3D Short Film: THE LOST ARTIFACT

[snipa101]

loved the texturing and animations, great work! i was a little lost of the point, what was the point of the girl? maybe im not reading into this deep enough. but great work either way!

[Craneb]

Very nice work guys.Really great effort.:applause: :thumbsup:

[modi]

the avi dosen't work. what codec is it???

[REZI-st]

realy good work with amazing atmosphere :applause: :thumbsup: :drool:

[Ultragames]

Very nice, not sure about the plot... But nice.

[Pjanssen]

Very impressive ! :thumbsup:
The only thing is the end, it's a little sudden (I didn't expect it to end this way)

[Slater]

Thanx for the comments everyone, they are greatly appreciated.

modi: The codec is Miscrosoft AVI Mpeg 4.

:beer:

[Sceme]

hey wow, this must get plugged!! i loved that mood u got there...u should make one better version...higher resolution and maybe divx....very cool:thumbsup:

[modi]

Originally posted by Sceme
...higher resolution and maybe divx....very cool:thumbsup:
:bounce:

[iNFERNiS]

wow very nice, I can only agree with the other comments; great atmosphere!

Nice camerawork and animation too. Storing this one into my 3D shorts archive :D

diggin' it! :thumbsup:

[lildragon]

Loved it, very well done and thought out, I really dug the atmosphere and the character animations themselves were a pleasure to watch. Did you get reference from Pixar's "Boo" for your lil girl? Cause she's cute as well ;). All in all wonderful short, you too should be very proud. It's now plugged on the frontpage and it's scheduled to go live on 3Dfestival.com within an hour.

salud!

[roguenroll]

very nice, specially like the texures, great:eek:
modelling was vast, extremely nice

[Kid-Mesh]

Very nicely done, I actually felt sorry for the little girl when she realized he couldnt see her at first.

[visualboo]

Originally posted by lildragon
Loved it, very well done and thought out, I really dug the atmosphere and the character animations themselves were a pleasure to watch. Did you get reference from Pixar's "Boo" for your lil girl? Cause she's cute as well ;). All in all wonderful short, you too should be very proud. It's now plugged on the frontpage and it's scheduled to go live on 3Dfestival.com within an hour.

salud!
Which Boo? ;) :beer:

[DeathBrain]

Great Maya stuff...:applause:

[lildragon]

Originally posted by visualboo
Which Boo? ;) :beer:

you know in Monsters Inc :surprised

-lild

[SoLi]

i thought it was beautiful.

[moroten]

Beautiful, atmospheric, stylish, sad. I felt bad for the little girl. But the ending was too abrupt, I expected something comforting to happen, maybe the TV set contained a playmate for the girl in some way. Or the miner got an electrical shock from the TV, died and could stay with her in the mine. Or the TV was a portal to the afterworld, sort of the unplugged "light tunnel to heaven" that she could venture through, a bit like the rabbit in BlueSky's Bunny movie. Just a few ideas. Nevertheless, great job.

-Daniel

[urgaffel]

I can't watch it :cry: Anyone got the codec handy?

[Slater]

WOW! :eek: Thanx lildragon for the plug on the front page!

For all of you who would like to see a high-res version I can have one up in a couple hours.

We had a different ending in mind too... where the miner sits beside the girl on the couch and puts his arm around her, but we decided to go for the "unexpected" ending to hopefully leave people thinking...

Cheers everyone! :beer:

- Galen.

[BladeFX]

Realy loved it.
I thought that the little girl every moment could change into something quit ugly and scary.

:thumbsup:

[DeathBrain]

Originally posted by urgaffel
I can't watch it :cry: Anyone got the codec handy?
Download here (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/format/codecdownload.aspx) WM Codec 8 for Media Player 6 and WM Codex 9 for Player 9 series
Oh, and of course this codec (http://www.divx.com/divx/)
:wavey:

[Slater]

Hey all, the HIGH RES Divx version is now on the first post!

:D

DeathBrain: Thanx for linking up the WM codec.

[QuantumPixel]

Galen and I had a lot of fun working on this project together. It being our first major production we had to develop our own little production pipeline and ways of doing things. Over all a great learning experience and a perfect way to finish up school. Personally I am very happy and proud of what we have achieved. Thanks to every one for there positive comments.

Cheers.
VFS, CDIS grad
feastlish@hotmail.com
www.boygonemad.com

[Technofreak]

about time you put your stuff on here guys :)

hmmm ...what else can i say ....except that the next project will
be 10x better ? ;)

-mike

[Mangled Poly]

download link isnt working

[Rodi]

Really enjoyed the animation and effects, the camera work, im also not sure about the ghosty girl...Excellent stuff guys...
Give us some technical information you care to share...

