Texture Painting Notes Level Up.

Some texture painting notes off the top of my head.

1.) Look at natural occuring patterns. See the rhythm and shape of dirt, stains. Leaves. For a painter, you need to see a lot. This is most crucial when painting skin and organics surfaces. A lot of painters face this difficulty because they have not look and study at patterns long enough. See the recurring patterns and commit to memory. When you do that, things will fall into place when u look at shapes and patterns during painting.

http://www.miqel.com/fractals_math_patterns/visual-math-natural-fractals.html

http://web.mac.com/camazine/Camazine/Self-organization_files/Patterns%20in%20Nature.pdf

When designing fantasy floral and fauna surfaces, the key is believability. Not realism.

2.) Low and high frequency levels. Near and Far. Details needs to oread both from near and far.

3.) Spot the Hardness and Softness in transaction. Both in color and in tone. And how to apply them in painting.

4.) Clearly be able to dissect from a reference image, what can be created as specular, color and displacement maps.

5.) Color maps - Do a quick and dirty maps and set the render up b4 tweaking. Just to see how the lights are interacting with the maps. Balance out your shaders, define you color space Then Paint. Do not go back and forth, render, re-render, paint, etc... very time consuming.

6.) Color grading of references. Before u do this, u need to define the color space. Is it gamma 2.2 or 1.8 or whatever. Then again u can color correct and use curves to a photo to match the lighting in the turntable or shot so this is really a moot point. Just make sure that it stays between around 15%-85% brightness.

7.) Letting Go. Dun go into a detail on a particular area and focus on it. Remember you got to do the same for the rest of the model. UNless that area is in the money shots. Get a overall look 1st. U might get away with more then you know. Different people look at Different shapes, different details. That area that u been busting ur balls over, people might not even care or notice.

8.) Layers, Keep it low, keep it simple. Easy to fix. Too many overlays/softlight confuses you. Once you like a look, flatten it. UNLESS its a decal or something that needs to fix. Dun be too depend on it. You are a texture painter. Paint.

9.) Brushes and Channels are your friend. Learn them well and you will prosper.

10.) Color Picker. USE IT.

11.) Reference. Do not just use a few. For color, preferably ones that are well lit with little or no specular. For specular reference the object in different lighting conditions and with flash/no lfash helps.

12.) Reference. There is such a thing as too much reference. Pick the good ones and stick with it.

13.) See how the light hits the object. How it breaks up the surface. And also if there is any white balance used in the photo.

14.) Specular maps are ur most important weapons.

15.) Paint the full range of values for scalar maps. i.e displacement, bump and specular. no use painting only 60%-40% gray for bump. Use the full amount and then u can adjust in shader. If the shader permits, use low and high freq maps separately for greater control. Else, have them in photoshop layers and combine them as 1 map like the old days. Of a more civilized time.



Thats it for now.

Carlos Baena Educational Posts.

A compilation of Carlos Baena's previous posts on his thoughts of animation. Very very useful Stuff.

• Acting & Non-Acting
• On Feedback
• Status & Comedy
• Combining multiple ideas into shots
• Editing
• On Film Acting
• Dramatic Choices
• Motivation
• Career Advice
• On Schools
• Priorities & Organization
• Timing & Comedy
• Eyes: Part 2
• Eyes: Part 1
• Texture
• Simplicity in Planning
• Details
• Acting vs. Reality
• Internal: Emotion vs. Expressions
• Topic: Storytelling as animators
• Track/Dolly/Steady shots
• Snappy Animation
• Topic: Life as a professional animator
• After the Gag
• Topic: Overcoming Shot Challenges
• Internal vs. External Dialogue
• Topic: Making it / Dream Jobs
• Snapshots in animation
• Weight & Materials
• Composition is Composition
• Storytellers
• Film & Photography
• Gesture Choices
• On submitting Demo Reels
• Expectations
• Facial Expressions
• Tex Avery & Gags
• Simplicity in Animation

Primary, secondary and teritary shapes.

From Neil Blevin's website.

This lesson is all about Primary, Secondary and Tertiary shapes, what they are and how to use them. This concept is also sometimes referred to as "Big, Medium, Small", as in, if your image has a nice distribution of big (primary), medium (secondary) and small (tertiary) shapes, the resulting image will tend to be more pleasing to the eye.

First, a definition. Primary shapes are your big shapes. If you squint at an image, the details tend to disappear and you're left with only your big shapes.

Secondary shapes are the smaller shapes that either sit ontop of, or help make up the primary shapes.

Tertiary shapes are again smaller than the secondary shapes.
First off, what should the size of these details be? Well, that depends on personal taste. I like having the primary details being huge, almost the size of the image itself. And I like Tertiary details being really small, sometimes the size of a pixel or two. From there you can decide the appropriate size for the Secondary Details. Of course, not all details should be the same size, it's more like a range of sizes, so not all secondary details should be the same size, but should be in a similar range.

So these could be primary, secondary and tertiary shapes....

Next comes the distribution of these details. Take a look at this image, it has all 3 levels of detail, but the tertiary shapes are in one uniform block...

Animation : Strive for Simplicity

AGAIN FROM ASTERISK ANIMATION'S BLOG.

notes from Tissa David's lecture on 11/16/89.

Camera moves shouldn't be visible and obvious, they should be felt.

When zooming go in a straight line [important note for motion graphics]
EXCEPTION: unless you are following an action.

Jump cut should have a visible difference in size.

Timing: correct way of saying something you feel. Leading into something
Timing will show emotions by the pacing.

VERY LOUD beat can be two frames ahead of the beat.

Gestures 6 frames ahead can help a loud beat (impact)
lead ball falling down, the effect comes after it is bouncing off.

