deanb Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 So any digital creative folks here working on animation (Which since I love the hand made stuff can include that too) and CGI work? What packages to people use? Anyone got secret treasure troves of tutorials, sites, inspiration n such? For my self I'm a VFX student. I've been taught Softimage and Combustion, but am currently teaching myself Maya (Which is oh so much nicer package) and Nuke, Which I've not got much hands on with yet. I'll maybe post some more stuff later on, but it would be interesting to see if there's more folks here with interest in 3D, CGI or animation. Oh yeah I'm also a fan old claymation. It's time consuming n requires a fair bit of skill, but it's really nice to do and when done by the right people looks amazing. I did some back in art college n maybe I'll post it up later (though don't expect Aardman quality ) edit: oh yeah also maybe dump any of your works n stuff for folks to admire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadowstep Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 I have nothing to do with these vids, but I wanted to share them anyways: One is a 15-minute movie, and the other is a making-of documentary for that movie. Anyone interested in doing animated CGI might be interested in the making of video. It's an hour long, but it shows the trials and tribulations (especially the tribulations) that team faced during their project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 Ah crap Sintel. Still yet to watch that. Tutor hammered on about back when it first came out. Another film made in the same vien (so an OSS movie) is Elephants Dream. Very weird. Both films are made with free software, Blender n the like. Practically no budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wuffles Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Oh, pick me! Less animation though and more technical stuff. Currently doing 3D animation and modelling for games for uni. Got a portfolio website but not too happy with linking my name and personal details with my Kotaku account. Have used or are using: Maya Zbrush Photoshop Alchemy Various specific tools (mostly for UV unwrapping and such) and can use: Illustrator, UDK (game engine), Flash, Premier Pro/Final Cut Pro, some sound editing tools, etc... Anyone wants to see specifics they can throw me a message though. I'd love to be able to animate, but, sadly, I don't have much patience for the process - 2D or 3D. I'm much happier modelling, rigging, etc... Doesn't meant I don't love it though. Recently got Toy Story 3 on Blu-ray and am saving it for when I finish the semester and submit all my work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Wuffles this isn't for any project Just a place to gather those of us with animation CGI backgrounds to share links, critique work, I guess maybe in the future some collaborative stuff, though that Game thing last year didn't kick off to much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wuffles Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 (edited) What can I say? Free advertising! j/k Just been doing too many essays I think. Having to crit my work, describe technical understanding...yadda yadda! Gets to you after a while! Starting to speak like essays in real life. CGI includes games, right? I did the most dire 3D animation this year so I don't know if I count...I just want to fit in! Don't know how to embed pictures but this is the dude I produced for my final animation before I textured, skinned and rigged him. Relevent now? Edited January 12, 2011 by Deanb embedded image (hit the polaroid icon) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Never done rigging myself. Character Animation was a separate module for us, and it's one we never had to do (being VFX the expectation is other folks are doing the modelling n texturing etc of the CGI actors) I have a feeling I'd probably hate it. Envelopes, muscles, bipeds, bones etc. Far too complex for me. Just give me something inorganic to slide about n I'm fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wuffles Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 (edited) Never done rigging myself. Character Animation was a separate module for us, and it's one we never had to do (being VFX the expectation is other folks are doing the modelling n texturing etc of the CGI actors) I have a feeling I'd probably hate it. Envelopes, muscles, bipeds, bones etc. Far too complex for me. Just give me something inorganic to slide about n I'm fine. It's pretty nasty to do. Complex as all hell and I only did the simpliest of bipedal rigs (and even then I found parts which were sort of broken when animating). It's very fiddly and if things go wrong they rend to go very wrong. Do you do lighting and such, or is it more post-production and video editing? I'm not really sure what VFX guys are up to, but if it's all the nitty-gritty rendering and lighting you have my kudos cause I just can't handle that sort of stuff. EDIT: Thanks for fixing the pic. Reason I didn't see the picture embedding icon is cause I had javascript off. Doh! Edited January 12, 2011 by Wuffles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Post production n Video Editing. When doing 3D work you take the lighting n depth passes n all that lot so you can composite the 3D into the scene, then tweak those layers to make it fit right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wuffles Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Post production n Video Editing. When doing 3D work you take the lighting n depth passes n all that lot so you can composite the 3D into the scene, then tweak those layers to make it fit right. So it's more composite work? I see Respect still! I don't have the eye for that stuff - I can only draw! Haha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wuffles Posted January 14, 2011 Report Share Posted January 14, 2011 I dig alligators and dragons too. his species is actually called a snoutigator. Haha! Thanks though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kau_Kau Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 I tried teaching myself blender but stopped after about two weeks. I need to go back and do it. I learned some invaluable things