Carrara Community Movie Project Year 1 -- How you can help
Rashad Carter
Posts: 1,803
Hiya Carrara fans.
As you may have heard the buzz developing, I have gotten the crazy idea into my head that what we need around here is some work to do, a project that focuses us on the positives.
I’ve been giving this some thought overnight as to what would be needed to pull this off. As mentioned in the other thread, there are certain known pitfalls to a group effort, and I’ve envisioned ways to get around many of them in theory. So here’s what I’d like to do.
JoeMamma has given me some great encouragement. I am a glutton for flattery so I’m inclined to take him up and try to direct this project myself. I think that I am capable of some of it, but my skill level with Carrara, the tool of emphasis, is very limited. Honestly, I suck. If this had been a Bryce project I’d be fine, but Carrara is still slightly outside my element. I am also not a prominent member of the Carrara community, so I am unlikely to know where to find those cleverly hidden Carrara users who know amazing things.
So, here are the minimum requirements.
I’m not sure if official titles are a good way to visualize the roles, so please bear with me as I try to describe the tasks I envision certain individuals performing. The idea is that no one person should have to devote too much of their lifetime, yet still get the project done.
1. I would operate kind of as a Producer. I would coordinate all parties and ensure that everyone gets what they need from the other parties. I would set preliminary deadlines, as well as provide updates to the community about the status of the project. I will begin to seek some kind of funding…I’ve got as couple of ideas in that direction, including trying to get the film involved in charity fundraising, perhaps setting it up so that proceeds could benefit Sandy victims, something like that. I will also assume the role of deciding final content and shot sequences. However, I need an advisory team of 3 other persons.
2. Next, we need someone to behave as a Technical/Artistic Director. This person needs to have a good grasp of the technical aspects of Carrara. He or she, will need to be familiar with the Shader Room, the Lighting, the Model room, and most vitally, the animation controls. I do not personally have such experience, so I cannot know what types of expectations are practical. nor can I help to solve any problems that arise which are technical in nature. It will be the task of this person to advise me on what types of shots are practical and what types of things to avoid. You will be expected to estimate return times, rough estimates only, but still something. You will likely have 2 people working with you building sequences, that you will then port out to the community for rendering. I’d say this job is the hardest as most vital. It is here that the “look” and feel of the piece is established. If I had my choice to nominate, I’d say Holly, Dartanbeck, come to mind however I know there are a ton of others.
3. Daz3d affiliate/ of some sort. Not quite sure how to describe this part. The project needs someone at Daz3d to acknowledge it, and show it some love. This person does not have to be the CEO, it could be a forum moderator who has the blessing from those above. We just need some way of keeping discussions about the project which take place in public to remain civil and inclusive, and to do that we need some oversight from Daz3d. This liason would also serve as a conduit to Daz3d, if they are interested, to help steer the direction of the project, maybe work in new beta features that could be shown off. all sorts of cool things are possible with the backing of Daz3d. Knowing the Daz staff are probably already overloaded, I know they dont have time to babysit this project, but it would be nice to know they would at least check in on us once in a while.
4. Film/Sound Editor. We need someone who can help compile the whole thing, make it flow and look good and sound good too. These are the types of things I’m hoping Daz3d can give us some leads on if no one from the community steps up. Sound is essential to any film, and as I dont know after effects I cant do the final compiling.
Once the core has been established, and the story has been decided, the Artistic Director will tell us where we need to start. He/she will by then have a list of community members who have provided their emails with a willingness to provide content others merely as render nodes. You will have resources available to you by that time.
So please dont be shy. If you think you might be able to fill in one of these positions please send me a PM. If there are others whom you'd like to nominate then please do so and I will then approach those individuals and ask them if they want to be involved.
Thanks team!!!
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If I wasnt clear above I should restate that the project also needs render nodes. So , even if you dont feel you yourself have the time to contribute, allowing us to use your cpu could be a big help to us. I would like to compile a list of emails of individuals who are willing to contribute their render node. This list of emails will be confidential, shared only with the art director who needs to know where to send certain jobs. Anyone who participates will be sworn to secrecy, which I dont worry about at all. We are a good group. Just send me a pm with your info.
Best wishes all.
Can and will do:
-Render node support with quad core, hoping for a stereoscopic 3D movie at 1080p.
-PR updates at CarraraCafe
-Provide email contact to Daz3D PR
Would like to help out in other areas too, but may be restricted due to time and lack of skills.
