Rodney

Well, to study a thing does mean it needs to be perfect and to take them too much to task for that would be a considerable stretch. Sometimes it's enough to note that the secondary action is there to convey the intent and isn't an attempt to fully replicate the real thing. Abstractions tend to work that way. Animators can also be occasionally forgiven for being caught in the act of learning how to communicate more perfectly as well. Milt Kahl (who we presume would have at least drawn the extremes of this sequence) was perhaps more well known for his abstraction than most animators (his design style soon began to be seen as the Disney house style and it largely still is today). Kahl was well known for taking his (inbetweening) assistants to task for screwing up his animation (I'm using polite language here but I'm sure anyone who has considered Milt Kahl will know his personality well). Such is the nature of productions that rely on more than one hand to get a film completed on budget and on schedule. I am of the opinion that it is possible, although very difficult, to determine who is to blame for every decision made in animation that gets into the final film. This is largely due to the nature of animation itself where we can at leisure reverse engineer the whole thing. We can also examine in great detail things that were not originally intended to be so closely scrutinized over and over again. Remember... this was 1952... the age before VCRs... and a time when Disney movies where rereleased (maybe) every seven years or so. If you wanted to study an animated film over and over frame by frame you had to either be rich or work in a movie theater. One of the reasons that Disney films are studied and appreciated so much today is that Disney's animators had access to the latest and greatest technology of that day. That made quite a difference I'd say. That presents another interesting aspect of this, that the animators of old did not have all of the tools of the trade we take for granted today and yet were still able to create animation of the quality and caliber that animators strive to reach today. This makes these presentations all the more magical. If one wants to study shortcuts and mistakes, Disney's 'Robin Hood' is a film with so many of those it'd be easier to spot frames without mistakes. Despite its flaws though, that film is still one of my favorites and is even more fun to study than most because the animation allows us to see more easily through to the process of how animated movies are made. In our studies, finding something that doesn't quite work as well as it should in an animated sequence is almost as valuable as something that is perfectly communicated. Even more valuable in many ways. That's the long way of saying... 'Regarding the motion of the headdress feathers moving back so rapidly... not necessarily a mistake... I believe they were attempting exaggeration.'

Thanks Gerry. There is so much to learn. I have yet to fully study an animated film in the way that I know I need to in order to extract the essence of the work that went into those sequences. But in the meantime I sure can appreciate them. In fact it's been over 24 years since I first took an animated sequence and showed it to a group of kids frame by frame. While there was an assortment of animation available, I had limited resources (I think I had to rent a VCR) and I recall the movie I selected was Osamu Tezuka's 'Unico' wherein I highlighted the sequence where little Unico transforms into a beautiful pegicorn (or whatever they called a pegasus and unicorn smashed together in those days). That sequence was magic and the kids understood that immediately. Of course some of the kids just wanted to watch the movie... that frame by frame stuff was not their cup of tea. But they were all very innovative when it came to making flipbooks. Kids have wonderful imaginations. Studying movies frame by frame is something I've always wanted to do but in a way I'm a lot like some of those kids... I'm still enjoying the magic too much to be distracted by the behind-the-scenes... so just show me the movie please.

I got lost for quite awhile with those Piano Guys. I had to open the page in incognito mode to be able to click the links in Chrome for some reason.

I would say to make her as pretty as she will allow as several aspects of this can play into the movie. For instance, while you haven't fully established the general look of things between the living and the dead I must assume that Gravedigger's look is an attempt to move in that direction. Death... well... he'll look rather skull like. Edgar? He's just a head. Franky... pieces and parts. Others, etc. etc. Some thoughts. It seems to me that Cleopatra's look is artificially enhanced and while she could weather considerably as the movies progresses you'd want to have her begin looking her absolute best in order to move in the opposite direction. The cliche response might be to have parts of her fall off (which she quickly replaces) throughout the movie but I assume there is more to Cleopatra's power than this. As long as she has Death's scythe she may be a vision to behold... someone whose beauty makes her really look out of place. Her true self would then be revealed after her power is stripped away. How does that align with what you envision?

Very nice! I love the delivery. This will be a very useful resource. Thanks!

