Azureus Rising - Proof of Concept

[adamcoggin]

Thanks for posting this Chris!

I'm really excited to finally get the chance to share this. This was an independent film from David Weinstein, and I'm proud to say I worked on it. I was the CG Supervisor for the project - my duties included lighting, look development, compositing and some FXs work.

I recommend watching it in 720 HD - full screen - with the volume turned up! I hope you all enjoy it. Please share it with your friends! Here are some screen grabs below - for more of them visit the website here: azureusrising.com (http://azureusrising.com/) Thanks!

http://azureusrising.com/images/stories/simple_image_gallery/azr_azureusrisingdotcom_03.jpg


http://azureusrising.com/images/stories/simple_image_gallery/azr_azureusrisingdotcom_01.jpg

http://azureusrising.com/images/stories/simple_image_gallery/azr_azureusrisingdotcom_09.jpg

http://azureusrising.com/images/stories/simple_image_gallery/azr_azureusrisingdotcom_11.jpg


- Adam Coggin

--Lead Lighter - Sony Computer Entertainment
adamcoggin.com (http://adamcoggin.com/)
http://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcoggin

[jfalgout]

Great work!

I was an animator on this project and had a great time working with everyone involved. As Adam mentioned the film is best viewed in 720 HD. I hope you all enjoy it.

- Justin Falgout

Cinematic Animator - Sony Computer Entertainment
www.justinfalgout.com (http://forums.cgsociety.org/www.justinfalgout.com)
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/justin-falgout/2/278/312

[Kianu8802]

Simply fantastic i have no words. More then an amazing job.

How many were you working on this short film?
And did you do this for a contest or anything else?
Thanks and again outstanding job.

[ivanisavich]

Everything looks fantastic and super polished! I really like the main character design, and the robots he was fighting looked great too. City was amazing, animation was phenomenal.

My only concern is the complete lack of suspense due to the fact that the hero appears to be invincible. It's great watching him hop around and dodge bullets, but when he's totally untouchable to hordes of enemies the film becomes boring. I realize this is just a proof of concept though, probably to flesh out the technical aspects of the project more than anything....so the "story" isn't really critical here.

Looking forward to seeing how this develops :)

Oh, and one question: what was the total development/production time for this short, and how many people were working on it?

[Destrega]

Yes the story is pretty easy and straight forward, really kind of seen a thousand times...
But the animation and all other technical aspects are totaly awesome. movements of the hero together with camera is really smooth and not so hyper fast as in transformers for example.
So very good direction here, and very talented 3d artists. Nice work

[phildlight]

:applause: WOW! Very good! The flow of time and the whole concept is top notch! Great work!

[ragdoll]

that is one sexy video! sexy blue dragonball hair! i love it. :thumbsup:

[leigh]

I'm personally not a huge fan of the particular style you've used, but the film is nevertheless really well executed. I do think you could have had some calmer camera moves here and there, but I guess you were using the crazy camera moves to relay the idea of energy and action, so it works in that context. Well done to everyone involved.

Plugged!

[MasonDoran]

HaHa, I was sitting on my hands to post this first, fantastic job guys.

[705]

super awesome work :thumbsup:
but i might advice to add some particle effect, blurring/focus, color toning, some post effect details would be very helpful.

but again, super awesome :)

[meyers3d]

Wow, that dude is one badass. I love it! Excellent work :thumbsup:

[Dennik]

Very well done. I'm amazed by the quality of it!
And I'm surprised this wasn't done in Japan but in US!

[AIR]

GReat conceptual short!!

[Nyro]

Great! Just they type of action I love :)

I really dig the style and the general movement/velocity, never the less I was distracted by some... well... 'poor' animation choices, which I don't understand because the animation in general was quite superb. The issues I had for example would be in the shot where the protagonist is first surrounded by infantry enemies. You hear them coming, but you don't see them (they're simply 'there' in the next shot). this maybe was due to time constraints. But the fact that they don't react at all when he pops the funny little marble is strange. They're absolutely rigid (instead of backing away cauteously). The protagonist also doesn't really seem to breath. You only hear it, but you don't see it alot.

