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Television Monkeys


xor

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Okay, I've just finished a small piece I've been working on.

 

A little info here: I've been working on editing video of my two daughters (ages 21 months & 3 years). The video clips will be put on a DVD for my wife and the two grandmothers. Before the main menu on the DVD there's an opportunity to insert an intro video, so this is what I've created.

 

First off, I apologize to the MAC folks if they can't view Windows Media Files. I tried other formats, but was having a hard time to keep this down to a small enough file size.

 

I do recognize that there's several flaws with this animation. The monkey (in the foreground) has a few issues with twisting of the wrist and elbows moving unnaturally.

 

Well enjoy. And critique is always welcome.

 

http://www.mtaonline.net/~7ohms/monkeys/

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That's cute, expecially when the monkey and your daughter are bouncing in time. The animation's a bit floaty and could do with some more definite keys and fine tuning on the ease. You can see how much better it is when it is moving quickly. Also adding a simple blink to the monkey's eyes will increase the expression incredibly.

But all this is being very picky for a home vid introduction.

Very cool, I'm gonna show my kids. :D:D

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The animation's a bit floaty and could do with some more definite keys and fine tuning on the ease.

 

Also adding a simple blink to the monkey's eyes will increase the expression incredibly.

I know what you mean. I'll have to work on the floatiness.

 

I will work on some blinking as well. He doesn't have eyelids yet. Or should I just do the ol' cartoonish blinking of the pupils??

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LOL thats funny :D cool stuff...... Can you render a slight angle so we can see the monkeys expressions / reactions to the tV / baby?

Thanks for all the compliments everyone. And it looks like getting an angle on the monkeys face is in order. I'll see what I can do about that.

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What a great piece! I think your family will love it. Can you maybe have the monkey face us so we can see its face? How did you add the video to the animation? Did you use After Effects? How did you do this?

Thanks!

Thanks. I'm going to see about moving the camera some to get the monkeys expressions (and then give him some).

 

The video on the TV was fairly easy. I had to import the AVI video the same way you would a picture to be used as a decal. And then I applied it the same way you would a decal.

 

I did have one problem though. The video plays at 29 fps, while the animation is set for 30 fps. This kind of sped up my source video by 1 fps. It wasn't too big of a deal until I tried to apply the sound file. It kind of got off track. I had to change the video source to run at 30fps, but by then all my movements were already set to the old source. Ahhhh, what a mess. :(

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  • Hash Fellow

What a charming, charming idea! :) Just to second and third previous comments, a cartoony thing like this would benefit from more snap. Longer holds at the main poses and fewer inbetweens getting from one pose to the next. Monkeys are pretty snappy creatures anyway right? :D

 

But what I'm really curious about is why your video source was at 29fps? 29.97fps I could understand, but how did you obtain something running at 29?

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And I thought my granson was cute! Your daughter is very special.

 

I'm working on editing video of my grandson to burn to DVD myself and you've given me a great idea.

 

Now, if only I could learn to model, animate, render, ....

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But what I'm really curious about is why your video source was at 29fps? 29.97fps I could understand, but how did you obtain something running at 29?

It may very well have been recorded at 29.97fps, but when imported into AM, it shows it as 29. Now it's possible it's just dropped the fraction (but it should've rounded up).

 

However I do believe it thinks it's 29.0fps, because the soundtrack was off so much by the end of the video. If it were dropping .03fps, the sound should've been off by one frame within a 33 seconds, but instead it was off quite a bit more leading me to the conclusion that it was dropping a whole frame each second.

 

All is well in the end though.

 

I had a picture to attach with the properties showing the video clip at 29fps, but for some reason I can't attach the picture. Oh well.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 10 months later...
haha that was hilarious! Your daughter is very cute and I love the monkey!

Thanks. I know the monkey definitely needs some polishing, but it did the job. The next one will be better (of course). That should answer your question Rodney.

 

I'm not sure what the sequel will be, but I'm working on getting all my video of my girls from this year together for another DVD for the grandmothers. Went and bought a 250GB HD to fit it all on.

 

I'll keep you all posted of the next project. Definitely get your feedback to make it real gooooooooood!! B)

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I'm on the bandwagon as for as the animation suggestions go. I really love the character design! That monkey is soo loveable! Splendid job with that! I have two little kids also.

Thanks. I'm a little partial to the monkey as well, as you can see by my avatar.

 

What I'd like to create is cartoony (non realistic -- too much work) characters of my girls. If anyone has any suggestions of tutorials, examples, etc. I would love that. I haven't started on them yet aside from ideas in my head. B)

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What I'd like to create is cartoony (non realistic -- too much work) characters of my girls.

Xor - I'd like to do the same thing and have longingly looked at Colin Freemans site where he modeled his son several times.

 

Nonetheless, really cool monkey !

 

Doug

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  • 3 weeks later...
Pretty cute indeed!

The arm joints seem to keep flipping. Is it intentional?

 

Nope, not intentional, just new at character animation and my first TSM rig. I was probably too impatient to work on the flaws.

 

Next time I will be at one with the animation. :D

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