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Author Topic: Coming out of the shadows... SD Bridge Build  (Read 8088 times)

Offline CustomCreator

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Re: Coming out of the shadows... SD Bridge Build
« Reply #30 on: September 14, 2012, 02:05:17 PM »
A bit of a tip if you are looking to seal Styro or foam board before paint..

Rustoleum textured spray paint does not eat foam.

however, it does leave a type of stucco finish, so probably not good for smooth panels, but for terrain, or textured walls, the stuff works fast, is fairly cheap, and stands in for asphalt/concrete when needed.

Be warned though, it does cover details, so don't use it on highly detailed stuff (like columns, bricks, etc)

Great work so far! I love me some Greeblies!
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Offline r2witco

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Re: Coming out of the shadows... SD Bridge Build
« Reply #31 on: September 14, 2012, 02:41:39 PM »
Still fighting with math in order to get the spacing and alignment correct for my scene. In this mornings battle, I set up the camera so that I can see how the lens will capture things as well as compare my shot against the one I am recreating in an attempt to nail down the perspective.

Here's a little peek of what that looks like...

[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/sd_shoot-001.jpg[/img]


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/sd_shoot-002.jpg[/img]

I still need to finish the ceiling and get the lighting worked out before I can start shooting, but I'm getting closer!

Thanks for all the encouragement folks, I really appreciate it!! Normally I don't like to share this type of information until after I finish a project, but I have to say that all of the interaction is quite fun.
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Offline Mando Assasin

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Re: Coming out of the shadows... SD Bridge Build
« Reply #32 on: September 14, 2012, 02:48:20 PM »
AWESOME! :D
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Offline DocOutlands

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Re: Coming out of the shadows... SD Bridge Build
« Reply #33 on: September 14, 2012, 05:17:26 PM »
Awwwww, man!!  Stuff like that final shot w/ the side-by-side makes it allllllll worthwhile!!  Looks fabulous!
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Offline Luke Sprywalker

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Re: Coming out of the shadows... SD Bridge Build
« Reply #34 on: September 14, 2012, 07:34:29 PM »
Ah yes, there is another. I am a hoarder too! This new update looks fantastic! Love these shots you are sharing with us. It is so cool that you have so many mineature SW set pieces. That is exactly what I am going for, it is so cool to be able to set up the various scenes. No wonder your short films are so good. You go to great lengths for projects like this and it all pays off in the end.
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Offline Tamer

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Re: Coming out of the shadows... SD Bridge Build
« Reply #35 on: September 15, 2012, 04:20:45 PM »
What an awesome behind the scenes preview. Really looking forward to seeing this video Whit. Back on the front page.
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Offline hemble

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Re: Coming out of the shadows... SD Bridge Build
« Reply #36 on: September 15, 2012, 04:38:17 PM »
Damn impressive.

Ron
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Offline r2witco

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Re: Coming out of the shadows... SD Bridge Build
« Reply #37 on: September 21, 2012, 09:04:38 PM »
Well, it's all wrapped up. Sorry I didn't update sooner, but I was busy with all the productions stuff. I'll try and pick up where I left off and bring you all up to date...

[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0001.jpg[/img]
~ At this point, most everything is put together and it's time to get it ready for the animation shoot. That means I need to set it up in a place where I can get to all of the figures I need to animate as well as light it and film it.


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0002.jpg[/img]
~ A look at the beginnings of my animation stage.


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0003.jpg[/img]
~ I stacked up and glued together scraps of the pink foam from construction to use as stands for set pieces and figures to be placed on.


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0004.jpg[/img]
~ I had to tie all of the pieces together so that they couldn't be moved easily, so I used toothpicks to do that. Being that these are all made out of foam they are vey light and could easily be moved with a heavy sigh and that would really mess up a shoot if that happend in the middle of it all.


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0005.jpg[/img]
~ I used clamps to tie down figures that I didn't want moving around...


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0006.jpg[/img]
~ And I finally got around to painting the panels on to the ceiling piece. Had to use 2 coast of black acrylic to keep the brush strokes from showing when it was backlit.


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0007.jpg[/img]
~ Here's a view of the set with the new ceiling in place.


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0008.jpg[/img]
~ Having a little fun taking pics with the new ceiling.


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0009.jpg[/img]
~ More fun with new ceiling and working on lighting.


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0010.jpg[/img]
~ A friend made me this great lighting box. It's basically just 3 dimmer switches mounted in one box so I can easily adjust lighting for shots.


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0011.jpg[/img]
~ These are couple of Dollar Store LED lights that I use for everything. For this project I superglued pieces of curoplast onto the front to diffuse them - should have done that years ago!


