18 replies to this topic

[amster]

These are some still shots of a sword and sorcery film that I ambitiously tried to make a few years ago while teaching myself how to do 3D animation. The project was ultimately never finished. Its was far too time consuming. I would put in sometimes 12-16 hours in a single session for a mere few seconds of footage that only managed to disappoint me. Most of the animation was done in Poser and impoted to Carrara Pro for final rendering. I would be lying if I said I created all this from scratch. I freely admit that I used lots of premade models, props, etc. I wanted to focus more on learning the art of animation than on the art of modeling, which are two very different disiplines. Still, i did manage to create a few of my own sets and props, as well as personalize all the individual bodies and faces. I may post a few seconds of actual animation if I can ever get the darn thing uploaded.

[Cuchulain]

It looks really cool, I am interested in seeing more. did you get to finish the animation or do you plan to finish it?

Animation does take some time, I hope you didn't give up on it totally

[amster]

It looks really cool, I am interested in seeing more. did you get to finish the animation or do you plan to finish it?

Animation does take some time, I hope you didn't give up on it totally

Thanks for your feedback. Here's a minute and a half or so of some animated footage.



I would love to get back into doing it, maybe starting a brand new project...something less ambitious and more reasonable. Its VERY, VERY time cosuming. None of the software that I worked with actually teaches you how to animate, and as you can see from the footage its very difficult to make them move in a way that doesn't look robotic. Maybe the newere versions of Poser have addressed some of these weaknesses.

[Cuchulain]

try the free Blender 2.56 and add all the add-ons as rigify is one. I have a link for the facial rig as well and there is blender-people for crowds. there is a ton of tutorials and I can help with somethings. Blender has made animating fun from using the software to the actual animating.

2.56 is in beta but it is cool. if you want to use the 2.49 then I have some books that will help with learning 2.49 like mastering blender and character animation in blender. I also have the ebook blender essentials that you can have but I would learn 2.56 as it is different and you would have to relearn in 2.56 when you are ready. best to just learn there IMO

[Tex]

Heh. Looks like Peter Gabriel starring in a Sam Peckinpah film.

Tex
(and THAT'S what you get for leaving Genesis!)

[Cuchulain]

It looks really cool, I am interested in seeing more. did you get to finish the animation or do you plan to finish it?

Animation does take some time, I hope you didn't give up on it totally

Thanks for your feedback. Here's a minute and a half or so of some animated footage.



I would love to get back into doing it, maybe starting a brand new project...something less ambitious and more reasonable. Its VERY, VERY time cosuming. None of the software that I worked with actually teaches you how to animate, and as you can see from the footage its very difficult to make them move in a way that doesn't look robotic. Maybe the newere versions of Poser have addressed some of these weaknesses.

nice work. I think you would have better results with blender and your characters will be easier to control with IK and forward kinetics

[amster]

this has nothing to do with amateurish 3D femdom scenes sold pompously as "sword and sorcery film" made under blender with imported pre-made models that were proposed in comparison by the arrogant member in question, but why? It has nothing to do! It's like comparing some origami to a drawing: two different things even if they have a common ground, the paper to start with.

Just to clarify, I wasn't trying to "sell" anything. These are years old and I've shown them to almost nobody. I have over 8 minutes of footage and I was only comfortable with displaying a minute and a have and a few stills. I've never used Blender. As I said, I did the animation in Poser and imported it to Carrara for final redering. I've never heard the term "femdom". Honestly I had to google it just to know what it means. Sorry, I'm not some pervert making 3d porn. I freely admit that I used premade models that I modified, but I obtained most of them from DAZ 3D, a fairly big player in the 3D industry, and Poser's own website (Content Paradise). I admit that there is a lot of "sameness" in Poser that immediately makes it look cheap and cheesy (and easy) to the casual observer, but custom, fully posable 3d models are an extremely eloborate and time sonsuming project to take on. Truth be told, my first attempts were at making my own human models in Carrara, but I found the process extremely daunting and ultimately turned to Poser to do some of the heavy lifting. It seemed like the logical choice when my true area of interest was animating rather than modeling. The 3d modellers at ILM are not the same as the animation staff. Even among professionals, there are few people who are masters of all of it.

