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Getting into Fusion
In the playlist I mention (in the previous post) above: Fusion Lessons by Eric Westphal of Eyeon Software , I've included this cool live demonstration Eric did to show us how one of his team members made this "Rain in your Eyes" video from a static photo of a bright sunny day - I love this!
Being able to do this stuff to still images is pure magic. Using these techniques on animations can get utterly mind-blowing.
I couldn't help myself from including these two wonderful comedy acts he's done on Eyeon's channel! Enjoy!
Very cool videos!
"Real 3d particles!" LOL I just love this fellow! Ha!!!
Thanks Phil. These Fusion videos sure make the software a lot easier for me. And even more, they show hints of the immense power of it!
Here's another excellent Fusion Promo by Eyeon Software: Ten Reasons why You Need Fusion
I've saved all of these back when chickenman first mentioned that he found Fusion for Free. When I went to check it out, I wasn't expecting to be downloading it because I don't really like downloading "Demo" software unless I have enough funds ready to buy the full version.
This is different. This isn't really a demo - but the full software minus a few things that come with the Studio which is still only a $Grand... but it's a $Grand.
The main difference in the text is that the Free version cannot use plugins and does not have the powerful (Extremely Powerful) Network Team Cooperation tools.
Once we start getting into it, we find out that trying to make really high resolution outputs requires a plugin. I found that out trying to use Fusion for making High Res HDRI. But what I really want it for is for postwork VFX on my videos - and for that, the free version is incredibly powerful! And Fast!!!
In this one (only 3 minutes), he demonstrates the particles system basics. To do so he sets the time range and lets it play the loop while he plays with the settings, so we can see the effect of the functions. It really helps to show the speed of this thing! At first glance, it almost looks like it's less detailed than Carrara's emitter system. But the thing is that Fusio has a bunch of nodes to add to the system.
Carrara makes everything easier by pre-connecting all nodes for everything ahead of time, and organized it all into simple worksheets to fill out. To activate any node, we just put something in it, like a value or image or even a video. I love that about Carrara.
Having this in Carrara, once we get to using these features and knowing what they are, it makes using something like Fusion so much easier, because we start looking for the nodes we need - realizing that there's more to all of this.
Twists and Turns
Life getting in the way of doing certain things, like recording voice tracks, scene creation and rendering continues. Lots of Fun.
Along the way, just from the process of building and animatiing scenes and so on, I've been stumbling into some really cool plot twists and adventure turns. Things that help me pull this whole thing into the ideas I've had when I first started this thing years ago.
Thank goodness for saving things.
Pjotter mentions from the start that we need to write down EVERYTHING and SAVE it - even if we have already scratched parts in favor for other parts - never throw anything away. One never knows when the new changes will get replaced with the old once again - or when older ideas might be exactly what's needed to propell something new forward.
Another thing from Pjotter that was new for me is the buying of books related to the subject of script writing and storytelling, etc., along with any other subject that might be helpful.
It's amazing how much inspiration and education we can get from just one more book.
Yeah... we don't want to spend so much time reading, studying, learning, and writing about it in the forum, that we don't get any work done.
All of this stuff can be going on along the same time frame. Just see Sci Fi Funk's production - he does it all, getting extra voices when needed.
well said...
I miss Sci-Fi-Funk's postings, but I gather he's probably getting a bunch more stuff done. I'm still finding the practical edges of this medium, but it's getting near time to produce some results.
Glad for the inspiration and information in here.
--ms
Yeah... my render cores have been busy - but now they've cooled off. Family stuff... you know.
I'm glad for the inspiration too. I might just watch Wizards again tonight. That's a helluva thing! We can get some great production ideas from seeing how he's done some stuff.
Dartanbeck, you have reached a higher level of animating. You are over the threshold and now new worlds are opening for you. It is like entering a new home. Writing things down is a threshold. Buying books is a threshold. I know you agree it is easy, once you get going.
But I had hoped others would also be motivated to start something for themselves. But that does not seem to happen, besides cooperation for projects. Most of the time cooperation does not work and fades out after a while.
And as you know now, building something is not complicated. Anyone could do it. You only have to want it. And this is a threshold also. After the urge comes what. This could be very easy. Start simple. A mouse for instance. If I would, I could create a complete project with one mouse as a start. I would sit down in a quit place and let my mind wander around and write everything down. Something like Tom and Jerry. Or mouse Olympics. Mouse versus turkey.
I do not post much here (this is costing me too much time), but I read everyday. If there would be a problem and nobody has a solution, I will reply. But that does not seem to happen. If there was a thread saying something like I want to start a project myself, but do not know what, I would jump in. If one need ideas, search YouTube for Animation.
We do have mindsong on board! mindsong is now all fired up and working on something - pushing ever-forward! ;)
I've just posted this in another thread, but it kind of fits nicely here too...
