This:

https://www.staples.com/Pyle-Pro-PSIB27-Sound-Recording-Booth-Box/product_24004346?cid=PS:GooglePLAs:24004346&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=24004346&KPID=24004346&cvosrc=PLA.google-SALES.TV%20%26%20Streaming%20Media&cvo_crid=225653520177&cvo_campaign=950232647&gclid=Cj0KCQiAwKvTBRC2ARIsAL0Dgk1IVtXa3Uc6kdbC9FATG6LqXKwMrFtAfOZ1lFJUQYUXusIgfTFy-UgaAhzQEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

is essentially what I built, except I bought some acoustic foam panels (it takes three -- two for the sides and one for the top, which this particular paid thing above does not have) from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KKNO9QW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and then this cube:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LRDTSW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So total cost is $30 but you end up with two (because you have enough panels for two, and LOTS more of the whitmore cubes -- nice for storage).  No glue needed, just put the panels in and they hold themselves up.  And the whole thing folds up for easy carry.  It works a treat.

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Alienware Aurora R12, Win 10, i9-119000KF, 3.5GHz CPU, 128GB RAM, RTX 3090 (24GB), Samsung 960 Pro 4TB M-2 SSD, TB+ Disk space
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

WOW! That's animation! It's very seldom that any iClone animation retain my attention more than 15 seconds. But this one is so slick, so fluid, so natural that I watched the whole of it. My hat to the individual who made it. It's a treat!







My latest movie THE GOLDEN MAN, and a few others: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIl1EqVCKitZzLqaNnLK0BA

Yeah, and this is *EXACTLY* what I'm talking about in my own thread (but I find it dizzying to go back and forth, so I'll not revisit there).  Note how this takes the time to establish things AND (most importantly) doesn't rush anything.  No monsters come out (spoiler -- until later, much later) and we see closeups of the main character as she reacts to things.

The other thread says, in essence "well, folks won't have the patience for this".  Bullshit -- sorry, have to call it like I see it.  Folks will have the patience to watch ANYTHING if it's well done -- conversely, if it's crappy it doesn't matter how fast it is (I won't even watch 10 seconds of something that's crap).  This one is very well done.

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Alienware Aurora R12, Win 10, i9-119000KF, 3.5GHz CPU, 128GB RAM, RTX 3090 (24GB), Samsung 960 Pro 4TB M-2 SSD, TB+ Disk space
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

KT, I dont think we are talking about the same thing.  Trouble in the Tombs is an excellent short.  The editing is super tight.  The camerawork is varied and interesting (often on the move).  There's little here I would classify as slow and there's never a moment where I'm wondering what else I could be doing.  At 8 minutes its in my sweet spot.  Is it the story you feel is slowed down?  Because I feel the storytelling aspect is running like a scalded ape.

I never said "slow" -- look at my comments.  What I said was to show things like an actor's reaction, or a setting, or a lot of things prior to "let's have the monsters attack!"  Or "the lasers and the explosions begin!".  I said -- take your time.

It NEVER hurts to take your time, but few do (as most here agree, it's hard to watch almost any iClone stuff -- I get bored after a few seconds and that's with ACTION!).  And you take your time according to what you're trying to convey -- here (this short) the author is conveying the exploration first, and the danger is felt but not observed until much later.  Compare and contrast almost any Jerry B made film and you'll know the difference.

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Alienware Aurora R12, Win 10, i9-119000KF, 3.5GHz CPU, 128GB RAM, RTX 3090 (24GB), Samsung 960 Pro 4TB M-2 SSD, TB+ Disk space
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

@Kelley - Yeah, we're sort of hopping between two threads.  That wasn't the vision when I started chatting over here several days ago, but I didn't want to pull your "Filmmaking versus animation" thread too far off topic.  Now they've gotten on parallel paths for a while.

I understand your counterpoint to my "YouTube expectations and attention span" comments.  Fair enough, and you made good points.  I don't think I actually disagree with what you said at all.

My point was meant to focus on the "YouTube culture" being a barrier that good iClone films must overcome.  We should not try to make all our iClone movies "cat" and "dumb people hurting themselves" videos.  I've said many times before, a good television commercial can tell an entire "story" in 30 or 60 seconds.  So even a short iClone movie can still tell a good and complete story.  And even "short" videos can have a proper pace, taking the time to pause where they should.

