Rodney

Nicely tinkered John!

Bumping this up as not only the Star Sphere is cool but so is the coding (javascript) behind it. We were previously talking about how much we love the A:M file formats here.

Ooooo. I like it. If we can pull that off to the degree I think we can that'll be a great transition. That seems to lend itself well to thoughts of Latimer's parents social status and hints at their family history. I like!

How in the heck??? I assume you are animating the solid block's scale or size while simultaneously overlaying the sprite particle effect? Very impressive Marcos!

This second project downloads (and operates fine) the first one (as was mentioned) did not. You may want to edit your first post and delete that attachment. I'm looking at the project file now but so far don't see anything amiss... If you don't embed the project files then they will be missing. When you try to share them the project will point to the files that weren't downloaded. Occasionally this might work when using characters like Thom because they are in the same relative locations on everyone's computer systems. I'd say that when in doubt for sharing you should embed and/or use the consolidation feature to zip everything up into a single file that can be shared. The benefit of consolidation beyond embedding is that any images used in the project (decals etc.) will also be shared.

I'm not seeing the same issue on the PC side so perhaps it is only a Mac related issue. I haven't tried 64bit yet but 32bit I see no problem.

Okay, take this with a large dose of whatever... Some thoughts that occur to me in looking at this rendering: A - Consider some foreground trees/foliage to push a greater sense of depth. B - Consider squaring off the tombstone with Latimer's Mom. If she is going to stand there she'll want to be face to face with the tombstone. C - Latimer is actually buried here so there needs to be some indication of that. If it's been many years then perhaps just some taller grass etc. but if the funeral was today then a mound of freshly packed dirt. (Note that it's location to the tree is rough but... hey... this isn't reality... and it looks cool. Note that I flipped the image for two reasons. The first is because I wanted to see how well your image lined up with what I saw originally in my imagination. Once I flipped the image it was pretty close! What I saw was mainly just from a higher angle looking down... this to increase the sense of loss and sadness. I like the warmth you've got in this ground level approach. The image of the Mother... very painterly and appropriate. I almost get goosebumps considering her recent loss and what she must be going through. Oh... almost forgot the other reason I think flipping the image might be appropriate. Throughout most of this movie the characters will be moving from left to right. This may be a perfect opportunity to have characters directed the opposite way. In it's own way this opposing direction represents an obstacle to our hero which he must overcome. I'm impressed with this rendering. It's got a lot of heart. Looking very good Lloyd. Looking very good! Edit: I'll add this thought too. The closeness of the camera is another element that is adding warmth to this shot. If you are trying to accent the sadness then you might want to pull back the camera to isolate the Mother more. Personally I like the warmth but I'm not sure what you are going for primarily in this shot. Perhaps the shot could start off as warm and then move back and upward and fade out as it gets lost in the darker branches above.... then cut to the Land of the Dead Gravesite. Whoops. Forgot to upload the image.

Awesome. Thanks! It occurs to me that one of your story elements might be that when Latimer (or anyone for that matter) dies they enter the grave in the real world but wake up in a very different location. What made me think of this in particular is your previous rendering with Latimer's Mom at the grave. This could almost be a private or family cemetery (I don't see any other gravestones) and this would stand in stark contrast to where Latimer wakes up dead which is in a graveyard filled to the brim with gravestones. I'm not sure if that factors in... but it was a compelling thought for a moment. Be right back with some thoughts concerning your previous rendering...

This is where I need to be able to get inside your mind. You say they are nothing alike but I have no frame of reference for that. What is different about them? Have the gravestones changed into other shapes? Do they just look more weathered and broken than their real world counterparts? Is there a stylistic difference such as the real world being rendered more realistically and the land of the dead more stylistically and abstractly? When you say they are nothing alike... I have no reference point, and mostly because I don't know what the real world graveyard looks like to begin with. Keep in mind that I'm suppose to be creating gravestones as such so I kind of need to know. Note that I'm not opposed to creating stuff and then you saying, 'yes, that's it!' and 'no, it's not like that at all.' but perhaps you can find some images on google or post some doodles so we can start getting into sync with our understanding of these two worlds. When I say 'ultra simple' I'm thinking that the real world graveyard is (primarily) cleaner and better lit than that of the land of the dead. From there other differences would flow. My thought here is that even in real world graveyards there are new gravestones and those that are very very old. In some cemeteries I've been to there are the open areas that are well lit (and better liked as far as cemeteries go) and those harder to get to places often near trees and hills where shadows dominate and most prefer to never go. Edit: Nice images! That gives me something to go on.