Amateurish? That's exactly how I would describe them, especially given the fact that I was a complete amateur with no formal training getting his feet wet for the first time. Still, that feeling you have when you view a good piece of footage for the first time, and you realize "This is not impossible! I can actaully do this!" Its the best feeling in the world.

Edited by amsterdamaged, 06 March 2011 - 02:41 AM.

[amster]

nice work. I think you would have better results with blender and your characters will be easier to control with IK and forward kinetics

Thanks. I'm going to check out Blender.

[Cuchulain]

this has nothing to do with amateurish 3D femdom scenes sold pompously as "sword and sorcery film" made under blender with imported pre-made models that were proposed in comparison by the arrogant member in question, but why? It has nothing to do! It's like comparing some origami to a drawing: two different things even if they have a common ground, the paper to start with.

Just to clarify, I wasn't trying to "sell" anything. These are years old and I've shown them to almost nobody. I have over 8 minutes of footage and I was only comfortable with displaying a minute and a have and a few stills. I've never used Blender. As I said, I did the animation in Poser and imported it to Carrara for final redering. I've never heard the term "femdom". Honestly I had to google it just to know what it means. Sorry, I'm not some pervert making 3d porn. I freely admit that I used premade models that I modified, but I obtained most of them from DAZ 3D, a fairly big player in the 3D industry, and Poser's own website (Content Paradise). I admit that there is a lot of "sameness" in Poser that immediately makes it look cheap and cheesy (and easy) to the casual observer, but custom, fully posable 3d models are an extremely eloborate and time sonsuming project to take on. Truth be told, my first attempts were at making my own human models in Carrara, but I found the process extremely daunting and ultimately turned to Poser to do some of the heavy lifting. It seemed like the logical choice when my true area of interest was animating rather than modeling. The 3d modellers at ILM are not the same as the animation staff. Even among professionals, there are few people who are masters of all of it.

Amateurish? That's exactly how I would describe them, especially given the fact that I was a complete amateur with no formal training getting his feet wet for the first time. Still, that feeling you have when you view a good piece of footage for the first time, and you realize "This is not impossible! I can actaully do this!" Its the best feeling in the world.

I have modeled my own human base and then modify it into models that I need but for FGD, I used premade models for Conan and Atali. also the head of the Giants was premade. as the only animator on my team and to tackle something like Frost Giants Daughter, I wanted to save time by using some pre made stuff. I think all photorealistic animation looks cheesy as the human eye know what real people look like and to do animation to look photorealistic makes something look off or fake but I believe there is a way of doing a child oriented and adult oriented animation without doing photorealistic and it can still look good. we will see when FGD is finished

[Ironhand]

Speaking as someone who knows absolutely nothing about modeling or animation, I wonder if the solution to the photorealism problem might be to deliberately make the characters look "cartoony"?

Edited by Ironhand, 06 March 2011 - 08:09 AM.

[deuce]

this has nothing to do with amateurish 3D femdom scenes sold pompously as "sword and sorcery film" made under blender with imported pre-made models that were proposed in comparison by the arrogant member in question, but why? It has nothing to do! It's like comparing some origami to a drawing: two different things even if they have a common ground, the paper to start with.

Just to clarify, I wasn't trying to "sell" anything. These are years old and I've shown them to almost nobody. I have over 8 minutes of footage and I was only comfortable with displaying a minute and a have and a few stills. I've never used Blender. As I said, I did the animation in Poser and imported it to Carrara for final redering. I've never heard the term "femdom". Honestly I had to google it just to know what it means. Sorry, I'm not some pervert making 3d porn.

[

You're a femdom bitch/poseur, Amster. Admit it.

Seriously, meseems there's a lot of angst hereabouts.

