Project Broken/World

Gray_Silhouette · February 7, 2017, 12:34am

I completely agree about the sims; it’s great if you’re trying to do realistic things, but for this type of animation, it just doesn’t fly.

The rig I’m using right now is the rigify rig, since it was easy to set up with the model I have, makes it fast.

I actually got permission to use the music I was looking at, so that’s all good.

A bit of radio silence on my end, been trying to do some animating…or at least correcting what animation I have. It’s a fairly steep learning curve, but since the list of short things I want to animate keeps growing, I want to stick with it that much more.

Now, that being said, I did take a break from animating today, to make sure my modelling skills aren’t getting rusty. I went and remodeled Cold, one of the gods I modeled in the weeks of gods.

For comparison, this is where she started off:

And this is after spending today working on her:

The reason I did Cold was because I liked her simpler design, but was not a fan of how the face ended up, particularly the creepy eyes. With the shadow from the hat, she ended up looking… too creepy. Can’t have that.

The hair mesh is still shoddy work, but I only wanted to work on her for today before I go back to animating.

If I take another break from animating, it really should be to make an actually good male model instead of what I have now, but that probably won’t be the case. Oh well.

The animating continues! Thanks for looking!

The_Omnilord · February 7, 2017, 10:37am

Hooray, another update! Great to have a reminder that this project is still moving along.

The changes you made to Cold stand out. The colors really pop out more and the position of the shoulders look more anatomically accurate now. Other notable details I see are lowering of the eyebrows, cheeks blushing, more detail in the eye and necklace, etc. Overall, I definitely see an improvement here. Great job.

If you’re still experimenting with simulations, Daniel Kreuter (who did the anime modeling tutorials if you’re familiar) recently a new series of videos about character rigging that also dives into a neat method of rigid body constraints for hair simulations. I recommend to try it out if you haven’t already as the concept seems interesting and his results look impressive. I’m still eager to test it out myself when I have the time (damn it game fanmods).

As for your rig, adding some custom bones can really help you out with the basic rigify set. I’m not sure how much time you spend on animating fingers, but one example of custom bones you can add here would be a fist bone to make the fingers curl up into a fist. That way, you don’t have to animate each finger separately when you try to animate a character grabbing something or punching someone. This specific bone works via action constraints on the finger bones (separate from the finger controls shown in the pic), which translate the motion of keyframes into an action that can be altered by the loc/rot/scale of a target bone. Below is a picture of a personal example I made myself to show what I’m talking about. Just an idea to help you get further along. I hope it proves useful to you.

I look forward to seeing you make more progress. Good luck on your animating.

Edit: Tested out Daniel’s hair simulations if you’re curious about results. It works just as demonstrated in his videos, but it’s trickier to work with and requires more adjustments if you want stylized anime hair instead of hair that falls perfectly straight down (like boring realism). I would prefer animating hair by hand, especially if you plan to create more dynamic scenes like slow motion and freefalling for example.

As I said before, 3d simulations are complex to experiment with and provide too much of a 3d feel when animated, but at least Daniel’s rigid body methods > soft body simulations.

Gray_Silhouette · February 19, 2017, 11:38pm

Hey everyone!

Just dropping in for a quick bit to show what i’ve been doing the past few days.
I did a collaboration with a group of people making a sort of tribute to Monty Oum, who is a big inspiration to me.
Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/twbX0Zz9Lg4

I did the part from 2:17-2:33.

It wasn’t a lot of animation (only 16 seconds), and it wasn’t particularly hard (given there were no complex movements), but it was fun to do! I’m decently happy with how it turned out, given it’s the second thing i’ve ever animated.

That’s all for now, thanks for looking!

Gray_Silhouette · March 2, 2017, 8:14pm

Hey everyone!

Alright, so update. I’ve decided that doing something with very basic models isn’t really the best way to advertise my abilities as both an animator and modeller, so I’m back to more complex models. Rest assured, rigging won’t be too much of a headache, since i’ve found a few ways to get around some issues i’ve been having with it.

Right now I have the environment modeled for this animated short, and I’m finishing up the final design for the character.

