Exercise 4: It's a Pitch

[Rodney]

I am not sure where or how to do this (using an image that isn't in the library already).

 

You could always add the images to your library and use it from there!

 

It sounds like Jay has you covered.

Take it away Jay!

[youngman]

The reason i told dave aka KurryKid about changing the backround colour in PWS is i thought he might be using a seperate compositing program to create an image/animation.

 

Jay,

I understand what you are saying. Isolating elements through color is always an option but it often means more work. If someone is used to working a particular way that way might work better than another.

 

If he plans to use other compositing programs that should be even more reason to use an alpha channel as compositing programs are almost always designed to use them.

 

As you demonstrate there is almost always more than one angle of approach to any particular problem!

A lot will just depend on what the artist has in mind.

 

Thanks for the input... its always appreciated.

 

 

Hello Rodney,

Thanks for the reply,Please help though.When i read your reply on this thread it only showed up to: (designed to use them) and when i was going to reply it showed more of your answer! am i missing something?There was'nt an extra page showing this.Sorry i am still new to the forum side of thing's and don't know if i am doing something wrong!Also how do you isolate sections of a post by someone when you want to answer it?(Sorry for posting on this thread).

 

Jay

[youngman]

Hello dave ,What is exactually the problem with your backround image?

If you can explain more we/someone may be able to help!

 

Jay

I would like to just be able to paste an image as a background, such as the stars, or a gallery or something. I am not sure where or how to do this (using an image that isn't in the library already).

 

Thanks.

 

 

Hello Dave,

If you want to import an image to use as a backdrop to your scene do the following:

[attachmentid=18081]

Once you have opened a new model screen create a canvas simulular to the following:

[attachmentid=18082]

Open up the file to the image you require and click open,this will put it into your images file(see below)

[attachmentid=18083]

Then in your model workspace do the following:

[attachmentid=18084]

Right click - New - Decal (then your image) Apply. This will apply your image to the canvas witch you can then import into the Choreography window.

Hopefully this might help?

[Rodney]

Please help though.

 

I'll be glad to help but will be offline for a little while.

Didn't want to leave anyone hanging.

Guess I should have just said that eh?

 

You probably just caught me as I was editing that last post.

I edit alot rather than add new posts.

 

Will be back later this evening but there are lots of others than can help work through any issues you'll find.

Thats what I love about this forum.

[Rodney]

I think this fine tutorial by Matt Bradbury will be useful.

Its short too.

 

Layers

[Inspiro]

That was a bit hard. Hopefully the results pass the test.

 

Tom

Exercise4.mov

[Dhar]

That was cool. Motion blur even, nice touch

[Neu_Type]

Hey there again...

 

Exercise 4 It's A Pitch

 

Completed: 22 July, 2006

 

[attachmentid=18609]

 

At least I think this passes...

I may need to take KeeKat out and teach him how to throw,

or at least teach him the laws of physics...

Exercise_4.mov

[Leo73]

New Type,

 

I liked how you used Keekat instead of the knight and also added a background. Although, you get the feeling that he isnt throwing the ball so much as dropping it and being yanked out of the scene. I would suggest looking at the manual as reference to make your poses a little tighter

Just my .02 though

[Neu_Type]

New Type,

 

I liked how you used Keekat instead of the knight and also added a background. Although, you get the feeling that he isnt throwing the ball so much as dropping it and being yanked out of the scene. I would suggest looking at the manual as reference to make your poses a little tighter

Just my .02 though

 

I tried tweeking it a little but I don't know if its just the physics of kee throwing himself or there is some more tweeking I could do...

 

[attachmentid=18619]

 

Anyway, here is the more traditional throw:

 

[attachmentid=18621]

 

Better..?

Exercise_4a.mov

Exercise_4b.mov

[snowdawg]

Name: Dennis Wheatley

 

Exercise Completed: Exercise 4. It’s a pitch

 

Date Completed: August 2, 2006

 

Instructor: Manual and online video tutorial

 

Remarks/Suggestions for Improvement: Still keeping to the basics here. I may come back and do this again after I do some more lessons. This really is a great way to learn.

Pitch.mov

[Rodney]

Still keeping to the basics here.

 

'The basics' is good. Fine job.

