Creating an animation.

BradMick said:
the biggest problem i see there is a visual one. there is a BIG disconnect between the hand drawn cleanliness of the textures on the longbow and the repeating tilable texture on the victory. the dramatic shift in looks looks really off to me. the scene setting is quite nice though, just...that change in texture style is not so good.

I'd also suggest a higher resolution version if you're thinking about it as a wallpaper. The black bars are fine, but 1280x or higher would be kind of neat.
 
I would like to suggest a 16:9 format for wallpapers since it leaves some space for icons without covering parts of the image.
That would be for example 1280x720, 1920x1080 and 1600x1000.
 
@gevatter Lars: thank you for the really vaulable comment! I know I miseed the motion blur, thats a good idea! I'v ssen the piture you made, and it allready looks good with the added mo-blur! Edit: forgot to tell you the haze effect: it was done in corell photopaint as part of the post work. But I think theres some tool for it in PS too. You just mask the part of the image you want effected, and apply Ripple effet, wich makes it wavey. Not the best tool, it could be much better, but its okay for the time being.
The problem with my scene is, that it involves lot of post work. here's the orginal for ref.

You can see, that the background is in really bad shape, especially without post. I'll have to make new textures for the hangar anyway, cause I'll need it for the project. Problem with all this is, that now I'll have my finals (thats what end-o-year exams called in university?) from now on till february, so I'll have totally zero freetime :(
Thanks again for all the comments, your right about em. I'll do the next one that way.
 
The two scenes I have made so far...the other wallpaper will come soon...getting their look also from heavy postpro work. I think using postpro is ok as long as you don't tend to do everthing with it..still it saves quite some rendertime in some cases so its ok for me to use it.

About the haze effect...I thought it was done in Max so that I could easly use the effect for animations. Doing ever pic in postpro for longer animations would be to time consuming I think ^_^

Well I wish you good luck with your exams and your artwork...luckly I allready have the exams behind me.
 
I'm takeing a little break from mathematical analysis :D So, I'm allready thinking about how to do the haze in Max. I'v been thinking about particles, but that's no way to do it I think. Any idea?
 
Mh never thought about it...
Maybe you could get a cheap effect using another cone over the engine trail with an animated texture...maybe using the noise effect or smoke for it and make it nearly transparent.
A spacewarp might also be a possibility like water ^_^
I wouldn't use particles for that since they use quite a lot of processing power...still a possibility to do some research.
I also think that it might be possible using the atmosphere gizmo and some effects applied to it.
If nothing helps doing a google search might help ^_^
Scifi-meshes are making a lot of SF modelling...maybe their someone knows how to do it.
 
While I was sleeping last night, my computer was hard at rendering, and came up with the first takeoff scene of the original animation. Nothing was changed since I made the scene in 2003, I just never had the chance to do a full render overnight. So here's the result in a low quality divx. Anyone has an idea for a good video converting program wich does Not change the resolution? (wich in this case was 1024*768, but WindowsMovieMaker, and DivX Converter both changed it to something lower even in the highest possible setting)

I'm showing this off now, because it will be totally replaced in the animation.
Btw, rendering was done useing Max5, with Deffault Scanline renderer, so no plugins were used. Even the effects are deffault Max effects.

The LINK: http://www.filegone.com/f7ez
 
I’ve downloaded it but unfortunately this computer doesn’t have the proper codec, so I’ll have to wait to get home and watch it. :(
 
lorddarthvik said:
While I was sleeping last night, my computer was hard at rendering, and came up with the first takeoff scene of the original animation. Nothing was changed since I made the scene in 2003, I just never had the chance to do a full render overnight. So here's the result in a low quality divx. Anyone has an idea for a good video converting program wich does Not change the resolution? (wich in this case was 1024*768, but WindowsMovieMaker, and DivX Converter both changed it to something lower even in the highest possible setting)

I'm showing this off now, because it will be totally replaced in the animation.
Btw, rendering was done useing Max5, with Deffault Scanline renderer, so no plugins were used. Even the effects are deffault Max effects.

The LINK: http://www.filegone.com/f7ez

I just get an error message that the file does not exist? Could you double check the link? Also as for a good program that will keep your intended size? Hmm, Adobe Premiere is very good but I have no idea what it costs. I could be wrong on this but I thought when you encode a video .wmv format you are maxed at like 720x490 or such. (typically winds up at 640x480). I don't think it's supported on up to 1024x768. Also, there's really no need to render a movie at that resolution...640x480 is more than acceptable for almost all purposes.
 