This is her:

All that’s left before animating is rigging her, and making the extra monster actors, which shouldn’t take too long, maybe a week or two.

Runtime for the animation should be about 4 and a half minutes. I know that sounds pretty long, but most of the animation is pretty simple, or just straight up walk cycle from different angles. Either way, it’s all planned out.

Don’t really want to give an ETA, but shooting for end of april.

Thanks for looking!

The_Omnilord · March 2, 2017, 10:13pm

Wow, that new character looks impressive. The modeling looks solid and the shading covers enough area to add detail but not too much as to become distracting, which can be hard to deal with sometimes. She reminds me of War (from the previous page). Maybe a sister or something?

As always, I have a few suggestions. Maybe perhaps you can add an emblem or some sort of armor detail to the chest armor as it looks a little plain with that much empty space. It might not matter that much in action during animation, but looking at it from a motionless standstill, it feels lacking imo.

Another is to vary the use of color on the entire character. About 85% of the character is a dark gray or lightish black, with the cape and head/hair being the only exception, which can cause the character’s entire design to blur together at times. Again, armor details could help out here in terms of color. Bright yellow/gold would be a good choice of color here as it forms a triadic color scheme with the blue eyes and red cape as well as offsetting and contrasting some of the darkness. At least make the lighter shades of gray/black lighter to stand out more from the darker shades and play around a little more with the color design. I think it looks good, but a little color tweaking and adjustment would definitely make it great.

Not really a suggestion as more of an observation, but I noticed the armor plating on the hips shrink as they extend outwards, when usually it’s the opposite. It looks fine to me, but I just wanted to point that out.

Not much else to say but good luck. I hope you make lots of progress on your animation.

Gray_Silhouette · April 2, 2017, 2:44am

A few things today.

First, I followed Omnilord’s advice on a few things, and fixed up the character a bit.

Added emblems on the breastplate and cape, though they are two different emblems.
As for color, not much was done, but the hues and saturation of a few of the colors were tweaked to flow better. the mood of the animation is dark and gloomy, so I want the character to reflect that with her darker colors, with the exception of the red cape.
The hip plates were made to shrink purely because it helped reduce clipping, heh heh.

Second, the animated short is going to temporarily be put on hold. The reason or this is because someone directed me to a website called Hyun’s Dojo. It’s a site where animators of all kinds (various forms of 2D and 3D) can share their work and compete in “duels” with their chosen character, or “duelist”. There’s a competition coming up that is a tournament duel between 16 animators. The winner walks away with about $2k, with losers still getting some amount of money.
This is a good opportunity, not only for the money, but also the experience. Hyun, the founder of the site, made it so that those that animate as a hobby can make the bridge to animating professionally. So, I plan on entering the contest.

However, there’s a minor hiccup. To apply for the tournament, an animation of some kind is required. Given that I have ONE animation, and it’s a slow paced, not-much-happening animation, I need to make a more complex one to show that I can actively participate.
However, the due date for applications is April 8th. That’s in six days.

So I’ve spent the last two days making various weapons, a stage, and two fighters to make an animation for this.

Onto part 3. My duelist.
Since it’s required to pick ONE and only one character to duel with, I chose my favorite one: Lady Scarlet.
I gave her an outfit and lore change to make her better suited to fighting various enemies.

She also has three weapons that she can summon at will, a flintlock for range, a spear for closer, yet still long range, and a mace for close range armored and unarmored targets. All three are made and rigged, along with Lady Scarlet and her foe. I actually managed to fix the cursed deformation around the hips, so that won’t be a problem, yay!

Her opponent was actually fairly easy to think of and was modeled and rigged within about thirty minutes. Given that Hyun’s dojo is primarily 2D animators, I decided to make a 3D stickman.

Honestly, the skin modifier and subdiv modifier were all it took to make him. He’s shadeless black to mimic pure 2D.

So, everything is modeled, rigged, and textured, so that means I have six days of animation before the deadline to get it.

Who need sleep, right? Thanks for looking!

Gray_Silhouette · April 27, 2017, 11:38pm

Heheheh, I may have bit off way more than I could chew.

