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PatMarrNC - all messages by user

2017/3/31 22:52:00
The Grand Bastardo returns you have a lot of strengths. Political correctness ain't one of them. ;-)
2017/3/31 22:48:29
Invention of the StoneThrowMachine Nice job, Ammostro! I liked the following things about it:

the armour
the outfits (vest with laced front)
the castle
I like the way you implied the cranking since that action does not exist. Implied actions are very useful.
I was amused by how easily the man carried boulders to the catapult for loading. Plus, he was smiling. ;-)
I also liked the way you obscured the impacts with smoke, then revealed the damage when it cleared.

There was also some clipping.. a term we use to indicate when solid objects pass through something else that's supposed to be solid... like the shield passing though the soldier in some positions. Sometimes I don't even notice clipping in my videos because I'm busy with other things. When I do catch it, the only way I've found to overcome it is by using a different action, or by filming from a different camera angle that doesn't show the clipping.

Being able to model as well as you do positions you to do just about anything you want with Muvizu! Thanks for sharing, And I look forward to seeing more from you!
2017/3/30 19:37:49
Toon Shading with imported models I notice that was your first post, so let me begin by welcoming you to the forum!

Regarding your question: I never use toon shading, so I have no experience on which to draw. You might need to contact support for this question. I'm not sure I've ever seen a user video that used toon shading.
edited by PatMarrNC on 30/03/2017
2017/3/30 19:33:36
Arm Yourself! well, you don't have to render items that are just being posed and exported. That's how I use poser most of the time. For example, I'm currently working on a multimesh animated upright bass player character for a bluegrass song. I modelled the upright bass and imported it to poser as OBJ.

Then I opened one of Poser's cartoon characters and posed him in 3 different hand configurations with the bass. I exported each pose separately as OBJ.

Then I opened the 3 models in SILO, and merged all 3 sets of arms onto one body. After UVMapping the arms and putting the maps on one graphic, I animated the textures to make it look like the hands are playing the bass. It would have been harder to pose the hands without poser.
2017/3/30 13:35:50
Arm Yourself! christian_clavet wrote:
Hi, I'm intrigued by this... Are there bones in the arm that will work with Muzivu? Or the arm are in fixed position?


while we're on the topic of extending Muvizu's capability with other animation software that you might already have:

POSER has a cheap version which goes on sale a couple times each year. Characters in Poser are completely posable (hence the name).. and the program includes a set of posable hands.

You can import props as OBJ files (like an iPad, for example... ), and pose character or hands around the props to get any usage position your scene requires.

Then you can export the results as OBJ file and convert it to ASE or FBX

If you don't want to use the results as static object in Muvizu, you can also create animations in the Poser environment, then export as green screen, and merge the output with your Muvizu scene in a video editor.

DAZ studio is free, and it might have the same capability.

Or... you could bring Ziggy's arms into Blender and rig them in that environment (lots of tutorials on youtube)... once they are rigged, you can configure the hands any way you want them.
2017/3/30 13:23:47
Arm Yourself! here is somebody else's tutorial on how to start with a static picture (like a screen shot of your Muvizu character) then cut it into animatable pieces and rig it in Anime Studio (now known as MOHO)




Once you have your MOHO animation, you can either merge it with your Muvizu scene in a photo editor (preferred) or you can export from Moho as uncompressed AVI then apply it to a backdrop in Muvizu. By default, Moho exports scenes with Alpha background (assuming the graphics you used for your rigging have alpha background)

If you put your animation on a backdrop with alpha background, it will cast shadows in the muvizu environment, which helps to make it fit. This approach is best suited to the standard Muvizu lighting, since turning down the ambient light then lighting the scene with area lights won't light a backdrop animation the same as it will the rest of your scene.

As stated in a previous post, advantages of including Moho as part of your animation toolbox include the ability to create truly original characters, and pretty much ANY kind of action

Disadvantages include: much slower animation process, as you have to create the characters, rig them, and manually create every aspect of the animation
2017/3/30 12:43:12
Multimesh animation drewi wrote:
I would like to but cant get my head around it.


Its a beautiful day here again, and I have outside work to do, so I probably won't get much time on the computer... but I'll post a step-by-step tutorial in english sometime over the next few days. I may not have all the bugs worked out yet, but at least I can show how to recreate what worked
2017/3/29 18:17:09
Arm Yourself! that's true (at least I think so, others might disagree)

Other things that make MOHO worthy of a spot in anyone's animation tool box:

1) it outputs AVI that works on Muvizu backdrops.

