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961 topics in this forum
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"What free or affordable software or mobile app would you recommend for motion capture?"
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Robert, Roger and I were discussing various topics and some of Walter Lantz's drawing and animation resources were shared and discussed. Here's one that we didn't discuss on creating characters that includes a storyboarding session. Several currrent day legends in the animation business such as Eric Goldberg claim that watching Walter Lantz's shows delving into the process of animation were early inspirations to them. What got me thinking in the direction of Walter Lantz was his book 'The Easy Way to Draw' which I had never heard of but have recently added to my library.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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- 737 views
Found a pretty neat program that creates seamless textures from Spiral Graphics ( www.spiralgraphics.biz ). There is a free program called Wood Workshop that allows you to create seamless wood textures with an almost limitless control over color, texture, pattern, etc. You can create the texture in just about any size you want, then export it to a .jpg, .png, .etc. They also have a program called Genetica 2.5 which allows you to create all sorts of other seamless textures, like brick, marble, cloth, wood, stone, metal and lots of others. The Pro version also allows you to create atmosphere and hair textures. They have a downloadable 30 day demo of Genetica. …
Last reply by Tralfaz, -
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Since XML format, it is possible to read the MDL file by a text editor. Here is some information about the MDL format, that I could understand. Hope this can help someone. The CP: The splines : I have not found meaning the first number. Hooks: Patches : I have not found meaning the first and last number for patches. UV, Stamps:
Last reply by Malo, -
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- 686 views
This might be of use to some folks. If you already upload to Youtube you probably know about it already though... so apologies if this is old news. http://www.labnol.org/internet/add-logo-to...e-videos/25948/
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 494 views
If you visit the Adobe site or attempt to update to the recently released Adobe Reader XI you'll currently get an update to Adobe Reader X instead and if attempting to update via the Reader itself a message that says you are currently up to date. This despite the fact that the Adobe site showing the XI version available for download. Since the XI release has been out since late Sep I can only assume the current buglist is large enough to keep Adobe from promoting/releasing it fully. For those interested the XI release is available at the following location: http://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatet.../11/11.0.0.html DISCLAIMER: YOU SHOULD READ THROU…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I saw Skyfall this afternoon. A few shots have CG animals that are pretty cool. Specifically, the scorpion and the Komodo Dragons.
Last reply by KJ'd Beast, -
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More SIGGRAPH 2012 related postings... This by itself is very cool and interesting but I'm already wondering how the tool can be extended. Rather than take multiple shots of a chrome ball to capture lighting, duffuse, mirroring/reflection, specularity etc. some folk decided to pursue the idea of having one single ball to capture all the sampling needed. http://gl.ict.usc.edu/Research/SSLP/A_Sing...IGGRAPH2012.pdf This has bigger more colorful imagery: http://gl.ict.usc.edu/Research/SSLP/ Now what I'm thinking is how we can use this idea to capture the environment that exists inside a manufactured 3D scene. There are obvious problems with this (…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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IMO this is one of the best kept secrets in the animation biz... It's still small enough to be personal and isn't overly commercial as of yet. http://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/ Is there anyone from the A:M Forum planning to attend? I haven't heard that Hash Inc is considering setting up shop but if they are I'd be even more likely to attend. Dates are: November 16th through the 18th. Location: Burbank, California I know some folks that have attended and they thoroughly enjoyed being able to interact with artists and animators of like interests.
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Link: Gaming seems to be the real key to making this technology ubiquitous. Here's a link to their site: http://tech.yostengineering.com/3-space-sensor As near as I can tell each sensor sells for about $300. (This is the Bluetooth sensor) I would expect that price to fall pretty fast if it's going to sync in with the gamers. It's just a matter of time before you are walking around inside of A:M while drawing splines and extruding patches in realtime 3D. Here are some of the downloads and documentation.
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 567 views
I haven't even looked at the pricing but the general video and the video player look nice. I think the video player is a trend we'll see more of in the future with the ability to see Onion skinning, alter the frame steps, speed, etc. The frame step feature of the video player almost... almost... almost... breaks down the video into extremes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQJaqpKQtwI http://www.rhinohouse.com/ Ref: Ad/Write up at onanimation.com Note that downloads apparently are NOT included in the subscription to the service and because of that each download appears to cost 99 cents. Not sure but that's what it looked like to me.
