Lighting Interactive Design / Final Assignment
Assignment Jump Link
- Assignment Brief
- Task Summary
- Task Delegation
- Process
- Challenge Faces
- Key Improvement
- Consultation / Lecture Feedback
- Final Outcome
- Reflection
📌 Task: Research, refine, and develop a fully interactive projection mapping experience based on the theme Pulse/Nadi. This project requires us to integrate narrative, interaction, and visual storytelling, demonstrating technical proficiency in projection mapping while ensuring a well-structured design process.
📝 Key Tasks:
- 1️⃣ Process Documentation & Iterative Design (15%) – Showcase concept sketches, artwork iterations, and refinements, demonstrating how feedback shaped design decisions.
- 2️⃣ Design Refinement & Final Concept (20%) – Develop a polished projection mapping concept with strong narrative, interaction, and visual impact, incorporating feedback for improved transitions and user experience.
- 3️⃣ Digital Graphical Communication & Execution (30%) – Utilize digital rendering, animation, and spatial composition techniques to effectively convey the projection mapping experience.
- 4️⃣ Project Presentation & Demonstration (20%) – Deliver a compelling presentation with a rendered animation or video, clearly articulating design decisions and responding to feedback.
- 5️⃣ Participation & Engagement (15%) – Actively engage in discussions, provide peer feedback, and demonstrate professional involvement throughout the project.
📅 Due Dates:
- Final Presentation: 22 March 2025 (at Museum Telekom)
- Final Submission: 26 March 2025 (All files & links)
👥 Group Work: 4-5 members
Task Delegation
For this task, we divided the work into six scenes, covering the progression from exposition to resolution. Each of us was responsible for our respective scenes:
- Angel – Exposition and Rising Action
- Renee – Conflict and Climax
- Naura – Denouement
- Natania – Resolution, Rotoscoping, Music, and Compilation Process
Self-drawing asset list:
- Blue pulse with ECG waves
- Pink pulse with ECG waves
- Heart
- Word-building (square shape)
- Word-building (sharp shape)
- Butterfly on the floor
- Big butterfly behind a dancer
- Scribble on the floor
- Scribble background
- Quote
1. Conflict
To start this conflict section, I worked on several parts, specifically scenes 7, 8, and 9. I began by creating a guide and a mock-up video to plan the pulse animation flow.
Mock-Up Video
1.1 Mock Up Video
For the background, I initially had no clear idea of what to do. After some discussion, I decided to use a scribble animation and mask out selected areas for the dancer to perform. In the first version, the background had very thick lines, and after compiling everything, the lines appeared inconsistent. To improve consistency, I reduced the line thickness and changed the background color to dark blue (#192930) instead of black, as a fully black background seemed too overpowering.
Scribble Animation Progress
Since the floor looked too empty, I added scribbles to fill the space and make it less plain.
1.6 Floor Scribble animation
Dancer Animation Adjustments
After Natania completed the rotoscope animation, she sent me the file. However, in the video, the dancer’s size fluctuated, getting bigger and smaller unexpectedly. To fix this, I had to adjust the scale and position in after effect of both the girl and boy dancers before exporting the video back to Procreate Dream, where I would draw the pulse effect for them.
Effect and Texture
Lastly, I have also added a texture and a fade-in/out effect. For the texture (noise texture), I changed the mode from Normal to Dissolve and applied the Fill effect. (i applied this texture for the scribble part of background only )
The fade-in and fade-out effect was achieved by adding a solid black layer and adjusting its opacity from 0% to 100%.
2. Climax
The creation of the climax (Scenes 10, 11, and 12) did not have many issues. I started by drawing Scene 12 first. After completing the first version, we felt that the floor animation was not too obvious, so I made it darker (a darker orange color) to create more contrast.
Before and After - Image
For the rest of the parts, drawing frame by frame was not much of a problem. However, one challenge I faced was that I had no idea how to use the app, which caused me to spend a lot of time exploring it.
After drawing everything, I followed the same process as the conflict scene—exporting and importing it back to add the pulse effect. In the first version, the dancer grew from small to big, but after making adjustments, I changed it so that the dancer starts at the final size and remains that way throughout the entire video. Since adjusting the dancer required changes, I had to redraw and modify the pulse effect in Procreate Dream, frame by frame.
After making all the adjustments, I added the fade-in and fade-out effects along with the noise texture for the ending part of the video.
Challenges Faces
- One challenge I faced in Adobe After Effects was unexpected color changes, even when using the same color code. The colors appeared different for unknown reasons.
- Since I was not familiar with After Effects and Procreate Dream, it took a long time to find the necessary functions. For the pulse effect, I couldn't draw it first and then import it, as the position would change. This meant I had to export, redraw, and re-import after making adjustments every time.
- Another issue was the dancer’s scale, which was often too big and positioned in the screen’s corner. I had to keep readjusting it to ensure consistency across different parts. In some versions, the dancer appeared significantly larger than in others, requiring further adjustments Additionally, I sometimes overlooked these inconsistencies, leading to more corrections.
- Some the exported video will be very blurry and unclear, affecting the overall quality.
- When using Luma Key to remove the background, it sometimes failed to eliminate unwanted black and white areas.
