djpeanut Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Hi Are there any tutorials or material out there about how best to manage a large-ish project? I'm undertaking a project which involves modelling and rigging 3 characters, modelling a number of environments, and animating a couple of minutes of footage, including lip-synching and facial expressions and stuff. How would I go about organising this kind of thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 ouch...big topic... ho many people are involved? what is the time frame to get it done? budget? what kind of hardware do you have? what software do you have? I can tell you that no matter what the scale of a project advanced planning is the only answer...every day here at C.O.R.E we have meetings (lots of meetings) about workflow and project management... it would be better to spend a month planning things out on paper before doing any work at all...setting schedules, breaking things down into discreet tasks, assinging tasks based on skill sets, ensuring that each piece will work with the next down the pipe before it is approved...etc etc...basically all the stuff that no one teaches in any school I've ever heard of... this kind of thing is by far the most important step...don't believe for a second that you can cheap out on pre-production and expect to get something done...at least something worth the time you'll spend on it. there are a few books out there that might help you out a bit: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...9527403-2415121 this one seems pretty good - I haven't read it but I flipped through it in the bookstore... and http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/159...9527403-2415121 I have this one (not finished reading it), and it's pretty good... check them both out - it seems bookstores will let you just sit there and read for hours and hours...so dig deep into them before picking them up. if you have any specific questions just shout out.there are lots of people here who have been involved in setting up pipelines for all kinds of projects....a ton of good advice just for the asking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djpeanut Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 OK. The team consists of 1 person (me). The deadline is the 16th of May. I will be using Houdini Apprentice for modelling, and have access to 8 dual Xeon machines running Houdini Master with full licenses for rendering. There is no budget! What I was really looking for was how best to organise the project within Houdini - would I do everything in one file, or have one for each object then use a new file and merge for each scene, or create OTLs... etc. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 is this a demo reel? are you going to be doing this full time (8+ hours a day?) honestly, I'd scale it back...way back. figure out what you want to show of yourself...that you can rig? model characters or environments/props/etc? animate? as for organization.... you can build environments as OTLs that contain element/prop OTLs (all built seperately) character OTLs... then in a hip file for each shot load just the OTL's you need and animate away.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djpeanut Posted March 4, 2005 Author Share Posted March 4, 2005 No, this isn't a demo reel. I'll be working on it pretty much full-time, though. It's a project I'm doing at university. Basically, the idea is to get as far as possible by the deadline. They aren't expecting a photorealistic short film - the finished criteria are set by myself. Thanks for the info on OTLs though, I'll look into how they are created. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 "... the idea is to get as far as possible by the deadline..." not sure I like the sound of that...I know what you're saying though... if you plan it well - tight storyboards etc... you should be OK... OTLs are the way to go....just ask for any help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djpeanut Posted March 5, 2005 Author Share Posted March 5, 2005 "... the idea is to get as far as possible by the deadline..."not sure I like the sound of that...I know what you're saying though... if you plan it well - tight storyboards etc... you should be OK... OTLs are the way to go....just ask for any help 16629[/snapback] Yeah, it doesn't sound great. But I'm sure you know that I could continue refining and adding detail for months and months, but the project itself would not benefit in terms of what I'll be marked on. I'm expecting the end result to be rough - it's the research and planning behind it that'll count Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3__ Posted March 6, 2005 Share Posted March 6, 2005 having an edit (of proxy scenery) first will tell you if the whole thing will serve its purpose before you put in to much effort: -Model proxies; reshaped boxes and spheres, closed splines, whatever. (characters may need some work though) -Assemble proxies per scene, animate (just keyframes) and light. maybe apply basic shaders to the proxies. -Render (GL) proxy scenes and edit together. -Re-compose/re-animate proxies and re-edit until it all works. (I've seen cases where an animation of nicely lit and rendered proxies was more compelling than the final) -Start modelling/texturing the final items, starting from most important to least (normally you'd have people doing this from the outset). -Keep your machines rendering... drop renders into the edit as they arrive. also it often helps to have some sort of demented oversized at-a-glance checklist of everything, and cross stuff out as you go. like those war-room maps with city lights that wink-out as targets are destroyed, yes... a-hem, well. good luck! -cpb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djpeanut Posted March 6, 2005 Author Share Posted March 6, 2005 Amazing, thanks. I've already converted one wall of my room into a massive pinboard for notes. I like the idea of an animatic - I've already storyboarded and am modelling characters, so I'll probably put together a simple edit with box scenery and stick the characters in there with all the detail turned off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurbo Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 there are a few books out there that might help you out a bit:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...9527403-2415121 this one seems pretty good - I haven't read it but I flipped through it in the bookstore... and http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/159...9527403-2415121 I have this one (not finished reading it), and it's pretty good... 16564[/snapback] Hello Arctor, I saw the Santiago book mentioned in another forum. Would you recommend it? Does it have any juicy bit pertaining to Houdini? I'm pretty sure that I would have to get this one shipped in from the US. Thanks Gurbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 well right off the bat let me say that this book IS NOT a Houdini book... it's all about the different kinds of jobs in the industry (film, broadcast, games etc) and the kinds of challanges they each have, how to get a job etc etc... Houdini is only used to describe the types of things that are done in these fields... I have too much to do at the moment to actually READ A BOOK...grumble...grumble...but I'll try to get throught he rest of this one and try to sum it up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djpeanut Posted March 23, 2005 Author Share Posted March 23, 2005 I've just put in an order for the 3D Short Film book so once I've read through it i'll post a sort of mini-review on here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.