Marshmallow Safety Film

[Dearmad]

Not to be too nitpicky... but I really hate embedded video that I can't simply download when I am ready to spare the bandwidth and/or CPU time.

 

I clicked on your site and, of course QT has to load as well as the page- paused me out for awhile... consider that SOME of us are QUICK RENDERING in the background while we cruise the net.

 

Will check out the test in about 10 minutes when my test scene is done rendering.

[williamgaylord]

Yes. Another annoying habit of mine is to directly imbed relatively large pictures, instead of a small replica with a link to the larger one....

 

Guess I should provide clearly labeled options. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Bill Gaylord

[Dearmad]

Thanks for taking it so well.

 

On my way to d/l now...

 

Edit: Yep, dat be a marshmallow arm moving.

 

So what's the first "Safety" film subject?

[cfree68f]

looks good Bill,

 

But a few questions.

 

Why so much rigging for such a simple arm?

 

and

 

I can't quiet make out what your doing in from the illustration you gave.

 

Is it fan bones? and what are the translate to constraints for?

 

C

[williamgaylord]

Why so much rigging for such a simple arm?

 

I'm just experimenting to learn more about various options. A single fan bone would likely work with this shoulder, with a bit of Smartskin to clean it up.

 

I can't quiet make out what your doing in from the illustration you gave. Is it fan bones?

 

The array of bones around the ring that pivots is SonofPat's idea--very similar to Victor Navone's mouth rig in some respects. They are basically fan bones, but one for each control point (children of the shoulder bone with orient like constraints to the upper arm bone). You adjust the enforcement for each one. You can find the explanation on this technique on the ARM site...under the "constraints" tutorial section. Works great for hip joints, too.

 

and what are the translate to constraints for?

 

The "translate to" constraints on the "target" bone keep the "axel" bone's "aim roll at" target to one side. If it were to cross to the other side, the roll handle would suddenly pop to the other side. That makes for a very badly kinked shoulder. It also limits how much the shoulder rotates to follow the roll of the upper arm.

 

The "axel bone" idea is was one way to get the shoulder to rotate to follow the twisting of the upper arm bone to help reduce kinking, even while the joint is at an angle. A "roll like" constraint might be simpler.

 

BTW: What's got into Major Innovation? His little dance in your icon looks like he's telling a funny story to some kindergarten kids. Looks very natural by the way--quite impressively so--but just a bit goofy.

 

Bill Gaylord

[williamgaylord]

Here is a closeup movie of the shoulder in action:

 

*Warning: Imbedded Movie--will automatically play in a window.* Closeup of Shoulder

 

Bill Gaylord

[cfree68f]

I see what you are up to now. Its sort of similar to what I did with MI.. but I don't use so many bones. Instead I use combinations of weights to get the same result.

 

BTW: What's got into Major Innovation? His little dance in your icon looks like he's telling a funny story to some kindergarten kids. Looks very natural by the way--quite impressively so--but just a bit goofy. 

 

I'm working on hooking him up to a Motion Capture rig. In the process I came accross ZachBg's post on some reusable actions he had done. I dropped it on MI and voila.. Crazy dancing. It makes me want to make his outfit pink for some reason. I thought it was appropriate considering how much trash talking I'd been dishing out on the next image contest.

 

C

[williamgaylord]

So what's the first "Safety" film subject?

 

Haven't decided yet. Probably one of the simpler sight gag ones. (The list so far is on the first post of this topic.)

 

Actually the first Marshmallow film will be a spoof of something Justin Barrett did. Can't say more--it would spoil the surprise.

 

Bill Gaylord

[jamagica]

I think there should be a vid on how you should chew marshmallows real good before swalling...then you'll choe if you--ugh--aah--danget---shoot---Jetpuffed--marshmallows--down throat--

 

Aahh.

[williamgaylord]

I think there should be a vid on how you should chew marshmallows real good ...

 

Or maybe a Marshmallow munching on a bag of little humans?

