Dartanbeck's Journey - CG Filmmaking

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  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258

    I now have a special page for using Daz Studio to create custom content: Content Creation Tools

    This goes along with my Modeling for Genesis and the new PC+ Cloth Frenzy in preparation and support for subjects to come!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258

    A little prep demo video for some upcoming tutorials, this is some test renders of cloth and hair simulations I've been working on.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258

    Something strange happens during the YouTube upload/conversion process. A friend has given me clues on how to correct that which I'll address eventually. I just thought you should know that there's a lot better detail and smoother motions in the original file! LOL

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,088

    Thanks for gathering all this information and putting together such a logical site.  Will be a frequent visitor.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258
    Diomede said:

    Thanks for gathering all this information and putting together such a logical site.  Will be a frequent visitor.

    Tis my pleasure, Diomede. Thanks for your support, my friend! 

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,088
    edited September 2020

    RE: rocketship.  So cool that you know my campy delights.  smiley

    Watch to the end.  "Flash, aaaah-aaah,..."laugh

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258

    Heh! Mine too! I have the full three-season series that I watch from time to time! Gotta get that movie too! Max von Sydow plays the perfect Ming, eh?!!! ...and Queen's soundtrack... Yeah!!!

    I Must Own This!!!

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,088

    The Queen soundtrack is indispensible in my opinion.  The supporting cast was amazing.  Max Von Sidow, Brian Blessed, Timothy Dalton, just to name a few.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258
    Diomede said:

    The Queen soundtrack is indispensible in my opinion.  The supporting cast was amazing.  Max Von Sidow, Brian Blessed, Timothy Dalton, just to name a few.

    Absolutely! I only have the old B&W serials, but those are priceless in my opinion! ;)

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,088
    Diomede said:

    The Queen soundtrack is indispensible in my opinion.  The supporting cast was amazing.  Max Von Sidow, Brian Blessed, Timothy Dalton, just to name a few.

    Absolutely! I only have the old B&W serials, but those are priceless in my opinion! ;)

    If you like adventure and hero comics and movies, Buster Crabbe is interesting.  He was the only person to play 3 different iconic adventure heroes in multi-part serials.  Most people know he played Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, but he also played Tarzan for a while - even though Johnny Weismuller would be more well known for all the Tarzan movies he made.  Buster Crabbe made a cameo appearance in an episode of the 1970s TV show Buck Rogers.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258
    edited October 2020

    So Cool! Thanks! I'll look into all of that! 

    More film making goodness coming to Dartanbeck.com! Working hard in the miniscule time I get to work on it - but what's been coming out of the ol' Carrara Render Engine is looking really cool!

    I've decided to also start working on a bit more of a look at practical examples of the features I love using in Carrara - I just think it would be cool for folks who have never tried Carrara to see how easy some of this stuff is (in Carrara)!

    Along with that I'd also like to add something kind of along the same lines while also exploring the Dartanbeck.com site, showing some of the (possibly) hidden gems within as well as give a little outlook on why it's put together the way it is, to help illustrate where it's heading as it all progresses. Most fun!

    We'll also start delving deeper into doing visual effects on renders. This image has been post-worked using only features that I will be using on the animation in the film - partly as practice, but also because these VFX techniques are really intriguing to me and look forward to demonstrating more on that subject - both for stills and for animation - so I'm really looking forward to releasing all of this!

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258
    Diomede said:
    Diomede said:

    The Queen soundtrack is indispensible in my opinion.  The supporting cast was amazing.  Max Von Sidow, Brian Blessed, Timothy Dalton, just to name a few.

    Absolutely! I only have the old B&W serials, but those are priceless in my opinion! ;)

    Buster Crabbe made a cameo appearance in an episode of the 1970s TV show Buck Rogers.

    Wow! That's really cool that they did that! It's really cool the Way they did it!!!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258

    Doing a pile of work to the Carrara Info page - adding to and updating links and information into what will become a new and improved ►►► Carrara Information Manual ◄◄◄

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258

    - Added a lot more to  the Carrara Info page as I work towards producing more tutorials and demonstrations.

  • IvyIvy Posts: 7,159

    - Added a lot more to  the Carrara Info page as I work towards producing more tutorials and demonstrations.

    lots of great info on your page , thanks for reposting it :)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258
    Ivy said:

    - Added a lot more to  the Carrara Info page as I work towards producing more tutorials and demonstrations.

    lots of great info on your page , thanks for reposting it :)

    Thanks!

