A while ago I posted an article on a little animation helper class which makes it quick and easy to build animations dynamically in code. You can see my articles here and here and here.

I use this animation chainer a fair bit in my apps so I thought I’d share the improvements here.

Firstly, the system has been greatly simplified – I’ve cut a lot of superfluous junk out.

It now supports Stop, Pause and Resume

It takes a framework element in the constructor of the AnimationChainManager. This is to get around the problem where animations would appear jumpy (and sometimes not at all!).

It supports animation easing.

It supports callbacks using lambdas to make it very easy to calculate your next dynamic animation.

<Sample Code>

New AnimationChainer – fluent Storyboard helper for Silverlight Demo

</Sample Code>

Hope you enjoy!

Merry Christmas,

Jordan.

Another little idea I came up for Jules Mumm champagne. It tastes so good people can’t wait for the appropriate moment to pop the cork and celebrate.

>see script board

This was a tv/cinema spot that I wrote for the Four Roses campaign (see entry in my General portfolio site). The basic idea of the campaign was about living life in full bloom. This was a sketch I always had in my mind and the brief fitted it perfectly. A decorator goes into an art gallery to do a job painting a wall white. While in there he gets inspired by the abstract art around him and so paints his wall like one of those experimental artists would using his whole body and soul. The up shot of it is the wall is still white, the job has been done, but it was how he got there that was different.

>see script board

Here is presented my second storyboard “The Store”

I ve made a storyboard for the first idea (The Guitarist in a park) and I’d like u to check it!

already 25 years ago! incredible. beginning of 1984, the GEORGE ORWELL year, I had been one of the designers of the new logo for the first german tv-station, ARD 1. the general opening logos and titles for all different program sections were done in CG, at that time a very time consuming and extremely expensive adventure. I was several times in COLUMBUS, ohio, where the CRANSTON-SCURI computer animation production was located, on the campus of the ohio state university. the founder and head of the school and COMPUTER GRAPHICS RESEARCH GROUP was prof. CHARLES SCURI, considered the pioneer of computer art. I was supposed to supervise the production of the first animated logos for the german tv-station, since I had done all the storyboards. following are two of many boards from that year, and 2 pictures from cranston-csuri.

© ARD

On more than one occasion, I’ve run across storyboards as a technique for plotting a novel. The idea is that the visual helps a writer notice plot holes.

The software program Scrivener uses a corkboard like virtual index cards. This sounds so cool. Unfortunately, it only works on a Mac, and although I use a Mac at work, I have a PC at home. Sniff.

For today’s prompt, use the concept of a storyboard to plot out something. Write scenes on index cards (or coloured post-it notes) and lay them out on the floor or a wall. Take note of plot holes and weakness. Figure out what you need to place where.

…unless I fall asleep. Storyboard deadline tomorrow and no matter how much I love drawing bears my eyes are drooping and still have 5 more pictures to illustrate for my storyboard. Kill me now!

In design classes during the sessions on design development, they usually mention three techniques:  provide destinations, add mystery, and create journeys.  I frequently treat these three techniques as one.  For example, adding a path winding through the landscape creates the journey.  Adding a hidden bend adds mystery as to what is around that bend.  The seating area at the end of the path is the destination.  Blending the techniques creates one simple design element with many possible responses from those who use the space.  The problem is in presenting these potential responses to the client.  A two dimensional plan view doesn’t really do justice to the potential effect.

My thoughts to get around this issue are twofold.  First, 3D design software should allow you create the layout and then generate the 3D walkthrough for the client.  The second approach is to create a journey board.  A 2D plan view is mounted on the middle of a poster board.  At various points on the path, lines are drawn leading to depictions of what the client would see standing in that spot.  The depiction could be drawings, enhanced photos, or representative pictures from other sources.  The objective would be to lead the client through the landscape journey showing the elements of mystery and other features.  The final depiction would represent the destination.  Like any storyboard, addition softscape and hardscape features can be added.

The idea behind 3D walkthroughs is to show them onscreen in real time.  However if circumstances warrant, prints of the 3D view could also be mounted on the journey board.  A combination of the two approaches if you will.

Given that these are design techniques it isn’t likely that clients are going to have these on their list of requirements.  Although I have had clients ask for destinations like seating areas and/or pathways.  In spite of this, our design should still be validated to the extent possible.  There may be elements that you fit into the design that were requested.  These can be validated as meeting the client requirements.  Your design concept, presented as a 3D walkthrough or a journey board, can be validated through client feedback and comments.

Using either of these techniques allows you to simulate the quality of motion through the landscape.  The client can get a sense of what it will be like to walk the path and reach the destination.  This can be pointed out in a 2D plan view but it just isn’t as effective for soliciting a client’s reaction and approval.

“Behind the Screen” is an exhibition at the Museum of the Motion Image. Here is the storyboard to the piece.

Below are test footage I put together to get a handle and a feeling for the piece now. I finally got a digital copy of “Tropic Thunder” and picked a humorous piece that best exemplified the core conceit of the filming process. (I am going to edit the segment down, but it will definitely show the crew and actors interacting).

