Jump to content
Hash, Inc. Forums

Exercise 2: Chorus Line


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 373
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

I think the forums prefer the .mov format - try rendering to the mov, but change the compression to Sorenson Video 3, as in a couple of posts above this one.

 

Whups! Sorry I didn't see that, Caroline! I'm trying it out now.

 

Name: Glenn M. Lewis

 

Exercises Completed: 2

 

Date Completed: November 29, 2007

 

Instructor: Caroline

 

Remarks/Suggestions for Improvement: Thanks for your help!

Exercise2.mov

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You're welcome - good vid, Shaggy didn't even flinch :D

 

One cool thing about the mov format is that in Quicktime you can use the arrow keys to go forward & backward frame by frame. Also, if you have QT Pro, you can do trim, copy & paste, and loop (also non-pro), so that if you have a walk cycle you can check if it loops.

 

I don't think you can do that in windows media player (avi), although I don't know about other players.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Name: Mark K

 

Exercise completed: Exercise 2 - Chorus Line

 

Date completed 12-09-07

 

Instruction: Book, Rodney

 

I used a few different characters - two former presidents, and a crook. I also added appropriate music to it. I hope that's OK.

 

 

Chorus Line Video

 

Here is is on youtube in case you can't view WMV format

P_C_C.wmv

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Admin
I used a few different characters - two former presidents, and a crook. I also added appropriate music to it. I hope that's OK.

 

Oh oh. Hey don't bring me into this... file your confessions with the secret service!

 

Not only is that okay... that's ANIMATING! :)

 

Very nice. Very nice indeed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Name: Petri Pirttinen

Exercise Completed: Exercise 2 - Chorus Lin

Date Completed: Dec 26 2007

Instructor: The manual, web tutorial

Remarks: I always thought that the Knight had one too much... *sigh* The stage misses some textures but I couldn't find them. Also the legs still go a bit funny from time to time (particularly KeeKat!) but this could probably be fixed with a little bit of effort. Reusable actions however simply rocks!

 

ex2.mov

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • Admin

Very nice Adam!

Right on time and right on budget.

Did you notice the Knight's knee pass-through though... ouch!

That had to hurt. ;)

 

Never mind i solved my own problem and just copied the CD data from the old v12 CD I had.

 

I was under the impression that all the TaoA:M resources got downloaded and installed with the v15 websubscription.

If that isn't the case then we should let Hash Inc know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Name: Matthew Gayton

 

Exercises completed: 2

 

Instructor: Rodney and the A:M manual folks!

 

Originally I thought I would have a tiny copy of Thom doing the CanCan on the knight's shoulder but I couldn't get the surface constraint to work right. Yet another reason I need to go through these tutorials one-by-one!

CanCan.mov

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just finished exercise 2 (obviously). I had forgotten how to cycle the actions assigned to characters...took a little exploration (didn't want to actually look it up in the manual of course), but eventually found out how to cycle them so that I could get 4 seconds of movement to then render 3.

 

Next I'm going to try and figure out how (if possible) to ease between actions instead of the abrupt change when dropping on action onto a character after the previous one ends.

Ex2_Brock_Gunter_Smith.mov

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Admin
Next I'm going to try and figure out how (if possible) to ease between actions instead of the abrupt change when dropping on action onto a character after the previous one ends.

 

One very useful technique might be to leave a gap between the two actions.

A:M will then interpret between the two how to blend from one action to the other.

...works pretty well in some cases. Especially simple actions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
  • Admin
Before now I didn't have an understanding of A:M's action system.

 

Actions are quite useful aren't they. :)

 

Combined with Pose Sliders and Choreography Actions they make for an extremely powerful and versatile workflow.

Best of all, you get to tailor the solution to the task and use what works best for you.

 

Of course one of the most compelling reasons to use Actions is to collect animation for use and reuse later.

Actions excell in cases where cyclic motion is required.

 

Develop a habit of storing your Actions with the Resources they are designed to work with too of course.

