Last day of work before Christmas and as always it's a struggle to get everything done. In this case, everything means getting enough of the animations set up for rendering to keep the PC busy over the break.
I managed to get a lot of it done, and added some alien colonies and "world ships" to the project. Having done the interview about solar sailing, I've realised that the research I did into the process was flawed. Apparently the best design for an interstellar solar sail is a spinning circle - and not the square shape I designed (based on the designs made for travel within the solar system). I redesigned it, and put together what I hope will be a neat sequence of the sail approaching the sun and then opening.
We'll see how it comes out after Christmas.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
3d animation
More 3d animation today. I got stuck in a quagmire in trying to create some simple explosion flashes for one particular clip and it took me most of the morning. I think the results will be good though.
On my last documentary, I did a lot of 3d animation and it was pretty intensive stuff (trying to re-create extinct animals is a lot harder than fictional spaceships!). However, the mistake I made was to think in terms of shots.
I’d produce a shot of a shark swimming along, then a shot of it from a different angle, then a shot of it swimming towards the camera. A shot of it chasing something – and so on.
While this worked OK, it didn’t create much drama. What I’m trying to do this time is to think in terms of sequences – telling little stories. So instead of having a spaceship flying through space, I’m showing it setting out, traveling and arriving somewhere. I’m paying more attention to how the shots tell the story and I think it’s paying off.
Not only does this mean I can create interesting sequences, it also means I can re-use shots more usefully – showing parts of a sequence to wet the viewer’s appetite while my interviewees are describing the ideas that make up the sequence and then showing the whole sequence as a scene to bring everything together.
At least I hope that’s how it will work. When you’re working with CGI – particularly when you’ve got no budget, it’s important to get the most out of your shots (I don’t mean by repeating them ad-nauseum by the way – I mean by using them to build up expectation and satisfying it).
On my last documentary, I did a lot of 3d animation and it was pretty intensive stuff (trying to re-create extinct animals is a lot harder than fictional spaceships!). However, the mistake I made was to think in terms of shots.
I’d produce a shot of a shark swimming along, then a shot of it from a different angle, then a shot of it swimming towards the camera. A shot of it chasing something – and so on.
While this worked OK, it didn’t create much drama. What I’m trying to do this time is to think in terms of sequences – telling little stories. So instead of having a spaceship flying through space, I’m showing it setting out, traveling and arriving somewhere. I’m paying more attention to how the shots tell the story and I think it’s paying off.
Not only does this mean I can create interesting sequences, it also means I can re-use shots more usefully – showing parts of a sequence to wet the viewer’s appetite while my interviewees are describing the ideas that make up the sequence and then showing the whole sequence as a scene to bring everything together.
At least I hope that’s how it will work. When you’re working with CGI – particularly when you’ve got no budget, it’s important to get the most out of your shots (I don’t mean by repeating them ad-nauseum by the way – I mean by using them to build up expectation and satisfying it).
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
rendering and cheap stock
Rendering
As usual, half my 3d renders came out great, the other half look a bit ropey. It’s the usual problem – creating a model which looks great in certain shots and certain lighting and then trying to take the camera far too close and for far too long, so all the poorly finished detail gets brought to the fore.
It’s always better to make your models more detailed than you think you’ll need otherwise you end up spending a lot of time tweaking the shots in post production to make them workable. Ok, I’m not trying to produce Star Wars here, but I do want viewers to suspend their disbelief. I think I can work with most of what I’ve rendered, but some shots may need to be done again with more favourable lighting.
I found another stock video site to add to my list of places to go for cheap stock footage:
Take a look at www.revostock.com – that’s after you’ve checked www.video. shutterstock.com, www.istockphoto.com and www.pond5.com
As usual, half my 3d renders came out great, the other half look a bit ropey. It’s the usual problem – creating a model which looks great in certain shots and certain lighting and then trying to take the camera far too close and for far too long, so all the poorly finished detail gets brought to the fore.
