largento

I'm with you, Lloyd. That's why I look to the pro's. Yes, we can build exact replicas of homes and stuff, but sets were designed for making movies. They were built to allow camera space, to tell the story, not just so happen to be where the story gets told. Google for set designs and see what set designers have done. When you really study them, you can see the choices they made and how it helps tell the story, rather than being an obstacle to get around. Take for instance, something like this stage set: It's not particularly realistic, but look at how many different shots and opportunities you can get from a single set. The staircase, the different types of doors, the furniture and the windows. The curves and the open walls, give you plenty of space. A square room, with right angle walls would be hard to shoot in. I gained an appreciation for this sort of thing when I was recreating the Star Trek sets. They're designs were amazing practical and stylish. Even to something as simple as designing the bridge in wedges so a wedge could be removed to place a camera anywhere around the 360.

Great job, Robert! Thanks for doing it! A lot more fun when you can move 'em around. :-)

Thanks, Terry! Just wanted to get to model something fun after working on all these buildings. :-)

Thanks, Gene!

Thanks, David. Looks great. Shows how in-the-know I am that I didn't even realize this was based on a real thing. :-)

Very cool! Love to see a low-angle shot to get a sense of just how big it is.

Say, that does have a nice ring to it... :-)

Nice, Rodney!

Nice demo, Marcos! Interesting to see how the other fellows do their stuff!

I decided to hold off on the Grand Theatre/Mission Building. Don't think I'll need it for this movie. If I do a "City on the Edge of Forever" parody, I'll make it then. :-) So, I moved onto this block of buildings that I can use for across the street stuff and various filler. It's time to jump back into thick of it again and do the first sequence (the part before the hospital sequence.) Looking forward to playing with all these toys I've made for myself. :-)

Stian often builds his more complex models in pieces and puts them together in an action or choreography. You might consider copying different parts and then opening a new model and pasting them. They'll paste into the same place, so it should just be a matter of dropping them all into a choreography.

Right-click in the model window and select "info..." from the pop-up menu.

He does look more like Arthur Q. Bryan, though.

This is fantastic, looking Sebastian! I'm not usually a fan of toon render, but this stuff looks really great.

Glad to help out, Rodger. It was fun trying to track it down. It's possible he exaggerated the shadow or painted that part at a different day. Only being able to see the edge, maybe the sign stuck out further. I think what you've got looks great. Have you given any thought to how you're going to reconcile the fact that Hopper purposely used shapes instead of type for the painted names on the storefronts?

Yes, always a good idea to put your best foot forward.

Yes it does! Very cool!

Very nice!

Thanks! I think I've already pushed my luck with asking folks for money for this project. :-) The models themselves are really simple, just with a LOT of parts. Here's a wire view: There are really only two things going on here. Walls that are basically just patches with window & door holes modeled into them and boxes that are shaped into various parts like window sills and ladders. I'm the exact opposite when it comes to modeling. The normal polygon-style modeling is like sculpture to me, which I don't get very well. Modeling in A:M seems more like drawing in 3D. I think I would have been terrified of a model like this just a few months ago. I know now that was just me looking at it as a whole rather than just a bunch of simple parts. All that said, I can't wait to get back to making puppets. :-)

Whatever deal you work out, Gene. Remember: Get half upfront and the other half upon completion. There are sharks in them waters...

@Douglas—Remind me again about it next year when/if I do it and I'll see what there is. @Rich—Thanks! Still don't feel comfortable working on them, but I'm really happy with the results. We'll see how this next one goes. The next building is the Grand Theatre. The models I'm using to create my rotoscopes were built to show the buildings as they were dressed for The Andy Griffith Show. I want to be able to have these sets work for Stalled Trek, as well, so I'm looking at having to do some freestyle modeling here on this one. In the photos: 1) The Grand Theatre as it looked on Andy Griffith (next to the 4-story building I just finished.) 2) The same building in the Trek episode "Return of the Archons" with the marquee removed and the front changed to look like a storefront. 3) The same building dressed as the 21st Street Mission in "City on the Edge of Forever." 4) As it looked in the climactic scene of CotEoF as the location where Edith Keeler dies. You can see, too from those later views, that there is a shop front on the back side of the building (that's not part of the Mayberry models I'm using to make rotos.) I'm just going to have to wing it and do something that approximates them.

Thanks, Sebastian! My thinking with doing this much work creating my own digital backlot is that it'll open up the door for other projects. After The Wobbling Dead, I'm definitely going back and doing a parody of the Star Trek episode "City on the Edge of Forever."

I think they do show butchered versions of some of them, but they are more or less comic asides between other programming. There's also a looney tunes show which is some kind of situational comedy with bugs & daffy living in suburbia. Bland & cutesy. My nephews watch some pretty terrible stuff on Netflix, but they are too young and unsophisticated to know there's a difference.

I don't have the patience you guys have. I watched them cover to cover every time a volume was released. :-) What was great about having them (and the other cartoon DVDs I amassed when I was gainfully employed) was that I was able to introduce them to my nephews and give them a sort of animation education to try to counter the low quality TV animation they take in on a daily basis.

Thanks guys! Sadly, nothing exists of the old 40 Acres lot, Rodney. It was torn down in the mid-1970s. Here's the next building: This one just known as the 4-Story Building.