Anim8or Community
Artwork => Finished Works and Works in Progress => Topic started by: CoriDavis on April 21, 2012, 10:16:17 am
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So I started a new animation project this week. I've been exploring some of the most famous My Little Pony horror fanfics and I think Rainbow Factory is my favorite. My idea is to make a PMV of it using Anim8or. I probably won't finish it since I'll likely run out of motivation after finishing the models, but it will be fun to start.
My video will be set to the Rainbow Factory fan song by WoodenToaster on Youtube. If you haven't heard it, it's an AWESOME song.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PjIhs72l0A[/youtube]&list=PLC6D4A89D5C7B46C7&index=40&feature=plpp_video"]BronyDanceParty's PMV (http://"[youtube)
and if you haven't read the fanfic, it's Here (http://"https://docs.google.com/document/d/1td5r9BGGA7l2-rnlFTnVrJN2NdZclcVWUMoCqaSujnM/edit?hl=en_US") . If you look at the description of the video, it says that they didn't base their video off of the fanfic. It shows the pony being sliced I guess instead of crushed like in the story.
I plan to make my video based on the fanfic and have ponies be crushed, yet still try to keep it at least PG, like not showing blood and moving the camera away when the ponies get crushed or just show silhouettes when the gory things happen. Kind of just giving ideas if you know what I mean. Unfortunately, I'll probably have to listen to the song a ton of times to get timing right which would make me get tired of the song... but it will still turn out to be an awesome video if I can finish it!
I decided to remake my pony model for this. I think it turned out a LOT better than my old pony model. This proves that sometimes less polys improves more than just render time! I used the "Toon Tutorial" to give it an outline. I'm debating whether I should keep the outline on it, or take that off and shade it, or even just take off the outline and leave it unshaded. What do you guys think? I haven't had many comments on Youtube or DeviantArt for this, so hopefully you guys will help.
youtube.com/watch?v=Wib8WIa8aW4[/youtube]]Video Version of Sequence tests (http://www.[youtube)
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The hair looks more like Dash than Derpy, how do the top and back sides look?
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It actually wasn't supposed to be Derpy originally. That was just the colors I picked for my base, but she does make a good base model. I also used Rainbow's hair for the ref. If you look though, Dash and Derpy have the same hair, just different colors.
Here's top and back
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If you look closer, you'll see that their hair isn't "the same, just different colors" it's a different vector.
But if it's not supposed to be Derpy I guess it doesn't matter. Any chance you could upload a turning figure on youtube?
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I definitely think this second attempt is a lot better!
The animation sequences look pretty nice, but I when I researched the my little pony videos on youtube, it shows the flying to be a lot less body-intensive. Rather than the body moving up and down, the wings move without influencing the body at all. Also, the wings bend a lot more when moving up and down (study this clip: ).
Stay motivated! (I also fixed the link you posted)
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The actual flying sequence has only the wings moving, so I can easily make the wings bend more. I only made the wings move in the sequence so the arms and legs could move by themselves as well.
Here are some more ponies who are characters in the fanfic. I wish I knew why the body colors turn out so dull. All materials used have 0 specular and 0 roughness and .1 brilliance, yet the body color alone is always dull looking
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Started working on the spectra tubs. I based it off of this picture:
(http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/199/9/5/rainbow_factory_by_past1978-d40fvlc.jpg)
I'm not really a mechanical modeler. I prefer to work on the organic side, but hopefully I can make it look good. I can't figure out why it turned out so dark and didn't come out very metallic like the preview circle showed.
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Not sure if you were looking for this. But This is how I make things look metallic:
(http://i43.tinypic.com/az38m.jpg)
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Thanks! It looks a lot better now. I added some texture too. I was using the metallic settings on the Material section of the manual before
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Cori, re the body colours being dull, check that the normals aren't reversed (a face selected with the 'front' button clicked should show yellow, not blue). If reversed, select the body and click Edit>Flip Normals.
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Already tried checking normals. They're all how they should be
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More progress on the Rainbow Machine. Any suggestions where I should put the support beams to hold up the giant crusher that looks like it weighs over a ton and would surely bend those pipes if not supported?
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Do those big blocks have to be there? Anyway, I'd probably put those blocks behind and above, rather than directly above them, then run two I-Beams horizontally underneath (going from left to right, not front to back), with some vertical support columns bolted to the floor and beams and ceiling. And possibly put a walkway up there next to the tanks, since it seems that maintenance would have to go up there regularly (though if there are only flying ponies working there, I suppose walkways aren't needed...just platforms.
Good job so far. Storage tanks usually have meters and such on them, and valves along the pipes to help control, direct, and/or isolate the flow of whatever is inside the pipes. If anything, I suggest valves on the elbow right before it drains into those vats, valves on the pipes right before it enters the top of each tank, and large valves right after each vat on the large pipes. And then a capacity meter per tank, and probably a pressure meter on the face of the tank or in the pipes that feed into the tank. If that's too much for you, well...this is an industrial facility, where components are basically the same throughout ;) So it's really just where you make one valve and copy and paste it everywhere, re-sizing when needed. If a pipe line connects to another pipe line (where it could branch off in more than one direction), there would usually be a valve right after each branch so that the direction of flow can be controlled, as well.
