Simon Edmondson

. Although the configuration of my steam locomotive never really existed, I shamelessly stole features from three real prototypes. Rodger Pardon me, I meant to add this in my other post. There is a famous American photographer called, I think, O Winston Link, ( http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=o+winston...359&bih=928 ) who specialised in photographs of steam locomotives and their settings. You may enjoy the images as well as finding references for your work ? Coincidentally, there are several 'heritage' railways within 50-60 miles of where I live in the UK and they run regular steam locomotive services through the year. regards simon

But...but...literal's what I do. It's all I know. Although the configuration of my steam locomotive never really existed, I shamelessly stole features from three real prototypes. Rodger I am fairly literal minded myself ( from a family of very literal minded people ) what I meant was, sometimes an exact replica is not possible because what is depicted is not possible in the 'real' world. An extreme example of that would be the work of MC Escher. It looks believable until you look closer and see the anomalies (?). It works in 2D but wouldn't in 3D. The same is true of a lot of Hoppers work. If you find a way to recreate the textures and colours of the painting in your models for AM could you please ( pretty please !) let me know, as it is something I would love to achieve in a project I have been trying to develop for a long time ? My focus is on the animation rather than the modeling side of things. I'm not very good at that at all. Nancy has a very good link to the TCM bumper based on Hopper's work. regards simon

EDIT: here's one of the Turner Classics Bumper on for Hoppers paintings in CG Nancy That is fabulous. I have never seen that before. I would love to be able to get that painted feel in my work. I have a particular project it would be especially applicable to that I was thinking would have to be hand drawn. Thank you very much for the link. Simon

But looking at Phillies with my "how do I build it" eye I wonder about its shape. The counter on the redhead's left is obviously not parallel to the counter nearest the viewer. Is the building triangular? Does the street upon which the viewer is standing not perpendicular to the far street? Are there any obsessive Hopper "fans" who try to answer these questions? I like Hopper and have atttended a few of the shows here and in the USA that featured his work. I'm certainly not an expert on him or his work so take what I say with a lot of salt. An art history lecturer did his Phd on Hopper and that period of US art. In one of the lectures I attended he pointed out that, it is a regular feature of Hoppers work that the diagonals and structures of the paintings don't always conform to strict rectilinear perspective or 'normal' organisation, indeed part of their effect relies on it not doing so. He illustrated this especially with Nighthawks at the Diner and the one with the loan woman at the table in the automated restaurant ( can't recall the title at present ) where the lights recede in one perspective, the table in another, the window frames in a third and the windowed reflections of the figure in a fourth. If you were to try to recreate Night Hawks it might be best not to go for a literal transcription but using the skills you've deployed on the warehouses to build the feel of the picture using colour, texture and lighting ? It would certainly be distinctive in CG terms as I can't recall seeing anything similar ? regards simon

I'm certainly not an expert in this ( as witnessed above ) but, it is fairly straight forward to animate to sound in AM in terms of importing the sound. I think AM only supports wav files (?) so thats what you need but, I don't think it supports 24 bit sound files so 16bit or less is best. It will import 24 bit files but, if you try to export as a QT or avi file the sound becomes distorted. This may have changed in V16 and V17 but I'm not sure. ( I haven't upgrade yet because of illness and trying to finish a project. ). To import the sound just go to the sound folder in the PWS, right click and navigate to the file you want, select it, and its imported into the project. If you are animating in an action file, drag the sound from its folder and drop it on the action. It defaults to starting on frame 0 but you can drag it along to change that if needed. When you've finished the action file if you import the figure into a chor to set up the lighting and cameras and drop the actiuon on it there, the sound is automatically incorporated and the will be part of the animation when rendered out. If you were using the soundclip you posted there are several approaches you could employ. Possibly the best (?) would be to analyse the clip to find out which frames the beats falll on and animate to that. Because you have a regular beat in the clip it should be fairly predictable once the pattern is established. You can analyse the clip outside AM or within by stepping through the file a frame at a time using the + and _ keys and listening for the beat. The style of movement or dance would be individual choice. Hope that helps simon

Thank you. I had got some female designs lined up but There are aspects of your model that may get incorporated. regards simon

Cool! Reminiscent of Bill Plympton's animation. Its a development in a way of the Paul Klee description of his approach to drawing as "taking a line for a walk" I was thinking about it as I was going to bed last night ( not a good idea). There was obviously a fair bit of editing in the final version. As a second a day for three years works out to 18 mins 15 seconds (?) and it was a bit shorter than that. Not that it detracts from the result at all. I was impressed by the work and the method and might try to use it on an idea I've been working on for a while. If I can get myself organised enough of course! simon

Gerry I looked at the link you mentioned elsewhere about Music in animation. Have you ever seen the work of Len Terry ( I think that was the name ? might have been Len Lye ? ) Who did work for the British Post Office ( GPO ) around the second World War ? It was all set to music but used abstract colour shapes and rhythm's. The work of Norman McClaren for the film board of Canada was quite influential as well in the use of sound. He drew direct onto the film stock with a sharpened tool and then scratched on the magnetic strip at the side to create the sound forms. Simon Ps I read somewhere recently that the old Tom and Jerry cartoons were always drawn on 8's because that helped with the timing of the music...