 

Bill

[jamagica]

THAT WOULD BE GREAT FOR A MOVIE POSTER

 

sorry for the caps

[williamgaylord]

Just to be really mean and make many of you jealous...This is my outdoor studio! I've carved out some time to work on the Marshmallows today. The weather is absolutely fabulous!

[NancyGormezano]

Looks Idyllic - Why just the perfect setting for Marshmallow mangling, mutilation & eviseration - Poor little things squashed between two graham crackers, suffocating under melting chocolate, crisping in the fire.

 

Oh wait - in the background, one can hear the chomp chomp chomping of Fire ants feasting on their sweet gooey flesh (for those that foolishly thought they had escaped from their Tupperware tomb) - hee hee - Uh-oh - Is that angry Momma bear looking for her lost cub whose's about to break into into the Killer Bee hive perched above the table ?

 

As we say in California: Have a nice day !

 

(I just love cartoon violence - good old fashioned fun for the family)

[williamgaylord]

"He's allliiiiive!!! He's alllliiiiive!!!" Yes, I have the facial rigging almost to my satisfaction and the rest is rigging using TSM 2.0 with some minor modifications to account for his being a spineless little fellow. Working as I had hoped.

 

Now I can get on with animating this guy and his future clones. Have a first run in the works that isn't part of the Marshmallow Safety Films, but y'all will get a laugh or two out of it nevertheless.

 

Thanks to all who have helped and all who have encouraged me along the way!

 

Bill Gaylord

[seven]

Look out! Be extremly careful with Marshmallows!

They are not good for your teeth - ask your dentist.

And you can get diabetis, too... Marshmallowing is as dangerous as smoking...

Why not a carrot - instead?

[williamgaylord]

They are not good for your teeth - ask your dentist.And you can get diabetis, too... Marshmallowing is as dangerous as smoking...

 

Yes, the Marshmallows get their revenge in the end!

 

Bill Gaylord

[seven]

So you feel pity for the Marshmallows?

I hope to see some Marshmallow-animation soon!

There are carrot-cakes....

http://cake.allrecipes.com/directory/4235.asp

But they are as dangerous as Marshmallows I believe.

So the alternative is natural carrots!

[williamgaylord]

Here's the first talking Marshmallow. Let me know what you think. This isn't one of the Marshmallow Safety Films, but I think you'll get a kick out of it anyway. Not perfect, but worth showing anyway.

 

Not much action, but that is partly because of the character being portrayed...

 

*Warning: Movie will download and play automatically. Right click and save if you don't want it to play automatically.* Marshmallow Talks!

 

Bill Gaylord

[Dearmad]

That's nice lip synch. Works really well. Will you be adding in body movement- er- marshmallow movement- er- whatever movment too?

[williamgaylord]

I might add some subtle movements. I was a bit surprised at how much like Lecter in the Silence of the Lambs he was without moving anything but his mouth. Thinking back to the movie, much of the time he had a fixed, "dead" stare and no movement except for his speaking...just before he would spring and scare the *&$# out of you.

 

Bill Gaylord

[williamgaylord]

Any suggestions of how I might impove on this little animation? If anybody has seen Silence of the Lambs, you'll remember, as Anthony Hopkins plays him, Lecter rarely blinks and shows very little change of expression...just an intense, fixed, penitrating stare of sorts. I want to mimic that. But I do want to add some subtle motion to make the marshmallow more than a manikin that talks, though that does kind of work.

 

I'll do a higher resolution version later, with some other tweaks, like improvements in the lighting.

 

Thanks!

 

Bill Gaylord

[modernhorse]

Bill -

Great to see you still at it on this project. It's been around a while, and if you're anything like me it requires much force of will to stay at it on a larger project.

 

I really like the short scene with the Lechter speak. Maybe you could add a couple of eye twitches and a pursing of the lips here and there. People sometimes do funny things with their lips when talking.

 

Great job on this.

