"Animation In Carrara" Video Training (commercial)

13

Comments

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,099

    I keep going back and watching that cool Robot flick! Great job Professor!!! yes

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 14,997
    edited December 2016

    Not what I mean.  There is a whole tradition of art and animation which is NOT trying to trick the human eye into thinking it is seeing reality.  Ancient Egyptians were fully capable of depicting human eyes in perspective.  Their walls are covered with orthogonal eyes out of artistic choice, not lack of skill or execution.  Dont get me wrong, I love PhilW's Realism video training series.  Love it, love it.  And as a matter of basic skill, I want to be purposeful - to have my features of whimsy be by my choice, not lack of skill.

     

    Not trying to start a flame war, and in no way criticizing PhilW.  Putting in a request for more PhilW on even more subjects!

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • mindsongmindsong Posts: 1,693
    edited December 2016

    ... the poor artist who truly got it right never gets his/her work noticed by the grand public! ;)

    It's amazing how much fakery is used, now that we have the technology to pull it off successfully. Saves filmmakers and their sponsors a LOT of dough!

    bingo! - in theatrical production work, if they notice your work (lights/sound/etc.) you did it wrong... kind of a curse for all of those fine folks in the credits at the end of these productions, but part of the magic is in the hiding. Sometimes I wonder if the 'making of' sequences take away from that magic.

    Moreover, I fear my urge to get everything 'right' and unnoticed, gets in the way of real progress. Perhaps it's avoidance thing, but I also don't want to put anything out there that's not up to the standards I hold others to. Fortunately, I like the fine-work related to 'getting there', and nobody's waiting on me... except me, and I'm starting to get impatient with me. heh.

    To get there quicker, these tutorials simply rock and keep the fire alive!

    cheers,

    --ms

    Post edited by mindsong on
  • mindsongmindsong Posts: 1,693
    edited December 2016

     

    diomede said:

    Not what I mean.  There is a whole tradition of art and animation which is NOT trying to trick the human eye into thinking it is seeing reality.  Ancient Egyptians were fully capable of depicting human eyes in perspective.  Their walls are covered with orthogonal eyes out of artistic choice, not lack of skill or execution.  Dont get me wrong, I love PhilW's Realism video training series.  Love it, love it.  And as a matter of basic skill, I want to be purposeful - to have my features of whimsy be by my choice, not lack of skill.

     

    Not trying to start a flame war, and in no way criticizing PhilW.  Putting in a request for more PhilW on even more subjects!

    ditto! - that's how I took it as well. I struggle with working towards the super-realistic stuff that I'd like to do (see some of joeping's stuff! wow), and creating the more stylized techniques that lend some freedom/creative license to the tasks (and shortcuts!).

    I'm starting with the NPR approach (safer?), and collecting the realistic rendering tools for later... but *any* help/tutorials from these accomplished folks are welcomed, and they'll only consider doing them if they know there's an intrested audience, so I say bring on the requests! A noodle or two may stick on the wall if thrown!

    cheers,

    --ms

    Post edited by mindsong on
  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,139

    You may have seen previous posts of me talking about the animated short which I did the animation for  - "Trick or Treat".  Well I just found out that the full video can now be seen!  I am so excited that you guys can see the full thing for the first time - all animated and rendered in Carrara (natively, not with Octane or anything else).  You can see it here:

    http://www.trickortreatshort.com/

    It is hopefully a good example of a non-realistic style, in a classic animation tradition.  Clearly done in 3D, but there is no attempt to make the characters realistic, in fact quite the opposite, they are clearly more cartoony.  It is the animation which (I hope) draws you into the story and the characters.  I'd love to hear what you all think!

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 14,997

    Tremendous!

    Congratulations, Phil.  It really drew me in.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,099
    mindsong said:

    ... the poor artist who truly got it right never gets his/her work noticed by the grand public! ;)

    It's amazing how much fakery is used, now that we have the technology to pull it off successfully. Saves filmmakers and their sponsors a LOT of dough!

    bingo! - in theatrical production work, if they notice your work (lights/sound/etc.) you did it wrong... kind of a curse for all of those fine folks in the credits at the end of these productions, but part of the magic is in the hiding. Sometimes I wonder if the 'making of' sequences take away from that magic.

    Moreover, I fear my urge to get everything 'right' and unnoticed, gets in the way of real progress. Perhaps it's avoidance thing, but I also don't want to put anything out there that's not up to the standards I hold others to. Fortunately, I like the fine-work related to 'getting there', and nobody's waiting on me... except me, and I'm starting to get impatient with me. heh.

    To get there quicker, these tutorials simply rock and keep the fire alive!

    cheers,

    --ms

    The best way to get quicker is to keep doing it - truly. 

