Raffi Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 Name: Ralf Kampp Exercise: #6 (The Door's Stuck) Date Completed: 25th February 2007 Remarks: It was hard to get the lifting and lowering of the legs right; I didn't manage to make it perfect. Next time DoorStuck.mov Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 It was pretty darned close to perfect - I'm looking forward to viewing more.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raffi Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 It was pretty darned close to perfect Many thanks for this big laud! Makes me proud! I'm looking forward to viewing more.... Have a look at my exercise 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skrilla Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 What plugin or program do I need to view your excersize 9? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logrus Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 Thanks Jerry, funny enough someone was just talking about this here: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=26605 It's about the sliding in animations and how to use the timeline to sort it out Sometime ago before i broke my hand an arm, Carline gave me a great tutorial an explanation on how to go into the timeline an keep it from sliding. in sort it was explained to me to pull up the timeline at the bottom of the screen an click on the troubled bone in the animation window.. at the bottom of the screen you will see a timeline of the bone from keyframe 0, til the most current frame.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technodandy Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 Name: Daniel Michael Lisa (Technodandy) Exercise Completed: Exercise 6 Date Completed: March 26, 2007 Instructor: The People of the A:M Forum, Martin Hash's Book and Hash, Inc. Video Tutorials. Hi all, I am back. I hope I am not rusty. I have been working on my techniques through the year with modeling, textures, lights and actions, as you can see in all my posted questions and work in progress all year. Here is Exercise 6: Exercise6.wmv Thank you, Technodandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howboring Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 Name: Daniel Michael Lisa (Technodandy) Exercise Completed: Exercise 6 Date Completed: March 26, 2007 Instructor: The People of the A:M Forum, Martin Hash's Book and Hash, Inc. Video Tutorials. Hi all, I am back. I hope I am not rusty. I have been working on my techniques through the year with modeling, textures, lights and actions, as you can see in all my posted questions and work in progress all year. Here is Exercise 6: Exercise6.wmv Thank you, Technodandy That is excellant Daniel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technodandy Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 Thanks Ken, I added the rabbit to remind me of the previous exercise and the Lamp post is out of one of my on going projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technodandy Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Hello Rodney, Is there a person who has been designated to look at the exercises and give their recommendations these days? Technodandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logrus Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Hello Rodney, Is there a person who has been designated to look at the exercises and give their recommendations these days? Technodandy LoL i think Raffi an I broke Rodney. Since it seems like both of us turned in about a total of 18 projects in a few days each. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Rodney Posted March 27, 2007 Author Admin Share Posted March 27, 2007 Is there a person who has been designated to look at the exercises and give their recommendations these days? I'm plotting a return to TaoA:M but have been a bit distracted. I simply overcommitted myself of late. As such I'm not sure how valuable my response would be. I'll always make the attempt if asked. For those who require a personal response from me just add my name to your question/post and I'll know. Otherwise I'll assume the question is up for grabs. If the only response you got in here was from me you'd get bored real fast! There is no one specifically tasked with responding. Hopefully everyone will join in. Thanks to all who have! If you want targeted response you won't get it easily. For that you have to ask good questions. The better the question the mo betta the response you will likely get. If you just ask "What do you think" you'll get mostly responses like; 'That looks swell'. So consider those questions carefully! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technodandy Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Hi Rodney and all, This one time if you have any opinion of my exercise 6 I will be glad to hear it. I am greatful of Howboring's responce, if anyone one else wants to give me their opinion one way or another I will gladly read it. Technodandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Rodney Posted March 28, 2007 Author Admin Share Posted March 28, 2007 Daniel, You asked for it. You get it. Not sure why but I kept having trouble viewing. I finally got it to open though. Probably need to refresh my codecs. The verdict? You have indeed been putting your time to good use this past year! Just the thought that went into this exercise is apparent. Yours may be another first in that you've got multiple characters interacting to sell the gag. Very nice touch. I'm not crazy about the sped up walk cycles...nope... not a fan of that... but... funny none-the-less. I'm disappointed a few more of the people that downloaded your exercise didn't comment. There are a lot of good things to say. One question I ask myself when evaluating: "If he were to ever revisit this one what could he do to improve?" I'm not too concerned with minor feet slippage. Its easy for me to live with that. Concentrating on Shaggy's fall and final posing is where the actions at. Perhaps he could move up on his elbows and 'see' the results of his error? I'm not suggesting you need to reanimate or revisit. I'm suggesting you investigate what you might do if you did. Nice work Daniel. A little refinement in key places and it'd be great. Keep it up and I'll keep watching! