3d – Antics3D Blog (original) (raw)
Important Notice to Antics3D Customers and Users
November 7, 2008
All good things must come to an end, and as such we regret to announce that Antics3D will no longer be available as a consumer download from the 28th November 2008. We will continue to support existing customers, and allow access to content until at least June 2009. We will also provide a means by which all content subscribers can permanently download the entire set of Antics content.
The reason? Ultimately, the cost of continuing to develop Antics for a consumer market just didn’t cover the potential revenue. The Antics technology will live on, but we will be focusing on bespoke services work for professional clients in the film and legal industries.
Thanks for your support, and if you have any questions please get in touch at support@antics3d.com . Although Antics3D won’t be available as a consumer product, if you have been working on a special project please get in touch and we will try to do our best to help.
The Antics3D team.
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Antics 3D - News | Tagged: 3d, announcements, antics, news | 
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Posted by bradkolacinski
Essential maintenance – Wednesday 3rd September
September 2, 2008
This mainetenance is now completed. If you encounter any licensing difficulty please let us know in the Installation & Getting Started section of our forum.
Our IT team will be performing some essential maintenance on our licensing server this Wednesday, 3rd September. Downtime will be minimised and we will let you know here as soon as the license server is available.
This will only affect you If you are attempting to activate Antics using a license key. Similarly, if you need to make use of the ‘unlock’ facility in Antics to move your license from one machine to another.
There will be no impact on our other services – the Antics web site, online store, community forum and blog will all be operating as usual.
If you should encounter any difficulty with the activation process outside of this time then please let us know over in the Installation & Getting Started section of our forum.
Leave a Comment » | Antics 3D - News | Tagged: 3d, activation, animation, antics, license, machinima, storyboard, unlock | Permalink Posted by gcon
Making the fairy fly – SketchUp advanced class
August 28, 2008
An angel, a demon, a wizard and a fairy share the folder in the newest character pack released from Antics. There are some screenshots further down this blog for you to check them out. I love getting hold of these new assets, they start me thinking about new little stories that I can tell with Antics. I thought it might be fun to go through the steps needed to make the wings of the fairy move. It’s possible to use the tab key to allow selection each wing, set a pose or two and then get the fairy to blend from one pose to another, but, I thought you might want to have a little more control, plus this way you can have your fairy free to do other stuff. (Like walking.)
For this you’ll need some eggs, a little flour and an inclinometer. (just kidding you won’t need the eggs!) Actually this process works best with photoshop and sketchup and of course Antics. We’ll be plucking the wings off our fairy and then sticking a couple of new ones on. So place the fairy on a new room. To remove the original wings, right click the fairy, choose textures then right click on the wings.ksh texture in the list, to select edit. Under the colour tab you can set the transparency to 100%. So now you have a wingless fairy. Not bad looking as a female character, bar the ears and the ridges in her back!.
The next step is to set up for creating or own wings. We do this by importing a new fairy and positioning her so that all we see is the wing sticking up through the floor like a wing shaped floor mat. (Turn off the snap to position,rotation option.) Line your camera up to this wing and when it’s large in frame save out a single frame. This’ll be what we use the create and texture our new wing. Your wing should look like this…….
Using sketchup, import the wing still frame (as an image) so that we can trace the shape. I found a Bezier Curves plugin for Sketchup which made the job much easier. Once you have a completed the outline of your wing, you can import the stillframe again (as a texture) and apply it to the surface. A little scale/rotate/position fiddle and we are all set. Remember to do the other side as well. Ok now save the .skp file as wing.skp then back into Antics and jump into the file/import and select your wing.skp
All good. So now you should have a wing and a wingless fairy. At this point I saved the Antics project. When you do this you can access the texture map being applied to the new wing so that you can set the look of it to match the original wing texture map. These maps are found in a “maps” folder within the saved project. The original wing was mapped with a fairy_hair_wings.tga file. If you want the new wing to be identical to the original you’ll need to use photoshop to match the RGBA channels. Otherwise you could set the transparency value so the new wing has the look you want.
The next part of the process is to get the new wings flapping. As usual, I’ve gone for the old, “use a camera to create a motion curve” trick. If you haven’t heard of it before, it goes something like this. Put a freecam in the spot where you want an animatable axis of some sort. Link the asset/prop to this freecam. Now use the pan, tilt and dolly values to drive your prop. In this way the values are recorded via the camera’s motion curve, and therefore editable. For the wings, make sure the pivot point is in the right spot, then link each wing to it’s own freecam, which you put, right on the ridge on the back of our wingless fairy. It’s useful to have two viewports open. One is the Mastercam, framed so you can see the whole wing, (say from the top). The other viewport (which you make active) is to see what the freecam is looking at. When you pan left, the asset will swivel to the left. Make sure the freecamera animation is recorded in the timeline.
Once you’ve got your cameras doing their thing, link them to your fairy. Now she is free to be directed, and the wings will perform on cue.
Have fun.
T.
