apophispro

I like this! It's a fun little short. The bird's flight is what stands out for me right now. It gives the appearance more of floating than flying in a lot of cases. This is particularly because the movement of the body is very static. When the bird is ascending for instance, the body is moving almost in a perfect upwards diagonal even when the wings are not propelling it upwards. The other thing is the flaps are slow and consistent which makes a nice feeling in consistency with the mood of the short, but would probably result in the bird falling to the ground were it actually flying. Here's something I've noticed people have a tendency to do when dealing with the artistic mediums. It's very easy to focus on something without focusing on the things around it. In fact, it's very much an instinct for us because it's the way the human mind works. In order to focus on one thing we eliminate the surrounding influences so as not to be processing too much information. Therefore when we see a bird fly our natural reaction is "Hey! Look at the bird!" The problem with this is that we don't typically look at the air. This doesn't pose a problem if you're just watching the bird, but if you're animating it then the air is actually the more important part. One way to think of it is in terms of character animation. Good character animation is synonymous with good acting. Acting, to go back to a cliche, is mostly reacting. Every line, every facial expression, and so on are all reactions to thoughts, feelings, and more importantly things going on around you. If you're in a conversation the line you say next is mostly due to what the person you're talking with said. Good acting most often occurs when the actor is thinking more about what the other person is saying than what they are going to say because that is how it would naturally happen. So to get back on topic, a bird's flight in some respect is a conversation between the bird and the air. The air has mass and reacts to the bird, but it also has its own actions which the bird in turn will react to. If one could imagine being a bird flying, the bird is most likely very focused on what the air is doing and probably isn't thinking much about how it's going to move its wings next. The two primary concerns in the bird's mind are where its destination is and monitoring the air to perform the proper reactions in order to successfully get there. What I'm getting at here is that in theory the best way to animate a bird in flight is to not actually animate the bird, but to animate the air. This will more accurately simulate that the bird is reacting to the air since in animating the air you are animating the bird's reactions. Of course the next thing to be taken into account is, since we're not birds, how do different types of birds react to air exactly in varying situations and what factors affect that (a la wing size, intent of the bird (hunting, long distance flight), use of tail, size of bird (determining use of body), etc). For that, research is always helpful, and youtube does seem to be a resource for everything so here are a few videos I found. Once again my recommendation would be to look more at the air and how the bird is reacting to it than how the bird itself is flying. Hope this helps!

Hi Rodney, My aim is to get into the industry, and I've made quite a few investments in that venue (despite not having the money). I have many video tutorials including the Anzovin set, Mastering Maya: The Fundamentals, and Mastering Maya: Advanced Modeling. I also have a nice shelf of cg books at home, and as I said before I'm going to college for acting and character animation next year. So I'm entirely willing to make all the investments it takes even if it takes me a waitering job, and nearly bankrupting myself to do it. That said, I've spent the day looking at different Maya communities and I still can't find anything that matches this one. Some have weekly contests and that sort of thing, but I still like the idea of the bootcamp and TWO. So I'm thinking about doubling in programs. I don't have specific plans for this weekend so I think I'm going to sit down with the Anzovin video set, boot up animation master, and see how far I can get. If I feel that it isn't going to take too much time to get up to speed in the program again then I can balance between doing what I want to in Animation Master and keeping up with Maya. Besides learning another program never hurt anyone that I've heard, and I'm certainly not going to forget over a years worth of Maya knowledge. Thanks everyone for the help, and I'll keep you posted. Maybe you'll see me with a bootcamp thread in the student forum soon! -apophis P.S. One question. As I am still back on version 10, if I find that I want to continue using Animation Master should I invest the money to upgrade? Thanks again.

