Requesting production advice, for a cgi movie?

Mistara · January 2020

WendyLuvsCatz said:

I could do a 90 minute video

whether anyone would want to watch it is another matter ...

throw in a scantily clad man-dudes or 2?

Mistara · January 2020

Ivy said:

FirstBastion said:

.You can build a sound proof booth with waferboard and sound batt insulation (look up roxul sound rockwool ) for voice work recordings.

When it comes to production the Motto KEEP IT SIMPLE works very well. I firmly believe KEEP IT SHORT is important too.

Short and simple is doable even by a small crew of 1.

I bought one of those H2n Zoom protable field recording studios Amazon link . they have filters built right in . But also I went to a carpet store and they let me take what ever scrps they were going to just throw it away for free.. and i grabbed all the thick piled carpets i could get my hands on to line a small closet to make a sound proof booth with it worked like a charm for making sound recording for when you don't want outside influence or sounds in the recordings. . But for sound effects I tend to record them live as they happen on site for the best results. specially when dealing with recording childrens for voices.

filters built in?

i hesitating on the price of the thing, but if it can filter out ambient noise, would be worth it

Aabacus · January 2020

Cybersox said:

Aabacus said:

Cybersox said:

I've worked in animation production for over 25 years and the one bit of advice I'll strongly suggest is to focus your attention on a decent voice track and music. You can do a show with animations made on used cocktail napkins, stop motion using legos or literally scratched on the emulsion of old film and no one blinks an eye, but if the audio's not good, modern audiences aren't going to stay in their seats. Even the most brilliant silent movies like the work of Fritz Lang and Buster Keaton have a hard time keeping the attention of modern audiences without having some kind of music and effects track playing.

The good news is that you probably overestimate how much voice actors cost, as the starting professional rate is around $35.00 an hour, but there have been plenty of low budget productions where actors have worked for less. If you live in any town that has a population of more than a few thousand people or that has a high school, there's going to be some kind of theater base you can tap into, and unlike live action films, the actors in animated films don't have to record at the same time and can record multiple parts on a single show. Ever watch the original Bullwinkle? Every episode from the original run recorded by three guys and one girl sitting in a room with an ancient reel to reel tape recorder, and one of the guys was just the narrator. The English cast for Speed racer was one woman and four guys,and they squeezed in recording two episodes a day in the afternoon after recording an episode of Marine Boy in the morning. Venture Brothers is one of the most popular shows on Cartoon Network, but if you look at the credits, you'll see that two guys do the vast majority of the characters.

Is that $35/hr of recorded footage or $35/hr flat. If it takes 10 hours to get 1 hour of footage you're paying $350 or are you paying $35. My guess is $35 but as I'm about to do some VO work I want to be sure I'm being paid fairly and want to charge fairly.

Thanks! This was an astonishingly interesting thread.

$35 per hour in the studio for ADR, which is much more complex than doing pre-lay. Now, keep in mind, that's the cheapest starting rate that I know of in the U.S., which is Funimation in Dallas. Other studios pay more and outside the U.S. there are studios overseas that pay less, and studios that are working on SAG union projects may pay more. As for how long it takes... that depends on the actor, director, producer, engineer, the equipment/studio setup being used and whether you're recording to finished footage, pre-laying dialog that will be and whether you're working with one actor at a time or with a large group performing in an ensemble. But 10 hours to get one hour of footage with a single actor would be crazy long.under most situations.

Great answer! Thanks.

I was just using an example for the 10 hours so that math would be easy. LOL.

I suspect it'll take me all of 3 hours to do a 15 minute blurb. It's for an industry video. Client writes the narrative and makes the video, I read it then overlay my work on the video with music, etc. I currently charge $50 for about 1-2 hours of editing work. Nothing substantial usually but it depends on how sloppy the source is. Some take longer than others. Client isn't too picky and the work is super simple. I don't have a ton of tracks that I'm working with. Header/trailer, music, voice, video. No effects and I'm not trying to match anything (thank the heavens). Baby's first editing gig.

I think, for a 15 minute video demo I'll do $50 for the editing and $100 for 3 hours of VO to get the audio right. Probably won't take me that long but with back and forth with my client...who knows?

Thanks for the information. That's great! And hey, if you need any VO work...I'm cheap!

