Flash Forward Finalist

If you've seen the main page of Bitey Castle, you're probably aware that my 30 shorts in 30 days project is a finalist in the upcoming Flash Forward conference to be held in Boston next month.

I'm up against Bernard Derriman's 'Congo Windfall'. In the past, Bernard and I have gone head-to-head in several festivals so for Flash Forward, we've finished our trailers. Here they are. A big THANKS to Ween, who have kindly granted permission to use this song for the festival trailer:







Voting for People's Choice is open now and will close on August 30 so please, drop me a vote (no, not Bernard.. MEEE!).

Click here for People's Choice voting

If you voted for me, thanks! If not.. grrrr!

Waterlollies graph
Hey cmon, it's only been 3 days since the last graph. OK then, here's a quick one:

Waterlollies overall:

[iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii........]

(i = done)
(.. = not)

Flash CS3 Quicktime Export

Anyone using Flash CS3 is probably aware that we can now export our movies to Quicktime format keeping movieclips intact and exporting any actionscripted graphics/animation. This is something that was screwed up in previous versions of Flash, where only the first frame of movieclips were exported and any actionscript was ignored.

Note: CS3's enhanced Quicktime Export is the only video export format that Adobe have improved so far. Exporting to .avi or image sequences will result in the same old movieclip/actionscript issues.

Even though I'm using CS3 I still use graphic symbols wherever possible because it's important that I'm able to scrub the main timeline and preview the animation in the context of the scene. This isn't possible with movieclips, despite the menu item Control > Enable Live Preview (which the Help file tells us allows movieclips to be previewed in the timeline - - uh, no it doesn't).

Still, being able to export actionscript stuff like particles, physics experiments and so on, it's a godsend for any Flash programmer who's ever wanted to create a showreel for YouTube or a DVD.

To use Flash CS3's quicktime export, go to:
File > Export > Export Movie

then choose Quicktime as the format.



Then you'll get some options to play with:



Clicking the Quicktime Settings button at the bottom gives you further options such as the compression codec and audio settings.

A word of warning for animators. The 'enhanced Quicktime export' has great difficulty coping with large movies, CPU intensive graphics and high frame rates. Because it captures frames from the Flash Player, your exported movie may contain dropped frames and some unexpected stuff.

It's recommended that, if possible, you lower the frame rate for the export process, then raise it in another program like After Effects. I know, this is a huge pain in the arse but remember this is QT Export's v1.0. At least we know Adobe are listening to us and the feature will inevitably improve as time goes by.

Waterlollies
I posted an update on my Newgrounds user blog and Tom frontpaged it (cheers!):
chluaid.newgrounds.com/news

If you've come here from Newgrounds looking for a Waterlollies update, here's the latest graph:



I estimate it's about 82% complete now. My painful schedule of 4 scenes per day is pretty tough but it's good to see how fast the movie is coming along. The end is actually in sight and I'm pretty sure we're looking at a September release. Don't ask me for a specific date or my face will implode.


Click image for full size

OK that's it! As always, thanks for the support. See you in about 10 days with the next update ;)

More work, less health!

This week: Adam whines a bit about his health, shows some stuff he did a couple months ago for Wizards of the Coast, and updates the Waterlollies graph that has become so compulsory.



I've been given the all-clear to mention my work for Wizards of the Coast on a new ONLINE GAME of theirs called "Uncivilized: the Goblin Game". This was yet another awesomely fun assignment, very similar to my 30 shorts project in which each day was a new and completely different challenge.

Without giving anything away about the game, I can reveal that my part of the job involved creating a few icon-sized graphics/animation, as well as a bunch of short animated scenarios (for which I also did a bit of voice acting) that play between levels of achievement in the game.

Here are some screenshots from those shorts:


Oasis


Scrub


Shakedown

For updates on the release of Uncivilized, keep an eye on Wizards of the Coast.


Dor ti sorek
Little things are starting to go wrong with me and I put them down as a direct result of my long hours at the computer, for around 80 hrs per week over 2-3 years. Headaches, stomach pain, sudden dizzy spells, backache and minor waves of nausea, not to mention bones and joints that simply hurt when I get out of the chair. My body clock is so out of whack from working all night and sleeping until midday, 7 days a week.

With a tear in my eye, I've decided to quit WoW for a little while and go back to my earlier routine of exercising in the back yard between 2-3am. Perhaps that'll fix some of the biological mess that is my body.

Today was unusually warm for August in Sydney, so we went for a long walk around Iron Cove. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to feel sun and wind on my face. Gotta do more things like that.

Waterlollies
Thanks for the comments in the chatbox.. it's required reading for me each day and gives me a much-needed boost.

Thanks (I think) to those few who aggressively demand a Waterlollies update and new graph. While those kinds of comments generally make me want to throw my pen in the air and quit, it does prove that there are people out there who are desperate to see the next Brackenwood. Keeping that in mind gives me the go-ahead nod that says 'you're doing something good'.

I can't wait to release this movie cos I think it's going to be great. Beyond Waterlollies though I can hear echoes from the future: "hurry up with the next one you lazy bastard!!"




I've removed the audio from the graph because it'll only take a few days for each part so therefore, won't be as slow-moving as the animation indicator. Speaking of which, Part C is about 4 minutes long so the graph will probably move slower week-by-week than A and B.

Love from Phillips.
x x x