So far on this project I have spent no money. It wasn't till I was getting ready to actually shoot that it came time to finally spend a little dough. I wanted to shoot this project in HD so I was gonna have to use my iPhone 4s to be able to do that, as the video camera I usually use can't do that. In order to do this, I was gonna have to upgrade my version of iStopmotion as well as my OS. So, after $60 and many new settings to reset I am ready to go with the new camera set up.

[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0012.jpg[/img]
~ Here's a look at my DIY tripod mount for my iPhone. I can't zoom with this set up, so I used my telephoto lens to try and get closer to the action.


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0013.jpg[/img]
~ The telephoto lens is part of a set of magnetic lenses for smartphones that I got from PhotoJoJo. I carry them around in a miniature SW lunchbox.


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0014.jpg[/img]
~ Everything is looking good so far!


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0015.jpg[/img]
~ Getting things ready to shoot.


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0015.jpg[/img]
~ Working on lighting.


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0017.jpg[/img]
~ As good as it was looking with the iPhone as my camera, I was having trouble getting close enough for the shot and doing my panning shot with my DIY tripod mount  :(


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0018.jpg[/img]
~ So I was forced to revert back to my old video camera that doesn't have HD capabilities, but it does have zoom and a solid tripod mount.


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0019.jpg[/img]
~ Everything is all set, let's shoot!

After 3 hours of shooting (and cursing the fact that I chose a shot with a camera pan) I ended up with these 4 seconds of unusable footage:
<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/49950814" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>
<a href="Not a valid vimeo URL">Empire Uncut: Scene 258 out take[/url][/color][/b]
The quality is low because I didn't bother to export a good quality copy, but I really messed up the camera pan and the lighting was not what I was going for at all.

Quick little insight to my process... I have to shoot all of this at night so that the movement of the sun during the day won't mess with my lighting over the course of a shot. As I like to put it, I prefer to work in darkness so that I can control the light.

Now that I have used up all of about 2 hours of shooting time left and not having enough time to start over, I decided to just mess with the lighting and camera setting until I had everything dialed in and ready for my next night of shooting.

[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0020.jpg[/img]
~ Here's a shot of what I came up with.

Pleased with my nights work, I decided to get some rest and prepare for when darkness would arise again and I could continue my project.


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0021.jpg[/img]
~ Let's try this again. Quiet on the set!!


[img width= height=]http://www.distractedbystarwars.com/images/isy/sd-build/SD-Shoot_0022.jpg[/img]
~ It's a wrap!

Well, after all that, I got my 16 seconds of animation and scene 258 of Empire Uncut is in the bag. I can't say that I am totally pleased with the end product, but I do think it came out good and I had lot of fun making it. I hope you enjoy it...

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/49949053" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>
<a href="Not a valid vimeo URL">Star Wars Uncut Scene 258[/url][/color][/b]
« Last Edit: September 21, 2012, 09:09:55 PM by r2witco »
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I'm probably too old to be doing this, but I don't care. They're toys, they're meant to be played with!!

I work in darkness so that I can control the light.

Offline hemble

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Re: Coming out of the shadows... SD Bridge Build
« Reply #38 on: September 23, 2012, 03:18:52 AM »
Well I have to say that even for a little section of a scene you have done a awesome job. I was also very impressed with the behind the scenes look thansk heaps for showing that part as well.

And I just viewed the video and damn impressive stuff I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Ron
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Offline Tamer

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Re: Coming out of the shadows... SD Bridge Build
« Reply #39 on: September 23, 2012, 04:28:45 AM »
Wow, I just loaded the video to the front page, but am gonna have to feature this too.

What an amazing how to. Thanks for sharing it Whit.
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Offline Mando Assasin

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Re: Coming out of the shadows... SD Bridge Build
« Reply #40 on: September 23, 2012, 06:13:36 AM »
This is so cool! :D :D
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Offline r2witco

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Re: Coming out of the shadows... SD Bridge Build
« Reply #41 on: September 23, 2012, 06:09:08 PM »
Tamer, Hemble and Mando Assasin - Thank you guys very much, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

I'm glad folks appreciated the behind the scenes looks too. I'm still not sure if I will post things like this before I finish the project as it seems to add to the expectation when I am only doing 16 seconds of something. Not that I won't share so many details, but I will probably do so after the fact. Anyway, I'm glad to have this wrapped up and look forward to my next project!
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I'm probably too old to be doing this, but I don't care. They're toys, they're meant to be played with!!

I work in darkness so that I can control the light.

Offline Art deWhill

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Re: Coming out of the shadows... SD Bridge Build
« Reply #42 on: September 24, 2012, 12:21:44 AM »
this is absolutely brilliant! love the idea behind this project and also the sets, built just to fit for the shot - but looking BIG on screen. Thats what filmmaking is about.
Great!
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