Effect with sincerity.

"Well! The buzz from the bees is that the leopards are in a bit of a spot... And the baboons are going ape over this. Of course, the giraffes are acting like they're above it all..."

The Lion King is probably the most popular animated movies of all time. A movie that follows the life of a carefree cub who "can't just wait to be a king" and treads the path of "Hakuna Matata" that teaches him the "Circle of life". Animating quadrapeds was a challenge and Disney pulled it off so well!

More realistic animation techniques have replaced the traditional methods of hand-drawing animated figures. The physics of reality enslaves art and technology to simulate and visualize better, animate better. Computational methods and equations pull off a trade-off that makes a visual look as real to life as possible.

There are primarily three methods to animate a bundle of pixels. One- Breaking the image into discrete elements, Two- Use sample points selected from the sample picture and Three- Beget cells in the sample space. Motion capture is one of the coolest techniques widely used, in which markers are placed on an actor's face. For every expression, the positions of markers are noted and subsequently mapped onto the animated character.

I have been particularly impressed by VFX (Visual Effects- effects that are used to manipulate images to make them look realistic and integrate live-action footage) . I was mindblown by the VFX generated by the team that worked with visuals in X-MEN First Class. A great story line coupled with amazing effects that looked real but quite apparent.

Here's a youtube video of how they created the Beast transformation, the Magneto Yacht destruction scene, Riptide hurricanes and Cerebro destruction.




ICY system helped in rendering light and added a bit of composition. There is a lot more physics and equations involved than I thought there was. Properties of light play an important role. The right amount of illumination and spark can transform a dull scene and make it interesting and gripping.

Tapping reflection and refraction (properties of light) was a way to make Frost's diamond form much more appealing. Also the skin textures could change by changing the illumination and using animation softwares like Voodoo, to make skin look smooth or scaley, depending on the effect desired (in case of Mystique [the one who has shape shifting powers, turns blue on whim and claims she is 'Mutant and proud'] ).

They also used Zbrush for Angel's dragon wings and made the transition of her transformation look super-smooth. The final fight scenes that included a fire fight were rendered by PRman that rendered the fire in three heat ranges, namely blue, green and red. The particles had different shades of opacity and with this, the subsequent effects could be varied and applied.

Another mutant, Havok has special powers of throwing rings of fire. These discs were Computer generated and they appear to be forms of energy that contract and expand and vary in intensity as they are hurled towards the intended offender.

Magneto's attempts to destroy Sebastian Shaw's Yacht were created by using the visual destruction tool called Kali. Kali analyses and creates break points that follows the rules of geometry (particularly center of gravity) and gives a realistic view of how the ship will break and capsize , if it were to, in live footage.

Effects are undoubtedly different for solids and fluids. Much like dynamics for solids and fluids, each of these use different computational algorithms to add credible visual effects and incorporate it with live footage. Various fast fourier transforms can be used to create and obtain various effects on fluids.

Facial animation is a different aspect and quite complex; Usually rendered using motion graphics, innumerable computations and markers. Adding expressions to characters was an important task and a task beautifully done. I believe I enjoyed watching X-Men First Class not just for it being a beautiful prologue to the X-men series but for also having beautiful effects that makes the film viewing experience so much more interesting.

Watching action movies without visual effects is like connoisseuring a tasteless meal. Movies can  ofcourse, be beautifully made sans visual effects. However, visual effects and editing intrigue me and I pay attention to these aspects as well. I love movies and particularly love learning about various techniques that are incorporated while making films. I love the zest and dedication that is put in while making films and most importantly, I love how the effects make things look so illusional yet so real.

If I have 54990 INR to spare, I will buy an iPhone 5...Not !

I am not an 'Apple hater'. I admire the way Apple pays attention to the tiniest aspects. To move forward, it has taken certain risks. No other company has such a loyal fan base as Apple does. Apple comes out with products analysed and predicted by business heads to be a hit with its fan base.

I feel Apple is not targetting the masses but its just focusing on its fan base and loves making the margins they earn with every product (that's a good thing). The user experience is pretty much the same roll out they introduced in 2007. Not much has been done to improve the looks and feel than adding a new row of Apps.

Reasons you might want to exclaim a "iPaid!" :

1) Unreliable Maps.

Apple Maps are not at all reliable.