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Very good, Daniel - Positives - good story, well told, great interaction, love the lamp-post and lighting. Negatives - walk cycles esp. Rabbit's, being too fast then too slow; door slightly crooked; Shaggy's foot pointing behind him oddly; slippage in various forms - head, food - just needs refining of the splines in the timeline, which are beyond this exercise. They are all small negatives - have you read Victor Navone's Splinophilia? That talks about spacing and timing. And that is probably the main area where this could be improved. Media Player automatically downloaded a codec to view this one - do you have an objection to movs? I'm watching too! (As are at least 45 others, even if they don't say anything!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technodandy Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Thanks for your opinion Rodney, You are right I have to iron out some rinkles. I was having problems getting paths and chor actions to mesh. The fast walk was not intentional but I was having problems understanding the way to adjust it out. I was also finding odd gestures appearing in between key frames. I did not even notice some of them at first but I am still trying to clean it up. I have to get use to looking at it from every angle. I will revisit it as I glean more information from the other exercises. Technodandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technodandy Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Hi Caroline, I agree with you. I am still a bit shaky. Someday I hope to be able to understand timing and matching up the spline paths and choreography actions. I am glad you like the lamp post. I plan to use it in another project I am working on. I could not find an example of any Street lamps with a fleur de-lis style. It was a street lamp that was used on the board walk at Asbury Park in 1938. I could only copy it from a old 16 mm film I was able to capture some images from. There are many contempory examples of these type of lamp post but I could not fine any exactly like this one. I guess I can use mov file format. I will try it some time. I will see if my video editor can save in that format. I like the WMV format because the file size is small and still fairly clear. I will look at Vick Navone's "Splinophobia" Thank you Technodandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Rodney Posted March 28, 2007 Author Admin Share Posted March 28, 2007 Daniel, For whatever technical problems you might have been having you were storytelling like a Pro. In the end I think that is really what matters. The technical aspects you'll always be able to tweak on and improve. Storytelling is a talent and you already have that! I agree with Caroline about the lamppost. I think its an inspired addition. If this were a Pixar short I could easily see your scene being played out on a stage theater. Of course that'd also mean you'd have a years worth of work applied to it, a few invested $100,000, a toy line and you'd have yourself a hit. Seriously, what I'm saying is that the technical aspects are a matter of time, technology and resources applied and economically scaled. You don't have much control of those aspects (yet) so keep experimenting and refining what you have control over... the storytelling! I think further refinement in your animation will work itself into that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Rodney Posted March 28, 2007 Author Admin Share Posted March 28, 2007 One reason to consider MOV (Sorensen 3 compression) is that most here in the forum can view it easily. WMV not as many. There is a WMV viewer for the Mac these days so more and more people are able to view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbeery Posted April 5, 2007 Share Posted April 5, 2007 Name: Jim Beery Exercise Completed: Date Completed: April 4 2007 Instructor: TaoA:M pdf Remarks: 5 seconds sure does fly when you are haveing fun. For myself I see that budgeting my frames is where I really could use some work. This exercise really drives that point home for me. Door6.mov Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 I remember just how long that 5 seconds was. Lovely expression in the "Why, Why??" bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrainLock Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 One reason to consider MOV (Sorensen 3 compression) is that most here in the forum can view it easily. WMV not as many. There is a WMV viewer for the Mac these days so more and more people are able to view. I've got the WMV add-on (Flip4Mac) but I couldn't get Daniel's video to play. I get a big question mark on the screen instead. I think I could get it to work if there is a way to download it to my desktop instead of playing it in a browser window. The forum set-up seems to prevent the "right-click/save-as" function for uploaded video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJS007 Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 Name: Alan Selby Exercise: #6 (The Door's Stuck) Completed: April 17th 2007 Remarks: General: This was another one that I had rushed the first time round and this is my second attempt. Also I wanted to add some music and try a different ending ... I hope you like it. Difficult areas: Some, but not as many as I thought, apart from remembering to save often and in versions ... this went up to 32 different stages. I added a constraint to the feet when they were on the door frame when it rocked and when I wanted them to lower to the floor I forgot to keyframe and they were all over the place ! Sticking to 5 seconds was hard, but I was enjoying myself too much so this pans out at 13 seconds ! I also moved the base bone in the door to allow it to hinge on the front edge, otherwise it disappeared under the floor :-o Lessons learned: Save as, save as and then save as ... Not just 'Control'+'S' (Save). Also playing in the timeline to smooth out the transitions .. i.e. those horrible step jumps that came from nowhere. Movie can be viewed here - http://www.cwazywabbit.co.uk/animation/mov...rs_stuck_lg.mpg [2.6 mb] http://www.cwazywabbit.co.uk/animation/mov...s_stuck_sml.wmv [1.0 mb] Quicker download, that's all ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecomics Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 That was great, Alan. I like the door fall. I'm learning from yours as I work on this one- the tip about saving would have saved me last night. I'm tyring not to rush through it too, as