Rodney

I won't. I'm just noting there is a pretty huge sized gap between 10x and 50x so we might as well focus on the gains that get us to 50x before putting effort into the 10x. It could even be the 10x is more important than that of the 50x for some unique situation or obscure reason. This is the old Pareto Principle resurfacing again. But just because the 20% is more 'vital' than the 80% it in no way suggests the 80% is unimportant. In fact, when considering the principle itself, it can be reasoned that at least 20% of that 80% is entirely essential. Speed is great but its only a small part of the picture. It helps to understand the end from the beginning (the goal we hope to reach or at least a reasonable outcome to achieve) the criteria that goes with it. Ludo si's imagery helps us visualize that. (Thanks!) Stated another way: It sure would be great to go from LA to New York in 15 minutes but it'd be even better if we didn't leave everything we needed to make the journey successful back where we began the trip. The good news in that case would be that we still might be able to go back to LA and retrieve everything required and return to New York while only adding another 30 minutes (only 15 if we can have it sent one way).

That's quite a spread. How can we make sure we get the 50x faster speed? I'm not as keen on the 10x increase.

I believe Jost meant to link to the following location: Cycles Render Engine Released as Apache License

It does indeed! Thank you for the very informative breakdown of how you setup the seesaw and characters. That was exactly the information I was looking for. Rock on Simon!

Previsualisation/Shot Breakdown: [vimeo]47009040[/vimeo] Direct Link

Behind the scenes: [vimeo]72484173[/vimeo] Direct Link

Here's a very interesting short told in an ultra-stylistic way: No real dialogue but lots of animated progression. Interestingly, or should I say, "exactly as planned by its creators", I had no clue where the plot was heading but in the end I found myself saying, "but of course, that's exactly how the resolution of this story should play." [vimeo]70975460#[/vimeo] Direct Link Note: While this short was animated in another product in my estimation it could have just as easily been created in A:M. Added: The style of this and a few other shorts making the rounds these days has me thinking of Sebastian's recent foray into similar lighting and stylization.

Others would respond but unfortunately they are out watching the lead in to Summer Slam. (No Summer Slam for me. Bills must be paid so... work beckons.)

After leaving off from my last commentary I got to thinking how you had put together the seesaw animation without reference. The first thought at that point was, "Wow, that's really good for no reference." The second thought was, "Exactly how did he set up the animation." So here is me following up on those thoughts.... While I might like to see more perfect posing in the characters what you've got in this is really nice animation. It reads well and there should be no one who misinterpret the story behind the basic idea, namely, two characters playing around on a teeter totter. What else is there to be said except "Well done" and "Refine to perfection" or "You nailed that one, move on to your next setup". Before moving on though I do hope you'll comment a little on how you set up the scene. For instance, did you use constraints to connect the characters to the seesaw? Did you use Nulls? Did you eyeball anything? Everything? Why the heck isn't anyone else who downloaded it commenting on your animation or giving you an 'attaboy' for the progress you've made? These and other questions are the ones that would keep me up at night... that is... they woud if I didn't work nights every weekend. And there is one other question I've been dying to ask you, and it's not "why does that teeter... totter back and forth until it rebalances with both sides up at the end" (Anticipated answer: perfect equalibrium). If you can't guess what that question is I'll give you a really big hint. The question is, "What are you cooking up for your 'Blockheads' setup? I anxiously await the answer to all of these questions. Added: If the steady results/improvement we are seeing is any indication, you are well on your way to becoming an outstanding animator.

You are doing great things here. We should all be so bold as to publish such frequent animation! I must have some repressed memories from my youth with regard to painful teeter totter experiences for me to care so much about them.

