General Chat

[Dont_Tell_Taco_Tyrant]

Anyone else want to spin the wheel?

 

Speaking of source filmmaker, this is what I'm doing today:

 

 

Thats footage from Soul Calibur 3 that I baked into an image pane and am transcribing into .dmx animations. In other words, I'm copying animation from the game moves.

 

My goal is to become the next Monty Oum eventually grab every cool looking move from this game, DoA2:H, anything from the PS2 era that I can emulate (legitimately!) and record. Suggestions are welcome--its easiest if the game has a practice mode which can demonstrate the move for you.

 

Also, I made my first prop:

 

 

I'm proud of the modeling, but as you can see, I know nothing about texturing. Spy wants his old revolver back. (Full disclosure: the prop is based off Weiss Schnee's weapon in RWBY)

 

Lastly, here are my first 95% custom source character models. They are Michael Jones and Gavino Free's Minecraft avatars (Banjo the bear and a creeper, respectively) having it out in front of a monolith. They are 95% custom because I used the ValveBiped skeleton to rig them, rather than reinvent the wheel, but I made the geometry myself. You'll notice that I actually deviated from the true Minecraft character proportions because I thought this looked better:

 

[Jeb_CC]

Very cool! But please use spoilers. :3 Pictures and Accursed Farms don't seem to agree. X3 Sorry for sounding moderator like. I was actually a moderator on another forum, so. Practice makes habit I guess.

Meanwhile, I've been playing Skyrim and laughing my head off at a few things.

First off; enjoy this beautiful sunrise. :3

 

 

I was walking along with my horse to Riften and I came across a few deranged hunters. My horse looks so chill about this. XD

 

 

Walking along in the Thief Guild and I found my Guild Mate browsing a selection of cheese. Made me giggle. He looks so warped up and concentrated on his choices. XP

 

 

Lastly. I had a wedding, and after I said; "I do" everyone was like; "WELP. WEDDING'S OVER." Even my fucking husband left. Look at them, scrambled up at the door ready to leave so quickly. This explains my friends. In Skyrim and sadly sometimes IRL. Sad story.

 

 

[Blightmare]

Lastly. I had a wedding, and after I said; "I do" everyone was like; "WELP. WEDDING'S OVER." Even my fucking husband left. Look at them, scrambled up at the door ready to leave so quickly. This explains my friends. In Skyrim and sadly sometimes IRL. Sad story.

 

The last time I got married in Skyrim, a bunch of dawnguard attacked and murdered my spouse right in the middle of the ceremony.

[BTGBullseye]

Sorry for sounding moderator like. I was actually a moderator on another forum, so. Practice makes habit I guess.

This forum is full of once-moderators... It helps keep the spam out.

 

 

anwy2MPT5RE

 

[Srake]

This is the reason that this forum shall never fall. Behind every blade of grass hides a user who can moderate oneself.

[Psychotic Ninja]

Anyone else want to spin the wheel?

 

Speaking of source filmmaker, this is what I'm doing today:

 

 

Thats footage from Soul Calibur 3 that I baked into an image pane and am transcribing into .dmx animations. In other words, I'm copying animation from the game moves.

 

My goal is to become the next Monty Oum eventually grab every cool looking move from this game, DoA2:H, anything from the PS2 era that I can emulate (legitimately!) and record. Suggestions are welcome--its easiest if the game has a practice mode which can demonstrate the move for you.

 

Also, I made my first prop:

 

 

I'm proud of the modeling, but as you can see, I know nothing about texturing. Spy wants his old revolver back. (Full disclosure: the prop is based off Weiss Schnee's weapon in RWBY)

 

Lastly, here are my first 95% custom source character models. They are Michael Jones and Gavino Free's Minecraft avatars (Banjo the bear and a creeper, respectively) having it out in front of a monolith. They are 95% custom because I used the ValveBiped skeleton to rig them, rather than reinvent the wheel, but I made the geometry myself. You'll notice that I actually deviated from the true Minecraft character proportions because I thought this looked better:

 

 

This. This is what I want to do. However, work keeps on getting in the way, usually leaving me drained. I haven't had the proper time to learn Maya LT. I'm not sure if I want to focus on animation, or modeling. Gah! I need help. I need motivation, I need support, I need another human with me supporting me, motivating me, encouraging me, and gah! I need to go to the vent thread...

