Ebon lipsync test - version 3

[luckbat]

Woo!

 

After ten weeks of toil, my latest animation test is finally ready for public consumption.

 

Yeah, I know. Ten weeks. For 14 seconds of animation. It's kind of embarrassing. The first two versions only took two weeks apiece, so I was hoping this third version wasn't going to take much longer than that.

 

Except first I had to learn about modeling 3d environments. And about lighting. And volumetrics. And walk cycles. And light lists. And the graph editor. And dynamic constraints. And CP weighting.

 

And how to manage a timeline that looks like this:

 

 

 

But I saw it through to completion. Hallelujah. And now you can see it too.

 

 

http://ebon.org/images/forForums/Ebon_lipsync_test_v3-0.mov

(14 seconds / Sorenson 3 / sound / 4.2 MB)

 

Edit - Jan 10:

I've replaced the movie file with a new version--Ebon now casts a shadow on the floor.

 

Edit - Jan 14:

Another new version--I've smoothed out the shadows on Ebon's skin.

 

Edit - Jan 17:

Final change--I've altered the color scheme and added some snazzy backlighting.

 

I know, it still needs some polishing. Lighting design, in particular, is still in progress. Any advice welcome.

 

Also, if anyone's curious about the previous versions of this lipsync test, here's the old thread: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8853

 

Comments/criticism are welcome and encouraged.

[Dalemation]

Very impressive. Ralph Bakshi immediately came to mind. The lip-synch and acting look excellent to me. What are you going to change with the lighting?

[luckbat]

What are you going to change with the lighting?

 

Well, Ebon's not casting any shadows right now, for one thing! I'll look into the possibility of rendering out an animated volumetric shaft of sunlight instead of the static one I'm using now, but the render time on that's going to be pretty steep, with the turbulence.

 

Also, she needs a rimlight coming from behind her, to match with the heavy backlighting. I did a mockup of how it would look here: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showt...indpost&p=56246

 

Aside from that, I don't like the huge craggy shadows her fingers are casting--cartoon characters almost never have hand shadows like that. I just haven't figured out how to make her arms receive raytraced shadows without casting them.

 

Lots of other tweaks, etc. The whole bathroom's looking a lot browner than I'd like. You know how it is.

[itsjustme]

I like what you've got so far, Mike! Very nice acting and lip sync, the only things that I saw were some popping in the skirt that I think is caused by the dynamic constraints you mentioned and a slight slide/slippage in the feet that takes the weight out of the character. The work you've put into it really shows.

[Kricket]

Looking good

 

Try using a klieg light with Z-Buffered Shadows, that way you'll get a big shadow blur instead of perfect shadows like you have. Softness of 4-5% ought to clear it up without being too blurry.

[luckbat]

...the only things that I saw were some popping in the skirt that I think is caused by the dynamic constraints you mentioned...

 

Actually, the dress looks crappy because it doesn't use dynamic constraints. It's all weighted CPs. Basically, her hemline behaves like a hard plastic sheet wrapped around her legs. When I move on to the full version of this animation, I'll need to teach myself how to do some realistic fabric motion.

 

Fortunately, the forthcoming Hash v.12 supposedly does for cloth what v.11 did for hair, so I may be in luck.

 

...and a slight slide/slippage in the feet that takes the weight out of the character

 

The feet look like they're slipping because the lack of shadows makes it difficult to gauge where the floor actually is. I thought I could render out a separate shadow pass, but my targas just came out blank. I do plan to fix this, though.

 

Try using a klieg light with Z-Buffered Shadows, that way you'll get a big shadow blur instead of perfect shadows like you have. Softness of 4-5% ought to clear it up without being too blurry.

 

Yeah, I tried Z-buffered shadows a while back, but they give the character an airbrush-y look that's distinctly un-anime-like. (See attached image.)

 

I think I know a way to fix it, but it's gonna take a bunch of separate shadow passes...