Still, I'm really looking forward to the full feature movie of this one!

[THX1311]

Very impressive Mate!
very Much My style ( Mechs,Cool Armor etc.)
Congrats to all:buttrock:

[Nysuatro]

That was SICK. One of the best action shorts I have seen.

Congratz

[spyxx]

Uou... greatJob ... Animation really good!

[Mrguy]

What a way to start a morning!

Although I did feel some things felt a bit cliche Matrix-y it wasn't enough to hinder my experience. Maybe slow motion will never feel the same because of the Matrix...

Regardless, loved the short! My favorite moments were when the main character landed on the ground and was in a brief moment of confusion.. that was nice to see contrasted against the "perfection" of the hero. I also loved the reveal of the "scorpion tank". Very amazing!

[Ballo]

Yes technically is awesome, but I need to know why the character is there. The city in ground floor is so empty and the lighting is a little flat sometimes.

Really good jobn by the way, you should be proud!

[KielFiggins]

Wow! This came out amazing! Congrats David, I know you poured yourself into this project for a long while.

I'm really excited to have been a part of it!

I was an Animator on this short. I worked on the Scorpion climbing off the building, Getting rattled with bullets (Close up) and finally getting belted with Bullets/Backing up Covering/Re emerging.

Fanstastic to see it in all of its glory.

Great job to the entire team.

[thepineman]

definitely this one has great potential for the big screen!

[DWheezy]

Great job to everybody involved! Turned out absolutely fantastic.

Thanks to Dave for giving me the opportunity to animate a handful of the shots. Couldn't have asked to work on a cooler project.

[Grgeon]

Awesome work guys! I'm super impressed. Hope it pays off for all of you, especially David. Great work man.

-George

[pskourie21]

Amazing Dave!! Im constantely in WOW everytime I see it. Congrats on winning the festival too!!! Wish I had the chance to work on it like Justin, Dan, Ken and Justin. See you at work ;P

[leif3d]

Wow! Nice!
Although I feel it can improve here and there, it was an incredible thrill ride.
Can't wait to see more.

[BColbourn]

very well done! really liked the camera work and the lighting of the cityscapes

[Ryoku]

So nice! The style of environment is great, animation, modeling, and everything else. Only thing is I found myself saying "I knew this was gonna happen", since the action seemed a little cliche. Anyway congrats on finishing such a short, I enjoyed it.

[liquidhalf]

Very well put together. The animation and lighting is top notch! The sound design isn't over the top and really adds a lot. Great proof of concept!

[Gio Nakpil]

Awesome work Dave!! I know it will pay off big time for you guys...I've a feeling it will be THE big project many of us in the industry will be working on in the near future once the movie gets rolling! :)

[Gloor]

Everything looks fantastic and super polished! I really like the main character design, and the robots he was fighting looked great too. City was amazing, animation was phenomenal.

My only concern is the complete lack of suspense due to the fact that the hero appears to be invincible. It's great watching him hop around and dodge bullets, but when he's totally untouchable to hordes of enemies the film becomes boring. I realize this is just a proof of concept though, probably to flesh out the technical aspects of the project more than anything....so the "story" isn't really critical here.

Looking forward to seeing how this develops :)

Oh, and one question: what was the total development/production time for this short, and how many people were working on it?

I second that. Technical side of it is brilliant. All aspects are really great and I loved the animation. The story on the other hand is not that interesting. As ivanisavich pointed out, you really quickly get the feeling that he is above all and I quickly lost interest in the story. He has 2 guns that are above everything and 1 sword that cuts through anything. Everything else against him is mediocre etc. so we know that he will win no matter what.

Other than that it looks awesome. Looking forward to see more and hope that there will be more.

[nocturne33x]

The best part about this short is the speed at which the character moves. So many people try to bring reality to the movement but this character makes every movement exactly and precisely. I think the money shot is when the characters foot slides towards the camera and then flips on a heel to duck behind the vehicle. Excellent work to all who were a part of this.

[zugz]

I was the FX Animation Lead for the film so I got to work on quite a few shots, but I never saw the film as a whole. Now seeing it all put together with sound, I am incredibly happy with the way it turned out. Great job to everyone who worked on it and congratulations to David for putting it all together.

