₦airaland Forum

New work from me.Done with Maya(modeling) & Mudbox (texturing only):

https://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g259/Melviso23/shot2-1.jpg

No sculpting in Mudbox for this.
Lowpoly ninja:2906 tris.

Yep, thats anime studio.Nice animation and keyframing.Facial animation is really good.

And how best can you accomplish realistic character movements?By keyframing or motion capture?I have realized a lot of the professional 3D animations you see around are done with motion capture and later cleaned up or modified with keyframing.

Em, what happened?I was so expecting to see the winner.I guess we are all really busy.Well,I just wanna say I am very impressed with all the videos I have seen on this thread.Great job guys.

From what I gather,the animation industry is reluctantly going back to 2D.I think this has to do with the pre animation process in 3D.Say you wanna make a 3 mins war animation video showing soldiers fighting and all that.If its gonna be in 3D,imagine the enviroment one is gonna model,uvmap,texture with mountains,grasses e.t.c.The number of soldiers you will have to make,weapons also.Then do a setup,rig and paint skin weights for the characters involved and believe me,a lot of the soldiers are gonna be the same model duplicated,lets say with 4 original soldier models.The kings models as well.Lightning must be perfect,shadows too.You have to tweak the renderer settings e.g mental ray.Not to mention wind simulation,grasses movement,cloth and hair animations.If its just one person doing all this,how long is it gonna take?Even with a team of say 6 or 7?Not to mention the weeks it will take to render.

Whereas with 2D animation especially with Photoshop and Flash or After Effects,it might take less time to actualize .Where the time consuming starts is rendering the frames or painting the frames.One person or a small team might be able to do this and do it well!!

What thinkest thou??

Wow, cool works,everyone.Nice to see all these animation WIP videos.Can't wait to see the finished movies.This takes a lot of work,kudos to all the participants.

Cool,is that real geomentry or you made use of normal,bump or displacement maps?Not bad,looking good.

Personally,I won't advise going to NIIT,I once considered going there but after asking around,I found out that I knew way much than what a student who was doing an animation course there knew.When I asked about FK/IK knematics or how to paint skin weights or use the Graph editor to scale frame speed,flatten key values or Trax editor to reuse,cut and modify animation clips in Maya.I got a "I haven't heard of those at all'.These are things u have to know as basics especially the Graph editor.

Try to get your hands on tutorial DVDs especially for animation in the application u are using.They cost way less than those courses and u can watch a real time demonstration of how 3d models are brought to life with animation.You also get to build up a good collection of tutorial dvds which u can always rewind or re-watch if you get lost,confused or for reference purposes.You also cover much ground over a short period of time and I am definitely sure 250,000 can get u a good number of the dvds u need from beginner to advanced level.

As for me,I feel I still have a lot to learn and believe me,it ain't easy.It takes time to perfect especially timing.Goodluck!!

@9tlecturer.

You see,this is what I am talking about.Your work speaks for itself.Your modeling is really neat and thats clean topology right there.I am taking from the topology that the shoe is a subdivisional model.I may be wrong or is it Nurbs?I prefer polygons when modeling.In the 3D industry, sculpting applications have gained ground due to the ease and fast nature with which models can be made.There is ZBrush and Mudbox.I prefer Mudbox cause of its simple UI and similarities to maya.Mudbox enables u to sculpt a base mesh anyway u like without bothering about Topology.U can check some videos to see how fast people create models in mudbox or zbrush on youtube.Then import into Topogun and build a new mesh with clean topology on top of the high res one.For me,it just speeds up my work and makes things easier.

Yep, it might sound hectic to move a project from one app to another but I have learnt the hard way that if there are applications that can help u speed up your work and at the same time they come off in good quality.There is no harm.

About motion builder,I have just started playing around with it and I am amazed at how good the animation looks,you can move a keyframe u set for a character along the slider.The most awesome thing is its realtime capabilities.You can see how your characters act and animate in realtime,not to mention the ragdoll and physics solver in realtime unlike Maya assuming u have ncloth or hair simulation,it might not play properly or u have to make use of a cache.Maya somewhat is rigid.Motionbuilder has a simple rigging system and its fun so far.So after animating in motionbuilder u can export everything including particles,keyframe,models into maya and render the frames.How cool is that?James cameron was able to create what he wanted cause he could see his Navi tribe in action in realtime .He even picked camera angles or picked the spot in the virual world where he wanted his characters to stand or sit.The realtime capabilities of this software is amazing!!

