My 3D Animation Wiki

I created a new wiki to document my endeavours and progress in producing a 3D animated film. This time, I am going to use Reallusion iClone software to produce my work.

Please check out harun.wikidot.com

 

Benchmark Speeds

I did a rendering test to compare performance of Hash Animation Master v15.0d against the latest v17.0a. The test was done using ThreeTeapotsBenchmarkv005.prj. Below are the results:-

• v15d 32-bit 8:51
• v17a 32-bit 5:33
• v17a 64-bit 4:09 (!)

The improvement v17 has over v15 is terrific - more than twice as fast! My PC is a 2.66GHz Q9450 with 4GB RAM running Win7 64-bit Ultimate.

Kicking back into 3D animation....

With the release of v17 of Hash Animation Master, my interest in getting back into 3D animation has grown stronger...but first, I needed to ensure that I could rig a character...using the freely available TSM2 (The Setup Machine by Anzovin), I successfully rigged and posed this model, and also tried out the LiteFace rig. I find TSM2 an easy-to-install rig that is comfortable to use and should provide me the neccessary controls needed for good animation.

Blender 3D

While Hash Animation Master is my favourite 3D software, I wanted to try my hands on Blender, which is the free open source program. Very powerful and feature rich, the new v2.5x series has an improved user interface that is much easier to use than before. This book focuses more on the tools needed to create models and make animations for characters, which is great, as that's my main interest.
More details in Amazon.

Inspired 3D Short Film Production

Jeremy Cantor, Pepe Valencia, 2004

This is an excellent book on how to produce 3D animated shorts. The production processes are explained from A to Z, beginning with story and character development, art direction, storyboarding, to the typical production cycle from modeling to animating, rendering and compositing, and lastly to marketing and distribution. Four case studies of famous animated shorts are discussed in the book, while a DVD of around fifty animated shorts are included.

More details at Amazon.

The Animator’s Survival Kit

Richard Williams, 2002

This is another must-have book for those interested in animation. Williams shares with us in great detail his techniques and philosophy in animation, from lessons he had learnt through trial and error while working with other great animators. Although he covers many of the basic movements such as walks, runs and dialogue, it's his analysis and tips of these fundamental actions that give great value to increasing one's understanding and appreciation to this magical art form.

More details at Amazon.

The Illusion of Life : Disney Animation

Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnson, 1995

This is a big and heavy book, both literally and metaphorically. I haven't finished reading it. Regarded as a must-have for any serious animator, this book gives an inside look on how Disney studio created their animated works, right from their historical beginnings, with useful explanations of the methodology utilised, including many illustrations and photographs of behind-the-scenes.

More details at Amazon.