There are many ways to approach the breaking down of scenes in a film but one of the best is to study what has worked (and worked especially well) in the past. For many years Hans Perk has posted the drafts from classic films on his blog where the films can be examined in light of these production drafts. These drafts attempt to break down the assignment of scenes as they are doled out to the various animators. Much can be learned from these drafts. As a means to understand the breakdown of timing in a shot or sequence we can see the timing of any particular shot from the vantage point of any animator or director. In this assigned shot, Milt Kahl has 7 feet and 10 frames (i.e. 122 frames or 00:05:02@24 frames per second) in which to deliver the performance. We can therefore gain even more understanding from studying the shot frame by frame when we examine the over all timing dictated by the number of frames. The timing assigned to key poses then becomes all the more relevant and we can learn to more easily spot the key poses and extremes within a scene. Through this form of study we can better identify appropriate timing in our own scenes. Note: Timing charts in classical animation are almost invariably annotated on the extremes The 'Description of Action' is particularly useful in that it captures in a minimum of words what the whole focus of the shot must be. In this case to deliver the line from Pan, "Big Chief Flying Eagle Greets his Braves" Just a few seconds but perfectly executed to deliver the performance and to move the story forward. These drafts also serve as a great aid to studying individual animators. For instance, if you are studying a particular animators scenes to get a sense of timing or how they move characters through screen space it can be used to narrow down the field of where to look for their animation in one film or in others as well. While much will be gained by studying the famous names, much can also be learned by following the lesser known animators. To study additional animation drafts visit: http://afilmla.blogspot.com/ Disclaimer: Just because a draft identifies a particular animator on a shot it does not mean they actually produced the animation. In a perfect world they might but in the world where typos exist, animators share work and deadlines are routinely faced they should be regarded more as rough plans. Hence the name 'draft'. Added: I've added a sampling of the sequence in question by Milt Kahl for study/comparison with the draft. Whereas there is a fade out/in at the beginning that accounts for some missing frames the next shot is a closeup of Peter as he delivers the greeting "HOW" in the Chief's voice.

Just because you install with a fresh install doesn't mean you have to get rid of the previous installation. If you adjust the name of the installation you can run multiple installations. Example: C:\Program Files\Hash Inc\v17.0 C:\Program Files\Hash Inc\v17.0a C:\Program Files\Hash Inc\v17.0b C:\Program Files\Hash Inc\v17.0c ... When you feel confident in any particular release (enough to move all your projects to it) you can then uninstall/remove those versions that aren't needed. Rationale: A higher frequency of updates is a good thing but when we opt not to move toward the new releases it works against the development cycle rather than for it. By simply adding a letter to the location where the release will be installed we get the best of all releases while simultaneously embracing the future. More frequent releases equates to more issues being resolved but also can introduce unintended results. Allowing for periodic change is essential to the process. Unnecessary resistance to change, when other options are available and viable will have us missing out on the most important changes. An interim solution would be to simply use the earlier release of A:M. Edit: I see that it is working correctly for you in the 32bit release so that would be the better interim solution. Filing a report into A:M Reports will help determine if there is a pattern to be found on other folk's machines and assuming a problem can be verified will lead to a resolution. As some folks have been experiencing issues with permissions with Win 7 you might double check those. I suspect you already do this but if not, when installing, Right Click on the installer and install A:M as Administrator. I don't always do this but have found it's usually a good idea.

Just because you install with a fresh install doesn't mean you have to get rid of the previous installation. If you adjust the name of the installation you can run multiple installations. Example: C:\Program Files\Hash Inc\v17.0 C:\Program Files\Hash Inc\v17.0a C:\Program Files\Hash Inc\v17.0b C:\Program Files\Hash Inc\v17.0c ... When you feel confident in any particular release (enough to move all your projects to it) you can then uninstall/remove those versions that aren't needed. Rationale: A higher frequency of updates is a good thing but when we opt not to move toward the new releases it works against the development cycle rather than for it. By simply adding a letter to the location where the release will be installed we get the best of all releases while simultaneously embracing the future. More frequent releases equates to more issues being resolved but also can introduce unintended results. Allowing for periodic change is essential to the process. Unnecessary resistance to change, when other options are available and viable will have us missing out on the most important changes. An interim solution would be to simply use the earlier release of A:M. Filing a report into A:M Reports will help determine if there is a pattern to be found on other folk's machines.