It’s always better to make your models more detailed than you think you’ll need otherwise you end up spending a lot of time tweaking the shots in post production to make them workable. Ok, I’m not trying to produce Star Wars here, but I do want viewers to suspend their disbelief. I think I can work with most of what I’ve rendered, but some shots may need to be done again with more favourable lighting.
I found another stock video site to add to my list of places to go for cheap stock footage:
Take a look at www.revostock.com – that’s after you’ve checked www.video. shutterstock.com, www.istockphoto.com and www.pond5.com
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
spaceships, satellites and saving the rainforests
More spaceships
A day for animation. My rendering machine has now got some good shots to mull over – hopefully by the end of the week, there’ll be enough rendering to keep it busy over the Christmas break.
That way, when I come back, I’ll be able to get on with the editing and I’ll start to see the shape of the documentary emerging.
These 3d animations will hopefully make pretty good stock footage – either as stills or as moving images, so I’ll make at least something back even if the documentary doesn’t sell.
If you’re ever animating space scenes, here are my top 5 tips:
keep it dark and bright: lots of dark areas keep everything mysterious. Put in just one or two very bright lights behind your subject – don’t be afraid to really ramp up the back lights, but control their position so they only highlight small features on your models.
Don’t be afraid to light each object separately: Space shots generally have a huge scale, and lighting which works for one object doesn’t necessarily work for everything else, so exclude your lights from all but the object you’re lighting at the time.
slow moving cameras: don’t rush the camera about – just make it perform slow, simple motions. Link the camera target to your moving objects and let it follow, but introduce a little drifting motion too.
Drift: objects drift around in space. They change direction slowly and don’t slow down or change direction unless they’re forced to, so make all movements graceful.
backgrounds: there’s a lot more to space than a few stars. Try introducing nebulae, suns, planets and galaxies to give the background some colour and show the movement of your objects.
An idea
Here’s an idea I’ve been toying with since I discovered that you can launch a 10x10x10cm satellite for about £30,000. I mocked up a couple of image ideas today to see how it would work (click on them to see the full size image).
The idea is simple enough:
To launch a satellite into orbit containing a digital time capsule in the form of an mp3 player filled with messages from the Earth – in the spirit of the voyager mission.
To invite anyone to submit text messages, photos, audio and video files to be included on the satellite via a website accessible globally before launch.
To charge an amount for the messages which anyone can afford.
To use the proceeds to buy and preserve an area of rainforest large enough to be visible from space
Possible extra aims:
To include on the satellite dna samples from the world’s most endangered creatures
To include on the satellite camera and other scientific equipment and make control and use of that equipment freely available to anyone via a website – democratizing space for everyone.
I said it was simple. But it’s also terrifying. The technical side isn’t difficult – or at least it’s not insurmountably hard. However, the scale of it is huge. Half of me thinks it’s so big I can’t possibly do it. I’d have to get corporate sponsorship, put together a satellite building team, get a major charity on board, get celebrity endorsements, get a global publicity launch going, get a team to build a charging system… and that’s before we even get to launching the thing into space. It’s so far beyond the realms of achievability that it’s ridiculous.
And then there’s the other half of me. The half that thinks that this is an idea which will appeal to an awful lot of people. That there’s the potential here to raise an incredible amount of money for an environmental charity… and that having had the idea, I can’t possibly not do it.
I’ll let you know which half wins.
A day for animation. My rendering machine has now got some good shots to mull over – hopefully by the end of the week, there’ll be enough rendering to keep it busy over the Christmas break.
That way, when I come back, I’ll be able to get on with the editing and I’ll start to see the shape of the documentary emerging.
These 3d animations will hopefully make pretty good stock footage – either as stills or as moving images, so I’ll make at least something back even if the documentary doesn’t sell.
If you’re ever animating space scenes, here are my top 5 tips:
keep it dark and bright: lots of dark areas keep everything mysterious. Put in just one or two very bright lights behind your subject – don’t be afraid to really ramp up the back lights, but control their position so they only highlight small features on your models.
