williamgaylord

Here's today's contribution to the project. It's a model of an old brownstone rowhouse. I'll use this to create a very wide shot of a whole row of these as a backdrop for the trees that will grow along the street. The shot will be an extreme telephoto--very wide, like an extreme letterbox format--with the trees growing up along the street. Later I plan to animate a boy and girl planting the trees, with the trees growing up as they progress down the street. Still have a few details to add, like doors and texturing. I love Animation Master! Such a joy to use! Anybody know off-hand how to set the transparency of an individual patch independently from its surroundings? I need to make the patches behind the windows transparent. Thanks! Bill Gaylord

What a wonderful animation! Thanks to both Jim and Stephen for such an inspiring work! I guess the other dwarves don't let Schlitzy anywhere near the dynomite! Bill Gaylord

Great to see the final product after having seen a few samples at one of our Atlanta AM user group meetings. Very impressive and interesting site! Bill Gaylord

"She'd have to be the brains though. I'm afraid Edna isn't the brightest bulb in the box." I don't know...I could imagine Edna delivering some real zingers! And all with that radiant smile, too. Bill Gaylord

What a great character design! She positively radiates a cheerful charm. Look forward to seeing her story develop. Keep up the great work! Bill Gaylord

Great job of animation! Very smooth and natural. Why not cricket sounds? Or is this leading up to it...next scene he steps up to the microphone and lets loose a wicked cricket riff... Perhaps a smile, wink, and "thumbs" up after cranking the gain up...or a grin and an a rubbing of the "hands" in anticipation... Great work!

Frank, Thanks for the references! These look very interesting. I plan to put this tree in an urban context, either a slum or a very stark, cold, sterile one (the latter might be easier to construct). This tree or its offspring will be the "star" of the show with other plants like grass (made with AM's wonderful hair). The "theme" is how trees and other plants can transform urban settings. Thanks! Bill Gaylord

Zachary, I do plan to put a tutorial together on how to do this. I basically define the ultimate shape of the tree with spline paths. One defines the trunk. Others are "path" constrained to the trunk. Still others are contstrained to these branches and so on. Each branch is basically a tube with a bone assigned to each spline ring. The bones are constrained to a spline path. To make the branch "grow" I adjust the ease for length and scale the bones for thickness. Leaf clusters are done as self-contained groups, each with its own bone for scaling and constraint to a path. To make the work manageable and a lot easier to animate, I used these basic components to make three basic "characters": a trunk, a long branch, and a short branches. I then replicate the branch models a few times and change the shape of the spline paths and the angle of the leaf groups to create a "cast" of different characters I can assemble into a complete tree. I create a full growing action for each character so that I only need one or two slide posers to animate each branch. Each branch must also be made transparent at the very beginning of the growth action so it remains hidden until its time to "sprout". As efficient as this approach is, it is still a lot of work though. Trees have very simple anatomical structure, but a whole lot of it! Bill Gaylord

I agree with you about the timing. As complicated as the model is, its reasonably easy to tweak it later. Each major branch is a separate "character" in the assembly and can be adjusted independently. Later I might be able to add some secondary motion to each branch, like leaf flutter and bending for wind like effects. For now I'm focused on how to animate the growth, which is quite a challenge all by itself. Thanks for the suggestions! Bill Gaylord

Here is the latest installment of my tree growth animation project. I haven't been able to put much time into it in the last couple of months, being too busy with my "real" job. Once I get the whole thing built, textured, and animated, I want to put it in the context of a vacant lot in the middle of a city-scape. Any recommendations or how-tos for that sort of thing would be greatly appreciated. Below is a simple still image render. Check out the latest animation at my "laboratory" .