 

Doug

[williamgaylord]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll experiment some more with it. Want to try to get that quite effective psychotic look that Anthony Hopkins so wonderfully portrayed. Fortunately the voice does most of the work.

 

Also I think I'll add a closeup of the "victim" so it is easier to see who it is.

 

Bill Gaylord

[williamgaylord]

Here is an update. He moves more than his lips now. Also tacked another cut at the end to help you see the punchline better. The quality is not that great. Rendered to AVI so I could edit the clips together and now it has some annoying aliasing and is compressed a bit too far. I need to take a closer look at the AVI setting in AM to see if I can tweak them for better AVI rendering. It is good enough to see the flow of the movie.

 

UPDATE: Figured out how to adjust settings on AVI rendering. Looks much better now:

 

*Warning: Movie will download and play automatically. Right click and save if you don't want it to play automatically.* Marshmallow Talks Again!

 

 

 

Let me know what you think.

 

Bill Gaylord

[Dhar]

Page cannot be displayed

[williamgaylord]

Page cannot be displayed 

 

Try it now. Should also be much better quality.

 

Bill Gaylord

[jamagica]

Nope..I get a "broken quicktime" sign when I click on the link

[williamgaylord]

OK. Really fixed it this time....I think. Should be able to view it now. Used the Sorensen 3 codec, too, so it looks quite good while taking up less space.

 

*Warning: Movie will download and play automatically. Right click and save if you don't want it to play automatically.* Marshmallow Speaks Again....Really this time.

 

Bill Gaylord

[Dhar]

LOL

 

That was classic!

 

Great job.

[seven]

I like your work - the model is good - it is simpel - having expression.

And what I really like that is - there are sound!!!!!

And the character have lipsync!!!!!

 

To me it is a must mostly if you will be able to communicate - get attention - get a public - perhaps a new Forum - for the ones that like to use sound? There is so much about sound to learn and master. And the animations - will get a public - and perhaps you can get some money.

 

And with some good connection speed it is no problem to follow the story -

Sorensen codex are good - Sorensen Squeeze program is better - and also given you Flash - and divX - that is really good.

 

Well, I like to see what is going to happen in the movie. It looks like horror. It makes me a bit nervous. How will you continue? Animations are really strong I believe in telling stories. And the ones doing it - must have some responsibility - to what?

 

We are living in a media society - people do not have a connection to the one telling stories - now you can tell that you caught a really big fish - telling an obvious lie - but some or many will never realize that your story was false.

 

To me this story have some relevance:

http://www.wtc7.net/

 

Telling that the official story is not creditable! And that is a real horror story.

Burning buildings do not explode - spreading concrete dust all over the place.

They have never done before! Now it was two and then the third going down - without a plane - without any good explanations - going down.

And it was not in ChatLango or some place just in the mind of some author.

And the consequences are terrible - chipping us all - using some none existent terrorists as an excuse!

The unanswered questions are so many:

http://whatreallyhappened.com/9-11BasicQuestions

 

And the consequences so bad:

http://www.rfidgazette.org/

http://www.freedomisslavery.info/index.php?cat=7&offset=3

http://www.prisonplanet.com/180304_RFID_article.html

 

Hope your animation can be not just a private case - perhaps it can have some clues to what is happening around us?

 

 

[Mr. Jaqe]

'eeeeerie we go again...

[seven]

'eeeeerie we go again... 

Why not say something about the Marshmallow animation?

What do you like it? I think it is really good - having sound!

 

And what do you think of his story?

I believe we can discuss the story too - animating in todays world has to do a bit with our reality - what is going to happen to our planet.

 

I took a look on your site and I can see that you are interested of our planet.

http://www.jstudio.frac.dk/index.php?side=ani

 

First addition / 11 Apr 2005

This is the first of many additions to come from my new Space project.

 

This is a scene where a space ship(not visible in this screen, because it's not created yet (well, duh!)) that will fly across the scene and then do some stuff. What exactly, I'm not sure of yet.

