pia12254

Also, in case you haven't already seen it, www.rustboy.com has some ideas on creating really great looking clouds. Look under the "Making of" section and the "Movies" section of his website. I just visited and couldn't get the videos to play but you can read the description nonetheless. Hope this helps.

Wow. I'm impressed! I just played with it a little and everything seems to work great! I tried rigging myself and got so frustrated I just bought TSM, which has worked great so far. But I admire you for figuring out how to build your own rig...I'm sure that skill will be very valuable. The only thing that I would change is to disconnect the neck bone from the head bone. I think that would make it easier to control. Other than that great rig!!!!! Congrats.

Aside from one being a laptop and one being a desktop, they are almost identical. Both 2.x Ghz Pentium processors with 512mb of RAM etc. I tried everything I could think of last night and I couldn't get the problem to go away. Even when I brought in a totally new camera and applied it to the path it would still jump around like crazy. I've checked all my keyframes on the camera, the path constraint ease, etc. just to make sure something didn't get bumped/added and everything looks fine. Any help is appreciated!

Arrrgh! I have some kind of weird camera glitch now. It looks like the camera is having an epileptic seizure as it goes down the path. Anyone know why it is doing this? Stupid Camera Problem I transferred all the files from my laptop to my desktop, opened the file and it immediately gave me this problem. I have tried deleting the camera and adding a different one. I've tried deleting and re-adding constraints etc. Is this a bug and if so, is there a workaround? Thanks for any help.

Man......amazing..... Just seeing that pose makes me want to quit work so I can stay home and watch the cartoon... :-D Great work! And if you aren't happy with it now I can't wait to see it once you have put your own look to it! Keep it up... Admirer, D. Piatt

Yes, finally some people who like the "Lots O' Roll"!!! I think it is so much more exciting! But of course I don't want to make my old viewers sick...or do I?? ;-) I think I am going to play around with the timing of the roll...I like the suggestion of watching roller coaster footage...I think I might try to find some flying footage to watch as well. I am going to try and finish this whole thing including adding in video clips to the screen, music, sound effects etc. by Monday. I'll keep you guys posted. I might post one last shaded render for critiques on the camera movement. Thanks.

Allright, allright...I can take a hint! Less is more I guess. I agree that the rolls do feel a little off...I think it is related to when the rolls occur...I think I have the camera rolling a little too early. Also, I think the speed of the roll is a little off. I get the feeling it should be a little bit faster. We will be shooting some of the promotional footage with our anchors tomorrow so hopefully I can have a version up with video clips in the next few days. Any more critiques are welcome. Thanks!

Ok ya'll, Here are three shaded renders. One with a lot of camera roll: Lots O' Roll One with a little camera roll: A Little Roll One with no camera roll: No Roll at All Let me know which you think is better. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have the footage I need to map on the screens and we can see a "final" render. Also, I'll try and post a final version with audio and everything once it is done so you guys can see how it turned out. Thanks for all the input so far!

Wow guys, thanks for all the replys! I've attached an updated render of a frame. I messed with the fog settings a bit, put an image on the screens to see how that will look (in the final render they will all have different video clips of the various anchors/broll etc.) and textured the space station thingy a bit (I'm very technical...can you tell?). :-D Regarding the camera roll...I've had different responses...some people say they like it and others think it will be too distracting. I've actually smoothed out the roll a bit, it's not as jerky but it is still there. I think on Monday when I get back to work I will post a shaded version with and without the camera roll and ya'll can tell me which one you prefer. To respond to Roberts request, the answer is probably not quite as exciting as you might have hoped. I actually work for the City where I live and they hired me full-time as a video producer/director. I kind of one-man-band most of the production stuff just beacause we have a fairly small staff (5 people) and a lot of different productions we do. I really enjoy using A:M and just learned it on my own but I have found several uses for it in my current job. No one else in the office does any 3D so they are excited about having that option now. When I told them about A:M they were blown away and several people in the office are considering buying it now! We have Lightwave on a computer but it has been too complex for anyone to learn... Anyway, hope that answers your question. It's not quite as exciting as me doing freelance...I wish it were. Maybe someday I'll get enough confidence up to start my own production company... :-) Thanks for the input guys!

Thanks for the input guys! Littleandy, I know what you are saying about all the news openers pretty much having a darker tone to them...that's part of the reason I was contemplating a different look. But I do like the white look, I think it is different and has an upbeat feel to it. Here is an updated render (it doesn't have depth of field, pictures, textures etc.). I wanted to show a render with the big tower in the shot. I added in some fog to give it a sense of scale...thoughts? What would you suggest as far as textures for the screens? Towers? I would like to keep it fairly simple so that it doesn't distract too much from the images on the screen. How much more structural detail should I add in on each (screens/tower)? I plan on tweaking the camera move some more. It does seem a bit jerky but I dont' want to simplify the motion too much or slow it down too much because I don't want to lose the viewers to boredom either. I may end up shortening it a little but I think once the images are on the screens and all the audio is mixed in I think it will seem to go by much faster.

Here is a picture showing what it might look like rendered...I mocked this up in Photoshop with the pictures... This was originally what I was envisioning..the white/crisp setting with a slightly reflective floor etc. However, now I'm wondering if a darker/moodier setting with volumetric lights etc. might be more exciting/appealing. P.S. The screens are not textured and the big tower thingy had not been built when I rendered this shot. Thanks for any input!

Hey there, I am working on an opener for a short 5-min. news show that will begin in January. I am playing around with an idea for the opener. Shaded Render The idea is that the initial screen will have the title of the show and as the camera flies past all the subsequent screens they will each have various clips featuring shots of the anchors, b-roll from the area and of course corresponding audio as the screens whip past. Then I was thinking the big tower thingy at the end (which has screens...it's just hard to see them right now) would have a "5...4...3..2..1" countdown on the screens as the camera flies past and then some kind of explosion/flash/transition thingy as the camera reaches the top of the tower. So, input about the concept, the camera move/speed, the blocking/layout and also what kind of setting/textures/particles/lighting would really make this kickin. Thanks for any and all responses!

I'm definitely no expert so hopefully someone will come along after me and enlighten you but I am under the impression that you have to do all your smarskinning before you run it through the Setup Machine.... Does that sound correct anyone? That's my best guess. Love the character. Keep it up.

Looking great dude! Can't wait to see the animation once you start! A few posts back someone mentioned something about the chair and/or table looking slightly off in the Camera 2 render. I think what might be throwing them off is the scale of the chair. It looks too large in relation to the room and the table. Part of it might be camera distortion...I don't know what mm lens you are using but I think the biggest thing is the scale of the chair in relation to the table/room. Just my $.02. Keep up the good work!

Great work! I tried spending some time modeling a submarine a while back (about 15 minutes...). Yeah, it sucked! This one is looking awesome. Keep it up. ...if you ever feel the overwhelming need to share the model...let me know.