2015 Plans

[zandoriastudios]

• Post Pitch Bible with character descriptions and art, to communicate the characters and setting for the benefit of A:M users who are interested in working on the next short.
• Post storyboards for episode 2, episode 3 (more?)
• Create an animator bootcamp thread, similar to what was done on TWO--Ninja Training Camp. Upload the Ninja Pass assets for interested participants to use.
• Recruit crew for episode 2. Crew will have access to all of the TAR of Zandoria assets (I would like to get Hash's help to use the SVN system developed for TWO). I will work out the details of open license that I have discussed previously...We will start with just this crew, building a 2-3 minute short. Participants will have a percentage stake in the rights of the film, and I will disburse any revenue with them.

 

I have been working full-time on this and freelancing for the past year--I quit my day job at the end of 2013. It has been scary, humbling, exhilerating, depressing, gratifying...I've been all over the map, emotionally. While I was able to create the first short by myself, I also realized that it would have gone faster working with other artists, and it probably would have been better.

I realized that I really have NO CLUE when it comes to distribution, or pitching, or fund raising--or just getting people to watch it for FREE on YouTube! Yet I look at my poster of TAR on the wall, and I know that I can't give up...I've toyed with the idea of trying to do it as a graphic novel, or something easier for a solo artist to pull off, but I think that is just the old fear (of failing...).

I've proven that I can create an animation! True, it isn't as polished as it could be, and I had to cut some corners, But, I did it... I have been in a kind of creative drift since uploading "Marked for Death"... I guess that I just thought that if I finished it, that people would see it and then somehow I would be successful/validated/loved? I dont know..It's kind of crazy. The afterbirthing of a huge project seems to take as long as the delivery!

Now I'm ready to continue, to take it up a notch, to bring my (our) dreams to life. I believe that an open project like TAR of Zandoria is the hope and future for this community of artists and animators. It isnt about just software.. an Open Studio creates the ecosystem for the artists to collaborate, for newbies to aspire to learn, for mentors to coach, for the software to gain subscriptions, There is something in it for YOU, whether you are a modeler, rigger, animator, programmer, or cheerleader!

[Rodney]

2015 is going to be an exciting year.

[Shelton]

I think Chris and I can help in the process of collaboration. Chris has done a wonderful job in keeping focus and on track in our project. We would love to share some insights.

[zandoriastudios]

Steve, that would be great! I love what you guys did with action objects in a pose to create sets--that was brilliant!

[Shelton]

That was all Chris! I built the sets and Chris came up with the plan. Anyway, your project is perfect for an Open Studio paradigm. You have in place, the bible, current story, and a creative direction, not to forget all the assests. Jumping on board would be a educational experience to say the least.

 

Chris and I meet every week on google plus and use svn to wharehouse our project. I feel it has been a wonderful experience. Just this past week we made a decision to help move the project forward. You are welcome to join us on one of our meetings.

[zandoriastudios]

Awesome--send me the connection info. I think that my Google+ is under zandoria@gmail.com

[largento]

Here's hoping 2015 brings great things to Tar of Zandoria!

[Shelton]

Sorry Will just saw your message. We meet sunday at 3 pm central time. Srshelton62@gmail.com

[higginsdj]

Keep me in mind if you need any help with modelling or animating.

 

Cheers

 

David

[zandoriastudios]

David, I will do that (I already have you written down)! What Im planning is smaller scale than TWO, built around each short, so that it's not such a big commitment. Someone might sign-up on one short and then pass on another without disrupting anything. I am working on the pitch bible right now (to put it into a form that communicates to everyone else what has been rolling around in my head...), then I will post the storyboard for episode 2 and 3.

 

Steve, it looks like I had multiple Google+ accounts...I think I have it consolidated. I added Chris so I should get the next invite... There is an experiment that I want to do, using his Action objects technique: See if I can build a Newton system (like a chain) on a model using that technique, so that I can simulate it at any time instead of only building it in the choreography....

[Shelton]

Will, sorry we missed you. We had a great time yesterday. Mack Chappelle joined us with some tools. If you have time Sunday we will be there again. Join us and maybe we can up with something!

[Vong]

Nice to see plans for Tar moving forward.

