Where can I get a free character rig download for Maya 2013?

So...I start my placement in under a months time and will be using Maya.  I have just recently downloaded Maya 2013 but Im having trouble finding a free character rig download for 2013 to practice animating with, as this is what I will be doing on placement.  If anyone knows where I can download a rig that will work in Maya 2013 then PLEASE HELP!

Translation - final piece

So here is my final piece for translation.  After rendering out both 3dsmax files as jpeg images, I imported them into After Effects and rendered them out as videos.  As I had over 1000 images in both files, it got a little confusing knowing what I had or had not rendered out.  I found myself re - rendering a few times because the lighting wasn't quite right or it had cut of half way through the scene.  So really, it was just the rendering that took time, all in all the making of it probably took about 3 days.  The sound was also simple to put in.  I downloaded a marble bounce sound and cut parts out that were appropriate for my piece and placed it each time a ball fell.  Overall, I feel I have definately achieved what I set out to do.  The look is how I imagined, even though there is only one ball falling at each stage and the sound is also right.  Originally my aim was to not be obvious to the viewer what the animation was about and I feel I have also managed to achieve this, as I have replaced the sound I used as a reference to animate to, with the sound of falling marbles.  So, to me it doesn't look or sound like any of the trapcode experiments I had done in order to make an effect react to audio, which I am happy with.

Translation - final piece development

After the previous experiment, I began making my final piece using the particle system in 3dsmax.  Below are screen shots of the particle view in 3dsmax along with the particle flow source in the viewport. As I wanted more than one ball to fall at each part, I realised I had to copy the pf source and all its attributes every time for how ever many I wanted to fall at each part.  I could change the amount I wanted to fall in the particle view, however, they fell and hit the ground in a cluster rather than spread out, which I didn't want. So, the only way to achieve the desired outcome was to copy a pf source for ever single ball. This became very tedious. As you can see from the screen shots below, I had over 30 particle flow sources which slowed the whole process down considerably, to the point where I couldn't even scrub the timeline.  When I did my previous experiment, everything seemed to work fine, but this was probably because it was only an experiment and therefore not as long as a final piece.  So, after my computer died on me many times, I decided it would be much simpler to just have one ball fall at each stage to speed the process up and limit the amount of pf sources.  It would also be easier in terms of putting sound effects of falling marbles in, as I would only have to concentrate on one ball at each stage.  I also decided to make my final piece in 2 files to help limit the chance of it crashing again.

Translation Experiments - final piece development - 3dsmax particle system test

This is the first test using the particle system in 3dsmax.  It is exactly the kind of look I wish to achieve, with random amounts of balls falling and rolling away at each stage, using the sound I imported as a reference so that I know which frames they need to fall on.  I found the process in creating this very complicated at first but having repeated certain steps numerous times, it soon became quite simple.  After this test I am happy to use the particle system in 3dsmax to create my final piece.

In The Blink Of An Eye - National Media Museum

On Monday 30th April I visited the National Media Museum. I found the piece below particularly inspiring as the idea behind it is similar to my thaughts in relation to my current studio project 'translation'. Forms, by Quayola and Memo Akten is a digital artwork that responds to the human body in motion. It focuses exclusively on the mechanics of movement, using footage of world-class athletes to illustrate human movement at the extremes of perfection. Videos of athletes were processed through custom software to create evolving abstract forms that explore the relationships between the human body and its movements through time and space. This artwork was especially commissioned for In the Blink of an Eye by the National Media Museum, with the support of imove.

Translation Experiments - final piece development - MassFX test

Here is my first test in 3DS Max using massfx. I found this quite complicated at first, as I am not used to using 3DS Max for anything other than animating. After understanding how to make the balls fall and bounce how I wanted, I couldn't then make them roll away or animate them at the parts I needed to. So, the only practical way to create my final piece will probably be through using the particle system in 3DS Max.

