The official "Galactus Rising" WIP thread

wolf359

 

Hi all 
In an effort to inspire more interest in creating story driven 

Animation using Daz assets ( rendered in any application)
I am starting this official WIP thread, to keep those interested
up to Date on the progress of my personal "Fan Film"
based in the Marvel Comics universe
"GALACTUS RISING"

so without further Delay here is the story so far:
(Lengthy Synopsis)

It is the year 2553 most of the earths surface
Has been Decimated by Non-Nuclear World War 4
Surviving Humanity lives Aboard "Utopia Station"
Secretly built During the last war by a team of scientists
& Engineers under the brilliant guidance of a somewhat Mysterious Parapalegic Physicist and Cosmologist 
"Dr Talib Ibrahim".

There are believed to be remnants of human the population
still living on what is now referred to as "Decimated earth"

Dr Ibrahim was personally first contacted by the space faring 
apparently all female Sisterhood  "The Telaxians"

Much of the advanced technology used to Build the Utopia 

Project" and humanitys deep space outposts,
is beleived to be Telaxian in origin..this has never been 

publicly confirmed.

Utopia Station is under Civilian Patriarchal Control
With Dr Ibrahim and the Scientific& technical genious Class 

Residents at the forefront

..it is NOT a Democracy.

There is a separate Military branch tasked with station 

defense from External Threats Only 
it is the Utopia Defense force or "UDF" for short

It is lead by the Supreme Commander Vladimir Petrovich 
,son of  Legendary & fearsome Russian NNWW4 General 

"Drago" Petrovich (Aka"The Wild Bear of Russia")

I have decided to Publicly release the first ten minute of this 

film to inspire discussion of Visual Story telling via 3D 

Character animation with Daz assets.

**  NOTE This first act was created BEFORE My paritial migration from Mac to Windows and the introduction of the incredible DAZ Genesis Line of figure models to my animation  pipline**.

So every figure used in Act I is  from the legacy "Millenuim 

Generations of Daz figures including the Venerable Daz 

"Mike 2 " As Dr Ibrahim.

Those early,non-genesis acted scenes will not be revisted/re rendered etc.

Acts II III and IV and the rest of the film, features Genesis 2
actors only .

 Except "GALACTUS" 
who is portayed by the original Daz "Freak"
wearing the free BLB "Galactus Armor" from ShareCG that
inspired this Entire Project.

This project is being "Shot linearly" or "in order" as they say 

in  Hollywood.
This film is being produced by me completely Alone

"Nerdy Mcnerd" tech Questions as to how this is being done 

are welcome & encouraged

Here is the first ten minutes( Act I) completed nearly two years ago:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2TYEp536iB8TTFoejQ4OXdpM1U

Thanks for Reading

Anabran Abdhul Quarnain
Aka "Wolf359"

wolf359

Hi it occurs to me that Most here may not have ever heard of
the Marvel Comic Character "Galactus"
here is his origin Story briefly
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactus

wolf359

Another unreleased clip:
Another Planet Destroyed &Threat Assesment meeting
 With military leadership:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2TYEp536iB8d0tVRmpMTFZMM2c

This scene Establishes the dynamic of underlying tension
often seen When military systems are under Civilian control.
This scene in the film also marks the Farewell appearance
of the Daz Millenium man 2 as a repeatable pipline for Sending animated Genesis meshes to Maxon Cinema4D has been established

Missing planets, Stellar cartography:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2TYEp536iB8QU5qb0Z0NW9vaWc

The part of "Talib Ibrahim" is now "acted  by the Daz  Genesis2 male
Daz Vicky 3  with original "girl next Door" morph,Making Final Appearance as "Dr Ursula Healy".

Replaced By Genesis 2 Female with "girl next door" morph intact via
the GENX2 plugin Available at DAZ.

Mistara

dreaming about rendering in C4D one day.  

FirstBastion

This is quite the undertaking.  The production value of the renders looks good.  There's a crispness to the details.  I like how you intercut the scenes too.  The musical  score choice when the planet is obliterated was surprisingly discomforting.  Planet killer villains are always the worst.  The only real detraction was the quality of the dialogue for most of the characters,  which becomes more obvious when the computer voice speaks clearly in that "missing planet" clip.  If you can find a way to re record the dialog  Still there's obviously an impressive amont of work and rendering that went into this.  I'm sure you have learned countless new techniques as you went through the process. 

wolf359

Hi thanks for having a look Yes indeed I am struggling to find the right balance between the voice tracks,the ambient station hum and the score. I've had a bloody awful time with various microphones to the point where I've resorted to using my smart phone to voice record. I agree that much dialog will be re-recorded before the final release version. Not a problem since I am the only voice actor not counting the voice synthesis software on the PA system and the station ASI. Thanks for watching & commenting

Knittingmommy

I just finished watching and I have to say that I liked the animation.  It was kind of interesting to watch and be able to recognize so many props.  The animations were crisp and clean and seemed just as good as any I've seen on television.  I agree with FB about the voices, but other than that, a really nice animation to watch and I'm not even familiar with the comic either.

wolf359

Hi thanks for having a look: -)

wolf359

Another clip
The Protagonist" Dr Ibrahim"
Consults with an Old Friend
from his past 
and implores him to join him
for this First contact with the World Devourer

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2TYEp536iB8WWNCRjd4TDd2NkE

KA1

This is AWESOME! @wolf359 you sir/madam have a serious passion and it shows through in this epic sci-fi, it literally feels EPIC! I was totally absorbed and gutted when the 10minutes were up!! I wanted to see more right there and then!!

