"Duel" Swashbuckling animation

[uncon]

That's pretty great, Your flat shader works well for this animation.

I really enjoyed your short!

[Dearmad]

Full of character. One of the best choreographed fights I've seen posted here to CG Talk. Enjoyed it.

[cgclay]

amazing. I loved every second of that. I really liked the style, and the way you used those flat materials. And like someone else said, the choreography is just fantastic. Better than fantastic. I've seen so many good cg shorts lately :love:

[erilaz]

Very nice feel. Love the Zelda:WindWaker like shading to it! :D

Immense ammount of character. Well done!

[Nomi-Graphics]

Really enjoyable! That was definitely worth the watch!

- Noel

[mimo8]

amazing good characteranimation
lot of fun to watch
:thumbsup:

[anzovin]

Love the Zelda:WindWaker like shading to it! :D

Thanks for all the positive comments. A couple of other folks pointed out the resemblance to WindWaker, too. I don't think anyone who worked on Duel has played that game, so we'll have to go check it out.

Regards,

Steve
Anzovin Studio
http://www.anzovin.com
Lively Animation for Film, TV, and Games

[cJaynes]

WOW!
I really like it, like everyone said the style of it rocked and it really worked.
I also loved the since of weight when things were falling. Very nice!:thumbsup:

[BobbyPontillas]

You guys did a great job with this one, great choreographed fights, and I really dig the art direction with this piece.

[anzovin]

Here are some stills from Duel:

--Steve
Anzovin Studio, Inc.
Lively Animation for Film, TV, and Games
http://www.anzovin.com

[John Keates]

Really nice stuff there. I don't usually go in for modern fight scenes as they just seem so improbable but this had a lot of character and surprises. There was a certain degree of un-reality but it suited the style well.

I love the cell shading effect. It looks like you managed to get lots of control over the look of everything there which gives it a more hand made feel.

[WeirdoStudio]

I think you guys have done an amazing job with this.. I really love the look of this film as well as the characters.

[Tom W.]

I love the word swashbuckling

[Tom W.]

Btw Nice style, good animation-some parts are great,overall an excellent short. gj Frontpage deserve you do!

[jsburakoff]

Fancy running into you folks here... Nice work, I really like the flow of the combat, it has just enough pauses to make the action feel important. Yay Western Mass!

[Shazam3D]

Bravo! Excellent work. Beautiful look, amazing animation. Brilliant acting/animating and camera work.

CONGRATULATIONS Raf, Steve, Morgan and all the ANZOVIN TEAM!

JM

[Paul4wood]

Congratulations to all at Anzovin for an exciting and entertaining ride! Great choreographing, acting and story telling with an interesting choice of style.

[Sollesnes]

Congrats. I really like this one. Great work!

[WeirdoStudio]

Anyone else having problems with the audio codec making the video stutter at certain points during the animation? I showed this to a friend and it gets really choppy playback sometimes

[aniMAAtion]

Well everyone's already said it, but I'll tell you aswell... this short was amazing. The whole flat-shader style works really well. The animating and choreography is also great and so natural looking. Great Stuff. Congratulations.
:thumbsup:

Aqeel

[xric7]

amazing work!love it a lot.:bounce: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Kid-Mesh]

I commented on this in CGNews but I'll say it again.

This was very nicely done:thumbsup:

Good Stuff
1

[K'Ghal]

For the most part the choreography is interesting and very well-timed: the characters are so fluid yet there weights do look believable (unlike majority of combat animations these days)

Could you please post a few words about how that effect was achieved and who was responsible for timing and choreographing the moves?

[MKane]

Wonderful piece of work. The style and direction were outstanding. And the character's were excellent.

I thought this should stay on the Front page a while longer.

[Shadow Lord]

Amazing work! What did you use to make it with? At first I thought it was a Flash Animtion, but theres not way Flash can do that!

[Norman McCay]

"The Duel" is the most involved ANIMATION short (and certainly among there with the best) I have seen to date. Outstanding animations and excellent camera work. I am currently a student working on an animation-intensive short with about a dozen other classmates, but only four of us are animating (unfortunately our styles are really different). This short is really inspiring to say the least.


Anyway, got a couple of questions hoping that you could answer them?

1. How long did it take for you guys to complete the project, from beginning to end?

2. I am amazed that all of the animation was done with Animation Master, but what other software did you use (modeling, texturing, etc.)?


