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The Official Animators and Modelers Thread!

SentientStone

SentientStone

Member
I have experimented with some 3D particle effects but mostly know how to simulate explosions so far and using particles mixed with 2D sprites.

Now I just need some tutorials on how to make nice 2D effects like the ones found in JRPGs. Anyone know where I can find some tutorials that goes through step-by-step on creating JRPG-like sparks (a bit stylized, not purely realistic)? Perhaps this is too niche to find or I just suck at searching but I have not found anything yet on Google or Youtube that suits my needs.

EDIT: I would like to generate something like this: http://stereolizeshop.com/ventuz/effects/particle-effect-collection.php
 
C

CyclopsRock

Member
Leshita said:
I have experimented with some 3D particle effects but mostly know how to simulate explosions so far and using particles mixed with 2D sprites.

Now I just need some tutorials on how to make nice 2D effects like the ones found in JRPGs. Anyone know where I can find some tutorials that goes through step-by-step on creating JRPG-like sparks (a bit stylized, not purely realistic)? Perhaps this is too niche to find or I just suck at searching but I have not found anything yet on Google or Youtube that suits my needs.

EDIT: I would like to generate something like this: http://stereolizeshop.com/ventuz/effects/particle-effect-collection.php
Click to expand...

You could do worse than to check out Krakatoa, a plugin for 3dsmax. This might be a whole lot of learning for you if you're not already familiar with 3dsmax, but it can do everything from realism to stylised. Krakatoa itself is actually just a particle renderer but it's a very, very good one. It's actually pretty janky when it comes to integrating with traditional 3d renderers and back plates, but it's as easy as pie to do standalone effects which you're after. The actual particle generation would be done using Particle Flow in Max or maybe using Thinking Particles, another max plugin.
 
C

CyclopsRock

Member
hookedonritalin said:
I was enrolled in an eight month post-graduate program where I learned everything from the ground up. This culminated in a short film I produced:

https://vimeo.com/93014196
Click to expand...
Do I detect a bit of The Third Man inspiration here?! Anyway, nice work - it's always super tough doing the entire process yourself but clearly you learnt a lot. At uni we did it primarily to learn where we wanted to specialise by forcing us to try everything - do you want to speacialise in a specific part of the production process now?
 
H

hookedonritalin

Member
Thank you for the kind words, and yes, I was heavily inspired by that movie! It was an awesome, intense journey but I really enjoyed doing the lighting, texturing, and compositing portions. I used Maya 2014, Mudbox, VRay 2.0, After Effects and Premiere Pro to produce this.
 
SentientStone

SentientStone

Member
CyclopsRock said:
You could do worse than to check out Krakatoa, a plugin for 3dsmax. This might be a whole lot of learning for you if you're not already familiar with 3dsmax, but it can do everything from realism to stylised. Krakatoa itself is actually just a particle renderer but it's a very, very good one. It's actually pretty janky when it comes to integrating with traditional 3d renderers and back plates, but it's as easy as pie to do standalone effects which you're after. The actual particle generation would be done using Particle Flow in Max or maybe using Thinking Particles, another max plugin.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will check that out now.
 
C

CyclopsRock

Member
We've been fiddling with Corona for Max at work a lot, and it's really great! Loving it. Anyway, they just released a new version, which is great because it didn't support Particle Flow before. This was a real problem and basically forced us to go back to VRay for a project when Corona would otherwise have been ideal. No more! I did a quick test and here's the result. Typical "test" stuff but this took 5 minutes a frame, full "unbiased" GI, real object-based motion blur and DoF on the particles and scene geo etc. Very impressive render engine!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4bx-eR0Eac&feature=youtu.be
 
F

Flying0Dutchman

Member
just found this thread =)

studied animation in Toronto, turned out to be a generalist program so I've transition into 3d art. Heres a portfolio piece I recently did, 10k tris and rendered in marmoset.

Trex.jpg


TREX2.jpg


Maya and Zbrush and all rigged and ready for some animations.

and some animation work
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3xHiDy9e64
 
A

aasoncott

Member
Huh, count me as another person that didn't know this thread existed. Nice.

I've been a lead animator on terminals (and some campaign cinematics) for every Halo game in the last five years. If people are curious, I wrote a case study on our work on Halo 4 here: http://thesequencegroup.com/case-studies/halo-4. It talks a lot about our workflow and the tools we use (and as a bonus, you can see my desk--it's the photo with two monitors and a Kinect covered in packing tape).
 
D

dude

dude
Hey guys, I just started this head, and could really use some early C&C. He's meant to be a Sin City type character.
RMZa2dj.png
 
C

CyclopsRock

Member
Topo mostly looks good! You have a few non-quad faces though, it's always best to try and get rid of all of those - there is *always* a way!
 