    Even if we think it might not be right, hit that render button and take a little break. Don't dwell too much on making it perfect the first time. Those test renders should tell a LOT about where to go next. It really takes building up muscle memory of doing this stuff.

    It's also vastly important to practice the compositing software and get good with it. Knowing how easily (and quickly) things can be done in that can make a huge difference on how we attack our scene building. It helps us realize that often less can be much more - where really nice rendered-in scene details might make the rest of what must get done more difficult and time consuming. 

    Okay now I'm babbling again. 

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,099
    PhilW said:

    You may have seen previous posts of me talking about the animated short which I did the animation for  - "Trick or Treat".  Well I just found out that the full video can now be seen!  I am so excited that you guys can see the full thing for the first time - all animated and rendered in Carrara (natively, not with Octane or anything else).  You can see it here:

    http://www.trickortreatshort.com/

    It is hopefully a good example of a non-realistic style, in a classic animation tradition.  Clearly done in 3D, but there is no attempt to make the characters realistic, in fact quite the opposite, they are clearly more cartoony.  It is the animation which (I hope) draws you into the story and the characters.  I'd love to hear what you all think!

    Bravo!!! Loved it!

  • mindsongmindsong Posts: 1,693

    That should help sell a few more copies of your tutorials! - Timing couldn't be better!

    bravo! the characters had some particularly wonderful expressions for their contexts.

    --ms

  • mmoirmmoir Posts: 821

    Awesome job on this.

  • PhilW said:

    You may have seen previous posts of me talking about the animated short which I did the animation for  - "Trick or Treat".  Well I just found out that the full video can now be seen!  I am so excited that you guys can see the full thing for the first time - all animated and rendered in Carrara (natively, not with Octane or anything else).

    Phil, you the man - again!

    More evidence of a Carrara Renaissance?  In the right hands, this continues to be an astonishing program.

     

     

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    Loved it. Nice site too and I liked that they showed some of the storyboards. But Phil, you need a new photo, or at least more than one!

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,139

    I like that photo! And that isn't a regular thing, I usually hate photos of me. And I was the remote member of the team, everyone else is based near Chicago, and I am in the UK, so I just had to send a photo, unlike all the others.

    And thanks for all the feedback guys, good to know you like it!  I think it has a style that I have not seen in any other Carrara animation, so I hope it expands what people think is possible with Carrara!

  • Steve KSteve K Posts: 3,179

    Very good, Phil, I enjoyed it a lot, the animation is very clever with well placed cuts.   Also, I think the soundtrack was especially well done, including the voice acting, which is not so great in many short animations.  The plan I like is to avoid dialogue altogether, but that can make telling the story difficult.

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,139
    Steve K said:

    Very good, Phil, I enjoyed it a lot, the animation is very clever with well placed cuts.   Also, I think the soundtrack was especially well done, including the voice acting, which is not so great in many short animations.  The plan I like is to avoid dialogue altogether, but that can make telling the story difficult.

    Thanks - this was a professional production so all the voices were done by local (to the studio, not to me!) actors and recorded in a studio. I had done the character designs by the time the recording was done, and they printed them out and put them around the studio to give a better feel for the characters, which I thought was a nice idea. 

    I was given the recordings (one file for each line of dialogue) plus they videoed the recordings which gave some useful pointers to doing the animation - not slavishly copying it, but using it for ideas for gestures, expressions etc.  The music was added after the animation had been completed and he did a really good job in underscoring the mood of each section.

    The cuts had mostly been worked out at the storyboard stage, which meant there was minimal reworking when it came to doing the actual animation - always a good thing!

  • Steve KSteve K Posts: 3,179
    PhilW said:
    Steve K said:

     ... they videoed the recordings which gave some useful pointers to doing the animation - not slavishly copying it, but using it for ideas for gestures, expressions etc.  

    Sounds like an interesting process.  I recall a "Making Of" for one of the Pixar animations, showing the voice actors (A-listers like Billy Crystal) recording their lines, while some of the animators watched.  Then they used some of the actor's body motions, similar to what you're describing.  One of my favorite lines is Tom Hanks as Woody responding to Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear:  "This is no time to panic, sheriff."  "THIS IS THE PERFECT TIME TO PANIC!"  I suspect Tom Hanks had some body motion going there ... Woody certainly did:

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,099
    Steve K said:

    Very good, Phil, I enjoyed it a lot, the animation is very clever with well placed cuts.   Also, I think the soundtrack was especially well done, including the voice acting, which is not so great in many short animations.  The plan I like is to avoid dialogue altogether, but that can make telling the story difficult.

    I agree with this whole thing. Well said, my friend! yes

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,099

    I love this!

