prison cell

[tbenefi33]

Was messing around with the Toon Rendering and came up with this.

 

[tbenefi33]

Well here the final project I call it the (DOC) Department of Correction. Thank you guys for helping me on this, I learned that lighting can be very tricky and once you mess with enough your bound to get what you want. I add light in the middle and keep the intesence kind of low, and add some up on top made them lot brighter like the light was on and a couple in the cells use a yellowish color for in the cells.

 

 

[c-wheeler]

I'm no authority myself, so take anything I say with a pinch of salt as I am still learning.And if I say anything wrong I am sure someone will correct me

 

Once I generate a working image in AM, I like to run a histogram in a paint program which shows the balance between light and dark. The graph on this one is well over to the left, which is way to dark(like taking an underexposed photograph).If the graph was all on the right the image would be all washed out and to light(overexposed). A graph that is a mixure of dark shadows and light highlights would be well spread across the middle. There are no good or bad histograms though, its just a guide.

 

I like the idea of having yellow lights in the cell, but if you check the roof outside the cell, it seems like there's a hard light edge-a real spotlight effect- on the ceiling.Again in the paint program I can add another layer and spray some yellow to do a quick check on the effect I'me after, then back in AM I can try playing with the width softness and make it more blurry if I like it. Also the light seems to shine through the roof of the cell below as though there is no floor in the way.

 

In the ceiling we can see 3 lights, yet on the floor we can see five pools of lights, which kind of grates for me.Again I can quickly paint over them to see how it would look. I also added a red blue layer to see how that would effect the mood. If you select the way in wich the layers are mixed, you can choose to multiply the colours. This means that instead of just adding the red or blue, it makes those more intense. I think the effect may be to subtle in the resulting jpg but it would indicate to me weather I was going in the right direction.

 

I think you could consider highlighting some of the bars, or roof floor areas as well.

 

As I said at the start - use plenty of salt, this is just how I do it.

[tbenefi33]

Cool I'm gonna have to try that . Do you use 3d paint or paintshop ?

[tbenefi33]

Here a little animated clip of The Prison I'm still messing with it I took a break from it didn't wont to get burned out on it. I slowed the video down was messing with the lighting.

 

I'm thinking about adding 4 main character using stop motion cause I wan't the character to look real as possible in order to achive this would I have to go the green screen or blue screen method and us this as a background. Bummer it sucks when you get stuck on someting.

 

 

The_Prison_1.MOV

[ypoissant]

Once I generate a working image in AM, I like to run a histogram in a paint program which shows the balance between light and dark. The graph on this one is well over to the left, which is way to dark(like taking an underexposed photograph).If the graph was all on the right the image would be all washed out and to light(overexposed). A graph that is a mixure of dark shadows and light highlights would be well spread across the middle. There are no good or bad histograms though, its just a guide.

Very good point. This scene is an excellent exemple where a "linear workflow" would have immensely helped. See my tutorial on the subject. Indeed, the image is very dark on my monitor. A tone correction would help bring back a more natural illumination even though it is night time.

 

I like the idea of having yellow lights in the cell, but if you check the roof outside the cell, it seems like there's a hard light edge-a real spotlight effect- on the ceiling.Again in the paint program I can add another layer and spray some yellow to do a quick check on the effect I'me after, then back in AM I can try playing with the width softness and make it more blurry if I like it.

The hard cutoff is an acceleration trick. The way to get the light to continue and fade smoothly is to use OpenEXR as the output file type.

[Gerry]

I've been following your progress on this and it's coming along very nicely! In your efforts to get some definition/detail in a low-light setting I wondered if you've tried giving the railings (or other elements) a little ambience so that you're not depending entirely on the low lighting to be able to see the scene.

[tbenefi33]

Here another version of the prison fly by I add some ambience to the railing about 5% and made it a little lighter it was little to dark. The render took about 6 hrs, I haven't add the character in yet...LOL

I'll probley work on them next. I'lm gonna redo the pit bull his feet didn't look right to me. I'll start over on that. At the first of the clip whens its pointing at the top of the cealing I'm gonna have a light effect, and storm sound to it.

 

The_Prison_7.MOV

[tbenefi33]

I have an Ideal I'm thinking about rendering the animation in toon what would yall set the line and bias at I've tryed and it like to many dark lines.