[Pengy]

I have to agree with itsjustme,the char has a real floaty feel in the walk. I don't think its from the lack of shadows there doesn't appear to be any up and down to the walk from the angle you rendered. Also, I don't know where the washroom is but for a guys facility it seems way to clean

[amarillospider]

Hey Mike it's looking really good. I like the bright light and her reaction to it.

Why does your timeline loook like that? The lip synch and walk cycle could have just been dropped in as actions. The whole talking and waving thing too for that matter.

You might consider lightening the shadows on her skin, they look a little harsh on her face, and since it's flat shaded you can probably get away with a lighter color.

Good work so far.

 

-Alonso

[Zaryin]

I also like her reaction to the light. I just think she's reacting to it a little too early.

[forevernameless]

the guy's voice sounds like Keanu Reeves.

 

When I first heard it, I thought it was a clip from a movie. Great job on the voice acting. The lip sync is also very well done.

 

One question though- What's with the bathroom

Edited January 10, 2005 by forevernameless

[luckbat]

I don't think its from the lack of shadows there doesn't appear to be any up and down to the walk from the angle you rendered.

 

Yeah, that's been bugging me too, but I'm at a loss as to how to fix it. The fact is, her pelvis is bobbing up and down like it's supposed to--only from this angle, as you said, it looks like it isn't.

 

I'll keep trying...

 

Also, I don't know where the washroom is but for a guys facility it seems way too clean

 

That's definitely true. I'll be dirtying it up for the full version. It's a police station bathroom, by the way.

 

Why does your timeline look like that? The lip synch and walk cycle could have just been dropped in as actions. The whole talking and waving thing too for that matter.

 

Um...

 

 

 

I also like her reaction to the light. I just think she's reacting to it a little too early.

 

Hmm. I'll try nudging the sunbeam forward a little.

 

the guy's voice sounds like Keanu Reeves.

 

Hey, I never noticed that...

 

When I first heard it, I thought it was a clip from a movie. Great job on the voice acting. The lip sync is also very well done.

 

Thank you!

[luckbat]

One question though- What's with the bathroom

 

You'll just have to wait for the full version to find out...

[luckbat]

Okay, so I just replaced the Quicktime file with a newer one featuring toon-style shadows on the floor. It doesn't solve everything, but it helps.

 

Personally, I still can't see the foot slippage that's been mentioned previously, but I'm sure you'll agree it looks a lot better with the floor shadows.

[luckbat]

Another revision. This time, using really tedious compositing techniques, I've updated the movie file again, this time replacing the jagged raytraced shadows on Ebon's skin with smoother, more stylized ones. It's not perfect--for one thing, I don't think the hair should be casting a shadow like that--but the shading on the legs, in particular, add a sense of depth which makes the walk cycle seem a bit less floaty.

 

One last thing I have to do is create a highlight/rim effect to simulate backlighting. Then I think it'll be time to move on to bigger things.

 

(Seen below: What the old shadows looked like.)

[luckbat]

Okay, last update/re-upload. (Scroll to the first post in this thread to see the newer version. )

 

I disliked the old color scheme, so I changed it from its original dingy yellow-brown to a greener, "let's rip off The Matrix" look. (You can see the original colors in the screengrab one post up.) I then tinted Ebon's skin and shadows to blend in with the new palette, and also added some slight blurring to the background for a better sense of depth.

 

At long last, I added the backlighting that I talked about earlier, which helps match the strong sunlight streaming in from behind.

 

There are other small glitches here and there, but I'd prefer to call it a day and move on to my next animation project. Thanks to everyone for the comments.

[Sacman]

Footsteps?

 

That is the only thing that throws me. No sound at all until she speaks. There should be some ambient noise or her footsteps even very very light footsteps would help.

 

And I also assumed it was a movie clip. Awesome job on the voice acting!!

 

 

Wade

[luckbat]

That is the only thing that throws me. No sound at all until she speaks. There should be some ambient noise or her footsteps even very very light footsteps would help.

 

Footstep sounds would be an improvement, but at the moment, I'm not equipped to do foley work. There's a lot more walking around in the upcoming "long version" of this clip, not to mention fabric rustling, doors opening, and even a brief fight scene! I don't know how I'm pull it off--I may have to outsource the sound-effect work to the professionals...

