Looking for assitance - simulating "cartoonish" looking wet paint animation

BTT1024

Member
Hi,
I'm working on creating a "cartoonish" looking animation where two characters (each 2 legged) walk through some wet paint. From various camera views, I want to show an exaggerated ("cartoonish" / elasticity) look of wet paint sticking to the characters shoes with the wet paint pulling up off of the surface they are walking on and then settling back down on the surface. Also with some of the paint elastically pulling off onto their shoes (possibly some drips falling off, but not necessary)....

I've been playing around with using a soft body object tag on egg shaped objects (duplicated using arrays) to represent the paint, that are anchored using a portion of the bottom half of the egg shaped object points, just below ground surface. Gravity is set to Zero (0). I've placed an Attraction force (Half Space) on the right foot of the Cheetah3D alien character (I'm still working on the two characters for my video but will be 2 legged characters)... I'm just testing with one foot now, but plan to use whatever method for both feet.

What I have thus far looks alright but maybe I'm going about this wrong or need some tweaking done to what I have thus far...

I've attached my .jas file zipped and also, here's a sample video render of what it looks like, posted to youTube:

One other note, I plan to do a scene where a paint roller rolls across the surface and from a camera angle it would show the paint pulling off the roller in a sticky elastic manner - so, I guess that I should be able to use whatever method I use for the characters shoes for the paint roller too.

If you have any ideas - or can point me in the right direction using the bullet physics engine, or morphing, or object modifiers , that would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Brian T.
 

Attachments

  • GravityZero_Attraction_Alien_MultiPaintSpotsOnGround_Test6.jas.zip
    469.5 KB · Views: 162
:unsure: I would suggest some experiments with isoballs. I have no idea how to animate the sticky paint process, but there may be quite a few tricks you discover as you engage in the experiments.
StickyPaint.jpg
 
* Experiment:
* 2 flat 2D objects, representing foot prints (FP)
* FP#2 is slightly raised in the Y-axis
* I animated the rotation of FP#2 from 0° (foot is flat on the floor) to 16° (heels is raised, foot rolls off the toes)
* I moved the isosurface a whisker below the surface of the floor, so it does not show at the start of the animation
* The Y-scale of the isosurface is set to 0 in frame 0, goes to 1.0 as the foot rolls off and drops back as the alien makes a subsequent step
* This may need a bit of fine-tuning until acceptable. As it is not a scientific analysis of fluid dynamics but a cartoonish effect it may suffice.
 

Attachments

  • StickyPaint.jas.zip
    12.5 KB · Views: 162
:oops: Yep, I think that isoballs are a much underestimated method in the C3D toolbox. I use them quite often in biological animations to achieve a variety of effects in biomorphy transitions. None of which (I believe) I could be modelled using alternative methods with any flexibility and economy.
* It does take quite a while to get to any intuitive imagination of the resultant meshes, but the effort is well worth the time.
:sick: The number of postings on the forum on isoballs is fairly low, so I assume it may be underutilised. Pity.
 
Helmut and ZooHead,
Thank you, your examples are perfect, exactly what I was looking for...

I've been using Cheetah3D on and off since 2019 and there's so much more I need to learn. I need to find the time to just fiddle around in Cheetah3D and learn as much as I can, rather than being in a hurry to figure certain things out just to complete an animation idea...

I just fiddled around a little bit with Helmut's example...
AlienWalk_WetPaint_IsoBall-Surface_10FPS.gif


I plan to take time in the next few days to make sure I learn more about Isosurface Objects and Metaball Tags. And also plan to try and re-create ZooHead's example from scratch... And then I will create the "wet paint" Isosurfaces for my animation when I've got my characters modeled and animated (walking through the wet paint)...

I've got a ton of assets/objects and things I need to create and modify and layout for my final animation. But, It's all coming together thanks to your help...

Hopefully I'll be done with my animation in 3 or 4 weeks, when I'm done I'll post a link for it in the Gallery section. The animation will be about two cartoon looking bugs that end up walking through some wet paint and eventually get stuck in the paint.

[note, I just got myself an animated GIF maker from the app store - that's a lot easier to post animated examples rather than using youTube]

Thank you again,
Brian T.
 
