Paul Forwood

Image 2:

Okay, as promised, here is the set that I was working on for the 'Christmas' image competition. I still have much to do but here are some test renders that I did to check lighting. I was also doing some photon mapping tests with this room at the time but have put that on hold for the moment. Image 1:

Those last two are stunning, Colin, apart from the distortion of the head in the first of them.

Ha ha! They are great! Two more excellent characters are born. I kind of agree with Ken about the legs. I can imagine them flaring slightly at the junction with the body. It may just be the angle of this shot but they look a liitle too straight and uniform. Just my opinion. Otherwise they are terrific characters. They look so full of life already!

Based on your previous examples I would go with the style of the top image but it is really down to the mood that you are trying to convey. I'm still waiting for 'Zugskin' to start playing. Perhaps you have attrackted alot of viewers at the moment. Oh, it has just played through. Umm... some interesting imagery there. Really not my sort of thing but you have obviously put alot of effort in there. Personally I find it too disturbing to go back and watch again. I hope that you can find a more positive message for your next piece.

Wow! That punch is going to do some damage. Is that a sprite emitter,Colin, or did you do it in post?

I would try increasing the value of the reflective property and perhaps transparency. Looking good!

Hey, Paul, that's really nice. How about a tiny little sub, or diver, or anything that will give a reference for scale? Or is that not allowed?

Ditto!

Go, John, Go!!! Now we have got to get that BAM meeting together. I need a demonstration. Great work.

I would echo the comments above. 1) Scale down the wood grain. 2) Bevel the edge of the matress and perhaps sink the surface in areas where it would get most wear and tear, ie the middle. 3) The mat on the floor is generating Moire patterns so maybe you could try a different texture. 4) Add ssome more clutter and hang a blanket or quilt to the bed and maybe mess it up a little. I like it though and hope to see some more renders soon. Well not that soon, I guess. How long was the render for this example? I must get back to doing some more on my own bedroom composition soon.

I definately prefer the examples with roll but after viewing these over and over I feel that there is something unnatural in the synchronisation of the roll to the forward motion of the camera after the first screen and up to the 5th or 6th screen. I can't put my finger on it but, to me, it feels like we slow down slightly just as we have gathered speed. It's not a big thing. Looking forward to seeing it with live screens!

Just beautiful, William! I was going to do a model of Ray Harryhausen for the 'Hero' competition. You could have Kong carrying him up the Empire State Building to the top of the world. ( Alas, I didn't ) Looking forward to some hairy ape shots!

I love it! Beautiful, clean and uncluttered. Regarding the camera motion, I think it depends on the soundtrack. If the change of direction synchronises with the beat I think it will work. I look forward to your next post.

Very creative, Matt! I have also just managed to see your 'Stones' animation for the first time and I just wanted to say that I think it is brilliant. You have certainly got a handle on A:M and those creative juices are flowing. I think you could use some other web space to show your work on though. I had tried many times to view your work and all I got was a message telling me that I could only connect directly. Huh? Great work, Matt

Hi, guys! What happened to November?! Here it is : BA:M!

I think you can remove about 62 or 63 frames to make it cycle, but I may have miscounted and I'm sure you knew that anyway.

Excellent work, Dan. Thanks for posting here. I am sure alot of people will learn from this. I can see from your website that you are not just a virtual engineer. You also do it in the real world. I used to do alot of lost wax casting in the past but have never tried sand casting or aluminium. I would love to have your setup though I don't think the insurance companies would like it much. I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

Thank you for all this information, Yves. Beautiful composition and stunning renders!

Thank you, Xtaz. That is very useful information. I can see that I am going to have to read Yves' tutorials and learn about skycast and photons. Just gorgeous results!

Beautiful lighting! How many lights are in this shot?

Looking good, Killi! Hope to see more. Are you planning to texture him?

Oh, Wow! You've done it again, Colin. Brilliant!

Nice demos, Vern. Maybe you could do a close-up and point out the anti-aliasing, which is what is causing the halo. You know, show the aa with a white background, (blending edge pixels to white), and the aa with an alpha background to show clearly what is actually being captured. You know, I think this halo effect is often caused by people using images which have had their backgrounds knocked out but are then saved without the alpha channel. The next time they come to use the image they either apply it and try to set the key colour to match the background, which only picks up one colour and not all the blends from the aa ... or ... they try to mask off the image again with the wand in PS, save as 32bit TGA and then are surprised when they see those edge blends appear on their decals. By the way, did you use A:M for the text too?

Thanks, Gazza. Maybe by the time we next get together I'll have something for 'Show and Tell'. This model has been improved slightly since I rendered this clip but I still need to add a couple of splines, tweek the rig and try a skin texture. I am just starting to get a feel for A:M rigging but still have much to learn. I have to admit that there are many, many features in A:M that I have never even tried. Porceline is one of them. I was waiting until the 5 point patch thingy had been resolved and it seems that time may have arrived so, yes, I should use it.