gazzamataz

Well after a little bit here, a little bit there and over four months later I have more or less finished my latest flick from the Bella Bear Project I have been working on... It still needs some refinement and I have banged my head against the wall a fair few times, especially with particles and volumetric lights but this is as far as I have got - please be kind I couldn't resist showing you what I have been up too... Peg to the rescue Be warned it is 10.6mb big - broadband connection recommended!

At nucking fast! I get to see the beastie - and now I wish I hadn't... It's a bit too realistic and very scary! Excellent work m8, thanks for getting the QT version done. One thing I would suggest though, is the lack of specular in the mouth it looks a bit too lamberty if you know what I mean. I also am inclined to agree with what others have said by adding some dribble/saliva too. One teeny other thing is the lack of eyes. I am not sure if this is a good thing since it makes the creature more disconcerting, or that it needs something to draw the observer in to make the beast look more compelling and scary by drawing you into it clutches if you know what I mean. Pretty gripping stuff

Well it looks like I won't be able to view it on me Intel Mac cos the codec don't work on Intel Macs… That'll teach me to get the latest and greatest!

Grrr!!! Cory what version of DivX are you using? I have downloaded the codec and it still won't play on my iMac any chance of a normal QuickTime movie for the rest of us?

Thanks for the help Hashers - much appreciated. I have experienced the single frame taking ages to render before, but in this case it was several frames so just dropping that frame workaround is out of the window... I have also experienced the rogue light scenario and have already replaced the volumetric lights in this project, so it wasn't that phenonmenon causing the problem either. I then re-rendered this section without sprites and particles and it worked perfect so that seems to be the problem. However I am loathe to replace the sprites with particles since I would have to rerender other sections and probably develop more problems... Banging my head off the wall I just want ot get this rendered why does it have to go errant on me!!! It really is annoying that it does this since, as I originally said, the previous few frames worked fine. It might be that specular highlight on the bell in the background that has sparked it off.

This little problem is proving to be a right headache... Have a look at the frame below and notice the rendering time for the anti-aliasing. Over one hour for pass1 and over two hours for pass2 - this seems rediculous considering the frame before only took 8 minutes! The scene is using particles and volumetric lights but why the sudden jump in render times from one frame to the other???

Cory I get no joy trying to play that flick m8, any chance of a *.mov version of it or letting me know what 3rd party codec you are using - I would love to see it.

Na! That's easy! Your creature has only go six legs - try doing a spider with eight! Very nice action there m8, I like it. But I would remove that dynamic constraint, it looks the keyframe on the head is different from at the start of the cycle to the one at the end hence the rapid reflex. Not sure about the animation on the tail though, don't look quite right. Apart from that very nice and how long did it take you to animate that cyce?

Cory That is one ugly bugger! Or should I say bug Nice work and I like the dance floor lighting. I am inclined to agree with luckbat about the tail though, it looks like it isn't finished, kinda like a bent tube. If it is meant to look like that then fine but it doesn't suit the rest of the model which is quite detailed. Looking forward to seeing you make this critter move. I remember animating a spider walk cycle years ago and it drove me mad, have fun…

That seems highly likely KNBits! The camera is indeed pointing in the same direction as the volumetric light. If that is the case then I am stuffed!!! I will have to think of a work-a-round... Why is it that you almost think you are getting to the end of a project and all these little thing suddenly just pop up c-wheeler, nah the camera is passing through nothing like glasses or bottles - Witchy Peg doesn't keep em in her broom room! Thanks for the help boys.

I am stumped. Take a look at this image and see if you can figure it out. I have a camera moving through a scene but suddenly a few frames in I suddenly get this... I have checked all the lights, all the cameras and cannot see what is causing it. I am using two volumetric klieg lights, one shining directly down and the other through the doorway. Even when I turn the one pointing directly down off, I get the same problem. When it is on and the camera is out of the lights cone I still get the same problem. Is it just an anomaly? Or have I got a bug? Anyone with any ideas about it would be most helpful

Well spotted! I was hoping nobody would notice this and I would get away with it When I originally modeled Alf way back in 2001 I used a material for the eyes rather than model them. Since they are such an awkward shape modeling and animating unusually shaped pupils was gonna be a pain in the arse. But! I have just realised how to work around it - animate the material, it should work. Thanks Paul. More snippets later today I think