Cheetah3d writes to GIF - the difficulty is to stay under the 500KB forum upload limit.
Frank, Thank you for that tip - I just went and opened up Cheetah3D and tried out the Save As GIF option on a video render (hopefully now that is committed to my memory so that I will use it next time I need an animated GIF export. )

Brian T.
 
Hopefully I'll be done with my animation in 3 or 4 weeks, when I'm done I'll post a link for it in the Gallery section. The animation will be about two cartoon looking bugs that end up walking through some wet paint and eventually get stuck in the paint.
I'm really looking forward to your animation and can't wait to see it. :D

Frank, Thank you for that tip - I just went and opened up Cheetah3D and tried out the Save As GIF option on a video render (hopefully now that is committed to my memory so that I will use it next time I need an animated GIF export. )

Brian T.
I sometimes use VideoBlend for this. It's a very simple, free software for Mac. It can't do much but a few things are often very helpful. You can set the runtime crop, resolution, speed, looping and fps of the gif until you get below 500 kb. Of course you can also do this directly with Cheetah, but sometimes it's easier and faster that way. (It also has an easy way to split videos, for example).
Another thing I just thought of: Sometimes I need a detail of a video or an unusual format (extremely high, narrow, etc.) and I don't want to render it again, or I have a video that I want to put a detail of into Cheetah, or whatever, then I use Keynote for that. There you can just set the resolution/format of the slide, put your video over it and export it as QuickTime. (Or as an example in your case: let's say you have a very elaborate scene high-res rendered and you just want to post a small section of the feet here...). I only mention it because when you think of movie editing, you probably don't immediately think of Keynote. These are certainly not the most professional solutions, but they are simple, fast and free.
(At my last movie I used Keynote for example to make the animation go beyond the black bars.)
 
* Addendum:
* In multiple mesh isosurfaces (as I have used in the example), these are additive. You need to use the tag to implement subtractive isoballery.
* As implied above, you need some some time to experiment and learn the trickery.

:unsure: From memory, C3D remembers the codec last used.
 
I'm really looking forward to your animation and can't wait to see it. :D


I sometimes use VideoBlend for this. It's a very simple, free software for Mac. It can't do much but a few things are often very helpful. You can set the runtime crop, resolution, speed, looping and fps of the gif until you get below 500 kb. Of course you can also do this directly with Cheetah, but sometimes it's easier and faster that way. (It also has an easy way to split videos, for example).
Another thing I just thought of: Sometimes I need a detail of a video or an unusual format (extremely high, narrow, etc.) and I don't want to render it again, or I have a video that I want to put a detail of into Cheetah, or whatever, then I use Keynote for that. There you can just set the resolution/format of the slide, put your video over it and export it as QuickTime. (Or as an example in your case: let's say you have a very elaborate scene high-res rendered and you just want to post a small section of the feet here...). I only mention it because when you think of movie editing, you probably don't immediately think of Keynote. These are certainly not the most professional solutions, but they are simple, fast and free.
(At my last movie I used Keynote for example to make the animation go beyond the black bars.)
Lydia,
Thank you for your interest in my upcoming (bugs in wet paint) video... A while back, I saw that you had posted a comment to my 2020 Christmas Video sample that I had posted to my youTube channel "BT 1024" (Link) a while back - I just took that video down last week...

- I Hope to start back working on that Christmas video in November. I had to stop working on that on because 2 weeks before Christmas last year, my Niece went into the hospital with an illness and I decided to hurry and do a "Get Well Soon" video using Cheetah3D, for her - I hurried and got the "Get Well Soon" video done Christmas day and sent her the video link (took it down of youtube many weeks after she saw it)... Anyhow, She got out of the hospital Christmas night... I had so much to do for that one in 2 weeks, animation, layout, etc, write the lyrics for song, get a backing track, sing the song, put audio together in garage band (and alter my voice) and then get the LipSyncing just right, best I could, using the LipSync script that murcielago and tg_jp (Hiroto) created...
Anyhow, here's the link to a copy of that "Get Well Soon" video I did for my niece, I have it as a hidden youtube video URL (have to embed as non link, so using HTML code tag below:
HTML:
https://youtu.be/Pi3sF9wZlyc

I've got some other stuff out there on my youTube channel - One is a political satire Halloween video, I'd say skip over that one... I have friends of all political backgrounds (viewpoints and ideologies) and we all still get along and laugh over stuff like my political satire video (we just laugh stuff off).

