Post 5

Conventions of a Digital Animation


Task 1: Explain the standards and conventions used to produce digital media outcomes

There are numerous amounts of standard and conventions we use to ensure a proper outcome for out digital animation. We used things such as the Resolution, using the resolution we can increase and then decrease it to create a specific illusion best suited for our animation. Here in the screenshot above indicates the resolution in which the rendered outcome images resulted in, we decided to keep the final resolution to 1920 by 1080 (1920x1080) as this was what the HD pre-set initially sets itself as concluding that my animation with display with HD.

Another example of the conventions that we use in Blender is the 12 Principles of Animation. The 12 principles of animation helps us define our character to help the little aspects of our animation. For example Appeal, Appeal is another aspect that can help you make and create your animation and also make the viewer understand or feel that it is real or alive. This is the main point to all animations. If your animation is lacking the right textures and the right layers to make it look real or alive this will effect the overall digital media outcome.

http://mohammedawath.blogspot.co.nz/2011/02/walk-cycle-researrch.html

The last example that I will discuss will be the Straight ahead pose to pose principle. This is basically just the simple Walk Cycle that you divide up into key frames, if we animate this function correctly then we can see our animation come to life with the basic aspect of the human characteristics of walking. The simple Straight Ahead term means exactly what it sounds like, the basic forward motion in which a normal ever day thing will be viewed as only this time it is with an animation. In other words it is a way of viewing the animation the precise way that each individual frame. And as for Pose to Pose, this clearly means that you can upload a background image helping your or guiding to create different poses to create a simple but descriptive Walk Cycle, in Blender the application allows you to add in all the in between frames later hence you can skip frames for a more quicker and efficient process of animating. In the photo above taken from the web address below we can see a clear example of certain or significant poses only being bought out stating that the frames in between can be missed out.

Another basic example of the many conventions used to produce our digital media outcome is the file-type of imagery in which we can display our animation. Using characteristics such as the file-type for example on my animation I had used the PNG (Portable Network Graphics) image file-type as this concludes your animation with the perfect quality rather and much more control within the overall context of my animation. PNG has been known to be best suited for rendering out an image as it supports 24 bit colour RGB, in addition the format of this file is ideal for screenshot software, this allows pixel for pixel creations of your animation. I think this was better then using other file-types like JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) as in most cases designers would use it for a test run of your animation and also the JPEG format sort of decreases the animations potential in quality and control meaning that basically what your initial piece of work or animation was before you choose your file-type, will then be further downgraded as the outcome of the JPEG file lowers the condition and the potential HD of the file. JPEG has known to be specifically used for photography purposes hence the Acronym meaning. However since we are rendering our animation JPEG is not the best suited for this job.

Task 2: Discuss the positive and negative implications of adhering to digital media standards and conventions when developing digital media outcomes

Positives

1. I was able to control the type of file my animation
2. It allowed me to focus on a certain aspect and work towards a specific measurement or goal of what my animation should look like
3. The conventions allowed me to record and keep track of how much of a layer of any convention was placed upon my animation
4. I was able to bring my animation to life using the basic 'Walk Cycle' setting the right frames and the right positions best suited for my animation
5. Found it easy to counterpoint an exact measurement or scale from a certain characteristic

Negatives

1. Appeal was not considered within the many conventions given
2. You cannot give the animation a personal feel of it, for example the appeal of my character is not exactly what I had hoped for. My certain mesh had a kind of mythical look to it as the implications of the techniques did not quire for this specific doing. 
3. Sometimes your chosen file cant work everywhere hence you have to make sure of this

Task 3: Evaluate how the application of standards and conventions affect the quality of digital media outcomes

 

This is the most significant part of the final reproduction of my animation. The outcome of your animation sets the bar, meaning if it was really well done people would relate to it more and understand it clearly. If you were to get a low quality viewing of the animation it would be hard for the audiences/viewers to create a relationship between them and the animation. The different applications of each of the Standards and Conventions affects the quality and the outcome of the final viewing, so if you apply the right resolution that is best suited with a smooth speed and movement rendering out the animation will create high quality images hence resulting in your animation being in the highest resolution standard available.