[Dpendleton77]

Will if you ever need somebody to pitch this and get eyes on your project just ask me. Not trying to brag on myself but I helped my friends sell all their books at Baltimore con a few years ago and also at SPX. I can shill like nobody's business, I am getting back into Hash so I really can't help with modeling or such.

[Chris Conlee]

Hello Will, I am a new member and am very interested in seeing your work. However, it seems your links are down. Is the episode viewable somewhere currently?

 

Chris Conlee

[Rodney]

Chris,

I took the liberty to correct Will's patreon link in his signature (so it should work now).

I'm not sure where his youtube channel has gone (so couldn't fix that one).

Most of what you are after can be found via Will's blog but I think the first episode of Tar was hosted on Youtube and that appears to be down.

 

Over to you Will.

[Chris Conlee]

Thanks Rodney. It's a shame that Will's episode seems to be currently offline; would love to watch it.

 

Chris Conlee

[zandoriastudios]

Hello Will, I am a new member and am very interested in seeing your work. However, it seems your links are down. Is the episode viewable somewhere currently?

 

Chris Conlee

Holy Crap!!!! I must have deleted it when trying to reconcile the different Google+ accounts!

 

[zandoriastudios]

So..channel is deleted. Having to rebuild it. First episode of TAR of Zandoria is back online. Will have to find all of those Siggraph videos are rebuild the tutorial playlists...

[Rodney]

The good thing about that is that this prompted me to watch Episode 1 again.

 

More please!

[Shelton]

Sorry Will about the google.

[Dpendleton77]

So when do you think the bootcamps for this will pop up? I have also spread your vid to some of the cartoon and comic groups I am a part of on facebook.

[zandoriastudios]

I have been a little distracted...I have been focusing on generating some freelance business to keep the lights on. I've been a little depressed too, struggling with the whole "meaning of life, why am i here?" existential angst that all artists go through...[its not just me, right?]

 

I will get the bootcamp set up in the next week or so--I promise! This will launch an exciting time that I hope will revitalize the Animation:Master community

[Dpendleton77]

I can't wait.

[John Bigboote]

REVITALIZE US! We are a bunch that can use revitalization... foe-show!

 

Depression IS common in this business... post-mortem after a big project... and the whole sink-or-swim, all-or-nothing, work-or-worry chess-nut. For me, it has been... how did it get to this? To keep my lights on, and the wolfs from my door... my current employment situation invloves too long of a drive, incredibly arduos and imbecellic corporate/pharma videos that are made at obtusely high resolutions (9600 pixels wide by 1920 high for example.) go on for way too long and involve weeks and weeks of revisions, script rewrites, constant client educating, and last minute rush-rush renders. 99% After Effects which keeps me out of the 3D game.

 

I got into this business to make funny cartoons... now I am making 4 minute info-mercials for sales reps who need to be convinced to push a new sleep pill or cancer hope.

[Rodney]

I hear you Matt. I got side tracked almost 30 years ago... exactly because I knew the going was going to be rough in the cartooning trade.

It's funny... in a tragic kind of way... how that way back then I could have only dreamed of having the tools that we have available to us today and the ability to collaborate with folks of like mind and interest and yet now that the tools (and skill) are almost ubiquitous and universal and the means available to everyone for pennies comparitive to the costs of old... we don't take advantage of them. There is also that thing... way back in the day fewer people were interested in pursuing such creative outlets in the first place and now... almost everyone is. When I was a teenager I couldn't find people (my age) that took cartooning and animation seriously. I had to get involved in teaching kids about comic books and animation just to see that spark of creative imagination.

 

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

And luckily... it still is.

[zandoriastudios]

When I get overwhelmed looking at the almost infinite number of other artists,better artists, out there...I try to remind myself that it doesn't matter, because whatever it is that I'm going to do, good or bad, is unique to me. No one else is going to do it

[Rodney]

...whatever it is that I'm going to do, good or bad, is unique to me. No one else is going to do it

 

 

Well said.

[fae_alba]

When I get overwhelmed looking at the almost infinite number of other artists,better artists, out there...I try to remind myself that it doesn't matter, because whatever it is that I'm going to do, good or bad, is unique to me. No one else is going to do it

 

"Better artists"?!? Have you noticed what is being passed off for 'toons on the cable channels lately? Wouldn't call many of those talented; they look like they were drawn by elementary school kids.

