Final Project

The effect I was going for is that I have Hiro Protagonist ,from the novel Snowcrash, entering the storage shed to practice with his samurai sword online. He has goggles that he puts on and this enters him into his online space in the dojo. So he enters the storage, puts on the goggles and his background changes as the dojo is loading into his goggles; next his new appearance begins loading and finishes, leaving him with a sword and ninja outfit; finally the dojo finishes loading up and fully appears. After this he begins practicing.

To achieve this effect I created two different masked images and masked them together with a separate mask. First I masked out the backgrounds to put the subject in the two different places. Next I took the moment the backgrounds were transitioning and created a mask for the foreground, so only the subject would be masked but the background would not.

The effect still needs some polishing and I believe the fault is that lighting for this effect should be more consistent for the right amount of color to be removed. I faced certain time constraints for my filming schedule but I will continue to work on this effect as I feel it has the possibility to turn out quite cool.

Here's the Code I used for the Final Project:


#!/bin/bash


# extract images from Original video files

echo "Extracting Images"

FILES=./*.avi
b=1

for i in $FILES

do

mkdir images$b

ffmpeg -i MaskTest$b.avi -f image2 images$b/%d.ppm

let b=$b+1

done

echo "Importing Backgrounds"

FILES=images4/*.ppm
b=1

mkdir EnterStorage
mkdir EnterStorage/Converted
mkdir EnterStorage/Comp


for i in $FILES

do

ppmchange -closeness=28 blue red images4/$b.ppm >EnterStorage/Converted/RED$b.ppm

ppmcolormask -color red EnterStorage/Converted/RED$b.ppm >EnterStorage/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm

pamcomp background1/storage.ppm EnterStorage/Converted/RED$b.ppm -alpha=EnterStorage/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm -

invert >EnterStorage/Comp/Comp$b.ppm


let b=$b+1

done

FILES=images5/*.ppm
b=1

mkdir StraightenGoggles
mkdir StraightenGoggles/Converted
mkdir StraightenGoggles/Comp


for i in $FILES

do

ppmchange -closeness=42 blue red images5/$b.ppm >StraightenGoggles/Converted/RED$b.ppm

ppmcolormask -color red StraightenGoggles/Converted/RED$b.ppm >StraightenGoggles/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm

pamcomp background1/storagecloseup.ppm StraightenGoggles/Converted/RED$b.ppm -

alpha=StraightenGoggles/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm -invert >StraightenGoggles/Comp/Comp$b.ppm


let b=$b+1

done

FILES=images6/*.ppm
b=1

mkdir Akimbo
mkdir Akimbo/Converted
mkdir Akimbo/Comp


for i in $FILES

do

ppmchange -closeness=42 blue red images6/$b.ppm >Akimbo/Converted/RED$b.ppm

ppmcolormask -color red Akimbo/Converted/RED$b.ppm >Akimbo/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm

pamcomp background1/storagemediumshot.ppm Akimbo/Converted/RED$b.ppm -alpha=Akimbo/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm -

invert >Akimbo/Comp/Comp$b.ppm


let b=$b+1

done



FILES=images7/*.ppm
b=1

mkdir Akimbo2
mkdir Akimbo2/Converted
mkdir Akimbo2/Comp


for i in $FILES

do

ppmchange -closeness=31 blue red images7/$b.ppm >Akimbo2/Converted/RED$b.ppm

ppmcolormask -color red Akimbo2/Converted/RED$b.ppm >Akimbo2/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm

pamcomp background1/storagemedium2.ppm Akimbo2/Converted/RED$b.ppm -alpha=Akimbo2/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm -

invert >Akimbo2/Comp/Comp$b.ppm


let b=$b+1

done

FILES=images9/*.ppm
b=1

mkdir NinjaSword
mkdir NinjaSword/Converted
mkdir NinjaSword/Comp


for i in $FILES

do

ppmchange -closeness=37 blue red images9/$b.ppm >NinjaSword/Converted/RED$b.ppm

ppmcolormask -color red NinjaSword/Converted/RED$b.ppm >NinjaSword/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm

pamcomp background2/dojo.ppm NinjaSword/Converted/RED$b.ppm -alpha=NinjaSword/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm -invert

>NinjaSword/Comp/Comp$b.ppm


let b=$b+1

done

#Creating Masked Backgrounds

echo "Creating Masked Backgrounds"