That's really good Kat! Very impressive.

If you are after ultra-simplicity, I think you can just cut from an image of Latimer's parents at the gravesite to one with without them at Latimers grave. I think it'd be good for the audience not to know how much time has transpired between the two. The image I've had in my mind is clearer for the one with Latimer's parents in it. For that I see the camera at a high angle up in the trees looking down on Latimer's parents who are laying a rose at the base of his tombstone. Similarly, I don't think it's important to show how long it's been since Latimer actually died. They could be at his funeral but it could be much much later as well. The important thing is to show how much his parents miss him. In the image I see Latimer's father is standing while his mother is kneeling at the grave. She's obviously devastated and he is trying to be strong. He kneels down as if to comfort her but we can't be sure if his knees didn't simply fail him also. I had the thought of him holding and dropping a red rose onto the ground as he embraces his wife. In my minds eye the scene is not clear... it's gloomy and dark. The only real color is the rose. That would give us a sense of where we are about to leave 'the real world' and when next we open our eyes it's almost in the same sense as Latimer. In a way we've traveled with him from one side to the other although he is not aware yet of what has occurred. I think its not only okay to leave some things out of those transitional scenes but it is better because then the audience can supply/attribute their own feelings and emotions. Almost everyone has experienced some form of loss in their life and so they can sympathize with these parents who have lost their son. The awakening (for us) with Gravedigger at hand is a bit like we've made the transition ourselves in order to arrive in time to witness Latimer 'wake up'. I think this is a pivotal scene if for no other reason that it's the focus of the title itself. Latimer waking up dead is a significant moment. We can echo that a little in how the audience experiences that also. They'll experience it first by transitioning from the presence of Latimer's parents to an empty graveyard... where they meet with Gravedigger who is about to wake up Latimer. This helps us as members of the audience empathize with Latimer all the more because we've just made that transition ourselves. Note that I'm not suggesting that Gravedigger actually see us and welcome us. We aren't really there... and yet we are. We are confused.... like Latimer... and some folks (primarily Death) will be along shortly to help us figure everything out. Unlike the first scene which I envision with the camera looking down... the scene in the graveyard of the dead is from ground level... almost underground. In this way both scenes allow us to be Latimer... or at least share his perspective... hovering over his parents at graveside vigil... and coming up out of the ground. I envision the camera doing a low move into the graveyard moving slightly up hill as we are introduced to Gravedigger and watch him moving around. He's at work and we aren't yet awake yet ourselves, so he doesn't know we are there watching him. As it should be, things really get interesting with the awakening of Latimer.

More info is needed Marcos. I'm sure we can come up with something that will work... and if not particles who knows... maybe it'll work even better. What is the effect you are trying to reproduce?

It would be an honor. I wont be able to get started right away because I'm still fixing things I broke up there in the top of the forum header... perhaps later today.

I like the way you think!

Jason, You probably already know this but the WIN 64bit installer link isn't working...

Okay, whose got the scoop on this one. These additions sound very useful. Very useful indeed! Downloading now to begin the experimentation. Thanks Steffen and Hash Inc! If you haven't already got it: Download v17.0b!

