Dynamic Machines Challenge | Pirate Carnivale

This is my submission for the Dynamic Machines Challenge hosted by the #pwnisher. My concept was a neat little pirate carnival scene with some magical lights and eerie mood. Learnt a bunch of simulations and animation during this project and really pushed myself (a bunch of late nights) to get the final result. I'll share some of my thoughts in a sort of mini breakdown.

Composition:
This was my main focus. I wanted to ensure that the viewer maintained the perceived location of the ball throughout the entire animation. This lead to the creation of the leading lights which forecast the balls movement whilst keeping it well lit. I also attached a damped tracked gold light to the orb which is a technique film makers use in animation to ensure perfect lighting for characters on screen. I used this to provide a gold reflection of the ball and to promote a high level of contrast in darker areas in the scene.
Frame 225 is the centre point of the animation so I wanted to take advantage of the entire frame by crafting a strong composition. The stone arches frame the circular ferris wheel with the gold light reflecting off the left wall.

Lighting:
I wanted a carnival vibe with an eerie undertone since I used the Substances Pirate materials. As I was experimenting with the lighting, I really loved how the gold-orange lighting would play off the caverns and domed houses. I felt it complimented the blue hues in the scenes and the rock materials well so I ran with it. I also wanted there to be a subtle cloud texture cast on the scene. It's not 100% noticeable but once you see it, you really see it. I used this clouds texture on a plane and ran it across my key light. I used this to darken areas further along in the frame and lighten areas where the ball was coming into. I also wanted the scene to feel like it was a part of a larger environment.

Modelling:
I used some displacement modifiers with the height map for the cavern walls to generate some depth. For the roller coaster track I used an I modelled a section of track that was seamless then used both the array and curve modifiers to generate the path. I later used this same spline to track the roller coaster to and put an animation noise onto the track to simulate it buckling under the vibration.

For the ferris wheel I created some carriages and hooked them up to objects that were just two vertices; 1 vertex for the pivot of the carriage arm and the other for the rotation and location which was cloth sim'd. This gave the carriages a natural swing when the parented control would rotate. This allowed me to speed up and slow down the ferris wheel to simulate the weight of the ball and keep the scene more grounded in reality.

Animation:
I felt it was important to make sure the marble behaved physically normal. I first constructed the collisions for the course to ensure that the marble maintains physical weight and appearance. I didn't want to hack any part of the movement to ensure I didn't fall into the uncanny valley for movement. Once I had the marbles movement hitting the proper timings; frame in 113 and frame out 335-340, I baked it and timed everything to match its as best I could.

All in all I'm very happy I participated in the challenge and learnt a tonne of new tools and techniques. I will mention that I was a little discouraged for not hitting the top 100 but I'll take this as motivation to try even harder for next time.

Hope you enjoyed my little machine!