 

And I also assumed it was a movie clip. Awesome job on the voice acting!!

 

Thanks! The actress and I did over 20 takes of this scene...

[Dearmad]

Really nice work. I like the character design, colors you have, and the lighting. The character design is especially nice- she's really got something going on inside- seems alive even when not moving.

 

Only crit I have: Her right eye goes a little too far into her skull when she looks to her left while thinking. It might be "right" but it doesn't look right.

 

She's a brave woman walkin' around barefoot in a place like that.

[luckbat]

Really nice work. I like the character design, colors you have, and the lighting. The character design is especially nice- she's really got something going on inside- seems alive even when not moving.

Thanks! I'll give credit to Justin Barrett's "Animating A Face" CD for this one. It really drove home how the tiny eye movements anchor the larger eye movements. I'd never seen it broken down like that before...

 

Only crit I have: Her right eye goes a little too far into her skull when she looks to her left while thinking. It might be "right" but it doesn't look right.

Yeah, that's a problem. I have the eyeballs both constrained to aim at a null target, but with an X-axis offset so she doesn't look crosseyed when she's looking straight ahead. Problem is, her eyes are slightly slanted, so when the left pupil swings to the left, the right pupil almost disappears into its socket.

 

Honestly, I'm stumped. I have no idea how to make her eyes act according to the laws of cartoon eye anatomy. In essence, because of the slant, one pupil needs to shift slightly upwards as it moves away from the nose, while the other one needs to slide downward. Can you see what I mean?

 

Any suggestions, anyone? Should I just abandon the "aim at null" method entirely, and switch over to the Osipa "joystick" technique that all the cool kids are using?

 

She's a brave woman walkin' around barefoot in a place like that.

Well, she is undead.

[inkblot]

Okay, I have no idea if this would work or not, but you could try adding a second eye position bone and rotating it to match the angle of the eyes, then put a rotation contraint on two of its axises so can only move along that angle.

 

You'd need a second bone because otherwise she wouldn't be able to look up or down, but it might be worth a try, right?

[Zaryin]

Yuu might be able to create a relaitionship with the null and the two eye bones to stop them from going too far in one direction. That new Tech Talk tutorial talks about how to create relationships if you don't know how to use them.

[luckbat]

That new Tech Talk tutorial talks about how to create relationships if you don't know how to use them.

 

No idea. I guess now would be a good time to learn, huh?

 

Edit, hours later: Nope. I'm totally and completely lost. It seems like the ideal solution would be to have the left eyeball bone's Y-rotation value drive a X-rotation offset of the aim-at-null constraint of the right eyeball bone, and vice versa. This would compensate for the slant of the eyes.

 

Problem is, I can't access those aim-at constraint offsets from within the eyeball bone's relationship window. In fact, I can barely understand what I just typed.

[Hutch]

Hey Mike, I think it is looking really good. I didn't really notice the deal with the eyes, but maybe you could add a smartskin to her eye bones that adjusts the eyelid to the eyes position? Someone mentioned the walk looking floaty earlier. I agree that it doesn't seem to convey any weight with the steps. If there is any vertical movement besides her feet it isn't showing at this angle. I think her hips need to translate up and down more. Over all I am really liking what you have shown of this piece. How long is the completed thing going to be?

[luckbat]

I didn't really notice the deal with the eyes, but maybe you could add a smartskin to her eye bones that adjusts the eyelid to the eyes position?

Nah, it's the other way around. The pupil movement should adjust for the slant of the eyes. I'll probably give the Osipa method a shot the next time I re-rig her--I'll have to in a few months anyway, when TSM2 comes out for Mac.

 

Someone mentioned the walk looking floaty earlier. I agree that it doesn't seem to convey any weight with the steps. If there is any vertical movement besides her feet it isn't showing at this angle.

I know, what is up with that? When I look at the animation from the side, the hips move up and down plenty. Ah well. This shot won't actually be used in the final piece anyway. If it keeps happening, I'll post the walk cycle in the WIPs and let the masters take a crack at it.