Key Improvement we can do:
- Balance Efficiency & Creativity – Essential for working under tight deadlines.
- Use Technical Optimizations – Roto brushing helps streamline the animation process.
- Increase Frame Rate – Raising from 15fps to 25fps improves fluidity and smoothness.
- Maintain Cohesive Art Style – Ensures visual consistency across all scenes.
- Refine Transitions – Creates seamless scene flow for better engagement.
- Enhance Sound Design – Strengthens storytelling and overall impact.
Consultation / Lecture Feedback
- Nice exploration; the story is well-structured.
- The main focus is on the characters and how they are manipulated.
Rotoscoping:
- When using the rotobrush, apply the fill effect to create a silhouette.
- Render it as a video first, then use it as a silhouette for easier manipulation.
- Rotoscoping is tedious and costly in the industry.
Styling Suggestions:
- The current style works well, as it doesn’t need to be highly detailed.
- Explore Procreate for Angel’s exposition part to maintain a cohesive style.
- Consider using the sketch loop tutorial in Procreate.
- Reduce frame rate to 15fps instead of 25fps to minimize workload.
- Look for the After Effects tutorial: Pencil Scribble Sketch in AE (to be demonstrated later).
- Mix personal drawings with stock photos (e.g., from Envato) to enhance effects.
1. Color & Projection Considerations:
Avoid full black screens:
- Black areas will appear as white light when projected.
- Use grey instead of full black.
- Ensure a clear distinction between characters and the background.
- If using red, make it vibrant to stand out.
Color degradation factors:
- Distance and projection size affect brightness and saturation.
- Increasing brightness can cause loss of details (e.g., fine lines and dots).
- Adding an old filter layer can prevent excessive darkness.
2. White Screen Considerations:
- Avoid full white screens as lights will bounce and reduce character visibility.
- Make the story interactive from start to finish for better engagement.
3. Art Style Considerations:
- A sketchier style is acceptable as it represents story progression.
- Finetuning is not crucial but can be done if time allows.
- Export handwritten buildings at 1920x1080px resolution and import them into software (PSD format).
Transitioning:
- Current transitions are a little sudden so might add a longer fade to make it more smooth.
- Maintain the same timeline while increasing the fade duration.
As the drawing progresses, add more sound effects for better transitions.
- Building filled with text: Since the frames were drawn in Procreate, it's better to export them as a video with a transparent background rather than as Photoshop layers. This avoids unnecessary re-animation in After Effects.
- Heart animation: Once the timing is adjusted in Procreate, export it as a video and place it in the After Effects template.
- Suggestion for heart animation: If there is extra time, try using the Puppet Tool to add detailed movements, making the heartbeat look more realistic.
- Masking effect: Use a scribble effect for both the dancer and background in After Effects to create a dynamic visual style.
- Color animation: Animate the moment when all colors come together.
- Thin lines: Consider adding thin lines to maintain consistency with the front part of the animation.
- Gradient background:
- Instead of using the 4-color gradient preset in After Effects, create a custom gradient in Photoshop, Procreate, etc., to allow for more colors, textures, and depth.
- Export the gradient into After Effects and apply the Turbulent Displace effect to create a warpy, animated look.
- When resizing, split the gradient into three walls and a floor to prevent oversized blobs from overwhelming the audience.
- Rotoscoping with scribbles:
- To enhance the animated effect and texture, duplicate the scribble layer and apply wiggle time or rotation animation for more depth.
- Sound: Sounds okay so far.
- Art style consistency:
- Maintain a consistent style throughout the animation. For example, if thin lines are used to represent pulses, they should be used consistently across all scenes.
- Final Compilation:
- Once all individual scenes are completed, one person should be responsible for compiling everything into a final sequence.
A day before the final presentation, we had a brief consultation with Mr. Shakire to gather feedback on our final video. Below are the key points from his feedback:
-
Exposition-Climax: Add subtle noise texture using opacity or a screen overlay.
-
Scribble Effect:
-
Adjust the scale and thickness of scribbles for better contrast between the background and the character.
-
Enhance the scribble effect by duplicating the scribble rotoscope.
-
-
Denouement: Ensure the background is properly centered.
-
Resolution: Make silhouettes more engaging.
Final Outcome
Final Outcome PDF - CLICK HERE
Final Outcome Slide (Canva) :
Final Video Outcome (MP4)
Reflection
In this assignment, I learned a lot about using new software, such as After Effects and Procreate Dream, and improved my ability to work in a team. Although we faced several challenges, we overcame them by searching for solutions online, consulting our lecturer, and experimenting with alternative approaches.
While the final outcome was decent, we recognized areas for improvement, particularly in visual consistency and scene transitions. Some visuals appeared inconsistent, and certain transitions felt abrupt. In the future, we could create a clearer style guide and plan transitions more thoroughly to ensure smoother visual flow. However, this experience was highly rewarding, as I finally had the opportunity to explore After Effects—something I had wanted to learn for a long time but had never started.
Overall, this module has taught me primarily about After Effects and introduced me to Resolume Arena. Beyond technical skills, this assignment strengthened my problem-solving, teamwork, creativity, and critical thinking abilities.
SOME OTHER VIDEO ...
Final In Museum Telekom (Presentation Showcase)
Comments
Post a Comment