FILES=images2a/*.ppm
b=1

mkdir StorageToDojoBackground
mkdir StorageToDojoBackground/Converted
mkdir StorageToDojoBackground/Comp


for i in $FILES

do

ppmchange -closeness=37 blue red images2a/$b.ppm >StorageToDojoBackground/Converted/RED$b.ppm

ppmcolormask -color red StorageToDojoBackground/Converted/RED$b.ppm

>StorageToDojoBackground/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm

pamcomp background2/dojo.ppm background1/storagemedium2.ppm -

alpha=StorageToDojoBackground/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm -invert >StorageToDojoBackground/Comp/Comp$b.ppm


let b=$b+1

done

FILES=images2b/*.ppm
b=1

mkdir StorageToDojoBackground2
mkdir StorageToDojoBackground2/Converted
mkdir StorageToDojoBackground2/Comp


for i in $FILES

do

ppmchange -closeness=37 blue red images2b/$b.ppm >StorageToDojoBackground2/Converted/RED$b.ppm

ppmcolormask -color red StorageToDojoBackground2/Converted/RED$b.ppm

>StorageToDojoBackground/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm

pamcomp background1/storagemedium2.ppm background2/dojo.ppm -

alpha=StorageToDojoBackground/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm -invert >StorageToDojoBackground2/Comp/Comp$b.ppm


let b=$b+1

done

FILES=images11/*.ppm
b=1

mkdir End
mkdir End/Converted
mkdir End/Comp


for i in $FILES

do

ppmchange -closeness=26 blue red images11/$b.ppm >End/Converted/RED$b.ppm

ppmcolormask -color red End/Converted/RED$b.ppm >End/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm

pamcomp background2/Dojocloseup.ppm End/Converted/RED$b.ppm -alpha=End/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm -invert

>End/Comp/Comp$b.ppm

let b=$b+1

done



#Inputting Masked Backgrounds

echo "Inputting Masked Backgrounds"


FILES=StorageToDojoBackground/Comp/*.ppm
b=1

mkdir StorageToDojoComp


for i in $FILES

do


pamcomp StorageToDojoBackground/Comp/Comp$b.ppm Akimbo2/Converted/RED53.ppm -

alpha=Akimbo2/Converted/REDMASK53.pbm -invert >StorageToDojoComp/Comp$b.ppm


let b=$b+1

done

FILES=StorageToDojoBackground2/Comp/*.ppm
b=1



for i in $FILES

do


pamcomp StorageToDojoBackground2/Comp/Comp$b.ppm NinjaSword/Converted/RED$b.ppm -

alpha=NinjaSword/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm -invert >NinjaSword/Comp/Comp$b.ppm


let b=$b+1

done



FILES=images8a/*.ppm
b=1



mkdir WardrobeChange
mkdir WardrobeChange/Converted
mkdir WardrobeChange/Comp


for i in $FILES

do

ppmchange -closeness=37 blue red images8a/$b.ppm >WardrobeChange/Converted/RED$b.ppm

ppmcolormask -color red WardrobeChange/Converted/RED$b.ppm >WardrobeChange/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm

pamcomp StorageToDojoComp/Comp61.ppm NinjaSword/Comp/Comp1.ppm -alpha=WardrobeChange/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm

>WardrobeChange/Comp/Comp$b.ppm


let b=$b+1

done


FILES=images8b/*.ppm
b=1



mkdir WardrobeChange2
mkdir WardrobeChange2/Converted
mkdir WardrobeChange2/Comp


for i in $FILES

do

ppmchange -closeness=37 blue red images8b/$b.ppm >WardrobeChange2/Converted/RED$b.ppm

ppmcolormask -color red WardrobeChange2/Converted/RED$b.ppm >WardrobeChange2/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm

pamcomp NinjaSword/Comp/Comp1.ppm StorageToDojoComp/Comp61.ppm -alpha=WardrobeChange2/Converted/REDMASK$b.pbm

-invert >WardrobeChange2/Comp/Comp$b.ppm


let b=$b+1

done

#Compiling avi Videos

echo "Compiling Avi Files"


ffmpeg -f image2 -i EnterStorage/Comp/Comp%d.ppm 1.avi

ffmpeg -f image2 -i StraightenGoggles/Comp/Comp%d.ppm 2.avi

ffmpeg -f image2 -i Akimbo/Comp/Comp%d.ppm 3.avi

ffmpeg -f image2 -i Akimbo2/Comp/Comp%d.ppm 4.avi

ffmpeg -f image2 -i StorageToDojoComp/Comp%d.ppm 5.avi

ffmpeg -f image2 -i WardrobeChange/Comp/Comp%d.ppm 6.avi

ffmpeg -f image2 -i WardrobeChange2/Comp/Comp%d.ppm 7.avi

ffmpeg -f image2 -i NinjaSword/Comp/Comp%d.ppm 8.avi

ffmpeg -f image2 -i End/Comp/Comp%d.ppm 9.avi

#Creating Video

echo "Creating Final Video"

