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By thebiz.movies - 15 Years Ago
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Hiya folks, Im hoping to get an entry into this years CTA contest called Sushi Ronin. Its about...well, a sushi ronin. Ive been working on it for about 3 weeks so far and have managed to watch enough illustrator tutorials to eeeak out my characters and rig them up in CTA. 
Also managed to get a lovely little three page script written, developed a system for getting props out of sketchup with shadows half opaque, shored up about half my voice actors and just this eve managed to get 10 seconds of animation largely complete. Im heading down the right road I thinks. I would like to complete and post this by end of August - the video views/popularity criteria means I will need at least a month to get someone to watch my movie (in case your wondering why Im posting a production thread...well, it's to get you to hopefully watch my movie if and when it gets released.) Im also hoping to release the characters and props after the release either as freebies or on the super cheap for anyone who might have an interest. All the characters are created by me but the hands/arms legs/feet are from the orange character from RL. I wonder if this will be an issue. I suppose I could make my own if push came to shove. My biggest issue right now is what to use as the background. All of my shots will be using a wooden table/bar texture that will cover 3/4 of the screen littered with various sushi bar prps. However, the background is blank for now. Sushi restaraunt stills? Sushi bar chef videos? A simple blue/grey gradient. As yet Im at a loss. Anywho, thanks for listening. More in the near future.
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By kurzal - 15 Years Ago
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Production tread - it's a great idea, I think! Good luck!
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By sjonesdc - 15 Years Ago
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thebiz.movies (7/9/2011)
Hiya folks, Im hoping to get an entry into this years CTA contest called Sushi Ronin. Its about...well, a sushi ronin. Ive been working on it for about 3 weeks so far and have managed to watch enough illustrator tutorials to eeeak out my characters and rig them up in CTA.
Also managed to get a lovely little threepage script written, developed a system for getting props out of sketchup with shadows half opaque, shored up about half my voice actors and just this eve managed to get 10 seconds of animation largely complete. Im heading down the right road I thinks.
I would like to complete and post this by end of August - the video views/popularity criteria means I will need at least a month to get someone to watch my movie (in case your wondering why Im posting a production thread...well, it's to get you to hopefully watch my movie if and when it gets released.)
Im also hoping to release the characters and props after the release either as freebies or on the supercheap for anyone who might have an interest. All the characters are created by me but the hands/arms legs/feet are from the orange character from RL. I wonder if this will be an issue. I suppose I could make my own if push came to shove.
My biggest issue right now is what to use as the background. All of my shots will be using a wooden table/bar texture that will cover 3/4 of the screen littered with various sushi bar prps. However, the background is blank for now. Sushi restaraunt stills? Sushi bar chef videos? A simple blue/grey gradient. As yet Im at a loss.
Anywho, thanks for listening. More in the near future.
This is a great idea! It helps users, like me, in how a production is put together. (I'm more in the category of "I have an idea, but....").
Thanks for posting!!!
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By Raven2angel - 15 Years Ago
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I like the characters :) They look like fun.
Good luck with your movie.
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By thebiz.movies - 15 Years Ago
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Thanks for the show of support Raven, Sjones and Kurzal.
Here is a little screeny from one of the latest scenes. Ronin kicks back in his soy sauce sauna enjoying some Sake and getting his drink on.
Here you see an example of using just the plain background (here blue). I've got an idea for having two distinct areas. The good section having nice sushi props (teakettle, teacups, chopsticks ect.) and a blue background while the bad sushi area would have bad sushi props (forks, salt and pepper, ashtray, spilled asahi bottle) and a yellow background. Still I worry the backgrounds are too plain. Ever vigilantly hashing it out.
Another issue with this scene is that of having Ronin drink from the sake cup. Currently I have a sloppy motion and then a drunken look (its only a 3-4 second scene). To sell the drinking of sake I think I'm going to have to make a second um..sprite (?) of the cup being upturned when he takes a drink. Just thinking out loud.
Otherwise, animations are going ok. For the most part I'm using the key editor over the puppetry editor. This requires me to set up the poses (face and body) and let the program interpret the middle (occasionally adding a frame in the middle to get what I want). Timing is very important doing it this way. Rarely do I set a motion too fast but often they are too slow. Mix this in with some zany camera work (it is kung fu theater after all) and its developing nicely.