And below is a quick segment of what will probably be the final look of Panel 3 and 4.

I’m experimenting with different speeds and movement within each panel (for example the director’s hand is sped up while the lighting is static throughout) and seeing what kind of affect it creates (whether it create a contrast worth exploring or an unnecessary distraction).

I just wanted to show that I am slowly getting to it. Learning how to Green Screen and filming was an experience hahah. I hope to swim deeper in the waters now and really arrange all the puzzle pieces soon. Any comments or critiques is welcome.

———

WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK:
Now this is screwed up. C’mon son. C’mon Call of Duty. Seriously?

Springboard is a fast, light, easy-to-use Windows application for easily and quickly sketching and annotating your storyboard ideas for film, video, animation, or other dynamic media. Outline your story to organize your work; draw your storyboards with both natural-media and vector tools; import or copy and paste text and graphics from other applications; add annotation layers to show camera moves, special effects, etc.; use a multi-layer model to productively reuse content; easily edit graphics and sounds with external programs if you prefer; record animation and play back as an animatic in real-time; record or import sounds; include fade transitions, layered animation, and camera movement easily; print in a variety of formats; work with feature-length or longer projects; and export to AVI, HTML or sequential image files for review or integration with other applications. Springboard keeps the process simple and organized.

The most annoying part of losing the XAML was making the animations work. Looking back, it seems pretty simple but getting there led me to a lot of frustration.

Every framework element has a resources property but that page doesn’t get into detail about using the resource property without XAML. I had to figure it out from other code. After <Window.Resources> in traditionalclock.xaml, you come across the Storyboard Class, the website for which offers a good example of using it in C# but does not mention the ParallelTimeline Class which is used next in the file. Again, the documentation from Microsoft offers no help about using it without XAML.

The tutorial Particle Effects in WPF was very helpful in showing me that you must add animation types to the ParallelTimeline by registering them as children of the ParallelTimeline. However, I still wasn’t able to get the animation working (I was either getting no build errors with the no animation or build errors that told me I didn’t yet know what I was doing. It wasn’t until I came across a much more advanced animation example when I finally understood everything I was doing wrong and what I needed to do right. (Now, that I look at that example again, I see it comes from a set of very nice examples which give pure C# representations alongside XAML + C# code-behind).

Anyway, here’s the play-by-play:

• Setting up the Storyboard
  • XAML:
    <Window.Resources>
<Storyboard x:Key="clockHandStoryboard">
<ParallelTimeline>
<DoubleAnimation From="-9" To="351" Duration="00:01:00" RepeatBehavior="Forever" Storyboard.TargetProperty="Angle" Storyboard.TargetName="secondHandAngle"/>
...[other DoubleAnimation code is similar]...
</ParallelTimeline>
</Storyboard>
</Window.Resources>
  • C#:
    NameScope.SetNameScope(this, new NameScope());
    Storyboard clockHandStoryboard = new Storyboard();
    ParallelTimeline pt = new ParallelTimeline(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0));
    DoubleAnimation secondHandAnimation = new DoubleAnimation(-9, 351, new Duration(new TimeSpan(0, 1, 0)));
    Storyboard.SetTargetName(secondHandAnimation, "secondHandAngle");
    Storyboard.SetTargetProperty(secondHandAnimation, new PropertyPath(RotateTransform.AngleProperty));
    secondHandAnimation.RepeatBehavior = RepeatBehavior.Forever;
    ...
    pt.Children.Add(secondHandAnimation);
    ...
    clockHandStoryboard.Children.Add(pt);

    this.Resources.Add("clockHandStoryboard", clockHandStoryboard);
this.RegisterName("clockHandStoryboard", clockHandStoryboard);

  • Notes:
    A name scope is created for the window so that we can later register the storyboard and animation target names with the scope. A storyboard and ParallelTimeline are then instantiated to hold the animation information. Notice that to create the DoubleAnimation in C#, several steps are used whereas in XAML it is one line. “SetTargetName” specifies a string which is the name of the object, in the name scope, to be animated. Once the animations were set-up, I added them to the ParallelTimeline, then added the ParallelTimeline to the Storyboard. Finally, I added the Storyboard to the window’s Resources collection since that’s how it was outlined in XAML and then added its name to the name scope since that’s what Microsoft suggested.
• Triggering the Animation (this is the same for each hand)
  • XAML:
    <Canvas.Triggers>
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Canvas.Loaded">
<EventTrigger.Actions>
<BeginStoryboard Name ="clockHandStoryboard" Storyboard="{StaticResource clockHandStoryboard}" />
</EventTrigger.Actions>
</EventTrigger>
</Canvas.Triggers>
  • C#:
    EventTrigger canvasTrigger = new EventTrigger();
canvasTrigger.RoutedEvent = Canvas.LoadedEvent;
BeginStoryboard beginStory = new BeginStoryboard();
beginStory.Name = "clockHandStoryboard";
beginStory.Storyboard = clockHandStoryboard;
canvasTrigger.Actions.Add(beginStory);
clockCanvas.Triggers.Add(canvasTrigger);
  • Notes:
    With each step towards understanding, this is getting easier and easier. Again, I noticed that the XAML and C# don’t correspond exactly but it’s easy for me to see now that “Canvas.Triggers” and “EventTrigger.Actions” must be some kind of collection so I immediately check for an “Add” method or “Children.Add” method.
• Registering the animation
  • XAML:
    <Polygon.RenderTransform>
<RotateTransform x:Name="hourHandAngle" CenterX="4" CenterY="45" />
</Polygon.RenderTransform>
  • C#:
    RotateTransform hourHandAngle = new RotateTransform();
this.RegisterName("hourHandAngle", hourHandAngle);
hourHandAngle.CenterX = 4;
hourHandAngle.CenterY = 45;
hourHand.RenderTransform = hourHandAngle;
  • Notes:
    It took me far too long to discover that you must register the transform’s name. I had assumed that “x:Name” meant the transform had a “Name” property but it doesn’t so I spent a long time trying different things before I looked it up in the various sources mentioned above. I don’t want to rely on external sources, I want to try to figure it out myself through debugging but when you really don’t understand, it’s best to look it up instead of wasting time.