ffmpeg -i 1.avi -sameq intermediate1.mpg
ffmpeg -i 2.avi -sameq intermediate2.mpg
ffmpeg -i 3.avi -sameq intermediate3.mpg
ffmpeg -i 4.avi -sameq intermediate4.mpg
ffmpeg -i 5.avi -sameq intermediate5.mpg
ffmpeg -i 6.avi -sameq intermediate6.mpg
ffmpeg -i 7.avi -sameq intermediate7.mpg
ffmpeg -i 8.avi -sameq intermediate8.mpg
ffmpeg -i 9.avi -sameq intermediate9.mpg

cat intermediate1.mpg intermediate2.mpg intermediate3.mpg intermediate4.mpg intermediate5.mpg intermediate6.mpg

intermediate7.mpg intermediate8.mpg intermediate9.mpg > intermediate_all.mpg
ffmpeg -i intermediate_all.mpg -sameq FINALOUTPUT.avi


And Here is the final outcome:

Proof of Concept: Snowcrash Effect

Here we go.

Using FFMPEG and Netpbm in Cygwin I created an effect that turned out very close to what I had in mind. With more time I can clean the images up, and I probably need different film footage with more consistent lighting. Anyway I'm very proud of what I produced, which is an original effect that has probably been done before but while I searched, it was to be ungooglable.

I started with two versions of my video footage, one with the green masked out and the other with red masked out. To create the mask I converted the selected brightness of red and green to blue and red respectively. This was done to avoid too much of the image to be masked and gave me more control in this aspect.

With the red masked out, I placed the subject in video footage into the first background which was the garage. I then created a mask from the green and applied it to the second background which was the dojo and ninja suit. I merged the two and created an animated video which shows the figure in the garage, then the original background is pulled off of everything around him to leave him standing as a ninja training in a dojo.





#!/bin/bash

# create folders for images

mkdir blueconvert

mkdir bluemasked

mkdir RedImages

mkdir maskinvert

mkdir merged

mkdir Snowcrashed

mkdir GreenImages

mkdir FinalMerge

mkdir GreenMask

mkdir greenconvert


# extract images from Original video file

echo "Extracting Images"

ffmpeg -i RedFootage.avi -f image2 RedImages/%d.ppm

ffmpeg -i GreenFootage.avi -f image2 GreenImages/%d.ppm



# Take wanted red from all images Blue for mask

echo "Turn Red To Blue"

FILES=RedImages/*.ppm
b=1

for i in $FILES

do

ppmchange -closeness=29 red blue RedImages/$b.ppm >blueconvert/$b-blue.ppm
let b=$b+1
done

# Take all the blue and mask it out

echo "Make mask out of blue"

FILES2=blueconvert/*-blue.ppm
c=1

for i in {1..76}

do

ppmcolormask -color blue blueconvert/$c-blue.ppm >bluemasked/$c-masked.pbm
let c=$c+1
done

# Invert the color mask

echo "Inverting Mask"

FILES3=bluemasked/*-masked.pbm
d=1

for i in {1..76}

do

pnminvert bluemasked/$d-masked.pbm >maskinvert/$d-maskinvert.pbm
let d=$d+1
done

# Merge the background with the foreground

echo "Merging Images"

FILES4=maskinvert/*-maskinvert.pbm
e=1

for i in {1..76}

do

pamcomp background/FirstBackground.ppm RedImages/$e.ppm -alpha=maskinvert/$e-maskinvert.pbm >merged/$e.ppm

pamcomp background/FirstBackground.ppm RedImages/$e.ppm -alpha=maskinvert/$e-maskinvert.pbm >FinalMerge/$e.ppm

let e=$e+1
done

# Take wanted green from all images Red for mask

echo "Turn Green To Red"

FILES=GreenImages/*.ppm
z=1

for i in {1..76}

do

ppmchange -closeness=40 green red GreenImages/$z.ppm >greenconvert/$z-green.ppm
let z=$z+1
done

# Create Mask for Green Image

echo "Creating Mask for Green Image"

FILES5=greenconvert/*-green.ppm
f=1

for i in {1..76}

do

ppmcolormask -color red greenconvert/$f-green.ppm >GreenMask/$f-masked.pbm
let f=$f+1
done

