Short Scenes: Pygmalion Computer Graphics Project

[Me109]

Way to go SirRon.. dunno if you realise this but you just scored the 1000 th post in this thread! cool...

[Wilson-3d]

Hey Sir ron. I was dealing with the same problem. There is another material in there that I was able to use that looked pretty much the same. I imagine you are seeing the grey polys coming through the material. Something like that. That is what happened to me. If you look at my aniamtion a few posts back you can see how the texture looks.

I can not remember which one it was off the top of my head. I can check and tell you tonight.

[nemirc]

I was talking about your shot22
http://www.digital-opaque.net/works/shot22_divx.avi

Bet you $20 that he's saying goodbye :p


Oooohhhh yeah
shot 22 is still just a blocking :p

[maronson]

Hello Faultline. Nice to hear from you and thank you for the encouragement.

To find and convince eight new renderers to step in now might be beyond my time availability. What short cuts can we take, just until the weekend when some people might be able to help us prepare the second week DVD?

Wilson 3d was able to render frames because he just had one character and no backgrounds to worry about. Most of you have two characters but no backgrounds. Does it save any time to make avi's (or mov's) instead of frame files? Can we all use default lighting and tone it down in compositing? Turn in high resolution movie files that Mike Van Handel converts in the compositing process?

What can we do to get our work on DVD by Friday, March 10th, 5 PM Pacific Standard Time (GMT -7)?

DVD resolution is 480 x 720. We use NTSC, 30 fps.

Any reader who has suggestions please step up and post here.

[Wilson-3d]

SIR RON:
I ended up applying the material:

car_paint:metallic_paint:blinn2

to all the dark paint on the taxi.

Just a thought. It worked good for me. I had the same screwy renderes on the paint that was already applied. Assuming you mean rendering and having part of the geometry looking as if it does not have a material applied.

May be a quick fix to go ahead and start rendering.

Just an idea.
Chris

[Loulu79]

If almost all the animators have to render due to the amount of time for Thursday coming...what exactly do we have to set up for the Render Editor?:shrug:

And what is the renderosity for CGL and Taxi Cab? And we're creating alpha for them ... right? Or is it Layers...?

The characters we're doing was done in Maya...right? What about Omega3D? He has 3DSMax. How's the rendering organizing going to occur?

And...oh boy...:rolleyes: ...if I wind up having to render CGL and Taxi...well...I haven't tested out my computer for quick renderings for a good time now...

But as usual I am flexible.:shrug: :)

What's goin' on for the rendering....?

Nemirc: I saw your blast....but I'll crit later.:wise:
Wilson3D: Your worries is only TaxiCab...right?

[SirRon]

Whoa, I didn't realize I got the 1000th post. :D

Wilson 3d:
Hmm.... actually my texture has that weird look like it does when you delete the UVs of a polygon object. Image (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/Sirron/Animation%20Work/Pygmalion/taxiTexture.jpg)

maronson:
I wouldn't recommend rendering straight to .avi or .mov. I've heard of bad experiences where the render was almost done then one of the frames got corrupted so the render had to start all over again. Rendering to frames is safest. I suppose default light would be fine with help from editing to make it look nicer.

Just completed the animation for shot 17.
Quicktime (2 seconds) (http://sirron.skunkops.net/files/Animations/Pygmalion/Shot17_blast_02_2sec.mov)
Quicktime (4 seconds) (http://sirron.skunkops.net/files/Animations/Pygmalion/Shot17_blast_02_4sec.mov)
The original is the 2 second clip. I think the shot was suppose to be about 4 seconds last I check the website before it crashed. But whenever I scaled my keys so it fit 4 seconds (120 frames) my whole animation gets jittery because the inbetweens the computer made are just crap. So I just adjusted the time of the clip in After Effects and let it play for the 4 seconds. Is that ok for me to do Mike? I'll send in the 78 frame animation and let you guys edit to the length you want. I'd say the animation still works even after you slow it down. My concern would be the timing of the car squashing and stretching to get the door closed.

I was wondering about shot 17 is if we can edit a cut while she's walking toward the front of the cab, then the next shot would be of her already in the frame but part of the animation looks as if she just walked there to show her money. How's that sound?

[Loulu79]

SirRon: Actually I prefer the first one. She's more lively...

Sooooo....I take it that it's just simple rendering w/ default lighting then. Okay....but I don't know if my computer can take it. I'll test one shot...

Edit:
Nemirc: Subtle...but nice.;) I take it that you'll do her facial next...?

[maronson]

SirRon: I'm on my way to Dress rehearsal so this will be quick.

I agree frames are best, I am just jittery about not being ready.

Your cut sounds ok. I would want to see it before I agree but in principle its fine.

I feel badly because I don't have time to lead a discussion on what is best this week. I will trust you guys to work it out. After Friday night's opening I will have more time again.

[Wilson-3d]

I uploaded the rendered shot 41.
4_NightTaxiRide/Animation/2_DriveOff/taxi_shot_41.zip

SIR RON:
Hello! Mine had that look too. I was just when it rendered that it looked like only part of it was textured. As I mentioned you may just want to put the blinn 2 material on it and render for the sake of speed.

Thanks
Chris

[nemirc]

www.digital-opaque.net/works/shot25_divx.avi (http://www.digital-opaque.net/works/shot25_divx.avi)
:shrug:

And to answer questions... he can't smile ;)
Nor blink :surprised

[nemirc]

If almost all the animators have to render due to the amount of time for Thursday coming...what exactly do we have to set up for the Render Editor?:shrug:

I don't even know what I would be supposed to use for lights, heh ¬_¬

[Dark3D]

Scene 4 background update if its not to late....

http://www.dark3d.com/gallery/images/page_jeffry10a.jpg

LARGE VIEW

(http://www.dark3d.com/gallery/images/jeffry10a.jpg)
Thanks for all the great comments! :)

[maronson]

Dark3D: No, it's not too late. Can you do just one more thing? Turn on the light in the room on the third floor corner?

Wilson 3d: I'm sure we can use that reverse shot of the taxi. We tried out your other render at dress rehearsal tonight and it worked great! What lights did you use?

Admiral Ra says he can do some rendering today but only today. Who is ready with a file they can post on the ftp site? Post in this thread where you put the file and he can download it along with your instructions.

nemirc: It is fine that Freddy can't smile. His mother and sister sent him out in the rain to get a cab. When ghe finnally found one they werer gone. So he is not very happy.

Loulu79: Nemirc is only doing frames with Freddy in them. So once he has done 15, he is finished. He doesn't do any frames with Liza alone or Liza and the taxicab.

[Wilson-3d]

Hey guys.
The lights in the Taxi scene is just default lighting. That is how it renders if you have not added any lights.

It seems to do o.k. for the taxi.
Just letting everyone know.
Thanks

[Loulu79]

Waitaminute! :curious: Let me get this straight: March 10th is the deadline, right? If so then...Thursday isn't the day. It's Friday...? Oh well...:rolleyes:

Maronson: I was even thinking of rendering today! All I have to do is tweak the shots that are ready for animation: like the skirt seeping through Taxi kind of a thing. The very last shot is what I'm almost finished w/...and the very, very first shot...the one I got confused w/...panel 20...still needs to be animated. However...I'm going to give that shot simple and clean animation. At that time...I'll give Admiral Ra the rest of the shots. Okie dockie. Can be done today. :)

I'm also jittery and nervous about the deadline and performance issue:sad: ....best of luck to us all.

Edit: Just to let you know: Taxi doesn't have his textures.

[Dark3D]

maronson: Okay, I will try and finish tonight. :)

[maronson]

Dark3D: Thank you Starr. That will be a nice finishing touch on scene four.

Loulu79: Our First Performance is Friday, March 10th. That is the deadline for having a DVD to show the audience. To make a DVD a compositor must have all frames done. Mike Van Handel works in the daytime and if everything went smoothly it takes four hours to make a DVD. Therefore he must have frames on Thursday. As I type this post it is Wednesday in North America and Thursday in Singapore where Admiral Ra waits for someone to tell him what files to render. If the entire day passes without someone saying "I'm ready and the files are loctaed in this place on the FTP site", he will not be able to help us render. Admiral Ra is going into the Army on Friday March 10th, Singapore time.

Taxi texture: Yes, that is what Sir Ron and Wilson3D have been talking about. Taxicab was made in Lightwave and converted to Maya. It never had any texture files. So for the metal:

I ended up applying the material:

car_paint:metallic_paint:blinn2

to all the dark paint on the taxi. I don't know what they did about the hat.

I know that every one wants to make the perfect scene. Eventually, we run out of time. If you wait for the perfect scene, your work will not be displayed even on the final performance date, March 19th. Mike Van Handel is willing to make a different DVD for each performance. Even the first Star Wars movie had mistakes in it. They were corrected for successive releases.

I know how hard the animators are working. It look ten times longer than it should to get the models designed and rigged. That happened because we are all volunteers and the deadline seemed so far away that people did not feel compelled to finish. Now that the models are here, we get very few people to work with us because the deadline is so close. I don't blame anyone for that. It is just what happens in a collaboration. We all use the experience to improve.

The odds were against us to get as far as we have. I think we use default lighting, tell Admiral Ra where your files are located, he does what he can, and we beat the expectations of the audience. If some people are upset with how things turn out, we will have a few days to improve for the second week's performance.

Right now I have a scene 4 and three quarters of a Preface. What else will we have for Friday night?

[Wilson-3d]

Taxi Info - this is just some quick info to perhaps speed things up a little.
taxi people:
I am going to cover a few taxi issues real quick.

We were all animating with non-textured taxis. Just all grey with a bunch of grey materials in the file. So mirabeau went in a did a nice fast texture job and put a textured taxi file in
/2_CoventGarden/Characters/TaxiCab/TaxiCabTextured.rar

So the fastest thing to do (it was for me at least) is import that file into your rendered animated taxi and just look at what textures are applied onto what. It has materials for the tires, rims, hat and the works. Then apply these newly imported materials to your anomated geometry. And when you open it you will probably get a renderman error. It does not matter. The main issue is that the current paint was giving me errors when I rendered it. So I noticed another paint material (there are a few in the file) named:
car_paint:metallic_paint:blinn2 in the file. Just apply that one to all the main body base paint. That is what is applied to mine in this (http://www.chrismyers3d.com/pygmation/taxi_shot_40_compressed.mov) animation.

I also used the default lighting. So I added no lights. It is working o.k. for the time limitations we have. Also you will have to go in and smooth most of the geometry just before you render. You can see a nice differnce in the textures once this is done. You can compare geometry to the imported taxi for reference on what to smooth. The chrome maps specifically will look better once the geometry is smoothed.

I hope that helps a little in clearing up the taxi. This is just what worked for me.
Chris

[Ollarin]

Hey guys! I'm right here. It's 12:20 am. Drinking coffee to try and stay awake longer!
So i'll be alert to any new happenings till i doze off on the keyboard! :D

[maronson]

Wilson3D and Admiral Ra: Thank you very much for your extra efforts for the Project.

