Project Dogwaffle Howler
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Flowing Water Possibilities using PD Pro: Howler to Create an Animated Texture
In this tutorial, Philip demonstrates his use of their free Anim8or modeling software to create and animate a custom brush in PD Pro: Howler. Toward the end of his lecture, he'll demonstrate how incredible easy it is to use an animated brush onto a timeline to actually paint animations controlled by the brushes output settings directly into frames of an animation.
Using this technique make it possible to create animated textures for a water mesh in your scene, or as a powerful way to add such things into your avi or image sequences in Post. I'm using water as an example - because that quickly came to mind as I watched him animate his scary little sea urchin-looking thing! But with the tiniest dab of imagination, this super-simple technique could be used in infinite ways to create whatever effects that Carrara might lack for your vision. My advice is to watch as many of these videos as your time will allow, and even try your best to make more time for them. Rather than just seeking what might apply to your needs, these videos provide essential "How to" and "Where would I look for This" information, in addition to all of the artistic inspiration and technique you can glean from these two. They are amazing!
An Exhaustive List of Links to Great Products, Resources, Plugins, and Information from TheBest3D.com
Need to find a special plugin? Never tried a Free Paint program and would like to know where some could be found? How about a link to a web page filled with everything you've ever wanted to know about art, or animating, or conceptual painting, or...
You may not need to look any further than this place. I was going crazy trying to find where I saw anim8or available for download. I know I found it at this enormous website, but in a different place than this, but this has that and a whole lot more. I was about to try theGimp again, so after finding anim8or, I was going to search for it... but know I don't have to!
Technically they didn't. Bill and Steve both attended Xerox Parc's demonstrations and both started working on GUI's at the same time, so this is a common misconception. Due to the nature of PC's being built from a wide range of hardware, vs Apple's being built on Woz's proprietary (and quite good) hardware, and due to the fact that PC's were actually running much more demanding office software, the first two iterations of Windows were pretty much useless except to play with. It wasn't untill Windows 3.0 that an actual functional version of Windows was able to run on the disparate hardware and not slow down the all important business applications that the systems were expected to run. The GUI macs did not run as demanding software as the text based computers, even the text based Apple systems of the time.
Touche, yon EP! Tou frickin' che!
Here is a great example, I think, of why Dogwaffle is so robust in its features - because of the artistic needs of Dan Ritchie.
I take Dan as being an excellent painter - and it appears to me that he wanted Dogwaffle to give himself more of the natural feel of actually painting, than of software on a computer. Watch this fantastic Time Lapse as Dan Ritchie paints: The English Gentleman , another incredible excerpt from the Daily Dose!
Oh my... I got it... I got it!!!
I'll be a while before I get home to try it... but owning it is no longer a hurdle to jump. Done that!
Can't wait to get home and start Howling with PD Pro 8.2! :vampire:
Dogwaffle Video Tutorials - Professionally Mastered
Still waiting for my big chance to play with my new Dogwaffle, I'm at least enjoying (still) some really fun video tutorials created by the project developers to teach us the ropes to their great piece of software.
New for Howler 8
This is the latest and greatest, packed with some awesome new features and tutorials
Carrara Resources at The Best 3D.com
Philip Staiger, one of the developers of Project Dogwaffle, is a huge Carrara fan. He used to work for Eovia when they took over Carrara and released version 2! He loved it then and it remains to be his favorite 3d tool to this day! No wonder. Carrara rocks!
I am really growing to enjoy the unlimited resources found at TheBest3D.com - There are tutorials galore, for many various apps for many different techniques. The videos conducted by Philip are my favorite of them due to his immense knowledge combined with his wonderful personality.
I still use 3.7 pd pro it really loves tga image sequences
From watching older tutorials and such, I'd be willing to bet that all version are awesome. Yeah... Targa (tga) is their native format. You can use other formats, but everything gets converted to tga while in Dogwaffle.
Finally!
I got some time to use the software I've been so excited about. Embarrassingly enough, I open my first sequenced Targa animation, and I sat there wondering where to go from there - with a clear plan in my mind of what to do! lol
A quick visit to their incredible selection of top-notch video tutorials and the first part was under way. Wow can this Howler 8.2 crunch animation FX fast! I saved that off and added my next plan, and finally the other. Saved to a new sequenced Targa animation and back into Carrara as a backdrop and everything appears to be working perfectly!