Gestures before or after the statement are more effective.

using joint movement gives smoother, looser animation otherwise it would be stiff.

cycle: should be simple (it would be less obvious)
strive for simplicity

You need 6 frames to see anything.

[illustrated example of lifting a heavy rock]

1) anticipation of weight
2) lifting of the weight
3) actual weight

Animation is acting

Light scarf will move very slowly and flows.

leaf [illustrated example]

drop of water [illustrated example]

Fast actions will overlap.

Its not necessary to overlap action generally.

[illustrated examples: finger pushing, ball, ball bounce]

Budgeting for animation Part 1 From Asterisk Animation

FROM ASTERISK ANIMATION - PART 1

Here's how the SUMMARY OF PRODUCTION COSTS works.

This budget is a variation on the AICP budget form. That is designed for live action. That budget form contains (literally) one line for "animation". Each of the production categories are culled from there.

We figure there are 5 phases of production as far a budgeting is concerned. Future posts will explain these in detail.

In general, it's best if "animation" covers about 30% of production costs. When we get into categories, you'll see this means labor/production costs of animators, assistant animators, inbetweeners, etc.

In this model, lines A-E total $90k. All of that should be detailed in the body of the budget.

Now for the next lines.

In work-for-hire, the producer isn't supposed to mark up director/creative fees. When we get into line items, we'll describe what this does and doesn't include. It's customary for a director to be budgeted somewhere around 10% of A-E. This is listed as "Creative" under "Subtotal A-E".

"Production Fee" is "mark up". This includes a lot of things. One thing is profit. Another is contingency. Another is operating expenses (like tax preparation, water, and daily costs of running a company). This is not entirely overhead, a lot of your overhead should be covered as line items.

In the good old days of advertising, it was common to mark a 28% production fee. These days it seems like 15% is closer to the norm. Some clients will insist on it being even lower. In those cases -since the Production Fee represents many real costs -those numbers just get shifted to line items.

Insurance is another figure which doesn't figure into the Production Fee. This is figured at 1.5% of A-E.

Eyjafjallajökull Time Lapse Animation.

Awesome video of Eyjafjallajökull Volcano Time Lapse Animation.

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

STORY

Synchrolux had quite a few awesome posts about Story

http://www.synchrolux.com/?p=40

http://www.synchrolux.com/?p=277

http://www.synchrolux.com/?p=284

http://www.synchrolux.com/?p=289

Very very good read.

I will break them down later,

F$%k Yeah!

From IO9.com

The 5 Types Of Fuck Yeah Moments That Make You Buy Into A Character

It’s a simple enough idea: a F*@% Yeah moment is something in a work of art that stuns you with its total coolness and wrenches the phrase “F*@% Yeah!”

1) The awesome inspirational speech.

This is maybe the most basic, and yet the most vital. Anybody can kick you in the head. (Unless you're tall, and they're short, or just out of shape.) But giving an awesome speech that gets your blood pounding — that requires some mojo.

2) Outnumbered or totally pwned, but the hero still won't give up.

There's a reason Kirk's shirt gets shredded in almost every original Trek episode — and it's not just to show off the results of Shatner's bench-pressing. His final speech (see #1) is that much more impressive when it comes on the heels of Kirk getting put through the ringer.

3) The surprise turnaround, when you realize someone was one jump ahead all along.

Otherwise known as the "Batman" category. You think Batman's about to be whupped by Prometheus, the guy with every known martial artist on a CD-Rom in his head — but Batman has reverse-engineered Prometheus' helmet and swapped it out so that the only person whose physical skills he now possesses is... drum roll... Professor Stephen Hawking. (AKA Cunning Bastard Trick)

4) The moment of amazing altruism or saving others.

Six words: "Get away from her, you bitch!"

5) Someone takes the plunge into the unknown.

Any time someone's faced with an impossible or bewildering situation, and takes a leap into the dark, it's hard not to buy into that character a little more.

Some Links

http://daveslongbox.blogspot.com/2006/01/f-yeah-files-movie-version-1.html

http://daveslongbox.blogspot.com/2005/10/f-yeah-files-1-flashs-mid-air-rescue.html

Irvin Kershner Empire Strikes Back DVD audio commentary.

I was watching the audio commentary of Empire strikes Back DVD. It had George Lucas, director Irvin Kershner, sound designer Ben Burtt, visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren and actor Carrie Fisher. All five sat separately for this compiled commentary.

Compared to the New Hope and ROTJ commentaries, I really enjoyed this one. Because of Irvin Kershner.

His notes and comments about film making in general shows a man who really enjoys his work and his time making this movie. There is a sense of excitment and purpose in the way Mr Kershner explains his experiences of making the movie. Some basic but very helpful pointers. I really wished I was in his class at USC that he is teaching.

I have compiled some of his comments into point form below for my own references.

- Within a scene, the rythm of the actors, the rythm of the speech, the rythem of the movemeent, the rythm of the staging. This is locked in time. This is the biggest guess of all

- 2nd Act of a film -> more characterisation and less action. The problems are explained and a advertisement for the 3rd Act.

- The length of the cuts are important to the rhythm of the film. Necessary to keep the rhythm of the film. On staging of scenes within the cut, I have to keep the rhythm going. So its the same pace, same rhythm. A lot of guess.

- Showing the reaction of it (an exertion) is important. like being chocked, and the chock is released.

- The more difficult you make it for the hero, the better it is.

- Hitchcockian principle - You need a terrific antagonist for the protagonist to flourish.

- Emotionally healthy

Violence isn't usually the issue for younger people. Its really how the violence is portrayed and the consequences of the violence. And what it means in a cultural context. Do they have respect for human life ?

Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 Rules for Writing a Short Story, with a Bonus Rule

From SyncroLux :

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.