I need practice getting the timing / spacing right. -Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logrus Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 Lessons learned: Save as, save as and then save as ... Not just 'Control'+'S' (Save). Also playing in the timeline to smooth out the transitions .. i.e. those horrible step jumps that came from nowhere. LoL i learned the exact same lesson for this exercise as well. That was an awesome job. I especially loved the ending.. I give it a 10!. That was great, Alan. I like the door fall. I'm learning from yours as I work on this one- the tip about saving would have saved me last night. I'm tyring not to rush through it too, as I need practice getting the timing / spacing right. -Roger Yeah ive lost my work projects before. Its definatley note a fun thing to happen thats for sure. Also as i learned an as AJ said. This is a great project to get better knowledge of the timeline. Especially when you have a part moving when its not suppose to.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrainLock Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Name: Alan Selby Exercise: #6 (The Door's Stuck) Completed: April 17th 2007 Great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJS007 Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Name: Alan Selby Exercise: #6 (The Door's Stuck) Completed: April 17th 2007 Great job! Hi Guys, Thanks for the feedback ... I have another 'short' but I didn't want to post it ... Shaggy tries to open the door but you only see the dor from Shaggy's side ... when the door is pushed open, Keekat's on the other side saying ' I've got a secret, do you ...' at which point Shaggy punches the annoying smug little git on the nose !!!! If you complete 'Can you say that' (exercise 7) ... you'll know what I mean ;-) Regarding the 'save' process, I'm working on a ratio of 3:1 ... 3 x 'saves' (ctrl+s) then a 'save as' ... it's a good habit to get into, and in some instances I went back two revisions to a 'known good' rather than a 'almost good'. Anyway, good luck Spacecomics you'll have a ball ... and don't hesitate to ask if you need help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ullis Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Hi guys, Alan, I liked your ending of Shaggie's adventure with the door, somethings got to happen... Roger, I'm glad to hear you're also at the doorstory... I'll try to get something ready to post too. It is a really fun project to do so it is difficult to let it go too quickly. Ulrika Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecomics Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Name: Roger Christenson Exercise Completed: Exercise 6 Date Completed: 18 April 2007 Instructor: Book, video, forum. Here is my door stuck movie, in two file formats, about 10 seconds long: ex6.mov 3.8 MB or ex6.avi 5.1 MB Criticism is welcome; that's how I'll learn. I know there are some problems with this and I may try to improve it, such as inconsistent lighting. What else? Thanks, Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ullis Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Roger, very good job - and a nice story! Ulrika Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Hi, Roger - I think that's great - good story. I think you should move on with TaoA:M, too. There are always things that can be improved. But if you really want a way to improve, you could investigate channels in the timeline - some of your splines are being interpolated incorrectly, as for example where the foot goes into the door instead of staying on the surface. Ask for clarification, if you don't know about channels. Other picky things, like having both feet are in the air at the same time can be corrected later, so don't get stuck on the details here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJS007 Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Excellent Roger - well done. I'm glad that people are letting their own creative juices loose on these exercises instead of treating them as exam pieces that only have one answer. Only one observation that hasn't been mentioned is to add a little more space between the keyframes as we want to 'feel' Shaggie's frustration and reaction .. I's a bit like giving a speech that you've rehearsed and nerves kick in on the big day .. and you race through it ... the audience only get 50% of what you're trying to get across. See you on the next exercise ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecomics Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Ulrika, Caroline, Alan - thanks for your responses! Caroline, by channels, do you mean each of the various lines in the timeline? I think I'm beginning to understand that, but during this exercise I was only gradually becoming aware of the power of it. At first I thought there were only 3 lines for each object, one each for x, y, & z axes, but poking around it looks like there is much more, like lines for rotation & other properties. I'm not sure of the right way to use it, but I'll try to look at it more as I go. Alan, I agree completely; I wanted to add more time between keyframes when I viewed it, but I was having problems figuring out the best way to do that. It seems on this exercise I got sidetracked on things like the spinach can & adjusting the lighting, at the expense of really practicing animating the character; so when I tried adjusting the timing later, it affected my lighting adjustments, camera position, etc. The only way I know to add frames in the middle is with "move frames" in the edit menu, taking a few steps; is there a better way? It would be nice to have an "insert frames" command, something like in a spreadsheet where you can insert rows. Maybe there's a simple way like that and I just missed it... I guess one lesson is to save the lighting & camera moves for last, which must be why the book puts lighting under post-production on page 59. P.S. I'm glad you are all in the same TWO group - I just got in. Thanks, Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Hi, Roger - yes, that's what I mean - those lines are splines, so sometimes they curve when you don't want them too. I was searching for tutes - there's one by Robert Holmen that is called something like Keeping Bones from Wandering that I wish I could remember to bookmark. But I also found one by me that I'd forgotten about, showing how to put