Cheeseburger in Paradise
What I learned during this project:
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Storyboarding: "First Encounter"
Reflection: My storyboard does a good job of introducing my characters because I gave a good foundation for both Abraxus and Shishika's characteristics and growth. I decided to show their personality traits by sketching out their first encounter, which was a fight (started by Abraxus) cut short (by Shishika). I made Abraxus show his impulsive, rage-filled nature by displaying his immediate response to discovering Shishika's background, which is to try to kill her. This demonstrates his lack of self-control and tendency towards violence. The conflict in the storyboard is clear: Abraxus is driven to kill Shishika because of her association with the Avoria empire, which wronged him in the past. Despite his anger and desire for revenge, Shishika is able to restrain him with her wit and powers and talk it out with him, rather than start a fight. This is meant to demonstrate her will for peacemaking and her compassion for others.
A brief explanation for each panel:
- Panel 1: After Shishika's gloves are somewhat torn off, Abraxus notices the tattoo on her arm. He quickly recognizes that it's the symbol of the Avoria and immediately scowls, losing his temper from the remembrance of that empire.
- Panel 2: Abraxus swings his scythe at Shishika, trying to kill her right off the bat with vengeance and without a second's hesitation (impulsiveness).
- Panel 3: Shishika quickly turns herself into dust and dodges Abraxus' attack, which ends up with him accidentally uprooting and slicing a tree in half (this is to emphasize how much force he put into that swing. The pencil doesn't show it well, but the bottom of the tree is supposed to show an outline of burning "magma," since his scythe can release a hot lava-like substance when it hits something--if he wishes for it to do that, though).
- Panel 4: Shishika converts the dust into string and uses it to tie up Abraxus' arms. Abraxus is later seen restrained up against a tree.
- Panel 5: Abraxus is restrained and attempts to break free, ready to go after Shishika once more. However, Shishika takes the opportunity to shout something that successfully grabs his attention and causes a postponement for his next violent-filled actions. Shishika says that she never wanted her empire to do that to his family and apologizes for the immense pain and trauma they caused him. She sincerely states that she is ashamed of what her family has done and shares that she is not like them in any way, as well as mentioning the way they mistreated her even more after she tried to prevent the assassination they planned for his parents and empire. She states that she wants to make it up to him somehow, due to how guilty she feels about her empire's actions and causing his painful, rage-filled past.
- Panel 6: While listening, Abraxus began to realize that Shishika isn't who he initially thought she was. He had always perceived her as this "lucky girl" who was always loved and well-treated by everyone. He also originally thought that she'd be like her parents or act like them (in a not so good way). But, she didn't. So, hearing how her family mistreated her and that she even attempted to prevent the inevitable fate of his family made him very surprised and rethink his decisions. Thus, he started to feel bad for how far he went with his actions and the abuse she endured.
- Panel 7: After Abraxus has more insight on Shishika's side of the story, understanding more of her character, he decided to calm down. Once Shishika noticed his demeanor changing, she unties him and put him back onto the ground.
- Panel 8: Abraxus walks up and stands in front of her, apologizing for his reckless and impulsive behavior. He explains that ever since the incident, he's never been the same Abraxus he once was. He later decides to ask her for advice on how he could ever redeem himself and atone his sins.
- Panel 9: Despite her feeling shaken up (for obvious reasons), Shishika accepts his apology and later helps him address himself.
