Elm Posted November 11, 2011 Posted November 11, 2011 Hello forumites! We finally fully (hell, is there something like "fully"?!) explored the possibilities of A:Ms import/export capabilities, and combined the essential and unique A:M features with other packages, especially for rendering purposes. Here are our latest commercials. Note that all Characters have been modeled, rigged and animated in A:M, whilst being rendered in either Modo or Mental ray. It's Steffen gross who made this workflow possible, and he deserves lots of respect for his genious work. All the best, and lots of greetings, Elm. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted November 11, 2011 Hash Fellow Posted November 11, 2011 Wonderful work! I didn't know there was a pill for that! Quote
NancyGormezano Posted November 11, 2011 Posted November 11, 2011 FABULOUS! (as usual) great look, characters, & humor! Quote
KenH Posted November 11, 2011 Posted November 11, 2011 Superb work all round. Germans are so talented. Quote
*A:M User* Shelton Posted November 11, 2011 *A:M User* Posted November 11, 2011 Loved it. Congrats, great work Steve Quote
Xtaz Posted November 11, 2011 Posted November 11, 2011 Superb animations there. As always I'm trying it too ( OBJ+MDD ). Could you export the models (OBJ) with textures / decals ? I didn't get success in this process ( using MODO 501 to import ). Quote
Elm Posted November 11, 2011 Author Posted November 11, 2011 Could you export the models (OBJ) with textures / decals ? I didn't get success in this process ( using MODO 501 to import ). You should use the "bake surface" feature of A:M. Or do the shading completely in Modo, as we did (red carpet spot). Quote
Admin Rodney Posted November 11, 2011 Admin Posted November 11, 2011 Hehe! Great stuff! Soulcage still rocks. Quote
Xtaz Posted November 11, 2011 Posted November 11, 2011 [You should use the "bake surface" feature of A:M. Or do the shading completely in Modo, as we did (red carpet spot). Thanks for your reply Elm. Even using the bake surface, Modo doesn't import the decals. Is there some tip to put it to work ? Is there some free software to try exported decaled models ( OBJ ) ? Quote
zandoriastudios Posted November 11, 2011 Posted November 11, 2011 great stuff--your work is inspiring! Quote
Fuchur Posted November 12, 2011 Posted November 12, 2011 [You should use the "bake surface" feature of A:M. Or do the shading completely in Modo, as we did (red carpet spot). Thanks for your reply Elm. Even using the bake surface, Modo doesn't import the decals. Is there some tip to put it to work ? Is there some free software to try exported decaled models ( OBJ ) ? I am not familiar with Modo, but in general, OBJ exports often only export UVs and you have to put the textures in the same folder as the OBJ to get it to work manually. Extremly well done spots Soulcagers... very cool! See you *Fuchur* Quote
Walter Baker Posted November 12, 2011 Posted November 12, 2011 Now that is the awesomest!! Great stuff! Quote
John Bigboote Posted November 12, 2011 Posted November 12, 2011 Yeah--- the render quality seems a bit better.... makes me wonder what Martin's opinion is. SO- which renderer did you use for the Bayer spot? AND- what program do you texture and color in? AND- what app did the hair for Santa's beard? Thanks for sharing your awesome work! Quote
mouseman Posted November 12, 2011 Posted November 12, 2011 I love you guys' stuff! Thanks so much for sharing it! I didn't know there was a pill for that! They have a pill for everything. Quote
Elm Posted November 13, 2011 Author Posted November 13, 2011 Yeah--- the render quality seems a bit better.... makes me wonder what Martin's opinion is. SO- which renderer did you use for the Bayer spot? AND- what program do you texture and color in? AND- what app did the hair for Santa's beard? Thanks for sharing your awesome work! I'd also like to hear Martins opinion about this. A:M fits into this workflow SO nicely. Bayer was rendered in modo. Also the shading and textures were done in modo. Note that it's just ONE beauty pass... so no compositing needed here... (except for one extra pass for the flashlights). I REALLY LIKE MODOS RENDERER and its simplicity all around. Santas beard was made with softimage, the complete spot was rendered in xsi. No beauty rendering here, LOTS of passes and compositing work here... Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted November 13, 2011 Hash Fellow Posted November 13, 2011 I don't think Martin was against professionals using A:M in money-making projects. He was against people ranting that their career was being ruined because A:M lacked some feature that wasn't part of A:M's intended purpose and existed only in much more expensive software. I'm sure he got tired of that. I just looked up MODO. It looks good. For $1000+ it damn well should. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted November 13, 2011 Hash Fellow Posted November 13, 2011 Are there one-eyed cyclopses in the background of the Bayer commercial? Quote