[Cuchulain]

Speaking as someone who knows absolutely nothing about modeling or animation, I wonder if the solution to the photorealism problem might be to deliberately make the characters look "cartoony"?

yes, as an animator. one has to reach a certain degree of realism without trying to be realistic. take into account Beowulf or Final Fantasy which tried to be to photorealistic but still looked as if they were trying to hard. the modeling, lighting and animation were fantastic but displeasing because it looked phony. I think the only exception ( at least in my own opinion ) was Benjamin Buttons but only the face for the first hour was computer generated and blended nicely with the real human bodies.

Alien characters and things that doesn't really exist is easy to do photorealistic because the human eye has nothing to judge it by. Some artist has made some believable stills and are getting better with new softwares and technics everyday but I think the problem of photorealistic human animation lies in recreating the look of life. we can make things look like they are alive in movement but there is a certain glow of life that is hard to recreate and throws off the feeling or believe of it being real.

[amster]

Speaking as someone who knows absolutely nothing about modeling or animation, I wonder if the solution to the photorealism problem might be to deliberately make the characters look "cartoony"?

On the software I use, "toon shading", as opposed to "photo-realism", is an option. And if I ever get around to tackling a new project, that is what I will probably go with. It just seems more sensible for the solo artist working out of his home. There would be a lot less pressure to the animations as realistic as possible. I can envision ways I would attempt to cut corners in that area. The time it takes to render the clips would be considerably shorter. And compositing 2D and 2D elements in After Effects would be a lot easier as well.

yes, as an animator. one has to reach a certain degree of realism without trying to be realistic. take into account Beowulf or Final Fantasy which tried to be to photorealistic but still looked as if they were trying to hard. the modeling, lighting and animation were fantastic but displeasing because it looked phony. I think the only exception ( at least in my own opinion ) was Benjamin Buttons but only the face for the first hour was computer generated and blended nicely with the real human bodies.

Alien characters and things that doesn't really exist is easy to do photorealistic because the human eye has nothing to judge it by. Some artist has made some believable stills and are getting better with new softwares and technics everyday but I think the problem of photorealistic human animation lies in recreating the look of life. we can make things look like they are alive in movement but there is a certain glow of life that is hard to recreate and throws off the feeling or believe of it being real.

I agree. Look at the Clone Wars series, for example. Its rendered in a photorealistic fashion. When you look at the vehicals and creatures, they're almost (but not quite) as photorealistic as the ones in the feature films. But they didn't even attempt to make the characters exact photorealistic copies of Hayden Christiansen, etc. They basically designed them as 3D photorealistic cartoon characters. I think they knew that in 3D character design close=fake in the minds of most people.

[Cuchulain]

Speaking as someone who knows absolutely nothing about modeling or animation, I wonder if the solution to the photorealism problem might be to deliberately make the characters look "cartoony"?

On the software I use, "toon shading", as opposed to "photo-realism", is an option. And if I ever get around to tackling a new project, that is what I will probably go with. It just seems more sensible for the solo artist working out of his home. There would be a lot less pressure to the animations as realistic as possible. I can envision ways I would attempt to cut corners in that area. The time it takes to render the clips would be considerably shorter. And compositing 2D and 2D elements in After Effects would be a lot easier as well.

yes, as an animator. one has to reach a certain degree of realism without trying to be realistic. take into account Beowulf or Final Fantasy which tried to be to photorealistic but still looked as if they were trying to hard. the modeling, lighting and animation were fantastic but displeasing because it looked phony. I think the only exception ( at least in my own opinion ) was Benjamin Buttons but only the face for the first hour was computer generated and blended nicely with the real human bodies.

Alien characters and things that doesn't really exist is easy to do photorealistic because the human eye has nothing to judge it by. Some artist has made some believable stills and are getting better with new softwares and technics everyday but I think the problem of photorealistic human animation lies in recreating the look of life. we can make things look like they are alive in movement but there is a certain glow of life that is hard to recreate and throws off the feeling or believe of it being real.

I agree. Look at the Clone Wars series, for example. Its rendered in a photorealistic fashion. When you look at the vehicals and creatures, they're almost (but not quite) as photorealistic as the ones in the feature films. But they didn't even attempt to make the characters exact photorealistic copies of Hayden Christiansen, etc. They basically designed them as 3D photorealistic cartoon characters. I think they knew that in 3D character design close=fake in the minds of most people.