[MasonDoran]

Congrats guys!

I did a great deal of the texturing and shader work, and can vouch that some things did indeed have time constraints. -especially when you have to balance it with a full time job during the day.

eg: The final battle sequence environment shots had only a week for modelling and texturing the buildings and street.

I am also seeing it for the first time in what amounted to about 2 years of work, so very pleased to see it finished.

[Whitmire]

I loved this.
Great work to all who worked on this.
The style is great!

[seanser]

I have to agree with comments praising the the stunning design and technical elements but critical of some of the other aspects of the short.

The shot where the enemy robots stand in a prolonged stare while the central character plays about with a little ping pong bomb behind it's back seems highly unrealistic within the scheme of this universe and as such it is very irritating. Same again when the heavily armored scorpion mech takes forever to fire while the hero hides behind a little car. There comes a point when suspense and interest become lost with the perception that the hero has no frailties, it reached the point where I dearly wanted the scorpion to blow his head clean off in the final shot.

Having said that, the characters and city environment designs do look terrific.

[sathe]

Awweeessooomeee!!!
Was really great to work on it with you David and Hope it gets turned into a film!

Finally can show the scorpion to people haha Yess!! :D

(http://sathe.cgsociety.org/gallery/883591/)

[astitchintime]

The burning scorpion looked amazing, the change of focus on wide shots were amazing, the direction and animation and modeling were all amazing.

Yes there were some cliched parts but the little things like slicing off the leg so the scorpion fell were pretty dam good :D

Not struck on the blue lifeless hair but it's a personal thing.

10 out of 10 for sure.

[Delucubus]

Amazing work!

The shot and animation of him rolling the flash bomb thing in his fingers is awesome!

One suggestion for any future work on this, which I think is fairly important, is that I want to see his face! I never feel a connection with the character, and this could help put him in peril (like a previous comment). Maybe it's for mystery at this point or just time constraints, but being able to see his face and his eyes would connect us so much more to him and let us care about his situation (even if it is just being bad a** and blowing up some giant robots)

But as a technical / style proof of concept, well done!

[Mikee3D]

Fantastic work!
The animation was very nice and the camera work really portrayed the movement well.

Congrats!

[aaltomar]

Critique: when the character zips around with bullet like speed, the speed doesn't seem to apply when he's actually animated running? Which to me was closer to realistic movement than what the character seemed to be able to achieve.

Though I really liked the burning scorpion :)

[Imaver]

Amazing work! I really liked the animation, camera movement and overall atmosphere! Great job! :thumbsup:

[Klemen]

Wow, great job! It has that anime feel to it, I like it and style fits the action perfectly! :)

Congratulations!

[kybel]

great anime stuff

[mayazeus]

Amazing job guys! Animation and camera work was amazing. Beautiful style. Congrats

[stuh505]

The special effects are really awesome! This was far better quality than I was expecting even for CGTalk.

However, I had a difficult time actually enjoying the special effects simply due to the poor fight choreography. It seemed like all the bad guys were just standing around like idiots, never shooting until it was too late, and missing every single shot. Equally boring was the fact that the main character has a habit of standing perfectly still to accentuate the idiocy of his enemies who do not shoot at him, and then always moving away at light speed before the bullets hit him. I feel like this type of cheesy fight choreography has been done a million times to the point where it simply is not entertaining at all.

A good fight must captivate the viewer by making him actually worried about the fate of the protagonist. However, the protagonist must overcome these seemingly impossible odds in a realistic way...even though it seems impossible at first to the viewer. This is why, for example, the fights were so good in Terminator or Avatar.

[TwinSnakes]

You guys did this in your spare time? Geesh, very impressive. I really liked the character animation the most. You didnt have alot of time to give the environment more live, but I appreciate the attention to the animation of the characters.

When the rocket exploded on the spider and it started burning, the FX there was great!

[Flunky3D]

I really enjoyed every minute of this short.
The effects, animation and camera work are really stunning.

Well done to al of the hard workers on this project!
Can't wait for it to be a animated series or movie!