    It's a growing thing ;)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258
    edited October 2020

    I've done a Lot more work in the Carrara Info page since my last post.

    I think I like the layout and organization so far - let me know what you think. Staring at this thing on my own....

    ► Forum Help Links now also includes links to categories of Cripeman's Videos within Cripeman's Memorial

    Also started a Physics & Particles page as a resource for us all to learn from. As I explain, I'm fairly new to Physics and Particles in Carrara, so I put in what I know about as far as things to learn from. If you think I'm missing something, please let me know. 

    I'll be expanding a lot on Dynamic Hair and will be adding Cloth Simulations and adding a bunch to it in the near future, along with video tutorials and demonstrations. Looking forward to that! :)

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258
    edited October 2020
    • Reorganized parts of Carrara Info for better flow
    • Did a Lot of work on Fenric's page and updated some things throughout the Plugins pages, including adding a link to Fractal Dimensia's PySwarm
    • Added a page to host and organize the wonderful video tutorials by my friend, GKDantas (Marcello Teixeira): GKDantas' Carrara Training Videos These are a great benefit to figuring out where and how - especially for folks new to Carrara, but also for features we haven't used yet.
    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258
    edited October 2020

    Waiting for renders, I did some more tweaks for readability - I hope folks like how it's turning out.

    At the same time I've added link cues to some of GKDantas' Carrara Training Videos in the Help Links section, like I did with Cripeman's. I think that this will make it a Lot easier for folks to be able to self-help themselves through their questions about using Carrara - as well as give the guardians of the Carrara Discussion Forum some easier methods to help folks out. To help with all of this, I made it so that each of the main categories in the Help section have hyperlink functionality - so we can send folks directly to where they need to go. It's still in experimental phase so we'll see how it works out. Always happy to make changes when needed!

    Getting closer to launching more tutorial and demonstration videos, I also added (reluctantly) a small Donate page. I don't really have a facility to accept direct donations, so the page has ideas on how to show appreciation, for those who feel compelled.

    I hope it doesn't come across as sounding awkward. I tried not to! Several of my dear friends have been asking me to do something like this, so I hope it's as subtle as I wanted it to be. If you care to have a look, I'd appreciate any feedback on it - layout, wording, am I doing the right thing by having this?, etc.,

    New cover page image will be updated with the new Rosie soon

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258
    edited October 2020

    Wow!

    I had no idea it had grown this much!

    So here on October 14th of 2020, this is how far Dartanbeck.com has come. I never imagined it would grow this big this quickly, but it still has a  l o n g  way to go to fulfill my original intention of being a CG Filmmaker's complete(ish) resource - mostly geared toward using Carrara, but with hopes that it'll also inspire users of other software as well. It's amazing what can be done with little time - It's often difficult for me to get to a computer for any length of time.

    Dartanbeck.com

    Dartanbeck.com Home Kind of a blog of what's inside with recent events toward the top of the page, under the initial greeting

    Carrara Zone

    Carrara Zone - Currently mostly a landing page to hold all of the Carrara oriented pages, but will eventually also serve as a more Carrara-centric blog

    Carrara Info - A new Index for Carrara Information - features, guides, video links... this is meant to become a more cleanly placed and organized ►►► Carrara Information Manual ◄◄◄ sort of thing. It now houses a new Forum Help!!! Links index, but this time with Carrara Training videos from Cripeman and GKDantas, and will include my own as well.

    Carrara CG Workshop - In addition to being a landing page for all of the pages within, this page also explains the goal for this section

    • Story - It all begins with one of these, right?
    • Pacing and Rendering - A discussion regarding common film practices as well as render outputs for animations

    Pre-Production Phase

    Pre-Production Phase - The things we do to prepare for Production

    Scene (stage) Setup - Currently only has one offering: Volumetric Lighting, which is an early hybrid video/written article. It doesn't have much of a written version yet - but does include a Base Scene Download

    Character Setup - This seems to be my main interest lately, as it has quite a few articles. Don't worry, I'll be getting on to other stuff soon!

