Animation: A Trip to Granny's

[WhiteRabbitObj]

Your site isn't working, at least for me. :cry:

[shoey]

not workin for me too:shrug:

[Anubis]

I'm unsure what the problem is, perhaps its this worm that's affecting the internet. I'm able to see it fine, as are any of my friends I've asked to test.

Please, anyone else, if you can't see it, post where you are located.

CE

[wgreenlee1]

Oh yeah,
I remeber this.
Really funny stuff!
Good to hear from you again!

[shoey]

can see it now, don't know what the prob was. d/l right now.:bounce:

[CelticArtist]

Hey, i'm in Joe's class right now :) he was talking about y'all the other day, are you the one working at DNA now? i have to say, i love the style y'all chose for the project, i'm incorporating some ideas from it into my own final project (the unrealistic, impossible furniture, etc.) Good luck to yah from a fellow SCADdy

-CelticArtist
Savannah,Ga

[Enrique Gato]

I've watched your short a bit late, but I've got to say it's really funny and full of details. Although I think there are some moments extremely slow, I liked the global result. Congratulations.
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Anubis]

Thanks a lot, anyone have any constructive criticism?

CE

[CelticArtist]

sure, just a few things, first, the boy is pretty simplistic, compared to his environment, he just doesn't fit in, in terms of modelling i think you can stick with him, but he needs better textures, he's just too flat right now, the granny is much better, looks like you spent more time on her. there are also a few collision issues with him, not sure if that can be fixed or not, mainly with his arms colliding with his shirt, standard stuff, but it popped out to me. the animation is very smooth, great work on that, and i love the atmosphere, it is relatively slow moving, but i think that was more the concept than the actual piece. other than that, it's amazing work:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[WhiteRabbitObj]

Ahh! I saw parts of this piece on the big screen at SCAD a week ago when I came down (gonna transfer in the spring hopefully (read: if they don't dick me out of credits)). It's pretty cool but kind of sad too, poor Grandma! And I love this Invader Zim inspired grandma walk at the end.

There seems to be a real disparity in the quality of texturing, animation, lighting, and basically everything, from shot to shot though. I read briefly on your site (it's late, don't have time to sift through it properly right now) that there was/is two people working on this? I don't know if that may be the culprit or if different shots were completed at different times (I know I certainly improve drastically over the course of a single project) but it's kind of wierd. I think part of the problem is a lack of a unity of visual style. There are a number of things that stand out most to me upon my first viewing of this in its entirety here, I'll go through each.
First of all, Grandma's dress has no bump texture to it from far away, as you would expect, but when you get close it's very bumped, overdone I think and not even necessary for this piece. I think that that particular bump map should just go entirely, because the character isn't aiming for hyper-real.
Second, the boy stands out in his simplicity of texturing because of the surroundings being very well done. The opening shot of him in the car was so beautiful and then he gets out and is standing on the driveway against an obvious 2D background and it kind of jars the eye. I think the background isn't necessarily the problem but the boy just kind of clashes. When he is in the house he is a little better, I think because it's not in full light, but it's still a little wierd.
Third, I love the scummy mucus dripping stuff, it's disgusting but very well done. It reminds me a lot of the liquid in Shrek (which was poorly done for a professional studio but for a student to do it is awesome). However, that is so realistic it's also kind of jarring because the rest is more cartoony. I don't know how you might solve this problem but it's not really a biggy, I have a feeling those mucus shots were some of your favorite, judging by how much time must have gone into them.
Next, when the boy runs to the door to escape, the walk cycle is just bad. He seems to be floating and is moving sort of like the alien-dressed-as-a-woman from Mars Attacks! I looked over it again to make sure it's not just the camera moving in front of him and I don't think it is. I think that that could be improved a lot.

I think that's it for the criticisms. I love the story because nothing is accomplished, here at RIT they are all about the characters being somehow fundamentally changed after a minute and a half animation, which is ridiculous! So this is nice and fresh, heh. I'd say other than that walk cycle I complained about, the animation in this was excellent and the lighting throughout was very good (though sometimes it struck me as inconsistent shot to shot). The visual modeling style was also good and the toonshaded cartoons were a nice touch. I don't know if this is a work in progress for school or if you are finished and done, but it's very good and anything going back to be fixed now would be just making it perfect.

