Well yes me as it turns out.
A bunch of things like helping my Mum sell her house and move into an aged care facility.
Being sick as a dog and a quick stay in Hospital.
+ My frustration on finding the reference material for my little movie. It turns out our "Commonwealth Scientific Research Organisation" CSIRO (http://www.csiro.au/) are useless!
Monday, April 22, 2013
Friday, March 8, 2013
Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling
These rules were originally tweeted by Emma Coates, Pixar’s Story Artist. Number 9 on the list - When you’re stuck, make a list of what wouldn't happen next – is a great one and can apply to writers in all genres.
You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.
Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You'll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN'T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you've got to recognize it before you can use it.
Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you'll never share it with anyone.
Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likeable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it'll come back around to be useful later.
You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.
You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.
Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You'll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN'T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you've got to recognize it before you can use it.
Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you'll never share it with anyone.
Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likeable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it'll come back around to be useful later.
You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Creating a Procedural Tree in MAXScript
This is a beginner level introduction to MAXScript that will show you how to create, move, scale, and rotate objects. You'll learn how to create animations, use the for loop, and create random variations.
http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/chris/creating-a-procedural-tree-in-maxscript
http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/chris/creating-a-procedural-tree-in-maxscript
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
A very gentle introduction to MAXScript for Artists
A very gentle introduction to MAXScript for Artists
Embedded in one of the over 200 videos on the Autodesk 3ds Max learning channel on YouTube is a very practical introduction to MAXScript for people with no programming experience. At about 4 minutes into a video on using MassFX Amer shows how to use MAXScript to automate changing a property on over 300 objects. What is great about this is that Amer takes the time to explain everything that he is doing without assuming the audience is familiar with MAXScript.
What he shows introduces several basic concepts:
Using the MAXScript recorder to discover the necessary code how to change a desired property
What the "quot; symbol means (currently selected object)
How to change a property of all objects in the currently selected set
Its a great example of how one line of MAXScript code can save an artist a lot of wear and tear on their wrist!
Embedded in one of the over 200 videos on the Autodesk 3ds Max learning channel on YouTube is a very practical introduction to MAXScript for people with no programming experience. At about 4 minutes into a video on using MassFX Amer shows how to use MAXScript to automate changing a property on over 300 objects. What is great about this is that Amer takes the time to explain everything that he is doing without assuming the audience is familiar with MAXScript.
What he shows introduces several basic concepts:
Using the MAXScript recorder to discover the necessary code how to change a desired property
What the "quot; symbol means (currently selected object)
How to change a property of all objects in the currently selected set
Its a great example of how one line of MAXScript code can save an artist a lot of wear and tear on their wrist!
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