My First Ever Vray Animation and Image

[Jynks]

Hi there...

This is my first ever animation in Vray!! I hope you like it.

Download:- ToDoList Logo Tumble 1280x800 XviD

I know it is not as fancy as what your used to but hey.

Some Background on me

Thought I might put a little background about myself. As anyone who has been reading my threads may be able to tell I am a new Vray user. I am not a 3D animator by trade (I work in a zoo) Though I do have a mate that is a professional compositor (he uses Nuke) who has been helping me. This is why my questions on the board are so "primitive". Anyway. I am a hobby game maker, mainly programming but I got sick of trying to find 3D guys so bit the bullet and got Vray and 2009. So far I am really enjoying it. To be honest I have no intentions of becoming a professional 3D guy... unless by some freak of chance some game company loves my freeware titles. Still I do hope to achieve some level of skill and that you guys here may help me out. This animation is my first ever in vray and in a way my first ever in max. I did all the standard "bounce the ball" type things. So I hope you like it and mabey you could give me a few tips or constructive criticisms. Feel free to really bag it out if you think it is needed, I just ask that mabey you guys could offer some advise as I go. Pretty much everything I know has come from my mate (though he is just into compositing) and Digital Tutors / Gnomon Workshop dvds and Aversis's Vray tutorials on his website. I have been playing around in vray for a while now but I have decided to try and make content for my game project from here on.

This animation is my first time using the
* vray camera
* linier workflow
* vray motion blur
* rendered elements + post comp
* HDRI lighting

Here is my setting
http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/6927/56508844bg8.jpg

Anyway, I hope you like it and would appreciate some comments if you have the time. I know this forum seams to be more for professionals but mabey there is room for a hobby guy as well.

[instinct]

Welcome aboard,

great to have hobbyist gamemakers aboard. I'd love to do more in that direction but i simply lack the time these days *sigh*.

Regarding then Animation:
I do like the animation and the Look of the writing.
The environment (the one reflecting in the objects, not the backgground) might need some work to make it more lively. Also GI or an AO pass would help tons to give it more depth. The bright part behind the tip of the pencil looks pretty bright and unstructured, the eraser looks a tad dull and the paper could look more "rough" i think.

The lighting could be more interesting (add another light or two, add some color and brightness variation) as well as the shadow could be a bit more soft (area shadows to get a nice transition from sharp to soft).

Anyways, a nice start i'd say and a warm welcome

Regards,
Thorsten

[Jynks]

Regarding then Animation:
I do like the animation and the Look of the writing.

Thanks!

The environment (the one reflecting in the objects, not the backgground) might need some work to make it more lively. Also GI or an AO pass would help tons to give it more depth. The bright part behind the tip of the pencil looks pretty bright and unstructured, the eraser looks a tad dull and the paper could look more "rough" i think.

I used a HDRI to make the environment. There is no set of any kind in this animation. The highlights are done with 4 standard lights. I bright one casting shadows and 3 "key" lights coming from different angles all at smaller multipliers.

The lighting could be more interesting (add another light or two, add some colour and brightness variation) as well as the shadow could be a bit more soft (area shadows to get a nice transition from sharp to soft).

Yea this is all good ideas. Though I sorta want to movie on for now. I will come back to it and improve this before final version. This is the logo of the hobby group that appears at the start of the game.

I did put a nice "paper" bumpmap into the reflection and bump area of the paper texture but during my clumsy linier workflow this detail got lost for some reason.

I'll update this post a while latter with attempts to address your advise.

Thanks for the tips!!!

[instinct]

Am not sure it's a lwf problem. All the objects look rather flat. So i guess some lighting change would help. Did you try using the HDRI also for lighting using a domelight ?

Regards,
Thorsten

[Jynks]

Am not sure it's a lwf problem. All the objects look rather flat. So i guess some lighting change would help. Did you try using the HDRI also for lighting using a domelight ?

Regards,
Thorsten

No I just pumped the vrayHDRI infomation into the enviroment area of the vray settings as a skylight.

[Da_elf]

i like your avatar. i once started making a DM point and click adventure game

[Jynks]

cool. My hobby game project at the moment isa point and lcick adventure game.

[Da_elf]

what are you using for the engine? im using AGS (adventure game studio) its brilliant. currently ive got the DM game and an Asterix and Obelix game both on hold since i never have time to get back to them)

[instinct]

i found wintermute to be pretty decent:

http://dead-code.org/home/

Regards,
Thorsten

[Jynks]

I am using wintermute as well.

[add101]

hi. welcome.
nice animation. i'm a serial to-do lister.
i like the style and idea.
how did you do the text on the paper? added in some post software?

good luck with the game development. i originally got into 3d with the idea of getting into games and stories, but mainly work on buildings and interiors now.
some other stuff in free time (which i don't have neough of at the mo.)

the things that instinct mentioned would increas the photo-realism, but for games that isn't always the goal- depends on the style... nice animation.
i look forward to seeing more..
cool, i love adventure games. there don't seem to be as many adventure and quest games around as there used to be.

[Jynks]

how did you do the text on the paper? added in some post software?

That is my handwritting on heavy etch drawing paper (thick grain) using a really soft shading pencile. I then scanned it in and in After Affects created a an animation of animated alpha channel that revealed the text.

i then simply loaded this as a defuse texture map in Max as a animated material.

good luck with the game development <snip> nice animation.
i look forward to seeing more..

Thanks!!