[Torak]

Name: Shane O'Sullivan

 

Exercise Completed: Exercise 4

 

 

Date Completed: August 8, 2006

 

Instructor: None / Manual and Online Video tutorial

 

Remarks/Suggestions for Improvement:

 

exercise4

[jpappas]

Name: Jim Pappas

 

Exercise Completed: Exercise 4

 

Date Completed: Aug. 13

 

Instructor: AM forums, tutorials

 

Remarks: This was more challenging than the previous ones, and I finally got to the point where I had to force myself to stop tweaking and prodding and nudging, and just call it done! I can see the Knight needs more follow through after throwing the ball, that's something I'll have to work on. On the other hand, I finally got a good Environment Map material to make the Knight look reflective, keeping it simple worked best, it's just a decal of black and white blurred streaks, only 25 seconds per frame render time.

 

I've attached both the animation and an action shot that looked kinda cool.

 

-Jim

its_a_pitch.mov

[LurkerAbove]

Name: Glen Clarkson

Exercise 4: Its a Pitch

Date Completed: 8/14/2006

 

Comments: In the walking exercise, on page 52 in the manual, it says "Another Time you would want to turn off these control is when you want to position the feet above the pelivs, like in the "Pitch" or "Stuck Door" exercises.

 

I'm one of those folks that read ahead, so I was prepared. This is valuable information for ex 4, though its in ex 5. Its no big deal, but you could make things even easier by adding this information in 4, and then referring to ex 5 and 6.

 

But, no big deal

 

Can't get enough of that toon render.

 

By the way, this might look familiar. I had the screen name BreakfastOfChampions, and then proceeded to get confused and forget the user name. So, I re-regged.

[Rodney]

You've got some weird stuff going on with that back leg.

Not sure what to say except... take your time and look at it.

 

Breakfastofchampions gone!??

Will the forum ever be the same?

Tune in next week when LurkerAbove says, "Nope."

 

Keep at it Glen... fine tune and prosper.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Going back in time to a different game...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

You snuck that one in on me Jim!

Thats nice... very nice. You even got BOTH frontal and side views in there.

...and a ball!

 

I was waiting for something to happen there at the end... really I was.

A ball bonking him on the head? kating!

 

I'm no expert at environment maps but I like the look.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...and still farther back...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shane,

You got it.

I'd recommend getting some exaggeration in there however. Really push it!

Two places I'd target... the leg at its most upward/back position and (at the other extreme) the leg as it reaches the front. Exaggerate those two areas and you've got yourself a winner.

[LurkerAbove]

You've got some weird stuff going on with that back leg.

Not sure what to say except... take your time and look at it.

 

You're right. My man knight can pitch better than that!

 

A Better Pitch

[Rodney]

Oh yeah. More than manly enough.

Shhh... The secret to Exercise 4... don't let the ladies know you can outpitch them.

[mawilson]

Name: Mark Wilson

 

Exercise Completed: Exercise 4: It's a Pitch

 

Date Completed: 15 August 06

 

Instructor: None

 

Remarks/Suggestions for Improvement:

 

Finally, some real animation work! This one isn't exactly from the book. Went for 3/4 camera. Rolled up on the toes when that made sense. Had a little fun with toes elsewhere (can you find it?).

 

This is one I plan to come back to after I get better (aka finish the rest of TAoA:M). I'd like to tell the part of the story that happens before and after the pitch.

 

Okay, I'm donning the fire proof suit now...

Exercise_4.mov

[Rodney]

Very Nice Mark,

I especially like the follow through... and the extreme lean forward... and the foot tipping up to show he still hasn't regained his balance.

 

Lots to like in that simple pitch.

[mawilson]

Rodney,

 

Dude, when do you sleep?

 

Thanks for the kind words. Now on to #5 ("We're walking. We're walking")

[bts0]

[attachmentid=19756]ok heres my its a pitch movie i already said wh date and stuff on exercise one

it__s_a_pitch.mov

[Rodney]

Beth,

At first glance I thought the angle of the back leg was a bit awkward.

Looking closer I find that I like it more and more.

 

What I would suggest (and this just for info here) is to be careful not to use an image that 'appears' to distort the shape of an object (in this case human anatomy) as your first frame.

 

Why?

 

Because when people load a movie that first frame will remain in view until the movie is launched.

This gives the viewer quite a bit of time to become familiar with that single image and it influences what they see thereafter.

 

There's nothing wrong with your image.

But the angle of the shot (and the lighting) makes the leg look a little awkward.

The arc you've built into the imagery IMO really saves that.

In a moving image its spot on.

In a still it could be problematic.

 

The focus in a still (or mostly still) image should be on strong poses.

In the attached you can see a couple options.

 

Red is what you have

Green would work (especially for comedy)

Blue gives the character a foundation which could yield a stronger pose.

 

This all my opinion.

