Testing 1, 2, 3 (Putting MX to Work)

This post is reserved for Flash tests. I started it on August 12th, that's right, la notte di San Lorenzo, but its date has been set at July 30th to avoid interference with the flow of regular posts published for my proper audience (of about five people).

Click here to watch the first Shockwave version of the Morons-On-A-Torpedo-Craft movie I published some time ago [UPDATE: see the improved Flash Video below]. Okay, it's jagged. But it's only 720 KB. For the sake of comparison, you can click here to watch the original QuickTime containing 2,6 MB of MPEG-4 Video.

Great. It appears that the image quality of the Flash Video can be dramatically improved if you use the Flash Video Exporter Plugin (for QuickTime Player in my case). The Sorensen Spark codec, that Flash uses, can now work with two passes. Click here to view it.

How about this banner for the European Jazz Trio DVD? [De Controller doet niks.]

Aug 13. How's this?

Sep 28. Testing Heritage001 here?

Oct 11. Testing Font problems in Slideshow1

As The World Turns

Als de ruimtevaart u interesseert, kunt u hier klikken voor een zelfgemaakt wereldbolletje van 2,1 MB. Met dank aan de Nasa die ons het fotomateriaal ter beschikking heeft gesteld. En natuurlijk aan Christoph van het Magrathea3D Board omdat hij ons heeft gewezen op het bestaan daarvan.

PS. Binnen een paar dagen hoop ik een opvolger te plaatsen met een grapje erin. Dit filmpje heeft inderdaad geen verhaal. Of, ja, het is er wel maar het is heel flauw. Dit is zo'n "shot" waar iedere klant dol op is. Dissolve het eindje met een shot van het bedrijfspand van de klant en je hebt in feite je klant in het centrum van het universum geplaatst. Werkt eigenlijk altijd. Maar vroeger moest ik het heel moeilijk moeilijk in After Effects doen en nu kan het "gewoon" met een bolletje, een materiaaltje, een lampje en een cameraatje in Cinema 4D. Te gek eigenlijk ...

PS. Het filmpje is inmiddels verrijkt met een "starfield texture", een nevelige veeg en een maan - dan ziet de aarde er toch wat minder eenzaam uit- al staat die laatste achteraf gezien toch wel veel te dichtbij.

Thank You For Using Legal Software.

We moeten er nu echt aan geloven. Ik heb gisteren Macromedia Studio MX 2004 with Flash Professional gekocht. Ik moet dus aan de slag!

Tu Quoque, Lueppe?

Yes, I was there, too. My wife put me up to it. She dragged me along. Or that's what she wants me to say. (Of course, I've been a fan since about 1988 myself.)

Siluro 4. "Is This Moron Number One?"

We've got sound. Click here or here to watch the first and second versions (2,6 MB of Mp4 in QT each) of a sketch featuring two morons riding an underwater pig (for the "maiale", see below).

Pyocluster Experiments

Click here for my failed attempts at creating a trail (a 5.2 MB Movie).

Such puffs "work" well enough, however, if you intend to produce a comical effect such as in this movie (6,2 MB) of the old cardboard car - the one we made in class, remember? This clip has a new audio track.

Laser Reprint

I promised a while ago to continue work my adaptation, so to speak, of a tutorial project by that remarkable gentleman from New Zealand, 3DKiwi, who kindly keeps sharing so much of his creative stuff with the rest of us (The laser Light Show", for which, see "http://www.c4dcafe.com"). I have changed some settings such as colours and I have substituted the text obviously. More significantly, I have animated the origin of the laser beam and adjusted the animation timing. The beam now seems more alive, less mechanic and there is progression in the degree to which it fails to precisely catch up with the build-up of the type. A final swing curvature across adds even more personality. For my second composite, click here. For now, I just toned down the audio a bit.

Siluro 3. "Buckle Up, We've Got Turbulence!"

The turbulence map works really well. The grey metal rod is still problematic. I turned off the fog of the environmental object for the sake of what else but clarity.