If travelling and reaching a destination is of utmost importance but getting lost in a city you don't know is an issue then Apple Maps as an App is not something made for you.

2)'Cause You want a bite of the half baked Siri.

3) You want a sleek phone that doesn't look robust, you want a phone that claims the screen is primarily built of aluminium than glass. You want a phone that is light and might not survive a fall from the looks of it.

4) You want the Lightening Connector. For reasons unfathomable to me, you are willing to pay no heed to the fact that this device,iPhone5, is not compatible with industry standard cables. Nor does it have microUSB ports- ports that are a standard way to transfer files.

5)You are ready to compromise on the battery life just so that you will get to use 4G.
Which might not be a concern if you're based in India.

Yes, it does appear that I'm an Apple sympathiser and a Fandroid girl.
I plead guilty on both counts.

To be fair, a few aspects which I really liked about the iPhone 5 , I must enlist below.

High Five, iPhone 5 'cause :

1) You present us handsets with better video compression algorithms. This means we get to compress files yet not degrade quality drastically and have smaller file sizes at the same time.

2)You, Apple, provide us with fantastic resolution and a big screen. You,sir,present me a chance to view pictures and videos better. Yes, it just works!

3)An amazing, fantastic 8 megapixel,front facing camera and video recording capability that extends to 1080 pixels at 30 frames per second.

4)IOS 6: It's a dual core Cortex processor and has fantastic features like Passbook, DND,Facetime over Cellular, a Priority Inbox etc.

5)An improved App Store that satiates your craving for robust Apps. iPhone 5 is a treat if you're an iOS6 developer. It thrills you with Audio and video sampling during playback and you might not escape the flux of Action Sheer.

You can't really ignore the pricetag. You cannot forget that iPhone 5 is nothing but a fantastic update to iPhone 4.

I will not go for an iPhone 5 not just because I am a Fandroid. I also believe I'll get better worth for my money if I invest in an Android phone.

Google has created its own niche in this sector and Android phones are getting increasingly popular than iPhones for a reason. iPhones might target a base audience-its fan base but Android has succeeded appealing to the masses by bringing out better quality phones at affordable,reasonable prices. It also provides better services ( Google Maps! Gtalk ! ).

The reason Google Maps is accurate and reliable is because it initiated the mapping business a decade ago, leased data from other companies, employed 7000 employees at the peak of developing and enhancing Maps and also employed Google StreetView vans that help provide accurate data, which is regularly updated. Apple, in the quest of creating Apple Maps, has acquired data from other sources too but it's lacking in the reliablity and accuracy of maps, disappointing many.

Believing in Apple's "It just works!" might not be enough to shell out on an imported iPhone at this time. If you still want to buy it, wait till November when iPhone 5 comes officially to India, the price then is estimated to be INR 45000.

My choice will be Samsung Galaxy S3 (INR 29000).
SGS3, the Tom Hanks of the current batch of phones, is a phone I will save to splurge on.
(#YesIamaFandroidgirlforlife)

A Happy Sunday

Sundays are good for You. Yeah,you!

I do look forward to the weekend. I want to do so many things throughout the week.. Read a book, watch a movie, catch up with friends and get some me-time but its not always possible due to other commitments.

I reserve my weekends for dedicated hours of preparation for Entrances, fun and the things I really want to do!

My colleague Aarthi suggested I watch 'The Manchurian Candidate'. I watched it this afternoon and loved it.

Denzel Washington is a fabulous actor and makes you feel for him. The Manchurian Candidate is by far one of my favourite movies of Washington, closely followed by 'Remember the Titans'. For co-stars, Meryl Streep is beautiful and unsurpassingly creepy. Liev Schreiber (The guy who plays Wolverine's brother in Xmen), is sleek and conjures up an air of authority and carries off the image of a confident, conniving politician very well. As much as I'd like to type out my thoughts and comment on this beautiful thriller, I'd rather do it after reading the book (on which this movie is based).

So yes, I had a peaceful Sunday, did a little cooking, studied, helped around the house, ran a few errands, made a colourful sketch with felts and wrote CSS for my blog.

Sundays are meant for unwinding and setting in a new week.

I look forward to a good week and hope you do too!