 

I saw this one animation done in toon on here it looked awsome it was called the church.

 

Gerry I like your story and animation.

[tbenefi33]

Well I finaly got my lighting strick video a storm came up last night and I took some video of it. I've up loaded it into pc and edit the lighting. Here where I'm stuck how can I add the lighting video to

the sky line I tryed c-wheeler trick but no luck bummer I'm probley missing something. Hopefully the lighting will light up the prison as well. Here the clip I made. Oh yah it says it only supports 24 bit video something like that.

 

Lighting_Strick_2_wmv.WMV

 

Sorry no sound the sound kind of sucked I was standing behind the door...LOL

[tbenefi33]

Well I'm still working on the prison I'm stuck on this pit bull any suggestion ?

 

 

[tbenefi33]

Here the Gard Dog again I redone everything had trouble with the feet last time. I'll probley have to work on the back end and round it off a little but it looks kind of weird.

 

[c-wheeler]

I think you might have a number of problems there.

 

First off, when you come to rigging, it is easier to rig a symmetrical body. If you think of it like that, you only need to model one half (the left or right, not front or back )So I would model the half nearest the front, because you can see it all. Once that was done you can copy/flip attach the other half, and hey presto.....a dog.

 

The spline-age isn't to bad, but the head needs to be modeled from side on - you might find it easier to get another pic, or draw your own.

Another problem area is the sharp edges. Select a spline where you have a sharp crease - such as a cross section of the legs and adjust using the bias handles. Also try not to have splines coming to a sudden end where they will be visible, such as on the rump.

 

Chris

[Caroline]

Just a few suggestions

 

 

The blue circles show splines that are not meeting properly - imagine the most perfect splineage as a grid, where one spline crosses another in a 4 way cross. You have splines dead ending so they meet in a 5 way cross.

 

I'm not sure that the splines you think are continuous actually are - you can check a continuous spline by clicking the spline near a control point, then pressing the comma key. This will highlight the cps on the spline.

 

The circular spline at the top of the front leg is not necessary, you could continue the splines of the leg over the body rather than making this circle.

 

And You might have too many splines going lengthways? There seem to be a lot going into the back leg.

 

And Chris is right - you only have to do half the body, then line it up and copy/flip/attach - do a search for +copy +flip +attach for pointers on how to do this successfully.

 

A good start. Very tricky model!

[Eric2575]

My suggestion is to look at the "Giraffe" tutorial in the AM workbook and pretty much copy the general layout of the body and legs from there (heavily modified off course).

[tbenefi33]

Here the pit bull done in the Giraffe Tutorial and caroline your right this is a tricky model.

 

[Caroline]

That giraffe conversion was a good idea - the model looks so much smoother. Although there is still something happening with those front legs. Do you have a picture with splines?

[tbenefi33]

Yes here one with the splines.

 

[Caroline]

 

The circles are where you have 5 lines going into a control point, as described in the previous point - these won't lie nice or animate nice. Interestingly you don't seem to have any 5 point patches - these work better than having the 5 lines going into one point.

 

The square is something happening - maybe a flipped normal? Did you check with the comma key that your splines run continuously without breaks where you don't want breaks?

 

The x's are where you might be able to combine the spline - in the back leg change those 4 splines to 2 splines, and the front leg 2 splines to 1 spline. The extra splines don't seem to be doing anything interesting.

[Eric2575]

Ok now, no updates for a while? Don't give up now.

[tbenefi33]

I'm not giving up I'm still working on it I'm working on the eye ball.

[tbenefi33]

I got done with the eyeball I saw collins tutorial thanks for posting that one.

 

I redone the splines. Its getting smother.

 

Here a render shot with the eyeball.

 

 

 

 

Bummer just noticed that I got the ear tured the wrong way the dog can't hear good...LOL

I also got to do his Jaws.

[Caroline]

That's looking good - although I still think you have too many splines going over and down the legs. I think you may also need an extra spline or two around his tum if you are going to animate him, because you need to have splines where he will bend. That's why I don't think you need all those vertical splines down the legs, because he doesn't bend that way. But then I've only ever made one dog, and that isn't a howling success , so please feel free to ignore.

 

 

I think you are getting a few creases where the splines are wrong. But I may be wrong, it's hard to tell.