[Bliz]

Hi-Res link doesn't seem to be working.......:hmm:

[Geckopunk83]

:bounce:
ooo an ai-CDIS animation on the front page
take that you VFS twerps :p
lol im kiddin,gotta give some respect to the other schools in the area
either way cool to see some fellow students getting props like this. good job
hey Matt, Bob was saying that isnt your demoreel and your workin on that now..how the hell u pull that off? :surprised :thumbsup:

[John Lee]

Excellent and congrats on getting it finished!!!

[rmatlchans]

wanna see ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:bounce: :bounce:

[BonoMan]

well done but the pacing is a bit off.

For instance in the beginning the guy breaks the handle off of the rail car...and then that's it. We don't have a clue what happens to him. If that part is just meant to be a little humorous opening (which I took it as) and we're not supposed to care about him, then I'd make it a little more exagerrated. It just doesn't work right now as it is. It's too....I dunno...under-acted.

Also the ending is way to abrupt....I don't quite understand what's happening. So he finds this girl...and that's it?

That being said however I love the piece...the style is beautiful and most of the animation is great. I also love how you worked the credits into the piece...very cool.

So in conclusion:

The beginning is underacted and the ending doesn't feel resolved.

[QuantumPixel]

I did half the work so as to it not being my demo; it is as much mine as it is Galen’s.

Allot of people have said that the ending is too abrupt and the beginning is left not knowing what happens to the driver. The way looked at it was a brush through time sort of the path of a fly that observes and watches actions of others that are happening as it fly’s through the environment. No it is not supposed to be from the point of view of a fly. You could look it that way though.


Our goal was to create a visually entertaining 3D short film with the feeling of a regular work day until out of chance a secret tunnel is uncovered and a room is found.

[QuantumPixel]

I graduated from the one year certifacate program at Vancouver Film School in Aug. 2000.

so don't nock VFS grads.

[Talos]

was this a cdis project, or something to do with hotdogday?

[Slater]

was this a cdis project, or something to do with hotdogday?
This was a film that Matthew Baldwin and I made while attending CDIS. It has nothing to do with Hot Dog Day Entertainment.

[facial]

Really great stuff here. :thumbsup:

[Nick Unden]

Hey hey!!

Good work you guys! :bounce: It's finally done eh? Well the hard work looks like it certainly paid off! I really liked the lighting.

Nicely done! :thumbsup:

[lildragon]

What more can I say that hasn't been said already! Again congrats to you both on a wonderful short.

You have received the CGtalk choice award .Please feel free to display this image anywhere you like! Excellent work!

upon receiving this award, it guarantees you a spot in the cgtalk gallery hall of fame (http://gallery.cgtalk.com) - which you are now placed

http://www.cgtalk.com/plug_award/cgtalk_award_june03_2.jpg

P.S. Please email me @ tito@cgnetworks.com so I can send you the award .psd file

salud

[unwrap]

This is incredible. Very real characters and environment. I still can't understand how you people do the sounds, is it done in 3D software, or other?

[Slater]

Sergage,
The sound was done in post in a wave editing program called Pro Tools. It lets you layer multiple sound effects and music to get a soundrack that fits your needs.

[BonoMan]

Originally posted by boygonemad
not knowing what happens to the driver. The way looked at it was a brush through time sort of the path of a fly that observes and watches actions of others that are happening as it fly’s through the environment. No it is not supposed to be from the point of view of a fly. You could look it that way though.




That is exactly the way I looked at it! We're just a casual observer to that incident on our way to the meat of the story.

That being said however, since it's just used for a comedic element, it could have been a little more over-acted. Woulda made it more effective.

It's still great though!

[Frank dong]

good work

[VitoVonAntwon]

Guys,

Your animation is excellent but your plot has many holes.

You must remember that any good story has a beginning, middle, and an end; has a dramatic conclusion in which the protagonist gains or loses something. Without that, why should we care?

Yours doesn’t have a beginning and an end.

Problem 1
You never introduce character's that don't move the plot along and command so much screen time. The guy on the train was cool, but if I deleted most of it except the beginning, and keep it as what it should be; (an establishing shot of the mine) you would have better flow of storyline. Better to get rid of the stick breaking and close up's of the train operator. He isn't a major character. He isn't even a minor character, unless you bring him back later on.

Or, instead.. let me rephrase that.