# Apply Green Masked to the merged images

echo "Applying Green Mask to Images"

FILES6=GreenMask/*-masked.pbm
g=1
h=26

for i in {1..76}

do

pamcomp background/FinalBackground.ppm merged/$g.ppm -alpha=GreenMask/$g-masked.pbm >FinalMerge/$h.ppm
let g=$g+1
let h=$h+1
done

#convert manipulated images into a video

echo "Creating Video"

ffmpeg -f image2 -i FinalMerge/%d.ppm Snowcrashed/SnowcrashedOutput.avi

Film Footage: Snow Crash Effect

Looks rough right now but maybe you can start to get an idea for what my effect is going to look like with this footage I have filmed.



The lighting inconsistency with the green sheet is intentional for the effect.

Rio Grande Valley SIGGRAPH Meeting: The Making of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

An interesting presentation and Q&A session by Bob Winter, CG Supervisor of Sony Imageworks Albuquerque branch, and Jeff Schu, Lead Animator, for the latest film incarnation of "Alice In Wonderland" was held this past Saturday.

Bob Winter explained how the movies effects were created and how every frame of this film was manipulated in some way, either digitally or physically. What I found surprising about his explanation is that when applying the effects, most of the characters were not computer generated, but distorted afterward. For example, in the scenes with the Queen of Hearts, Helena Bonam Carter's scene is shot multiple times from multiple angles, with and without every single character in the scene, then the distortion to make her head gigantic and her body tiny is applied; without turning her into a computer generated character (the technique I wrongfully believed was being used at first). The scene is then pieced back together and she seamlessly interacts with the other characters in that scene.

Jeff Schu broke down one shot of the movie, illustrating the steps that an animator must go through to get to the final polished product. They start with a very rough animatic given to them by the director, and work up a rough CG animation based on this animatic which goes back to the director. There is a back and forth with the animators and director over the course of two and a half months, an animation is worked up and sent to the director and he sends his review of the latest one explaining what he likes, dislikes, what should be added, removed or any new ideas he came up with. After the two months of discourse, the final polished 10 seconds of animation is ready to be put into place with the rest of the movie. It wasn't a surprise to me how much work goes into movies like "Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland" but it was surprising to see how the animators work with a director they never even meet.

And just for the hell of it, VIA College Humor, this is how I imagine it really is to work with Tim Burton.

Script Clip Storyboard: Snowcrash Effect

In my storyboard I depict a scene where Hiro puts the sunglasses on and the room around him becomes the digital realm. I plan to have the real room "un-peel" itself off of him and his surroundings.


For my concept in separating background from foreground objects, using green screen techniques or others, I am creating an effect inspired by the book Snow Crash. In the book the protagonist, Hiro Protagonist; who is also the hero, dons a set of goggles that place him virtually into an internal digital network where he has access to a wealth of information and also a dojo where he can practice with his samurai sword, which is in reality a piece of rebar.

This Is Tron

What's the big deal? The year was 1982, you simply didn't see anything like these effects in movies at that time. Tron was the first theatrically released film to incorporate fully rendered computer generated images as backdrops, vehicles and characters. The biggest special effects anyone had seen by that point were in the Star Wars movies, so when Tron was released people had a hard time wrapping their brains around the concept of the film.

Today the general audience will look at these outdated special effects and scoff, citing "AVATAR" as having such amazing computer generated imagery that it is difficult to tell the difference between what is real and what is an effect. But when I look back at the effects in Tron I see something with more character and meaning, something that was hand-crafted and the work put into the film meant more than just the click of a mouse button on an editing program.

Animated Sequence Using A Script

I wrote the following bash script that will take the video provided and change all the green in the video and make it red.

#!/bin/bash


# extract images from 00006.mts file

echo "Extracting Images"

ffmpeg -i 00006.mts -f image2 %d.ppm


# replace green from all images to red

echo "Replacing Green"

FILES=*.ppm
b=1

for a in $FILES
do

ppmchange -closeness=42 green red $b.ppm >$b-red.ppm
let b=$b+1
done

#convert manipulated images into a video

echo "Creating Video"

ffmpeg -f image2 -i %d-red.ppm GreenNowRed.avi

so this:



becomes this:

Bash Tutorial

Beginning my Bash ventures, I started with the following Tutorials.




The first video was just to re-familiarize myself with the lessons we've been going over in class. The second video was to get myself acquainted with using other commands in a bash shell.

