Day 56 - Sony Vegas - English Project (24) - Arrow's Job is done

What I did:
So, I actually didn't realize that Arrow's big chapter is right before  Kenan's so right that's what I created today instead of doing Kenan's. He will be next day. Today, I created the epic scene of the Arrow taking down the enemy sniper. This involved me switching backdrops 3 different times. It starts with the Cellist. Then goes to Nermin. Then finally back to the Cellist. This was just time-consuming but it's one of the 3 biggest chapters in the book so it's expected. I also created another death so that was fun. 

What I learned:
Today, I learned something that I've been really curious about for a long time. I've always wondered how many YouTubers add the zoom in effect for one second and immediately zoom out for the rest of the video. It's used for comedic effect and I've always wondered how to do it. Today, I learned that they use keyframes. Basically what you do is split the clip where you want it zoomed in and then split it again where you want it to go back to normal. Then, you take the split part and you go to the keyframe section and zoom it into where you want it zoomed. Then you have your zoom in effect!

What I plan to learn tomorrow:
Tomorrow is the day I plan to do Kenan's thing. I know I said this yesterday but tomorrow is actually the day where I do Kenan's story. It will involve a new explosion that I plan to learn so that's my goal for tomorrow. I will also learn how to add sound effects and etc. I want this to be done perfectly. This is the last biggest chapter of the story and after this, everything should be shorter. I should be cruising in the next few days. 

Time: 1 1/4 hours

Day 55 - Sony Vegas - English Project (23) - Rip In Peace, Cat in the HAT

What I did:
So, today, I made Dragan's most important chapter and this chapter involves death and people getting shot. I made a bunch of people run across the screen and some of them got shot so they would get turned to one side. I did not add the hat falling off the guy yet because I haven't created the sprite with the guy without the hat. yet but I will do that on my own time because it truly isn't anything urgent right now. I also viewed my rendering of the 8-minute video yesterday. I did this because I wanted to test out if it rendered properly and behold, it does. :D There have been times where it hasn't rendered and hopefully everything goes well. I would like to finish this project a few days before the due date because I want to see how the whole product looks.

What I learned:
Today, I learned that if you're in the "Event Pan/Crop" section, the timing at the markers does mean anything and that the program can be giving you a wrong time. What I'm saying is that, when you enter the keyframe section, it has time milestones in the timeline but those milestones don't represent that time at all. I learned that if you want the exact time, look in the bottom right corner of that tab and precisely put your thing in that place.

What I plan to learn tomorrow:
Tomorrow, I plan to create Kenan's most major chapter. Today, I finished Dragan's most major chapter and tomorrow is Kenan's. It involves explosions and cars so that should something new that I work on. I will definitely learn something about explosions tomorrow. Whether that involves making an explosion tomorrow or just making a different kind of flash but that is my goal for tomorrow's class.

Time: 1 1/2 hours

Day 54 - Sony Vegas - English Project (22) - Kenan is still on his stroll + Render Test

What I did:
Today, I made Kenan's next chapter which wasn't very action packed. The main thing that happened was him crossing the bridge. There wasn't much that I had to do that I haven't done before other than adding in some characters and moving them. From here on out, we are more than 50% done the story. I also learned some keyframe things today which can help a lot in the future. I am also becoming very comfortable with keyframes and animating. Practice makes perfect.

What I learned:
Today, I learned something new about keyframing. This could've been learned many classes ago but I wasn't that familiar with keyframing so I didn't really know much. Basically, if you put a keyframe somewhere, and you go to the composition to see what the effect is, if you're not on the exact spot the keyframe is, it will not show you the final position of the object. This has messed me up multiple times because I always go to the middle rather than the end so when I apply the keyframe, the character might be off the screen and that's how I want it. That's what I learned today.

What I plan to learn tomorrow:
Tomorrow, I plan to learn about the timing thing in the keyframe section. It's basically how the timing works in that section. I can explain more tomorrow. I plan to create the biggest chapter of Dragan tomorrow. It's the part where Emina gets shot and it basically shapes the rest of Dragan's story arc. That is my goal for tomorrow. I will also explain the results of the render test. 

Time: 1 Hour

Day 53 - Sony Vegas - English Project (21) - Arrow's Resolve

What I did:

Today, I finished another one of the longest chapters in the book which is Arrow's chapter in which she must protect the Cellist. I did a lot of stuff for this chapter. I added an extra gun, inverted it and made it shoot at arrow while the cellist is performing. I also gave the cello of the Cellist a moving up and down effect to make it show that he's playing. After Arrow gets shot, I made her turn to her side because she noticed that she was going to get shot at and immediately ducked. Then, I ended the chapter. It may not seem like a lot but a lot of effort went into this one especially. 

What I learned:

Today, I learned about inverting an image.What I'm talking about is making the object face the other way. For example, The gun that arrow uses is facing the to right but I can now make it face to the left by inverting it. This is pretty easy to do in photoshop and it's also pretty easy to do in Sony Vegas. To do this in Sony Vegas, you have to go to the "Event Pan/Crop" section and put completely go to the arrow's and click on one side, and bring it in towards the middle and out again to make it face the other way. It's really quite simple!

