because the bulk of the semester was spent working on it.  I've not done the breakdown for this shot either.  Basically, the actor and the table were rotoscoped and separated from the original footage.  The walls, floor and chair are all 3D elements.
There are several things that I want to work on in this shot.
- Replace the material of the floor to a non-reflective material.  While I can still recreate the shadow somewhat better than what I did, the reflection is way too difficult and perhaps even virtually impossible.  Hence, the best solution is not to even do it at all.  If I wanted to try it, my lecturer said I could try just having a puddle of water on the floor and then have half the body reflect in the water rather then try and do a full body reflection because that would be very, very difficult to do.
- Move the wall back and change the material of the wall.  Basically, my bump mapping in that wall texture is way too much and kind of ugly.  Also, since the entire environment save for the table is 3D, I don't have to be constrained to simply replacing the wall from the original footage with the 3D wall.  In fact, I could actually create an entirely new environment if I wanted and would like to do more than just simply moving the wall back.  Actually, this was one of my intentions but I could not finish it in time, so even though I did start on making an entirely new environment, I actually stopped so that I could get the shot ready by delivery date.  In the end, I did deliver on time but with quite a few imperfections. :(
- Fix the shadows.  Basically the shadow that I faked for my actor and the shadow under the table are not good enough.  It shifts at points and is just unacceptable.
- Fix the roto.  The roto on the actor isn't bad in my opinion. =)  I really slaved over this roto because the footage quality is really bad as the school camera is pretty crappy so rotoscoping this shot was very trying and time consuming.  Also, the actor's hair was really hard to roto.  In the end, even though I roto-ed for weeks and weeks, I still failed to roto the last section when she sits down well enough, so I will need to fix that.  Also, the roto of the table is not very good at all.  I had a lot of problem with the table too because I think I made a few fundamental roto mistakes in the beginning and I had to rush to try and fix it in time to hand in towards the end.  Also, the quality of this footage is really not very good at all, so rotoscoping that table turned out to be unexpectedly difficult as sometimes the pixels will shift and then I can't tell table from wall.  Given that this was the first time I rotoscoped anything, I'm actually quite pleased with my initial results for the actor but now I feel I do need to clean it up better.

3) Also, I would like to improve my AE skills so I would like to work through some of the Video CoPilot tutorials that are available online.

4) Work though some video tutorials especially ones on Lighting, compositing, rotoscoping and effects in Maya.  As well as watch some video tutorials on drawing and digital painting.  And although I am unlikely to have time, I would also like to go through some tutorials on 3d modeling.

5) And finally, I would like to learn how to use a node based compositing software.  I think Nuke is the one I would like to learn right now.  So may try and learn some of the basics of how to use Nuke as well.

Okie dokes... end of my very long post which is probably riddled with grammatical and spelling errors, all of which I'm too lazy to fix right now and will most likely never get around to fixing. :)  Of course the chances of me finishing everything I would like to accomplish are completely zero but still, I wanted to write it all down so that I can remind myself of the things I would like to work on.  Also, writing this long post has made me kind of tired, so now I can go and try and sleep again and work on getting my internal time clock back to a more normal one. :)

Good night ya all. :)

Mini Cooper - Modeling

It's been a topsy turvey week for me and I'm kind of tired so I did not feel like blogging much.  However, I really want to put these photos of a modelling project I've been working on. 

Several years ago I took up a course on how to make Gundam models at the M Workshop at Sunshine Plaza.  I really enjoyed sanding and air-brushing etc and almost bought an air brush and compressor back then.  However, work got in the way and I have yet to make another cool air brushed Gundam like I did back then. =(

However, I always retained a great deal of interest in modelling and always intended to go back to it one day.  This year, one of the projects we had to do for the diploma I was studying for was to create a 3d car in Maya.  The car that I picked to model was the Mini Cooper 1967 Rally Version.

Aside from researching for reference photos on the internet, I also went and bought this 1/24 scale model of the actual car.  I used the instructions on how to build the model to model my 3D car in Maya.  And I have to say that this is one of the projects that I'm proudest of. =)

 I spent about 10 weeks modeling this.  Technically, this isn't my first 3D Maya car but my first one was pretty disastrous.  I did that several years ago when I took a crash course in Maya and we were just instructed to model a car and it didn't matter how realistic it looked.  This, however, is my first 3D photo realistic car and this car is truly a labour of love. =)  I spent several nights in school just to complete this car as well as some other ZBrush models.  If I didn't love VFX more and if I liked concept art more, I think I might have liked doing modelling as my specialization. =)

Anyway, since this post isn't about my 3D model, I'll not post up the other pictures of my 3D Mini Cooper just yet.  I'll leave that for another post.  This post is about the actual 1/24 model.  Since I got the model and since I like working with my hands and since my friend Des has the tools to do these kinds of models at home and offered very kindly to help me with the model, I decided to actually build the scale model of the mini cooper.

