Dearmad
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Posts posted by Dearmad
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Wow. That's looking nicer. My only real crit would be with the corners of his mouth being too pulled in- it makes his labial folds too pronounced, IMO. More baby fat, more.
Again, though, very classy modelling, IMO.
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Heh. Uh...
That's gotta be about one of the dumbest mistakes I've made since I'm so anal about lighting. I left the practical light that goes through the glass at 200 intensity(!)... -sigh-
Thanks Ken. Colors are not blown out into white anymore...
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Nancy,
Sure- anytime I have the time I'm happy to share.
Scott,
Ok, here's an updated still with the changes. I think it's much better. Thanks, and respond to my PM.
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Nice overall shape. An interesting little... device?
One thought- if I were making that, and the egg is going to do anything, I would probably make the egg seperate from the machine part...
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Scott,
PM'ed you with an image. Let me know.
Nancy,
Her scarf is handled mostly by the 8.5 cloth feature- but the settings change for every shot depending on what I need it to do- sometimes the settings are dramatically different. Also, in nearly every shot I'll add a force to help manipulate the cloth further in the manner I want it to move. Once that's done, I double check the collision interaction (visually) and then will manipulate the channel data to fix any problematic collisions I can't fix through the simulation- this is rare, but coincidentally I had to do it for this last shot). It usually takes about half a day to set up and get right.
Her skirt:
While I eventually came up with a very simple solution to how I wanted it rigged, it took a lot of experimenting and pulled hair to arrive there.
Basically I rigged it as if it was controlled by her two legs, but then there's an intermediary bone in the center which orients as an intermediary (within certain spherical limits) to the outer calf bones to smooth the center of the skirt. Since I designed her so that her feet are never seen, this simple solution works perfectly adequately because her feet never to lift from the floor (much).
In addition, when I designed her dress, I added little sleevelets (whatever they're called) to enhance secondary motion at her sleeves- those are hand animated, two different rigs depending on the situation. I got cocky and added *two* bracelets to each wrist too, to further lend life to her motions... those are hand animated as well. However, animating secondary motion is practically a snooze compared to animating the motion that *drives* the scene- since secondary motion only reacts depending on what is influencing it, it doesn't take too much time. It's relaxing and I enjoy doing it it after finishing up a tough scene.
The other mother in the film (the blonde one- rig on the right) has a long skirt on too, but her feet and lower legs are exposed... this posed a whole MESS of problems which required a center thigh bone to be added and another control bone (orange arrow points to it- the vertical blue bone) which by it's rotation (animator controlled) further tunes the rotation of the center bones, whose orientation is still controlled by a balanced orient constraint and spherical limits of the leg bones which are manipulated by moving her feet control bones. Shew! Anyway, this way as I move the leg, the skirt keeps the correct distance from the lower leg to look like it is reacting to her legs underneath.
On top of this, for the skirt to properly fold, and drop with gravity (especially on the blonde mother- since the viewer can see her leg it needs to look right), and for buttocks, lower back muscles, and belly to properly tense, etc... I added smartskins controlled by the leg bones. Some of the smartskinning changes the geometry a lot.
Oops, long answer alert!
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Wow. This week has been hugely productive. About 10 seconds per day.
Here's another clip from later in the scene above- skipping over about 4 intervening shots. The mother exits her daughter's room then spies something out the little window in the hallway...
Here's the clip.
And here are some stills so you can get a sense of the look, not just the animation. The lower still is from the next shot where the mother is looking out the window.
After this very contemplative moment in the film, the next scene involves some action and a near death accident... that'll be a fun contrast to animate.
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That's some fast development. Impressive.
Must feel pretty good to complete an undertaking like that.
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And, axiomatic as usual (in Zach's hands at least), Shaggy is funny as hell!
Awsome little clip- fun fun!
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One word: JohnArtbox.
http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showt...hl=pills&st=45#
http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?act=A...e=post&id=40970
His technique for jittering the edges to his cloudy shapes might work very well. There's another image he did of a Knight and Magician walking up some stairs to a castle in the clouds that I can't find quickly, but it has even better clouds.