More importantly what do you think?

 

Great job!

[bts0]

ok thanks for the sugestions

[mawilson]

Beth,

 

In addition to Rodney's comments....

 

You leave the left arm bent during the front end of the action which, to me, throws off balance. It leaves me wondering why the knight didn't fall over.

 

I notice that you left the right elbow high in the recovery. I had that initially, too. Nothing particularly wrong with it. Just seemed less awkward when I tucked the elbow in.

 

Finally, scrubbing through, the footwork is a bit strange. I can't tell for sure since you have black ground and black sky. As his weight shifts forward he seems to go airborne with no apparent related effort. He also appears to step down then levitate up about midway through. Both issues could be explained by stray camera motion. Hard to say without some sort of reference.

[Tralfaz]

Name: Al Dinelt

Exercise Completed: Exercise 4: It's A Pitch

Date Completed: September 6, 2006

Instructor: TAoA:M

 

Here is exercise 4. I originally tried using Homer, but it seemed a bit difficult to move. I added the hat, baseball, background and a pitcher's mound to the chor. I am probably 85% happy with the finished animation. Two areas that I would like to go back and work on are the right arm as the pitch is thrown and the actual release of the ball.

 

[attachmentid=20451]

 

[attachmentid=20450]

exercise4.mov

[Rodney]

Al,

That really was very nice!

I agree that the release of the ball could be reworked.

That would really make an otherwise great animation REALLY great.

As it is it seems to levitate... defying gravity as it moves first up... and then forward.

 

Keep that level of quality up and that pitcher will have an audience yet!

[CRToonMike]

Name: Mike Rhodes

Exercise Completed: Ex. #4 - It's a Pitch

Date Completed: 19 sept 2006

 

I did this exercise with my right arm &hand in a cast. Good thing I'm a lefty! Again, just did what TAoAM asked for.

ex04_rhodes.mov

[Dhar]

I never thought of using the mouse with my left hand! It's harder than writing with a pencil! ...huh.....wierd.

 

Hey, nice job on that exercise. That hitter must've been good.

[Lori Hiatt]

Name: Lori Hiatt

 

Exercise 4: It's a Pitch

 

Used manual and online tutorial

 

Date completed 9/13/06

 

I was very happy with this animation

It__s_a_pitchSide.mov

[griffin]

Dave MacLean

 

Not really pleased with the end result, had to fight with it quite a bit to get things where I wanted them. It seemed at times I could just not get the joints to rotate on a certain axis, not matter how many manipulators I fiddled with. I suppose the end result accomplishes the objectives of the exercise, so here it is...

 

http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j259/gri...=EX2DMPitch.flv

[Caroline]

Name: Caroline Begbie

Exercise: Exercise 4 - It's A Pitch

Date Completed: 27th Sept 2006

 

I think the main thing I learned here is that "animation is hard".

Does anyone else get Animator's Neck?

 

[attachmentid=20942]

Exercise4.mov

[KenH]

Nice work Caroline. I get animators finger and time warp....hours can go by without me knowing.

I hope you're showing your son all this and making him think twice about his Mum's tech abilities.

[Dhar]

Try walking around every 20 minutes or so, stretch etc.., or adjust the hight of your chair or that of the monitor.

 

Nice work btw.

[Caroline]

Thanks, Ken, Dhar.

 

I showed my son my rabbit walk, and he said "How long?!?!?"

 

Good idea to raise my monitor - 20 mins just goes by too fast.

[howboring]

Name: Kenneth Wong

 

Exercise Completed: Exercise 4: It's a Pitch

 

Date Completed: 15th October 2006

 

Instructor: Just the manual.

 

Remarks/Suggestions for Improvement:

 

No problems. I did this exercise ages ago and never posted it. So I did it again as a refresher

exercise4.mov

[Dhar]

Nice job. But watch that arm going thru the right leg

[howboring]

Nice job. But watch that arm going thru the right leg

 

Thanks Dhar, I never spotted that

[Phobos]

Hi Rodney;

Heres my Exercise 4, I added a little extra to the required 00:01:06. Its now about 00:04:20 in length. The ground is a simple diffuse black at frame 00:00:00 with Specular 62% size 57%, reflection of 31% softened to 80% in the rendered, Just thought I'd say that because I thought it looked interesting.

I know the leg bleeds through(or tears) the hip plating from the start , but I thought it might ruin the illusion to move the plate around.Thats a poor excuse I know!

Cheers!

[attachmentid=21912]

EX4_Peter_Garrity_11.01.2006US.zip

[Rodney]

Hey Phobos!

