request topics for a tutorial dvd!

[cubizmo]

hi janine, lots of great ideas and great impulses coming from your direction! mother theresa of c4d? :) thank you for that...
I'd say, maybe some advanced modelling tutorials, like hi-poly product design. e.g. how to model a slr-camera, a cell-phone,... and some actual projects with extended use of bp. Maybe even some tuts how to tweak readiosity settings in general, although I know that one can't generalize THAT. :) But for a few special scenes, for example. Like you mentioned, a interior lighting with setup, exterior lighting,... If you really decide to start, I'd like to help out with that if you like, only I'm not sure if I could be of any great help... :) maybe in architectural visualisation for beginners. :)

I have still some ideas, but I'm not sure where to pull the line between newbie and advanced, so for my part I'll stick with that up there.

nice greetings
aleks

[Janine]

hi janine, lots of great ideas and great impulses coming from your direction! mother theresa of c4d? :) thank you for that...
I'd say, maybe some advanced modelling tutorials, like hi-poly product design. e.g. how to model a slr-camera, a cell-phone,... and some actual projects with extended use of bp. Maybe even some tuts how to tweak readiosity settings in general, although I know that one can't generalize THAT. :) But for a few special scenes, for example. Like you mentioned, a interior lighting with setup, exterior lighting,... If you really decide to start, I'd like to help out with that if you like, only I'm not sure if I could be of any great help... :) maybe in architectural visualisation for beginners. :)

I have still some ideas, but I'm not sure where to pull the line between newbie and advanced, so for my part I'll stick with that up there.

nice greetings
aleksThanks, great suggestions! Completely forgot about bodypaint. ;) That would probably be a good one. UV mapping and painting in Bodypaint. :)

[adeptus minor]

I second the bodypaint idea also rendering and advanced modeling. Oh cant forget lighting that I dont see very much of and I think thats the biggest pain is achieving good lighting.

[Ric535]

architectural visulation - interior renders, exterior renders, - lighting etc, materials, radiosity settings etc

Ineed proof that cinema is cabable of this before i switch to max!

(also MOCCA, MOCCA and oh yes MOCCA!!!)

[flingster]

TP and or Xpresso stuff...there is hardly any info available around on this stuff training wise...
everyone just relies on Srek..which is cool..
everything else is covered to a greater of lesser degree...TP/Xpresso is always an after thought in books..and cannot take resources from other software as systems are different..most people find it hard to do and the manuals are very listy in nature. definitely an area not currently covered by anything comprehensive....or S&T ....kai...
take a load of picture examples...block print, oil paints, watercolour, toon, manga whatever then reproducing a look and how to tackle it etc...

dunno...these are what i'd like to see in easy english for the stoooopid people like myself...
cheers

[Triker]

Rigging characters for animation gets my vote.

[AdamT]

TP and or Xpresso stuff...there is hardly any info available around on this stuff training wise...
everyone just relies on Srek..which is cool..
everything else is covered to a greater of lesser degree...TP/Xpresso is always an after thought in books..and cannot take resources from other software as systems are different..most people find it hard to do and the manuals are very listy in nature. definitely an area not currently covered by anything comprehensiveI would second that. There's a lot of power in there that's going to waste because some people (like me) don't have a programming background and have trouble getting beyond the basics.

[InTheCity]

There's simply not enough material out there for character animation..

[jorgevaldes]

maybe a complex tutorial of multipass rendering then importing to AE or combustion....
I haven't had the time to check it out properly since at work we comp in Shake. So I just duplicate the scene as many times as passes are needed... hide/unhide objects on each and send to the renderfarm...

But I'm sure a lot could be gained from being able to control camera & lights in AE.

The few times I've tried I get the AE scene file with the camera and lights, but colorbars instead of my render... and I hadn't had enough "fooling around" time to get it to work.

[AdamT]

maybe a complex tutorial of multipass rendering then importing to AE or combustion....
I haven't had the time to check it out properly since at work we comp in Shake. So I just duplicate the scene as many times as passes are needed... hide/unhide objects on each and send to the renderfarm...

But I'm sure a lot could be gained from being able to control camera & lights in AE.

The few times I've tried I get the AE scene file with the camera and lights, but colorbars instead of my render... and I hadn't had enough "fooling around" time to get it to work.Oo yeah, I second that too! :)

[Janine]

Ok, I'll be making a list of all your suggestions and then do some thinking. :)

[Venkman]

Character animation, lip synching (although E-morpher seems to be the weapon of choice)!

[AdamT]

Not to pour water on the Mocca/CA requests, but there are already several CD/DVDs covering this: 1) the CGArtist Mocca DVD; and 2) Jannis Labelle's multi-CD set. Regarding lipsync, except for some minor details it's not something that's really specific to Cinema. IMO "Stop Staring" by Jason Osipa covers this topic better than you ever could in a DVD.

