Skybike 2
DPW
Posts: 267
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Very impressive. I somehow missed that item from Stonemason, a PA whose new releases I always check out. You probably cost me some money.
Great "rode hard and put up wet" textures, more fun than all shiny stainless.
I also like your new textures. What workflow do you use to create your textures?
Thanks!
I don't bother with textures though, just lighting. I find that altering the lighting alters the look of the characters. Some lighting ads realism to the character's original textures and the set. Other types of lighting do the opposite. I spend ages trying to get the right type of set-up. I always work with Daz Studio, not poser.
Once I've rendered the scene out, I drop it into my After Effects and change the whole mood by adding a lighting effect over everything. The cold, almost blue lighting I've layered over 'The Corner' scenes is a tint from Star Wars.
I then edit everything together with my Movie Magix Edit Pro HD. I think you can buy that now for around $60.
Hope this makes sense.
Dean
You make perfect sense, Dean.
I don't own the SkyBike 2 but I looked at photos on the product page. I guess the product comes with textures that aren't revealed on the product page (in your images, yours does not look like any of their photos; maybe I missed something on their page or was looking at a different product) so I assumed you made the textures, bumps, etc. revealed in your images.
I'm pretty set with post production needs including editing for which I use Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, etc. (Adobe Production Premium Suite).
I think I started the confusion. The textures I said I like do come with the model, see below from the product page. That's one of the reasons I like Stonemason's products, great detail/textures.
See what you mean.
The textures Stonemason applied to the bike actually make it look used. His products always have a high, realistic look about them. Totally agree with you Steve, his details are superb!
I hope you've put your hand in your pocket and acquired this well kept motorcycle. I think I remember Stonemason saying that the previous owner was the Vicar's wife, so the mileage is good along with the turbines.
Man, she must have been one wild rider, judging by the scrapes ... but yeah, I got it, half price and a coupon to boot! Now I need a story to go with it for an animation.
8-/
What about...
A peaceful vicar, and his charity box, are kidnapped by a sinister, cash-hungry mob. The only person who can save him before the charity fund is spent, is Maureen, his estranged wife and her trusty vehicle... The SkyBike 2.
Coming soon?
... but it turns out the wife's new boyfriend is in fact in the mob and has used her to learn the vicar's secrets. Some of which involve her, and ...
:snake:
Hee hee. Job done!
I'm interested in created a short film myself. Any tips on workflow? What resolution are you rendering. I've created some shots at 720x480 and it can take hours for a few seconds to render. I'm also rendering shots in various passes so I can import into AE and tweak the lighting, blur, and add effects. Fun stuff, but I can't imagine rendering at full 1920x1080.
I also render at 720x480 since it works OK in the 48 Hour Film contest (projects OK in a movie theater). Since the entire 5 minute video has to be done in just two days, everything is slanted toward "fast". Other ideas (I use Carrara on a Core i7 machine BTW, it renders pretty fast):
- The sound can set the overall timing. E.g. if there is a song that needs to finish right at a certain point, I put that on the video editor's timeline first, then fit the video to it. You can vary the tempo without changing the pitch (i.e. the music just gets faster or slower but otherwise sounds the same), but only so much, maybe +/- 10-15%.
- My video editor (Magix Movie Edit Pro MX) can do some of the After Effects layer stuff, easier than switching back and forth.
- If there is no character motion, e.g. just a big view of a location, a large render (1440x960 or even larger) can be panned around in the video editor.
- Global Illumination may be too slow, except for the large stills where it can create the "money shot".
- Transparency and fancy lighting/shadows can be slow.
- For fast action, "best" anti-aliasing may not be necessary.
- I try to avoid dialogue, since it requires good voice actors, lip sync, etc. You can avoid the lip sync if you have the talking character's head turned away.
- I like "Particle Illusion" for the effects, rather than Carrara's 3D effects. They are 2D overlays on any video or still, but render in real time (or faster) and can look almost as good.
- In Carrara 8.1, the preview in the 3D Assembly Room can be fine for checking the animation, avoiding test renders.
- The story is the thing. Beginning, middle, and a good finish. The judges say the finish is most important.
Lemme know if any of this makes sense. .Here is an animation that people seemed to like, even the judges for once:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN1pXYvEqIc
I always work in 1280x720 as the quality looks great online in the usual Youtube/Vimeo size, and it also looks good in full screen.
Like Steve, I use After Effects and conduct all of my editing in Magix Movie Edit Pro HD. Everything is then rendered out in mp4 - 25fps.
The only advice I could give you with regards to making a short film is... Don't sacrifice quality for speed. It sometimes takes hours upon hours to render a short scene, depending upon lighting 'n so forth. If that's what it takes, just go with it and be patient. I often leave my renders running overnight. If I'm rendering in the day I make sure my XBox is ready to roll.
I'm in the process of putting some clips of, The Coroner, on Vimeo for those who are interested in taking a look. There's a scene where the coroner takes out 2 bad guys in Stonemason's Scifi Corridor, which took 11 hours to render. The scene lasts for ten seconds and isn't anything great either, just a gunshot scene.
I'm putting a link in the Art Studio section shortly.
Cheers,
Dean