Simon Edmondson

Plodding on, as ever. Encountered a problem. I'm preparing a series of stills to form part of a montage sequence. Trying to show part of the characters of Bill and Doris ( 70+ Grand parents ). Prepared the series of poses in a single cho, then put a hold on each frame so it could be rendered out as a sequence without having to change anything. The results were inconsistent, as you can see below. The models, lighting and render setting were identical in each frame but the way the width of toon line was rendered, changed markedly, on successive frames. This was frame 002 of ten, and this was frame 003 of the same sequence, Notice the difference in the size of the toon limes ? Can anyone kindly suggest a solution ? simon PS an irrelevant question but, has the counter on the number of views for this thread gone haywire, it seems to leap up hugely each day ?

Robert Just went back to check it with fresh eyes. As well . Theres no cure for dumb. My apologies. It was operator error. I was looking at frame 00, but rendering frame 01. It was an old cho and I had all the frames on hold and hadn't checked the sequence when reopening the file yesterday, Thank you for you help once again. regards simon

Thank you Robert. I hope you'll pardon me but, I will do it it tomorrow as, aside from this, I'm trying to relax a little away from the computer. Making a stop frame model as it happens.. Got the Cintiq working earlier but, it was almost TKO in the 12th round. regards simon

Robert Thank you for your help. Normally no. It is usually set to use this panel. I've been wrestling with a Cintiq today ( it is winning ) but will check that later. Wonder sometimes if I'm becoming allergic to computers, Been having so much techno aggravation the past few weeks my placid nature is under strain. ( moan, moan, moan ) regards simon

Have a problem I've not encountered before and wondered if anybody else has and if they might have a solution ? This is a screen grab of the scene with a quick render in place. It shows the composition including the two figures. However, when I render it to file from the same camera, with no other changes, this is what comes out. A close up of one figure. Any help you can offer will be gratefully received. A bit of a puzzle! simon OSX 10.85 on a 2.3Ghz Mac mini with 4Gb of Ram AMV17g SSE3 PS I tried restarting it altogether, twice, but not change.

Robert Thank you for your feedback. The story arc is that the couple are 'celebrating' their 50th wedding anniversary, They are light hearted about it but their daughter and son in law are much more formal and materially oriented. This part, and their arrival via motorcycles and fast car ( both linked to their competitive past ), are to show that they have not lost their lightness of spirit or settled for the slippers, TV and walking the dogs lifestyle often expected of people in their 70's. They are slightly rebellious and have more in common with the grandchildren than the middle generation. "Vive la Difference" It does have a sad ending though. regards simon

Thank you Rodney.I think its going to take a lot of small adjustments to get it 'right'. The blends between still frames was done in Final Cut but the rest is all AM. I must admit to getting a bit fed up with it all because I've been bashing away at it for so long. But will get it done properly. Want to get all the animation done and the narrative working before doing all the sound. Keep getting ideas for other projects but resisting starting them. The next one is likely to be a combination of AM sets and camerawork and hand drawn figures ( using TVpaint ). Need to get the script sorted first and the dialogue recorded as the animation will work off that. Happy Families is all voice over and sound effects. regards simon

With sound effects and Flashes. Think the timing may have to speed up on the movements ? Any critical observations very welcome. simon S6 D.mov Caution. It does contain strong flash effects.

The stills with Flash gun pops have not been done yet but this is nearer the speed. Not sure how to do the stills as a freeze frame? suggestions very welcome, simon S6 D.mov

This is about x6 as fast as it will be but, the intention is to use the motion blurred frames as inbetweens with the sound of a camera shutter 'freezing' the poses which will hold on screen as photo prints. Thats the idea anyway ... N.mov

Next Scene. The first 25 frames are a bit wobbly on the camera so thinking of redoing that but, Any critical feedback very welcome. Especially if you think I've missed it! simon S6 B.mov

As a QT file Any critical feedback very welcome S5 J.mov

Test towards final shot of this scene

Apologies for the delay.Had to take some time away from cg work because it was driving me slightly round the twist. Had to get away from sitting in front of the thing and do something else. Anyway. There are some glitches and continuity errors in this ( you may spot more than I have ) but, this is it so far. Any critical feedback very welcome indeed, simon NHF So Far.mov Off to try catch the glitches and errors spotted so far. A cautionary note, Doris ( 70+ grandma,) directs a crude gesture at the tipsy neighbour at the very end of this sequence. Apologies if anyone is offended. Its supposed to be in character.

