Ideas for the Next Community Project

[mtpeak2]

You should be rendering at 854x480 to setup the shot.

[fae_alba]

I like the latest vantage point. One observation ... it looks a bit far away. Can maybe the focal length be increased by 5% or so?

 

 

Since shots from this vantage are only to be used to establish the scene, and to provide transitions from one short to the next it is really irrelevant to what each contributor will be doing. You will simply animate your scene as you see fit, I'd think typically as seen thru a window up close. Deal with your short, don't worry about the rest.

 

Having said that, let's get moving. Who's in, what window do you want, who wants to put together a quickie or two so I can experiment while the shorts are being done...no more debating over establishing shots.

[ernesttx]

I'm in. I pick window # 16. I hope I win haha

[NancyGormezano]

I'd like rooftop #25.

 

I am assuming one can use the whole outdoor set as well, as long as one doesn't violate camera pov "as seen from Stewart's room" - can be either zoomed in with binocs or wide angle.

 

I won't do a quickie. I don't really think it's necessary. It will all fit together. There are going to be a zillion styles of characters, situations (ok ..maybe not a zillion, but a few), and if THAT can fit together, editing it together won't be all that big a deal.

 

Eventually will need to know render size, render settings, due date.

 

I intend to render the set once from whatever pov, render size, camera settings, and then use that as a front projected rotoscope onto the buildings. I will not use Ambiant Occlusion for rendering (takes tooo long), but will use fakeao.

 

Everybody's a prima donna. Including me.

[Bruce Del Porte]

I'll do one, how about window #12.

 

Let me be clear, we are doing this from a POV of a voyeur in a single sequence. The movie seems to follow a number of people in different phases of the human condition as their situation plays out over time. We are going to take a single snapshot be it a gag, drama, or whatever where we will only check in once?

[fae_alba]

I'll do one, how about window #12.

 

Let me be clear, we are doing this from a POV of a voyeur in a single sequence. The movie seems to follow a number of people in different phases of the human condition as their situation plays out over time. We are going to take a single snapshot be it a gag, drama, or whatever where we will only check in once?

 

you got it...

[Paul Forwood]

Can I reserve #8?

What are the numbers for the windows on the left side of the set?

[robcat2075]

Was there actually a picture posted with numbers? i dont' see one.

[Ilidrake]

I'd like reserve 22 plz.

[Paul Forwood]

Was there actually a picture posted with numbers? i dont' see one.

 

It's not very obvious but check the first image in post #280.

[mouseman]

#7 for Steve Shelton and I.

[robcat2075]

Has a brief test run been done yet with perhaps three people?

[Vertexspline]

So bruce , what is the duration of each "shot" from the perspective of the voyeur?

[Bruce Del Porte]

So bruce , what is the duration of each "shot" from the perspective of the voyeur?

 

I don't know if there is a guideline. I suppose as long as it takes to complete your piece.

[thekamps]

Just got back from a week out of town...Looks great!

May I have window #13?

[fae_alba]

So bruce , what is the duration of each "shot" from the perspective of the voyeur?

 

as long as it takes to tell your story (and get it done, of course)

[Rodney]

The forum area for this project is being created and subject to any changes it is titled 'Rear View Window'.

[mouseman]

Having said that, let's get moving. Who's in, what window do you want, who wants to put together a quickie or two so I can experiment while the shorts are being done...no more debating over establishing shots.

If you still need people to put together shots for experimenting putting things together, Steve Shelton and I can put something together, especially if it means that we get quicker access to the general set. Let me know, my email is mouse at intranet dot org.

[Glob Studios]

I'd like to participate. I'm most interested in Window #1.

 

-Vance

[fae_alba]

Having said that, let's get moving. Who's in, what window do you want, who wants to put together a quickie or two so I can experiment while the shorts are being done...no more debating over establishing shots.

If you still need people to put together shots for experimenting putting things together, Steve Shelton and I can put something together, especially if it means that we get quicker access to the general set. Let me know, my email is mouse at intranet dot org.

 

 

I just need something to test transitions to from a short. I can work one up too, so if you and Shelton give me a quick bit that'd be great. Send me your email to pappbearstudio at gmail.com and I'll forward to you ftp acct info to grab the project

 

[Edit]

Corrected email:

 

pappabearstudio@gmail.com

[robcat2075]

I just need something to test transitions to from a short. I can work one up too, so if you and Shelton give me a quick bit that'd be great. Send me your email to pappbearstudio at gmail.com and I'll forward to you ftp acct info to grab the project

 

Can i do a test segment?

[fae_alba]

I just need something to test transitions to from a short. I can work one up too, so if you and Shelton give me a quick bit that'd be great. Send me your email to pappabearstudio at gmail.com and I'll forward to you ftp acct info to grab the project

 

Can i do a test segment?

 

of course!

 

I'll set up the ftp tonight (I'm at work right now)

[Glob Studios]

I've begun work creating a test animation. The Rear Window set is really wonderful, and I expect everyone will enjoy working with it. I did run across one issue, though.

