Moho Forum

I'm working on a little animated cartoon. Here is my first cut. Some of the timing needs a little work, and I want to add more sounds at the end.

Now, a caveat. I have no idea how to do compression so it looks good. As such, I opted for end-quality over end-size.

This was rendered in 720x480 NTSC using 'Cinepac Codex by Radius' for compression. Even so, it is only 50 seconds long and is 190 Megs in size. So downloading it will take some time.

So, without further ado, here is a 50-second sneak peek at what I'm working on:

[I've removed the link since I'm making a more download-friendly version!!!]

Hope you enjoy...(and be kind...rewind...hehe)!

Hey,
export it as MOV - in sorenson3 - it will be MUCH smaller - and maybe upload to youtube? downloading 190 meg for 50 seconds is a little OTT for me (over here in NZ we pay for our bandwidth )

Cheers

funksmaname wrote:Hey,
export it as MOV - in sorenson3 - it will be MUCH smaller - and maybe upload to youtube? downloading 190 meg for 50 seconds is a little OTT for me (over here in NZ we pay for our bandwidth )

Cheers

Thanks! I'll try making a MOV out if as you suggested. I'm very new at this...

OK.... this one is REALLY download friendly... I posted it to YouTube (HD)!

First off, this is a work in progress. And it is only the first minute and a half or so of what will be a lot longer.

Also, it will also get far more animation intensive. I'm going for a minimalistic approach at first... also I'm just trying to learn how to animate for the first time!

Let me know what you think:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMjicMpGL3s

And thanks to funksmaname to 'pushing' me to make this easier to download... now I can share with anyone!

Ha! that's quite the teaser! I'm quite glad you managed to get the size down as it might have got less favourable reactions to the extreme minimalism had it been 190meg download!

You've got quite a good voice for this, and with the quite descriptive soundtrack i think it works as a teaser

now down to the animation - i'm not sure if the white circles, the reflections of the pupils, should move with the pupil itself like that? those are supposed to be specular highlights so unless the lightsource creating them moves they shouldn't move quite so drastically and warp (they probably shouldn't have an outline either?)... Also considering you just see the eye close up it might be nice to get some depth into it, maybe the short shading makes it look quite flat - i should probably be more defused, especially if the setting is darkness? again this shading shouldn't really move unless the lightsource moves... perhaps the whole eye should be a slightly darker gray, as though it's in darkness (the contrast with the highlight will also give it more depth). Finally i'm not sure where the initial rotation of the eye is coming from? eyes don't rotate on their own axis, but with head rotation - unless it's the camera that's moving? it's a little unclear.

Sorry if i'm coming across critical but you've got a good start with the pacing and the soundtrack to create an atmosphere that doesn't quite match the art style right now imho

funksmaname wrote:Ha! that's quite the teaser! I'm quite glad you managed to get the size down as it might have got less favourable reactions to the extreme minimalism had it been 190meg download!

You've got quite a good voice for this, and with the quite descriptive soundtrack i think it works as a teaser

now down to the animation - i'm not sure if the white circles, the reflections of the pupils, should move with the pupil itself like that? those are supposed to be specular highlights so unless the lightsource creating them moves they shouldn't move quite so drastically and warp (they probably shouldn't have an outline either?)... Also considering you just see the eye close up it might be nice to get some depth into it, maybe the short shading makes it look quite flat - i should probably be more defused, especially if the setting is darkness? again this shading shouldn't really move unless the lightsource moves... perhaps the whole eye should be a slightly darker gray, as though it's in darkness (the contrast with the highlight will also give it more depth). Finally i'm not sure where the initial rotation of the eye is coming from? eyes don't rotate on their own axis, but with head rotation - unless it's the camera that's moving? it's a little unclear.

Sorry if i'm coming across critical but you've got a good start with the pacing and the soundtrack to create an atmosphere that doesn't quite match the art style right now imho

Thanks for the kind words and comments!

Indeed... it is very minimal. But only at this point. What happens next is sort of a 'wizard of oz' thing that transitions from this simple form to a much more layered and lit effect.

What this represents, or what I'm trying to go for, is the birth of a cartoon... sort of in the womb. He has little detail here... but when he emerges he has color and depth (sort of..hehe) and texture.

At least that's the plan. However... if after doing that what I have so far still seem too simplistic, I will enhance.

This is fun!

i think you could probably add more characterisation without over complicating the style... make the eyes open really slowly, squinting at the light, play with the size of the pupil as the eye opens to give the character some personality/motivation/spirit - animation isn't about complicating things, but bringing them to life...

funksmaname wrote:i think you could probably add more characterisation without over complicating the style... make the eyes open really slowly, squinting at the light, play with the size of the pupil as the eye opens to give the character some personality/motivation/spirit - animation isn't about complicating things, but bringing them to life...

All of these are great suggestions! And, I'll use them in his next phase of awakening.

Although. I'm not really at all being fair here. You see... I of course know everything that is going on in this scene, and only I know so far. I want to leave some stuff for a surprise later on, so I'm being a bit vague here.

But if you knew the overall picture, some suggestions that you mention above... which are absolutely valid and WILL be used as the scene progresses... has been done intentionally otherwise... so I'm actually thrilled you made the comments you did! As you know, context is everything... and the scene is presented to be specifically misleading as to the context!

OK, sorry to be so critic. Here is something more concrete. I'll reveal some key elements (not obvious by the tease) that will allow the scene to be seen in a different context.

#1 The eye is of something alive... but not human! (explains, to some degree, the eye not rotating as you might expect)
#2 This is actually a comedy/satire!

The way the tease plays out #2 may seem strange... but the best comedies play very seriously... hehe

Soooo. I think your ideas are great. And please keep them coming, i need as much advice and wisdom as I can get! And I might just be being defensive. But once the scene is completely done, the way I have done it so far might make more sense! We'll see (I do have a script written for this, but I have departed from it a bit, of course! hehe)...

New version...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnUE5pIMBVY&hd=1