You'll get some strange things going on when using Actions on characters that weren't designed similarly.

Example: The tutorials from TaoA:M use characters with the 2001 rig installed in them. The Actions use that rig. Applying the Action to a character with a custom rig will produce varying results based on its design.

 

Exercise 2 and 3 demonstrate how multiple characters can use the same Actions and Poses when a little planning in advance is applied.

There are as many benefits to standardization as there are also reasons to push for more change and variety.

When in doubt you can always add a layer of Action (either via Action or Choreography Action) over the top of a cyclic action to add more variety.

 

Note: As many animators move into more fully formed and expressive animation they often set aside these basic Actions in favor of creating everything from scratch every time. There is no good reason to settle for one method or the other when both can be put to great use at the appropriate time. Actions are great timesavers and help us create more animation and tell more stories. The requirements of the story and needs of the animator will dictate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Before now I didn't have an understanding of A:M's action system.

 

Actions are quite useful aren't they. :)

 

Combined with Pose Sliders and Choreography Actions they make for an extremely powerful and versatile workflow.

Best of all, you get to tailor the solution to the task and use what works best for you.

 

Of course one of the most compelling reasons to use Actions is to collect animation for use and reuse later.

Actions excell in cases where cyclic motion is required.

 

Develop a habit of storing your Actions with the Resources they are designed to work with too of course.

You'll get some strange things going on when using Actions on characters that weren't designed similarly.

Example: The tutorials from TaoA:M use characters with the 2001 rig installed in them. The Actions use that rig. Applying the Action to a character with a custom rig will produce varying results based on its design.

 

Exercise 2 and 3 demonstrate how multiple characters can use the same Actions and Poses when a little planning in advance is applied.

There are as many benefits to standardization as there are also reasons to push for more change and variety.

When in doubt you can always add a layer of Action (either via Action or Choreography Action) over the top of a cyclic action to add more variety.

 

Note: As many animators move into more fully formed and expressive animation they often set aside these basic Actions in favor of creating everything from scratch every time. There is no good reason to settle for one method or the other when both can be put to great use at the appropriate time. Actions are great timesavers and help us create more animation and tell more stories. The requirements of the story and needs of the animator will dictate.

 

Ok, I assume you can bake actions... if so, wouldn't be useful as a sort of last bit of tweaking to get things looking perfect? A variation here, a smoother transition there, etc? You know, for more natural movements?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Admin
Ok, I assume you can bake actions... if so, wouldn't be useful as a sort of last bit of tweaking to get things looking perfect? A variation here, a smoother transition there, etc? You know, for more natural movements?

 

You can indeed Bake Actions in a Choreography.

This is very useful when you are at a point where you no long need the cyclic Action.

One thing you'll want to consider however is how the Baking will effect your ability to read and edit Keyframes in the Timeline.

 

While you can repeatedly tweak and bake... tweak and bake... Baking Actions is often used near the end of a production to simplify projects and keep from having multiple files referred to internally or externally in a Project.

 

The danger of Baking Actions of course is that you can't unbake so... save the project first BEFORE you bake!

 

Rodney (who doesn't bake often) Baker

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Name: Sean Wall

 

Exercise Completed: Exercise 2

 

Date Completed: July 7 2008

 

Instructor: Manual

 

Remarks/Suggestions for Improvement: I originally had a static camera but I thought the animation was a bit dull. I was wondering why the shadows seemed so faint, though. This was a fun one to do. I've signed up for the Scarescrow of Oz project, so I'd like to finish the exercises before then! :D

 

SmallCanCan.mov

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Admin
I've signed up for the Scarescrow of Oz project, so I'd like to finish the exercises before then!

 

This is the year of the newbie as far as I'm concerned.

Get ready to animate a feature film Sean... I predict this is going to be a great year for you.

 

Very nice CanCan too! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've signed up for the Scarescrow of Oz project, so I'd like to finish the exercises before then!

 

This is the year of the newbie as far as I'm concerned.

