Managed to get the voiceover done for the yacht video – the voiceover artist was recommended by the client and turns out to be very good. The initial version of this project is getting very near to completion now and today I’ve set the renderers up with the last two shots. After that it’s all just tidying up and editing (and any changes the client wants to make).
I’m starting to render the other project too – the trilobite animation for the museum. The images look great – and it’s possibly my enthusiasm for the project, but I’ve gone with all the highest quality settings for my rendering. I need to keep a reign on rendering times, and so far that’s not happening. I’m also rendering in HD which doesn’t help. It’s also not necessary strictly speaking – the clients haven’t asked for HD – I just think that if I can I’ll do as much of the project in HD as my rendering times allow.
Unfortunately, that’s meant 2 hours per frame on one shot – so I’ve had to re-think a little… Having done a couple of tweaks with the lighting (I’ve found area lights are a real time killer – especially when combined with raytraced shadows).
I also returned from holiday to find another project landing on my desk – another animation for another museum – this one a medieval castle – which should be fun and not too stressful.
Today, I also got an email from an old friend from Computer Arts – he’s now working for an osteoporosis charity and needs some medical illustration done. It’s easy enough since I’ve got a high quality medical model I bought for a poster project which didn’t come off at the beginning of the year.
All of this means I need to by my extra rendering PCs as soon as possible. Which I can’t do until I get the first payment for the trilobites animation… let’s hope that appears in the next week and I can begin to clear the rendering log-jam.
It’ll also be good to get a new pc with a bit more memory and shift my adobe suite onto it. For some reason, capturing video is becoming a real problem, with stuttering playback and lost sound.
When I recorded the voiceover yesterday, I did it using my camcorder and a tie clip mic. Transfering it to the computer eventually had to be done through the PCs sound card because firewire wasn’t playing ball…
I also returned from holiday with the desire to make a series of 10 minute animations for children’s TV… is that going to happen? It’s a big job…. Hmmm. I’ve got a documentary to finish first (although with my current computer not behaving with video, that will have to wait until I get a new 4 or 8gb machine).
Friday, September 19, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
3d stuff
today I spent the morning at an Autodesk press event. Taking time out to go to these things is always worthwhile, but I could have done without it today – with the pre-holiday rush and the fact that I got very little done yesterday.
I really must make an effort to get some writing work about the 3d packages – otherwise my position as a journalist writing about 3d is going to drift… Don’t quite know where I’ll find the time, but it’s well worth doing.
What I got from this event was a chat with one of the 3d guys who pointed me at the value of normal mapping and the importance of render passes. Neither of which I’d really understood before….
Normal mapping, by the way is creating a kind of fake painted on bump effect which can make simple 3d models look like much more complex shapes without slowing your computer down.
Using Render passes on the other hand means getting the computer to produce separate pictures for the colour, shadows, reflections, lighting, etc. in a scene instead of putting them all together. The advantage being that you can go in later on in After Effects and adjust the effect of each element of your scene without having to go back and do it all again. If someone tells you they’d like the same thing in a different colour, it takes 10 seconds to change instead of 48 hours….
Anyway, one thing worth noting is that even though the company is absolutely right at the cutting edge of technology, they still couldn’t get either their coffee machine or their TV to work… it’s not just me, then.
Work on the safety video is going well – and I’m very nearly at the stage where I can see it actually being possible to finish it. There are a few shots that are taking their time to render, and a few others that will need re-doing, but now everything is in place, and I can see the project coming to a close.
After my holiday next week, I’m going to jump straight in and get the narration recorded, and then there are only a couple of shots to do before I can present a preliminary edit to the client.
Just in time too – as the trilobite animation is really hotting up and I just know, if I’m going to get it all rendered in time, I’ll need to stick hard and fast to my deadlines.
The images are looking good, and I’m really discovering in these projects just how valuable a firm shot-list is. It lets me know exactly where I am at any point and allows me to see where the tricky shots are likely to be. Even if I end up leaving shots out or adding others in, it’s at least a framework I can depend on.
It’s also something that I tend to leave out when I don’t think I have time – and it’s always a false economy.
today I spent the morning at an Autodesk press event. Taking time out to go to these things is always worthwhile, but I could have done without it today – with the pre-holiday rush and the fact that I got very little done yesterday.
I really must make an effort to get some writing work about the 3d packages – otherwise my position as a journalist writing about 3d is going to drift… Don’t quite know where I’ll find the time, but it’s well worth doing.
What I got from this event was a chat with one of the 3d guys who pointed me at the value of normal mapping and the importance of render passes. Neither of which I’d really understood before….
Normal mapping, by the way is creating a kind of fake painted on bump effect which can make simple 3d models look like much more complex shapes without slowing your computer down.
Using Render passes on the other hand means getting the computer to produce separate pictures for the colour, shadows, reflections, lighting, etc. in a scene instead of putting them all together. The advantage being that you can go in later on in After Effects and adjust the effect of each element of your scene without having to go back and do it all again. If someone tells you they’d like the same thing in a different colour, it takes 10 seconds to change instead of 48 hours….
