All Greyscalegorilla

Winner of FiveSecondProjects, “FAIL”

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:54:29 -0600

Winner

Colorful Illustration, simple animation and a squishy sound effect make this animation by Ross Phillips the winner. Congrats Ross!

This has been the largest FiveSecondAnimation yet! It’s so great to see new participants enter and it’s especially awesome to see the regulars trying new things. I really love watching this community grow. You all rock!

Honorable Mentions

Watch ALL of the Entries here

Stopping Time: How to make the Matrix Effect in Cinema 4D

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:11:21 -0600

In this tutorial, I show you how to stop time in your Mograph Dynamic renders. I call it the “Matrix Effect” where time stops or stands still for a moment before it starts again. I’ll show you how I use the Project Settings to control the speed and timing of an explosion.

The Final Result

Keyframe TV Episode 3

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:24:54 -0600

See the full post and credit list, at Keyframetv.com

Interview with Peder Norrby of Trapcode

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:40:03 -0600

I recently sat down with Peder Norrby, the maker of Trapcode, at his apartment in Stockholm Sweden to talk about how Trapcode got started. He also talks about how Shine was developed by accident and what he thinks of Trapcode’s overwhelming popularity. I REALLY wish we had the cameras on for the beers afterwords as well. We got into a great discussion about how working hard becomes so much more fun when you love what you do. Really great talk with a really great guy! Thanks, Peder!

How to make a Dynamic Chain with Cinema 4D

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:51:51 -0600

In response to a question from: ITV Teacher

With help from This tutorial and CG Society.

Final Result

Nick Campbell of Greyscale Speaks at Hyper Island, Sweden

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:49:29 -0600

This is a recording of the lecture I recently gave at Hyper Island in Sweden. I spoke to their design, interactive, and design students about how to get a job as a designer. The talk goes for about 90 minutes and then there is some great Q&A at the end.

Thanks to Hyper Island for having me and to all the students for being so nice and making me feel so welcome.

Do More Than Just Abstract

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:34:07 -0600

I came across this animation yesterday and love how he took unrelated, abstract shots and made them into an actual piece that feels somewhat whole and complete. It got me thinking about how everybody (including me) is getting so excited about what 3D software can do and are learning only a lot of great looking tricks with some abstract shapes. This stuff is fun for sure and we should definitely play. Mograph 2 makes it really easy to throw colored spheres across the room, or smash up a cube. But, we shouldn’t just stop there. How can we push this learning further and create more interesting work and learn other important skills like story telling and editing?

So, what should we do?
Let’s start by making spots or stories with our tests. Think about how they can all have the same theme, color scheme or look. In the spot above, the artist uses solid shapes of color and a strong edit to the choppy music track as a way to hold these random shots together thematically. As you can see, it doesn’t take much to make a series of random tests and make them feel like a real spot of finished animation.

Don’t forget, with all this new knowledge out there, more and more people are learning the same things you are. EVERYBODY is watching that same tutorial you just did. So, as you learn and make tests, think about ways to push forward from there. Go ahead and render out all your fun, abstract Mograph tests, think about your style, and try to make something special with them today.

Cinema 4D Quick Tips

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 07:37:54 -0600

Check out Rob Redman’s Quick Tip series where he shows you some of the small, but important tips to keep in mind when using Cinema 4D. Great stuff to improve your workflow.

Quick Tips 1

Quick Tips 2

3D World – HelloLuxx Mograph Tutorial available for download

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:23:02 -0600

The video tutorial for this project is available for download at 3D World! Tim from HelloLuxx does a great job in showing off Mograph 2 and setting up this awesome scene. Buy a copy of this month’s 3D world to see his step by step written tutorial also.

Download it Here

Five Second Project – “FAIL”

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:58:30 -0600

What Are Five Second Projects?
We all want to make cool shit for our demo reel right? Sometimes you just need a theme to get you started… Some rules to fight against. Use the theme “Fail” to make a five second motion piece and link it in the comments of this blog post. Please be sure to post a link in this post’s comments to ensure me seeing it. If your new to five second projects, why not check out the Five Second Projects Archive to watch all of the past themes.

Rules

1. Submissions must be Five Seconds Long!
2. Only animation is accepted. Video only submissions will not.
3. The animations has to do with the theme in some way.
4. Original Work only. Don’t cut out 5 seconds of already made work.
5. Link back to GSG on your Vimeo Post

Why Should You Enter?

1. Try new techniques or software
2. Limitations help get the mind working.
3. Make short, awesome pieces for your reel.
4. Get critique from your peers.
5. Promote yourself.

How Do I Enter my Video?
1. Create a five second animation based on the theme.
2. Upload your video to Vimeo. Don’t forget to add a link back to this blog post.
3. Post a link to this posts comment thread and I will add it to the Channel.
4. Deadline is Sunday January 31st

Watch the videos here, at the vimeo channel, or at the FiveSecondProjects Archive