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cv-StopMotion on non-keyframed motion
Posted: 31 January 2019 04:06 AM   [ Ignore ]  
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cv-StopMotion effect on “non-keyframed” motion (like with vibrate tag etc): any way this could be possible?

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Posted: 04 June 2019 08:50 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]  
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I ran in the same issue right now, I can’t use Stopmotion with the Vibrate Tag. :(

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Posted: 05 June 2019 02:06 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]  
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Hi Ehmie, hi gaschka,

Since this is a key-framed based effect, you need to convert the procedural motion into keyframes. Here is an example with Cappucino.

Screen capture (one minute, clip #698)
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/KRpX1qgxDKGgusoqUrxbOeHEraN4K9czdIsHOVObJyW

Typically the Bake Object function should do that.

My best wishes

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Posted: 05 June 2019 03:54 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]  
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Hello Mr. Sassi,
thank you for your reply and your assistance. I used the bake animation command of the timeline for now.
Anyhow, I would love to see this plugin to be enhanced to work with procedural animations as well, ie. Vibrate or Fields/Effectors, as this could be a very powerfull yet non distructive feature.
An other feature request would be a randomize off set, to give the animation an even more handmade look.
Thanks you and have a great day.

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Posted: 06 June 2019 01:55 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]  
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Hi gaschka,

Thanks for your input. I’m not the developer of this, but I’m sure your ideas are noted.

However, I would always consider (as an alternative) to explore the Render Settings> Output> Frame Step. Then expand in a compositing/editing app the lengths. Typically in 24fps projects for stop motion, every second frame is recorded, so why render the next frame, if it is identical?

Enjoy your projects!

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Posted: 06 June 2019 08:27 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 5 ]  
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Have a look at this animation I’m working on right now. I mix different playback speeds for different elements in the scene. Some have motion blur some other don’t. For projects like there, an advanced cv-StopMotion would be great:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1z4UPLnplzq95qCFN9-b75iDNlERcTnJM

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Posted: 07 June 2019 01:09 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 6 ]  
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Hi gaschka,

I jumped in this thread to give a pointer. I’m not the moderator here and feel uncomfortable to take too much space here.

Here is another option to convert motion into keyframes:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/1IxGnSQkrknSAyzqpagyvdAprRNaGjJR5rIZQ1VQmli
With this, the series below will help with all kinds of converting problems:
https://www.cineversity.com/vidplaylist/animation_techniques_for_teams/animation_techniques_for_teams_part_01_course

… and there is the option to turn any spline into an animation path of course:
https://help.maxon.net/us/#10622

Motion Blur is not a natural given effect in Cinema 4D, it is set or not. Perhaps I misunderstand the idea of “…have a look at this animation…” as I’m not a coder of these wonderful tools. So toss anything of the following if I went into the wrong direction.

====

However, as an animator, you will write your own rules and create your own aesthetic. In art, there is no right and wrong, as long as you follow your vision. I’m not interested in tinting your work with my ideas, nor should that be anything like a critique. I would like always to caution about critic that is given without asking about any artistic intentions.

Having said that, classic stop motion works based on skipping one frame, to save time, as it cuts the filming (not the production) time nearly in half. We have seen that cinematography went from something around 18 frames per second to a standard of 24 fps at one point. The audience is catching up, not only based on better devices. So, some people film already in 60 fps and go from there. It is a more extended discussion and touches the artist’s intention very carefully, as mentioned before.

In 3d we have key-position, as it is widely known, and with that an interpolation of those, pretty much for free (compared to stop motion). I mention this, as I got a question during a presentation from a Stop motion artist, about this.

Anyway, as your question about the plugin indicated, the intention here is to destroy the interpolation towards a step by step “motion”.  Which in return must be based on your intention, what do you want to achieve with it?

A real classic stop motion, emphasis on the stop, has no motion blur. Going by classic art 1on1, using a scene with motion blur and mix it with no motion blur elements creates a contrast. Contrast is always a way to make something more precise, in other words, to stand out. In return, this becomes an expression or if strong enough a statement. Which is again, something you have to mention while asking. Otherwise, you get opinions and those mostly based on taste. Taste is not the source of an artist, it is a tool of an artist; Intention is the source.

So, what do you really want to have in your animation? Then I can tell perhaps what to do. Otherwise, and that is what I have learned in my exhibitions and screening of my movies, often critic is only the action of avoidance to confront oneself with the impact of art, and this results in a request to the artist to change things up until it is smooth and effortless to digest. While the art has faded away in the process of such.

As mentioned, I answer in the Q&A forum (not typically here), but I do not criticize nor critique work in Cineversity, I support such work in any artistic way possible, inside of the possibilities of Cinema 4D.

Do what you love and push it as much as possible to become what you had envisioned. If there is an obstacle with the technique or tools, please ask in the Q&A forum. My best wishes for your project.

ENJOY

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Posted: 12 June 2019 04:45 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 7 ]  
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Hi Dr. Sassi,
thanks for your very elaborate and long answer.
Having a mayor in animation and 10 years plus experience as a freelance animator I can claim myself to have the knowledge of history and technical details of all styles of animation. You described the style of stop motion very well: animation on twos and no motion blur.
In my example video, I wanted to show you why rendering with a slower frame rate is not always a proper solution: In this clip I mix the style of stop motion (the arrows) with realistic, fluid animations of the hand. I can easily think of other shots: ie. Mixing step by step build up effect with a super fluid camera movement. In this case you want to render 25 pr 30 fps but posterize the animation. This is what cv-stopmotion is great for.
But it does only work with key framed animation atm.
In my example, look at the top left corner. You see cloud which is animated with a vibrate tag. To apply the CV-Stopmotion I hat to bake the motion to key frames. I would prefer a more procedural approach, as every time I change properties of the vibrate tag I must rebake the key frames.
Long story short: I would love to see CV-stopmotion to be developed further to work with procedural animation as well: Dynamics, Mograph, fields etc.
Best
Andreas

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Posted: 13 June 2019 01:10 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 8 ]  
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Hi Andreas,

It was a pleasure to read your post, thanks for taking the time. This certainly motivated me to set up and suggest this little option:

Scene file:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/0jnuTuGmmPhTvi92lTWsG6SWXGcsC0gxupLwXyU3YLZ

Click on the Xpresso Tag and set your target frame rate for the object.

You can animate the slider (preferably with Step Interpolation), if set to zero, the motion is frozen.

You might consider using a Motion Blur Tag to specify your needs.

In a nutshell: The math node is set to modulo, and it receives the frame numbers. Every time there is no remainder (is null), the Vibrate Tag Matrix is provided. On all other frames, it just gets its own matrix. In this way, it only changes based on the Xpresso Tag slider information.

With more effort, this could be expanded to other areas. If you start a new thread in the Q&A forum while sharing as well as an example file, I will have a look into it. Fingers crossed, I will have an idea for it.

Enjoy.

P.S.: here is a MoGraph/Dynamics example
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/OIl2jjfSLuaYclNfvVsSw5ZHVzuwKCyNZVTDzeZPy35

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Posted: 24 June 2019 09:12 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 9 ]  
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Hello Dr. Sassi,
Thanks for your example files, I do like your approach to this problem. Great use of the modulo. I’ll keep it in mind. Keep up the great work here!
Best Andreas

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Posted: 26 June 2019 01:26 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 10 ]  
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Thanks for the great feedback, Andreas, very much appreciated.

If there is anything else, I’m happy to look into it. (Q&A forum)

Cheers

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
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