 

Over all I am really liking what you have shown of this piece. How long is the completed thing going to be?

Thanks! Based on the rehearsals, it should come in around the two-minute mark.

[pdaley]

I noticed a couple things.

 

The character is obviously not the most feminine creature in the world, that much is obvious. However, I would consider thinning down her legs just a little and allowing them to taper at her ankles more. They currently look too powerful, al most like a man's legs coming out from under the dress.

 

The other thing I noticed is that the acting is good, but needs more anicipation. The little 'never mind that' hand gesture she does should be casual, almost involuntary. Her hand at this point kind of jerks in and out of the sequence. Slow it down a lot. If you have the time and the means, maybe a short video tape of your self or an extremely confident woman you know acting out the same gesture would give you what you need.

 

At any rate, I hope to see some more. Is she part of a larger project or just a learning tool for now?

[Zaryin]

Edit, hours later: Nope. I'm totally and completely lost. It seems like the ideal solution would be to have the left eyeball bone's Y-rotation value drive a X-rotation offset of the aim-at-null constraint of the right eyeball bone, and vice versa. This would compensate for the slant of the eyes.

 

Problem is, I can't access those aim-at constraint offsets from within the eyeball bone's relationship window. In fact, I can barely understand what I just typed.

I have no idea how to use these either, sorry . Just thought it might be a good idea that someone would understand better than me, haha.

[pixelmech]

Just wanted to chime in and say really nice work, keep it up. I too think she really needs some weight to her walk, it is a bit floaty. Anyway, this is a lip synch test - and the lip synch is cracking (to quote Wallace)

 

Tom

[Dearmad]

Honestly, I'm stumped. I have no idea how to make her eyes act according to the laws of cartoon eye anatomy. In essence, because of the slant, one pupil needs to shift slightly upwards as it moves away from the nose, while the other one needs to slide downward. Can you see what I mean?

 

Any suggestions, anyone? Should I just abandon the "aim at null" method entirely, and switch over to the Osipa "joystick" technique that all the cool kids are using?

 

She's a brave woman walkin' around barefoot in a place like that.

Well, she is undead.

Simplest solution I know: Make four pose sliders that directly control the left-right/up down position of each eye bone seperately.

 

You can even hide these pose sliders (that's possible in the latest version, right?) Then don't mess with them and control your eyes as you are.

 

When you NEED to- as in the above 5 frames, simply adjust the slider for that eye to correct it's position a little.

 

The null thing you got going works well- only at times when in an extreme position will you need to adjust the eyes alittle.

[Dearmad]

I noticed a couple things.

 

The character is obviously not the most feminine creature in the world, that much is obvious. However, I would consider thinning down her legs just a little and allowing them to taper at her ankles more. They currently look too powerful, al most like a man's legs coming out from under the dress.

 

And, just to hear a contrasting opinion- she looks rather feminine to me. Curvy and slinky. And yes, while the legs look strong, I really think a tapered leg look to her would make her look all that much more typical- less character to her. Besides, I think the legs fit well with the shape of her feet , hips, and upper torso.

[amarillospider]

Easy fix for the eyes: have 2 bones that are the children of your Aim At Target for the eyes. Aim the eyes at these 2 children (1 for each eye). This way you can move around the target all you want, and the eyes will follow (because the children will move with the parent) but if you need to cheat the eyes you just grab the child bone and adjust it. (you won't even have to reanimate your eye target null (or bone if it's just a bone) just add the children bones and change the aim targets.)

 

-Alonso

[luckbat]

Hey folks! Didn't mean to be away from this thread for so long, but I started work on character #2 and got distracted. Also, I didn't want to post an update until I solved the eye-slant problem--more on that later. Thanks for all your comments. They keep me going.

 

The character is obviously not the most feminine creature in the world, that much is obvious. However, I would consider thinning down her legs just a little and allowing them to taper at her ankles more. They currently look too powerful, al most like a man's legs coming out from under the dress.