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Cool volumetrics! Did just adding the gel change the colour of that?
Basically yes. I needed to readjust my volumetric settings on that light to get them right too. Some further details:
That effect is actually two lights.
1:
The practical that shines through the window projecting the colors onto the bed through the transperent stain glass window (which also has translucence set so it gloes when in frame a bit).
2:
A volumetric light set to NOT light every model- in fact it is on no light list at all in the chor, so it lights nothing. Everything is turned off on it except volumetrics. Then in the chor I added a gel using the same image map as used by the window to this light.
Trying to do this effect with one light didn't work for me because of how AM (8.5) handled shadows interacting with volumetrics out of one light source. And a lot of other little details that added up to using 2 lights to get it right.
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Scott,
Fiddled with the light settings, and added in a gel. This ought to make it much clearer as to source, and, for my money, this makes the scene that much stronger.
Again, thanks for your crit- you got me thinking!
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You're right. But your crit reveals a slightly more complex problem at heart- and I'm glad you said something. That pattern on her bed is from a stained glass window above the little girl's head. The viewer knows it's there at this point from previous shots, but the volumetrics I have going from the window to the bed aren't quite right... need some work there.
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Paul:
Thank you. Putting in the extra time- acting it out, and thinking "what the heck is the point of this scene- I need to remember to focus on that," paid off.
The girl IS hard to read- even for me. I'm not totally happy about the initial framing angle, and have it down as a concern for this shot in my notes for when I return to it.
Luckbat:
I respect you skills involving cinematography, and I agree. The mother should probably be pulled in more to frame a bit, also the girl at the start maybe, now that you and Paul have me thinking about it. Excellent crit. Something I'll change first thing in the morning- THANKS you two!
And yes, btw, I am using full frame as my space, so my third crosses are from those extreme edges, in most shots- I like the more extreme geometric (or harder) feel it gives framing for most of the scenes in the film. However, there are some moments in the film when I pull in the frame of focus considerably to "soften" the feel, sorta make the picture feel "safer," more symmetrical.
Yeah the wind is- actually the very air is also an element to the story. Things flying through the air in a previous section (airplanes, obviously, but some other things too-which will remain secret) and represent an important element to Ravel's final realization about what the heck matters to him. The dance becomes a flightless way of mirroring motion through the air- dance is human flight, sorta is the idea...
Dang, but you are observant.
Yves:
Wow. Praise indeed. I can't tell you how releived I am that you viewers are getting the thought behind this brief scene- it means the following scenes that build from it in this room will actually make sense to people when they watch it edited together!
Nancy:
Glad to know someone with your unique and artistic take on things (which mesmerizes me) likes some of what I'm doing.
Thanks, all- I appreciate the comments and crits. Again, feel free to nitpick- this is a learning process for me.
Gotta say AM is just rocking as a tool for animating- I am more and more impressed with how free I can be to approach the animation in layers, each one deepening the performance.
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Fixed. Sorry. Had the wrong filename up.
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Completed two scenes these past few days... well, "complete" meaning "I'm moving on anyway..." Here's some info on one of them.
A still. There's a quick-rendered clip added to the sweatbox at my site.
While it *should* scale well and show enough details at 2x resolution, I am sorry for the sorta small resolution, especially for a non-action scene. Until I get a good monthly read on traffic at my site- I need to be a little coservative about bandwidth...
The main points of the scene are the expressions the mother goes through looking at her daughter, from sadness to that welling of love feeling and a smile. Then she sees something...
Stuff I want to improve:
The rate of mother's turn toward the bed, some of the bracelet animation early on.
As usual, crits welcome.
Thanks for looking, all!
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Finally caught up on this thread- sorry I disappeared for so damned long, as stuff like this inspires me.
Your stress regarding output: LOL. I've got about 15 minutes or so done- maybe 18... and if I divide that by my time... I get 0.5 seconds per day across about 5 years... So dude, you're making me look like a lazy little bastard.