Using the information from these tutorials I created an executable script that would go to http://apod.nasa.gov/apod and download the image posted from each day in 2010 and sort them into a file for each month.

Unfortunately the terminal in MAC has a different way to format dates so my script did not run correctly. I am currently working on learning to change the format of the date so my script is able to run using the http://apod.nasa.gov/apod format for their image storage.

Movie Review

Movie I watched this week: Total Recall



This movie was an old favorite of mine, I always loved the cheesy Arnold Sci-Fi flicks, especially ones written by Philip K. Dick. (And this is the first time I've been able to watch it in High Definition.) In this one he plays a regular guy in the future who is compelled to take a trip to Mars for no reason. His hot wife (1990) Sharon Stone doesn't want him to go, so he skips out on work one day and goes to a vacation memory implant center (they have those in the future, doy) to get his Mars fix.

Turns out he's had his memory altered before and he used to work for some evil corporation and they were trying to hush him up by erasing his memory and giving him a hot wife (seriously this was 1990 don't start looking at movies like "Basic Instinct 2" now) until the issue with the psychic mutant population on mars was dealt with.

Anyway he has to go to Mars for real and figure out what is going on with the evil corporation and what his own past self really uncovered for the corporation to silence him this way. The result is unadulterated Schwarzenegger action. As Quad he doesn't take shit from nobody, saves the day and the entire planet from destruction by the evil corporation. Just like the vacation memory implant center said he would... Was it all just an implanted dream? .....Who will ever know the credits roll right after they ask that question. We should ask ol' Phil Dick. Oh yeah he's dead.

Anyway this movie had some great special effects for its time. In the pre-CGI era of moviemaking they able to create a martian landscape that was believable with miniature models and created fake prostheses (like three breasted mutant working girls) that could easily be fantasized about. It's easy to understand why this movie was able to captivate so many nerds at that time. Overall it is easy to see why this movie still holds up even today as the amount of effort and creativity that went into it is mind boggling. This movie shows its age, but still ranks in my personal top twenty movies of all time.

This is the result of the posted code for creating the color wheel.

Week 5 Assignment: Script-Fu Color Wheel

;This code creates a color wheel with twelve hues that follow the same scheme as the previous color wheel assignment but is totally automated.



;Creates the image
(define img
(car
(gimp-image-new 512 512 0
)
)
)

;Displays the image
(gimp-display-new img)


;I created a background with a radial gradient for aesthetic purposes.


;Code for the Background
(define layer
(car
(gimp-layer-new img 512 512 0 "Shadow" 100 0
)
)
)

(gimp-image-add-layer img layer -1)

(gimp-context-set-background '(0 0 0))

(gimp-context-set-foreground '(255 255 255))

(gimp-edit-blend layer 3 0 2 100 0 0 FALSE FALSE 1 0 TRUE 256 256 550 0)


;For each layer creation I create a layer with a radial gradient from white to the layer color. I then select a wedge to keep and delete the rest of the layer. I then rotate it to it's correct position in the wheel.


;Code for the Red layer creation
(define layer
(car
(gimp-layer-new img 512 512 0 "Red" 100 0
)
)
)

(gimp-image-add-layer img layer -1)

(gimp-context-set-background '(255 0 0))

(gimp-context-set-foreground '(255 255 255))

(gimp-edit-blend layer 3 0 2 100 0 0 FALSE FALSE 1 0 TRUE 256 256 256 0)

(gimp-free-select img 6 #(181 0 319 0 255 260) 2 TRUE FALSE 0)

(gimp-selection-invert img)

(gimp-edit-clear layer)

(plug-in-colortoalpha 1 img layer '(255 0 0))

(gimp-selection-none img)



;Code for the Orange layer creation
(define layer
(car
(gimp-layer-new img 512 512 0 "Orange" 100 0
)
)
)

(gimp-image-add-layer img layer -2)

(gimp-context-set-background '(255 102 0))

(gimp-context-set-foreground '(255 255 255))

(gimp-edit-blend layer 3 0 2 100 0 0 FALSE FALSE 1 0 TRUE 256 256 256 0)

(gimp-free-select img 6 #(181 0 319 0 255 260) 2 TRUE FALSE 0)

(gimp-selection-invert img)

(gimp-edit-clear layer)

(plug-in-colortoalpha 1 img layer '(255 102 0))

(gimp-selection-none img)

(gimp-rotate layer TRUE 0.523598776)



;Code for the Yellow layer creation
(define layer
(car
(gimp-layer-new img 512 512 0 "Yellow" 100 0
)
)
)