I've been a fan of your work, since your first animated short titled "Manja" up to and including your recent "Sus Fiction" animated short film... I've been impressed by - and have enjoyed - your creative work, your style and the stories you tell in your videos.

I'll take a look at what you mentioned about the Keynote app... I find myself using whatever I can as a tool sometimes and in most cases it's not a professional tool... I often use QuickTime to do a screen recording of a youTube video (like the background snow and tree video in my "get well soon" animation) and then use that in other things - in the case where I need the audio for the youTube video, I use an iPad to play the video and then pipe the audio into my Macbook and record the audio in Garageband and then sync the audio and video in iMovie.

Thank you,
Brian T.
 
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* Addendum:
* In multiple mesh isosurfaces (as I have used in the example), these are additive. You need to use the tag to implement subtractive isoballery.
* As implied above, you need some some time to experiment and learn the trickery.

:unsure: From memory, C3D remembers the codec last used.
Helmut,
Yes - C3D does remember the last codec (video and image).... Now I can't remember what the default video Codec was set to, after doing an animated-GIF export, was the default ProRes4444 ?
 
A while back, I saw that you had posted a comment to my 2020 Christmas Video sample that I had posted to my youTube channel "BT 1024" (Link) a while back
Ah, that's you - I remember! I'm always happy when I see animations in Cheetah. I'm sure your niece was very happy too. I know how much work it is - 2 weeks is really nothing. And a lot of the work behind it, you don't even consciously notice. For example, I also always try to animate to the background music. That's sometimes a real challenge, especially when there's a certain point in the music in the middle of the film where something specific is supposed to happen and all the previous scenes have to be exactly that long to end right there. Before I start animating, the first thing I do is find the appropriate music and load it into iMovie. Then I set placeholders for all scenes that match the length of the music. And above the placeholders I set placeholders again within the scene.
I have been avoiding LipSync so far. Nobody would probably understand my bad English anyway :LOL:, so I've just left it at a few Ahs, Uhs, Ohs. But one day I'd like to try it out nevertheless.
 
Ah, that's you - I remember! I'm always happy when I see animations in Cheetah. I'm sure your niece was very happy too. I know how much work it is - 2 weeks is really nothing. And a lot of the work behind it, you don't even consciously notice. For example, I also always try to animate to the background music. That's sometimes a real challenge, especially when there's a certain point in the music in the middle of the film where something specific is supposed to happen and all the previous scenes have to be exactly that long to end right there. Before I start animating, the first thing I do is find the appropriate music and load it into iMovie. Then I set placeholders for all scenes that match the length of the music. And above the placeholders I set placeholders again within the scene.
I have been avoiding LipSync so far. Nobody would probably understand my bad English anyway :LOL:, so I've just left it at a few Ahs, Uhs, Ohs. But one day I'd like to try it out nevertheless.
Lydia,
Back on August 14th, I said I'd be done my bugs in wet paint animation in 3 or 4 weeks (now titled "A New Coat Of Paint").... Well, things are taking longer than expected... I may be done with this around the end of October (maybe later).... I thought of a simple, funny video trailer concept that may put in a couple of weeks just so I can feel like I'm making progress....

I've written my dialog script, tested some of the lip syncing, been practicing and recording my different character voices .... Spent most of my time modeling my characters and had to learn all about UV Unwrapping and learning how to correct bad meshes to get a workable UV Unwrap... Then I decided to use 3DCoat to color my textures, for which the 3D Coat GUI is difficult to get accustomed to and learning how to use certain tools took some time - I'm just doing a flat texture, nothing complex...

So, now I'm finally working on rigging my bug character named Vic, then will do my bug character named Marty... Then I've got to create, texture and rig my bug character named Reggie, which will be a taller thinner bug.... Then a bunch more stuff to do (rig a free human character I got from turbosquid, which will be the guy painting in the video) and I've got to do all poses, etc.... Who knows, maybe I won't be done with this video until Christmas....

Anyhow, here's some Pics of my Vic and Marty bugs - my first somewhat complex character modeling....