[sMesh]

Simply awesome! The characters design, the style of the animation, the choice of colors, the lighting... I really love everything about this short movie!
This is a perfect CG anime!

[travishowe]

Normally I agree with Tyson, but I actually felt the suspense and danger in this was very well-executed. He's a badass, for sure, and the bad guys don't seem like a huge challenge to him, but that scorpion didn't seem like a walk in the park.

The animation style is incredible to me. The quick shot where he slides his hands along the bottom of a (bridge?) as he's descending thru the city was an inspired and awesome touch!

Great work!!!

[liquidhalf]

You guys did this in your spare time? Geesh, very impressive. I really liked the character animation the most. You didnt have alot of time to give the environment more live, but I appreciate the attention to the animation of the characters.

When the rocket exploded on the spider and it started burning, the FX there was great!

Yeah, done by a handful of guys in their spare time after work.... pretty amazing.

[DerrickG]

Phenominal Animation! wow..... now I have a benchmark to reach!

[mahircelik]

great job love it!

[stouckol]

That was awesome, really inspiring :bowdown:

[Dare-o]

Loved it. :applause:

The scorpion part really reminded me of the robot spider chase in final fantasy 8.

[matlars]

What can one add to this but, excellent work!.

Hope it goes well for your future plans.

/Mathias

[Kanga]

Yeah you have seen the story type a zillion times, this one is done really well. I think the style is also very clever. Just enough stuff for the dynamic and not too much so that it becomes stiff. The character design is way brilliant, overall design as well. The animation and camera work are cartoony enough to keep this fresh. Framing, direction and lighting very attractive (also fx ).

Really great stuff, and fun!

Edit, we always forget sound design and score,..... not crappy for sure!

[gonkdroid]

awesome!

both weird and cool feeling to see some of your own modeling in a short for the first time.

congratulations to all involved.

[jtvergarav]

The scale is just nuts!!!
contrary to a coomment someone made earlier, I think the cameras are insane, not too shaky, not too still.

some stuff I'd love to see was the motivation of the character to be there, even though I like suspense.

Also, as some people has said in some way, the character was way too perfect en every aspect.. so for me it was hard to empathize with him.

and the technical aspect was terrific, there's a lot to learn from you all

[BrettSinclair]

Very cool. The animation was extraordinary. Congrats

[pum]

Very cool to see the end result!

The animation is just breath taking.

[JoshBowman]

I liked all the slow-mo, slashing and the ka-booms but other than that i felt this didn't have any sort of personality of it's own. Felt like a wanna-do-cool-CG sequence ripping off Ghost in the Shell.

The believability of his physical abilities just wasn't there for me either, it looked cool, but the fact that he didn't just fast dash across and cut the legs off in the first place as well as accelerating even faster out of the superfast run just took it out of the believability realm (for me).

[Katachi]

I agree, the visuals were amazing! Also the cams and animations were fantastic. Absolutely cool and stylish moves. Maybe sometimes a bit too heroic but very aesthetic how he jumps down the buildings.

However, without sounding unfair, the unrealistic plot and the highly unrealistic action is really tearing this down for me. It´s like when I see a blockbuster and say "wow, the visuals were great but the plot sucked".
The laser guns were the only part that was realistic in that they started shooting at the unidentified object instantly. Which made me wonder even more why soldiers standing minutes with pointed guns, waiting for the guy to do something and wondering what the unknown metallic sphere might do? Same for the ship and the scorpion. Waiting for the invader to run away before shooting although they target him way longer before? No way for them to calculate the physically most accurate flight path when he jumps up although they have enough AI to control their own multi-body kinetics and weapon systems (must be a c64)? What were they waiting for? And the guy having a sword that cuts the steel of the scorpion but his weapon doesn´t even produce a scratch (nobody ever thought about making bullets out of the sword material? hmmm)? Nope, I really cannot give any score for this.

So it´s 3 stars from me for the overall work.

[LOTK]

Very nice action short, I enjoyed the hacking and slashing and the overall feel.

I have to agree with others on the plot and the invincibility of the character...he could at least get some scratches:P I believe the animation, effects and overall quality is really good technically, well done.