 

For example, crease A on his shoulder could be where the splines are not crossing properly. and B still has that 5 point thing, which will cause a crease.

[tbenefi33]

I add some splines around his tum and fixed that area around the front, and I took away some splines in

the rear leg yap I had way to many. I added just his front teeth cause hes not going to have his mouth open that much hes going to be running after something.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yah I turned his ears around now he can hear the prisoner escaping..

[Eric2575]

There are a couple of obvious areas that you can fix. That 5 point patch on his neck can be eliminated by using a hook - instead of having the spline stop in the middle of the perpendicular spline, hook it into that spline. Look up hooks in the help section of AM. Also, the horizontal crease in the rear leg of the model should not be there. It might be that you have some peaked cps there or discontinuity. The first problem is easy to fix - since there really should not be any peaked cps on that body, you could select the whole body and then hit the "o" key. That will get rid of any peaked splines. If there is still a crease, then you have discontinuous splines - splines that stop at the creased point and then a new spline was added to the old spline to continue where the old left off. Kind of a lame explanation, but you'll see what I mean if you run into that problem. The remedy is to unhook the two splines and then reattach them. To test for discontinuity, select a cp on a spline by clicking to the left or right of the cp and then hit the "," key. This will cause all cps on that spline to be selected. If the selection stops right in the middle of a run, then you know that's where the discontinuity is and that's where you need to fix things. In the example below is the fix. I hope it's understandable.

[tbenefi33]

I done ctrl o and half that helped on the crease made it a lot smoother. I'll probley be working on the painting part today then the next character. This weekend I'll be going to my Uncle Ricks house I'll try to keep updating if I can. But should be back Monday or Tuesday all of you have a safe weekend.

[tbenefi33]

Hello I'm still at uncles house I haven't for got about the project. I'll be posting some this week.

[tbenefi33]

I'm back home.

 

I all most got the pit bull done hes going to be in another project on youtube. I did get Exercise 15 Completed: Special thanks to cwheeler, Caroline, Eric2574 ( for encouraging to stick with the project.)

and the other guys who helped me out with the lighting and shadows you know who you are. Thanks yall.

 

Here the link to the video clip.

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showt...mp;#entry264978

[tbenefi33]

I not that far away from finisheing the Pit Bull all I got to add is the noise I'll decal that so that wont be bad. The first one is I done a hairy one of him with the dinesaty way up 2500 the screen went white trying to read all the hairs so I just left it normal pit bull got real short hair any way and the scene calls for being dark that will work out. The sencond one is showing I got him all riged up read to animate.

I need to find a video of the pit bull jumping at some one make a bvh file. But its nearly finished though.

Well I better not say finished cause your all ways changing something.

 

[tbenefi33]

Well I went to load up the pit bull in the chorgraph walla go and got loading message (error message)

having trouble loading left eye bones on the dog. bummmer I tryed to put in the report error message but its not letting me sign in for some reason. Any help with this would be greatly appreceated so that way I wan't have to redo the whole thing. Sorry for posting this in the wrong place. If I have to redo it looks like a long hours again oh well I don't have anything to do but go fishing on the river.

[tbenefi33]

Bummer looks like I"m going have to redo the chor. Be sure to save all your model on back up disc it save a lot of time.

[nixie]

A good tip is to save in increments. so Prison_001, Prison_002....etc Then if the latest one brakes, you just have to go back a few hours work.

[tbenefi33]

Phew just about got everything back to normal.

Thanks Nixie.

 

Looks like I'll be getting a external harddrive in the near future so this won't happen again.

[tbenefi33]

PC back to normal.

 

I saw a video tutorial on here last night about making rain using particles and finaly figured out what c-wheeler was explaning to me a few pages back to make rain.

 

Here a short clip of it raining I changed the roof top bars to a glass plate window where you could see the rain all I need to do now is add more rain and lighting. I"m slowly starting to catch on to this.

 

New_Meat__1a.mov

[c-wheeler]

I saw a video tutorial on here last night about making rain using particles and finaly figured out what c-wheeler was explaning to me a few pages back to make rain.

No, I wasn't thinking about rain, just the sky. But I like the idea of your rain. If you could combine it good lightning,the stormy sky and lightning I think it would be very pleasing. Heres a project and clip about what I did meant though.

I found a stock clip .mov from fotosearch and imported it into AM as "a series of images".