Here is a snapshot of our banner being raised outside the Majestic Theatre. We are getting ready to open.
Banner (http://home.comcast.net/~maronson4/Banner.jpg)

[Ollarin]

That looks awesome Mike! :buttrock:

[Tughan]

Hey, now that's cool. :buttrock:
It was really fun to working in that project guys. Congratulations to everyone. Especially Mike for making this happen. Bravo. :applause:

[Loulu79]

Oh boy... :argh: This is making me nERVous!

Okay...you know what: WhatEVER frames that are ready....they're going immediately to the FTP site...ASA I get home....I'm heading STRAIGHT to the computer...non-stop. :banghead: :cry: :banghead: :cry:

Oh boy...our own project is going on the SCREEN and THEATRE. *sniff* our baby's going places... :cry:

[nemirc]

Just checking we are on the same page:
Is this the FINAL taxicab that will be used on the renders? /2_CoventGarden/Characters/TaxiCab/TaxiCabTextured.rar

Also: What image format are you using? I have the feeling TGAs will take A LOT of space :eek:

[maronson]

Just checking we are on the same page:
Is this the FINAL taxicab that will be used on the renders? /2_CoventGarden/Characters/TaxiCab/TaxiCabTextured.rar

Also: What image format are you using? I have the feeling TGAs will take A LOT of space :eek:

Yes, that is the latest post of the taxicab Feb 27 2006.

Jay Minos used TGA files for the Cell phone sequence. They were posted inside of a zip archive. If the shot is very big, the frames can be split up into multiple archives.

Wilson 3D used Tif files. Mike van Handel has composited both scenes already. So either one of those formats are ok.

My FTP server has no space limit, I pay for what we store. It's cheap. Lets not worry about space.

[Dark3D]

maronson: Okay here are the finals :beer:

Lights Off:

http://www.dark3d.com/gallery/images/page_Final-Jeffry_OFF.jpg

HI-RES VERSION (http://www.dark3d.com/gallery/images/Final-Jeffry_OFF.jpg)

Lights On:

http://www.dark3d.com/gallery/images/page_Final-Jeffry_ON.jpg

HI-RES VERSION (http://www.dark3d.com/gallery/images/Final-Jeffry_ON.jpg)

[nemirc]

Just uploaded. Frames for the shot number 25
/2_CoventGarden/Animation/1_Freddy/RENDERS_shot25_freddy.zip

[Limiter]

Heres a few updates in shot 35, scene 1.

heres a fancy couple, I made F.lady move her shoulder a bit, same goes with her man.
/3_AmbassadorsBall/Animation/1_Arrival/Tests/FancyCouple.avi

Jeeves pushes a tad bit back during a stop.
/3_AmbassadorsBall/Animation/1_Arrival/Tests/shot_35x3.avi

Im not entirely sure about this. a shot of the residence, a shot of the couple, then pan left?
/3_AmbassadorsBall/Animation/1_Arrival/Tests/shot_35x1x1x3 compo.avi

[nemirc]

Currently uploading...
RENDERS_shot15_eliza.zip
RENDERS_shot15_freddy_sound.zip This is the that one includes the sound file for the animation!
RENDERS_shot22_freddy.zip


I am using the default maya lights. Sorry, no time for fancy lighting :(

EDIT: Please note that I the zipfiles also include the sound files for each animation. I took the liberty to edit them as I saw fit soooo... ;)

[SirRon]

lol, you know that texture problem that Wilson 3D and I pointed out? Well when I just render the car it looks totally fine. The odd colors that you see in the view port are just place holder textures because Maya can't do reflections real time... So we really didn't need to change any textures, doh! :banghead:
But to avoid any confusion, let's do what Wilson 3D did with his textures. Hopefully we're all doing the same thing on the textures...:)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/Sirron/Animation%20Work/Pygmalion/TaxiRender.jpg

[maronson]

The minimum we need to show a part of scene two is Shots 14 to 25.

Nemric is uploading 14-16, 22 and 25

Sir Ron was assigned 17-20

Lou Ann was assigned 21, 23-24

If we can get those shots rendered we can show them at the theatre Friday or Saturday night.

The minimum to show of scene three is what Limiter is doing, shot 35.

Limiter: your shot could work if you spent a longer time on the first walk up to give time for the audience to spot the Fancy couple walking up the sidewalk. Then pan left and stop to watch the Limousine drive up.

[SirRon]

Arrgh, another question about the rendering...

We should set the background like a green screen so you have an easier time to key it out and put it over a background correct?

If so then the windows create a shade over the green which will make it difficult to key it out right?

I think I'll send in two renders of my shots, one with green background, windows hidden and another with a black with windows.

Also:
Lou and I worked out that she will also do shot 20 since she already had some animation done on that.

[Loulu79]

I'm in a hurry but...the scene for panels 21-24 is on the FTP site as:

2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/SceneFiles/2animation.zip

Panel 20 is supposed to be SirRon's but...due to the confusion on my part...I am going to continue working on it. So bear w/ me.

It looks like Admiral Ra has at least most of them.

I'll get back w/ you at work...

[Loulu79]

Oie!....now I'm in my office.

Admiral Ra:

Shot 20 still needs to be animated. I'll continue w/ it this afternoon. That means you will not get it on time... However you have at least the rest of my assignments. Most of them.

I'm in query mode w/ the Texture issue w/ Taxi Cab. Someone will have to help me on fixing that problem w/ this alpha look on poor Taxi. I understand the importing of textures...it's just the end result of rendering poor scenes. How to resolve that!

:argh:

I was on this project eversince I stepped inside my house yesterday...non-stop....counting away the hours that I have left for Admiral
Worked on all those issues I found...and as usual....it was the little things that takes the longest....And on top of that...it was time to go to work again. I had not slept nor bathed since! :argh: Eeeeeeee

And I did a quick camera shot for this Close-up scene...according to the storyboard on the Pgymalion site.

I had not enough time to even give you which frames! Oh boy!

Well... :rolleyes: ....last time I remembered this very morning...it's around frames 530-630....yes! I'm sure of it. And I remember...I have a camera set for you already as Camera 1. Go ahead and render through that.

I hope there won't be any mishaps because of me. :(
I'm so dogged tired...

Edit : Oh I nearly forgot: I haven't put any texture on Taxi...I didn't get any time to. Fortunately enough...it's on the FTP site under /Characters/Taxi.

Ummm...read along this forum to know exactly where....it was just recently discussed. I'm so sorry. I'm tired. :sad:

[Ollarin]

Roger that, Downloading the file now. Then i'll apply the textures and render it out! :D

[Loulu79]

Great! :thumbsup:

Let me know what it looks like...(LoL) I did enough test runs on CGL but...I've already did a simple animation on Taxi Cab that...that...whatever tweaking I did on him...I haven't even blasted to see...hope he looks sweet! :D

Oh boy...how am I going to survive during the day....I'm exhausted....! :argh:

I'm sooooooooooo glad I have only shot 20 to do .... it's really simple. And I'm sure my computer can take it...

If not I'll update.... ;)

[Ollarin]

EEH! I JUST REALISED! What res do you want me to render at? NTSC? 768 x 576?

Meh! I'm rendering at 720 x 480, just like the freddy shot.

[maronson]

EEH! I JUST REALISED! What res do you want me to render at? NTSC? 768 x 576?

Meh! I'm rendering at 720 x 480, just like the freddy shot.

NTSC 720 x 480 is correct

nemric: The scene 14 post on the FTP site is a Maya file, not frames. Mike Van Handel doesn't have a copy of Maya. Once you post shot 16, we have a chance to put something together.

Admiral Ra: Do you still have a chance at doing
2_CoventGarden/Animation/1_Freddy/shot14.zip?
or are you bound off for training camp?

[Wilson-3d]

Sir Ron.
Your still looks great!
for some reason mine was rendering out bad. It did look like the still you posted but when rendered it looked like two sets of geometry were in the same position. So part was rendering with the material and part was still grey. Either way I am glad it worked out for you.

Taxi Windows
The window glass should be fine. I tested it out in After Effects. Most composite programs realize what is going on. They drop the correct color and then keep the nice shaded glass we have.

[Ollarin]

Just uploaded the renders for Lou Ann's animation. It's under 2_coventgarden/3_lizacloseups/Renderedframes/2animationRENDERED_March9.rar

Hope it's all good!


Admiral Ra: Do you still have a chance at doing
2_CoventGarden/Animation/1_Freddy/shot14.zip?
or are you bound off for training camp?
I'm afraid i can't render those, have to go to camp early in the morning. And it's cutting REALLY close if i render. Which i don't want to take a risk (Not being able to render it all before i leave.)
Sorry Mike. :(

It's been great working with you guys, this project has been awesome!

I wish i didn't have to go to the army, but, damn conscription!
Take care guys!
Good luck with the project! (Sorry if i wasn't much help!)

[maronson]

Admiral Ra: You were magnificent Rahul! This Project owes you a lot. We all appreciate how far you pushed us along. Our success will happen because you were there for us. Be careful and come home safely.

[nemirc]

Rendered and ready to G.O.
shots 15, 16, 22 and 25
The shots include their own sound file. They are animated according to THAT sound file so you would need to use that when you put together the video.

As for shot 14. I am currently rendering that one. It will be on the server in less than an hour :)

[Wilson-3d]

TAKE CARE ADMIRAL RA! Great job on all your work! Stay Safe.

[Loulu79]

Good Luck and God be w/ you...Whoever God is to you! And be safe in an unprotected environment!

THANKS SO VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HELP! ADMIRAL WE'RE BEHIND YOU!!! COME BACK IN ONE PIECE!

[BOY1DA]

This project was a great collaborative effort !!

Best of luck everyone :)

[SirRon]

Taxi Windows
The window glass should be fine. I tested it out in After Effects. Most composite programs realize what is going on. They drop the correct color and then keep the nice shaded glass we have.

Oh are you serious? Man, I should have tested it before I did my renders.... I've just rendered each shot twice. :argh:

I tested my renders and the alpha does work, so I'll just send them in the black background.

.rar Shots 17-19 UPLOADING to:
/2_CoventGarden/Animation/2_LizaMeetsTaxi/

wow... uploading takes a long time... I'm estimating it'll be 1:30pm (PST) til it gets done.

Admiral Ra:
Take care buddy! God bless! :thumbsup:

[nemirc]

THANKS SO VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HELP! ADMIRAL WE'RE BEHIND YOU!!! COME BACK IN ONE PIECE!

More on the side.. but you get the idea :)


BTW I am uploading THE LAST one :buttrock: , shot 14. It will be up in a few minutes. The first file has the sound file... same instructions as before.
I've split the sequence in two because I preffer to upload smaller files :)


Good luck people :bounce:

[SirRon]

Shots 17-19 Uploaded!

I kinda feel bad that you don't see her face on shot 18 with the lip sync. Ahh well, here's a treat for you guys.