But the one thing I found way unrealistic is the huge leaps the character makes without getting any damage. At least from what is conveyed the hero is human or partly human. So, it is not physically possible, even with a "Metal Gear Solid" exoskeleton, to do 50-100m leaps towars any direction, without sustaining internal body damage from the impacts.

great stuff!

[SebloursoN]

Amazing !!! :love:

[TMunro]

Absolutely brilliant work. It reminded me a bit of the modern ninja games shinobi/Ninja gaiden etc. I watched it with my son, who's mad on gundam, he loved the scorpion. About to watch it again. Great work :applause:

[BadG3r]

Loved it!!!

[egselent]

SAVAGE! He's like a mix between spiderman, iron man and neo from the Matrix. How could you not like it!!

[FalseCathedral]

I was the FX Animation Lead for the film so I got to work on quite a few shots, but I never saw the film as a whole. Now seeing it all put together with sound, I am incredibly happy with the way it turned out. Great job to everyone who worked on it and congratulations to David for putting it all together.

the fx were great mike, nice work!

[PhuongDPh]

great work and great comments :beer:

[instruct9r]

Great work to all members of the team and especially to David. I was the Character TD and it looks like we all did some nice work here...... The movie is awesome... :bowdown:

[johnchen]

congratulations, very very solid effort :D

[Sphinxthelion]

That was a beautiful short visually, and the sound was also well done.

Content seemed like a bad japanese animation and every video game on the planet rolled into one. Might as well have put a half naked- sword wielding woman in there with chain mail and a dragon too. or maybe an orc and a knight. And where was the gundams?


P.S>Please, no more scorpion robots.

[TestType]

Technically impressive and amazingly done! You guys deserve some serious praise for your work.

However I must echo all of the negatives said so far. While it looks cool it is very boring, based on this short I cannot see any potential for a feature movie that won't suck. The beginning feels like a shot-for-shot remake of The Matrix Reloaded opening sequence. The guy strikes too many "cool" poses that completely disrupt the action, it gets to be very repetitive and annoying. The whole thing is trying way too hard to be cool. Also I cannot see how this was supposed to display movie potential? It basically has every action cliche you can think of and seems content with simply copying scenes from other movies/animation. It seems to me just as weak a concept as making a movie from the Call of Duty game franchise, which is a collection of games that based their story, scenarios and set-pieces on famous movies.

[ParamountCell]

congratulations guys! amazing stuff!

I would love to see a video making of. This reminds me of the final fantasy versus, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6At_bb1PNU

[THX1311]

I dont mind the Anime cliche's as I am clearly a Fan of Anime.

I Think all who worked on this have overwhelmingly proven they are qualified to work as professionals in the CG Field as CG artists & Technicians which is the main purpose
of such a project IMHO.

Aspiring screen writers should probably post their drafts HERE (http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=156)

[sathe]

I dont mind the Anime cliche's as I am clearly a Fan of Anime.

I Think all who worked on this have overwhelmingly proven they are qualified to work as professionals in the CG Field as CG artists & Technicians which is the main purpose
of such a project IMHO.

Aspiring screen writers should probably post their drafts HERE (http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=156)

Pretty much everyone who worked on it is a professional afaik:P
Dave has a lot of solid connections.

[nakimushi]

wow - that's one of the best animations I've seen on cgtalk last months !!!
amazing quality and really nice design of main character
congrats

[Rahl]

Animations, lighting and modelling were all really good in my opinion.

Believe the short wanted to show the technical sides of the producation, not the narratology ones.

[THX1311]

Animations, lighting and modelling were all really good in my opinion.

Believe the short wanted to show the technical sides of the producation, not the narratology ones.

QFA
BTW is there a"making of" of this short ?
I would love to see some shot breakdowns , see what apps were used etc.

[BigPixolin]

Wow! 7,000 levels of awesome in that! Amazing and exciting.

[MasonDoran]

QFA
BTW is there a"making of" of this short ?
I would love to see some shot breakdowns , see what apps were used etc.

The scenes were done in previs first -not sure of the app used for that.

Modellers used their software of choice.

I used Maya and Mudbox for modelling and texturing. Texturing was predominantly photoshop though.