 

Task 4: Discuss the relationship between standards and conventions, in relation to the requirements of digital media outcomes

 

The relationship between standards and conventions is that it offers a better quality animation. Meaning because the standard resolution is able to edit and set a resolution of what our animation will come out as this will help the conventions work behind the scenes on the more mathematic terminology. These can all help the viewer or the stakeholders of the animation understand the certain characteristics clearly and undergo a relationship between the two.

Post 3

All of the work that I have submitted is my own or has been provided to me by my teacher.

Post 2

Copyright, Creative Commons, Piracy

Task 1: In your own words define and describe each of these aspects

What is Copyright?

Copyright is simply a group of rules/rights summed up into creative works such as artist works, music, text, computer games/programmes etc. The creator of any work has the right to duplicate thousands of copies and the right to show/perform their media in any type of way. Copyright owners can also prevent others from copying/selling or using their work without their permission. Copyright however cannot protect ideas or concepts for example an idea for a film cannot be protected however the particular script can be protected as it is an individual aspect of the copyright owners work.

What is Creative Commons?

Creative Commons is a set of licenses that have been simplified to protect the copyright holders of the original content to be used. These can be displayed as 'All rights reserved' and/or 'No rights reserved' A Creative Common license gives you the power to either delegate how other people can use your work. This means that you can still hold onto your current Copyright rights but you allow other individuals to copy your work provided they give you full credit under the specific conditions you specifically allow. 

There are many different Licenses that come with Creative Commons here are just a few:

Attribution- A license that enables to remix/work on top of an original content with the given condition of paying full credit to its initial creator(s).

Attribution/Non-Commercial- This license is similar to the Attribution license as it still allows you to remix etc an original content however you are not able to commercial any of the work out as it is strictly prohibited.

Attribution/Sharealike- Its all in the name with this license, it allows you to  remix/work on top of the original content like the Attribution License although this license benefits you to "distribute your conditions under the same license as the original."

Attributes/No Derivatives- For this license you are able to remix/work on top of the original content however you are unable to distribute/sell/show the edited version of the work.

What is Piracy?

Piracy is simply the unauthorised copying of contents that have been copyrighted and then sold off to no set market for a cheaper or better price then its original content. This has a bad effect on the original creators as they lose business as the world can take credit for their work and make vast profits. Typically in New Zealand the most common examples of Piracy are within Films, Music Videos, Audios, and Knowledge that has been copied and pasted straight from the browsers.

Task 2: Discuss how some of these legal, ethical and moral considerations are related

Copyright, Creative Commons and Piracy have many things that are similar however there are clear differences between the three. For instance Copyright is simply the main law that has been set, the Creative Commons enables you or other individuals to use a media legally and finally Piracy is the outcome for when you have broken a law within the Copyright regulations. However in my opinion I think that Copyright would be the most important as Creative Commons and Piracy comes under Copyright.

Mega vs MegaUpload

Task 3: Write a brief case study on the controversy surrounding the online file sharing/storage of megaupload and the new sharing/storage mega.co.nz

Megaupload and Mega have been mentioned within the media franchise for a while now however there are many unanswered questions between the two websites. How come Mega is still up whereas Megaupload has been taken down by the US government? What are their differences?

What is the difference between Megaupload and Mega?

Megaupload

Megaupload was taken down due to copyright regulations been broken. Users of Megaupload were able to upload different sorts of media such as games, movies, songs without the initial artists permission. Other inexperienced web users were then able to click the 'download' button and within a few moments have a copy of a file within the palm of their hand. This breaks the artists privacy and their hard work of ideas that were formed. The downloading of files such as movies etc has been categorised as Piracy another huge issue within the media world, because KimDotCom could not visualise and personally see what individual users were uploading this caused a huge problem that then leaded to the shutting down of the site.

