Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 16:11:21 -0000 From: Stephen Thornber Subject: [IML] Quest: Ideas.? Hi all. I was just wondering, how many of you get an idea for a still/anim, load imagine and create it there and then.? How many of you make notes (object shape, textures, etc)? and how many of you actually draw the design onto paper before building it in 3d..? I'm asking this because I was talking to a friend (on irc) about imagine and he said that he found it easier to build a model if he drew it first on paper.. I have never done this, so it interests me. I'm interested in your comments on this. ---------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 15:47:56 -0700 From: Shawn Clabough I have to admit that I just fire up Imagine and go from there. Although I could see drawing a preview on paper could have its benefits at times. ---------------------------------- Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 01:00:21 +0200 From: Andreas Backhaus If the project is a more time-consuming one (and therefore better paid;-), I first make general notes (usually together with the client, if it's not a private thing). These notes usually include very rough sketches of objects, rough notes how they look like, how the lightning has to be (indoor/outdoor; overall bright/dark; dramatic or flat, etc.) and, most important, a more or less complete story. After that I start sketching out the project using storyboards, and again presenting them to the client. My storyboards do not only include the 'story' with drawing of the key frames + comments, they also have extra pages on which each object=B4s properties (possible textures, colors, estimated ploygon count, how many brushmaps have to be created etc.) are noted (plus the rest like which sound when, f/x used, etc.). When it=B4s up to actual modelling, I sketch the model more detailled, in at least four views (front, top, left/right, perspective). For me, it's easier to sketch the model like I would view it in an 3D-package. After a project is finished, I burn all the project files on CD, and store notes, storyboad, etc. in a folder. Never throw away a project you=B4ve done or begun, even if you think it's crap! You might find it useful some day. I hope you'll find my way some sort of informative :-) As a side note, for me it has proven *very* useful to collect everything more or less related to your work in seperate folders. I'm talking of other people's work, (remember: "Copy from one, it's plagiarism; copy from two, it's research" :-), articles in magazines, photos of things you might model sometime, photos of natural textures (iron, wood, etc.), photos or paintings of different lighting schemes, etc., etc. Organize the material well, and after a while you have a great archive, which contains at least one useful thing for your current project. Cheers, ---------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 17:02:05 -0700 From: Charles Patterson Rough sketchs always help me. I can sometimes build simple objects directly in the Detail Editor, but for anything complex it help to have a rough draft which allows me to break it down into smaller pieces which I can see then work on those pieces, then put them all together. ---------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 17:09:11 -0700 From: Drift Dennis I usually start just noodiling with shapes, kinda practising, kinda just playing around. If I see something in the pics I produce, I start trying to dig it out. The more I do, the clearer the end result becomes. Many of the pics I produce are good enough to keep, or point into a different direction. I save these for various reasons. If I am doing something for a client I use much the same method, I just have a starting point and a goal to go along with it. ---------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 18:14:44 -0700 From: Clae & Deborah Tanett Hi Steve Actually when something pops into my head I put a quick crude image down with a nonphoto blue lead (just suggestive of the image that pop in); put it to the side if I'm working on something else. I then come back and flesh it out adding elements until I get a clear idea; if I can't get an appealing form I lay it to the side, work on something else and keep coming back until something come through that I like. Then I do several different angles, sit down, think how to start in Imagine (with what editor or primative or what) and go from there; refering to the drawing as need be (having clarified the idea in the drawing I know the form I'm going for). Generally part of the idea pops in as some kind of a sence so I'm working on the background at the same time... settings counts; after all, that was part of the idea to began with. Then again I'm always scribbling (drawing) on paper whatever I have an idea or not; just good practice for me. I have a ton of drawings that I can look back on (ships, figures, mountains, landscapes... etc) to use/build on. Lately though, I've just wanted to put everything to the side, take a blank piece of canvas, put some of these drawing up around me, pick up the brush and palette and start 'sculpturing' the ideas on the canvas... means I just let it take it shape by pushing, spreading & piling paint on the canvas using the drawings as 'a window' to the image... do that with my 3d objects to. What did Da Vinci say? "Anyone can throw paint against a canvas and in it see landscapes and battles."? I don't know... just don't try so hard. Schumann, by what I remembered, wanted to be a master painist so bad (yet felt he wasn't) broke his hands (on purpose) so he could rearrange the bones so they could be used to play the paino in what he thought would be successful way... he didn't succeed beyond hurting his hands real bad... but he could compose! ---------------------------------- Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 06:31:26 -0500 From: Gregory Denby Most people do find it easier to work up ideas on paper. That's because its quick, and you can come at the images with a bunch of different approaches. Don't tell anyone, but I know many of the things I've come up with start from margin scribbles made during staff meeting. However, with more experience you probabley can just start directly in 3D. It took me about 2 years before I could just sit down and start laying out something in 3D that I had in my head. By that time I had already had dreams in wire frame, so I guess I was pretty saturated with mesh creation. Now, I pretty much just jump in and start modelling and rendering. Its during that process that I make notes and sketches, just to keep more things in mind as I work. In general, I'd advise finding some work(s) that you really admire, and try to duplicate them. You'll learn a lot, and maybe along the way, some lights will pop on in your own mind. ---------------------------------- Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 19:27:15 +0100 From: George Cole As a beginner I find it much easier to draw an object then model it. I usually get an idea, draw it in perspective and then work out the other 2 main views (usually plan and front or plan and side). I then develop this object on paper, producing a series of drawings (usually in perspective). If I like I zoom in on bits to develop small details, then at the end of it I have a model, detailed enough to be interesting. Then I load up Imagine and have a go at modelling it. A scanner would be extremely handy for converting sketches to 3D models, but unfortunately I don't have one. Sometimes I'll make a rough sketch in Photoshop, just to get the right dimensions, then I load it as a backdrop in Imagine. BTW, it would be really helpful to have some options for controlling backdrops, e.g. Move and Scale, but I like the way the Imagine backdrop ensures it is always loaded in the same place, so maybe if the backdrop position and size could be saved with the object information? ---------------------------------- Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 02:18:35 +0000 From: Andy Hi Stephen (how's memalert going?), It really depends on the mood. But most of the time, I just open Imagine and Get busy. Mainly because I always have a clear image in my mind, so I can always see what I want without relying on scraps of paper. I am a fanatical doodler though. If there's a pen and a piece of paper within 2 feet of me, It's a sure thing that it will be covered in doodles in minutes. Sometimes that can lead to a design I'll take from paper, but usualy, the finished article changes greatly during modeling. Not becuase of ineptitude ;) but simply ideas progressing. My Animations are usualy set up on paper first, but then again, I sometimes just make them up as I go along. I have a couple of rules:) If it's a model or Anim that I'm doing for myself, then I'll jump right into Imagine, and make it all up as I go along; If It's a job that I'm being paid for, Then out comes the wad of paper, and a large bin bag 8) ----------------------------------