Animation Weekend

I managed to make 240 frames of animation this weekend. Exciting times! Maybe the film will start really moving along now. And as far as the texturing goes, I am getting used to the way that it looks, and I actually think it is quite close to what I had imagined it would look like in it's final form. By the time that I finish animating this shot and film it in RCT3, I probably will not have any doubts about using it as the final texture. Sometimes I'm not sure whether it is good or bad when that happens. By "that," I mean the phenomenon where I make something, don't really like it, but I don't change it for a long time, (possibly because I can't [like this instance]) and then later on I decide to keep it that way just because I have gotten used to it. In the worse case scenario, that would be blinding myself to how cruddy a portion of work is, and in the best case, it doesn't really matter and by letting go of my perfectionism I save time. I hope this instance is the second one.

Clear to proceed

I am tentatively proceeding with the animating and filming of the rest of the scenes for The Battle for Axis Muni. The model that I was texturing is presentable, so instead of spending hours agonizing over how I can't get it's texturing to look better, I am starting to animate it. After all, I can always fix the textures later if I feel like they absolutely need to be improved.

March Madness

Well, it's that time of year again, whether I am prepared for it or not. That's right! It's time for....... MARCH MADNESS!!!! It's time for me to make a crazy amount of posts in one month! I have a feeling that I will break last year's record, considering how I am starting at the very beginning of the month this time. It may very well also help me make faster than normal progress on Axis Mundi, since I am having to post so much! I know it has made a difference today, because I got back to work today because it was the beginning of March Madness!

So, about said progress; as of the writing of this post I have finished one new (animated) shot today. I will probably get another one done tonight, though. Also, the last time I gave a length of time for the film was a while ago, so here's a new one: 4 minutes and 16 seconds.

That's about 36 seconds of new footage from when I made this post, which was the last shot that I did before I stopped filming to do Research and Development on the Animated CSO aspect of the production. So you could say that I have done 36 seconds since January 15th, which is pretty much when I was able to start animating.

Completion of the Upper Body

So it turns out that I was a lot closer to finishing the arms than I thought. Now The Warrior of Light's upper body is completely textured. Check it out!

Here's a look at the UV map:

Like I mentioned in my previous post, it's kinda like patchwork. And allow me to take a moment to emphasize the WORK in patchwork. This was definitely a challenge for me, because I had never done any UV mapping before this. There was a lot of editing in Photoshop, then looking back in Blender then editing in Photoshop then.... You kinda get the picture. Anyway, hopefully I'll get better at it and the whole process will speed up a bit.

More Blender stuff

I've been working in blender some more, creating assets that I'll use in The Battle for Axis Mundi. I don't feel like giving away everything as I make it, so I'm not going to post pictures of any of these models. Just thought I'd let you know that I was making something. As far as the Warrior of Light goes, I'll work on him some more when these new models start to become boring to work on. But for now, since I've got something new to work on, the newer models are more exciting.

Texturing

I made a little bit of progress texturing the warrior of light today. I'd say I'm almost halfway finished with his shirt; I got his back and the sides of his chest done. Now I need to do his sleeves.

I don't want to over do it with the screenshots, so just picture it in your head.

Latest Model Update

Good news! The importation of the Warrior of Light model into RCT3 has been an absolutely smashing success!! I would say that the model is 90% accurate to the original. In most shots, the peep looks identical to it's CSO doppelganger:

It is only in shots where the two are juxtaposed that you can see any real differences:

This means that I should be able to switch the "stunt double" for the actual peep, and you really shouldn't notice a difference.

Another great thing is that UV mapping works properly. In order to test UV mapping compatibility in RCT3 without going to the trouble of actually texturing the model how it is supposed to be, I rendered an Ambient Occlusion pass to a UV image of the model's unwrapped mesh. I then used that texture as the model texture. This meant that if the model looked like AO was applied to it in RCT3, then UV mapping works. If the texture looked like a garbled mess, that would mean that UV mapping wouldn't work. 

As it turns out the texture mapped properly. As you can see, there are indirect shadows on the model below, which was rendered in RCT3. Notice the area on his forehead behind the right eyebrow. See how it is dark right behind his eyebrow, and gets lighter farther away? This is the effect that Ambient Occlusion has when rendering. Since the UV texture was mapped properly, these "indirect shadows" show up in the correct places.

As for the SCAD Film Festival: today is the last day that people can submit their films. Then on the 15th the winners will be notified and the online voting for the "viewers choice" will begin.  So......... yeah. Still waiting.

That's all for this update.

Warrior of Light Model

Right now I am smack dab in the middle of waiting for my submission to the SCAD film festival to be judged. In the meantime, I have been making a model of the Warrior of Light, for me to animate and import into RCT3. This of course will be used in The Battle for Axis Mundi.

Here's a screenshot from Blender and a screenshot from RCT3 in a side by side comparison:

Pretty close, eh? I modelled it by hand, based off of reference images that I took in RCT3. So far I have only completed the head, but once the entire thing is finished, I'll be able to import it back into RCT3. It should look exactly the same as the original peep, but since I can animate it, it will be able to kick bad-guy-butt in a spectacular, cinematic fashion.

Chunk

I got to spend a good chunk of time on Axis Mundi today. About 4 productive hours. I bagged a few shots and recorded some dialogue. So it was pretty good.

Yep.