So here's what I achieved:
I set up an animation using a 360 degree background image I made using the Eviron Construction Kit. The animation consists of a target helper following the path of a six second walk, using sequences of aniBlock walks for spacing. The Film camera pans slightly as it follows the motion back, slowly allowing the walker (which can be any figure with a walk animation) to get slightly closer by the end. No character is needed, of course, but I wanted to allow for flexible possibilities. I set the volumetric clouds to animate for six seconds, plus they slowly rotate throughout the animation and I set windy conditions on all of the trees - even the dead ones. It's going to be one heck of a storm.
The animation turned out great - but got much better in Howler - as the next step was to add lighting flashes within the area. There turned out to be perfect spots to have them too. Even after just this stage, it really looks cool! But then I made a blurred selection within the alpha layer and ran a keyframed AnyFX rain animation that starts and ends slower that the gust in the middle that pushes more rain to the left. This one I made with very little opacity and a lot of rain and was meant as a depth layer of rain back where the woods (that doesn't yet exist in the scene) opens up and there's less protection from the wind. Then I performed a second AnyFX rain pass with a more consistent soak of a rain on top of that. Wow does this animation look great. A real electric storm!
Now I went back into the prepared scene, got rid of the clouds and made new ones that mostly rotate around each woodlands block with a slight translation to the left. The camera retains the same animation as the original. I made the Woodlands blocks visible and tweaked the clouds with a bit more opacity and silver lining, less density and more sharpness and cranked the quality up to high.
Now I'm waiting on that render which Carrara says will take 20 hours. Usually when Carrara thinks something will take 20 hours, it ends up taking longer in the end. We'll see. If you're ever stuck in this situation, a quick speed pick-up would be to eliminate one of the volumetric clouds, and then another... until you get the overall render time you're okay with. As this is for a product, even though it's a bonus file, I'll live with the wait. Watching these frames go by is showing off how great it looks!
When done, I'll add the final layer of rain using an alpha mask again - according to the new data in the animation. At that time I'll decide if Howler will perform any other actions. I have a real surprise awaiting as well, that will be included with this bonus animated Backdrop.
Dan & Philip,
Thank you for all of your efforts in creating such an outstanding piece of software. It feels so natural once inside, that it seems confusing at first. My first short try at Dogwaffle was in a hotel room with a new netbook sporting Windows 8 64 bit, with a small cpu (especially compared to my eight core,3.1 GHz, 16GB RAM workstation!) to try out my aging, neglected Wacom Tablet - still like new as I've never really used it since I got it a few years ago for free from a friend.
I set my brush to resemble a #5H or 6H, perhaps even 7H, and started light-sketching a human face. I was very impressed by both the tablet and the software. Never would I have thought that sketching on a tiny tablet could look and feel so similar to my nice sketchbook. I don't ever draw with such a hard pencil, but I just thought that such a feel would resemble the feel of the stylus on the hard tablet, which it did - to a tee. But now that I know better, I'll bring up some nice oils or acrylics as I know that will make my stylus on tablet feel like a brush on canvas. With the bleeding and glazing effects you've built into this, I cannot get over how real it feels.
I've later found out that it is the software. The tablet still works great otherwise, but it's when PD is open when it really feels right.
I appreciate all of your hard work, and am overwhelmed at the endless supply of free training that you take the time to create for your users. You guys ROCK!!!
When I was filtering values one frame at a time for lightning effects when the bolts are not visible in the scene, but the effect is, I was pleasantly surprised that it remembers your settings a you go.
Holy lot's of tools Batman!!! :coolsmile:
Well, here it is: "Walking in a Storm"
Best seen at 720p at full screen to catch the details.
I used Rotoscoping tools to make a make on her, and added a slower, lighter, rain effect to add water drops...
Definitely not refined on that part, but I really like the background with lightning.
I must admit that I was so immersed in the scenery that I never finished animating Rosie, so her Arms and hands are rather stagnant! lol
Oh well... it's just a demo!
Is chivalry dead? Somebody get that poor woman a towel!
Very nice Dart!
Besides, she's my Dame... and I gotta tell ya - Chivalry ain't dead. She's just tough, is all!
New Project Dogwaffle product is out and the new build 8.2d of Howler got a preview in the new Dogwaffle Newsletter.
Link to the new product:
Project Dogwaffle Soundtrack Collection
Gotta have it! Thanks for the link, Jay!
