Rodney

If you can figure out how to get those seagulls into the ;Prehistoric' theme you'll be good to go!

And not just personal use... commercial use too! Davinci Resolve does require quite a bit of RAM but if I could get away with it I would twist everyone's arm and strongly suggest everyone should standardize on Resolve as a common video editor. This isn't to say that other video editors could not be used but that Resolve would be the standard used in collaborative projects. Why? Because then everyone could share notes, files and such with minimum hassle as well as take advantage of some very powerful tools. Regarding LUTs, a very good reason to use Resolve is that Resolve is one of the standard applications for color correcting in the industry and so it's a solid foundation from which to do look development with LUTs. A few short years ago that was really the only thing Resolve was used for. It's only of late that Resolve has gained video editing, composting and effects, 3D, audio and distribution capability. The price certainly is right. It's hard to compete with 'free'. As I say though, Resolve does require quite a bit of RAM but it's good to have a lot of RAM with Animation:Master too.

Thanks! I needed that! I've been modeling a little of late and am realizing just how rusty I am. More time to work on an entry is much appreciated.

That is reportedly the very book that inspired that Excel Raytracer.

This has been making the rounds: The github site where the excel file can be downloaded has more information: https://github.com/s0lly/Raytracer-In-Excel

Pretty sure everyone needs this: http://djv.sourceforge.net/ Some pluses: - Actively developed - Open Source (view the code on either sourceforge or github) - Cross platform (Win, Mac, Linux) - OpenEXR support (see Layers menu) - Distro'd with ffmpeg (presumably includes a build of ffmpeg that is compatible with BSD license) - easily convert files/sequences to other formats - Multithreaded raster processing/playback (using OpenGL 4.1 apparently) - etc. - etc. See: Documentation The latest release (which is the one you want to have) is a Beta release.

Ha! Initial sketches complete. That gets me on the right track every time.** As near as I can tell, forever 'reading the manual' is what keeps me from ever finishing a contest entry! **I'm a little frustrated with my current sketches because they aren't from the 'proper' camera angle I envision the final image to be in. But I need to accept that and just dive in at this point because things always change in the process of converting ideas to splines and patches anyway. Although, I would like to do a few more thumbnails just to feel more of that wonderful sensation of pencil on paper.

Got my main plan and a few sketches... now to press into the splines and patches.

Impressive!

Chris, I'm a bit late to the feedback party but I enjoyed your short film. You kept me interested (with minor exception) to the very end.** Others have commented on the style/look and the one thing in that arena that I initially thought could use some finessing is the contrast. The idea being that if we were to place a dot of light on the object/area where we want the audience to look all other factors should support that. Easier said than done.. I know! In reviewing the short to look for specific examples to illustrate what I'm talking about I was a little surprised to see that your setup was much more on point that my memory had recalled. In particular, I thought you incorporated some nice use of silhouetted shapes and that helped in reading the action tremendously. I do think that the girls face could be lit more perhaps simply by adjusting the ambiance intensity. There are some instances where the girl looks rather sinister and while this might be intentional I'd say that the shadows/lighting should have a source and one in the film is very obvious... the robot/creature's face screen. The contrast then for purpose of mood might then largely be controlled by the background and environment which if darker would make the characters -pop- out of the scene*** Robert suggested Jeremy Brin's book and I wholeheartedly agree. If there is only one thing you get from his book however I believe it should be the methodology of turning off (or even deleting) all lights except one and then perfect that light to the greatest extent possible. When we think we have that light set ideally then turn it off (maybe renaming it in a way that helps us recall it's primary purpose. TIP: In current A:M releases we can Right Click and Duplicate Lights. This is a useful way to finesse lighting starting from a known location/setting. For instance, we might duplicate a primary light and move it slightly to the left or right and then adjust it's color or intensity. This is how such stylistic lighting as red hues on one side of characters face and blue on the other can be created. The primary light then lights the main part of the face so we can accentuate the facial expression and help it read. Moving on to the story a little. Love the shots/replays of the pratfalls echoing the main action as seen on the robot's screen. Nice. I really like the twist ending but agree that it isn't entirely clear what is happening. This is too bad because it's a nice surprise and I think unexpected by most in the audience (hence the reason some aren't quite following). How to accentuate? One idea might be to consider the girls eyes... especially after spending so much time peering into the -eye- of the robot creature. After the switching off of the girl (which could use a little more highlighting... perhaps zooming in to a closer close up?) a view of the girls eyes as they 'turn off'... changing from normal eyes to the black eyes in the subsequent scene. This could then be echoed in the other characters in the final shots... their black unliving eyes could also be emphasized as the camera moves into/through the scene. Lot's of opportunity to really sell the ending there! ** I seem to recall a few transitions that had me slightly losing interest. The one that stands out in my mind is where the interior changes to exterior just prior to the characters going outside. The establishing shot is important but I wonder how that might be played up a little so as not to slow down the pace too much... slowing is good... but it seems to slow a bit too much. One idea might be to start the film with the establishing shot of the exterior of the building so that when we see them exit later there is no question of where they are. They start in the building... exit and consider the stars and the heavens... and then... into the finale. This is a nice opportunity here as most of the film is inside the building. It is this climactic movement when they move outside of building that sets up the punchline/ending. *** I'm still not sure exactly what I might do with regard to background, lighting and such if this was my project but my initial thought is to render without a background so that the background can be manipulated independently (via compositing) to more easily control the mood and focus of the scene. For purists that want everything rendered -in camera- this can still be done by inserting a 'color card' at the back of the scene which could be manipulated; even with decaled images where needed. One reason that compositing works well with backgrounds is that blur can be added independently to control the DOF (Depth of Field) and pull the focus forward to where it is needed. A final thought regarding the comments on 'flatness'. It's always good to consider at least three levels of depth in any scene: - Background - Foreground - Character space It can also help to move the camera slightly off center and then point it at the characters. Then converging lines in the background, foreground and throughout the scene can have a chance to direct the viewer's eye to where it needs to be from shot to shot and scene to scene. Having the camera straight on (or perpendicular to the BG, FG and Character planes) is often best used for comedy whereas more dynamic camera angles enliven the environment by allowing the audience to feel as if they could move through the scene. A thought here is that your story starts out as light hearted and even comical... with the robot creature echoing the shots on his face screen... so those moments lend themselves to flatter camera setups. It might be interesting to see how you might transition from the flatter camera to more dynamic as the story unwinds to it's ending. All this... just random observations. Not necessarily suggesting anything should be implemented. Bottom line: Nice job. I was entertained. Keep up the good work and I'll look forward to your future animations.