Some Axis Mundi Progress

I've managed to get a shot filmed for The Battle for Axis Mundi today. Yes, just one. If you recall, my mantra is "You can't rush art." That's definitley still going to apply, but I might be able to get on a more regular filming schedule in the coming months. So just keep waiting as usual.

I do have a few random screen shots from filming today. They are just screenshots of the greenscreen set. There's no way that you will be able to tell what the actual shot looks like from these.

I hope that you guys haven't lost your patience yet on this one. Enjoy the random, meaningless, pictures!

Better Progress

Yesterday I felt like I did a good job of getting stuff done. Technically I only recorded one shot, but it was a hard shot (like most of the action shots), and I also added a ton of sound effects to the action sequence. Before that it was pretty silent. I also solved my opening text troubles. Now the very beginning of the film is much more awesome.

The Axis Mundi discussion thread at Atari Forums has been pretty successful. I decided to post an update there today. In it I mentioned that I was 3 Minutes and 33 second of the way through the film. Of course, I still haven't made music for all of the 3:33, and I need to do some tweaking to make the story more understandable, but it is getting closer to being 100% polished.

The Conch Shell of DEATH

Hey, here's something kind of random that I did in blender today. I call it The Conch Shell of DEATH!!!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Axis Mundi discussion thread

I have started a production thread for The Battle for Axis Mundi over at the LG Machinima community. I may also post one over at the Atari forums. For now, here is a link to the LG Machinima thread:

http://gulk.bplaced.net/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=576

I hope that I am not releasing this info too early. I have never really done one of these threads, so I hope that it won't be a disaster.

The Future of RCT3 Machinima

I hope that you have all enjoyed March Madness! Sorry if it didn't seem "Mad" enough, but at least I have set a record for the most posts in one month on my blog! I haven't gotten to work any more on The Battle for Axis Mundi since my last post, so no new info on that, but I think I will take some time and talk about the future of RCT3 Machinima, as aptly requested by CZsWorld.

Currently, what I am striving to achieve is what I believe the future of RCT3 Machinima to be. Namely, I want to utilize custom scenery, custom fireworks, and green screening, to the point where RCT3 is mostly just a rendering engine for various particle simulations and 3D animations. Once we get to this point, the only thing separating RCT3 Machinima from true Hollywood films will be rendering capabilities, quality music, quality actors, etc. But basically, it might be possible to get any shot you could possibly dream of-rendered in RCT3.

That's a pretty good summary of what I believe might be possible. Now let me break it down into why I think these things.

1) The only limitations to RCT3's FCR Editor is that it cannot tilt or zoom. Shaky-cam shots are possible through manipulation of the coaster-cam, so that almost covers every camera move imaginable. A lot of the time, I'll be watching a Pixar film, and the camera movement feels jut like it would if the shot had been produced with the FCR Editor.

2) Since RCT3 is designed to let you do most kinds of terra-forming, you can create whatever landscape you need. Granted, there might not be as much detail as might be desirable, (pebbles, grass, and other small objects come to mind) but it basically gets the job done.

3) Particle effects can be used to create many special effects, and can also be used to add atmosphere to sets. Fog, smoke, waterfalls, starscapes, even (theoretically) snow can be created with the Advanced Fireworks Editor.

4) Green screening can be very effective and useful in RCT3, and is yet another tool that can help to create spectacular sets and effects. However, the usefulness of green screen for special effects and moving otherwise static objects may be made obsolete if you consider the possibilities of the next section. For this reason, I think it is more appropriate to use green screens for set backdrops.

5) Since it is possible to import custom made 3D models into RCT3 (custom scenery), you can create whatever set pieces you need for your film. There is also animated custom scenery, which has the most potential, and is also what I am most speculative about. In theory, animated custom scenery would enable you to bring any character that you can create in a 3D program into RCT3, and have it do whatever actions you wanted. This would open up a whole slew of possibilities. The problem is that I have yet to import my first animated CSO into RCT3, and I also have no idea if RCT3 would be able to handle complex animations, which would be necessary in order to make really good films.

Those are the techniques that I feel compose the core foundation for the "future" of RCT3 Machinima. I'll list them again, just to be painfully clear:

Camera movement

Terraforming

Particle effects

Green screen

Custom Scenery & Animation

I underlined animation because it has the most potential. To help you understand what I hope to achieve with animated CSOs, take a look at this film made with World of Warcraft. The film is composed of custom animations by the filmmaker, and it really speaks to the power of importing animations instead of relying on what the game provides. I am not sure if this level of animation can be imported into RCT3, but it would be a shame not try.

Now to tie in all of this speculation with the reality of today. I consider The Battle for Axis Mundi to be the cutting edge in terms of green screening and particle effects. Technically I used a green screen in Mechanics Vs. Aliens episode 5, but the level at which I did so is far less impressive than what is in Axis Mundi. Same thing goes for custom particle effects. I used them briefly in MVA ep. 5, but they are basically the backbone of the action in The Battle for Axis Mundi.

There you have it. That's how I see the future of RCT3 Machinima.

Working Titles

Well, I didn't work on my film today even though I should have, so to make up for the lack of news, I guess I will announce a few working titles that I have been thinking about. I am thinking maybe "The Battle for Axis Mundi" or just "Axis Mundi." I know that it is pretty hard for you guys to comment on whether or not you think those titles are appropriate, since you know next to nothing about the plot, but if you have any thoughts on the general vibe that the title gives you, it would be great to hear what you think.