The pure C# clock finally works. There is no need to change assemblyinfo.cs if you want to add that information into the properties dialogue. The executable of the port is significantly smaller than the original. I guess that’s because it doesn’t need to hold any of the XAML information (though I would expect it to all be parsed and compiled similarly to my rewrite). Also, the original build and my new one are clearly using methods supported by Microsoft, I would have expected them to create an animation library that doesn’t consume 50% cpu when looping forever. If there’s another way besides “RepeatBehavior=”Forever” I’d really like to know.

Beloved Brother is an animated short film I’m working on. The story is about a little girl who’s brother has just passed on. She misses him and mourns over his grave. Suddenly he returns and the girl is joyous until she realizes that she can’t touch him. So she chases after him throughout life until death when she can be reunited with him again.

Here are their original concept designs starting with the brother because he’s the one who crept into my imagination first.

And the Graveyard for which they are frolicking in.

I’ll have a Story Reel up soon, just have to fix out the kinks in it.

We’ve been doing some work-spotting in the office to see what our hard-work goes into creating!

The most recent project we’ve found was for Knorr Stock Pots – the latest type of stock-cube to hit the market.  We were approached to put together a 30 second animatic – basically, a moving storyboard – where the chef walks through a field of cardboard cows to get to his home, before using a Knorr Stock Pot to cook a delicious cottage pie for the family!

The finished ad even features Marco Pierre White!!

You can see the full TV ad on visit4info.com – compare how similar it is!!

Pour voir la suite, il faudra se procurer le dernier Vestibulles qui sera lancé aux alentours du 15 décembre. Je vous tiens au courant.

J’étais absent de ce site depuis quelques jours. J’étais pris au Salon du livre (rien à voir avec BDdecuL). Là, je dois plancher sur mon histoire pour le Vestibulles, la magazine de l’atelier de Jimmy Beaulieu au Cégep du Vieux Montréal. Pour cette histoire, je m’amuse avec le gaufrier. Je dois livrer demain… ouch. À suivre.

I’m hoping to see a few of you at MacWorld 2010 where I’ll be speaking next year. I love San Fransisco so will be taking a little extra time out to hang out with my old friends, Amacker and Nina at the Lucky 13 bar on Castro. I also hope to catch up with all my other SF buddies, it’s always hard to fit everything in as there are so many people I love in the bay area!

If you’d like to attend you can click on the banner to the left to get a discount. Click on the Register button and then just use my personal priority code, ATAYLOR when you register.
Below are details about the talk I’ll be delivering;

Users Conference US964: Creative Video Workflow – From Storyboard to Completion – Feb. 12, 2010    3:00 PM – 4:15 PM

Angie Taylor will take you on a journey through a typical video project, showing the entire process including the creation of sketches, brainstorms and storyboards, audio production and clean up, editing, and producing the final project. Angie will also discuss how creative professionals can bring unity and clarity to complex creative projects. Aspects of automating time sheets, liaising with clients, auditing jobs and packaging final files for delivery will be explored within this session.

Anyone with personal or professional interests in creating digital videos and working with tools such as After Effects, Flash, Flow, CS4, Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro and Soundbooth, will benefit from this session.

If you are interested in a streamlined way to look at the digital video process including tips and tricks using various software tools that will help maximize the creative input and minimize the project complexities, then this session is for you!

Angie’s Shuffle Track of the Day: San Fransisco – Scott McKenzie – listen free on Last FM

For our final project in Core Design II we’ve been given the challenge to work in a group of three. Our focus is to combine elements from our second projects and create a new product. We then have to build a final prototype of this object and create a storyboard for our product. If possible, we would then film the segment but it’s not a requirment since we only have 3 weeks to finish the project.

So far my group and I have come up with a meditative chair that takes on the organic form of an apple seed. There’ll be more to come once we finalize on the design, color, material, and story of our product. I’m really excited! Below is an audio clip of what I’d like to use for our video/commercial (if you ffwd to 1:04 you’ll hear the slogan I’d like to play with).

Here is my storyboard for my GLP.storyboard