Dearmad

LOL. That was actually strangely amusing. Something about how sincere it all looked. No ridiculous cool posing going on- just fun animation.

Has to do with the interpolation between your two keyframes. Many ways to solve this: Go to your first key frame. Copy it. Go to the next frame. Paste it. OR (prefereably) take control of the interpolation by going into the channels for your camera move- notice how the line conencting your keyframes will dip before rising (at the place you are havnig problems)- you can make that keyframe a 0-slope interpolated node. OR add another 2 points along the line (say 5% and 95% into the transformation) and adjust these points to properly slow-in-slow-out the camera- should that be the effect you want. Get to know the channels windows and how to navigate it- it will be your best friend during animation- fixing goofs, adding subtle details and ensuring things do what you want them to do.

Yah, keep it up! Getting inspired and demoralized all at the same time! Thanks!

[grabs conch shell quickly] Waitaminute... won't deactivating objects work for that as well. here's what I do in my compelx sets: Add a few nulls *if* I have particular looking targets on certain complex objects (like a many cp'ed building) Deactivate all models not important to relative locations of the actors (sky spheres, the ground plane if it's flat, buildings, etc.) Animate. Works like a charm for me. This also works for particle emitters too- if you don't want them calculating when you scrub back and forth. [sets the conch down]

4 hours? I think I'm gonna call it a night for now.... put my stuff aside and go have a drink.

I think you should see the problems with the contrast here as an opportunity... lol Seriously- I think you should texture the hovercraft with a more thoughtful and artistic approach than simply solving a problem. What's the little robot done with his hovercraft in the past? Any travel stickers? Hovercraft derby meet stickers? How did he acquire it? Was it bought as a piece? Assembled piecemeal? Does the robot love his little hovercraft? So he's painted it? Maybe not so well??? Maybe he's left various handmarks on it- you know like aussie aboriginals on rocks? There's a LOT you could do here that would lend well to the overall narrative of your story by adding to the *character* of the robot. Personalize the craft as you already have by your interesting design of it (the batteries). Maybe battery acid leaked on the back end? Don't overdo the details, but have some cohesive appraoch to what you're doing and why. Sorry, long lecture, but I wouldn't waste my typing on someone who's project hadn't shown the promise yours does. I want to see this animation come together!

wow.

Alright everyone, PIPE DOWN! Let J get back to work! SILENCE!!!! (wanan get to the next step ASAP!)

Ok, maybe this thread will take on a life of its own (I hope). I'll start off with a lighting tip I've learned that saves COUNTLESS hours and increases the accuracy of my lighting solutions. NOTE: I can't remember from where i learned htis, but it's certainly NOT an original idea. However, I've rarely ever have seen anyone mention it in relationship to AM, and hardly anyone explains this when teaching others to light an image Ever wanted a sort of "real time" method to investigate your light levels while looking at a FINISHED render? Got a tough problem in adjusting the level of 6 lights to that precise level? PROBLEM SOLVED: Render out a still using each light at 100% and all the others OFF! So in my example I have two images but there's no reason you can't have more. Then bring in the images to your favorite layer-enable 2d program, stack 'em up. Now adjsut the combination method to "lighten" in PSP or some other equivelent additive method in photoshop. Now, ALL your layer combination sliders act as INSTANT light levels on your final-render quality image.... Yeah you can't adjust placement, but you CAN accurately, and now easily see your light levels INSTANTLY and how each one affects the overall look of the image. Well I've always thought this method rocked.... Here's a little image sampler.... the two images on the extremes are jsut that and the one in a middle a blend of the lights. NEXT person's turn! (Passes the conch shell).

Love the deisgn work. the grass, if that's what hair can do in the latest version, is fantastic. Funny plot idea you shared- looking forward to more. Keep at it!

in my not so humble opinion, you SHOULD know what IMNSHO means...

Just because you're so damned good, J., I'm gonna throw you this crit: The effect of his face being so... organic has made his clothes stand out in a poor contrast for me- detracts from the image. I couldn't resist... wanna see you go to town on his clothes now.

Well that was sort of the point- unless the engine is going to remain stable to the camera at all times... when you wrote you designed it to be animated I assumed that meant it could move relative to the camera as well as simply move through it's own animated cycle.

That is a beautiful still opening this thread... I would love to see how the animation looks- but could you not just post it from one angle- move the camera and let's see how the planes track. Don't try to look too perdy here- let us see the guts!