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Looks like Bluesky just got the greenlight to animate a feature film with Charlie Brown and the gang. I think it was Keith Lango that was involved in a test years ago but folks in charge of 'Peanuts' weren't satisified with the adaption to CG and went with the latest hand drawn shorts instead. Trying to remain relevant it looks like their two years worth of negotiations with Bluesky finally broke through to a feature film deal. http://blueskystudios.com/studio-blog/entr...-press-release/
Last reply by Rodney, -
To Youtube
by novice- 1 follower
- 0 replies
- 619 views
I am interested in posting my work on YouTube. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to save the animation so I can do so? (ie: save in A and convert to B, etc.) Respectfully, novice
Last reply by novice, -
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This one is for the Mac users amongst us primarily those that use Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, or Compressor 4. http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1396
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I thought this was an interesting breakdown of Lord of the Rings characters and their movement through time: http://xkcd.com/657/ Starwars, Jurassic Park, etc. included too. There are a lot of other visual breakdowns of time/space on the site. The reason this appealed to me was that I have at various times roughed out stories in a similar way via A:M splines.
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 518 views
I know a few in the A:M Community will be interested in this webinar as the price is certainly right for jumping into animating with music. Obviously some translation of software specific instruction will have to be negotiated but Jason's instruction always try to be applicable across the board. http://www.jasonryananimation.com/webinars...r-series-4.html From the site's description: The price? If you are already an iAnimate student this and previous webinars are accessible for free as they are included as part of the iAnimate tuition.
Last reply by Rodney, -
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http://www.photoshoproadmap.com/Photoshop-...nd-backgrounds/
Last reply by johnl3d, -
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Disclaimer: I have not yet purchased any of Scott Petersen's products so therefore cannot personally vouch for their thoroughness or quality. Scott T. Petersen has been an animator, director and teacher for quite awhile. Here's his basic bio: For those that tend toward a traditional hand drawn approach to animation you may find his current DVDs of interest. At this time he has three available: 1. Animation and Drawing: The Essential Basics 2. Lesson 2: The Power of Anticipation (Umm... no direct link... so see the preview below) 3. Dynamic Posing for Gesture Drawing h7HcAsuYl9o Here's a related video on anticipation that…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 387 views
I know we have a number of self-employed freelance artists here and people with "day jobs" that have inadequate or over-expensive health insurance. The ACA should be a dramatic improvement in that situation. Forget the hysteria you've seen on cable TV, here is a low-drama explanation of what to expect and what to do. The Uninsured Musician’s Guide to The Affordable Care Act If you want coverage to start on Jan 1 you need to get enrolled by Dec 15. The actual Healthcare.gov website that handles enrollment on the internet seems to be a work-in-progress still. I'd say wait a couple weeks on it. People do report that enrolling by phone or paper form is…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Good Taste Makes 'Bad Taste' is a documentary on Peter Jackson's earliest work before his rise to fame with 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Hobbit'. It's easy to image that big time film directors appear fully formed but the truth is much more educational. Several videos chronicling Peter Jackson's early effort to learn filmmaking and special effects are available online and should encourage everyone that they can be creative filmmakers and animators too. Of particular interest to many here will be Peter's innovation and work in stopmotion and innovation when trying to produce quality results on little to no budget. QcxMUZjaT4s cK-q6IJ-qo0 …
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 494 views
Here's something to put on your radar. Not long ago I said, "The time is coming and now is that rendering (as we know it) will be obsolete." or something to that effect. This site is an example of the moving in that direction. Although this is not a renderer as we know it the site does purport to encode media with a hands off approach. What does that mean to you? If you've already rendered a file and need it converted to another format you don't have to spend time rerendering or searching for proper programs and codecs if you can drag and drop the file and get the conversion done while you do other (more important) work. Concerns about security? …
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Here's a really quick tip (inspired by an excerpt from the book 'Professional Storyboarding' by Sergio Paez and Anson Jew) Change in size The underlying thought being that objects that do not change size on a 2D screen are static, unmoving and suggest the scene has little or no depth. Changing shapes is a fundamental of animation. When analyzing animation that appeals to you pick a shape on the screen and follow it... (a nose, a mouth, a hand... pick something. Anything!) How does it change position? How does it change shape? How does it suggest motion and depth in a scene? If change of shapes is so important in animation what does that say abou…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 618 views
Sad news for animation fans and especially for those that followed his blog (splog). Michael Sporn died on 19 Jan after a three year battle with pancreatic cancer. Michael Barrier has a bio up on his career on his blog. http://michaelbarrier.com/Home%20Page/What...elsporn19462014 It isn't clear what will be done with his blog and it hasn't been online for some time. Michael had amassed a considerable amount of history and commentary on animation that was greatly appreciated by followers of animation.