Get ready to animate a feature film Sean... I predict this is going to be a great year for you.

 

Very nice CanCan too! :)

 

Thanks Rodney. I'm all set up with the SO project. Can't wait for it to start! In the meantime, I'll keep plugging away at the exercises. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Name: Brad Herst

 

Exercise Completed: #2 (Finally)

 

Date Completed: 22-July-2008

 

Instructors: None - Book

 

Remarks: Decided to add a few extra seconds to the render, also am trying to get a longer one to render but keep getting render errors once I get it figured out I will post.

CanCan.mov

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well done, Brad - you can get a much smaller file size by changing the compression of the .mov. Under Advanced Render, click Set, and in the drop down choose Sorenson Video 3, or mpeg-4, or H.264, on Medium settings.

 

I don't know why you would be getting render errors, though

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All right Is it possible to change the Cycle Length Value of the preset Can-Can to a time based value. What I want to do it change the pace of the cancan throughout the program. If I need to manually set the Chor Range and add like 15 cancan effects per character I can do that but first I want to know if there is an easier way. I know a lot of the other values can be set to time based but the Cycle Length will not change no matter what I do. Advice is greatly appreciated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the choreography, you can set the length of the cycle.

 

post-9673-1217309993_thumb.jpg

 

In the above example, I have put Shaggy into the Chor, dropped the CanCan onto him. Then changed the cycle length to 1:00, repeat 2. I then dropped the CanCan action onto him again, this time just changed the repeat to 2, and left the cycle length at 2:00. I think I had to drag the 2nd chor into the right place - those red bars at the bottom indicate the time when chor action is performed.

 

You can see the chor length is now 6:00, made up of 2:00 of the first cancan, and 4:00 of the second cancan. He does 2:00 of fast, and 4:00 of slow.

 

So I think you have to drag a second action to change the cycle length.

 

Anybody got a better idea?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the choreography, you can set the length of the cycle.

 

post-9673-1217309993_thumb.jpg

 

In the above example, I have put Shaggy into the Chor, dropped the CanCan onto him. Then changed the cycle length to 1:00, repeat 2. I then dropped the CanCan action onto him again, this time just changed the repeat to 2, and left the cycle length at 2:00. I think I had to drag the 2nd chor into the right place - those red bars at the bottom indicate the time when chor action is performed.

 

You can see the chor length is now 6:00, made up of 2:00 of the first cancan, and 4:00 of the second cancan. He does 2:00 of fast, and 4:00 of slow.

 

So I think you have to drag a second action to change the cycle length.

 

Anybody got a better idea?

 

I am currently rendering a low quality version of what I want to do. It should take about 12 hours to complete the render. Once that is complete I will post with the PRJ file and ask for more advice. As well as try to explain what I want to do. While that renders on my Desktop I will keep working on the TAO:AM projects. I would like to have these complete by Kumoricon IF I can get enough time with my crazy work schedule.

-Brad

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the choreography, you can set the length of the cycle.

 

post-9673-1217309993_thumb.jpg

 

In the above example, I have put Shaggy into the Chor, dropped the CanCan onto him. Then changed the cycle length to 1:00, repeat 2. I then dropped the CanCan action onto him again, this time just changed the repeat to 2, and left the cycle length at 2:00. I think I had to drag the 2nd chor into the right place - those red bars at the bottom indicate the time when chor action is performed.

 

You can see the chor length is now 6:00, made up of 2:00 of the first cancan, and 4:00 of the second cancan. He does 2:00 of fast, and 4:00 of slow.

 

So I think you have to drag a second action to change the cycle length.

 

Anybody got a better idea?

 

I am currently rendering a low quality version of what I want to do. It should take about 12 hours to complete the render. Once that is complete I will post with the PRJ file and ask for more advice. As well as try to explain what I want to do. While that renders on my Desktop I will keep working on the TAO:AM projects. I would like to have these complete by Kumoricon IF I can get enough time with my crazy work schedule.