I hope that I will be able to complete this scale model of the Mini Cooper.  This is really my first glued together and air-brush scale model.  The only other air-brushed model I ever made was the Gundam which was a snap together.  Des is petty good with these kinds of models and has all the tools and the air brush and compressor as well.  And Des also was kind enough to guide me in the making of this model.  If you read this Des... thanks man. =)



After air brushing a coat of green. 
Oh and I know I should have
sanded that pipe thing better. :)



So anyway, here is what we accomplished about 2 weeks ago.  Since then, I have been busy with the Final Project and the reel and other stuff so we haven't progressed much since then.  Hopefully will get back to working on this model next week. =)



 

This is part of the engine after the
glue has set and before air-brushing.

It doesn't look like much does it. =) But it was a few hours worth of work. Maybe next time, we'll work on the model for an entire day. =)

  



Salisbury Steak with sides, all home made
and very awesome tasting. :)


Oh and Des' mum cooked us dinner that night and it was super awesome. Very delicious. =)

Next up, I think I'll post the break down of my Final Project.  It's what I used in my reel without my name, number and email. =)

Alrighty, I'm off to rest... I'm still kinda tired and not feeling super duper cheery happy today... so I think I'll call it an early night and sleep it off. =) cheers.

Final Project - finished [I think =) ]

Hi guys, I think I'm pretty much done with the final project. =)  I was thinking of cutting out to a wide shot but I think I'll just end it on the CU for now.

Finally, it is done.  I'll be working on the breakdown after this.  So will keep this post very short.

Hope you guys enjoyed it. =)

=(

Sigh... my computer just died on me. :(  Lucky I have next day on-site warranty.  Yay.  I will lose at least 1 1/2 days of work because tech only comes down sometime tomorrow.  I'm hoping it's just a problem with the power supply.

And for the record... so far I think Dell customer service is pretty darn good.  Let's hope my hard drives are okay and my data is not corrupted.  And I was on a roll too and would probably have finished the Final Project by Friday, and finished the breakdown over the weekend.

No pictures today... I am grumpy. =(

Final Project - WIP 13

Okie dokes... I have completed Shot 1. :)  I've improved on the clean up of the 3 markers on the left wall and I've also done the colour correction.  It's pretty much done.  Yay!!!  Although... I'm not sure if I should still brighten the shot more.  Or perhaps the bin is too bright.... hmmmm.  I'll leave it for now but may change my mind later and tweak the colour correction.

Now, I'm of to ready the other shots. :)

Later. :)

p.s.  While QC-ing the clip one more time, I realised I made a mistake in the color correction on one section of the newspapers.  I've corrected it in the AE file but won't spit out a new render just yet because it'll take at least 1 - 1 1/2 hours to render and I may still make further changes to the color correction so won't bother to change it for now.  I'll be working on the other shots first.

Final Project - WIP12

Oh joy joy joy joy!!!!  I finally found a way to fix my masking problem and now the newspapers fly out of the bin properly.  After approximately 3 weeks and countless attempts and various methods, I was still unable to mask it in such a way that would make it seem like newspapers fly out of the bin properly.

My problem was that in AE, the bin had to be both on a layer that was in front of the hidden sheets of newspapers, yet also be on a layer that was behind the sheets of newspapers because as the newspapers fly out, they would cover parts of the bin.  I tried everything I knew from using travelling mattes, to painstakingly masking it frame by frame, to turning "primary visibility" off and trying to animate "visibility" of the individual sheets but none of it was satisfactory.

I'm not sure how apparent it was to you guys when you watched the previous renders but I knew that although I was able to get it kind-of sort-of in the render I handed in that Friday, it was still unacceptable both to me and I'm sure to anyone who does vfx.  I spent hours on Sunday night attempting to fix my problem when I finally found the solution on the internet.  I don't know why I didn't see this solution earlier but this solution was exactly what I needed and I am SOOOOO happy it works.  If only I had known about this earlier, it would have saved me so much time.... but I'm still really happy that I found it and am really happy that I learnt something again. :)

The solution to my problem came from this website:
http://www.onoff.ch/2008/06/21/using-the-black-hole/

All fellow friends who use Maya and AE, now do you understand why I say that that was really, really simple compared to all the methods I attempted in the last 3 weeks? =)

When I have the time, I think I would like to write in greater detail about this in another post so that I don't forget why I had to do this and how to do this again if I needed to do it again.