But if you find a random video (as opposed to having a specific recommendation to watch it), and it's 40 minutes long, I think there is a special need to grab your audience's attention early on.  How?  Good visuals?  Beautiful music?  Some flashy particles?  I'm not sure, and of course it depends on the video.

When selecting 30 or 60-minute television shows, or 2-hour movies, that comes with one set of expectations.  But even though it's probably unfair, browsing YouTube comes with another set of expectations, and it's so, so very easy to click on to a different video.  So I think the "need" to hook the audience immediately is heightened in that environment.

So I was lamenting the challenge of getting an audience to watch a long iClone video.


ADDED....

Actually, I think I've let my own comments wander, and may have possibly contributed to a mixing between "taking the time on a specific shot" and "total run time."  Mostly I was trying to talk about the total run time.  But yes, even a short video can take time to pause and let you see an emotion, or anticipate an action.

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

We may all be talking about the same things, but visuals are easier to see than talk about.  But I was glad to see that example posted, because it really does illustrate what is wrong with the vast majority of stuff (not just iClone) out there.  Anyone could learn a lot just by studying it.

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Alienware Aurora R12, Win 10, i9-119000KF, 3.5GHz CPU, 128GB RAM, RTX 3090 (24GB), Samsung 960 Pro 4TB M-2 SSD, TB+ Disk space
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Meanwhile, don't forget to have some fun with your projects too..

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Glad to learn about your project, Mneros!

Spiny Norman (1/26/2018)

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I jumped on the IClone bandwagon with Iclone 5' and a feature project... I was 7 minutes into it, when budgeting revealed that my costs for professional voice actors would amount to, at the least $7000….

Yes, this is close to what I was quoted for making the film with professional actors. If the end goal is just Youtube/free distribution, it might not be worth it. If you get funding and/or plan to make money from the film, then it's a modest investment. Some people have recommended some free places, and it's true, you can get good free actors, especially online (holding auditions are fun). Around 10 years ago when I was making a few shorts I used Voice Acting Alliance a lot. Seems they shut the site down only last year. It's too bad.
These days I'm trying to avoid online voice work where possible due to consistency of recording equipment and spaces. It's kinda off putting when all the characters in the same scene sound like they're in 4 different environments. Back in the day, I remember only selecting actors who's equipment was decent and their recording room wasn't echoey.

I'd like to share more details about my project but it's still early days. It has a good budget and the VO is being recorded very soon. The script is going through some edits. It's maybe 95% Daz assets so right now I'm learning the best ways to import the stuff for best results, and preparing the assets for the first few scenes. This is a test render in Iclone 7 for one of the main characters. I have some ideas on getting a bit more quality but I'll have to wait and see once whole scenes start coming together.

Edited
6 Years Ago by Dr. Nemesis

Notes to self (and sharing with others):

While messing around with "Textures" I have a couple things I should write up for Feedback Tracker.


1) "Affect all materials with the same name" = Inconsistent behavior

If you change the shader between PBR and Traditional, it will indeed make that change for all materials with the same name.
But if you drop a new image onto a channel (e.g. Base material) it only affects the current material.


2) Inconsistent texture export when doing FBX export

I was exporting cars to FBX format, and *not* imbedding the textures (so they would get written to a folder and I could see how big they were).
I would replace the excessively large textures (as part of the "rendering speed" experiment.)
To make sure I didn't overlook any, I would do the export again.

To my surprise, I'd now see a couple large-sized "Reflection" textures that weren't there before.
So I would fix them, and do another export.
To my annoyance, I'd now see one (or two or three) more textures that hadn't been there before.
Usually "reflection" maps, but not always limited to them.  Also "Specular" maps, and maybe a couple times Diffuse maps too.

There is NO WAY that I overlooked these things that often.
I sorted the folder my size, and also by dimensions, so the large files would be on top.
There is no way I missed the large reflection maps that many times.

When you see one new map appear, and then the next time you see two others appear at the top of the list, something is wrong in the software.

Usually the "magically appearing" textures were related to the "Traditional Shader" (Reflection and Specular).
But, hey, they should either be exported or not.
It should at least be consistent.

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD