CApruzzese

I love this and the terrain stuff. Sadly I can't afford to update to the Fuse update anymore but this is some of the stuff I was hoping they would get into. I would say their interface has become even more artist friendly this new additions.

I have been working on the inside of the little stone house where most of the rest of the animation will take place. I had to make some new props and I have to work out the final effect for the conclusion that involves a cloth simulation. I did a quick test and I seem to be on the right path for that. The stuff outside the window is just a render of that part of the set on a plane to avoid needless render time.

OMG! Its my Amiga 500 back from the past!

I have been slowly learning Blender over the years and one of their latest biggest features is geometry nodes in fact they have a "nodes everywhere" mentality. There are many advantages in Blender these days and I am not happy with the some of the directions C4D has gone in over the last few years but it is still a solid program with one of the best user interfaces for artists out there. Not to mention the incredible community and support we all get here. I am working on a project in C4D now and my next will be in Blender but I foresee using my V19 C4D as long as I can.

The first 40 seconds, more or less. Feels good to get something done! I have gone through several versions of the beach, partly because the original files got corrupted and had to be remade and mostly because I was feeling out how much detail and movement my admiringly faster iMac could handle without renders going over 2 minutes a frame. So far 25 seconds has been the max. I had a more cartoon looking ocean with surf but it made it impossible to move around the scene smoothly so I went with an "old fashioned" C4D water texture instead. I used several video layers for colour toning and effects in Apple's Motion software which I like for 3D. I did cheat and went into an old copy of after effects to make the lightning. I could have done in Motion but AE has a generator just for that so I took advantage.

Some more progress. I used "Make Human" for the character design to save some time and get this going. I have used it before and while it has some things I don't love, overall it gets a character done when I don't have time, skill or proper vision. It takes some creative rigging to get it all working but the weighting is usually flawless even on the fingers so I set it up made some modifications and here it is. I can actually start animating soon!

More progress. Much faster this time around. It takes about 10 seconds to render the scene at this distance even with all the added details.I still need to add fallen bricks and debris from the lighthouse. I made the rock wall behind the beach much more intimidating since I want a feeling of isolation. The wreck might work out OK, haven't decided yet. I have yet to make the one character, a woman I want to have sort of a 30s or 40s adventurer air about her.

Well this redo went fairly quickly for the first try. I still need to add more details but overall it's a great improvement, I think. Much more natural looking. lets see if I can keep it that way.

Been a long time since I did anything on this. I have had to put a lot on hold to take care of issues with my elderly parents, including having to travel and stay there - so no possibility to work on this animation. To make things worse, my beach scene will not open anymore! Both versions and all the back up files crash my version of C4D. None of the other files, like the house crash it. Do I start over again from scratch in C4D? Use this as an excuse to redo it in Blender and see how I do with that? I have a very strong idea on what I want this to be so I don't see my abandonning it just yet. And to think I thought this would be done before Christmas last year!

Of course this comes out while I am travelling for the first time in a few years! I will have download it first thing when I get back to my studio! I am hoping this is the version I finally learn properly and do a project with.

I don't have much information but this animation is also going got be at Anatolia International Film Festival. I found out later last night. I am going to Boston for 2 weeks to see my family for the first time in 2 years so I am not sure when I will be able to find out more!

I just watched the season premiere, the effects were amazing as usual for this show. It was a little apparent that covid protocols were in place... many of actors were distances from each other most of the time and there was a greater dependence on digital sets. None of this took away from the show, it was just something i noticed. I like Discovery and Picard, they have their faults, so did all the other series. Next generation was pretty embarrassing the first 2 seasons at times but while I think Discovery is particularly overwrought with emotional cue cards, they have taken Star trek into new directions. I never wanted any new Star trek to be a new Next Generation or Original Series so I am fine seeing what new creators come up with. So far they are entertaining and that's fine. Some of the earlier shows could be pretty one the nose and heavy handed and I do sort of miss that now and then but I'm sure these new shows willet there. LOL I am not in love with the programmable material stuff, the ships reforming into now shapes doesn't work for me visually but it's all the highest quality stuff to look at!

thanks! little things like this keep me motivated!

My film "A Vine on a House" is selected for presentation at the "Another Hole in the Head" film festival. My film will be streamed online as will much of the festival so anyone can watch. The festival runs from December 1-15th, 2021 Festival link Link to my film

You really need to play with these real world techniques as they do help inform you of what looks right real time in a very physical way. All of which (I believe IMHO) makes you a better CG artist. 100% agree. I learned a lot of stuff that might not seem practical now but physically handling things in the real world is under rated these days. I set up some glass painting matte shots for a couple projects. I am sure it's a good thing there is no evidence of them. I am pretty sure my memories of how fantastic it looked are probably completely wrong!

OMG I forgot about those spins off books completely! I had the ALL! I remember one technique for adding mist or atmosphere to a model shot. Basically it was a set using a hair dryer and cigarettes in rig to control the some. Can you imagine a magazine recommending teenagers using cigarettes for anything these days?

I used to read that plus I had subscritbprtions to starlog, cinematic, future and more. starlog was the giant at the time and the company produced lots of spinoffs,. Cinematic was for everyday people trying to film special effects on thier super * cameras and devoured every issue. starlog https://archive.org/details/starlogmagazine?and[]=subject%3A"CineMagic" cinemagic https://archive.org/details/starlogmagazine?and[]=subject%3A"CineMagic"

Going super slow for me, frustrating but it is advancing so that is good! I have been very distracting by drawing projects lately.

The inside of the house by the ruined lighthouse. I need to create a bunch of things for the desk some will need to be animated. I am not liking the rocky terrain in the beach background as much... might have to rethink it.

You might regret that offer! LOl

This is seriously putting my decision to go to Blender for my next project in danger! Houdini always seemed complicated to learn to me, but so does everything else!

You deserve a lot of recognition! Glad to see you getting some!

Pushing ahead and making improvements, no small thanks to Igor's suggestions. Adding some sea grass.. I am not sure what it is called but it's a real thing along rocky shorelines, was what I needed to add more "something" to the space around the lighthouse. I added the sky texture to the environment tab on the water textures to reflect on the water better and it improves it.

Right you are! I will need to work out the sky situation, it will change throughout the film but the water will look better with those clouds replicated. I decided to use a cloud photo I took over stock and it looks much more natural I think.

Getting closer to what I want. The house is almost there. I like these clouds more and still some lighting issues to work out. I don't go for a very realistic look in these projects, more illustrative but it's tough balance to find.