I give it four buttrockers!
:buttrock: :buttrock: :buttrock: :buttrock:

[Anubis]

Yeah, we feel the same way about a lof of those aspects, the continuity things are from lack of time (We completed this in 4 months). Thanks for some of the criticism, and HEY you were right on, check out this that I redid last week, tyell me what you think.. heh:

http://chrisevans3d.com/temp/shot63_test04.mov

I'm still not too pleased with that run though.

I'm unsure what to do about the kid, I don't know how I should better texture him (he's supposed to have a soft, smooth face) and if I did, I would have to re-render the entire project :D

As far as granny's mumu bump, yeah I think it's the lighting, it always has that same bump, but the AA kills it from far away, that's a shot I might completely re-render.

Thank you so much, I hope other people can give me such great information and criticism. And if you think f anything else, don't hesitate to let me know.

CE

[WhiteRabbitObj]

Oooh, I like that new render much more, he definitely doesn't look like he's floating so much. I also forgot to say in my original post that the geometry design with everything being kind of off kilter is very cool!

[bobba]

At final, granny shouldn't turn to a spider, and too much TV. Can I have your clonetrooper helmet.

[Anubis]

What are you talking about? I don't think I own a helmet.

CE

[WhiteRabbitObj]

Originally posted by bobba
At final, granny shouldn't turn to a spider, and too much TV. Can I have your clonetrooper helmet.

What are you talking about indeed. So what if there is Terminator and Invader Zim references in it? It's still funny and the story is fairly original. Don't just come out and start ripping on people unless you want to make a bad name for yourself, especially as a new member. Constructive criticism, not childish name-calling.

[Anubis]

I think he's really talking about a real helmet, he private messaged me saying he was referring to the WIP I had on the SciFi3D forum. I'm not on that.

heh..

Actually the story was reflective on childhood, and kids are very impressionable, T2 left a great impression on me and my friend, I was 11 years old when it came out. Plus we did it as an almost tribute to the teacher who inspired us more than anything to get this project done. He worked on T2, Tron, and some other things.. He really inspired us more than I think he will ever know.

As far as invader zim, I actually had the idea before ever seeing that. A long time ago, when teaching myself how IK works, I made a character with arms like that that came out of his stomach/ around his back. With granny, coming out of the stomach would have had us making/rigging another model, so they came out of her back, which was obscured from the camera.

Some interesting info. The animation originally ended at the door. And had only one saliva shot, the dentures. In one day, we added the last two shots, and all the saliva.

The idea of the new ending was to get you thinking the kid just had an overactive imagination and feel sorry for granny, then reveal that he was right all along. Throught the animation you can actually see/hear clues that she is a robot.. For instance: the shot of him in the driveway at the beginning, you can see a discarded robot arm in the trashcan before it falls out of the DOF.

CE

[marugie]

Well done for the animation i really like it and i have showed it to quiet a few people..i first saw it a few months ago and come to think of it, i dont even know how i got it..
Anyway i enjoyed but i do believe that the pace of the animation could do with some work. Maybe tighter editing or even deleted scenes. I jsut think that it starts off really well and professionally and you are immediatel drawn into it. But then it is somewhere on the couch scenes where you start to wander a bit only to be kicked back into it towards the end with the granny's face coming off and the goo etc... So i dont really know how that could be remedied but that is really my only crit for it.

Otherwsie great little story, characters and ideas

I look forward to seeing the new and improved one soon.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Anubis]

What specific shots around the couch? The granny entrance is kinda long, but it's her intro, I don't know, I've been looking at this thing too long.

CE

[hugo.m]

hmmmm...you should spend a few more days tweeking the animation. Looked a bit stiff. Add more facial expressions too. Overall, it has potential.

[bobba]

What I mean was TV decrease the element of 3D, and the granny can show her red eye unmask etc!

[jjburton]

Nice work Anubis, I saw this last year and actually on the outdoor screen at Montgomery Hall too:D. I'm a fellow SCAD LWer. Congrats on a great piece!

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