Eliza's taxi fare (http://sirron.skunkops.net/files/Animations/Pygmalion/ElizaLipSync.mov)

I left a note in the shot 18 .rar about the audio. It also includes the extracted audio from the main dialogue and I recommend using the supplied wav 18 frames from the beginning of the animation.

Good work everyone!

[Wilson-3d]

Nice Job on the Lip Sync Sir Ron. At least you have a nice demo reel peace.

[Loulu79]

Admiral Ra!

At what frames did you render? Is it 530-630 ONLY? Because I just realized that it's supposed to be 530-1040 frames actually...

If that is the case then...can someone w/ a studio pitch in to render the rest of the scenes? I have ony one home computer....

[maronson]

Loulu79: The frames posted on the FTP site are 530-630. I'll ask Eric G if he can do the rest. If he says no, I don't have time to find anyone else until the weekend.

[Loulu79]

*Sigh* Okay....Admiral Ra done his darnest and hardest...he needs to do what he needs to do and that's that.

:shrug: Isn't there any body who's a renderer...w/ faster computers at the studio...anywhere? I'm not sure how fast is mine...it's been awhile since I've rendered.

And I certainly don't want to screw this up!
I can do shot 20....it's really short.

And I'm going to have to figure this Texture Taxi thing out.

[SirRon]

I'm doing part of the render. But I hit a problem with the textures for the car. When I render It appears untextured.

I can import my own taxi file that's textured but that will only work for frames 915-1040 since the taxi isn't moving. Frames 631-914 has the taxi animated and the taxi I would import is not animated.

One solution I'm thinking of is to import another textured taxi and reapply the textures that was imported. Unfortunately I don't know how much time that'll take and I'm guessing my class will start by the time I finish retexturing let alone start the render.

So I'll render 915-1040. But someone will have to render the other 631-914 frames.

[Loulu79]

SirRon:

Why don't you render those frames (915-1040) from me! The textures on my end are practically fine! I had no glitches whatsoever.

Mirabeau is going to do frames 631-914. I have a feeling that Admiral Ra didn't get the exact textures nor created a green screen due to the time he had....or did he?

I'll go check them out right now to see what they look like....

Meanwhile...Shot 20 is a piece of cake for my computer!

Edit: Question: Does your frames 915-1040 start and end w/: "Good-bye...don't let me keep you standin' there...good-byyyyyyyyye!"

Is that it? If not mine does. Still ... could you please render those frames for me? And I'll ask Mirabeau if he can do yours....

Edit again: Maronson: Wouldn't it be best if frames 630-914 be done on the green screen? If your answer is yes then...well...I already asked Mirabeau to do it since he volunteered to help in...I think that'll save you guys some time and makes less of a fuss don't you think?

Admiral Ra did a perfect re-texturing. Thank you Admiral Ra:) ...even though you may not read this ... you're remembered in our prayers.

Edit again and again: Oh! :surprised At first I though you meant your shots so happen to be at frames 914-1040! Oh you already going to do it?...sweet!

I'm soooo dead-beat tired...lol...that I tend to not get the message...as you can see...lol. In fact....because I'm tired...I've decided to not go to work today. I'll do the rest of the frames...

I wonder what else need to render...now I have time on my hands....

[Wilson-3d]

haha- Hang in there Loulu79. Drink plenty of orange juice.

[maronson]

I just woke up we had a very successful rehearsal last night. So the question is what will tonight's DVD look like? If your render to Targa files it doesn't mater if you have Green screen, white screen or Black screen. They all work. Mike Van Handel has already composited the frames with black screen that Admiral Ra made and posted yesterday.


I have e-mail from Sir Ron that the 915-1040 frames are uploading. So if we get the last two batches before noon local time, there is a chance.

[mirabeau]

Damn! I'd downloaded scene from ftp right now, but there's no textures on taxi model - what do i have to do??? make textures again?

[maronson]

Doesn't this file have the textures in it?
2_CoventGarden/Characters/TaxiCab/TaxiCabTextured.rar

[mirabeau]

Hello Mike,
ooooh I don't understand anything..
What I need to do? just render some frames? but this scene have
an animated taxi cab without any textures..
now you give me the link to the model that I've already
textured, but Lou Ann said, there's something wrong, and other
guy made some new textures.
I'm going crazy.
If I'll going to add this model instead one that already in the
scene we can loose the animation.
And any way it all takes too many time, that we don't have as I
know, so I can't believe that no one has this scene ready for
render, somebody already rendered frames 915-1040, just give
this scene to me and I'll start to render that's the easy way.
I'm not cool in maya all that I can do is make models and
render stills, not animation, we can loose the time.

So if it is possible, please, just give me the scene ready for
rendering!

[Loulu79]

Taxi Info - this is just some quick info to perhaps speed things up a little.
taxi people:
I am going to cover a few taxi issues real quick.

We were all animating with non-textured taxis. Just all grey with a bunch of grey materials in the file. So mirabeau went in a did a nice fast texture job and put a textured taxi file in
/2_CoventGarden/Characters/TaxiCab/TaxiCabTextured.rar

So the fastest thing to do (it was for me at least) is import that file into your rendered animated taxi and just look at what textures are applied onto what. It has materials for the tires, rims, hat and the works. Then apply these newly imported materials to your anomated geometry. And when you open it you will probably get a renderman error. It does not matter. The main issue is that the current paint was giving me errors when I rendered it. So I noticed another paint material (there are a few in the file) named:
car_paint:metallic_paint:blinn2 in the file. Just apply that one to all the main body base paint. That is what is applied to mine in this (http://www.chrismyers3d.com/pygmation/taxi_shot_40_compressed.mov) animation.

I also used the default lighting. So I added no lights. It is working o.k. for the time limitations we have. Also you will have to go in and smooth most of the geometry just before you render. You can see a nice differnce in the textures once this is done. You can compare geometry to the imported taxi for reference on what to smooth. The chrome maps specifically will look better once the geometry is smoothed.

I hope that helps a little in clearing up the taxi. This is just what worked for me.
Chris

Whatever he said here ... just take a note of it...especially for the animation bit. The way the TaxiCab looks has changed.

Mirabeau: Sorry for the inconvenience...but I just finally got my act together just recently (Lol)...

Would it be easier for you if I put the textures together...send you a new file and call it "greenscree.zip"? Since I don't have to put in ANY green background at all....

Edit: It'll take me a few minutes to upload...that same scene you're doing is already applied to ...just look out for it okay Mirabeau.

Don't panic! Hang in there. I got this one. ;)

[mirabeau]

yes! it's will be great!

[mirabeau]

Mike - here's the test frames you're asked for #631 & #914
p.s. seemes like you mail box is full, all my messages is returning back

[maronson]

So it is obvious that we are not using a textured Taxicab. Can you decode Wilson 3D's instructions?

Use the CGForum private message system if you can't get regular email through.

[Wilson-3d]

I thought that made sense. huh - let me try not so detailed.

The main thing to know is:
If you import the textured taxi into your animated scene all the materials on the newly imported taxi will be in your Hypershade. Windows > Rendering > Hypershade.
Then you can click on the new new taxi and see what material is on that geomety in the attribute editor. Then go to the Hypershade and apply that material to the corresponding geometry of your animated taxi.

If it renders good you are done.
[If it looks like only part of the geometry is accepting the matieral when you render it (which happened to me) go to the Hypershade and apply a different matieral - car_paint:metallic_paint:blinn2. I did not make this materal but I saw it in the file and it worked.

Then just smooth some of the geometry if you have time.

I hope that helps a little.
Hang in there. Good luck.
Chris:)


P.S. Her size in the still pics makes her look very small - but i think we are out of time.

[maronson]

Here is the local newspaper's attempt to understand what we are doing.

http://www.gtconnect.com/articles/2006/03/10/entertainment/cover/cov02.txt

[Loulu79]

Mirabeau: The file: greenscreen.zip is up in the same site which is:

2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/SceneFiles/greenscreen.zip (ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/SceneFiles/greenscree.zip)

When you open this Maya file ... you may or may not get an Error message. Ignore it and proceed to render. Camera 1 is already set up. Just make sure it's rendering in Camera 1....as in us seeing their frontal. The green screen is there...and so is Taxi's textures and smoothing.

Maronson: Stand by for Shot 20. It is still uploading.

[mirabeau]

thanks everybody, THANK YOU Lou Ann, I'm downloading "green screen.zip" right now..

[maronson]

P.S. Her size in the still pics makes her look very small - but i think we are out of time.

Loulu79: Last week we were talking about the relative sizes of Eliza and the taxi. We want all animators to use the same ratio. After you get two days in a row sleep, please ask for that again. For today, I will ask Mike Van Handel to pull in tighter on this shot so we don't see quite so much of the taxi and more of Eliza.

[Loulu79]

Maronson:

Well...:rolleyes: ...Actually I was going according to the old storyboard on the site. I thought all along you want both the characters faces in the same shot.
Okay...after this Friday...and my sleep...I'll redo the shot. How exactly you say you really really want it? Because if I zoom in any closer...you'd only see half of the TaxiCab's face.

And still stand by for Shot 20. It's telling me eversince 10 seconds remaining...but that was 30 mins ago (lol)

Edit: About that re-sizing...When Eliza hops unto Taxi Cab....it's the same height that she conveniently needs to get inside. Same w/ the door. What we'll have to do is...in ONLY that frontal shot...make TaxiCab a bit smaller...

What do you think?:shrug:

[Loulu79]

Maronson: Shot 20 is now up! It is at:

2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/RenderedFrames/ (ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/RenderedFrames/)shot20.rar

I'll also e-mail to you this alert...just in case you don't see this message.

All the best tonight!:thumbsup:

Edit: :sad: If SirRon's getting the no-texture Taxi...he might as well use that file: greenscreen.zip

He'll have to set the render editor to 915-1040 and re-position Camera 1 a bit more to the left....or he can give it to me.

But he just told me saying not to worry....I'm trying...so...hard...:sad:
Must...sleeep...must...drink water...nice water...:buttrock:

[mirabeau]

here's new test from "greenscreen" - it's all right?

edit pictures must be in .tga or i can render it in .jpg?

[SirRon]

That's close mirabeau, but can you find a way to make the chrome work? like the one here?

Image (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/Sirron/Animation%20Work/Pygmalion/TaxiRender.jpg)

edit: Pictures must be in .tga or .tif. Jpegs don't have an alpha channel.

[Wilson-3d]

mirabeau: Nice work. the only thing I notice is that the lights need the chrome texture and I can not tell but the eye brows need the base paint too if they do not have it.
Good job!!

EDIT:
haha Sir Ron you beat me to it. Nice images

[Loulu79]

Hmmm....that's not right! Is that the render!:curious:

Good grief! It's supposed to look like this:

Edit: Mirabeau...ONLY try targa...if anything else...are you having problems of any kind? You shouldn't be...

I thought when you save a file ...you save also the render editor...so why isn't the chrome working???:shrug:

Edit again: Wilson3D ... you're right. That eyebrow does look funny. But you know what?!? I specifically remembered to reapply the exact same texture as the other eyebrow...according to your texture info...I don't know...

so what the problem is...?:curious: Can anyone know for sure?