about modeling the human form though. Most of the work I've done has been on photoshop and after effects. For the past couple of years I've been working as an animator on a feature film slated to come out this year. My employer primarily had me focus on display screens and flythroughs and computer imagery. I did some character animation too. The style is the paper doll animation style you see everywhere nowadays, so anyone could pick it up and learn it actually. I haven't really been working on the film for the last couple of months though because I have a pretty bad case of vertigo and can't/shouldn't drive as a result. So I've been trying to improve my art skills. With the type of animation we were doing the art skill didn't necessarily have to be high. Also I started out as an art major in college that switched to writing somewhere in between. I've still a lot to learn and improve upon but have a deviant art page that I rarely update. http://arkhaiz.deviantart.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kau_Kau Posted February 3, 2011 Report Share Posted February 3, 2011 I forgot to add a trailer for the film I've been working on for the past few years for anyone that's interested. I forgot to put a link to it in my last post. It may be considered NSFW. Sorry but there's no youtube video available yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted February 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 For anyone with an eye on 3D here's some free tools: Landscape: Terragen It's an oldey but a goody. It's actually in 2D, but uses depth maps, so pretty easy to pick up n play with. http://www.planetsid...ent/view/16/28/ Bryce Named after the canyon. I've not used since version 5, so no idea what it's like now http://www.daz3d.com...ware/bryce7/-/? It also has some basic 3D modelling and Planet making. I'd recommend this over Terragen. It also uses the same kind of 2D depth map designs for making stuff, but it has a 3D model view and some great particle n texturing tools. Fuck it I'm gonna go grab it now n play with it again, I used to love it. Regular modelling: Daz3D http://www.daz3d.com...az_studio3?_m=d I never used it much, it came with Bryce back in the day. As far as I could figure out it was mostly for manipulating these stock models you could get off their site for free or paid, that are made with other programs. I guess it might be "your kind of thing" for some of you. Dunno. There's a lot of anime-like models. Blender http://www.blender.org/ This is the big one in free 3D software. I've not used it myself but I've heard it's very competent. It won't be anywhere near as simple as the others, but it's also big enough there should be plenty of tutorials, it'll also be much more flexible. Google Sketch-up http://sketchup.google.com/ This should maybe go in the top section. It's more for making regular things. Inorganic modelling. Mostly buildings, which means it has Google Earth support, you can model the building and add it in 3D to the Google Earth database to pop up when folks visit. I guess it's good for home planning if you're rearranging rooms or new garden. Bonus points if someone can tell me why this is important/famous: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted February 20, 2011 Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 Teapot was one of (if not) the first 3D solid CGI models created. Nowadays it's just used as a semi-complicated basic geometry for testing, partly due to it's iconic status.I'm working on stuff slowly, pretty much all EVE related. I did a quick jump-drive test render 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted February 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 Jon got it in one. The Utah Teapot. One of the first 3D models. Spread about because the guy who made it released the data set. And since in those days it was hard and modellers were lazy, it was easier to use his data than make their own. Also the geometry made/makes it handy for testing textures and lighting set-ups (it's self-shadowing, got curves, etc) so it's a pre-made object included in most 3D packages. Just thought I'd share this: "Illusion Mage" 3D software. Only $47 with free lifetime updates. A saving of nearly $7,500 over buying Maya Complete. http://computeranimations.org./ Here's the UI: Here's Blenders UI Here's another UI shot right from the Illusion Mage site: They're not really hiding it are they Heres Blenders word on it: http://www.blender.o...anding-blender/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted April 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2011 http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-257/ Blender just got updated with what is meant to be a pretty hefty update. New improved UI to make it a bit easier to work your way around as a new user, improved memory n CPU use and a bunch of other 3D-ey things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pirandello Posted April 15, 2011 Report Share Posted April 15, 2011 Crytek has a Cinema edition of their engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorgiShinobi Posted April 15, 2011 Report Share Posted April 15, 2011 Don't take this as a shameless plug for my university, but sometimes I forget how talented the Computer Animation (Visual Arts) students can be when given time and patience. I guess there's a reason why the acceptance rate for the major is, at most, 10%. Still, once you're in, if you work hard enough you'll be able to intern at Pixar! Quite a few have actually stayed on board with Pixar as well. I'm not sure of the process, what with being an Advertising major and all. I've had friends apply before, but last I checked they got the "Please Try Again" kind of rejection letter. Of course, you can always go the Computer Science route for Computer Animation, like another friend of mine, but it's not as high profile. If you want to be involved with video games, this route is where you would go. I know there has been some work with Electronic Arts, but that's all I've ever heard.Anyway, the full animated film "DreamGiver" won't be available for about another year. It's still on its way through film festivals, and etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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