Robots Don't Cry (circa 2005)

As I was dabbling in writing a script or story I usually ended up with synopsis or outlines with the promise of filling in the details later. Of course, later never comes. I read more good novels and more good movies for inspiration. As I was reading the novels like "The Chronicles of Naria" and "Dragonlance" I realized that it would take an incredible amount of time to learn how to write nearly half as good as the authors of the books I had mentioned.

I knew I had to either have someone write for me or ask permission to borrow a story for commercial purposes. I think it was 2004 when I found a science fiction short story on the internet that I liked very much. I bookedmarked the story and got back to concentrating on trying out new 3D software. That story turned out to be "Robots Don't Cry" by Mike Resnick. I didn't know how much of a prolific writer he was until later.

After experimenting with Anim8or, Poser, Vue, and Virtual Stage software I created a few short animated chapters of "Robot Space Troopers", a story that I had developed to try out my new skills. I wasn't interested in continuing Robot Space Troopers anymore and for some reason, the "Robots Don't Cry" story came to mind. I thought "I wonder if this Mike Resnick dude will allow me to use his story?"

The website publishing the story didn't have Mike Resnick's contact information. It took me a while but eventually, I found his website: http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/farmer/2/ and e-mail address. It was in Mike's and other websites that I discovered what a great writer he was in terms of the number of works published, awards, and sales.

In October 2005, I wrote to Mike and he responded a few hours later. (I was shocked that a busy writer like him would even consider responding so soon). He didn't say yes at first. It took a few e-mail exchanges and later, we had a contract the next day. I really didn't know what to expect before sending the e-mail. Everything seemed like it was meant to happen.

When the agreement was made, I greenlighted my own production. I was very optimistic and even had ideas that the project would take 4 months. Boy, was I so wrong.

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Characters For the New Project

In my previous post, I explained how I had to brush up on Anim8or. Learning how to create a posable character in Poser 5 was even worse. The concept is to take a 3D character model consisting of basic parts like head, chest, arms, legs, etc. and attach bones to them. The complexity is up to you. My character models were based on the VirtualStage character spec at http://www.dakinewave.com/virtualstage/modelspec.htm.

The VirtualStage characters have similar body parts to the Poser characters. It is difficult to make a model from scratch in Poser 5 so I used Anim8or. After the Anim8or model was completed it had to be exported in the Wavefront .obj format to be useable in Poser 5. In Poser, the .obj file must be imported so that the bones can be attached.

Once the .obj file is imported, go to the setup tab to make new bones or reuse the skeleton from another model. There are some bones that are not even used. As long as I had a bone for each character part it didn't matter. Once the bones aligned with the body part correctly, then you'v got yourself a posable character that you can import into the Vue 3D software for spectacular backgrounds. Once you've got it right, SAVE it!

It took me many hours to get the technique right and if not done correctly....well it would seem that creating a posable model from scratch is impossible. Here are some major quirks:

1. Ensure the file model is a .obj file. I'm not sure how I figured this out two years ago but I'm glad that I did. The technique won't work with a standard .3ds format.
2. Ensure that the name of the bone and the name of the part is correctly spelled. If the name of the part is incorrect, the bone will not attach to the body part correctly.

Poser 7 - Design, Pose and Animate Figures in 3D

Use It Or Lose It

Computer Graphics and Animation is what I do at home. At work, there are times when I do some sort of artwork making graphics for Power Point presentations or other documentation but there is not much in the way of creativity. I only started to do serious 3D animation in 2005 and completely stopped doing it after my "Machines Don't Cry" animation project. I'd like to do animation again someday but I may hire at least one animator to do the gruntwork. It will depend on getting enough capital for that. I think I would rather direct and produce.

My new project will only have 3D images and text with the tools I used for doing 3D animation over a year ago. I am brushing up on creating some test characters and objects and boy - I'm learning how to use these tools and techniques all over again!
Even the simplest tool, Anim8or took me almost an hour how to relearn. The objects were basically rectangular blocks that I wanted to shape together to form a "widget" for work. I couldn't believe how much I forgotten but after making the "widget", I got comfortable with Anim8or again.


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Anim8or (circa 2005)

I tested many 3d modeling software that were demo or completely free. Anim8or was one of the first of the free. I needed a tool for making a model from scratch. The other tools that I mentioned in my earlier blogs were either for making a 3d environment (Vue and Bryce) for the model or for manipulating the model's movement or pose (Poser and Daz3D). It is possible to make models from scratch with these tools but it will definitely take longer.

When I initially tried Anim8or, I thought it was difficult but definitely easier than the tools I used in the 90’s. After many hours of research, downloads, and testing other software, I ended up using Anim8or anyway because Anim8or turned out to be the easiest 3d Modeling tool to use. After using Anim8or for a few months, all I needed to do was dream or sketch an object and I could model it in a relatively short time depending on the complexity. Modeling a book or a furniture can take a few minutes. A detailed spaceship could take two or three hours. Something complex like a human figure may take a few days.

There are some things about Anim8or that still drives me nuts but since it is still free, I’m not going to complain too loudly. I still think it is a great tool.