[Blightmare]

Lately I've been thinking about continuing my education into more specialized programming. Only issue is it's either high-end Universities, such as USC, UCI, or UCLA or going out of state. Now I'm not opposed to the idea of going to any of those 3 but that's really expensive, and I'm not sure if I qualify since it's got a GPA requirement. The only affordable alternative I could find was still not entirely cheap, the Vancouver Film School(they have a game programming course) but that could be expensive on it's own because I'd be going out of country on my own for a year. AT least locally I could make use of the metro systems and not need to pay apartment rent.

[Sgt.Mays]

Anyone else want to spin the wheel?

 

 

Lastly, here are my first 95% custom source character models. They are Michael Jones and Gavino Free's Minecraft avatars (Banjo the bear and a creeper, respectively) having it out in front of a monolith. They are 95% custom because I used the ValveBiped skeleton to rig them, rather than reinvent the wheel, but I made the geometry myself. You'll notice that I actually deviated from the true Minecraft character proportions because I thought this looked better:

 

.

 

Looks like Ray(BrownMan) dropped a rose.

[Adam Stryker]

Hey guys, its be awhile! Glad to be back. I had a system error here on my end and lost everything but pics, music, and important stuff. I owe my digital life to Western Digital external hard disk. I forgot to back up my bookmarks so I forgot how to get back here.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Hey guys, its be awhile! Glad to be back. I had a system error here on my end and lost everything but pics, music, and important stuff. I owe my digital life to Western Digital external hard disk. I forgot to back up my bookmarks so I forgot how to get back here.

Welcome back! Glad to see an old member again!

[Psychotic Ninja]

Hey guys, its be awhile! Glad to be back. I had a system error here on my end and lost everything but pics, music, and important stuff. I owe my digital life to Western Digital external hard disk. I forgot to back up my bookmarks so I forgot how to get back here.

 

Seeing your avatar reminds me of this.

[Dont_Tell_Taco_Tyrant]

This. This is what I want to do. However, work keeps on getting in the way, usually leaving me drained. I haven't had the proper time to learn Maya LT. I'm not sure if I want to focus on animation, or modeling. Gah! I need help. I need motivation, I need support, I need another human with me supporting me, motivating me, encouraging me, and gah! I need to go to the vent thread...

 

Are you familiar with the marshmallow experiment?

 

It was that behavioral experiment done in the 60's to try and study will-power. The researcher would interview a very young child and make them an offer: they could eat one marshmallow now, or two marshmallows if they could wait five minutes. The children who toughed it out for the five minutes and got the two marshmallows were said to innately understand delayed gratification, and this was a strong predictor for that child's future success. Not only would that child have the wherewithal to achieve stuff, but they had higher self-esteem and were less susceptible to addictions and dependencies because they had control over their brain's reward mechanism.

 

As you might guess, the proximity of the temptation (eating the one marshmallow) affected the results--in other words, if the kid had to wait the five minutes with that one marshmallow right there next to them, daring them to give in and fail, the number of successes went way down.

 

The interesting thing is the difference between the successful kids and the indulgers, because that difference was not some natural blessing, but just decisionmaking: The kids who successfully waited out for the two marshmallows minimized their contact with the temptation to give up. They would hide their faces or stand in a corner, anything to take their mind off of how much they wanted that marshmallow. The kids who stared at the marshmallow, drinking in its every detail and imagining how good it would taste (this was the 60's, they didn't have anything better) ended up giving in.

 

So! The moral of this story is: if your problem is distractions and procrastination, no amount of free time is going to help.

 

I have a friend who has always been interested in Tai Chi Quan but has never gotten around to it. Recently, he got cut down to half time at work and started getting by on Social Security, thereby letting him make a living on a 20 hour workweek. I bought him a Tai Chi video as a birthday present, and six months later, he has still not found the time to watch it even once.