interpolation on the curves: http://www.popsyland.com/hash/shaggy.htm I forgot that before trying this you must go to frame 0 and turn off the Balance and Balance Rigid poses. This one isn't about channels, but about keyframing, and I had missed it before, and it's very good: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?s=&am...st&p=197119 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Rodney Posted April 20, 2007 Author Admin Share Posted April 20, 2007 I'm glad that people are letting their own creative juices loose on these exercises instead of treating them as exam pieces that only have one answer. I wholeheartly agree with that statement Roger. This forum is meant to work -through- the exercises not just look at results. The more that get involved the better the results, the more creative the solutions, the more everyone learns and (I think most importantly) the more everyone has fun! Animation can be hard work but its also a whole lot of fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elliotclem1 Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Hi please can some1 help me. I have done my animation and now i just want to disconnect the hand's, Forearm and the bicep from the 'Knob'. Please can some1 help. I looked in the Manuel but that didn't help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhar Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Hi please can some1 help me. I have done my animation and now i just want to disconnect the hand's, Forearm and the bicep from the 'Knob'. Please can some1 help. I looked in the Manuel but that didn't help. If you click on the little triangle of your constraints, you will find Enforcement set at 100%. So when you go to the frame where you want the constraints turned off, simply make the Enforcement value 0. Look on page 70 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elliotclem1 Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Thank you, I didn't look on the next page Thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swooster Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Name: Steve Wooster Exercise Completed: Exercise 6 It was difficult and time-consuming for me to make an animation that even resembled real movement... It took me 4 or 5 days to tweak things and I still haven't figured out how to get the timing/movement right for wiggling/pulling. Hopefully it'll get quicker/easier with practice? ex6.mov Date Completed: 4/19/2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJS007 Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Name: Steve Wooster Exercise Completed: Exercise 6 It was difficult and time-consuming for me to make an animation that even resembled real movement... It took me 4 or 5 days to tweak things and I still haven't figured out how to get the timing/movement right for wiggling/pulling. Hopefully it'll get quicker/easier with practice? ex6.mov Date Completed: 4/19/2007 You've made it look very smooth. Well done ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swooster Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Thanks! I tried really hard to get the timing right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecomics Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Name: Steve Wooster Exercise Completed: Exercise 6 It was difficult and time-consuming for me to make an animation that even resembled real movement... It took me 4 or 5 days to tweak things and I still haven't figured out how to get the timing/movement right for wiggling/pulling. Hopefully it'll get quicker/easier with practice? ex6.mov Date Completed: 4/19/2007 Looks fine. Your work paid off. I'm having the same problem, but it is getting easier with practice, and I found a helpful tutorial here: http://www.hash.com/users/ed/tutorials/animtut.htm -Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Rodney Posted April 23, 2007 Author Admin Share Posted April 23, 2007 Steve, If that wasn't just about the ideal take on Exercise 6 I don't know what is. You brought that in on time and on spec. Bravo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swooster Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Here's the project file... Since I wasn't familiar with interpolation methods when I made this, the foot-slipping is prevented with extra keyframes. Hopefully you'll find it useful, though! ex6.prj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Rodney Posted April 24, 2007 Author Admin Share Posted April 24, 2007 Thanks Steve! I'll see what I can do to put your donation to good use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elliotclem1 Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Name: Elliot Clements Exercise Completed: Exercise 6: The doors stuck Total Completed Exercises: 6 Date Completed: 24 April, 2007 Instructors: Manual and forums Remarks/Suggestions: I loved doing this exercise as this is the first story that i had to animate. I really am impressed with the finished product. ex6.mov What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecomics Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Excellent, Elliott. Looks real smooth & the extra touches like the door movement, and the camera move at the end, etc., all look just right. -Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elliotclem1 Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Thank you. Do you think i need to improve on anything? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecomics Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Thank you. Do you think i need to improve on anything? First time I watched it I thought the movement of the right arm up to scratch was a bit slow, but then I realized maybe you wanted time at the start for the viewer to grasp the scene, so maybe that's just right too. I'm not good at timing yet, so I hope someone more experienced will confirm this - to me it looks great. I don't see any real problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Looks good to me - agreed with spacecomics about the right arm, but you have the right as a director to make any choice you like I liked the exaggeration on the door pulling out slightly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elliotclem1 Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 Thank you all for your positive feed back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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