    • Introducing Rosie 5 - I needed to get something started to find a focus toward developing this web site. This was it
    • Making Rosie 5 - Developmental information on creating my main protagonist - to be developed further
    • Using Genesis in Carrara - A work in progress that will explore many ways to use various Genesis generations within Carrara
    • Genesis Morph Reduction - My method of not only reducing the weight of a Genesis figure, but also the number of available sliders in the Parameters tab
    • Dynamic Hair - One of the parts of the Hybrid Video/Written article for Introducing Rosie 5
    • EYEdeas 3+ - A look at using Arki's amazing 3D eyeballs! Another part of Introducing Rosie 5
    • Millennium Teeth - Using third-party teeth to get what my character (Rosie 5) needed to complete her ultimate look. Another part of Introducing Rosie 5
    •  Character Transfer using NLA - I often like to update/upgrade my character to a fresh base figure with a different set of morphs (often when I buy new ones) - here's how I transfer the shape over
    • Character Design - With its Character Template Scene download, this video/article demonstrates how I build each of my characters, monsters, animals, etc., It also covers the basics of creating shaders for Genesis (or any other figure, for that matter)
    •  Modeling for Genesis - A fresh look, rejuvenating an article I wrote here quite some time ago. The video I made then is still helpful in how to send models from Carrara into Daz Studio, rig them to conform to the intended figure, and save back into the library.

    Production Phase

    Animating - This is where my animation articles will continue. I placed some useful info in here to get it started

    •  Hybrid aniMation - another hybrid article I'm working on now. Currently contains much of the info from aniMating in Carrara
    • aniMate 2 - Daz Studio comes with a free version, but when we buy the full version we get some really great bonus features!

    DAZ ZONE

    DAZ ZONE - This is an exciting page full of my love for Daz 3D with a stroll back in time to when Genesis came out and then even further down is this wonderful video I posted years ago - Daz 3D as it was when I was an aspiring young PA here! (the face you see there is Kevin, who was my boss! :)  )

    image

    Daz 3D Content - Mainly just a container/landing page

    • Daz 3D Bundles - A look at the amazing wealth of content to be found in Bundles at Huge savings
    • Genesis 1 ROCKS!!! - I really dig into what I love about this amazing figure generation
    • Victoria 4 - A look at what is still (by far) the absolute Most Supported 3D articulate human figure on the planet
    • Some Personal Favorites - Kind of the opposite of "Buy something that doesn't work", this is stuff that I love, and it does work! I'll be adding a LOT more to this one as I've only just begun
    • Carrara 8.5 Pro Content - This page shows the massive bundle that comes with Carrara 8.5 Pro. The price of Pro includes all of this plus Carrara Pro? Very Cool!

    Daz Studio - I've started this page to help gather information towards learning this amazing suite called Daz Studio. As I learn I'll be expanding this whole section, but I like this page now already. I update it when I can - several times so far.

    • Content Creation Tools - Oh Yeah! This is what I mostly use DS for now - and even in that I've only been scratching the surface!

    Platinum Club + Experience - It's amazing how much value we can get from this service if we check in often! Even with little internet time I've been able to really fill up my library over the years - and the yearly membership cost is tiny comparatively

    • PC+ Cloth Frenzy - I've only just started this page. Since I started using VWD and removing rigging from figures so that I can add/delete polygons, change domains, etc., stuff in the low-price range in the PC+ catalog looks great and is fun to model with! I am working on a tutorial on how I make the clothing into static prop objects and then model them to fit the morphed figure, then run them through VWD as if using them as conforming clothes. It's really neat!

    Do It In Post

    VFX Zone > Fusion - Movie Magic at its Finest! Hollywood-grade compositing software

    Editing Zone > DaVinci Resolve - This page contains the Resolve Training materials I'm using to learn this Hollywood-grade Non-Linear Editor - and the free version also includes Fusion, built right in! (along with Fairlight Audio and Resolve's high-end color corrector)

    • A Quick Look - This is my short demonstration of some of the techniques I used to create the "Introducing Rosie 5" video

    Gallery

    Gallery - This landing page also has a carousel of some of my images you've all seen before. The Still Images and Video pages are very much incomplete still

    Videos

    Still Images

    Inspiration

    Downloads

    Carrara EnvironKits

    Base Scenes

    The Software

    The Software - I've included most of what I'm currently using and more. I still have plenty of stuff to add though. HitFilm will be coming to this page, and getting its own but I haven't used in yet in my current workflow - but its coming! Some software is just linked to from this page, others have their own as well:

    • Cyberlink Software - Great setups for video production and a lot more. Philip Staiger (PD Howler) uses this to make his awesome videos
    • Autodesk - With as little time as I have to use software, this high-end stuff isn't the practical choice. But when you want to go pro....
    • PD Howler - Oh yeah!!! My favorite image editor to date!
    • Particle Illusion - amazing particle effects simulator/recorder, now from Boris

    Whew! So that's the current list of pages. While a few of them are rather bare, currently just containers or landing pages, they have a lot of content in the works for them and the other pages are looking pretty cool, I think. 