Speaking of the camera, I suffered from the same malady in CTA that I originally did in Iclone. That is wanting to set up the scene and then get all the scenery in the shot. Once I reminded myself its all about the actors and started getting the actors closer and the shots much tighter and closeup, things started looking pretty solid. CTA shines with face animations anyway so good to focus on faces.
More later (mayhaps a little Voice Actor introduction...I hope)
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By thebiz.movies - 15 Years Ago
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After treading through the warehouse for many an hour I think I've managed a solution for at least half my sets. I found a japanese restaurant set that I liked, stripped out the elements I wanted (chairs, tables, pictures on the wall), recreated the interior in IClone and then shot my backdrops. However, instead of importing them as backdrops, I imported them as a prop so that they would move with the camera. Here is one of the backdrops.
This is a nice solution for a couple of reasons. I can now use multiple angles in a scene. For instance I can have the sushi walk across the shot and then show a front facing closeup on the sushi using the other angle. The other advantage to creating it in iClone is I could animate the set if I want (place some people in the background or whatnot) and I'm now envisioning a (iClone created) tracking shot through a sushi restaurant window to open the scene. We shall see.
So now Im on the lookout for a suitable Sushi Bar.
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By thebiz.movies - 15 Years Ago
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Work progresses on this little production. I've filled out my Iclone set and now have four angled backgrounds (front, back left and right) for a table in a sushi restaurant. I can use stills or have patrons in the background of a video as shown below (this is the front angle). Sorry, I haven't posed any of the actors. This scene hasnt been animated yet. Just setting things up.
Interestingly, I set up my lighting and shadows and had some nice HDR effects in the Iclone scene but then found that the more realistic results contrasted badly with the characters and ended up settling on a flat look in Iclone to match the CTA scene. I also played around with depth of field thinking I would blur the background a bit to put all the focus in the foreground CTA characters but in the end I liked the clear flat look the best.
Last night I had some success creating a multi sprite prop for the sake cup shown in a previous post. This allowed me to attach the prop to the character (so that the hand could be placed on top of the prop layer) and then easily switch the prop image from regular cup to upturned cup during the drinking motion. Success!
Next, the ever talented, smart and handsome Kurzal created a groovy video tutorial to help me figure out how to get assets out of iclone and into CTA with transparent backgrounds. I had never used the popvideo export feature thinking you had to have some kind of popvideo software installed to use it but it worked a treat and I managed to get some fire effects into CTA easy peasy. Big thanks to Kurzal for sharing the knowledge.
Finally, it has been suggested that my feature may not be eligible for the contest as I chose to spend hours drawing my sushi instead of stealing a picture of sushi from the internet, er I mean photographing it myself. I will have to check on this detail. If that's the case I still have room for a luckycat (the waving paw kitty statue you find in many Asian restaurants) character that could be photographed, boned (is that the correct term here?) and inserted into a 5 second scene. Hopefully that will cover me. I tend to think this is a rather silly requirement. Sushi is an everyday type of item as much as an apple or what not and whether it is drawn or photographed shouldn't make all that much difference. Especially when the second paragraph in the main contest page says:
"Create actors from photographs or illustrations, and bring them to life with automatic facial & body fitting editors."
Yes, it refers to the functionality of the software but its still there on the contest page to add to my confusion. So we shall see.
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By thebiz.movies - 15 Years Ago
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The voice acting phase of the project is almost complete and Im hoping to tell you all about my wonderfull voice actors soon. In the meantime Ive been working on my sushibar set in Sketchup and Iclone. Here's an early render. Still needs dishes and a sushi chef. Anyone seen a sushi chef around?
Most of the scene will go unseen as the action will be taking place on the bar itself. However a side angle may show a customer at the end of the bar. Lighting here will probably also be flat as in the sushi restaurant screeny.
Oh, and I received word that I need not have a photograph of my everyday item so hurrah! I'm still eligible.
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By colour - 15 Years Ago
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I'm already beginning to enjoy this. Although the thought of eating raw fish makes me blanche:sick:. You going to add a microwave, by any chance?;)
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By Raven2angel - 15 Years Ago
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You seem to be making good progress with the production. It all looks great :)
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By thebiz.movies - 15 Years Ago
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Thanks Raven and Colour and I hope my movie wont make too many people queasy.
Time to announce my fabulous voice actors!