Lastly, though I am in no way qualified to make such an observation, I think the walking animation at the begining of the short, when he arrives at the temple, seems a little stiff. The arms seem to be moving parallel to the legs, instead of the "opposing" movements that arms have with the legs (i.e., the left arm goes out in front ALMOST at the same time as the left leg, which is kind of awkward).

Other than that, I will iterate the fact that this short has some of the best animations I have ever seen. My hats off to Anzovin Studio!

[Dromond]

Two things that I tend to be sticky on:

1) Action, existing by itself for it's own sake. Often bores me to tears.
2) Stylized animation that sort of looks like cell anim but not quite.

You totally one me over on both. The style is just unique enough and the detail in the animation grabs hold of your attention and doesn't let go.

Anzovin, rock out.

Looks great guys!!
-Josh

[Dearmad]

"The Duel" is the most involved ANIMATION short (and certainly among there with the best) I have seen to date. Outstanding animations and excellent camera work. I am currently a student working on an animation-intensive short with about a dozen other classmates, but only four of us are animating (unfortunately our styles are really different). This short is really inspiring to say the least.


Anyway, got a couple of questions hoping that you could answer them?

1. How long did it take for you guys to complete the project, from beginning to end?

2. I am amazed that all of the animation was done with Animation Master, but what other software did you use (modeling, texturing, etc.)?


What, exactly, amazes you that it was done in Animation Master? What limitiations do you know animation master has that make this film (especially its animation) amazing that it was done in A:M?

[rafanzovin]

Thanks, again, for everyone's comments.

1. How long did it take for you guys to complete the project, from beginning to end?

About five months. We weren't working on it for the entire five months, though--it was consistantly interrupted by other work (the kind that actually makes money). So I'm not sure exactly how much time we spent in the end.

2. I am amazed that all of the animation was done with Animation Master, but what other software did you use (modeling, texturing, etc.)?

All modeling and animation was done with A:M. We painted a few textures in Photoshop and there was quite a bit of compositing in After Effects too.

Lastly, though I am in no way qualified to make such an observation, I think the walking animation at the begining of the short, when he arrives at the temple, seems a little stiff. The arms seem to be moving parallel to the legs, instead of the "opposing" movements that arms have with the legs (i.e., the left arm goes out in front ALMOST at the same time as the left leg, which is kind of awkward).

Quite right. The walking shot's a bit stiff. It's one of those things we ran out of time to finesse.

1) Action, existing by itself for it's own sake. Often bores me to tears.

Well, then I'm very happy that it didn't in this case! One of my goals for the film was to do an action scene that had actual personality in it, and I'm glad to see that it suceeded.

Could you please post a few words about how that effect was achieved and who was responsible for timing and choreographing the moves?

I roughly worked out most of the choreography, but the individual moves were, to a certain extent, up to the animator who was working on the shot. I'm not sure that we had any kind of specific method, just a goal in mind about the energy we wanted to put into the fighting shots.

Again, thanks to everyone for your comments. I'm very gratified at the response to the film.

--Raf Anzovin

[mehdianim]

Very cool Short, The look, as people have commented, is very refreshing, I like the resolution also. The only thing I would have tweaked really is more of an artistic preference. It seems you are working the dualling personalities of each character to make it interesting: The young and talented Dartagnan type versus the experienced and disciplined swordsman. I wish that line was drawn more clearly in their movement, their posture and their fighting style, even the camera work could carry through their personalities. So the older guy could be in well composed still shots with minor panning and scanning where the younger fighter would be shot with a much looser and less predictable camera, not quite hand held but... as if the old man was trying to track him with his eyes but never getting a good lock on him...that's as good as I can describe it. It comes through here and there but not that strongly. Then the resolution would be a clear recognition from the old man of the young one's potential and the young man would recognize the value of experience and discipline...
But that's just my take on it. I really enjoyed it.
Although the ending with them getting "En guard" when the boats are still a few minutes off shore makes you wonder...do they hold that pose till the vikings land ?
I'd have had them only notice once the vikings have set foot on the island then charge and cut it there. blah blah bla, great short !

I really liked it. I'll go watch again actually.

[Norl]

Great fighting scene, nice work!

[robinhood]

so unique so nice so great
cant find any thing i dont like

[anzovin]

The only thing I would have tweaked really is more of an artistic preference. It seems you are working the dualling personalities of each character to make it interesting: etc.

Very insightful comments. This is just the direction we'd like to take in future "Duel" shorts (time and funds allowing). Thanks!

Steve
Anzovin Studio
http://www.anzovin.com

[El-d]

Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father: prepare to die.