 

I'm using room #1. I found that when I placed objects in the room (including Tom), they did not appear in the shaded view, though the walls did. Everything was there when I rendered. After some experimentation, I determined the issue was the panes of glass (objects behind them did not appear, but objects in front did).

 

I'm not sure why this is happening. At a guess, it may have something to do with normals. In any case, I went into the modeling window for the set and hid the panes of glass (stuff that is hidden in the modeling window is hidden in the choreography), along with everything in the set besides my room. This solved the visibility problems, and made it easier to work with. This may be an approach others want to use.

 

-Vance

[Rodney]

After some experimentation, I determined the issue was the panes of glass (objects behind them did not appear, but objects in front did).

 

I'd be interested in hearing more about this shaded view issue.

Having things invisible behind but visible in front of a given plane sounds like it could be useful.

 

Perhaps more to the point... and to keep Mark sane... we may want to explore this to make sure hiding the windows doesn't adversely effect any final rendering. (For instance, how much reflectivity may be rendered on those window panes in any scene that doesn't have them hidden)

[Glob Studios]

My plan is just to hide the glass while I'm working, and then to unhide it for the final render. But I agree that it would be good to get to the bottom of what's going on and figure out how to make it happen (when you want it to) and how to avoid it.

 

-Vance

[fae_alba]

First off, my apologies for my tardiness. My day job has had me balls to the walls for since the beginning of December. But I'm trying tonight to get things moving again. The first thing I need to update you with is a misstep on my part with the room numbering I released a while ago. I numbered the rooms without really cracking open the set. What I discovered later on (and the folks working on the test projects as well) is that the windows belong to multi-room apartments. What this means is that some of the windows that you have called for overlap others. This is illustrated here:

 

 

I made the outer wall transparent so you can see the apartments. Here are the current room reservations:

 

window number name

16 ernesttx

25 nancygormanzano

12 bruce del porte

8 paul forwood

22 ilidrake

7 Mouseman / shelton

13 thekamps

1 glob studios

 

I need paul forwood, and thekamps to choose another room. To help with that, here is the side building for you to pick from. This image doesn't have numbering on it, but let's number this from the ground up, Apartment 5, Apt6, and Apt 7.

 

[thekamps]

I need a lower unit or view looking down through a window.

A mock up would look like this...

 

 

Just let me know which window I can use.

[fae_alba]

I need a lower unit or view looking down through a window.

A mock up would look like this...

 

 

Just let me know which window I can use.

 

why not the picnic table?

[thekamps]

The picnic bench looks like a great spot for a spot but don't think it would work for mine. (but maybe I can come up with one)

the mock-up is supposed to be a couple on a date sitting on a couch watching a movie and then...

[thekamps]

[fae_alba]

The picnic bench looks like a great spot for a spot but don't think it would work for mine. (but maybe I can come up with one)

the mock-up is supposed to be a couple on a date sitting on a couch watching a movie and then...

 

Gotcha, then why not go for the apartment 5?

[robcat2075]

I'm still waiting for someone to send me the "rules" for the test segments. what happened to the test?

[fae_alba]

I'm still waiting for someone to send me the "rules" for the test segments. what happened to the test?

 

Robcat, I tried sending you an email a few weeks back, but it was bounced because your inbox was full. For the test I'm looking for a simple animatic, so I have something to experiment with. I'd say that for the submissions, the same criteria used for "Bus Stop" would do.

[mouseman]

Robcat, I tried sending you an email a few weeks back, but it was bounced because your inbox was full. For the test I'm looking for a simple animatic, so I have something to experiment with. I'd say that for the submissions, the same criteria used for "Bus Stop" would do.

Can we move the camera position?

How will you line up the camera, and what do we need to do to make sure you can align the camera with our shots? I imagine you might need things like exact position, direction, zoom level, etc., at both the beginning and end of our shots; also, if there is any camera movement going into or out of our shots.

Are lighting settings important? If one person tries to do a night shot and the other an afternoon shot, that could be problematic. There's also other things such as AO, Fast-AO, ambient settings, etc., and probably tons of other things that could affect how the scenes would fit (or not fit) into the whole.

What is the frame rate and resolution? (I think it might have already been mentioned, but it would be good to have all instructions together in one place.)

 

I think it would be better to explicitly give some boundaries to fit in as opposed to "whatever" or "whatever we did on Bus Stop", since not everyone will remember what they were for Bus Stop.

 

The important thing is to have enough rules so the people creating the individual pieces don't make things any harder for the final assembly process than necessary.

[robcat2075]

Robcat, I tried sending you an email a few weeks back, but it was bounced because your inbox was full. For the test I'm looking for a simple animatic, so I have something to experiment with. I'd say that for the submissions, the same criteria used for "Bus Stop" would do.

Can someone send me the location to download the set?

 

 

Can we move the camera position?

 

The camera is the observer. He's stuck in his room and he can't move.

[thekamps]

The camera position would be important...from the picture of the set, it doesn't look like you can even see the building on the left, let alone the windows of apartment 5.

Do the buildings have to be at right angles. Maybe building 2 and 3 and 4 could be at 45degree angles?

[robcat2075]

OK, I've got my test chor keyframed. Now what? Who do i give it to and what do i give them?