Still text format and highly compatible. As you know any updates do bring about changes that can be effected backwardly. The last big format change was in v13 when the file format moved to XML compatible formatting. The only real change that I am aware of with libraries is that the Tutorials tab is no longer one of the Libraries tabs. This tab went away when the MS agent was retired from active duty circa v13.

Hear! Hear! Nicely done Jason! Now if I can remember how to login... (my login password/email has been long forgotten)

She's off to a great start.

Simon Edmondson is having a birthday? Impossible. Have a very happy one!

Hope you have a great one!

So impressive. Keep that up!

Very impressive presentation! Is that a use of the Bloom effect at the very end? (I like!)

As Jason Hampton might say... Top Dollar! (Note: That eye surgery animation below this one still impresses me)

Very nice Matt!

After all these years... still thefreshestever. Happy Birthday Sebastian!

While this is a caculator that figures out video production costs (and what you should charge for them) you could still use it to arrive at the answer to your hypothetical: Videomaker Magazine Video Rate Calculator The focus here is money but that is just the common denominator commonly used as exchange for goods and services. As the calculator is designed to calculate per year you'd have to factor three times the number for your final figures. I've seen excel spreadsheets used to calculate the cost of producing an animated movie and those would also work in figuring out your target numbers. Off the top of my head I'd say 10 million pazoozas to bring the film in on time and on budget under a three year production schedule. That wouldn't account for marketing and distribution.

Doing it manually is usually quick and easyand it leaves you in full control of CP assignments. Auto assign can work but you run the risk of having Bones grab CPs you don't want. A method for dealing with that would be to hide all geometry that you don't want selected just before using Auto Assign.

Probably because the image you posted is large enough (in size) that the forum converted it to a thumbnail. The thumbnails created by the forum are JPG format (i.e. the thumbnail (unlike the original image you've posted) is no longer a gif animation) Here's the image linked directly from your last post: The code I used to post your image: [img=http://www.hash.com/forums/uploads/monthly_11_2012/post-9708-1353651710.gif]

I read through primarily for flow and it flows pretty smoothly! This part I don't think you'll need because you've accomplished the transition via the camera move upward through the trees and into the roots of the graveyard: You could still do the camera move around Gravedigger that but the primary reason for changing the background has already been satisfied. Perhaps you can just use it to show interesting elements of the Land of the Dead's grave site or to give us an initial sense of the mass and weight of Gravedigger. Your trailer script had me seeing some interesting colors contrasting with grays and I began to perceive how lights become even more important in every scene. This could really help because whatever lights are available then compliment the characters in the scene. Thinking forward to scenes from inside the city it'll be fun to play with subtle lighting coming from windows and of course The Raven itself. Lighting for this movie is really going to be a treat.

Thanks Lloyd, I'll check it out!

Great breakdown Nancy!

RedShark is the official online magazine from the folks that produce Lightworks. The current release has an (technical) article that explains how to write transition effects for Lightworks. One thing that I find interesting is that they use a form of C programming known as High Level Shader Language (HLSL) to produce Direct X Shader effects compiled via Lightworks. Somewhat trivial perhaps but I note also how the float value is used to create the interface sliders... to me that's an interesting revelation that I feel should have already been obvious to me. Also of note: Speed is achieved by processing every pixel simultaneously. Additional processing is then further accelerated through parallel processing. At any rate... it's an article about creating transitional effects programmatically and might be of interest to folks into that kind of stuff. http://www.redsharknews.com/technology/ite...-for-lightworks RedShark is the official online magazine from the folks that produce Lightworks. The current release has an (technical) article that explains how to write transition effects for Lightworks. One thing that I find interesting is that they use a form of C programming known as High Level Shader Language (HLSL) to produce Direct X Shader effects compiled via Lightworks. Somewhat trivial perhaps but I note also how the float value is used to create the interface sliders... to me that's an interesting revelation that I feel should have already been obvious to me. Also of note: Speed is achieved by processing every pixel simultaneously. Additional processing is then further accelerated through parallel processing. At any rate... it's an article about creating transitional effects programmatically and might be of interest to folks into that kind of stuff. http://www.redsharknews.com/technology/ite...-for-lightworks