Age of Armour put this together from a bunch of test render animations he's made, which is always a fun way to experiment with editing
My 3D mentor had me watch this when we've first discovered that I want to get into animation
No matter the style used in this, it is an excellent example of how to create the necessary clips to create a feature.
First watch it just for fun. Then watch it, keeping an eye out for each individual rendered animation. You'll see how short any single clip needs to be. And on that note, we actually need them (individual shots) to be short like this. It adds to the whole effect. We need the different angles. We need things to happen off camera.
A lot happening.
Through all of this, I've been finding it really easy to take tid bits of all of that prep work I've been doing over the years and put it to work. Some of it becoming animations right from the start, others just being story board-style realization scenes being saved to the browser in preparation for building the animation.
Side-tracking into modeling and UV unwrapping is nice. I already have what I feel is a strong understanding of them, so it's more of a relaxing interlude that calms me and gives me new ideas for continuing on in my Daz3d PA endeavors. it's been far too long since I've released anything.
Having a lot of fun putting Pjotter's inspiration to work. I'm very thankful. I feel alive in Carrara as it helps bring all of this stuff to life - it feels great!
@pjotter - like you, I seem to lurk more than dive in here, but am glad for your advice and perspective. Watchng others acknowledge the wisdom of your advice (e.g. Dart) and start to 'move' on making these ideas real is very motivating in-itself.
Involvement in these forums is, for me, educational, theraputic, and inspiring in that it's also forcing me (internally) to walk my talk. When I can't really spend the required days to get a part of my project completed, reading and sharing in here in bursts keeps it alive and on top of my mind, which is critical (I 'suffer' AAAD - follow the link if you dare...).
So - thanks for your inputs and perspectives. They are both noticed and a good 'nudge' for me as well.
screaming at me to ... just do it...
@Dartanbeck, that ninja video is crazy! There is a *lot* going on in there. You could watch that a whole bunch of times and see more every viewing. nutzo and clever!
and, per your comments above, if we look at the zillions of people that scroll by in the 'shrek' credits (or the like), we gotta realize that what we are trying to do on our (respective) own(s), is learn/master the toolkits and disciplines of a large number of talented people, and by testing/trying/understanding the ranges of these literally infinite capabilities of our tools (Carrara, etc. e.g. mesh/texture/light/moving characters - edit/sound/distributing results), we can at least find and build on our own styled starting points and go from there, otherwise for me, it's an ocean of choices and I have no idea where to start swimming. My tools *are* converging to that place, and when I start, I think I'll be happy for the experiments and not worried that I've missed some big choices. Besides... it's fun to play and accomplish some bite sized wins in the path to the 'feature production'.
I guess I'm enjoying the trip as much as the destination I seek - but a little voice in my gut is starting to ask 'are we getting there yet?', which is probably good to listen to (ala @pjotter...)
--ms
I also have less time to work on the project I have laid out before me. I am still going through MMoirs walkcycle tutorial in order to do the animations I need as NLA clips. I also am not participating in the Carrara Challenges also due to lack of time as they push me to learn more about Carrara.
When real life calms down then maybe I will get a chance to work on it a lot more.
At first, I also created my own walk cycles. But it is very very time comsuming. And it is still not as smooth as I want it to be. And this is an "easy" one. Try throwing a ball. That is why I switched to using the large BVH file and aniblocks. Requires also a lot of work, but it is more rewarding. It is faster and the movements do look better, because they were made from human motions. And because you make more progress, it is more fun to do.
Creating a natural looking walk cycle is very complicated. A natural walk has hip rotation. But if you have hip rotation, the whole body turns. Your feet are out of line because of that. If you do hip rotation after your walk cycle has been created, you have to redo everything. The shoulders moves contra versus hip. It has to be exact the same, otherwise the hands are going through the body. The waving of the arms is also very complicated to get it natural. You have up and down movement. I have done that. I have walked a lot through my living room to figure out how I walk. When do I lift my feet and to which angle. For me BVH and aniblocks only now. I want to go forward.
Pjotter - my Animation in Carrara tutorials will have answers to at least some of your issues in terms of creating walk cycles. And I have produced a complete short animation which I will be sharing soon, and I go through the whole process of a project, taking it from the script, through storyboarding, recording dialogue, doing the actual animation and doing all the post-production tasks that you need to make a complete project. And latest update - I have finished all the recording, editing, compiling working files, etc and will be submitting to Daz today!
Sounds very good. I know at least one person who will be jumping from joy for this.
And as you know, creating a project yourself is doable. You only have to want it. The rest follows by itself. Everything can be learned or be solved by asking questions here. I hope you upcoming stuff will motivate others to take animation one step further.