Last reply by Rodney, -
If anyone is interested, I'm currently Beta testing an online tool called RGBnotes. Simon recently posted a refernence video of a weight lifter that would be great for testing the RGBnotes annotation and onionskinning modes. So I might use that video for the purpose of sharing RGBnotes with folks here on the forum. (To join the Beta, projects are simply shared with others via an email) The program is very basic....very basic... at this point but the creators hope to make it a very useful collaborative tool and have started adding features. At any rate, during the beta period the way to get other people into the program is to share a project with someone vi…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 462 views
While I'm in the mood, I'm looking for some real projects to model (characters or soft body - not hard surface). Not talking designing the characters - if you have model sheets or well drawn concept images - hey I'm looking for something to do (free of charge). I need to hone my skills. Cheers
Last reply by higginsdj, -
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- 1.6k views
Disclaimer: I haven't tried this out yet but spotted it and wanted to see if anyone had given it a shot. Anyone? http://www.greentoken.de/onlineconv/ Obviously when you upload a model you have shared it with the server. If the model you want to convert is precious to you and you don't want it out there then don't use these types of converters. Here's the basic info (from the website): If enough people upload .MDL files (which will fail to convert) maybe they'll write a converter for A:M model files. One can dream. The author is a/the developer behind the Open Asset Import Library (Assimp) and associated viewer (C++ etc.)…
Last reply by Rodney, -
Tiny Nomad
by Rodney- 0 replies
- 680 views
My kind of short film... [vimeo]93537717[/vimeo] Direct Link to Vimeo video This is Toniko Pantoja’s fourth year project at Cal Arts. See more via Toniko's blog. His first year film is impressive as well: Link
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 655 views
I ran across this short video and thought... that sure looks like it was designed as a showcase for a renderer... and sure enough it is. What I didn't guess is that the renderer is open source with an MIT license. The short is... very short so check it out: [vimeo]92172277[/vimeo] Direct Link The appleseed renderer is currently in Alpha testing: http://appleseedhq.net/
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 540 views
This is a Star Wars fan film put together by two school mates over the period of six years. The film is in french with subtitles and contains some harsh language not usually seen in Star Wars films. hChZObLRPRc Of interest, there are hundreds of stormtroopers in the film but no one wore a stormtrooper costume. All appearances where 3D models animated and composited into the film. There are several making of videos that are well worth reviewing as well. Here's their website that has links to several: http://1k0.blogspot.fr/2014/03/versus-twts-making-of.html Here's one thatperhaps outlines the effects breakdowns best: CG4AV5UIk…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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For those that might have wondered what legendary Disney animator Glen Keane has been up to since departing Disney, a theatrical release of the immersive application was revealed at Google I/O. Glen was challenged to create a follow up to the very popular and innovative 360 immersive entertainment 'Windy Day' and the result was 'Duet'. The part on 'Duet' to include some technological behind the scenes work as well as the short itself is at the end of this youtube video. Other releases of just the short itself are beginning to appear. As the 'rendering engine' Glen animated at 60 frames per second in order to create the animation for the application. cV8JDSO1…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I'm a bit behind the times, but I viewed Harlock Space Pirate(2013 cg version) for the first time a few nights ago. The texturing details jumped out at me so strong. If you like CG texturing and lighting, this film is worth a view. The characters faces do however look generically anime. It seems like they all use the same head model as the other CG Anime films. But those are even well done. I rather enjoyed the film and found myself drawn to the details of the texture details in both the characters and props. It was obviously a motion capture driven project for both facial and body animation, but it was very well done. William
Last reply by detbear, -
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CGTarian is yet another online school that has offered a wide range of courses. I'm not sure if we've discussed those before. Recently CGTarian launched out on an updated path with new instructors and few newer approaches. I note that JP Sans (highly active in the Animschool realm is an instructor*) and a focus is said to be that individual courses can be taken without signing on for the longer term. A little about CGTarian (from their website): The price of admission is still high for attending online classes but as long as the value is also then taking a course may be well worth the effort. As always, my suggestion would be to sample the lessons ava…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 781 views
http://tandf.msgfocus.com/q/16vqEHslJb5/wv This was posted on facebook by animation magazine
Last reply by johnl3d, -
SyncSketch
by Rodney- 0 replies
- 830 views
We are seeing more and more of these type of applications... a definite trend in collaborative software. While useful and interesting once online sketching is ubiquitous I imagine many of these application will either fade from existence or be assimilated into other products. I fully expect Youtube and other video services to move in that direction as well. But... in the meantime these application are available and can help bring collaborative projects to life. Like several similar offerings SyncSketch provides online annotation of video uploaded to the cloud. Sharing a link with someone else allows you to then share that information with others. Here are a fe…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 646 views
From the Hollywood Reporter... I presume there's some sort of signal light they shine on the clouds to call an emergency board meeting.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 0 replies
- 702 views
This Saturday legendary Disney animator Andreas Deja will be conducting a brief Master Lecture online at Virtual Animators. The 1 hour limitation suggests it'll be a bit brief to be much more than a survey/overview but at $25 I'd say it will be well worth the money and knowing how Andreas enjoys teaching I'm sure there will be many learning opportunities too. He has stated his plans to conduct a demonstration. There is limit seating for online attendance so if you are interested it is best to sign up sooner than later. http://www.virtualanimators.com/index.php/workshops Saturday, Oct 11, 11AM PTD And whether you attend or not... don't forget to kee…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 1.3k views
This is fairly self explanatory. Folks have long desired to be able to make sense of audio waveforms...