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The big boxes on the side were supposed to be part of some sort of piston system for the crusher. I edited quite a bit of it along with some air tanks that would power the piston (unless air power wouldn't be enough). I need to think of more pipes and stuff to add so I can have a whole background made out of the machine
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Valves and meters, Check! I made the amount inside each tank vary since they probably wouldn't all have the same amount. That would be unrealistic. I added valves where you suggested and tried to make it look a little more like the picture (but not too much since I don't want to get in trouble for copyright) Anything else I should add? I feel like the big tanks in the back need more pipes leading to them, but where?
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You don't need to worry about copy right stuff. Really. Especially since it's fan work.
IMO, it would look about 20% cooler if it were made of brass instead of aluminum.
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I figured it was supposed to be steel. the fanfic says " At the top of the stack was a single opening, red with rust despite the rest of the machine to be shiny and clean." and I don't believe Brass can rust. (Even though the 'rust' turned out to be blood in the end, but it wouldn't be suspected to be rust if it was brass I would assume).
This is the description of the machine:
"It was fairly open and empty, almost like an theater room. At one end of the room, there was six square vats, (oops, I made them round...) each one nearly full with individual Spectra. Above them was a peculiar looking machine. From a central stack, six hoses broke off and lead above each of the individual vats. At the top of the stack was a single opening, red with rust despite the rest of the machine to be shiny and clean. Even further above that was a fairly complex looking object, with chains and gears hanging off of beams and pipes loosely. (How am I going to make chains, especially chains that will be able to move?) Running even higher than the whole machine was a length of scaffolding, with doors on either side leading out of the room."
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Oh, well OK then. Didn't know you were going off the fic only. I thought you were basing it off Wooden Toaster's song.
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Well I am trying to base it as much on the fic as possible. It does show brass things in the BronyDanceParty PMV and the Rainbow Factory picture kind of looks brassy I guess. I was going by what I imagined when I read the description and what made sense. (and I looked up the brass thing. It can't rust, it just tarnishes)
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*Shrug*
What I mean to say, is the machine doesn't look mean enough. And I think making it brass is one way to make it look more evil.
It is the Rainbow Factory after all.
Somehow you need to make it invoke a much more creepy atmosphere.
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Looks a lot better, CoriDavis.
I think the materials of the metal parts could do with a little more work. Maybe a darker ambient color, add a diffuse map with details, that kind of thing. I'm sure the rest will sort itself out if you put some work into the lighting setup prior to your final cut.
If you want to add more details to it, there's plenty of things you can do. Emergency stop buttons, lights, and sirens placed at strategic areas. Pressure release stems and valves (simple lever valves this time) feeding from the pipes. Assuming nasty stuff gunks up at the bottom of the Spectra tanks the same way stuff in other tanks do (the vats are the rectangular liquid containers that the tanks are feeding--you have it right), you can add drainage valves to the bottom of the tanks. You can also add vent modules to the tops of each tank. Add electrical wiring, switches, outlets, lights, etc., everywhere. Add a crane and pulley system (http://www.liftinc.com/images/photos/disk5.jpg) along the top, since there has to be some way of moving around all that heavy equipment. Add drains to the deck, give the deck some nice textures with dark Spectra stains.
Is it all gravity-fed? If not, add some motorized pumps (gas or electrical) to push the Spectra where it needs to go, and E-Stops for each one.
As for the big tanks in the back, for what purpose are they there? If they are just sump tanks (where excess wasted fuel/Spectra goes to), then there would usually be a hookup somewhere on the lower end of the tank so that it can be emptied every once in a while. Otherwise there needs to be a pipe leading out to feed whatever it's supposed to feed.
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Thanks, the big tanks are actually for the fluid or water that would power the piston. We worked with smaller versions of pistons in my engineering class last year. Guess I should look back at my notes to see what I need. I can't decide if it should be a hydraulic or pneumatic piston. Air might compress too much to push heavy metal, but liquid might not flow fast enough. Looks like the only thing I'm missing really is a pump and I don't know where I should put it.
Any suggestions on how to make the chains?
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chains is not too hard. Make a hexigon polygon a it off center, and lathe it into a ring. Then make it more box shaped. Then interlace them through the loop!
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Now I'm going to go and make my own Rainbow Factory!
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I gained back some motivation due to having nothing else to do, especially since summer break starts next week. Plenty of free Study Hall time.
I added the room made of cloud to put the machine in, but the reflective light from the spectra didn't turn out so well. It just looks like a giant spew of color. Is there a way to make the local light more... local? I messed around with the radius settings, but it didn't really change anything. Help?
