Forum - Tips & Tricks - Tips and Tricks - Any requests?! - Messages http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic242-tips-and-tricks--any-requests.aspx Forum - Tips & Tricks - Tips and Tricks - Any requests?! - Messages en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Jitbit AspNetForum Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:31:28 GMT Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:31:28 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic242-tips-and-tricks--any-requests.aspx Message from Emily mmarion33 wrote:
Hello just started playing with Muvizu the night before last and I really dig it. I'm working hard at my first project and noticed that in Emily's Gil Scott Heron poetry club animation that the camera moves. How is this accomplished? (Also really looking forward to put a guitar or drumsticks in my characters hands, I know that would require a whole set of associated animations, the import object function, and object interaction so I'll try and be patient

PS Really awesome work guys I'm astounded at how intuitive the process you are laying out is (I came in at beta, how would you live without the time line?)


Hi Mmarion33,

You'll be glad to hear that we now have genuine moving cameras in the new release!
Here is the tutorial:



Hope you can make another great music video with it.

Emily

]]> Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:31:28 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic242-tips-and-tricks--any-requests.aspx Message from Neil Unkka wrote:
This is more of a character tweek request: skirts and being able to keep f.ex. a cup in hand while moving. Long hair option would also be nice. This is such a great program! Thanks tons!



Hi, Unkka. You'll be pleased to hear that skirts will be available soon(ish), along with a few more hairstyles.

Putting things into the character's hands is a bit harder, but it's something we'd like to add sooner or later.]]> Fri, 13 Aug 2010 08:52:50 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic242-tips-and-tricks--any-requests.aspx Message from Unkka Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:20:02 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic242-tips-and-tricks--any-requests.aspx Message from barrys


Barry]]> Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:30:24 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic242-tips-and-tricks--any-requests.aspx Message from worman13 Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:39:05 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic242-tips-and-tricks--any-requests.aspx Message from Jamie
Ally Scene:



Video using it:



Camp Fire scene:



Snowy Scene:

]]> Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:44:16 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic242-tips-and-tricks--any-requests.aspx Message from mmarion33 IanS wrote:
mmarion33 wrote:
PS finished my first project, it's my band (that's me on the left with the beard) covering "Last Night" by the strokes, we would like to release a video but this is just a practice till we can get a decent original on tape that suits this silly style.

Nice video mmarion33. Try and get an isolated vocal track next time though, if you can, for better lip-syncing.



Yeah that was the night I got the program, definitely tighten it up when I rework it, that was the best recording I had laying around, but I actually plan to sub out the song completely, and when I do I'll have the singer do an overdub on a separate track and then mute that one.]]> Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:33:20 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic242-tips-and-tricks--any-requests.aspx Message from IanS mmarion33 wrote:
PS finished my first project, it's my band (that's me on the left with the beard) covering "Last Night" by the strokes, we would like to release a video but this is just a practice till we can get a decent original on tape that suits this silly style.

Nice video mmarion33. Try and get an isolated vocal track next time though, if you can, for better lip-syncing.]]> Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:57:29 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic242-tips-and-tricks--any-requests.aspx Message from Emily
Thanks for the improvement suggestions

As to the Gil Scott Heron video, this is how you can make 'camera' movements:

1. The main thing you need is Camtasia, or any decent quality screen recording software
You can download a 30 day trial here:

http://www.techsmith.com/download/camtasiatrial.asp

2. When making your set need to make it on a massive ground plane which will cover up the pink navigation dots when you move.

3. Record all the animation, locomotion, eye movements etc. as normal. At this point it's a good idea to think about where you want your camera to move.

4. Set up the Camtasia to record your screen. You probably want to select 'system sounds' in the audio option. You can opt to record only a selection of the screen, or you can press F12 to hide the UI.

5. Once it's all set up, and you're happy with it, go to direct>animation, press play, and as your animation plays out, you then move your viewpoint around the set. You will probably have to do it in a few takes - I think the Gil Scott Heron one took about 8 takes or so (and it's still not 100%...)

Another option is to use After Effects, and adjust the x,y,z positions and scaling with keyframes. You could also use 3D cameras with After Effects but I haven't tried that option yet.

I used a little bit of After Effects, along with the screen capture technique. Neither of these options work perfectly, and they are a bit fiddly. The best solution is to have proper camera movements up and running in the app. It's a work in progress, and we hope to get it in for the next release. The developer monkeys are hard at work, and we promised them no more bananas till it's done.

At the moment they look something like this:



In the interim, you can try my (slightly ropey) technique. All the best with it, I'm sure you make something interesting! I really liked your music video - I particularly enjoyed the random kung-fu moves!]]> Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:06:07 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic242-tips-and-tricks--any-requests.aspx Message from mmarion33

Great to hear about the music suite, I know you have more general items to address first, I'm excited all the same. Another suggestion for work flow is to give it multi-monitor support. Currently the window won't let me take tool boxes outside the main window or re-size the window to stretch across both desktops. That would be great because I'm sure you're aware that it can get pretty crowded with all the camera windows and actions. I realize this might be a platform problem, i.e. the UnReal engine doesn't allow for that kind of interaction and you'd have to get into that code blah :p

So alternatively an easier coding solution might be to allow for hiding of the animation window after you've memorized your shortcuts. (or sound effects window, or eye/head window; it'd be real cool if you could leave the control dots but nix the rest of the window).

Another work flow suggestion would be to add the single time line of each category (animation, eyes/head/ camera etc) in a thin strip above or even in the time slider bar so you can edit right there without switching back and forth to time line mode. It would still be useful even if you couldn't edit from there just to help time events and see things coming to avoid accidentally overwriting later animations.

OK guys keep up the good word I think this forum is gonna be a lot busier shortly cause the beta is strong...

PS finished my first project, it's my band (that's me on the left with the beard) covering "Last Night" by the strokes, we would like to release a video but this is just a practice till we can get a decent original on tape that suits this silly style.

edited by mmarion33 on 7/6/2010]]> Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:51:58 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic242-tips-and-tricks--any-requests.aspx Message from Muvizu_Admin Thanks for the positive message below! It always brings a smile to our faces when someone takes the time to say something nice about our software so thanks for that! And thanks for taking the time to download our app. Re: music, bands etc - we're actually just beginning research into a music suite (animations, holding things etc) but this probably won't come online for a bit.

Thanks again for your positive comments and please let us know how you're getting on with the app and what else you'd like to see. Looking forward to seeing your work!

The Muvizu team.]]> Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:40:47 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic242-tips-and-tricks--any-requests.aspx Message from mmarion33

PS Really awesome work guys I'm astounded at how intuitive the process you are laying out is (I came in at beta, how would you live without the time line?)]]> Mon, 05 Jul 2010 19:38:25 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic242-tips-and-tricks--any-requests.aspx Message from cheekymonkey
]]> Mon, 05 Jul 2010 10:48:37 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic242-tips-and-tricks--any-requests.aspx Message from Jamie


Here is the video that was made with the Jungle scene:


edited by Jamie on 7/9/2010]]> Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:42:47 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic242-tips-and-tricks--any-requests.aspx Message from cheekymonkey
They are intended to be like the tutorial videos, but more specific to advanced features, or showing you how to use 3rd party software to get the most out of Muvizu.

What would you like to see?

We can't guarantee anything, but we can try our best.

Post your requests here!

Or - if you are feeling rather flashy and you want to show off what you can make and how you made it, please do so!

]]> Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:28:51 GMT