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dwino - all messages by user

2016/7/25 21:50:02
Holding objects or picking up props What are the various techniques, both in program and workarounds, for holding or picking up objects and even animations of characters using objects?

Thanks!

Oh, and what are the future release plans for further enhancing the possibility of holding things with hands?
edited by dwino on 25/07/2016
2016/7/25 21:05:34
» Owning rights to your films and distribution Thanks! Very appreciative of both your answers.
2016/7/25 20:14:44
» Owning rights to your films and distribution Thanks so much!

And is there a restriction on content? Is all content in the program or website usable in any given project?
2016/7/25 19:40:39
» Owning rights to your films and distribution Can someone point me to muvizu official policy on people owning the films they make and if they can publish them online anywhere?

Thanks!
2013/6/4 9:04:48
Suggestions to increase Muvizu 3d Thank you Lev_Dynamite, what a thoughtful response. I get it that you are trying and that Muvizu has a small staff. It's just frustrating sometimes simply because Musical Instruments have been in the program for years now. I fully know that I'm a broken record about musical instruments, but it's true that they've been there forever and it's possibly true that some basic props should have accompanied them. Yes that wouldn't solve picking them up and putting them down (although picking up and putting down could be "stock animations" with no customization at all.), but I'm okay with permanently held props. That's infinitely easier to work around than not holding props at all.

By the way, some wrist accessories can be scaled and repositioned to sort of look like a mug, etc.
2013/6/2 23:54:06
Suggestions to increase Muvizu 3d I agree that I come on here every few months, and I don't always know all the details of the current landscape. However, I do so because my bottom line requirement for me using Muvizu is for it to have props to use. (By the way there is nothing under the search terms "merger rebranding of digimania," except your post. As far as I know Digimania has always been the parent company of Muvizu. Are you saying someone new owns Digimania? Also, I read the news regarding Muvizu Play months ago, so I'm familiar with that. Please let me know of a specific passage if there's anything different from that.) Seeing as I currently don't use Muvizu, I have not tried the new interface. So you're right in the sense that you would want them to fix the UI if it is preventing you from basic use. I can't comment on that. However, I have no problem being a squeaky wheel and mentioning that the prop issue is the biggest issue they've got. In my opinion it is. Just about every new user eventually asks about it. It's natural to want to use props.

I've seen some of your videos, and you do a great job of work arounds for props, but you still use them. You need them, and so does everyone in just about every story. You would be so happy and relieved to have a few basic ones, like an actual phone that would move with the character. The microphone that already exists and it helped your production value.

I think Muvizu is a great product, but their odd refusal to give us a pencil, a phone, a mug, a gun, a book, and a ball to hold are just beyond me. Again, the existence of musical instruments is proof it can be done.
2013/5/31 19:56:01
Suggestions to increase Muvizu 3d They may take some time? They've already taken forever to address holding props even after they semi did it with giving musical instruments for the characters to hold. I wouldn't hold out too much for the props thing.

They seem to have a resistence to the idea for some reason or other (I say or other, because they shuffle through various reasons from time to time). In the end though, if they have the ability to do musical instruments, at the very least they should do the same for a few basic props (but this is usually where they say, "but we want to do it the right way." To which, I usually say, "Well, what was the exception with musical instruments?...that wasn't done the right way." To which they say, "Sometimes we have to evaluate which features will be more popular and beneficial to the business of the product." To which I say, "Glad to see Jay Z and Adele relying on Muvizu for their videos.")
2013/3/4 21:13:31
To the community at large I think people here are providing some good insight. I agree with a lot of what people have said.

One issue and concern mentioned that I completely agree with is the following. Just do a Ctl F for the word "hold" on this page and it will come up several times. I will quote one of them:

"One of my hopes is that characters on Muvizu will be able to carry, hold, throw objects one day!"


I don't know if this would sky-rocket commercial projects for Muvizu, but it would definitely allow that to happen on a base level. If you can't even hold a prop or move something around, 60-70 percent of the stories people want to tell will be out of reach (no pun intended).
2013/2/12 22:33:23
Top 3 improvements Anyone Muvizu Staff?

Cheers.
2013/2/8 19:39:00
Top 3 improvements Hey Muvizu Staff!

What's the latest on holding props? Like mentioned above, seems to be on everyone's list. The wrist attachment idea is the path that would be the quickest. I've been a proponent of holding objects for sometime now (so have most people), so what's the scoop?