P.S. I want to share with you something I made tonight :

An Elixir made of belief, hope and attitude

I love advertisements for their creativity and the message they put across- urging us to do something! I love Amul ads, Limca ads,LG ads..the list is long.

I love LG ads for their tag line : Life's good. Each ad they come up with portrays how good your life will be when you buy their products-be it a LED TV, monitor or even a vacuum cleaner. Simple yet so effective. 

They advertise and we buy. Its simple- Slim TVs can have an effect on us- make us happy!

Me thinks I must find other sources of happiness too! I'm giving it a shot and loving it!

I love my job. I love working hard and putting all of my energy into it. I am an ordinary girl with not so ordinary goals and I am determined to work my way up. I have observed its never been easy to be successful. Things will never be easy nor will people co-operate.There will be jealousy, back-biting, politics-you name it. Its the only common thing found at all work-places.

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. Hard work and dedication fused together is the only way to move forward.

I believe it is very important to prioritize and set goals. Being stubborn,confident and never giving up is the new sexy. It is very important one has a dream and keeping it alive is very much essential. What will be life worth when you wake up and don't look forward to working hard to achieve something you really,really want?! It is important to have passions.

A life without passions will be so dull!

How do you react to a person when he/she says they aren't passionate about anything? 

I feel sorry for them.

I speak from personal experiences and I have learnt it the hard way. The amount of hard work I put in over the past few months have got me results that made me happy and these results will stay with me throughout.

It is essential to have a mentor,a friend,a guide,a philosopher. I treasure my experiences and will always be grateful for the help and teaching. In return, I helped too. The attitude I developed and things I learnt will remain with me forever. The mentor may or may not be with me, I will forever be grateful and never forget that its because of him, I am where I stand.

I love my family dearly and will always put them first,listen to them and do what they say-it makes them happy and their happiness multiplies mine.

My family has always been supportive of me, especially my grandfather. My grandfather has been my pillar of strength. Extremely critical and supportive, he has taught me to be strong and not give up. He has taught me that one must give respect to get respect and that my attitude plays a crucial role in everything I do.. The choices I make will take me where I wish to go.

Life is all about choices. When you cut away from all the jazz, every situation is a choice. You can choose how to react to situations. You can choose how you let people affect your mood. You  can choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. 

You can choose to be happy.

It's my choice how I live life and have no regrets. Life is a DIY project. Your attitude and the choices you make today, build the "house" you live in tomorrow.

There is a factor called luck. Some people blame their bad times on the stars. They say : "I think my stars are bad,this is happening to me...". Some feel their happiness is because of their good stars. 

I feel we can't base our results solely on luck. We can't afford to classify or categorize our times and justify luck as good or bad.

There is a Chinese story of a farmer who used an old horse to till his fields. 

One day, the horse escaped into the hills and when the farmer's neighbors sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?"

A week later, the horse returned with a herd of horses from the hills and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was, "Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?"

Then, when the farmer's son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?"

Some weeks later, the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer's son with his broken leg, they let him off. Now was that good luck or bad luck?

Who knows?

I don't know,neither did the farmer-then. We have no business rating things and absolutely have no right to delve in self-pity. Things happen and we have to accept it.
Once we make up our minds, we have no right to blame others for "things". Nobody has the right or power to ruin your life but you! You make or break your own happiness.

You can choose how you live and what you get from living a happy life.

On a side note, my uncle gifted me a laptop as a birthday + graduation gift. That made me happy too! I really thank him for being so kind and thoughtful. He knows how much of a help it has been to me and how it has been a great source for learning.

:) )

P.S.

Have a week!

I miss my college days..!!

Its been only a few months and I miss my college days..!

College ended on a high note for me - I graduated with distinction and stood third in college, got a job and I have a daily routine which I adhere to. I am happy.
I meet my college/building/school friends and we have fun. Some things have changed but most remain the same.

The daily lectures, professors lecturing us (pun intended), our beloved canteen, the lovely Carter Road promenade, the jesters in class and fun between lectures, the library, the labs and most importantly, my friends, I miss them all..!!

The class..

The seminars...

Submissions..

My Project team..

-

The never-ending Xerox hassles..

The ice-creams..

The canteen breaks..

The fests ..

The fun ..

So many memories :). 

I'll never get those days back but I got to know so many people,had varied experiences and made friends. We may or may not meet often but no measure of time will be enough with you guys....