3D Leaves that spell out hope animation

Hey, this is something I made for a charity and it took me around 3-4 days working on only it, and then took a day and a half to render. I think I spent too much time on it!

Please let me know what you guys think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjLbT-DdJE8

Nice. What did you use to make it?

Not bad! :)

I think the shadows on the leaves are just a little too hard (and the ones on the ground are a little too soft). Other than that, things look good. I really like the transition at the end, to the grass and flowers. Nice work. :thumbup:

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Originally Posted by Sornaensis

Nice. What did you use to make it?

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Thanks! I used all open source programs, Gimp and Blender 3D.

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Originally Posted by Oneironaut Zero

Not bad! :)

I think the shadows on the leaves are just a little too hard (and the ones on the ground are a little too soft). Other than that, things look good. I really like the transition at the end, to the grass and flowers. Nice work. :thumbup:

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Thanks! I see what you mean... I'll try fixing them.

I think a good looking still render would be better than a poorly done animation. Not saying that this is bad, it's actually decent, but I doubt such an animation will fit anywhere and it doesn't really have that quality POW that people sort of expect nowadays. So instead of focusing on physics and animation, perhaps focus on good materials, working on the lights and so on.

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Originally Posted by Marvo

I think a good looking still render would be better than a poorly done animation. Not saying that this is bad, it's actually decent, but I doubt such an animation will fit anywhere and it doesn't really have that quality POW that people sort of expect nowadays. So instead of focusing on physics and animation, perhaps focus on good materials, working on the lights and so on.

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Thanks for the input. I understand what your saying, but this is what the charity asked for. I had camera animation in it but they did not want the camera moving. But I will work on the materials and lighting more. What objects specifically need improving for the materials?

I would suggest allowing light to pass through the leaves, instead of them being stark black on the backside. If possible, create more unique leaf models, some with holes/missing sections, a little greener, a little browner and so on. I'd put the camera a little closer to the ground, and change the terrain to be a little more bumpy, instead of just completely flat with a few rocks on it. Have some more leaves lying around, not forming any specific symbols, and change the dirt ground texture to something a little more unique. Personally I don't like the lighting effects from the pink petals, though I suppose it's supposed to symbolise them emanating hope or life or something.

Overall, you basically have two choices when it comes to producing graphics for people:
1: You make it very intricate, complex and very pretty, as in, advanced lighting and materials, phyiscs, etc.
2: You make it very minimalistic, simply removing the need for it to be technically impressive.

I think it's interesting that your client wants an animation. Did they give you a still or something else to work off of?

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Originally Posted by Marvo

I would suggest allowing light to pass through the leaves, instead of them being stark black on the backside. If possible, create more unique leaf models, some with holes/missing sections, a little greener, a little browner and so on. I'd put the camera a little closer to the ground.

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Ok, thanks!

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Originally Posted by Marvo

and change the terrain to be a little more bumpy, instead of just completely flat with a few rocks on it.

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It actually has some mounds and bumps, but I suppose since the lighting makes a sun effect, it makes the shading on it not very obvious.

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Originally Posted by Marvo

Personally I don't like the lighting effects from the pink petals, though I suppose it's supposed to symbolise them emanating hope or life or something.

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It actually was not suppose to bet that bright and vibrant, it was just suppose to be a glow. I tested it only on the first half and forgot how bright the purple peddles are, so I tried changing it in the middle of the render(it had already been rendering for around 10 hours) that's why there's a flash, which looked O.K so I just left it for now, at least until I render it again.

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Originally Posted by Marvo

Overall, you basically have two choices when it comes to producing graphics for people:
1: You make it very intricate, complex and very pretty, as in, advanced lighting and materials, phyiscs, etc.
2: You make it very minimalistic, simply removing the need for it to be technically impressive.

I think it's interesting that your client wants an animation. Did they give you a still or something else to work off of?

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Nope, just a description of what she wanted. And I think they want it for an intro.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions! :)

It took over 10 hours to render THAT? Really? I could render something similar in 3DSM in a matter of minutes.

edit: It's probably the fancy physics. Might want to look into optimizing that.

It had to bake (calculate) the physics, and I have ambient occlusion, indirect lighting, and a lot of atmospheric stuff on. And then there's my crappy laptop. And then the shadow buffer is pretty high too. A lot of those things don't actually do much on my scene. hope that all makes sense.