The Wannabe Pirates

[largento]

Thanks for the info Stian and Gerry!

[jirard]

This will undoubtedly limit our success, but we really are doing this because this is something we want to do and are having fun doing. With that goal in mind, we're already a success!

Good attitude.

 

Here's my unsolicited opinion...

 

There's a niche for everything. "Edgy" cartoons simply have a vocal niche - people who want to show how hip they are. "Ducktales" & "Little Lulu" types are, by nature, not well represented by any means except passive ones (like watching your hits). To sell to a 10-year old, you've got to remember what you liked at 10 - this is tough because you want to remember yourself more mature and hip than you really were. (At 10, my sensibilities foretold the kinds of things I like now: adventures, mystery, gadgets.)

 

Once you've found your niche - work that baby. If you can get a loyal audience, you're in.

 

Excellent advice there Martin.

Largento, glad to see your still pluggin away at this thing. Exactly how many people (from the storyboards, sound, etc) do you have working with you on this? I have some out of work 2d friends from Dreamworks that would be willing to help me out but I still dont have a idea for a storyline. Just half baked characters.

[largento]

Well, McCrary and I did have an initial meeting about the story before I wrote the first draft of the script... and Stian modeled the ship for me... and Mark S. did some rigging for me.

 

Other than that, it's just me trying to figure it all out on my own. :-)

 

I've had some offers for help, but right now I'm not organized enough to take them up on it. It's mostly all inside my head.

 

I think a good path to coming up with a story would be to flesh out your characters. Give them names and write up little bios for them. Find out how they are related to each other and see what comes out of that. You might come up with some interesting character info that would inspire a story.

[largento]

I've begun work on the Wannabe Pirates Christmas Greeting for this year!

 

I took some down time today and did up the rough storyboards and placed those in Premiere. (This will be testing how to create a workflow as well as doing something for the website.)

 

To refine the storyboards, I started creating poses and rendering them out.

 

A couple of them amused me:

 

 

As I make progress, I'll post some more stuff!

[largento]

Here's the Leica Reel!

 

It's still pretty rough without any of the real backgrounds and temp props, but I like that I can build it this way and then add finished things as I get to them.

 

I've tacked on the beginning and ending of last year's as place holders.

 

Not sure if all of the gags play this way, but it's getting there! They should come across clearer in the animation.

[martin]

Hehehe.

[Rodney]

Thats great Mark. Fun and Funny.

 

I hope you saw JohnL3D 'encased in ice' project.

That effect would serve you well.

I know there've been several projects featuring snowflakes posted in the forum too. (JohnL3D has his guilty tinkering fingerprints there too I'm sure!)

[largento]

Thanks, guys!

Rodney, you saved me having to do a search for that thread! Obviously this was just a "rough sketch".

 

There are going to be several technical challenges with this that I'm looking forward to tackling.

 

At 79 seconds, this one is shorter than last year's, but much more ambitious. My goal is to have it finished and up on the site by the 10th. That's still a great deal more time than I had last year!

 

Unfortunately, I'm going to lose some time this weekend, though. I'm going to speak at a tree-planting memorial for my old college journalism professor who passed away this year. I'm leaving on Saturday and won't be back until late Tuesday. It's uncool that I'll have to break my stride, but I'm sure I'll be itching to getting back into it.

[johnl3d]

Rodney I already sent you the fan club card but I did post some snow stuff so you are correct

[largento]

1st_clip_s.mov

 

Got back from my trip yesterday and have stayed up waaay too late working on the Christmas greeting. This is the first shot. This is just a 1-pass shaded render. I've still got to add some accumulated snow onto the shutters and window box, but thought I'd show my progress. Doing the titles and falling snow in AE.

[mtpeak2]

It looks good so far. The one thing that stands out is the falling snow follows the camera pan.

[largento]

Added the snow to the window treatments and rendered out the first shot yesterday!

 

First Shot

 

I'm having to work today, but will get back to it when I get home.