Vic1.png
Vic2.png
Vic3.png
Marty1.png
Marty2.png
Marty3.png
 
Oh, those are two cute and funny little bugs. I'm really looking forward to seeing them in action! :D
But I know exactly what you mean! I'm also making my own character right now. I thought I'd do that quickly on the side. Not so. I've been tweaking the mesh, UV and texture for ages. I'm still struggling with the rig right now. And then I also have to create all the morph sliders for the facial movements. No idea if I'll get that done. I'm sure it'll be Christmas by then, too.

But that's really funny, your characters are named like mine. My Vic with the relic and my new one is also named Marty because it's a chameleon, like our Marty from the help file. So actually Marty the second.

Say hello to the cute little bugs, Marty:

marty2.png


As I said, we still have to work on the facial expression. As well as many other things... :rolleyes:
 
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* Assuming that Marty is an academic and has been awarded a :rolleyes: PhD this may be just the shapeshifting reptilian (sometimes insectoid) manifestation of our dear Dr Martin W.

* Only visible in the wee hours of midnight in the middle of the :devilish: Black Forest where the rivulet Danube bubbles out of the deep, dark and mysterious belly of our planet.
 
Oh, those are two cute and funny little bugs. I'm really looking forward to seeing them in action! :D
But I know exactly what you mean! I'm also making my own character right now. I thought I'd do that quickly on the side. Not so. I've been tweaking the mesh, UV and texture for ages. I'm still struggling with the rig right now. And then I also have to create all the morph sliders for the facial movements. No idea if I'll get that done. I'm sure it'll be Christmas by then, too.

But that's really funny, your characters are named like mine. My Vic with the relic and my new one is also named Marty because it's a chameleon, like our Marty from the help file. So actually Marty the second.

Say hello to the cute little bugs, Marty:

View attachment 37774


As I said, we still have to work on the facial expression. As well as many other things... :rolleyes:
Lydia,
Your Marty character looks amazing - I get a feeling of his personality from his look and the pose you have him in - He seems like a mischievous chameleon. I'm looking forward to your completed work with this character and the movie he will be in...

The texture looks great - How did you create the texture? Have you used 3DCoat ever? I'm still learning about texturing and so many other things, I believe it's a Bump Map that gives the raised and depressed looks to parts of the texture, I guess that's how you got the pebble like skin texture.

I just watched your "The Relic in the Forgotten Temple" movie again to check the name since I didn't remember - I guess "Vic" maybe short for Victoria. I noticed you have 45,000 views for the Relic movie -- And 59,000 for the Twister movie... You've got quite a following of people that like your movies.

Brian T.
 
The texture looks great - How did you create the texture? Have you used 3DCoat ever? I'm still learning about texturing and so many other things, I believe it's a Bump Map that gives the raised and depressed looks to parts of the texture, I guess that's how you got the pebble like skin texture.
I haven't used 3DCoat yet, it's all done in Cheetah and Photoshop. Yes, I have a diffuse map for the colors and a bump map for the skin texture. Everything is just somehow brushed in Photoshop - with the emphasis on "somehow":LOL::
Bildschirmfoto.jpg
I may change the color and pattern later. After all, it's a chameleon. ;)
I had been thinking that you can do so many things with a chameleon. But I don't have any plan at all what I'm going to do. And I probably won't have time to work on it further until November.

I just watched your "The Relic in the Forgotten Temple" movie again to check the name since I didn't remember - I guess "Vic" maybe short for Victoria. I noticed you have 45,000 views for the Relic movie -- And 59,000 for the Twister movie... You've got quite a following of people that like your movies.
Yes, Vic is short for Victoria. The views thing is weird. The views went up rapidly from one day to the next and then down rapidly again. Usually my videos don't have that many views. Sometimes YouTube is a mystery to me.
 
I was working on the walk cycle and other poses for my bug named "Vic" (still need to do poses for my "Marty" bug and create my "Reggie" bug and so many other things), but got side-tracked on making a Halloween animation, which I just posted over in the Cheetah3D Gallery....

Anyhow, here's a sample of the "Vic" walk cycle I posted to youTube (and I added some music for fun, which is a song from the Skatalites, called "Strollin In" which I plan to use in the final movie). Note, the background scene is not complete yet.

 
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