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Hash, Inc. - Animation:Master

Exercise 8: Custom Car


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  • 3 weeks later...

Name: Jeremiah M. Faries

 

Exercise Completed: #8: Custom Car

 

Date Completed: Jan 19, 2007

 

Remarks: couldn't think of what else to do with a distorted car. The rabbit stole my old vespa and made mischief. (The vespa is an existing model tweaked to look like my vespa).

 

post-5634-1169319358_thumb.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Name:

 

Exercise: #8 Custom Car AKA learn to edit

 

Completed: Jan. 29, 2007

 

Teacher: The book and I. Includes all previous modeling experience

 

Comments: I think I went a little overboard. maybe B)

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And since the focus is on the cars:

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That customized enough?

 

PS: Has anyone seen my "Can you say that?" attempt? I find your lack of comments disturbing. :lol:

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I think I went a little overboard. maybe

 

Best to keep doing that then. :)

 

Very very nice.

 

As far as commentary (or lack thereof)... there have been so many posts in the forum lately its hard to keep up!

 

For my part, if you type something like "Rodney if'n you don't comment I'm gonna destroy you!" that should clue me in. :P

 

P.S. Is it just me or does that tire truck have a flat tire?

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Thank you, thank you. {bows in seat, hits head on keyboard} Feedback makes the art grow stronger.

 

(hey that sounds pretty cool! I think I'll stick it in my signature :D)

 

P.S. Is it just me or does that tire truck have a flat tire?

Yessir, it does. I liked the irony. Don't buy tires from them! :lol:

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Name : Al Jolly

 

Exercise Completed: #8: Custom Car

 

Date Completed: Feb 02, 2007

 

A sport Custom Car, a Concrete Mixer Truck

 

Afew weeks after ,i got Animation Master.

A driver at work bet me , i could'nt make 3d model of a mixer truck. working on it after work,, took me almost three month to complete. a picture of the real mixer truck in the back ground ..

i used for a reference.

Now that iam layoff for the winter , i have time to complete the Exercise in the TaoAM Book. :D

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  • 3 weeks later...

Name: Kenneth Wong

 

Exercise Completed: Exercise 8: Customized Car

 

Date Completed: 2nd March 2007

 

Instructor: Just the manual.

 

Remarks/Suggestions for Improvement:

 

This one is easy. Looking forward to the flower one!! I have posted the normal picture and another one... It's supposed to look like the other car jumped off it... but it didn't work very well and I really want to get on to the next exercise :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Name: Elliot Clements

Exercise Completed: Exercise 8: Customised Car

Total Completed Exercises: 8

Date Completed: 28 April, 2007

Instructor(s): Me

Remarks/Suggestions: I loved this exercise changing all the settings and the reflectivity factor. I was going to make it into a .mov and make the car spin around but if you look at the quality of my car it would have taken ages to render. Hope you like it.

 

 

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Comments Please.

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Very nice Elliot

 

I like your camera work in that second one too.

Looks like an angle you'd see in a magazine ad or on TV.

 

You guys definitely need to experiment with path animation on these though.

The exercise is straightforward enough... you've done path animation before.

Animating your creation via path animation should be pretty easy.

 

Doesn't have to be anything big... just make those things move!

 

Extra credit of course. ;)

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Name: Jeff Bolle

 

Exercises Completed: 8

 

Date Completed: Monday, August 6th, 2007

 

Instructor: Rodney, Video, and Manual

 

Remarks/Suggestions for Improvement: Nothing much to say on this one.

customcar.jpg

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...
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I am wondering does exercise 8 have to be exactly the result of following the instructions or can I go a step farther and using what is learned here adjust the car in different shape.

 

Exercise 8 is pretty straightforward so taking the time to adjust the car into all manner of shapes is highly encouraged.

Don't be afraid to exaggerate as thats how you'll know you really understand the tool.

 

For the full range of motion you are even encouraged to exercise your animation muscles by applying Animated Distortion cage(s) to your car. Holmes Bryant has an excellent tutorial on the subject.

 

Animated Distortion Cages Tutorial by Holmes Bryant

 

However far you plan to push the Exercise most importantly... have fun! :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I thought it was about time i got back into TAoA:M,it's been a very long time since my last entry (a half finished ex:6,which i will return to later this year along with ex:7).