TL;DR: I didn’t get in, but i’m not too surprised or upset.

Alright, so here's the deal. I checked out the contest, got super hyped about it, and decided I wanted to do it. Only catch was, I needed an animation to put on the application. Only animation I have is the one from the RWBY Collab, but that's like 8 seconds of sad Ruby, not exactly award winning action. No problem, I have six days to make an action sequence, shouldn't be too hard.

Oops.

So I started making assets. I thought it'd be cool to make the fight at Hyun's Dojo, so I made a fully textured model of the Dojo. Thought it would be cool to have my duelist fight a stickman, since it's predominantly 2D animators. Easy, took 20 minutes to model and rig. Next I needed my duelist... How about Lady Scarlet? Sure. So I gave her a new outfit, and started animating immediately...with five days left. EEAASSYY.

It wasn't easy.

I've never done any sort of combat animation, let alone even a walk cycle. Which, by the way, I spent a day learning how to make my walk cycle not suck. Four days left. Render needed trees to look better, so I made tree textures. Needed weapons for both fighters, made and rigged weapons. Then animated. For fourteen hours straight. Two days in a row. One day until deadline.

At this point, I was drained, and losing motivation. I was at 28 seconds of animation, it wasn't very good, it was all just buildup, and I had NO IDEA how to do any action animation. On that day, I gave up. Something I never wanted to do. I submitted the RWBY animation on my application, and waited.

I didn't get in.

But honestly? I don't care. That week, stressful as it was, was full of SO MUCH LEARNING. I learned a massive amount of things just in that small time. I impressed myself by making fully functional rigs for two characters (one with bone controlled hair AND clothes) in only a day. I made a completely new set with textures for everything in maybe eight hours. I did SO MUCH. And it was a LOT of fun.
I still failed at my goal, but I learned that it doesn't matter too much. That's what this period of my career is for: learning and failing, and you learn the most when you fail.

So that was about a week ago. Since then, I took a break from animating and made a more “artistic” piece.
It uses some art from people that aren’t me, and the credits for all of it are on my deviantart posting, so please check it out here: http://graysilhouette.deviantart.com/art/The-Artistic-Dilemma-677510406

As always, thanks for looking!

ArtOfLight · May 5, 2017, 2:23pm

Just wanted to say that I think these really look great! You’ve definitely been doing a good job refining the look and feel of your characters. I think it could really turn out to be a very nicely done animation series once you’ve learned the animation side of things.

That’s too bad you didn’t make it into the contest. I can understand how you feel about being over your head with doing that animation in six days, but as you were saying, I suppose that’s what makes life fun Hopefully all goes well with your main animation!

The_Omnilord · May 5, 2017, 4:02pm

Bit late here, because I seem to be lurking here less and less nowadays. A little sorry for that, but I’m here now.

6 days to make a fight sequence with little experience in animating so far, that’s a tough challenge right there. Even some professional animators would struggle to pump out something that fast by themselves. Well at least you managed to learn a lot from your experience and got things done, which is a huge plus.

If you are going to try and make an animation, I recommend to start simple instead of going all out. Animate something basic like a ball bouncing first. You should learn to walk before you start running. Once you feel comfortable with that, then you can start pushing yourself slightly more each time until the advanced things start to feel basic to you. I understand the feeling of wanting to get something good done fast, but practice takes patience. It takes longer, but the foundations aren’t something to skimp out on. I didn’t really come here to lecture you on how you should do your work, so I’ll probably end this little animation rant here.

The art you put up looks pretty good. Looks simple, yet detailed enough to not appear bland. There are a few compositional elements you could work on, like how the objects of focus are usually either dead in the middle or too far off to the side. (Rule of Thirds is usually a good tip to consider.) The background also draws a lot of attention with the highly intense and saturated pink from the leaves of the trees, and there’s a very crisp and sharp divide between the grass and the sky. I would suggest blurring out the background more so less focus is drawn to it and more focus on the characters.

