"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it."
- Charles R. Swindoll
First off, let me just throw it out there that calling someone a
"nerd" is not an insult, and it shouldn't be taken as one. Being a nerd is kick-ass! We make the world go round. We go ballistic when something tech-related happens, and we get interested in the things that most who disregard us couldn't live without. We solve Rubik's Cubes and we write code, we investigate the unknown and the results of our endless curiosities never cease to amaze. Most importantly, I mean come on, we make the best jokes:
Point of the story: don't take "nerd" or "geek" as an insult. To those who use it as one, all I can tell you is that we are the fellowship and you are the orcs and uruk-hai in the battle of Helm's Deep. Enough said. *drops mic*
I digress. This past Thursday, after spending the whole day performing a long robotics demonstration at Boeing, C4D was downloaded and unzipped on my laptop (Lenovo y50, by the way, which I recommend). I have started to mess around on my own, trying to stay away from tutorials for the first few days so I can learn a little on my own. However, I could only go so far before I thought it would be good to get some guidance so I no longer have to just randomly click around and see what happens. I have actually created many things that I am proud of, such as transforming a ball while moving the camera's angle:
In terms of setback, some of the animations that I work with take longer than others. This doesn't seem to be relative to their size, but more pertaining to what the animation is (I guess the intricacy of the animation?). Either way, I wouldn't necessarily call it a setback, but it certainly can get frustrating when I spend a lengthy amount of time changing the specifics of an animation and then have to wait anywhere from 1 to 15 minutes just to preview it.
Like I said, this doesn't pertain to every animation I create. It doesn't limit my fun or my learning either. I certainly have gained a lot of knowledge since I first downloaded C4D. Dynamics, for instance, applies directly to the motion capture I hope to get into soon. Some time spent researching the history of motion capture led me to understand the importance of dynamics, which is a process in the software that follows the rules of physics to describe how the object would move in a real-world scenario. This picture represents the idea of dynamics, with the interaction between the sphere and the stack of blocks.
I will have a video uploaded soon of a rendered sphere flying through a pane of glass that demonstrates this concept. You will most likely hear this term used in future posts on this blog, so it's good for both you and I to have some sort of understanding of the word.
I have also sent out an email to Greyscalgorilla in the hopes that they will respond and I will be able to utilize them as both my interviewed expert and perhaps an informal tutor. Other emails will be sent out in the upcoming days, reaching out to other professionals and hoping that at least one responds in the next week or two.
I'd like to end with this, which I hope you will respond to in the comments: What is your favorite style of food? I'm looking for something new to try, and I hope you all have something unique to share!
"nerd" is not an insult, and it shouldn't be taken as one. Being a nerd is kick-ass! We make the world go round. We go ballistic when something tech-related happens, and we get interested in the things that most who disregard us couldn't live without. We solve Rubik's Cubes and we write code, we investigate the unknown and the results of our endless curiosities never cease to amaze. Most importantly, I mean come on, we make the best jokes:
Point of the story: don't take "nerd" or "geek" as an insult. To those who use it as one, all I can tell you is that we are the fellowship and you are the orcs and uruk-hai in the battle of Helm's Deep. Enough said. *drops mic*
I digress. This past Thursday, after spending the whole day performing a long robotics demonstration at Boeing, C4D was downloaded and unzipped on my laptop (Lenovo y50, by the way, which I recommend). I have started to mess around on my own, trying to stay away from tutorials for the first few days so I can learn a little on my own. However, I could only go so far before I thought it would be good to get some guidance so I no longer have to just randomly click around and see what happens. I have actually created many things that I am proud of, such as transforming a ball while moving the camera's angle:
In terms of setback, some of the animations that I work with take longer than others. This doesn't seem to be relative to their size, but more pertaining to what the animation is (I guess the intricacy of the animation?). Either way, I wouldn't necessarily call it a setback, but it certainly can get frustrating when I spend a lengthy amount of time changing the specifics of an animation and then have to wait anywhere from 1 to 15 minutes just to preview it.
Like I said, this doesn't pertain to every animation I create. It doesn't limit my fun or my learning either. I certainly have gained a lot of knowledge since I first downloaded C4D. Dynamics, for instance, applies directly to the motion capture I hope to get into soon. Some time spent researching the history of motion capture led me to understand the importance of dynamics, which is a process in the software that follows the rules of physics to describe how the object would move in a real-world scenario. This picture represents the idea of dynamics, with the interaction between the sphere and the stack of blocks.
I will have a video uploaded soon of a rendered sphere flying through a pane of glass that demonstrates this concept. You will most likely hear this term used in future posts on this blog, so it's good for both you and I to have some sort of understanding of the word.
I have also sent out an email to Greyscalgorilla in the hopes that they will respond and I will be able to utilize them as both my interviewed expert and perhaps an informal tutor. Other emails will be sent out in the upcoming days, reaching out to other professionals and hoping that at least one responds in the next week or two.
I'd like to end with this, which I hope you will respond to in the comments: What is your favorite style of food? I'm looking for something new to try, and I hope you all have something unique to share!
Peace ✌
Your animation is really cool. It's good that you're reaching out to some experts... for your expert interview, do you know what you're going to ask about yet? Your blog looks good and it will be cool to see your first animation vs. your last animation at the end of the seven weeks.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the complement! I haven't created an official list of interview questions, however I have some that have been floating around in my mind, such as "What made you fall into this career path?" and "Do you have any tips on becoming more familiar with Cinema 4D's user interface and all of the small possible changes one can make to alter the animation?"
DeleteI appreciate your interest and stay tuned for more!
Daniel- I have so much respect for you choosing animation as your project (especially motion capture). I have tried animation in the past, but never really liked the process. Whether it was the software, or the average results, I still don't know. But anyways, my failed history of animation aside, yours is excellent. The fluency of the image is very important, and yours look very clear. I don;t know if this is a real possibility, but it would be really cool if you could get someone from an animation studio like Pixar, or even Disney. If you did that, it would be the best expert interview possible! Anyways, I wish you the best of luck on this journey!
ReplyDelete- Navi
Haha wow, contacting a Pixar animator...not a bad idea Arnov. But that's not exactly the type of animation I am trying to learn. Thank you for the kind compliments and I can't wait to bring you more!
DeleteDaniel,
ReplyDeleteYour project sounds super cool especially knowing how motion capture is applied in extremely popular movies. It'll be exciting to see your final product. Speaking of which, what do you want your end product to be? What's your favorite kind of motion capture animation? I know the ones used in movies are more often than not creating animals and fictitious creatures out of humans. As well, for your expert, would you be open to using bigger companies? I know companies like Disney or Pixar have student programs but also PR agents that would be open to contact.
I'm so happy you think my project is cool! My end result is hopefully going to be a short MoCap animated film, kind of like the video in my initial blog post (that video has been my inspiration this whole time). In terms of my favorite kind of motion capture, I wouldn't really say there are multiple kinds. There are most certainly different approaches to the craft, utilizing various programs and technologies to generate the outcome you wanted, but I wouldn't say there is a particular format that appeals to me more since I don't have a history in the subject. I guess any form where someone is dressed in a black suit with white balls taped all over them is my favorite form! My response to the experts is going to be similar to that of Arnov's: Pixar isn't exactly the route of animation I am going for. However, in terms of big companies, I'm sure contacting the makers of COD or Avatar would provide interesting results. I hope these answer your questions!
DeleteThat one render you posted looks really good. Like, I would put that as my background. I really like your work, and I love seeing your progress. I hope that you can figure out your tutoring situation. Great project!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind words! It means a lot that my animation is background-worthy to you.
Delete