I give Muvizu a try.

Hey all!

After my latest film, UA3 (work it out for yourselves... lol), I wanted to try something different.  A different Engine/software, actually.  I considered delving into LightWave, which I'd been given as part of my Expo Prize from 2011, but what caught my eye was Muvizu instead.

For those that don't know it, Muvizu is a 3D animation tool, based on the Unreal engine.  It has a particular "cartoony" style to it, which is cute, though it does kind of restrict the types of films you might want to make with it.  I must admit their latest updates with various Superhero characters look really cool, reminding me of Pixar's The Incredibles (one of my favourite animated films).

I installed it on my PC, which actually took a while as the download is huge (or just slow from their servers, possibly) but as easy as any software can be to install.  And when you start it up, you can load in some pre-built Sets from a small collection that comes with the software (and I later found you can also grab some other ones directly online, which expands the content considerably).

I fiddled with it a bit, but honestly didn't know what to do with it, nor how to use it.  Luckily for me, Muvizu has quite a collection of video Tutorials on their site, which explain in sufficient detail many of the functions and capabilities of the software.  So I sat down and watched a couple of the intro ones that explain the basics.  They are very well presented and extremely helpful.  The accent of the presenter is a little thick, so for people whose first language isn't English, they may have trouble understanding him (but I could be wrong.)

Still, I had no plans for what I wanted to use the software for.  Then a blindingly obvious idea came to me:  do another Empire Uncut scene!  (I've already done two in iClone.)  With that little epiphany, I went and grabbed a suitably easy scene (#17) that I could use to check out the software (and help complete the Empire Uncut project - which, for those in the dark, is the second such project where they take a Star Wars film, cut it into 15 second pieces, and crowd source the reconstruction of the entire film in a patchwork quilt kind of remake.  It's fun!)

So, I had my scene and thus a goal to achieve with Muvizu.  First thing I did was pick a Set.  Easily done as they supplied a nice little mad scientist lab that I thought looked appropriate for my needs.  Next was creating the characters (in this case, Han Solo and Princess Leia.)  I think this was my favourite part of the process.  It's very easy, and fun.  The options are pretty good, though not extensive.  I managed to come up with a couple of appropriate cartoon avatars that I then plopped down in the set.

Now I needed the characters to move.  Back to the tutorials I went!  The movement system is interesting, but clunky.  Pretty much everything in this software is "puppet" based, meaning I have to puppeteer the actions in some way (in real time).  I don't mind doing that for some things, but with others it's a pain.  In particular, making a character turn left at a certain point was very frustrating as I had to get the timing just right, clicking on the turn gadget and hoping I hit the right one.  I could alter things in the timeline a bit, but I felt it was awkward.

The scene called for dialogue between Han and Leia, and looking at the menus in Muvizu, I couldn't work out how to properly apply that dialogue (which I had pre-recorded and altered the pitch to match the cartoon appearance of the scene - hat tip to Scott Hather for the inspiration for the voices!)

I quickly watched the tutorials on lip synching, and it became obvious that the system wasn't particularly friendly.  It appears you can have only one audio file that you can lip synch a character to, so if you have multiple lines, you have to have them all in one file, and spaced appropriately to match your scene.  Not a good idea, not at all.  Makes it a pain to get timing right in the scene.  (And if I'm wrong on the process, please correct me!)

Lastly, I had to animate some props (in this case, sliding doors.)  I chose some door props and plopped them down in the Set and again floundered when it came to working out how to animate them on my own.  (Back to the tutorials I went!)  This is another poorly executed function (in my opinion) where you have to puppeteer the movement of objects.  For simple sideways movement like this, a keyframe system would have been 100 times easier.  After much frakking around, and lots of earth-based swear words, I had the doors moving appropriately.

Exporting/Rendering was easy.  The options are pretty limited, but that's not a problem as they had what I wanted (720p, uncompressed avi.)  With my shots complete, I went to my editor (Sony Vegas) and did all the other fun stuff to finish off the scene.  The end result is below.

One last thing before I finish this (longer-than-expected) blog entry.  Muvizu was rather demanding on my system, and it crashed (and hung) quite a few times during this 2-3 day production.  The timeline seemed to be something that caused the most issues, as it (temporarily) hung Muvizu when I tried to "scrub?" back many many times (thankfully, it didn't entirely crash, otherwise I would likely have abandoned the project altogether.)

I'm not sure I'll venture into Muvizu again.  It wasn't as easy as I expected it to be, nor as intuitive.  It also has that "cartoony" look that pretty much limits it to comedies alone.  Maybe as the software is developed and matures, I'll revisit it.

Never say never!

Underpants Away! Episode 3 "Ewwww!" NOW PLAYING!

Ladies and Gentlefolk,

Please enjoy my latest iClone endeavour, Underpants Away! Episode 3 "Ewwww!"

(Don't worry if you missed or have forgotten the first two episodes as there is a recap at the start of the film.)

The long awaited conclusion to Underpants Away!, titled "Ewwww!".