 

You forgot the link/attachment.

 

If its just a matter of file size you may want to experiment with Sorensen 3 compression.

That seems to be the optimum.

 

As an alternative we may be moving toward publishing exercises with HAMR too if you are interested.

It won't be the only format that can be submitted but I have a feeling it will one day be the preferred format for exercises with animation.

 

Rodney

[Phobos]

Hey Phobos!

 

You forgot the link/attachment.

 

If its just a matter of file size you may want to experiment with Sorensen 3 compression.

That seems to be the optimum.

 

As an alternative we may be moving toward publishing exercises with HAMR too if you are interested.

It won't be the only format that can be submitted but I have a feeling it will one day be the preferred format for exercises with animation.

 

Rodney

Cheers I'll look into HAMR, sorry about the file, I tested it after posting and found it was in error, I picked the wrong deflate setting in 7ZIP, should work fine now. was 1.75Mb now 2.52Mb.. thanks for pointing it out though...Please see the fixed attachement in my previous post...

[Rodney]

Phobos (I shall call you this until you give me permission to call you by your name),

 

I love your lighting, render and animation. Nice!

I'm not sure exactly what the knight is doing after he watches the ball fly overhead.

At first I thought it was some sort of prayer (no.. seriously).

Now I think he is just prepping to throw the next ball?

 

You've got my attention... now I wanna know what's up!

[Phobos]

Phobos (I shall call you this until you give me permission to call you by your name),

 

I love your lighting, render and animation. Nice!

I'm not sure exactly what the knight is doing after he watches the ball fly overhead.

At first I thought it was some sort of prayer (no.. seriously).

Now I think he is just prepping to throw the next ball?

 

You've got my attention... now I wanna know what's up!

 

Rodney, you can call me by my real name if you like.. Pete, Peter, etc.. what ever you like (as long as its not rude)..

 

After the pitcher looks up in the air, he was supposed to be doing a sort of 1/2 hearted punch to the air as he sulks to the ground . Disappointed with his aid in making a big strike, he flicks the ground and puts his head to his elbow to block out reality for a second or two . That bit was messy, I think it would have worked better if I stretched it out more. Now that I wrote all that, I realize it as just to much and didn't give anything to the flow of the sequence. Thanks for your comments though.

[Rodney]

After the pitcher looks up in the air, he was supposed to be doing a sort of 1/2 hearted punch to the air as he sulks to the ground . Disappointed with his aid in making a big strike, he flicks the ground and puts his head to his elbow to block out reality for a second or two . That bit was messy, I think it would have worked better if I stretched it out more. Now that I wrote all that, I realize it as just to much and didn't give anything to the flow of the sequence. Thanks for your comments though.

 

Pete (thanks!),

 

You've already dissected the animation and obviously have a good grasp on that latter part.

While the latter part is executed well in animation it lacks the one thing you always want to strive for in animation; clarity.

 

Its possible through context of the extended story (not seen) or through narration it might clarify those actions enough. Now that I read your explanation I can almost hear your voice as the sportscaster explaining to a radio audience what is going on on the field.

 

Thats me trying to make things fit though. The animation should work both visually and in narration if narration were to be used. Probably better to keep it simple though and strive for clarity.

A narrator then would focus his attention on the home run or some other element of the story not seen in the imagery.

 

You're on to the solution should you ever want to pursue it. Extending the shot where you could hold poses longer and emphasize those acting/thinking moments would make it work.

An editor might drop the extra actions, cut to a different angle (assuming they had the footage) to emphasize the changes in action, vary the focal length of the camera or use some means to extend the shot with or without adding time to the length of the sequence.

 

As it is you've done an excellent job on 'It's a pitch'. Nice animating.

[Phobos]

Thanks Rodney, your feedback is much appreciated.. I'll take your advice on board and I feel inspired now. Cheers

[BUDDHABUCK]

EXERCISE #4

 

ANIMATED BY: KEITH (BUDDHABUCK)

 

COMPLETED: 10/27/06

 

COMPLETION TIME: 45 MIN.

EXERCISE_4.zip

[Rodney]

Good job Keith!

[totlover]

Name Caleb Gunby

 

Exercise completed: Ex 4

 

Date Completed: Jan 4, 2006

 

Here is the link:

http://s63.photobucket.com/albums/h127/ret...current=Ex4.flv

 

sorry about the quality i dont know why it is like that

[Leo73]

Good job Caleb. I thought it came out pretty good. I like your camera angle as well.

[totlover]

thanks leo