largento

Nicely done, sir!

Maybe just a slow push-in on Flemm. I could then pre-compose the sky and possibly scale it to match. I haven't used the animated part of this sky plug-in I use for my skies yet, so I'll have to see what my options are. Obviously, the simpler the better. :-)

I was trying to find a good image, but this is the only one I could find: Remember when Indy and Sallah are digging for the Ark in Raiders of the Lost Ark and they have the clouds swirling around them in and they are dark in the foreground? That's the kind of look I have in mind.

No. It's a dark, ominous scene with a giant lightning strike that will strobe Flemm for a second. This is a pronouncement that they are going to a scary island from which no one has ever gone and survived. Flemm will be dark in front of a stormy sky. I'll need to lock the camera, too, since the vfx I'll be doing will be 2D.

Cool, Robert! I'm getting closer and closer to finishing my last sequence. It feels like this has taken a really long time, but looking back I guess it's not really been all that long considering. This is definitely the longest animation project I've done so far.

I think it's just a matter of getting used to doing it. I often just click in the model window and drag select some part of the area that I'm working on. That doesn't take very much time or effort.

Thanks, Rodney! The idea of inflating the chicken prior to the "pop" was inspired by the sound effects Scott had already done. In the comic strip, you do see the chicken turning red, but I thought it needed something more, so I created a pose that inflated the chicken's proportions. To me, what really sells it is his eyes bulging out and how he throws his head back right before he bursts. To explode him out of frame, he is scaled up an enormous amount in one frame and then the explosion's opacity is immediately brought down to zero. If you could see the choreography, you'd see that there's a giant red chicken standing over them like Godzilla. :-) The chicken bits I animated in an action for the bucket. It is turned off in the choreography until the flash of the explosion. The only things added in AE were the lens flare from the ship's cannon and the beam itself. I had worried that this shot was going to require all kinds of multiple layers and all sorts of complicated things, but in the end, it was really easy. I think doing anything complex with the paint would be one of those things that took people out of it while they tried to figure out what the significance was. The graphic novel is finished and available for purchase, btw. :-) Funny stuff Mark. I almost cringed in anticipation of what I was about to see. Very nicely executed. (and for some reason I think the kids should especially love it... chicken nuggets are so primal) This'll be one of those odd observations but I submit it for your considered consideration. Could you perhaps have Flemm paint an 'X'? That is if you aren't saving that master stroke for something greater? Perhaps you could even extend the hat's tracking/reading capabity even further (in the novel if necessary... it might be too much work in the comic book or animation!) - 1 Mark - slash mark (separate) - 2 Marks - X shape (disintegrate) or (if Xs painted on many unconnected objects... reintegrate) - 3 Marks - M shape (microwave) - 4 Marks - Two X shapes (Mark Largento and Mark Skodecek appear to rig the rigging, build ships 'n bottles, animate skeletons guarding treasure and otherwise save the day) - 5 Marks - (insert standardized gag here: um... Flemm runs out of paint) etc. But seriously... it's that tried and true symbology thing. Oh how I yearn for the visual of more pirate Xs! Regardless, you are really hitting your stride here. -------------------------------------------------- Nice breakdown Robert! Looking forward to your next update. -------------------------------------------------- Edit: You posted again while I was typing. Love the evil monkeys!

No, I dont' think that was mentioned. You mean he's not on camera then? That would dramatically simplify things. Yes, originally I had just the "it's far too dangerous" line un-animated, but then when I assembled the animatic, I realized it was better with both of those lines going over the book card. I know I sent you a link to that, but couldn't remember if I'd pointed it out. So, the only animated part is "No matter the horrors that lie before us, men ...we Sail for Greyhawk Island!" and the thunderclap and reaction. Basically, up until the point he starts the "unless...".