Thanks for the replies everyone! As far as the application my school is using goes, they are using Maya. That was one of the reasons I originally decided to learn it. Also I used to be more interested in working for ILM than Pixar which does inherently use Maya, though heavily modified. It's not that I'm having any trouble with Maya, but it is a very technical application. I've really delved into it and worked with MEL (Maya's Embedded Language) and been learning the architecture and everything, but there are some days I just want to sit down and animate. I remember being able to do that in Animation Master whereas I feel in some ways it's harder with Maya. The other thing I miss about Animation Master is the community. If communities like this exist for Maya I have yet to find one. There are no boot camps, or collaborative projects that you can easily get into. Few people give you free rigged models to play with, or anything of that nature. It took me 4 months just to find a supportive community that used Maya. Communities like this just don't seem to happen for the big industry apps. If there are boot camps you usually have to pay to get in them, and collaborative projects are usually just a newbie who got inspired but won't make it past the first few weeks of planning. All in all the whole thing can really go against the inspiration factor. I have found some great stuff at cgsociety and at 3dbuzz, but there isn't a Tin Woodsman of Oz or Newbie Bootcamp in those places if you know what I mean. So it's not so much that I wanted to switch programs because of the application, as much as the communities spawned by the application. With all that said you're all right though. At this point there would be more advantages for me to stick with Maya such as being able to use it at my school, and who knows maybe my junior or senior year I'll try and get that internship at ILM which can only be gotten with Maya. Thanks again for all your help. If anyone has any suggestions I'd be quite happy to hear them. -apophis

Hi folks! It's been a while. I own version 10 of A:M and I bought it back around the time it came out. It was when I was just starting to get into animation, and I didn't really understand anything I was doing. I still don't understand much that I'm doing, but the difference is I understand that I don't understand it. A while after getting into A:M I tried a bunch of other programs. Around last August I switched to Maya and have been using it since. I've drifted from doing modeling (which drives me insane) to effects work (which is pretty cool), but the reason I originally got into this field was to do character animation. I'm starting to return to that now. I'm now at the point where I'd put myself as an advanced beginner or low intermediate level with Maya. I know my way around, and how the program works in all the areas. I've done some cool stuff, but nothing amazing. So now I'm at sort of a crossroads as far as programs go. I'm 18 and I'm going to be double majoring in character animation and acting next year in college with a goal of animating for Pixar. I could stay with Maya and do all of my work with that, or I could come back to Animation Master. I do remember loving this program, but I've got some concerns. The first is since I'm looking to get into the industry am I better off staying with the industry standard program, and would it all impede my chances of getting work in the industry using Animation Master? What will it look like to a potential employer on a demo reel? My second concern is what would my learning curve be since I have forgotten what I knew about the program? I don't really want to waste much time in learning another program as just launching into what I want to do. My third question is how much of a difference will it make for me? Am I really going to be better off using Animation Master than Maya? Would it actually allow me to work faster, or have other added advantages? Basically is it worth it for me? I know this is more of a personal question, and hard for someone else to answer. The second two questions would preferentially be answered by someone else who uses or has used Maya (and got to an intermediate state with it). Also I know we all love the program here, but please don't post answers that basically just say this program is awesome. The three aforementioned questions are my primary concerns as opposed to the awesomeness level of the program. Thanks in advance! -apophis

Trajce, Being one of these "raving hormonal" teens that you refer to I can tell you that seeing that animation would not convince me to get braces. I have had braces already by the way, but thinking back to before I got them there was almost nothing (excluding my parents) that could force me to get them. As a teen braces look bad (even if they make your teeth look better), they are painful which you hear from all of your friends before getting them, they make eating annoying, and a whole list of other downsides. Not to mention the fact that when you go in to get them your doctor shows a video which is basically a legal disclaimer on injuries that could occur. In order to convince a teen that braces are good you have to outweigh all the negatives with a positive, and those are a lot of negatives to outweigh. The mere fact that your teeth would be happy and straight is not an incentive. You would really have to take a much more mature animation that explains both the positives and the negatives, and then shows why the positives outweigh the negatives. Something like: if you don't get braces this is what your teeth will look like in ten years. Although I think it is an excellent animation; I'm going to have to agree that it would not sell braces to teens. Hope this helps. -Avi

Do any of Seven's posts make sense? Nice pot by the way....hmm that sounds kind of wrong

Hey Liquid, I'm a former DBP user myself. In answer to your question: yes, all models, animations, and cutscenes are fully compatible with DBP pending, of course, that you know how to import them properly. Although AM does not support the export to .x by default you can purchase a plug-in for this purpose from http://www.obsidiangames.com/ for $20 which I think is well worth it considering the price we paid for Animation Master (one tenth of 3DS Max). This will give you full support to export to DBP using the .x format which they advertise on their website. Hope this helps. -Avi