Translation Experiments - Lux lights bounce test

So with Lux being the plugin I was going to use to create my final piece, I decided to experiment with how I wanted the lights to fall and bounce. Making them bounce was the difficult part, I was struggling to make it look realistic and with animating the bounce for each light being the only way to achieve the look I am going for, this proved to be a tedious and difficult task. I am now considering using 3ds max to create a more realistic look.

Translation Experiments

An experiment using expressions, originally generated from one circle. I found this quite difficult to create, but really like it !

Translation Experiments

Experiment using Trapcode Form. This was really simple to create, I also added a camera to look like you are traveling through the effect as it turns.

Translation Experiments

For this experiment I used Plexus. At first I found Plexus quite difficult, however, I really like what can be created using this plugin, so it is something I will continue to learn and understand. My next experiment using Plexus will be to make it react to sound.

Translation Experiments

Here is an experiment using Trapcode Lux. I found this very difficult to create as I was using expressions to control the movement. Expressions are something that I am not confident with, as I am studying animation and haven't had much experience writing code.

Translation Experiments

Another experiment using Particular. I found this quite difficult as I was partly using expressions to create this effect, which I found quite complicated. Overall, I am happy with result.

Untitled from Rachel J Milner on Vimeo.

Translation Experiments

To create this purple sphere was a lot more complicated to achieve.  I used Trapcode Form to create this, as well as using a mask and playing around with curves/levels etc.

Music by Daft Punk

Untitled from Rachel J Milner on Vimeo.

Translation Experiments

This video was created using Trapcode Form and Shine.  This has been the easiest to create so far.  I just used Form to create the overall effect and Shine to enhance the colour/brightness and giving it a night sky background.

Music by The Art Department

Untitled from Rachel J Milner on Vimeo.

Translation Experiments

Another experiment using Soundkeys.  This is one of the more easier tutorials I have looked at to create this.  However, I wasn't able to finish this at the time, so it's a working progress.

Music by Volta Bureau

Untitled from Rachel J Milner on Vimeo.

Translation Experiments

So here is my first experiment for my current studio project 'Translation'.  I am interested in making effects react to audio using Trapcode, a plug-in for After Effects, so began experimenting.  I have used Trapcode Form to create this effect and make the particles react to the audio.  This was fairly easy to create but I had problems with the positioning of the camera, so the look is not exactly how I would have liked it to have been.

Music by Pendulum

Untitled from Rachel J Milner on Vimeo.

Any Which Way 2012

This year the first Any Which Way live art show was held in Byram Arcade, Huddersfield.  Once again it turned out to be a great day with up and coming designers and illustrators exhibiting pieces of work.

Live music also came from BALL-ZEE and other dj's/artists.

Many thanks to Calder Graphics who donated lots of free stationary for this event.


                                          

Tracking

These two videos are about experimenting with motion tracking in After Effects.  The first video was a little more complicated as I had to track the moving hinge/butterfly to a dot, so that it followed a path.  I then replaced the background.

For the second video I used track to aim at a certain point in the video, so that the camera was much more steady and focused on one point.

Untitled from Rachel J Milner on Vimeo.

Untitled from Rachel J Milner on Vimeo.

Light and Time - Final Piece

So here is my final piece for light and time.  Following on from the previous driving video experiments, I made this video on Premiere Pro.  I really enjoyed making the previous videos and knew this is where I wanted to go for a final piece.  It has both original videos speeded up, with the last video in reverse speed.  I knew I wanted it to be quite dark and I wanted to make most of the environment disappear along with the black road.    I therefore changed the hue/saturation, brightness/contrast, put a glow effect on and a lens distortion effect.  As you can also still see the road markings in most of the video, with some of them now distorted, it feels to me like you are travelling down something at high speed, almost like you are on a track.

Even though I put a music soundtrack on, I also put a rollercoaster sound effect with the sound of the tracks to emphasise this in the appropriate parts of the video.  I also added a wind sound effect to create atmosphere by making it seem like you are travelling in the open air.  Adding sound effects is something that I really enjoyed doing.