Also, for those of you who may want to try Dogwaffle for your still life work, PD Artist 8.2 just hit the shelves at the Daz3d store at a considerable savings to its already screaming low price! PD Artist is the same as PD Pro Howler without the ability to 'create' animations. You may still make and use animated brushes, just like the Howler edition - just cannot save as sequenced image files or avi
If you've ever enjoyed painting with oils, acrylics, watercolors... but either don't like the mess, don't have time to set it all up, or just can't afford all of the paints and supplies, Project Dogwaffle is amazingly close to the same thing, but using your Windows computer instead! Your tablet and stylus will behave just like canvas or paper and brush. Don't have a tablet? Project Dogwaffle's curve tool will allow you to simulate a similar feel using your mouse!
It's amazing how it allows you to leave your paint wet, or have it dry out, however you like to work. Never before have I felt such an "oil paint feel" before owning Dogwaffle!
Pencil sketching is amazing, too... even though Dogwaffle is digital - so it allows you to do so much more!
Going back throughout this thread will lead you to many various links to help illustrate what it looks like to work in it and with it. They are the most helpful developers I've seen so far with helping their customers understand how to use their software through personally recorded video tutorials, nicely edited into entertaining, educational broadcasts.
I have indexed some of the lessons into my own playlists that I thought I would share, just in case others find it useful.
Edit:
I'm thinking to myself... Why didn't I get the newsletter? Sure enough. Sitting in the Spam folder along with Digital Anarchy's letter. Why is it that every month I have to tell my e-mail that this stuff is not spam? :ahhh:
(Rhetorical question only - no answer required)
I'll add the addresses to my contacts to avoid future mishaps. Of all of the stuff I get... these newsletters I really want to read! :-P
Nice! Check out what our very own Jet Bird (Danis Anis) does with Dogwaffle!!!
Tis a great program. I have 3.7 and PD Howler 6.2. So much to learn and so little time to do it in.
looks interesting!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06F37wZw9g0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=145HNAj9wMA
Glad you saw these. There's a whole bunch more in our youtube channel at www.youtube.com/pdhowler - and if you have any questions like "How do I...?" be sure to contact me and I just might make time to create another tutorial.
These two videos you listed focus on the 3D Designer which has been in PD Pro (Howler and Artist editions) for a little while but only with this new 8.2 release have we added GPU support, so it's at times significantly faster. There are a few other filters that also already use the GPU when possible, but this is probably by far the one with the biggest impact. So we have a lot of new features also in the 3D Designer, such as distant fog and ground fog, antialiasing and prefiltering, and you can transfer the Zbuffer data to alpha, for example to then do a smart Bokeh blur based on the distance.. The 3D Designer can be used for much more than terrain but that's certainly a great starting activity. You can also flip it vertically and use it for great clouds that appear a little 3D/depth'ish with sun lighting from underneath. You can see some examples in the Gallery or Slideshow at www.thebest3d.com/slideshow8.2
Well I bought the cool creative bundle and bought the upgrade to PD 8.2. Now just to use it all :)
staigerman saideth
thanks I appreciate that.
I have had plenty of fun with the 8.2 paint part (don't do animations at the moment)
I have been designing the terrains in dogwaffle and bringing them height maps and texture maps into carrara ;)
though they look excellent in dogwaffle - better actually because of the real time feedback with the lighting.
the transform to 3d gives a very fast response - and I'm doing textures 4096 by 4096
some really excellent results so far , lots I need to experiment with
your tuts on the net are very good (apart from the music ;) ) Tuts make a big difference as far as customer satisfaction and repeat business.
thanks for How Do I offer. I'll certainly send you questions if necessary.
(just kidding about the music)
Yeah... I love the music!!!
I really love how FAST dogwaffle is with animation stuff. I bought the Cool Creative Bundle, which was going to be my one chance to try PD Pro 7.2, but Philip was so fast with sending me my upgrade code, I installed Howler 8.2 instead! lol
I've been watching the tutorials every night now. My wife watches TV, I watch "The Daily Dose"! (I still call it that, even though they don't, anymore)
My new product is nearly done. Then I am planning on making Howler part of my normal work flow - and will likely come up with some new questions for you. I've never used anything quite so cool. Plenty of image editing things... but nothing like this. Wow. My pen and tablet just came to life. No more sitting lifeless on a shelf collecting dust. With Howler's speed at rendering animations, I think I have some cool new ideas on how to help Carrara animators by using Howler right along side of it. You'll see soon.