This article was posted by Antics user Tony Bannan of Ammo Previz
2 Comments | Antics 3D - Content Packs, Antics 3D - Hints and tips | Tagged: 3d, animation, antics, fairy, machinima, video, wings | Permalink Posted by ammopreviz
20 new Antics characters now available
August 15, 2008
Five new content packs are now available for you to download. Containing 20 characters, these packs will bring your fantasy scenes to life.
For those who wanted to get hold of the scary Nosferatu character we used in our V4 shadows preview video, now’s your chance. He’s available in the Characters Horror 01 pack, along with Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula and a Mummy.
The characters are fully interactive and can be dropped into any Antics scene. Some come with their own special walk animations. As you can see in the V4 preview video, Nosferatu has his very own Mr Burns-esque shuffle.
The packs retail for £3.95/$7.95/€5.45 and of course are free for Antics Professional users.
Characters Horror 01 (Premium)
Characters Medieval 01 (Premium)
Characters Medieval 02 (Premium)
Characters Casual Female Adult 08 (Premium)
(You’ll need a fair damsel or two to rescue from Nosferatu’s clutches!)
If you’re a BasePack user and were thinking of taking the $95 upgrade offer to get V4 Professional then now’s the time to do it as you’ll get all 5 packs for free. Be quick though, the discount code is only valid till the end of August.
If there’s any content packs that you would like to see in future then please let us know over in the Content Wishlist area of the forum.
I hope you enjoy the new characters, be sure to share your horror and fantasy inspired videos on the forum.
Gary
5 Comments | Antics 3D - Content Packs, Antics 3D - News | Tagged: 3d, animation, antics, characters, content, dracula, frankenstein, machinima, nosferatu | Permalink Posted by gcon
SXSW Interactive Festival 2009 – We need you!
August 8, 2008
How would you like to see a “Virtual Filmmaking” panel at next year’s South by South West Interactive festival?
We have suggested such a panel to the SXSW organizers and they are very enthusiastic. However we need your help if it is to take place. Our suggested panel topic is just one of hundreds, and the organizers use a democratic method to chose which one makes it to the event.
Panel Picker voting has just gone live on the event site.
Please click HERE to place your vote for the “Virtual Filmmaking for Pre-visualization, Pitching and Machinima” panel that we’ve proposed. The more stars the better!
It’s sure to be a big success at an event which brings together so many cutting-edge movie geeks and up-and-coming indie filmmakers
The SXSW Interactive Festival features five days of exciting panel content and amazing parties. Attracting digital creatives as well as visionary technology entrepreneurs, the event celebrates the best minds and the brightest personalities of emerging technology. Whether you are a hard-core geek, a dedicated content creator, a new media entrepreneur, or just someone who likes being around an extremely creative community, SXSW Interactive is for you!
Gary
1 Comment | Antics 3D - News | Tagged: 3d, antics, festival, filmmaking, machinima, pitching, previz, sxsw | Permalink Posted by gcon
For your consideration…
August 8, 2008
There have been a couple of Antics created videos which have caught my eye lately.
The “Twaddlers” short by Antics regular Yan has kicked up a real storm on YouTube.
What do you think of this?
Picked up recently by Machinima.com, the video has generated an unbelievable number of comments in the few days it has been on their YouTube page:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRMYjdbLn5I
Some like it, others seem to take it as a personal insult… opinions are certainly polarised, and voiced very strongly! I’m glad to hear that Yan is pressing on with the second instalment – I can’t wait!
Then there’s a pop video called “Nothing” by Red Ash and the Love Commandos.
This has also caught the eye of the Guernsey Lily Film Festival 2008 where it has been judged “Highly Commended”.
Gary
1 Comment | Antics 3D - News, Antics 3D - video showcase | Tagged: 3d, animation, antics, festival, film, machinima, twaddlers | Permalink Posted by gcon
Antics at the Director’s Guild of America Annual “Digital Day” Event
August 1, 2008
Antics will be exhibiting V4 Professional at the Director’s Guild of America annual “Digital Day” event on Saturday, August 2nd from 830am-4pm in Hollywood, CA.
The event is put on by the DGA’s Special Project’s Committee and this is the 2nd year in a row that Antics has been invited to demonstrate. It will be a whole day of learning and networking with guild members and industry colleagues exclusively for DGA members.
Other than the exhibitor area, the agenda looks interesting: sessions on motion capture, performance capture, 3D television/films, virtual worlds, and developing content for the Internet and mobile phones. The theme for this year is “Size Matters: Creating Content for Big and Small Screens.”
Among the speakers are 3D cinematography gurus Vince Pace and Steve Schklair; Eric Brevig, director of ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’; directors Penelope Spheeris, Marshall Herskovitz, and Demian Lichtenstein; and lots of animation and visual effects supervisors.
There’s also going to be a session on “Working in Virtual Worlds: More than Fun and Games? Using Online Virtual Worlds as a tool for Pre-Production.” I’ll be sure to check out the seminar and let you know what is discussed, but I already know that Second Life will be covered and how some are using it to hold virtual production meetings remotely.
Apple, Avid, Red, Panavision, Thomson Grass Valley, JL Fisher, ARRI and Technicolor are some of the other vendors that will be giving hands-on demos.
