[zogthedoomed]

CheesEV .. Sorry the movies won't be finished. This was part 2. Part 1 got to the stage of render tests for fx and I found a raytracing bug in hypervoxels that tech support never really got to the bottom of. It may be fixed in 7 and more recent versions but I'm still on LW 6.5 so can't confirm. But I left part 1 and thought part 2 would be a straight forward diversion while I waited for a fix. The final part 3 never got out of my head onto paper.

If you can't see the faults in your own work you're not going to improve on them and since these were done quite a while ago its even easier to criticise. At the end of the day, once a personal piece of work is finished/abandoned its only use is to fill out your portfolio and to remind you where you screwed up (or, when you look back on it, make you realise how much you've improved). The stuff you're learnt in the process is much more important than the work itself.

And as you get older (I'm a young and attractive 35 :-) your perspective changes. In 6 years time when XBox 3 is out, the stuff I've learnt doing the animation may be of some use in games but realistically these are just pics that took up time that would have been better spent with my wife and son.

[zogthedoomed]

icezAz,

Ugly? I kind of thought about him as normal. The way most soldiers are. An ordinary guy that'd rather be at home with his family than dieing in someone elses war. The three stories were all based during the retreat through Russia in 43/44 and no there was no political message in any of them. I'm just interested in the Eastern Front and doing an animation about something I'm interested in helped with my motivation.

The first story was on the Kalmuk Steppes. The one you see I thought of being in about March 43, around maybe Kharkov and the ideas I had for the third one would have placed it in a small Ukrainian village. He's escaping from the chaos and panic caused by the fall of Stalingrad. He's weaponless, not eaten or slept properly for weeks. If he doesn't get killed by the Russians he'll be executed by the MP's because he's lost his unit.

In the first he survives being almost crushed by a tank, in this one he survives being blown up and in the third he freezes to death. All very jolly family entertainment.

So while you may think of him as ugly, I think of him as used.

[zogthedoomed]

Philip,

Heres a sample of some of the layers that get used in AE. I'm trying to remember the order off the top of my head .. there's nothing revolutionary.
Back to front ..

D .. burnt out so you don't actually get to see alot of the detail.
E .. animated when rendered and dissplaced and twisted a bit in AE to fake some movement.
D .. another comp for the water reflection with the sky garbage masked out.
A .. this was for the background buildings.
G .. a layer of smoke between some buildings.
A masked with B .. to layer it over the smoke.
F .. the tank smoke
There was also some animated flames here but they got lost when I decided to crop the top and bottom.
A masked with C to put the tank infront of the smoke.
I can't remember if I used H which is a spec map.
Theres also another layer of full frame smoke blowing R-L but you don't see it until halfway through the pan.

Various layers are also duplicated for bloom etc..

[zogthedoomed]

Guys theres a bit of duplication here so if you also want to check out the Newtek forums theres some extra pics there. I got a bit carried away initially and flooded both so I'll post between the two.

Cheers and thanks.

[EsHrA]

well, i can see why u got carried away this stuff is just bloody good! (as i said in newtek forum too..hehe...)

man, u should do some game-levels with all these war games coming out lately...but dont forget ur kid and wife ...they are much more important than this computing-live....ahem...

i allready see myself wandering in your levels just enjoying myself with this pure piece of art.



Cheers,

-EsH-

[ptaverner]

OUTSTANDING work!

I have 3 year old triplet sons, and I only work on my personal 3D stuff when they're asleep. You can't get that time with them back.

Your work is amazing. I'm happy to hear you'll be spending more time with your children in this early stage of their life.

From one father to another
Peter

[quaoar]

holy crap.....that's all I have to say.......well maybe another one.... holy crap.