I hope so too!
yay philW! congrats!
--ms
Cool! Congratulations!
I can't wait to check it out. I wonder how differently our workflow is - we always do things at least a little differently, so this shouldn't be a spoiler ;)
When it comes to animating people, I've noticed (early on - luckily for me) the same thing Pjotter mentions about the hips.
So I actually start my animation with the hips. It seems odd at first, but it actually helps everything else to fall into place. So for a walk, I animate the rotation of the hip - is this person limping (not smooth rotation) or being stealthy (smooth with a lot of up and down to absorb sound) or cruising along quickly?
When I was a kid learning to ride Horseback, I've quickly learnt that, while it might feel scaring speeding up from a gentle walk, going beyond to a full gallop is as smooth as horseback riding can be... super smooth.
So if I'm animating a person running full speed, I give them a smooth rotation - just like I would for a gentle walk, but with further extremes.
Also agreeing with Pjotter, if I ca get a MoCap for what I need, I use that. I already know that I CAN animate - so I have nothing to prove to myself there.
Often times I still wanted to edit the MoCap motions - which is still a LOT faster than starting from scratch.
Phil's course looks like the perfect thing for those wanting to animate! All of those steps are necessary to learn - which is partly what's been taking me so long - apparently. I've actually been cruising right along - I think. But I haven't been showing much progress due to so much of it being fairly personal and private.
Learning is a blast. The new VFX thread I've just started is a really cool way to learn some amazing Hollywood secrets towards taking our renders to the next level - prior to the editing phase. Although he (Allen McKay) uses Max and Nuke and other software I don't use, most of my learning over the years has taught me how to translate these techniques into whatever software it is that I'm using - so it's all relevant. It's the "process" that's important to learn - the individual software techniques quickly fall nicely into place ;)
This tutorial by MMoir is good as it is acutally in Carrara and you may get it in the sale.
http://www.daz3d.com/create-a-walk-cycle-in-carrara ;
Make that two!
That is Wonderful! I bought that on the first day it was released - or there abouts.
I could listen to Mike and Phil all day if Carrara didn't go calling me into its interface all the time! LOL
Wow... wgdjohn's question about Carrara's 3D Paint in another thread got me digging up my example screen shots I made for another question regarding that... brings back fond memories of painting in Carrara!
Wow. Forum search is really horrible. It won't let us search a phase, but search each word individually. Almost easier to to spend a few days going page after pag, like I just did ;)
Sorry for the Rant!
I really like this thread. It was a nice "kick in the butt" for me.
Ever since Pjotter has given me this nudge, I've been pushing forward to get something done. The problem has been that some of it needed education that I didn't realize that I needed. I wish I'd have worked on some of that in past years. But the problem is actually a blessing. Instead of just publishing something for the sake of publishing something, I'm working toward a positive goal.
Family and other issues have been dragging me away from this whole endeavor - both physically and mentally. Bummer, really. But since this bug has been planted, even though my conscious thoughts may be thwarted away, I'm never actually dropping the nootion or the story or the methods. So even though I'm being pulled away, it's still moving forward at least in some small ways - and I'm happy about that.
It 'feels' like I'll be able to get back on track soon. That also makes me happy. We'll see.
Last night I stayed up in order to get my Carrara Beast (PC) in shape and up-to-date and used my network to transfer over some of my thoughts and saved scenes and such. Like me new Genesis 2 characters, I can't wait to see how well they perform in the Beast! ;)
Don't try to know it all before you create. Otherwise you will not create much. There is always more to learn. "Next week if I know ........ I am going to start", could lead to far in the future. Create or prepare the things you can do now. For props and etc you do not need story telling.
Don't forget, the course you are following and many other books you have, are for common movies. You / we have one big advantage. With animation, you can redo, change, edit, add, remove anything you want. Nothing is fixed and final. So, if a scene is not as you want, use the Beast. If a motion is too slow, shorten the key frames or NLA clip. Tom Cruise and the whole circus does not have to show up again.
You're so right. It's far too easy to get too caught up into spending too much time studying. We need to stop, breathe, and get some work done!
In other news, my new bands first gig last night was Awesome!!! Hundreds of people private party in a huge hotel. Almost everybody up and dancing or rocking out to our show! I'm back into doing a LOT of vocals again with this band and I loved it! We even played a few songs we don't know (via rehersal), by request, that also turned out really well!! Love that!
Good news on the show - I wish I'd been there!
Me too. The hotel was awesome... you'd have loved it. Incredible service.
Really nice show... energy galore!
yours is a 360° truly artistic and creative life DB, most of people would like to have such a lucky lifetime
.
Thanks guys! The colourful life of the starving artist truly is an exciting one! (or, at least, can be - ed) It's amazing the things I've been allowed to do ;)