And, just to hear a contrasting opinion- she looks rather feminine to me. Curvy and slinky. And yes, while the legs look strong, I really think a tapered leg look to her would make her look all that much more typical- less character to her.

 

You should've seen how she looked in my original sketches. "Short and stubby" was how I envisioned her, with legs like a Kewpie doll.

Unfortunately, I was never able to translate this look into 3D. Just when I'd think I'd gotten it in the modeling window, I'd switch to the choreography and she'd suddenly look like a caveman. So I had to settle for "strong and stout."

 

There's still room for improvement though, so her legs may end up slightly curvier down the road, though probably not much thinner.

 

The little 'never mind that' hand gesture she does should be casual, almost involuntary. Her hand at this point kind of jerks in and out of the sequence. Slow it down a lot.

 

Personally, I think the problem is more the range of motion rather than the speed, but you're right--it's a bit too vigorous. If I were planning to do another pass on this, I'd probably start here.

 

To be fair, she's not making a dismissive 'shooing' gesture, she's actually indicating the (offscreen) blood on the floor. You can see her eyes glance down at it a moment beforehand.

 

At any rate, I hope to see some more. Is she part of a larger project or just a learning tool for now?

 

Both! This single lipsync test has forced me to learn tons about A:M's intermediate-level features like non-linear animation, lighting design and CP weighting. But it's also a tiny excerpt from a two-minute scene I'm working on now, and that two-minute scene comes from a 94-page screenplay.

 

If the finished full scene generates any interest, I may expand the project further.

 

Just wanted to chime in and say really nice work, keep it up. I too think she really needs some weight to her walk, it is a bit floaty. Anyway, this is a lip synch test - and the lip synch is cracking (to quote Wallace)

 

1. Thank you, I will! 2. Yes. The walk cycle is floaty. I am aware of that. 3. Thanks!

 

Simplest solution I know: Make four pose sliders that directly control the left-right/up down position of each eye bone seperately. [...] When you NEED to--as in the above 5 frames--simply adjust the slider for that eye to correct its position a little.

Easy fix for the eyes: have 2 bones that are the children of your Aim At Target for the eyes. Aim the eyes at these 2 children (1 for each eye). This way you can move around the target all you want, and the eyes will follow (because the children will move with the parent) but if you need to cheat the eyes you just grab the child bone and adjust it.

 

Yeah, that's one of those "easy fixes" that can wind up making things way more complicated if you're not careful. I don't know about you guys, but I'm always tweaking and experimenting with the eye movements via the target null, and if I had four extra sliders or two extra bones to deal with, the process would, I fear, become depressingly sluggish.

 

I think I may have come up with an elegant solution, however, which I'll describe in detail in the next update.

[Sacman]

Different direction with the questions.

 

You and someone else did the voice acting for this.

 

Where did you record? Did you use a professional studio? Or do you have something set up at home. I cannot listen to it here at work but i think I remenber very good quality in the voices. If you are doing this yourself, can you describe the mehtod you used and what equipment to get it this clean?

 

Wade

[luckbat]

If you are doing this yourself, can you describe the method you used and what equipment to get it this clean?

Sure, I'll do my best. I recommend this only as a guide to getting reasonable-quality audio for hobbyists. If you need professional quality sound, expect to pay professional dough. (And be sure to ask a professional, not me.)

 

PART I

First of all, you need some good audio-capture software. ProTools in the industry standard, but the open-source Audacity ( http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ ) works perfectly well.

 

Then, of course, you need a pre-amplified microphone. (This means the microphone has its own power source: either batteries, or preferably wall power.) Needless to say, you do not want to skimp on the microphone. A $50 Shure mic should be sufficient.

 

Next, you need a way to convert your microphone input from mini to USB. This boosts the sound quality, so you'll want to do this even if your machine has a mic port. The budget-conscious may elect to use a Griffin iMic ( http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/techspecs.php ) for this. You may need a mic-jack adaptor, depending on what kind of microphone you're using.

 

At this point, you have all the equipment you need. (I'm assuming you have a computer and a quiet room.) Read all the manuals, hook everything up, and you're ready to start capturing voice audio.