Antics is the lone pre-viz software that will be exhibiting, as Antics’ usability and speed in which 3D animation can be produced, accommodates the director’s busy schedule and is the only tool that allows them to visualize their own creative ideas.
Leave a Comment » | Antics 3D - Events | Tagged: 3d, animation, antics, Demo, DGA Digital Day, Director's Guild of America, Events, Pre-viz, Professional, trade show, v4 | Permalink Posted by bradkolacinski
Antics V4 now available to download
July 31, 2008
Champagne all round here at Antics HQ – Antics V4 is now available to download from our website!
As we pass through the 10,000 Antics users mark, V4 features adaptive lighting, realtime shadows, character to character interactions and more.
All existing Antics users, please keep an eye on your inbox as you will receive an email in the coming days with instructions on how you can upgrade.
All new lighting system
The new lighting system allows shadows to be cast adding depth and realism to movies. At the touch of a button you can create incredible atmosphere and amazing effects.
Character to character interactions
It is now possible to command your characters to interact with each other. You can tell your actors to hug, kiss, shake hands, all from a handy menu.
Improved path planning and animation blending
The intelligent path planning in Antics has been improved to ensure characters take the optimum route to their destination. Animation has also been improved to make a characters transition between states appear more natural
Improved Google SketchUp importer
Many usability and workflow enhancements have been made to the Google SketchUp importer. It is now even easier to use than ever.
We have also made changes to our product lineup and pricing. The Antics V3.1 BasePack and ProPack have been replaced by Antics V4 Home and Professional.
The Home version is our standalone product, still free to download and is not time limited.
The Professional version is now even better value for money at $295, and includes the full range of importers (.3ds, .skp, .fbx, .bvh).
For full details of how the two versions compare, take a look at this overview
Many thanks to everyone in the growing Antics community. You’ve given us great feedback, and some great videos, which have helped us shape V4. Keep the feedback coming, we love to hear from you!
Gary
11 Comments | Antics 3D - News | Tagged: 3d, animation, antics, machinima, movies, new, release, v4 | Permalink Posted by gcon
International Machinima Expo – Call For Entries
July 30, 2008
Some of the leading lights in machinima production have gathered to launch the inaugural International Machinima Expo.
Familiar names Ingrid Moon, Damien Valentine, Ricky Grove and Phil Rice have got together to organise the event. Running over the weekend of November 7th, MachinExpo is part of the Festival Arcadia in Montreal.
MachinExpo will feature workshops, premieres of the best work from established and new machinima directors, panel discussions and screenings in front of an expected audience of 20,000.
If you’re interested in getting this kind of exposure for your work, then you’ll be pleased to hear they have just put out a call for entries. There are a total of 6 prizes on offer, it’s free to submit your movie, and the deadline is October 6th.
For more details of the event and the submission rules check out www.machinima-expo.com
Gary
1 Comment | Antics 3D - News | Tagged: 3d, animation, antics, arcadia, festival, machinexpo, machinima, montreal | Permalink Posted by gcon
Make ’em jump!
July 28, 2008
The library of character animations available within Antics is very large no doubt. But there are times when you need to have your character do things which are a little more custom built. Creating poses and blending to them will work quite nicely, as will importing .bvh animations (if you can find what you’re after).
But there are ways to set up your scene to get Antics to solve these custom moves for you. If you can get Antics do to do it realtime, then the process can be much faster.
For example, say I wanted my guy to run, then jump over something. Firstly, I set the walk (in properties:general:walks) to a run animation namely male_run.k3d so now wherever I direct him to go, he’ll get there real fast. Then I get him to perform the jump animation Jump_1.k3d
Ok so far so good. He runs, he jumps. Brilliant. But of course it’s very very unlikely the jump will take him the exact distance you have in mind, I mean, we could just let him drop into that lava pit, or croc pit or whatever he’s meant to be jumping over. So. Rather than go off in search of longer jumps, what if we move the room to make up the distance? If you setup a move on the room with him just standing there, you’ll see him move with the floor. So we simply setup the floor to move at the precise moment he leaves the ground, and have it stop moving just as he is to land.
Try it, it’s fun. In my example clip I moved the floor vertically as well, to get the guy to jump down to a lower level. Oh and then I added a little bounce off move using another jump and floor/combo.
As you can see I also changed the guy into a girl, it’s like a kill bill, bourne identity, bond thing now!
Moving the room also solved another problem I encountered a little while back. The idea was to have a whole bunch of shooters aim for the one target which was moving. The shooting animations in Antics are cool so I wanted to use those. Plus they work with the props! The solution was to put each shooter on a little room about the size of a floor mat. Then have these rooms hooked up to a cam. The room is linked to the cam.
The cameras (one for each room) are then told to target the target, (if you get what I mean). This way the target can move and the shooters won’t miss! You can get the cameras to look where ever you want, just make the target at ground plane level.
T.
This post was written by Antics user Ammo Previz. Check out his web site here
2 Comments | Antics 3D - Hints and tips | Tagged: 3d, animation, antics, Custom character animation FAST, machinima, tips, tricks | Permalink Posted by ammopreviz