Paul's film "Slocum"

[Sewie]

One more question, though... Don't you end up with huge TVP files when working with a number of finished animated clips in that editing-tab ?

[Paul Fierlinger]

It should be great help when it comes to working on some of those lengthy clips that crop up every now and then, such as a 30 or 60 second commercial made of one piece, because it will be possible to cut clips into parts and bring those back into a single clip again, before exporting.

Also each of the clips can have their own sound tracks cut to the length of the clip but play as one continuous track when played back as a scene. All this makes not only for a time saver but for a better integrated film. It means a lot if you can work on several clips at the same time.

Think of it this way: how much easier has it become to animate paperlessly since you can work on many, many frames at the same time (unlike just a few at a time when drawing on paper) so by the same token, it has become easier to work on several clips at the same time. As much as paperless animation has improved my drawing abilities, so has the new ability to draw on several clips at the same time improved the action within each clip and scene.

[Paul Fierlinger]

One more question, though... Don't you end up with huge TVP files when working with a number of finished animated clips in that editing-tab ?

I haven't had the chance to test the limits yet, since beta testing isn't the same work flow as working with properly completed software and I also work on a very powerful computer, but it seems to me that this should not be the same as working on one long clip that is too long because when playing back all the clips at once the computer has time for buffering. Maybe someone more technically versed than I am can answer this question properly.

[Fabrice]

The Proxy has been modified to handle HiRes and long Projects more easily. The more processors you will have, the faster the playback will be.
Please be patient, we still have a few things to finish before the official release (we can't give you any date right now)

nb : this feature will be TVP Pro only.

[Sewie]

So 9.5 Pro will start to make use of multiple cores in the processor ? That by itself is big news!

[Hervé]

So 9.5 Pro will start to make use of multiple cores in the processor ? That by itself is big news!

It's not a big news because,TVP use all cores since 1997 ( disk access can't use it but the new v9.5 proxy apply more compression, it's why it's possible to use more core ).

[Sewie]

Ok. I didn't know that.
You'll give us the specifics of system and hardware requirements with the official release?

[Paul Fierlinger]

Here are a couple of WIP scenes on my Slocum film which now has a working name To: Victor
If you look at this one first you will see them in order, but it's not too important to watch them that way because the story still misses voices and won't make much sense anyway. Occasionally characters will freeze because of the missing VO tracks and it makes no sense to animate when I don't have any cues for body language.
06-TorpedoBoat-MAR-23.mp4
The odd little man with Slocum on his boat is an apparition (a figment of Slocum's imagination) of his father who keeps telling him what to do.
06-PIRATES-MAR-23.mp4
Both files are QT 264; 720x406. The first one is 1:20 minutes and the second 2:48 long. The sound tracks are just reference tracks for animation.
Comments? Questions?

[ZigOtto]

... Comments? Questions?

yes, I have one : where're your links ?

[Paul Fierlinger]

Errr...I went off line just as I was going to correct this. Both can be found here:
http://www.oldanimator.com/video/shay/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ZigOtto]

hehe...! nice pieces of work indeed !

I like how you have made your montage "musically" in the Pirate sequence,
also I can see you are now a moving camera Expert,
this "effect" I usely don't like in animation (specially in 3D films) because over-used,
is here so welcome (for a nautical film of course),
as for the torpedoboat and the broken teapot, I like it very much as well,
I just found the sea rendering too much "still" in a couple of scenes ,
why not to use a fauxfixe here ...? what I would do is this :
- faux-fixe for the wavy lines (though not for the skyline which should stay dead),
for the color layer :
- paint the sea 3 times nearly the same > 1,2,3,
- copy 1 after 3 and stretch the layer (interpolation ON) to get 16 frames (1,.,.,.,.,2,.,.,.,.,3,.,.,.,.,1)
- delete te last frame and make the layer's end behavior in loop mode.
so the sea color will be gently dancing all the time you need.
ps : it could be done by an assistant, ... or better by your color-chief Sandra herself !

[Klaus Hoefs]

Pirates:

My compliments to Shay for composing the music, since I heard his music from films done by Jeff Sheer he has made big progress. It is both, modern and classic at the same time and it works as a bridge building linking modern avantgarde aspects to your more traditional and some times laid back animation style. And to be more specific it is a joy to watch the sea and the motions of people and boats and listening to the music.

As always I like the way you are focusing on people motions and gestures acting in their surroundings.

I think in particular the waves could be more dramatic. The shaking of the camera has more change of tempo (>15:00. + about15:20) than the waves. The waves in general are moving a bit slow for my taste (although it is realistic...) and climbing the big one looks to me like climbing the alps (15:40) - I think this could be more unexpected. BTW I love your rich detailed ship in motion. Great !

The pirates cliche style may identify them as a group but also it has a pale aftertaste,mhm ? Also with their beards they may be too close to Slocum's looks. But coloring may do it.

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And who is that guy ? (about 14:43) Victor or the ghost, giving advices to Slocum - it must be the ghost. I wonder why are no comments or questions about this one here at the Forums, and I am curious who will identify this guy as what ever....

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Torpedo:

The coloring is now much more vivid, comparing it with Tulip and it shows that the target market is different.
Recently I read a review about Tulip (but can't remember which one by now) which was claiming that your drawing style was naive but very done by the heart. I don't think that Tulip's style was naive - au contraire I think they had the breath of an older and wiser ( ) man in general. But Victor seems to me much more naive in its best meaning. From what I have seen it is brighter, less Shaw and more seen through the eyes of an astonished kid.