Although my average has flaoted upward lately...On lipsynch: I'd be careful approaching it as a "pass." You may end up having to re-animatre a lot of stuff needlessly once you place it in. Amarillospider mentioned a way to do it that I also heartily recommend. It makes lip synch so freaking easy. In fact all the LS I've done for my short so far has been enjoyable and not a chore- certainly not something to avoid until later, as I want to integrate it into the animation.
On the re-rig stuff:
Have you considered using improved/different rigs only on the shots where you found you neded them? That way you don't go back and have to reanimate stuff that was already OK before.... I have about 4-5 rigs for my puppets so far, and just use the updated versions of my rigs in the current shots. This way I move forward constantly. Just a thought.
On your stuff:
Nice nice nice. I'm not in the camp that would call for you to make your animation more "snappy" especially by relying on stronger pose holds... but you've seen my style (such as it is burdened by my lack of skill) and I'm more a straight-ahead type with some key poses thrown in that are critical.
I see overshoot. I see moving holds that are not overdone. I see enough anticiaption that my eyes track where you want me to.
For *me* the only element sorta missing is that the female character doesn't move strongly from her hips. Her center of gravity seems a little high, and so she seems to "float" a bit. Her walk hasn't enough "oomph" to it from the hips.
In the last vid posted, I love her "coward push" lean into him- and his reaction. She's totally cool, man...
Cinematography is nice- effective, keeps the focus well in place AND you frame things interestingly as well.
My ONE BIG gripe: LARGER UMBRELLAS!!! She wants *no* sun on her!
Ok, now take heart and keep your nose to the grindstone!
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Hi Dearmad! Does this mean you're back?
Luckbat,
Yeah for at least two weeks solid here... and then I'm budgetting "me time" regularly weekly. I find I need animation to stay sane...
Paul,
thankee kindly. Now back to the happy grindstone.
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Just a quick note to say applesnake.net and .com are back up with a really nice web host. And progress is being made on the film...
I stripped out a lot of the old avi's i had in the "sweatbox" 'cause I lost them at my old host, but no worries- they weren't important to the film, just rough clips I was sharing. new ones will come now, anyway.
And PLEASE email me about any erros at the website if you encounter them... as reconstructing it was straighforward, which means I probably did something wrong.
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Hi.
This'll be my last update for awhile. Yeah I'm plugging away at it and will finish it, but I'm in my last few terms of graduate school, so things are serious with that.
In fact applesnake.net/com will be down for awhile now too, but I'll be maintaining the registration for them and such and will reappear when I'm done with my comprehensive exams and practicums...
I'm at a scary point in my schooling - make or break time, so I better make it, get that nice job... and then return to my beloved hobbies!
At any rate- the film is half animated now. All sounds are recorded/ready- so everything is in place for me to just find time to put butt back into chair.... which won't be for awhile...
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I remember it with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.
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well the pdf is >18 mbs... and still d/ling.
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Eh, win2k is a fine OS.
Anyway, I like the design of the screenspace in your anim, there, Christine. Your way of breaking up the screen really shows your experience with visual story telling, I think.
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Yup. I know I'd enjoy watching it...
Inspirational CG Lighting and Nicely stylized characters.
in TWO: General Discussion
Posted
Yeah those are cute spots. I like the sense that there's mass to the air in them. The GI is very well handled- better than about 90% of the usual cliched look that is acheived through GI solutions, IMO. There's good bloom and glow in the final images as well, which I doubt is derived from the GI. And the DOF is subtle, perfect.
I also like the less clipped feel they have in the posing- they aren't hard pose to pose and overly springy animations. Really nice overshoot. And FINALLY some animation without too much anticipation- anticipation is so over used and badly handled most of the time (not that I handle it better). I'm sick of spotting anticipation for anticipation's sake without the animator (director?) having a freaking clue about why to do it other than "you just do it that way." Ugh.
I also have to say regarding the narrative content of the spots: the sincerity/humor mix to them is very touching in a soft way that I appreciate; they're not overly sentimental or sappy, but just... honest I guess- as far as a commercial goes. They hit a great tone.
I'm burned out on cynical/jaded/violent/edgy/"sexy" cg art. I put "sexy" in quotes because IMO most of the sexiness is the teenage tripe approach that has never worked for me.
Thanks for posting that link.