How is it related to light and time?  If there was no light there would be no video and it is related to time through speeded up film.  Originally I had around 15 minutes of film but after editing parts and speeding it up, I was left with just over under 6 minutes.

I am so happy with this video.  When I originally got given the brief for 'light and time', I was struggling to think creatively and couldn't think of an idea that didn't show light and time in a subtle way, apart from with the slit scan.  It was only when I stopped thinking about what the brief meant and experimented more, when my final piece came about.  It usually always happens towards the end of the project, where I get and idea that I am happy with and end up going with that.  I very rarely have a solid idea at the beginning of a project.

Music by Netsky

Untitled from Rachel J Milner on Vimeo.

Light and Time - Experimenting with Effects

For the following two videos I placed a video recorder on the dashboard in my car and recorded two different journeys I made in my area.

For the first video I wanted to know how to do a split screen with two videos.  I put both videos into After effects and rescaled them so that they played side by side.  I then changed the hue/saturation, vibrance, levels and put a glow effect on the video next to it.  The video on the right is also in reverse speed which I did on Premiere Pro.

Personally I think split screen looks good and I enjoyed editing both videos.

Music for the split screen video by Daft Punk


For the video below the split screen, I just put an extract effect onto one of the original videos.  I wanted to put more of an emphasis on the places travelling by and the environment rather than the road itself, which I think the extract effect does quite well.

This video was made in Premiere Pro.

Music for the extract video by AdamF

Untitled from Rachel J Milner on Vimeo.

Untitled from Rachel J Milner on Vimeo.

Tracking motion in After Effects

Have a look at this short video I spotted on Vimeo. The style is sort of similar to the video I would like to make as my final piece, however, I do not plan on using motion tracking to create mine.

http://vimeo.com/4079366

Light and Time - Developed Slit Scan animation

Here is the developed slit scan animation that I had originally made as a final piece.  I spent weeks planning this thinking about the order in which the scans were going to be placed and the speed of the animation.  It includes over 1251 scans, with some darker random scans at the very beggining, at about 10% speed/duration.  As the clear scans fade into each other I changed the speed to around 0.2 and duration to 1.20 for each clip, as I purposely wanted the clear scans to fade into each other slowly, to see shape and colour.  I then changed the speed to around 60% to run faster and then gradually to 100%.  I chose to change the speed of the animation and place certain scans in different places because I still want the viewer to see a beginning, middle and end, so that the animation has a point.  The middle of the animation being during the day capturing peoples movement, colour etc.  Then working through the darker scans as people disappear towards the end of the day.  I did not just want to put over a thousand random scans together, as it would have no meaning. 

I also tried to get the music in sync with the video which was quite a task as it was such a long song.  I edited parts out where appropriate, but there is a part at the beginning that is slightly out but I tried my best with it.

One big problem I had was having to rename all the scans.  Each time the computer made a scan, that image automatically went into a folder, but when the folder was full, I had to stop the scan, move all the scans out and delete all the ones inside it.  This was in order to make a new set.  The problem was that in each folder the scans were named the same (output 1, 2, 3 etc).  I therefore had an extremely tedious task of renaming over a thousand scans, so that After effects would import them correctly.

To make this video I rendered it in After effects and edited it in Premiere Pro.

How is it related to light and time?  If there was no light there would be no scan.  It is related to time through time of exposure i.e. how often the computer makes a scan.

Overall, I am very happy with this piece and I enjoyed making it.  It was going to be my final piece, but through experimenting I created something I am much more pleased with.

Music by Drums of Death

Untitled from Rachel J Milner on Vimeo.

