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MNBVC???
2001-10-16 03:16:47
Well, a change of pace... I'm actually working on my website again! So sometime in the next couple of days I'll have one big massive update. I don't like putting half-ass, underconstruction pages on my site because I probably won't update them if I do, so this is more an all-or-nothing deal. I've got the layout for the main page pretty much done, as well as most of the graphics. I just need to put up the individual pages for my current projects and get some links to fill out my resource sections and it'll be good to go.
Alright, back to AMV progress. I've almost created a good looking flying starfield, I just need to smooth over the rough edges a bit, otherwise obvious patterns appear in their movement. I also went back to playing with my fire texture to see if I can get a scene that resembles the inside of a nebula. If I want to do something like that it WILL take a second computer, because it'll be running on almost an hour a frame.
Now, in the paranoid section of today's journal, I have a strange feeling pyro72 and I are working on a similar concept for our OS videos... if not the same song. I don't know why... perhaps it's just because I have another damn good song match up... perhaps its because I keep hearing it on the radio/web/TV and just KNOW someone else is going to pick up on it with this constant exposure... perhaps it has to do with the CIA flourinating the water supply, what ever it is, I still have that feeling. Fortunately I have 3D sequences which can pave over the rough spots gracefully, which is something I was finding hard to do with actual scenes from the anime (even heavily edited ones), so maybe I am safe with this music choice, as some of the lyrics don't really match up, so some may just pass it by instead. Ahh... paranoia is gone... good... - LKJHG! 2001-10-13 22:05:12 Well, screw it! I no longer have an order in which my videos get done. Either my Garbage one will finish first or my Outlaw Star one will! I'm just having too much fun with Bryce to focus on tedious photo editing at this point. The only thing keeping me from completely focusing on it is that I only have the second DVD collection and I REALLY want Bryce 5. In otherwords $300 is holding me back. But, $300 bucks of anime is holding the Garbage one back as well... decisions decisions... Also, I may have to buy a second computer. No, not just a new one, a second one. The great thing about B5 is that I can set up a render farm with as many computers as I can get my grubby little hands on. Hell, I might even be able to set up some kind of distributed computing effort, just like that SETI@home program. The bad thing about Bryce and just about any 3D rendering program is it can take forever to render a scene, depending on what textures I'm using. I had a six second segment planned that would have taken a whole freaken month to finish. Needless to say, that never happened. Anyway, I'm getting good with getting the planets to look like planets and not interestingly colored spheres. I really need to get the production web page up... I'm sorry, just got so much to do.
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ZXCVB
2001-10-12 23:29:29
I'm bored right now so I'm going to write in my journal! Right now I'm waiting for Bryce to finish a test render. Hopefully it w'll be done in the next hour, it's only got 8 frames left. After five such tests I finally realised that I was screwing up the settings I was using to simulate fire, so all my test renders are basically wasted. Oh, I forgot to mention, I'm experimenting with animating the fire. I can do still shots very well, but getting it to move realistically or in a controlled fasion is another matter entirely. I did find settings that could make a good flame thrower on accident, unfortunately I have no use for a flamthrower in any of my projects.
Well, all this playing with fire has gaurunteed that it will be in my next video, not just my fourth as was originally planned. So I'm going to have to experiment with masking the fire and combining it with footage in photoshop. First things first though, got to get that red stuff moving. So, I'm going back to watching my digital paint dry. It is quite entertaining, actually... -
QWERTY!
2001-10-11 21:23:28
Well, my DVDs FINALLY arrived. The local postal distributor only had to sit on them for like what, a week? So, Burn Up W is DEFINATELY going to be in the video. The only problem is going to be how extream can my scene selection be before they disqualify it at ACen 2002? So, I'll probably have to be conservative, or endure the jeers and hisses of the crowd if I attempt a digital bikini :) I also got Hyper Doll in that shipment, just because it was $11 bucks and I've heard absolutely nothing about it. I got through half of the first episode before I heard the President was going to adress the nation. It... could be usable... I'm not sure... Need to watch more before I make a decision.
Now, for AMV back burner project. Strangely, it has made it to the front burner. I hate getting distracted. Anyway, the model for the Outlaw Star is coming along well. I can't tell you how much squinting I've done trying to decide whether a line is straight or curved as I look at a collection of 20-some screen captures. I'm pretty much chalking this model up as "Rough Draft" material, only because I'll be so obsessed with attaining perfection that it will never get done. Who knows? It may end up as the final, I'll have to see how it turns out rendered in Bryce.
Speaking of Bryce, I've just figured out a way to make REAL GOOD CG fire. This stuff is just frelling beautiful, I never knew Bryce could do it! Now I need to resist the urge to use it in every scene. I'm also considering shelling out the $250 US and buying Bryce 5. If I take this fire effect and combine it with the Metaballs in B5, oh God! It could make the video all by itself! I also can finally make a good starfield. I've been trying to do that for over a year now, and it seems so simple... why couldn't I have figured it out before!
Well, I should get back to cleaning up Bloodberry's scene, as well as try getting my amv production site up so I can point you to someplace where you can SEE what I'm talking about, but I'm just so damn excited with the possibilities or a new rendering engine and setting digital characters on fire... :) - ASDFG! 2001-10-08 02:38:36 Well, I was e-mailing pyro72 and almost let the cat out of the bag about my next project to her, so I decided "what the hell" and am going to post it here instead. As you may know (for those who've been paying attention) my current project is going to take awhile. I have a lot of photoshop work ahead of me, and I'll probably take brakes from that hobby with another of my numerous other hobbies. So, in my free free time (that is, free time not going to this video) I am going to be attempting to make a 3D model of the Outlaw Star for my next vid. Currently this is experimental. I'm going to be using Rhino3D, which I have a good amount of experiance in, but this is the first model I'm attempting that I have documentation for how it's supposed to look. Well, not quite. I tried making a model of Moya from Farscape... it got the general idea across but wasn't that good, and I also attempted two model direvatives from two of the X planes being developed by NASA. One of these only needed to resemble the basic body design and for the other I just wanted the wing and I had help from one of my roommates who was in the Air Force ROTC. But, the point of this is that if/when I am done with the model and I can get it textured correctly I would be willing to share the love with other AMV creators and either distribute it if you have a 3D program(you'll have to texture it yourself) or render some short sequences for you (as long as they aren't complicated, I don't have an advanced rendering engine, so no smoke/particles or stuff blowing up). I'm pretty sure I can do this, the OS is a simple design, I just hope it's not deceptively simple.
JOURNAL: alternatefutures (Jim Schuler)
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