Final DVD

Glory! Isn't it just glorious? The Lightscribe didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped but it's still there and looks alright. Turns out those sample images for Lightscribe are done at a setting that takes about twice as long to burn. Paranoia's coat in the left DVD is meant to be black :( Oh well, I know for next time I guess.

To make the foam cover I got some square hollow aluminium pipe and hacksawed a section off to make a stamp. I then measured to my best ability where the squares should go and hammered them into the foam. The top creamy layer was made using white bathroom sealant. Thanks to Game for giving me the lovely white DVD cover! You're awesome *thumbs up*. Shame on you JB :(

Final Roughcut

Holy mother of god, it's FINALLY blocked out! Take a look at:
http://eps.id.au/files/animation_roughcut.avi

Also, the DVD cover design! It's a white DVD case with waffle paper for the covers, like an ice cream sandwich ^^ planning to do something fancy with white silicon up the top too!

The original idea was to have the waffle paper on the outside, however it'll depend on what sort of materials I'm able to get on whether it'll just be a jacket sleeve or a nice embossed surface. The actual "Ice Cream" label will be placed in the insert and a window will be cut out of the waffle. I'm thinking foam might do the trick for the cover!

Things I wish I knew before I started this course

1. At least half your work time is spent dealing with software crashes.
2. About 10% of your work time is spent dealing with lost or missing files.
3. About 25% of your work time is spent trying to convert your files to a format that your software will like
4. Only 15% of your time is actually spent getting work done.
   
5. Formats that one type of software likes will not be liked by other programs.
6. Your files will NEVER be in the right format.
7. Adobe cleanscript is going to be your closest friend for the rest of your life. Get acquainted.
8. Your actionscript will NEVER "just work". In fact, you'll thoroughly check your code about 3 or 4 times before you notice that missing semicolon. Sometimes, Flash just wants a restart. Kinda like a memory enema.
   
9. Owning a second computer is a viable way of occupying yourself while you reboot, reinstall your software, or wait for that neverending render to finish.
10. Never leave your computer unsupervised to batch render. When you come back from that walk, you'll find that your render never made it past frame 1 of file 1.
    
11. You will spend a lot of your time at MLIA or Icanhascheezburger.com while waiting for your other computer to reboot, reinstall that software, or waiting for that neverending render to finish.
12. Your persistence in troubleshooting on the Adobe help centre website may not pay off in the end.
13. No one on the internet knows how to fix your problem, unless you spend 2 hours searching.
14. Half of what you will be paid for is learning how to get around your software's major bugs.
    

The list could go on. In fact, as I learn to grin and bear the numerous Adobe Premiere crashes that I've had to endure while doing one of my projects, I'll think of many, many more.

2 mins 25 and counting!

Huzzah! We're finally up to the fight scene! Now it's time to really put this away and do my other project :> feeling a bit more confident that I'll have time to polish it up after it's blocked out. 3D layers are also saving a LOT of time!

http://home.eps.id.au/files/sample_2-25min.avi

Also, little something I whipped up, based on the hero "Pandamonium" from Heroes of Newerth: Face is based on the hero icon.

Cheats and hax

So I'm rapidly running out of time, back to the blocking out idea! The people in the courtyard area are currently static, but hopefully I'll have time to animate atleast a couple of them pointing and gasping. Not for now though, still lots to do! Will need to leave this project sitting for a while, have to start editing my digital a/v project!

2 mins done!

Ugh. Been up to 2 mins for a while now but I've been going back and filling in some gaps. So far I'm limited by my ability to do incredibly repetitive tasks, like dressing each of the walking models. Doing the first lot walking along the train station was ok but now... Have to do other angles for standing around the Superhero when he lands. Ugh. Considering just doing plain static cutouts until I actually get the whole thig blocked out, ones that would be good enough if I ran out of time. Realistically though, the crowds are the most difficult part of this project due to the sheer number of people, but the 30 second fight scene shouldn't be *too bad* given I'll be templating from a fight in a game. Just a matter of copying the animations!

Link will be provided whenever I can be bothered uploading >.>