Simon Edmondson

Rodney Thank you for your feedback. Much appreciated. I'll post a picture of the model later in colour rather than monochrome as I think thats masking the view slightly. On a related question. Is Jim Talbot still a regular visitor to the forum I'd like to ask him a question about his Sir Nigel and Lady G models ? regards simon

Robert Thank you once again for your feedback. Much appreciated I'll wait and see if anyone else responds before saying anything. regards simon

It was not until I thought it completed that, I found it was missing 10 frames of drawing for Grandma. Hope to add those tonight. Any critical feedback very welcome. HF S7 C3.mov Does the running figure look male or female ? Does it look like its wearing a shirt or vest ? Does the run look OK or is it odd in places? simon

The animators steadycam effect Unintended shot courtesy of checking preceedure. I was animating the scene where Grandma waves to Jack ( grandson ) and he runs to say hello. Had a lot of trouble with the running so checked using a camera constrained to the same path. Thought it looked better than the intended shot. There is more to get feedback on but having trouble getting it all co ordinated. simon HF S7 C2.mov

Thank you David I am having all sorts of 'fun' with CP weights. I look forward to watching the tutorial regards simon

Two takes on the same scene First with a digital version of the tipsy neighbour, lusting after the grandson doing the garden HF S Six 000.mov Second with the ink drawn version of the nieghbour HF S Six Drawn.mov Critical feedback gratefully recieved By way of ( unintended ) comic relief This is one that went wrong HF S06MC.mov Its supposed to be his T shirt tied around his waist ! simon

Take seven of the departure. This has been driving me slightly crackers for the past few days as I wrestled with Photoshop. I suspect the problem was between my ears but, the problems arose from shifts of scale and positioning but the working process was too complicated as well. The KISS principle applies ( or should). Keep It Simple Simon Scene Three.mov

Nancy Thank you very much. My apologies. You did explain this to me about three years ago but it clearly didn't stick as it should. I hope it will now ! regards simon

Nancy Thank you for your reply. The problem I was having with the tga files was that, yes the alpha channel appeared black in photoshop. But , when I tried to composite another imageinto the space where the alpha should be, it stayed black and would not show the transparency.Went back and tried to clear it in photoshop but without success. I reverted to png's and that cleared the problem ( unintended pun ). regards simon

With a thank you to Robert for his help with shadows. This is Grandma's depature ( pt 1 ). Hope to get the next bit done perhaps later today. May need to go and shout a bit first as its been driving me slightly crackers getting this far due to a number of problems using Photoshop. This is far from perfect but I will come back to it later if the opportunity arises. Once again, any critical feedback very welcome indeed. simon Terrace Street.mov Ps Not sure if I've inadvertedly reset something but, working in V17, Can't seem to get the alpha channel working in TGA renders. It works with PNG but just comes out black with tga ?

Robert Its in V17 I'm working, though I do have V18. I shall try it tomorrow. Thank you for your help. regards simon

Nancy I'm not a graphic designer ( very far from it ) so take this with a truck load of salt. My only, very slight, criticism would be the placing of the text on the right side of the whole piece. As it is, it leaves a big space on the very edge, to the right of the hat and above the sprayers. You need the space and the colour of it to counterbalance the colour and shape of the bear but, might there be a better shape for the text itself and a slightly different colour? I agree with Rodney that, a book should be a strong possibility. regards simon

Could someone kindly remind me of the process for dong shadows only renders please ? Thank you. simon

Rodney Thank you for your feedback, much appreciated. The way I did it was to animate it very roughly in AM. Then render Granny as lines, print those at A3 scale ( 29.7 x 42 cm ). Draw on the prints using fountain pen ink, to get the shading. Record them on a copy stand using Dragonframe, and output a .mov file, Convert that to single frames. Cut out the unwanted bits and then composite back into the AM render. If I had longer I'd use the high res captures in Dragonframe to get the parts for compositing but, that would take even longer than it does now. In my nievity I had thought when the renders would were printed, they would retain the proportional ratio. Sadly no. So I had to cut them all out in Photoshop and composite them before matching up the with the renders for the final shot. I was going a bit stir crazy by the end as I had done it twice, thinking the first attempt was a mistake. I was trying to get a long shot pan, with a zoom at the end as the bike comes down. I wanted Granny to make an entrance, she's tring to "wind up" ( UK expression ) the neighbours. Must admit to not taking the weight into consideration as I was too preoccupied with the staging and camera. Will address that next. Just about to start on the part were she comes out of her house and rides off down the street. Hope to get it done by the weekend. regards simon

Didn't go as expected ( hoped ! ) but, this is the drawn version of Grandma arriving for the party on her Trial bike Any critical feedback very welcome S7.mov

720 from 1080 conversions Testing of Grandparents on the way to the party Critical feedback very welcome simon HF S5 Mini One.mov HF S5 R Four.mov

Robert Thank you for your feedback, much appreciated. I'm hoping to address the details after get the scenes and camera blocked. I need to get some vibration and road undulations as well as secondary movement on the figure but want to get it blocked for timing and sequence first. Speaking of which. This is Grandma arriving at the party. No animation as such but blocking the timing and camera. The figure will be drawn as before. regards simon Estate One.mov

Rodney Thank you for your encouragement. I was hoping to paint the figure for the sequence with the houses over the weekend but made a mess of getting the images printed and can't get them done again until April 3rd. Will proceed with the others in the meantime. I did have some 3/4 shots, avoiding the cardinal directions you mention but haven't got them done yet. It was basically Granddad washing his Mini before taking it out on the run. They are off to their daughters to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. They are feeling light hearted and exhuberant, so there will be a slight culture clash when they get there. The whole story ends rather tragically but, that might yet change. The whole thing has changed about 6 times so far, and still changing... regards simon

Test of idea, no character animation as yet. Grandma on her way to golden wedding anniversary. As before, the character will be drawn rather than cg country Ride 03.mov Country Ride Two.mov

Test of staging for next scene Figure only there for scale reference. Not fully posed Terrace Two B.mov

Robert Thank you. As Usual, I went a bit over the top and used 64 spokes ( 2 x 32 ) ... regards simon regards

Apologies. Just tried a different viewing angle. It seems to be working. simon

Have started trying to model a Trial motorbike for use in the current project. They all seemto have spoked wheelsrather than the alloy type used by road racersa nd production types. What might be the best way to model the spokes ? I recall someone suggesting using "render as lines" to a similar question in the past. Have tried that but, it came out as a solid disc. Deleted the rim part, leaving the splines behind, and they don't show up as lines,although that is selected under properties. Does Toon render have to be engaged for that to work or, am I missing something ? ( again ) Thanks simon

adjusted overnight but, The rectangle is more apparent but, it stands out too much against the background ? Working on the staging for the next part. A row of UK terraced houses. simon Mini Comp Three B.mov

Ah. My mistake. Will adjust overnight. regards simon