Comments on: Moon model test

By: Michael J Dowswell

Michael J Dowswell — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:06:00 +0000

Steve!…that’s one of the best episodes!…lol. Glad you found it, we had a thunderstorm today (which is very rare for round here) and so only just back onto the computer now.

I had major problems today with relaxing but powering down the computers I think helped…I think I should totally remove myself from the computer more often, dear lord!…i just find it all really difficult to let go of…and yet its so beneficial to go away from it..

By: steve

steve — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:38:00 +0000

Jahnocli - Wow. Thanks for that...

By: jahnocli

jahnocli — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:24:00 +0000

“Clangers” was a UK children’s programme based on a small moon. The Clangers were small knitted creatures which used swanee whistles to speak, there was a soup dragon, a music tree… well, I guess you had to be there… It is looked upon with affection by people of a certain age!

By: steve

steve — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:06:00 +0000

Oh, I see what you mean, Michael. In truth, the starfield background is supposed to be the deep blue of the background of the site (like it is HERE) and you can see in the movie just how washed out it got. I may need to go back to Sorenson3 to eliminate that washing-out, but the H.264 compresses things so much better...

BTW, what's "Clangers"?

By: steve

steve — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:55:00 +0000

Sardtok - (I keep wondering what they will look like next to a ship.)

Me, too!

By: Michael J Dowswell

Michael J Dowswell — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:44:00 +0000

Steve, no I’m not attacking the stars themselves...I really love those. I just meant a darker blue. I just had a look at the Clangers moon and they seem to have gone with a black background so I understand if you don’t want to go down that road because it’s a similar style to Clangers.

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I’d never heard of The Uncanny Valley. What I don’t understand is what happened to stop motion, and what happened to people using real paint to paint a painting with. I don’t know if I ever told you, but I really don’t like raytracing at all. And yet I’ve been doing it and continue to do it...I wonder if I should see a doctor.

But there are probably rational reasons why I’m here...lol

And yes, agree with Sardtok about the motionblur taking me out of the moment, very difficult to describe.

By: Sardtok

Sardtok — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:18:00 +0000

I really like the blue background,
and the moon looks great.
I’ve got a bit of trouble focusing on the moon in this shot though, I think it might be the motion blur of the stars, cause I keep looking at them instead of the moon.
I don’t think the way the ships look will be a problem with the characters, the ships are already very stylized, but I get a very different feeling of scale from the new characters, so I keep wondering what they will look like next to a ship.

By: steve

steve — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:39:00 +0000

Hi, Michael

Yes, I’m intimately acquainted with The Uncanny Valley. We are always dancing around that territory in computer games. Given the chance, I push my designs away from it. However, most of the artists I know seem to be charging headlong for it, sure that they’ll be the ones to get to the other side.

As for the blue starfield, I know sci-fi is supposed to be all about black backgrounds with tons and tons of tiny white stars, or the occasional nebula to give it some varietal color. I just thought I’d try something different, and I have to say I’m digging it. Hopefully you’ll get used to it…

By: Michael J Dowswell

Michael J Dowswell — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 01:58:00 +0000

Not talking about the realism of the space background though…but the feeling it generates. But I mean I need to see the sequence also…

By: Michael J Dowswell

Michael J Dowswell — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 01:55:00 +0000

Hey Steve, I really like it, but the starfield background blue is maybe a bit too bright?, but I mean my monitor is ancient and my settings a bit high up. so it could look completley different over here to yours, I know that my newer monitor over there –> looks a lot different…but its just that when you think of space you think of dark, I dont know…

Have you read about The Uncanny Valley? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Uncanny_Valley

Was a very interesting read.