But then, I think they are artists who prefer to stick to one software and they are good at it.I don't know if u have heard of monty oum and his fan animation series:Dead Fantasy.He has been using Poser for 11 years.It is amazing that one can animate so well with such a software.

Nice to know your modeling skills landed u a good job.Congrats.

I agree!!*raises one eyebrow*
So are we gonna see your work anytime soon

New work:

New Bowblade Design for my animated project.

https://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g259/Melviso23/arrowd.png

New character model:

https://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g259/Melviso23/kaii0.png

https://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g259/Melviso23/kaii1.png

Softwares:I used Maya for base modelling,Mudbox for detailing and texturing,and Topogun for retopology.Render Time for model:approx 6 secs and 11 secs for bowblade.

Hmmm, wonder why some people can be so immature and rude.

reactor:
i dont know if you are a hypocrite or what you seemed to agree with at least some of my previouse posts

now all of a sudden im useless and suck eh!
when adamu suggested u shud work on your lighting. you insisted that is actually what you are going for.  then when i gave you my own opinion. you came and threw around dirt then in between tried to explain to me that its not easy and render takes several hours and gloriously kissed some asses of the guys u could remember who seem to have more c.g warheads than u. kind of like signing a treaty to make sure they dont attack u or more appropriately set u straight. its an archetypal scenario iv seen it too many times on this forum.  i myself will certainly find it hard to tell you the truth if you become a loyal dog like that.and bearing in mind that im the only one who directly told you your lighting is harsh and very c.g you went to the so called all high and mighty non Nigerian forum and asked them basically the same thing i told you
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2615482#post2615482
not that anyone bothered to answer u or even comment on your work.  anyway that shows that even now you consider my feedback which is what my comment is if you will look beyond my undiplomatic approach, a feedback! great artists know how to use this to their advantage.adamu didn't even reply you again and and you still came back and reversed your self from your standpoint that that was what you are going for to that you messed it up in post in vegas. probably u realized your denial. i don't care if you produce rubbish just dont come and talk to us like we are silly or something. otherwise I'd be happy to let you bask in your kingdom of self deceit
oh by the way just because motion builder is used in avatar doesn't mean you will get the same result from it. they simply used it to aid and clean up their motion capture workflow. you dont even use mo-cap and i don't see how you can be a good animator if you dont master the regular key-framing animation and use of curves in maya which is your choice app. but go ahead and try it. i just dont think it will help you the way you think it will.at least you are not buying a genuine package anyway so the only thing u willl be wasting is your time.

Mr.Talk and no work!!!Show me some of your works.Like a friend of mine says for u to tear down someone's work u should be able to produce something as good or even better.There are other forums apart from that.O, so u finally realized your approach was undiplomatic.Why should u call my work mediocritic ??Learn to get your message across to people in a constructive manner.

Basically,u suck.I am not trying to appease anyone and I am not saying they are better than me.To each person,is his own world.I will say for the second time,get lost!!!

And I am not getting motionbuilder cause of Avatar,dummy!!Its better because of its realtime capabilities.You are right,I did consider your criticism cause we learn everyday.Its the way u went about it acting all high and mighty when u haven't posted any 3D graphics work here and using the word mediocrity is very annoying.So POST your WORK so we can criticise them as well,unless u are afraid we are gonna tear it down and call it poor,poorer,poorest!!!Look at the way the other posters have acted.They have been very matured and constructive but yours seems to be the immatured and barking orchestra among the lot.Even if u have a point to make,learn to be diplomatic and constructive about it.


@aphek.

Thanks for that constructive criticism.

Old 3D work:


https://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g259/Melviso23/finishedkai2.jpg

https://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g259/Melviso23/trailerscreenshot9c.png

https://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g259/Melviso23/bowform3.jpg

Need to work on my character animation skills.Definitely will be getting motionbuilder.

na2day!:
has anyone seen AVATAR? I believe, very soon 9ja will get there!

Avatar was done with motionbuilder and a software was used to plant seeds in the virtual world giving rise to the forest you see in the movie.Motion capture was heavily used for the tribe's movements or animation.
I wonder whether there's a studio in this country that uses a motion capture device,not to mention how much a software that is used to plant virtual trees will cost.Info about this:
http://area.autodesk.com/industrynews/avatar_the_game_changer

Can this be done here?