[Venkman]

I have stop staring and it is great, but we are talking about specific Cinema 4d uses here. So far I have not seen a better way in Cinema to do lip-synching than eMorpher, but that's just my tastes so far.

Perhaps I should elaborate, I don't just mean lip-synching, but facial animation. It is a different beast than say, character animation. I have seen tons of different ways that people animate faces- with bones, with spline deformers, by setting up controllers- and anything other than eMorpher has gone over my head at this point. I think detailed tutorials on things like that, and perhaps make facial areas fold realistically. I have heard about keying different textures to animate for different expressions, etc.

My knowledge is at a beginner level such that I don't know if there are more efficient ways to do these things in other programs.

And before people jump on me- I am still Reading TFM. :)

EDIT:

I may have spoken too soon. Those DVD's mentioned above look great. Yet more money to spend... sigh...

[cubizmo]

oh yeah, another idea: postproduction in the c4d-ps7 pipeline. especially for arch. visualisation and such. That's something I'd be glad to help out with, because I've done like ten phantasillions of quick projects that had to be finished in PS or postproduced because the output quality was... well... good for the amount of time it was finished in. :)
Or do you want to do all the tuts yourself, janine? and take all the cred&kudos? :twisted:

greetings
aleks

[flyingP]

TP and or Xpresso stuff...there is hardly any info available around on this stuff training wise...
everyone just relies on Srek..which is cool..
everything else is covered to a greater of lesser degree...TP/Xpresso is always an after thought in books..and cannot take resources from other software as systems are different..most people find it hard to do and the manuals are very listy in nature. definitely an area not currently covered by anything comprehensive....or S&T ....kai...
take a load of picture examples...block print, oil paints, watercolour, toon, manga whatever then reproducing a look and how to tackle it etc...

dunno...these are what i'd like to see in easy english for the stoooopid people like myself...
cheers

those sound good to me too :)

[flingster]

Not to pour water on the Mocca/CA requests, but there are already several CD/DVDs covering this: 1) the CGArtist Mocca DVD; and 2) Jannis Labelle's multi-CD set. Regarding lipsync, except for some minor details it's not something that's really specific to Cinema. IMO "Stop Staring" by Jason Osipa covers this topic better than you ever could in a DVD.
maxon also did a cd/dvd on this recently..there are also a number of books which cover this stuff...there is shed loads in comparision to TP/Xpresso/S&T or multipass stuff out there that are native stuff not covered elsewhere. There is also a cgartist thing for BP already.
:shrug:

[flingster]

just had another thought on this stuff...you could go the other way with this sort of thing and tailor it to just Archvis stuff...eg...indoor/outdoor lighting, GI, faking it, RPC, the ports to stuff like vectorworks etc etc, tree/grass options, S&T architectural renders...voila loads of material...all based around one subject area...as opposed learn c4d...more like learn archvis with c4d.
dunno just an idea.

[Janine]

oh yeah, another idea: postproduction in the c4d-ps7 pipeline. especially for arch. visualisation and such. That's something I'd be glad to help out with, because I've done like ten phantasillions of quick projects that had to be finished in PS or postproduced because the output quality was... well... good for the amount of time it was finished in. :)
Or do you want to do all the tuts yourself, janine? and take all the cred&kudos? :twisted:

greetings
aleksI'll be doing them together with Mash (he does a lot of c4d training), and we already have a few ideas now. For advanced character animation I would have to find a "specialist" to help us. For the first dvd i would rather do something where I know exactly what i'm talking about. ;) So advanced character setup/animation would be something for the future.

[rodney71]

I'll add my voice to the TP and Xpresso choir. There just isn't much out there to help me get a foundation to even know how it could apply to various real-world scenarios. I just know it would change my approach to projects if I could come to grips with this.

[Janine]

just had another thought on this stuff...you could go the other way with this sort of thing and tailor it to just Archvis stuff...eg...indoor/outdoor lighting, GI, faking it, RPC, the ports to stuff like vectorworks etc etc, tree/grass options, S&T architectural renders...voila loads of material...all based around one subject area...as opposed learn c4d...more like learn archvis with c4d.
dunno just an idea.Actually that's precisely what I had in mind as well. :D It would be more like pick a project and then figure out which tools to use for it, not pick some tools you want to teach and then make up a project to go with that.

[Janine]

I'll add my voice to the TP and Xpresso choir. There just isn't much out there to help me get a foundation to even know how it could apply to various real-world scenarios. I just know it would change my approach to projects if I could come to grips with this.So that could be part of a special effects dvd that includes tp, pyro and all sorts of interesting methods to blow things up and water effects and cloth and maybe everything in combination with each other... sounds good to me. ;)

[flingster]

any chance you can have the archvis for c4d users and special FX for c4d users...by tomorrow...i feel like blowing up a lovely archvis render...heh heh...cheers.
both sound like good ideas...a bit different from the norm..learn this module in a boring way..instead its a different type approach that might be the key.