Blender has a way of doing line art in animation. I tried it a little but didn't spend to much time with it because I have a different look that I want for FGD. I also use Lightwave 9.6 which has a toon shader but I am trying to make FGD in Blender only as I am learning the libraries link and append tools. I have been using FGD to learn how to use Blenders features.

toon shaders should save a lot of time in rendering. 2D compositing should be easier as well. I find that some of things I wanted to do in FGD might be handled differently because of render time.

[Dave the Rage]

IT seems Blender is making in roads into the real market then, to contend with the big boys. I use it myself, and find it as good as any other, especially the price tag....FREE! Maybe a forum for animation should be setup and fans build their own tributes to Howard . Me and the bro are doing the poem Misers Gold in 3D ani, as it is short and easy, as the scene is one room in a castle in the dark. lol

[Cuchulain]

Amster- I would be interested in seeing the rest if you have it where it can be seen.


Dave- how far along are you in your animation? will you be posting it on youtube?


I think everyone should do an anime for Howard. or if we have enough Blender users here to make a network to work on one epic piece. I mean really there are a lot of talent in this forum. I think there was an animation project compiled of long distance animators that I heard about so it wouldn't be the first time

[Dave the Rage]

Amster- I would be interested in seeing the rest if you have it where it can be seen.


Dave- how far along are you in your animation? will you be posting it on youtube?


I think everyone should do an anime for Howard. or if we have enough Blender users here to make a network to work on one epic piece. I mean really there are a lot of talent in this forum. I think there was an animation project compiled of long distance animators that I heard about so it wouldn't be the first time

Yes, we are doing a website soon, but the brother is a PERFECTIONIST biatch, he does me 'ead in at times, if it is not right he scraps it! Good idea, but I am a 2D artist amateur hobby, the bro is teaching me a bit of the 3D stuff. I will update the forum when it is near done and thow up some stills too, but the Domimatrix chicks is way better me thinks!

Here is the 2D Strip of it I done last year:
Miser's Gold P 1
P 2:
Page 2

Edited by Dave the Rage, 27 March 2011 - 09:37 PM.

[Dave the Rage]

Amster- I would be interested in seeing the rest if you have it where it can be seen.


Dave- how far along are you in your animation? will you be posting it on youtube?


I think everyone should do an anime for Howard. or if we have enough Blender users here to make a network to work on one epic piece. I mean really there are a lot of talent in this forum. I think there was an animation project compiled of long distance animators that I heard about so it wouldn't be the first time

Been a while since I did any updates on Conan.com, and neglected this interesting thread. I have some updates on a short 3d anime my bro and I are partaking on. We have some shots to share with you guys, but alas as Amster has said it is a slow process indeed. But enjoy anyways the attempt to try.

http://fantasy-unlim...os/Cavess10.jpg

http://fantasy-unlim...os/Cavess12.jpg

http://fantasy-unlim...os/Cavess14.jpg

Will dump more up when we animate some moving sequences.

[Cuchulain]

Amster- I would be interested in seeing the rest if you have it where it can be seen.


Dave- how far along are you in your animation? will you be posting it on youtube?


I think everyone should do an anime for Howard. or if we have enough Blender users here to make a network to work on one epic piece. I mean really there are a lot of talent in this forum. I think there was an animation project compiled of long distance animators that I heard about so it wouldn't be the first time

Been a while since I did any updates on Conan.com, and neglected this interesting thread. I have some updates on a short 3d anime my bro and I are partaking on. We have some shots to share with you guys, but alas as Amster has said it is a slow process indeed. But enjoy anyways the attempt to try.

http://fantasy-unlim...os/Cavess10.jpg

http://fantasy-unlim...os/Cavess12.jpg

http://fantasy-unlim...os/Cavess14.jpg

Will dump more up when we animate some moving sequences.

Thanks for the update and I am looking forward to seeing the rest when it is done.