Starring BiggsTrek, JetCityWoman, Sisch, Azuresama, Kuroken, Rjb2112, Fulkster, Josephkw, Nahton and a host of others (Well, that's the lot, really).

Filmed in Reallusion's iClone 5.

Written & Directed by BiggsTrek (so you know who to blame).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AlvTFzvUmc

http://www.tmunderground.com/watch/ecb0e40ebe40b2bde29f/Underpants-Away!-Episode-3-
 

The Premiere of 'Underpants Away! - Episode 3 - Ewwww!' will be Nov 19th!

At long last, please join me at the Premiere of  'Underpants Away! - Episode 3 - "Ewwww!"' at the Indy Showcase Theatre this coming Monday night, November 19th at 11pm EST (0400 GMT) - immediately following the Wolf and Dulci Show!


http://cctoolbox.org/indyshowcase  or  http://indyshowcase.org/theater

This is the long overdue conclusion to the Underpants Away! saga, starring Sisch, Fulkster, Josephkw, JetCityWoman, Kuroken, RJB2112, Nahton, Azuresama and myself.  Featuring music by Fulkster made specifically for this film.

Don't worry if you haven't seen the earlier episodes (or you can't remember them), as the film has a quick recap at the start!

For now, here's the recently released excerpt highlighting Fulkster's fancy track!  Please enjoy and see you at the Premiere!

Snapshots from Underpants Away! Episode 3 - "Ewwww!"

Costume FUN and LOTS of progress!

Hey there!  It's time for another quick update on what I've been up to.

As you can see in the picture, I've had a little "fun" playing with costumes in the upcoming conclusion to Underpants Away!  I was just setting up a scene and it occurred to me that a little skin would be appropriate at this point, so I had a quick fiddle with an existing costume, and ta da!  We have skin!  Not only that, we have more underwear on display!  Seems only fitting, right?

As I may have mentioned on a recent Wolf and Dulci show, I have tried to keep up a good pace with my filming of this last instalment, aiming at completing one scene a week.  In fact, I'm a little further ahead after getting TWO done last week!  Yay for me!  :)

Even more importantly, I'm liking what I'm seeing on the screen (not just the skin!) as iClone is putting out some nice results.  Still a lot of work, of course, but it is paying off.

Anyway, that's about it for now.  I do have one small hiccough to deal with, but hopefully that will be rectified in the next couple of weeks.  In the meantime, it's full speed ahead with production!

Underpants Out!

Gwynn the Honkers Girl (in BLACK!)

Now Gwynn gets classy in a BLACK variation of her Honkers Outfit (includes Crop Top!)

Available here:  http://city.reallusion.com/ContentPreview.aspx?i=JICa4897615254967ba0&g=

 

Honkers Crop Top (Gwynn gets scantily dressed again!)

 

As a follow up to the Gwynn as a Honkers Girl pack, here is a Crop Top for her!  (Now included with the Honkers Girl Pack!)

You can get her here:  http://city.reallusion.com/ContentPreview.aspx?i=JIC606088af83a5a8543&g=

Gwynn the Honkers Girl - Now available!

Hi all!

As I struggle to get back into movie making mode, I thought I'd fiddle a little with Gwynn... or Gwynn's clothing.  Um, that came out wrong.  What I meant to say is that I am trying my hand at making up new Gwynn Clonecloth materials (for iClone).  Here is my first result:  Gwynn as a sexy waitress!

This requires the Gwynn_Lower_Tight, Gwynn_Upper_Bodysuit and Gwynn_Shoes_Thick-Sole Clonecloth bases.

Remember, Gwynn is now Honkerific!  And she is available here:

http://city.reallusion.com/ContentPreview.aspx?i=JIC6ad75e28d01080b15&g

Underpants Away! ... is underway!

Hello Underpants Fans!

I thought it was about time that I gave an update on my next movie venture.  This time it's back to my roots, with the conclusion of 'Underpants Away!' (Episode 3, 'Ewww!')

Above you will see my handiwork to date: the costumes (and faces) of the cast, plus a beloved set imported from 'The Movies'.  All the costumes are based on the originals I created/used in the old TM production, painstakingly converted to their CloneCloth equivalent.

The script is all done and has been sent out to the voice cast.  I expect to be hearing back from them over the next few weeks, in the meantime I will start setting up the early shots, building the sets, play with lighting, etc etc.  Fun fun fun!

I also want to mention that Fulkster has also provided me with a new piece of music!  It is fantastic and just as addictive as his original UPM track.  Thank you my friend!

That's it for now!  Back to work, and Underpants OUT!

Ye Old Review Thread

Hello and welcome to you all!

Just a quick and dirty entry today.  Over at TMU, where Ken and the gang have been revamping the site in an attempt to stave off entropy, I have decided to do my bit and start up a Review Thread for any and all films released at TMU (not exclusively, but centrally).

So if you have a film that you'd like an extra view and comment on, post a link in the thread and I'll get on it as soon as I can!

That's it!

http://www.tmoaradio.com/vb/showthread.php?6511-The-BiggsTrek-Review-Thread!