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Post by nitenurse79 on Jan 9, 2012 21:57:44 GMT
I can't even work out how to colour. dang it
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Post by blackpenny on Jan 9, 2012 22:04:54 GMT
Lookin' good, Goonie! Blender seems just a teeny bit too complicated for me. And I'd have to do a lot of housecleaning in my brain to make room for another program.
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Post by Pixey on Jan 9, 2012 22:46:34 GMT
OMGoodness Have just seen the glass and the metalised emblem done, I guess, in Blender. Wow & double wow Amazing results Gooney.
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Post by Sargon III on Jan 11, 2012 9:02:08 GMT
wow goonfella, nice coloring, and I like the rail too, do you think it is easier to draw it up by Blender or SketchUp? I know the rendering and animating in Blender is excellent.
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Post by Goonfella on Jan 11, 2012 12:09:17 GMT
Thanks everyone for your kind comments. Much appreciated. @ NN, it`s like with most things- the more you use it the more familiar you will become with the UI . When you open it up on the right hand side click on the materials icon, then in the black box that says `New' and you will see the preview pane . Underneath that will be a section called `Diffuse'. Click on the colored box and you can start changing the colors. (sorry I could not post an image, PB is playing up) Keep at it, I think it`s a great accompaniment to PDN. @del- I still have not figured out UV unwrapping either. I coloured this model using a mix of textures made with PDN as well as in Blender . I found a great plug in for Blender by Alfonso Serra that adds a great many useful textures so you just have to pick the one you want for your model and away you go. No more trying to work out the best settings, although you can still modify the ones provided , which I did a few times. But UV unwrapping - still a mystery to me I`m afraid. :: Thanks BP & Pixey. Glad you like my work. @sargon- I have found it easier to use Blender. I very rarely use SU now. The good thing about the latest Blender (2.61) is that it has a new render engine called Cycles which is light years ahead of the Blender Renderer. It can use GPU rendering (if your graphics card supports CUDA - unfortunately mine is an AMD card so I lose out there ) which speeds up the process of rendering . I am still getting to grips with it though so for the moment I still use the Default renderer. Here`s a great tutorial by Andrew Price showing the difference it can make. It means , of course , you no longer have to export to an external renderer to get excellent results - which also means that is one less program to learn as well!
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Post by Goonfella on Jan 15, 2012 6:44:52 GMT
Well the Rocket animation is going through it`s final rendering process. I knew it would take a bit longer than the one in the tut because mine has been coloured and textured and his was just the basic grey model. But I never thought it would take this long! I started the final render last night at about 10.15pm thinking that, as his took 25mins, a couple of hours should be plenty enough time. No chance! By 1am it had still only got 150 of the 400 frames rendered - nearly 3hrs! Fortunately in Blender you are able to stop the render at any point, and carry on from where you left off. So as soon as I woke up this morning I set it off rendering again and its doing so as I write this . At this rate I reckon it will take a good 12hrs in total . So as I will not be stuck in front of the laptop for half a day it probably won`t be ready until tomorrow. No doubt a newer, more powerful laptop would have got the job done faster but I have this one so that`s that. Sorry for going on a bit. I must have caught something off Del! ;D It will be worth the wait though - I hope!
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Post by delpart on Jan 15, 2012 17:26:08 GMT
Contagious it is to speak in complete thoughts, no? ;D
And this is why I stopped exploring fractal math on one level. It was frustratingly slow and ate up valuable computer cycles I wanted to do "other things" ...
Also reminds of looking into Silicon Graphics for a client back in the 90's ... Creating a rendering farm with their stuff was neat, but way off the charts budget wise. I think part of my mindset is still stuck in that time frame when I think about rendering.
Cant wait to see the results mate. Looking forward to it.
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Post by Goonfella on Jan 15, 2012 19:09:18 GMT
The wait is over Del.Here is the final render.