[mirabeau]

what about this one?

ups sorry forget to add an image :)

[Loulu79]

YEAH MAN! That's it!!!:bounce: :thumbsup:

[mirabeau]

yeah! I've smoked a box of sigarettes, ok I'll start to render right now, it takes a 9-10 sec per frame

[Loulu79]

:eek: Whoa! that's extremely fast rendering. sWEEt!:bounce:

Edit: SirRon: I wanted to ask you...how's the rendering going?

[SirRon]

it's been done about 11 hours ago :) Frames 915-1040

yeah, i would've done the rest but i needed to head off to class last night.

[mirabeau]

:) I'm on frame #715 now :bounce:

[Wilson-3d]

Go Baby GO!!!

[Loulu79]

I'd love to show you the animations...but the linked site isn't behaving itself today. Later.:wise:

Edit: This is fun! Stress-renching...but fun! Aren't we learning real teamwork! Me proud of us.:)

I aint' budgin' until the last awaiting shot is uploaded....

Maronson: You're going to show us what's happening tonight...right? Can you give us the whole entire "movie"? That'll look so wow!

[mirabeau]

I did it. Where I gotta upload it on ftp?
In which folder I mean..
hmm it's around 90 megs in rar archive with my dial up... it takes 4 hours to upload :argh:
may be it's possible to re-render or resave it in jpg?

[Loulu79]

In this file:

ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/RenderedFrames/ (ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/RenderedFrames/)

Edit: Do you have a zip folder instead? I think that's faster...wait...is jpg faster?

It's already a green screen...why not. And check to see if it's really going to be 4 hrs to upload. See if it changes to .... say 2hrs or less. The computers can just overestimate sometimes....

[maronson]

mirabeau: break the rar up into four archives. Send them one at a time. As each one finishes we will take it off.

[mirabeau]

ok, I'm starting upload
Lou Ann - if frames will be in jpg archive size will 5-10 megs, it take 20-40 minutes to upload, but quality may be too low?

[Loulu79]

Yeah Mirabeau, I think that's even faster and more reasonable.:)

Edit: Okay the link file is behaving itself. After the theatre chaos...we can proceed to do a little bit more tweaking.

Here's shot 20: http://www.savefile.com/files.php?fid=3476559

I wish I could give TaxiCab a bit more oomph...but the deadline is today...and there's another day. ;)

Edit again: :hmm: Hmmm...even faster than I have anticipated. Well Maronson? That's not a problem...no?

[SirRon]

I can understand if jpg is faster to upload because the file sizes are smaller. But it'll also make it harder to composite the background. The green screen helps, but then you'll have to do a lot of clean up to take out any green traces.

breaking it up to pieces would be better. You're uploading anyways :)

Lou:
Umm... sorry to say but there's a continuity problem with your shot 20. On shot 19 I opened the rear door when the taxi is willing to let her in. Then on your shot it has the rear door closed. :(

[Loulu79]

True dat....:hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

[mirabeau]

hmm I got next situation here:
I have four parts - 25M, 25M, 21M and 13M, uploading speed now is 2.5-3.0 KBps, so 1st part takes 2.5-3 hours :argh: and we have other part here, so it's very-very bad

[Qais]

lol i have nth to say really
just that it was gr8 working in this amazing project
and i wish u all the best
tough hours i know..so
goooooo onn :thumbsup:

[mirabeau]

and really bad thing is that here's already night - 12.25am, if it was day or even evening I could go to some place with high speed internet, but now they all are closed :cry:

[Loulu79]

I can understand if jpg is faster to upload because the file sizes are smaller. But it'll also make it harder to composite the background. The green screen helps, but then you'll have to do a lot of clean up to take out any green traces.

breaking it up to pieces would be better. You're uploading anyways :)

Lou:
Umm... sorry to say but there's a continuity problem with your shot 20. On shot 19 I opened the rear door when the taxi is willing to let her in. Then on your shot it has the rear door closed. :(

Whoops!:surprised

Mike and Van will have to explain that to the audience. After this is through...we'll sort it all out. As for me...I can leave the door open the whole time until Taxi needs to close it.

It's a good thing we're watching it as a blast...huh? And it's a good good good thing I stayed home all day and took "sick" leave...I was sick tired.

Edit: Mirabeau...patience my dear...patience!:wise: I think approximately you're +8-12 hours ahead of Mike and tonight's performance. You'll make it...:thumbsup:

[mirabeau]

I'm hope you're right :)

[maronson]

mirabeau: email the four rar's to
letter m followed by my last name at lucidyne dot com
we have no size limit

Local time at this posting is 2 PM. The show starts in 6 hours.

Edit:That doesn't help. You still have the dial up. thinking......

[mirabeau]

the size of file will grow up from 13.5 to something around 20 while sending it via email... I don't think that it will faster then ftp

edit: I have an idea - I've tried ti render in jpg - it's small size and low quality, very low, but I also tried nex thing - I open the .tga in photoshop and save as .jpg and these files are good, may be I translate all frames that not in the 1st archive in jpg? and 1st archive is uploading now - 11 megs are done(from 25 - it's too slow!)

[maronson]

Eugene, what frame numbers did you render?

[mirabeau]

I'd render 631-915, 631-714 are now uploading

edit - I got my connection broked, and seems like ftp does not support transfer resume?
I can't believe that I hove to upload all from the beginning..

[maronson]

mirabeau: OK. I'm willing to try anything. Maybe I will get something to use tonight then tomorrow you will have a chance to send me the big frames and I can use those for subsequent performances. Also Lou Ann has a trick she wants to try. One way or the other I will have something to use for the short term and maybe tonight.

Thank you, Eugene.

[mirabeau]

It's very bad I feel guilty :(( all that I can do will too late,
may be today morning I'll go to the internet cafe and send it to you? may be thats the way?

[SirRon]

The program I've been using is Filezilla (http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/filezilla/FileZilla_2_2_18_setup.exe?download) to up/download files on the ftp server.

That may work out better for you unless you've been using it already. It said I got disconnected once but the transfer was still going and I was able to reconnect.

It's freeware too.

edit: How about this... upload the Maya file and tell me which batch to render and I'll upload it to help out. I have a pretty good computer and connection. Sorry, I should've offered to do that for you sooner :sad:

[mirabeau]

I use "ftp rush" it support resume or reconnect, but seems not this time
but our morning is you night, it's too late anyway
SirRon - it's good idea - on my system it rendered in 55 minutes, I have an AMD athlon64 3200+ cpu, you need to download this
ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/SceneFiles/greenscree.zip
and also you'll need two textures it's small, I can quickly e-mail them to you,
give me your e-mail by pm

[maronson]

I will go with 14-16 for Friday night's performance unless a miracle happens and someone can get the frames on the ftp site in time. If not, the Saturday Audience will see the aditional scenes.

[mirabeau]

OK I'll waiting for SirRon's email, send him this textures and go to sleep, tomorrow morning I'll check my mailbox, and if you'll still need frames that I'd render or number of frames(tell me these numbers in this way) I'll go to the internet cafe and send them to you, Mike.
If you'll no more need them-tell me and I'll stay at home, ok?

there's no email from SirRon, so I go to sleep and waitin' for morning email from you, Mike..

[SirRon]

doh! i should've been checking every 10 minutes for a reply.

I've downloaded the greenscreen.zip. now all I need is to get mirabeau's textures and what frames to render.

[mirabeau]

Check you mail SirRon! I've send these files.
frames are from 631-915, all you need to do is fix up textures and start batch render, thanks to Lou Ann, she's already made all kind of setup

[SirRon]

Got the textures.... only to realize I already had them LOL :D

Starting the render now Doing 631-914 instead because I already rendered 915+ which the camera cut to a side view.

[mirabeau]

Nice, I can go to sleep it's already 3.00am here :)

[Loulu79]

Uploading ...


I'm saving you guys the trouble...these said frames are already rendered by me...

The Friday audience might have a chance yet!:thumbsup:

[SirRon]

Huh? you're uploading them already? Aww man, I just finished rendering. I'll upload anyway just in case.

.rar files
/2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/RenderedFrames/

I split it into 2 files.

Nice, I can go to sleep it's already 3.00am here :)
LOL I know what you mean, I went to bed at 4AM Thursday.

[Loulu79]

Funny...:curious: I divided that same file in six.And I didn't go to bed since Wednesday. Beat that!:p

Edit: Maronson: All of the files are there...it's just that the last two files are still in uploading mode.

841-875: 11 minutes left ....

876-915: 22 minutes left....

Every other file is there...This is a hUGe file...so hopefully the downloading won't be that long.

Edit again:
841-875: 5 minutes left ....

876-915: 17 minutes left....

Almost there!

And Yet another Edit:
841-875: uploaded!
876-915: 9 minutes left....

So basically...they're all there...I hope all goes well...after all we've been through throughout the entire week!

[maronson]

I just came home. The opening night crowd was surprized and delighted. They laughed in the right places. The cast wants me to tell you thanks for your hard work to make this possible. I suspect that Mike Van Handel will be making some requests so that we can make the Covent Garden Scene look a little smoother for the next DVD. But...

What we did today was very well received. I would like to add in what Limiter is doing and get something into the Project from Omar and finish it up for next weeks performances.

Good Job every one.

Starr Shaw: The local paper printed your Angel Court scene in the newspaper today. If you send me a snail mail address, I'll send you a copy.

[mikevanh]

In a short time, the FTP site will have some clips of what the audience saw tonight -- at least the Covent Garden scene. Look in the Test folder under (if memory serves)Animation/2_CoventGarden at approximately 2 am Pacific Time.

Regards,

Mike

[Tughan]

Wow it's very happy news.
Now we can virtually celebrate!

Crowd ---> :applause::applause::applause::applause:
Our Team ---> :beer: :beer: :beer::beer:

Mike ---> :cool:

[Loulu79]

Count me in!:wip: :beer: :beer: :beer: :bowdown:


Where's my Arbour Mist? Smirnoff would be fine too!:beer:

[Wilson-3d]

Glad to hear it went well! :thumbsup: :beer:

[Dark3D]

YaY Alright! :wavey: :applause: I am glad everything went well! Allot of hard work! I work in the 3D industry and know how it feels to wait for the render nodes all day and night, while the deadline closely approaches. All of you worked so well together! :buttrock:

Starr :applause:

[SirRon]

Hey, I'm surprised no one is jumping up and down with joy :D :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :D

Good job! Hope everyone grew more in their skills from this experience :thumbsup:

[mirabeau]

don't worry - I'm jumpin' too :) :bounce:

[maronson]

What did we do?
On Friday we showed the audience three quarters of the GBS Preface. There were three out of four Shaw monologues, the complete Cell Phone Scene and the complete English Student Scene.

The Covent Garden scene did not have the final frames uploaded yesterday but they will be used in the DVD we will show tonight and Sunday afternoon.

We did not show anything from the ambasador's residence.

We showed the entire Night Taxi scene including Starr's light turning off.