The link worked for me...also I was a little confused at first...but then I saw the download button on the page.

About the size...for most things on the net 640x480 is ok...special previews.
For coding higher resolutions IIRC the WM decoder was able to even do HD formats so you might want to check that. Also the decoder was for free some time ago.
I am not sure about the WMV decoder thought...just try it out. Technical the codec is quite good and for free.
 
Yesterday I got my Freespace 2 installed again. I'm waiting for the WC Saga really. So I searched for some other mods to spend some time till its release, and ame upon the Open Fs. And now at the moment, I'm trying to import the Longbow into the game.
I saw that the OpenFs has an option to use WC_Saga etra settings :D That means your going to use it right?
Oh, so the thing I wanted to say is, if anyone wishes to use my modell in any game/scene/animation, just mail me. I can modifie it to a desired poly limit if needed. I can't really get under 3000 without sacrifising important detalis though.
 
FSOpen is realy good. Try out the HTL stuff that is in progress. Some parts look realy great.
For help with the Longbow just went over to Hard Light Production...their are enough people and I think even some tutorials how to get models ingame.
Also make sure to inform yourself about the futures you can have like specmaps, glowmaps and so on.

The luncher thing isn't complete yet so the mod will run with or without it...same goes for the $%&§ fiction viewer that still has to be done. We are allready thinking about an alternative way of providing the fiction.
 
Oh well, I gotta get to HLP and ask some questions. I'm useing PofExporter for Max5. I can't get the maps to show in modellview32. Well, one of 3 PCX maps show as a noisy chaoticly colored map, but the others show up black. is there a limit to map size or what??? There is no faq, or any kind of data like this :( I don't want to ask noob questions again in a new topic :D
EDIT: IT WORKS :D I just realized that I must use 8bit palett :(
 
You don't have to use PCX anymore. You can use TGA,JPG and DDS maps (just give them the same name as the PCX version and check in the luncher that TGAs are used.
Since TGA files are quite big I would suggest DDS files.
Oh and don't fear to ask questions...or since its a WC model head over to our forum-part and ask their.
I think Starman or Tolwyn might be also able to help you.
 
Ok, thanx. I think I figured it out by now mostly. I even got the modell to show in the ingame tech database, allthough only as a replacement of a bomber. I got the gun banks and engines showing up in the modellview editor, but whenever I try to save it with new coordinates for the eyeponint it crashes. I'll ask around what ot do.
 
lorddarthvik said:
While I was sleeping last night, my computer was hard at rendering, and came up with the first takeoff scene of the original animation. Nothing was changed since I made the scene in 2003, I just never had the chance to do a full render overnight. So here's the result in a low quality divx. Anyone has an idea for a good video converting program wich does Not change the resolution? (wich in this case was 1024*768, but WindowsMovieMaker, and DivX Converter both changed it to something lower even in the highest possible setting)

I'm showing this off now, because it will be totally replaced in the animation.
Btw, rendering was done useing Max5, with Deffault Scanline renderer, so no plugins were used. Even the effects are deffault Max effects.

The LINK: http://www.filegone.com/f7ez
Watched it, finally.
I like the picture quality, it’s good, the screen size is great as well and your ships are awesome. But, those Hellcats hovering before taking off don’t seem very well. Maybe adding a landing gear would be nice and also some gas vapor beneath them to give the impression of engine power. Another thing is the liftoff it self, why do they have to takeoff at the same time? (Suggestion) What if one the fighters would takeoff first and then the other two? (You know, the flight leader goes first…)

One last question, do you plan to add sound? It would improve much if there were some music, sound effects and perhaps intercom dialogs between the control tower and the pilots.

I know that you will set a new scene with a new base :D, so probably you already have thought of many changes, anyway this are my thoughts, use them if you will. :)
 
Than Kilrah Of ourse, your right about the takeoff and sound and effects. I "missed" these cause I was about 2 months into 3D when I did this. I learned everything from the tutorials supplied with Max5, all by myselfs. So no one told me that I should make the fighters takeoff separately :D I was, lemme c, 15 y.old when I did this, and I couldn't wait for the effects like dust an such to render :D We'Ll do the things in the new one :D

So, "We" means that Kilrah has joined the party! He is helping me out with modelling, textureing, and ideas, and already completed a great skecth for a new base, and even made some basic modells of the buildings to start with :D
Maybe I'll finish this one up eventually (?) :)
 
Back
Top