Thanks.
2012/11/27 1:45:18
My thinkings Glad to hear so many people want held props! Thanks toonarama, urbanlamb, and others for voicing your wishes. At some point the need to have something workable will be greater than the desire to have it manifest in the absolute perfect and optimal way.
2012/11/24 7:56:42
My thinkings Absolutely, hand held props are very important, whether custom or not. They would expand the types of stories told with Muvizu.

Dreeko, you mention that a lot of the stories are talking heads? Well, the absence of holding props is one reason that leads to a majority of the Muvizu movies being talking heads movies.
2012/11/20 16:45:45
Feedback Thread - v0.23b release (Nov. 2012) Good things come to those who re-post beer commercials?

Or is it good things come to those who get so drunk they run out to surf and believe the waves are horses?
2012/11/19 20:52:43
Feedback Thread - v0.23b release (Nov. 2012) Hi Jamie,

I was just being a little cheeky, pretending that you had promised us props in this release. Honestly though, we've been through this before. You might consider holding off on saying, in the "best possible way," because then how did Musical Instruments end up in the App? I mean, that would mean they weren't done in the best possible way, right? Yet they're in there.

Forget the "best possible way" way of thinking. That kind of mentality is what causes footballers to freeze or pass to a teammate instead of just shooting.


"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
- Wayne Gretzky


Cheers, Dwino
2012/11/19 18:08:17
Feedback Thread - v0.23b release (Nov. 2012) Just installed it, and I noticed the characters can't hold props! Actually that's not entirely true, they can hold a guitar, drum sticks, and a microphone, but nothing that would actually tell a story outside of a Music video. What happened to characters holding props?!
2012/11/15 17:26:34
Updates, Tutorials, Transparency! Oh my! At least you have microphones and guitars and what not for the characters to hold.
2012/10/18 22:32:24
Guns and Performance If some animations would look weird with the cell phone prop, then a director would have the personal choice of not pairing that animation with that particular prop. Or similar to the way seated vs. standing animations work, some animations could be blocked from being paired with certain props.

Overall, the results could be restricted as they are with Musical Instruments in order to yield something that does look proper. So the director and software product don't get bad reputations. (Though there are ways to make iClon_ look bad regardless of their hard work in development.)
2012/10/18 20:25:52
Guns and Performance i agree

I'm with ukBerty. Musical instruments naturally won't work in all situations, yet they are there and have been there for months, maybe years now. Would love 5 common objects. Heck, I would love a universal object that is swappable from an object pull-down list. I don't care as much if there are some cases where the hand goes through the prop or vise versa.

Camera angles are for that. That's a workaround I can handle since the object will move with the hand. Current workarounds aren't doable.
edited by dwino on 18/10/2012
2012/10/16 19:59:10
Guns and Performance So on a very practical level what is the likely path you will take to getting props in hand?

I know that the Unreal engine was meant at first for shoot em ups, and as such they are used to having weapons in hand. Per the following webpage, there are difficulties in having the guns leave the hand in holstering and reloading animations:
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CreatingAnimations.html

Do we need the props to leave hands? They don't in your musical instruments. Might you worry about those sorts of animations later and give us some wrenches, hammers, and vodka bottles to hold first?
Even if you do have some visual glitches while the prop leaves the hands, that can be worked around A LOT EASIER than not being able to hold props and having to work around that in the story. Same holds true with your concerns about scaling. I really wouldn't care if the props and prop animations ONLY worked well with the standard sized character.

I have received so many private messages from users who are eager for props to appear in Muvizu that it's not even funny. People are a little nervous about broadcasting their desire out in the open for one reason or another, but let me impress upon you: having some hand held props in one shape or another is the foremost desire in Muvizu users' minds. They are tired of creating visual work arounds, that take too much time and still fall just short of feeling true. Even worse is a common situation where a user will avoid including vital story points in the first place, because they require holding something.

Seriously...you gave us a microphone, now give us a pencil and a nice little cup. May our cups runneth over.
2012/10/10 0:23:05
Guns and Performance Believe me it's okay to provide constructive criticism, in some cases light a little fire, and ultimate provide FREE market feedback and testing for Muvizu.

It's one way for them to know what they could do, and also for them to keep tabs on what other Machinima/animation tools out there already do.
edited by dwino on 10/10/2012
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Muvizu is easy to use 3D animation software that allows anyone to create high quality animations quickly and easily. Muvizu’s animation engine is ideal for storytellers, animators, teachers and businesses looking to engage, enchant and delight audiences with animated content.