 

Most of the other shots are going to be much shorter, so hopefully they'll go quickly. I'm trying to keep the modeling of the props and sets simple, but this is also a good opportunity to continue learning stuff, so I'm going to have to search the forums for a tutorial on how to use Stefan's "E Rebuild" plug-in and Newton Physics. That way I can give Flemm something to bump into and break during the "the lights are turned way down low" bit. The plug-in seems fairly straight forward, but I'm not sure how to actually implement "breaking" the model in the choreography.

 

If it all comes out okay, I'm thinking about sending out some DVDs of it as actual Christmas cards. (Which is mostly just an excuse to get to mess with Adobe Encore now that I have it!) :-)

[largento]

It looks good so far. The one thing that stands out is the falling snow follows the camera pan.

 

Thanks, Mark! Yeah, that's a limitation of doing the snow this way, but I'm hoping they'll be distracted by the opening titles and not pay too much attention to the fact that the snow is tracking with the camera ...and that all of those trees are exactly alike. :-)

[largento]

I hadn't intended to actually model the sets for this Christmas greeting, figuring I would just do 2D backdrops, but with the simplicity of the sets necessary, it became clear that modeling them would be easier.

 

As simple as they are, though, I've been doing a little bit of set decorating to keep them from being completely bare.

 

One of the things I wanted to do was put in a "painting" of Henrietta's brother, Waldo. Waldo appears in the strip, but since he's only connected to the Henry Morgan's Treasure story, he's not one of the characters we're bringing to 3D (at least not yet.) Still, this is Henrietta's house, so it would make sense that she would have a painting of him.

 

I wanted to do a painting that would look kinda' like the old Carl Barks' duck paintings (or my memory of what those looked like). The result was pretty darn close, I think!

 

 

I finally got some use out of my Cintiq! :-)

 

Not sure that we'll see much of it in the finished animation, but I got a kick doing it!

[largento]

So, after what seems an insane amount of work, I've added 3 whole seconds to my Christmas Greeting! :-)

 

In fairness, most of that time was spent modeling the set pieces and figuring out the technical issue with the fire ...so the next few shots should go much quicker.

 

Sequence_01_14.mov

 

Last year's was a big learning experience, and this one is no different.

[jakerupert]

Cant get a picture here...

[mtpeak2]

I don't get a picture either.

[Rodney]

Mark,

If I win one more free Nintendo WII from your banner ad I'm going to go into business.

I think I've won a couple hundred now.

 

(Perhaps you can at least kill the sound?)

 

Edit: It occurs to me that your banner may not be at fault but rather it might be triggering the launch of another ad on my end... dunno.

[largento]

I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about Rodney.

 

My banner ads are served through Project Wonderful and I've never noticed any of them to have audio or be offering a free Wii. The one I've seen the most recently is selling teas.

 

Jake/Mark, I'll try to save it out again so you can see it.

[Rodney]

I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about Rodney.

 

My banner ads are served through Project Wonderful and I've never noticed any of them to have audio or be offering a free Wii. The one I've seen the most recently is selling teas.

 

I'll try to grab a screen capture the next time I win a free WII.

Yours is the only signature that activates the ad and I wouldn't even notice it except for the sound.

The ad may have got stuck in my cache and is currently not playing because in an effort to stop the sound I cleared everything out.

 

For what its worth, the ad doesn't always appear. When it does its always accompanied by the voice congratulating me again.

 

The good news... all is quiet for now.

[largento]

You've caught me, Rodney! I've placed an intricate code into the jpeg in my sig file that targets only your computer... :-)

 

Jake/Mark, can you see this one?

 

shots_1n2.mov

[martin]

Jake/Mark, can you see this one?

Me! Me! I can see it! Cooool...

[largento]

Thanks, Martin!

[mtpeak2]

That's better, I can see this one. Looking pretty good so far.

[largento]

Thanks, Mark.

 

I was out last night so I didn't get to do very much on it, but I'm going to try to make up for that by doing the next 3 shots (one is just a quick reaction shot) tonight!

 

Wish me luck!