Vertexspline Posted November 13, 2011 Posted November 13, 2011 Robert---yes Modo is indeed pretty awesome and yet even for that 1000 ---they still do not have much in way of any character animation tools. Its hoped for in version 601 but that hope also ran in 401 and 501. Animation Master really is the best value in character animation going. Quote
Elm Posted November 13, 2011 Author Posted November 13, 2011 ... Animation Master really is the best value in character animation going. No doubt there. That's what I'm saying. I'm just glad that A:Ms features can be used in a "custom" workflow, utilizing the various advantages of several applications. Concerning modo: Keep in mind that it comes with 50 (or even more?) netrender slaves PER license. that makes the price reasonable (1000 bucks isn't THAT much for a professional application). Quote
3DArtZ Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 Elm, great work! amazing. But help me understand what you're doing.... 1. you are modelling and animating in A:M 2. exporting the scene with animation data to another package 3. setting up the scene to render in that package. is this correct? thanks Mike Fitz www.3dartz.com Quote
Wildsided Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 Your stuff rocks guys, if I can squeeze that kinda quality (heck even half that kinda quality would be nice) out of my stuff. I'll be a very happy bunny indeed. Quote
Elm Posted November 14, 2011 Author Posted November 14, 2011 Are there one-eyed cyclopses in the background of the Bayer commercial? you're not the first to ask.. well... maybe there are? Quote
jakerupert Posted November 15, 2011 Posted November 15, 2011 Great movies! Great workflow! (Is the second one not open to the public any longer?) So did you generate great interest amongst Modo`s users to use A:M for their chara animation substitute by your great example? Maybe that would also work with other apps that don`t offer chara animation capabilities like Z-brush? Could maybe widden the userbase of A:M considerably ... Quote
mike meyer Posted November 17, 2011 Posted November 17, 2011 OK, I AM A BIT CONFUSED LATELY --- HOW COULD I MISS THAT THERE'S ALREADY A THREAD ABOUT THIS? Sorry. Mods, would you please combine the two threads? The older thread -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey hashers, we've just uploaded two new commercials to our facebook site. Both of them were animated in A:M, partially modeled in A:M and rendered in different software packages. Link: Soulcage Departments facebook --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first one is a web commercial for an anti-fart (!) medical product called"Lefax" The story is self-explanatory. The software thats been used for this spot is (in order of appearance ) : Modo for modeling, texturing and shading A:M v.16 and SetupMachine for modelling, rigging and animation (the background characters are also modelled in A:M. everything else is rigged and animated in A:M) Softimage XSI for the cloth fx Modo again - for the rendering ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The second one is this years "Christmas Rabbit" - the new commercial for SATURN. The rabbit as well as papa X-Mas and all of the props were modelled and rigged in A:M and SetupMachine The backgounds were modelled in Softimage XSI, except for the parts that interact directly with the characters (like the footstep into the snow at the beginning). For shading and texturing we've used Modo and XSI (Hair). We could have used A:M hair but there wasn't enough time for it so we ended up with XSI. Rendering is done in XSI. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh, I have a slightly manipulated (Photoshop) picture that I like to share: the angry Mr. X-Mas. It's for print. What I like most is the hair that I've done in A:M, taking advantage of the übercool "jitter" feature... This time rendered with A:M. No retouche work on the hair and it's looking absolutely great IMO. Thanks, M. Quote
Xtaz Posted November 17, 2011 Posted November 17, 2011 amazing character ... superb job with hairs. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted November 17, 2011 Posted November 17, 2011 The A:M render looks great! Thanks for the explanation of your pipeline. Soulcage should do a short! Quote
jason1025 Posted November 17, 2011 Posted November 17, 2011 I think you should submit that santa for AM17 Mascot. Quote
jason1025 Posted November 17, 2011 Posted November 17, 2011 How are you getting AM models, textures and rigs into XSi and rendering with Modo? I didnt know that was possible. I thought once you leave AM you loose a bunch of stuff. Quote
