Netrender test run

[khickman]

Working out the kinks in Netrender, and used an old project that had everything but the kitchen ink: reflections, transparencies, texture and bump maps, volumetrics, etc. Having some networking and software stabiity issues, which really put the "farm" into renderfarm!

 

I submitted a still several years ago in the image contest, but it was up against very stiff competition. Works better when you see the whole dolly move IMHO.

 

kgh

Youtube video "Robot dolly test"

[Vertexspline]

KGH---wow ----that's a cool scene indeed. your right --seeing the whole scene gives you the depth and size perspective well.

[Walter Baker]

WOW great scene,

[robcat2075]

Great looking shot! Welcome back to the forum!

 

The camera move gives it a great sense of scale.

[itsjustme]

Very cool!

[John Bigboote]

Yes. If a picture is worth 1,000 words... an animation is worth... I dunnoh- you do the math.

 

I have BEGGED image contest winners and placers in the past to PLEASE do a slight camera move on your scenery. We all work so hard to produce 1 image... when... while we are sleeping the software can actually produce thousands of images that can make MUCH better use of our hard work.... and NetRender is great, but you don't really-really need it to render a simple sequence. I hope more people will take your lead.

 

Anyway- Thanks, I enjoyed that.

[Rodney]

Awesome scene. Makes me want to jump back into creating robots again.

 

You've captured my imagination and I want to see more.

 

Edit: One of the benefits of animated scenes is that each time you view it you see something different. For instance, I was only vaguely aware of the guy walking up there on the right of the robot. On second viewing he had my undivided attention.

 

By way of feedback: It would be nice to have some sense of depth between the foreground, middleground and background that isn't quite clear in the current rendering. On first viewing I thought the mountain peaks were something that had cloth draped over them and I don't recall even seeing the planet. They could all be props hanging from the ceiling in a warehouse or perhaps toys in a scale facimile. The cast shadows of the lamps may be adding to this sense of near-distance scale. I think that the fact that the planet and mountains move through space as far and as quickly as they do also lends itself to the idea that these are closer to the viewer. None of this detracts from my enjoyment of the scene but I offer it for your consideration.

 

Before making any other suggestion besides adding some depth cues I would simply ask you this: Where in the image do you want the viewer to focus their attention? (I assume the robot first and then perhaps the robot's face?)

[robcat2075]

Fun fact: the first movie to make use of that slowly moving camera technique was "Cabiria", a 1914 Italian film.

 

It was so different from the locked down cameras people were used to that the movie seemed almost 3D to the audience. For a while they even called it "the Cabiria effect".

[Shelton]

Great scene. I love the lighting and colors chosen. Well Done!

 

Steve

[khickman]

Thanks for all the feedback!

 

@John: Yeah, when you are working a single frame you take a different mind set to the image. Motion adds a lot.

 

@ Rodney: The original moutains were darker and more detailed, but didn't add much to the location. I tried to go to an ice planet feel, but I've never been happy with the result--maybe SSS would have helped. I probably violated a number of cinematic rules with the camera move: since it takes a a spiral path towards the robot and pivots at the same time, it gives the background a exaggerated sense of parallax.

 

The lighting gives me the most fits. Every time I go back to look at it, I either want to brighten it up for detail or darken it up for atmosphere. I think I was in my dark and shadowy period when I last tweaked it.

 

That scene (an establishing shot meant to be much shorter) has been on my hard drive for 10 years, so its value is mostly in taking stock of each new release of AM. I shudder to think how long 600 frames would have taken to render on the PC I had back in '02!

 

EDIT: On a side note, I've been watching Brain Games on NGC, and after watching the episode on attention I went back and did a close inspection of a frame. Was shocked to realize that there was a huge, glaring error-- I was so focused on little details that a giant misplaced patch (a quick repair on a corrupted model file) had obliterated a great deal of detail and blocked several lights. Sometimes the devil is in the big picture as well as the details!