Some of the things I’d like to see are:
Boolean operations
Manipulation of object orientation by input command (as oppose to relying on mouse).
When doing a loop cut, the object’s gap is closed.
Manipulation of shapes other than what is already offered.
Knowing where the axes are at all times.

So far, I’ve been able to get around these limitations so it is not so bad. Although you can make animation with anim8or, the methods that I use make the process much faster although the quality of the art is nowhere near Pixar (or even many amateurs for that matter). Nevertheless, the process serves its purpose. To pump out my ideas and stories in visual form – that’s my goal. I have so many ideas that I like to represent graphically in animation or pictures that I wish I can create all of them at the same time - but that’s not possible.

Robot Space Trooper concept (circa 2004)

It was sometime around 2004 when I had this idea about making a short film on a cool robot toy called Robosapien. The toymaker company website had posted interesting one minute movies by customers. I thought about writing a short script for the robot toy prior to making an amusing short.

The story evolved into something more epic and serious. I was replacing some of my old music tapes with CD and I came across the band called "Yes". Remember "Owner of a Lonely Heart" back in the 80's? Anyway, there was some Yes music that seem to fit in my vision of this science fiction story that kept growing. The story was still in outline form but in some parts of the stories, I wrote in a lot of detail.

I decided to use the story for a future 3D animation project. Using the toy robot would not work. It would have been too goofy to take seriously. I had a hard time coming up with a title for the sci-fi story. Eventually, it would be called "Robot Space Trooper".

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Virtual Stage (circa 2005)

Early 2005, I was still searching for the ultimate 3d software that was free or very cheap. I must have downloaded a ton of freeware and shareware 3d applications and was never satisfied. At this time I had Poser but not only was it difficult to learn, the work involved for the things I wanted to do like creating many new characters and providing clothes was dauntless. (Do an internet search on Poser tutorials to get an idea).

I wish I had documented how I found Dakine Wave's VirtualStage but it was a Godsend. It was February 2005 and I e-mailed a technical support person inquiring about using the software's output animation for commercial use and received a prompt response. The techie, Paul Brown, was more than a support guy - he was the programmer, technical director, and CEO of Dakine Wave. He was very helpful in terms of responding to me promptly and answering my questions.

Virtual Stage was close to what I wanted in a 3D animation software: Speed, Usability, Quality, Price, and Ownership of the output. It is very difficult to get all these factors. I have so many good things to say about this software which I used since it was version 1. I currently have version 3 and this where the version ended, although it is still available at http://www.dakinewave.com I don't believe it had too much commercial success which is very unfortunate. I thought it was truly a "killer app".


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Vue and Bryce (circa 2005)

I had been doing alot of on-line research over the years and there were two similar 3d software for landscape and other virtual environments available off the shelf: Daz3D's Bryce (a Corel product at one time) and e-onsoftware's Vue. There was a free version of Bryce available and the newer version at the time cost about $69. In contrast, Vue d'Esprit, was $179. The software Mover can be bundled with Vue to allow animation from Daz3d or Poser to be imported. Bryce didn't had that capability. Mover was an additional $109. There are many alternative 3d landscape software in the market but many were extremely pricey or didn't have the capabilities I needed like importing the standard 3d models formats I required.

The reason for needing these 3d software is to provide a virtual world for the still or animated characters. I didn't wanted to pay almost $300 for the software and I almost purchased Bryce. Another reason for me to not want to get Vue was its French connection. It is not clear who developed Vue since there is a Oregon headquarters and a Paris office. But the French sounding names of the e-onsoftware products led to to think that Vue was a foreign software. Nevertheless, I have negative opinions about French politics and how tourists get treated in France.

There were many examples of Vue work on the internet, far more than the Bryce examples. These Vue works looked superior to the Bryce rendered works in quality. This was another reason for choosing Vue. (Ironically, many of the Vue work that I like were done by French artists).

As fate would have it, the Poser package I purchased a few months prior had a $50 coupon for Vue which helped. The Vue product line can be found in www.e-onsoftware.com. Bryce can be found in www.daz3d.com.

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Poser (circa 2004)

Not satisfied with Daz3d, I purchased Poser 5 in CompUSA. I've checked online stores and the prices were the same. When I did my online research on Poser it appeared to be a standard for creating digital human figures and have your way with them - posing, animating, clothing, modifications, texture, just to scratch the surface. I was mainly interested in creating 3d figures and animating them. With Poser and Daz3d, the exported figure can be imported in Bryce, a landscaping/virtual environment software.

Poser is a powerful tool and I was overwhelmed at its complexity. There are tons of free tutorials out there and it did took time to learn only the things I wanted to do since it would take a lifetime to learn this software.

The greatest thing Poser did for me was to transform a complex Poser model and turn it into a model that was specific to work on Dakine Wave's Virtual Stage software. When a new version of Virtual Stage came out, VS allowed the actors to express several emotions. But the user had to make the models with the emotion sets. VS did the rest.


Poser 7 - Design, Pose and Animate Figures in 3D