Hero: Legend of the West

[Darkwing]

I've had the program over a year now and decided it was finally time to start making films. So, my first one is Hero: Legend of the West. It has a three page script with only two people who speak in it. Well, there are like two incidentals, but they don't count. Now I haven't modeled everything myself, the horse for example is from the CD, so I have to remodel the saddle to a more western style saddle. But, Hero is the very first character I've ever modeled, so be easy on critiquing him. I'm quite proud that I was finally able to build a character, but there are a lot of faults in the model that luckily get covered up by the toon render!!

 

BTW, the pics aren't in chronological order

[Luuk Steitner]

Not bad but those images could be a little bit brighter.

Did you write a good story yet?

[Darkwing]

Brightness is a matter of monitors, on mine, it's really quite clear, but on others, I can imagine it isn't. It is sunset though on some of them. As for story, it's only small, but I'll post it for those who want to look. It's nothing professional. It's a word document, so if you can't read it, let me know and I'll but the dreaded rtf up.

Hero_script.doc

[LeeAnderson]

Nice work! For your first character ever, you should be impressed, and so am I!

 

Keep it up!

 

Lee

[Luuk Steitner]

Brightness is a matter of monitors, on mine, it's really quite clear, but on others, I can imagine it isn't.

 

Having your monitor correctly adjusted is very important for this kind of work. You can use a simple calibration tool like this to adjust it.

[Darkwing]

my monitor is brand new too, that could be part of it!!!

[the_black_mage]

yeah man thats way too dark! but i have my screen at max brightness and its still dark! what do other images look like on your computer? like your logo?

[robcat2075]

Looks like a promising project! I hope you have fun working on it.

 

I really think you should make a horse in the same style as your hero character. That A:M horse looks like he's a visitor from another painting.

[largento]

Way to go, darkwing!

 

I think folks are reacting to the sundown photos. I wouldn't say they were too dark (in that you can't make out the detail), but there's probably a way to color it so that you get the sense that it's sundown without the whole screen dimming like that. Maybe going with an orange sky color and then try some different colored lights on this side of your figure (maybe blue?). Or even go for a full silhouette.

 

I look forward to seeing the finished piece!

[Darkwing]

Thanks largento. Everythingi s really bright and sharp on my monitor, but my monitor is also high def, so it's really sharpening the image for me. I'll try different lighting, but the challenge is to make it work with the toon render, which seems to have a tendency to make things darker when rendered. The horse definately has to be changed. For instance, the saddle is english, and not really western!

[Darkwing]

Here's a test of the horse galloping which is extremely hard to animate!! The horse should go up and down and C&C is welcome.

gallop.wmv

[Caroline]

At first glance that looked really good, so you must be almost there.

 

I guess you've seen the Muybridge horse gallops?

 

Your front right leg holds in position for about 5 frames at the top of its stride, so it looks jerky, and the back right leg also holds for a few frames, I think. I can't see them too well, but your left side looks better than the right side - are they the same?

[Darkwing]

Well, I didn't model the horse, it's on the am extras cd. I did ise the muybridge horse gallops, but it was sometimes hard to tell which leg was doing what because i was all black, that's why I think certain things hold for several frames. I'll try smoothing it out tomorrow, but I'm not much of a horse expert. That was the product of about 10 tries at making the horse gallop! Thanks for the comments! Keep them coming!!!

[phatso]

A lot of people like to set their monitors up with high contrast, but that's a trap. You lose all detail at the dark end.

 

When I first viewed the evening pix, I couldn't see anything at all. But then I went into the alignment and discovered my monitor settings were way off. Now those scenes look fine.

 

'Course, one could argue that they should be brightened up on the theory that a large percentage of the people who will be viewing this have misadjusted monitors.

 

"Curiouser and curiouser," said Alice.

[jakerupert]

You just animated the horses legs and neck but the body will also have to move up and down a bit.

Up when it propells from the ground, down before it touches the ground..

[Darkwing]

Here's a test of the horse galloping which is extremely hard to animate!! The horse should go up and down and C&C is welcome.

 

Already said

[MattWBradbury]

For those images, you need to brighten up the background sky. You also might want to use a higher quality texture or gradient.

 

Here's what I came up with:

 

You also might want to move the cactus behind the horse. It makes it look like a deer.

 

 

Are these shots at dusk?

 

Here's another two:

 

 

Here's one that might be a little brighter, but the shadows don't look right for the time:

[Darkwing]

i think i actually got rid of the cacti because of that reason. and they are behind the horse! The shots are at dusk and not morning.