Animated and rendered in Maya and Mental Ray.

Comp was After FX

-not sure about what was usedfor VFX


some of the concept art can viewed here:
http://hideyoshi.deviantart.com/gallery/#_featured

[zugz]

-not sure about what was usedfor VFX


For the shots that I worked on, all of the fire, smoke, dust, tail charge, rocket trails, and explosions were done with Maya fluids and particles.

I think all the electricity was drawn frame by frame.

[plasti]

Awesome! ! !

[Wozner]

I was just preparing for getting to sleep and thought I should get some shot to CGtalk site and saw THIS! I just..... I don't know...... my jaw just crashed the floor and achieved the first floor. Guys! You are awesome, I haven't seen such great short film since the birth of mother earth! I am so excited, I wish to get a few advice from you guys!

[benmillion]

wow that was a pleasure to watch. my heart was pounding, i could feel the adrenaline rush during the many moments of tension.

great everything: timing, animation, lighting, modeling... the list goes on.

really, really fantastic work.

my only comment, is that there's gotta be a better (less trashy) venue than youtube... i.e. vimeo?

[erikals]

yes, please upload it to vimeo, Much better quality!

;)

[darthrevan]

Totally Awesome man.
Are you going to make a second?

[XeroWolf]

There's a 'making of' section on the website.
http://azureusrising.com/

[jussing]

Loved the look and action mood!

Thumbs up for all the great work that's been put into this.

But... you had like five Matrix landing poses in 5 minutes... ;)

[KayPoprawe]

Really fantastic and awesome short. :thumbs up:

[Tingles]

Great work to all involved! Brilliant looking short.
Nice Scorpian Sathe :)

[TraceR]

It's really great when you get done watching an awesome clip like this and you unexpectedly see your classmate's name in the credits and start freaking out. Congrats to Chris and everyone else involved.
:buttrock:

[AlexYaremchuk]

Its very, very good. Character is rather strange and I'd say too manga-like, but the overall production value is fantastic.

[adrencg]

Technically awesome. I love the art design and style, the editing, the action choreography -- although a little heavy on the sci/comic book cliches.

The only gripe I have is the underwhelming explosion from the particle beam weapon on the scorpion's tail. With that build up, there should have been a giant explosion with mushroom cloud.

[Chong]

I didn't like the concept but the overall execution was pretty damn cool, nice job!

[Lambchopo]

NICE! Great job fellows, especially you Kiel hehe!

[MugenTsukiyomi]

Speechless! this is amazing

[demmery]

Very Awesome. I was really disappointed when it ended, I wish it was longer.

[djrovers123]

:bowdown: great work just amazing and very stylish greattt animation and everythings just awesomeee:) :beer:

[mindsample]

Technically very well executed but I have to say that both the style and story are incredibly tired. I feel there is nothing unique about this, not even visually. In fact it feels gratuitous and completely unaware of how much visual pop culture it is actually mimicking.

It is "just" a technically perfect piece of work.

Despite my negative comments all the best with the next one, and well done for getting it this polished. It is an achievement after all!

[Eru]

Azureus is the story of a young man who after escaping death and enduring a life changing journey - matures into a heroic freedom fighter. Azureus Rising is an epic tale of self discovery, obligation and love against all odds.

Ha! You mean, a childish and boringly-typical sci-fi combat-action franchise that's oriented towards revenues from merchandise-branding and gaming, with a childish and boringly-typical "Hero" story...

Just to get the facts straight, through the obviously deceiving marketing jargon...

Well done technically though...

[Hideyoshi]

Ha! You mean, a childish and boringly-typical sci-fi combat-action franchise that's oriented towards revenues from merchandise-branding and gaming, with a childish and boringly-typical "Hero" story...

Just to get the facts straight, through the obviously deceiving marketing jargon...

Well done technically though...

And who said, this was actually all meant to be shown in this proof of concept?
This is not the final feature with all the story elements which were written and planned to be made into a full length feature (actually 'trilogy' if you care to read!) in the future! How about you get the facts straight...?

[Eru]

Glad to find I made somebody mad...
Had I been wrong, there would have been no need to protect anything, as I would have been simply dismissed as a troll...