Don’t be afraid to light each object separately: Space shots generally have a huge scale, and lighting which works for one object doesn’t necessarily work for everything else, so exclude your lights from all but the object you’re lighting at the time.
slow moving cameras: don’t rush the camera about – just make it perform slow, simple motions. Link the camera target to your moving objects and let it follow, but introduce a little drifting motion too.
Drift: objects drift around in space. They change direction slowly and don’t slow down or change direction unless they’re forced to, so make all movements graceful.
backgrounds: there’s a lot more to space than a few stars. Try introducing nebulae, suns, planets and galaxies to give the background some colour and show the movement of your objects.
An idea
Here’s an idea I’ve been toying with since I discovered that you can launch a 10x10x10cm satellite for about £30,000. I mocked up a couple of image ideas today to see how it would work (click on them to see the full size image).
The idea is simple enough:
To launch a satellite into orbit containing a digital time capsule in the form of an mp3 player filled with messages from the Earth – in the spirit of the voyager mission.
To invite anyone to submit text messages, photos, audio and video files to be included on the satellite via a website accessible globally before launch.
To charge an amount for the messages which anyone can afford.
To use the proceeds to buy and preserve an area of rainforest large enough to be visible from space
Possible extra aims:
To include on the satellite dna samples from the world’s most endangered creatures
To include on the satellite camera and other scientific equipment and make control and use of that equipment freely available to anyone via a website – democratizing space for everyone.
I said it was simple. But it’s also terrifying. The technical side isn’t difficult – or at least it’s not insurmountably hard. However, the scale of it is huge. Half of me thinks it’s so big I can’t possibly do it. I’d have to get corporate sponsorship, put together a satellite building team, get a major charity on board, get celebrity endorsements, get a global publicity launch going, get a team to build a charging system… and that’s before we even get to launching the thing into space. It’s so far beyond the realms of achievability that it’s ridiculous.
And then there’s the other half of me. The half that thinks that this is an idea which will appeal to an awful lot of people. That there’s the potential here to raise an incredible amount of money for an environmental charity… and that having had the idea, I can’t possibly not do it.
I’ll let you know which half wins.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Audio problems
Interviews
Looking back at the interviews done on Friday, the content is good and both interviewees were animated and interesting.
I’ve decided, however, to go back to letting my camcorder handle the audio levels automatically. Even though this does create problems when the camera doesn’t adjust fast enough to changing sound volume, it’s far better than me trying to control the sound levels myself. I’ve got far too much to do already as I’m working alone and setting up the lighting and camera as well as doing the interviews and adding sound control to that is a recipe for disaster. I’m giving myself far more problems in trying to do it. On this occasion, the problem was that I set the audio too low so boosting it means there’s a fair amount of hiss in the background. I can get rid of it, but it’s another layer of fussing during the edit I can do without.
Animations
I spent the afternoon putting together some final renders of some of the animations used in the documentary. This always takes longer than you think it will, because the lighting and camera angles always need messing around with.
The models have already been made, and I’ll I needed to do was set them in motion. Still it’ll render overnight and hopefully I’ll have something decent by tomorrow.
Cubesat
I’ve also emailed the makers of the cubesat micro-satellite system and got pretty positive responses. This is the first step of research in a new documentary idea I’ve got. Actually it’s more than a documentary idea – I want to save the world – and think I can do it with a $50,000 satellite…
The new documentary will allow me to follow some people who are building these micro-satellites as school projects. Hopefully, I can gather a few experienced people to help in this ambitious project – or at least let me find out if what I’m proposing is possible.
More on that later…
Looking back at the interviews done on Friday, the content is good and both interviewees were animated and interesting.