@Behind bobo

Nice render.I take that from ur post it is a WIP render.Would love to see the finished piece.Everything is looking good so far.

reactor:
in other words there is nothing wrong with your work and all our monitors suck! dude the work is ok (at best) but not amazing. the lighting looks very harsh and cg. learn to take advice and improve on your work. lets not keep celebrating mediocrity.

Quite frankly,this is the reason why I don't post on nigerian forums cause there are always certain group of people who act like they know it all and try to act all high and mighty when they only know little or nothing.Pls,do not reply to any of my posts cause I have checked your post history and I can see u are very sharp tongued and hell bent on bringing people down.Come to think of it,have u posted any of your works on nairaland?cause I can't find any.If u have and u are good,good for u.If u haven't and u suck,get lost!!If u took the time to read the posts of people like CGking,codname47,zpixel and grafikdon,u will know that these individuals understand the world of graphics,3D and animation stuff.It takes time to actually do this stuff and they are good at what they do.You are just downright annoying.I appreciated what Adamu said but that was the artstyle I was going for.I have posted this on other forums and I haven't met anyone post anything close to yours rather they talk about the camera angles,keyframing,render settings or ways in which I can improve.This is my 3rd animation attempt so I wanted a CG artstyle like Final fantasy kinda.Realism is something I intend to prefect but I can imagine the render hours for just one frame would take.You may be good at whatever that u do,but em, lets not talk to each other considering your post history, shall we?

@zpixel
Mental Ray.

@9tLecturer
Really appreciate your post.

@Adamu W.
Now I think I manipulated the graphics while putting the frames together in Sony Vegas.Thanks for pointing it out.Guess I should leave the frames the way they are after rendering from Maya and keep an eye out for the lightning.

na2day!:
Send your numba to me, i'll look u up anytime i'm in 9ja  

Most of the time,I am so occupied with 3D stuff that picking up my phone has become a luxury.Hope u don't mind contacting me through my e-mail address:
melviso2@yahoo.com.

Looking forward to hearing from u.By the way,do u have a website?

zPixel:
Just the right answer to the question.

From my personal observations, i've noticed wherever you have the white folks present there's always this orderliness around which in turn brings about good quality. For instance, in the world of computer graphics/movie industry, the white folks are the ones doing well no matter how hard we try to imitate them. In all most everything in this world they are always on top. No doubt a few colored folks are doing well too, Ben Carson for example. Come to think of it we were all created the same day(according to what we all know) what were our great fathers doing when the whites were developing?

Well, this is just my opinoin from another perspective. Maybe we are different after all.

What!!How can u say that?I don't think any race is superior or we are different in any way.The asians are also good. even better when it comes to 3D stuff.Check out the Final Fantasy games,their CGI work is one of the best.I think Africa, since its developing, would probably have a number of problems.Its only a couple of years back,that 3D and animation started gathering momentum in the country.The only reason 3d & animation is professional in the western world is because it is now part of their educational system.With schools,educational materials and even university courses about the subject matter,they are bound to excel at what they do.All these things are lacking in Africa.If we had these at our disposal,we would be even better than they are.
For no reason,should anybody feel inferior EVER,cause we are all talented and intelligent.I think it has to do with one's mindset.Its not a matter of race.I feel disappointed this is coming from fellow Africans and this is what the western world wants us to believe.

na2day!:
Hi, melvi i just saw some of your work, are u in 9ja?

Yep, thats where I am.

sendtodeji:
You have actually taken the right approach, self-development. You now imagine what you could achieve if you had access to 24/7 power and reliable Internet. You won't need a training school neither will you need the DVDs. I can't imagine myself working without access to the Internet. It's like being locked up in a prison with no access to the world!

Yeah, the importance of the internet cannot be expressed in words.Well, until things get better,i don't know, kinda sad when u think about it.There is a bowblade I am working on and I am presently baking the normal and ao maps,need to start painting the colour maps in Mudbox but nooo, power goes out!!!Arggh!!!