Thumbs up. The boy is especially interesting to look at. I'd like to know how you rigged his eyes for tracking and deform the lids for blinks. Looks nice. Only crit... You saving time by using decals then utterly destroying your render time with an overdone lighting rig that, in these images at least, isn't buying you anything, IMHO. Besides, a more dramatic, less HDI (whatever) style would do your models proud! Uh... that's my crit.

Nice design, from what I can see. Sort of an aside: there are elements to that rendering that, due to my being neck deep in the 8.5 renderer (which, BTW is getting me some very pleasing results), are just plain pretty- little things like the way the surface specularities have multiple levels (partly your texturing job is responsible here too), and the way the finer details aren't lost under the porcelein (I assume you used it over some areas). The shading on the teeth is especially nice. I know SOME of this is due to your careful texturing job, so don't take this as a slight- I know how tough it can be to get such good results. What v. of AM is that rendered in? And what sort of lighting solution did you use?

Thanks, robcat. There ARE a few N11 aeroplanes that do a fly-by... albeit at considerable altitude... Got about 2:33 animated so far... but once the animation is all done, I'll be going back over every chor again. Here's a quick image from awhile ago- made a few detail changes to the car since. She's all rigged up to turn her steering wheel and front wheels syncronously. This model took about a day once I found some good reference images that inspired me. The reference hunt ALWAYS takes longer than the modelling for me except in the case of complex buildigs with ornate facades and such... I'm not huge of realism for this film- thus the resulting simplified axles, crank shaft , etc... Ive a 15-20 minute short to animate- don't want to model forever! Besides, one of the BEAUTIFUL things about AM is that I can always add more details to this car and they'll track through chors- that is just so cool! Hope you all enjoy!

Love the design work, very cool. What's all this for again? Still got a short in mind? Hope so! It's looking ike a lot of fun- I've wanted to do a superhero short for many years too- even before I knew about Pixar's latest... Been sketching out designs and such too- but mine went all surreal on me and got out of hand. Anyway, keep at it! Go for it!

bumpity... a tiny little clip- about 50% done- the animation needs a LOT of retiming and such- but this clip took WAAAAAAAAAY too long for a couple of reasons... check out this thread for the gory details (only for fatally bored who want to read boring stuff): http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3504 Anyway here's the clip: (1 MB)- 1 poly/face LOW RES- I wanted it to render fast to check the motion. DiVX v5.x I dunno... make sure you got the latest version.

Looking nice. Enjoy the style.

And DON'T post it in the buried and always forgotten AM section of CGTalk! Post it in the appropriate main section. B) See ya there!

I could d/l the other two- but the codec isn't working in my verions of QT (the latest). Is that an ld codec they don't dist. anymore unles i go get it specifically?

[quote name='MixePix' date='Jan 10 2004, 01:41 PM']Here is some old stuff I’ve made in AM A commercial for a children hospital (I did the 3d-stuff and tracking.): [url="http://hem.passagen.se/petterse/test/Silvia.mov"]http://hem.passagen.se/petterse/test/Silvia.mov[/url] The first commercial I did in AM (of course it’s only the island, ocean and bird that is A:M): [url="http://hem.passagen.se/petterse/test/folkreklam2.mov"]http://hem.passagen.se/petterse/test/folkreklam2.mov[/url] This was one of the first tracking shots I did in A:M. It was part of a project where the theme was ‘crappy television-superheroes’. This was the ‘Gaffa Tape-man’ (he even had his own theme-song :) ). : [url="http://hem.passagen.se/petterse/test/testa_tentakel_comp.mov"]http://hem.passagen.se/petterse/test/testa_tentakel_comp.mov[/url][/quote] That children's hospital one is very good. I like it. Edit: Damn, but the more I look at it and think about it- that commercial is awsome. It is so well done and craftily designed I almost cry watching! I'm serious! If you were responsible in any way for the crafting of how the overall meaning of that commercial plays out, you are one savvy marketer! It all dawned on me as soon as I ran the thing in reverse using the scrubbar. One funny cultural thing though (not a crit to you obviously!)- over here that many white-skinned blond-haired people would look might funny or... insulting. Interesting how I've been affected by my society's concern for representing people as potentially any race. Can't get the superhero one to run in QT- what format is it?

Ph and Zandor- that's a great texturing job on that pig-thing! Just talking about paticles over at CGtalk- were those native AM particles? Nice job on them.

What- no block of wood or tape on his glasses? My dad actually wore glasses with a block of wood in the middle- OMG I couldn't believe it when I saw that 5 years later in revenge of the nerds... LOL image Zar.