2) It can be used to create AVI for Rod's multi-mesh animation... and because it is a full fledged animation program in its own right, it has a timeline that helps you to synch your animations with music and/or sound effects

3) you can take screen shots of a muvizu character then separate it into arms, legs , body, head etc and rig it in Moho to create actions that don't exist in Muvizu

the fiddle player in this video was animated in MOHO (When it was still called Anime Studio)
https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=lKxFVoYWMQY

I think this was my first Muvizu video, so view it as such. ;-)

I still have all the elements for the video, so maybe they could be rearranged into a tutorial....
edited by PatMarrNC on 30/03/2017
2017/3/28 20:13:49
AMD RYZEN 7 1800X roroduck wrote:


This is very useful information. Thanks much!

great! i was hoping it would be useful to somebody. The question about system resources comes up fairly often, and this is a fairly new product that wouldn't show up in any other searches on the topic ... hence, the thread.

I recently purchased an I7 7700...


that should be a good choice, as that chip has the hyper threading I mentioned previously. If you overclock it, it should be even faster.

but am going without a graphics card until I decide what I need. Thinking an EVGA 1050 with 2 GB could help.


Muvizu is hungry for graphics power, so buy the best you can afford. Be aware that graphics cards are power hungry, and you might have to install a bigger power supply to support the new GPU... or risk frying your computer. Don't ask how I know this. ;-(

One consideration with graphics cards is CUDA cores. They enhance the performance, but not all programs are designed to use that capability. For example, Muvizu does not use CUDA cores even if your GPU has them. Neither does Hit Film. Adobe Premiere Pro (NOT Premiere Elements) DOES use CUDA cores, and so does Sony Vegas and a few others. so they would benefit from a card that has CUDA. Check to see if your video program supports CUDA before buying a video card. If neither your video editor nor Muvizu uses CUDA cores, it might not make sense to spend the extra money on a card that supports CUDA.

Until your info I was in the dark but wondering what it takes to make Muvizu run better.
I'm also wondering about (when making a video from Muvizu) what is the best bitrate and resolution combination to set.
edited by roroduck on 28/03/2017

I can't answer that one. Maybe somebody else would chime in with some thoughts on that topic.

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edited by PatMarrNC on 28/03/2017
2017/3/28 17:04:30
AMD RYZEN 7 1800X well, I decided to take a chance on this new CPU which was just released in March 2017. Ordered it a few days ago, and it should arrive today. I'll review it after I have a chance to install Muvizu and my video editor..

I had previously tried to increase my performance by installing a better graphics card (I already had a gaming computer, but with an inferior graphics capability). It helped with things like effects, but it didn't affect my slow loading times or lag when I had a bunch of stuff going on in the scene at the same time.

Turns out that Muvizu relies heavily on the CPU for some tasks, and on the GPU for other tasks, so both are important. In my case, after my GPU upgrade, the CPU was the bottleneck.

Until now, the newer intel CPUs had a major advantage due to their hyper threading. Each core works like 2 cores, so a 4 core i7 has 8 threads of computing power. The Ryzen is AMDs first line that offers the same advantage of two threads per core... but at a much lower price!

The Ryzen 7 has 8 cores - 16 threads, which throws a lot of computing power at CPU intensive tasks, like loading complex sets into Muvizu. That's the theory anyway... I'll report back with real-world results after some testing. If it works like I'm hoping, the Ryzen series could be the most inexpensive path to a computer that can handle Muvizu without breaking a sweat.

Ah... doorbell... UPS... let the testing begin....
2017/3/28 16:43:29
Multimesh animation Is anybody else out there experimenting with Rod's multi-mesh concept? I have questions. It's very cool, and the sky appears to be the limit but... I don't get the same results all the time, and I don't know why.

My first project didn't work (textures not aligned correctly to the model). Turned out I had to flip the images vertically. After that, the textures aligned. Good. I understand the rules now (or so I thought...)

My 2nd project failed in the same way, even though I had inverted the images. Animated texture worked, but the colors were at the wrong place on the model. Turns out I had to triangulate the model. After doing that, it worked. Good.. I understand the rules now (wrong!)

My 3rd project worked as expected with triangulated model and images flipped vertically in the video...

My 4th project works if I just put the static images on the model one at a time as texture. But when I make an animated texture out of those images, the color and transparency are wrong. I've tried rotating the images all ways imaginable (no fix) I've tried combining and separating the sub assemblies (no difference)

What's interesting is that project 4 uses the same arms that worked in project 3, just re-posed. I would have expected everything to work the same way. There is apparently a rule at play that I haven't dealt with, and therefore my results aren't predictable or controllable.

I'll keep experimenting and report back if I discover the missing rule. If you've also been experimenting and you have ideas or suggestions, please share your insights.
2017/3/28 15:13:22
Blender to ASE export awesome, Rod! I'll definitely give this a try soon!
2017/3/27 18:05:46
27/3/17 today only it might be worth mentioning to anybody who isn't already familiar with the GIVE AWAY OF THE DAY free licenses... any offer they make is only good that day... the product must be downloaded, installed and activated all on the same day it was offered.