 

Got a bit carried away on this,i hope you don't mind. :D

 

Jason Young

Exercise 8

31-12-2007

 

exercise_8.jpg

 

Jay

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Whoa! Now that is great stuff!

Outstanding storytelling in a still image.

 

Now you've gone and done it.

I have to find some place to spotlight your work.

 

If you don't mind though I think I'd prefer someone licensed to customize my car. ;)

 

Got a bit carried away on this,i hope you don't mind.

LOL! I'm already in line to see the sequel. :)

 

Outstanding work Jay!

Animate this scene and be my hero forever.

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so i certainly think about animating the Troll scene depending on how good i get (Thats if Michael Bay doesn't beat me to it

 

Even if you don't animate the scene it will stand as a fine composition in still imagery. You done good. Really good. :)

 

(Thats probably the best use of the Supermarket model I've seen to date too!)

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  • 2 weeks later...
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I enjoyed Jay's image enough that I started to put together a booklet last week to discuss his work.

I got busy and put it aside and didn't get back to it until today.

Rather than wait until I find more time to add to it I think I'll just post it.

 

The focus of the commentary was going to be on composition as I found Jay's composition very nice.

The angles, the balance, the story... all work well in his image.

My plan was to add some commentary about how the color and clouds worked well with the image and make some minor suggestions to add detail to break up the large black area in the left tank. The general theme of the image was facinating to me as well.

Alas, some eCritiques are just not meant to be. The plans of mice and Rodneys...

 

Forgive me my little indulgences. You need feedback not little booklets.

The primary purpose here is to suggest I see something very interesting in your work.

 

Edit: I'll replace the booklet with the main image.

It'll save space. ;)

TaoJY_page02_sm.jpg

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Thanks Rodney..... :blush:

 

I'm glad you liked the image as much as you have.I wish i could say i had planned the image in this way from the begining but that would be a lie.

When i started this exercise i knew from the outset that i wanted to do something different from the car model (To be honest i looked at the previous postings and thought that i couldn't do any better,so why try ;) ).

 

After my first idea fell flat on it's face because i couldn't find the models i was after (Tramway bridge? that i used in the Take a walk exercise) i grabbed the Troll model and started to think in what situation i could place him.After discounting a fantasy idea i had in mind due to the lack of modelling skills at present, i rembered that there was a really great model of a tank hidden in the depths of Hash's Ftp server.From there i just went a little nuts (Michael Bay mode) and threw what good military models i could at him,after all he had just trashed an entire city (Off camera :D ).

 

Most of the composistion was done in camera.I like to set up a shot and then see what fits within reason,trying not to make it over crowded.The lighting is something i will be looking at later this year when i have completed TAoA:M as i need to spend some time to find what works properly within a shot as opposed to what will do! I hadn't really noticed the Tank problem until you highlighted it. :o

 

I have attached some Pws grabs of the scene to show just how disorganised from a planning view this was and more a Gut feeling it became.

 

Sorry for the long reply.

 

Jay

 

ex8_birdseye_view.jpg ex8_front_view.jpg

ex8_pws_side.jpg ex8_top_view.jpg

ex8_lights.jpg

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Thanks for that Jay! Seeing into the creative process of the artist is something of great value to aspiring artists and animators. You have just plus'd up that value even more.

 

I hadn't really noticed the Tank problem until you highlighted it.

 

It should be noted that I was torn between making the suggestion or praising you for leaving it as it was.

So by way of my eCritique I was going to explore both. ;)

Let me explain a little more what I was thinking.

 

There is a particular element of isolation present in your image that is very appealing to me.

Keeping the tank starkly lit/black with little detail helps to convey this isolation and keep the focus where it needs to be.

Adding too much detail would detract from this.

Adding a few more little details though might enhance the effect but I actually like the large black expanse.

It lets us know immediately that we should look another direction.

Too much detail and the eye might get stuck there for a little while longer. (Note that depending on what we see this might not be an entirely bad thing!).

 

Consider futher...

The Troll is the only organic object in the scene.

Most of the other elements are straighter lines... direct connections... intimidating!

The Troll on the other hand is off balance (literally!), he's outnumbered, he's surrounded from all sides and isolated. There is no mistaking that he is under attack.

 

The tanks on the other hand are well positioned and entrenched.

The aircraft own the high ground in the air.

They seem to be well coordinated and in full control of their adversary. (at least for the moment captured in the image!)

