This big hobby-project of mine is up to Episode 9, now. I made some adjustments in the latest episode:

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Cary - this is really well done .... how long did this take?
You've created such a wonderfully immersive experience. As usual, the sound track is top-notch both technically AND by virtue of stellar performances from the voice actors - so well done. I loved the pace and timing of your scenes! This episode is *rich* in it's variety of scenes and locations. The lighting beautifully captures the various moods. Such a massive effort to visually embellish the story - the elaborate sets, the many props, the detailed costumes - everything comes together to place us in this amazing world. And the plot is engaging - it shows that an interesting story can be achieved without over-the-top-action every second. All this, and then there's the even harder part - the actual animation - again of a high standard. The facial expressions, the lip sync, the choice of camera angles - all so well done IMHO. The 'flash back explanatory visuals' you created worked well too - the list goes on - everything works nicely to create such an amazing 'atmosphere'. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall watching you put this together - I'm sure I would have learned so much. A truly great production!




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Please be patient with me ..... I don't always 'get it' the first time 'round - not even the 2nd time!   - yikes! ... 

● MSI GT72VR Laptop, i7 7700HQ 4-Core 3.8 GHz 16GB RAM; Nvidia 1070, 8GB Vram ● iClone-7.93 ● 3DXChange Pipeline 7.81 ● CC-3 Pipeline 3.44 ● Live Face ● HeadShot ● Brekel Pro-Body ● Popcorn FX ● iRAY ● Kinect V2 ● DaVinci Resolve17 ● Mixcraft 8.1

I'm not really into medieval/fantasy but this is overall well done!
And respect for the amount of work you put into this...

Toystorylab on Vimeo :     Crassitudes (my "Alter Ego") on Youtube: 

Sonic7, it is so damn cool when someone takes the time to write such an encouraging, detailed response to your work. Thank you. You made my day. 

Iclone is such a great sandbox to play in. I love so many aspects of this hobby...working with actors, creating the sounds, mixing the music, editing, messing around with camera angles, playing with the different 3D sets and assets created by such skilled artists. I even enjoy the writing, through at times it can be a headache. 

The animation is probably the most frustrating part, though it does fully absorb me like some twisted puzzle I have to solve. I've gotten better and Reallusion has made it easier with some awesome upgrades over the past years. Acculips is perhaps my favorite recent feature and has saved me the most work. The new stuff in Iclone 8 was not used in this episode, but I also love the new ability to change the motion direction of clips. 

I see the flaws in my animation, and I know I have a long way to go. Some stuff I see on this forum just blows me away. But, I keep getting a little better, and I'm still having fun. 
. 

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toystorylab, thank you. Not your cup of tea, I know, but I appreciate the comments.

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Very nicely done. A strong story with interesting characters and, I must say, a
stellar job by your voice actors. Some very interesting video technics which are
worth thinking about as well. 

Great job all around.

pete 


http://www.youtube.com/user/peterblood50?feature=mhee

Pete, thank you. If you are referring to the visual techniques of the animated  illustrations in the book, it did take a lot of hours to get that look how I like it. 

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Cary B.
Yeah, 😁 that was really unusual and very, very nice. I liked the look of the entire production. Kudos.

pete



http://www.youtube.com/user/peterblood50?feature=mhee

Thanks, Peter. I was pleased overall with how that technique turned out. I tried a lot of different things, including trying to tweak Iclone's own Toon Shader. But I couldn't get what I was looking for. What I ended up with wasn't exactly what I was going for, but it came close. 

I think for the fun of it, I will  post some comparison shots to show the difference in the finished look and the original render. 

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Here is the first of some comparison shots I will post, showing the results of my attempt to create the look of an old illustration in a book becoming animated. The picture on the left shows the regular Iclone render and the picture on the right is after the processing has been applied. 

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