    ...and some of my Carrara forum friends have asked my to put up a "Donate" button of some sort, so I reluctantly made a Donate page. I don't really have a method for taking donations, as such, so I offer some examples there ;)

     

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258

    Apart from using it to help get things set up for use in Carrara, I am still relatively naive to Daz Studio. So I've been building the initial pages for Daz Studio to help myself and others to learn great ways to make use of this extraordinary suite we have before us. Since the main Studio page has grown so much, I've made a mini map to get directly to certain parts quickly:

    Daz Studio Page Quick Map

    I also have a special page for using Daz Studio for creating content: Content Creation Tools

    Also check out my Modeling for Genesis page

    see my PC+ Cloth Frenzy - buying clothes has never been so affordable - or nearly as versatile!

    I've also updated the Daz Studio page with the new Unity Bridge and added a really cool video I found of my friend, Solomon trying out the new updated Daz to Blender Bridge and just loving it - which is very refreshing and cool since he's just starting out in Blender!

  • 3Diva3Diva Posts: 11,295
    edited October 2020

    Looks like some interesting things coming to Daz Studio for animating with the new Filament Render engine introduced in the beta. It does really fast animation rendering. I'll have to look into seeing how I can transfer an animation I made in Daz Studio to Carrara so I can compare what they look like in each. I'd be interested to see what it would look like in Carrara vs rendered in Daz Studio with Filament, as well as test to see how the speed compares as well. I'm really just learning CG animation but so far it's pretty fun!

    Post edited by 3Diva on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258
    3Diva said:

    Looks like some interesting things coming to Daz Studio for animating with the new Filament Render engine introduced in the beta. It does really fast animation rendering. I'll have to look into seeing how I can transfer an animation I made in Daz Studio to Carrara so I can compare what they look like in each. I'd be interested to see what it would look like in Carrara vs rendered in Daz Studio with Filament, as well as test to see how the speed compares as well. I'm really just learning CG animation but so far it's pretty fun!

    I love the ease I enjoy in Carrara with manipulating every aspect of the animations in the so-easy-to-use timeline.

    So for getting motions from Daz Studio to Carrara, I use aniMate 2 (convert timeline to aniBlock) and use the aniBlock Importer for Carrara.

    Info here

    ...but I also have more info in Animating and Hybrid aniMation

    Thanks for telling me about Filament! Can't wait to try it!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258

    Remember this oldie but goodie?

    This was a really cool promo for Daz Studio 3 - they even mention Hex, Bryce and Carrara!!!

    I loved this video then... I love it today!

  • 3Diva3Diva Posts: 11,295
    3Diva said:

    Looks like some interesting things coming to Daz Studio for animating with the new Filament Render engine introduced in the beta. It does really fast animation rendering. I'll have to look into seeing how I can transfer an animation I made in Daz Studio to Carrara so I can compare what they look like in each. I'd be interested to see what it would look like in Carrara vs rendered in Daz Studio with Filament, as well as test to see how the speed compares as well. I'm really just learning CG animation but so far it's pretty fun!

    I love the ease I enjoy in Carrara with manipulating every aspect of the animations in the so-easy-to-use timeline.

    So for getting motions from Daz Studio to Carrara, I use aniMate 2 (convert timeline to aniBlock) and use the aniBlock Importer for Carrara.

    Info here

    ...but I also have more info in Animating and Hybrid aniMation

    Thanks for telling me about Filament! Can't wait to try it!

