Got a small job for somebody... any takers?

3.4 gigs is right on the money.

To generate some preview files do this:
But first, I like to copy the particles and meshes folder to a backup folder.

-Open up the project again in RF4.
The time slider should be highlighted in yellow showing that it is already rendered.

( If it is not yellow it's likely because the project was not saved after it was rendered.
You won't be able to generate the preview pics but dont worry about it. As long as the
particles and meshes were generated your okay. )

-Press the F12 key to open Export Central.
At the bottom of that you'll see 'Preview'- Image sequence.
Check that and choose what type of file to save as. You'll see a box appear when you check it.

-Dont simulate or reset.

-Instead hit the play button that's to the right of the reset button. The one that looks like a VCR play button.

While it is playing you should see the animations on the screen.
If so open the preview folder and the pictures should be getting saved.

-I'll try and send the C4D files tonight.


------------

What screen size for the video do you want? I'll set up C4D for that size.
 
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ok... i'm going to try and post some pics on here if i can. Set it for 720P at 24P widescreen. That's what i'll hopefully be shooting in :) I can't wait to see this stuff! Thanks!
 
I'm going to try sending the files through standard email. The zip is 6Mb so it might go. If not I'll use IM.

The tutorial will come later on tonight because I still have to write it.

In the meantime try getting familiar with C4D if your not already.
In particular Render->Render Settings.
Try one of the online tutorials that show animating a ball or something.

I'll try and send that file now.
 
Got them and imported them!

I'll see if i can start learning it some. I've never used either of these programs in my life. And your last tutorial was awesome! Thanks!

P.S. Gmail allows 20mb emails so you don't need to zip em :)
 
I've sent the tutorial to brock2621@gmail.com.
I explain in it towards the end how to change those video settings.

Let me know how the tute goes. If anything does not appear right or confusing give me a shout. I may have missed something.

-Have fun and post the first picture you render with the water in it.

Oh, in C4D you can render a quick preview by clicking in the viewport you want to render and pressing CTRL-R.
 
-brock. Here's how to up the mesh res. Click on the Hyper Nurbs object in the object manager and in the Attributes manager change the settings for subdivision renderer from 1 to 2 or 3. Mine crashes on 3.
This subdivides the mesh and creates a smoother surface.

-Matt
I'm rendering off one for myself at 720x480. The pullback out of the handle will be rendered in another project and the two will be blended in post.

I'll post my first part when it's done although I think brock's will be done first.
The final product ofcourse will be brocks so I'm looking forward to seeing that too.
 
Hey Brock,
That is pretty sweet.
4.5hrs. That's not too bad.

Just one simple question and I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes on this one, but if you were to fill up a syringe with liquid, wouldn't the syringe be 90degrees to the ground. or at least 45. and liquid should be filling up from the bottom up?

It looks like your animation is arranged parallel with the ground? Just a thought?

I wish I could do that liquid stuff. I'll have to look into it. :)
 
looking good! 4.5hrs is not that long, I've spend 1 hour and 40 minutes rendering out just one Frame in the past.
 
-brock
Man that was fast brock. I'm only at frame 160 for 720x480. I assume that's a low res render, 320x240.

-siniarch
I considered angling it at 45 deg but then there's the pressure problem with fluid wanting to flow backwards so more particles would be needed.
I also asked myself would it be possible that the syringe was at zero deg. If the poison container is small enough to be hand held, like a vial, then it is.
So I went with that.
The other problem with that is the syringe would have to be nearly full to get the level midway up the back at the camera. I though this was more the effect he was asking for too.

-brock
Once you're familiar with the programs you'll be able to modify it and do you're own shots as well.

Also I'll get the shot through the metal set up and that can be rendered and blended in post with the first part. I'm still not sure how your going to get the real camera close enough to the needle handle to blend into that. Possibly post zooming.

Is that what you want or do you want something changed?
Any questions just hollar.
 
Hey Raptor!

So this shot is pretty freakin sweet...
1. To answer your question yes i'm going to do a digital zoom out the silver handle. I figured that was the best way, and since it's HD i have a little more room to play with that stuff.

