Graphics - Carousel Week 1

Graphics

First carousel evaluation

Photoshop, illustrator, maya

Premiere pro

During our session with Stefan, on Tuesday, we used the software "Premiere Pro" to edit our footage for a short one minute video about a crime (we chose to make it about a 'ninja thief'). Due to this being one of the first time I have used this we were given a video tutorial on how to first set up Premiere and use the basics of the application such as how to set the resolution of the video, the refresh rate of the video and also simple tools of how to cut up the clips which was a form of secondary research when learning.

During this time as well the others in my group showed me some tricks inside the software as well such as separating the audio from the visuals of files and how to then extend or shorten either one, as well as how to add music into it which was a great example of primary research.

Graphics

The three main taks we did for our first day of the carousel in graphics was to blend a face of a person into a background, create a cartoon version of another face and finally making a simple animation. 

Adobe Photoshop

For the process  in blending a face into a background we used Adobe Photoshop.

To start we was asked to get a high resolution photo of nature and a face. For this I took to the web and found the two images which stood out to me which was an image of a tree and shot of Leonardo DiCaprio.



 

Short cuts:

F= fit to screen

Tab=removes tools

Cmd (+ or -) = zoom

Cmd 0 = fit image to screen

Cmd A = select all

B=brush tool (square brackets = brush size)

Non destructive editing:

A form of editing in photoshop which doesn't write over the image data

Being taught by Alan Figg how to do small tasks such as little shortcuts, how to create mask layers, how to then cut them and also how to change the opacity of it has really given more potential within photoshop as I already had a really basic understanding from editing photographs I have taken. Even though I didn't finish with a final product, this has opened up a lot more for me in this application which will then allow me to create better products in the future.

Adobe illustrator

Adobe illustrator was very similar as it used similar methods like the different layers you see on the screen. however photoshop is dependant on pixels whereas illustrator is not. Here is how i first started to reproduce the photo of a face (Brendon Urie) and then started to remake it into a cartoon

Here I've been using the pencil tool to create layers which comes together to make up the eye. after this i can then use the colours to create the different sections of the eye.

Maya

Maya is a 3D animation and modelling program. 

First starting off i had to switch the settings so i could then use the mouse efficiently. 

 Shortcuts:

cmd + , = preferences 

w = move

alt = tumble

alt + cmd = pan

ctrl + alt = zoom 

r = resize

s = keyframe 

Here i created an animation of a ball bouncing up and down with the shape changing every time it hit the bottom. to do this i needed to add a key frame (pressing s) and change the shape and position of the ball. due to my limited hand unfortunately the quality wasn't that great.

- James H