Simon Edmondson

Still working on the shadow problems, about to follow up Robert's suggestions, while that was happening I tried a rerender of some earlier work. Only to get a very curious problem. This was the original scene and render and this was a re render problem that occurred last night and today. The only thing I had done to the chor was to try some experiments with film grain and tinting post effects before returning to the previous settings.. Only to get all the 'noise' Tried a new camera, same result. Tried no camera in 3/4 view, same result. Tried to reload the models, same result, restarted computer and program ( twice ) same result I tried it on other chor's but no noise, Tried the models in model windows, no noise. Can anyone kindly point me to a possible cause and solution? simon OSX 10.85 V17g Ps I got around the problem by reloading an earlier version of the chor off Timemachine but, it would be good toknow what may have causd it so I can avoid in the future ?

Robert Thank you for your reply. What I meant was that, the shadows on the sphere don't show up when the "shadows only' button is selected. The resulting render just shows up as a blank alpha, ? regards simon

A few months on and trying something slightly different. I'm trying to learn how to use TVpaint with a view to using it to complete Happy Families properly. Hoping to get some shadows only renders to work with in TVP. This is the scene. Followed Roberts advice above and, it worked for the floor, But I can't seem to get it to work on the Sphere itself Can anyone kindly point me to a possible solution? Thank you Simon Ps I hope to upgrade to V19 later this month. Is it compatible with OSX10,11.4 ( El Capitan ) or, Is it better to stick with 10.85 ?

Rodney, Robert Thank you for your feedback. Much appreciated. It is a bit long for an opening but, its more to show the preparatory work really. Bad choice of words on my part. I've had to redo it because the music I used is in copywrite which was a bit of a pain. While working on the final section I made thisyesterday. Its only really a test. I need to get some rest before finishing the whole thing. regards simon HF S15 A.mov

With profound regrets I can't get the work finished in time so, I'm having to compromise on what gets handed in. I kept hitting problems with shifts of scale and placement of images within scenes. That meant that every drawn figure had to be cut out and pasted into a render frame by frame and then adjusted each time to fit. Some frames were taking up to 40 mins to do. I will revisit it to try and get it finished to the right standard but I do need a break first. six months of nearly 80 hour weeks has taken a toll. Anyway. This is a test of a clip for the opening of the compromise. FCP seems to have cut the bottom off some files and added parts to others (such bliss ) so I will revisit those. Any critical feedback with reference to sequencing or timing would be very gratefully received. Thank you simon Test clip.mov

Robert Thank you very much for your help regards simon

Working in V15, OSX 10.68 I'm trying to help a textiles student on the course I'm doing. She has some very elaborate designs which I decaled onto a very simple planar model of the 4metres x 2metres x 2 metres space. Her designs are 50cm by 50 cm, so I applied them once, and asked it to repeat them across the surface seamlessly. Unfortunately it came out with this effect. Rather than repeating them laterally and vertically it mirrored them symetrically. Is there a way around this or would I have to apply them all singley as separate stamps ? Any help gratefully received Simon I did a test with a simpler decal. G Test project.prj

Rodney No apology needed. I'm grateful for your help. Here is an update of the scene but with the drawn parts added. Hoping to do the next sections as freeze frames with WB type 'smears' inbetween regards simon Sequence 1.mov

Rodney Do you mean the "blobbies" on the line renders in the glitches thread? It was done using the modified, Jim Talbot model of Sir Nigel. The stange thing about them was how they seemed to change place and number on different frames. regards simon

This is Scene 08A before the drawingsgo on top. simon HF S8A.mov

Slight update I've indulged in a lot of "clean up" because I couldn't track it down this morning but, when rendered out as lines, a lot of 'blobbies' appear. They seem to be random, as they don't appear consistently throughout and happen in different places. thought it might be of interest ? simon HF S8A Lines.mov

Mat Thank you for you very swift and helpful reply. That was indeed the problem. The sad thing was that, earlier I had thought it might be that so adjusted accordingly ( or so I thought !!!) Went back and redid it, with this result I think the hours are getting to me... regards simon

Having some render problems. Working in V17 under OSX 10.85 I set up some maps as pictures on the wall for the next scene in Happy Families. They were applied in the standard way direct to a flat surface, Went on OK and showed up properly in a quck render, switched to a 3/4 view and got this Set it up in a cho and, initially the figure on the right showed but then got this Thought might have a soloution , tried that and got this Can anyone kindly point out the error of my ways ? regards simon