Mistara · January 2020

i'd scrounge up 50/ph somehow for peter cullen

Mistara · January 2020

important lesson in this

How Star Wars was saved in the edit

Ivy · January 2020

Cybersox said:

Ivy said:

FirstBastion said:

.You can build a sound proof booth with waferboard and sound batt insulation (look up roxul sound rockwool ) for voice work recordings.

When it comes to production the Motto KEEP IT SIMPLE works very well. I firmly believe KEEP IT SHORT is important too.

Short and simple is doable even by a small crew of 1.

I bought one of those H2n Zoom protable field recording studios Amazon link . they have filters built right in . But also I went to a carpet store and they let me take what ever scrps they were going to just throw it away for free.. and i grabbed all the thick piled carpets i could get my hands on to line a small closet to make a sound proof booth with it worked like a charm for making sound recording for when you don't want outside influence or sounds in the recordings. . But for sound effects I tend to record them live as they happen on site for the best results. specially when dealing with recording childrens for voices.

The Zoom products are amazingly good for the money and they recently released what I think will be a game changer in portable recording, the LiveTrak l-8, They're really hard to get right now since they're brand new, but I preordered one right after they were announced and finally got mine just before Xmas. Basically it's a full multi-track production studio that can record multiple chanels of audio all at once or in layers to either an internal SD card or to a PC, and the kicker is that the dang thing can run on AA batteries or via USB power in the field. Pair it with a laptop and you're good to go anywhere for less than $400.

I paid $200 for mine as a promotional offer when it first came out a few years back . Mine also can run on 2 AA batteries and it has a place for a SD card for storage. I keep a 125 gig SD and have never filled it . I keep it in my back-pak and take it with me everywhere. I get so many great sounds and the built filters work great most of the time. That is why i recomemended it.

Paradigm · January 2020

I would STRONGLY suggest you look for a different platform for any kind of serious animation. DS was not built for animation and while it does technically have the ability you'll have more less hair than frames by the time you're done.

I'd look into porting models into blender or maya at the very least. I've heard OK things about iClone but I don't own it so who knows.

Ivy · January 2020

Paradigm said:

I would STRONGLY suggest you look for a different platform for any kind of serious animation. DS was not built for animation and while it does technically have the ability you'll have more less hair than frames by the time you're done.

I'd look into porting models into blender or maya at the very least. I've heard OK things about iClone but I don't own it so who knows.

Really less hair? Hahaha I always found it fun to animate in daz , Yeah your right its not drop and drag and it maybe not a pixar quality type animation unless you have the patient of Job . But never the less you can animate daz assets in daz studio. I do it all the time and i still have a full head of hair . when it comes to animating in daz you just have to look at it as a puzzle and have some patients . its take time to animate in any software so patient is really the key. & with pre built ready made assets in the daz store its pretty seamless to animate in daz So there is. no importing this to make it work in that to get the same results if you had done everything in daz studio to begin with. Maya just cost way to dam much & and you will most likely need a to have team to complete any animation of any size or importance.. and Iclone is running around $199 for iclone7 or $379 for the pipelne pro addon & you still need to relearn how to animate using those software. Plus they do not play well with daz assets. I mean really no body just learns a single 3d software and think I'm good to go, ready to use any other 3d software i choose without having to learn it. Yeah right i wish... You could go with Unreal for free and it has pretty good results for animation . but its back to that learning steep curve & that dredded import this asset to make that asset work in this software thing again. Besides if you are good at keyframing on a blender or maya timeline, then a daz timeline won't be so bad to keyframe animation .

I can animate with daz better than I can with poser, even though i started with poser. it may take a little more old school work arounds because daz is not a drop and drag 3d software like icone. and lacks a few tools that would make the job easier. like maya. . But it is very do-able. I believe its all really has to do with preference of what your use to working with & like to use for software. or what your willing to spend in $$ & time to relearn it. have you ever notice how much Maya FXB assets cost lately?

I've been hobby animating daz for years & its a lot of fun

Ivy · January 2020

Something fun to watch

Cybersox · January 2020

Ivy said:

Cybersox said:

Ivy said:

FirstBastion said:

.You can build a sound proof booth with waferboard and sound batt insulation (look up roxul sound rockwool ) for voice work recordings.

When it comes to production the Motto KEEP IT SIMPLE works very well. I firmly believe KEEP IT SHORT is important too.

