"The Ocean" animated music video

[ianmage1]

A high school friend of mine spent months writing his own album. I offered to make an animated music video for one of his songs; so I did.

The main character rig is not my best work... for the head rotation smart bone action, I wanted to try literally rotating the vector layers (each layer having different a Z value to give depth to the head--rotated to face camera) rather than simply animating vector points; I'll never do this again, because, not only did it cause AS to crash a million times, it made my character's head and body turns even more restricted. Long story short, it was a complicated mess of a rig that I had to force myself to make work.
Aside from the rig, I was happy with almost everything else--especially the underwater scenes.

[Pinesal]

I apologize to your friend because I watched this with the sound off. However, your animations are sooooooo good that I still watched the whole thing. You have always impressed me but this time you've done things that I didn't even know was possible in anime studio. Was this all done in anime studio?

The hair in particular was amazing, did you animate that by hand or did you use physics or something like that?

[ianmage1]

I apologize to your friend because I watched this with the sound off. However, your animations are sooooooo good that I still watched the whole thing. You have always impressed me but this time you've done things that I didn't even know was possible in anime studio. Was this all done in anime studio?

The hair in particular was amazing, did you animate that by hand or did you use physics or something like that?

Thank you! Everything, aside from the 3D ocean floor, was done in AS.
This was the first time I ever used bone dynamics for hair--in a seminar a while back, Selgin revealed a way of adding "gravity" to bone dynamics; basically, you have to create a parent bone with "independent angle" enabled--this will make all of its child bones move independently from your character. If your character leans his head 30 degrees to the right, the parent bone will still follow the head, but its angle will not be influenced, giving the hair gravity. While experimenting with this technique, I discovered that the parent bones (with their independent angles) could be animated to make the "hair blowing in the wind" effect.
You'd probably be better off watching the seminar; it makes more sense when you see it in action.

My friend probably still has a few things to learn about music production, but he's actually a decent writer. I was hoping that, if anything, the music video would help him reach a bigger audience (that's not to say that I have a huge subscriber base, but it could still help). I'm glad you liked the animation.

[lwaxana]

nice work, it goes really nicely with the song. I especially like the shots looking up at the light streaming into the ocean. Just gorgeous!

[Danimal]

My friend probably still has a few things to learn about music production

This is something of an understatement. Somewhere around the 40 second mark I had to hit mute. The song itself wasn't bad, but what's with that totally out of place piano? It seems to be playing a completely different song!

Anyway, the cartoon itself is outstanding, as if there was any doubt it would be. Your work is really fantastic, I hope it helps to bring attention to the music.

[sargumphigaus]

you and me Ianmage, we're like polar opposites. Your work is pretty, smooth, elegant and dreamlike. meanwhile my work is dark gritty, rough, and nightmarish. If you by any chance find yourself becoming batman, I call dibs on being your joker.

[3deeguy]

ianmage1, You did your musician friend a big favor. I always enjoy your work but at 1:00 I thought the shimmering water was especially beautiful.

[ianmage1]

If you by any chance find yourself becoming batman, I call dibs on being your joker.

I'll let you know as soon as possible. Thank you!
Even though we may be polar opposites, I'm still in awe of your animation style--it's quite unlike anything I've seen before, and it's entirely unique to you. That's a major achievement!

[drichird]

I was amazed when I saw your 2013 demo reel especially the "Whiteland" material, and you continue to be amazing here with this. I especially liked the wavy grass around :06 and :12, the streaming stars at :24, the way hair, dreamcatcher rings etc... are blown by the wind at :41, and the very beautiful shimmering water effect you produce at 1:01.

This is an awesome video and I just really like your art style, both in whiteland and here with the Indian motif of painted faces, dreamcatchers, and nature scenes you evoke a particular kind of other-worldly world this viewer loves to lose himself in. Keep up the great work!

[ianmage1]

@drichird@3deeguy@danimal@Iwaxana
Thank you all very much! It's refreshing to hear this kind of feedback outside the insolent world of YouTube.

[3deeguy]

ianmage1, YouTubers can be brutal. I'd like to think we're in a supportive community because we have Anime Studio in common. Honestly, I think we're all kind of special. Not everybody does what we do and it does take some talent. So unless a troll starts throwing fireballs at everybody I want to support the members of this forum.

[sargumphigaus]

I jumped on your frozen video and sifted through the comments once. YouTube comments are garbage, a total miasmic horror display of apathy and self loathing. You'd find more fulfillment rolling around in a bed of thumbtacks. The way I see it, the majority of these people are hurting over a lack of self fulfillment. When they see someone like you posting artwork that clearly demonstrates self application, they're seeing it as someone having something they don't. Drive, ambition, talent, and above all, something to show for it. These are all things that they don't have. And given the hopelessly low capacity for emotional intelligence, they're going to cry out and try to cut you down to their level. They're hurting inside and they just want to spread the venom. "You fucking suck! kill yourself!" Translates roughly to "stop creating things! You're making me feel bad about myself!!" With this perspective you can actually see this horribleness as a compliment.

[Little Yamori]

Postby sargumphigaus » Sun Sep 21, 2014 2:04 am

I jumped on your frozen video and sifted through the comments once. YouTube comments are garbage, a total miasmic horror display of apathy and self loathing. You'd find more fulfillment rolling around in a bed of thumbtacks. The way I see it, the majority of these people are hurting over a lack of self fulfillment. When they see someone like you posting artwork that clearly demonstrates self application, they're seeing it as someone having something they don't. Drive, ambition, talent, and above all, something to show for it. These are all things that they don't have. And given the hopelessly low capacity for emotional intelligence, they're going to cry out and try to cut you down to their level. They're hurting inside and they just want to spread the venom. "You fucking suck! kill yourself!" Translates roughly to "stop creating things! You're making me feel bad about myself!!" With this perspective you can actually see this horribleness as a compliment.

Spot on.

Ianmage1, as I recall, you mentioned your still in school, let me say, as probably one of the older members here (pushing 50, Yikes!, well a young late 40 something) I can tell you this, you are going to grow by leaps and bounds in your creativity, and you have a tremendous amount to look back on already, you know you have a good eye for what works and what doesn't, that's something many people will never develop, so walk tall and keep working, I always look forward to see what you post.

LY

[wormpoo21]

Good work. I like the wiggly grass and the hair. Looks really tops.