Grandma and Grandson ( Jack ) head indoors, the last frame should not be there !!! Does contain vulgar gesture towards the neighbour across the strret who was lusting after Jack. ( earlier post ) Will post other scenes in next few days. Critical feedback very welcome simon HF S7G.mov

Nancy Thank you for your feedback. Much appreciated. I don't want to get too pompous or pretentious in my explanation ( I had to do a presentation about it the other day which did err towards that ). The reason for the different style is to emphasise the generational differences between the characters. The one on screen right is the grandma character and screen left is her grandson. I was trying to show a personality and background difference through the style of representation. It wasn't intended to flicker quite so much. What I wanted was a non digital character playing against digital. The figure in the window is the middle generation and she is a mix of cg and physical media. I take what you say about the choppyness of the animation. Unfortunately thats a consequence of lack of practice and a shortage of time. I've just spent 90 mins trying to get them to walk and they look like they arrived via the embalmers. Very rusty. regards simon

Two tests for the same scene. Rendered in AM but composited in After Effects Any preferencesasto which version or any other critical feedback very welcome Should add, these are 720 versions of 1080 files HF S7 Fb.mov HF S7 F.mov

Scene 7 B Grandma and Grandson exchange greetings HF S7 B.mov

Roger Your model making is far away superior to anything I have made, so I hesitate to make a suggestion but, rather than go for a lot of detail on the face and hands, might it be as effective to loosen the regularity of the clothes, to make the overall look slightly 'softer' ? For example, the bottom edge of the jacket is very straight and regular. A slight curve in the line as it moves over the figure would make it less mannequin like. Similarly with the trousers. Its still a lot better than anything I can do. regards simon

Robert I don't know the answer to that I'm afraid, as its the ones that come with the Imac and Mini as standard. I'd wondered if it was an OSX incompatibility problem. The installation on both machines is standard from point of purchase rather than updated ? regards simon Pardon, just looked under "about this Mac' this is te setup for the Imac NVIDIA GeForce 9400: Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 9400 Type: GPU Bus: PCI VRAM (Total): 256 MB Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de) Device ID: 0x0869 Revision ID: 0x00b1 ROM Revision: 3454 Displays: iMac: Resolution: 1920 x 1080 Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888) Main Display: Yes Mirror: Off Online: Yes Built-In: Yes Display Connector: Status: No Display Connected

I've just tried it on V15J ( Osx 10.65, Imac ) V17g and V18b (Osx 10.85, Mac mini ) and had no trouble importing jpg's either as single files or sequences? Don't recall having any trouble previously either but could br mistaken on that. regards simon

Gerry I had a similar problem when I started using the Mac, it would appear to freeze when trying to import or open something. Apparently it wasa known bug but no one knew how to fix it. The workaround was to hide the program momentarily, by pressing cmd + H , then clicking on the icon on the desktop to go back to the program and the option is then available. I've never like the one button mouse used by Macs so I always use a PC version. It seems to work just fine and it makes right mouse button op's easier than having to press the keyboard button at the same time. For me at least. regards simon

Robert Thank you for your feedback. Much appreciated. Her Torso does move ( honest ) but ithere is no anticipation in the first move of the hand with the wine glass. I tried to loosen it up with secondary movement of the other arm. Clearly not enough. Will adjust later today. By way of light relief This was a process test of an idea for the next shot, which went amusingly wrong . the eyes have it !!! HF S7 F.mov The foreground figure are going to walk forward out of shot but thought it best to test the process first. regards simon

This is the blocking, awaiting drawings on the figure drinking wine. Her crooked wrist won't show in the drawings( hope not anyway ) Any critical feedback welcome. simon HF S7D.mov

Updated. Missing Ten frames added, some parts retouched. Any Better? HF S7 C3.mov The colour version, as threatened

Rodney Thank you. I sent an email to the link on the file and am awaiting his reply. The process I'm using is to animate the model in AM, render it as lines, print that out and use it as a guide to draw the inks, scan those, then composit into the render. A bit involved ( !) but, simpler than the initial process. I wanted to ask Jim if it was OK to adapt and use the Sir Nigel and Lady G models in that way for two of the characters. The texture maps are removed and the geometry adapted with the addition of glasses for exanmple. The faces and hands would be drawn but the bodies cg. It seemed like a good idea to ask him before ploughing on and possibly causing upset. In the timescale left it was unlikely I would be able to make the models, certainly not to that standard. My rigging is awfuly bad and improves only very slowly, I spent two days last week wrestling with CP weights to remove creases. regards simon