 

 

 

The camera position would be important...from the picture of the set, it doesn't look like you can even see the building on the left, let alone the windows of apartment 5.

Do the buildings have to be at right angles. Maybe building 2 and 3 and 4 could be at 45degree angles?

 

Use what you can see. Don't use what you can't see. It's like in the movie, it's not about what Jimmy Stewart never sees because it's out of his view, it's about what he can see from his vantage point.

[thekamps]

I understand, but in the movie, he is looking into only 4-5 apartments.

My confusion is that it looks like the solution to needing more apartments was to assign people Apartment #5-7 on the left but those apartments can't really be seen. My solution is that if you want to have more people do a spot for this forum project, then turning the building on the left 45 degree would open up more apartments for use. Like a stage trick for a fixed audience. It is just a thought.

[Glob Studios]

OK, I've got my test chor keyframed. Now what? Who do i give it to and what do i give them?

 

I'm closing in on having a very crude test done, which should be adequate for figuring out how to assemble the clips. I'm also wondering about the answer to Rob's question. Should I just post a Quicktime here?

 

Unlike Bus Stop, I'm assuming we can pan, zoom, focus, etc., but we still should not move the camera. Is there a particular zoom amount we should all start with or end with? Say, for instance, making the window take about 40% of the frame in both X and Y? Something like this:

 

 

-Vance

[robcat2075]

I understand, but in the movie, he is looking into only 4-5 apartments.

 

I would think it's entirely possible to reuse a window if needed. There are also many possibilities in the open spaces in front and on top of the buildings.

[fae_alba]

First off, send your tests to me..you can upload to the same ftp site you got the project from..

 

I have several thoughts:

1) if we are to be stringent with our adaptation of Hitchcock's movie then we need to stick with the one camera location. I had thought that we could be a bit more loosely, and allow all of the apartments to be used.

2) if we are to stay within Hitchcock's movie, then yes, windows will need to be reused. I'll just break them up when assembling the final movie

3) when doing your clip, you needn't worry about the pan into or out of your window; that's for me to do.

4) if your story needs to be day or night, do it that way; I'll assemble them to make the time consistent across all submissions.

5) as for the final camera settings, I'm not entirely up on that, so I'm hoping that someone will specify that for all of us.

[mtpeak2]

The camera should be all set. You just need to set the render options to render from the camera. It's set up to render just like the bus stop to a folder (Render To File), in the project folder. All the participant needs to do is add their name to it. The project was already to be distributed.

[mouseman]

I have been working on submitting Scarecrow to festivals the last few days, and Steve has been out of town, so we'll be a couple more days before we can give you something to try out.

[robcat2075]

Mine is uploaded in a zip, now, btw.

[fae_alba]

Mine is uploaded in a zip, now, btw.

 

Robcat, I might be missing something but...

 

I just cracked open your project, and while I find your set of 23 images, but I see no change between them. The project only has a begin and end keyfram for shaggy. Was there to be more, or were you just trying to set length and scene?

[robcat2075]

Mine is uploaded in a zip, now, btw.

 

Robcat, I might be missing something but...

 

I just cracked open your project, and while I find your set of 23 images, but I see no change between them. The project only has a begin and end keyfram for shaggy. Was there to be more, or were you just trying to set length and scene?

 

That is intentional. I did that to test the process.

 

A finished segment would have Shaggy performing something in the middle but the beginning and end might be very similar to what is there now and the beginning and end are what you will need to engineer transitions to and from.

 

What I did is within "the rules" as we have them now. If something like that absolutely cannot be transitioned to/from then we will want to think about the rules more before this project is launched for real.

 

But I think a transition can be engineered for something like that.

[fae_alba]

Mine is uploaded in a zip, now, btw.

 

Robcat, I might be missing something but...

 

I just cracked open your project, and while I find your set of 23 images, but I see no change between them. The project only has a begin and end keyfram for shaggy. Was there to be more, or were you just trying to set length and scene?

 

That is intentional. I did that to test the process.

 

A finished segment would have Shaggy performing something in the middle but the beginning and end might be very similar to what is there now and the beginning and end are what you will need to engineer transitions to and from.

 

What I did is within "the rules" as we have them now. If something like that absolutely cannot be transitioned to/from then we will want to think about the rules more before this project is launched for real.

 

But I think a transition can be engineered for something like that.

 

No prob...just wanted to be sure

[mtpeak2]

Well, it been over 2 months since I sent Paul the set. Is this project ever going to get off the ground?

 

There's all kinds of different ways to do the transition, I think you're worry too much about it.

[robcat2075]

Tell you what... How about if i make a first draft of "the rules" and if we can use them or or agree on something like them I'll handle figuring out the transitions?

[Rodney]

And people rejected the idea to name this the 2012 project.

 

While it could just be self fulfilling prophesy it also could be a bit of Murphy's Law mixed in with Parkinson's law to create a new MurphyParkinson law; "All tasks that can go wrong will go wrong as they expand to fill the time allotted."

 

Perhaps the most dangerous thing to say to someone concerning a project is, "There is no deadline."