Sharing My Animated Lamp 'Film'

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#1

So, here is my ‘final’ product of the animated lamp section (For now…). Rendered in Eevee at 1080p with some basic shadows and lighting for faster render. This section was a lot of fun, and I think I might have an animation problem/addiction now haha. I decided to keep the modeling/Scene as basic as I could and focus mainly on the animation instead. I’m still not fully happy with the final product (the main issues I have with it are the camera feels a bit jerky/overkill and the effects of gravity need to be more consistent IMO). But I feel that perhaps I spent far too much time looking for fine details etc where others might not even see them and had to cut myself off and move on.

However, this got me thinking; is it better to make a bunch of varying smaller animations and work up towards larger more detailed ones or working on one big project right out the door and learning how to refine it as good as you can? I feel both have their merit, but maybe its best to diversify your skills and develop a larger tool-set when just starting out? Thoughts?
Looking forward to more in upcoming Sections and in the Character Course!

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#2

Very nice ‘film’. :smile:

On your question, I guess its individual. I believe its best to go through it all first, then at least if you specialise later you have some idea of other issues and what’s happening if they occur.

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#3

Thanks man! It did run abit long eh lmao. I could barely stop myself at the end, was ready to make a whole TV series called 'Lamp ‘n Block’ haha. Its all too easy to loose track of time (both on the length of your animation and in real time!).

And I couldn’t agree more. It also feels like having a larger set of tools and experience in different areas might open up different opportunities for more unique animations that you might not have even thought of before. I suppose its finding that fine line between the passion for your project and managing the learning curve eh

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#4

Creating a movie or being a director is a totally different task.
You are using a long camera shot. If you look at movies, tv series, music clips, documentaries, you different types of camera movement or not. Mostly these shots are short.
If you are interested in animation (as I do), try to read something about these topics.
For example the twelve animation principles of Disney.

Problem is, doing something like this animation, it is your first. And you want to show all tricks you have learned. But less is more. You want to tell a story not to show all tricks in your sleeve.

It’s amazing what you did. Animation is difficult and sometimes frustrating.
Good job, well done! :+1:

2 Likes
#5

Hey FedPete, thanks eh! It was definitely a labor of patience, and I’m sure I could do this far faster if I redid it lol(Which I wont, had enough of staring at a lamp for now haha).

And you are very right, I was doing one long animation with all the tricks I’d learned throughout the section and it did feel a bit ‘overcrowded’ I suppose it could be called… Hence my question about doing many smaller animations to begin with, rather then one big long one with all the tricks I’ve learned so far crammed into one ‘showcase’.

Also, I have started watching some videos on youtube about the history of animation and some stuff by BlenderGuru and a few others… Ill definitely look up more about cameras though as that is a somewhat new subject to me. Thanks for the tip eh!

P.s. I do not plan on going into making TV shows/Directing, That was more of a self-aimed joke about the length of the animation and the fact that it came out looking like it did lmao. I’m far more interested in Game Development and am also learning Coding/Game Programming(Which is my new favorite thing, even more than animation). But I decided before I move on with learning to make 3D video games, I would like to be able to make my own (simple/placeholder) assets at the very least. Never expected to enjoy working with blender this much though, definitely have Mikes teaching and the GameDev community to thank for that!

Edit: I just want to add that I’ve decided to start making a variety of ‘smaller’ animations with a goal of 1 different, but basic animation a week(if possible haha). Starting off with simple stuff like a bouncing ball etc and already working on humanoid models for later lol. I’m always open to more suggestions from the experienced crowd though :slight_smile:

#6

I made an animation by breaking it down into scenes.
Each scene was about100-200 frames. Just the basic Blender animation sequence length.
If something is wrong you can easily change a single animation part.
But even then, It takes a long time project wise.
I want to make an animation with a figure. So I decided to learn more about armature and rigging.
Because the complexity increases.

If, you are interested, this was my project.

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#7

Cool movie man!, I really liked the water movement and the way the ground deformed when the box slammed into it at the end. Plus it had me laughing when the ball kept bouncing off the ducks back lol. It’s amazing how much emotion can be conveyed by a change of color and some sound eh!

But it really helped to clarify what you mentioned before about breaking it down into smaller, more manageable scenes. It seems like you kept the camera more simple, and had it start at different locations depending on the current action you are doing. Rather than having it follow along - which I think is what you were bringing up when you mentioned I did it in a “Long Camera Shot”.

It seems to me, after watching your movie and doing a bit of reading online, that It really depends on the type of project you are going for… it is ‘art’ after all. But perhaps instead of fiddling with frame by frame camera movement in a Long Camera Shot, it is best to just break it down and have a camera shots set-up for each main action and piece it together to create a movie that way. Especially when just starting out!
Seems you would have more control for editing and wouldn’t have to worry so much about breaking things from previous scenes lol - mind you, you did make a good point that managing all those scenes can become a hassle of it’s own lol…

I imagine both will have their merits in later-game animation anyways. For Example; Say I want to animate my rigged humanoid to do certain things like a ‘walk animation’ or a ‘jump animation’ etc rather than having it walking and jumping in the same scene and trying to pick it apart for a game it would be far more convenient having them separate. Whereas, you might want to make a Cut scene which could use one Long Scene or Combined Scenes like your movie. But what do I know, I’m just starting out :laughing:. Definitely a subject worth delving deeper into and learning more about…

Well, thanks for the info though! I really appreciate learning new, and better ways of doing things! And I’ll keep my eye out for any more of your animations eh!

Cheers!

#8

If animating blender a puppet armature. You also divide those up in different actions. So you can re-use animation loops, like walking or throwing a spear. But also walk and throw a speer. This is done in the NLA-editor, which is difficult to master. With NLA editor you combine armature movements.

So you have a walk loop (one step), which can be repeated. or combined with run loop. Or start stop walking.

Keep having fun and do the things you like!

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#9

I’m not a gamer anymore, I’m a Designer. And my save points are now in the form of individual scenes/loops lol!

But in all seriousness, Ill have to check out the NLA-editor as well and learn more about what you are talking about as it makes absolute sense to do it that way. Same as reusing models!

Thanks again eh!

1 Like
#10

great film)

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