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The radius settings should be able to give you the effect you're after, but they do require a bit of trial and error. Basically, the light will have maximum brightness when illuminating anything inside the inner radius, and will not illuminate anything beyond the outer radius, with a linear reduction of illumination from the inner to the outer radii. The challenge with this image is having the coloured light illuminate the cloud room sufficiently to be visible, while avoiding the bleached effect of having six coloured lights combining into a single super-bright white light on nearby objects.
One suggestion would be to reduce the brightness of each coloured light to about 15% or 20% and initially set both the inner and outer radii to the same distance, which should be approximately the distance from the centre of the spectra tubs to the cloud room. Adjust these radii in or out until the light hits the cloud room fully, with both radii the same the light should hit with maximum illumination or not at all. You can then reduce the inner and increase the outer as required until the fall-off looks correct across the floor, and adjust the brightness of each spectra light up or down as required to remove the bleaching effect.
You might also need to check the cloud room material settings, possibly there is insufficient difference between the Ambient and Diffuse settings or the Specular value is set very low, as the floor around the pipes is far less illuminated than the pipes themselves.
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I fixed it. I guess my radii were still too big. They are now set to 25 and 60 and this is how they look now. They seem to be killing my overall infinite lights though.
This is when I really wish Anim8or had particles. My clouds look so flat compared to the detailed machine.
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More updates: Started working on the scenery. I added lights and some platforms, and pipes (that aren't connected to anything) all around for filler. For the lights I added a red hue to make it look more evil (for Fromsoysauce) and only the front two are casting shadows to avoid too much work for the renderer. I should probably add a few valves here and there on the filler pipes.
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Looks great, the glow from the spectra tanks is excellent. The random pipes work well to both define the space and enhance the industrial feel (random pipes is a great effect - pipes seen in the original Star Trek series on the Enterprise set were often labeled 'GNDN"... 'Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing"!).
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You know something, Cori? You're brilliant. :)
Really, I've silently lurked around the forums and seen your work, animations, models, you name it. You've got a great eye and some real talent.
Just want to emphasize the animation part, you can really go far with that if you work at it. Your last few animations have looked and… animated?… very well.
The progress on this is wonderful. That last render looks amazing IMO.
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You know something, Cori? You're brilliant. :)
Really, I've silently lurked around the forums and seen your work, animations, models, you name it. You've got a great eye and some real talent.
Just want to emphasize the animation part, you can really go far with that if you work at it. Your last few animations have looked and… animated?… very well.
The progress on this is wonderful. That last render looks amazing IMO.
Really? Thanks! I think that's the nicest thing anyone on the forum has ever said to me :)
Anyway, here's the first movie render.
I'm not sure I like how fast the camera moves to get in front of the crusher, but I don't know how I can fix it and have it still be in the right place at the right time. My blue light also messed up, but I can fix that. Once I have my official render, I'll use Wax to add spraying steam to the scene.
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Hey Cori! Well done here. You have really come a long way. I remember when you 1st started and though you were a bit rough around the edges, you showed some talent. You can really tell that your persistance paid off. I'm glad to see that your still at it and I hope that you continue. Great job with the lighting. I think the video quality is on the low side but from what I can tell you did a good job on the textures. Good job keep it up.
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WOW!!!! Cori, you really outdid youself with this one! I guess the biggest suggestion I can make is to use the Graph Editor to round out the movement of your camera. It's really great looking, how long did the render take?
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WHOA!!
Its been a while since I haven't used Anim8or but seeing these renders make me want to use Anim8or again!
Great job! Especially the lighting setup!
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The render went pretty fast for rendering the machine, but as soon as it gets to the pony, it slows WAAAAY down...
Here's my latest render
I can see that my crusher is opening too far after it crushes, so I must have forgotten to add some extra keys. Maan.. I don't want to render all that again! It took me all day! (from about 1PM to somewhere around 11:30PM). I guess I could leave out the pony for the next render and then render the ponies flying around for the next part.
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Pretty nice there CoriDavis! I like the song, and can see what you mean about the crusher. I'd say it's worth re-rendering, though you only have to do that little part and then substitute the frames.
Keep us updated!
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I'm following your thread silently but I must sat that current result looks very good! I like how you managed to animate water flowing out of pipes - cartoony, simple, clever way, and very convincing with correct timing. I'll be looking forward too see further part of the story.
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Thanks for all the positive feedback! I think I'll leave out the steam. Wax's particles just aren't giving me the desired effect. They look like they would be good for making snow and that's about it. Anyway, I'll be animating onward. I'll still have the clip if I decide to change my mind.
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need help.PNG (857.28 KB, 710x1187 - viewed 3869 times.)
Quite literally, 3852 of those, were my views, the image wouldnt enlarge and I spammed the crap out of my mouse :P
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wow... somewhere in my lapses of attention to online things, I missed this... I know I'm late responding, but... WOW! Very cool!
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is it just me or is the image on page 2 (needhelp.png) still broken?
Just wondering
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This documentary video is great inspiration for anyone who wants to make an authentic "factory" setting. I'm sure you will find all the gauges, cylinders, pipes and hoppers and other details that you need to make your scene work:
Here is another Victorian pumping station that is more colorful: