EP Group Project – Addressing Project Challenges and Solutions
There was some trouble with one of the group members. Because of this, I wanted to create a different version of the final video to enhance the overall quality of the project. When I asked Manos if I could submit a different file, he answered yes, but I need to explain it on my blog. Here is the explanation of what happened:
As he didn’t come to the university for a month, we contacted him later and found out that he couldn’t access the university for some reason. This made communication difficult, and I believe this was the main problem that caused the trouble. We had allocated the work for leaf animation and the neon sign to him. When we checked the progress of each task in week 10, he showed a simple neon sign he created. It didn’t look bad, but I asked him to adjust the size of the “No” character, and he agreed.
In the next meeting in week 11, he brought a different layout from what we had already agreed upon.
He also mentioned that the render time took about 16 hours. I couldn’t understand why it took so long and why he didn’t use other software like Maya, but I tried to respect his work method. So I asked for a low-resolution render to check the look in Nuke. I got the first render, which did not match the background’s perspective and was in front view. To match the perspective, I utilized Cornerpin, but it made the neon sign look very flat. I told him to match the perspective with the background. We also suggested using a different font because the current one looked a bit simple and rigid. He mentioned that the fonts were limited in Unreal, but he would try.
I thought his font was not appropriate for the scene, so I chose a neon-style font and suggested he create the text in Maya and transfer it to Unreal. At that time, I asked Manos about the situation, and he suggested creating the neon sign in 2D since it doesn’t show many changes. I told this to him, but he said he had already made the neon sign and that this would limit his role. I agreed, but in case his work couldn’t be done properly in time, I created the neon sign in After Effects.
I got the second render, and it still didn’t match the background. He said to just try what I did last time using Cornerpin. Of course, it didn’t match. He told me he didn’t understand what the problem was. At this point, I gave up trying to explain it to him and decided to use my version for the final video. However, I didn’t want to be disrespectful to him, so I created two versions: mine and his, after discussing with other two members.
The leaf animation was also troublesome, but there wasn’t much time to suggest redoing it and rendering again, as the deadline was approaching and he might be focusing on his personal project. Since I had almost finished my personal project, I just animated the leaf in Maya and used it for my version.