Animate a scrolling background

3dOutlaw

I was curious how to make a moving background in carrara? (or should I even do it that way?)

For example, make a sphere with a background of grass and trees, and while I animate a character walking, I also rotate the sphere, so that it looks like they are walking along. Of course there will be repetitions in the background, but for a toon, big deal.

Another thought was to put a background pic on a cylinder, and spin that behind the character.

...or I could just make a short animation walking along a flat plane, and then copy/paste it a bunch of times in post work... but then I lose the ability to drop things into the animation at different parts, like a bird flying by, or a this or that.

Anyway, I guess I am open to ideas/thoughts? I thought I would ask, before I try and do it...and see if there is a "Oh, this is how your are supposed to do that" way to do it.

WendyLuvsCatz

Why not a looped sequenced image video background, do a separate render going along a circular path maybe like this ( well maybe a bit less nutty)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GX-q3-1Nf4 and use it

evilproducer

3doutlaw said:

I was curious how to make a moving background in carrara? (or should I even do it that way?)

For example, make a sphere with a background of grass and trees, and while I animate a character walking, I also rotate the sphere, so that it looks like they are walking along. Of course there will be repetitions in the background, but for a toon, big deal.

Another thought was to put a background pic on a cylinder, and spin that behind the character.

...or I could just make a short animation walking along a flat plane, and then copy/paste it a bunch of times in post work... but then I lose the ability to drop things into the animation at different parts, like a bird flying by, or a this or that.

Anyway, I guess I am open to ideas/thoughts? I thought I would ask, before I try and do it...and see if there is a "Oh, this is how your are supposed to do that" way to do it.

Wendy's idea is good, but take it a step further and render the walking character with an alpha channel and the background separately, then you can composite in your birds or whatever elements you wish.

Here's an example of an asteroid field I did using different elements rendered in different passes:
http://youtu.be/79fyKOSUTsg

Here's a more complex series of animations. I used layers in almost all the shots. Some have as many as four layers:
http://youtu.be/iS-sNje4k0o

Design Acrobat

evilproducer said:

3doutlaw said:

I was curious how to make a moving background in carrara? (or should I even do it that way?)

For example, make a sphere with a background of grass and trees, and while I animate a character walking, I also rotate the sphere, so that it looks like they are walking along. Of course there will be repetitions in the background, but for a toon, big deal.

Another thought was to put a background pic on a cylinder, and spin that behind the character.

...or I could just make a short animation walking along a flat plane, and then copy/paste it a bunch of times in post work... but then I lose the ability to drop things into the animation at different parts, like a bird flying by, or a this or that.

Anyway, I guess I am open to ideas/thoughts? I thought I would ask, before I try and do it...and see if there is a "Oh, this is how your are supposed to do that" way to do it.

Wendy's idea is good, but take it a step further and render the walking character with an alpha channel and the background separately, then you can composite in your birds or whatever elements you wish.

Here's an example of an asteroid field I did using different elements rendered in different passes:
http://youtu.be/79fyKOSUTsg

Here's a more complex series of animations. I used layers in almost all the shots. Some have as many as four layers:
http://youtu.be/iS-sNje4k0o

Forgot how intriguing your space animations were, thanks for posting. :)

3dOutlaw

Thanks for the tips!

I see you use Final Cut Pro for your videos, what are people's recommendations for Windows movie editing packages? Seems there is Adobe Premier, Sony Movie Studio, Cyberlink PowerDirector, as the most discussed...and then ones by Pinnacle and Corel.

Any recommendations? (I guess I could make a new thread...)

evilproducer

3doutlaw said:

Thanks for the tips!

I see you use Final Cut Pro for your videos, what are people's recommendations for Windows movie editing packages? Seems there is Adobe Premier, Sony Movie Studio, Cyberlink PowerDirector, as the most discussed...and then ones by Pinnacle and Corel.

Any recommendations? (I guess I could make a new thread...)

People mention Sony Vegas quite a bit. I don't know which ones have compositing abilities outside of Premiere though.

kakman

3doutlaw said:

Thanks for the tips!

I see you use Final Cut Pro for your videos, what are people's recommendations for Windows movie editing packages? Seems there is Adobe Premier, Sony Movie Studio, Cyberlink PowerDirector, as the most discussed...and then ones by Pinnacle and Corel.

Any recommendations? (I guess I could make a new thread...)

I have been using Sony Vegas Pro for many years now and overall I have been quite happy with it. I am currently using Version 11 64-Bit. Version 12 has been out for a while now and I would expect a new version sometine this fall or winter.

The software (like all software) is not bug free and has different issues depending on your hardware and software configuration. It is very flexible with a GUI that I like. There are a ton of plug-ins for it as well and it's abilities are pretty limitless.

There is a very helpful community as well.

As with any software you should take a look at the forums and try the trial version first.

Box8068_31c338ee4b

I too use Sony Vegas 12 pro. Very happy with it.
Very intuitive. I have owned versions 8,10,12 and haven't had any issues with bugs.
I do understand that version 11 had some issues.
I haven't used Final Cut in some years but was very happy when I switched to vegas.
8068