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Hash, Inc. - Animation:Master

Simon Edmondson

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Posts posted by Simon Edmondson

    It was a dark and stormy night.

    in Work In Progress / Sweatbox

    Posted

    ...

    I hope this is making sense. I'm not suggesting you alter your character to conform to something you don't want or intend.

    I'm just trying to make sense of them myself and their odd middle sections are growing on me. And I can immediately recognize your characters and distinguish them from someone elses. Perhaps you can explore that stylistic approach, push it further and take advantage of it. :)

     

    Rodney

    Thank you for your considered reply. The intention is to push them further and part of that will be the adding of clothes later on. Initially I had wanted to do without clothes but I think that would make them too simple. The hat in the earlier janitor shorts worked as a prop and a sign of what he was supposed to be. When he turned it round on his head there was the shift from what he was, to what he wanted to be. At least, that was the intention.

     

    Now I've added hair, modified the chest on Winona, and made the bottom a little more rounded, I will probably make some changes to the males as well, especially as they are supposed to be builders. Not sure what they will be yet but I will post them when I do. The next short is lined up and storyboarded, an actor friend is going to do the voice and I even know the techniques to be used. (!!! shock). I've just got to get this one finished first....

    regards

    simon

     

    Ps

    A friend gave me a compilation of Sherman's Lagoon and I'm reading it now. I find the shifts between shark as human substitute and shark as shark keep putting me out of the narrative. Whereas the shifts in Calvin and Hobbes ( which we've talked about before ) are part and parcel of the narratives and work really well. The drawings are fab too!

    It was a dark and stormy night.

    in Work In Progress / Sweatbox

    Posted

    Hey, she's looking good! Nicely done.

     

    Can I ask again... because you didn't address this before when I asked... why you've settled on the style of the unnaturally thin chest and stomache area for your characters?

     

    I ask because these look like normal character except for that area.

    If they are robots then disregard... I get it.

     

    Rodney

    Pardon me I didn't intentionally not address the question. It was a stylistic decision sometime back, taken for a number of reasons. Partly my lack of modelling ability but also a reaction to photorealism. I can appreciate other peoples skills in that regard, and there are some very able people on the forum but, too often you wonder why not do it live action instead? I think the clincher was reading an article or book somewhere were they suggested that using stick figures meant there was nowhere to hide, your errors or mistakes would be more apparent and that seemed like a good idea if I wanted to improve. That may have been the George Maestri book I mentioned the other day.

     

    I had an idea for a series of shorts based around similar figures under the provisional title of Blockheads. This one was Winona Blox ( the name taken from a character in the TV series "Justified" ), she has a rival Ava, ( similarly named ), each has a partner and there are kids too. The males tend to be straight edges and the females curved although they will need further development. I tried to use the simplest of graphic means to draw them and then replicate that in the models. The eyes, for example are black, flat with a line above and below. The mouths are very similar with no space behind the lips, just a black area.

     

    Another influence was the Pink Panther, which was always one of my favourite cartoons because of what it did with very limited means. PP is basically a stick figure with a big head and a tail. The very simplicity of the means allows a huge range of options and plays against the form. A bit like some of the WB shorts were Bugs Bunny draws a door on the wall and escapes , only to meet something coming the other way ( although that might be a road runner cartoon ? ). I remember a PP short were he is walking down some stairs and notices a picture is not straight on the wall. He stops, straightens it and the whole world tips up and he falls down the stairs.

     

    The intention next year is to use the stick figures to continue learning about timing, movement and techniques, while preparing designs, story and processes for a project using fuller figures and a combination of cg and stop motion. I'm working on the designs in the evening when the computer is rendering away. I have a terrible tendency to start when only 60% ready ( as evidenced by this short ) and hope to catch up with the other 40% when underway. Next year should rectify that. In my dreams maybe !

     

    Coincidentally, I did have an idea for a possible community project that might be of use ? It was very simple. Knights in armour doing sports. Each person would make their own knight ( close to a stick figure ? ) and nominate a sport. Animate their character doing that sport, then try to animate it doing the sports nominated by other people. My choice would be the pole vault. The results could then be edited together like TV coverage of a track and field event,which tends to cut from sport to sport, complete with commentary. I wondered if it might work as a learning process and be fun to do ?

