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Posted on 06/02/21 3:50:09 PM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 3726 Reply  |
My new 'Lockdown' Project - 'Mars Attracts'
As a ‘lockdown’ project, in June 2020, I posted an animated video of my take on Fireball XL5 which was well received. Thanks for all your comments. This is the link to that first video http://vimeo.com/431039260 Nick Curtain asked a simple question “Are you planning any missions for Steve and Robert?” followed by "...or Robert could possibly find a female robot and fall in love." Initially I thought that I would not be planning anything but the brain started mulling over the idea. Slowly a vision started to appear in my head for a six or seven minute animated film. Little did I know what was about to happen for the next few months as those ‘six or seven’ minutes grew into twenty minutes. Steve Zodiac does not appear in this video as he was on a special mission at the time, but Robert, with a nice new shiny suit went off by himself to Mars for an adventure. You will need a large pot of tea and a plate of McVitie’s chocolate digestive biscuits to watch this as it’s much longer than my normal videos. I hope you enjoy it but, if you don’t, please remember that this is all Nick Curtain’s fault 
Thanks for the inspiration Nick. http://vimeo.com/509206575 
_________________ If at first you don't succeed then skydiving is not for you. |
Posted on 06/02/21 5:29:18 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 4939 Reply  |
Re: My new 'Lockdown' Project - 'Mars Attracts'
Well, well. You have been a busy boy! Lots and lots of work in there. The matching to real backgrounds is very nicely done. Lots of funny little touches like the hover sidecar and towed doggy pod. There are some quite complicated renders in there with complex reflections that must have taken some serious time and resources. Curious to know where all the models came from? Terrific Gordon! Hats off! _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 06/02/21 6:44:33 PM |
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vibeke
Kreative Kiwi Posts: 2152 Reply  |
Re: My new 'Lockdown' Project - 'Mars Attracts'
Wow, the things people do in lockdown. Thanks for the trip, I'm impressed. _________________ Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize. |
Posted on 07/02/21 03:03:36 AM |
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lwc
Hole in One Posts: 2634 Reply  |
Re: My new 'Lockdown' Project - 'Mars Attracts'
Wow! I'm speechless.... |
Posted on 07/02/21 08:37:16 AM |
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tooquilos
Wizard of Oz Posts: 2800 Reply  |
Re: My new 'Lockdown' Project - 'Mars Attracts'
Gordon, what can I say? This was absolutely amazing to watch! Visually it was spectacular but the intertwined love story was so touching. I think we need to send Robert to the 3D printers and have a model of him on the desk. Well done  _________________ Dorothy: Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore |
Posted on 07/02/21 11:48:30 AM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 3726 Reply |
Re: My new 'Lockdown' Project - 'Mars Attracts'
Thank you everyone. This was a great, fun project to work on but it did get quite frustrating at times. I think that one the biggest issues was keeping track of all the various assets whether created in Photoshop, Cinema or Hit Film plus all of the different rendered sequences which were either modified or not used at all. In some instances there were 4 or 5 variations of a sequence. Initial concepts of a scene could change dramatically once I started working on them. The number of layered png files for compositing in Hit Film just seemed to get bigger and bigger. Choice of soundtracks was very difficult in some places and I had to scrap some pieces of music because, even though I really liked them and wanted to use them, they just didn't fit. One example was the section with the Carpenters' "There's a Kind of Hush". The original choice was a completely different piece by Herman's Hermits but it fell short by a full 37 seconds and there was just no way that I could fix that. Happily Karen Carpenter came up with the perfect piece. David: the models were either created by myself (Robert and the Jet Bike sidecar), obtained from Turbosquid (Pinkie) or Sketchfab. The models of the Comet Racer and the Jet bike itself came from a dedicated Gerry Anderon website which has a few models available for download from various series. The Comet was actually a repurposed version of 'Supercar'. I have read the story of how Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke were still working on the screenplay and the soundtrack for 2001 right up until the release date. I had exactly the same experiance as I was actually still creating the final 'thank you for watching' scene the night before it was composited into the final film. At that point either I was going to have to nail my mouse hand to the desk or my wife was going to do it for me
Anna - I have no idea how to create a 3D printed model but I like the idea. _________________ Time flies like an arrow but fruit flies like a banana. |