fae_alba

thanks to robcat's excellent tut on using A:M for making stereo movies, I've been able to start putting the submissions I do have in hand together. I'm also working on pieces of new animation to tie all of these together. I need a wheel chair model, but don't see one in the contributors section. Does anyone have one?

I'm in!

My youngest is a budding graphic artist, and had created a logo for herself a while ago. Today she asked if I could build it in A:M, and after a few hours, this is what she got. Sort of taking to it myself, might actually spend a few days and rig him and see how he animates.

I was just going to add that reading the TOAM manual would help you. There is a good discussion on timing.

Not a silly question at all. For me it all comes down to timing. Say for example you want your character to do something simple, like shrug his shoulders. Think before hand; how long does it take for you to shrug your shoulders? 1 second, half a second? Now, note how many frames per second you have set for your chor. Let's say 24 frames per second. So, your shrug, shoulders up and down, takes 1/2 second (for this example). That means, starting at frame zero, your go to frame 12 (1/2 a second) lift the shoulders, then at 24 frames (1 second) return your shoulders back. Now granted, this is an over simplification, but it should give you an idea.

The renders I have are dated 11/14/2012....

I'd just add that this mascot contest was incredibly popular, under the current parameters. It couldn't have had a better number of quality submissions, so why dink with what works. As was mentioned, there are three winners. I consider myself a winner just for getting a submission in!

That's good news...that'll make 5 submissions, so our overall length will be good. John I got yours as well, have to now review and sort the order to see how all of them will be ordered, then start stitching them together. thanks so far folks!

pharris430 at gmail dot com

Robert, I think I have something that I can use that I can also intersperse between each submission that should tie it all together... I'm going to start mapping it out tonight to get a feel for how it will come together.

Awesome!

There is no blame to be doled out here. "you can't fire a volunteer" ! I'm up for doing the production work. I think I'd like to approach this as a reboot for the project. A lot of time has gone by since the original submitters sent their work up to me, and as Robert said, there were a few others that didn't get their work in. I only have three right now, from Steve Shelton, MCossey,and MarkW. If there are any more then let me know ASAP. I will start reviewing the current three and begin the work on ordering the sequence, with the hope that more are ready but not submitted. I don't want this to drag out for more months, so no new projects should be started at this point, but if you have one done and you just need to render, then let me know. Rodney, your suggestion of a private forum is a good one, if it is all possible that would be great, if not perhaps I'll set one up on my blog site. One thing I'm not going to do is subject the project to endless debate over what should be done. If I'm going to produce it, then so be it, my decision will stand and come what may. So that's it. I'll product it. I'll look to a few others for a sounding board and perhaps assistance (I'm looking at you Mr Bigboote!, if you are amendable). I might be able to get a music loop put together that follows the original opening or closing credits of the original Hitchcock movie, but more on that later. So sit tight folks, between the latest mascot contest, and this project getting some legs under it, and we just might be off to the races!

Well, man. I of course had to cast my vote for my own...but I have to admit that it was tough. There is some quality work there!

well, for giggles I out Pappa Bear through his paces. Why I used the chicken dance I can't say. Perhaps too much sun and beer today, but here it is. Doing this little test exposed some remaining issues with the rigging, but he is getting closer. chicken_dance.mov

it looks like the interactive bits are more in support of the documentary portion. Almost feels like the digital encyclopedias of the 90's. Really if that were true, the app would be worth it for me. I'm still a little flomuxed that it is not being ported to the win or droid tablet platforms.

I've been trying to get straight the rigging of Pappa Bears' rigging for his shirt sleeve. I'm seeing a lot of bleed thru of the arm thru the shirt sleeve. and no matter what I do I can only clean up some of it. I had thought about simply removing the arm geometry where the sleeve is but for some reason I have an aversion to doing that. So my question is, with the 2008 rig, which bones should be assigned to the cp rings in the shirt and arm... PappaBear2008RigFinal_WithShirtV3.mdl Any help is of course much appreciated

No worries Jason! I think it is simply a great thing that there is so much interest in this mascot contest.

I'll say it again....this mascot contest has peaked a lot more interest in the forums of late...feels like we're anxiously awaiting the Academy Awards announcements! And yes I'm checking a lot more often too!

I'd seen this on the Disney news site. Wish I were an Ipad user!

One of my desires is to match the look/feel/color pallets from the original Disney shorts as closely as possible. I like the effect that Disney had with the multi-plane camera (Bambi) but the simplicity of the earlier shorts. Call me nostalgic, but that is what I am looking for. Add to that, with the complexity of the sets (the Disney theme parks) I can take some artistic license with the backdrops, making them simpler and quicker to render, and the audience will accept them as the theme parks. So I am leaning towards toon ass well. Anybody else wanna weigh in?

One of the decisions I need to make with my planning of Pappa Bear's career is whether or not to do these as toon renders or straight up 3d. One of the considerations is the setting. These shorts will be based in the Walt Disney World parks, initially Main Street in the Magic Kingdom. So I need to figure in creating the buildings as either models or simple projection maps. Also, while I really dig the old timey toon look, I'm not entirely sold that it is appropriate for this. I put together a quick test to see how Pappa Bear looks in both 3d and toon renders. I used a back drop painting that I had acquired at an auction that was used in an unknown Hanna-Barbara 1960's cartoon. I know the camera settings are all messed up for this test, but for the purposes of this comparison it'll do. for reference this is the panel So what I am looking for here, is input, thoughts, considerations on the "best" way to take this.

Wait, "was"? We're not done with the year yet...

Sorry about that, no it's not your eyes Paul ! I meant to post the project as we'll yesterday but somehow didn't!? When I noticed today I added it to the post. 40℃ here and no air-con, makes the brain sluggish and a bit fuzzy I fear! No worries!

I'm fascinated by how much enthusiasm this particular contest has garnered. Perhaps it's a sign of renewed excitement out here in A:M er land.

Mark, thanks for the examples. I downloaded the chor last night (am I blind or were my "beer goggles" on too tight and the project was not there then?!?). I looked it over briefly and noticed that the dynamics on your simple shirt are really damped down, which is exactly the behavior I was aiming for but couldn't seem to achieve. I think that sedate movement is key to controlling the shirt in the first place, and the willingness of my shirt to jump like Mexican Jumping Beans is part of my problem. So I'm going to dissect your settings, apply them to mine, and see if I can replicate the behavior. I really want this to work since animating by hand is an added worry that I was hoping to avoid.