I have been exploring creating an animated comic using Google web stories, a HTML format designed for vertically oriented video and images. One of the issues with video however is the storage requirements and network bandwidth. Video clips require more storage than static images. For example, a video clip of a few seconds long is […]
Author: alankent
Pixar’s Universal Scene Description
I just came across Pixar’s Universal Scene Description language. It’s a file format they use for all of their movies. It was interesting to see a number of tools support USD. Quick searches found: A set of Pixar USD tools they have open sourced A Unity importer for USD files Blender import/export support Maya support […]
Using Deepmotion.com to create custom walk cycles
I am have been working on a lightly animated comic (pages, with speech bubbles, but where there is a short video clip on each page instead of a static drawing). This is a low budget hobby project with a development team of 1. There has been a lot to learn, but fun. One of the […]
Prefabs vs Prefab Variants in Unity
I have been exploring the new Sequences package beta for Unity for animation and one of the things it makes heavy use of was Prefab Variants. I had heard of Prefab Variants, but never really quite “got” how they were different from Prefabs. So I did some hunting around and thought I would summarize my […]
The New Unity Sequences Support for Cinemachine
(UPDATED Jun 28, 2021 to reflect my greater understanding.) Just a quick blog of my initial experiences and understanding of the new sequences support. I signed up for the open beta and downloaded the “Cinematic Studio Sample” from the asset store. I just read the 2021.2 beta blog and it looks like it is being […]
Designing Scene Shots with Lens Settings in Unity
I subscribe to MasterClass.com and a new lesson series from James Cameron was just released (yes *the* James Cameron) where one of the lessons talked about focal lens. (I also came across a great YouTube channel with some great videos on tricks of the trade for movie making from StudioBinder including some of these points […]
Anime Scene Analysis (Fruits Basket)
I still dream of creating a lightly animated anime-styled comic, using VRoid Studio characters in Unity (an engine for creating games). Even if I don’t ever publish an episode, it has been an interesting journey learning about the skills that go into a great anime. My general plan to reduce effort is to use locations […]
What is the fastest way to create an animation clip or pose on a budget?
I am trying to create a comic series using 3D VRoid characters. So far it has been more learning than creating content. I have slowly been fleshing out my cast of characters in VRoid Studio and creating locations in Unity leveraging purchased assets. I have explored blend shapes using AR Kit for facial expressions. I […]
Great advice for writing a good story, by some old guy
There are probably some great books on how to write good drama scripts, but I came across a reference to ‘The Poetics’ written by Aristotle in 330 BCE. I was curious how much story telling has changed over the years. I found it a surprisingly interesting read with concrete actionable advice. I might not have […]
Web Stories and Comic Speech Bubbles
I am planning to reboot my “Extra Ordinary” animation series using web stories. The animated version was fun, but I found it too hard for a hobby project to work with friends as voice actors, and full animation with speech bubbles (no audio) feels weird to me. It feels like poor man’s animation. (I tried […]