Please, listen to yourself: "Proof of Concept"?
Please...
What "Concept" do you think this piece is trying to "Prove"? If it's not the story that needs proving, it's obviously not the focus of the trilogy. Then, why present it as such? That's pure PR "b.s", and every decently intelligent person sees that...

My guess is you're attitude is biased. If a piece is a technical masterpiece of a corny idea, why not make do with the technicality? It's brilliantly done, it's exciting, why should that not be enough? Why the need to romanticize a corny story, and present it as the focus when it so bluntly clear that it isn't? That's classic hypocrisy, and deep down you know I'm right.

[mindsample]

And who said, this was actually all meant to be shown in this proof of concept?
This is not the final feature with all the story elements which were written and planned to be made into a full length feature (actually 'trilogy' if you care to read!) in the future! How about you get the facts straight...?

three feature films based on this - that will be a rather long long empty fight sequence.

I don't approve of the somewhat inflammatory way he gave his feedback either btw. but just because it is a proof of concept does not excuse you from criticism.

This is supposed to be a boiled down, condensed idea of what the three (are you serious?) feature films will be. If the boiled down condensed essence of the project is this cliched and boring then I don't feel inclined to get excited about 3 x 90 minutes of it.

Now all this is my opinion and you obv. will get lots of positive comments on the CG and plenty of fanboys (no negative spin intended) that like that kind of stuff - but guys like me get tired of this stuff very quickly.

I rather spend my time with something else.

Again, well done on the technical side.

[Hideyoshi]

Eru: you do know that 'proof of concept' is a term describing something specific and not words I myself came up with, do you? Wikipedia tells you more.
This short animtion is clearly meant to present the technical possiblities and show the concept of the action animation, choreography, cincematography and camera work and not the story side since that is rarely part of a 'proof of concept'. It actually states many examples on the wikipedia page about how POCs are used to present 'technically difficult tasks' mainly in CG animation.
Giving information about the storyline in the video's description was simply adding background info and not actually referring to what is shown in the video in terms of storyline or character deveopment.

As a side note: I don't see how I was being more inflammatory than people who try to bash this on twisted facts.

[mindsample]

misunderstanding: I meant Eru was more inflammatory than I would have chosen.

[Katachi]

Apart from the discussion what the word proof of concept really means or not, nobody can´t expect people to watch an animation that has a decent description of the story presented and not judge the storyline of the piece.

Crits are always there and should always be welcome and I see no point in starting discussing if crits are appropriate or not. Simply stay on topic and stay polite and constructive.

[leif3d]

Glad to find I made somebody mad...


Common people...don't feed the trolls...

[Chong]

Eru: you do know that 'proof of concept' is a term describing something specific and not words I myself came up with, do you? Wikipedia tells you more.
This short animtion is clearly meant to present the technical possiblities and show the concept of the action animation, choreography, cincematography and camera work and not the story side since that is rarely part of a 'proof of concept'. It actually states many examples on the wikipedia page about how POCs are used to present 'technically difficult tasks' mainly in CG animation.
Giving information about the storyline in the video's description was simply adding background info and not actually referring to what is shown in the video in terms of storyline or character deveopment.

As a side note: I don't see how I was being more inflammatory than people who try to bash this on twisted facts.

There's no need to insult anyone about anything.
The designs, though seemingly derivative, are still well done in my opinion. It could benefit from more originality but its still a successful 'world'.

The general pacing is what mostly turned me off to the concept, and that IS an important part of selling the idea.
It is too deliberate and doesn't bring anything fun or new to the audience.
I think it could use some editing. Take out some of the long holds and inactivity throughout the short. Right now its too slow and I'm sorry to say, boring.
From an animator's stand-point, the animation was generally awesome but had some small moments of weightlessness.


Some stuff worked really well though.

-I thought the reveal of the scorpion-bot was pretty cool(tail first, pan down and see its a scorpion).
-His general motion and super athleticism was really cool to watch. Some great moments in there and cool details (like deflecting off the overpass as he fell so he could land on the building.
-Even though sword/gun play has been done a lot (especially in games) it was also interesting to watch.
-The idea that his guns activate before he touches them(implying they're connected to him through the suit) ...that was pretty cool too.

