Pat does this mean the eventual Scud computer animation will be in 3-D??! Is this sill in the works by the way? I’ve been watching your Neuropolis blog on a regular basis but haven’t seen any updates or new scenes…so I figured you were busy with other projects (as you clearly deserve).
Well Rob and Scud fans I went to the NYC Comic Con on a mission to get artists to draw Scud and friends in my sketch book. I was going for a couple of big guns but they were booked as the cc was sold out this saturday! And I was really wishing by some miracle Rob would decide to fly out here to get some other coastly attention, but hell how much more can we ask from the guy… I’ll have to fly to San Diego if he ever does another comic con! So anyway I ended up getting some really good (although maybe not as well known- but also way less ridiculously priced) artists to draw some Scud characters. I was even lucky enough to get the artist of Perhapanauts (Craig Rousseau) to draw me a pick of werewolf armed Scud for free!
Shawn “Squirelman” Cier
Anyway I’ll take pics of the 6 sketches I collected and send them to Rob and maybe he’ll post a couple but I have to admit its hard to follow up Pat’s work!
Busy with paid work but still hoping to do more work on Scud. I’ve done some behind the scenes stuff, built new rigs, fixed up areas of the mesh I wasn’t happy with before, but it’s nothing I could really show to people and they’d be like “Oh, that’s new!” I keep wanting to dive into the animation but when I do, I don’t want it to be on top of other projects because I’ll rush through the animation like I did with my contest submission, and it won’t look very good.
I have been thinking about experimenting with 3D for the mini-series but I wouldn’t want it to be throughout because it’s a pain in the ass to wear the glasses for too long and obviously, not everybody is going to have a pair handy. I also don’t know if it would be possible or look as good in a cel-shaded style.
Hmmm, so do you make the whole thing and just convert it to cel shaded style with like the touch of a button or is it like an entire aditional process that you have to do frame by frame as you make it?
Nah, it’s not like I’m tracing over it frame by frame or anything. I guess cel-shading is sort of the flip of a button. But if I took this image right here and just turned on cel-shading, it would look exactly the same, but with outlines. There are different textures and shaders I have to put on the characters for proper cel-shading. Right now, I’m working on having two different versions of each character, one set up to render in the regular style and one set up to render cel-shaded. So that’s where the conversion comes in; it’s mostly just removing detail so it looks appropriately cartoony. The cel-shaded “look” is a different rendering process altogether, and is actually A LOT faster for the system to compute than the style here, hence why I’m going for it in the Broken Halo adaptation. But who knows, I’m thinking about going for a mixed media kinda vibe, and may render a few shots in the more “realistic” style for emphasis.
Thanks for posting this, by the way, Rob! Glad you dug it.
Can’t wait to go home and check this out. I love 3D. I’m glad it’s making a come back. I have like 9 pairs of glasses. You should throw in some B&W Ziptone scenes in your short… That’d be awesome.
That WOULD be pretty cool like if just the big fight scene was in 3-D!
So wait if i understand you right you can do the whole 1st episode in traditional computer animation and then with minimal effort -convert the entire thing to cell shaded? (To be honest I think the traditional CA is my favorite, it just seems more detailed…I like the textures and the shines, but I do agree that the cell shading is true-er to Robs original style)
but then if you wanted the cell shading to be 3-D that would be harder (then making the regular computer animation 3-D) cause things would have to change?
Would it be a huge pain to show us this picture in cell shaded 3-D?
I dont want to give you more work but g-damn i love this stuff…. its like exclamation points come out of my head whenever I see something posted with your name on it!
Has Jeff been put in Cell Shading or 3-D?
do you have any desktop sized shots of any scenes in cell shading yet?
If you have anything hanging around you that wouldnt mind forwarding to me the screen name is Squireiman@aol.com.
ok enough questions, i gotta wipe away some of this drool….
Rob I wasn’t sure if i addressed the email correctly, but i sent you the booty from my recent comic con visit…. did you get it? The Oswald is probably my favorite!
Wil: The Zip-a-Tone thing is one of the looks I’m going for.
Squirel: It would be more like one shot, maybe a few at most, so the viewer’s not obligated to be big geeks like us who just have retro 3D glasses lying around.
I could do it all in the regular 3D look, then convert to cel-shaded (I’d have to take out all the lights and add new ones too but whatever), but I wouldn’t. That look takes like five minutes per frame for my computer to render it and turn it into a video. Plus, a lot of time has to be spent on the detail and lighting or else it looks pretty crappy. Cel-shading really speeds everything up, which frees me up to be more concerned with the quality of the animation.
I don’t know if red/blue 3D would work cel-shaded because of the lack of detail and the outlines.
I don’t have any wallpaper-sized cel renders. The look isn’t finalized so I don’t want to do anything at that scale yet. But if I have time, I’ll see if I can make 3D work with the cel-shaded look.
The thing with doing this with cel-shading is that it kinda defeats the purpose. You’re going for a drawn look and it’s popping out at you. The mind doesn’t like it.