Not sure where we go from here. In the interim here is a rough of two proposals thus far merged together. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SCENE 1: EXT - WINDOW Image of Latimer at his window (RAINING) (Intro Latimer: He'll be the last image we see besides the title as well) Color: Saturated blues and greys CUT TO SCENE 2: EXT - GRAVEYARD Image of Latimer's Parents at Graveside (RAINING) (Shot suggests: Someone has died here) Color: High Contrast (Dark Shadows against patches of light with some color, primarily deep browns, reds, blues and greys) (LIGHTNING FLASH WITH THUNDER) (Visual and Audio Purpose: increase tension) SCENE 3: EXT - GRAVEYARD (TRANSFORMS INTO EXT LAND OF DEAD GRAVEYARD) Trees blowing, leaves falling. Dark silhouette of trees and gravestones in lonely graveyard. CAMERA BEGINS TO ZOOM IN ON SOMETHING LARGE AMONG THE GRAVESTONES. CAMERA BEGINS TO MOVE AROUND THE SHAPE REVEALING IT WAS THE BACK GRAVEDIGGER. THE BACKGROUND SUBTLY CHANGES WHILE CIRCLING GRAVEDIGGER FROM THAT OF THE REAL WORLD GRAVEYARD TO THAT OF THE LAND OF THE DEAD AS THE BACKGROUND ALTERS ITS STYLE AND COLOR (THIS ACTS AS A BRIDGING DEVICE BETWEEN THE TWO WORLDS. (NO RAIN) (FOLEY SOUND OF SHOVEL AGAINST CONCRETE TONK! TONK! BUT WE DON"T SEE THE ACTIVITY) Color: Blended colors but mostly Grayscale. Color only appears at critical areas (i.e. Moving dirt, Gravediggers eyes or a glove/hand on a spade) GRAVEDIGGER steps forward and digs at a grave, tossing dirt aside. He stabs the shovel into the ground again and stops, pulling a handkerchief out and wiping his forehead. Color: Moving dirt (redish brown) Handkerchief (Yellow with printed patterns) GRAVEDIGGER (CONT'D) As you see I'm here to welcome another soul to the Land of the Dead. QUICK FADE IN WITH PANARAMIC VIEW OF THE LAND OF THE DEAD GRAVEDIGGER (OS Voice Over): All souls come here eventually. Color: Blurry image as camera pans through a city some color but mostly from windows. (empty streets?) GRAVEDIGGER (CONT'D) Things haven't been the same around here since Cleopatra. QUICK FADE IN OF SEQUENCE WITH CLEOPATRA ENRAGED (SUBJECTS COWERING) It's not my place to judge but handing her the keys of the kingdom seems a bit reckless. Colors: Bright Colors - the opposite of the Graveyard (Clashes of White, Yellow, Orange and Red) GRAVEDIGGER (CONT'D) But that will all be changing when Latimer arrives. I hope he gets here sooner than later. Color: Black (voice over) This moment acts as an anticipation for what will happen next The casket in the grave suddenly pops open and a SKELETON sits up and looks around. Color: White Skeleton takes front and center against black backgound Gravedigger pops SKELETON in the head with the shovel and slams it shut. GRAVEDIGGER You're not Latimer! Back you go! Color: Land of the Dead Greys Gravedigger smiles to the camera and then shrugs. GRAVEDIGGER (CONT'D) Tourists! (laughing). Most folks come here don't even know they're dead yet. Color: Dark colors against black as we can hardly make out the figure of Gravedigger. It seems like we are fading out to a close here. We hear (but do not see) Gravedigger tap on gravestone three times (FOLEY: TONK TONK TONK!) CUT TO LATIMER AWAKENING FROM THE GRAVE WITH AN AUDIBLE GASP / WIDE EYED AND DISORIENTED (PERHAPS WITH A SLIGHTLY COMICAL AND AMUSED LOOK ON HIS FACE TO LIGHTEN THE MOOD JUST A BIT) Color: Latimer Blue and Fully colored face (His color stands in stark contrast to the grayscale color everywhere else. GRAVEDIGGER Smiles a really big and satisfying smile. GRAVEDIGGER (CONT’D) "But they all figger it out sooner or later!" GRAVEDIGGER REACHES A HAND TOWARD CAMERA AS IF WE AND LATIMER WERE OCCUPYING THE SAME SPACE. GRAVEDIGGER (CONT’D) "Don't they Latimer?" CUT TO TITLE WITH WHITE TEXT ON BLACK BACKGROUND (TEXT: "WOKE UP DEAD" FADE OUT WITH LAUGHTER OF GRAVEDIGGER ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Things this proposal attempts to accomplish: Introduce Latimer quickly. (Someone of important to the audience) Hint that somone is dead and someone is in mourning over whomever is dead. (i.e. Latimer's Parents) Briefly intro the real world and then move quickly to the transition point of the Gravesite Transition from there to here (or here to there if preferred) Grant a brief glimpse and intro to The Land of the Dead (visually via panarama and audibly via Gravedigger) Grant a brief glimpse at the villain Hint at the importance of Latimer Break up the seriousness of the story thus far with humor Return to Latimer (the audience can now connect the dots and understand that this is the same guy they saw at the beginning of the trailer and know that he is the Latimer that Gravedigger has been awaiting) Reveal Title of Film (Astute folks in the audience will get that the title relates to this kid named Latimer who has just 'woke up dead'. Something like that anyway.