     

    Best stop there before I go off and start rambling even more.

    regards

    simon

    A:M Beginner-Tutorial Modelling (with v17)

    in A:M Tutorials & Demos

    Posted

    Hi Simon,

     

    I just recently (actually today) got my new webdesign up and running.

     

    You can watch this video-tutorial now online at:

    PW3d: Basics of patch modelling

    (the link in the first post has been updated too)

     

    See you

    *Fuchur*

     

    Gerald

    Thank you very much for that.

    Is it still possible to download the file? I anticipate that I may have to watch it several times.

    regards

    simon

     

    Ps

    Thank you.

    I learnt a lot I didn't know, especially about the use of bias handles.

    A:M Beginner-Tutorial Modelling (with v17)

    in A:M Tutorials & Demos

    Posted

    Hi!

     

    so here it is: Another beginner Tutorial for A:M... ;)

    PatchWork3d: Beginner Tutorial

     

    It is quite large (mp4, about 50 min. 1024px * 604px resolution).

    Filesize is about 160 MB, but I think it is worth it for a beginner!

    Let me know what you think.

     

    ...

    See you

    *Fuchur*

     

    Gerald

    I tried to download the file but the full version would not arrive. I got a small zip instead at about 30K rather than the 150Mb you mention. Is it still available and, if so, where can I find it?

    regards

    simon

    Death of Run Wrake

    in Off Topic

    Posted

    I was not familiar with him prior to this.

     

    I wonder how you get clearance on all those re-used images and if you don't, how do some people get a pass on that and others not?

     

     

    He explains in the commentary that he had a sticker album from the 40's/50's that he used for Rabbit and he scanned and reworked them in photoshop. My guess would be that they were either out of copyright or sufficiently reworked not to infringe it but, thats just a guess on my part.

    There was a news story about him working away on a pegbar up until the day before he died. I think a lot of the images are his, done in the style of but thats another guess.

    simon

    Death of Run Wrake

    in Off Topic

    Posted

    Dang, psychedelic!

     

     

     

    Another animator friend spotted this today. Its an interview with Wrake were he outlines some of his methods and approach to animation. Its only about 5 mins long.

    simon

    It was a dark and stormy night.

    in Work In Progress / Sweatbox

    Posted

    I usually use a image on the emiter and just use the tools in the hair grooming mode ,it works very well Simmon

     

     

    Steve

    Thank you very much for your help.

    I'm trying that method but I'm not getting as far as your splendid examples.

     

    I've revised my earlier post. Got rid of the dreadlocks and just going for straight hair on a four CP patch.

    I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible. Have a black an white striped image. and it doesn't seem to give the expected variation.

    H'mmm time for something to eat and a cup of tea...

    regards

    simon

     

    Hair_Test.jpg

    It was a dark and stormy night.

    in Work In Progress / Sweatbox

    Posted

    I would work through that in conjunction with watching the Hash Inc Tech Talk on the same subject:

     

    http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=26614

     

    We've been a little slow at getting a forum area dedicated specifically to Hair (particle and otherwise) but we'll get there eventually.

     

    Added: There are other resources available to... as others join in the discussion we'll be able to explore those too!

     

    Rodney

     

    I worked through Holmes tutorial, with mixed results, then turned to the AM files you suggested.

    Unfortunately, the tech talk is very difficult to follow because it reads as though translated from another language or possibly an audio file ? Hot example, the second sentence reads

     

    "You oblivious know how to make a new hair here."

     

    and there are many similarly mangled sentences which make it awkward to follow. I then tried the tech talk video but the sound came up only, no video image.

    Tried the link in Chrome, ( as opposed to Safari), but it would not play QT files that old and the change settings dialogue was hiding somewhere unknown.

     

    The tutorial in TAOM uses a decal to control the length of the hair but is there anywhere that explains how to draw up the decal to get what you want?

    I tried the method Holmes outlined on a simple flat plane, and got the following result. I moved the plane around in a chor but the hair stretched and lagged rather than followed the plane. I am obviously missing something here ?

     

    Locks.mov

     

    Could someone kindly point me in the right direction ?

    regards

    simon

     

    Locks.prj

    Streaming Services a Second Revolution for TV?

    in Off Topic

    Posted

    I have almost completely stopped watching broadcast TV so there is that change.

