The Second Self - Complete and Utter Animation

I really wasn't happy with the way my animation ended, something about it was too abrupt. So I've added a little more, nothing special or intricate in the slightest but just a way of making it feel like a it has ended. I edited the song quite a bit to make it fit to the video so I'm very pleased with that. Now I shall go get some well deserved sleep and present it first thing tomorrow morning!



This will probably be my last post for a few weeks as I'm going on holiday tomorrow. So I hope everyone has a good one!

The Second Self - Complete Animation

Animation: Maya 2008 Unlimited
Editing: Final Cut Pro
Music: Cinematic Orchestra - All Things (CO's music works well with any visual!)

Here it is pretty much done now. I would have liked it to be longer, but I couldn't think of anything else to do. I wanted to make the magic carpet roll but at the time, with the method I was using (controlling each vertex) it was taking much too long. Then after rendering I thought of an easier but still very time consuming way, and as I still have an essay to write, I'll leave that for now!
I tried to use the Neb II submarine too but it was acting up; when I moved it was being stretched about and not moving freely. So again with lack of time to make improvements I decided to leave it out.



Comments are welcome!


Watching: The Simpsons - Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Three Times

The Nebuchadnezzar II Mysteriously Finds Its Way To My Avatar

The Neb II has a new role now, this time in my environment...


To be honest it's not exactly how I would have liked it to look - I'm unhappy with the colours more than the way I've built and structured it - but time is of the essence and it's a ship none the less!
I got the idea from The Matrix, which was my favourite film from when it was released until about 4 years ago.


Music: Charles Mingus - M D M

The Second Self - An Avatar Is Born

My avatar is on it's way...


Update...
Using mental ray's depth of field




Music: Frank Zappa - In-A-Gadda-Stravinsky

Second Life Diary - Week 3

Darth Nikitin Strikes Back!... A New Hope?... Attack of thevirtualclones

Okay that's all the SW related names I can think of, for now.

So back to my second life I go and I as I go with a fresh mind raring to experience new things and talk to new people I find myself taking a mission that sounds a bit strange from the beginning and... well, has no end!

I met a Buddha looking statue called Phatt. That's me with Phatt pictured below. He asked my name and I said "Hi, i'm Darth Nikitin, who the hell are?" Then he replied "Ah! Darth I've been expecting you. The volcano up this hill will erupt and kill us all unless you can convince Pele, the volcano goddess, otherwise. Great!"



Wow! I thought. What a way to start my second week, this should be fun, oh so fun!

So I ventured up this hill and found the volcano, but after searching, on land and in the air for Pele without any luck I decided to give up.

Then I started to talk to someone called Solice Sideways (pictured below). We mentioned the usual shaith like: Hi I'm new, How do I explore/get out of here and do something good? But I also told him of my all important mission that was still casting a dark shadow of guilt over my relatively bright second life day, at 01:00 Nottingham time....!
He agreed to help and we flew back over to the volcano and................ to cut a long story short we STILL couldn't find Pele.

To summarise I still don't like second life. I find it boring, but maybe that is because I haven't unlocked the door to explore all of it yet. Hopefully by the next diary entry I would have done this and therefore justifying (to some degree) that my time has been well spent.


Music: Yes - Long Distance Runaround

The Second Self - Part 1, 2 & 3

Animation: Maya 2008 Unlimited
Editing: Final Cut Pro
Music: A clip from something I wrote and recorded about 3 years ago, then re-wrote and re-recorded last year. It's called Minima.

I still have to make my person/avatar/alter-ego 3D thingy whatsit, but I'm pleased with the way it's heading so far I decided to upload and add music for the purpose of watching it progress...



Comments welcome!



Music: The Beatles - Blackbird

The Second Self - Animation Intro

Animation: Maya 2008 Unlimited
Editing: Final Cut Pro
Music: None yet. I'm going to add all the music when I have all the clips together

So after much faffing I have finally got to the stage where I feel quite comfortable using Maya. There are of course still things that I need to work on and I intend to over the course of the holiday.
Here is a short animation I am using to introduce the environment:



Let me know what you think.

Music: Medications - Safe and Sorry

Project 1: The Second Self: Mood Board

Here is my first attempt at a mood board for this project. I found the process quite easy because I already had these pictures on my hardrive and have been looking at them as a source of inspiration since starting the project. They all in same way or another relate, connect or make up part of who I am and some of them are originals, others I've grabbed from the internet.



I haven't actually used this website this time, but I will for the next mood board to help formulate some ideas.



Music: Pink Floyd - Money

My Second Self/Alter Ego [1]

This is so funny!