Hmmmm... something seems off there at the very end. Having cousins devious enough to jump off a seesaw just so they can see you fall and hit your butt suggests to me that some exaggerated physics are at play in your animation. This is more of a gut feel than anything but... The first person might fall off backward but I believe it more likely the second person would fall straight downward or forward before they'd go backward. The reference footage I found on the internet is entirely too painful to post. Teeter totters are dangerous things. Edit: Here's some less painful reference: mYMBAL04voY qat2L84HE30 gmYkd8vd49A Now, as I said the first person might accidentally (or even purposefullly) fall backward off of the seesaw but if they do then it becomes all the more likely the second will be carried by gravity downward or forward. There are several reasons for this one of which is that if the weight leaves one side of the seesaw while it is at the bottom then the other side is already all the way down... the other side has already reached the zenith of it's movement upward and the weight is now on it's way down (at a fraction of a moment prior to the loss of weight altering the equilibrium of the seesaw). So the body moving up would have had to already had more momentum than the seesaw would be able to generate in order to launch both sides outward in such a trajectory. Let's look at this again from a view of chain reactions: Blue gal hits bottom and then launches herself backward. It's an odd move but certainly not impossible. A question we might ask here would be: "Is her jumping up prior to falling off the seesaw enough to launch Red guy head over heels?" It is possible that Red guy is actually jumping upward in an attempt to do a backflip but... that doesn't make a lot of sense either. How then to proceed. Since the result is exaggerated you might be able to provide a setup for a plausible physics that would launch Red guy up and out. I believe it would entail having the seesaw/teeter totter bow significantly in the middle. As it is now, it remains rigidly straight. That's my 2 cents thrown into the mix. If it sounds like I don't like your teeter tottering... not true! Previous caveats aside... I think it's great!

That is a great topic, Robert. Thanks for the reminder that it is there. Parts of the topic look familiar but other parts (particularly the page by page write up you did on Brin's "Digital Lighting" book) I don't recall reading. This is odd because I recall thinking it'd be nice to take an A:M-centric look at Brin's projects/examples. I need to break out that book and run through it again using your reference! (I believe I was one of those that was ranting about the enhanced Null shader that you refer to at the end of that thread. As far as I know we still don't have that capability.)

This is one thing I like about serialization (and love to hate as well); that the story never ends. The trick being to give a sense of growth and change without effecting too significant a change that we lose the core of the character(s). This is very unlike many of the comic books these days which for all intents and purposes are never ending tales. There needs to be definitive beginnings and ends but for the most part this is confined to secondary and supporting characters. A fatal flaw is often introduced when those who grew up on the earlier stories attempt to update (and improve) the stories that they loved so well. In the process they end up with results that would have been better if they would have just created a new brand with a new set of characters. Well, I want to next the next installment already but I also know that there is gold to be mined in the resources/chapters already made available. A key to serialized entertainment is not giving the audience exactly what they want exactly when they have an expectation for it. This can be a challenge with distribution via periodic release of a story at specific intervals. It seems to me distribution of a story should be predictable (where to find it, how often it is made available) but in the case of the story itself that should never be the case. Here the underlying cry goes out; "Entertain me. Don't give me what I want. Keep me guessing!" It has been said that animation is all in the Timing and the Spacing. I cannot help but believe this. I'd extend that further to suggest the equivalent in storytelling is the purposeful exaggeration of timing and spacing consciously crafted into a level of irresistible anticipation. Only two chapters in, I see your story has this anticipatory element already working for it.

Nice. I really enjoy your writing style. Interestingly, I saw much of this chapter playing out in my mind's eye as if it were the panels of a black and white comic book. For some reason this effect went into overdrive at the point Tyler "woke up" in the dark. Must have been the the stark contrast of colors playing. Interestingly also, in the previous chapter I didn't get a very clear visual of Shadow. In this reading he was crystal clear in my mind. This worked somewhat retroactively as I considered the previous chapter in retrospect and I really should go back and read that section now that I can visualize him. I will leave you with one little tiny critique that I seem to suggest in every script/story I read. It's piddly but important so I'll share it here. Always watch for those tiny typos, especially stray uses and variations of the word "there", "their" and "they're". As I see them often I assume such errors are very prevalent in writing these days. I only mention this because running across these unintended words can rip the reader right out of the moment just when you've managed to get them there. Does this fall into the category you mention before about criticizing free gifts? I don't think so. Such a great read really deserves to be freed of those type of errors. We are on your schedule with regard to posting chapters but as a suggestion... pace yourself... enjoy this process of serialization... allow a moment or two for us to really sink our teeth into these two chapters before posting the next. Translation: As soon as I get the time I want to go back and read chapters one and two back to back! Thanks Dan!

