Hi,

I have developped Virtual Choreographer a tool for designing 3D scenes
and exporting them to 2 formats: Renderman and PovRay. It can also
be used for making real-time aninations and plugged with Max (PureData,
JMax or Max/MSP) through UDP connections for synchronous real-time
image and audio synthesis.

The tool is still under development and I will distribute the
source code as soon as it reaches a relatively stable state.
I also need to write a detailed documentation. I currently
provide the Linux executable and all the scene description
files that were used to generate the film. I have also compiled
VC for MacOSX. It should be easily compiled on Windows as well
since it is C++/OpenGL.

The tool has been used to make a 5'30 film. The images were
rendered from the files generated by VC. The film compositing
and special effects have been made with AfterEffects.
Rendering time was relatively long (~ 4 months CPU), but I am
really happy with the quality of the images made by PovRay.
I just got one small problem with flat objects that were
ignored when they were seen from above almost vertically.

You will find more details on the tool and the film at :

http://www.limsi.fr/Individu/jacquemi/SCEINES/

I'll be happy to give more details if you are interested.

-Christian

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On Tue, 12 Aug 2003 19:10:06 +0200, Christian Jacquemin
<Chr### [at] limsifr> wrote:
> I have developped Virtual Choreographer a tool for designing 3D scenes
> and exporting them to 2 formats: Renderman and PovRay.

The idea sounds interesting but...

> The tool is still under development and I will distribute the
> source code as soon as it reaches a relatively stable state.

Releasing source code can only help you make it stable. People interested in
using it could help you.

> I also need to write a detailed documentation. I currently
> provide the Linux executable and all the scene description
> files that were used to generate the film. I have also compiled
> VC for MacOSX. It should be easily compiled on Windows as well
> since it is C++/OpenGL.

Hard to be compiled for Windows without sources :-)

> The tool has been used to make a 5'30 film.

The first impression I had is that it is artistic vision of building process
of opera in Sidney ;-)

> The images were
> rendered from the files generated by VC. The film compositing
> and special effects have been made with AfterEffects.

I think that your webpage should contain _raw_ output of your tool. Otherwise
it is hard to say anything about achieved quality.

> Rendering time was relatively long (~ 4 months CPU), but I am
> really happy with the quality of the images made by PovRay.

I think you should investigate a lot in understanding "how to achieve
effective rendering with POV-Ray". For example animation round in IRTC takes 3
months for thinking, designing, scripting, rendering.

> I just got one small problem with flat objects that were
> ignored when they were seen from above almost vertically.
>
>You will find more details on the tool and the film at :
>
> http://www.limsi.fr/Individu/jacquemi/SCEINES/

What resoulution did you used designing this page? Your frames are not
user-friedly under 1024x768 at all.

> I'll be happy to give more details if you are interested.

That would be always welcome. I'm looking forward for info about progress of
this project.

ABX

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> Releasing source code can only help you make it stable. People interested in
> using it could help you.
> I think that your webpage should contain _raw_ output of your tool. Otherwise
> it is hard to say anything about achieved quality.

Following your idea, I'll make the source code and sample POVray files
available quicker than I first intended to.

>>Rendering time was relatively long (~ 4 months CPU), but I am
>>really happy with the quality of the images made by PovRay.
>>
> 
> I think you should investigate a lot in understanding "how to achieve
> effective rendering with POV-Ray". For example animation round in IRTC takes 3
> months for thinking, designing, scripting, rendering.

This was not my primary purpose. I have used transparency and/or
reflection for most objects which finally resulted in long
rendering times. I admitt that I could have spend more time
in making rendering more efficient. This was not an important
issue for this film.

> What resoulution did you used designing this page? Your frames are not
> user-friedly under 1024x768 at all.

You are right. I usually manage better my display!

> That would be always welcome. I'm looking forward for info about progress of
> this project.

I'll send another mail when I make source code and PovRay outputs
available. Probably not before mid-september since I'm leaving
for vacations tomorrow.

Thanks a lot for your feedback.

-Christian

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Christian Jacquemin <Chr### [at] limsifr> wrote in 
news:3F3### [at] limsifr:

> [...]
> I have developped Virtual Choreographer a tool for designing 3D scenes
> [...]