 

PART II

Thought you were done, huh? Well, your equipment is only half the battle. The other half is your technique.

 

It's like this: You don't just need quality recording abilities. You also need quality content! It's a lot of work, but your project is worth it, right?

 

1. Get real actors. Don't argue with me on this. You wouldn't let a voice actor animate your characters for you, would you? Then don't attempt to do the voice acting yourself. Get actors. Even if you don't live in L.A. or N.Y., your local area should at least have theater actors, and your local university will have tons of acting students. They're generally willing to work for free as long as you -- A) treat them like professionals, can communicate what kind of performances you're after, and C) have a decent script.

 

2. Rehearse! Ideally, your actors should have the lines memorized before you do any recording, and it's even better if you can schedule some time to actually play out the scenes in question. With movement, I mean, not just sitting around a table. Act it out! Both you and the actors will begin to spot little "moments" of performance when you run through the script physically--stuff that's different (and better) than what you had in your head when you were writing it.

 

[Aside: Am I suggesting that I scheduled rehearsals for a 14-second animation? Yes, I am. The lipsync test audio comes from a longer scene that comprises about 60 seconds of dialog. The actress and I devoted an entire day just to rehearsing and blocking this scene, and a second day to audio recording. And we spent 6 hours on the audio recording.]

 

3. Do multiple takes. Try as many interpretations as you can. Tell your actors to intimidate, to seduce, to shame, to confuse. I guarantee you, whatever you thought you wanted, there's gonna be at least one line that sounds much better the way the actor says it than the way you heard it in your head. Moreover, not every single take will be usable. Sometimes the audio levels will be too low, or there'll be some background noise that nobody noticed while you were recording. Multiple takes are your insurance against this.

 

4. Record everyone standing up. People talk differently when they're standing than when they're sitting. Your onscreen characters aren't sitting, are they? Neither should your actors be.

 

5. Nobody touches the mic. A good mic is highly sensitive to vibrations. Even a sleeve rubbing against an arm will sound like a garbage truck falling down a staircase if that arm is holding the microphone. So mount it on a mic stand, or hang it from the ceiling--whatever. Turn it on and leave it alone.

 

Bonus tips: If possible, try to have a friend handle the recording duties so you can concentrate on directing the actors. It helps. Also, be sure to label all your takes before you do anything else with them--"Angry, good performance" "Too soft, unusable," "Weird laugh," etc.--because you'll end up with a ton of audio files, and it gets really tedious trying to track down that one take you remember liking when you have to listen to 50 nearly identical performances of the same line just to find it.

 

Whew! That's probably a lot more detail than you wanted, but if I can help just one animator make a better short, then I've done my job.

[luckbat]

As long as I'm posting overly detailed trivia, here's a movie of the new eye rig I built in response to earlier comments. I must have tried a dozen different combinations of nulls, "Aim roll at" constraints, relationships, fan bones and yet more nulls before I settled on my present solution, with its zen-like simplicity: 1. Constrain the eye-target null to aim at the head so I can measure how far left or right it is via its Y-rotation value. 2. Make a relationship that ties the null's Y-rotation to the eye-bones' X-rotation--when the null goes left, the left eye tilts slightly up, and the right eye tilts slightly down. 3. There is no step 3! I didn't even have to re-keyframe any of the eye-target null movement in the original animation.

 

My thanks to everyone for their suggestions, especially to ItsJustMe for mocking up a .PRJ file for me to examine, and to Dearmad for convincing me to do the right thing--that's three days of my life I'll never get back.

 

Anyway, here's a Quicktime of the new rig in action. The first thing you'll notice is that you can't tell any difference whatsoever between the two. That's because you lack Dearmad's magical ability to spot tiny defects in everything I do. Pay special attention to Ebon's right eye. That's mainly where the problems show up. On the "old rig" side, the pupil almost disappears into the eye socket a couple of times. On the "new rig" side, not so much.

 

Sorry the image is so dark, but if I'd used the toon renderer, I'd still be staring at the progress bar right now...