My fellow Magrathean "Michaelvk" gave me a few texturizing tips which were very useful indeed. Although I had not yet concentrated much on textures – I had been using a simple greenish sauce - I would probably not have thought of using either a turbulence map for basic colouring or a fresnel on the reflection. I did just that and also applied two instances of my "wear" layers (yellowish spots and scrathes in an alpha channel). Michaelvk also gave me an interesting tip on how to render clear metal surfaces. He suggested I use a danel shader; change the highlights to anisotropic and crank up the first specular; change all the colours to greyish tones, i.e. a light brownish colour for stainless steel or a light blue for aluminum. I did not yet, however, manage to get this right (see the dull grey texture for the rudder's rod). Thank you Michaelvk.

Siluro 2. Check Your Cables!

The SLC with incomplete consoles superstructure manned by two Zygotes in plain dress and without masks or oxygen. (Some things will have to change.)

My Magrathea3D colleague Denniz referred me to another excellent tutorial by 3DKiwi which did in fact solve my Siluro cables problem. These cables would become detached the moment the rotation and position of the attachment-points changed (as when the aileron would pitch). Essentially this meant fixing the points of the spline (the cable is a sweep nurbs) to the attachment parts of the model using XPresso. I can't say it was easy, but then again, nothing in the 3D world ever is .. :-) I have rendered a first animation (Sketch and Toon) to test the results. You'll find this here (1.1 MB). And another one here (2,2 MB). Don't worry, I will get into the rhythm of the thing later.

Siluro I. Is it a Pig? Is it a Fish?

Last week, I met up with my C4D colleague Rem ("Remdreedee"). We decided to have go at a joint project and "produce" our own C4D movie. This idea was triggered by the ongoing "underwater scene" project, the development of which can be followed at magrathea3d.com, but it is an expansion of the thought that a group of enthusiasts should team up to complement each other's talents and get "bigger stories" out. For, yes, there will be a story (albeit short and simple) and it will include a manned torpedo from WWII. This will all be explained later in what may be called a "Project Kick-Off Document". For the moment, however, I am providing you with a glimpse of the Italian underwater craft at stake (the "siluro a lenta cosa" nicknamed "Maiale" or "Pig"). Its first version is developing into a high-poly model, I'm afraid, but we might be able to prune it before we get to the animation operation. We hope to draw in other contributors. Thus, someone will have to model the frogmen who will carry the joke. We hope it will constitute a trial run for future joint ventures...

Rem asked me how long it took me to model the thing so far. Well, it actually it took me a long time. I have been at it for, say, over 12 hours now. You see, I haven't given myself enough modelling practice yet, so I am still quite slow. On top of that, there are some serious lacunae in my knowledge and imperfections in my methods. I am clumsy when it comes to using the "maths" of the program, i.e. "duplicate" and "align along spline" and things like that. I rather tend to clay away like a modelling monk. That is also one of the reasons why my models tend to become TOO HEAVY. Still, I am getting there. And so is the "Siluro" (the Italian word for "torpedo" which, incidentally, derives from name of a fish, the silurus glanis or European Wels Catfish, on account of the similarity of their shape).

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"They Just Keep Snapping Away At Me!"

The old "Thank Your Lucky Stars It's Work In Progress" movie (1,4MB) has been expanded and improved upon. The expansion (2,7MB) is a Sketch & Toon version with some minor modifications. The improved successor is another clean render (3MB) of the scene with, however, some major improvements such as in colour variations and environmental characteristics. The camera angle is also changed. And yes, I agree that it seems to be evolving into something like a Cerberus monster. Down Boy!

P.S. I hope your machines is able to read a QuickTime Movie with a MPEG-4 Video Track. I saved it as a ".mov" because the ".mp4" would cause you to automatically download it - as is still the case with some posts such as the February one with the "exploding chocolate thingy" . An added advantage is that the loop-setting is saved with the movie.