I was assigned the task of creating the barn and trees for our Space Kook. Both of the items went through a variety adjustments, but the final product was something that our entire team was proud of.

I began the process by making note of the dimensions of our overall environment. A group conversation took place to discuss the details of how large our Space Kook would be in reality, in turn affecting his appearance against the barn and set trees. We decided that the Kook was about seven to eight feet tall, and that our barn door was about ten feet tall. We then created a ratio to match the height of our six- inch miniature.

The barn was created out of cardboard. The first draft was simply painted brown to imitate a wooden pattern. We decided that the finish was too smooth and needed more texture to create a more genuine appearance when the light hit our set.

The next version was created by covering the cardboard with Jaxsan, an acrylic latex coating used predominantly for waterproofing roofs and thermal insulation. It acts similarly to a moist clay, and creates a nice grainy texture when dried, imitating the strokes it was applied with. I coated the cardboard using a popsicle stick and spread it on in horizontal lines. I next painted multiple layers of browns, blacks, and reds to imitate a wood grain pattern.

At this point the board was quite flimsy, and still lacked the precise wooden texture that we were striving for. The finish was one large coated piece and seemed flat.

Next, I cut the board covered in Jaxsan into thin strips, and then again into smaller rectangles. I aligned all the pieces on a thicker piece of board, and re-glued them on. This finally created a texture that we wanted, giving the appearance that the barn was created of many wooden boards.

Lastly, the barn was painted with a matte gray texture, the same color as the rest of the environment. This way, when light hits the set, it appears more cohesive as a unit.

The trees also went through a few variations. The first version of them was created with a small pipe and metal wire. The trees were to be painted black and act as silhouettes. It was decided that the branches of the first version were too thin and spaghetti- like in comparison to the trunk.

We then shifted to using foam board. The trees were at first difficult to cut, resulting jagged edges. I switched to a knife that better suit my hand size, and consistently changed the blade to create more smooth cuts.

The trees were then embellished with Jaxsan texture, a holey cloth, and black moss. They were then fastened to the final miniature set with hot glue.

Here is an image of our final set, including the trees and barn, in front of a green screen during our shooting day.

12/2/2018

Filming has been completed, our effect is in working, presentable, exhibit ready shape and we’re nearing the end of the semester. The last time y’all heard from me things were heating up and redesigns were happening in order to accommodate some deign oversights in the more functional components of our effect. The redesigns proposed in that blog post proved to be successful in making the hand work properly in front of the camera using fishing line rather than bike brakes.

One of the components of the finished project that I think had the most profound effect was the desk. The desk was something that seemed to evolve throughout the design process of the robot itself because it had to designed to work with the robot, the robot wasn’t deigned to fit the desk. The desk’s lights were deigned in a way so that the red section as seen in the picture above could be switched between red and blue in front of the camera without the use of any VFX. The desk was designed entirely in our final week of production since it really was the icing on the cake.

On November 12th, 2018 our effect was filmed in front of a green screen which would allow us to digitally edit in a background that would not be possible in a practical setting. However, halfway through our filming process parts of our effect began to break. Shoulder pads began to detach, paint started flaking, and arms fell off. Luckily through clever camera angles none of this is even noticeable in the final cut of our effect.

We left shooting day with some incredible footage but with our effect in pieces. This wasn’t the end for the admin bot, we had the tools to rebuild him better and stronger than before. We can rebuild him. We have the technology.

With our exhibit coming up next week, the group has been hard at work getting our effect back together in a state that looks good for a live audience and in a way that demonstrates how everything works.  This semester has been such a wild ride and I have learned so much through this class that I couldn’t have learned elsewhere. The class was an immense amount of work but seeing our final footage all come together is so rewarding and makes all of the late nights and early mornings 100% worth it. I hope to take more classes similar to this in the future to supplement my education in the school of engineering because this whole semester in this class has truly been a once in a lifetime experience.