What did we not do?
Preface:
The model of George Bernard Shaw is still in disrepair and we used a static model with a moving mouth. I haven't heard back from Flying Hawk or Kemer about the model yet.

Omega3D has a Englishman model with an incomplete rig. The Model is in 3DsMax. If he had a rig he might be able to render the British pub scene. Floyd1510 hasn't responded to recent messages about this rig.

Covent Garden: Ranimate sent a message to me hinting he might be available this week to work on shots (26-28) I told him we would need rendered frames Thursday morning.
omarhib hasn't checked in recently, he was working on shots (29-31). Capel sent me a message yesterday saying he was unable to work on his assignment shots (32-34). The sad part about not having 29-34 is we don't get a chance to use Starr's lovely Angel Court background. Mike Van Handel was especially sad about that.

Ambassador's Residence: Limited is working on 35 and ericg is working on 38x. I never assigned animators for the other scenes because the Henry Higgins rig is not finished and he appears in those scenes.

If Limited and ericg can turn in their work quickly and we can get them rendered (at least as well as we did the frames this week) Then I will show the arrival at the residence and the powder room to the second week audience. If they get stuck and post on the forum this week be sure to answer any questions they ask and get them going again.

What do you want to do?
You should know me well by now, I never give up. We have four days left before we must be ready for the second week DVD. All of you have exceeded your commitments to the Project. It would be fine if you stopped now. But....

If two animators picked up (29-31) , (32-34) and Omar checks in with animated models (we now know how to tell him to texture the taxi!) we could finish Covent Garden. It turns out between sir Ron and Lou Ann we do have a render farm. Or... we could spend our time making what we have look better. What would you like to do?

[Loulu79]

George Bernard Shaw: Either he stays as a static for a comical beginning and then have the scene transform into a 3D/Real scene....or give it to me or Mirabeau to clean it up! Even though he's a LightWave modeler...he also can model in Maya...and if he's most comfortable to do this heavy duty clean up in LW...we can convert it anyway w/ no problem. It has happened before. We give some and we learned some. I do hope Me109 is available to rig him this week....and fast. I've already asked him. He hasn't responded since yesterday...so there's still time...hopefully...

And if you're wondering if Mirabeau will be available...trust me...I've already asked and it's a yes!:thumbsup:

Englishman: He has a rig. Good. I also asked Me109 to do the finishing touches on him. So let's see.

Convent Garden: Since I did enough shots...and took over SirRon's assignment...I'll ask SirRon to compensate by doing shots (32-34). I think that'll make up for my confusion...
Starr Shaw's work is too fantastic to NOT be seen in public view!

I believe in Omarhib ... animating is a bummer like this: (:banghead: )...

It sucks up your time and energy...but let's be patient w/ him until a specific time. He has shown up enough and participated...enough for me to assume he's very very busy w/ shots (29-31). We'll just have to keep on knocking on his door if you know what I mean.

Henry Higgins: Isn't he also an important character?:curious: Isn't he the one who transformed CGL into a fair lady?!? Good grief. I think we will have to ask another rigger...a rigger w/ a ton of experience and fast at it. I think I'm asking too much from Me109 already....he was such top notch at the rigging bit though. But still we need to continue w/ the search. How about Notoshabi? Is he available just for this week?

And for animation: Whoever is finished w/ their new assignment for this week...will HAVE to animate HH (Henry Higgins)!


The Residence and the Powder Room: I don't see any problem here.
Everything is working smoothly on this section. I totally understand their uncertainty for certain shots: We're doing this in a hurry. Thursday is less than a blink away.

Renderings from 400-1040: Whoops!

My apologies again for my shortcomings. :blush: I left it at 72 resolution in the Render Editor! (*giggle*) It had nothing to do w/ my trick. So....it's at 300dpi...right???

I can re-render the whole scene...however...we HAVE to be clear of the size of TAXICAB! My suggestion (again) is to leave shot 20 alone at that size and resize him in the other shots!

:wise: Otherwise I'll have to go back to CGL and let her duck her head in after that hop!...and I'm going to widen more of that door manually....as in select the edges of the door-entrance and push it out! And re-size the opening door to fit it of course! Sorry...:shrug:but that's what I'll have to do if we resize TaxiCab throughout.

Yes...and if it comes to that I'll give you the information when I'm through of course...

Renderings of shots 29-34:... they can be handed over to Mirabeau for faster renderings...since his renderfarm was extremely fast! Despite that his extra hand wasnt' a plus in the uploading...he's a BIG plus this time around. That I'm sure of.

Hopefully all of the above won't stress us out during the weekdays ahead. :argh:
Less stress, less mess...!

That's my final offer. What do you think?

[nemirc]

Why on heaven's name do you need them at 300 dpi? :shrug:

[mirabeau]

yes, I'm in, I can render it and what's wrong with George Bernard Shaw?

[Loulu79]

Mirabeau:
If you take a good look at him on the FTP site: He's VERY heavy!:banghead: Even I can't toggle in that scene! He's at:

ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/1_Preface/Characters/GeorgeBShaw/ (ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/1_Preface/Characters/GeorgeBShaw/)

I don't know which one's the latest but...check w/ Maronson on that! Okie dockie?:thumbsup:

:wise: My suggestion is to re-model the head and hands...since they're going to be the most animated. And clean up the torso. Ummmm...I hope he has been de-skinned...he was already rigged I think.

Nemirc: Umm....the res was too low for them to show all the work on the big screen...:sad:
Funny:curious: ...I've never had to interfere w/ that until now...

Edit: Nemirc: Can you pitch in? What can you do? Animate? Model? Rig? Do you multi-task??? You too are needed!

[maronson]

Saturday night's audience was larger than Friday night. The audience continues to laugh in the right places. I specifically ask audience members during intermission if the CG adds or distracts from the performance. The response is 100% positive. So we have a huge success with what we have now. We should pick carefully what we want to add and not try for it all. We need time to do a good job on what we do.

Additional information since yesterday : Omar says he can not finish his assignment, he is out of the country on business and will not return before Wednesday.

George B Shaw model: The latest date has Admiral Ra's low res rig in it. No one has ever been able to tell me what makes him so hard to move. Rahul could not even test his rig.

Shot 20: The main problem is edges are jagged. We don't see that in any other shot. If you rerender to get rid of the jaggies the audience will not notice any size difference. The end of scene 2 has Eliza out of the cab again so we do not have to rerender any of the other scenes we now have finished.

The Englishman: This is a Max3D model and Omega3D is a Max Modeler. He can't use a Maya rigged model.

Scene 3: We can substitute the Fancy Couple for Higgins and Pickering to escort Eliza to the Ball. It might make more sense for animators to work on scene three since we don't have anything there and we do have something for Covent Garden. Working on this scene will get the models of the Ambassador's residence in place and there is no lip synch to work on.

I don't think we have the resources to get Angel Court (the last shots of scene two) and additional interiors of the residence. Which would you prefer to work on?

[mikevanh]

Great work so far, everyone! What follows are my opinions, so refer to Maronson before taking any action:

1) Continuity problem regarding open passenger door that should be visible in shot 20. Someone already pointed this out, I believe.

2) Shot 11 of GBShaw will not be used unless we get the Englishman for shot 12 completed; therefore, GBShaw shot 13 should be given higher priority than shot 11.

3) Liza's face is over-animated in shot 24. Her expressiveness up to this point has been delicious, but beginning with "don't let me keep you standing there..." the tightness of her facial expressions suggests a kind of manic Jack Black character from "High Fidelity." It's so comical that I can't stifle a laugh.

4) Backgrounds for Angel Court show us a very narrow street in which the relatively huge taxi would have little or no room for maneuver. My current thinking on compositing envisions using camera movements and sound effects to suggest the taxi driving up and stopping, and Liza exiting the cab, out of the field of view. Similarly with the taxi turning around to depart -- we could cover this with a reaction shot of Liza, then cut to a shot of the taxi receding down the street, then cut back to Liza for her "Impudence!" line.

Regards,

Mike

[SirRon]

Ok, I'll animate shots 32-34.

I'd talk more but I gotta go :D

[Loulu79]

Mikevanh: Oh you think it was over-done? Okay...I'll give less expression...not too much and not too little. Then I'll post the results. Lemme right that down...no overdo. Okie dokie!:thumbsup:

SirRon: Great!

Mirabeau: You got that? You have to decode the UNMOVABLE George Bernard Shaw. You might as well un-skin him...see if it's the modeling issue...and reskin him...But first you have to save the paint weights. Do you know how to do that? If you have any problems doing so...of course post here. We'll have to ALL put our heads together on that.

Maronson: :shrug: What jagged edges??? I tested it myself just awhile ago in F-check and... I didn't see any...Oh well. So what's the resolution you want me to put it at then? I can let it render tonight...If the Taxi's size is going to stay then...the two things I'll change is the Taxi's lipsyncing (wasn't that good) and having the door stay open! This is for the sake of continuity for SirRon's shot.

The Englishman: You mean to tell me we'll have some complications even if he saved it as an .obj? Because it's rigged??? Aww man I thought you can go from Max to Maya inspite of the rigging. Good grief then we'll have to add a newcomer on board! A Max user! A fast, experienced Max user!

Henry Higgins/Scene3: You really don't believe we'll have time for him? That's sad. Well at least we'll have what....90% of the entire project exactly like what we have planned at the beginning then...? Yeah it looks like it. But that means the show must go on...True dat then. From that perspective...that'll be a piece of cake. No? Yes?

Angel Court Scene: Who can do that last animation? I have a feeling I might be a bit busy on my clean ups. Okay you know what ... WHOEVER is finished w/ their task at hand...do it! It's simple enough to do ... so just do it! Nike style. ;)

Edit: shots (29-31): I can animate Omar's ... or maybe Nemirc should do that.

"I don't think we have the resources to get Angel Court (the last shots of scene two) and additional interiors of the residence. Which would you prefer to work on?"


Is that a modeling issue??? If so...

Mirabeau what do you think? Would you have the time???:shrug: Of course...that is after you do some detective work on GBS.... :)

[mirabeau]

I don't know how to save painted weights, and please wait a little time, it seems like here some job come to me..

[maronson]

We have a adequate show now. Let's do small things to improve it.

Here is what the line, "Here, what about the basket?" looks like:

jaggies (http://home.comcast.net/~maronson4/WhatAbotTheBasket.jpg)

See the edge of Liza's skirt? Did the wrong rendering file get posted? Did Mike Van Handel use the wrong file? This should be fixed.

I've had a few hours to think about this and we can make a simple dream sequence with the formal Eliza floating through the halls of the Residence (Interior 1 and Interior 1a). The sound track can provide the story line. I will use the voices of the actors playing Pickering and Higgins. The sequence ends with Eliza entering the powder room and looking at herself in the mirror. This would be simple, it has very few decisions to make and it would look gorgous.

If Sir Ron finishes the ending sequence we can cut to, with a wipe dissolve, the Angel court background and use Mike Van Handel's suggestions. We need to keep things simple because Mike may not have the time he did this weekend to do all the work in time.

