zandoriastudios

no--you aren't reading the whole thread... I am using the OBJ Importer--they are now PATCH models, with all of their texture information converted to DECALs So they can be rigged and animated in A:M

More experiments with ZBrush and A:M. The dino is sculpted and poly-painted in ZBrush then I exported an .obj with color and displacement maps. I made a specular map also from the displacement. Imported all of that into A:M in a new model:

Using "draw" in the sense of draughtsmanship is a completely different meaning from "draw" as in attract... You said "the Psalmist" in your quote of scripture, that was King David; But the passage is from Proverbs 25, which is attributed to his son Solomon. It also looks like the quote was only partial because there is nothing about "...And our eyes will be instinctively drawn to that imagery..." My art teacher in high school was fond of that book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Edwards and another one called "The Natural Way to Draw" by Nicolaides. I remember doing some exercises from them, but never read them myself... Some books that were very helpful to me in learning to draw were by Andrew Loomis. An editor at Marvel Comics actually photocopied the entire "Figure Drawing for All Its Worth" (it was out of print) and sent it to me with a reply to my submission, which was very kind--I was pretty young at the time... Drawing is a skill. It is not about "Talent"--this is a myth/lie that people use when they say "I wish I could draw like you"! I know this is true because I can look back on my drawings from when I was young and hadn't developed the skill. I just had the desire to be an artist (and the stubborness to persist)... The same is true of modeling with splines in Animation:Master. We all suck when we start out. But if we persist, we get better... Remember that when a newbie says "I wish I could model as well as..."

I don't thing Hash should shoot from the hip, and add yet another logo...I think it would be better to take the full-color one that Jim made and adapt a 2-color and 1-color version of that

Mark, I did see that video, and he has good points--I think linking videos in your playlist might help--but all that matters most if you have tthe viewership to make money directly from YouTube.... I think for me, if I could use YouTube to attract fans and then target them with a DVD compilation, art book, or something along those lines...

Rodney, all good thoughts, thanks. Another thing I worry about with pitching it, is that if I sell the series and lose control, I also lose the ability to create things myself in the world that I created! That would be intolerable--unless of course for a lot of cash ...

All the rigs are The Setup Machine, so they are pretty familiar to everyone using A:M. The facial controls are just pose sliders.... I have two paths forward from here.. Pitch the series idea to a network and try to get someone to develop it. Which might even get funding and create an opportunity to create some jobs for animators in our community. But also a loss of control, because they could use whoever they want to develop it.... create a distributed studio similar to the Tin Woodman of Oz project, so that A:M animators and community have a role and a stake in it. keep puttering forward doing it myself until I die....

Yes, i think that might be fun!-- I think we must be around the same age, because we have similar influences

I mean Open Source, as in sharing the copyright with TAR of Zandoria with a group of collaborators to create more episodes of the series. Without being able to pay people, making them partners in the copyrights gives them ownership in what they are making. Like the TWO project, all of the assets could be on SVN. I live in Chattanooga which is nicknamed "GIG City" because it's smartgrid provides gigabit/sec Internet access--I'm thinking that that could be useful for a distributed studio. Of, course, the ideal situation would be to have a network option the show....

Unless there is some patron who is looking to setup a grant for A:M projects--which (to me) seems unlikely, I don't know what the scholarship/foundation talk is about.... However, there are the tools built in to Animation:Master to create a distributed studio, such as was created for TWO project. I think about this alot with my own project--make it OPEN SOURCE or something and bring in anyone willing to collaborate. there are opportunities galore working in any project like that for apprentices and on-the-job training...And the collaborators can SHARE copyright of the finished work! Anyway...it is something that I think about.... As for Crowd-funding...without a crowd, I don't think you will get any...

