animation

[Madfox]

A small model I made of Garry Anderson's 60thies TV serie "The Thunderbirds".

I know they have copyrights, but I just couldn't stand the temptation.

tb112.mpg

[TheSpleen]

That looked pretty good!

[robcat2075]

Looks good. Maybe a space shot should have a stronger light from one direction.

 

I'm just old enough to recall the first run of those shows. Filmed in "Supermarionation"! I wasn't old enough to know what was going on except that it looked cool.

[Madfox]

Thanks for your answer!

 

Here are some more. I forced the bit-amount, so they will look cheeky.

There is something on my mind, though.

When I have a model that turns straight in the air, the parameters for the smoke/fire are constant.

 

What do I have to do to turn them in a corner?

I mean, looking at the the second anim, the aircraft makes a turn.

When I add straight smoke/fire to them, the collision will go on forward,

which is a little odd flying backwards.

So I just turned camera and background, which is quiet a lot work more.

Does it take a lot of correktion, or can this be done with a path?

TB01.mpg

TB02.mpg

TB03.mpg

Tb11.mpg

[robcat2075]

There is something on my mind, though.

When I have a model that turns straight in the air, the parameters for the smoke/fire are constant.

 

What do I have to do to turn them in a corner?

 

I don't understand the question. Can you show an example of it not working?

[Darkwing]

ah, good ol Gerry Anderson. Nice model

[Madfox]

Well, this one goes right horizontal.

If I collide the flames keep on the same arrow.

turn01.mpg

[robcat2075]

I think you need a higher velocity and shorter life for your particles

[John Bigboote]

Fun stuff!

 

Screw the copyrights... anyways, their first legal action would be to ask you to take it down... if they do that... take it down. If you don't... THEN they can take further action.

[Madfox]

It's not the copyrights I'm concerned with. That'll be alright.

It's more that I can't find the options how to get the streak emitter turn.

[robcat2075]

"Initial Velocity".

 

Make.That.Larger.

 

and better to set it in the original material not in the shortcut to the material in the model.

[HomeSlice]

"Initial Velocity". Make.That.Larger.

And make "Life Expectancy" shorter.

[HomeSlice]

Robcat's suggestion to alter the material in the original material in the container is best in this case. But if you ever need to access the properties of a material *shortcut* (for example, to alter a property that applies only to a specific model), select the material in the PWS and adjust the properties in the Properties Palette (View > Properties). Also, you can turn on disclosure triangles so you can click on the little triangles in the PWS to access the properties right in the PWS. (Tools > Options > Global > Show Advanced Properties)

[Madfox]

I lowered the Life expectancy and made the Initial Velocity higher.

Still the origin of the trusterflame keeps in the same direction.

For making it clear, I use AM2005 so there's no Show Advanced Properties.

Also I'm a little abused by the PWS, sorry I'm a little acronoid.

 

Couldn't it work just like adding a path to a model in choreochraphie,

so the model uses the action in the right way?

[robcat2075]

Once a particle has left the emitter it's on its own and doesn't care where the emitter is, just like in real life. Your particles are going where they were pointed to when they were emitted.

 

If you want a straighter exhaust tail you need a MUCH higher velocity and VERY short life. 100 is only the default velocity and that one is just set to 50. Real rocket exhausts travel at super sonic speeds, and even then they leave curved trails if the rocket turns fast.

 

 

If you need an absolutely rigid jet trail you might consider modeling that shape.

[Madfox]

If I do so theflame truster becomes shorter and wider.

My intention was to have a long and smooth small flame yet.

As long as the model is standing still I get this effect, but as soon as the model is in motion,

the flame seems to break and leave odd spaces.

Then the higger velocity and lower life expectancy attends to scatter the flame.

Reason why I neede to hang the model still and turn camera and background.

 

I tried one by adding a path to it, and as long the circel is small the effect is becoming what I wanted.

Only the sharp corners make it look odd somehow.

turn06.mpg

[robcat2075]

What is the life span of your particles in that clip??

 

 

But since you want an absolutely rigid flame shape, why not model it and texture it to be the colors you want?

[Darkwing]

Just a quick question, are you using particles or streaks?

[Madfox]

The life exp. is 00:00:07

 

I set out a path, connected it to the vehicle, and run a 00:19:00 animation over the whole path.

For some reason and forgetting the glitches, the streak-emmitter takes care for the round path.

 

I know it sounds strange, but my question is a way to get the variables in this streak emitter to collide with the path.

It seems a little strange to make account for every frame in the streak emitter of the turning angle.