Rob Thank you. You replied as I was typing my response to Detbear and pixel plucker. Co incidentally, I had noticed your interest in 2D and had tried to send you a message about some I was recently introduced to. http://vimeo.com/33211636 This bloke is a french 2D animator living in Denmark. He worked on a project were he did 12 drawings a day for three years using used A4 paper. You might like the result? Pardon me if I have posted this inappropriately. regards simon

Thank You both for your replies. I am working on some lip synch but had a look and followed your suggestions. The model is 1metre 83cm in the window ( trying for life scale ) and the root bone was 7 metres 15 cm ( nearly four times the length !). I selected the root and opened up the size dialogue in properties, changing it to 30cm. It seems to have worked this time whereas it didn't before (?). It doesn't appear to have affected the rig as yet but I will find out shortly when I test the animation again. Thank you very much for your help. regards simon

AM automatically assigns a model bone when you make a model. Is there a way to scale it in proportion to the model itself rather than accept the default size ? I have tried to change the size under properties but, although the new figures are accepted in the dialogue box, the apparent scale does not change in the view window. ? I ask because, when in an action or chor window and I zoom to fit the model using ctrl,shift, Z it zooms to include the model bone rather than just the model itself ? regards simon Imac/OSX 10.68/ AM16

Rob I just said thank you in theWIP section. You are a busy and helpful fellow.Thank you. I shall look up the selection sets tomorrow. regards simon

Rob Thank you once again for your feedback. I've read the book "Acting for animators" but it was a few years ago and may need to re read it. The author is a big fan of Chaplin ( understatement ). The length of clip was geared to the song but, in my naivety I hadn't realised the length would be so much ( if that makes sense ? ) it gives me pause as the next one lined up is 80 seconds long. I think I may learn from my mistakes there ! I will watch the keyframing basics tomorrow, as I'm off to bed shortly, but thank you for pointing it out. I'll also try the single poses idea. That might take some time I feel. Much to chew on. Thank you again regards simon

I hope I'm asking this in the right place ? It might sound odd but, is there a way to change the way joints are listed in the action and choreo files. Not the names but the way the hierarchy is listed at the side ? At first I thought it was the order on which the bones were selected at first but. I tried to select them in the order I would use them later and it still seems to come out the same. descending it reads Back Back 2 Head Hips Then the first finger joint then the bicep What I 'd like to do is to get the hierarchy in order so it descended as Bicep Forearm Hand Thumb 1 Thumb2 Thumb3 First finger Furst Finger 2 First Finger 3 and so on. This might seem like a petty question (?) but its just that it would make it easier when animating. Hope so anyway ! regards simon

Still plugging away on the blockhead figures. This is the most recent animation test. You'll spot its intention... I begin to realise that I am hitting my limits as an actor ( and the threshold was low to start with ) so I may start to take lessons accordingly. Any feedback on the animation would be most welcomeTest.mov. For me the biggest problem is the mouth shapes. The style of mouth chosen does not permit of enough variety of shapes so I will have to work on that. On a related question to that. It is possible to paste parts of one model into another, eg an ear or eye but, is it possible to paste the mouth poses of one into another if the style and layout of the mouth is the same in each case ? or Having got the shapes for one correct can I copy that and paste it on another and retain the pose sliders. Or do I have to redo them each time ? regards simon Ps Thank you once again to Nancy for pointing out the smart skin tutorial the other day.Most welcome.

Pardon my comment as I'm not in a position to make critical observations about what looks outstanding to me. However, for your information... Have you see the film "bThe Golden Compass" ( Danial Craig and Nicole Kidman star in it but its not their story ). It is set in a paralell world and a large section of it features Polar Bears, some of which wear armour... regards simon

Hope I'm not speaking out of turn here but, Have you thought of doing Edward Hopper type illustrations ? With skills like those you display It might prove worthwhile financially as well as aesthetically ? regards simon

In the words of the song, "don't get me wrong"... I wasn't trying to give you the silent treatment. I just didn't think I had much else to say. I wish you well with your efforts. I would suggest avoiding the dancing for a bit but, simply because its easy to get it wrong and very very difficult to get it right and you want your show reel to really sell you to prospective employers ? regards simon

I am very impressed. Thank you. That is something I would like to try myself... regards simon