I’ve decided, however, to go back to letting my camcorder handle the audio levels automatically. Even though this does create problems when the camera doesn’t adjust fast enough to changing sound volume, it’s far better than me trying to control the sound levels myself. I’ve got far too much to do already as I’m working alone and setting up the lighting and camera as well as doing the interviews and adding sound control to that is a recipe for disaster. I’m giving myself far more problems in trying to do it. On this occasion, the problem was that I set the audio too low so boosting it means there’s a fair amount of hiss in the background. I can get rid of it, but it’s another layer of fussing during the edit I can do without.
Animations
I spent the afternoon putting together some final renders of some of the animations used in the documentary. This always takes longer than you think it will, because the lighting and camera angles always need messing around with.
The models have already been made, and I’ll I needed to do was set them in motion. Still it’ll render overnight and hopefully I’ll have something decent by tomorrow.
Cubesat
I’ve also emailed the makers of the cubesat micro-satellite system and got pretty positive responses. This is the first step of research in a new documentary idea I’ve got. Actually it’s more than a documentary idea – I want to save the world – and think I can do it with a $50,000 satellite…
The new documentary will allow me to follow some people who are building these micro-satellites as school projects. Hopefully, I can gather a few experienced people to help in this ambitious project – or at least let me find out if what I’m proposing is possible.
More on that later…
Friday, December 14, 2007
Interviews
Interviews
Today I went up to Manchester to interview some of the scientists at jodrell bank who are involved in the search for planets orbiting other stars. Interesting stuff and apparently with new developments due on line in 10 years or so, they’ll be able to detect the constituents of the atmospheres of planets in other solar systems. They tell me that they’ll be able to be almost certain if there is life from these measurements. In a few years, we’ll know if we’re alone – or at least we’ll know if we’re not.
They seemed quite surprised that I had a camera with me (I think they thought it was audio only. Still, they adjusted quite quickly. The interviews went well, and they offered me some footage of the telescope which I can use in the documentary. They’re going to start making video in the next few months so I offered my help – the least I can do I think given that I’ve taken up their afternoon.
With these two interviews, I’ve got the first section of the documentary covered. I’ve got the solar sailing bit covered. I’ve also got the faster than light section covered. What remains is the part about how to sustain human habitation during a 50+ year journey to the stars (I’ve got someone lined up to interview about this), a section on fusion ramjets and other super-rockets, and a section on terraforming (which I think I may have an interviewee for, but I’m not sure).
It’s probably time to start editing and working on the animations.
Today I went up to Manchester to interview some of the scientists at jodrell bank who are involved in the search for planets orbiting other stars. Interesting stuff and apparently with new developments due on line in 10 years or so, they’ll be able to detect the constituents of the atmospheres of planets in other solar systems. They tell me that they’ll be able to be almost certain if there is life from these measurements. In a few years, we’ll know if we’re alone – or at least we’ll know if we’re not.
They seemed quite surprised that I had a camera with me (I think they thought it was audio only. Still, they adjusted quite quickly. The interviews went well, and they offered me some footage of the telescope which I can use in the documentary. They’re going to start making video in the next few months so I offered my help – the least I can do I think given that I’ve taken up their afternoon.
With these two interviews, I’ve got the first section of the documentary covered. I’ve got the solar sailing bit covered. I’ve also got the faster than light section covered. What remains is the part about how to sustain human habitation during a 50+ year journey to the stars (I’ve got someone lined up to interview about this), a section on fusion ramjets and other super-rockets, and a section on terraforming (which I think I may have an interviewee for, but I’m not sure).
It’s probably time to start editing and working on the animations.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
A Sale - a palpable sale!
A Sale - a palpable sale!
Spent some time today re-writing the documentary transcript so that it made some kind of sense. It felt like a thankless task, but when I emailed it to the distributors, the return email informed me that the company who’d asked about the HD version of the shark documentary has bought it!
That means I have to get a HD master done – a job I don’t need right now – but I’ve at least got my first sale of the documentary.
The price is £2000 of which I’ll get £1,400. This for me goes some way to proving that I can do this – that my documentary work can sell and that it’s worthwhile working on all my other project ideas.
Great news. and I can go up to Manchester to record my Jodrel bank interviews with renewed confidence.
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