In a walking model ( I know this hasn't anything attached to it or it has to be hair) the path of the model collides free,

when a path is attached to it. I don't have to rearrange the angle the model walks frame by frame.

Now I have several examples of the model turning with the flame in a 90 degrees corner,

or the flames keep comming from one side, even when the model has turned.

Sorry my knowledge of the streak emmitter is that poor.

 

I could make a jetstream in a model frame, but than it hasn't that moving alook like a flame truster does.

[Madfox]

I finished the fourth one, Thunderbird 4.

The animating on my computer really goes slow.

To make an animation of 8 sec took me almost 9 houres.

Shame it is a little too low, as The Prince of Persia, stranded in time.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_GE0qjfrtc

 

But they sure look good!

[robcat2075]

nice shot.

 

Is the landscape imported from a polygon mesh? I see triangles in it, which are causing creases.

 

Are you using materials for the textures on the landscape? If you "baked" those to decals that would probably speed up the render times.

[johnl3d]

did a streak test might solve your problem

 

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=38600

[Madfox]

The landscape is a rough dxf file I used as underground.

I know the rendring is quiet flat, but more to show off the model.

It helped indeed, baking actions.

Still it took me about 6 houres.

 

I tried the streaktest, but I own AM2005.

It replied in error, I dunnoh which version you have?

Maybe baking actions solve the problem.

Thunderbird4.mpg

[Madfox]

I tried the streaktest and added a bone to it.

When I use a path and bind the streak emitter to it the flame goes round.

 

The Thunderbird model has also the same trusterfire added.

But this is tied to the first bone of the model, which lies excentric of the streakemitter.

 

The same happens, when I add a smoke trail.

It seems to loos the orïentation of the fire trail.

 

I know there are ways to compare both, as done in the manual with the hat on the table.

But for some reason I can't figure it out.

fs166.mpg

fs167.mpg

[Madfox]

Made some progress with the streak emitters, they run smoothly now. Th e strange effect was that all additions I made in the model kept resistent in the drivers options. So when I changed the parms I kept on getting strange results. Untill I cleaned up the drivers group.

Sometimes it takes a long time to understand the fixing error. 
As now, the model looked good in Amv16, but Am19 seems to give black alpha channels.
 

https://youtu.be/tSskFfOk-Jo

[robcat2075]

That looks authentic!

10 hours ago, Madfox said:

... but Am19 seems to give black alpha channels.
 

What do you mean?

[Madfox]

The decals on thunderbird3 with the anouncement and the big no3 supposed to be transparant.

They have a decal with alpha, but they render out black. While the hull would shin red through.

 

[robcat2075]

Can you send me the decal?

[Madfox]

I made a projectfile. Hope all info is there.

In fact there are two models.., schaal21 renders fine. schaal1881.mdl results in black alpah's. probably because of layers in the wrong order.

AM_TB300.zip

[robcat2075]

There are several missing images when I load "schaal1881". For example, it asks for sign13.tga

 

There is a sign03.tga. When I look at it in Photoshop it doesn't have an alpha...

[Madfox]

I used the sign030.tga again to force transparent, but now the model glares through.

Strange that the sign111.tga and sign221.tga without alpha render correkt, while the sign03.tga doesn't.

 

sign030.tga

[Madfox]

Found the cause of the error was in the alpha channel, as photoshop didn't add the alpha channel on tga or png. PSD seems to do it.
Won't explain why the others without alpha work, but anyway. Nice effect. maybe too shiny.

sign030.pdf

[robcat2075]

PDF isn't a format that A:M reads.

I don't have a sign030.tga or a sign111.tga in the set you sent me.

As far as I can tell LINE00.tga is just a black rectangle with no detail?

 

[Madfox]

Well.., I think I decal the model from start again. 
Opening the projectfile goes rather well, but the individual model file breaks up in scattered imagefiles. Tends to be a tedious case that way.

 

And..,  I ment *.pdf.

🙂

[robcat2075]

1 hour ago, Madfox said:

Well.., I think I decal the model from start again. 
Opening the projectfile goes rather well, but the individual model file breaks up in scattered imagefiles. Tends to be a tedious case that way.

If the problem is only having to refind the image files, resave the model after loading and finding. Then the correct file paths will be in the model.

[Madfox]

Made a "dinkytoy" of one of the crossviews of the THunderbird2 atributes. It is a little bulldozer. The rail blades gave me a though rigging camp.

animation: thunderbird2 bulldozer

 

 

 

shutl08.mdl

 

shutl06.act

Edited March 8, 2023 by robcat2075
clarification

[Madfox]

I have been modelling some more on the Thunderbirds theme.