 

However, as soon as that same friend leaves his home sanctum, the TV and video games, and goes to the local Aikido dojo to train with other enthusiasts, he is the undisputed #1 student in his class. No one practices as diligently or applies himself so hard to mastering the nuances of a very demanding curriculum as this guy. This is a constant, regardless of what kind of workday he had--in fact, he once told me that the more stressful his day was, the more he looked forward to sweating it all out in the dojo.

 

I bring this up because its an example of someone removing themselves from the temptation at home. In a dojo environment, this guy was free to focus on his goal because its a miniature world with nothing else in it, where he can go and hide from his personal temptations and distractions.

 

Here is the same advice, reiterated by a self-employed writer I know:

 

 

Now, being your own boss means you have to act like a boss. Accept that there are (at least) three of you living inside your head, now, whenever you're at home. There's Home You, there's Employee You, and there's Boss You. There used to be just Home You, so this will take some transition. Getting into Employee You and staying there means having a strict Boss You, and making sure Home You doesn't interfere.

 

The best thing you can do is carefully distinguish between work and home spacetime. When you're at work, you need to be at work, not at home. That means you don't do anything that you would while you're at home, or could do at home. Don't have the TV on. Don't have toys or games around you. Your office or desk (or whatever) is not in your home, it's in your workplace. If you can close a door to block out the rest of your home, do that during work hours. If you have roommates or a live-in significant other, they need to know that you're at work when the door is closed, and they aren't allowed to ask you for anything that you couldn't do if you were actually in an office building somewhere. Just because you're at home doesn't mean you're home. You're at work doing work and Home You doesn't exist until you leave your office.

 

Now, the next thing you need to do is manage your time effectively. Start each day taking care of Home You types of stuff, anything pressing that might distract you later. Have a nice breakfast. Make your bed. Take a shower. Get dressed in your work clothes or any clothes you're going to want to wear later on after work (don't just work in your pajamas). Look around the place for anything that needs to be taken care of, like bills, laundry, doing the dishes, whatever. Do it immediately, but keep an eye on the clock and don't be late for work.

 

Which brings me to my next point, work hours. You need to, as Boss You, come up with a work schedule that Employee You can agree to. Boss You has to be reasonable, but practical. You need to do x hours of work a day, in order to accomplish y goals a day, thus achieving all of your project in z days. Factor in the inevitable interruptions, and account for unexpected difficulties and delays. As a writer, metrics are somewhat easy. I know what word count I need to achieve, and how much research I need to do first. I anticipate how much additional research I need to do during a project as I go along, and I factor in the fact that sometimes I'll just have writer's block, or be bored, or otherwise not accomplish my usual words per minute. A lot of this comes from experience, so in the beginning, plan out your work schedule conservatively. What I originally thought I could do, I could not do. I could do maybe half. With time and experience, I was able to adjust my expected work downwards, and raise my actual work upwards, and work longer hours to start. Since then, I've raised my actual work considerably, up to what I originally hoped to accomplish. So be conservative to start, and Boss You can renegotiate and adjust Employee You's schedule accordingly. It does get easier to plan your time.

 

Now, once Boss You has created your work schedule, Boss You needs to convince Employee You that it's reasonable, and get Employee You to agree to it. Boss You needs to present the facts clearly, explain the methodology used to create the schedule, and then threaten Employee You with unemployment if Employee You doesn't follow the schedule. This sounds a bit ridiculous, but bear with me here. You see, Boss You is smarter than Employee You. Employee You just wants to revert to Home You, which due to your self-employment, is so easy to become at any moment. While you're Employee You, you can't be Boss You, so Boss You needs to make sure Employee You understands what Boss You demands while Boss You isn't around. Do this with physical reminders. Boss You should print out your schedule, print out checklists or reminders, and then post them around your workplace. That way, when Employee You decides to open that door and walk out of the office, there's a big schedule there on the door explaining Employee You's responsibilities, turning Employee You back. If Employee You is not a very good employee, and needs more micro-mangagement, get aggressive. Boss You should post sticky notes that say stuff like "I'm smarter than you" and "this is for your own good". These will remind Employee You that the Boss knows what he's doing. This is a trick I learned in college, putting a note on my alarm clock for those early morning classes. When I went to hit the snooze button or turn my alarm off entirely to skip class, I saw the note, knew a clearer-thinking, more awake version of myself had set my alarm for a good reason, and that I should obey it or the smarter more awake version of myself would be in trouble the next time I was him. Sometimes Employee You will act like Asleep You, having significantly less regard for consequences than Boss You does. Something as simple as a note telling you it's for your own good can remind you that even if Employee You doesn't think so in the moment, a smarter more rational version of yourself knows that it is. You don't need to summon up motivation every minute of every day, you just need to know that a motivated version of you exists and will be coming back later to check on your work.

