Bible Animations

 - Super resolution revisit
   In the vlog this week I made a stop at super-resolution again, not to be repetitive, but I really saw the video didn't demonstrate what it does well. Now, having redone it and checking it, I'm satisfied you can now actually see and understand what it does on a very practical level. So, if you want to, you can check out Reshade (as always, completely at own risk).

 - Real river sound
   I told you guys last week that we had to move and we moved to a more rural area and there is a river close by, so I actually got to record a real river sound this week. I forgot to play it in the video, but honestly, that just makes it more of a surprise when it's heard (which it shouldn't be, since the goal of foley is to be natural and go unnoticed if done well, hahaha). I haven't added it to the edit yet, since it doesn't quite fit where Moses is staring at the palace (water is too calm), but I have it on stand-by.

 - Foley for fire
   I saw quite a fire today and the flames looked cool and all, but the most interesting part was the sound. Before I saw it, I heard a bunch of claps and cracks and I didn't know what it was, at all. I walked the dog and as I actually saw the fire, I noticed it came from the dry twigs and things in the fire and it sounded like bubble wrap being popped. How cool! So, if you want to simulate a crackling fire, try using some bubble wrap. The frequency of the pops will relate to the size of the fire. The bigger the fire, the more pops per second (^^,).

 - Animation in the details
   I am so thankful I learned from Esther 6 and Genesis 1. Both were amazing projects to do and I am so glad and privileged that GOD thought I could be trusted with HIS Word! That is huge to me. I feel like a small child who made drawings that HE puts on the fridge :).
Anyway, I learned a lot about the animation process and how detailed it can be and how big of a difference subtle changes can make. For example, take Esther 6 and Genesis 1. I did barely any hand animation. The overall hand moved, but the fingers themselves were fairly static. This meant that they had these weird stiff hands all the time that irritate me a lot now! I am making sure to do finger and hand animation this time. I am also making much more use of reference. For example, the king has to say: "Show a miracle for you" so, let's act it out. How would I, if I were king, ask someone to show a miracle to demonstrate the authority by which they come with their message and that's what I animate. I have to trust that GOD will make sure that what HE wants moved, will be moved, haha.

 - Compositing speed up trick or solution
   A while ago, I noticed that the compositor got slower and slower the more you do with it and the higher the resolution goes. Unfortunately, it seemed to be exponential, not incremental, haha. So, I just tried to make things as efficient as possible and not leave any room for anything that could make it slower, yet still on some projects, no matter what I do, even with a simple setup, it would say Initializing Execution, take forever to do 40 tiles (FullHD) and sometimes take even longer than the actual render.

   If you go online looking for a solution to the compositor's speed, you are in for a surprise, because while it is being sped up (under the hood), it is not quite at the speed it could be. Not to mention that there is very little, if anything, we can do about it from a user standpoint. Far be it from me to criticize though, because I can't make it faster, haha. I just appreciate it so much that I have access to such an amazing tool! I don't want to take it for granted, even for a second...

   Anyhow, GOD showed me something yesterday that made a huge difference and I think it will for you too.

   For every output your setup has, the compositor will run once. Meaning, let's say you have a viewer node at the end, a composite node and a file output node - the compositor will run 3 times. If you have full sample enabled, it will run 15 times - in theory!! 3 is long enough! I certainly don't want to tender for 15, hahaha.

If you want to know how I get to 15 its:
3 unique outputs x 5 AA-passes = 15 composite runs.

In my case, I have had three running and have knocked it down to two, because the third wasn't really needed - it was just a visual check that apparently cost me hours, hahaha. This means that I get to cut an entire minute off per frame! At this week's biggest render, that would be:
242 minutes =  broadly and roughly 4 hours saved, just by deleting a single node! How's that for a compositor speed boost! hahaha. GOD is so good!!

In case you were wondering why I had three:
1) 2D version = Composite node (saves; required)
2) 3D version SBS = File Output node (saves; required)
3) Anaglyph 3D = Viewer Node (view only; not required)

That means that it can be another minute faster, but then I lose either the 2D or 3D version and I don't have peace about losing either for the sake of a minute per frame (yes, it makes a huge difference, but you can't dump what is required for the project for the sake of speed, hahaha).

 - A re-render
   I also had a re-render this week. I cannot express to you how much I hate to do the same thing again, but I always prefer the latter result! GOD is so awesome!

   I was working on Pharaoh and the piece where he says: "Show a miracle for you" and honestly:
 * The mouth didn't close on the "M" and was way too open on the "F".
 * The 3D was really flat
 * The movement felt very blocked out and puppet-y

   It was good, but it was certainly not good enough! It simply had to be fixed. Fixing the "M" and the "F" turned into adding movement before and after the end-frame as well as some modifications to the hand's animation, to make it feel more natural. Remember I said more - I'm not a super animator just yet! hahaha.

   It was a fast render, so I didn't mind improving it for the sake of maintaining a higher standard.

 - Music comes later
   I am keeping music in mind all through-out the process. I talked about it a little in the video, while showing you guys the edit, but it is a part I am really looking forward to! :D
From the behind the scenes footage I've seen, the music usually happens while production is going on as shots are finished and then when all the sound effects people have done their stuff and all the music people have done theirs and so on, it all comes down to the theatrical mix where everyone finally hears what the others have been up to. I think it has to be a very interesting, yet very drawn out, process indeed.