Matrix Design Challenge:
Character Designs:
Character 1: Abraxus
Backstory (a bit long): Back when he was a human, Abraxus served as a goodhearted, loyal, noble warrior and guardian of his empire. His family were known to be the most powerful, feared, and richest empire (named "Krivona") in the land, followed up by the Avoria. Due to his empire's greater capabilities, the Avoria grew immense jealousy and hatred towards them, even going as far as to start the Great War of Shihajira. One night, during one of his night guard duties, an undercover assassin disguised as a fellow Krivona guard knocked Abraxus out from behind with incredible force, rendering him unconscious. By the time Abraxus woke up, he discovered that his family's home was already set on fire, engulfed in blazing flames. In a panic, Abraxus dashed down into the building to his parents' room--only to discover their assassinated corpses. Now in shock, distress, and terror all at once, he quickly ran to his little sister's room in hope that she was at least alive--to which she wasn't, unfortunately. He had no other choice but to alert the remaining people in the building and flee from the fire. The assassins and arsonists left in time and were unscathed that night. But, ever since the tragic incident and loss of his loved ones, he was left severely traumatized and in an endless loophole of grief and regret, believing that if he had been more aware and extra cautious of his surroundings that night, he would've never been knocked out and could've possibly saved his family. It wasn't until later when he eventually found out about the undercover assassin and that they were specifically from that one empire... The Avoria, their longtime greatest enemy. He had also found out that some civilians and villagers played a role in the arson as well, and thus... This was when his out-of-control wrath and desire for vengeance was born. After losing his family, Abraxus was vulnerable and could see no justice being served by the world. A "demon" (presumably his own inner demon) claimed that those responsible would not be properly punished by the gods, and that if he did not seek revenge himself then there would be no justice. He was tempted by anger and hatred, leading him to go on a violent rampage, extinct the Avoria empire, and committing not one, but multiple despicable acts even afterwards. This was how blinded he became due to his own rage. These acts ultimately tarnished his soul and turned him into a demon in the afterlife. Now, as a demon and guardian of the Netherworld, he feels extreme remorse for what he did in his human life. Not only had he taken lives of the corrupted, but also and unintentionally the innocent (which is ironic, since he sworn to protect and save the innocent--not kill them). He hopes to somehow redeem himself and atone for it by convincing others to avoid the mistakes that he made and to not give in to their own dark desires. Personality: Monotone (somewhat), serious, caring, wise, determined, honorable, loyal, a bit short-tempered, brave, warrior-like. Anti-hero. Design: Often has a serious resting face (seriousness), wields a scythe (meant to be symbolic of death and destruction, which reflects his past and the guilt he carries. Also meant to represent intimidation), pointy shoulder armor (to symbolize his "spiky" personality trait; short tempered), black and red color scheme (in western culture, red typically conveys the meaning of blood or anger, and black is to that of darkness or death). |
Character 2: Shishika
Backstory: Shishika is the last remaining member of the Avoria empire and is the youngest daughter of the Avoria emperor. Despite being one of the emperor's daughters, she was not treated well as many presumed. Shishika's parents' only viewed her as a proud trophy to display, nothing more. They frequently dismissed her feelings and would go as far as to manipulate, gaslight, punish, or guilt trip her whenever she disagreed with them or wanted something they did not approve of. Due to her very kind and timid nature back then, she would often feel like she was the one at fault and easily give in to her parents' demands, barely putting up a fight in fear of how they'll take it. Her two other sisters weren't any better, often making fun of her for abnormal yet sweet, childish personalities and interests out of jealousy. Behind the noble, sweet, and brave mask she held up in front of her family's admiring crowds, she was a distressed, scared, and hurt little girl hidden beneath it all. She would always stress out about living up to her parents' high expectations and fear of the thought of what could happen to her if she ever made an embarrassing mistake that could potentially ruin her family and empire's reputation. One night, she packed her items and planned to escape from her family. However, on that same night, the rampage of Abraxus struck their residence. Bombs were set off, cannons were fired, windows were shot, and the building lit on fire. This caught her off-guard and put her into a state of panic, falling down several floors as the building collapsed--it was a miracle that she even survived. As she was covered underneath the immense dirt and rubble, she spotted countless troops approaching, likely sent by Abraxus to destroy the Avoria and everything they had. She stayed hidden in the debris until most of them were out of sight--which felt like hours--before finally making her escape. She was presumed to be either dead or missing by many. But, in reality, Shishika did not return to Shihajira, for she feared that if she did, she would be killed. Thus, she changed her entire appearance to avoid any recognition or detection from people who resented her, hiding herself. Not only did she change her appearance, but also her personality--pretending to be this rather "sly, devious, wicked, mischievous" person, which contrasts her original kind, thoughtful, caring personality. This other drastic change is meant to make others less suspicious of her true identity, since many perceived her to be saint-like back when she was still in the Avoria empire. Personality (fake): Sly, cunning, wicked, mischievous, sneaky, childish. Personality (real): Goodhearted, clever, contemplative, supportive, fearless (somewhat) Design: Snake themed jester hat (she uses humor and jokes as a coping mechanism (jester), and her favorite reptile is a snake. But, it's also because her mask is meant to act like a "snake."). Fairy-like attire (Shishika enjoys wearing fairy-like outfits because she finds them comforting and playful, reminding her of the innocence and whimsicality she missed from her childhood. This is her way of reclaiming her sense of fun and joy that she lost during the trauma of her past. It also relates to her playful and youthful nature). |
PBM - 4 Corners Scene (3ds Max)
In this project, I only used basic primitives to create this scene using precise transformations. By "precise transformations," I mean that I directly typed in the exact numbers (using a chart that was provided in the assignment) in the text boxes for the length, width, and height of my primitives in "Keyboard Entry" tab, and the segments in the "Parameters" tab. When I finished making my shapes, I selected the "Select and Move" tool and typed in the exact numbers in the three text boxes that were each individually labeled as X, Y, and Z in the bottom right corner. I then selected and used the "Rotate" tool, and repeated the same steps I did when I used the "Select and Move" tool. Once I was finally finished placing and rotating each individual primitive, I selected all the objects except the Plane and linked all of them at once to the Plane base using the "Select and Link" tool. Lastly, I rendered the final scene with the render tool and saved it as two copies: One as JPG and the other as OBJ.
