Bible Animations

Hey all!

A lot went into making this video and I am so thankful I was commanded to make it.

When GOD first told me HE wanted me to make this, I was really, strongly, resistant to the idea. If you've known GOD for some time, you will know that the message doesn't change. HE wanted me to do it and I submitted and oh am I glad I did! This was around the end of November of last year.

Production felt like it took forever, but all the things HE's taught me and allowed me to share with you guys, has been such a gift that kept on giving, that I cannot say thank you enough to GOD for trusting me with HIS Word like this!

I remember at one point, early on with the audio, not overall production, that I wanted to just drop the whole thing. I felt like I was taking away from the WORD by removing things like: "And the king said". I literally wasted almost an entire night's worth of work time, because I was attacked with that and the message I got was: "If I didn't trust you with MY Word, I would not have given you this assignment" [slightly paraphrased]. I have such respect and love for the WORD of GOD that I don't want to alter it in the least...

Thankfully, that and other attacks failed and the video is finished! PRAISE BE TO GOD!!!

You can watch it here:



This week, I can honestly say, not much took place on this project. It was only the last scene, Haman's house, that needed finishing. Even for that, I got to use some old assets I had made for other projects. That speeds things up so much, you cannot even imagine!! Even for Haman's three friends, I went back to the 7 chamberlains that serve before the king and just modified them again.

The hardest part was the curtains to be honest, but I really like how they turned out!

On a funny note, I had started rendering the final scene and forgot to turn off the suzanne monkey heads I use for Freestyle testing and there was one on the table. Early on, I wanted to include Suzanne in there as a surprise, but GOD said no and I believe it wasn't to be against the suzanne monkey head, but that the project was to be taken seriously from start to finish and I'm glad I listened. I feel like the project is better for it, I really do - no offence to suzanne of course. Her head was invaluable to the production process, haha.

This was one of the main goals of this video - learning how to animate characters. Wow!! This was a very steep learning curve indeed! I'm not at the standard that I would like to be, but oh dear did this take a lot of work!!!...
   I am very thankful now for what I know and it will definitely help in future projects! I watched so many tutorials over the course of this project, I don't even recall half of them, haha.
   Here's to getting better at animation! :D

Oh wow, was this a tough one! I wanted to write some really authentic Persian music for this project... Let's just say it didn't work out, hahahaha... I learned a few cool tricks with music, but honestly, Persian music is really a unique category on it's own - along with some other Eastern music. When I first heard it, I thought it sounded very Chinese in some of the patterns, and it does, to me, though the instruments differ.
Ironically, music didn't fit this project for me in the end. Yes, there are some chords up until Haman makes his suggestion, but that's it. The only other music is the fanfare with the horse.

For this week's sound effects work, I had to get creative, again, haha. GOD is always so helpful!
- The horse hooves is just me snapping my tongue once and then normalized and placed in Blender at various pitches
- The shocked tssssp sound is the reverse cymbal (MIDI)
- The voice for Haman's wife is my voice ran through Elastique Pitch's Demo VST plug-in. Check video description for link.

1) Speeding up renders in Blender Render.
2) Freestyle and toon compositing in Blender Render as well as Cycles Render.
3) Action (or Speed) lines in Blender.
4) Clouds (various methods).
5) Modelling with particles (increases scene size dramatically and is more memory efficient).
6) Foley is a lot of fun (especially when you use MIDI alongside physical methods).
7) People are nicer and more helpful than you expect them to be, so be bolder and ask.
8) Character animation is difficult, but very rewarding.
9) You are never too smart to refer back to tutorials, even your own, notes or other forms of previous learning.
10) Envelope F-Curve modifiers are more flexible than I initially thought.
11) Render a lot of OpenGL stuff!! You will not regret checking your work this way!
12) Always check for obstructions by doing single renders of the final scenes before rendering out animations. You may find that your camera animation needs redoing or replacing.
14) Use more than one blend file for an animation with multiple angles!
15) Excellence is worth redoing something most of the time.
16) Depend on the HOLY SPIRIT's leading more than what you think. You will be surprised at the result. Mordecai's outfit is just one example.

   I've learned more than these 16 points, but they are the main ones and I cannot say thank you enough!! I worked so hard on this that I came very close to resenting the project. It is a stern warning that I should've gotten a bit more rest during the project.

I am just so thankful that GOD answered my prayer and helped me finish it this week!!! WOW!! And was it close! An hour to spare! haha.

If you don't know JESUS yet?
To find out more, you can check out this link:
http://www.crossallegiance.org/knowJesus.html
It gives you access to free Bible translations, free teaching videos and more. Remember, this is a decision with eternal consequence, choose life, choose JESUS. :D

Have a great one!!!

Thank YOU!!!!!!