someawfulbridge Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 While I'm putting along on Captain Splines in the David Rogers book, I've undertaken my own learning experience model. Here is the first round of modeling. I'm aiming for an end result that will look as much stop motion as computer animated, animating virtual maquettes with the software. This particular model is a Svankmajer/Giacometti/Bellmer beastie: a virtual paper cutout of Georges Bataille's face, torso, and hands, scotch-taped to wire limbs. (Man: modeling scotch tape over bent wires is not easy, at least to this neophyte!) Here are some renders and a turntable. One criticism I invite is what do I need to do to make my turntable more "industry standard," or at least more revealing. Still to do: obviously, texturing. The body parts paper; the limbs wire (probably copper, so it's not quite so monochromatic as if the wire were silver); and the colored swatches will be scotch tape, made translucent through a transparency map, and with the jagged edges where it was cut by the dispenser's teeth done either with a cookie cutter map or a transparency map (advice invited! The tape is actually 3-d, just almost infinitely thin). I'll have it rigged and bending before too long. [attachmentid=20321] [attachmentid=20323] [attachmentid=20320] Thanks! Mark batailleturntable.mov Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LurkerAbove Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 I find this grossly amusing. Great work! I just might have to steal this to get around some modelling issues. Not to mention the inherant cheapness of it (and I mean cheap in a good way) fits very much a style I'm aiming for. I also think that using a style like this mixed with more 'fleshy' models could be a cool effect. But I'm weird that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyGormezano Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 I'm aiming for an end result that will look as much stop motion as computer animated, animating virtual maquettes with the software. This particular model is a Svankmajer/Giacometti/Bellmer beastie: a virtual paper cutout of Georges Bataille's face, torso, and hands, scotch-taped to wire limbs. I love this concept - you've done a great job - I too have always wanted to have my animations look like stop motion (but have never really succeeded). This is looking terrific. I don't know any of these people you speak of. I'm probably from a different generation - will have to google. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyGormezano Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 I just googled all those people - fascinating works! I, obviously the plebeian, have just been educated. Thanks. They don't let me out any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LurkerAbove Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 And I quote from the wiki Fascinated by human sacrifice, he founded a secret society, Acéphale (the headless), the symbol of which was a decapitated man, in order to instigate a new religion. According to legend, Bataille and the other members of Acéphale each agreed to be the sacrificial victim as an inauguration; none of them would agree to be the executioner. An indemnity was offered for an executioner, but none was found before the dissolution of Acéphale shortly before the war. You must spill your plans, you magnificent madman! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heyvern Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 ... none of them would agree to be the executioner. An indemnity was offered for an executioner, but none was found... It's always the same problem when starting new secret societies. I know that was the main sticking point for me when trying to start a new religion. -vern Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajcedrv Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 This is one cool project! Can't wait to see it moving! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LurkerAbove Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 Are you pondering what I'm pondering? umm no, that wasn't it. What I was thinking was how cool would it be to replace the wires in arms and legs with...okay, I don't know if this would works... but cloth to make it behave like yarn. So you'd make it look like the hands and feet were connected by yarn, and the body, hands and feet bobbed as if suspended by threads. I'm totally going to try this when I get home, but I'm kinda tied up trying to replace Squetchy Thom's head with a television. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gschumsky Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 ... none of them would agree to be the executioner. An indemnity was offered for an executioner, but none was found... It's always the same problem when starting new secret societies. I know that was the main sticking point for me when trying to start a new religion. -vern You need to make a bet with other fellow animators/modelers that people are dumb enough to accept any new religion, and then write a book about alien overlords, invisible vampire soul suckers, and how this overlord was ticked off at enough of some small race of other aliens that he ties them to a volcano with yarn, then blows it up with an a-bomb. Millions of people will then start a "church" based solely on that.... Oh, wait, that's already been done. On another note, back to the model, this is kinda cool. For some good inspiration, which was stop motion with semi-transparent cut-outs filmed against a light table (Lumage is the process...), I suggest checking out the classic "Twice Upon a Time". http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer...p;search=Search They have almost the whole movie there (if not all of it). Great film, and they even have a character with a TV head... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LurkerAbove Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 ... none of them would agree to be the executioner. An indemnity was offered for an executioner, but none was found... It's always the same problem when starting new secret societies. I know that was the main sticking point for me when trying to start a new religion. -vern They have almost the whole movie there (if not all of it). Great film, and they even have a character with a TV head... I weep with joy. But I want my own model with a TV head. Mostly because the glow settings can make said figure rock on toast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
someawfulbridge Posted September 7, 2006 Author Share Posted September 7, 2006 Thanks for the feedback. Actually, Lurker, I love the idea of the cloth limbs and will definitely give that try down the line, but I need to get intimate with rigging, dynamics, and cloth before I even begin to tinker with anything that complex! Anyone looking to know more about Bataille (whose birthday I actually share) should read "Story of the Eye." It's his most famous. Do not, however, count this as a recommendation. The book is extemely disturbing and totally nihilistic (and one of my favorites). Count this more as a warning, as I wouldn't want to be held liable for anyone reading it. He also wrote some great books on postmodern philosophy, especially "Erotism." Also, as far as Giacometti--a guy named Sam Chen recently completed a CG short called "Eternal Gaze" inspired by Giacometti's last days. The movie is worth watching, especially the story of its making (which is much longer than the film itself). Finally, gschumsky: anyone who goes out of their way to make a dig at Scientology is definitely a friend of mine. I would have my own personal jihad against them, except they're not a religion--they're a pyramid scheme. Also, I've been looking for the forever-out-of-print Twice upon a Time for years, and don't want to pay the outlandish eBay prices, so I can't wait to check it out on YouTube! Thanks! Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gschumsky Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 Jeff Lee is another one you can count as a friend... http://www.shipbrook.com/jeff/CoS/index.html Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
someawfulbridge Posted September 27, 2006 Author Share Posted September 27, 2006 Alright. I've moved on to rigging, and have problems with the "paper" of the body. If I try to get the upper, taped parts of the wire limbs to move, and have the paper (and, by extension, tape) follow, the tape deforms at a different rate than the paper, and tends to go through the body, rather than follow along nicely. I've tried various mesh rearrangements, bone assignments, &c., to no avail. (You can see from the visible skeleton pic that I've tried to different leg riggings--one with one long thigh, the other with an upper thigh where the paper is and a lower thigh for the wire leg beyond the paper body.) Any recommendations? I was successful in my initial attempt, where the body didn't bend at all, but stayed rigid, and any limb movement happened outside of the confines of the paper body, but that just didn't look natural (ha ha). Will this require (god forbid) digging into smartskin and muscle poses, to force the tape to do my bidding at a micromanagement level? [attachmentid=20953] [attachmentid=20954] [attachmentid=20955] I figure it's only fitting that my attempt to learn all this with a "simple" idea is presenting its own complications. I have a hunch that this will be the case with EVERY project. Cheers-- Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LurkerAbove Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 Did you ever get this resolved? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heyvern Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 Looks to me like smart skin is the way to go. For something this simple it might not be as bad as you think... OH! Wait! how about this idea... Make sure there are splines in the paper body where you want the tape... then extrude the tape mesh out from those splines. The tape would only be an external mesh where it "protrudes" from the paper surface over the limbs. [attachmentid=21501] -vern Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajcedrv Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 Vern, this is a great idea! Bravo! i still can't wait to see Georges move! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
someawfulbridge Posted October 18, 2006 Author Share Posted October 18, 2006 I had actually snuck a new post about this dilemma in the rigging section, but this is still an unresolved issue. I love the ideo of unibody-ing the tape and cutout (and, probably, the wires) and will definitely give that a go. Thanks! Looks to me like smart skin is the way to go. For something this simple it might not be as bad as you think... OH! Wait! how about this idea... Make sure there are splines in the paper body where you want the tape... then extrude the tape mesh out from those splines. The tape would only be an external mesh where it "protrudes" from the paper surface over the limbs. [attachmentid=21501] -vern Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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