Workin on mah movie (it’s a reeeeaaaallly slow process; wish I knew Blender or at least had some BG artists).
Anywhos, here’s a short. More to come (with animated characters).
fileden.com/files/2008/5/11/ … /back1.mkv
Well done !!!nice!
can u just give us a brief information about ur project ?such as length of this animation and stuff like so!!
Backgrounds are really pain !!! i feel what u r talking of .i am working on short project and i have same problem on back grounds
i impatiently waiting for see more works from u!!!
XD Yeah! You can find the info right here.
Very nice indeed!
I’m playing spot the tools - the character and sea are Synfig, right? Are the rest of the elements paintings? Digital (Gimp?) or physical and scanned?
Looks like you need to tweak the shadow so that it starts at his feet, not 3 ft in front of him.
Very impressive!
Chris
It has a great atmosphere!
Let me point out some tips to make it better if possible:
- The shadow seems to be a copy of the body just warped and darkened. Let’s put a black layer 100% multiplied over the shadow so the highlights of the hair doesn’t appear in the shadow.
- Try to create higher resolution drawings for the details of the background. The pixelation on the seal of the ground where the character is standing, is noticeable.
- You can use a longer (even duplicating it and mirroring) sea bitmap (or vector if it is) and bend it using a warp layer. It would add a perspective effect to the sea and would increase the depth of the scene.
The character design is quite impressive. I can’t wait to see it in movement!
-G
Ack! Thanks for the point. The shadow wasn’t supposed to come out like that. x.x
Thanks guys, I’ll give it a shot. =D Question though: I’m used to having gradient masks in GIMP (like, ya know, sharp at first then slowly fade). How do I do that in Synfig?
Gradient masks is exactly the same than any other type of mask in Synfig. There are two options:
Stuff (Onto)
Gradient mask layer (s)
or
Gradient mask layer (s) (Alpha Over)
Stuff
-G
Genete - he’s asking for gradient blur - you know, my favourite feature request 
Chris
Doh! 
Great job tushantin!! I can’t wait to see more of it.
These last two comments made me think: a “blur” blend method would be nice. That should make way for all kinds of blurs, not just plain gradients.
XD Thanks, mates! Made some improvements thanks to the suggestions.
fileden.com/files/2008/5/11/ … /back1.mkv
Hello Tushantin
your animation is very beautyful.
I just think that the horizon on the sea is too sharp.
If you need, I can help occasionally with Blender. I’ve never made animation, but I think I could do it if needed.
Sorry, but I don’t have enough time for full participation in the project. And I don’t know anything about this manga - I’m too old for mangas ! 
And you’ll must probably explain very well, because my english is bad, I use a lot “Google translation”. 
That’s no problem, mate! You can contribute to the project as you like. If you’re comfortable using Blender then that’s awesome. Don’t worry, though, the story’s original (but based on character of an old game, and its fanfiction).
The first scene goes as Levant attempts to invoke his Goddess and drops his candle. The flames from the candle turn into a fiery tornado, in turn shaping into a fire serpent which devours him, transporting him into a different realm. It’s the fire serpent and the “warp hole” that I need help with in Blender.
Hello Tushantin,
ouch ! I thought you wanted surroundings and backgrounds!
a fiery tornado becoming a fire serpent, it’s hard!
And I don’t understand well what you want :
- animation ? png image sequence ?
- Fire with particles, or a snake modeled ?
it’s very interesting to do, but I’m not sure to make something well…
please, thank you to explain better, and if possible, add a picture of the project
Hmm, I thought it would be easy with the new Blender 2.5 but if it isn’t, no pressure; I’ll simply rework my storyboard. But yeah, I would indeed require particle simulation with Luma/Croma Keying especially for fire. I can give you the draft animation for you to work with the particles so you’d know how to go with it. 
Oh yeah, I WOULD require 3D environments! The only problem is that I’d require them to look watercolored (I suppose there are some renderers, perhaps freestyle, capable of doing that) so low-poly with painted textures and correct lighting should be okay. But despite animating it once the renders of each object should be separate for vector interaction. Transparent PNG sequence are awesome!
If you can do that, you’re my Jesus! 
If interested I can hand you the concept arts of the areas and storyboards (for help with the cameras).
okay, Blender 2.5 is better, but since 2 years I’m learning Blender, I learned the modeling and texturing - and that’s all!
I did not learn animation, and 2.5 or 2.49, I must learning!
I did a first test with particle ;
http://skias.free.fr/images/0001_0200.mp4
It’s not very good. I’m looking for a tutorial to learn how to modify the particles following a shape…
Whoa, that’s awesome! 
Just imagine; if Levant had the power of the flames he wouldn’t even need the Goddess to assist him.
I guess 2.5x versions of Blender would have had its particles improved. Either way I’m looking for the 2D look on the fire (or almost 2D). Nevertheless, I’ll definitely get you the storyboards! 
Hello Tushantin,
I tried to make another snake:
skias.free.fr/images/firesnake.avi
If it suits you, I need a sketch of the scene, and the dimensions of the image to render in sequence png.
I haven’t added the firestorm, but I didn’t understand what you said about the power of the flames.
The fire here is billboard particles.
Holy shit, that’s RAD, dude! Certainly, I’ll upload the storyboard and send it to ya. Sorry for the delay though; funny story – cafes got shut down and currently I’m unemployed. While I do have plenty of time now to finish my movie I just don’t have cash for myself. Plus, there’s a violin class I need to afford.
Anywhos, I’m still in the midst of animating / lipsyncing one part. Hopefully I’ll get you the scenes by tomorrow.
@Mad0 - Change of plans; couldn’t get the scans done due to the riots but nevertheless I’ll require to animate the thing so you could apply particles (both “on” the movie and in transparent PNG’s/AVI alpha). I do have another favor to ask you. Is it possible for you to recreate the environment in 3D / Blender (without the water and the sky)? Low poly would be fine so long as it can give me the 2Dish look. Lighting isn’t too important as it’s gonna be done in Synfig, but textures could be a problem. No need to put too much effort into it, though, since it’s only gonna appear for a couple of shots, but it does need to look “just right”.
@everyone: Is anybody interested in voice acting? I’m in urgent need of it. There’s one character (a teenage boy) who has a couple of dialogues, and a Goddess who’s the main narrator of the story.