 

Interestingly there are a few other rounded corners in the image, primarily to be seen in the aircraft and the shopping center.

For me this suggests the human element... almost a betrayal of sorts to the beast.

On the one hand you have the element of destruction as the missiles emit from the aircraft. On the other you have the store with not a human to be seen. Obviously there is no help coming from that quarter.

And there we find the Troll right smack dab in the middle.

The themes all coming back full circle.

 

Yes, perhaps this is all reading too much into it. Thats the fun of exploring your image.

 

There are a few more suggestions I'd like to see in the image.

Smoke trails emitting from the missles would add an element of time to the image and give us a further sense of what is about to happen. If the smoke trail is already 2/3 of the way to its target then we know whats coming next without even seeing it.

 

The fact that you didn't conciously plan all of this from the beginning speaks volumes too. It reveals you already have the instinct for cinematic composition in your work. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Exercise 7 feels like rendering for ages so meanwhile here's my contribution for the next one:

 

Name: Petri Pirttinen

Exercise Completed: Exercise 8 - Customized Card

Date Completed: Feb 10 2008

Instructor: Manuals (pdf & video)

Remarks: Good and simple stuff, no much to say. What did cause some wondering was lack of detail in model in both wireframe and shaded mode while rendered image was smooth with no cue of harsh angles. However managed to figure out this and was easy to fix by hitting the page-up key couple of times... Also it was nice to notice that it is very easy to remove or add CP's on group selections at any given time.

 

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What did cause some wondering was lack of detail in model in both wireframe and shaded mode while rendered image was smooth with no cue of harsh angles. However managed to figure out this and was easy to fix by hitting the page-up key couple of times.

 

This is something that every A:M User runs into sooner or later.

I'm thinking we might have to find a good place to emphasis that early on as we go through TaoA:M here in the forum.

Hmmm... think... think... think.

 

Some people even fear they've somehow accidentally and eternally corrupted their model :blink:

Finding out that its corrected by a few presses of the Page Up/Page Down keys is always a revelation.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 7 months later...

Name: Tim Roberts

 

Exercise Completed: Exercise 8: Customized Car

 

Date Completed: Oct. 05, 2008.

 

Instructor: Manual, forum

 

Comments: Customized the car. I noticed that the "Car Bump Diffuse.jpg" can generate some extra noise around the door sections. I cleaned up the image. Couldn't resist running the car around a corner. ;)

Used Vegas Pro 8 for the NLE. I'd like to explore the rotoscope method outlined in a forum post.

 

ex_08_final.mov

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Very nice Tim!

 

You are not only animating... you are storytelling now. :)

 

I noticed that the "Car Bump Diffuse.jpg" can generate some extra noise around the door sections. I cleaned up the image

 

Good eye. I believe the former decal was once of a higher resolution. The current resolution does muddy up the car a bit doesn't it.

 

There are several tutorials that could be added as incrementals to this exercise.

The first is decaling. (think... 'pimp my ride')

The second is path animation. (The Great Car Race)

You've added yet another here with your filmmaking/storytelling.

 

Fun stuff especially with imagination applied.

 

Used Vegas Pro 8 for the NLE. I'd like to explore the rotoscope method outlined in a forum post.

 

Hey, if you've got it use it! :)

 

 

 

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  • 3 months later...
  • 3 months later...

I have to say I was surprised at how easy this lesson was. I don't consider that a good thing. I felt kind of cheated. I thought I was going to learn stuff that really wasn't even touched on. This was the kind of thing that I basically did by myself, just screwing around with the program, before I even started the TAO.

 

I know it's probably important to someone but this lesson didn't really teach me anything and I'm kind of disappointed because I thought I was going to at least learn decaling (then I could have fixed this poor vehicles awful paint job or maybe given it some nicer rims).

 

Ah well.

 

All I did here was move the control points around. It's funny but I spent the most time rotating the tail lights 90 degrees and squaring them to look more like my Mustang's tail lights and now I realize you can't even see them in the image.

 

Durrr.

 

Anyway, collapsed the back end in, kind of like a Del Sol, and got rid of the ugly side stripes; changed the color (obviously), and increased the tire and axel size.

 

If it was a real car it would probably be completely undriveable but it still looks kind of cool.

 

;)

Lesson_8_Customized_Car0.jpg

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