(gimp-image-add-layer img layer -3)

(gimp-context-set-background '(255 255 0))

(gimp-context-set-foreground '(255 255 255))

(gimp-edit-blend layer 3 0 2 100 0 0 FALSE FALSE 1 0 TRUE 256 256 256 0)

(gimp-free-select img 6 #(181 0 319 0 255 260) 2 TRUE FALSE 0)

(gimp-selection-invert img)

(gimp-edit-clear layer)

(plug-in-colortoalpha 1 img layer '(255 255 0))

(gimp-selection-none img)

(gimp-rotate layer TRUE 1.04719755)



;Code for the Chartreuse layer creation
(define layer
(car
(gimp-layer-new img 512 512 0 "Chartreuse" 100 0
)
)
)

(gimp-image-add-layer img layer -4)

(gimp-context-set-background '(127 255 0))

(gimp-context-set-foreground '(255 255 255))

(gimp-edit-blend layer 3 0 2 100 0 0 FALSE FALSE 1 0 TRUE 256 256 256 0)

(gimp-free-select img 6 #(181 0 319 0 255 260) 2 TRUE FALSE 0)

(gimp-selection-invert img)

(gimp-edit-clear layer)

(plug-in-colortoalpha 1 img layer '(127 255 0))

(gimp-selection-none img)

(gimp-rotate layer TRUE 1.57079633)



;Code for the Green layer creation
(define layer
(car
(gimp-layer-new img 512 512 0 "Green" 100 0
)
)
)

(gimp-image-add-layer img layer -5)

(gimp-context-set-background '(0 255 0))

(gimp-context-set-foreground '(255 255 255))

(gimp-edit-blend layer 3 0 2 100 0 0 FALSE FALSE 1 0 TRUE 256 256 256 0)

(gimp-free-select img 6 #(181 0 319 0 255 260) 2 TRUE FALSE 0)

(gimp-selection-invert img)

(gimp-edit-clear layer)

(plug-in-colortoalpha 1 img layer '(0 255 0))

(gimp-selection-none img)

(gimp-rotate layer TRUE 2.0943951)



;Code for the Spring Green layer creation
(define layer
(car
(gimp-layer-new img 512 512 0 "Spring Green" 100 0
)
)
)

(gimp-image-add-layer img layer -6)

(gimp-context-set-background '(0 255 127))

(gimp-context-set-foreground '(255 255 255))

(gimp-edit-blend layer 3 0 2 100 0 0 FALSE FALSE 1 0 TRUE 256 256 256 0)

(gimp-free-select img 6 #(181 0 319 0 255 260) 2 TRUE FALSE 0)

(gimp-selection-invert img)

(gimp-edit-clear layer)

(plug-in-colortoalpha 1 img layer '(0 255 127))

(gimp-selection-none img)

(gimp-rotate layer TRUE 2.61799388)



;Code for the Cyan layer creation
(define layer
(car
(gimp-layer-new img 512 512 0 "Cyan" 100 0
)
)
)

(gimp-image-add-layer img layer -7)

(gimp-context-set-background '(0 255 255))

(gimp-context-set-foreground '(255 255 255))

(gimp-edit-blend layer 3 0 2 100 0 0 FALSE FALSE 1 0 TRUE 256 256 256 0)

(gimp-free-select img 6 #(181 0 319 0 255 260) 2 TRUE FALSE 0)

(gimp-selection-invert img)

(gimp-edit-clear layer)

(plug-in-colortoalpha 1 img layer '(0 255 255))

(gimp-selection-none img)

(gimp-rotate layer TRUE 3.14159625)



;Code for the Blue layer creation
(define layer
(car
(gimp-layer-new img 512 512 0 "Blue" 100 0
)
)
)

(gimp-image-add-layer img layer -8)

(gimp-context-set-background '(0 0 255))

(gimp-context-set-foreground '(255 255 255))

(gimp-edit-blend layer 3 0 2 100 0 0 FALSE FALSE 1 0 TRUE 256 256 256 0)

(gimp-free-select img 6 #(181 0 319 0 255 260) 2 TRUE FALSE 0)

(gimp-selection-invert img)

(gimp-edit-clear layer)

(plug-in-colortoalpha 1 img layer '(0 0 255))

(gimp-selection-none img)

(gimp-rotate layer TRUE -2.61799388)



;Code for the Azure layer creation
(define layer
(car
(gimp-layer-new img 512 512 0 "Azure" 100 0
)
)
)

(gimp-image-add-layer img layer -9)

