Research Assignment - Final Video

Research Assignment - Information & Subject

For my tutorial I have chosen to look at way of making Crysis Environments look more interesting and real. That is why I have chosen to demonstrate how to spawn sharks in the environment. I am aware that some people may find this irrelevant and out of context for most environments however always remember that ‘every little detail counts’. I chose this topic for two reasons, firstly the fact that I didn’t really have much time to explore vast differences in EXP1 and EXP2 due to personal reasons and secondly because after doing it numerous times myself I realised that it contains a few little aspects from lots of different items. It contains shape parameters, entity triggers, water kill events and some flowgraph work.

Although it is simple in theory it is actually very unique and different to many tutorials available. When I was searching out how to do this originally it took me ages only to find a PDF document that gave a rough overview of what to do. It is also different as it does not require a simple ‘drop in’ from the Roll Up Bar as most circumstances do.

Do this tutorial takes the user through many small features of the program while not overloading them with countless intricate details. It also allows for personal expansion and experimentation. At many of the stage throughout the tutorial the viewer could adopt their own steps or change their process in order to create something entirely different.

Overall I feel that my tutorial is great as it allows viewers to learn something interesting and fun, something that is easily adapted and something that teaches a little bits of many different aspects and features that can be used to create many wonderful and fascinating effects.

References
I must however acknowledge the original document in which I learnt how to do this. The original document is available in the filefront link. I’m not sure where exactly I received the document.

Research Assignment - Link to File Front

Link to File Front:

http://www.filefront.com/17479053/BENV2423 - Research Assignment.zip

EXP2 - The Final Video Clip

EXP2 - Links to Filefront and Warehouse

FileFront Link:

http://www.filefront.com/17478951/BENV2423 - EXP2 Levels, Objects & Other.zip

Google Warehouse Link:

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=1cba6b76557a0838eade8b3353931655

EXP2 - Brief for Porosity Lens

For my 'Porosity Lens' I have chosen to observe the ways in which humans interact with sound and time. Often we are influenced by the sounds we hear around us for example we know that if we hear a siren, whether its police, ambulance or fire we know that a serious event has occurred and if we are driving for instance we know to let the car/truck pass us. Therefore sounds influence our lives and activities more then what we subconsciously think.

Our choices in life also effect the people around us. Lifestyle, day-to-day, career choices are just three examples of choices that we make in life that effect not only the people around us but also other random people connected someway to our choices.

This is why I have chosen to mimic the day to day lives of human beings and demonstrate the effects of choice of sound and time others.

Part I: As the characters move throughout the environment their choice of sound effect the player and his attributes and capabilities. Time is also encountered and recorded by how long one attribute stays with the player before it is changed.

Part II: As the characters move throughout the environment their choice preferred sound is recorded and documented by lights below. It is there that the influence time is also important for each time a character chooses to hear a sound it is recorded.

Part III: Travelling faster than sound is light. Therefore using light to document travel that is faster than the sounds of the environment?

Part IV: A hypothesis rather than a recordable event. It is possible that with general life as hectic and chaotic as it is these days, forgetting to slow down to hear the sounds of life and making time to hear them could be deadly. After my resent experience it is sometimes important to slow down and enjoy life for what it is in the moment.

EXP2 - Three video clips demonstrating Mastery

Week 8 – Week 12

Week 8 – Week 12
Well what an adventurous and eventful period of time. My parents had just left for a 7 week ‘once in a lifetime’ trip in Europe and Africa, and I also endured one of the most painful and hard experiences of my life. On Monday the 13th September (first day back after mid semester break), while at uni, my lung collapsed technically called a 'pneumothorax'. 8 days, 2 operations (pleurodisis), 2 chest tubes, 2 hospitals, a few tears (I’ll admit it) and lots of drugs later I left hospital. Only to return 3 weeks later with an infection somewhere around my heart and other lung. 2 days later I left hospital AGAIN.

Now I could lie and do entries in my blog saying that I did exercises and researched things etc but I’m just going to be honest and admit the truth that from week 8 to the start of week 12 a didn’t look at one bit of uni work.

So whoever reads this I am not looking for sympathy or trying to make a dramatic excuse I just thought it would be easier to explain the situation for what it was.

PROBLEMS, driving me insane

I really dont know why Crysis is being so difficult!! This flow graph is set up on my trigger. I right click 'add selected entity' and it adds that still with the name , should it not be called the name of the proximity trigger????

Oh dear....

Links to SketchUp Model and Crysis Levels

Below are links to my SketchUp Model in Google Warehouse, my Crysis Levels and Objects Folders and a link to a High Quality version of my video posted on Youtube.

SketchUp Model: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=5f66e870125467bbeade8b3353931655

Crysis Levels: http://www.filefront.com/17247381/3330333_levels.zip

Crysis Objects: http://www.filefront.com/17247391/3330333_objects.zip

High Quality version of my Video: http://www.filefront.com/17248102/BENV2423 Explosion and Porosity Machinima Video.zip

Final Submission: Machinima Video

Here it is.. Enjoy..