OH Great Pat! You spoil me with your riches! Much Awesomeness, and major appreciation! I cant get enough of this stuff, im like an addict! I wish my art students could do this I would make “making scud characters” a freakin project!
The New regular one in 3D is even better (3-D wise) then the one you gave Rob, and the cell shaded 3-D Scud is pretty damn awesome too (but youre right not quite as great as the regular ones). Jeff DID look awesome but youre right about the colors getting in the way…. i never thought of that before I guess somehow i never noticed it in my teenage 3D viewing experiences.
More appreciation! And admiration!
We are not worthy! We are NOT worthy!
I’m going to add these to my Shrine!
So is what youre working on top secret as usual? always interested because i know one day im going to ask and its going to be like dreamworks or pixar or something.
Also I dont want to ask for any more cause i know you have better things to do then to make a million awesome pictures for me, but when you get a cell shaded -non 3-D one of Jeff done, let me know, I’m most interested to see that!
PS. what you said in that last paragraph makes a lot of sense…i was comparing that pic to like old 3-D comics and i noticed that they seem more 3-D so as I’m trying to figure out why i realize theyre in black and white and then take another look at scud…. i wonder if the 3-D would work better if it were black and white? i dont know if thats worth the loss of color but it might be worth trying the next time you need a fix. Also the fact that they have a background really seems to help.
also when comparing to the non cell shaded to the cell shaded each piece seems to have its own dimension but the pieces are so flat without the regular computer animation’s shading (but im sure that was obvious to you -im just noting it).
Anyway i see the good in all these styles their just lots of different ways to show off the awesomeness of Scud.
Oh and lastly I guess Rob hasnt noticed my email (assuming he got it) from the comic con, if anyone is interested, just email me a request and ill forward you some sketches. squireiman@aol.com
By the way tomorrows my birthday, those Scud pics were the best gift so far, and i already got an Xbox lol! Ive been catching up with some old games and systems i missed (the first one i got was dreamcast to check out Scud, then N64 to catch up with mario, then i got a wii to catch up with mario alot more and now an X-box) Crazy taxi 3 is really fun though!
(in Awe!)........... Shib-by!
Pat does this mean the eventual Scud computer animation will be in 3-D??! Is this sill in the works by the way? I’ve been watching your Neuropolis blog on a regular basis but haven’t seen any updates or new scenes…so I figured you were busy with other projects (as you clearly deserve).
Well Rob and Scud fans I went to the NYC Comic Con on a mission to get artists to draw Scud and friends in my sketch book. I was going for a couple of big guns but they were booked as the cc was sold out this saturday! And I was really wishing by some miracle Rob would decide to fly out here to get some other coastly attention, but hell how much more can we ask from the guy… I’ll have to fly to San Diego if he ever does another comic con! So anyway I ended up getting some really good (although maybe not as well known- but also way less ridiculously priced) artists to draw some Scud characters. I was even lucky enough to get the artist of Perhapanauts (Craig Rousseau) to draw me a pick of werewolf armed Scud for free!
Shawn “Squirelman” Cier
Anyway I’ll take pics of the 6 sketches I collected and send them to Rob and maybe he’ll post a couple but I have to admit its hard to follow up Pat’s work!
Busy with paid work but still hoping to do more work on Scud. I’ve done some behind the scenes stuff, built new rigs, fixed up areas of the mesh I wasn’t happy with before, but it’s nothing I could really show to people and they’d be like “Oh, that’s new!” I keep wanting to dive into the animation but when I do, I don’t want it to be on top of other projects because I’ll rush through the animation like I did with my contest submission, and it won’t look very good.
I have been thinking about experimenting with 3D for the mini-series but I wouldn’t want it to be throughout because it’s a pain in the ass to wear the glasses for too long and obviously, not everybody is going to have a pair handy. I also don’t know if it would be possible or look as good in a cel-shaded style.
Hmmm, so do you make the whole thing and just convert it to cel shaded style with like the touch of a button or is it like an entire aditional process that you have to do frame by frame as you make it?
Nah, it’s not like I’m tracing over it frame by frame or anything. I guess cel-shading is sort of the flip of a button. But if I took this image right here and just turned on cel-shading, it would look exactly the same, but with outlines. There are different textures and shaders I have to put on the characters for proper cel-shading. Right now, I’m working on having two different versions of each character, one set up to render in the regular style and one set up to render cel-shaded. So that’s where the conversion comes in; it’s mostly just removing detail so it looks appropriately cartoony. The cel-shaded “look” is a different rendering process altogether, and is actually A LOT faster for the system to compute than the style here, hence why I’m going for it in the Broken Halo adaptation. But who knows, I’m thinking about going for a mixed media kinda vibe, and may render a few shots in the more “realistic” style for emphasis.
Thanks for posting this, by the way, Rob! Glad you dug it.
Can’t wait to go home and check this out. I love 3D. I’m glad it’s making a come back. I have like 9 pairs of glasses. You should throw in some B&W Ziptone scenes in your short… That’d be awesome.