Sounds nice a nice tool.

The film looks good, very interesting, although I saw the .avi version and 
it's quite blocky, especially the second half where the frame rates start 
to take a hit (I understand it's because it's a long film being fit in a 
small file).  But I think I got a good sense for it.

Post a reply to this message

Thank you for your positive comments. The .mov version is better quality,
but is heavier.

I had no tools for making an mpeg file in which I could add an audio
channel. This is the reason why I am only providing avi and mov versions
of the film.

As I said in my initial mail, I am much endebted to POVRay for the
quality of the images I got for my film. At several times I have
discovered pictures that were nicer than I was initially expecting.

I am in the process of making a second film... with POVray, of
course ;-).

-Christian

None wrote:
>Christian Jacquemin <Chr### [at] limsifr> wrote in
>news:3F3### [at] limsifr:
>
>> [...]
>> I have developped Virtual Choreographer a tool for designing 3D scenes
>> [...]
>
>Sounds nice a nice tool.
>
>The film looks good, very interesting, although I saw the .avi version and
>it's quite blocky, especially the second half where the frame rates start
>to take a hit (I understand it's because it's a long film being fit in a
>small file).  But I think I got a good sense for it.
>

Post a reply to this message

Christian Jacquemin wrote:
>Hi,
>
>The tool has been used to make a 5'30 film. The images were
>rendered from the files generated by VC. The film compositing
>and special effects have been made with AfterEffects.
>Rendering time was relatively long (~ 4 months CPU), but I am
>really happy with the quality of the images made by PovRay.
>I just got one small problem with flat objects that were
>ignored when they were seen from above almost vertically.
>

Hi Christian,  Man the movie is great...  Specially the last part where it
is all disco-blurry with moving and dancing faces (as soon as they enter
the house)...   The music is very good also and boots at the moment...  For
info, I saw the quicktime version.  4 months, I can understand that it took
you so long because of transparency but the shaking transparent shapes
(with human glow-frame inside) are great and their flipping speed is
good...

Very nice job !!  What's your plan for the movie ??

Tommy


Tommy
The 1st African citizen POV member !
==================
http://www.webkenya.com/
Promote Web Development in Africa
WWW = Western or World Wide Web ??

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Thanks for your warm comments about the film.
Yes the disco frames were amongst the longest
to render due to the transparency of the faces and
the transparency of the disco walls. This part
is also the one that was most reworked through
AfterEffects (echo + blur + colorization).
Flashes were however obtained through strong
lighting in POVray.

The movement of the faces was generated by
the same crowd behavior engine as the one I
used for the other parts of the film including
a crowd. For the disco it was a no-target movement
whereas other crowd displacement resulted from
target-directed displacements.

Next film will be on the theme of "frontiers",
probably more abstract, figuring worlds of different
colors, shapes, and dynamics, and how they interact
or compete.

-Christian

tommy wrote:
>Christian Jacquemin wrote:
>>Hi,
>>
>>The tool has been used to make a 5'30 film. The images were
>>rendered from the files generated by VC. The film compositing
>>and special effects have been made with AfterEffects.
>>Rendering time was relatively long (~ 4 months CPU), but I am
>>really happy with the quality of the images made by PovRay.
>>I just got one small problem with flat objects that were
>>ignored when they were seen from above almost vertically.
>>
>
>Hi Christian,  Man the movie is great...  Specially the last part where it
>is all disco-blurry with moving and dancing faces (as soon as they enter
>the house)...   The music is very good also and boots at the moment...  For
>info, I saw the quicktime version.  4 months, I can understand that it took
>you so long because of transparency but the shaking transparent shapes
>(with human glow-frame inside) are great and their flipping speed is
>good...
>
>Very nice job !!  What's your plan for the movie ??
>
>Tommy
>
>
>Tommy
>The 1st African citizen POV member !
>==================
>http://www.webkenya.com/
>Promote Web Development in Africa
>WWW = Western or World Wide Web ??
>

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ABX wrote:
> What resoulution did you used designing this page? Your frames are not
> user-friedly under 1024x768 at all.

One other small critique: the choice of text colors should be re-thought.
That blue-on-blue and dark-red-on-blue text pulled my eyes out of my head.


-- 
Steve Martin, CPBE CBNT

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