Lou Ann, just finish your tweeks today and look at the interior models next.

/Pygmalion/3_AmbassadorsBall/Backgrounds/Models
and Eliza

/Pygmalion/3_AmbassadorsBall/Characters/FormalEliza
She doesn't have any legs, she just floats along the ground.

I'm on my way to the Sunday Matinee. I will be off line for 6 hours.

[maronson]

Today's performance went smoothly.. The comments of the audience are "the computer graphics advances the story. Very clever, well done."

Nice job everyone. Mike Van Handel made a small change today in shot 17 to put in something that he missed earlier, so we used a different DVD for each performance.

The final DVD image will be posted on the FTP site after March 20th for everyone in the Project to download.

[Loulu79]

Last week I didn't get the chance nor the time to post here the other shots...due to the Frantic Friday...

Now c&c are most welcomed:

latest shot 20 here (http://www.savefile.com/files.php?fid=2780408)

"Where to...?" : where2_part1 (http://www.savefile.com/files.php?fid=2207131)

[SirRon]

I'd like to go over shots 32-34 so I know exactly what you'd like Mike.

32
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/Sirron/Animation%20Work/Pygmalion/shot32.jpg
TAXI. Ever been in a taxi before?
[Close up on Liza]
LIZA[with dignity] Hundreds and thousands of times.

Taxi talks off-screen?
If the taxi does talk off-screen then I'll need to know Eliza's pose on the previous shot for continuity.
The close up is from the mid-torso on up?


33
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/Sirron/Animation%20Work/Pygmalion/shot33.jpg
TAXI. [Laughing at her] Good for you, Judy.
[Taxi winks and pops up his radiator cap]
TAXI: Keep the shilling, darling, with best love from all at home. Good luck! [It turns around and drives off].

The taxi makes a 180 turn in place or does he make a U-turn like a car would?

34
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/Sirron/Animation%20Work/Pygmalion/shot34.jpg
[Start close up on Eliza. Dolly back as the taxi moves away.
Stop dolly when frame is sized as in first Angel Court shot.]
LIZA[humiliated] Impudence!

Start the close up like from shot 32?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/Sirron/Animation%20Work/Pygmalion/shot34_fin.jpg
She picks up the basket and trudges up the alley with it to her lodging.
Fade to black.

This would be easier if I knew exactly how the 2d background was going to be composited. I know perspective well enough to position the camera according to the background. Otherwise it'll look like she's floating when she walks. It would definately be easier if we could just fade to black after she says "impudence" OR only dolly out far enough not to see the feet (maybe just below the knee) and I can just have Eliza move up and down.

When is this due? Thursday?

[SilviaAriaans]

SO :) O:scream: O:scream: OO GREAT to read and see about the results of working so hard together!!! :applause: :bounce: :bounce: Good luck with the final parts!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:


http://forums.cgsociety.org/images/misc-2005-07/paperclip.gif English Student for Pygmalion Animation Project (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=279126)
roodroosje

http://www.3dvalley.com/phpbb/modules.php?set_albumName=Sil-Ariaans&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

[Loulu79]

Here's the rest of the Where 2?: Where2_part2 (http://www.savefile.com/files.php?fid=2643386)

Go ahead and c&c away please.:)

Taxi Size Issues:

Okay...this is another alternative...this thing is hitting me badly on the head...because ya just CAN'T see her:

Original shot:

[Loulu79]

Here's another alternative:

[Loulu79]

Hey Roodroosje: How's it goin'.:wip:

And here are more pics of the same alternative size:
And the size for the Taxi is:
in the xy scale: 7.8
in the z scale: 9.5

What d'you guys think? Btw: The size may change due to our discussion here...

[Loulu79]

Another animation...the one Mike Van says I need to tweak:

This shot is saying: goodbye! (http://www.savefile.com/files.php?fid=1728889)

"Don't let me keep you standing there...": Yuck! hahaha....during the blasting process...her face for that line went haywire...couldn't stop laughing at it.

Boy...was I wanting to FINISH BADLY!!! (lol):D

Yeah yeah...I'll fix that....tweak tweak...

[maronson]

Loulu79: your new relative taxi size is better but it is only noticable to the audience when we look through the windshield or side window and see her sitting inside the taxi. That is where she looks the smallest. If we are short of time you should only rerender those shots.


SirRon:
Taxi talks off-screen?
If the taxi does talk off-screen then I'll need to know Eliza's pose on the previous shot for continuity. The close up is from the mid-torso on up? Shot 31 shows a side view of Eliza, arms down. Mid torso or higher would keep her arms down. If we had time you could show a closeup of the taxi saying, "Ever been in a taxi before?" That would be nicer than an offscreen voice.

The taxi makes a 180 turn in place or does he make a U-turn like a car would?
Mike Van Handel doesn't think we can do it. But if you did have a turn around shot I'm sure he could put some out of focus background behind the cab. The taxi turn around is low priority.

4) Backgrounds for Angel Court show us a very narrow street in which the relatively huge taxi would have little or no room for maneuver. My current thinking on compositing envisions using camera movements and sound effects to suggest the taxi driving up and stopping, and Liza exiting the cab, out of the field of view. Similarly with the taxi turning around to depart -- we could cover this with a reaction shot of Liza, then cut to a shot of the taxi receding down the street, then cut back to Liza for her "Impudence!" line.

Start the close up like from shot 32? yes.

This would be easier if I knew exactly how the 2d background was going to be composited. Mike Van Handel can you post a link to the start of the Angel Court scene? Here is a still for now: 2_CoventGarden/Backgrounds/Stills/AngelCourt-Final.jpg

When is this due? Thursday? We have four more performances left Thursday - Sunday. When your Frames are posted, Mike will do the compositing and it will show up at the next performance.

[mikevanh]

SirRon,

I concur with Mike Aronson's remarks re Angel Court. One alternative to the turn-around is to have a single closeup reaction shot of Liza, perhaps showing she is miffed by the Taxi's willingness to forego the fare. The sound track will suggest the taxi driving away while Liza's expression reveals a progression of emotions (perhaps annoyance, humiliation, irritation) until she finally delivers her "Impudence!" line over the now nearly inaudible sound of the taxi motor.

As an additional note -- much as I love the Angel Court background image, I have to agree with Mike Aronson that the final presentation of all of our work would be much better if we give priority to a simplified Ambassador's Ball (Eliza's dream sequence) scene.

LouLu: I am glad you were able to show us what happened to Eliza's expression in Shot 20. I would be mortified if you had not seen what I saw, particularly after my "manic Jack Black" remark. :)

[mikevanh]

SirRon,

Per Mike Aronson's suggestion, I will post a part of my test on Angel Court on the FTP server in a Tests subdirectory under the Covent Garden Animations folder.

Regards,

Mike

[mikevanh]

SirRon and others:

AngelOpening.mov is currently being uploaded to the FTP server. It is 70 meg, so will take awhile. Note that this is from an old test. When looking at it, remember that we anticipate extending the zoom/tilt move such that the sound track will be at the point of Liza asking "How much?" just as she and the taxi come into view. Don't worry about imparting any motion to your rendered characters, as this will be done in compositing.

Regards,

Mike V

[mikevanh]

I should be more specific -- when I suggest you not impart motion to characters, I was of course referring to motion relative to the background, corresponding to camera moves. Please do animate your characters!

Regards,

Mike

[Loulu79]

Mirabeau:

:bounce: George Bernard Shaw is no longer heavy! I've solved the problem at last: it was the GRID! The scene's grid was utterly complicating...I didn't even believe it was the grid...until I couldn't even SEE where I was going for toggling...so common sense told me to HIDE THE GRID!

I've also made life a hell of a lot easier for you: I've de-skinned him. I even cleaned a bit of the layers...they weren't organized.

So go ahead and model away Mirabeau! The coast is clear!!!:thumbsup: The new Shaw model is at:

ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/1_Preface/Characters/GeorgeBShaw/NewGBS.zip (ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/1_Preface/Characters/GeorgeBShaw/NewGBS.zip)

Enjoy!

Edit: Maronson: The rigging was not organized. So much so that I didn't even bother looking at its paint weights. Could you find someone who wouldn't mind doing paint weights on him? I can .... but I'm tied to my new assignments and clean-ups for this week...ask SirRon or even Nemirc...or somebody who is great at Maya and rigging and painting weights fast!

[maronson]

Loulu79: I don't believe that mirabeau has ever animated before. George is mostly Lip Synch with very little motion. I sent off messages to ME109 and Kemer2 asking them to look at the model.

Omar has posted his scene file on the FTP site at

2_CoventGarden/Animation/5_AngelCourt/SceneFiles/a11.zip

[maronson]

Here is a souvenir program for all of you with photographs of the actors in the play taken during a dress rehearsal.

program (http://home.comcast.net/~maronson43/Pygmalion.pdf)

[nemirc]

Edit: Maronson: The rigging was not organized. So much so that I didn't even bother looking at its paint weights. Could you find someone who wouldn't mind doing paint weights on him? I can .... but I'm tied to my new assignments and clean-ups for this week...ask SirRon or even Nemirc...or somebody who is great at Maya and rigging and painting weights fast!

Depending on the complexity of the model, Possibly I can paint weights... I am not THAT good at painting them :arteest:

[Limiter]

Woking on shot 35, scene 1. assignment#13, total duration:23 seconds.

These could be close to rendering.
/3_AmbassadorsBall/Animation/1_Arrival/Tests/pymaSh35xSc1xPt1-Test.avi
/3_AmbassadorsBall/Animation/1_Arrival/Tests/pymaSh35xSc1xPt2-Test.avi
/3_AmbassadorsBall/Animation/1_Arrival/Tests/pymaSh35xSc1xPt3-Test.avi
/3_AmbassadorsBall/Animation/1_Arrival/Tests/pymaSh35xSc1xPt4-Test.avi

...maybe
I need some tips on ff: how to separate some elements, skies is missing, GI lighting on the scene takes a toll in rendering, should I render with normal default texture? how should I render this?

sorry if I've been slow in progress. been alot of distractions lately.

[nemirc]

Woking on shot 35, scene 1. assignment#13, total duration:23 seconds.

These could be close to rendering.
/3_AmbassadorsBall/Animation/1_Arrival/Tests/pymaSh35xSc1xPt1-Test.avi
/3_AmbassadorsBall/Animation/1_Arrival/Tests/pymaSh35xSc1xPt2-Test.avi
/3_AmbassadorsBall/Animation/1_Arrival/Tests/pymaSh35xSc1xPt3-Test.avi
/3_AmbassadorsBall/Animation/1_Arrival/Tests/pymaSh35xSc1xPt4-Test.avi

...maybe
I need some tips on ff: how to separate some elements, skies is missing, GI lighting on the scene takes a toll in rendering, should I render with normal default texture? how should I render this?

sorry if I've been slow in progress. been alot of distractions lately.