 

I think the Marshmallow animation can turn out to something good - it is not my story - but perhaps you and I can contribute to the story... for me it is about content also - content is King - perhaps you have heard that saying?

And it is something else very good with the Marshmallow animation.

It is introducing a character - and an environment - and a story - it will make you curious about the rest of the story!

[Mr. Jaqe]

'ey, I was talking about how you're starting to go all philosophic on us again... Leave the "I know everything about everything and it's bad... all bad. Or mostly, but I'm still right!" part of yourself behind, please. I like the marshmallow a lot, I laughed when I viewed it, but your post w/links kinda made me wanna comment something else...

 

Anyways, to comment the animation(as firstly intended), it's VERY nice, smooth lip-movement and funny dialog. Maybe try'n add a "dandanDAA!", or alike, when you get the chop'd up marshmallow in fullscreen? Juuust a suggestion to make it more dramatic.

[Dhar]

Animation, when it comes down to it, is no more than just another form of communication thru art. It is limited only by the imagination of the animators, most of whom try to imitate others works (i.e. Anime, space ships etc..). There is no right or wrong, good or bad in art. But few can capture the attention of the maximum number of audience either thru content, visual appeal, or emotional connection of their work. Fewer still can include all those elements in their work.

 

The Marshmellow piece has the originality of the artist's vision, borrowed content, and familiar objects which made for quite an entertaining piece, it made me and my family laugh. In other words it brought joy, it had an impact, a response.

 

As artists we interpret our society's status quo by manifesting our personal visions in CG stills or animated characters.

 

I think it's good to philosophize about the work being presented in here because it will lend to a better understanding of this art form, the artist, and ultimately ourselves

[williamgaylord]

I've posted a higher resolution version on my "experiments" web site.

 

Bill's Experiments *Warning* These are imbedded. They will download and play automatically.

 

Not much else to contribute this weekend. Celebrating Mother's Day with my wife and son today instead.

 

Bill Gaylord

[williamgaylord]

OK, it's back to work on this project! No promises about completion time, though. Here are the two characters of the first episode of the Marshmallow Safety Films. I apologize for the stereotype "French" marshmallow, if anybody is offended by such stereotypes. I plan to do the dialog in French, with English subtitles. The angry marshmallow will be complaining about being called a "mere marshmallow" by some snooty "high class" confections, while smoking up a storm.

 

Bill Gaylord

[phnxpyre]

That is awesome!!!

 

Great work Bill

[williamgaylord]

I hope it will be quite a bit more awsome when I get the episode animated.

 

Anybody out there know how to get a character to blow smoke? Need to teach the angry marshmallow how to smoke.

 

Thanks!

Bill Gaylord

[williamgaylord]

I just uploaded more complete copies of the Marshmallow Lecter movie, complete with title, credits, and stereo sound! Enjoy! (Same link posted earlier: post #85)

 

Bill Gaylord

[williamgaylord]

Whipped up a script in English. It's short and sweet (pun intended!). I need to translate it into French, since the dialog will be done in French with English subtitles. I studied French for six years long ago, but, I am embarrased to say, I never took the opportunity to speak it enough to become fluent. I sometimes say I've forgotten more French than I've every learned.

 

I can read it aloud as a script for voice acting and my pronounciation is fairly good, but I'd be hard pressed to carry on a conversation.

 

Therefor, I'm putting out a request that anyone who is a native French speaker help me translate the dialog into French. I want it to sound natural in French. Anybody out there interested? It's barely a page worth of dialog, so it won't be a daunting task. You'll definitely get full credit for the script translation.

 

I can send the script to whoever volunteers.

 

Thanks,

Bill Gaylord

[williamgaylord]

Al Desrochers did a fine job of translating the script into French! I am very pleased with the results! This will add a lot of "character" to the episode.

 

Thanks, Al!

 

Bill Gaylord