This blog will show the results and process of the project. It includes a video of the final project, a showreel of the coursework, links to process blogs, links to miro and a summary of the process.
Links to process blogs
- FMP – Brief and Script
- FMP – Character Design and Modeling
- FMP – Texture
- FMP – Character Rigging
- FMP – Character Animation
- FMP – Scene
- FMP – Dynamic
- FMP – AI Generate
- FMP – Editing and Effects
- Project summary – Final Major Project – NO FLOWERS
Links to Miro
https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVPNxHetU=/?share_link_id=100348992801
Summary of the Process
A summary of the process is below and all the content is also available in the Links to process blogs.
Brief and Script
The Title: NO FLOWERS
A story of a girl and her robot neighbor secretly planting flowers on their balcony in a city where flowers are banned. This is a small snippet of their daily chat.
There are two main points expressed.
1. A discussion on AI generation
In the story the girl uses traditional methods to grow flowers and the robot uses technology to generate them. This is a way to show the topic of AI and artificiality today.
2.The powerlessness of people under the power of force
The story is set against the backdrop of a law that forbids the planting of flowers, and the two protagonists have to go around avoiding planting flowers in secret. A chat to reflect some of their thoughts.
Script
Part 1 – The girl comes out onto the balcony and meets up with the neighbour robot.
| Number | Shot | Content |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | close-up | A corner of the balcony |
| 2 | close-up of the feet | The girl comes to the balcony |
| 3 | close-up | girl pick up the watering can |
| 4 | medium shot | girl watering flower |
| 5 | close-up | robot typing on screen |
| 6 | medium shot | Girl hear the voice and turns to robot |
| 7 | medium shot | robot stop typing and turn to girl |
| 8 | long shot | Panoramic view of the balcony |
Part 2 – Chat about Blue Lilies
| Number | Shot | Content |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | subtitle | Greetings to each other |
| 2 | close-up | White liliy grown by girls |
| 3 | medium shot | Girl watering flowers |
| 4 | medium shot | Robot looking at the girl’s blue hair |
| 5 | subtitle | The robot asks if she likes blue girl says yes |
| 6 | subtitle | The robot asks her why she doesn’t plant blue lilies |
| 7 | close-up | girl looks at the white lily |
| 8 | subtitle | Girl says lilies are not blue |
Part 3 – Chat about Blue LiliesChat about traditionally grown flowers and technologically generated flowers
| Number | Shot | Content |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | close-up | The robot looks at the bud of the flowers in his machine. |
| 2 | subtitle | The robot asks the girl if she doesn’t like these generated flowers. |
| 3 | close-up | The girl thinks about that kind of flower. |
| 4 | subtitle | The girl said she didn’t like it before. |
Part 4 – Chat about the law that says no flowers are allowed.
| Number | Shot | Content |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | medium shot | The robot continues to type |
| 2 | subtitle | The robot asks the girl what he will do when the law enforcement officer arrives |
| 3 | long shot | Shot of street with warning sign for no flowers |
| 4 | subtitle | The girl says she doesn’t know |
| 5 | subtitle | The robot asks the girl if she still wants to move to another place |
| 6 | close-up | The girl recalls the law enforcement officer knocking on her door earlier |
| 7 | medium shot | The enforcement officer shows a warning slip |
| 8 | long shot | Girl travels around looking for a place to plant flowers where the law does not apply |
| 9 | subtitle | Girl says no she doesn’t want to run away. |
Part 5 – The robot presents the girl with a blue lily
| Number | Shot | Content |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | close-up | The robot continues to type |
| 2 | medium shot | Robot’s buds blossom into a blue lily |
| 3 | close-up | The robot gives the lily to the girl |
| 4 | subtitle | The girl says thanks |
Style
The animation is in a flat illustration style. Reference below.
There is no realistic light or shadow. Mostly aitoon materials are used as well as surface shaders. There will be a lot of hand-painted textures.
Character Design and Modeling
There are three main characters that appear in this animation, the girl, the neighbour robot and the supervillain robot.
