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 … More Prefabs vs Prefab Variants in Unity
(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 … More The New Unity Sequences Support for Cinemachine
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 … More Designing Scene Shots with Lens Settings in Unity
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 … More Anime Scene Analysis (Fruits Basket)
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 … More What is the fastest way to create an animation clip or pose on a budget?
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 … More Great advice for writing a good story, by some old guy
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 … More Web Stories and Comic Speech Bubbles
If you have watched Suvidriel’s YouTube channel you will know you can have multiple textures for your VRoid character face, clothes, etc using tiling. This allows you to add a blush to the cheeks, tears around the eyes, etc. This blog describes some quick tips for doing this more efficiently in Adobe Photoshop. Here is … More Tiling for Expressions with VRoid Characters
This post includes an update on my plans to do expressions with VRoid characters for the purpose of creating short animated video clips using Unity and VRoid Studio characters. Note: The main value of this post may be the summary list of blendshapes and how they move parts of the face below. The tables can … More Example Expressions from Blendshapes with VRoid Studio, HANA_Tool, and Unity
I am having a go at a 3D animated comic series. I am getting closer, getting the ground work out of the way (e.g. https://twitter.com/xordinary99/status/1344592878509572096?s=21). But wow, how hard it is to create a good result! Since this is a hobby, I take lots of short cuts to save time and use free tools as … More Creating your own animation teaches greater appreciation for the experts!
Extra Ordinary, the Series 