Act3Scene24 will play the part of the Spicy Tuna Roll. Jorge is a super talented fellow responsible for The Clarks and the Little Pablo series as well as one of my favorite productions of this last year, The Big Event. He has quickly become one of the best voice actors in the community and his sly stylings are perfect for this role. I guarantee a smile when you hear him smooth talk the pickled ginger.
GoofParade will play the role of the villianous Salmon Sushi. Marc (GP) has been in just about every major feature Ive made because he is the best of the best and Im greedy. My favorite GP role is that of Caviar Alejandro Bellesante in which he brought to life a wonderfully smooth talking latin lover. GP always exceeds my expectations but he blew the lid off in that one. He's also a karaoke God as can be seen in one of my GP favorites Macarthur Park Butchered Edition. In Sushi Ronin he is channeling some classic kung fu villians.
Lizard will play the role of the wise and ill fated Master Tuna Handroll. Lizard's Coming Home was one of the seminal Iclone features combining an excellent story with stunning production values. His production thread for that feature opened the eyes of more than a few people (myself included) to the abilities of Iclone. Additionally, Lizards deep voice has been known to weaken the knees of many a fair lady. Lizard diabolically provided me with two very different but equally awesome takes on Master HandRoll, making me choose between them. Maybe I should have made him a villian.
Dulci will play the dual role of the Edamame Twins. Dulci is a pillar of the community and responsible for her own wonderfull works including the stylish Complication and the suprising toilet humor of ExLax. And I won her over by telling her she was the first person I think of when I think of creepy soybeans.
As ever I will bring up ther rear playing the roles of pickled Ginger (not much of a role Im afraid, more of a giggle) and Zen Wasabi. Kid Millions is likely to play the role of the Roe Men if he can find the time in his busy schedule (in between naps and eating ice cream).
So there you go. Ive recieved all the lines and I can say with utter sincerity that they are all excellent. Im really looking forward to seeing them in action.
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By colour - 15 Years Ago
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You've already won, IMO. I'm LMAO, here:D:D:D
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By sjonesdc - 15 Years Ago
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Very nice scene!!!
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By Dulci - 15 Years Ago
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It's been my lifelong dream to play peapod twins...thanks Biz, for making my dream a reality! ;)
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By BiggsTrek - 15 Years Ago
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I find everything about this movie both disturbing and disgusting. Therefore, I am looking forward to it immensely!
:w00t:
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By thebiz.movies - 15 Years Ago
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I thought you might be excited that I mentioned Exlax in your oeuvre (big words) Dulci but perhaps that goes without saying. And speaking of disturbing/disgusting Biggstrek...
I am a sketchup creator of limited skills. I know the basics and can google whatever problems Im having most of the time. I really only create a model when its either a very specific variant of something available in 3dWarehouse or not available in the first place. So I needed a bottle of Kikkoman Soy Sauce like you find in Sushi Restaurants. One was not available. I managed to make this:
of which I am quite proud. Its not perfect (note the dip in the bottle midway down) but its solid and I managed to add the texture nicely. This is probably my best model to date (my sketchup page is here if you were so inclined...of more interest may be my collections which can be found here, here and here..some useful stuff in there). So propped up by false belief in my own abilities I set out to make a asian soup spoon. One of those sexy ladels with a flat bottom and luxuriously curved handle. And I ended up making this:
What is it? Well...something you might find in Gene Simmons bathroom I suppose. For full amusement I downloaded a catfish model and attached it to the mouth. Cause you know...a catfish is a bottom feeder. Who knows, maybe Ill use this model one day. You should probably hope I don't.
As for the soup spoon, I decided to leave it alone for fear of what else I might end up with.
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By thebiz.movies - 15 Years Ago
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Time for The Sushi Ronin Screeny of the Week!
Master Dies.
I've hit the halfway mark in this production with all the action sequences still in front of me. Much to do. Little time.
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By mark - 15 Years Ago
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[quote]thebiz.movies (8/1/2011)
Time for The Sushi Ronin Screeny of the Week!
Master Dies.
WOW! Now that's what I'm talkin' about :P
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By Capemedia - 15 Years Ago
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Looking good :)
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By thebiz.movies - 15 Years Ago
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Thanks for the support Cape and Mark.
And now its time for The Sushi Ronin Screeny of the Week!
"Welcome to our little party Ronin!"
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By thebiz.movies - 15 Years Ago
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Time again for The Sushi Ronin Screeny of the Week!
