CApruzzese

Thank you again! I have to today one of the reason I started making the gothic horror animations was because I wanted to see some and there were not too many out there. So I made a bunch. The stories themselves rely heavily on narration, especially the Lovecraft stuff as you mentioned but doing something that relies on the visual more heavily is a great idea. I'll have to think about how to go about that. Each time I make personal project or work on the animation for TV show or something, I get closer to pulling it off better. My best character animation (IMO) is on a TV show that aired here in Canada a couple years and my "Dramatic Readings" series with a thespian platypus which is very cartoonish over these horror stories. I did revisit several sequences to improve the motion as you suggested but only got so far. I am still pretty happy with he results despite my weak points, walks for example, I still can't get consistently right. After 2 years of this one Poe story I need to work on the sound effects and think about what, if any, music it will have and get it in the can so I can come up with something else to move me forward. I usually get shown in a festival or two and I'll need this ready before fall if I decide to try and enter in somewhere.

Really good work on the tracking and the camera move!

The sets are an elaborate underground crypt, sort of inspired by Phantom of the opera in some ways. I made it all myself. Some of it is a repeated asset I made using mograph. As for my tangents and moving holds, 100% agree. I have a way to go there still. Each project I get a little deeper into what I need to learn and I have had problems which tangents since I started using V19 for some reason. Sometimes I want a stop motion look, but not so much this time! Thank you for the feedback!

Getting towards the end of the story. So far I have to redo very few sequences so taking more time for each is paying off.

Me too, see of the features and interface choices were things I thought C4D would have come up with in some form years go. I really love the C4D interface and way of doing things over anyone else, but Blender is now a thing for me to learn and maybe not miss much in the end.

The final product. I did do a little more detailing.

OK I cheated big time. This went from fun to frustrating so decided to just cut the upper octagon section from a lightwave version of the ship, delete polys and move around points and boole in my windows on top. This will work for what I need it for right now which a series of 2001 posters I am doing highlighting one ship in each (And HAL, of course). I think at later date when I'm not so stressed out, I'll redo the landing gear completely so they can retract and do more work on the details. Now I have to work on the textures, the reflectivity and the lighting and find a really striking shot to put in my poster series. Thanks you guys for your input and help!

I have used bones in the past, I should have maybe tried that this time but didn't. Simulating cloth is frustrating!

Please turn i toff soon, I need the rest! I was just looking at using the projection feature to project my octagon on the surface of the sphere then extrude it slightly to get the effect I want. It could work I think.

I am going to try some of that out Cairyn! I have been using the bevel tool with selections to make the rounded edges where I am want them. I added a generic grebe bump I made for some other 2001 models and i'f I wasn't sold on the octagon thing as it is in the film version, it would be good enough to use. I am not trying to 100% precise copy of the model, but I want to push it towards something I will really like. Cerbera... is that HAL as our avatar? It seems appropriate for this discussion!

I am making a model of the Aries Shuttle from 2001: A space Odyssey and the top of the sphere has and octagon extrusion but I'm not sure how to do that. I think a hexagon spline and her projected onto the sphere somehow then I could me my selections and extrude. I operated the top of the supers so I could make a bump map and do it that way if I have to. But I would rather it be real geometry. I have wanted to model this for years and this little problem has always been the thing that stopped me! Thanks for any help anyone has to give!

Fully renders scene showing off the lower catacombs.

Character rigging is a bit of mess I've found. They are moving fast with its of changes so I think even in another 6 months it might be very different. As behind as C4D is with some rigging and character stuff, it's fairly easy to set up and with plugins even easier.

Software render of Fortunato. I think I made the right call using animal and not human characters this time around.

I am sure you are right. I don't have the cash to invest in these things anymore so I just try to get the most out of what I have and I honestly like the results in the standard renderer. Physical render has some nice features but it was slower. I think... not sure, that many of the third party renderers are faster and more accurate. I do motion blur and depth of field in post to save time. I think if my work was more photo real I would make the render engine a high priority.

The standard C4D render... I know it's not popular but I like it and have learned to maximize well enough to save a lot of time tendering. I find playing with the lights can get me along way to a nice image in the standard render.

Even though I plan on just using V19, I do like to see where C4D is going. The UV updates are LONG overdue and look very user friendly totally in keeping with what I love about using Cinema as an artist. Some of the other stuff seems a little light for how I use the software, the viewport enhancements are welcome but still not nearly enough.

set pieces

Fortunato I wanted a large contrast between him and Montresor. hope it's not too large a contrast. Rigging was more straightforward with this one as his only "extra" feature is that his hat has dynamics added so the top parts will jiggle as he moves.

I have made headway, finally, on my new gothic horror animation - Edgar Allen Poe's Cask fo Amontilado. The sets are built for the most part and the characters designed. This one, Montresor is now rigged. I really wanted to have cloth simulated robes but I still can't get that to work without serious intersections of the meshes. I tried the C4D cloth and Particles cloth. I ended up on my old standby, surface deformer and a little jiggle deformer. Rigged with Cactus Dan's tools. I strayed from the character look I've had for the last 8 films and went with anthropomorphic animal characters. Fortunato will be a guinea pig. Montresor is based on plague doctors from the black plague era.

I have to agree.... there is something creepy about them and to think at the time we thought they were so cool and real looking!

I am using Affinity Publisher almost exclusively now. A client uses a 12 year version of Quark and insists I use that - please kill me. I started with an amiga program called "Pagestream" in the 80s which I think they still make somehow!

Animation nodes will be on my list of things to learn. I use Mograph quite a bit so I'll need to replace some of that functionality. I started 3D with something called Turbo Silver pro on the amiga in the 80s, then went to Lightwave and finally to C4D. I have a feeling I'll be missing programs to do things more and more as I get better in blender.. X particles is hard to beat and I love cactus dan's rigging tools.

I have been thinking of learning blender for 10 years and this is the farthest I have got, and it's not so bad now with the new interface. I can not afford C4D anymore and I will hold onto V19 for the next few years and learn Blender the meantime. I have over 80 plugins in c4d and I use most of them quite a bit. It's a huge investment and another reason I stopped upgrading. I am a big believer in doing the best you can with what you have. Blender being free makes it easier to just take my time and learn it until Cinema stops working one day. The studio I worked with for a TV show is also thinking of changing Blender, they don't want a subscription software and C4D is just too expensive for the upgrades they put out for them. I have been graphic design as well for over 30 years and know Quark (ugh), Indesign and now Affinity Publisher so learning another 3d program as a back up seems fine to me.

I will have to get used to the modifier keys in Blender, which was one of the reason I never learned it before to be honest. I am drag and drop kind of guy at heart. If I had money to invest and it looked like blender was about to be my main 3D software soon, I think e-cycles would be high on the list. You are so right about the add-on being overwhelming... its amazing and intimidating!