Free or near free video editors:
Blender: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Sequencer/Usage
Lightworks Free or Pro (60$/year): http://www.lwks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45&Itemid=184
Since sound/music may be problem, a place holder could be to run music only, some royalty free music, including Moby:
http://socialtimes.com/royalty-free-music_b37470
Well like most writers I have an unfinished script.It's about aliens coming to the planet but not for conquest for retail. also I make music on the computer I might be something if we would want to keep a theme thought the production.
Now this I can probably help with! I have two machines (never setup Carrara Render Nodes though) with a total of 36 cores and 90 GB of RAM between them.
Later this year - depending on what the Fiscal Cliff does to me - I may build yet another server.
The only wrinkle is that I am just now starting to use these machines for their original purpose; which is related to my job. But general speaking, I have CPU cycles to spare. :coolsmile:
Now this I can probably help with! I have two machines (never setup Carrara Render Nodes though) with a total of 36 cores and 90 GB of RAM between them.
Later this year - depending on what the Fiscal Cliff does to me - I may build yet another server.
The only wrinkle is that I am just now starting to use these machines for their original purpose; which is related to my job. But general speaking, I have CPU cycles to spare. :coolsmile:That would be great, since my cores will be already burning my own animations.
Rashad, I doubt I'll have enough time available to function as an art director - plus I'm way too much of a sap! There are others here who would be much more qualified. That's why my movie is made by me, and only me. I just don't have the inclination to say, "Nope... that's total crap. Didn't you hear what I said? I want/need it to look like THIS!!!!" sort of thing.
Evil Producer, NASSOS, JoeMamma,Holly, perhaps Koutsuko, many others.
Age of Armour poked his head into the Beta thread. He MUST be PM'd about this project. Dimension Theory, PhilW, 3d Lust as well. Even if they're not interested, we need to invite them anyways. I just woke up, so I know I'm not mentioning someone. There are many great Carrara artists to be had, and you'll want/need their input.
Oh, and let's not forget Johnny Bravo!!!
There also seems to be a number of new community members... Pete, for one, who show real promise in having a great eye for how to set up shaders to look realistic - instead of that semi-shiny plastic look we see so much in 3d renders these days.
Another suggestion would be to check out the Carrara 8 demo reel and take note of the names of the artists, and attempt to contact them. I'd even see if Howie Farkes, himself would be interested.
I think rendering can be helped out by if we setup some spot where carrara files are deposited for render with perhaps the contributer render out one frame at the required settings and number of cores used and indicate approximate 1 frame timeframe in a note . This depository of needed to be rendered files could then be accessed by anyone who had some spare cpu time knowing upfront at least a little bit how long it might be taking. this way there is not so much wasting time with files you will not have time to spare fore.
Also it would be good if we got daz to pin one folder about the community move project to make it more centralized --but even that will get clumsy to view after awhile.
There are a lot of ideas all over now......which is good but we need some recapping or where we are kind of spot --
I do not think we have actually come to anything specific and maybe we need a way to start focusing on some topics. Maybe small polls threads --Something like If we start a community movie project I will....
1. Not participate.
2. Support render Nodes
3. Support terrain modeling
4.Support Cloud Creation
5.Support Particle works
6 Support Character Animation
7. Support Music creation/acquiring
8. Support Video editing /compositng
9 Support textures and shader creation
10. Build a web site and maintain about movie project
11. Modeling closeup obejcts
12 Modeling background Objects
13. Voice sync/ creation
14. I can contribute 1-3 hours a week on project
15 I can contribute 3-8 hours a week on project
16 I can contribute 8-15 hours a week on project
17 I can contribute over 15 hours a week on project
18. help in some other way .
etc .
etc . and folks can vote for what they want in as many spots as they can -----this way we can start to get some idea of how many folks will be working on this.
Yep agreed again. Polls are best operated by the moderators, which is why I am waiting until next week before getting too concerned. Hopefully the idea of the movie will bounce around in people's heads and then next week Daz can start a poll asking people to vote on their chosen level of engagement. Let's hope!
In this situation here, one person or team might make a great animated scene, but the shaders don't look quite right. The art director already likes the results of another team's shader work, so he can then send off the file and video clip to that team, explaining what she'd like to see changed. Bam! That team may have produced a beautiful scene, but can't get the animation just right - so it gets sent to the team that is known for turning out great animations, and so on.
But let's take a step back and look at another idea altogether.
In Rashad's very cool idea of a story, an alien craft nears earth and breaks off into different vessels - each ending up in a different scene. Why would each scene have to match visual parameters when Carrara is capable of so much more? Why not use the "Toon!" effect and perhaps even the anime figures to make one scene, while using Elite shaders and Howie scenes for another. Dystopia and scifi costumes for yet another. Perhaps another where the aliens only encounter wildlife and earthly beauty. Another finds an Oceanic voyage while another crash lands and showcases an incredible physics scene...