D

dude

dude
CyclopsRock said:
Topo mostly looks good! You have a few non-quad faces though, it's always best to try and get rid of all of those - there is *always* a way!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. I wanted to work mostly on the shape and the general flow of the topology before getting down to fixing everything :)

Thanks a lot! I was really unsure about it for some reason...

I have been mostly working on closing all the topo. Here's some more progress I did (didn't have much time to work on it yesterday, so It's not a lot) Right now my biggest issue is the nose area...
ZssBSJc.png
 
X

Xun

Member
Mabase said:
I recently finished a shortfilm, a romantic comedy about the End of Privacy. Here's a teaser (slightly NSFW, features cartoon boobs). Enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/64481748

At the moment I can't show it publicly online, but if anybody is interested just say so or write me a PM and I can provide a private link.
Last month it ran on the Siggraph Festival in LA, and I'm proud to say that within the more than 2 hours of program (of apparently "last year's finest in CG"), my film was the only one with naked tittays...
#LifeAchievementUnlocked

OPHELIA_Love_PrivacySettings_040_900.jpg

OPHELIA_Love_PrivacySettings_050_900.jpg

OPHELIA_Love_PrivacySettings_060_900.jpg
Click to expand...
I just want to bump up this thread to say congrats on getting shown on Cartoon Brew!

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/brewtv/ophelialoveprivacy-104164.html

Great work dude.
 
X

Xun

Member
Anyone have any experience with TVPaint? I was considering getting Toon Boom for 2D animation initially, but from what I've tried of it TVPaint feels more natural to me.

I've not used it much so it would be good to get some opinions on it if possible.
 
U

utentagen

Neo Member
i've been making dumb flash animations since i was a little kid. i make dumb short flash movies like this:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_J4Yk6zSck (kind of nsfw, its in the title but i figured i'd mention it anyways)

and sometimes i make big, less stupid flash movies, this one took me about a year and it's still my biggest project to date, i kind of consider it my magnum opus even if it is a little dated animation-wise:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCRwYPKun9M

i'm also that dude who did that SANIC GANERASHONS video if you've ever seen that. i dont like to talk about it
 
X

Xun

Member
utentagen said:
i've been making dumb flash animations since i was a little kid. i make dumb short flash movies like this:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_J4Yk6zSck (kind of nsfw, its in the title but i figured i'd mention it anyways)

and sometimes i make big, less stupid flash movies, this one took me about a year and it's still my biggest project to date, i kind of consider it my magnum opus even if it is a little dated animation-wise:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCRwYPKun9M

i'm also that dude who did that SANIC GANERASHONS video if you've ever seen that. i dont like to talk about it
Click to expand...
Good stuff dude!

I've not seen the SANIC GANERASHONS video, so I'll have to check it out.

Xun said:
Anyone have any experience with TVPaint? I was considering getting Toon Boom for 2D animation initially, but from what I've tried of it TVPaint feels more natural to me.

I've not used it much so it would be good to get some opinions on it if possible.
Click to expand...
It seems like TVPaint is largely out of the equation due to how insanely expensive it is after shipping/VAT.

It's a shame since I much prefer how TVPaint operates over Toon Boom. :(

Any other (Mac) software recommendations?
 
M

Mechanical Snowman

Member
B.K. said:
I just found out that CGStudio Map is dead. Is there a good replacement?
Click to expand...
Hey B.K. This seems to be recommended on Reddit: http://vfxworldmap.com/

And I completely forgot this thread existed, hope everyone's doing well. I may as well show this off here since I'm likely not going to finish it, but it was fun to work on. My first real sculpt in Zbrush -

Cx5LCB4.jpg
Click to expand...

Do any of you guys know any (or are yourselves) game / general modelers who might be free for a small project soon? I jumped into a game design project that is going very well, but I'm the only modeler on my team so far and the scope of it is a little overwhelming. I don't have any work to offer yet, but I was hoping to get some reliable contacts who can model just in case it takes off in a big way.
 
F

Futureman

Member
My GF works at a community development office and they have a campaign where they are trying to save a historic train station from being torn down.

I run a 3D printer at work and to learn more about 3D modeling, I'm thinking of trying to model the station and print it.

I guess I will use 123D Design as that's the only software I really know.

maybe I should download Sketch Up?
 
S

Soi-Fong

Member
Awesome.. Didn't know we had this thread. Subscribing! Here's what I'm working on currently. First time modeling a car so not sure how to approach the lights yet.

Otob.png


Rtob.png
 
M

Mechanical Snowman

Member
Soi-Fong said:
Awesome.. Didn't know we had this thread. Subscribing! Here's what I'm working on currently. First time modeling a car so not sure how to approach the lights yet.

Otob.png


Rtob.png
Click to expand...
Be careful with smoothing artifacts around stuff like the turning signals. For any detail where there's a shape cut into the model it's best to subdivide geometry first before cutting, rather than placing it in at the lowest subdivision level and then letting turbosmooth take care of the smoothing - it will always give you a wobbly surface.

