Copmike Ran Me Over...

[Davey]

So with some prodding from other community members, I finally gave Brickfilming a try. You can check out the video here on Flickr. It's short and only features about 10-12 seconds of actual LEGO animation. I just wanted to see if I could make it look reasonable. I'm happy that I got something to work but disappointed with a number of things.

First...my images are really grainy and I am not sure why. I am using a Sony TRV-330 camcorder hooked up to my Firewire port. Perhaps that camera is not optimum for Brickfilming and I would be interested to hear your comments. I tried and Logitech Notebook Quickcam Deluxe and got similar results. I suspect it may be the lighting, but I would be interested to hear other theories.

I also would like to see pictures of your 'studio' if you have them. I'd like some direction on how to set mine up. Also, how do you go about keeping the set from moving? Would a rubber non-slip mat like you use to line drawers work? Any other ideas?

That's all I have for now. Thanks in advance everyone!

-Dave

[CopMike]

What an honour Dave, your first Brickfilm and I´m the star in it

!

I think it´s a real good first film (I´ve done zero ones so I´m not the expert ..), nice motions - especially my humble nod.

And the soundtrack is fat, perfect for when I´m cruising the neighbourhood keeping everyone safe .

This is what´s going through my head at the time:

What´s my next scene, accidently beating someone with my night stick?

[The Crazy One]

Excellent! I couldn't stop laughing!

I think maybe you should sue.......

Really good for a first try. I hope you mae more.

Edited December 30, 2009 by The crazy one

[brickme]

Nicely done! Although didn't your mom ever tell you to look both ways before crossing the street.

I really think this is nicely done. one question, How many Frames per Second(FPS) are there?

[fallentomato]

First...my images are really grainy and I am not sure why. I am using a Sony TRV-330 camcorder hooked up to my Firewire port. Perhaps that camera is not optimum for Brickfilming and I would be interested to hear your comments. I tried and Logitech Notebook Quickcam Deluxe and got similar results. I suspect it may be the lighting, but I would be interested to hear other theories.

I also would like to see pictures of your 'studio' if you have them. I'd like some direction on how to set mine up. Also, how do you go about keeping the set from moving? Would a rubber non-slip mat like you use to line drawers work? Any other ideas?

Nice work Dave! You avoided some of the rookie mistakes (light flicker and camera bumps). The animation was pretty smooth, though it would probably look more natural if you sped it up. What framerate is this?

Here are a couple shots of my "studio" (aka my kitchen counter) I also have made do with less than optimal set-ups. It's not easy to see in any of these shots, but the way i keep everything in place is masking tape. It holds well, but it's easy to remove when you're done or if you need to readjust. Also, whenever possible I will connect my camera mount to the set (easy to do since everything's lego ).

The graininess I think is coming either from your camera or the software. I'm not familiar with MonkeyJam, so I don't know what sort of import/export settings there are, but that's where my suspicions lie. I don't think it's your lighting. From what I can tell it's pretty good. I actually animate in a unconventional way, I just take pictures with a regular digital still camera and then collate them into a mov file using Quicktime. Then I'll pull the .mov files into Final Cut for editing. It's roundabout and I'm hoping to move to a more direct approach once I can invest in a high-quality firewire camera.

Looking forward to your next film!

[Davey]

What an honour Dave, your first Brickfilm and I´m the star in it

!

I think it´s a real good first film (I´ve done zero ones so I´m not the expert ..), nice motions - especially my humble nod.

And the soundtrack is fat, perfect for when I´m cruising the neighbourhood keeping everyone safe .

What´s my next scene, accidently beating someone with my night stick?

Yay! I'm glad you were honored to be the star of my first Brickfilm. And yes...I have more plans for you Mr. CopMike. This might even become a series. Thanks again for the kind words.

Nice work Dave! You avoided some of the rookie mistakes (light flicker and camera bumps). The animation was pretty smooth, though it would probably look more natural if you sped it up. What framerate is this?

Here are a couple shots of my "studio" (aka my kitchen counter) I also have made do with less than optimal set-ups. It's not easy to see in any of these shots, but the way i keep everything in place is masking tape. It holds well, but it's easy to remove when you're done or if you need to readjust. Also, whenever possible I will connect my camera mount to the set (easy to do since everything's lego ).

The graininess I think is coming either from your camera or the software. I'm not familiar with MonkeyJam, so I don't know what sort of import/export settings there are, but that's where my suspicions lie. I don't think it's your lighting. From what I can tell it's pretty good. I actually animate in a unconventional way, I just take pictures with a regular digital still camera and then collate them into a mov file using Quicktime. Then I'll pull the .mov files into Final Cut for editing. It's roundabout and I'm hoping to move to a more direct approach once I can invest in a high-quality firewire camera.

Looking forward to your next film!

The framerate was 15 fps. Was that to slow? Should I be shooting at 24 or 30 fps? I assume as you speed up the framerate, you have to make correspondingly smaller movements. I had trouble getting the movements to be small.

Thanks for the tip on the masking tape and for the studio pictures. I like the use of the paper over the lamps as a diffuser. :thumbup:

As for the graininess...I'll have to try some other software and see what happens. If it doesn't clear up I may be looking for a different camera. I'm wondering if one of those new HD 'Flip' cameras would be a good way to go. I thought about using my digital still camera as I have a Rebel XTi, but I read somewhere that digital still camera shutters are not rated for the large number of pictures required for stop-motion. The articles I have read suggest that premature shutter failure could be an issue. I think I'll just have to look for a new camera...preferably something under $150.

-Dave

Edited December 31, 2009 by Cyclone Breezerider

[brickme]

No 15 FPS is a good line between quality and time committed. Unless you want to spend hours making a half a minute animation stick with 15. Hope this helps

[fallentomato]

The framerate was 15 fps. Was that to slow? Should I be shooting at 24 or 30 fps? I assume as you speed up the framerate, you have to make correspondingly smaller movements. I had trouble getting the movements to be small.

Hmm... No 15 FPS should be fine. That's what I animate at. It just seems like it's playing back at slower than 15 FPS.

As for the graininess...I'll have to try some other software and see what happens. If it doesn't clear up I may be looking for a different camera. I'm wondering if one of those new HD 'Flip' cameras would be a good way to go. I thought about using my digital still camera as I have a Rebel XTi, but I read somewhere that digital still camera shutters are not rated for the large number of pictures required for stop-motion. The articles I have read suggest that premature shutter failure could be an issue. I think I'll just have to look for a new camera...preferably something under $150.

Yeah, like I said, I don't know, but it may be something the software is doing that you can turn off. Might be automatically compressing the footage or something. I didn't know that about the shutters on digital still cameras, but it makes sense. I guess I should move faster on finding a digital video camera that works for me. I've already taken over 20,000 pictures with this camera and it's still holding strong. I've got this flip video camera I won, which I've used for home videos, but I should probably try using it for animation and see how it works.