2. Your tutorials are great! You should make them for websites. Like, for somebody that has never used a program in their life to get this shot working... it's a pretty impressive tutorial :)

3. I think after watching the shot (a couple 20 times) I would like to have the camera keep pulling back at a constant rate. The pause and then pull makes it feel kinda awkward cuz it's not really filling up anymore. Is there a way to just have a constant steady pull? Maybe make it last 8 seconds in the tube before we enter the handle?

4. yeah i rendered it at 320x480 so it was low res. I will max it out tonight probably. Also, what does multi-pass do? I know when encoding videos it helps with detail... should i turn that on?

5.Finally, how do i add motion blurr and depth of field or is that even possible in C4D? Just curious. If i can't do it in the program i can probably do it in post (would n't it be post post? hmmm.... deep thought) on my after effects or FC.

I really really appreciate you guys on this and you all should email me your names and company logo's so can put them in the film :)
 
3/ You can change the camera and stuff. It'll probably be better to start a new simple project, add a few objects and camera and play with that until your comfortable. Then go back to the syringe shot and edit the cam there.
Again, there are a few things you'll need to know first so let me write up another tute and I'll send that off, or actually let me try and find a tutorial online and send that. That might be faster.

4/ Multipass allows you the render off individual aspects of the scene. The shadows only, the lighting only and so forth. Then using a compositor like AE you can put the scene back together while adjusting the lighting and shadows, ect, without having to re-render the entire animation.

For a test, take a simple scene, turn on multipass in the Render section.
Click the channels button in the upper right corner and from the pop up menu select 'Add all'. Render off a frame or two using image sequence so you can see the individual pictures. They will be named like shadows0001.bmp, ect.

5/ To add motion blur, click the effects tab in the Render Settings dialog.
Click the post effect button in the upper corner and add Vector motion blur.


You'll also need to add a motion blur tag to the camera.
In the Object manager, click the camera object. Right click on it and choose 'Cinema 4D tags' ->Motion Blur.
An new icon appears beside the camer object.

Play with the settings for the vector motion blur in the Render Settings.

/Also, I think I read motion blurring the mesh from RF4 can cause problems. But you can try it. There are also Object Motion Blur and Scene Motion Blur found in the same drop down where the Vector Motion Blur was selected.
 
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I sent a quick camera tute to the same email as before.

Also in C4D multiple projects can be open at the same time.
To switch between projects, from the file menu choose Window->...
and at the very bottom is a list of the open projects.

The tute should be enough to allow you to begin editing the camera in the syringe project.

Good luck.
 
Quick note on what is, and the benefits of multipass rendering:

It really is the best way to go for putting 3D animations together. It allows a tremendous amount of flexibility in post. But it comes with a cost. When you render something in 3D your final render is a blend of all the elements and attributes you applied during texturing. The main ones are:

Diffuse Shading
Specular Shading
Reflection
Raw Color
Depth (though not often needed but if you ever need something where you want the ability to change the depth of field with something like After Effects, it always helps)
Shadows
And sometimes Occlusion

But each comes as its own file, and has to be assembled in your compositing software. So a 15 second animation playing at 30 frames per second is 450 frames, times the number of passes you have chosen to include. If that was just the basics, that would be Diffuse, Spec, Reflection, Raw color, and Shadows, each with 450 frames, for a grand total of 2,250 total frames, and since each is typically an NTSC uncompressed file like a 24 bit targa or .bmp, that is 1.1 megs per frame. So you are looking at a total of around 2.5 gigs for that animation.

Sounds huge, but the benefits of being able to tweak each pass of the animation is enormous. Wanna change the amount of Reflection? Simple, decrease the opacity. Specular highlights to hard, give em a blur, and so on.

Plus most 3D programs also allow you to export an alpha channel only, something that could be a .bmp or .tga, but since alpha channels are grayscale, you could save some space by having them exported as grayscale with only 256 shades.


The amount of control you have over your final render and how it is put together far outweighs the pain in the ass of rendering multipass. You have complete control, and can also use effects in you NLE (such as levels) to change only say the reflection layer. I'ts a good way to start thinking.
 
Well i'm experimenting and rendering like crazy. Hopefully i'll have something else to show tom. In the mean time, i would like to do some camera shakes as the poison flows past it and splashes around. Anybody know how to do that or have a plugin?
 
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