The animation I'm working on I initially was shooting linearly as well, it has become apparent now though that I will need some sort of an intro narration from the main character and after I built the corridor complex, the gel lighting for the corridor scenes proved to be quite time intensive so I have skipped to and started filming the parts for the entire corridor sequence which judging by the 6second sequence I am currently rendering is going to take a few weeks to complete on their own!

I did a test animation to get the hang of AniMate2 and test Hitfilm for post production, I originally had a story for it but canned it in favour of a story I adapted from a Sci-Fi one I wrote at school! It's not quite up to yours and @Ivy standards but hopefully what I learnt will mean my current project will at least show that I improved from my initial 19second test anim (timings and perspective in this one were a little...off!)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwU--IQBRC5zLTE3c3dwem5PSnc

wolf359

Hi thanks for taking the time to checkout the preview and for your kind encouragement.

And yes I have become quite passionate about this project and the whole Idea of Digital filmmaking
by indivduals in general.

Your 19 second test is looking excellent so far both in terms of the Character animation and the Cinematic shot framing.
 
Dynamic and varied shot framing is very important in getting your shots to look like actual movie scenes and not something happening in a static DAZ/Poser viewport, and you have a keen eye for it.

Loving the particle& Sparking effects too.
Eager to see more of this work of yours!!!  

KA1

Thank you so much for taking the time to feedback, very much appreciated. I apologise for posting it in your thread, I don't have my own WIP thread yet as progress is slow (even more so today when I literally just had to stop a 167 frame sequence half way through frame 157 when I noticed a HUGE oversight that I wouldn't be able to fix in post work, at 27hours and 32minutes!!) and I'm not quite ready to reveal much on the current project. Just really saying I wasn't trying to hijack your thread!!

The cinematics on your animation had me in awe, the spaceship flybys etc were simply jaw droppingly gorgeous in their execution and I loved the way everything was introduced, like I said, truly epic sci-fi :)

wolf359

"Thank you so much for taking the time to feedback, very much appreciated. I apologise for posting it in your thread,"

NO apologies please!!!
As I said in my initial post I started this thread to encourage other animators to discuss& share thier animated film projects& tests.
Anyone who animates  Daz Characters ,or has an interest is welcome,and "Nerdy Mcnerd" tech talk about your methods ,software used &processes is also welcomed and encouraged. 

 

 

 

 

" I literally just had to stop a 167 frame sequence half 

way through frame 157 when I noticed a HUGE 

oversight that I wouldn't be able to fix in post work, 

at 27hours and 32minutes!!)"

 

 

 

 

I just halted a render of  "Galactus" this very afternoon,  at frame 66 (out of 300) Due to  part of him passing through a pointlight in Cinema4D and causing an undesireable sharp shadow effect I did not like,

Thankfully I always render to uncompressed targa sequences and was able halt the render& move the point light slightly and it is now back to rendering.

I recently began to render each figure as separate pass with alpha's whenever possible,

This is giving me incredible levels of post effect compositing options in Adobe After Effects CS.

wolf359

You may not have seen this clip 
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2TYEp536iB8MHFBcUVMOUl3OHM
this one took over 150 hours to render on my mac machine where I have C4D installed

 

But it achieved the narrative I wanted to portray.

KA1

Oh WOW! That is awesome! Talk about making an entrance, love the Taa II model and its epic entrance as well!!

I render to PNG image sequences so minor adjustments are not a problem, the one I quoted above however was a positioning issue with a door in every frame so total restart - almost done now through at around fram 132!

I have done a few seperate alpha passes with figures etc, mainly when I know I need it for the compositing stage - I never got on with After Effects. I started the animation and realised quickly I'd need a better video editor than Movie Maker so spent days raking the internet for options before stumbling on Hitfilm 4 Express, after trying it out I just had to get the Pro version to get all the bells and whistles (the Particle Simulators won me over and you didn't get both in the free express version, although you could buy an Express add on to get the very basics!), I need the multiple audio tracks for buidling the soundtrack with as well (so much easier for adding sound effects and music!) 

I have tried to create my own opening logo, its not quite 20th Cebtury Fox or Universal swooping round the planet, but didn't think it came out too badly for a first attempt : https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwU--IQBRC5zN3B0cTVxeFpBa0E 

wolf359

Hi I have heard many good things about HitFilm
and those particle effects in your 19 second clip were very well done.