Overall I'm just impressed with anyone who actually exectues something like this so well and it deserves praise, no doubt about it. It could just use some refinement.

[Eru]

Common people...don't feed the trolls...


Ha! So I am classified as troll after all? That's new...
(Cool... :buttrock: )

Anyway, no one's insulted. Me and Hideoshi continued the discussion on PM, and suffice to say we cleared out the winds, and I expressed my appreciation to his concept-art design work, which he now posted here (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=133&t=884545). (http://forums.cgsociety.org/here)

[tsyra]

I really enjoyed that video. Excellent job :bowdown:

[JJXu]

Enjoyed the film very much! Very cool and well executed. Congrats on the great job guys!

[Milivoj-Lemonade3D]

There's no price for awesomeness!

[iRFANtgo]

Awesome work..love the action

[Molochai]

You have just inspired me to pick up CG again after having given up many many years ago. Thank you.

Awesome work

[veljko-lemonade]

Love the design and the animation- brilliant!

If you nail the story you have a hit on your hands...

:)!

[AFalk]

Just watched the full sized version of this and have to say that I am impressed. Most recently in this thread, teh comments by Chong echo my own thoughts pretty perfectly. I would dearly love to see another of these proofs done to show how well your team will handle the interactions/dialogs needed to tell the whole tale.

As someone who runs a small studio, if you'd pitrched me --> you'd have my interest but not yet my investment :D Like Chong mentioned, there are some things that could really be done to make this exercise really pop (gorgeous that it is) - and as I mentioned I'd love to see a demonstration of the 'softer' sides of things :D

Regardless, I wish you the best with this one and really hope you can get this fully made! Keep us updated on your progress.

AF

[Chimeara]

Amazing. what suprised me the most was the quality of the choice of camera shots, they worked great!

[Boucha]

Damn Good ... Really Enjoyed :)

[AnalyzerCro]

OUTSTANDING Work!

[suztv]

Awesomesauce!!!

[OutOfInspiration]

daaamn nice stuff.

Is their any 'work in progress' art or a 'making of' online? that would be awesome!

[embryotic]

It's very well done - congratulations i'd be ever so stoked with it myself ;)

But the content is a series of cliched geekgasms - definitely marketable! but not groundbreaking in its imagery or content

I think when you make work of this quality it opens itself up to being compared with films such as The Matrix and the like, and that it can be compared is a great acheivement in itself - well done

[salopla]

S O L I D :thumbsup: .Good job to your team hope you guys get through.

[TyroneMaddams]

Looks cool, reminds me of Akira!!
Congrats to the team :beer:

- Ty

[Anton001]

Loved every second of it:thumbsup:. Animation quality is amazing.Well done

[RVG]

Really enjoyed it, nice style...reminded me of anime at times....the hold in certain poses, the exageration of inertia and holds was amazing.....well done

[ConnortheCraftmaster]

I don't care for the style at all. Its way overused anymore... the first pose of the character is used in almost every action movie since the matrix... I don't mind slow motion effects, but I feel these are overused as well. And really... can you get any more cliche than blue hair?

I understand this is a proof of concept, so I won't bash the lack of purpose/story too much and I'm probably the wrong audience type for it anyways.

As for the positive, I feel the animation was done flawlessly. The character movement was very fluid and some of the shots, camera angles and timing were pretty darn impressive. I especially like the part where the protagonist lands, then the ground shakes (you can almost feel that he's standing on a platform supported by beams) and the light from the ship appears between the feet/legs.

Where slow motion works: At 1:34, the side swipe of the sword looks and feels powerful, this is expertly executed and I really enjoyed this moment in the preview

Where slow motion doesn't work: 1:45 ... too soon after 1:34 and really doesn't add anything to the movie or events occurring. 3:52 I think is also unnecessary. The problem is that every time the sword of the character is used, you almost expect a slow motion, which dumbs down the entire experience in my opinion.

[SUNCHIRP]

Exellent work, I can see the amount of work ( and love ) that's been put into the concept, good luck with this.

Regards.

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