 

I'm gonna' need it... :-)

[jakerupert]

Excellent!!!

[Paul Forwood]

Good luck, Mark. It all seems to be coming together beautifully and every time that I view one of your updates it brings Christmas a little bit closer.

You have had a very productive year with your Pirates. Keep on sailing.

[largento]

Thanks, Paul & Jake!

 

Well, I didn't make the 3 shots. I did two, but after seeing the render of the 2nd shot, I think I'm going to have to go back and mess with it some more.

 

I'm pretty happy with shot 3, though!

 

shot_003s.mov

 

For this amateur, doing the turn around wasn't easy! I actually used a little video camera I bought to film me doing the move and then looked at it a bunch of times to get an idea of how the feet worked. Even though the feet aren't in the shot, I did position them as well as I could through the turn and tried to move his body weight from one to the other.

 

Glad nobody was around to see me looking down at my feet and trying to make the move in slow motion. :-)

 

I just didn't want to cheat and have him rotate around.

 

I even animated his sash swinging. :-)

[martin]

I even animated his sash swinging. :-)

That all looked good... Next time, "sash swinging," you should try a Dynamic Constraint, (one thing at a time though, I know).

[Gerry]

Lookin good! Will Santa say "Yo Ho Ho" at the end?

[largento]

Thanks, Martin. I haven't messed with Dynamic Constraints yet. Maybe next year's xmas card. :-)

 

Thanks, Gerry. No plans for a pirate Santa. :-)

 

 

I did look for some pirate Christmas music before I started this one, but what I found was too pirate-ey and gimmicky... or too focused on the rum.

 

The Wannabe Pirates drink chocolate milk. :-)

[TheSpleen]

I admire your character modeling alot.

[largento]

Thanks, Spleen!

 

Of course, I didn't start out being able to model well at all. Just look at the first post of the Stalled Trek thread here in the Wannabe Way section of the forums. You can see an image of my first model (shudder!) and my second, better attempt (only a slight shudder.) :-)

 

The key things that help me to make "smooth" models are the concepts I talked about in the first four Wannabe Tutorials.

 

I sound like a broken record at times, but what made the difference for me was determining that I was really going to learn A:M and the means to that end were Barry Zundel's EXCELLENT video tutorials. When I bought them, they were on disc, but now he sells them individually as downloadable movies on lulu.com

 

I can't recommend them enough. I can't count how many lightbulbs going on moments I experienced while watching them. If you can afford them, get them! (I don't get a penny from Barry Zundel, I should disclaim. :-) I am just a very grateful customer who was helped immensely by them.)

 

I feel like I've come a looong way in these last three years!

 

Your designs have a lot of character, Spleen! (I'm loving the Alice Cooper one.) The polishing comes with sticking to it and learning how to tame the spline. :-)

 

Haha, if I ever do a book about modeling in A:M, that'll be the title! "Taming the Spline." :-)

[Dagooos]

This is coming out nicely...makes you want more! I really like the first shot has a nice look about it.

[largento]

Thanks!

 

Nothing new to show today. Last night I spent some time messing with lighting for one of the earlier shots. I don't want to fall into that trap and not be able to move forward, but I'm trying to rectify having it look cold outside and warm inside.

 

I'm hoping to be able to do 10+ shots this weekend. If I can do just that minimum, I'll be at 14 (out of 21).

 

I leaned pretty heavy on cutting away to simple Flash stuff last year, but I don't have that "out" this time.

 

I showed one of my co-workers what I've done so far and her comment was "You're making your snowman one look like crap."

 

High praise. :-)

[largento]

Here's the 4th shot!

 

The original 4th shot was a gag where Flemm fogged up the window progressively each time he sang the word "snow." I did an early pass of it and finally decided that I didn't like the idea. So I abandoned it and started trying to come up with something new.

 

I thought it might be a good idea to cut to outside and establish that Mr. Sneeze and Poco Boco are out there and give them some business to do. The original idea was that Mr. Sneeze would be lifting Poco up in the wheel barrow so that he can reach the top of a snowman to put on its hat.