"He went that away!" implies the only non-speaking character in the flick - The Maneki Neko (beckoning cat)
1.5 fight scenes left (one is halfway done), then an ending, some credits and sound design and Ill wrap. I probably wont make the deadline but I had a month to spare so it should be all good (especially with the extended deadline). I also found out that the 2011 Machinexpo is accepting Crazytalk Animator entrees so I'm hoping to submit this there as well.
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By colour - 15 Years Ago
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Hey, Biz - I hope there's going to be an On line Democratic vote. This is one of the funniest production's I've ever seen - In fact, it's hilarious. It appeals to my & I guess many others, especially Mark's;), sense of humo(u)rs.:D:D:D
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By thebiz.movies - 15 Years Ago
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Thanks Colour. Im glad it is of note for some folk. Newswise, I went on vacation to the Outer Banks and got a little bit of Sushi Ronin work done amid some boogie boarding and sand castle building. Eventually we were evacuated and went back home to Brooklyn only to find this rain storm had followed us home. Tonight we shall see if Irene is a tease or the real thing (but she did manage to shut down the transit system which is unheard of). Im a little sad tropical depression Harvey didnt pan out but hey, what can you do. Anywho Im short only the last scene and the end credits and a couple of days worth of sound design. Soon me thinks! Perhaps a week.
Unfortunately my computer has been acting up a lot recently. I had similar issues about a year ago and they nearly made me throw in the towel on machinima productions so lets hope I can get it sorted quickly this time. I'm kinda wondering if FLStudio (music software) reacts badly to reallusion software as the last time I had issues I had just installed the latest version of FL studio and similarly this time as well.
And now its time for
The Sushi Ronin Screeny of the Week!
"Go Get Some Boys"
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By mark - 15 Years Ago
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Hang in there Biz! Hope all is well after the storm.:)
As for the production I'm a bit of a "Crab Roll" myself but I'm still pumped to see what you come up with :P:P:P
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By colour - 15 Years Ago
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I'm a bit of a "Crab Roll" myself Is that "Roll", as in "Gait", Mark?;)
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By thebiz.movies - 15 Years Ago
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It is begun...actually it is done. Huzzah! Click the release poster to go to TMU and view my entry. I'll embed it in this thread in the next few days. Hope you folks enjoy. 
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By colour - 15 Years Ago
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thebiz.movies (8/31/2011)
It is begun...actually it is done. Huzzah! Click the release poster to go to TMU and view my entry. I'll embed it in this thread in the next few days. Hope you folks enjoy.
LMAO, here, Biz:D:D:D:D Given it a very quick run-through. Need more time to "Digest";) the subleties.
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By thebiz.movies - 15 Years Ago
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As promised, heres the embeded video. Hope you likey!
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By Illustrator Cathy - 15 Years Ago
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Brilliant work Dude! I hope you win the contest! :w00t:
Cathy :hehe:
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By mark - 15 Years Ago
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Just the best...in all aspects!:D GREAT JOB EVERYBODY!!!!!! :D
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By Capemedia - 15 Years Ago
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Nice stuff :)
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By thebiz.movies - 15 Years Ago
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Thanks a lot for your kind words Cape, Mark, Cathy and Colour. I enjoyed making it and Im glad you guys enjoyed it!
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By animagic - 15 Years Ago
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I just watched it. Well done, Biz! And good luck with the contest! A bit of a sad end, though...:crying:
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By mellormedia - 15 Years Ago
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Well tasty production, most enjoyable, regards, mAD mELLOR mAN
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By thebiz.movies - 15 Years Ago
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All things end badly when you're sushi Animagic. Thanks for the kind words from you and mellormedia. Glad you enjoyed it.
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By thebiz.movies - 15 Years Ago
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The kind folks at the Machinima Expo have decided to include Sushi Ronin in their screening reel for the 2011 Machinima Expo! This makes me happy as this is what I consider the premier event in our community. Being included on the screening reel is an honor for me. Huzzah!
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By WarLord - 15 Years Ago
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Congrats Biz! Well deserved.
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By sjonesdc - 15 Years Ago
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Congratulations!
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By colour - 15 Years Ago
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Congratulations, Biz. Very well-deserved:)
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By mark - 15 Years Ago
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Way to go Biz!!! That's the Big Time !!!:)
Watch out for that Red Carpet :P:P:P
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