Because I render in Maxon C4D, After Effects is my best option, due to the fact that C4D can export directly to after effects project files and can send over its cameras and 3D lights to after effects making compositing of  post effects quite easy or me.

I do all of my colorgrading and visual effects in after effects and Autodesk Combustion and output the
Comped footage for use in my very simple Apple Imovie for the final edit and sountracks
I do have and older verion of Final Cut Pro but  nver liked the fact that footage had to be rendered just to view them in playback
The big advantage for me is C4D's ability to "Shoot" from multiple cameras and switch between them During the render.This Save alot of time as it allows for simple camera cuts during rendering saving me the hassle of doing separate passes for each camera angle.

Nice start on the logo ident
I would hold on it fully formed a bit longer before it Disintergrates again at the end. 

Cheers

Ruphuss

how many people are involved in a real movie set ?

i do not know but many i think

here you have to do everything yourself

what enourmes kind of work

luckily your actors do not talk if you do not want to

do not need food, sleep

and do not age

Ivy

Ruphuss said:

how many people are involved in a real movie set ?

i do not know but many i think

here you have to do everything yourself

what enourmes kind of work

luckily your actors do not talk if you do not want to

do not need food, sleep

and do not age

Nor do they demand more money after you already paid them err. for them ;)

wolf359

 Hi a quick update from the project
 with another 4 minute clip 
(not the final edit)
Where the Station leader( Dr Ibrahim) and his Old friend from nonnuclear world war 4
( Dhul-Quarnain), Have their first in person encounter with Galactus
From here the story moves on to telling the origin of Galactus which means I get to  animate&render some really cool scenes from a Long dead civilization of "TAA" that perished over one trillion years ago when the previous universe Collapsed 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2TYEp536iB8WHBPVUZKSG9qWGs

 

 

 

wolf359

One of the more light hearted scenes from the movie

posecast

Interesting work! I like it...and also a big fan of old Marvel. I would love to see you work in iclone 7...a real time animation tool that will have physical rendering, sort of like melding daz with a game renderer like unity or unreal.

drzap

Congratulations for taking on such a massive project.  You remind me of myself.  This is truly a labor of love. I admire your passion and dedication, this is a monumental task.  Keep plugging at it; step by step.  We will be waiting for you at the end.  I want to do the same thing as you are doing but I am not brave enough to give a "one man show".  I will hire some help to make up for my weaknesses in modeling.  Time to start my own W.I.P. thread here.  Good luck.

wolf359

UPDATE:

 

 

nonesuch00

Cool, the shaders & lighting work really well for the comic book style. And the script & voices are good.

wiz

Weren't the Telaxians like the Gungans of the Star Trek universe? Just one of the factors that made Voyager the low point of the Star Trek franchise, Neelix, Trek's own Jar Jar Binks.

Diomede

Just came across your thread.  Congratulations on a wonderful project.  Great to see the content here used this way.  I'm hoping to have the hardware to spare 150 hours for a render sequence, as per your June '16 post.  Thanks for giving us a look at you continued progress.  Looking forward to seeing more. Two thumbs up.  

agent unawares

You clearly have a lot of love for the Marvel mythos. This is great.

wolf359

"Cool, the shaders & lighting work really well for the comic book style.
 And the script & voices are good."

 

 

Thanks !! Comics are so vibrant and rich in color now that everything is digital
so I am trying to emulate that vibrancy.
I am using a program called MorphVX pro to alter my voice for all of the dialog
 as this is a one man project.

 

Just came across your thread.  Congratulations on a wonderful project.  
Great to see the content here used this way.  I'm hoping to have the
 hardware to spare 150 hours for a render sequence, as per your June
 '16 post.  Thanks for giving us a look at you continued progress. 
 Looking forward to seeing more. Two thumbs up. "

 

 

Many thanks!!!! as of this writing, I have 43 finished /post produced minutes
"in the can" I only have two computers, one Mac one PC
All of the Character animation is done on the windows machine where I have Iclone 4 DS 4.8.
but sent to my server from DS as animated .MDD files to be rendered  on the Mac where I have MaxonC4D and After effects

"You clearly have a lot of love for the Marvel mythos. This is great."

Thank you sir!!

I grew up on Marvel as a comic book nerd back in the 1970's.
I really love the big  ,events out in the universe ,types of stories.

not interested earth bound human society types of comics
which is why I prefer the big cosmic entities like Galactus,Thanos,The celestials etc.

Any ways  back to work... just FYI ..Destroying planets is hard even with
Good CG software.

wolf359

Admonishment & Betrayal

 

drzap

Well done animation but I can't understand the dialogue.

nonesuch00

I dialogue is a bit to hard to follow for some characters, but I like the look of the animation. Where are the Fantistic Four at yet?