Short and simple is doable even by a small crew of 1.

I bought one of those H2n Zoom protable field recording studios Amazon link . they have filters built right in . But also I went to a carpet store and they let me take what ever scrps they were going to just throw it away for free.. and i grabbed all the thick piled carpets i could get my hands on to line a small closet to make a sound proof booth with it worked like a charm for making sound recording for when you don't want outside influence or sounds in the recordings. . But for sound effects I tend to record them live as they happen on site for the best results. specially when dealing with recording childrens for voices.

The Zoom products are amazingly good for the money and they recently released what I think will be a game changer in portable recording, the LiveTrak l-8, They're really hard to get right now since they're brand new, but I preordered one right after they were announced and finally got mine just before Xmas. Basically it's a full multi-track production studio that can record multiple chanels of audio all at once or in layers to either an internal SD card or to a PC, and the kicker is that the dang thing can run on AA batteries or via USB power in the field. Pair it with a laptop and you're good to go anywhere for less than $400.

I paid $200 for mine as a promotional offer when it first came out a few years back . Mine also can run on 2 AA batteries and it has a place for a SD card for storage. I keep a 125 gig SD and have never filled it . I keep it in my back-pak and take it with me everywhere. I get so many great sounds and the built filters work great most of the time. That is why i recomemended it.

That's the H2N from the sound of it. The Live Trak 8 just came out in November and has all of what you described except the built in mics, but also records 12 channels, works as a full 8 channel studio mixer (with audio effects, reverbs and 6 massive sampling pads,) can record to either an internal SD card or send the audio directly to your computer via USB... or do both at the same time, delivers phantom power to six pro mics at once, can send three different audio mixes live to three different headphones so actors don't have to hear their own voices in their phones, control most computer audio programs with actual physical slide controls, and runs off either 4 AA batteries or a usb input, so I run mine off a $25.00 portable phone charger that will run it for over a day.. Oh and the part that makes it fun for vlogers is that it can also record directly off a phone, playing the audio out loud but canceling out any feedback via a custom electronic circuit. All for $400.00. The thing is utterly nuts and the audio quality is... well, don't take my word for it, check out the videos and audio at Sweetwater sound

Ivy · January 2020

Buy

Cybersox said:

Ivy said:

Cybersox said:

Ivy said:

FirstBastion said:

.You can build a sound proof booth with waferboard and sound batt insulation (look up roxul sound rockwool ) for voice work recordings.

When it comes to production the Motto KEEP IT SIMPLE works very well. I firmly believe KEEP IT SHORT is important too.

Short and simple is doable even by a small crew of 1.

I bought one of those H2n Zoom protable field recording studios Amazon link . they have filters built right in . But also I went to a carpet store and they let me take what ever scrps they were going to just throw it away for free.. and i grabbed all the thick piled carpets i could get my hands on to line a small closet to make a sound proof booth with it worked like a charm for making sound recording for when you don't want outside influence or sounds in the recordings. . But for sound effects I tend to record them live as they happen on site for the best results. specially when dealing with recording childrens for voices.

The Zoom products are amazingly good for the money and they recently released what I think will be a game changer in portable recording, the LiveTrak l-8, They're really hard to get right now since they're brand new, but I preordered one right after they were announced and finally got mine just before Xmas. Basically it's a full multi-track production studio that can record multiple chanels of audio all at once or in layers to either an internal SD card or to a PC, and the kicker is that the dang thing can run on AA batteries or via USB power in the field. Pair it with a laptop and you're good to go anywhere for less than $400.

I paid $200 for mine as a promotional offer when it first came out a few years back . Mine also can run on 2 AA batteries and it has a place for a SD card for storage. I keep a 125 gig SD and have never filled it . I keep it in my back-pak and take it with me everywhere. I get so many great sounds and the built filters work great most of the time. That is why i recomemended it.