    Thank you, Dartanbeck! Yeah, I really need to pick up aniMate2. I just need it to go on sale at a good discount. lol The starting price is a bit hefty. I've also added the aniMate aniBlock Importer for Carrara to my wishlist. Hopefully, there will be a good sale with both of them soon. :)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258
    3Diva said:
    3Diva said:

    Looks like some interesting things coming to Daz Studio for animating with the new Filament Render engine introduced in the beta. It does really fast animation rendering. I'll have to look into seeing how I can transfer an animation I made in Daz Studio to Carrara so I can compare what they look like in each. I'd be interested to see what it would look like in Carrara vs rendered in Daz Studio with Filament, as well as test to see how the speed compares as well. I'm really just learning CG animation but so far it's pretty fun!

    I love the ease I enjoy in Carrara with manipulating every aspect of the animations in the so-easy-to-use timeline.

    So for getting motions from Daz Studio to Carrara, I use aniMate 2 (convert timeline to aniBlock) and use the aniBlock Importer for Carrara.

    Info here

    ...but I also have more info in Animating and Hybrid aniMation

    Thanks for telling me about Filament! Can't wait to try it!

    Thank you, Dartanbeck! Yeah, I really need to pick up aniMate2. I just need it to go on sale at a good discount. lol The starting price is a bit hefty. I've also added the aniMate aniBlock Importer for Carrara to my wishlist. Hopefully, there will be a good sale with both of them soon. :)

    Yep. Probably during this current PC+ sale, when they're (GoFigure) one of the artists in the list. There's often a 'recap' sale that has everyone as well! wink

    That's how I got them as well. You know... it's a starving artist thing! 

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258
    edited October 2020

    So far, beyond the main pages

    I still have tweaking to do on this - especially the articles - still tweaking the web layout too

    Introducing Rosie 5

    This is the project, whose completion gave me the material and inspiration to finally launch this site!

    This is the beginning of an experiment I'm conducting for a hybrid video/written article system to help folks along in a more relaxed, interactive kind of way.

    Instead of a single support article for this video, there's a whole list of them - so you can explore as much or as little as you'd like!

    Character Design in Carrara 01

    Now let's take a look at how I always begin my characters in Carrara.

    This lesson isn't about picking out shapes or styles. It all begins with a Character Template scene that I use so the lighting is the same for every character or creature that I create.

    It all follows these same simple steps in the beginning, and then we tweak them until we've got it just right!

    Simulation Test Renders

    Less than a minute, this video simply compiles a few simulation tests using Carrara 8.5 Pro's Dynamic Hair and VWD Cloth and Hair software for the clothing dynamics.

    Volumetric Lighting

    Let's put together a quick foreboding environment for our character to become trapped in.

    Oh, and let's give it some really cool volumetric lighting to really set that mood!!!!

    If that's not enough, we'll use PD Howler to make an animated gel for the volumetric lights, so the fog changes over time!

    A Quick Look at DaVinci Resolve

    And finally we'll step into DaVinci Resolve and blend our animated renders along a timeline to make a movie.

    In this episode I show the very basic steps I used in DaVinci Resolve and Fusion within it to create what we see and hear in "Introducing Rosie 5"

    Much much more to come!

    See the full current site map Here, or simply use the navigation menu to explore!

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258
    edited October 2020

    You've seen the previous upgrades to Rosie 5's Carrara Dynamic hair in the Simulation Tests video, which was pretty much the same thing but a more efficient method of implementing it.

    Well after (literally) skipping sleep and working two full days and night on what was boiling away in my noggin, I'm currently launching the first animation test render of something entirely special!

    In "Introducing Rosie 5" I was using four separate sets of dynamic hair, so that I could run four separate simulations to get the big, big hair that she needs. In the Simulations Tests video I've switched to using eight layers. The original four had two (at least) grow regions whereas that newer version had seven layers of a single zone, while the longest hair layer used two regions.

    Well now I'm back down to four - and not because I don't like eight - the new design simply didn't need any more than four.

    I'm not sure how well the simulation actually works until it renders out, and I'm using much higher quality settings and shaders than the previous versions, but it's a lot curlier and looks a bazillion times better in a render.

    Further, each layer has its own separate shader now. I spent long hours getting the hair shaders to blend naturally and, in doing so I think I've finally figured out how to do wet hair using Carrara's Dynamics!

    Check this out - this is done at Carrara's lowest render settings!

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,088

    Your animations are impressive, most impressive.  Thanks for all the tutorials and tips.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,258
    Diomede said:

    Your animations are impressive, most impressive.  Thanks for all the tutorials and tips.

    Thanks Darth Diomede! :)

    Here's a gif of the resulting test render (resized to make it easier to view on the web)

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