I had most of them so I decided to make the Thunderbird 6 model automobile.
And what is the mobile without its driver Jamez.
The car design turned out a bit high : 32627 patches  59323 CP's.Mostly spend on the extra detailed wheels.
 

 

[Madfox]

Oh... well here is the file.
🙃

 

AM_TB6_Jamez.zip

[Wildsided]

James? I thought lady Penelope's driver was called Parker?

[Madfox]

You might not be so familiar with his first name James Parker. I can imagine. There are five Tracey's for each Thunderbird.

While working on these I can't escape to the somehow "vintage retro" I get, because of the new video's there are nowadays about the subject.
They go really fast and extensive, much more than the animations of the 60's.
Of course it are computer assigned cartoons that take grip of once attention immediatly.

If I search at my consious of attention it reminds me of screenshots of early movies it seems to me everything is much faster.
Normally it takes thirty seconds to interprent what is going on in a scene, while in cartoons it takes just four or five seconds.
It must have something to do with my age, and knowledge of the TV2000 scene.  

[Wildsided]

Not wanting to argue over a 60s marionette, but from everything I can find his first name is Aloysius.

Anyway it's a cool model none the less. I used to love watching Thunderbirds as a kid.

[Madfox]

Yeh, you're right. My mistake. I assumed that his name was James.
 

As a kid I had two models, two and three. I was anxious to have the first one too but they were sold out.
It had a little motor in it so it could ride on batteries. Yes, I'm still fond of them, although I don't have them anymore.

Reason why I can't resist to this "guilty pleasure".

What do you think of the modern version of the Thunderbirds video?

 

[Wildsided]

I wasn't too keen on the live-action one they did in 2004. I think a lot of the charm of the show came from the miniatures and the puppets. I haven't had a chance to watch the newer animated series, but I remember they remade Captain Scarlett in a similar style in the early 2000s and that was well done. 

[Madfox]

I was surprised they made a remake in 2000. All characters were changed into video personalities. The movies were exciting and well tight on script.
That's what I tried to explain in my insight about the tv serie and the new movie.
For some reason the original is so inhibited in my imagination I was realy stunned by the video's. They go much faster and are more placed into this time SF experience.
I was impressed by a BBC print thay made in that time I chose to make a look_a_like.

 

[Madfox]

I'm on the third part of the animation. I made sequence of a Thunderbird on Forrest Stubborn. One of a teaparty, walking scene of Parker & Brains. At last I tried a scene with Lady Penelope. I.m not such a great character modeller. My attempts ended in a granny like figure I'm a bit ashamed for. Fortunately it declines the time period I'm in.

I have the idea the camera is a bit trembling, or the image files are rendered in a misligned way.

 https://mad-red.com/animationmaster/

 

[Ganthofer]

Looking good.

Lady Penelope looks better in the last video clip on you web site compared to the image here in the forum. That is most likely due to the Lighting in the Choreography.

I due notice color banding on the Hood of the car when it's stopped (the pink) and a couple of places on Brains (the guy with the glasses) face color in the room. Are some of the image files at a lower color bit depth maybe?

I also notice the widow treatment (drapes/curtains) popping. Are they statically modeled or simCloth? Would have to look at the individual frame renders or scroll through the Scene in wire frame to see if there is actual movement.

What file format are you rendering to and what is the rest of your pipeline to get the video file.  

[robcat2075]

If you could show a wireframe of Penelope's face we might be able to diagnose the wrinkles.

[Madfox]

Thanks for your attention, Ganthofer.

I netrendered the choreography's on 1940x1080 4 passes soft. So they're all the same color and state. 
The most time went out to the setup for new rigging the models in the choreography. For some reasons the models won't keep their constraints preservered.
When I have the rendered images, I use "ImageToAvi" to compile an avi file with "CinePak from Radius"codek.
Then I have "Videopad from NCH" to add the files and write them out to MP4.

I added an addition on my website with the Shaded and wireframe version. 
If you're really interested I made a download link for the projectfile Forest_Stubborn, with all decals, models and materials.
That would clarify the errors more specificly.

Also Robcat2075, thanks for your reply!
There's a download link also for my penny_sculp5 attempts to obtain a character model.

What my gratest trouble was to give the models a preserved feet target constraint.
They all have them in action file, but as soon as I import them in choreography they were lame.
I had to rebuiled the walk movements again in the choreography, which was quiet confusing.