That's the H2N from the sound of it. The Live Trak 8 just came out in November and has all of what you described except the built in mics, but also records 12 channels, works as a full 8 channel studio mixer (with audio effects, reverbs and 6 massive sampling pads,) can record to either an internal SD card or send the audio directly to your computer via USB... or do both at the same time, delivers phantom power to six pro mics at once, can send three different audio mixes live to three different headphones so actors don't have to hear their own voices in their phones, control most computer audio programs with actual physical slide controls, and runs off either 4 AA batteries or a usb input, so I run mine off a $25.00 portable phone charger that will run it for over a day.. Oh and the part that makes it fun for vlogers is that it can also record directly off a phone, playing the audio out loud but canceling out any feedback via a custom electronic circuit. All for $400.00. The thing is utterly nuts and the audio quality is... well, don't take my word for it, check out the videos and audio at Sweetwater sound

yes the zoom H2n is the one i have I got it as a kit that came with everything USB cables Mic stand Wind shield etc.. the only reason i got it was because it was o portable that I can carry it with me everywhere. it even has a little zip up leathr travel case. The live trak8 looks awesome But for $400 I am not ready for a upgrade yet. and I can port .wav or mp3 sound with a USB cable from the H2n to PC as well connect to a cell phone or a bigger sound board. . I like that it has built in mics I can switch from 2 to 4 channel stereo where i can sit it in a middle of a room and record a crowd or a concert etc. . its a few years old but it still works great for my needs

Cybersox · January 2020

Paradigm said:

I would STRONGLY suggest you look for a different platform for any kind of serious animation. DS was not built for animation and while it does technically have the ability you'll have more less hair than frames by the time you're done.

I'd look into porting models into blender or maya at the very least. I've heard OK things about iClone but I don't own it so who knows.

I'd agree, but the fact is that animation is a pretty subjective thing and not only have shows animated in DS and Poser been successfully released via streaming services like Amazon Prime, but at least one Poser generated show, RWBY was a true commercial success that was released internationally, even getting dubbed into Japanese and becoming a hit in Japan. They did eventually move to producing the show in Maya, but the design aesthetic is still based on the original look and Poser limitations. And honesty, as rough as DAZ animation can sometimes be, it's still better looking overall than that first mo-capped Spiderman animated series. So while I personally recommend shooting just a trailer first to explore the workflow, at least the original poster is trying to make something rather than just fantasizing about it.

nonesuch00 · January 2020

Cybersox said:

Paradigm said:

I would STRONGLY suggest you look for a different platform for any kind of serious animation. DS was not built for animation and while it does technically have the ability you'll have more less hair than frames by the time you're done.

I'd look into porting models into blender or maya at the very least. I've heard OK things about iClone but I don't own it so who knows.

I'd agree, but the fact is that animation is a pretty subjective thing and not only have shows animated in DS and Poser been successfully released via streaming services like Amazon Prime, but at least one Poser generated show, RWBY was a true commercial success that was released internationally, even getting dubbed into Japanese and becoming a hit in Japan. They did eventually move to producing the show in Maya, but the design aesthetic is still based on the original look and Poser limitations. And honesty, as rough as DAZ animation can sometimes be, it's still better looking overall than that first mo-capped Spiderman animated series. So while I personally recommend shooting just a trailer first to explore the workflow, at least the original poster is trying to make something rather than just fantasizing about it.

I never saw a clip of that Spiderman series before. I think it looks pretty good except there is a style mismatch between Spidey & everyone else.

Mistara · January 2020

found these FREE Production Design Worksheet https://www.studiobinder.com/filmmaking-techniques-production-design-tips/

theres something called rule of 6 in editing

i hoping to reduce render time by not rendering wasted frames

Mistara · February 2020

finding out it's important to pick a lighting scheme and stick with it.

the transformers movie uses orange and teal. dont know how they do it tho. light gels?

Gordig · February 2020

Color grading.

Mistara · February 2020

can color grading be done at render time?

thanks

nonesuch00 · February 2020

I've changed the whole color tone of a render just by changing the color used in the 'White Point' in the iRay 'Tone Mapping' section of the Render Settings tab.