I can't watch the animations right now so I can't give you comments ;)

For rendering some of us have used the default render lights mostly because of time constraints :shrug:

[mirabeau]

maronson thanks for the program! and yes I didn't made any character animations before...
I'd downloaded model of GBS, but don't start to clean it up yet, I'm not sure, what I have to do with this model
edit If you want me to render some frames - I can do it! so I'm waiting for a sign from you what to do. I received email from Loulu79, she says that you're told that you want me render out the Formal Eliza scenes instead. so I'm waiting :)

[Loulu79]

And I got rid of the eyes...for some strange reason...:D Must be because I didn't want GBS to see what we're going to do next to the poor man. Extreme make-over can be emotional draining for the "victim"...lol:D

Edit: Yaaaaaaaaaaay....my name's in there! sWEEt! The casts in this play look cool. I can see Convent Garden Eliza....she looks the part!

Edit again: Mirabeau...might as well just get the eyes....and put 'em on the ftp. So sorry man...(*giggle*)

Edit again: Mirabeau:

The eyes have it! It's there on the ftp site. I guess you can play around w/ it. Maybe that'll serve a purpose.

ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/1_Preface/Characters/GeorgeBShaw/GBS_eyes.zip (ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/1_Preface/Characters/GeorgeBShaw/GBS_eyes.zip)

And frankly...it's only a half sphere...nothing much...you'll might get the shader on the iris but that's about it I'm afraid. :wise: And whoever needs to go in....you have to be patient! Lots of paitence must be used...because the grid was creating the heaviness the most...while the high res and hair is the second heaviest. Not so heavy that you can't toggle....but heavy enough for Maya to keep on calculating. So be patient...be very patient. Let Maya run. Don't close it.

[maronson]

Limiter: I think we can use this sequence. The only problem I see is the rough cut between .3 and .4. Can you position the camera near the end of .3 to match what you see at the beginning of .4? Right now the background jumps just before the limousine enters. I spliced all four avi's together so I could look at the transitions.

If anything is blank, like the sky, just leave it blank. In rendering we need to use a green screen there and the compositor will put up some out of focus video of an appropriate hue for a background. I think the default lights will work except when the limousine enters. The limousine needs a key light so we can see it's face better.

Any texture needed now should be defaulted.

Loulu79: I think you should concentrate on the shots that follow Limiter's. We have a good chance of getting this into the show since there is only one lip synch line and Limiter has finished it. The rest of the animation is straight line motion. As soon as you have one scene set up, give it to mirabeau to render.

Ericg is working on the last shot of the series.

[Limiter]

The cut between .3 and .4 was similar in a way. as .3 ended. it shows a view of the road. and for .4 where limo enters. I just took the screenshot of the last frame .3 and place it as an image plane for .4's starter frame just for angle adjustment. normally. .4 will be rendered with no background at all.

does the angle different when u look at the combined transition?

[maronson]

The cut between .3 and .4 was similar in a way. as .3 ended. it shows a view of the road. and for .4 where limo enters. I just took the screenshot of the last frame .3 and place it as an image plane for .4's starter frame just for angle adjustment. normally. .4 will be rendered with no background at all.

does the angle different when u look at the combined transition?

Your angle is close but you are "closer" to the building and that is what causes the jump in the background.

EDIT: I see. The filmgate has changed relative size from .3 to .4. Ok, if you have matched up the building as well as the curb, then it will match.

[SirRon]

Ok, I finished animating the lip sync for the taxi's lines on shot 32 and 33. Now on to Eliza...

"Ever been in a taxi before?" (http://sirron.skunkops.net/files/Animations/Pygmalion/Shot32a_blast_01.mov)
"...Keep the shilling darling..." (http://sirron.skunkops.net/files/Animations/Pygmalion/Shot33_blast_01.mov)

[Loulu79]

SirRon:

Really really good animation...the first shot I feel needs a little bit more spice...but that'll be for the rest of the animation.

Keep going...:thumbsup:

[SirRon]

Thanks Lou, I'll change the timing a bit on that shot, That's probably what it needs.

I hit a problem with Eliza's shawl.

Shawl problem (http://sirron.skunkops.net/files/Animations/Pygmalion/shot32b_Shawl_blast.mov)
Best I can do to fix it (http://sirron.skunkops.net/files/Animations/Pygmalion/shot32b_Shawl_blast3.mov)

That'll have to do for now. On to the "impudence" shot.

Everything should be done and rendered by tomorrow night.

[maronson]

SirRon: I like your shawl solution, nice work.

[Loulu79]

Well here's another animation. On the same shot where Eliza says her last "goodbye".

Goodbye Freddy: http://www.savefile.com/files.php?fid=8512925 (http://www.savefile.com/files.php?fid=8512925)

I'm so satisfied w/ my updated avi that I'll have this scene file on the FTP for Mirabeau to render that out for me tonight. My computer will be free for me to continue Omar's animation and Formal Eliza.

But first...there's a continuity issue on the shawl. I need it to be exact as my previous render...the one before it w/ the "Where to...? dialogue." I too had such a battle w/ that shawl last night...that I hardly got any sleep. I was completely finished w/ Eliza at 10:00 p.m. my time...but THAT shawl is a pain...I was at it until 4:00 a.m. All because of that shawl...!

So now I left it as a free lock. I wanted to hide it completely...but I couldn't even find it. But right now...I just found the hide attribute! That's how tired I was last night.

[SirRon]

Lou:
If it helps, the way I dealt with the shawl is I animate it using stepped animation curves then go through each and every frame making any adjustments. You probably dont' have to key every frame, but you might have to key 5 frames in a row or something. This is where any experience working in traditional animation helps a lot.

[SirRon]

Uploading shots 32 and 34 to:

/2_CoventGarden/Animation/6_TaxiLeaves/

Shot 32 is split between 32a and 32b, Taxi then Eliza's dialogue.

Shot 33 is still rendering

I'll be gone for about 2 hours, it should be done rendering by then and I'll upload.

[nemirc]

But first...there's a continuity issue on the shawl. I need it to be exact as my previous render...the one before it w/ the "Where to...? dialogue." I too had such a battle w/ that shawl last night...that I hardly got any sleep. I was completely finished w/ Eliza at 10:00 p.m. my time...but THAT shawl is a pain...I was at it until 4:00 a.m. All because of that shawl...!

Too bad we couldn't just get rid of the thing... :wise:

[SirRon]

Shot 33 Uploading to the same place.
/2_CoventGarden/Animation/6_TaxiLeaves/

28 minutes and counting :) *10 seconds later*

NOOOO!! I got disconnected and won't continue the upload :sad:

Looks like I'll have to split it.

[mirabeau]

Lou, there's no shots23_24.zip on ftp. Where is it?

[Loulu79]

Mirabeau:

Yes there is. It just that it wasn't there yet.:blush:

Um....I was still cleaning up when I...well....fell asleep...!?!:surprised Be patient w/ me Mirabeau....I'm just tired.

It's at:ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/SceneFiles/ (ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/SceneFiles/)

The file is called shot23_24.zip. It's ready...:curious: waitaminute...12 more minutes!:argh:
:banghead: Doh! Still uploading! Argggggh!

Edit: SirRon: btw: Your method saved my life! Otherwise it'll be another up-all-nighter...and not one blink of sleep!

Edit again: Mirabeau: Uploading complete. You can take it now...:thumbsup:

Maronson: IF you're out there...Omar's shot and Formal Eliza will have to be added for Saturday. I can't miss work today. :(

Nemirc: ...we should you know. That was STILL a pain in the you know what!

[mirabeau]

It's already rendered, I'm movin' to the nearest Internet cafe to upload it on the ftp :)

edit: I've uploaded it right now.
ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/RenderedFrames/shot23_24_rendered.rar

[maronson]

Here are a couple of snapshots showing some audience members looking at your art work on display in the lobby.

Again last night, people walked up to me and told me how much your animations added to the show. "Very cleverly done", was a frequent comment.

ArtShow 1 (http://home.comcast.net/~maronson43/ArtShow1.jpg)
ArtShow 2 (http://home.comcast.net/~maronson43/ArtShow2.jpg)

[SirRon]

I forgot the shawl on Shot 34!! So sorry about that :sad:

rerendering and going to upload... should be done in about an hour.

edit: wow, that was fast.... rerendered and uploaded now.

[Limiter]

I am now uploading shot 35 rendered in default lighting. I adjusted the background in the last part of the scene.

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/4446/part4background7px.jpg

[nemirc]

Here are a couple of snapshots showing some audience members looking at your art work on display in the lobby.

Again last night, people walked up to me and told me how much your animations added to the show. "Very cleverly done", was a frequent comment.

ArtShow 1 (http://home.comcast.net/~maronson43/ArtShow1.jpg)
ArtShow 2 (http://home.comcast.net/~maronson43/ArtShow2.jpg)

It's nice to see people like our work :thumbsup:
I want to see Freddy! :cry:

[maronson]

Mike Van Handel just delivered tonight's performance DVD. Limiter's sequence is in it and it is very nicely done.

So this is last call. Any pending scenes must arrive by morning (14 hours after this post) so that they can be placed onto the final DVD. The last show is a matinee that starts at 2:30 PM. Anything that arrives too late will be included in the out take reel.

[Loulu79]

Great! Wheww...because I'm still animating. By the wee hours of Sunday morning...the last scenes will be up on the ftp ... bright and early.

I start Omar's animation today...and I'm going to have to finish it tonight through morning.

No problem there.

[nemirc]

Great! Wheww...because I'm still animating. By the wee hours of Sunday morning...the last scenes will be up on the ftp ... bright and early.

I start Omar's animation today...and I'm going to have to finish it tonight through morning.

No problem there.

how many shots are you still missing?

[Limiter]

Im glad I made it out in time.

[Loulu79]

how many shots are you still missing?

Well:rolleyes: ...remember Omar's shots - shot 29-31? Well...I'm completing them now. :D

And there's Formal Eliza at the Ambassador's Ball to do...

Edit: Mirabeau:

shot 29-31 is ready for rendering.

ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/SceneFiles/ (ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/SceneFiles/)

Look for the file that says: latest_shots29-31.rar

I wish my body didn't sleep on me last night! Doh!:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[Tughan]

What'll be the lenght of the animation for final DVD? And what was the lenght of it when First show in theatre?

[mikevanh]

In response to Tughan's question regarding the length of the video presentations, and for others who are interested, here's the skinny:

Each clip on the DVD includes 3 seconds of black video as a lead-in, and 15 seconds of black video at the end to allow the operator time to blank the video projectors after the clip fades out.

In the following, this black video has been discounted, so the times represent the duration of a visible video image.

For the first performance, we displayed the Preface, the Covent Garden scene, and the Night Taxi Ride scene. Altogether, these totalled about 4 minutes and 39 seconds.

Subsequently, we added a short clip showing the lights going out in Prof. Higgins's house as Eliza flees to join Freddy for the all-night taxi ride. This brief clip added another 13 seconds.

We made new DVDs for each of the first 4 performances, often to replace portions of clips with improved renders that did not extend the time.

For the March 18 performance, we added the Ambassador's Ball lead-in clip, which added another 28 seconds, bringing the total to 5 minutes, 20 seconds.