mike meyer Posted November 17, 2011 Posted November 17, 2011 How are you getting AM models, textures and rigs into XSi and rendering with Modo? I didnt know that was possible. I thought once you leave AM you loose a bunch of stuff. The Lefax girl for example was >> modeled in Modo >> exported as OBJ >> imported in A:M as OBJ (yes it looks a bit crappy but you shouldn't care much) >> rigged, animated in A:M >> exported as MDD file (a baked sequence) >> MMD imported into Modo to bring it together with the OBJ model... this is how it works. You can't export the rig to another software package but you can export the animated geometry. I'm not a specialist when it comes to technical aspects. I am a modeller and animator. For that I use mostly A:M. I animate in other packages from time to time though... Since we all have our "favourite" programs we had to find a way to combine the powers. Thanks, M. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ OK, I AM A BIT CONFUSED LATELY --- HOW COULD I MISS THAT THERE'S ALREADY A THREAD ABOUT THIS? Sorry. Mods, would you please combine the two threads? The older thread Quote
Gerry Posted November 17, 2011 Posted November 17, 2011 that's some great work, Mike. I'm curious what you use for a face rig since TSM doesn't have one. Do you rig it from scratch? Quote
mike meyer Posted November 17, 2011 Posted November 17, 2011 that's some great work, Mike. I'm curious what you use for a face rig since TSM doesn't have one. Do you rig it from scratch? Thank's Gerry! No face rigs here - just good old poses with sliders The father X-mas has a rigged beard though. M. Quote
Gerry Posted November 17, 2011 Posted November 17, 2011 Even the girl in the Lefax ad? Just pose sliders for the face? Quote
mike meyer Posted November 17, 2011 Posted November 17, 2011 Even the girl in the Lefax ad? Just pose sliders for the face? You have my word! We made facial poses for everything - squetch - separate eye poses - it's always important to bring in a little "natural" feeling so we created poses to make the model a bit asymmetric, too. Quote
jakerupert Posted November 17, 2011 Posted November 17, 2011 >(yes it looks a bit crappy but you shouldn't care much) Quote
Fuchur Posted November 17, 2011 Posted November 17, 2011 Even the girl in the Lefax ad? Just pose sliders for the face? You really don't need facerigs... they are often more limited then good poses which can be blended and added to each other much better. I only use small "rigs" for eyes, maybe for the nose (for dynamic constraints, if it is useful and necessary) and the chin... Everything else can be handle with poses in a less complicated and nice way. But that is just a matter of taste... See you *Fuchur* Quote
*A:M User* Shelton Posted November 17, 2011 *A:M User* Posted November 17, 2011 Excellent! Steve Quote
mouseman Posted November 18, 2011 Posted November 18, 2011 Really nice work! Thanks for sharing with us! You guys are awesome! Quote
Elm Posted November 18, 2011 Author Posted November 18, 2011 >(yes it looks a bit crappy but you shouldn't care much) Because the cp's topology from modo stays the same in A:M - which is a bit confusing to A:M's spline geometry (looking odd here and there), but once you export the mdd data from A:M and feed the modo-model with it, everything looks as it should. There's one more amazing detail in this context: This mdd exchange also works the other way round - even the face poses of the lefax girl were actually modeled in modo. Then they were animated (still in modo) in a frame to frame mannor. This action was exported as a mdd file, loaded in to an A:M action. The face cp's positions were then copied from each action frame into a corresponding percentage pose of the A:M girl. Quote
Vertexspline Posted November 19, 2011 Posted November 19, 2011 Elm... So when you say you export the animated/rigged am model back to Modo for rendering via MDD -----how is that done. Is that a export plugin ? Quote
John Bigboote Posted November 19, 2011 Posted November 19, 2011 You guys are doing stuff that is blowing our minds! We really-really appreciate your excellent RnD, and your participation on the forum... we are glued to your every word. AND- that is ONE ornery Santa! Quote
Elm Posted November 19, 2011 Author Posted November 19, 2011 Elm... So when you say you export the animated/rigged am model back to Modo for rendering via MDD -----how is that done. Is that a export plugin ? It's a standard plugin that comes with A:M 1.) right click your model in the project work tree -> export OBJ (a native A:M model should be exported at at least a 4x resolution) 2.) right click the model's shortcut in the choreography -> export mdd data (using 4x resolution, too, of course.) 3.) import the obj into modo. 4.) load mdd deformer to the obj. 5.) enjoy. Quote
Fuchur Posted November 19, 2011 Posted November 19, 2011 Elm... So when you say you export the animated/rigged am model back to Modo for rendering via MDD -----how is that done. Is that a export plugin ? It's a standard plugin that comes with A:M 1.) right click your model in the project work tree -> export OBJ (a native A:M model should be exported at at least a 4x resolution) 2.) right click the model's shortcut in the choreography -> export mdd data (using 4x resolution, too, of course.) 3.) import the obj into modo. 4.) load mdd deformer to the obj. 5.) enjoy. That sounds easy... have to try that! Thanks Elmar! *Fuchur* Quote
Vertexspline Posted November 19, 2011 Posted November 19, 2011 thanks Elmar---am going to give this a try today. Quote
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