Mistara · February 2020

white point.

thanks. i looking up these terms lol.

seems like orange and teal is the way to go

https://petapixel.com/2017/02/23/orange-teal-look-popular-hollywood/

Mistara · February 2020

LUT

benniewoodell · February 2020

I'm curious what your end goal is with the film. Is it just for youtube or vimeo? Or are you going to try and sell it on iTunes and such? If itunes, amazon, google I would first look into doing your resolution at 1289x720, i honestly don't think any platform will accept it anymore at that size, 1920x1080 is the minimum and like Netflix has made it where anything that's a netflix original, has to be done in 4K. Of course if it's for youtube purposes, you're fine. Also, do it in 24 and when you edit it, make sure the timeline is 23.98, i don't even think TV is run at 30fps anymore with HD. So you're just spending more frames rendering. And i would suggest not using robot voices, unless it's an aesthetic choice. Go on LA Casting or Backstage and hire some actors, go non-union so you don't have to deal with with SAG and do that. You can do it remote, most actors here in LA have home setups for voiceover work that they get through agents and such, you don't even need to rent studio time. And if you hire all actors in LA, i don't know if you're here or not, but if not, they can all get together to record and you can FaceTime in to direct them if you're out of state. So much time goes into production, don't let one minor technical thing potentially derail the whole prospects of finding an audience.

WendyLuvsCatz · February 2020

I cannot understand things like lookup tables

its all too techy and complicated for me

I be stoopid

also I mostly render 30FPS as default in lots of stuff then afterwards when I do something 24FPS I think mmm that looks better and wonder why I didn't do it before

Carrara I do 24 as it saves it as a default in preferences

dont get the 60FPS thing at all, my eyes don't notice and the files are ridiculous

some of my software was doing it and I had to find how to change it

Mistara · February 2020

benniewoodell said:
I'm curious what your end goal is with the film. Is it just for youtube or vimeo? Or are you going to try and sell it on iTunes and such? If itunes, amazon, google I would first look into doing your resolution at 1289x720, i honestly don't think any platform will accept it anymore at that size, 1920x1080 is the minimum and like Netflix has made it where anything that's a netflix original, has to be done in 4K. Of course if it's for youtube purposes, you're fine. Also, do it in 24 and when you edit it, make sure the timeline is 23.98, i don't even think TV is run at 30fps anymore with HD. So you're just spending more frames rendering. And i would suggest not using robot voices, unless it's an aesthetic choice. Go on LA Casting or Backstage and hire some actors, go non-union so you don't have to deal with with SAG and do that. You can do it remote, most actors here in LA have home setups for voiceover work that they get through agents and such, you don't even need to rent studio time. And if you hire all actors in LA, i don't know if you're here or not, but if not, they can all get together to record and you can FaceTime in to direct them if you're out of state. So much time goes into production, don't let one minor technical thing potentially derail the whole prospects of finding an audience.

Thanks.

plan is to sell dvd with Amazon Media on Demand. https://manufacturing.amazon.com/bulk

i'm in the burbs outside of Manahattan. I've met a few actors. too shy to ask them tho. I don't know enough to not sound like a loser, lol

I've run into Keanu Reeves, Whooopie. Dee Snider. Stephen Colbert. a few small part actors from law and order, sex in the city. mann i would love for Dee Snider to voice a role.

wolf359 · February 2020

Mystiarra said:
can color grading be done at render time?

thanks

Color grading should be done in post...the free Davinci resolve, Natron, Hitfilm or Blender would suffice.

Grin Without a Cat · February 2020

Since we are on the subject of animation production in DAZ, does anyone have a good workflow tip for building your animation scene to a pre-recorded soundtrack? There doesn't seem to be an audio waveform display in DAZ to help line up the animation keyframes to the sounds.

WendyLuvsCatz · February 2020

I use Carrara which has an audio waveform display

I guess you could resize the window and stick Audacity below the timeline or even a spectrogram image of the wav track

Grin Without a Cat · February 2020

WendyLuvsCatz said:

I use Carrara which has an audio waveform display

I guess you could resize the window and stick Audacity below the timeline or even a spectrogram image of the wav track

Thank you. I will try something like that. I wish they would put in the waveform display though. I hate having other programs running at the same time because Studio is such a memory hog. :)

nonesuch00 · February 2020

Grin Without a Cat said:

Since we are on the subject of animation production in DAZ, does anyone have a good workflow tip for building your animation scene to a pre-recorded soundtrack? There doesn't seem to be an audio waveform display in DAZ to help line up the animation keyframes to the sounds.

That's definately something I what to try to do too but I've not yet. My guess would be Blender if it supports it is our only affordable option.

Mistara · February 2020

what do you put on the credit out tro ?

i just used monster rat. "Starring Monster Rat" ?

Mistara · February 2020

practice guess i should pick a screen credits template and stick with it.

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Requesting production advice, for a cgi movie?

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How Star Wars was saved in the edit

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