     

    PhilW said:
    Steve K said:

    Very good, Phil, I enjoyed it a lot, the animation is very clever with well placed cuts.   Also, I think the soundtrack was especially well done, including the voice acting, which is not so great in many short animations.  The plan I like is to avoid dialogue altogether, but that can make telling the story difficult.

    Thanks - this was a professional production so all the voices were done by local (to the studio, not to me!) actors and recorded in a studio. I had done the character designs by the time the recording was done, and they printed them out and put them around the studio to give a better feel for the characters, which I thought was a nice idea. 

    I was given the recordings (one file for each line of dialogue) plus they videoed the recordings which gave some useful pointers to doing the animation - not slavishly copying it, but using it for ideas for gestures, expressions etc.  The music was added after the animation had been completed and he did a really good job in underscoring the mood of each section.

    The cuts had mostly been worked out at the storyboard stage, which meant there was minimal reworking when it came to doing the actual animation - always a good thing!

    My Singer has a sound production company and his studio is very professional. Just like the studios seen in those Making-of documentaries. We've talked through the process of my voice acting sessions, as I was unsure of what he was capable of giving me.

    He's shown me some examples and all of my fears are laid to rest! 

    Video recording as well as a professional clip for every line from each character - exactly what I need!

  • That Other PersonaThat Other Persona Posts: 381
    edited January 2017

    I'm having trouble downloading the files.  Part 3 completes the download and unzips fine.  Parts 1 and 2 can't unzip for some reason... they also show as mostly downloaded.

    I'm on a Mac running 10.12.

     

    Or should I use the Installer?  DIM?

     

     

    Post edited by That Other Persona on
  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,139

    I'm having trouble downloading the files.  Part 3 completes the download and unzips fine.  Parts 1 and 2 can't unzip for some reason... they also show as mostly downloaded.

    I'm on a Mac running 10.12.

     

    Or should I use the Installer?  DIM?

     

     

    If you continue to have trouble downloading, you should contact Daz for help. They do the packaging for downloads - I tested the download on my Windows machine OK, but I don't have a Mac.

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    They downloaded fine on my Mac (10.12.2) - via DIM

  • Phil, i just got your tutorials (downloading them as i type this) and if they are even half as good as your others, i know i'll learn a lot.  have you considered doing a "making a character" tutorial? kinda expand on the one in your other tutorial with attaching bones to models.

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,139

    Thanks for buying!  An interesting idea, it's probably not top of my list but I will add it to my "ideas bank"!

  • chickenmanchickenman Posts: 1,202

    I had no problem down loading it with DIM and have watched the first 3 already.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 14,997
    edited January 2017

    I downloaded manually (Windows machine).  No trouble.  Just finished watching the introductory portion through NLA clips.  Very thorough.  Already learned some great stuff about NLA clips that I was unware of. I have been doing my custom figures incorrectly (and now that I know, have to say "duh!  Simple and obvious.").  Will be doing revisions to the birdman, crabman, and cyclopstritch to take advantage of NLA clips.  I also have a sneeking suspicion that I might be able to make use of the"fit to" function, but not sure.  These are not animation issues, per se, but learning the animation made me realize something I was leaving out of my figures.

     

    Thanks, Phil.  Great stuff.  Definitely applies to my whimsical projects.  Here are the proverbial two thumbs up.  yesyes​. 

    Very satisfied customer already, and I'm not even done with the first 1/3 of the course.

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,139

    Good to know - thank you so much for your feedback.

  • Congratulations on the fantastic video, Phil.  The rest of the team were also excellent.

    Your new tutorial series is a must - but December has taken its toll on the old wallet!  Something to savour, though, as soon as possible. 

  • Using DIM everything downloaded!  Went into presets.

     

     Off to study!  So much to learn . . .

     

    Will update to 10.12.2 some day soon and try that method again.

     

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,099

    I am So jealous of you all!!! :)

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited January 2017
    PhilW said:

    You may have seen previous posts of me talking about the animated short which I did the animation for  - "Trick or Treat".  Well I just found out that the full video can now be seen!  I am so excited that you guys can see the full thing for the first time - all animated and rendered in Carrara (natively, not with Octane or anything else).  You can see it here:

    http://www.trickortreatshort.com/

    It is hopefully a good example of a non-realistic style, in a classic animation tradition.  Clearly done in 3D, but there is no attempt to make the characters realistic, in fact quite the opposite, they are clearly more cartoony.  It is the animation which (I hope) draws you into the story and the characters.  I'd love to hear what you all think!

    Congratulations Phil... it's truly Marvelous...  it certainly drew me in. Well done!  yes

    When I finish your Animation in Carrara tutorial I'll expect to do that well or I'll want my money back. devil

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
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