Stonemason's "Urban Future 4" as you've never seen it before.

Sci Fi Funk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlzKFGFOz-I

A semi-walkthrough of this mass walk loop project featuring 132 animated low poly 3D People, rendered to the background of a cut down "Urban Future 4" by Stonemason. In addition I added a few "flying car" props and a Dirigible completed with animated texture.

If you want to make this scene for yourself I have several tutorials in a "3d animation tutorial playlist" on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL511383E90B92CC0E

Each one covers a different aspect of the scene including:-
1. Low Poly People creation.
2. Converting BVH files for walk loops
3. IES lighting
4. Animated textures (for the dirigible)

Steve
Sci Fi Funk
http://www.scififunk.com
http://www.facebook.com/scififunk

Steve K

Very cool. Stonemason's Urban Future scenes are among my faves, I used one in my video "Blown Away" which is the only one the judges ever liked. The many animated figures are a big help in selling the scene, reminds me of GTA4 (high praise) as I mentioned on YouTube. My only suggestion might be making the volumetric lights a little less emphasized (maybe a little dimmer and bigger?). Just a nitpick, very nice.

wetcircuit

so COOL!!!

EIC is causing that light bloom around the street lamps?

Sci Fi Funk

Steve K said:

Very cool. Stonemason's Urban Future scenes are among my faves, I used one in my video "Blown Away" which is the only one the judges ever liked. The many animated figures are a big help in selling the scene, reminds me of GTA4 (high praise) as I mentioned on YouTube. My only suggestion might be making the volumetric lights a little less emphasized (maybe a little dimmer and bigger?). Just a nitpick, very nice.

Thanks man - post your link? I'd be interested in seeing your UF4 scene.

I found the volumetric lights a real challenge. They can look quite different depending on camera angle, background light (or dark), time of year (temperature), atmosphere, no of lights in the scene.

The list goes on! In the end (and I looked at a lot of reference material) I went for the bright shinny look with a little volumetric tail off.

I probably should have just edited the lights to make them smaller (then the big white bulb would be less pronounced), but I've only jsut thought of that! (doh!)

Sci Fi Funk

holly wetcircuit said:

so COOL!!!

EIC is causing that light bloom around the street lamps?

Thanks holly!

The light bloom is 3xbulbs with high intensity and rapid falloff. This was the only way I could "fudge" a rectangle light bloom in C8 (I'm not using 8.5).

For some reason the tube light didn't produce this result or I would have used that.

Steve K

Sci Fi Funk said:

Steve K said:

Very cool. Stonemason's Urban Future scenes are among my faves, I used one in my video "Blown Away" which is the only one the judges ever liked. The many animated figures are a big help in selling the scene, reminds me of GTA4 (high praise) as I mentioned on YouTube. My only suggestion might be making the volumetric lights a little less emphasized (maybe a little dimmer and bigger?). Just a nitpick, very nice.

Thanks man - post your link? I'd be interested in seeing your UF4 scene. ...

Here is the link to "Blown Away" from a couple of years ago, which had to be about "The Earth" (meaning the soil). It uses one of Stonemason's "Urban Future" scenes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN1pXYvEqIc&list=UUlMEK10oWdfqx6NaNAGJtFA&index=18

Sci Fi Funk

Here is the link to "Blown Away" from a couple of years ago, which had to be about "The Earth" (meaning the soil). It uses one of Stonemason's "Urban Future" scenes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN1pXYvEqIc&list=UUlMEK10oWdfqx6NaNAGJtFA&index=18

Great stuff man!

How did I miss that one? I think I've watched most of yours now.

The UFO flying over the trees and bending them was a nice shot, and the guy spaced out channel flipping was pretty cool as well. The Sci Fi set was "urban future 3" - it is a set I am very familiar with having spent many happy hours studying and editing the models.

Expect to see a lot more of that set in my productions in the future.

Dartanbeck

Oh man... I love this!
But, what else is new... eh Steve? As usual, I'll link this post.
I've been getting behind lately but that always happens, actually. Then I spend a few hours a few nights in a row to catch up :)

I hope your videos are watched. You certainly offer some fantastic tutorials. For anybody who doesn't know where these links are that I'm talking about, here is the Carrara and related 3d Art Tutorials post within the Carrara Information Manual. As I said, I'm a bit behind right now - but there's still a lot to see and learn from in there. There really is a lot that I've seen recently that needs to be addressed in that manual... I'll get it done.

Sci Fi Funk Steve,
Thank you for all of the great tutorials and cool episodes. I really enjoy watching this stuff. The playlist was a great idea too!

Edit: Added this thread in with your other links in the tutorials section ;-)
Thanks again!