 - Action shots
   I am not an expert at these action shots. I am honestly and truly just doing what I receive. My favorite this week has to be that
1) I missed a piece of GOD's words and got to re-record it
2) It fits B-E-A-U-tifully as a dramatic pause before Aaron throws down the rod.

   Speaking of Aaron, I am still unsure about how he is supposed to cast down the rod. Clearly, he is not supposed to just drop it. There was certainly some element of throwing because the word cast is used - implying some air time before hitting the ground. It did not just fall out of his hand. It would be funny to build up momentum and tension only for it to fall over, hahahaha!! This is not a parody, so we're not going that route, hahaha. I'll keep it before GOD, but I do want it to transform fairly rapidly, while still looking super awesome!

   There is a downside to action shots - they require the audience to take notice. When you have 10 plagues, requiring multiple action shots, it can become easy to make it sort of slice together like a demo-reel, instead of a narrative that's all about GOD and HIS love for HIS people and HIS creation - very different indeed! That means that the focus has to go to the major plague moments and keep the others less so. 10 huge action shots in about 30 minutes is still a lot for an audience. It can leave them feeling super pumped with eyes as big as serving plates, or just plain tired! hahaha. I am certainly praying for the former! (^^,)

 - Feedback and application
   I was so jazzed to get some really detailed comments giving feedback on last week's vlog! For the sake of ease, I saved his comments and applied what I could.

Natoriane wrote the following:
"I'm new so I haven't been keeping up with this project of yours but during the heartbeat part if that is supposed to be an intense scene I would say that your camera movement takes away from that, it is too slow, too smooth, the ease in of the camera movement is never used in film or animation, and the camera noticeably rotates up during the movement. If you want a better shot I would say make sure the position of the pharaoh 's eyes doesn't change, have the camera either jump in really fast or even just quickly cut to him, make sure it is an extreme close up where his whole face fills the screen, give the audience the impression that he is looking into their souls, don't ease out the camera either have it come to a sudden stop. Also I would recommend slanting the eyebrows a little bit more to emphasis that evil smile look, and play a loud, reverberating drum beat when you make the cut. These are just suggestions of what I would do I don't want to take over your project.

Also if I could make just one more suggestion, im sorry i know I'm putting in a lot here just trying to help, but as soon as a heart sound plays during that scene, on the first beat and before the second have it cut to black so you are left with that second part of the heartbeat in complete blackness"

   Smoothness of animation has always been an issue with me. I do feel like GOD is helping me overcome that more and more with each project feeling more and more natural to me. I also do consciously take note of animation principles that really help to communicate something better. For example, anticipation. Before your character does something, they usually prepare for it. If they are going to smack the table, the hand will open, pull back and then come down on the table. Then you have a sort of follow-through, which means that when the hand hits the table, there is a slight bounce and shift to both his hand and the table and the things on the table. There is almost always some form of recoil with the completion of an action. Keeping these sorts of things in mind really help a lot.

   Anyway, I replied to Natoriane and told him:
"+natoriane No problem! I appreciate all the ideas and feedback I get. I can't implement a lot of it, because of the render times, but I certainly like the idea of speeding up the zoom to have a more shocking effect. Zooming in further means a re-render, which I can't afford. It does give me the space for the cut to black with the heartbeat though.
(I can only do overall timing changes, because the 3D is rendered in Side-by-side 50% - see the previous vlog).
Great suggestions!!! Thank you very much! I'll keep your comments handy!
GOD bless you!! (^^,)"

   I did exactly that, I went back to the edit, sped up that zoom and timed it to the heart beat and added a little emphasis on the eyes, which I am kinda keen on removing again, or just widening, because it just looks awkward. Overall, what I could apply from his suggestions, made a massive difference to the feel of the segment and is certainly better for it! Thank you LORD for using Natoriane to push the quality even more!

 - Dealing with feedback
   A lot of you may not like to hear feedback and I really believe this is something GOD wants us all to address - we don't know every thing. As much as we hate to admit it, we can all stand to improve in every area of our lives and animation is no different.

   As people with a sinful nature, we don't like people telling us what to do or that we need to change something. The flesh hates it, but if you can really just let it have its screaming fit and then really listen, you will be amazed at what you can learn.

   Of course, I am not saying that everything people say is something you have to receive. Definitely don't do that, but always examine what is being said, because if someone put in the time to let you know what they think, it means that what you put out had value to them - whether positive or negative value, they still put in the effort to contact you and that means, it is worth paying attention to, especially as creative, and sometimes overly sensitive people, hahaha.

   To summarize - if you get feedback, whatever feedback it may be, test it thoroughly; don't let your ego cause you to miss something amazing. If it's just someone being critical and there is nothing to be had, chuck it. If there is something to be had, use it to your advantage, because you got it for free. It takes humility to be able to take another viewpoint on-board and while I am certainly not super at this yet, I really do want to always be open to learn from anyone and everyone.

 - Bonus point
   If you get criticism, it also means that what you have put out is of a higher than average standard. Andrew Price has said before that while people go onto forums and ask for advice, they often get little to no reaction, because their work has to come up so much that no one even sees the value in investing that sort of time with someone. While this does seem mean or selfish, you can't help every one - not even some of the time. The people who do get feedback are the ones who have a, typically, higher than average standard or just had the guts to put something out there. Receive the good feedback that you get - it'll make you better for it.