Another thing that I noticed is that the pink leaves are almost all a similar shade of pink, which blurs it together into one amorphous shape. This probably goes against what I said previously about blurring the background, but the leaves could use slightly more variety in color.

sdhy · May 28, 2017, 3:40pm

That deviantart link pic

I say if you still want it one day, keep at it!

As for animation, you can browse random videos on people fighting/sparring.
If you’re into geometry, see what angles their legs, arms, back, etc are bent at.
Or you could make artistic pieces of various different poses, and then one day realize you did a pose for each frame of a combat animation lol.

Gray_Silhouette · June 20, 2017, 5:15pm

Hey all!

Not much to say, been working on basic animations like walk cycles, facial expressions, etc.
I’m starting to try something more advanced as sort of a study on impact and motion; trying to make an extremely impactful punch.

Something along the lines superman/saitama/all might type of punch, with absolutely massive impact. I’m trying to figure out all of the things I need to make it work…

The list I have so far:

Long buildup/short impact
Camera angles/camera shake help
Debris/clouds help sell (more on this later)
Freeze frame on impact
Exaggerated poses, launch receiving character
Hitlag and delayed secondary animation are very helpful
Motion carries movement toward the receiver, then impacts at peak (line up with the momentum)

Is there anything important that I’m missing? Trying to observe similar punches, this is the list i’ve come up with.

On the topic of #3, the clouds.
I’m shooting for something like these:

Though, I’m not sure how to recreate it in blender…
Particle field probably won’t do it, just because I don’t really see how it could.
Smoke sim probably won’t for the same reason…
I could do it with mesh, but it deforms very rapidly and has odd deforms/shading and stuff, it would be very complicated.

Any ideas?

Thanks for looking!

teagirlvn · July 11, 2017, 9:18pm

I think you can add the VFX later in video editing, you can do it yourself or download/buy from someone else, it’s a lot easier than do it directly in 3d, and since you’re doing anime style, then why not
You can take some free ones here

or pay some for this guy

I’m trying to make anime-ish comic/animation by 3d too, but only started learning to use Blender since last week, a lot of stuffs need to learn, glad to see someone working on this field too, I hope you can keep moving on with this project !

Philsco · July 15, 2017, 6:35pm

Watching you go from being unsure if the eyes were too far apart and the iterations of the “Nyx” weapon through the screenshots now on page 10 has been a really neat little read! I’m glad I stumbled upon this while searching “clothing rendering” haha. It’s cool seeing your journey. Hoping I get a handle on the program like you have, eventually!

sdhy · July 25, 2017, 6:11pm

Glad to see you haven’t given up!

Maybe try adding an object with game logic actuator?
If you get it to work, I’d be curious to learn how you did; adding objects for me can have weird effects.

Gray_Silhouette · August 7, 2017, 7:51pm

That’s what I was thinking; some sort of VFX if the mesh didn’t work out well. Ah, you’re going for a similar style, eh? I wish you good luck, hopefully you can learn from my mistakes! =D

Ha, I actually reread through this thread myself fairly recently. It’s certainly been a bit of a skill gap from my first models (I don’t even want to look at them now lol), to my latest ones. Thanks for the kind words!

Give up? Never! It’s far too much fun doing this! Hmm… I haven’t done anything with game logic, nor do I have experience with programming, but if it’s helpful for the style, then I should probably learn it.

Alrighty.
Buckle up, serious time.

With the looming responsibility of having to find a job becoming extremely noticeable to me, I’ve decided things need to be done. I should have done them earlier, but I’m young and inexperienced.

 First, i've decided to nearly stop animating. Not <i>animation</i> in  general, but just animating. This is not a permanent change. I plan on  doing iAnimate courses when I have the money, to get a more professional  learning environment and to learn as much as I can, as quickly as I can.  This stop in animating means I'm currently hard focused on modelling,  given that it is a skill that I'm good enough at to market (hopefully).



