Mocap + dynamics= zero animation skill? GI = zero lighting skill?
I see a trend developing in teh world of 3d.... and it has to do with taking the power away from the user and giving it to the algorithms... I see people calling themselves "animators"... yet to do a ball bounce animation they are relying on dynamics simulations...soft bodies sims for squash and stretch?! 0_0 ... and it seems everywhere I look people are rendering with GI...
Now mocap, dynamics sims and GI allow people with less skill or knowhow to complete a given task... be it a character animation or a "realistic" render... so one hand they be empowering technologies BUT on the other hand if the user never learns how to do said tasks the manual way then all the power lies with the technology.... In a world where people lack in teh patience and want to do MORE FASTER BIGGER MORE MONEY BE FAMOUS... will they ever stop and go back and learn how to do thangs by TEH HUMAN HAND?! Probably not... so in the end they will simply be a bunch of interchangeable drones.... drones who know how to press buttons... they all press the same buttons and they all get similar results... that makes neither them nor the work they put out unique or scarce...just begging for obsolescence...
Maybe its because the places I hang out online are mostly design oriented I r seeing this... but it is a developing trend... hmmm will there be a time in the future where only like animation studios actually keyframe animate by hand and have actual lighting artists light scenes? because all the up and coming "amateurs" became button pressers? I was watching some short 3d film collection with a non animator friend and he couldn't tell the difference between mocapped 3d animation and keyframed... so if the audience doesn't know/care will the new artists?
Yeh keyframe animating takes longer BUT you introduce variety, a personal style, individuality... you can do a lot more than "realistic"... there are so many more variables at play it makes it much more difficult BUT its much more rewarding...
Dynamics sims are great for things that are either too complex to do by hand or there are too many things to do by hand... BUT I see people using it for everything... things you could easily keyframe animate are done by sims by many... probably because they never learned how BUT now that they have the algorithms that can call themselves an "animator" and get paid by clients to animate...
GI.... GI is great for archviz stuff because its supposed to be an actual real world place... BUT for everything else I'll be a macho lightER person and say GI IS FOR WIMPS! Where is the artistry in GI? I pressed a button... its "realistic".... tite.... I laugh to myself when I see all these people having render problems trying to network render GI or waiting days for it to pre-calculate....haha learn how to light it on your own button pusher! I mean for me lighting IS HUGE you can tell stories with lighting! So its like pressing a button and letting some software generate your script for you... at least thats how it is to me....
Where I think using procedural stuff/sims is great.... for secondary animation... keyframe animated monster has weird tentacles on his face? throw some cluster objects or jiggle deformers on those and let the software wiggle them for you... Things to complex to practically hand animate.... 200 objects crashing to the floor and colliding with each other... run a sim..works great... For what I do... creating fantasy worlds with a strong mood... I have no use at all for GI.... Mocap? Hmmmm.... I can see some non traditional uses for it... If I ever got a hold of a mocap suit I would make the most disturbing animations ever because I would use it in the WRONG way... and thats what being an artist is about... USING THE TOOL not BEING USED BY THE TOOL... putting YOUR OWN stamp on the work and not vice versa... How many recent animations have you seen and gone... Oh yeh Fume FX.... Oh yeh Modynamics...Oh yeh Endorphin...Oh yeh GI... Shouldn't you be saying "Oh yeh "artist name"!" instead of "Oh yeh "technology"!"
I mean you can let the tech do everything for you BUT remember a day will come when the tech will be able to press its own buttons.... then what will you be good for?Brought to you by professional weirdo M dot Strange.