Combining 2D and 3D

[KingJoe]

Here's something I've been working with, combining 2D and 3D cartoons.

http://www.caseypeicott.com/spacescene.htm

What do you think (it's just one scene out of a much longer, mostly 2D toon that I'm working on).

[justice strike]

hmmm what do i think.... i think the page doesn't work

[megatoon]

HmmM well I can see it. I like how it works with the bg and camera movements. Looks very sharp, except the lines are kinda thin.

[justice strike]

hmm i see it now too it's working again
[Edited by justice strike on 02-18-2002 at 07:21 PM]

[KingJoe]

So if you can see it, what do you think Jus?

[CNO]

I like the style. Some suggestions -
It would be nice to see some motion in the pigs at the beginning, even if they're just sort of shifting around.
The 3d looks cool - really well integrated, especially the camera rotation as was pointed out. The cityscape does look a little too flat tho - adding a gradient to the sky or adjusting the saturation of the colors to give the impression of depth would help.
The file size seems a bit big for such a short animation too - it might be worth spending some time at the end seeing where you can skip some frames, or fake the motion with a motion tween or something.

But in general, you've combined them well.

[KingJoe]

Thanks guys, your feedback is great. This board is the best, responses always come so quick!

CNO, thanks for the suggestions. With the city scape looking flat, how would you suggest that I adjust the saturation? Should I the building's more bright or or more dull to give them some depth? The animation is definatly way too big for what it is. I'm using the one I showed you guys for an animation I'm putting out to video, so the size won't matter there. When I publish the entire toon online in SWF form, I'm thinking that I'll cut out every other frame to bring down the file size.

The pigs do look to boring, I'll add a bit of shifting, great suggestion! Thanks again guys, I'll let you know when I get the whole toon online...

Any other suggestions/comments are more than welcome

[CNO]

I think it has to do with that all of the colors in the scene - the ship, the buildings, the ground, and the sky are all relatively the same color tone.
Things further toward the back should get darker - though I'm torn on introducing gradients - I kind of like the "flat" look you have going on.
Maybe adding an additional layer of motion (ie - clouds) would give the impression of depth by having different layers moving at different speeds - background = slower.

[moshidesign]

I like the look of the pigs, but I also agree that the charaters need to shift around, maybe add a blink or two in there which will make them look more alive, and probably more stunned/confused about the situation.

I think the colours are a bit of a worry. The tonal range of the pigs is completly different to the stuff outside. Think about light, and the time of day, and try and work that into the colour range.

What are you using for the 3D animation?

Be interested in seeing the final film.

[KingJoe]

Some blinking would help them looked confused, good idea! I'll try to work on the pig's color too...

For the 3D part, I built the models with 3D Studio Max (though I used all primitive shapes (as you probably can tell) so it could be done with any 3D program) and imported the models into Swift 3D, where I set up the camera movement and exported to SWF.

The only thing I really hate about Swift 3D is how unpredictable the color of the the models will be upon rendering, making it almost impossible to match the colors to your scene. Otherwise, amazing program I must say...

[gdell]

Hi I really liked it.

I'm just getting into Swift3D and I agree with you about the color thing - it's a pain to have to recolor elements when you bring it into Flash, but the overall effect you can achieve is really awesome.

I'm going to have Futurama type elements scattered throughout my new project. Used sparingly of course....

;-)

[justice strike]

yeah it was great but... it's like that effect in apollo 13 (the movie) was really nice to see