Roger
-
Posts
1,973 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
39
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Posts posted by Roger
-
-
The one thing I didn't understand... seeing as rigging is an endless and ongoing process for me, is that if I wanted to make some revisions and run it thru their rigger/process again and again it would be $90 per go... my pockets aren't that deep.
Yeah, that is a pretty bitter pill to swallow. I can't imagine spending that much each time. Although doesn't it say that models less than 10k polys are done for free? Or is that only until you want to have something you can export, and they charge you then?
I have to think AM models would come out to something very low, poly wise. I didn't see AM listed as being supported, though. How did you submit your model? Was it done in another app, like Maya?
-
A friend of mine recommended this to me, it was simply amazing. I feel certain I must have seen it at one point, it looks vaguely familiar.
-
Looking at John's comments again, this makes me think it is a web service more than something you can download and run locally.
If it is $90 a crack, that is steep, but if you only have a few characters to do I guess it is not too bad. Would be nice if it was a downloadable plug-in, but if it really works this well, who cares.
-
-
BTW, Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award this year, but they no longer give it out during the big ceremony anymore.
Is there some reason they don't give it out during the main ceremony these days?
-
I've only ever watched them all the way through a few times. I enjoy them, but it is hard to make it all the way to the end.
So lately I've taken to recording them and looking for the stuff I'm most interested in.
-
I forgot to record it until about a 3rd of the way through, haven't watched it yet. Anyone know who one Best Animated Feature and Best Short Film? I have a feeling that was the part I forgot to record
I guess I could just Google it.
-
A lot of the shows seems to target 'absurd'. It's the kind of disconnected humor of unrelated or unnexpected connections that makes people laugh because of the absurdity more than anything. It's 'shock and what was that?' In the case of 'Adventure Time' etc. they've managed to wrap it in with characters that you care about enough to keep coming back.
It's interesting, but topical references seem to work well with this theater of the absurd. Make a crazy connection or insult a popular icon and the result is automatic.
For the most part I find I can take only so much of the current crop of 'insult humor'. This extends to satire in general as the primary rote.
Then again however, I've always been a fan of the subtle humor that gets you to say, 'yup, that's us' collectively rather than single specific people out and begin a barrage of personal insults. That's a slippery slope.
I know I'm old fashioned but I enjoy uplifting stories.
The creators of these shows know exactly what they are doing (and/or don't particular care beyond the $$$ people will pay for the show). That to me is all the more disconcerting.
In thinking about what I'd like to see in a show I confess that I'm all in it for the grand adventure.
A world where absurdities do happen but aren't considered the norm.
That difference (for me) is what makes a cartoon awe-some.
Now concerning the style... I think a lot of the style we see these days is (just like in the days of Hanna Barbera) mostly a matter of economics. What is particularly disturbing to me though is styles obviously designed for younger viewers but without content for young viewers. Sadly, those are for the children who refuse to grow up whose joy in life resides in seeing imaginary characters behave like idiots. In short, not really funny, just irreverently odd.
I do think that the attention span of folks these days does have a lot to do with what will be watched.
I am constantly amazed that anime still incorporates so much dialogue... but then again... that is largely driven by economics.
Talk is cheap... animation is hard.
Now, lest folks think I am being too harsh it should be noted that cartoons have a long history of satire, caricature and being odd. What that stems from is an effort to capture/satirize current society. In this sense it is more the society than the cartoons that are odd. This is almost as true as it is ironic. Our society has accepted absurdity to the point where exaggeration itself is no longer enough.
I agree with you somewhat. Once of my favorite shows is Venture Brothers - it is a great blend of topical humor, pop culture references, a bit of gratuitous violence but I don't think I've ever felt the show was mean spirited (except maybe towards Dr. Venture, not towards anyone real) and I certainly don't feel like my intelligence is being insulted when watching it.
I don't think we need to cater to the lowest common denominator in order to get people to watch our stuff. I think one of the worst things to ever grace the TV screen is the Springer show. I can't help but think that most of it is staged, but even if only 20 percent is real, it is still human tragedy being marketed as entertainment. I think it and all its offspring have coarsened our society. Taken to its ultimate conclusion, 100 years from now we end up with the world of Transmetropolitan (not sure how familiar folks are with it).
I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want to live in that world.
I'm not saying I'm above coarse or blue humor, there is a time and a place for everything, but if that is the only thing available it is a sad situation.
Toy Story, I think, is a great example of an uplifting movie. I think originally when they were writing it, someone wanted Woody to be all edgy and cynical. I don't remember where I read/saw this, but I'm sure Lasseter must have fought to make the movie he wanted to make, because we have a much different character that made it to the screen.
However, all that being said, there is a very very fine line between uplifting and syrupy sweet. It is easy to cross it if you're not careful.
-
Hard to believe wages are that low, there is no way you can compete with that. I imagine last time wages were that low in the US was about 70 years ago, maybe more.
At least I've never had to work anywhere for free for 4 months. That's a total crock.
-
Hey Roger it's just something to do. Win or lose I think it's something the community needs to encourage more animation with this amazing software.
No, I understand, I'm not really concerned so much with winning as I am stretching my abilities with a short project.
-
Patent trolls are the suck. I'm sure someone has a patent on "liberal use of di-hydrogen monoxide for removing particulate matter from the epidermis" (taking a bath).
-
Well, as for them wanting new versions of what already works, I would suggest watching some cartoon channels. Unless you've done so recently, it might not be what you expect. I especially recommend Adventure Time, The Regular Show, and Gravity Falls.