Philip Staigerman,
Glad to see you in this thread. Love your video tutorials, TheBest3d.com website and, of course, your product. I find it impressive how you help everybody by offering previous version of your software at a discount. That's a handy way to start, if you lack the funds for the latest and greatest, but still need the tools. Dogwaffle is so unique in it's Brush-centric, Alpha-centric, Filter-centric sort of way, that anything is possible.
I made a Carrara animation, and the wind blew too hard on some of the trees. It made their trunks disappear and reappear - flashing. Before Howler, that whole animation (and the time spent rendering it) would have been lost. But I saw your episodes about rotoscoping and had to give it a try. I was amazed at how well and how quickly I was able to fix it! But then I played around with the color/contrast grading features of AnyFX plugin... Wow! Anyways, there is still so much more to explore here.
I know what you mean. I got the absolute, very best customer support from those people. I was amazed. I got an early edition freebie to look at it and immediately purchased a full version. The same day, I got the coupon for updating, and I am saving up for it now (have to recoup from March Madness).
I also had a bit of a problem with my installation and could not get it going straight off, so I emailed them and the turnaround on the support was phenomenal! Same day!
I love this program - if only I were good enough to use it to it's full extent (I mainly use these types of programs for photo editing and "accidental" abstracts)... but I know enough about these types of software to know what an artist needs, and this one does not disappoint in the least.
I know what you mean. I got the absolute, very best customer support from those people. I was amazed. I got an early edition freebie to look at it and immediately purchased a full version. The same day, I got the coupon for updating, and I am saving up for it now (have to recoup from March Madness).
I also had a bit of a problem with my installation and could not get it going straight off, so I emailed them and the turnaround on the support was phenomenal! Same day!
I love this program - if only I were good enough to use it to it's full extent (I mainly use these types of programs for photo editing and "accidental" abstracts)... but I know enough about these types of software to know what an artist needs, and this one does not disappoint in the least.I know,
I can't wait to get better, myself. Practice, practice, practice.
I am familiar with many of the usual terms and how to adjust the filters and such. But I've never seen an Alpha layer being treated so wonderfully before. Just paint away. I can paint the individual needles on my pine trees, then come back with a bigger brush and finish painting in the rest of the opposite of what I want selected within the Alpha channel, and the invert the selection and animate stuff in the new selection. Never have I had it so easy!
Key framing the curve tool is amazingly easy. At first I was bumming that I didn't think I should (or could) use motion detection, since the trunks were actually disappearing. Not motion detector, the other one in the rotoscoping tools. So I had to key frame in the trunk manually. Wow... it's just as easy as working within Carrara. They're perfect together!
I am going to have a lot of fun with the particles!
Ooooh I'd looooove to see these terrains and texture maps and stuff you make. PErhaps something we could feature in a DOTM page? (Dogwaffler of the Moment). You can see the "DOTM" link in the top left of our main page at thebest3d.com
We're always looking for great examples to show and tell, especially when it also speaks to users of Carrara, Poser, DAZstudio, Bryce etc... and can help show them how PD Pro can be used in conjunction with those other great tools.
I did a bunch of 3D terrain animations in Carrara in support of a musician in Honduras who needed some screen activity ahead of his live concerts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCvU_H9vU4I&list=PLBqbdhU5umbdKZYqV7WRDSO3J9zrzjxa9
- the last one had also a bit of PD work in there, showing the transition from a cloud photo near the beginning (after the pond scene) converted to elevation map, and turned 3D in the 3D Designer of PD Howler, the same elevation map later textured and animated in Carrara.
The Language of the Wind - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64cscmB5Vtg&list=PLBqbdhU5umbdKZYqV7WRDSO3J9zrzjxa9
Wow. I was just about to start digging through the manual to figure out how to apply Text to an image. Before I did, I remembered my lessons on growing alpha and subtracting from alpha. Yeah... I want that. So I just click the Text to Alpha button. nothing. Oh... Alpha is currently white, and I used white because I wanted... okay, so clear alpha to black and stamp. Yeah!
So it's not at all a difficult tool (or suite of tools, rather), but I just need to get used to how everything works and where to find the stuff - which all makes perfect sense once you start Howling and Waffling, anyways!
Edit: I didn't do that... I made a new brush with the text and painted that down where I wanted it in the Alpha Channel, then worked with it from there.