Mega

Mega however is different on many levels. Mega has an installation of Encryption Keys. These keys are used to encrypt ever single file that has been uploaded to Mega, the Encryption Key acts like a cover or and invisibility cloak like on Harry Potter is doesn't show other individuals what kind of files you are uploading, it is only visible to the individual that has uploaded the file. So if a user uploads inappropriate media for example a film they will have to contact the individual user to take down the piece of media and not KinDotCom. 

Our world is not perfect so therefore why has Megaupload been taken down even though there are still many sites out there that are similar? Is it favouritism or because KimDotCom got more of a media coverage?

It is simply because Megaupload used a rare strategy in order to try and satisfy everyone. For example if a individual user was to upload a file and many other users downloaded so that it became popular the individual user may get rewarded. This kind of system is the main reason as to why it was shutdown. The individual users that gain rewards took credit for another artists media. This was a breakage of many laws and regulations. For example the popular world sensation website 'Youtube', Youtube has been guarded with a regulation Copyright Law capitalised as the DMCA Law (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). This DMCA law allows the users to access to copyright owners and therefore take down any future infringement of any data/files. Whether it would be pirated movies to songs Youtube still would have the right to take down any type of data/file to ensure a well orientated substance for the other viewers of their material.

Megaupload

• Was taken down by the US government
• Run by KimDotCom
• Raided by NZ cops
• Can buy premium object with advantages
• Froze KimDotCom's assets
• Provided pirated films/games

Mega

• Cant see what has been uploaded due to encrypted keys
• KimDotCom can't take any responsibilities for what any individual user uploads
• Slingshot has provided advertisements for broadband plans with Mega

Why is MegaUpload deemed illegal whilst Mega isn't?

MegaUpload is known to be deemed illegal due to the individuals that have been behind the scenes controlling everything that gets uploaded by the users. This made the controllers take more of a responsibility due to the taking down of the illegal copyright files that the users were upload and/or downloading. However Mega had no longer decided to have accede to decrypt and of the users files offering the users to access any of the files, creating a open door for the controllers of Mega to claim to ignore what their users can upload an download onto the site.

Referrences:

http://lakewindemere.wikispaces.com/Copyright%2C+piracy+and+creative+commons.

Images: http://creativecommons.org.nz/licences/licences-explained/

Post 4

Workflow/File Management

Task 1: Explain how asset management and file management are applied in the development of digital media outcomes

What is a Asset?

An asset is basically an element that is manageable within a particular application

What is a file?

A file is any document that has been saved outside the chosen application

e.g. A word document saved into our student sky drive/one drive

Assets

Outliner

In Blender we use a wide range of different assets/elements to be able to manage and correctly transform an animation into something completely new and different. This side-bar is called the Out-liner. The Out-liner helps you control each of the given attributes of your animation in a quick and simple way. Here we can see a few of the main elements that we use to help with the process, elements like the Lamp, this adds light for our animation so that when we go to render it (F12) we can see each of the different parts of our animation, here the lamp can also help us pick out any problems that have occurred with the structure and the main body and or magnify a certain spot of your animation. Camera, this element can help us and enable us to view the animation from different points and/or get up closer to the animation to fix any weak spots. Cube is the basic element that can help our animation become real, it comes with little assets like 'sub-divide' here we can evenly divide a part of the whole animation to help us design and create small parts of an animation, we could also delete a specific part of the character to enable a believable outcome. This is the process in which I had used to help create my animated character. Sub-dividing, deleting one half and then mirroring using the 'mirror modifier' this made things a lot easier and made it simple to get both side equal instead of equaling the sides slowly by ourselves, you could say this made things faster and easier.

Other assets that are helpful for beginners:

Properties: This function allows you to edit properties of whatever object you are set to be working with.

3D View: The 3D view holds all the objects you are working on/with. This is located on the toolbar below. This toolbar is also very important as I use this quite a lot for various things.

Mode Menu

Modes: The mode menu is set up to help enhance the modelling phase of your animating. They are shared View Windows. Here I used 'Weight Painting.' Weight painting also relates with the Armature, as this allows you to highlight a specific part of the animation with the bone, hence this will allow that bone to only control that certain part of the body and nothing else. This was very useful during my process.

