Gerry Posted November 9, 2009 Author Posted November 9, 2009 Here's the shot where the gmen first come to life in the dream sequence... shot4wireframe3_h264.mov Quote
Darkwing Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 very very elaborate. this really will be your best one yet Quote
KenH Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 I like the awakening sequence! You might think about setting up that moment. It's not everyday that a ginger bread man jumps off the plate. Maybe a shot before this showing the top one waking up would do it. But I appreciate you're not making a movie here so I guess it works still. Quote
Gerry Posted November 9, 2009 Author Posted November 9, 2009 Ken, that's a good comment. It won't start quite as abruptly as this shows, as we'll see them on the plate for a second or so before they come to life. But if I can time some anticipation in I will. Quote
Darkwing Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 a good directorial tip is if something is important, try to have it shown in as many inconspicuous ways as possible before the moment things are revealed. so having it blurry in the bacground and that types of things Quote
Gerry Posted November 10, 2009 Author Posted November 10, 2009 I managed to work in some anticipation for this shot. The first Gman will raise his head for a sec, then lower it, before the leaping starts. I'll post something for this in a bit. Quote
Gerry Posted November 11, 2009 Author Posted November 11, 2009 Spent a couple of hours today creating the MJ dance moves for Annie, and though it's far from perfect I think for now it will work. There's a little foot slippage but in a dance routine like this I can live with it. I haven't animated her hands as yet, and for now her face is just set in a smile. Comments welcome! AnnieandGmenDancetest_h264.mov Quote
HomeSlice Posted November 11, 2009 Posted November 11, 2009 That's great Gerry! But watching that little girl do the "bump and grind" is a little disturbing ... Quote
Gerry Posted November 11, 2009 Author Posted November 11, 2009 That occurred to me too. My boss likes "edgy" but this may bear some more thought. And it's really just that one move. Maybe if I take one "bump" out it wouldn't be so, well, weird. edit: my wife likes it fine, so I don't know... Does it seem weird to anyone else here? Quote
NancyGormezano Posted November 12, 2009 Posted November 12, 2009 That occurred to me too. My boss likes "edgy" but this may bear some more thought. And it's really just that one move. Maybe if I take one "bump" out it wouldn't be so, well, weird. edit: my wife likes it fine, so I don't know... Does it seem weird to anyone else here? I don't think it's weird either...just as long as those ginger boys behave. Quote
mtpeak2 Posted November 12, 2009 Posted November 12, 2009 Looking pretty good so far. Maybe have her stop at that point and look at them like "what in the world are you doing"? Quote
Gerry Posted November 16, 2009 Author Posted November 16, 2009 Here's a first draft with pretty much all the animation in place except for an effects shot where she leaps into the TV screen. Now that I've got this assembled I'll go through and make a list of everything that needs tweaking. Lots of timing issues and adjustments, (not to mention that it's practically a compendium of beginners mistakes!) and I might not have enough time allotted for some of the dream sequence, but there's some wiggle room there, and I think it will work out in the end. Comments welcome! Mastercomp_animatic_h264.mov Quote
Gerry Posted November 16, 2009 Author Posted November 16, 2009 ah yes, the snail. You may think that I control the snail, but the truth is quite different. He'll actually be in for a few more frames than shown here. Quote
KenH Posted November 16, 2009 Posted November 16, 2009 Coming along nicely. One thing stood out on the blinks at 26 seconds. When she closes her eyes only to open them wide again it looks like she's doing it deliberately. To make her look drowsy, her eyes would progressively get lower with each open. And are you going to use that music? Isn't it licensed? Quote
Gerry Posted November 16, 2009 Author Posted November 16, 2009 Good comment, Ken. The eyeblinks definitely need some work, I will take your comment into account. As for the music, this is meant to circulate only among our clients. All the Christmas animations I've done going back four years now have used copyrighted music and I would dearly love to put them up on YouTube but we try to keep a low profile, so the final animations don't get much circulation. Here's where I asked about it just yesterday... Quote
HomeSlice Posted November 17, 2009 Posted November 17, 2009 Awwwww that's cute Gerry. Nice work! Quote
HomeSlice Posted November 17, 2009 Posted November 17, 2009 It took me awhile to get the connection between the gingermen getting their heads bitten off and Santa eating the cookies ... but I may just be slow Quote
Gerry Posted November 17, 2009 Author Posted November 17, 2009 No, it's not reading well yet. I've got some timing flexibility there at the end and currently it goes by too quickly so I need to retime the whole sequence. I'll be working on that. Hopefully it won't be too painful. Quote
Gerry Posted December 3, 2009 Author Posted December 3, 2009 Stick a fork in it... http://www.visualexllc.com/vlexholiday2009/2009Holiday.html Quote
NancyGormezano Posted December 3, 2009 Posted December 3, 2009 looks terrific - Well done! very cute, makes me smile... Quote
Darkwing Posted December 3, 2009 Posted December 3, 2009 Awesome job!! Another year done!! These are always so much fun to watch as they progress and grow. I think this becoming part of the AM community Christmas tradition Quote
kwhitaker Posted December 3, 2009 Posted December 3, 2009 That was wonderful. and it made me smile to Quote
Gerry Posted December 3, 2009 Author Posted December 3, 2009 thanks all for your comments! I learned a ton working on this project and I couldn't have done it without the forum! Quote
MJL Posted December 3, 2009 Posted December 3, 2009 I've enjoyed all of your Christmas animations, Gerry, and every year you seem to up the ante and keep getting better. Bravo! Quote
Paul Forwood Posted December 3, 2009 Posted December 3, 2009 Yes, I agree. Your Christmas animations get better every year. This one turned out exceptionally well! I don't remember if I've asked you before but are these projects something that you do in your spare time for pleasure or does Visualex actually compensate you for the hours that you put into them? Either way I can see that you enjoy the process. Quote
Gerry Posted December 3, 2009 Author Posted December 3, 2009 Yeah, this is done for my day job, so I do get paid. This year was a little different since I knew it was ambitious and would be a stretch to get it done, so I voluntarily spent a lot of my own time working on it. Also, we were slow for a lot of the Summer and Fall, but of course as soon as I started on this one we got very busy, so doing it on my own time was a necessity. As I've mentioned here before, ALL the work I've done on the 3D elements of my "Nightcallers" project has been on company time, (hundreds of hours modeling, decaling and rigging) so it's a pretty good trade-off to spend my own time to get this one done. Quote
largento Posted December 4, 2009 Posted December 4, 2009 That was fantastic, Gerry! By far, your best yet! Quote
TheSpleen Posted December 4, 2009 Posted December 4, 2009 Absolutely wonderful work! A job well done! Quote
*A:M User* Shelton Posted December 4, 2009 *A:M User* Posted December 4, 2009 Very Nice! Went back and watch the development of the thread and really enjoyed the outcome. Steve Quote
Gerry Posted December 11, 2009 Author Posted December 11, 2009 For anyone who's interested I did keep careful track of my hours on this and just today got a printout from the company bookkeeper. Total hours for everything, 292 hours. It's broken down into various tasks (modeling, decaling, etc.) so if you really really want to know I can tell you that too. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted December 11, 2009 Hash Fellow Posted December 11, 2009 Hey, I just caught it. That looks wonderful! Fine work, Gerry! Quote
ptiversen Posted December 11, 2009 Posted December 11, 2009 Gerry, for what it's worth, 292 hours based on a 40 hour work week is 7.3 weeks. Lots of hard work but as your work shows, it was well worth it. Great job Gerry. Quote
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