It took me a while to figure that out, and when I tried to activate my downloads the next day... well... you can guess what happened. ;-(

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edited by PatMarrNC on 27/03/2017
2017/3/27 13:12:11
Stanley Ipkiss - Meeting with the Boss DoublePrimePictures wrote:
Thank you for your detailed criticism. Next time, I'll be even more careful.


I guess my comments do come across as criticism, but that isn't my intent. I'm of the opinion that most non-professional content creators (artists, video producers, song writers etc) already know what they HOPE to convey to an audience, but audiences don't always "get it" the same way the author intended it.

Forums offer the feedback of many viewers, which is the best way to see/learn how many different ways an idea might be interpreted. Learning how to predict an audience's response accurately is what enables comedians to "set up" the joke, or the director of a slasher video to know exactly when to surprise the audience. Without that knowledge, we're all just throwing information at an audience and hoping they like it.

All my comments on the forum are for the express purpose of letting people know how I received what they sent, and what might have helped me to see the point differently. Under no circumstance do I ever intend to discourage or undermine. I like to see people having fun with Muvizu, and I don't want to throw cold water on that fun.
2017/3/27 1:30:46
New user Hi Trygve! Great seeing you here, and welcome to the forum!

The error you're getting means the downloaded file includes something from an add-on pack that you haven't bought yet. Some of my sets have camera moves that used the keyframing pack, and some of my other sets contain outfits from either the chemistry pack or the chinese history pack. Most of the offending sets are mine I'm afraid. I( try to put notes in the Download description that warn people before they download the file that it contains something they might not have bought yet.

Bottom line, unless you own those add-on packs, any set that uses them can't be opened. Please accept my apology for the inconvenience this has caused you.
2017/3/25 22:10:06
Nova Versão da "A Origem Humana 2018 looks awesome! I wish I understood Portuguese!

(Is this a story?Or an exercise in special effects?)
edited by PatMarrNC on 25/03/2017
2017/3/24 22:55:10
Lobby Cam Chapter Three so, after watching 3 episodes, I'm zeroing in on a soap opera vibe... a continuing story with a theme song and a slowly revealed plot... is that a fair understanding of what you're doing here?
2017/3/23 18:28:29
Hi to Muvizu! scorpio66 wrote:
Hi guys!

Really excited about finding Muvizu. Ive spent the last day just watching the videos made by you guys! Wow! VERY entertaining.
I wish I had discovered this great program sooner! Oh well, here now!

welcome to the forum and to the world of Muvizu!


I do have some initial questions, I hope you dont mind me asking.

ask away! We have a number of veteran users here who watch the forum and do a great job of answering questions posed by new users


Firstly, on initial 'playing around' with the program as you do, when setting up a new audio piece, when I click on the name box to name my recorded audio, Muvizu doesnt rename it. It just stays as 'unnamed'. Any ideas? Obviously I need to be able to recognise each recorded audio piece.

I think that's a bug that most of us avoid by using Audacity or other audio recording programs to create our dialog


I seem to be having fun with the aligning of audio pieces too, but Im sure I will figure that out. (If not I'll be back - in Arnie voice)

I don't try to make videos in one long take. I create dialog based scenes, each having just enough dialog to manage it in Muvizu. Create a separate dialog file for each character as shown in this video:


Save each dialog scene as a separate set, and save the rendered video for your scenes. I label them scene, scene2 etc which makes it easier to reassemble them in my video editor later


Secondly, and I imagine this could be an issue with many, is the actual 'voicing' of characters. I am not blessed with a 'radio' voice or recording for that matter. I'm sure there are many of us. Certainly if you need to voice many different characters for your video, you need a real talent. Audio quality is just as important as the visuals, so I was wondering if any of you talented guys had any tips for producing good quality audio (equipment etc) and any tips on the art of 'acting' out your dialogue. (Does that make sense?)

here's a link to another recent thread on the topic:

https://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic6262-creating-a-cartoon-voice.aspx

Anyways. I am so glad to be amongst you and hope to make some new friends here!!!

Cheers
scorpio66


this is a friendly group, and based on this first post, I think you'll fit right in! Welcome!
2017/3/23 17:06:06
Kiss Cover C'Mon n Love Me by the TAkeaway Thieves thanks for the clarifications! Great job on the Kiss band member textures, and on your music! I look forward to seeing/hearing more from you!

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edited by PatMarrNC on 23/03/2017
2017/3/23 17:04:05
Copy movements of a character Nope. At least, not in muvizu. (many have wished for the ability to copy/paste actions on the time line)

You could put your character on his own layer, record the actions, then export it as a video clip , then use your video editor to combine multiple copies of the clip
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Muvizu

Muvizu is easy to use 3D animation software that allows anyone to create high quality animations quickly and easily. Muvizu’s animation engine is ideal for storytellers, animators, teachers and businesses looking to engage, enchant and delight audiences with animated content.