 

I thought it would be a chance to stick in one of the snowmen from last year's, but it wasn't grabbing me. After a bunch of playing around, I came up with the idea of having them making a snowman of Cutthroat Jacques. They have stolen Cutthroat's hat and he discovers them and chases them off. This gave me some fun business to play with and a way to include Cutthroat. The snowman sort of gets a cameo (I used his arms.) :-)

 

This was definitely not taking the easy way out. :-)

 

new4thshot.mov

[NancyGormezano]

I love the look you've got going there...great to see your progress..

[Rodney]

Mark,

I enjoyed your description of how you approached (and changed direction) on this sequence. Watching the sequence itself was even more interesting though because my mind had build up static images based on your description. To see your characters in animated action... really a treat!

 

I don't know what else you still plan to change here and I only know a little of your schedule but I do have a few suggestion if time and interest allows you to pursue them.

 

First, I would suggest making the snowman taller.

There are several reasons for this (mostly because having a short snoman cancels the effect of needing the wheelbarrow in the first place). It might be more effective as is just to have Mr. Sneeze lift Poco Boco up?

 

If on the other hand Poco Boco was precariously perched on the very end of the wheelbarrow... really reaching up there and Mr. Sneeze pushed down (instead of pulling up) Poco Boco could get some pretty good height! (Don't forget to move Cutthroat's hat just a little to show that it has just been placed!)

 

 

Second, I love the chase sequence! I think you can gain even more from it.

You've got Cuttthroat running to the left then arcing forward toward the audience. This makes me think you will have Mr. Sneeze and Poco Boco run (in a flash) from left to right across the screen. The benefits of adding this might be considerable if it doesn't interfere with the next scene. Note that I'm not suggesting you add more frames but rather just add that to the current frames. It would obscure Cuttthroat for a few frames while they dash across but the addition would add even more depth to the scene. If its a fairly tansparent dash... Cutthroat would still be seen throughout.

 

Hope my suggestions make sense. I'm really enjoying seeing your production come together!

[largento]

Thanks, Nancy!

 

And thanks, Rodney! You are right... time is a luxury I do not have. :-)

 

To some of your points:

 

1) The snowman is the same height as Cutthroat on purpose. While watching it after it was rendered, it occurred to me that I should have had him stop for a moment in front of the snowman so that it really sold the fact that the snowman was him (the hat would actually appear to be on his head during those frames), but such is life. :-) There are many things I'd love to do, but this is all about doing the best I can while running towards the finish line.

 

2) The wheelbarrow does create some visual interest, but it's primarily there to help make it more identifiable when it shows up later. Having Sneeze hold up Poco would make him look like a child, fail to establish the wheelbarrow for the later scene, and just not be that interesting.

 

3) Not sure how much of that clip will be there, Rodney. As fun as it would be to continue the chase, the work it would require is just too great to make it conceivable. I would rather go back and animate Cutthroat's run cycle, but it'll have to stay as it is. I learned in doing Sneeze's fancy-footwork dash that I could stretch his legs in places to make his movements read better. (I'm very pleased with the cartoony effect of that little bit of animation.) Applying that to Cutthroat would have made his run cycle much less robotic.

 

It's sobering to think that as much work as I've done, I've only finished one stanza out of four!! My hopes for finishing on the 10th are dashed. Hopefully I can make it by the 17th!

[Rodney]

Having Sneeze hold up Poco would make him look like a child, fail to establish the wheelbarrow for the later scene, and just not be that interesting.

 

A good reason not to do it. (I only mention it to illustrate the point that hte snowman is pretty short)

 

3) Not sure how much of that clip will be there, Rodney. As fun as it would be to continue the chase, the work it would require is just too great to make it conceivable. I would rather go back and animate Cutthroat's run cycle, but it'll have to stay as it is. I learned in doing Sneeze's fancy-footwork dash that I could stretch his legs in places to make his movements read better. (I'm very pleased with the cartoony effect of that little bit of animation.) Applying that to Cutthroat would have made his run cycle much less robotic.