What I plan to learn tomorrow:

Tomorrow, I plan to continue to with this cellist stuff and hopefully finish Kenan's next chapter. It is a pretty short chapter and doesn't have much in it. There isn't anything new to learn tomorrow but like I said, I always find something so hopefully, we will. Right now, I am about under 50% done with the book so we should be wrapping things up here in the next few chapters. Then, I plan to refine the whole project. 

Time: 1 3/4 hours

Day 52 - Sony Vegas - English Project (20) - Dragan-Tails reunites with Emina

What I did:
Today, I finished Dragan's chapter. It introduced a new character, Emina, who is actually very crucial to Dragan's story. I used the same backdrop because Dragan's whole story takes place at that intersection. I introduced Emina by having her approach Dragan. I also made Dragan move fast when he was supposed to be running toward the other side of the intersection and also when he gets shot at. There wasn't much else I did today because this chapter involved a lot of talking rather than action.

What I learned:
Today, I learned about maintaining aspect ratio and how you have to do this every single time you put an image into the composition. If you do not do this, sony vegas will not allow you to move the objects to the sides to be visible but after you uncheck the maintain aspect ratio, you can freely put the character wherever you want. I already knew about this but you have to do it for every single image. I also learned that you don't do this for videos because the videos will already lock into place. I'm not sure why this is but I think it's because Sony Vegas is video editing software so the pictures must be made compatible while the videos already are. 
What I plan to learn tomorrow:
Tomorrow, I plan to do Arrow's next chapter which may actually be her biggest one. It involves her setting up to kill the enemy sniper but actually, it gets turned on her and there's a pretty intense scene that occurs. Tomorrow, I plan to finish Arrow's next chapter. Tomorrow, I plan to learn about inversing. Basically, what I mean is that I want to turn a picture into its reflection. I'll explain more tomorrow.

Time: 45 minutes

Day 51 - Sony Vegas - English Project (19) - Nermin is one creepy guy

What I did:
Today,  I did the Arrow's next chapter which involved her going to her commander and talking to him (Btw he is really creepy). So, today I decided to finish that chapter. It involves also switching scenes to the cellist but it was fine because I already used the cellist before and he wasn't really that hard to incorporate into the animation. I also gave the Cellist a Cello this time around because this is the first point where we see him playing his cello. I used the same background where the cellist saw the people killed because that's where he plays his cello. 

What I learned:
Today, I learned about the arrow thingy in the "Event Pan/Crop" section. It's to the left side and it gives you options when you click it. You have the options to move it freely, side to side or up and down. These options can help you make sure that you stay on track and you don't end up moving the character around too much. I also learned about the keyframe second layer. If you look at my keyframe pictures, you can see that I have placed down keyframes into a lower layer as well. I learned that they do not do very much. I accidentally put a keyframe down into a lower layer and it didn't affect the composition at all even though it should have because a character was moving during that time. That is what I learned today.

What I plan to learn tomorrow:
Tomorrow, I plan to do Dragan's next chapter which involves a new character who is pretty major to his story arc. There's nothing major that happens in the next chapter other than Dragan almost getting shot so I do not know what I will plan to learn tomorrow. I am about more than 25% done this project in Sony Vegas and I am making very good timing. I normally learn something new every day so it will come to me what I learn tomorrow

Time: 1 hour

Day 50 - Sony Vegas - English Project (18) - Kenan's Stroll

What I did:
Today, I finished the next part of "The Cellist of Sarajevo." This chapter is definitely one of the longer chapters but it doesn't have a whole lot of character interactions or dialogue in it so it made it easier because I just have to briefly explain some of the thoughts he's having and the interactions will basically be easy as well because they're nothing too complex. In this section, I had to change backdrops because Kenan walks a lot so I changed from a destroyed street to a bridge area. The bridge area isn't supposed to represent the bridge but is supposed to represent the area where Kenan is at. I also gave Ismet a beard because he has one in the book.

What I learned:
Today, I learned that you if you want a character to start at the beginning again while animating, you should add the same sprite to the composition rather than trying to animate it back to the beginning because it will not end well.What I mean is that if you start a character from one side and make him go to the opposite and when you're done with that, you want it to go back to the beginning. It's better if you just add another sprite and animate that one rather than trying to use the same one because it will mess you up in that the sprite will go back across the screen and start from the beginning. Maybe there is a way for you to use the same sprite to animate it from the beginning again but it just seems easier to add another one in.

What I plan to learn tomorrow:
Tomorrow, I plan to continue with the story. I am making very good time and since I still have  9 posts to do this month, that means I will get through 8 more arcs for the characters this week which should put in well into chapter 3 or maybe even finished it. My goal for tomorrow is to complete Arrow's arc. It involves a small room and it's a pretty short chapter so it shouldn't be too hard. I don't have much to learn tomorrow, but I'm sure I'll find something because I always seem to do. :) Today, I learned something which I was not going for but it happened so that's my goal for tomorrow.


Time: 1 1/2 Hours