Shane Newville's - Little Ninja Project

[Ghost_Train]

@awesomehammer

That was really nice. I liked the simplicity and the very fluid animation that it allows. Too many people get caught up in trying to make things look overly real and the movement almost always suffers, even in blockbuster films. I wish more people took your approach.

You mentioned trying to figure out how to portray your videos the way you previsualize them. Do you build a storyboard before you start animating? That helps quite a lot when it comes to setting pace, and knowing what’s going on in general.

Thanks. And yes, I do storyboard. And Little Ninja Project only fulfilled about 10% of it. I had too many steps in my workflow. I was trying to follow Monty Oum’s way of doing things, but wasn’t able to translate it into my own in a way that was fast like his. So, I had lots of extra un-needed work. It’s sad how long it took me for that short clip…that didn’t even have an ending. On top of that, didn’t even get into the meat of the story.

But yeah, storyboarding is a must for most people. But not everyone. Monty Oum is a good example of not doing things the way schools and pro’s say you have to. And yet, he’s making movies that even 99.5% of pros could/would never do on their own.
http://www.gametrailers.com/users/montyoum/gamepad/
I do think speed of production matters though. Especially for someone doing things on his own. You have to be able to capture those moments of inspiration. My whole life I’ve been a dreamer imagining stories, etc. But actually animating is something newer to me. The better I get at production/quality/speed, the more it will portray my imagination. I just hope I can get there soon. I’m already going on 29 years old!!! If you’re in your teen years starting out I am excited for you. You’ve got a huge head start and have the opportunity to create more in your lifetime than late bloomers.

Being a Blender user, I would need to know how to make my own rigs usable enough to be productive enough to be fast enough to…I’ve gotten to know Poser a bit and that is what I’m planning to use for any continuation. There are good reasons. If Blender could marry some of Poser’s features it would be the ultimate awesome.

[awesomehammer]

Ha, I wish I was still in my teens. I’ll be 25 on the 1st Animation is infinitely rewarding, in a way stills never were for me.

I’m more of a 2d animator now that I’ve come to terms with my own modeling limitations. I still plan to use Blender for structures and environments, but character modeling just isn’t something I can do to my satisfaction so I envy that.

Rigging seems to be an art unto itself, like lighting and camera work. It’s one of the reason I abandoned character modeling. Way too many ways to do the same thing and if I did anything beyond basic it came out looking mutantish.

Boy, do I wish I could get away with not storyboarding or writing, but I find myself working for days on a scene that only end up being a minute long. My pacing is terrible if I don’t have a specific thing to work on. It is time consuming but I keep telling myself it’s worth it.

Best of luck to you. You’ve got the spark. I hope you figure out a way to speed things up so you can make it a profitable venture. (That’s what I hope for myself, too.)