Final Submisson: Information

General Information
- There are 2 separate explosions I am testing. The first explosion has an effect scale of 0.5 while the second explosion has an effect scale of 2.
- I chose to film it at night cause it looked better and more effective.
- It was a fun experiment.


Aim for Experiment:
My aim for this experiment was fairly simple. I wanted to use explosions to blow up walls made of blocks. Each of the blocks in the wall would weigh the same but the weight wall would be different in accordance with the number on the blocks (weight in mass and density = 1). The walls were located in the Town Hall structure that we got and I wanted to see what happens to the blocks and the structure after the explosions. I was curious to see the reaction of each of the weights and the effect it would have on the environment and within the Town Hall structure.


Hypothesis:
I propose that the lighter blocks will cause the greatest effect on the structure interrupting its space, while the heavier blocks will only slightly move and have little effect.


Keys:
The keys to move all the objects in my Crysis level are:
h - move the stairs.
b - to active the bomb sequence.
u - move the first platform on the ramp. j - to return it to its original position.
i - move the second platform on the ramp. k - to return it to its original position.
o - move the third platform on the ramp. l - to return it to its original position.
p - move the last platform on the ramp. (this loops around and returns to the original position.

Sample Pictures and Videos:

Platforms


Ramps


Landscape and Environment

Week5 b: Development

I have just continued to development my landscape and structure.

Week5 a: Marking Sheets

Week4 c: Description of my Machinima Documentary

From looking at today's lecture I think that for my video the best mode to use will be observational and maybe a little refelxive i'm not to sure. Observational is most obviously the best choice as I am planning to do exactly as the title implies which is to observe some explosive reactions. I really want the viewer to gain an understanding of what I am trying to achieve with this video which is to observe what happens when explosions occur near different weighted objects.

Week4 b: Sony Vegas Demo 2

Here is a second video usingSony Vegas. Again I just practise with some videos of my srysis environment. I have figured out how to fix the clitchy problems, I have to save it as a MP4 file. This will be annoying if I want save my video in HD. I'll need to research this.

Week4 a: Sony Vegas Demo

Here is my first test with Sony Vegas just mixing together a few fraps videos of my crysis environments. Its abit clitchy and jumpy. I will have to work on fixing this.

Week3 g: Use the FlowGraph Editor to Move an Entity

Just a simple example of using a flowgraph to move an entity, creating things like elevators.

Week3 f: Using Constraints to Link Entities

Just a simple example of using constraints to link Entities and create interesting movements.

Week3 e: Using Trackview to Move an Entity

Just a simple example of moving an entity using trackview.

Week3 d: Using Rope to Link Two Entities

Just a simple video showing a truck pulling an object using the 'rope' feature of Crysis.

Week3 c: Creating Rain

Simple and Easy.

Week3 b: Pickable Objects

Just a few random Objects that I thought I'd make pickable.

Week3 a: Animating Time of Day

Below are a selection of image captures that I took at various times of the day in the Crysis Environment. In the last image I also experimented with putting in lights or various colours and sizes, just for effect.


Morning:

Afternoon:

Dusk:

Night:

Midnight + Lights:

Week2 c: Hypothesis and Explosion

In this experiment I have placed a village house on the ground. Above the house suspended in the air are three army tanks placed at different heights. Upon entering the game the physics is enabled and the tanks fall to the ground.

Hypothesis: I propose that each of the tanks will crash through the house causing 3 explosions.



Result: As you can see the first 2 tanks crashed through the house causing it to break but it was the 3 tank that cause the explosion.

Week2 b: Adding Archetype Entities and Other Objects

Just experimenting with different types of Archetype Entities...

Week2 a: Ramps & Platforms in SketchUp and Crysis

I wanted to create and experiment with the flowgraph enities so I made the stairs 'float' in the air and move together to form a staircase on a key press. The ramp and platforms are fairly simple.

Week1 c: Landscape Development continued...

For my landscape I am trying to create a simple island feel. Experimenting with textures and landscape effects. I have also imported the town hall model and coloured it. For my video I am thinking of exploing blocks within the structure. The blocks will be different colours and weights.

Week2 d: More Test Explosions

Below are some more videos I created experimenting with physics and tornados. Once again tornado's are another cool thing that I discovered in Crysis that I didn't know existed before.

Barrel Explosion followed by a C4 Explosion..

Explosion followed by a Tornado..

A tornado destroying a few buildings..

Driving a car into a tornado..

Week1 b: Video Clip of Environment-in-Progress

Below are videos of my Environment-in-Progress..

Part 1:

Part 2:

Week1 a: Landscape Development

As I did ARCH1101 last semester I already was familiar with Crysis and most of its settings and features.. so I thought!! There are so many features available in Crysis that I am constantly finding myself distracted by all the features. Here I have been experimenting with waterfalls and Voxel objects, sounds and vegetation.