Tool Shelf: (found on the left- subdivide) The tool shelf bar is useful as here you will find many key aspects to help model your object. On the Tool Shelf I used the 'subdivide' tab. The subdivide tab enables to to work with numerous sections on your object.

Axis

X- Red
Y- Green

Z- Blue

Axis: These given axis is not an object. The axis is basically conventions, or a compass that helps you remember which way is left/right etc.

Outliner

 Outliner: Blender can also help create a personal approach to your animation. Above is an example of renaming a particular asset that lets you rename a feature in the Out-liner side-bar. Personally I think this will be a great help as the given names can be complicated at times.

Modifiers

Add Modifier: During the period of creating and modelling our animation we can use the 'Add Modifier' tab to guide us with individual features, this feature can help you 'mirror' one side of my work to make this easier and simpler.

Duplicating

This is the example that shows the process of designing a figure. As you can see on the right side of the figure you can easily design and transform it and it has been duplicated easily onto the other side. This saves heaps of time instead of going back and redoing the other side, individually trying to perfect the other side to ensure it is a perfect match.

Transform Menu

Transform Menu: The Transform menu allows to add layers of transformation onto you animation but only in 'object mode'

Materials Bar

Materials Bar: Above is a screenshot of the materials bar. This can be located only at the properties section. The Materials bar allows you to layer any skin type/design amongst the surface of your animation. You are able to colour, shade and add images to the skin of your animation. Here I used the materials bar to add a deep purple colour to my animation. This can help you animation feel real to the viewer as you can add in images or different layers of textures found on the search engine.

Files 

Files can help you store and organise a set of resources fit for any topic or subject. Here I use folders to help organise my materials I have used or have worked on and have set them apart into different categories. You have the ability to change/rename a folder to help you understand or find it easily.  

Inside a folder you are able to store any type of resource. Here I used one of the folders to store the images taken for my walk cycle video, each of these symbolise a set timeframe of the walk cycle so this is very important to store and keep a hold of. This was useful as it stored them all in order so it saves me time instead of going through and reordering them. 

Task 2: Discuss the importance of effective and appropriate asset management and file management in the development of a digital media outcome

To be able to manage and correctly save significant aspects of a digital media outcome is extremely important, as it holds key characteristics that will ensure your digital media outcome will be effective. If poor and slack management is taken this may result in a bad outcome or an unexpected turn towards any digital media outcome.

File management helps you store information and important files in a convenient structure. There are many ways file management can be very helpful. A few things can be that you can create and rename folders to personalize and help you understand your files easily, it makes it look more tidier and cleaner as we can skip the struggle of time being wasted looking for files, this can benefit anyone as it ensures a easy way to understand your files you have created or saved. It is important to understand that without file management many things could go out of hand. Being a person that has experienced poor file management I know how significant it is to properly rename and sort out files into a correct and efficient layout. For one looking at a file that has no name or has a totally random name this can confuse me and hence I could just delete it without even thinking as this is a common mistake that many individuals make. If you have a correct and a working file management structure this will result in better products being made, for example the way in which for the walk cycle each little image Blender had taken was correctly saved into one appropriate file and had been sorted out in order, this benefitted me as the video outcome had every key characteristic present, because if I had lost at least one of the images my final product would look different and result in poor file management. 