Character 1: The Girl
Character Design
Since it is a flat style picture, I tried to combine the character style with the Japanese celluloid anime style.
In this project I tried to use a dynamic system, so I can try to start with short hair with a simple structure.
Character Modeling
Models in this style are quite different from other types in the face. I researched some models online.
The biggest difference is the structure of the eyes, which are not spherical in the usual sense. The iris part is a disc. There is no eyeball structure, and the white part of the eye relies on a concave surface to provide color.
The reason for this should be to make the model look in the anime style from the side.
Referring to this structure I made similar eyes. But how to rig the face in this kind of eyes is a problem.
The final model is as follows.
Character 2&3: The Neighbour Robot and the Supervillain Robot
Except for the girl character, the other characters are robots. This fits in with the AI-themed story background. Different electronic devices are used as heads as the main way to distinguish them from each other. Character Design references to the anime FLCL and music game Cytus II.
The main parts of the robot’s body are of the same design, distinguished mainly in the two parts of the head and the clothing. This way they can use the same rig, by simply replacing parts of the model. The Neighbour Robot is designed as follows.
I replaced my clothes with suits to fit the identity of a regulator. I tried to replace the head with a different one.
The final choice was to use the camera.
Texture
Textures in this style are not as complex as those in previous projects. But it needs special treatment in some places.
For the overall material I use Maya’s default surfaceShader. This means I don’t need to worry about lighting, but I need to draw shadows myself to differentiate the structure.
In the jaw area, two color separations are used in this part to allow it to distinguish both the shade and the structure.
For the hair I used nodes and made it two different colors on the front and back.
This style does not take into account real light and shadow.
Character Rigging
Body rigging
I used the automatic rigging plugin Advancedskeleton5. Nothing else special. The hair and the rope on the chest are not bound because of the dynamics to be added.
Face rigging
The previously mentioned eyes are not suitable for applying automatic binding due to their different structures.
It works by building a virtual sphere to find the center of rotation.
But there are still problems at some angles, so creating a separate rig that translates rather than rotates would be more suitable for this type of model.
Some small objects, such as flowers, also need to be rigged.
Character Animation
When designing larger movements, web video footage as well as personal real-life shots are used as references.
Here are some screenshots of the process.
The animation is mainly chat and there is no significant animation.
Scene
The scenes in the animation are divided into two main parts, partly produced by 3D modelling and partly hand-drawn.
For example, this is the balcony where the characters are located.
The main body of the balcony is in 3D. I use aitoon material. The plants on the balcony are painted by hand. Use the picture as a surface material.
Here are some of the renderings that came out.
As the rendering style is flat, it can be combined well with hand-drawn illustrations.
Dynamic
There are two parts to this character that use dynamics. The ropes for the hair and the sweater, respectively. There is another prop that appears, a piece of paper, which also requires dynamics.
Initially I tried using bones and an Ik controller for dynamic effects.
Since the front hair is not separated and the back hair is a complete piece, the effect is not very good.
Then I used ncloth directly to use the hair as cloth.
The effect is as follows.
The same approach is applied to props.
Same for other props.
AI Generate
As the animation is related to the AI theme, I have used AI generation in two places in the animation.
1. Ai-generated flower images
In contrast to the girls who grow flowers in the traditional way, the robots use technological means to generate them. This alludes to AI-generated technology. I have therefore used a large number of AI-generated images to represent these types of flowers.
This is the website I use:
I used one of my rendered flower images as a sample. A large number of AI-generated new flowers were obtained by means of picture generation images.
In the animation, the effect is as follows.
2. Ai-generated background music
The background music was also changed using ai-generated scores. I generated some scores by some descriptions limiting the style, tempo, instrumentation etc. The score is then adapted from these.
This is the website I use:
Editing and Effects
The final editing is done in After Effects as well as Premiere.
In addition to the compositing sequence, I needed to add some light and shadow effects to the footage. To give the image a more formal feel.
The animation is not dubbed and subtitles are added to the animation in the form of a pantomime.
Add other sound effects to the animation.
Thanks for watching.