 

So what should your schedule look like? I can't tell you, only Boss You can. But I can tell you some of the things that should be on it. You should spend, every so often, five minutes to take a break. Imagine you worked at a real office building. You'd go down to the break room and grab a cup of coffee, chat with a co-worker in the next cubicle over on your way back from the bathroom, or even just send out a personal email. For your own five minute breaks at home, do something fun and personal. Shoot off an email to your mommy. Scan a news site for headlines. Play a quick round of some game. Hold yourself to only five minutes. Additionally, you should have a few two minute breaks. These breaks are for going to get a glass of water from the kitchen sink, a trip to the bathroom, or just a quick stretch while you look out a window. You want to shut your brain down for a couple minutes, get a change of scenery, and then return to work afterwards. I can't tell you how often you should do these, or how many of these you should take. Try not to make them too frequent, or too rare. Make sure you're not working so long and so hard that you get burnt out, at any stretch. Which brings me to my last point on schedule, you want to break up your work into interesting, diverse areas. Don't grind away at a single task for your entire work day. Split up your time into two, three, or four segments, where you work on something different. Spend the first couple hours writing. Then switch to some additional research. Then go and do some editing or read over what you've written. Even if you're working on a single project, try to find different tasks within it that give you some variety.

 

Okay, so when do you break your schedule? If you need to work late to finish something up, only do so if you're not in danger of getting burnt out. If you are, come back to it later in the day, after some some Home You time. Plan a second work period perhaps that evening, and keep it short. Just as it's important to keep Home You out of your workday, you should try to keep Employee You out of your home time. Don't work extra hours unless you are highly motivated to do so, and it won't cause you to postpone important home life stuff. Remember, if you fail to complete your tasks for the day, Boss You can always revise your schedule to make sure everything gets done by whatever deadlines you have. If you find yourself completing your tasks early, on the other hand, you should ask Boss You for some extra work. Summon him, and have him provide you with a bit more work, that Boss You thinks can get done in the remaining time. Every so often, give yourself the freedom to go home early, for morale. But Boss You knows that if you finish everything up days ahead of schedule instead of a few hours here and there, you'll get a lot more out of your free time on those extra days.

 

 

If animation is really what you want, then structure it like a second job--make a not-too-comfortable workspace somewhere that you can be seen and called out if you start surfing the internet (if you even need internet), and ideally, this would be in a different room than where you relax.

 

If you don't have the luxury of a second room, here's a trick I learned when I lived in a roach motel to simulate that environmental change: I had to make do with the same desk and computer for both work and play, so when it was time to work, I got dressed in work clothes, hung up blue curtains everywhere, opened the window, turned on one set of lights and put on shoes. After a while, you train yourself to respond to those visual cues with a more businesslike mentality, and to this day, I still have a pair of home-shoes that I put on, Mr. Rogers like, when I need to get something done around the house. Socks are for relaxing.

 

Long story short, don't stare at the marshmallows.

 

PS: I was thinking about starting some kind of source filmmaker online group. Its probably not going to be the same as having an RL wingman, but if I do, you're welcome to join

[K4_Kydure]

Sorry for sounding moderator like. I was actually a moderator on another forum, so. Practice makes habit I guess.

This forum is full of once-moderators... It helps keep the spam out.

Same here, however I'm still a moderator else where. In fact it really bugs me to keep seeing inactive bot accounts popping in the birthday bar at the bottom of the forum.

 

I was thinking about starting some kind of source filmmaker online group. Its probably not going to be the same as having an RL wingman, but if I do, you're welcome to join

I'm interested, I've never liked having to somehow befriend a big name who knows what they're doing when they only accept others who know what they're doing.