Yes, but aren''t most trailers created when significant portions of the story are already in the can? There is a reason the word 'trailer' is used for these 'previews'... they follow.. or trail... after the making of the movies themselves and are presented as previews to let the audience see at a glance what the movie is all about. It's related to that old 'show me don't tell me' thing that entices the viewer by engaging with us through our visual and auditory channels. Added: Without specifically looking at any trailers I would say that most follow this general outline: - Introduce Character(s) - Introduce Conflict - Show Characters in emotional state or peril This invites the audience to quesiton and to ponder how the characters will react and interact.

There use to be a limit to the number of lights that will appear in the realtime view. I don't recall whether that number was three... six... but there was/is a limit. This would also explain why sometimes we see unexpected differences between the realtime and fully rendered views. (i.e. if those additional lights contribute significantly to the finally rendered results) At a guess I'd say that the original limit was set because graphics cards had to calculate all those instructions when additional lights didn't significantly contribute much to the scene (result: very little result for a whole lot of calculation). There is a topic that discusses this briefly... I think it's in the Lighting and Rendering forum. Added: One method I've taken to of late is to create an Action that contains all the Lights in the scene and then drop that onto an empty Model in the Chor. These Lights then can be adjusted easily and even saved as Lighting Setups for later reuse. Tech Note: Adding Lights into an Action is a lot easier than adding Lights into a Model. When Lights are added to a Model they are treated as Bones and placed at the 0,0,0 coordinates. In an Action the Lights are placed at the mouse's location in 3D space much as they would be in the Chor. When lighting a specific Model one method would be to create an Empty Model and then bring that Model into that empty Model as an Action Object and then add Lights around the Model. Then when this Action is dropped onto any empty Model in the Chor both the Model and it's assigned default lighting will appear in the Chor.

The first preview of Lightworks for Linux is making the rounds: V9R0Mxvr-0Q Link: What I'd like to test with this is Lightworks capability to automatically sync rendered sequences/shots rendered out of A:M into a project. In this way the Lightworks project should automatically update each time the sequence is updated or altered via A:M. One of the things that stood out in this video was the speaker's emphasis on using uncompressed video where possible to prevent loss and degradation of the video image over subsequent movement from editor to editor or other program brought into the mix.

I don't think I had better mess with music although it'd be a fun exercise. I'd say that for music you are in similar territory as those color tests... each character has a musical theme of their own. For this purpose, the environment is a character also. 'Gravediggers Theme' would be what... a slow, wistful chant of a tune? I almost get the feeling he'd just say, "This sure isn't your average Disney musical." 'Cleopatra' would be more pomp and circumstance (perhaps with crashing cymbals when she goes into a rant) 'Latimer's Song' wistful and wandering. 'Nora's Theme' confident and reliable. Franky's Song like a divine comedy. (Although the origin story lead in would be one of drama and tragedy) Edgar's lively and attentive (if in any way associated with poetry) and otherwise somber Death's Song: Fearful and Loud (but elements are stripped from it to play out the earliest stanzas as calm and content) I'll see if I can dream up any solutions. Must sleep for now...