Well, thanks for the comments guys - I never quite expected such an indepth reply about camera movement though… The thing to remember here is that this is just a section from a section, so if you saw the whole in context you might not think the camera angles and character at the start of this clip look ambiguous or a 'vanilla composition'. Personally it's just how I want it so I am happy with it. It is a smack-bang in your face introduuction to 'Alf' Robcat As far as the head movement is concerned, I normally (I am learning a little) rotate the neck then the head and possibly the shoulders when turning a characters head. In this instance since the turn is so rapid (he is responding to an alarm) his head and next doesn't turn at all, he spins his whole body around. I have watched this many times and feel that rotating his neck then head wouldn't really add to the movement. Anyway thanks for the tips and comments now back to refining everything…

Hi Hashers Well I thought I would post a little segment from my latest 'Bella Bear' extravaganza. The finished flick itself is only a small segment from one of my stories and will only be just over a minute long when finished... When done I will post the whole thing (hopefully by the end of next month) - enjoy! Alf's Appearance

Dale Nice to see you posting again! I like your character, is she destined for the haunted house project that you have been working on? Nicely modelled, nicely textured - do you have any cycles we could look at to see her in action? I see you are use Fur/Hair as well, I really must start using this feature myself I am feeling way behind

Peg's Mansion is the only flick that is part of one of the stories, all the others are, as you say 'Test Renders' Me basically getting to grips learning to animate and bring my characters to life. As you can tell none of them are finished except the BBC Competition flick. Trouble is I never seem to finish anything cos I keep getting side tracked...

Thnx chaps, I am working a another scene from one of the stories at the moment snippets will follow. BTW Paul where did the link to your site go? I would like to see what you have been up to m8.

For anyone who is even the slightest bit interested, I have added new images to the 'Pics' section of my Bella Bear website. Any comments appreciated, the pictures are all new! Bella Bear

I think the first rock was best m8, the one using the displacement in AM 13 looks like it has had an acid rain attack... I assume that the peeble is textured with a decal and not a shader? When you say that you used a skydome and a single bulb you weren't using Dan Shimmyo's Skylight Rig by any chance where you? I have heard that it works with version 12 - I must give it a go.

SLIDE That's a bueatiful handle m8, what lets this image down though is the blade... It lloks like a toon render. It needs to have definition and reflection on it to see the surface contours rather than a flat plastic look. Have you modeled the balde completely flat? If so I would put some definition in it near the hilt. Then put a material on it that doesn't reflect too much so you get the result you have. If you are gonna put something like a chrome material on it then make sure you have some sort of enviroment for it to reflect back or use an enviroment map. Plonk the chrome shader on it from the library for starters, the put a dome over it all with a texture on it for it to reflect from.

Well the BAMUG, LAMUG, GLAM or whatever has had three meetings in the two years so it seems like a bi-annual sort of thing. I missed the last one at the Mac Show and was pretty pissed off about it but it would be nice to start the new year with another get to gether to see how everyone is geting on. Parlo normally hires the Chocolate Factory but I am sure another venue can be sorted out - I might even be able to sort one myself. John, Sam, Stephen, Steve, Stuart, Paul what say yee? I would love to know what is happening with 'Ninja Sticks' hint, hint...

Nice! That is one scary looking critter... The only problem I have with the animation is his toes. They don't seem to bend very well, especially those on the back feet. He/she/it looks like he has two planks attached. Personally I feel the rear toes should curl up a touch when leaving the ground and then uncurl before hitting the ground.

Paul Have you got Pop-up Blocker switched on? The movie should pop-up in a separate little window (makes it neat) and should automatically play. Try turning it off if not I will sort out something else... Errr, try this Night Flight BTW m8 did you get my recent e-mail to you? I also sent one to John Keats but didn't hear from him either. And, yeah this cold is a real bummer

Well thanks for all the tips guys and girls, I couldn't quite get the glow to work. It seemed that when I applied it and rendered the idividual model it would glow, but once in the choreography it didn't want to play... Anyway I wanted to do a bit more over the Christmas Holidays but got a stinking cold as a Christmas present and didn't get much done. But I did manage to get this very rough render done. Night Flight Good start?

Well thanks for the comments guys & girls - much appreciated! As for those anomalies on the pole they also exist on Witchy Peg's broom or should I say excercise-plunger bike-with hair??? (Where does the hair come from Nancy? Have a look at this Rocket Broomstick I must get one myself ) They are something to do with the volumetric lights and the specular highlights (I think/hope) and require a bit more work. I will be using both these scenes for my next animation so I have had to light them to let people see what is going on in them. As for Withcy Peg's eyesight… well she is slightly boss-eyed so lord knows what she see's through that telescope