Headwax - Thanks for the comment. I think the sun came out fairly well.
As for time, I am flexible. Whatever you think is best. I have a couple more unfilled entry slots so if more time is offered, I hope to take advantage of it. But I also have a couple projects as complete as I am going to make them, so can have some entries if time is closed. In other words, I have no strong preference on time. I think UB expressed an interest in more time, so I support it for the general good.
Back home. On my desktop again. Thought I would throw away the 'Rekindled' WIP and start again with a different Landscape2 scene, rock and mountain. Replaced the sun that comes with the scene with a new realistic sun light just for the icon. Played around with the realistic sky settings, including - deleted clouds in layer 1, added clouds in layer 3 or 4, enabled fog and changed altitude, changed sun size (scene comes with sun size 0), changed aura size, changed haze altitude, duplicated the terrain to get a longer valley, edited the terrain shader of the foreground mountain to extend the snow down lower, duplicated a distant terrain and added a noise filter in the landscape editor and changed the shader to green to create the forest in the valley.
Classic symbolism there - delightful how you have adapted a traditional American Icon with a newly developing unAmerican idea.
Love the NO behind the woman's head :)
Thanks HW! Hoping to animate this one.
Regarding the closing date of the Challenge, don't hold up on my account. Experience has shown that when I start thinking about doing an animation, that everything slows to a crawl.
Then again, I might get lucky. But I wouldn't bet on it. :)
Thanks, Bunyip02 and ed3D, for the comments on the landscape scene.
Packaging! WIP
The Scene browser has a folder for Packaging. The collection is mostly displaying models of bottles, cans, and similar. So, I took up the challenge of modeling a standard packaging box of the type often used for breakfast cereals. I wanted to include some thickness for the box, and morphs to open the top. I noticed that most of the scenes have one example of the package upright and one on its side. One is closed and one has the top open. So, here is my model of a cereal box, one instance morphed to open.
Now I just need to generate a product logo to use as a shader. Broc-O-Crisps? For broccoli cereal? Will give it thought. UVMap is prepared.
Exploring some of the scenes in the 'lighting scene' folder of the browser. Here is a simple Torch Song scene using the Hollywood Lights. Vickie 6 and Michael 5. I'm going to keep exploring. This probably won't be an entry - at least not in its current form.
Great cereal box, Diomede. You and Stezza need to go into business. :)
The lounge singer was pretty cool and unusual as well. Definitely good enough for an entry.
I have an open question about outputting animation.
When I started Carrara, I had no realistic workflow. I was just trrying stuff and hoping that it would work, without really knowing the limits and correct usage of the controls. I'm now in a similar position with animation.
I tried to get Mimic to work for lip synch, but some of the characters (V4 for example) refused to function. So, I decided to animate the visemes by hand in Carrara. PhilW shows how to do it in his course. It is not really that hard.
I'm synching the visemes to a music track with singing. When I run it in Carrara, it looks pretty good. But outputting into a useful file format has been a challenge.
It seems that most people here output using sequenced PNGs. I can do that easily, and can also import the sequenced files into a video editor (Powerdirector). But when I play the sequenced files and the audio music track together, the PNGs are too slow - even when I reduce the duration of each frame to it's shortest possible amount - .01 seconds. In other words, I can't get the audio and video to play in-synch, because the video files are too slow.
So my question is, how do I make the sequence group speed up? I'm also wondering if this is a common issue, I have noticed over the years how sluggish and slow-moving that many Carrara videos have appeared.
Is the issue that Powerdirector simply can't make each image duration short enough? If so, I would be surprised, as the editor is actually pretty full-featured.
I tried outputting the PNGs from Carrara at 12 FPS, and running them in Powerdirector at 24 FPS, figuring that half as many images would play twice as fast. Alas, Carrara didn't like the idea, and refused to allow me to make sequences at that rate. Operator error? Unfortunately, I don't know what I don't know. I did have some success outputting at 15 FPS. The video did seem to move faster. Maybe I need to keep experimenting. But cutting the frame rate seems like an awkward solution at best. Plus, the quality will be reduced, right?
The bottom line is to find something that actually works - maybe not the best workflow, but something that gets the job done. As an aside, I have started experimenting with the Carrara AVI output. It actually works pretty well - when it works! :)
Added note - GMIC appears to function well in animation - a relief because I use it so much.
Thanks for the comments on the cereal packaging, UB.
On animations, I am a dabbler as well. I have been rendering out of Carrara to AVI. I have been using Lightworks to assemble my Carrara animation segments and combine them with MP4 sound files. Lightworks can then export as MP4. I am not recommending these options, just saying what I am trying to do, and what I did for my prior animation entries. This time, I found a song with a name with something like Bowling Alley Polka and an effects sound of a bowling ball hitting bowling pins. In Lightworks, I loaded my bowling animation pieces to make a single video. I loaded the two sound tracks. In Lightworks, I am able to rightclick over an animation piece and then a menu comes up with four choices for speed (among other options). In theory, I can speed my bowling guy up and sync the videos with the sounds. In practice, I have a jumbled mess.