And the internets certainly get around the gatekeepers, but there's no way I can do Nightcallers myself, which I was wrestling with back last year when the pitch opportunity came up.
But more than all that, I've always known the characters weren't designed optimally for animation. They need more characteristic silhouettes, more suitability for lines of action, etc., etc. Which means some sort of wholesale redesign at the very least. I've actually filled several sketchbook pages in the last week working on this, but I go back and forth on how much energy I want to spend on it, or whether I should move on.
I've been thinking about this a lot, with my characters. I'm happy with my penguin, more or less, but am not happy with the look of the dragon. It just doesn't strike a chord with me, for some reason. Not the way my drawings do (rough as they are).
I've seen Regular Show and Adventure Time. Regular Show struck me as kind of funny, maybe I just don't get Adventure Time?
It seems like a kids show but also trying to cater to the stoner crowd? (although I guess you could make the same argument about Regular Show) Maybe I need to watch it again.
-
Five seconds or so seems like it would be the sweet spot. I don't know that I'm ready to enter anything like this, but it might be a good learning experience.
-
I don't have a need for anything this fancy, but if someone is just going to trash it, take it anyway. You can always sell it on E-bay.
-
Hmm, I'll be damned he also directed "The Girl Can't Help It". I was watching that on AMC the other day, just happened to stumble across it. Kinda weird how the universe works sometimes.
-
Thank you Robcat! There was a lot of stuff here that was new to me. Never knew he did stop motion, that was a bit of a surprise.
I'm going to PDF his "how to cartoon" book later on, should come handy.
-
>>>
Yeah, it is fixed now. I still want to test the receiver and the component cables separately some time when I have more time, but that isn't something I'm going to bother with just now. It has to be a loose connection I missed when I was checking them, it was a pretty tight fit getting the cable hooked to the back of the TV and I may have inadvertently pulled something loose. Don't know why it would work fine for several hours the night before, though, and then quit working the next day.
*tried quoting John Bigboote but it grabbed my other post instead (???) - hence the manual quote*
-
On another note, they just don't make stuff like they used to. My dad had a 27" Sony Trinitron that probably lasted damn near 20 years before it died, then he bought a fancy big screen DLP projection TV that I think had to be fixed 3 or 4 times in the time he owned it.
-
If you have another HDMI output device (a computer?) you could plug that into it and see if it looks right.
But whacking the TV is still my first impulse.
Yeah, there will be no whacking of this TV, not anytime soon anyway. I don't think these new TVs could stand much of a whack.
Anyway, I told my dad to go to Home Depot (great place to pick up inexpensive AV cables) get an HDMI cable and try that instead of the component cable. He plugged that in and that fixed the problem.
I figured it must have been a problem with the component cable or maybe there was a loose connection somewhere, but I reseated all the connections (I thought) and still no red in the display.
Maybe I missed one, or maybe the connectors on AV switcher in the AM or the sat receiver had a cold solder joint and popped loose, who knows.
-
So I hooked up my dad's TV for him, and everything was fine last night.
Now, he has no red displaying on the TV from the sattelite receiver. If you run the self-test on the TV, it displays a red bar on the test pattern so I figure it must be something with the sattelite receiver.
I checked all the component connections, thinking somewhere the cable for the red must be loose, but they were all seated properly.
What are the odds of just the red channel crapping out on the sat receiver? I told my dad to pick up a cheap HDMI cable and try that, if the picture displays correctly with that then it is either the component video switcher on the amp/receiver, the red output on the sat receiver, or the cable (although it seems unlikely it would be the cable).
Just seems odd that it would stop working all of a sudden after working fine for years. Now I've got to test each of those component cables separately. Only other option is that something is wrong with the outputs on the sattelite receiver or the switcher on the amp.
-
Collection of unusual cases...
Yep, those are different.
-
I managed to find a case made by a company called Apevia. While not perfect, it is close enough that it will do. There was another case I found, but it was twice the price ($140 compared to $70) and had something silly like 8 case screws on each side holding the side panels on. Made it sound like a nightmare to work on.
-
That is my thinking. I have a circular saw, but not a table saw and by the time I would buy a table saw, I would end up spending more than what it would cost to buy a case.
I've pretty much decided I'll probably buy, I'm just having a hard time finding a case that meets my requirements.
-
I've been wanting to downsize from the big honking server case I have to something smaller.
Ideally, it would be maybe 12x12x12 or 14x14x14 inches.
Needs to fit a micro-atx motherboard, water cooler and full-size graphics card.
Would be nice if it was tool-less or at least required a minimum of hassle to get things in and out.
I've thought about building my own case, so I don't have to screw around with trying to find something close to what I want, but I don't have any metal-working tools so would most likely need to build it out of wood. While wood is easy to work with, it doesn't shield RF at all and probably wouldn't look terribly good painted.
I like the old SGI Indigo case form factor (not the Indigo 2), that is about what I'm looking for. Although that is not really a cube because it is a bit taller.
Anyone know of anything like the above? While I could get exactly what I wanted if I built it myself, my guess is the time/hassle involved in doing this wouldn't really save me any money.
mixamo?
in Off Topic
Posted
Well, this site exports motion data as .BVH and I am pretty sure that AM supports .BVH, doesn't it? It doesn't seem like it would be too much of a stretch to get the rigging data into AM. Maybe I will shoot them an email and see what they have to say about it.