Also it's a good idea for car modeling to not use matte shaders, you can tell a lot better if you've got bad curves if you use something that has specularity like a phong material, or even a cubemap for reflection.

Keep us updated :>
 
S

Soi-Fong

Member
Mechanical Snowman said:
Be careful with smoothing artifacts around stuff like the turning signals. For any detail where there's a shape cut into the model it's best to subdivide geometry first before cutting, rather than placing it in at the lowest subdivision level and then letting turbosmooth take care of the smoothing - it will always give you a wobbly surface.

Also it's a good idea for car modeling to not use matte shaders, you can tell a lot better if you've got bad curves if you use something that has specularity like a phong material, or even a cubemap for reflection.

Keep us updated :>
Click to expand...

Nice! Thanks for the pointers. Gonna redo those turn signals then.

I have actually been using shaders with high specularity to see any weird deformations in the mesh.

I just wanted to display it in "clay" since I love how it looks when in progress. Haha
 
G

Garrett Hawke

Member
This might seem like a really weird question but does anyone know how to do a PVC/plasticy-leather texture? I'm modelling some shoes and I just can't get PVC to look right. This is my current attempt:
6htUkRq.png
Click to expand...

Edit: I think I was going about it the wrong way. I can set that material stuff in Maya and just texture it normally and worry about the other stuff after. :D
 
V

Veloth

Neo Member
Oh snap, an Animation/Modeling thread! Awesome! Sup guys, I'm a Character Animator in SoCal, I just finished working on There Came an Echo which is a game somewhat known on Gaf, we gave away a lot of codes, and Feep is the main programmer/director. I'll go through the backlog of posts, and I'll also get a link to my stuff on here. Nice to meet you all!
 
G

Garrett Hawke

Member
I know this thread isn't posted in regularly but I was just wondering if anyone has any tips for speeding up UV mapping? It takes so long :(

I'm currently trying to UV map horns (they're cylinders that taper at the end, and they're curved as you would expect)

It's really hard as I'm currently selecting faces then just doing best plane.
 
M

Mechanical Snowman

Member
Garrett Hawke said:
I know this thread isn't posted in regularly but I was just wondering if anyone has any tips for speeding up UV mapping? It takes so long :(

I'm currently trying to UV map horns (they're cylinders that taper at the end, and they're curved as you would expect)

It's really hard as I'm currently selecting faces then just doing best plane.
Click to expand...
What program?

You can either cylindrically project UVs and then unwrap, or project a plane onto the whole object, cut the UV's along one half of the horn and then unwrap.

It is kind of awkward to explain with text I guess, but if the horns are mostly just shaped cylinders, your best bet is to use a cylindrical map.
 
G

Garrett Hawke

Member
Mechanical Snowman said:
What program?

You can either cylindrically project UVs and then unwrap, or project a plane onto the whole object, cut the UV's along one half of the horn and then unwrap.

It is kind of awkward to explain with text I guess, but if the horns are mostly just shaped cylinders, your best bet is to use a cylindrical map.
Click to expand...
I'm using Maya 2014 :)

The horns are long cylinders but they're twisted - they sort of resemble an S shape. So cylindrical mapping doesn't work because it tries to map an S shape into a tube. :/

I tried selecting each division of faces (like each ring of faces along the horn) and then cylindrical mapping those but I had to adjust the cylindral map projection thing manually using numbers every time and it was taking way too long. :(
 
J

Jay Shadow

Member
Garrett Hawke said:
I'm using Maya 2014 :)

The horns are long cylinders but they're twisted - they sort of resemble an S shape. So cylindrical mapping doesn't work because it tries to map an S shape into a tube. :/
Click to expand...
When I recently did something similar in 3dsMax I made a cylinder, did the UVW while it was still a cylinder, then bent and welded it into the shape I wanted it to be. Would that be an option? I haven't used Maya recently. Come to think of it, I haven't used any version that came out after Autodesk bought them.
 
C

CyclopsRock

Member
Anyone here use Nuke and 3ds Max together? For the last few days I've been working on a way of getting a point cloud from NukeX into Max because there is no real way at the moment (you can FBX a point cloud out but Max just interprets it in as "points", ie dummys, which are basically useless). Anyway, I've written a little Python script to spit out point cloud as a .csv file that Krakatoa's (free) PRT Loader can interpret. So you end up with a result like this!

Anyway, if any of you are interested in the script, let me know. I'm tidying it up at the moment but it should be done in a day or two.
 
Z

Zozobra

Member
Anyone here have experience with Mari and Substance Painter?

I work in film VFX, so Mari is all I know as it's really the only option. Substance Painter looks like it has some really cool features, and I've been meaning to try it out.

I haven't done a much game stuff, but how do you guys get around not having multiple UDIMs to work with? I mean, for a game asset, my understanding is that you can really only use one UV tile, but do you just make it a crazy-high resolution? I see so much great work done in Substance, I'm curious how they pull that off...
 
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