[Janine]

any chance you can have the archvis for c4d users and special FX for c4d users...by tomorrow...i feel like blowing up a lovely archvis render...heh heh...cheers.
both sound like good ideas...a bit different from the norm..learn this module in a boring way..instead its a different type approach that might be the key.And then actually making the dvds would be fun as well and not just a chore. ;)

[cubizmo]

this splitting thing would be a very nice idea. Something like Dosch does it, but with tutorials... So everyone can choose his particular flavour. But that means a lot of extra work, too...
But if I may ask (sorry for OT), how did you plan to distribute it? just for the price of the DVDs and private shipping, or like a "big thing" like gnomon, maybe in coop with a company? Not that everything revolves about money, but if all these tuts have to be researched+written first, then editorial check, layout,... it consumes a lot of time and resources. It's much and hard work, applause+respect for just thinking about doing it. :thumbsup:

@flingster: you wanna blow up something? got a lot of archvis for you. I'll send you some geometry, you firebug. :) and then I'll send the results to my customers as a warning what may happen if they don't pay. :twisted:

schöne Grüße
Aleks

[rendermania]

bunch of possible topics for DVDs

- organic modeling (body, face, ears, hands, feet etc). would be worth even more if done by a qualified medical modeler/animator
- product modeling: how to model sunglasses, cars, watches etc
- rigging and advanced rigging
- nature fx: how to make/fake landscapes, grass, trees, clouds, rivers, waves, watersprays, wind deforms etc
- dynamics: cloth, softbody, hardbody, springs, hair & how to tie dynamics objects together with constraints, etc
- cinematography: how to use lighting, depth of field, vector blur, camera aperture, glows etc etc to get production quality animation renders (incl. splotch-free radiosity)
- photoreal texturing and imagemapping: how to prepare photographed textures in Photoshop, make them tileable, UVmap them

and the big Kahuna itself

- VFX with C4D: Matchmoving (camera track import from trackers), matching C4D lighting to the backplate, scale/field of view issues, multipass out (including how to composite a CG shadowpass onto a live action backplate), color correcting render passes in AE and Combustion, doing 3D matte paintings, etc etc

[adeptus minor]

architectural visulation - interior renders, exterior renders, - lighting etc, materials, radiosity settings etc

Ineed proof that cinema is cabable of this before i switch to max!

(also MOCCA, MOCCA and oh yes MOCCA!!!)http://www.3d-palace.com/video.php?vid=51

[adeptus minor]

just had another thought on this stuff...you could go the other way with this sort of thing and tailor it to just Archvis stuff...eg...indoor/outdoor lighting, GI, faking it, RPC, the ports to stuff like vectorworks etc etc, tree/grass options, S&T architectural renders...voila loads of material...all based around one subject area...as opposed learn c4d...more like learn archvis with c4d.
dunno just an idea.
God I know C4D is so more then able to do Arch its just not really talked about enough I would love to see these subjects covered in detail. I dont know why it hasnt thus far

[flingster]

@flingster: you wanna blow up something? got a lot of archvis for you. I'll send you some geometry, you firebug. :) and then I'll send the results to my customers as a warning what may happen if they don't pay. :twisted:

schöne Grüße
Aleks
Yes...and it shall be called "(C)lient (R)emoval (A)nd (P)ayment (S)cheme"...or or Oooh CRAPS for short! LOL....:eek: :twisted:

[rendermania]

the best thing about arcviz is that the finished building rarely looks anywhere near as nice as those pretty Vray renders :twisted: LOL

[Ric535]

http://www.3d-palace.com/video.php?vid=51
Heh - found this last night! - downloaded it but havent had a chance to watch it yet :)

[cubizmo]

"...and so, rendermania managed to turn a simple nice thread into a warfield of vray-envy. All he needed was this one sentence. one sentence to rule them all and in the darkness bind them." :)

you evil, man, let's not start this all over again. :) return to topic, or the admins will have us hung, drawn, quartered, tarmacked, feathered, and if we didn't have enugh by then, they'll trample on our bits until we are finally, eternally dead. or they'll just ban us (worst case scenario.)

cheers :D
aleks

[bobzilla]

My votes: Xpresso and outdoor lighting (lighting is definitely a weakness of mine).

What I have found with a lot of the C4D training stuff is it's stricktly by the numbers. I have the 3D Guru CD and the animation portion is (excuse me for saying this) horrible! It's litterally a close-up of the coordinates manager and you watch numbers get punched in at various keyframes. And some times the voiceover isn't the same number as the one being punched in.

Xpresso: The nodes have nice names, but I have no idea what half of them do. And there's no real explanation. I'm not a programmer, so I don't think that way. Even some examples of the nodes and various setups would be helpful. WHY would I use this node or that? WHAT does it do?

[Neoklassik]

TP and Xpresso

I'd love to see also "this doesn't work and this is why" snippets.

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