Objects At Rest

explorations in audio and moving imagery

Category: General

  • Community: Stopmotion Animators Meet Up

    Looks like some casual meetings took place on April 1, 2007 on both sides of the country.

    Here on the east coast, I was invited over to Takuro Masuda’s studio where he is filming his stop motion project for the Center for Puppetry Arts Experimental Puppetry Theater. His project involves Native American mythology and looks to be superb. Takuro is an Atlanta animator and one of his films titled “Room 101” is viewable on YouTube.

    Brett Thompson, was also there. Brett was interviewed and had his Flash animations shown on a cable show last night. I missed that but hope to see a copy sometime. We all talked about stopmo walk cycles, video assist, set design and other stuff.

    Out on the west coast Michael Granberry met up with Justin Rasch and Shel Wagner-Rasch from Stop Motion Mission where they chatted about stopmo and ate Indian food. You can’t go wrong with that combo.

  • Objects at Rest … Dot Com

    My new web address www.objectsatrest.com is now official. I was able to acquire the “dot com” version of the domain name.

    The former address www.objectsatrest.org should still work and redirect to the .com site but you may want to update any links or bookmarks that you may have.

    The former owner of the domain now has a new web address located at Pyile.com.

  • Work Your Walking Week – Animating Walk Cycles

    There is a thread on stopmotionanimation.com about walk cycles. Here is a test that I did many months ago. I used the trial version of Stop Motion Pro and my web cam.

  • Hi-Def Production Workflow…Without a Supercomputer

    I had an interesting email exchange with J. Roche regarding non-linear editing using Sony Vegas and wrote down what I do when editing a film. My goal is to output DVD or HD-DVD resolution projects while also being able to edit that project using very small file sizes.

    photo

    The result is:

    • improved performance of the computer and editing software
    • clear views and smoother playback of the film
    • ability to see each frame clearly in sync with the audio track(s)

    In Sony Vegas I am using the following settings to make NTSC, HD, and HD Image Sequence backups:

    • .avi – NTSC DV Widescreen 24p (2-3-3-2 pulldown) and Audio is PCM Uncompressed
    • .avi – CineForm HD Codec V2.1, HDV 720 (1280×720) with a frame rate of 24fps and Audio is PCM Uncompressed
    • .avi – UPDATE NOTE: I have since switched to making a 720P uncompressed 24P file and using that to make a compressed 720P and associated proxy file. Once I get ready to render I swap proxy file back to the uncompressed to keep the number of times the footage is compressed before it goes to DVD to a minimum.
    • .jpg – I also export an image sequence of the entire film at 1280×720 so I can import those image frames into any editor down the road at HD resolutions

  • Vitruvius Update and New Armature Development

    I am in the process of relocating my studio over the next month or two. I plan to hold off on further filming of the Vitruvius project until I have the studio and lighting re-assembled. I have some compositing elements that I can work on in the mean time and I’m also exploring a new armature setup for future projects.

    My new armature development utilizes aluminum wire, plastic tubing, super glue, and 6-32 socket screws. I wanted an armature that is inexpensive, easy to build without a lot of equipment, and modular so I could easily replace arms or legs of the puppets without have to re-costume. I also wanted to move away from the epoxy stuff with all the potential toxicity issues it brings…not to mention its permanence which doesn’t allow for removable puppet limbs.

    photo

    The photo above is of the first armature. I just got some plastic tubes (square and round) and my cordless drill and a tap to make threads in the holes.

    • Figure (a) shows the blocks of plastic tubing super glued together and the threaded holes for the screws which are clamping the wire in place.
    • Figure (b) shows the front with a horizontal strip of plastic glued across the blogs for reinforcement.
    • Figure (c) shows the plastic block with a slot drilled through for the T shaped tie down. The 2 lengths of leg wire go through the heel hole and are held in place via a screw in the back of the foot block.
    • Figure (d) is the whole armature view from the back.

    The socket screws clamp down on the wire running through the tubes and holds it in place. The “bones” of the arms and legs are just plastic tubing that is like a drinking straw but much thicker. The joints between the bones are strips of craft foam tied in a knot to keep bones in place but allow flexibility. So far, the armature it is light weight and stronger than I anticipated which is good.