New Videos

So, I've been working on new videos to spruce up my YouTube channel, which needed some love.

I also felt the need to update my reel for 2017.  It's a bit sparse, as I could only put personal projects up this time around, but hopefully everyone likes it.

Dan

New Opening Logo and King Valley Previs

Hey everyone.  Oodles of new stuff coming down the pipeline.  Today, with the move to 1080p, the King Valley scene from Plagarus was just not doing it.  So, decided to bite the bullet and rebuild the scene from scratch using better materials and geometry.  The WIP results of this set so far:

Also, my company logo is about 5 years old, so it's time for a little change and some sprucing up.  It's not terribly great, but it's an improvement, I hope.

As usual, all made in Blender.  But the post processing is now done in After Effects CC 2016.  The lens flare in the logo is provided by a plugin from Video Copilot.

Don't be afraid to watch in 1080p! It's quite a bit nicer. :)

Dan

On Laser Turrets... Part 2

Worked on getting the tutorial finished up.  Just have to review the manuscript and then record the action.

In the meantime, please enjoy this little preview of what can be accomplished with this system!

Hopefully everyone has a safe weekend.

Thanks,
Dan

Plagarus Part Two Released

Hope everyone enjoys it.  Watch in 720p full screen for best results.  It has English closed captioning as well.  This represents several months' worth of work all squeezed into just 2 and a half minutes.  Film making is tedious, slow and hard to do.  But if at least a few people enjoy it, then it was worth it as far as I'm concerned.

So, I hope someone out there likes it.

Thanks to Danny Rivera for helping me out on recording the voice overs and then doing the voice effects afterwards.  Thanks to the Blender community for their help, and thanks to the Blender Institute for making Blender.  I wish there was more one could do to promote such a great piece of software, but I guess the best way to do it is to produce as good art as we can with it so people can see it for what it is.

Hopefully, we get Part 3 out a little sooner this time.

Thanks,
Dan

Adamant Fly-By Test and The 20 Palatine Cruisers

Just a basic fly-by of the star cruiser Adamant.  Minimal post-processing.

Testing out the engine sound design for the starship Adamant, as well as working on lighting and fixing up various technical details on the model.  Probably nearing the end for this project. I've got a few more details to hammer out, as well as simplify some of the invisible geometry.  Basically, just the fine details, now.

Sounds are a mix of several sound effects released under Creative Commons from www.freesound.org.  

Attribution credits:

Matt G - Huge Spaceship Pass (30346)
Melissa Pons - Whoosh Motron Very Low (171588)
Hykenfreak - Deep Space Ship Effect (214663)

Size comparison of main sub-light engine:

 Dan

Part II Scene I

Work continuing.  Animation is going along about at the anticipated speed.  Shot construction and completion is about half of that of Part I, mostly because of the complexity of the second part.  Several sets, this time, and about five characters to animate.

As I did in Part I, I'm using noise modifiers in certain bones on the character rigs to give the illusion of random movement.  Struggling with keeping the characters out of uncanny valley.  The problem will be greatly exacerbated by the very human-like characters in Part III.  Danny and I are starting to look around for a more talented character animator, and I'm looking into re-rigging the character models for the next part.  The current rig isn't sufficient (it's very old, now) for what I'm looking for in performance in the next few parts of the movie.

 Raw Render:

Color Corrected Render:

Sent off the raw cut of Scene I of Part II to Danny this morning, so he can start mixing the sound.  Looking forward to seeing what he's got up his sleeve.

Dan

Viminal Interior Walk Through Animation

Dan

Plagarus Bike Travel Unedited Establishing and Wide Shots

An unedited compilation of the wide angle and establishing shots from the bike travel montage from Plagarus Part II.  Not very exciting, I'm afraid, due to lack of editing and sound, but this gives an idea what's going on so far with the great project that'll never be finished.

Without proper editing, such as cuts to close-ups, or different angles and perspectives, the scene seems to drag.  At least with proper music, it doesn't seem so bad, but the initial shots can be very long, at about 500 frames a piece.

Dan

More Adamant Warp Drop Out

Adamant Leaving Orbit Comp

Dan

Adamant 8/19/13

Dan

Adamant Cruiser Command Deck WIP

Plagarus Animation Blues

Character animation remains the singularly hardest aspect of this movie I've run into.  I think the problem stems from the fact that we see real life people moving all the time, so when a CG character starts doing it on screen, any irregularities immediately start popping up all over the place.

Take this animation I did:

Weighting seems off, as far as I can tell.  There is definitely potential, here, but it just seems very embarrassing, to be honest.  I've asked for help on Blender Artists.  Waiting for any clear advice that'll help me improve on there.  Hopefully by the time the more sophisticated character animation comes along in the film (Parts 3 and 4), we'll have some pretty solid animation ready for the heavy stuff.

Otherwise, I think the film will sag under the weight of the failure at animation, and probably collapse.

Hopefully that doesn't happen!

Dan