---- I like it, but are you sure how a torpedo is fired ? ( )

[Paul Fierlinger]

I just found the sea rendering too much "still" in a couple of scenes ,
why not to use a fauxfixe here ...? what I would do is this :................
.............- paint the sea 3 times nearly the same > 1,2,3,
.................
so the sea color will be gently dancing all the time you need.

You are an animator and will always watch an animated film with a biased eye. It is natural for you to get into problem solving gear, knowing how certain missing effects could improve the feel of lacking motion. I view this differently. I see my films as illustrations set into motion. From this perspective I write, plot story sequences and have Sandra paint. Everything in animation is an abbreviation; a simplification of reality -- an endless stream of shortcuts and mere hints, leaving much open to the interpretation and imagination of individual viewers. Personally, I would find a mechanical repetition of the shimmering sea very disturbing to the eye, considering the span of water and the tiny boats within.

Where water becomes the actor, as in the following Pirate chase, I don't mind spending time on animating the entire screen, but in scenes where the sea is calm I find it perfectly normal to give the eye a rest -- and I feel confident that the majority of viewers (mostly children in this case) will be just as forgiving. By the same token I find it comforting that no one has ever brought up the lack of motion among the clouds in stormy scenes.

Thanks for the critique, BTW, especially what you say about the new camera tool. I agree with your POV that this is a rare instance where the camera can be allowed to move about ceaselessly; TVP came out with the wonderful Tool: Camera just at the right time for me. It would have been horrendous to pull this off with the keyframer, since seldom ever do I get the motion right on the first try and keep making changes as the animation progresses.

I

[Paul Fierlinger]

Klaus Hoefs Pirates:

My compliments to Shay for composing the music, since I heard his music from films done by Jeff Sheer he has made big progress.

Shay continues to make music for Jeff's mood films for the New York Times online. I think it's a matter of direction, having to work for two different styles, rather than progress. But it was through Jeff's films that I found Shay Lynch because I liked his music so much in those tiny films (though not all; some don't work as well as others.)

It is both, modern and classic at the same time

This is what I admire about his work so much and what I have been asking every composer I've worked with to achieve. It was this quality of Shay's sound for which I abandoned my previous composer who began to sound too unimaginative to me and was beginning to bore me.

And to be more specific it is a joy to watch the sea and the motions of people and boats and listening to the music.

This is where I failed in Tulip, where I believed the contradiction of Plummer's King's English freely discussing scatological matters would be a joy to sit back to and listen. It made some people (too many) feel disturbed, not relaxed. It took me a long time of small successes and failures to get to this point, where I can depend on the match of music and motion for a minute or two to carry the enjoyment of absorbing a film and being able to afford to drop the importance of story driven action.

I think in particular the waves could be more dramatic. The shaking of the camera has more change of tempo (>15:00. + about15:20) than the waves.

This will change once we add appropriate sound effects; the screeching wind and roar of the sea. Mariners often refer to these terrifying moments as having the boat shake and rattle in all her timbers. These terrifying vibrations are caused more by the wind than the water.

...and climbing the big one looks to me like climbing the alps (15:40)

This is exactly what goes on in storms that produce huge waves -- there is nothing exaggerated in my drawings. The climb can be so steep that some boats will turn over and somersault backwards to total destruction and certain death of all aboard.

BTW I love your rich detailed ship in motion. Great !

Thanks; here I am a little smug and out to prove that imprecise, freehand drawing can achieve the same reactions in an audience as 3D perfection -- and perhaps even more so.

The pirates cliche style may identify them as a group but also it has a pale aftertaste,mhm ? Also with their beards they may be too close to Slocum's looks. But coloring may do it.

Coloring will take care of it, but amusingly enough, as I sift through endless lines of period photographs stretching across Cooliris walls, there is a striking sameness to all those bearded men of the past. One often comes across group portraits of men posing for a camera and they all look like brothers.

And who is that guy ? (about 14:43) Victor or the ghost, giving advices to Slocum - it must be the ghost. I wonder why are no comments or questions about this one here at the Forums, and I am curious who will identify this guy as what ever....

This is why I identified him on this thread. In the film it will be explained that Slocum ran away from home at the age of 13 because he couldn't bare the torments of his pedantic father. But ironically, in these scenes Slocum remembers his father's lessons and follows them to the letter which rescues Slocum and his boat from certain demise. The father will be dressed in civilian clothes and he will move about the boat as we would move about his house -- he will be animated with complete disconnect to the elements, which should make salient his supernatural status.

The coloring is now much more vivid, comparing it with Tulip and it shows that the target market is different.
Recently I read a review about Tulip (but can't remember which one by now) which was claiming that your drawing style was naive but very done by the heart. I don't think that Tulip's style was naive - au contraire I think they had the breath of an older and wiser ( ) man in general. But Victor seems to me much more naive in its best meaning. From what I have seen it is brighter, less Shaw and more seen through the eyes of an astonished kid.

Great! Just what I am after!

---- I like it, but are you sure how a torpedo is fired ? ( )

Every torpedo boat was equipped with a small cannon. The torpedoes were fired under water. BTW, I found it astonishing that the British had a complete fleet of submaries and torpedo boats stationed at Gibraltar as far back as the 1880s.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Here is a link to a small documentary film about both Jeff Scher and Shay Lynch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdMMwlM3 ... r_embedded" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;