I only realized when it was finished that somehow I had accidently deleted the texture on the carriage axles and also the piston. Check out the difference between the left and right side. I was tempted to fix this and start again but I reminded myself (once the air had returned to it`s normal colour) that I had done this more to learn about animation than textures. I`m not 100% happy with it as you might imagine but as it is the most complex and longest animation I have attempted so far I`ll put up with it. I`ll be more careful next time though!
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Post by Helen on Jan 15, 2012 21:02:24 GMT
You did this? I mean like Goonfella from Paint.NET?! I am flabbergasted. Wow! I especially like how the view changes and how the "camera" pans around the train like that. This is just superb, Goon. I looked at the animation over and over and kept seeing the different parts moving. I must say, I've never seen anything like this.
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Post by delpart on Jan 16, 2012 7:39:44 GMT
Very nice GF! The missing textures may be a pisser, but at least they were shaded some. Had they been missing or wire-frame or whatever else can happen that comes to mind, I could see you you really losing it. ;D Seen a lot of blooper reels like that where whole sections were not turned on for a final render batch. And of course, its a learning experience and tutorial. Just glad you're willing to share it. Lots of detail in this as well. Much more movement than I was expecting to be honest. The camera movement was nice but confused me on part of the zoom in. Again, this is not being a critic, just sharing a "huh, that's different" moment ... especially since its a learning tool. And yes, even for a slightly older person, I simply love animated work. Traditional and of course modern rendering. Maybe its my vision or the headaches, or ... dunno. Just animated things match my inner monologue and perspective. I think I can actually appreciate the Wiki more now having seen a computer animation of it even. Right, blathering because I made a hot lemon toddy to ease the throat (and my nerves ...) I hope this reads well when I'm more sober ... What else was I going to ... OH! You'll maybe want to look into this: MOBY GRATISIt's Moby's attempt at sharing out some tunes for film work. I've been signed up but I've not tried to get a license for anything yet as I'm lacking something to apply it to. Not even a storyboard layout come to think of it. But I think thats a ways off for me still. Anyways, thought of the way yer headed and some of that stuff beats out the default selections on YouTube ... (especially since anything else tends to get you into issues with far too many people these days ...) Looking forward to more fun with this. And so I dont have to do an edit: one area I dont understand is at the base of the stack ... is it supposed to be changing or reflecting something? Again, not a critique, just trying to figure out what is happening right there. Righto, enough from me in one post. I'm reaching the 2500 character mark again.
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Post by barbieq25 on Jan 16, 2012 8:32:27 GMT
I am stunned. I had to look to see the texture missing but I cannot see it on the carriage. The piston, yep, it is different but it doe not detract from the overall animation. Like Helen I love the way the camera pans! Fantastic outcome. Very clever too. I've watched it quite a few times now because I just love it. Well done Goonie!
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Post by TheBad1 on Jan 16, 2012 17:23:40 GMT
I've won't even claim to comprehend how you did this ... Absolutely brilliant mate. I could waffle on and on but no words will convey how awesome I think this is !!!
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Post by Goonfella on Jan 16, 2012 18:51:04 GMT
Goonie from PDN! ;D I like it Helen. Glad you liked the animation. Thanks. Thanks for the link Del. In the latest Blender you can add music to your animations as well. Havn`t worked it out yet though. But that link might come in handy sometime. You spotted the stack then? I had a bit of a problem with the textures at the base of it. Something to do with the way I made it initially. I thought recalculating the normals would fix it but it did not. I would have needed to redo the whole thing so I just put up with it. Barbie if you look at the axles of the wheels on the carriage you will see they are light grey in colour. They were a similar metallic colour as the left hand piston ( the good one). Don`t know how I missed that. Thanks Welshy. Nice of you not to say so! ;D (well done Swansea - they were the best team and deserved every point)
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Post by barbieq25 on Jan 16, 2012 21:35:11 GMT
Well I look at it at least 10 times & there was too much other awesome stuff for me to see it. The was the bottom of the stack shimmers I thought was part of it - like a air in-take & part of what I really loved about the animation. I agree - Goonie of PDN - sounds great.