[Psychotic Ninja]

Sorry for sounding moderator like. I was actually a moderator on another forum, so. Practice makes habit I guess.

This forum is full of once-moderators... It helps keep the spam out.

Same here, however I'm still a moderator else where. In fact it really bugs me to keep seeing inactive bot accounts popping in the birthday bar at the bottom of the forum.

 

I was thinking about starting some kind of source filmmaker online group. Its probably not going to be the same as having an RL wingman, but if I do, you're welcome to join

I'm interested, I've never liked having to somehow befriend a big name who knows what they're doing when they only accept others who know what they're doing.

 

I'm game.

[BTGBullseye]

If anyone ends up needing another pair of eyes to look at coding or give ideas, you know how to contact me. I may not know the coding, but I have taught myself various coding types (basic, visual basic, LUA, C++, multiple game specific coding, most of these I have since forgotten) just by looking though usable code, and using a bit of logic.

[Dont_Tell_Taco_Tyrant]

I was thinking about starting some kind of source filmmaker online group. Its probably not going to be the same as having an RL wingman, but if I do, you're welcome to join

I'm interested, I've never liked having to somehow befriend a big name who knows what they're doing when they only accept others who know what they're doing.

 

I'm game.

 

Hi guys,

 

A little bit ago you guys mentioned that an animating group sounded fun. I considered starting it here, but then kind of figured that it would be seen as redundant when you consider the subforums specifically dedicated to source and machinima.

 

However, another community I belong to is Rooster Teeth, and on there I found a filmmaking group who desperately wants members producing content. I contacted them and asked if they would be willing to accomodate animators, and was very specific that the reason for asking was to have a ...well, a "home" for lack of a better word. Somewhere people could get moral and practical support as they undertake their animation efforts. The guys were very excited about the prospect of animators making awesome Saxxy-winning films in their group, and I'm sure they will be great hosts.

 

If you guys are still interested in spite of it being on another site, you can find the group here. RT is home to a huge number of aspiring animators, so I think this is the best community to meet everyone's needs.

 

I go by 'Cigarette' in that forum. Note that this group originally geared itself towards working together on live-action short films--they get together in Austin, TX every year and film, voice act, all kinds of stuff. DON'T worry that you've been misdirected if the forum talks about live action filming stuff. Just mention that you are here for the animation and you will be welcomed.

 

Hope to see you guys there!

[Jeb_CC]

Does anyone else think about a scenario that isn't true, and just accidentally make themself sad? X3

I've been thinking, what if my boyfriend disappeared. It sounds real "original" and all, but I really would not be able to go on. He's my ticket out of my abusive family, and he's the most gorgeous person. If he disappeared, I'd be stuck. Sure I'd find love again. But not the chance to leave. So yeah. Now I'm sad for thinking of something that isn't true.

[Vapymid]

Knock 3 times on something wooden - that's another old Russian superstitious thing to ward off bad luck (but, in fact, is simply to make one feel better about something).

 

Regards

[BTGBullseye]

Does anyone else think about a scenario that isn't true, and just accidentally make themself sad? X3

I've been thinking, what if my boyfriend disappeared. It sounds real "original" and all, but I really would not be able to go on. He's my ticket out of my abusive family, and he's the most gorgeous person. If he disappeared, I'd be stuck. Sure I'd find love again. But not the chance to leave. So yeah. Now I'm sad for thinking of something that isn't true.

Well, as I've said before, if you can get over here, you have a place to stay... No need to be locked there.

[Jeb_CC]

If worst comes to worse, I can always hook up with one of you guys. X3 You're a fun bunch so. Lovely people. But as of now, it's just me and my darling boyfriend!

 

Also... I had the WEIRDEST experience this morning. I came to school and leaned against my locker. I was watching the crowd, suddenly... It all seemed... Familiar. For at least 1 minute, I was pounded with scenarios that I SWEAR have happened before. Perhaps from a dream? Not sure. But it hit me so hard, I legit almost fainted. I felt EXTREMELY dizzy and everything around me didn't make sense. People talked to me and I could only mutter. I had to sit down for 2 minutes to recollect myself. It was so weird. @_@