Eyerig_comparison.mov

[Sacman]

Whew! That's probably a lot more detail than you wanted, but if I can help just one animator make a better short, then I've done my job.

 

Absolutely not. That was exactly what I was hoping for. One last question.

 

Even with a good quality mic, did you use a filter? I have actually been to professional studios that literally stretch a piece of panty hose across a hoop of some sort to filter hard consonants and the sssss that is inevitable in some cases. I imagine p's and s's to be the worst but I suppose there are others. I guess quality actors are better at filtering these out themselves. I know that when I was in the choir oh so many years ago that they taught us how to control those sounds. Anyway enough rambling.

 

Wade

[luckbat]

Even with a good quality mic, did you use a filter?

 

I would have if I'd had one. Watch any making-of documentary involving voice actors and you'll see them using a filter.

 

In a pinch, you can aim the mic up at the actor's chin instead of his or her mouth. With a good cardioid microphone, there won't be a huge difference in the sound quality, but it'll keep the 's' and 'p' sounds from popping.

[Mr. Jaqe]

wow! she's really looking good!

[Godfrey]

Looks great! Nice lipsynch, very nice modeling (I envy your hands).

 

Only one comment about the animation, and that's when she looks off to the side, trying to think of the word which escapes her; her right eye (viewer's left) moves uncomfortably far into the corner (though maybe that's an undead thing).

 

And a really minor audio critique: as great as the voices sound, they're not in the scene. A little reverb (small room, with not too much damping) would really place them into the bathroom environment with the models.

 

If the finished full scene generates any interest, I may expand the project further.

I hope you do!

 

I would have if I'd had one. Watch any making-of documentary involving voice actors and you'll see them using a filter.

They're really inexpensive to make, as Sacman has intimated. A wooden embroidery hoop, some stiff wire, a microphone clip and a pair of pantyhose will make one that works well, doesn't look half bad (see attachment) and costs about $5 (less if you make more than one, as a single pair of hose is good for at least four filters, even with three layers of fabric in each one).

[luckbat]

Looks great! Nice lipsynch, very nice modeling (I envy your hands).

Thank you. I slaved over those hands, too. As designed, the fingers use no fanbones, no Smartskins and no CP weights, just really careful spline placement.

 

Only one comment about the animation, and that's when she looks off to the side, trying to think of the word which escapes her; her right eye (viewer's left) moves uncomfortably far into the corner

Yep. Fixed it. Scroll up to my earlier post to check out the improved eye rig in action.

 

And a really minor audio critique: as great as the voices sound, they're not in the scene. A little reverb (small room, with not too much damping) would really place them into the bathroom environment with the models.

Agreed. I promise not to skimp on sound design in the extended version...

[Dearmad]

I'm really curious, was there a place where you laid out what this project is about- the scale, plot, etc.? It's looking reaslly interesting.

[luckbat]

Well, I'm not planning to generate much in the way of self-promotional materials until after I finish my first scene.

 

But if you'd like to read the first chapter of the Ebon screenplay, you're more than welcome to do so:

 

Ebon.org

[Dearmad]

Wow... you're putting up pieces of the story!? I'm always a little scared of sharing too much until I'm done... or at least well along.

 

Pretty opening page.

 

<reading>

 

This is gonna be a massive project. If that's 1/9th of it, it reads like about oh... 2 or 3 of my little films put together! Prepare to buckle down and ride for a long time in the AM animating chair, sir! You can do it, though!

[luckbat]

I don't mind sharing the opening episode. I finished the screenplay a year ago; it's basically done.

 

I agree it's a massive project. It's feature length--the script is 94 pages long. To be frank, I wouldn't even consider doing the piece in its entirety unless I had outside funding.

 

I think the first episode could be accomplished as a collaborative effort--only three speaking parts/ten locations--but I'm not putting any energy into that until I complete the scene (from chapter 2) that I'm working on now.

 

Thanks for the encouragement...

[forevernameless]

wow. Must... read... more. That was very good, you have to make this film. Keep up the good work.