 Second, I've decided that I want to start doing a few things:  Start up a patreon, start selling models on turbosquid, and start taking  commissions for models. None of this has happened yet, but is something  I plan on doing <i>very </i>soon, within the next week if all goes to plan. Let me explain what I mean for each one:
 1. Patreon - I'm starting up a patreon for those that want to  support me more passively. It'll be a monthly payment with various  benefits for each tier, that I'm currently deciding on. This will help  me get a more reliable income than selling models, but it'll be a much  smaller amount each month.
 2. Selling - I will start selling my base models on turbosquid,  the only thing I'm waiting on is better shots to showcase what models <i>came</i>  from those base models. The price i'm thinking is ~$125. If the base  models become popular enough (essentially, if I see that people want  these types of models), then i'll start to sell finished characters.
 3. Commissions - Soon I'll start taking commissions on deviantart  (though I can be pm'd for them anywhere) for making models. These will  range from "Make my OC" to more professional assets. The price will vary  widely based on whether it's a full model, how complex it is, and  whether the person wants the actual 3d model file or just an artistic  piece.
 I've used the past two weeks to work on models for most of every  day, skimping out on sleep when needed to make sure that they are as  quality as possible. Topology is good, shape is good, and the uvs are  good. Hopefully, with me selling different models at different places  will help to not only earn money, but also start spreading my name a bit  more. I will also be doing jobs for neighbors when I have the free time  to ensure that I do have enough money each month; the more I make from  models, the more time I have to <i>make more models. </i><b>Please keep in mind:</b> You don't have to give me money to support me, not at all. Every person that looks at my art and says anything (to me or another person) is supporting me, and I am very grateful for every kind of support. Truly, I thank all of you.



 Third, I haven't forgotten about the thing that this thread was  opened for: Project Broken World. I've begun work on a third draft of  the story, going over finer points, overarching themes, character  development, etc. I'm not leaving the project in the dust, it's simply  something that has to wait for a more realistic time.


 This is a bit of a stressful time, but for silly reasons. I don't  want to be forced back into a factory job (though it pays well for  someone of my age), I would much rather be working on this and barely be  getting enough to get past each month. It's foolish, but so is my  decision to not take this stuff more seriously for the past few months.  If, however, this all tanks and I make <i>extremely</i> little money  from this, then I will have to go back, and just lose time on  everything. Here's hoping I'm popular enough to make something.

As always, thanks for looking, and for your support.
Stay tuned for a new piece very soon.

Gray_Silhouette · August 9, 2017, 11:43pm

Hey there everyone! I said a new piece soon, so here it is!

Model got ripped to shreds a few times, so I redid it, and now I should have a permanent base model. For females anyway, my second attempt at males did not go very well. Oh well, just gotta practice more.

Thanks for looking!

Pepina · August 10, 2017, 4:08am

If you have problems with rigging, there is an addon in blender called “Riggify”. It has already created human skeleton, so you just move some bones to match your model and you are ready to go. Check some yt tutorials, it should help.

efly · August 11, 2017, 8:47pm

Another great link for character design is this Dota guide.

Rules like: dark at bottom lighter at top; add a design to one side of the character to break symmetry; a profile of the character should be enough to identify that character; and many more.

These are good rules to learn and adapt and not just for games.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb/9334-YDXV-8590/dota-2-workshop-character-art-guide

Gray_Silhouette · September 5, 2017, 11:32pm

I actually recently made the decision to stop using rigify. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good base rig, but it simply didn’t have all of the tools I needed for my particular style. I’ve been learning how to make my own rigs, with pretty decent success.

Oh, that’s really helpful! I do lack in character design, and it’s something I really want to learn, since I don’t have many ideas for a characters appearance, but plenty for their personality and story. This is a good resource, thanks!

Gray_Silhouette · October 1, 2017, 9:11pm

It’s been a while!

I’ve been working on some commissions, along with learning as much as I can about animation. I plan on doing iAnimate workshops, but that costs money, so I’m doing commissions alongside my job, trying to earn enough money before the next section so I can learn more.

Anyways, the commission that I recently finished was for an environment.

This was rather fun to work on, as it’s the first environment I’ve made, and the first time I’ve done some actual full hard surface modelling, which was a bit of a change from the more soft body modelling that I typically do.

Small update this time, working an a lot of things at once.

Thanks for looking!