Superhero underway

[Rodney]

John,

 

I've been thinking about purchasing the SkyCast program.

Been delaying because there are a host of plugins and programs that I'd like to have.

 

Looking at the product (and your efforts hinted at by your WIPs) has made me decide to take the plunge and commit to pursuing a new level of artistic (?) endevour.

 

Thanks to you the flood waters are released...

Next... The Setup Machine?

 

My memory fails... do you use Setup Machine or rig your own?

Rodney

[zacktaich]

I'm not worthy!!!

[Mega]

For what it's worth, , I have SkyCast and I think it's a wonderful app. Very easy to use and and set up. Well worth the price!

 

Tony

[JohnArtbox]

Thanks guys, slight slowdown because I have to earn a living <_>

Dearmad: Looking forward to seeing more stuff from your short, it looks brilliant.

Ross, Zach & Tony:Aww shucks

Rodney: I use the setup machine when I'm using a conventional setup, but I also rig my own stuff if I need something different.

[Ross Smith]

Down with earning a living! And school! I mean... dangit.

Looking forward to more, then, when it comes.

[Vong]

BUMP

 

Can's let this topic drop off....

 

So, what's going John? Anything new yet?

[JohnArtbox]

Thanks Curtis )

been busy with flash..flash..flash

Damn money making clients.

Tonight I got sick of of 2dsplines and spent a few hours in 3d.(been very, very bad....should be working harder).

Here's IGORR....Independent Gantry-Occupied Research Robot, the ultimate lab assistant for the modern day mad scientist, Open to suggestions for a better acroynm for IGOR

IGORR's still under construction, but tomorrow I'm going to have to buckle under for another week of flash work. I'm thinking a really asymetric lurching walk.

[pequod]

Cool,

 

So the mad scientist sits inside?

[Dearmad]

Love the design work, very cool.

 

What's all this for again? Still got a short in mind? Hope so! It's looking ike a lot of fun- I've wanted to do a superhero short for many years too- even before I knew about Pixar's latest... Been sketching out designs and such too- but mine went all surreal on me and got out of hand.

 

Anyway, keep at it! Go for it!

[Ross Smith]

An asymmetrical walk would go well with his asymmetrical form. Good going on 'im -- you captured something creepy, and I don't just mean that head in the glass bubble!

S'a good question, though. Does the scientist sit inside, or is that head some grafted piece of ex-lab-assistant?

[JohnArtbox]

Thanks Guys, I work in isolation a lot of the time and it's cool to get the feedback.

Stephen and Ross: These guys are the physical labourers in the mad scientists lab.

The head inside is too large at the moment, my original thought was that it would be like a cramped fighter cockpit with the robot approximately 10ft tall.

If I had enough time and energy I'd make the pilot a hunchbacked traditional igor, but I don't think there's any need for that in the current script.

Dearmad: The original script was written sometime around 6 years ago for an SBS/govt funded short film competition. As often happens with grants, out of the six films awarded, four went to close friends of the panel members , one went to a panel member and one went to one of the panel member's goldfish <_ . all completely true except i changed the species of pet to protect only innocent. src="https://www.hash.com/forums/uploads/emoticons/minecraft_tongue.png" alt=":P">

So having started 100's of projects over the years I thought I'd better buckle and complete one...and this seemed to have the most potential.

 

There's a quote, I can't remember who it's from:

"The best animation is the one you finish"

....but it's going to take a while .

I've divided my original script in 2, from 5 minutes to 2.5, in the hope of finishing it, but it's very ambitious and I expect it'll take most of the year.

 

Here's the wireframe, like most of my models, it's very simple

[zacktaich]

That better be in the mechanical image contest!

[Rodney]

I missed these last two updates. Where was I?

 

But...

 

Oh No! Now John's doin' robots.

Trying to put the squeeze on me eh?

Competition huh?

 

Okay. Okay. Umm. You win.

Awesome and a great take on robot's. He/They should be easy to give personality with the design you've come up with.

 

Rodney

(Never was very good at competition anyway)

[Zaryin]

That is looking great. I can't wait to see what happens with this project.

[Parlo]

He reminds me of ED209 - which is a good thing, indeed it's a very good thing! just makes sure he's careful when it comes to the stairs....

 

What I love about your models is that you can instantly see how they are supposed to move. Strong work.

[JohnArtbox]

Thanks Sam who's ED209? Got a link?

This isn't a final texture but I like the material so I thought I throw it up.

[Parlo]

He's the phil tippet stop motion droid nemesis in Robocop... A flight of stairs proves to be his downfall.

[Rodney]

John,

 

Can hardly wait to see him animated.

The suspense is killin'.

 

Any close up shots?

 

Rodney

[Parlo]

Dig the subtle panelling - what's his left hand for?

 

Get him moving (or limping) already!

[Rodney]

John,

 

IGORR....Independent Gantry-Occupied Research Robot, the ultimate lab assistant for the modern day mad scientist

 

Hmmm...

 

IGORR

 

Intelligence

Guided

Occupational >This dudn fit

Research

Robot

 

Intellect

Guided

Original

Research

Robot

 

Industrial

Grade

Organizational

Research

Retrieval (or Robot)

 

Interface

Guided

Organizational

Robot

Research ™

 

I

Go

On

Rest and

Relaxation

 

 

Don't suppose you'd use *my mad scientist* in your project if I donated him?

I'd like to see him try to drive that thing. Not to mention fight your superheroes.

 

Rodney

[Rodney]

John, you there.

It's a four day weekend. You're not supposed to be making money...

You're supposed to be relaxin'

 

So post another WIP already?

 

Rodney

[shaunf]

IIIIIIII LIKE IT!!!! (Quote from Robocop).

 

He's great! I agree with Parlo. He does look like ED209. Which is GOOD! He was a cool/bad robot!!

[KenH]

Great work John! I'd love to see a run through on how you made the car if you had the time. Or even a wireframe of it.

[Rodney]

BUMP

Any Updates John?

[JohnArtbox]

Thanks all,busy designing the mad scientist's lab, hopefully to build in time for the image contest(crossed fingers). Every other time I've tried to enter commercial deadlines have prevented me from finishing in time .

Parlo: the lefthand is for detachable tools.

Bakerod:Didn't even get my standard two day weekend, I was so busy Just came off deadline tonight). If you lend me your scientist I'll fit him in the background . The foreground scientists are already designed.

KenH: Here's a wireframe, the runthrough might have to wait a while.

Expecting some productivity soon, just hope I get a few days before another job comes in.

It's nice to be busy though

[JohnArtbox]

Started on the Mad Scientist's lab.

Obviously a long way to go but here it is so far.

[KenH]

Wow! Very atmospheric! I can see a game in that!

[Zaryin]

All those shadows are throwing my abit, but it looks fantastic.

[Rodney]

Ah... good grief! Now John's doin' background scenes.

 

Grrrr. The only consolation is that he's coming up with better ideas that I can... so mine WILL be different.

 

(Some consolation, eh?) <_>

 

Inspiring as usual, John!

 

Do you generally leave your models white, gray or some other basic color until you are ready for detail? Or is this skycast set to render in grays? Kinda curious.

[JohnArtbox]

I got lazy and left the skycast light in rather than lighting the scene properly.

I took a little bit more care lighting this(although still not much), and I added some film effects(because we can).

Rod: I use light greys while I'm building because it lets me see the shape of the object much better than the default white.(Question to all:is there a way to set a default material?) I then add colours and texturing knowing that the underlying geometry is good. The grey also helps me see the effect when I'm adding different coloured lights to the scene(although there are none in this case)

[Rodney]

John,

 

When animated your newly lighted scene may be just right but as a still frame it's too dark. Of course I'm sure that is the effect your going for. I know you've got the big picture in your head and know it'll turn out just perfect but... I like the detail of the first Lab.

 

Nothing a little sound and camerat movement won't fix

 

Maybe a little more light up in the rafters. I expect you already have plans to light the stage as well. Here's a poor attempt at what I'm talking at:

 

[JohnArtbox]

Actually Rod, I'm making this part up as I go along . You're right about it being too dark.

The model is slowly taking form, but I'm not completely sure how it fits into the short. I've got to add more detail, texture and lighting over the next couple of days.

[Rodney]

Beautiful! I'll never doubt you for a minute.

I just wanted an excuse to open your WIPs and pretend I knew what I was doing. There's a reason you make money at this and I don't.

 

I'd be most appreciative if you'd drop a comment or two my way concerning my latest attempt at a WIP: My Robot Movie

 

It's really more than a movie it is an exercise in gaining experience in 3D.

Since I can't spline like Jim Talbot I'm stickin' to robots for now...

[DarkLimit]

Looking great john nice environment.... I did not know you were gonna use the mechs in ur scene.....

 

I look forward to more.....

[JohnArtbox]

Ask and ye shall receive...

Wireframe

[starving4rtist]

gahh...

 

This is my first reply on this thread. You are amazing, you're doing lots of really neat stuff. Makes me feel pretty insignificant...

 

Keep up the amazing work.

[JohnArtbox]

Almost nearing the end of the lab...and the beginning .I got caught up in the mechanical modelling and I'm not really sure this fits the style of the short. I guess it makes a halfway decent entry for this month's competition <_>

 

I've added some basic materials, but since I drowned my wacom tablet when my boat sank last week, I've avoided painting textures. Lazy I know .

 

I've probably pushed the DOF a bit far and the centre tower looks a bit simple when compared to the scaffolding on the walls. It's also very grey, which I "think" I like with the orange gas cylinders adding the smallest touch of colour.

 

Suggestions guys/girls?......my creative well's running dry

 

And, of course, now I have to come up with a new concept, probably with a lot more curves.

[Kole00]

Your doing a great job man. Your a great modeler and from the looks of it a great animator as well. Keep it up but also take your time. Also, your inspiring me to work harder at this ty.

[Rodney]

John,

 

Really looking good!

It looks like you dropped a couple plastic kit models into a premade set.

 

Very realistic. I especially like the window of the front mech. Very Realistic (to my mind).

 

You mentioned the monthly contest.

Don't know if I'll get around to entering... the idea I originally had is not coming together.

 

Anyway, your stuff is so good you are scaring me off the effort!

*** We have another month until the animation contest deadline though ***

[Rodney]

John,

 

Questions if I may regarding story "voice":

 

I'm struggling a bit with my current WIP.

Seems I have a conflict between humor/serious realistic/cartoony.

 

I figure you may have some insight as your superheroes are most definitely cartoony (maybe better worded claymation-like)--truly awesome designs. From my perspective, without knowing where you are headed, I could see your characters performing humorously or on the other hand used to deliver a serious message, or at the very least act in a serious manner within their cartoon world.

 

Boid of a Feather comes to mind as does your recently posted Advertisement.

Humor and Seriousness--Cartoony but Realistic...

 

Apparently they can cooexist but there's a fine line.

 

If you can comment on the subject without revealing too much about your project... it would be much appreciated.

[Zaryin]

I think it's looking fantastic. The DOF looks fine to me. Als the center tower.

[Rodney]

Clipped the following from a previous post of yours:

Time for my daily update, two days into the project an I'm half a day late already.

 

So, what happened to the 'daily' updates already.

Lets see some more superheroes!

 

Or do we have to wait until after the 29th deadline?

[JohnArtbox]

Back again.

I dropped the DOF off while I did some colour/texture work. All fairly simple native AM textures. I also moved the white walls towards brown.

I'll reinstate the DOF, add some subtle post effects and then move onto some more character work.

For those who've purchased SkyCast the laboratory project is available for download at the SCBonus area.

Rod:

I'm struggling a bit with my current WIP.

Seems I have a conflict between humor/serious realistic/cartoony.

I'm actually planning on playing these viewpoints off against each other, it'll either work really well or people will just look at me with an air of confusion and ask"...and???".

It's the risk I take

I think your world has to look consistent, there's nothing worse than an image with lots of imported models in different styles. I also think the script should be consistent in the same manner. Unfortunately this means that a lot of ideas will go the way of the laboratory, into my library of "stuff". It doesn't matter if it looks cool or sounds hilarious, if it doesn't forward the story it gets canned.

Unless I've decided to break the rules

 

NB I'm not in favour of grand rules.....they produce the kind of homogenous pap that Hollywood is so guilty of. Down with rules, market research, and artistic committees (end of rant) A few of my friends have tried to suggest commercial rewritings of Superhero, so that I can market it for Sat Morn cartoons.

It's not a project I expect to make money out of...but hopefully I'll be proud of having done it...when I eventually complete it. If even two percent of the people who see it really like it, then that's better than 80 percent thinking it's ok.

(end of more ranting )

[zacktaich]

The robot's look small because of the camera placement. The camera seems to be shoved in a small box with the models. Maybe you could increase the scale of everything around it and lower the camera (pointing up of course).

[Rodney]

For those who've purchased SkyCast the laboratory project is available for download at the SCBonus area.

 

You... you mean we can download... That!!!

 

YesYesYesYesYes! Whooo HOooooooooo!

 

er...

Thanks John

...yesyesyesyesyesyes...

[Rodney]

John,

 

You just gotta update your forum information so people can click over to your website. <_>

 

 

How am I suppose to be lazy and get to your site if you don't update.

Seeya, I'm off to download a cool project (the hard way).

[Rodney]

First, I apologize for posting such a large graphic to you WIP area. I'll fix that asap.

 

Downloaded your Lab Project. Really cool.

Especially nice to see how other's put their projects together.

 

1 Question:

Some of your entries in the PWS have lowercase letters.

Some super secret coding to remind you of something?

Or just the way it showed up in the PWS...

 

Curious to know.

 

Evidence:

[KingSalami]

all incredible and very inspiring, thanks for sharing

[HomeSlice]

Beautiful Scene! Great lighting, nice shadows and modelling. All that is geometry? No cookie cut or displacement maps? Arw you a masochist? :-) Really nice set. Hope to see more of what you're working on.

[JohnArtbox]

Hey , I'm a happy man. Stephen Milligan complimented me on my animation and Holmes Bryant complimented my modelling. Anyway here's the final lab(not finished, just abandoned) I adjusted the lighting on the rear robot and added the firehose reel on the wall behind. I pulled the camera back a little bit so that the foreground right light came fully into the scene. I also added the foreground girder at ground level to increase the depth of the image

Rod:

Some of your entries in the PWS have lowercase letters.

Some super secret coding to remind you of something?

Or just the way it showed up in the PWS...

I'm just a bad typist, and I updated my info, but my website's down for a little while <_>

KingSalami:Thanks

Homeslice: all geometry, but it's pretty easy because a lot of it is just cut and paste of repeat models. Nothing compared to rebuilding all that greek statuary

Besides, I drowned my wacom tablet when my boat sunk, and I don't paint maps without a tablet. So I had to build it all.

I make component sets and then just cut and paste. (I'm figuring Homeslice knows this but I make the point for newer users.)

The scaffolding is one girder, a footing plate and a three point clip/socket pasted in different combos with a hexagonal head copied from an old model. I also built a plumbing link set that I didn't end up using. It's got all the connections for circular pipes, including taps and gauges