Am enjoying the process. Learning a lot.
Missing Mike Moir in particular about now. Anyone remember the Final Gesture?
I have an open question about outputting animation.
When I started Carrara, I had no realistic workflow. I was just trrying stuff and hoping that it would work, without really knowing the limits and correct usage of the controls. I'm now in a similar position with animation.
I tried to get Mimic to work for lip synch, but some of the characters (V4 for example) refused to function. So, I decided to animate the visemes by hand in Carrara. PhilW shows how to do it in his course. It is not really that hard.
it honestly doesn't help you choose the hardest way to do stuff
I was using V4 in Mimic Lite for pz2 import into Carrara 5 12 years qgo and Windows Video editor to stitch it up (15fps back then on a Dell craptop)
I did have Poser7 though to save a cr2 with base expressions and morphs++ etc but the pz2 should still work even if she doesn't talk in Mimic lite without the morphs applied
Diomede and Wendy, thanks for the comments. But unless i am missing something, the basic question remains - how do i speed up the sequenced image files in an editor in a video where lip synch needs to be precise?
Wendy, it doesn't matter if i use pz2 files or do it by hand. Either will look fine in Carrara. The outputted sequenced image duration is the problem.
RE: changing video playback speed. I have revealed 100% of my information. In Lightworks, right click on the video segment and choose from 4 possible speeds. If the response is, 'none of the 4 speeds works for me,' then you and I are in the same boat.
Comments
well , Thanx ** then
I have changed my username and logo, but I am still Diomede. :)
Headwax - Thanks for the comment. I think the sun came out fairly well.
As for time, I am flexible. Whatever you think is best. I have a couple more unfilled entry slots so if more time is offered, I hope to take advantage of it. But I also have a couple projects as complete as I am going to make them, so can have some entries if time is closed. In other words, I have no strong preference on time. I think UB expressed an interest in more time, so I support it for the general good.
Take Warning: Red Sky in the Morning
Back home. On my desktop again. Thought I would throw away the 'Rekindled' WIP and start again with a different Landscape2 scene, rock and mountain. Replaced the sun that comes with the scene with a new realistic sun light just for the icon. Played around with the realistic sky settings, including - deleted clouds in layer 1, added clouds in layer 3 or 4, enabled fog and changed altitude, changed sun size (scene comes with sun size 0), changed aura size, changed haze altitude, duplicated the terrain to get a longer valley, edited the terrain shader of the foreground mountain to extend the snow down lower, duplicated a distant terrain and added a noise filter in the landscape editor and changed the shader to green to create the forest in the valley.
Take Warning Update (reframed, some light changes to try to get some highlights in the valley and to show the 'trees')
Thanks HW! Hoping to animate this one.
Regarding the closing date of the Challenge, don't hold up on my account. Experience has shown that when I start thinking about doing an animation, that everything slows to a crawl.
Then again, I might get lucky. But I wouldn't bet on it. :)
Gorgeous !!!
+ 1 //
Thanks, Bunyip02 and ed3D, for the comments on the landscape scene.
Packaging! WIP
The Scene browser has a folder for Packaging. The collection is mostly displaying models of bottles, cans, and similar. So, I took up the challenge of modeling a standard packaging box of the type often used for breakfast cereals. I wanted to include some thickness for the box, and morphs to open the top. I noticed that most of the scenes have one example of the package upright and one on its side. One is closed and one has the top open. So, here is my model of a cereal box, one instance morphed to open.
Now I just need to generate a product logo to use as a shader. Broc-O-Crisps? For broccoli cereal? Will give it thought. UVMap is prepared.
Packaging Update - Frosted NGons Start
Have decided on a name for the cereal. Will work on some typical side-of-the-box textures like ingredients and nutrition. But at least I have a name.
With added sugar and honey ?
full of fibre![cheeky cheeky](https://www.daz3d.com/forums/plugins/ckeditor/js/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/tongue_smile.png)
Yes, Bunyip, plenty of sugar and honey. And molasses, corn syrup, and artificial sweetener. More than 4 sources of sugar!
Wendy, maybe some fiber if you eat the box. Haha.
The picture on the box is Daz figure Gobbles eating a bowl of cereal I modeled.
Lighting Scenes - Probably Not an Entry
Exploring some of the scenes in the 'lighting scene' folder of the browser. Here is a simple Torch Song scene using the Hollywood Lights. Vickie 6 and Michael 5. I'm going to keep exploring. This probably won't be an entry - at least not in its current form.
Entry Thread Here Carrara Challenge #66 - Jumping Off a Browser Scene Go Splat - Entry Thread -Ends May 31st - Daz 3D Forums
Be back later to comment on the marvelous work I have sorely and surely missed !
& Thanx & ( just off the cuff ) also -->
& Another ^ Thanx
the Big SunSet - or - Greetings from SomeWhere Else
Lost World part 1
Combined the three previous renders in Comic Life. Hadn't used it in several years. Pretty intuitive program.