(gimp-context-set-background '(0 127 255))

(gimp-context-set-foreground '(255 255 255))

(gimp-edit-blend layer 3 0 2 100 0 0 FALSE FALSE 1 0 TRUE 256 256 256 0)

(gimp-free-select img 6 #(181 0 319 0 255 260) 2 TRUE FALSE 0)

(gimp-selection-invert img)

(gimp-edit-clear layer)

(plug-in-colortoalpha 1 img layer '(0 127 255))

(gimp-selection-none img)

(gimp-rotate layer TRUE -2.0943951)



;Code for the Violet layer creation
(define layer
(car
(gimp-layer-new img 512 512 0 "Violet" 100 0
)
)
)

(gimp-image-add-layer img layer -10)

(gimp-context-set-background '(238 130 238))

(gimp-context-set-foreground '(255 255 255))

(gimp-edit-blend layer 3 0 2 100 0 0 FALSE FALSE 1 0 TRUE 256 256 256 0)

(gimp-free-select img 6 #(181 0 319 0 255 260) 2 TRUE FALSE 0)

(gimp-selection-invert img)

(gimp-edit-clear layer)

(plug-in-colortoalpha 1 img layer '(238 130 238))

(gimp-selection-none img)

(gimp-rotate layer TRUE -1.57079633)



;Code for the Magenta layer creation
(define layer
(car
(gimp-layer-new img 512 512 0 "Magenta" 100 0
)
)
)

(gimp-image-add-layer img layer -11)

(gimp-context-set-background '(255 0 255 ))

(gimp-context-set-foreground '(255 255 255))

(gimp-edit-blend layer 3 0 2 100 0 0 FALSE FALSE 1 0 TRUE 256 256 256 0)

(gimp-free-select img 6 #(181 0 319 0 255 260) 2 TRUE FALSE 0)

(gimp-selection-invert img)

(gimp-edit-clear layer)

(plug-in-colortoalpha 1 img layer '(255 0 255))

(gimp-selection-none img)

(gimp-rotate layer TRUE -1.04719755)


;Code for the Rose layer creation
(define layer
(car
(gimp-layer-new img 512 512 0 "Rose" 100 0
)
)
)

(gimp-image-add-layer img layer -12)

(gimp-context-set-background '(255 0 127))

(gimp-context-set-foreground '(255 255 255))

(gimp-edit-blend layer 3 0 2 100 0 0 FALSE FALSE 1 0 TRUE 256 256 256 0)

(gimp-free-select img 6 #(181 0 319 0 255 260) 2 TRUE FALSE 0)

(gimp-selection-invert img)

(gimp-edit-clear layer)

(plug-in-colortoalpha 1 img layer '(255 0 127))

(gimp-selection-none img)

(gimp-rotate layer TRUE -0.523598776)





(script-fu-register

"script-fu-ITVColorWheel"

"Color Wheel Grad"

"This script creates a color wheel\
with twelve hues that have a gradient\
which increases in value from the center."

"IsaacTV"
"copyright 2010, ITV"
"2010.2"
"RGB* GRAY*"

)
(script-fu-menu-register "script-fu-ITVColorWheel" "/Image/Filters/ITVColorWheel")

Movie Review

Spiderman 3



After hearing Rachel Nicholl speak about the work she did as Matchmovie Lead on this, I wanted to see this movie. Most notable was the sand effect used throughout the movie for the Sandman. Nicholl explained that all the code and programming for that effect was built just for that movie from scratch and the incredible amount of work and detail that went into making the effect look real was insane. Another effect that had a great amount of detail was the goo effect of the alien symbiote, which really looked like it belonged in whichever environment it was placed. The places where most detail was overlooked were the scenes that were full of action and it seemed like the audience wouldn't notice the lack of attention; a building section was flying to pieces after being smashed by an I-beam and Spidey was navigating the obviously computer generated debris. Overall though, the special effects in this movie were top notch as nothing extremely stood out of place.

With that being said about the effects, this movie was horrible. It starts out pretty good but around the middle it just goes batty. Peter goes evil, by pulling his hair down over his face, demanding the neighbor girl make him more cookies and killing people made of sand, when Spiderman shouldn't be doing any of those things. If this movie was trying to make me hate Peter, Mary Jane, and that one guy from Freaks and Geeks, they succeeded because towards the end I just wanted them all to die already. At least I partially got my wish in the last scene.