Very nice work , and reminicent of the dread pirate roberts duel with Inigo Montoya at the top of the cliffs.

Inconceivable....

El-d

[ELBSoftware]

Hee hee hee! I love it!

[RogerNobs]

I think there are parts of this that rival "the Incredibles".
Thank you.
Roger :bounce:

[anzovin]

I think there are parts of this that rival "the Incredibles".
Thank you.
Roger :bounce:

That's pretty amazingly high praise. Thanks! And thanks again to everyone who responded to the film.

Steve
Anzovin Studio

[danibert]

Great, man! I Love it

[anzovin]

In case anyone wants to see Duel at full size, it will be screening at the Action On Film International Film Festival, which runs from July 29-31 at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, CA. Don't have exact playing times yet, but these should be appearing soon at http://www.aoffest.com

--Steve
Anzovin Studio

[Lambchopo]

Nice look and feel overall. Very easy on the eyes.

[LiffaMan]

Perfect animation!!
great Short i loved it so much!

[Kid-Mesh]

Everytime I watch it I see more things about it that I enjoy from a technical standpoint....thumbs still up for this one :thumbsup:

[Flip_Render]

Nice. The flat look worked really well. I also liked the camera work (mehdianim's suggestion would improve it even more) and the character design,, and of course the color palette.

Only technical thing that bothered me was that the animation. I think it was not tweaked as much as it could have.. I mean that I didn't get a good sense of weight in some parts. And their agility and speed was about the same disregarding their size and age difference. Overall the animation was good, and would have needed just a little more tweaking (imho).

The choreography was good, kind of reminds me of that good ol' 1938 Rodin Hood - style.

Those guys really like killing, don't they! After they noticed that they can't kill each other, ,the gesture on their faces when those ships filled with potential victims came,, oh!

I liked the music, that when they fought, it was cheerful,, I loved the irony,, and the fact that their bloodthurst destroyed the beatiful architecture in the island. The crabs were fighting too! The name fits it well.

I hope I wasn't too much of a harsh nitpicker. I really enjoyed watching this. I think it did show real potential.

[anzovin]

We're pleased to announce that "Duel" is being licensed by Atom Films/Shockwave.com and will be viewable there soon. Thanks again for all the comments and critiques on this forum--they have been most instructive.

Steve
Anzovin Studio

[metropolis]

Oh! men, this is a really great character animation, great choreographed fights, the look, overall an excellent short.

[Major Bootay]

cant say much more than well done! cant see much I'd change and it flowed very nicely.

Great!

[robotinc]

Well much of what i wanted to day has been said, but the camerawork was what i thought made the piece

[Cannonball]

Ok, I'm officially jealous!

This was great from the first minute to the last. Great fight, everything was just right (camera, editing, pace, movement). I think you could do a film, I really do...i'd like to know more about you guys, how you made this, who is responsible for the direction?

Cgtalk members can comment all they want...but this was just great!


I'll see you guys making a movie some day

[anzovin]

Ok, I'm officially jealous!

This was great from the first minute to the last. Great fight, everything was just right (camera, editing, pace, movement). I think you could do a film, I really do...i'd like to know more about you guys, how you made this, who is responsible for the direction?

Cgtalk members can comment all they want...but this was just great!


I'll see you guys making a movie some day

Thanks, Cannonball. The director is Raf Anzovin. We actually shot a lot of "how we did it" footage during the production, and we're putting together a little DVD for those interested. And we do also have a detailed script treatment for a low-budget CG adventure with these guys; now to find the money...

Steve
Anzovin Studio
http://www.anzovin.com

[Cannonball]

Well great job!

You have something special here, so just come out with it, show it to the world. I'm sure you'll get some money somewhere. Producers can not deny the potential you have shown. Please hold on!!!

[-KDX-]

very good, not much more I can say...=)

very high production quality!

-KDX-

[mberrynk]

that was great! the animation was so smooth, felt like an old 2d film, back with a focus on the principles. Choreography was nice too, a lot of planning obviously paid off here.

[Pixeldragoon]

I enjoyed this immense amounts. They expressions were fantastic, as were the suggesting voices. I liked the length as well- Very nice!

[anzovin]

Folks who want to see Duel on the big screen can visit the Hash booth at Siggraph starting today at 10am PST. Duel was also a jury selection at the first Action on Film Festival last weekend, and will be premiering on Atom Films/Shockwave.com on August 16.

Thanks!

Steve
Anzovin Studio

[Cannonball]

Well deserved!!!:thumbsup: :deal: :love: :wise:

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