Whether this will be extended for today's matinee depends on the image sequences that were uploaded to the ftp server last night.

Last night, I put together an outtakes clip that is a little over 4 minutes long. It duplicates much of the preface in an earlier test form to include the clips of the Scotsman, and some clips that couldn't be included in the Covent Garden scene. This clip will be included in the DVD image that we upload to the ftp server.

Regards,

Mike

[mirabeau]

I'm done here.. frames 1500-1640 (shots 29-31) is already on ftp:

ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/ (ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/)RenderedFrames/latest_shots29_31_1500_1640.rar

[Loulu79]

Yes and the rest of the shots 29_31 are also there on the ftp site!

frames_1745-1799.rar
1640_1695.rar
1696_1744.rar

They were divided into three folders...and they're at:

/2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/RenderedFrames/ (ftp://ftp.pygmalion2006.org/2_CoventGarden/Animation/3_LizaCloseUps/RenderedFrames/)

Great!

Now back to animating:sad: ...there's Formal Eliza to do ... doh!:banghead:

[mikevanh]

To those of you who are still working like demented flunkies, please take a break!

The time for compositing is exhausted, so your current renders are going to wind up in the outtakes section of the final DVD image. The DVD for the final stage performance should be completed within an hour.

Great work, everyone! Take a bow and update your portfolios.

Regards,

Mike

[Loulu79]

Yay!!! we're free...! :wip: :wip: :wip:

[nemirc]

Yay!!! we're free...! :wip: :wip: :wip:

You are aware that we are going to start working on Pygmalion II next month, right? :curious:



ANYWAY... is there ANY CHANCE that we get to watch the whole thing? :D

[omega3d]

I was recently hit with many finals and papers that require much time in order to finish. I have tried to rig the Englishman, and I pretty much have the entire rig completed. I have skinned the mesh roughly, I believe it just needs a facial rig. I have uploaded the files to the FTP site below. I have also animated 3 scenes. The only thing that needs to be animated is the Englishman.

/1_Preface/Animation/5_Pub_Fight/SceneFiles/English_Man

I am sorry for this. I was not expecting all of these papers at once. If you can find someone to do the rig and such, I will help as much as I can, but at this point, I am going to need some help. I am not opting out. I just need some assistance with the rig.

I have uploaded the two parts of the Scottishman for rendering.

/1_Preface/Animation/5_Pub_Fight/FinishedWork

Jonathan Reyes

[omega3d]

Ha, I didn't read that one post.. Right on! Could I see the vid? I think it would be good!

[maronson]

Copyright laws prevent me from video taping a performance and distributing it. This week I will establish a public area on the FTP site. We will post the Animation DVD, The Program PDF and still shots taken during the dress rehearsal. Copies of the script can be found using Google.

I will send the public FTP account information to everyone who's email address is known to me and who is on the Active Member list.

After that I would like to conduct a debriefing discussion about the Project, what we did right and what we did wrong so that others can learn from what we did.

Right now I would say that this collaboration was a success.

[nemirc]

After that I would like to conduct a debriefing discussion about the Project, what we did right and what we did wrong so that others can learn from what we did.

Right now I would say that this collaboration was a success.

The problem I had: Us animators had way too little time to turn the shots in. I remember you first contacted me on early december 2005 but it wasn't till mid february that I could actually animate the characters...

Just my two cents ;)

[opreska]

How much of the animation was actually completed?

[Tughan]

For what I see and what I noticed that some character models are not modelled for the sake of the animation. Modelling a character is one thing, but modelling a character for animation is another thing. It needs totally different approach. Models may look perfect smooth, but when it comes to animating modeller needs to think like;


Will this character be talking? (so I may need to put extra detail to mouth area)
Will this character blinks?! (so I have to model eyelids!)
Will this character be sitting down? (so I got to make sure his/her pants/skirts are not intersects with chair or anything.
Generally, a good topology, edge loops on deforming areas works like a charm. Some characters caused problems because that I think some modellers didn't have an past animation experience. But thats ok, we all got experience from this. Time to animate another Bernard Shaw Play! :bounce:

[Loulu79]

Nemirc:

You're right about the short period of time us animators had!

If only the models did not procrastinate...we would not have had only a week and a half.

I felt so exhausted because of that. And I overlooked certain things. On top of that...the composition and video editing winds up only ONE compositor.

Had we not procrastinated since February...we would have had at least THREE compositors. That would've made Mike Van Handel's life soooooooo much easier.

Same w/ the rest of us. :(

Edit: Tughan: You're also making sense about modeling issues. Especially George Bernard Shaw himself...he wasn't even animatable! Also to take note...the Englishman! When I looked at him he was too heavy for animation ... so I had to go in and simplify.

At least these said things above are my two cents....and this is what I've learnt...thanks to this project. Seriously. If it hadn't been for my choice in participating....I wouldn't really see what it takes to have GOOD team work and effort.

[maronson]

How much of the animation was actually completed?
There were 17 animation assignments. The Preface completed 5 out of 6, Scene two completed 5 out of 6, Scene three one out of three, and Scene four was complete. The total score was 13 out of 17 assignments complete.

[maronson]

Hello Everyone, That was a very restful week off. The last two shows were sell outs and audiences were continually amazed at your work.

I just sent out a blind copy e-mail message to everyone saying where the FTP location of the DVD image is. That location also has the program, original music performed during the show and many snapshots taken during a dress rehearsal. If you don't have it by tomorrow, let me know and I will send you an individual copy.

I'm going to call this project a success even though we did not finish everything. I always said all we had to do was beat the expectations of the audience and we did that. This was an unusual collaboration, we had a deadline.

I started the Project in April 2005 working out the storyboards. Then I located 2-d illustrators in town to draw the model sheets of the characters. That was finished in September 2005.

The rules for the project were 1) I could not advertise for a position if there was no work ready for that position. 2) I could not assign the same work to two different people.

So I could not line up riggers before their model was finished nor could I make an animation assignment before the model was rigged. If someone held on to a model and did nothing for six weeks before turning it back I was not able to turn to a backup person who was standing by. I had to recruit all over again. I accidentally did make a model assignment to two different people and both were instantantly miffed because they both thought they were doing unnecesary work. (Why should I do this if someone else is doing it?) In many cases it would have been better if I did have two modelers work on the same model. If two were actually finished then we could have had the Project vote on the one they wanted to use. But I don't think many people would have entered the Project if they thought it was a good bet their work would be for practise only.

It was not possible to judge a person's ability before they joined the Project. I did look at what people had posted as Finished and WIP before asking them in but it didn't always translate to what they did (or did not do) for the Project. We did attract some very talented people and their work helped the Project along.

The biggest thing I learned was that Animator's hate to rig! I thought it would be no problem getting modelers and animators to do rigging but it was next to impossible.

I am especially greatful to the animators who joined the Project in the last few weeks of the Project. Deadlines are rough because the people who joined early saw the Show deadline as far away and it did not always translate that their deadline was important also. When the Show deadline was close, people did not want to join because they could not see how they could get the work done in time.

All in all I am glad I organized this Project and I am lucky to have worked with such talented people. It was worth the effort. You folks were involved in a first time ever Community Theater production that integrated original Computer Graphics with actors on stage. Be proud of your accomplishment.

Best Regards,
Mike Aronson

[softdistortion]

Congratulations to you and your team members.:buttrock:

[SirRon]

Whoo hoo!

Thanks again for the invite and experience Mike. I guess I'm on of the few animators that don't mind rigging... I'd probably do it more actively if I knew more about skinning. :) Still, I'm an animator in heart.

As for the short deadline, I didn't mind it much since it pushed me forward. Nothing like a little fire under your feet to keep you moving. Definately found out more about myself as an animator. This project actually has my first finished work with dialogue. I really enjoyed acting it out.

I also almost forgot the joys of rendering with a deadline LOL :D

[omarhib]

Hey guys... GREAT job you've done here...

Congratulations for you all... and great team work...

WELL DONE.

[SilviaAriaans]

Dear Mike!! Thank you so much for offering the DVD from the result and even many other things on the ftp!! :) I really had respect for the way you organised so many things at the same time and kept the head cool and knew to delegate things and kept the right spirit even at hard times... My big compliments and Thank you!!! It was so nice to see the English Boy rigged and animated so wonderfully by Tughan! : ). Good to read that I'm not the only one not liking to rig... ; ) All the others I like to thank here too for all the hard working and cooperation!!! :bounce: :applause: We all learned from it! I did burn the files with Nero and it played very well on my dvd-player/TV!! So nice you added the unused parts too! I very much enjoyed following the project and felt happy I could be little part of it :scream: I enjoyed seeing pics from the theatre too!

Roodroosje
http://www.3dvalley.com/phpbb/modules.php?set_albumName=Sil-Ariaans&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

[nemirc]

Dear God, those are a lot of photos O_O
I don't think I will be able to download all of them :p

[maronson]

Qais:

Your e-mail bounces and your cgtalk mail box is full. So I can't send you the FTP Account information for the DVD. Contact me after you delete some messages to make room again.

[pivot]

Neat!

Nice to hear it was a success! :D

Mike: could I get access too? Havent recieved an email yet...

[maronson]

I just received word that Tughan Arslan has died. I will always remember Tughan's contributions to this Thread and his generous coments to us all. He was a talented animator and a large part of our success. Our audience enjoyed his animation of the English Student. To his friends and relatives I extend my greatest sympathy.

He was our greatest cheerleader. Here is his last post in the thread.


Time to animate another Bernard Shaw Play! :bounce:

[Cohen]

sorry to hear that

[ScudzAlmighty]

really, really sorry to hear that.
(sorry to double post as well, logged in as wrong user)

[mirabeau]

so sorry to hear it..

[omarhib]

I'm very sorry to hear that...

[pivot]

That's just tragic! :(
R.I.P Tughan!

[Loulu79]

:eek: Omig! NO way! Just the other day I was e-mailing him...telling him how much he was the bomb and all and....and...he can't be dead. I really was clicking to everyone spirit...even though I never fully knew not one of you guys...

I guess he's unto the next adventure....so sorry to hear that.

I wonder how he died and at what age?:sad:

[maronson]

This came from a friend.


He was a friend of mine (known him for years, when he wrote for a magazine, started to talk online for about a year, but haven't met him face-to-face). I do not know the details very well, but as i've heard it was a heart condition. I saw him online on 25th, so i think it was sudden. He didn't said anything about an illness to me, but he really didn't said much about himself, as it turns out.
We'll miss him :(
Tughan was 23 years old.

[SilviaAriaans]

This is such a sad sad news... : (

[Loulu79]

I've always believed that we're here on Earth to create life adventures for ourselves and to evolve...then move on.

I guess he got what he wanted then. Man....imagine he was there only for this Project! Wow! Death...isn't the end...I so believe that.

Wow LIfe is utterly precious.

[Wilson-3d]

So sad to hear. Best wishes to his friends and family.

[SirRon]

What?? Oh man I'm so sad to hear that.... :sad:....

[Rockmanex]

He will be missed...

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.