Exciting times... prehistoric times even!

Perhaps that is due to the low density of the ground plane?

Nice one John!

Thank you! Wasn't expecting that. Sweet.

EXR IO 2.0 for Photoshop has been released. This won't do much for those without current Photoshop/Adobe CC but for those that have it... Among other things, EXR IO is said to extract all channels from an EXR file and place them into separate layers in Photoshop. For features and download see: https://www.exr-io.com/features/ Disclaimer: I haven't tested this with A:M's EXR files yet.

Not to distract from the current C++ studies but those not engaged in that might wish to lean forward even further and explore the world of quantum computing. Microsoft and Google/Alphabet are hosting a free course. For details and registration of the online course: https://brilliant.org/courses/quantum-computing/

Very nice!

Added eye and mouth movement... had to exaggerate the curves after applying Amplitude but it provided a good starting target...

Here's Shaggy pretending he's got musical talent. I started off just wanting to have the Amplitude wizard make his foot tap to a beat and then started adding that same beat in to other bones. All movement is based on the WAV file I posted above with a few manual tweaks of channels afterward.

John, Audio with a good beat should accentuate the amplitude. Then it might mostly be a matter of finding the sweet spot in a rig to translate, rotate or scale. Bum. Bum BUMP Bum Bum. Bum BUMP Bum Keep going! Added a random beat created online via https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Song-Maker/song/6529628858482688 The basic idea being to use the beat to drive the animation but then go back in and layer in additional music/instruments on top to add flavor to the performance. The additional music not driving any motion... more to drive the viewers e-motion. Generated Wav file is attached. (Midi file can also be generated) 6529628858482688.wav

You have the knack for expressive faces. Nice!

Welcome back Michael! oooo color me intrigued!

Congratulations everyone! Great entries all around. ...and Robert... well presented as always!

Gah! I'm on pins and needles!

I missed this news back in January... Algorithmic, the company behind Substance Painter and other related tools has apparently been purchased by Adobe. https://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/adobe-acquires-allegorithmic-substance-joins-creative-cloud/ I'm occasionally thought it'd be nice to have Substance Painter but wasn't interested in the price of admission. Gaining these tools via the Adobe CC subscription that I already have though... hmmmm. Adobe has been trying to move further into the 3D realm and it looks like they are doing just that with this purchase. Related to A:M, the ability to paint even OBJ files with Substance materials is intriguing.