CGI is a painstaking work, it requires serious concentration (many 9jarians always prefer little work for big money), 24hours electricity supply, especially when it comes to rendering which sometimes takes days to finish(pls beg PHCN),and access to resource materials (with our slow internet connection, imagine if u need to download about 5gb file?), if 9ja can fix these believe me, animation will really take off, i know we have the talents in the country.

I agree.Power has been a major problem especially when creating models or rendering frames for animation and none of the ISPs in the country have fast internet connection.No computer store where u can walk into to purchase tutorial DVDs or books.CGI is time consuming and to get the best quality,it should not be rushed,not to mention coming up with a concept that will make your clients happy.

I think the truth of the matter is the reluctance of the educational system in this country to adopt computer and softwares as the way to go with professions especially in tertiary institutions.A lot of graduates now are realizing that getting a degree isn't just good enough to land a good job as a lot of companies are taking to softwares as it enables them work easier,faster and more efficiently.So imagine a school dropout who decides to learn a software and is excellent at it,who is the company gonna employ,the graduate that is computer illiterate or the individual that is a don in a software the company uses.
In terms of animation and 3d,there are no proper institutions where people can go and learn these things.In canada,there are a lot of film and animation schools even universities have these courses available.There are DVDs and ebooks readily available for purchase.I have heard of NIIT,I almost went there but I discovered they teach very little of what the softwares have to offer.I am not even sure they have ever heard of softwares like Topogun,or motionbuilder.I have learnt a lot on my own so if we start establishing animation companies or some of the foreign companies decide to set up here.I think that's a start.

The lightning was what I was going for.It might appear dark on some monitors due to screen settings.

My new animation video showing a sitting room interior with furniture.

Still renders from video:
https://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g259/Melviso23/image00.png

https://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g259/Melviso23/image1a.png

Watch animation video
http://melviso.deviantart.com/art/Interiors-and-Furniture-152525847

Softwares: Maya,Mudbox,Fruity loops & Sony Vegas.Enjoy!!

All rights reserved.Property of U.C.Melvis.No part of this work should be copied or reproduced without permission from me.

@AdamuW

Nice animation work.Really cool.Keep it up.

@emekan01

Nice modelling.All u need now is the prefect lightning after texturing the models.Keep it up.

I agree,a portfolio is important so that prospective learners can be able to see your work and determine whether if they take lessons from u and your crew,their work will be as good as yours when they are through with the program.If u have a portfolio,that is.

@Z-pixel.

Nice blog,man.Keep it up.Yep, animation takes time to learn and pull off.I have actually seen a 7 mins animation that involved up to 50 people and it took 2 years.I think I recall the name as Pigeon Impossible,something like that.

@aphek.
Nope,its not necessary that it should be interactive.Any file output is okay.I use wmv or mov files.Avi files are okay too.

@vertexroya
Of course,realism is the aim but not always the target,beauty is.Finding a blend of what makes for example an interior beautiful is coming up with unique and diverse furnitures,textures and foliage.It should look engaging and detailed.Actually,if one was going for this look, one screenshot of a living room will take like 1-3 months to find the perfect composition of textures,lightning and rendering.Most of the works u see done by the best 3D artists around the world take that long.Quality takes time to achieve and should not be rushed.Thats why I understand why u feel its not a one man business.

And the 3D rendering of those frames,lets say, for a 3-minutes walkthrough.If the render of one frame takes like 2 hours.How long will for the frames of a 3-minutes video take,not to mention power supply hiccups.There are ways u can shorten render times like using normal,and displacement maps and re-topology(creating low res models from highly detailed ones)The animation trailer I did took 2 minutes for each frame.

I am still working on the above interior project.I intend to show day and night times.Will post the walk through video of the interiors when I am through.

By the way,can u post some of your works.I think we all would like to see them.

Thanks.

Do u know how to use the Graph Editor?If your animation isn't running smoothly,the animation curves in the Graph editor may be too linear or steep,and some points/tangents may need to be flattened.Get familiar with the Graph Editor and Trax Editor.They may look complicated but they really help a lot in that aspect.

Hi Linclon,

In using Maya,u have to learn how to rig and paint skin weights and make use of curves as riggers.For animation, learn how to set keyframes.I would have suggested using the Trax Editor.Its a great tool as it makes animation easier but I think it will be more beneficial if u start with the tutorials in the help file that comes with the Maya installation first.It contains a lot of information on animation basics among other useful stuff.

Best of luck.Keep it up.