     

    I had Netflix streaming for a while but there wasn't much I wanted to watch on it. Most of the movies i wanted to see (old classics, foreign language films, music related) tended to be DVD-only so that is the version of NetFlix I have now.

     

    Robert

    A friend sent me this link the other day which may be of interest ? Its supposed to be a free link to watching independent films ( legally I think ). I haven't tried it yet as busy with other stuff but when I looked it there seemed to be a high number of foreign language films. Which was great for me !

    regards

    simon

     

     

    http://www.indiemoviesonline.com/

    It was a dark and stormy night.

    in Work In Progress / Sweatbox

    Posted

    Could somebody kindly point me to where I might have gone wrong |?

     

    Particle hair.

    Should have gone with the skull cap (and/or used patch image or decaled hair). ;)

     

    The secret to particle hair IMO is to keep it at a very low density until you have it exactly as you need it at the lower density and then increase that density. As there are many parameters to tweak it takes quite awhile to get a good feeling for it and it helps to experiment with one patch (and not an entire scene) until you feel comfortable animating with it.

     

    Rodney

    Thank you for your reply.

    You are correct, it is particle hair. I'll go back to the earlier section of Homeslices tutorial.

    I only put it in the chor when I got to that part of the tut and I had the chor there...

    regards

    simon

    3d Ark Article with nice info about A:M

    in Off Topic

    Posted

    Hi!

     

    3d Ark has been one of the most well known websites in 3d and even so it is not that popular today you may want to have a look at this article:

    Character Animation: What it Takes

     

    See you

    *Fuchur*

     

     

    Gerald

    Thank you for that. Steph Greenberg used to be a member of this forum I think (?) but, like Vern, I haven't seen him around for some time?

    There's two books I own which both recommend AM, one is "Digital Character Animation" by George Maestri and the other is The Animation Book by Kit Laybourne. Both are very complimentary about it. I read them before I bought the software.

    simon

    Layers and Layers and layers

    in Off Topic

    Posted

    I'm presently playing with a freeware ap called Pencil somebody ( an australian whose , pardon me, name I can't recall ) mentioned elsewhere on the forum.

     

    Another free 2D app is Plastic Animation Paper. It's free because it's not being developed anymore but it has the best pencil look than anything I've tried so far, if you have a pressure sensitive tablet.

     

     

    Robert

    Thank you for the info I shall go away and have a look. I have a ( slightly wonky ) Intuous tablet and a very large Ultrapad which I was hoping to convert to use on the Mac. I was going to use Pencil to story reel next years project. I have a terrible tendency to start production when its only 60% planned. Hope to get over that next time...

    regards

    simon

    Layers and Layers and layers

    in Off Topic

    Posted

    Toonboom is something of an industry standard in 2D these days. It's larger suite called 'Harmony' is thousands of dollars out of the price range of most artists ...

    I rate the lower end software offerings as fair and useful but those who are serious about animation won't be satified until they get to the 'Animate Pro' level as there are tools in that package that 2D artists would have a hard time finding anywhere else. Toonboom tends to run a sale every other weekend so if the price isn't right today... wait another weekend. The going rate for Animate Pro is $1,199....

     

     

    Rodney

     

    Thank you for the info. It does sound like it is completely outside my price range. I'm presently playing with a freeware ap called Pencil somebody ( an australian whose , pardon me, name I can't recall ) mentioned elsewhere on the forum. The college I mentioned above uses a program called TV Paint

     

    http://www.tvpaint.com/v2/content/article/home/

     

    and I was contemplating getting that some ( distant ) point in the future.

     

    regards

    simon

    Walk Cycle / Animation Critique

    in Open Forum

    Posted

    AnimSchool Instructor JP Sans reviews student, Jorge Feres's, character walk from his Animating Characters class. Here JP goes over fundamentals and how to push poses to help create contrast in a shot
    .

     

     

     

     

    Rodney

    I would be very interested to see the clip you mention but, no reference to it appeared in my browser ( Safari ). Could you kindly supply the link again ?

    regards

    simon

    Layers and Layers and layers

    in Off Topic

    Posted

    Robert and Rodney.

    Am I right in thinking you are suggesting it is analogous to traditional Cell animation with different parts on separate layers or Cells ?

    Regards

    Simon

     

    Ps

    Pardon my ignorance but, what is Toonboom ? I've heard of Animo, although not recently...

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