-Brad

 

Okay I got it to render Med Quality. No multipass. What I want to do is change the speed of the cancan action to fit in with the music. I am also attaching the PRJ file for reference. Also any advice on the Strobe effect at the beginning and the fade at the end would be greatly appreciated. Also if there is a way to make Rabbit's eyes not glow in the dark that would be appreciated.

CanCan___Long_Example.mov

CanCan.prj

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Name: John W. Cote

Exercise: 2

Date Started: August 4, 2008

Date Completed: August 6, 2008

Instructors: the A:M Community at the moment, TinCan back in the day.

Rendered as Quicktime .MOV in H.264 Format

 

One thing I noticed is in my final animation the Stage didn't have the rippled curtain effect like so many other peoples did, I'm wondering why? Cut backs at Muppet theater?

 

John

 

Exercise2__JohnWayne_8_6_08_H.264.mov

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Admin
One thing I noticed is in my final animation the Stage didn't have the rippled curtain effect like so many other peoples did, I'm wondering why? Cut backs at Muppet theater?

 

Several years ago, it was noticed that rendering with the rippled curtains and the material that gave it the fine texture was taking an enormous amount of time to render. As the objective of the exercise wasn't rendering or texturing a decision was made to drop the fancy curtains.

 

(I may be wrong on this... but... I think that was the case)

 

Congrats on rolling out Exercise 2.

Those three sure can can can!

 

Did you notice the passthrough with the Knight's knee?

You don't have to fix it... the most important thing with this early exercise is to see it.

 

Rodney

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Rodney,

 

Thank you for the critique. I hadn't noticed that. On second review, the Knight's knees do jam up into his chest, needs some of the Tin Man's oil I guess. I'm sure that will be explained later on in a lesson. Hopefully before I have to make him throw a pitch. Well, on to posing Rabbit for Lesson 3.

 

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Congrats on starting!

 

To upload movies here, you will have to investigate the Advanced Render Settings (when you click render make sure Advanced is ticked).

 

In your first exercise, the sky rendered black - under Output > Buffers, Alpha is turned ON. Just turn this off, and you will get a blue sky.

 

To render to .mov, the preferred format here, change format to .mov, then click the arrow next to format and click Set. Change the compression type to Sorenson Video 3, and medium quality. If you don't have Sorenson, then try mpeg4. These should render more compressed and make your files small enough to upload.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Congrats on starting!

 

To upload movies here, you will have to investigate the Advanced Render Settings (when you click render make sure Advanced is ticked).

 

In your first exercise, the sky rendered black - under Output > Buffers, Alpha is turned ON. Just turn this off, and you will get a blue sky.

 

To render to .mov, the preferred format here, change format to .mov, then click the arrow next to format and click Set. Change the compression type to Sorenson Video 3, and medium quality. If you don't have Sorenson, then try mpeg4. These should render more compressed and make your files small enough to upload.

Thank you! :)

a blue sky will help alot!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • Admin

Hear ye. Hear ye.

 

All present are invited to the exclusive premier of six of one and half dozen of another ... the debut of an instant classic in poultry related product unlike any other ... a feast of feasts from the one true king of the cancan:

 

'All Egg Row' - a short but enthusically eggciting film brought straight to you from out of the underworld of Orpheus by Alan Orcutt

 

Proof positive that those who can cancan, can really cancan!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Lesson 2 is complete. 40 seconds per frame for full frame rendered AVI? Is that normal? This four second vid took almost 45 minutes to render. 56 MB for four seconds too. Wow. LOL.

 

Anyway, if you watch the vid you will see that I didn't use the rabbit, knight and ... Pink Panther looking thing. Instead I just rooted around in the extras disc I got when I made the purchase and found three different models that worked with the can can motion preset (many models did not work with that preset, some shook thier heads left and right, other did simply nothing which was disappointing because I really wanted to see the giant robot do the can can).

 

You will also notice that the stage and background look slightly different from the examples in the manual and there are no shadows. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.

 

Here it is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Announcements


×
×
  • Create New...