Light and Time - Slit Scan experiment

Having never looked at code before, I took the opportunity to try and understand a little bit about it.  Using Processing I created code that would generate a slit scan, through using the camera on the mac to scan objects or people.  Each time it made a scan it saved that image.  At this point I had over 300 scans in which I put together to make the animation below.  I did however change the code to generate a different scan every time.  For example, I may get one clear scan and the next may just be black with a row of white lines.  I really like how random each scan is and I am happy with this first test animation.  This has really interested me in terms of maybe developing into a final piece.  However, I would have a much longer animation with over 1000 scans and change colours on Photoshop etc.  I may have the animation starting off really slow with the clearer scans fading into each other and slowly appearing more random and at a faster speed.  I would also want to scan as many people as possible, as this would make for a more interesting animation in terms of shapes and colour.

Untitled from Rachel J Milner on Vimeo.

Light and Time - Chess stop motion

For this stop motion piece I went into Huddersfield town centre to the chess square.  The chess pieces are free for the public to use, to play a  game of chess with.  I went down with a friend to photograph the game at every stage to make a small animation.  My friend moved each piece one by one, as I photographed each move.  The photographs were then put together as an animation using Premiere Pro.

I am really pleased with this but I did have problems with photographing when it came close to the end of the game.  As the pieces made their way back to the basket, I started zooming in to see the pieces more clearly, but as it got to the last few shots, my battery was running out fast.  To try and preserve the battery while my friend moved the pieces, I kept turning the camera off.  However, by doing this and rushing to photograph the last few pieces, I couldn't get the right amount of zoom I had previously.  This meant that when the photographs were put into Premiere Pro and animated, the last few moved in and out which did not look right.  What I ended up doing was putting all the photographs from the ending into Photoshop and tried to crop parts and resize so that the animation would run smoothly.  However, you can still see slight movement towards the end.  The ending is a bit of a let down for me, as the in/out movement I feel ruins the animation.  Apart from that, I am really happy with the game itself.

Music by The Art Department

Untitled from Rachel J Milner on Vimeo.

Light and Time - After effects water experiment

As part of the experimental stage I made this video in After effects.  I originally filmed two different parts of a small waterfall near to where I live for about 20 seconds (each video).  I then put them into After effects and changed the hue/saturation to make it a purple colour and played with the curves to darken it a little.  I also put a turbulent displace effect on them. 

For the second part of the video, I took the sound of the waterfall from the original video and used the audio mixer to sync it in with the music track.  This part was done using Premiere Pro.

The reason for me doing this experiment was for me to get more familiar with adding effects to video using After effects, as it is not a piece of software I use often.  I also wanted to experiment with sound by seeing if I could have the sound of the water in sync with the music track.

I am happy with this experiment, as I feel I achieved what I set out to do.

Music by AdamF

Untitled from Rachel J Milner on Vimeo.

After effects experiments

These small experiments were done on After effects.  It is the first time I had used keyframes to animate on After effects.  Even though they are short, basic animations, I did find the process of animating them quite hard and I am not really happy with them as I didn't achieve what I set out to do.  I have watched tutorials on After effects, but non have seemed to help me understand it any better so far.  It is a piece of software that I have had difficulties with and have always found quite complicated.  However, it is something I feel I should persevere with and try to learn more about in terms of animating, as it will be very beneficial to me.

                                 

Time is Nothing // Around The World by Kien Lam

Check out this time lapse video I found on vimeo by Kien Lam.  Taken over 343 days in 17 different countrys, with 6237 photographs.  I have never seen a time lapse video like this, it is brilliant!



http://vimeo.com/34400428

Cinematic Cut

For these two videos, I took a few skateboarding videos off YouTube and edited different parts.  I then put the edited parts into one video.  When I was choosing videos to download, I only chose videos that I thaught would work quite well together.  I also kept the original soundtrack for both. 

The video at the top was originally quite a long video, so I just edited bits out and slowed down/speeded up parts.

The second video I feel is the better one.  I did however, make it a little bit too dark by changing the brightness/contrast, so to improve it I would just lighten it a little.

This is the first time I have edited video.  It was very time consuming but I enjoyed it and gained a basic knowledge on how to edit video on Premiere Pro CS5.