1080 version of S5 G Not sure if the focus pull works, too fast, too slow drop altogether ? will try to put the other S5 files together into a sequence this weekend simon S5 G.mov

Still plugging away. Hope to have some QT files to post over the weekend, This is a test towards part of scene five. the background will come into focus when the figures exit towards the camera. simon This is a VGA test without the focus pull S5 G.mov Just noticed a pesky shadow. DRAT ! back to the render for that.

Steve Thank you very much for the reply and help. I shall try that tomorrow. Tedious is not an understatement. regards simon I did get so wound up by it that I went and indulged in some displacement activity last night. This was the result Sneezing Daffs.mov

William Thank you very much for your reply, and for your very helpful tutorial, I haven't really tried Smartskin yet as I found the weighting rather frustrating. I don't know if its an error on my part but the weighting seems to change slightly when i move the model between different versions of the software. It is easier to do the weighting in V15 because, the values inserted are retained when you insert another. V17, seems to average them automatically each time one is changed. That gets very wearing after a time. regards simon

With thanks to Robert Mark and Rodney at the weekend. I redid the weighing. Managed to get rid of the problems from last week, only to replace them with others ( sigh). Think I'm going to have to try to get to grips with smartskin now. This was a version of the fie worked on. The difference in render styles is intentional ( too much art theory when doing the course for the past two years !!! ) regards simon S5 B.mov

Rodney Is there a link to a written explanation that William mentions in his forum post ? I don't wish to sound ungrateful but, the sound quality on the video is rather distracting. Its as if it was recorded next to a water display. William's voice is clear enough but the sound of water all the while lulls the concentration. regards simon

Robert, Rodney Thank you for your replies and Help. I couldn't get to live answer last week as I had to go to Cambridge on Saturday and didn't get home on time. I'll try to get my setup ready for this weekend. regards simon Just about to watch the William Sutton film

On a further question As mentioned above, I'm trying to get more familiar with SmartSkin. Its not something I've used before really, as the 2008 rig install pdf ( and other advice ) suggests that CP weighting will largely get what is needed. However that is the source of current frustration. I've read the section in the David Paries book and TOAM but, when working with SmartSkin, what is the process you would employ ? Do you make a different SS for each bone in different positions so you can try and get it up to work in an action or, is it better to have an action to test it with and go through that to find where it is needed, or, something altogether> Bit at sea here. simon

Still wrestling with cp weighting, although on a different model. I looked up smartskin on the forum and there was a reference to a William Sutton description of the technique he uses. Looked that up but couldn't seem to locate it. Could someone kindly direct me to it so I can try it out? Thank you simon PS I found this but, it came up with a "404 page not found error" Does anyone know where it is now ? Smart Skin Tech Talk Animation:Master hash inc training

I've reinstalled the 2008 rig in a cleaned up version of the model, using V15 It was a lot more straightforward than previously. Just about to test it using the chor. Will post the result tomorrow. Thank you to all who helped. Much appreciated. simon

Just noticed something which might have a baring on the problems ? I was preparing for the live answer session when I looked at the model in bones mode Notice the position of the thigh fan geometry bones I had a look at other models and, this is essentially the same model, but with a different version of the mesh attached. Notice the position of the same bones I don't know how this has happened but might it be the cause of the trouble ? I tried to follow the rig install instructions as closely as possible in both models, I've checked various iterations of the same grandson model and thet all seem to have the same fan orientation. will check again. simon