After improving on the rotoscope and using the new method on the newspapers, Shot 1 is pretty much good to go except for 2 things.  I still feel I can improve how I cleaned up the 3 markers on the left wall.   Actually, I think it kind of sucks right now even though I did spend quite a bit of time on it.  So today, I will take a different approach and see if that works better.  And the other thing I need to do is to fix color correction which I will get to hopefully by the end of today.

Oh... and here is the latest render of Shot 1, enjoy. =)

p.s. For some reason youtube is giving me problems, so I will use blogger video even though I prefer youtube.  Will probably replace the video later when youtube works for me again.
UPDATE - replaced with the youtube vid.

Portrait 8

Since i have time to blog a little on the train, i thought i might as well upload the last portrait that i drew for school. This is a portrait of Tom Cruise.  I don't think it is my best but it's okay i guess. I rushed this portrait more than most of the others actually.  I needed to get this ready for the end of term portfolio and had a ton of other assignments to complete and just couldn't spend the time i would have liked.  Some day i think i will attempt this portrait again because i think that it could have been so much better.

After this i will start to put up the digital painting stuff.  I really enjoyed doing those and am thinking of trying my hand at a relatively difficult piece after i manage to get my vfx projects done right.

Okie dokes.  That's it for now. :)

Final Project - WIP 11

In case you guys have been wondering if I've been slacking, I thought I should make a post. :)  Well... actually, I did end up no doing much work on Monday because the part-time job over the previous weekend really sucked up all my energy.  :)  I have been working on the project though and I thought I should put up what I have been doing.
Here is a render of the last section of the project.  I still have to colour correct and roto out parts of the actors body but the shot itself is tracking properly sort of.



Actually, I would like to hold this shot longer but it doesn't track too well towards the end of the shot so I thought I would cut to a close-up before cutting out.  But unfortunately, after 3 days of work on the CU, I think I will abandon it because the CU just doesn't track well at all.  There isn't enough trackers and parralex for the shot to track well.  I think I will have to end on the wide shot after all.



Will concentrate on fixing all the other problems in the roto and will colour correct everything as best as I can.  I really want to try and finish this by the end of next week so that I can move on to fixing my previous project.

Okay, that's if for now.  When I have time, I will try and put up pix of a modelling project I've started working on as well as a little trip with the family to the museum.

cheers :)

Final Project - WIP 10

This is going to be super short cuz I am really, really tired.  I practically didn't sleep last night and then had to go to school this morning before I went to a part-time job which I just returned from... so I really need some sleep like soon.

Anyway, the above is the lastest composite.  I have already rendered the layers in hi-res and composited them.  I still need to try and figure out one problem with the masking and layering in Shot 1.  Am thinking I may need to render out the layers differently.

Also, the color correction on this is TOTALLY horrible but I was rushing towards handing it in in time for the Friday dateline and hence, I cheated by using a one size fit all setting for color correction.  So as you can tell, it totally sucks.  My lecturer looked at it after I handed it in and gave me some help regarding color correction which I needed anyway since color correction isn't my strongest suit right now.

Will continue to work on this since I cut the sequence short in order to make the Friday dateline.  Will have to work on color correction too and I haven't completely removed the markers yet.

Anyway... i really am going to go crash now... I have to work full day tomorrow and Sunday so need to go to bed soon.  Good night. :)

Vignette

For the last month or two, I've been having quite a bit of fun playing with my Android OS Motorola Miletstone phones camera.  Lately, I have been so busy lately with work that I haven't even turned on the Milestone and I only just discovered that the Paid Apps Android Market is now available to Singapore.  Yay.  I promptly bought the full version of the camera application "Vignette" because I use it a lot and I would like to support aps that I use a lot.  I would most likely also get more paid versions of more camera aps and dictionary apps because those are the two categories of apps I use the most on the Milestone.  Now if only Froyo would come to the Milestone in Singapore.  Once that happens and I can move apps to the SD card, I would probably also start getting more apps.

Anyway, this is post is basically just me me sharing my happiness that paid apps are now available in Singapore. =) Also, I crashed out all afternoon on the living room couch and only just got up so am still a little groggy and not ready to begin work.  All those late nights are finally caught up with me. =(

Here are some photos taken on the Milestone using the free version of the Vignette camera application on the Milestone.  When those photos were taken, I had not bought the Vignette app yet.  Actually there are more photos but for some reason blogspot is a little fussy for me today and also I need some time to figure out some issues with blogspot's new way of posting things and placing photos.  It used to be more flexible previous or at the very least, I understood it better. Anyway, maybe next time.