You have the introduction backwards. You introduce the train operator (a nobody char) in a cool, interesting way, but your main character is introduced in a rather boring way. I would replace the train operator with your main character, and have the train derail after the stick-breaking thing, throwing him, into the secret cave, and have his hardhat go out, or flicker. Add a prop, somthing in the ground sticking out that gets him interested, cut into the part where he is digging. (with the part comped in? or Re-render a few frames) Now that would be a dramatic entrance. (Now you have a reason to include the train)
If you built it for some other reason, like a 20 sec establishing shot, you're wasting resources. Look at the commentary on monster's Inc. They wanted to build a tricked out high poly car for the opening shot, and they just figured out it was way to time consuming. They had the monsters walk to work instead. That allowed them to add in all kinds of site gags relating to people on the way to work.

Problem 2
Main Character breaks into this cave, and finds a lost artifact? You could do so many things from here, but choose to have him, interact with a ghost. Then he turns on the TV, which really should start the story, not end it.

Problem 3 prop problems.
I would have liked to see him find a ring or something connected to the girl. The sofa and TV thing just don't seem right as props, maybe a jail cell, or something that would be a rational reason. More importantly something that helps establish why a little girl would be in a mine.

Problem 4 The title
So what was the Lost artifact, theTv?
The couch? Be aware that the name of the title has implications. If the lost artifact is the TV, Then what time period does the story take place, the far future, where a TV is an artifact? Where are all the high tech gadgets then. Choosing your props is very important, and everything you put in your story, if it doesnt' help the story line, should be taken out.

The second main character (girl) is done well, but an enigma. (She adds a dimension to your story ut really should be reserved for a larger plot. She gains recognition from the miner, but is that enough gain, and what about the main character what does he gain, or learn? He shows emotion which is great, but then what?) Concentrate on what happens to the main character. Maybe he finds a jack in the box, or trap that the miner avoids. Or change what the girl does. Maybe she guides him to "the Lost artifact" instead of waving, have her point. Or keep the wave, and instead of the guy hitting the tv, she points to The lost artifact. WHich he
touchs, and it sets her free. (Maybe 10 more shots?)

For the scope of your demo, you should have focused more on the assets you already built. (get more use out of your props) Used only 2 characters, instead of 3. And storyboard your story out first, and giving it to a third party to see if they can make sense of it. (like focus groups that big marketing companies use.)

In terms of a demo reel, first rate stuff.
Good rigging, good sense of weight,
Good interaction between the girl and guy. Great enviornments.

Work on plot before your next short.
Dedicate more time to preproduction, it is easier to make all the changes with an eraser.

Make sure it has a beginning middle and end. Add shots and props that only move the story ahead or introduce characters. Make sure the main character gains or loses something of great worth. Even if it's just a simple insight that he never saw before.

You will be unstoppable.

Sorry if I sound harsh, just want to see guys like yourselves who do so much great work and then have everyone say, "great job but..." Doing great 3d CG is like 50% of your total end product. Like Mr. Steve Jobs mentions, “Story is most important.”

VitoVonAntwon
Writer/3d animator

[QuantumPixel]

Nice, I admire your prospective in story telling. The Lost artifact is the TV, in a post apocalyptic age were things are built form scraps and make shift parts there are no high teck gadgets and gismos. I like the idea of having the train smash into the digging room that would be a grand opening. That way the secret passage could have been uncovered by then means of the train and then the miner could have helped the driver out and they could have both found the room together creating more opportunity for character interactions.

For this short film Galen and myself concentrated more on a visually interesting project not concerned to mush with story we wanted to make sure that it had good flow between shots and a good message in the end.

Then ending could have been improved by having the ghost and the miner sit on the couch together after the TV is turned on I think that might have closed it up a little better. Also I agree with you on cutting out the driver close up shots interlay and making the train sequence a little shorter.

Thanks for the positive notes

Matthew Baldwin
feastlish@hotmail.com
www.boygonemad.com

[ShizamBam]

Really great video by the way

Whats the name of the songs playing at the begining of the video clip & at the end?

[QuantumPixel]

The sound is pretty cool A. I am a Canadian A. he he.

Um the sound through the whole thing is originally created by Kevin Wiled a graduate of AI CDIS. We gave him a good idea of what we wanted and he did it. Just recently we had him do some little touch ups on the sound its a little better. He added a little more sound for the driver (IE:)"grunts, breathing reactions"

And a few things when the digger finds the secret entrance he has more emotional sounds.

Cool if you ever find a use for my talents I need a job.


3D is so great.


www.boygonemad.com 2D 3d aniamtion and design

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