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 571 views
from the Too Many Times to the Well department... 'Toy Story 4' coming from Pixar in June 2017
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 0 replies
- 528 views
How is it that no one noticed this before? Escher’s impossible stairs inspired by high school stairwell
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 0 replies
- 1k views
Source: Numberphile I've always like Tony DeRose and here he discusses the process of subdivision, averaging and such that they've used in computer animation. At the end he discusses the weighting that allows for smooth curvature by identifying the limit that can be used in smoothing that just happens to be an equivalent to smoothing to infinity. There is to be a follow up video but I don't think it's been posted yet.
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 0 replies
- 722 views
Here's an interesting (hand drawn) flour sack animation by Ron Zorman. The aspect I like best is perhaps the transitions of weight throughout with the flour sack interacting with those various objects. Not that it's high-falutin' awesome or anything but that it's subtle-like. There are a few inconsistencies (the typical continuity problems that exist in most stories) such as when flour sack feels obvious pain in his foot during one sequence but is oblivious to that pain later (when we are set to anticipate it). Ron Zorman is a character animator on Ren and Stimpy and many Pixar movies.
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 0 replies
- 505 views
The folks over at 'Taught by a Pro' have a new video lesson by Reuben Aquino that focuses on use of Center of Gravity in animation. At $10 I'd say it's well worth the prince of admission. http://taughtbyapro.com/course/animation-fundamentals-center-gravity/ Some of his credits include: “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” 1982 (clean-up inbetweener) “Black Cauldron” 1985 (animator) “Great Mouse Detective” 1986 (animator) “Oilspot & Lipstick” 1987 (CG short, animator) “Oliver & Company” 1988 (supervising animator, worked mostly on Francis the Bulldog) “The Little Mermaid” (1989; supervising animator, Ursula the Seawitch) “Rescuers Down Under” (1990; supervising ani…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 0 replies
- 488 views
For those of you who got new portable gadgets, to run A:M on perhaps, here is the current best practices for maximizing your battery's lifespan. It's addressed to smartphone users but all Lithium-Ion batteries should benefit from this... How To Take Care of Your Smartphone Battery the Right Way
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 0 replies
- 534 views
Last reply by johnl3d, -
tiny utility for ImageMagick users (Convert PNG sequence to Gif animation w/ transparency)
by Rodney- 0 replies
- 625 views
For PC users... If you use ImageMagick (or have it installed on your system) I created a little utility program to convert a directory full of PNG images into a GIF animation. It's pretty no frills but has the following features: - Converts a directory of PNG images into a GIF animation - Preserves transparency (most gif converters do not) - Works if setup properly from the Tools/Customize menu in A:M (so converting renders from A:M to gif is a quick process). - Allows user to enter a name for the converted gif animation (pressing the enter key results in only the date/time stamp being retained as filename) -- If entered, the name will be added in front of …
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 0 replies
- 684 views
Video Blocks has been around for awhile... long enough to spam my email account for quite awhile. I'm not sure how this fits... but for those who might make a few pennies on creative works it might be worth a look... or at least pay for the video blocks subscription if you have one of those? Video Blocks' Members Only Marketplace let's creators retain 100% of the fees brought in from those who purchase their content. They can do this because their primary source of income isn't from the content itself but from the subscriptions they sell that let's others access the content. While I can't speak to the amount of money this might generate (it could easily be nothi…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 0 replies
- 770 views
I invite our numerous graphic art talented forum members to submit design concepts for a medal that would be awarded to the winner of image contests. Don't post any proposals here, contact me privately for the particular design considerations.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 0 replies
- 554 views
On another forum someone asked how to "study" a shot Here was my response... At AnimationMentor they told us it's better to study live action shots than to study animated shots. You don't want to be re-creating other animators' mannerisms if you can help it. None-the-less there are some things you can ask yourself about any shot, live or animated... -What is the goal of the character? What are you seeing getting done that advances the story? -How does the character visibly change to show thought or action? -What are the main poses and changes of appearance the character goes through to show you what he is thinking or doing? When a character comes to a hol…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 0 replies
- 820 views
For any of you Android phone users. from NPR... Major Flaw In Android Phones Would Let Hackers In With Just A Text
Last reply by robcat2075,