I guess I never asked the question on here: does it look good enough that it's worth pursuing? I know if I were to find a career as an illustrator, it wouldn't be so glamorous as first thought. Now it sounds like work I don't want to sound trite here but, whatever you do its going to be work. I know nothing about civil engineering, the closest I get to it is insulating the garden shed so I can work in it. My guess would be that you went into that area because you enjoyed it and it was interesting to you but, it was still work and you had to apply yourself to it ? The same applies in Animation or illustration, or any other subject area. The old cliche/equation of 99% perspiration to 1% inspiration oversells the inspiration a bit but is a good guide. I would not try to discourage you or anyone else from pursuing it as an option, quite the opposite in fact but, to do it well and get paid for it is a LOT of work. I play the guitar and am moderately competent at it. If I'd put the work in years ago I might have been reasonable at it and even able to earn a little. However, its my hobby and I derive a great deal of pleasure from it, in my case the artwork takes precedence and thats were most of the time and effort goes. ( theres 10 guitars trying to distract me though ! ). regards simon Ps Have you seen the Pes animations on Youtube that he did for Bacardi ? Done with stop frame ( unless very much mistaken ). I don't know if he approached them or the other way around having seen his other work (?). My guess would be that it started off as a hobby for him but has developed into far more than that?

Rob Thank you for that. I will eventually get involved with f curves but that will be someway in the future. I'm developing the stick figures and the story ideas to go with them, while trying to catch up with the things I should have learned before... Its fun though. regards simon

If you want to approach an agency to try for work as an a illustrator the question is usually, do you want to work in a particular style or across a range of styles. Most illustration is fairly anonymous. You can think of particular illustrators but that is not common, it is usually about the product being shown rather than the way it is being shown. Thats a bit of an over simplification but a general guide. If you want to do product illustration it might work to pick a couple of products and prepare models of those in a range of styles or high quality photo realistic renders. The image you posted might work in the classic print ad that shows the product and the scene depicts it in use. The sort of ad that used to be a staple of drink and cigarette adverts (?). In the example mentioned before, a standard composition might be the bottle in front, as with your image, and Vera in the scene enjoying its pleasures. The composition might stay the same but the individual details would vary with each ad. The clothes worn, the colours used, the lighhting, the furniture, the decor. Such ads tend to be aspirational in that they depict settings which people would want to be in with the product. The living room would be up market, comfortable rather than trailer home crowded to use an extreme contrast. The clothes too would reflect that style. Designer labels rather than the chain store stuff I wear. If you want to use Vera, could you kit her out in those kind of clothes to fit with the illustrations of the product ? If you are going to use a drinks related theme it would be as well to use a second character, simply because of the connotations of the lone drinker. ? regards simon

Pardon me as I've joined this a bit late in the proceedings. I used to teach Art and Design up to degree level but please take any suggestions with the proverbial bag of salt. If you want to develop the image to try for possible advertising work the questions are, Are you showing your ability to generate your own concepts or your ability to produce towards those generated by the client. If you were applying to work at an agency you might want to show the former. If working for that agency then the latter. Are you generating the brief or working to it basically. A project we used in the past was for the brand of Scotch Whiskey called "Black and Whyte". A brand that has not be seen ,at least over here in the UK, for some time. Using the catchline "Only the name is Black and White" The name implies clearcut valiues and tastes yet the product is more reknown for the suntleties of its taste. If you were to illustrate that, how would you do it ? How could your composition be adapted to fit that campaign? Would you want to illustrate the product in the foreground as with your image or in a setting to fit with the campaign theme. If you go with the theme how could you adapt it to different settings and what type of colour schemes would you employ? If you look at advertising critically, especially drinks advertising, you will notice that the choices of colour are very deliberate and subtle to fit the product brief. It might pay to try to replicate an example of that in your own use of colour ? I haven't used it personally but, I understand that, there is a feature in Photoshop which allows you to match the colours of a source image into your own image ? If so, you could use that feature to analyse source material and then replicate those colours into your models then manipulate the material properties and the lighting in the choreograhphy to achieve the lighting look you require. If you used a standard composition it would show your skills as an illustrator and master of your software, to then alter the mood and feel of it by manipulating the colour, lighting and textures in the scene? Two pence ( minus one) worth simon

I'm not sure what the line is... "I repeat, sir, where is the breeze?" Rob Thank you for the comments. I've included a 3/4 view with this reply. I had tried to put a couple of holds in but, am still finding how to do that effectively. I think it might be best to try a longer duration piece? Regards simon Revised_Test3_4.mov The line is " I repeat Sir, where's the goodies ? " I'm guessing Yogi had an empty picnic basket...

here's one - another terrific tutu from Holmes on Smartskin Nancy Thank you very much for that. I shall try it this afternoon. regards simon