This will be one entry. I'm planning two more. Both "can" be animated. That is my preference, if I can figure out the details.
Great cereal box, Diomede. You and Stezza need to go into business. :)
The lounge singer was pretty cool and unusual as well. Definitely good enough for an entry.
I have an open question about outputting animation.
When I started Carrara, I had no realistic workflow. I was just trrying stuff and hoping that it would work, without really knowing the limits and correct usage of the controls. I'm now in a similar position with animation.
I tried to get Mimic to work for lip synch, but some of the characters (V4 for example) refused to function. So, I decided to animate the visemes by hand in Carrara. PhilW shows how to do it in his course. It is not really that hard.
I'm synching the visemes to a music track with singing. When I run it in Carrara, it looks pretty good. But outputting into a useful file format has been a challenge.
It seems that most people here output using sequenced PNGs. I can do that easily, and can also import the sequenced files into a video editor (Powerdirector). But when I play the sequenced files and the audio music track together, the PNGs are too slow - even when I reduce the duration of each frame to it's shortest possible amount - .01 seconds. In other words, I can't get the audio and video to play in-synch, because the video files are too slow.
So my question is, how do I make the sequence group speed up? I'm also wondering if this is a common issue, I have noticed over the years how sluggish and slow-moving that many Carrara videos have appeared.
Is the issue that Powerdirector simply can't make each image duration short enough? If so, I would be surprised, as the editor is actually pretty full-featured.
I tried outputting the PNGs from Carrara at 12 FPS, and running them in Powerdirector at 24 FPS, figuring that half as many images would play twice as fast. Alas, Carrara didn't like the idea, and refused to allow me to make sequences at that rate. Operator error? Unfortunately, I don't know what I don't know. I did have some success outputting at 15 FPS. The video did seem to move faster. Maybe I need to keep experimenting. But cutting the frame rate seems like an awkward solution at best. Plus, the quality will be reduced, right?
The bottom line is to find something that actually works - maybe not the best workflow, but something that gets the job done. As an aside, I have started experimenting with the Carrara AVI output. It actually works pretty well - when it works! :)
Added note - GMIC appears to function well in animation - a relief because I use it so much.
I use Blender"s video editor myself
just import image/series, select first one and press "a' to select them all
Hitfilm and Virtualdub always been a bit finicky for me with Carrara image series
(DAZ Studio ones seem OK but they both drop frames with Carrara)
I never had issues matching the wav file up with them
Thanks for the comments on the cereal packaging, UB.
On animations, I am a dabbler as well. I have been rendering out of Carrara to AVI. I have been using Lightworks to assemble my Carrara animation segments and combine them with MP4 sound files. Lightworks can then export as MP4. I am not recommending these options, just saying what I am trying to do, and what I did for my prior animation entries. This time, I found a song with a name with something like Bowling Alley Polka and an effects sound of a bowling ball hitting bowling pins. In Lightworks, I loaded my bowling animation pieces to make a single video. I loaded the two sound tracks. In Lightworks, I am able to rightclick over an animation piece and then a menu comes up with four choices for speed (among other options). In theory, I can speed my bowling guy up and sync the videos with the sounds. In practice, I have a jumbled mess.![surprise surprise](https://www.daz3d.com/forums/plugins/ckeditor/js/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/omg_smile.png)
Am enjoying the process. Learning a lot.
Missing Mike Moir in particular about now. Anyone remember the Final Gesture?
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/121171/animation-clubs-first-animation-is-done-the-final-gesture
Bowling sounds to add to my WIP.
From Archives.org
Lightworks assembly area for animations
it honestly doesn't help you choose the hardest way to do stuff![surprise surprise](https://www.daz3d.com/forums/plugins/ckeditor/js/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/omg_smile.png)
I was using V4 in Mimic Lite for pz2 import into Carrara 5 12 years qgo and Windows Video editor to stitch it up (15fps back then on a Dell craptop)
I did have Poser7 though to save a cr2 with base expressions and morphs++ etc but the pz2 should still work even if she doesn't talk in Mimic lite without the morphs applied
Diomede and Wendy, thanks for the comments. But unless i am missing something, the basic question remains - how do i speed up the sequenced image files in an editor in a video where lip synch needs to be precise?
Wendy, it doesn't matter if i use pz2 files or do it by hand. Either will look fine in Carrara. The outputted sequenced image duration is the problem.
the frames per second just have to match
for some reason they are not in the editor you are using
whether it's the editor or user error I have no idea as don't use that one
30fps hard to do in an editor that uses decimal BTW which is why my 11 year old wmv videos were 15fps
maybe that's your issue
25fps another option
Awesome !!!
Very nice !!!
Coming together very well !!!
RE: changing video playback speed. I have revealed 100% of my information. In Lightworks, right click on the video segment and choose from 4 possible speeds. If the response is, 'none of the 4 speeds works for me,' then you and I are in the same boat.