Train Station Animation

[tooves]

Hi all

Here is a recent animation project we completed, showing some changes happening to the central commuter train station in Perth, Australia.

Yep, its one long camera, as requested by client. Don't judge me, it wasn't my decision!

There is a bit of noise and some of those pesky white dots here and there but due to the deadline we had to live with them, though I am pretty sure I know what is causing the artifacting.

This is done and dusted but crits are always welcome as we may be revisiting the project at a later date.

Thanks for looking.

[thablanch]

For only one path, it is quite well done!
Nice clean look overall. (all people are walking like bodybuilders, their arms really far from their bodies, but I do not know if you took a premade rig)

[tooves]

Hi, thablanch. We used an(i)ma for the people.
This project was our first use of the software and it would be an understatement to say there were a few issues to work around

[tricky]

A lot of work there, and not bad at all for what is essentially for information only (i.e. it ain't gonna win any beauty contests for the architecture!). I really don't like the people though. When will we have a good solution for animating people in lower-budget projects?

[Morne]

A lot of work there, and not bad at all for what is essentially for information only (i.e. it ain't gonna win any beauty contests for the architecture!). I really don't like the people though. When will we have a good solution for animating people in lower-budget projects?

Rocketbox has some high res people models with highres textures. Haven't used it myself so don't know if it comes with mocap. I did a project a while back also low budget, and that time I remember I found a number of free bip mocap files that would work great for these situations. The trick (or long winded part) is of course to link your bip file to your character rig and hope not too much tweaking of your rig is required...

[tricky]

Hi, thablanch. We used an(i)ma for the people.
This project was our first use of the software and it would be an understatement to say there were a few issues to work around

We bought that a while abo. Its very hard to work with - it is as if they are at very early beta stages, and stupidly, we sank money into it. Maybe things have improved recently. The thing is, for what it does, there really doesn't seem to be many alternatives. Project Gelato (or whatever its called) from Autodesk looks good, but again, too early to use.

[Morne]

There's not that many people in any of the shots in this project. With some effort, it can be done without gepetto or anima. Just 10 or so different people with mocap applied. Easy to do, just time consuming as it isnt as "automatic" as gepetto or anima.
I think the movement of these things usually is not that big a problem, as I say you can use mocap, the problem is mainly that the characters look lowres and look "computery". Again I haven't tried Rocketbox, but from their site the highres ones looks like they could do for medium to long distance shots. Maybe with some quick mocap it could even be believable close (if you don't look at the faces hehe)

Also, for the people viewed walking left to right etc, maybe some of the moving people billboards could be believable from Marlin Studios

[wxyz]

Really nice work

[tooves]

Rocketbox has some high res people models with highres textures. Haven't used it myself so don't know if it comes with mocap.

We bought a handful of Rocketbox models for our last archviz project.
They do come with some mocap files which include facial movement (idling, talking, walk cycles etc). They hold up very well in full frame. They aren't cheap.

We bought that a while abo. Its very hard to work with - it is as if they are at very early beta stages, and stupidly, we sank money into it. Maybe things have improved recently.

I agree that it is closer to beta at this stage, and I haven't seen any significant updates since we bought it at the start of the year. This was our first archviz project as a new company so it was a cheap and quick solution. A 10 user license of an(i)ma with dozens of bundled characters costs the same as one Rocketbox character, so it was a no brainer. It paid for itself with this first project but cost us a few lost hours as well with troubleshooting and workarounds.
We have since ironed out the kinks and continue to use it alongside a mixture of MetropolyHD and Rocketbox characters.
It has a place in the pipeline but is not a one stop solution by any means.

Cheers!

[prateekvishwa]

awesome! i like the composition. Treatment given to Horizon, skies etc apart of interior detailing is spot on! Very nice