Is "Sahara Hare" in this collection? (I assume it is) I see that a nice breakdown of the storyboards has been posted over at "What about Thad" blog: http://www.whataboutthad.com/2013/06/04/an...of-sahara-hare/ It's the one where Bugs goes head to head with Sam firing cannons back and forth. We were always entertained when this one showed. The storyboards (and deleted scene) are most definitely worth reviewing.

This would make a nice bridge between the script and (eventual) animatics too should you desire to put the story into animation (or live action) production. It'd also make for a good pitch to any supporters/producers. You make it easy to be a supporter. Fun characters, compelling narratives, optimistic approach, visible results, entertainment... heck, I hear some people pay for that kind of thing. I wish I was as fast a sketcher as I occasionally imagine myself to be because I'd love to break down words like yours (and others) into storyboards; especially those areas of the story that are the most vivid to me. All we are really talking about is placement of the shapes to better inform and refine the imagery at a later stage. When the visuals are that organized in words already, there is no reason why such an endeavor to rough out the imagery should need to take more than a day. The stylization and refinement of the details... that the task that expands t'ward infinity. At any rate... your gaming background definitely shines through here, especially in the latter fight scene (and I'd say the highway scene as well). While reading, it feels (felt) like watching/interacting with virtual characters in a game. I'm already looking foward to the next chapter!

Nice one! I like it. Especially that asteroid belt (or whatever you call those rings). I've seen a texture like the one on the planet before in the real world but I can't quite put my finger on where it was.

I should also say to anyone looking in that where it comes to any private forums (subject to to each forum leaders approval) all that is required to gain access is to ask. We don't want anyone feeling left out. Some forum areas may have a limited capacity in order for the leader/moderator to provide more personalized instruction. If seats are full, at least they will know to put you on a waiting list. Interesting. At least that is progress. If we know folks have access we can plan. For instance, in the case of instructional material targeting specific interests we might simply launch a private message or email link. But... I'll keep working at this. Getting private forums to show in the Users Group menu is important to the personalized learning experience.

There's something a bit odd going on with permissions and passwords these days and the closest thing I can think that would be the problem is that forum users might have to log out and then back in again to get the new permissions to take effect. Permissions should just work but yours isn't the first report of access problems I've encountered. Try logging out and back in again and see if that doesn't work. The forum you are looking for is here. And here is the direct link.

VAMP signal lit! Simon, Look for the forum at the bottom of your screen (under the Animation:Master Users Groups section on the main forum page).

Agreed! I remember the first time I saw it in a bookstore. Then I looked at the price and realized it was way out of my range. It would be at least twenty more years before I bought a copy. I use to read through the one in the store... until one day it disappeared... oh no... someone bought it! I do have one regret regarding this book, a few years ago I could have purchased a Japanese version but missed the opportunity. Whereas the English language book is really large the Japanese edition is smaller... much easier to carry around. Lloyd, I'd love to hear any specific thoughts or insight you have into the book as you read through it. As you say it's a goldmine of information. Edit: I thought we had a section of the forum dedicated to this book but all I was able to find was Yyves Poissant's review. I had to laugh as I read my post in that topic because it echos what I wrote here so my memory must not be entirely faulty. Here's the link to Yyves review: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=26414

Love the intrigue and action thus far. That surely would be easier to write than model and animate no? For what it's worth, while reading I was getting a pretty good picture of the environments in my mind. You must have done a really good job of describing them. The cemetery. The seven lane highway. Rubble filled street. You cued up some fleeting yet vivid imagery for those locations in my mind.

Sign me up Dan! (I didn't even know you had a book)

I'm liking that idea. It just might work Simon!