Community project poll

[Manu]

What type of community project would you like to see?

- Tango style means everybody's animation will on screen at the same time, constantly cycling. The cycles would comes in one by one until the whole screen is filled with cycles (given there's enough animations)

- Linear means every animator gets his/her own isolated few seconds of on-screen time that match up with the next persons animation and create a nonsensical narrative since no-one knows what the others are doing.

[DarkMProductions]

I'd have to go with linear, that way the animator wont be intimidated or discouraged from doing what he/she wants to do. Sure the final result might be a little crazy, but sometimes you need that sort of thing.

[heyvern]

I will reiterate what I said in the other topic:

I like the linear approach because there are no limits. The character could start out in Australia and end up in the antarctic. He could wake up in bed getting ready for work and end up on another planet.

No limits.

-vern

[Rhoel]

I can see the advantages of both. I can also see potential disadvantages of both.

For me the balance is the layered approach, since it allows for more people to work on the project. It's biggest pluses are it favors the differing technical standards and work speeds of people - if one person takes a month to finish a single walk through shot, then it will be in. The fixed time period means others will be timed out, or not bother to participate.

It also doesn't restrict creativity - the linear approach means you are stuck with the last position/props the previous animator had. That is restrictive and means a potentially good animator might end up with a lower quality piece because of bad starting blocks. It's the nightmare of "what the hell do I do with this?!"

Loops mean there is no limit on the cycle length, it could be a fast run cycle lasting 25 frames, it might be a more complex work lasting 20 seconds.

Each will have its place in the end product.

Personally, I think loops will be more engaging and have a wider appeal as there will be more going on.


If the linear wins out, can I suggest the title be 101 things to do with a black hole. Black holes, the antics device for making anything dissappear or re-emerge, have been the backbone of quirky animation since the 50's; recently, they have fallen out of favour.

Great pity as this prop has endless possibilities.

Rhoel

[synthsin75]

I would go for linear. The good thing about cartoon physics is that props of just about any size can appear and disappear behind the characters back.

[Manu]

It also doesn't restrict creativity - the linear approach means you are stuck with the last position/props the previous animator had. That is restrictive and means a potentially good animator might end up with a lower quality piece because of bad starting blocks. It's the nightmare of "what the hell do I do with this?!"

The best ideas I've had over the years came when I was faced with that sort of situation. Finding a solution for a problem is, as far as I'm concerned, creativity. If there's no problem to solve, there's no creativity.

And like the previous poster pointed out, cartoon logic is not exactly restrictive.

[Freakish Kid]

How about a string of you guys working together one after the other. What I mean by this is that a character is designed and a model built. Then 1 animator starts off his/her few seconds and leaves it open ended - you can do anything - then the animation file is passed onto the next animator to add their few unique seconds. That way by the end of the piece who knows where your imaginations have taken it.

GK

[Manu]

How about a string of you guys working together one after the other. What I mean by this is that a character is designed and a model built. Then 1 animator starts off his/her few seconds and leaves it open ended - you can do anything - then the animation file is passed onto the next animator to add their few unique seconds. That way by the end of the piece who knows where your imaginations have taken it.

GK

That's exactly what I was thinking off. The one thing I'm not too sure about is whether we should keep the animation hidden from the next animators. I'm slowly starting to think it might be nicer if you could see the previous animation. As long as people aren't intimidated by the previous piece.

[Freakish Kid]

I don't think it would prove too intimidating, as artists I'm sure everyone on this forum would step up to the challenge. Also if people couldn't see the animation it may turn out to be some incoherent mess - though I'm sure Picasso or Pollock might approve of that!

GK

[Manu]

Also, seeing other people's work may push you a bit harder. It would add an aspect of healthy competition.

[synthsin75]

So how 'fully rigged' do you expect the intial character to be? I mean there's a huge difference in one pose with a skeleton, and turns and other actions already prepared.

One artist may spend a good deal of time setting up things like a walk cycle, and only benefit those who follow. If that were going to be the case, I think the 'pros' should have the first shot at it. They're more likely to be able to do much of that in a timely fashon. But then again, you wouldn't want the project to be so imbalanced by having all the pro work front loaded. It could just kinda go downhill from there.

Just something to think about.

Maybe potential contributors would like to voluteer for some part of the 'rigging' before the actual animation were to begin in ernest.

[Manu]

I did a simple character, trying to be as generic as possible. Here's a short animation test.

Also, here's the file. Feel free to improve the character and/or the rig. My rigs tend to be very crude, I leave a lot to point level animation. Personally I think that's the best for short animations, no need to go crazy and pre-made automatism's.

PS. As usual, foot lock doesn't work at all on this character. If there's any tricks to make it work, please have a look at it. I ended up placing the feet by eye.

[synthsin75]

It's not much, but I constrained his shadow to the root bone. I also added some animation.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mimun1hdyxi

[Manu]

Ooooh, nice one on the shadow constraining. I've never really looked that much into constraining. And I like the way you did the spark, very clever little trick there.

I really meant this is a quick and dirty test to see if the rig worked, but you already started adding animation to it. Does this mean we've started?

There's still the sound that needs to be sorted out, maybe a dedicated FTP site, I was hoping to start a new thread by the end of this week where we can start formally, where people can sign up, keep track of the progress...

[Kankuran]

Hi!
This seems like great fun!
I would go for the linear approach!

Cheers!