Still wondering why I can't get that User action feet Targets not preserved.

https://mad-red.com/animationmaster/


 

[robcat2075]

A quick look at the wireframe... I see two main problems.

 

 

first... too many splines. i think this could be thinned out by half for a smoother appearance.

second... dead end splines (circled in yellow) are creating creases. Every spline intersection should be just two splines crossing each other. the dead end splines  should be re-routed.

If you want, this is something we could look at at Live Answer Time.

[Ganthofer]

@Madfox

•  I downloaded the tb08.zip
  • tea00.prj
    • It is looking for Penelop Room99.cho. Only Penelop Room10, Penelop Room21Cl and Penelop Room25 were included in the zip file.
      • LinkedChor=../../Tb06/interiour/Penelop Room99.cho  -- it was appearently from Tb06 (at least that folder on your drive).
      • using one of them instead of the ...99.cho might not be useful for detecting problems, as it could be in the cho file.
    • then there are linked models
      • in 2 locations in zip with different file sizes
        • LinkedModel=../mdl/Power Outlet.mdl
        • LinkedModel=../mdl/Radiator.mdl
      • not in zip
        • LinkedModel=../mdl/Rolling Blind.mdl
  • tb06_05.prj
    • missing
      • Embleem.tif (2x)
      • irsign0.psd (2x)
      • sub03.tga
      • starskey.avi (4x)
      • BlenderGuru_TreeLine_Alpha_con.png (2x)
      • Rumex_Crispus_Rumex_Leaf_1_Color.png (2x)
      • Rumex_Crispus_Rumex_Leaf_2_Color.png (2x)
      • Rumex_Crispus_Rumex_Leaf_3_Color.png (2x)
      • Rumex_Crispus_Rumex_Leaf_4_Color.png (2x)
      • Quercus_Rubra__Old__Quercus_Rubra_Leaf_3_Leaf_Quercus_Rubra_A_6_TR_Color.png (2x)
      • d57fc5402507ffbbaa33b8c3fca8b7de.png (2x)
      • tb06_34.mdl
      • spar0.mdl
  • Forest_Stubborn.prj
    • missing
      • same as tb06_05.prj +
      • chalk_cliffs.jpg
      • chalk_cliffs.jpg
      • tag-tracy-island.jpg (2x)
      • brainz17.mdl (3x)
      • jamez17.mdl
• How did you create the zip of the projects? the linked action, cho, decal, material and mdl were mapped to a different folder structure than what you provided in the zip. I could step through it and find a lot of the files, but not all, so some of the Cho's are incomplete.
• F.Y.I. Converted poly model with excessive CP's/patches/internal patches
  • shiva - patches 2862 - CPs 3670

 

I was going to render the ending part, PenelopRoom25.Cho after she sits down from serving tea, since that is when the Window drapes/curtains (and maybe the wall) pop a couple of times. I looked at the shaded/wireframe video you put up. There is no Popping of the window treatment (curtains/drapes). Only Penelope and Brainz show up, Parker isn't in the Cho I reconstructed. I will try and recreate your render settings, but it is better when they are set in/on the Camera in the Chor or save out a preset to send along so that the settings "ARE" the same when trying to check from another machine. 

I going to set it to render when I go to bed, but it appears that I have a failure to get any project to render an image sequence at present! A:M just Hangs and I end up Killing it with Task manager.

@robcat2075 if I don't figure the hangup before LAT, I'll be looking for suggestions. Gonna try a reload of A:M in the morning, as I've tried and old project, a new blank project with just the default cam/lights/ground, changed from use these to use camera render setting, set different output file types.

 

A question to clarify you workflow/pipeline:

• you use netrender to render out the image sequence, to jpeg or what file type?
• Is "ImageToAvi" an application/software you run on your machine or a web-based portal that you upload to?
• the result is and AVI file encoded with CINEPAK?
  • just a note "Cinepak is a lossy compression codec that uses vector quantization to significantly reduce video file sizes".
  • Could be the cause of the banding and shaky results, but not the popping I would think.
• Then you use Videopad (SW running locally on your machine) to join the Multiple Choreography AVI's and output one MP4 video file.

 I would look through the normal rendered image sequence files around the times the defects are most noticeable to verify if it is being generated from A:M. "ImageToAvi" could easily cause what looks like jitter or shaking since A:M output will be rather sharp (edges) and compression may shift those edges in opposite directions from frame to frame. As for VideoPad, unless you're having it recode the video files, I would not expect it to degrade the output if it's just editing them together and putting it in an MP$ wrapper. The underlying video quality should stay the same.

Do the ImageToAVI files look fine when viewed before further processing?