Part of my inspiration is the character "Zatoichi" played by Shintaro Katsu and also the character "Lone Wolf and Cub" played by his brother, Tomisaburō Wakayama. I love sitting down to watch a marathon of old black and white samurai movies

I don't know what that would be like, but it would be nice to get a grant or patronage...Just getting more "shares" is my desire (so more people SEE my cartoon )

You can't make it as a freelancer billing what you think might be a good rate to make as an employee! Remember that you are paying your own taxes, insurance, electric, phone, Internet, etc... There is a handbook from the Graphic Artist Guild for ethical pricing guidelines that has a pretty good matrix of fees based on the type of work: https://graphicartistsguild.org/handbook I usually estimate my time for a project and multiply by a rate of $60-80/hr depending on the type of work...

You might also consider invoicing at the completion of the project. A lot of businesses deal with vendors through accounts payable, and usually pay invoices in 30 days. I do work for my former employer as a freelancer and I do this--the first couple of months it felt uneasy, however now that there is a stack of invoices I can relax about it, and there is usually a check in the mailbox for 1 or 2 of them, and I can see what should be coming in over the next month or so... I used to worry about the 1/2 deposit thing, but now I prefer to give an estimate/quote on the front end and bill later.

Great feedback everybody! I don't mind critique, jut the CGTalk stuff was feeling like he wanted to teach me basic cinematography or something--which might be helpful, except like Mark said:I already see the flaws... I think I could have just cut to the first sword stroke on the Sheild( maybe a half-second) and the pacing would have been improved there... Nancy, The leader says "The wizard said he was dangerous...wait until he gets to the shadow of the cliff, then fire" The ninja says, " he doesn't look dangerous--see the vultures? They've got him marked for death..." Later the same ninja says, "oh...They follow him" That was the twist--the vultures follow TAR because he is a killing machine! He IS dangerous--and the eating is good which is why the vultures follow him. The first shot makes it seem like Tar is marked for death, with vultures circling overhead... The line that "the wizard said..." Will be important later--they are hired assassins waiting in ambush for Tar. I wanted to communicate that without very many words. Rodney, the ninja will be back--with an eye patch, and a little more respect for a dangerous foe

Thanks! I am really pleased with how it turned out. Everyone that I've shown it to seems to like it, and gets the story and everything. The only exception that I've had is on CGTalk, where the discussion is all a fairly uninformed critique (or that's how it seems to me). I think the stylistic choices "work".... I have tried to not get bogged down over-massaging the animation (there are a couple of places in the fight where I could have kept tweaking it forever)....the jittery cloth simulation led me to a blustery wind, that made it work out. I knew that I had to make choices that are not the "Hollywood" way, but I think that there is a valid space for what I'm doing.

I think he is going to stop at the waterhole for a big mug of fruit punch!

Thanks! It feels like I just birthed a baby! But it feels great to have momentum and to see it finally on screen

Finally finished! I've been working on this forever, so it feels great to finally have something to share http://www.youtube.com/embed/vd_ekaOdDWg I hope that you like it, and that you share it with your friends and followers so that TAR of Zandoria can find some fans!

He just sent me a version to review, and it is indeed AWESOME!!!!

I have an offer by Alan Williams to create the music! He is an award-winning Hollywood composer and conductor with more than 100 motion picture and television credits! www.alanwilliams.com

That sounds pretty good! Can you send me an email at zandoria@gmail.com with your contact details? I will email you the link (I don't want it getting out there yet, until I have the soundtrack finished)

I need music for the first episode! I would like some simple tribal drums/percussion as the soundtrack. I have finished the rendering (yay) and am editing and recording sound effects [did you know that a wok makes a pretty good sheild clang?]. I have a link to the current cut of the episode, so that you can compose Anybody out there have some jungle drums?

good tip

those are some amazing tools! i like the facial controls example from Malificent--i was thinking about the example posted on the forum recently of adding action objects in a POSE, and wondered if that might be a great way to bring in a setup like that, since you could use the same control model to drive named pose sliders. You could probably setup one facial control model that you could use posing your characters face, or even set it up for ZignTrack too--it could become the new way to rig faces?