Wow! This is why I gave you the last shot, Robert. I didn't want to raise people's expectations early on. :-) I am concerned that it's too much like a "dance" move for Flemm, though. Flemm's a big galoot and this is his "Independence Day" speech. I like the idea of him doing a slashing motion, but have that with the line "No matter the horrors that lie before us, men..." instead ...as if he's dismissing the danger. Then raise the index finger three times to punctuate the words "sail," "Greyhawk" and "Island" ...getting a little higher each time. I like the cower at the end. I get the impression that maybe you had something similar in mind, but clipped the audio? I can't remember if I mentioned it, but the last two lines ("unless it's raining. It's far too dangerous to sail in the rain.") don't need to be animated. I think they are funnier coming after the shot has ended. :-) I've made a start on the sword-fighting monkeys sequence. I'm going to be doing lots of quick shots and go for more stylized to make up for my animating shortcomings. This first shot is just the introduction of the three monkeys. Obviously, the 2-sworded monkey is the boss. In the comic, I did the fight with blue boxes in the background and I'm going to do that here, too, except they'll be in motion. Here's a shaded render. I'm doing all the actions on every 8th frame, so that I can adjust the timing, but I'm also thinking I'm going to play with time-remapping in After Effects to see if I can pull off "ramping" in the shots. monkeytest_001.mp4

I'm not ready to make any announcements yet since things are still in the gelatinous phase, but I thought I'd share this test here. I'm working on a system of doing animated puppets. A system where I can easily create many characters from basic building blocks. Essentially like the generic Muppets that you could stick eyes and noses and wigs on to make any character you needed to. I first worked on this test a few weeks ago, but tonight I experimented with adding hair. Anyways, it's just a second long, but here's the test... hairtest.mp4

Another sequence. This one with an exploding chicken. :-) littlechicken.mp4

This was great timing for me, John... just now working on an exploding chicken. :-)

Digging it, Gerry!

Thanks, David & Jake! I *am* having fun with it. Beyond that, it's a chance for me to push myself. It seems like every time I do another project I learn new things. At some point, I'm bound to figure it all out. :-) I'm not even pretending to have any clue how to create anything like that, Jake. Perfection is out of my grasp. :-)

Thanks, Holmes! I hope so, too! If nothing else, I'm having fun with it and learning a bunch as I go.

Thanks all! I got the same impression, Holmes. That it's a toy ship. That's a great suggestion, Paul. I'm fortunate to be in the position where someone is doing the sound for me (thank the maker!) I'll pass that along. He's going to be doing music for the whole thing which is something I'm really excited about. I've heard some of the sound work he's done and it's really been impressive. It might just make up some for my amateur animation. :-) I had been too intimidated to try it out, but I was amazed how easy the ocean generator was to use, Mark (i.e. you don't have to do anything to use it.) I can't imagine going back to the "flat" water ever again.

Most impressive, Matt. That granule would make a great asteroid!

Thanks, Nancy! That ocean generator is a wonderful thing!

Made it to #100 of the current storyline, Amulet of the Apes!! You can see the triple-sized Angry Birds themed strip here!

Well, I wasn't able to track it down, but my fuzzy memory was that after the type was created in a 3D app, a mask was made in After Effects and the image was then distorted and overlayed over the text. Made it look like it was reflecting images, but there was no actual reflection. Looked very similar to that effect (although it was more dramatic obviously.) I came across it while searching for inspiration for title effects. My fuzzy memory says that it was for a game trailer-like effect (maybe had "monster" in the title?) but I'm pretty sure that I didn't find it directly from a Google search, but found it linked on one of the sites that I did find in Google.

Still feverishly working to get this finished! Here's the sequence I finished today. I've been using Mark S' ocean generator with neat results. I've been adding scenes to this, but I'm pretty sure of the exact sequence now. I've got a fun scene with Flemm in his Queen Amidala outfit to do tomorrow and then I need to go back to one scene and see if I can salvage it. Then it's three short scenes and I'm finished! Of course, two of those three short scenes are going to be very difficult, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! shipsails_s.mp4 I hadn't intended this scene to be in there, but this song was part of the first voice file for Flemm that I was sent and the singing sold me on the whole thing. Was very happy to be able to fit it in.

I don't think they are transparent. I'm thinking they are masks. Meant to look like reflections. I saw a tutorial like this recently. Let me see if I can find it.

Bravo!

Love this, Gene! Great looking character and the lighting makes me think it's a smokey room.

Happy Birthday!