I created a model-flat plane,but you could use a dome or a cube to use as a sky, then decaled it with the mov file.

I created a model corridor with glass panels in the roof for windows.

I dropped them both in the cho , and lit the corridor. Then I added another light for the sky, and lit only that model with the new light using a light list.

moving_sky.zip

movingskytes.mov

[tbenefi33]

sorry been away on casino trip with my dad I got food poisoning out there or the flue bug still kind sickly I'll post up dates soon as I'm able.

[Caroline]

Get well soon. Looking forward to seeing the next stage.

[tbenefi33]

Thank you caroline.

 

I'm back to normal I'm working on the near the final stage of story, I was drawing the prisoner face about got it done I'll probley use 3d paint to paint it. I was messing around with the loading a bmp image in there I didn't know you can appaly an image on to model Thank you to who ever came up with 3d paint save a lot of time.

 

All I need now is to find a good image of a prison jump suit to draw and put on him. I'll probley just do a google search on that.

[tbenefi33]

I found some pics of a prison jumpsuit get to work on that in few.

I'll probley just just rotoscope it. and use the cloth setting in the new version.

 

[tbenefi33]

I just about got the prison jumpsuit done kind of looks like a big orange balloon hmmmmmm guess I'll have to shape it to the body.

 

 

On the back of it will read Department of Correction.

[Caroline]

One way I have seen this done is on Sir Nigel, if you have that model - it's in the extra data that comes with A:M.

 

Instead of having a body under the jumpsuit, you could make the jumpsuit the body. That might be a lot easier than cloth, depending on how realistic you want.

[tbenefi33]

I've just about down to the finishes line of the story I got my main character done of the Story rather not say who it is at the time but some of you can probley guess....

 

When I done the Jump Suit shaped it to the body Only thing I have to do now is paint the head, hands, feet, and add Departmet of Corttection decal on the back of the jump suit. Then its animating time should be done this weekend hopefully.

 

 

bummer for got to show the splines. Oh yah I cheated I used the trazan body the character was the same size I just took trazan head off and put the new character head on there, that saved a lot of time.

 

I may have to scale to head up a little bit the size of the head doesn't look right ?

[kylemb]

will it be tauq from the suffering?

[tbenefi33]

Nah not tauq.

 

 

 

After looking at the model again I need to scale the chest area to match the head it sticks out to far bummer. I'll do that in a phew.

[tbenefi33]

Ok guys well I finaly got my main character done I rather not show him until the animation is done

I'm gonna work on that later on tonight, and hopefully the render will be done tomarrow Oh where where can I might find some good dog grawling at probley do a google search.

[c-wheeler]

You could try something like sounddogs, or there are lots of links

 

 

Free sound effects

 

another

 

another one

 

Just do a search

 

Chris

[thefreshestever]

i love that one, it´s a search engine for sounds: findsounds.com

just type in "dog" and you´ll find a couple of barks... you can also define the desired quality, so you can filter out crappy 22 khz or 8bit sounds...

[tbenefi33]

i love that one, it´s a search engine for sounds: findsounds.com

just type in "dog" and you´ll find a couple of barks... you can also define the desired quality, so you can filter out crappy 22 khz or 8bit sounds...

 

 

Thank you I'll check that one out.

 

I checked the site out and I found what I was looking for they had all the sound I needed Thank you.

[tbenefi33]

Ok was working on the animation and rendering it, and about 75 % it got stuck bummer glad it did I stoped it and the clip did didn't look right when the prisoner was walking down the hall way I made out a path for him but for some reason he was gliding instead of walking...LOL I'm gonna have to fix that one tomarrow bummer. In stread of a stride walk I may just have a regular walk to him.

 

Oh yah when I click on the path for some reason it want's to start at the end or the middle of the path any way to fix that ?

[tbenefi33]

Well I thought I was going to be done this weekend bummer.

 

I figured out the what I doing wrong on the walk path when I draw the path got into a habbet or starting from the other end of the prison this time I started at the end where the prisoner starts walking every thing working fine now for the path goes. I had another action into the chor and when I went to render it

the resolute walk was not working right bummer gonna have to fix that. I'll render them into 3 section them past them together in a video editor program that would probley work.

 

 

Oh yah after test render he was walking like a wooden toy solder or somethig.