Anyway, one thing worth noting is that even though the company is absolutely right at the cutting edge of technology, they still couldn’t get either their coffee machine or their TV to work… it’s not just me, then.
Work on the safety video is going well – and I’m very nearly at the stage where I can see it actually being possible to finish it. There are a few shots that are taking their time to render, and a few others that will need re-doing, but now everything is in place, and I can see the project coming to a close.
After my holiday next week, I’m going to jump straight in and get the narration recorded, and then there are only a couple of shots to do before I can present a preliminary edit to the client.
Just in time too – as the trilobite animation is really hotting up and I just know, if I’m going to get it all rendered in time, I’ll need to stick hard and fast to my deadlines.
The images are looking good, and I’m really discovering in these projects just how valuable a firm shot-list is. It lets me know exactly where I am at any point and allows me to see where the tricky shots are likely to be. Even if I end up leaving shots out or adding others in, it’s at least a framework I can depend on.
It’s also something that I tend to leave out when I don’t think I have time – and it’s always a false economy.
Monday, September 1, 2008
10x10
On Wednesday I managed to get to the 10x10 documentary filmmaking night – where five filmmakers show 10 minutes of their work and get 10 minutes of (constructive) criticism from the audience. It’s a great evening to go to – and always makes me want to do more documentary work.
Time pressure is still pretty strong and I can’t see when in the next couple of months I’m going to be able to finish my current documentary – despite the fact that there’s only a couple of days work to do on it.
On the plus side, my other projects mean I’ll have to get a more powerful computer (actually 2 of them) so when I come back to the project I hopefully won’t have the same problems with Premiere crashing during rendering.
Anyway – among Wednesday’s films were a snippet from a film on Lost Vagueness – the bizarre festival/theatrical experience I’ve been to on a couple of occasions. Lost Vagueness is difficult to explain (and I think that’s going to be a problem for the documentary maker) but my experience of it involves a Victorian mental hospital, a fair featuring such games as “guess the name of my cat” and a man who only spoke backwards.
I look forward to seeing the finished documentary.
There was also a documentary made by someone who had William Shatner’s name tattooed on his right buttock for some reason he can’t quite explain – and his quest to explore the murky world of the star trek fan.
Good luck to him. They’re a funny lot.
…compared to us sensible Doctor Who fans that is…
A reality cheque
Just as a bit of reality for documentary makers. I got my first invoice request from my distributors for the shark evolution documentary – it’s been with them since just before Christmas and they’ve sold the programme to four different countries including Canada and Spain.
Pretty good going I think and their set-up charges (about £500) and commission (35%) aren’t bad deals, so I’m happy with their work.
The profit though, comes out at £1,700 with another roughly £600 still to come.
In other words, it’s not going to make a living for me. The documentaries are great fun to make and I’m not backing away from doing them. I enjoy it and it’s worthwhile. It’s just that even if the income continues at this rate for 5 years, the programme will just about have justified my time. I don’t imagine that it will.
Trilobites
The trilobite project – a museum display animation – looks like it will entail a trip to Mexico at the beginning of November.
The project is proceeding very well right now and I’m managing to re-create some fascinating creatures. I’m making them extremely bright and colourful and I’ve put together a storyline which turns this animation into a real documentary – or at least a fictional film based on real evidence….
The guys I’m working with are doing their best and seem very helpful but they’re both very busy and live at opposite ends of the world. One is getting married and the other trying to set up a museum and neither speak English as a first language – so I’m largely working on my own and hoping I’m getting things right.
I’m trying to send updates to them as often as possible so as to minimise any re-working of the models and animations.
Poster
The Trex poster, a project I was working on a couple of months ago but which seemed to grind to a halt, is now back on. This is a wall poster which I’d got very closer to completing when the company who’d requested it suddenly changed their minds about what they wanted.
Now, they’d previously done this with another poster (on human anatomy) and the whole image had eventually been cancelled after I’d done an awful lot of work for which I didn’t get paid. I told them I wasn’t willing to re-do the Trex poster unless they could do what most other clients do and issue a commission – a firm commitment to pay me.
They’ve instead suggested some minor changes – and I’m willing to do them – although when I’ll get time to, I’ve no idea.
Credit crunching
Last week I emailed a couple of other clients about some projects which I thought were pretty firm (a pop video and a documentary intro). They haven’t responded – which I’m taking to mean that they’re pulling out.
This would bother me if I didn’t have so much work on – especially as I’d already done a couple of days work on these projects). However, these are tough times, so if the clients don’t feel they can continue I’m not going to kick up a stink
I also dropped a line to another client who asked me to do a small piece of work illustrating some sales ideas he had. This work was finished and used, but he’s now said his business is failing and he can’t pay.
Well, it’s only a small amount (£125) but I worked hard for it and he had plenty of opportunity to contact me and discuss the problem earlier, so I’m afraid I don’t have much sympathy.