 

If I just showed you what I mean rather than trying to illustrate it in words that'd probably help. I didn't mean to send you on a tangent. My purpose isn't to distract you! I'm just commenting on my intitial impression of the scene. (Considering it is your projects, your way will always be better no matter what I think!)

 

I do think you underestimate yourself and/or the power of A:M here. Ten minutes (including rendering)... would most likely get you the effect I'm thinkin'. No new animation needed. But I'm gonna shut up about all this before I make myself a pest.

 

 

When you get done with this holiday extravaganza you really should render out some of your characters in sequences in such a way that you isolate the individual frames for reuse in webpages, and for promotional purposes. Screensaver/Background images, Coloring books, whatever... some of the images could even be used in the comicstrip if needed.

 

As you can see... I may not be the Wannabe Pirates biggest fan but... I've got to be pretty close.

 

Now get back to work on your Christmas special.

That thing isn't going to animate itself!

[largento]

Thanks, Rodney! I appreciate your taking the time to comment!

 

I think what you're getting hung up on is a perceived blank area because you're seeing the uncut footage. There is purposely extra frames at the end of the shot, because I wasn't sure exactly where it was going to cut into the next shot. I rendered out padding.

 

When I did put the shot in, it actually ends just as he is making the turn to the left (which then cuts to Flemm at the window looking from right to left, seemingly following Cutthroat's run.

 

I am going to do some promotional stuff to let people know when this is up on the site, but it'll just be an isolated thing. The only surplus benefit of all of this work will be my own growth in the process.

 

The 3D will *never* be used in the webcomic. To be firm, as cool as I think the 3D stuff is, I could never see it replacing the great art McCrary is producing.

 

No, it will not animate itself, so back to the grind! :-) I've got shots 5 and 6 finished and rendered. I'm hoping to finish 7 and 8 today. That'll get me to the halfway point!

[largento]

Halfway Point!

 

Sequence_01_9s.mov

 

I am really starting to drag. The prospect of going a whole 'nother week and having to work all weekend again is pretty grim, but I think I can make it. (I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...)

 

This goes through shot 8 and gets me through the second stanza.

[TheSpleen]

That was awesome!!!

I am jealous!

[largento]

Thanks, Spleen!

 

Still toiling away. I've got six to eight more shots to go. Going to be cutting it close to get it finished on Wednesday, but I think I'll make it.

[largento]

As I'm waiting for a test render of the lip synching of the next line, I feel compelled to say another public thank you to Mark S. for the great job he did of rigging the faces with his new face rig!

 

Thank you again, sir!

[mtpeak2]

It looking good Mark, keep at it.

 

I'm guessing the face rig is working well for you then.

[largento]

It's working great, Mark! Thanks again!

 

Posting an update. I've added another 5 shots since last time and am getting to the point that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! :-)

 

Sequence_01_4.mov

 

I'm going to do at least one more shot tonight and then I'll have three more shots to do tomorrow and the whole wrap-up. With luck, I'll have a little bit of time on Monday night to revisit some things.

 

I'll post the final version up on YouTube and The Wannabe Pirates website on Wednesday... exactly one month after I began! :-)

[mtpeak2]

Hehe, I like the last shot with his legs in the air, too funny.

[Rodney]

Looking great. (and watching it come together piece by piece has especially been a treat)

 

That you've got this 'holiday special' coming together from initial conception to release with such high quality in one month... now... that's impressive.

 

Go get that deadline!

[largento]

Thanks, guys!

 

I am now rendering the second-to-last shot and have finished setting up the final shot! This one will be the most difficult one I've attempted, but also hopefully the funniest.

 

This has really been a tremendous amount of work, but it's also been a great learning experience. I had thought that last year's Christmas card was a tough chore, but it was nothing compared to this year's! (Makes me absolutely terrified of next year's!) :-)

 

I've no doubt I'm going to be up late again tomorrow night, but the prospect that soon I'll be able to relax and enjoy the holiday is keeping me going!