Dartanbeck

Sci Fi Funk

Dartanbeck said:

Oh man... I love this!
But, what else is new... eh Steve? As usual, I'll link this post.
I've been getting behind lately but that always happens, actually. Then I spend a few hours a few nights in a row to catch up :)

I hope your videos are watched. You certainly offer some fantastic tutorials. For anybody who doesn't know where these links are that I'm talking about, here is the Carrara and related 3d Art Tutorials post within the Carrara Information Manual. As I said, I'm a bit behind right now - but there's still a lot to see and learn from in there. There really is a lot that I've seen recently that needs to be addressed in that manual... I'll get it done.

Sci Fi Funk Steve,
Thank you for all of the great tutorials and cool episodes. I really enjoy watching this stuff. The playlist was a great idea too!

Edit: Added this thread in with your other links in the tutorials section ;-)
Thanks again!

Dartanbeck

Dartan

Thanks again for your enthusiastic and encouraging responses!

The good news is I've got several tutorials backed up and ready to do. Again with the philosophy of sharing the journey, then those who didn't know that bit can benefit, and those who do (and watch) can perhaps comment with a better idea.

I think this is the best way. Drop the ego, share the journey and keep improving. What a great pastime eh?

swordkensia

Awesome and Inspirational work..!!!

S.K.

Sci Fi Funk

swordkensia said:

Awesome and Inspirational work..!!!

S.K.

Thanks swordkensia!

I hope to show more mass walk loops in Sci Fi Funk Episode 8 (my next main animation).

Steve K

Sci Fi Funk said:

Here is the link to "Blown Away" from a couple of years ago, which had to be about "The Earth" (meaning the soil). It uses one of Stonemason's "Urban Future" scenes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN1pXYvEqIc&list=UUlMEK10oWdfqx6NaNAGJtFA&index=18

Great stuff man!

How did I miss that one? I think I've watched most of yours now.

The UFO flying over the trees and bending them was a nice shot, and the guy spaced out channel flipping was pretty cool as well. The Sci Fi set was "urban future 3" - it is a set I am very familiar with having spent many happy hours studying and editing the models.

Expect to see a lot more of that set in my productions in the future.

Thanks. The tree bending was done in Vue, I don't think Carara can do that ...? Its been a while, but I think I can use the Urban Future scenes in Carrara and still get the lighting effects. I used to think I had to use Daz Studio, but then I started copying the texture maps for lighted objects, e.g. signs, curved light fixtures, etc., into the glow channel. Much easier than trying to use lights in Carrara to match the effect.

Frank__

Sci Fi Funk said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlzKFGFOz-I

A semi-walkthrough of this mass walk loop project featuring 132 animated low poly 3D People, rendered to the background of a cut down "Urban Future 4" by Stonemason. In addition I added a few "flying car" props and a Dirigible completed with animated texture.

If you want to make this scene for yourself I have several tutorials in a "3d animation tutorial playlist" on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL511383E90B92CC0E

Each one covers a different aspect of the scene including:-
1. Low Poly People creation.
2. Converting BVH files for walk loops
3. IES lighting
4. Animated textures (for the dirigible)

Steve
Sci Fi Funk
http://www.scififunk.com
http://www.facebook.com/scififunk

Nice work.

Two remarks:

- the cars with their shiny surface are kind of misplaced in the more decaying style of UF

- everyone with a small history of animation hates nothing more than foot-sliding on his/hers own animation - and so recognizes this on every other animation. (Instead of BVH-conversions I would recommend the Animate-stuff; if the bone structure of the low polys follow the DAZ peoples bone structure.)

Sci Fi Funk

Frank__ said:

Nice work.

Two remarks:

- the cars with their shiny surface are kind of misplaced in the more decaying style of UF

- everyone with a small history of animation hates nothing more than foot-sliding on his/hers own animation - and so recognizes this on every other animation. (Instead of BVH-conversions I would recommend the Animate-stuff; if the bone structure of the low polys follow the DAZ peoples bone structure.)

Thanks Frank.

re: Cars. Maybe. They were added in as an after thought. At least shiny (reflective) they look like cars, otherwise they can look a bit false.

re: Foot sliding. That's the beauty of these loops! There is very little foot sliding going on. It's almost as if they match perfectly! The accuracy is built into the "Daz friendly" Carnagie captures. I would (almost) dare to say better than my experiences with some of the ani-blocks I paid for.

Check them out here (they are free) https://sites.google.com/a/cgspeed.com/cgspeed/motion-capture/daz-friendly-release

Frank__

Sci Fi Funk said:

re: Cars. Maybe. They were added in as an after thought. At least shiny (reflective) they look like cars, otherwise they can look a bit false.

The cars are a great idea; their fast movement contrast nicely with the slow walking people. Don't miss the cars :)

Just add some more rotten textures so that they fit into the overall atmosphere.

re: Foot sliding. That's the beauty of these loops! There is very little foot sliding going on. It's almost as if they match perfectly! The accuracy is built into the "Daz friendly" Carnagie captures. I would (almost) dare to say better than my experiences with some of the ani-blocks I paid for.