Assignment 3: Create a Gimp Script-Fu

From the work we did for the assignment in class:



(define img (car(gimp-image-new 512 512 0)))

(gimp-display-new img)

(define layer (car (gimp-layer-new img 512 512 0 "Layer1" 100 0)))

(gimp-image-add-layer img layer -1)

(gimp-context-set-background '(255 255 0))

(gimp-context-set-foreground '(0 0 255))

(gimp-edit-blend layer 3 0 0 100 0 0 FALSE FALSE 1 0 TRUE 256 0 256 256)

(script-fu-register "script-fu-BlueYellowGrad"
"/Script-Fu/BlueYellowGrad"
"Make a Blue to Yellow Gradient"
"RGB RGBA"
SF-IMAGE "Image" 0
SF-DRAWABLE "Drawable" 0)

Week 2 Color: Physics and Perception

Assignment 2: Photograph Color Wheel

For this assignment I started with a CMYK color wheel I found online. Easy enough to find, just Google image "CMYK color wheel" and it was the first result. I used this color wheel as a reference guide for the colors I would search for. I started at the top with red, searching for the most saturated red image I could find using Google images; using "Red color" as the search term. I did this for each color in my wheel using the names: Red; Orange; Yellow; Chartreuse; Green; Spring Green; Cyan; Blue; Azure; Violet; Magenta and Rose. Searching for the hues with higher white values, I would simply search with "Light" as a prefix to the color name. I selected the images I would use and saved them in corresponding folders I would be able to quickly reference when putting the wheel together. For the color strips I used a the google image search options to choose the color box cyan but search for "Red", and then choose the color box red and searched for "Cyan". I used this same technique for yellow to blue and then green to magenta. I had the same saving conventions as before, for quicker reference later.

When I had collected all of the images I wanted, I opened up a new image in Gimp. I created a layer for each color I was going to put in my wheel. I took out my first image, with the highly saturated red and put it at the top of my wheel. I cut out the second and third images and placed them vertically, slightly overlapping the bottom of the previous image. I did this the same way for each color layer respectively. When I was done cutting and pasting the images I went through each layer and set the rotation point where the center of the wheel would be. I rotated each vertical color bar I had created to their corresponding location along the color wheel and the color wheel was finished.
For the color strips I used the same technique of cutting pieces out of original images and pasting them overlapping each other along the strip.

Getting used to Mac and Gimp

This semester I'm trying a few new things; these include learning a non-windows operating system, Apple, and the open source digital photo manipulation program, Gimp. For the latest assignment, I jumped head first into both, as I was eager to start using my new iMac, and that I am currently unable to locate a usable version of Photoshop for Macintosh. Minor frustrations aside, Gimp was able to substitute Photoshop's tools and abilities for what the assignment called for. The biggest annoyance I found was all the clicking you have to do in order to select a tool and use it; once I memorized the shortcut keys though it was smooth sailing. On an interesting note, Gimp uses the actual "Ctrl" key the same way you would on a Windows system instead of Mac's "Command" key that every other program seems to use. For example: Photoshop on a Mac would have "Command+X" for cut but Gimp keeps it "Ctrl+X".

Movies Viewed This Week

"Moon"

"Moon" was directed by Duncan Jones and stars Sam Rockwell, another Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey as the lovable Hal-like robotic assistant named GERTY. Rockwell plays as Sam Bell; a contract employee of Lunar Industries who is the lone station manager on the far side of the moon. Bell maintains the machines that mine helium-3 from the surface of the moon and sends the extracted h3 down to the earth. Nearing the end of his 3 year contract, Bell starts hallucinating starts questioning if he should trust his robotic assistant. I won't give the rest away so I'll end by saying that this movie had me entertained the entire time and had me guessing the true intentions of Lunar Industries and the robotic assistant. Despite the lack of moon gravity inside the base, this movie could easily rank as number one in my 2009 movies top ten. The Blu-Ray extras were great, which include a science Q&A with the director and a short film by the same director called "Whistle". I also just learned that the director of this film is the son of David Bowie; no real significance in that information but interesting nonetheless.

Color

The small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that makes up visible light contains all the color that our eyes can detect. Using color for symbols is one of the most basic usage of symbols we learn early in our development. For example, we understand RED as a universal "hot", "stop" or "danger" symbol. Colors can set a desired mood. Seeing blue dyed water in a toilet gives us a sense of cleanliness and puts us at ease. Complimentary colors can be paired up in an advertisement to attract our eye to it; colors are grouped together in many other ways similar to this for a multitude of desired effects as well. People devote their entire lives to understanding how humans interpret color and how color can be used to manipulate our thought processes.