Rough is good. You are off to a good start. You'd be able to take what you've got here and run with it as a general purpose trailer. But if it's a general purpose trailer you're going to want to follow it up with additional trailers. A few things I would definitely add: A few longer pauses at choice points in the dialogue will give Gravedigger a chance to perform some action... or move from here to there... wipe his nose... something in tandem with the dialogue to engage the audience... to entertain... to captivate. I'd say you should emphasis Gravedigger's voice more at key words or phrases (you've got this going on pretty good but I think there needs to be some tension in his voice.. or a growing sense of urgency... a sense that what he is describing is real. That feeling is building up from the moment we are introduced to Gravedigger and it's only interrupted by the inopportune appearance of the skeleton. I think , "Tourists." could use considerably more emphasis. I'd say he could even say it sarcastically (as I believe he does with Latimer in the movie?)... his non-verbals are telling us something, perhaps 'how dare you interrupt me right in the middle of my speech you stupid tourist. This (or whatever is on his mind) we primarily see only in the form of his words, "Tourists." and his actions are then dictated by the words he says. I assume here that he then laughs at his own action (that of stuffing the skeleton back into it's coffin... 'serves him right for interrupting me') and not that of the appearance of a skeleton that is simply not Latimer. If anything I think he might be rather disappointed that it wasn't Latimer. (But I didn't get the sense that he was looking for him in the script. Latimer just seemed to be another soul passing to the Land of the Dead there. Who is Latimer that Gravedigger should know him?) My primary thought at this point would be to look at each cut in this trailer sequence and determine the motivating factor behind that cut. Why does the camera cut away from the first shot... Gravedigger does something and/or says something important there. Why does the camera cut to the panorama... Gravedigger is trying to show us something important there. Why is he telling us of the troubles with Cleopatra... perhaps he's leading up to why the Land of the Dead needs a Latimer. He's interrupted just as he's about to tell us about Latimer... " We are robbed of some very important information here. Gravedigger's response, "I know Latimer and you are (definitely) not Latimer." The awkwardness of this is that in watching this trailer we still haven't a clue as to what is really going on in this film (although we think we might have seen a hint of it in the panorama and with that mad lady that must be Cleopatra). If we blinked we probably missed Gravedigger saying the name "Latimer". I'd suggest livelier music (epic score stuff) during the two inserted scenes (for panorama and Cleopatra), Since they are only a few seconds it'll only need to be a few beats. And of course Foley throughout (I really missed that sound of Gravedigger bonking the skeleton... how could you leave that out!). Whew... this is difficult to dissect so go easy on me here! You know the story but we in the audience are on the outside looking in still trying to figure everything out. And we've only had a few seconds to do that. If continuing 'as is' perhaps a quick series of still images (ala Marvel comics intro to their movies) at the beginning and/or the end, might give the audience a glimpse of other interesting characters and situations in the movie. Of course the problem there is that those would have to be created and I'd guess that you'd need at least 12 shots at a minimum. To answer your specific questions: Is the timing good? I few more pauses at critical points (one primarily) Is the dialogue working? I'd like to see more emphasis on some words and accents (i.e. what does Gravedigger really think about Cleopatra. This should come across in his voice even if in only a subtle way) Conversely, how does he feel about Latimer? He seems to know who Latimer is I don't any of that is conveyed when he says the name "Latimer'. Is the music good? A bit hard to hear and didn't seem quite appropriate as the trailer continued. (i.e. Cleopatra's tantrum) But... as an intro and general background music. It works for me! That's my first look at it. It's a lot easier to critique than to create, so kudos to you. You've got a really solid breakdown for a first rough draft. Keep that pace up and you'll soon have a movie!

He's awesome! You are getting really good at this. When you left his legs off... I couldn't resist... (ignore me, I'm just enjoying your modeling) Edit: Ooooh. You posted his legs before I got a chance to finish here. I was hoping you'd go for the extra small legs.

That looks great! Approaching perfecton I'd say.

Nice. I like him!