That WOULD be pretty cool like if just the big fight scene was in 3-D!
So wait if i understand you right you can do the whole 1st episode in traditional computer animation and then with minimal effort -convert the entire thing to cell shaded? (To be honest I think the traditional CA is my favorite, it just seems more detailed…I like the textures and the shines, but I do agree that the cell shading is true-er to Robs original style)
but then if you wanted the cell shading to be 3-D that would be harder (then making the regular computer animation 3-D) cause things would have to change?
Would it be a huge pain to show us this picture in cell shaded 3-D?
I dont want to give you more work but g-damn i love this stuff…. its like exclamation points come out of my head whenever I see something posted with your name on it!
Has Jeff been put in Cell Shading or 3-D?
do you have any desktop sized shots of any scenes in cell shading yet?
If you have anything hanging around you that wouldnt mind forwarding to me the screen name is Squireiman@aol.com.
ok enough questions, i gotta wipe away some of this drool….
Rob I wasn’t sure if i addressed the email correctly, but i sent you the booty from my recent comic con visit…. did you get it? The Oswald is probably my favorite!
Wil: The Zip-a-Tone thing is one of the looks I’m going for.
Squirel: It would be more like one shot, maybe a few at most, so the viewer’s not obligated to be big geeks like us who just have retro 3D glasses lying around.
I could do it all in the regular 3D look, then convert to cel-shaded (I’d have to take out all the lights and add new ones too but whatever), but I wouldn’t. That look takes like five minutes per frame for my computer to render it and turn it into a video. Plus, a lot of time has to be spent on the detail and lighting or else it looks pretty crappy. Cel-shading really speeds everything up, which frees me up to be more concerned with the quality of the animation.
I don’t know if red/blue 3D would work cel-shaded because of the lack of detail and the outlines.
I don’t have any wallpaper-sized cel renders. The look isn’t finalized so I don’t want to do anything at that scale yet. But if I have time, I’ll see if I can make 3D work with the cel-shaded look.
Okay, technically, I didn’t have time but I felt like doing this way more.
Just another Scud “Look, I’m in 3D!” image: http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y112/videodrone5000/3D/Scud3DTest2.jpg
A quick Jeff test, just to see how the red/blue worked with all the different colors. It’s not great but I got pretty close. Red/blue 3D is limited in dealing with certain colors: http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y112/videodrone5000/3D/Jeff3DTest.jpg
And a cel-shaded Scud, which worked better than I thought it would but still not great: http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y112/videodrone5000/3D/ScudCel3DTest.png
The thing with doing this with cel-shading is that it kinda defeats the purpose. You’re going for a drawn look and it’s popping out at you. The mind doesn’t like it.
OH Great Pat! You spoil me with your riches! Much Awesomeness, and major appreciation! I cant get enough of this stuff, im like an addict! I wish my art students could do this I would make “making scud characters” a freakin project!
The New regular one in 3D is even better (3-D wise) then the one you gave Rob, and the cell shaded 3-D Scud is pretty damn awesome too (but youre right not quite as great as the regular ones). Jeff DID look awesome but youre right about the colors getting in the way…. i never thought of that before I guess somehow i never noticed it in my teenage 3D viewing experiences.
More appreciation! And admiration!
We are not worthy! We are NOT worthy!
I’m going to add these to my Shrine!
So is what youre working on top secret as usual? always interested because i know one day im going to ask and its going to be like dreamworks or pixar or something.
Also I dont want to ask for any more cause i know you have better things to do then to make a million awesome pictures for me, but when you get a cell shaded -non 3-D one of Jeff done, let me know, I’m most interested to see that!
-Shawn
PS. what you said in that last paragraph makes a lot of sense…i was comparing that pic to like old 3-D comics and i noticed that they seem more 3-D so as I’m trying to figure out why i realize theyre in black and white and then take another look at scud…. i wonder if the 3-D would work better if it were black and white? i dont know if thats worth the loss of color but it might be worth trying the next time you need a fix. Also the fact that they have a background really seems to help.
also when comparing to the non cell shaded to the cell shaded each piece seems to have its own dimension but the pieces are so flat without the regular computer animation’s shading (but im sure that was obvious to you -im just noting it).
Anyway i see the good in all these styles their just lots of different ways to show off the awesomeness of Scud.
Oh and lastly I guess Rob hasnt noticed my email (assuming he got it) from the comic con, if anyone is interested, just email me a request and ill forward you some sketches. squireiman@aol.com
By the way tomorrows my birthday, those Scud pics were the best gift so far, and i already got an Xbox lol! Ive been catching up with some old games and systems i missed (the first one i got was dreamcast to check out Scud, then N64 to catch up with mario, then i got a wii to catch up with mario alot more and now an X-box) Crazy taxi 3 is really fun though!
Beautiful stuff! 3D is a novelty that I am SUCH a sucker for
THIS is why I keep a pair of 3D glasses by my computer at all times. Excellent image!