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Post by blackpenny on Jan 17, 2012 17:21:28 GMT
That is just too cool for words! That's really all I can say without blathering like an idiot. Way to go!
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Post by delpart on Jan 17, 2012 17:35:57 GMT
Sorry for potentially pointing out anything like that GF. Just figured I should share what I'm seeing. ;D And totally not being critical of it. Just figured if I mention it I could learn from your learning etc. Curved surfaces is where (in theory based on reading mind you) that UV mapping and other things help to avoid that sort of thing ... Its the "other things" that is a new language to me so I've nothing to suggest on a remedy. Though you are probably correct on need to redo a lot more than a single texture or two to correct something that shows up like that. Its all this nuance that is required to create these things that makes me appreciate the high dollar studio level stuff so much. I suspend my disbelief so I can enjoy things fully, but I can come back and look around the corners and ooh and ahh a little more due to having a relative knowledge of some parts of what goes into making it. More specifically, I always have fun at looking at the size of the production credits for a non-animated film that has done varying levels of special effects and can usually count on it being larger now than the regular film production crew. Of course, once we get sentient silicon after reaching the Singularity, the computers will have to be mentioned as well. Until then we can make do with fuzzy logic and our keen eyes.
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Post by TheBad1 on Jan 17, 2012 22:06:40 GMT
Adding music ? Johnny Cash and Folsom Prison Blues springs to mind ... I've watched this 7/8 times now and each time I sit here with my mouth open
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Post by Goonfella on Jan 18, 2012 0:31:54 GMT
Many thanks Barbie - from Goon of PDN! ;D Blather away BP , I don`t mind at all. Thanks Don`t apologise for pointing out errors Del. That`s what this place is all about. UV Mapping? - I shudder at the thought. That one of the areas that I really have to learn. As long as you remember to close your mouth afterwards Welshy! ;D Here is a few progress shots which I thought might interest you. I think Del will enjoy these. Click on them in Imageshack to get the full size image. The first one is the train finished with no texturing. This is how it looked in the very first image I posted of it earlier - Next up is the point where most of texturing had been done and the animating began. The animation had to be done in two parts. Firstly the main part of the engine and carriage - Then the drive train, which had to be carefully lined up to match the first section so that when both animations moved , they moved together - And lastly, animating the whole train so that everything that should move does move. The train is actually moving along the track at this point, I just paused it for the pic - And there you go. One Stephenson`s Rocket, modeled, textured and animated in Blender.
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Post by venicet on Jan 18, 2012 1:03:34 GMT
wow Goonfella, I'm speechless I can't figure out Blender to save my life! LOL
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Post by Sargon III on Jan 21, 2012 8:43:01 GMT
Great animation mate, I watched it many times, and have noticed the pistons, you made them in sequence, as they should be, I like the camera path you've chosen, it would be greater with the engineer, though.
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Post by Goonfella on Jan 21, 2012 19:19:25 GMT
Thank Venicet. Glad you noticed the pistons were in sequence Sargon. In the tutorial he had both sides moving the same way at the same time which was wrong . It stands to reason that when one piston is on its backstroke the other would be pushing. That way you get constant thrust. I actually did a considerable amount of researching just in case it was supposed to be as in the tut - it is a very early design of engine after all so there was no guarantee which way was the right way. I finally found a video showing a replica Rocket moving and , just as I thought, the pistons moved in sequence. The camera path was chosen to show off as much of the engine as possible, which I think I have managed to do. Your right about the engineer though, it would look great if there was someone actually driving it. Never mind.
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Post by nitenurse79 on Jan 27, 2012 21:14:24 GMT
Oh Wow goonfella, your blender works just gets better, I love what you do with it.
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