[Dpendleton77]

Well now we got the chance to do it here. I am honored to be apart of this, I eagerly await the bootcamps(I know I said it already) but to get a chance to help on a short is mind blowing.

[John Bigboote]

The amount of SOFTWARE out there nowadays is overwhelming too. A decade ago, an After Effects 'filter' was a simple utility that had an amount slider and generated a certain, simple effect... like a blur for example. 2 minutes was all it took to experiment and understand what it does and how to use it... and ideas were generated. Today, filter packages are robust, expensive and DEEP! The Trapcode packages, each one(not all of them... Shine is pretty simple!) could take a month or more to master and seemingly once learned a person could almost make a full-time living off. Element3D puts the power of GPU rendered 3D in an After Effect filter... Cinema4D is linked to AE via a filter! It goes on and on! There are SCRIPTS available (see http://aescripts.com/) that do a myriad of tasks but can be tricky to 1)find2)download3)install4)learn5)get to do what YOU want.

 

And that's just After Effects... the entire 3D 'world' has exploded with software... Maya and Max are still strong and the standard for large facilites... Cinema 4D has gone from a clunky Mac-only 3D app to a motion-graphics and beyond 'standard' with an never-ending user-base and 3rd party... Lightwave, modo, BLENDER! Messiah, on and on... sculpt apps like Rhino, ZBrush, MudBox, Heck- even Photoshop now boasts 3D capabilities and UV paint features.

 

2D animation programs, drawing programs, web programming programs, video editing programs... I am overwhelmed!

[ovni1]

Life is life, no more, no less. Therefore, be the best God, that you can be, to the universe, that you create!

[Fuchur]

The amount of SOFTWARE out there nowadays is overwhelming too. A decade ago, an After Effects 'filter' was a simple utility that had an amount slider and generated a certain, simple effect... like a blur for example. 2 minutes was all it took to experiment and understand what it does and how to use it... and ideas were generated. Today, filter packages are robust, expensive and DEEP! The Trapcode packages, each one(not all of them... Shine is pretty simple!) could take a month or more to master and seemingly once learned a person could almost make a full-time living off. Element3D puts the power of GPU rendered 3D in an After Effect filter... Cinema4D is linked to AE via a filter! It goes on and on! There are SCRIPTS available (see http://aescripts.com/) that do a myriad of tasks but can be tricky to 1)find2)download3)install4)learn5)get to do what YOU want.

 

And that's just After Effects... the entire 3D 'world' has exploded with software... Maya and Max are still strong and the standard for large facilites... Cinema 4D has gone from a clunky Mac-only 3D app to a motion-graphics and beyond 'standard' with an never-ending user-base and 3rd party... Lightwave, modo, BLENDER! Messiah, on and on... sculpt apps like Rhino, ZBrush, MudBox, Heck- even Photoshop now boasts 3D capabilities and UV paint features.

 

2D animation programs, drawing programs, web programming programs, video editing programs... I am overwhelmed!

 

Actually as I see it there is a consolidation going on for the 3d software industry.... Softimage is gone, Messiah Studio is quite dead (at least what I heard of from a tester for a 3d magazin), TrueSpace is gone, LIghtwave seems to be in hard times too, Realsoft 3d is gone, etc. Blender and Modo are doing well, Max and Maya stay what they were... C4d is nice, BUT as expensive as Max & Maya nowadays... Photoshop has some 3d abilities, but you can easily leave them alone as they are really quite basic... ZBrush, MudBox etc. > you really only need one if at all. Sculptris & 3dCoat are nice alternatives for less money.... even the real sketchup is more expensive than A:M:

 

A:M is really the only easy to use serious 3d application nowadays if you ask me (at least I did not stumble upon something else)...

 

But wait: Why are we talking about that in a TAR of Zandoria-thread?

Lets try to stay on topic

 

See you

*Fuchur*

[Dpendleton77]

Indeed.

[ruscular]

Lightwave is back and further more Lightwave been use primary for recent movies and TV show, even GRIMM uses lightwave for their wogeing effect of the wesen character.
Lightwave 9 was their pitiful performance, but 11 turn things around and built upon that. LWbrush plugin is a real nice addition for making retopology and triangles elimination brush comes handy for Hash obj import. 3Dcoat is about $380, and on sale for $100 till January 1st. I find lightwave and Hash is pretty handy together.