Check them out here (they are free) https://sites.google.com/a/cgspeed.com/cgspeed/motion-capture/daz-friendly-release

It depends. (And "almost perfectly" is far away from "perfectly").

If you have a capturing story: no one cares about foot sliding. If you're making a demo reel for an animation studio: erverone cares. If you're some amateur who want to make some decent animation with the resources at hand: you did it!

Some month ago there was a video with DAZ people, and Poser and martial arts and some roses and some story, which got the guy a job in Hollywood. When I watched this animation I didn't care about foot-sliding; I cared about the stupid story and asked me: why should some great animator be capable of directing a motion picture. But at least I didn't care about foot-sliding :)

evilproducer

Steve K said:

Sci Fi Funk said:

Here is the link to "Blown Away" from a couple of years ago, which had to be about "The Earth" (meaning the soil). It uses one of Stonemason's "Urban Future" scenes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN1pXYvEqIc&list=UUlMEK10oWdfqx6NaNAGJtFA&index=18

Great stuff man!

How did I miss that one? I think I've watched most of yours now.

The UFO flying over the trees and bending them was a nice shot, and the guy spaced out channel flipping was pretty cool as well. The Sci Fi set was "urban future 3" - it is a set I am very familiar with having spent many happy hours studying and editing the models.

Expect to see a lot more of that set in my productions in the future.

Thanks. The tree bending was done in Vue, I don't think Carara can do that ...? Its been a while, but I think I can use the Urban Future scenes in Carrara and still get the lighting effects. I used to think I had to use Daz Studio, but then I started copying the texture maps for lighted objects, e.g. signs, curved light fixtures, etc., into the glow channel. Much easier than trying to use lights in Carrara to match the effect.

You can animate Carrara's trees. I believe it's under the Shape tab. You'd want to adjust the rustle. You can also set elasticity under the expert tab for each generation of branches. I haven't played around with it too much as my system is long in the tooth and I would like to complete my renders before I retire.

Dartanbeck

Yeah... wind speed and direction too! Watch THIS. The tree just behind her to the left almost falls completely down!!!

Dartanbeck

Sci Fi Funk said:

swordkensia said:

Awesome and Inspirational work..!!!

S.K.

Thanks swordkensia!

I hope to show more mass walk loops in Sci Fi Funk Episode 8 (my next main animation).Awesome!

If you haven't watched his episodes... you're missing out. Great concept pulled off very well. I really like the death sentence track! :ahhh:

Sci Fi Funk

evilproducer said:

You can animate Carrara's trees. I believe it's under the Shape tab. You'd want to adjust the rustle. You can also set elasticity under the expert tab for each generation of branches. I haven't played around with it too much as my system is long in the tooth and I would like to complete my renders before I retire.

Great tip! Thanks Evilproducer.

I'll want to try that out some time. I'm interested in faking wind. I think (haven't tried this yet) I could use physics and directional force to bend the tops of things. I'll report back when the experiment is complete. The coin toss into the box (Cyberpunk Subway) was a simple physics set up.

Sci Fi Funk

Dartanbeck said:

I really like the death sentence track! :ahhh:

"It's one on one and I'm gonna WIN!" - When I've learned enough techniques I'm going to re-do the pilot.

Also later in the movie there is a Death Race scene, akin to 2000AD / Rollerball etc.

Steve K

Sci Fi Funk said:

evilproducer said:

You can animate Carrara's trees. I believe it's under the Shape tab. You'd want to adjust the rustle. You can also set elasticity under the expert tab for each generation of branches. I haven't played around with it too much as my system is long in the tooth and I would like to complete my renders before I retire.

Great tip! Thanks Evilproducer.

I'll want to try that out some time. I'm interested in faking wind. I think (haven't tried this yet) I could use physics and directional force to bend the tops of things. I'll report back when the experiment is complete. The coin toss into the box (Cyberpunk Subway) was a simple physics set up.

Yes, yet another feature of Carrara I was not aware of. I think Vue may have some more advanced tools for this, but staying in Carrara is a big plus for me. Thanks.

:coolsmile:

Dartanbeck

Dartanbeck said:

Yeah... wind speed and direction too! Watch THIS. The tree just behind her to the left almost falls completely down!!!

I should also mention that the scene in the above link blew so hard on the tree that it caused the whole trunk to disappear and reappear throughout the animation, which caused it to blink on and off. I was easily able to fix it using rotoscoping in Project Dogwaffle Pro: Howler. Otherwise I'd have have to start all over. Howler has saved many of my other animations since. It truly is what I thought it to be before I bought it... Carrara's perfect companion!