Luckily, there’s legislation in place (the late payments act) which allows small businesses to charge late payment fees (about £40) and interest if an invoice isn’t settled within a month. I’ve politely highlighted this to him, but not directly imposed it. I’m giving him every opportunity to pay, but if he persists in not paying, I will sue him through the small claims court. I’ve done it before (in fact I sued Highbury Publishing for about £3,000 and they payed up just before the company collapsed owing millions).
Anyway, as a small business, and especially as a creative one, you can’t afford to have bad debts and you especially can’t afford to be seen as a soft touch.
On Wednesday I managed to get to the 10x10 documentary filmmaking night – where five filmmakers show 10 minutes of their work and get 10 minutes of (constructive) criticism from the audience. It’s a great evening to go to – and always makes me want to do more documentary work.
Time pressure is still pretty strong and I can’t see when in the next couple of months I’m going to be able to finish my current documentary – despite the fact that there’s only a couple of days work to do on it.
On the plus side, my other projects mean I’ll have to get a more powerful computer (actually 2 of them) so when I come back to the project I hopefully won’t have the same problems with Premiere crashing during rendering.
Anyway – among Wednesday’s films were a snippet from a film on Lost Vagueness – the bizarre festival/theatrical experience I’ve been to on a couple of occasions. Lost Vagueness is difficult to explain (and I think that’s going to be a problem for the documentary maker) but my experience of it involves a Victorian mental hospital, a fair featuring such games as “guess the name of my cat” and a man who only spoke backwards.
I look forward to seeing the finished documentary.
There was also a documentary made by someone who had William Shatner’s name tattooed on his right buttock for some reason he can’t quite explain – and his quest to explore the murky world of the star trek fan.
Good luck to him. They’re a funny lot.
…compared to us sensible Doctor Who fans that is…
A reality cheque
Just as a bit of reality for documentary makers. I got my first invoice request from my distributors for the shark evolution documentary – it’s been with them since just before Christmas and they’ve sold the programme to four different countries including Canada and Spain.
Pretty good going I think and their set-up charges (about £500) and commission (35%) aren’t bad deals, so I’m happy with their work.
The profit though, comes out at £1,700 with another roughly £600 still to come.
In other words, it’s not going to make a living for me. The documentaries are great fun to make and I’m not backing away from doing them. I enjoy it and it’s worthwhile. It’s just that even if the income continues at this rate for 5 years, the programme will just about have justified my time. I don’t imagine that it will.
Trilobites
The trilobite project – a museum display animation – looks like it will entail a trip to Mexico at the beginning of November.
The project is proceeding very well right now and I’m managing to re-create some fascinating creatures. I’m making them extremely bright and colourful and I’ve put together a storyline which turns this animation into a real documentary – or at least a fictional film based on real evidence….
The guys I’m working with are doing their best and seem very helpful but they’re both very busy and live at opposite ends of the world. One is getting married and the other trying to set up a museum and neither speak English as a first language – so I’m largely working on my own and hoping I’m getting things right.
I’m trying to send updates to them as often as possible so as to minimise any re-working of the models and animations.
Poster
The Trex poster, a project I was working on a couple of months ago but which seemed to grind to a halt, is now back on. This is a wall poster which I’d got very closer to completing when the company who’d requested it suddenly changed their minds about what they wanted.
Now, they’d previously done this with another poster (on human anatomy) and the whole image had eventually been cancelled after I’d done an awful lot of work for which I didn’t get paid. I told them I wasn’t willing to re-do the Trex poster unless they could do what most other clients do and issue a commission – a firm commitment to pay me.
They’ve instead suggested some minor changes – and I’m willing to do them – although when I’ll get time to, I’ve no idea.
Credit crunching
Last week I emailed a couple of other clients about some projects which I thought were pretty firm (a pop video and a documentary intro). They haven’t responded – which I’m taking to mean that they’re pulling out.
This would bother me if I didn’t have so much work on – especially as I’d already done a couple of days work on these projects). However, these are tough times, so if the clients don’t feel they can continue I’m not going to kick up a stink
I also dropped a line to another client who asked me to do a small piece of work illustrating some sales ideas he had. This work was finished and used, but he’s now said his business is failing and he can’t pay.
Well, it’s only a small amount (£125) but I worked hard for it and he had plenty of opportunity to contact me and discuss the problem earlier, so I’m afraid I don’t have much sympathy.
Luckily, there’s legislation in place (the late payments act) which allows small businesses to charge late payment fees (about £40) and interest if an invoice isn’t settled within a month. I’ve politely highlighted this to him, but not directly imposed it. I’m giving him every opportunity to pay, but if he persists in not paying, I will sue him through the small claims court. I’ve done it before (in fact I sued Highbury Publishing for about £3,000 and they payed up just before the company collapsed owing millions).
Anyway, as a small business, and especially as a creative one, you can’t afford to have bad debts and you especially can’t afford to be seen as a soft touch.
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