Midterm - Samuel Cohoon

Midterm

>Color Scheme:

I used a custom color scheme for my midterm because I was basing it on a game that had it's own color pallet. I just opened the game and took screenshots of the environments and the characters until I had the colors that I needed. The few colors that I used the most are:

>D9E3E8

>464F55

>E6E7E8

>7D7D7D

>3B3B3B

>A7AAAD

>595959

So, basically just a whole lot of gray variants...

>Describe Process:

Well, first off, I created the robots in my animation and then the stage that they appear on. I used the pen, paint brush, pencil, paint bucket, rectangle, oval, and primitive tools to create the robots (Atlas and P-body(Peabody?)) as well as the camera. After they were completed I designed the stage, which is a basic hallway that the robots/camera were copied too. After I copied the symbols over I started by animating the robots, the camera (to a degree) and the 'crushers' that were supposed to be ever-present in the second Portal game. I left actual portals out of this project, doesn't make sense does it? Well, I guess this was just an ode to a game mechanic that I was really looking forward too after seeing the Portal 2 trailers.

>Questions Asked In Reqs:

The classic tween with the motion guide only fitted one animation in my project, and that is one that I wasn't planning on implementing; I had to add the dangling robot arm/handheld portal device at the end so that I could show my 'knowledge' of the classic tween. My choice to use this type of tween was appropriate primarily because I wanted to set a path for the arm to follow, which is easiest with the classic tween and motion guide.

I used a preset ease when I brought the robots onto the stage. The ease I chose to use was the Simple (slow) ease, just because it was there and I didn't need anything fancy. I also used this ease when adding the transparency to the robots.

After creating two motion tweens that fulfilled the requirements I got to work on the many others that I had to create. Three of them were used on the crushers that rise to the ceiling and then fall back down, while another was used to crush the two hapless robots. Several more were used as nested motion tweens too contort the arms of Atlas (the circular robot on the right) when he was crushed, and to move the arm back up to the ceiling when the crusher rises back up.

>Detailed Description:

I really don't want to get too detailed, but here it goes. Both of my robots contain around 30 symbols and several folders in my library to contain all of them, so the process to create them was long and, oddly, enjoyable. Three things that you will need when you embark on such an endeavor: a television providing you with white noise, patience, and video breaks every hour on the hour.

I began by taking reference shots in game, and then importing them to my library. Either by using the Pen or Line tool (depending on complexity/contours of the shape) start drawing the shape that you wish to recreate. I recommend a .10 stroke for neat lines that you can fill in with your desired color later. If you are creating a humanoid start with the body, then work out to the limbs and head. Typing this i realize that mos of this is common sense... so basically just create symbols from part of your drawing when you need it layered a certain way and in the end (say when you've finished the limb or body) you create a symbol out of that and label it 'body' or 'leftleg'. You'll also want to create a folder in your library for this section of the body; then, once you've made the entire being, create yet another symbol entitled '***Full' or '***Completed'. I just found that my filling your library up with symbols from your project it makes it ten times easier to edit when you really need to.

>Motion Editor:

I used the motion editor very little while creating my midterm project. I only used it when I needed to, for eases and certain color effects. Other than that I strayed away, not because the UI is overwhelming, but because I have to drag it out of it's locked interface to see all of the settings that I want to change... such a pain.

>Imported Symbol:

The symbol that I used from a different project was the star that i created way back in project #2. I copied it in and changed it's color and size so that it would look similar to the Aperture Science logo on the side of the camera.

[/esoteric]

I would have just made the log myself but I needed to use a symbol that I had previously created somewhere in the midterm.