Masking (Photoshop)
What I learned during this project:
- In this project, we learned how to hide certain things in our images in a non-destructive way. Instead of using a simple eraser (which is "destructive", since you can't restore the part that you erased unless you press the "undo" button), we learned to mask our layers by clicking on the "Layer Mask" icon at the bottom right corner. Then, we used the paintbrush tool on the masked layer to either hide/erase (with the color black) or to restore specific parts of the image (with the color white). - I learned a new shortcut on how I could re-scale my paintbrush size (by pressing the "[" key to make it smaller and the "]" key to make it bigger). Overall, I say that I had fun making this and like how it turned out quite a lot (mainly cause of the puppers). I also liked shading the swan boat with the paintbrush tool to make it fit and blend in with the background. |
Vignette (Photoshop)
What I learned during this project:
- Another way to put an image on top of another layer/image (Besides using "Place Embedded", you can do this by opening the image and dragging the selected image to the other image's tab)
- How to cut out my image by using Lasso and Polygonal Lasso (For normal Lasso, you click and hold down the mouse as you drag the line around your ideal portion of the image. As for Polygonal Lasso, it functions the same as the normal Lasso, but it's only limited to being shaped as a square/rectangle or circle/oval)
- How to set the feathering to a number of pixels (After making a cutout of your image while still having Lasso/Polygonal Lasso on, you go up to the upper left corner and click on the bar that has "Feather" labeled right next to it, and insert the amount you want. For example, 15 px or 30 px)
- How to invert the selection to deselect unwanted portions (This time, to deselect parts of your image besides using Ctrl + Shift + I, is by going up the the upper left corner and clicking on "Select" and then on "Inverse" in the drop down menu. Another way was Layer Masking, which was to just select parts of your image and click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom right corner)
How did this activity reinforce and help to improve my previously learned skills?: This activity strengthened and helped improve my previously learned skills by adding more to my knowledge of Photoshop. For example, it showed me some different techniques to cut out my image and feather it, which was that I could either use the Lasso tools to cut out my image and then inverse the rest of the image to deselect unwanted parts of my image. Or, I could do the same thing, except instead of inverting it, I could use Layer Masking.
- Another way to put an image on top of another layer/image (Besides using "Place Embedded", you can do this by opening the image and dragging the selected image to the other image's tab)
- How to cut out my image by using Lasso and Polygonal Lasso (For normal Lasso, you click and hold down the mouse as you drag the line around your ideal portion of the image. As for Polygonal Lasso, it functions the same as the normal Lasso, but it's only limited to being shaped as a square/rectangle or circle/oval)
- How to set the feathering to a number of pixels (After making a cutout of your image while still having Lasso/Polygonal Lasso on, you go up to the upper left corner and click on the bar that has "Feather" labeled right next to it, and insert the amount you want. For example, 15 px or 30 px)
- How to invert the selection to deselect unwanted portions (This time, to deselect parts of your image besides using Ctrl + Shift + I, is by going up the the upper left corner and clicking on "Select" and then on "Inverse" in the drop down menu. Another way was Layer Masking, which was to just select parts of your image and click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom right corner)
How did this activity reinforce and help to improve my previously learned skills?: This activity strengthened and helped improve my previously learned skills by adding more to my knowledge of Photoshop. For example, it showed me some different techniques to cut out my image and feather it, which was that I could either use the Lasso tools to cut out my image and then inverse the rest of the image to deselect unwanted parts of my image. Or, I could do the same thing, except instead of inverting it, I could use Layer Masking.
CMA PBM Models:
I began this project starting off with the nut and bolt. I really liked tracing a PNG image and turning it into a 3D model. I also enjoyed using splines (specifically the line tool) and Boolean. Making the wine glass was the most easiest part of this project, while the part I struggled with was trying to import an image in 3ds Max, which I later then realized that the image I was using wasn't PNG or JPEG, so that's why it wouldn't work. Some earlier skills I used for completing this project were duplication, rotation, and positioning. This lesson taught me how to manipulate compound objects, like using union, twist, lathe, splines and more, which I believe can be very helpful for altering objects in future 3D modeling assignments. I learned how to use Boolean and different types of Modifiers. Overall, I do not have any issues with the videos provided.