Build Me A Boat

[MJL]

Here is our latest collaboration.

 

Gene has upped his game once again!

 

Spleengene Animations proudly presents.......(Drumroll............)........... "BUILD ME A BOAT"

 

[TheSpleen]

[mtpeak2]

Nice job guys, looks and sounds great.

[kwhitaker]

Well done ! you guys are rocken

[HomeSlice]

Well done ! you guys are rocken

 

Oh no. No rocken the boat

Way to go Gene and Myron!

[Luuk Steitner]

Awesome!

[itsjustme]

LOL! Great job, guys!

[Paul Forwood]

Well done, Gene and Myron!

[agep]

Great work guys!

[jimd]

excellent work guys!

[TheSpleen]

Thanks!!!!!!!

[largento]

Great job, guys! I laughed out loud at the dancing dove.

[Rodney]

Congrats Gene and Myron!

[fae_alba]

Awesome job! I can see that in many a Sunday Schools.

[TheSpleen]

C'mon guys!

I know there are tons of goofs in it.

Wheres my critique? lol

what can I do better next time?

Teach me. I listen. like a sponge. lol

[TheSpleen]

here's a fun thing to notice...............

In the scene when the waters go down and all the animals are outside in the mud.

keep your eye on Noah.

the old guy has some moves lol.

[dblhelix]

yes he does!

i got a bit seasick hewwwww. the dove-dance was my favourite.

what a mammoth undertaking, so many ideas, just read about you building your own rigs, incredible!

is there a part two?

[TheSpleen]

Thanks!

No plans as of yet.

[itsjustme]

C'mon guys!

I know there are tons of goofs in it.

Wheres my critique? lol

what can I do better next time?

Teach me. I listen. like a sponge. lol

 

You get better with each project, Gene. Of course, even the best can get trashed because there is always something that could be done better...and some of it is going to be a matter of opinion. What would you like the critique to concentrate on? If it's something I feel like I know enough to comment on, I'll send you my opinion...which doesn't necessarily mean I would be right.

[pixelplucker]

Great job, you guys just get better and better.

 

One critique... got to add some snap to the animations so the moves aren't so linear and robotic looking. Lead with the eyes and maybe toss a key between the moves and nudge it over for some acceleration. You can also play with the curves to do the same thing.

 

Very entertaining

[DarkLimit]

Very nice work, I love the elephants they are creatively designed and funny. One thing I did not like was the use of real images as backgrounds, they did not flow well with the overall design and style. I am not an animation guy so I can't critique it

 

But overall you guys did a great job!

[TheSpleen]

Yes body mechanics is a big thing I need

[NancyGormezano]

Congrats! - Looks like an incredible amount of work - love your characters! very interesting.

 

IMO, the final rendering style (color, textures, lighting) detracts from your wonderful model style. It has an unfinished feel/look for me. But color is very subjective.

 

For next one, if you don't want to bother on lighting, color balance, schemes, texturing, perhaps you might play with a semi-toonish rendering style, perhaps in black and white ? or a monochromatic scheme? Could do something in post processing. It would have a unique look, that might be more consistent with your stylized models, and be more forgiving with less polished animation style as well. You could always add splashes of color (eg rainbow, ruby slippers) for emphasis, surprise.

 

Congrats again to both of you!

[itsjustme]

Yes body mechanics is a big thing I need

 

I'll leave critiques on body mechanics to people more qualified...not something I know very much about (at least not enough to critique anyone's work).

[Fuchur]

C'mon guys!

I know there are tons of goofs in it.

Wheres my critique? lol

what can I do better next time?

Teach me. I listen. like a sponge. lol

 

Very well done... I liked especially the elephants... very sympathic.

You are getting much better

 

If you want to improve but for this clip it already works well:

- have a look at better textures and maybe a nice lightening.

- Put some weight in the animations... for example pushing around the box is a great oportunity to learn that.

 

See you

*Fuchur*

[TheSpleen]

is there an add on or program for the after effects?

I'm stupid I know but honestly not thought about it till now.

[pixelplucker]

There are a couple of books that should really help with your motion and timing etc.

 

Character Animation Crash Course by Eric Goldberg

 

Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair

 

I'm still learning here too and think that character animation is the most difficult compared to mechanical animation and particles etc. because you have to convey a feeling and create anticipation through movements and gestures.

 

One think I have done, not sure if it's correct, is I would key first and last, move my time to the middle of the keys and create a new key then shorten move that towards the first or last to make some quick acceleration or deceleration. Alternatively you can do that with the function curves but since I can get really lazy and hate clicking through menus I tend to go the easier way.

 

If I can get some bloody time I have some projects I want to animate but I always seem to get buried with work.

 

I really love the style and soundtracks you 2 have put out. Definitely some of the most entertaining animations around.

[robcat2075]

Another fine Spleen production!

 

I like your directing, the choice of shots usually works well.

 

The animation is very basic of course. Upgrading that will take determined study.

 

The single best book in that regard (not that it is a total solution) is Richard Williams' "The Animator's Survival Kit". CG animators tend to dismiss it, but once you get that it is about how to pose your character, not how to draw it, you'll see that it has much good advice for what we do.

 

Probably the surest upgrade for these productions would be the lighting. You're making really nice looking models and lighting them in a more interesting fashion would improve the appearance of them overall.

[TheSpleen]

Another fine Spleen production!

 

I like your directing, the choice of shots usually works well.

 

The animation is very basic of course. Upgrading that will take determined study.

 

The single best book in that regard (not that it is a total solution) is Richard Williams' "The Animator's Survival Kit". CG animators tend to dismiss it, but once you get that it is about how to pose your character, not how to draw it, you'll see that it has much good advice for what we do.

 

Probably the surest upgrade for these productions would be the lighting. You're making really nice looking models and lighting them in a more interesting fashion would improve the appearance of them overall.

Is there a tut on lighting anywhere?

I tend to delete all the default lights and bring in my own as bulbs and change em as needed.

[HomeSlice]

Is there a tut on lighting anywhere?

I tend to delete all the default lights and bring in my own as bulbs and change em as needed.

There are a couple different kinds of lighting tutorials. One kind is "How to use the lights in A:M". The second kind is "The theory and practice of digital lighting".

For the first kind, go through this tut http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29732

For the second kind, I think Jeremy Birn's "Digital Lighting and Rendering" is probably still (arguably) the best.

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Lighting-Ren...n/dp/1562059548

[TheSpleen]

Thanks!

[largento]

This is just my personal way, but I use 3-point lighting almost exclusively.

 

I set the rim light behind, above and to the left of the character and usually bump up the intensity to 200%. The point of the Rim light is to help separate the character from the background. That gives you a nice "rim" of light on the character.

 

The key light is from the front left, but not as high above the character. I make sure cast shadows is turned on in the settings. This is the main light and it casts shadows onto the opposite side of the figure, helping to give it depth.

 

The fill light, I position front right and below. I turn on specularity in the options. The fill light works kind of like the rim light in that it breaks up the shadows cast by the keylight. It's meant to be reflective light.

 

Normally, I like to give everything a warm look, so I use an orange rimlight, a white keylight and a lighter orange fill light. However, if the situation calls for a different mood, I change those colors to accommodate them.

 

Here's a quickie comparison of the default choreography lighting and a quick example of how it looks with the lights set up the way I normally do.)

 

 

A basic demonstration of 3-point lighting was shown in episode 8 of the video podcast Film Riot. Film Riot is about real world film making, but the concepts apply to 3D, as well. Plus, it's entertaining.

 

This works great when you have a single character, but can get more complicated when you have more characters. Still, more times than not, I use only the three lights.