An asset, in my opinion, is particularly different to file management. As file management is the way in which you sort your files and store whereas Asset management is the aspects of your digital media outcome that you anoint to help make the process either easier or of course faster. This is basically the main reason as to why we follow up on this process. The way I took on this process during my digital media outcome was way to slow and bumpy. The process was not smooth as I made too many mistakes,  this made the process of my digital media outcome rather slower then others and a longer duration of each step. For example, not being able to know or remember the shortcut keys were a major let down as this made me take the longer route of adding and transforming my digital media outcome, however I have come to realize that it is important to remember these methods as it will enhance a quicker and smoother outcome for my animation. Many shortcut keys can help you mirror or duplicate your animation as both sides should be completely equal. An example would be using mirroring the amateurs for the opposing side, duplicating you object would be a great start as there were numerous occasions where I had skipped this step (shift + d) then of course applying a mirror technique (ctrl + m) and then choosing the correct axis that your bones can lay upon whether it would be x,y or z and then lastly the most important step would be to press 'enter' as I also forgot to encounter this step too. I think that blender is a intelligent app that has attempted to try and make it easier for you to understand the different short cut keys for example the duplicate shortcut has the letter 'd' this could indicate to the user that the 'd' signals 'duplicate' as it wouldn't make any sense to the user if it were a 'g' or 'p' so I found this made the memorizing process a lot easier and efficient.

Post 1

Ethical Dilemmas: Chip Implants

Group Members: Denzel, Daniel, Sean, Helen

What is a Benefit:

Holds personal information needed in an emergency

eg: When a patient of some sort is in pain and is not able to properly function their personal details the chip can automatically do so

Positives of Chip Implants

• If placed under the animal skin, the animal can be identified easily. The Chip is able to find out what kind of breed it is, identify the sex, and find out the age of the animal
• A Chip under the human skin holds a unique number/code significant to the holder, this can be useful to find any stalkers/criminals/sex offenders etc.
• This benefits the government and police forces as they can find your location/whereabouts this puts everyone into a sort of 'house arrest' typed society
• The Chip can help reunited families or an animal that is lost as we see too many lost posters around in our environment 
• A Chip has the right to store and save personal information. For example bank statements, passwords, passport information, drivers license etc
• A chip can also prevent child abductions and leave the community a saver and better place

Negatives of Chip Implants

• The surgical side can go wrong during the process of the implant, as it can put your life in danger
• Most people say it is un-natural
• The Chip itself can cause harm/discomfort towards the recipient 
• Some lives may be in danger as they could kill you and clone you
• It creates a new societal race. Meaning the world could change quickly as the restrictions the chip provides can help promote danger towards others, its like a 24-hour surveillance someone out there is watching your every move, this also means that the society will not have freedom, or will not have rights anymore as they have all been broken through the use of Chip Implants

My Personal Response

My opinion on Chip implants is that mainly the government, police forces etc. will benefit easily, due to having a 24-hour free surveillance on any individual anywhere at any time. Chip Implants are small circuits designed to be able to fit comfortably under the skin of a human. It is surrounded by a covered housing type of design to ensure there is no physical contact or harm caused towards the skin of a human or any other places. A Chip can hold a wide variety of data based on the individual holder, so this can all together cancel ID cards and personal information holders we have in reality (drivers license etc.) To everything there is always a negative side and a positive side. Lets explore the negative side effects to chip implants. For chip implants the main negativity is that it can cause cancer, it may provoke killing and cloning because as chip implants can store personal information about individuals this can cause a corrupted society such as cloning, cloning can cause innocent lives to be in jeopardy as the threat of a better life can be the new goal towards survival.

Questions

1. In this scenario who might benefit and who might suffer?

If the scenario was to ever become a reality I think the government and police forces will benefit as I said before due to the 24-hour surveillance they have over people or society. For instance the government can find terrorists easily as they can find out what people are searching on the engine in our everyday lives. This can prevent dangerous threats in our world.

2. Who would hold the power?

Government, Police Force as they can spy on people to catch killers, criminal, and put them away as it is what they deserve.

3. Could this new technology help to improve or could it worse the state of society?

In my opinion, I think that maybe possibly towards the beginning of the chip implant reign it will be very useful, as they hold the right amount of information needed for any situation for example kidnapped children? Could this be the cure to all criminal offences? This will help animal owners find lost pets easily as it will appear on their chip.  However, I believe that as time goes on society will change as security risks can come into play. People can easily scan into your chip secretly and steal information.

4. Could humanity as we know change?

The cancer rates can increase

References

http://www.blender.org/


http://www.blendswap.com/