Just some thoughts and ideas, since we are so vast in tastes and skill allocations - and this whole thing is still in the incubation stages.
Polls normally are subject to restrcitions, as outlined in the TOS. However I am sure, as this is a serious project then we could have a debate amongst the forum team, if we receive a request, and see what the feeling is about granting an exception.
BTW do be aware that the polls are further restricted, inasmuch as they only support a maximum of 12 questions.
BTW this is just my own feelings. It would have to be requested so that it could be debated by the whole team, as this is how the DAZ 3D forum team operates. No unilateral decisions, always a team decision, whatever we are doing.
Start a new topic and click "Add Poll to This Topic" below the main text window.
Daz3d may be too busy to hold our hand at present date. Why don't we just leave them alone for the time being.
A - they have bigger issues to deal with
B - The project is still a chaos in metamorphosis
C - The Project should spend more of that time trying to contact Carrara artists whom are currently absent from the forums.*
* Certainly no disrespect to the current active members - whom could likely pull this off beautifully. But if we could get Dimension Theory, Jonny Bravo, Age of Armour, Phil W, Howie Farkes, Mark Moir, 3dage, NASSOS, ExtruD, Koutsuko, etc., on board, we'd get a more solid direction, more talent and skill, more experience. But even more so, I feel that they should just be invited out of family love.
Chohole--
Good to know about forum rules thanks and even at 12 questions I suppose a subset of poll might flesh out more details if needed and allowed.
Dartanbeck-
Indeed renders are way diverse depending on what is happening or needed to be render within the shot --I just was trying to create some sort of flow with easy access so we can maximize rendering which if we are going to shoot for the moon in quality --we will need lots of do overs.
Okay, sounds good. I will think on the list of questions 3D view wisely outlined and I will alert you to the poll I would like to run as a PM. Thanks always, Chohole!
Start a new topic and click "Add Poll to This Topic" below the main text window.
Daz3d may be too busy to hold our hand at present date. Why don't we just leave them alone for the time being.
A - they have bigger issues to deal with
B - The project is still a chaos in metamorphosis
C - The Project should spend more of that time trying to contact Carrara artists whom are currently absent from the forums.*
* Certainly no disrespect to the current active members - whom could likely pull this off beautifully. But if we could get Dimension Theory, Jonny Bravo, Age of Armour, Phil W, Howie Farkes, Mark Moir, 3dage, NASSOS, ExtruD, Koutsuko, etc., on board, we'd get a more solid direction, more talent and skill, more experience. But even more so, I feel that they should just be invited out of family love.
Yes, yes yes, we need those people! Im assuming that many people are still out of town. Hopefully next week, we will see some more forumites popping in and letting me know what is up. Phil W...he'd be great as the person in my role...but wonder if he has the time. He'd also be a great At director, again if he has the time.
The Space Alien idea is a pretty good one, lends itself perfectly to what we are doing, including as you observe all different styles of shading and lighting. Still, I dont want to stifle potentially better ideas. But I expect within the next couple of days the best idea will rise above the rest. I am going to start trying to get into contact with the people you mentioned here. Thanks for the leads.
Right. I was using that example because is introduces a tool for entirely different scene made in entirely different styles.
Carrara can totally excel at putting one in awe via a well timed landscape flyover, like The Land of the Dragon by Mec4d, who happens to be one of the most awe-inspiring modelers in the Daz3d Published Artist arsenal. This was one of her first stints into Carrara.
Simply showing off how well Carrara renders is something else entirely, and Age of Armor's GT 40 vs. Ball Bearing explode tests show off his ability to work the shader room and render room quite well. Finish up one of these scenes and you've got a few seconds of Carrara awesome Sauce!
And then there's Dimension Theory, who is great at everything Carrara - but his ability to generate special effects as seen in the linked video, is amazing.
In case you've never seen it:
2010 Daz3d Carrara 8 Promo Reel
Edit:
Man, I just watched that promo reel again... THAT should really make a person want to purchase Carrara! Damn!
indeed some of the best folks of carrara have kind of slipped away or at least been busy doing other stuff......but reeling in some of those folks would be a major plus for this project.
That said --there maybe be and probably are some new amazing folks who do not publish stuff normally who also need to be drawn in somehow.
For instance once some story is agreed to in some fashion ......I think an interesting way to get some more participants is to take one scene or models or environments whatever ---maybe a couple and ask for submissions . Let anyhow try . This way you may get some folks try and see if they can do it or not and at least see in the end what level of quality needs to be done. We may end up finding that there are some quiet but great artist lurking about. And one can never have enough.