Recreating Cameras and Lights in Maya

Alrighty. Here is the assigned photo which I chose. 

My attempt to reproduce it. Shadows are more difficult than lights... 

And more of the same from another angle. :)

Building a Scene in Maya

Nothing fancy fancy. But here's my initials spelt out in books. :)

Second Term Paper

No term paper is being submitted.

Outline for the Second Term Paper

Outline for Second Term Paper

I. Intro

A. Films - “Princess Mononoke” (1997), “Portal” (2007), “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1997 - 2003)
B. Thesis – The film Princess Mononoke, the game Portal, and the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer all violate the usual physics of Action-Reaction forces found in Newton’s Third Law of Motion.

II. Body

A. Mononoke Hime/ Princess Mononoke

When Ashitaka, the story’s hero, shoots arrows at rogue warriors and samurai near the beginning of the film, he always hits his target, in this case the samurai’s arm. However, in a strange and gruesome twist the arrow not only pierces the arm, but takes it clean off. The action force applied from the arrow to the arm would be equalled by the reaction force from the arm onto the arrow. This reaction force would destroy the arrow before it had the chance to remove any limbs. The movie excuses the dismemberment by showing that Ashitaka has a strong arm gained from a curse. But  if Ashitaka has gained strength from the curse in his hand, it does nothing to affect the weight and strength of the bow and arrow he is using.  

B. Portal and Landing

In the video game Portal it is possible to fall for long periods of time, until hitting terminal velocity. However, when the character finally frees herself from this fall, she lands as if she had just fallen a few feet. The action force she exerts on the ground by landing does not seem to impact the ground. Nor does the ground seem to give any reaction force back onto her legs. The character is equipped with a mechanical exoskeleton on her legs to help her jump higher, but because her feet touch the ground, there is no way she could fall that distance and walk away from it. Also in Portal, the character ends up being thrown against many walls as the player tries to navigate a complex puzzle room. Even if we give that the exoskeleton on her legs help her land, the impact of the hard walls has no effect on the character. The reaction force that the walls would exert on her would surely break a bone or two.

C. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy defies physics in almost every episode. Using her trusty wooden stake, she “dusts” vampires by driving it through their heart. But first she first has to drive it through the sternum or ribs. Bone is pretty strong, and will give an equal reaction force back onto the stake. Even given that Buffy is very strong, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the stakes are; the stakes should  probably suffer more damage from the reaction force than the bones around the heart suffer from the action force.

III. Conclusion

A. Whether for visual effect, or to simply get a job done, all sorts of media like to put aside Newton’s Third Law. In instances such as these, it’s understandable. In one case the director needs to show visually the violence of the main character’s curse. In a game scenario the players need to complete the puzzles without worrying about damaging the character. And in Buffy’s world, there’s gotta be a convenient way to get rid of the vampires. In all these cases cinematic fiction trumps science fact.