Stuff for "Creatives" and whatnot.. - The Bear and Badger

isanbard

I have a probably fairly common question hopefully for the arty little corner of this 'ere crevice of the internet.

I've been commissioned to get hold of a tablet for the 12yr old nephew. That's fine.. but is there anything that you could advise to go with it to possibly make the introduction to digital arty bits any more likely to stick past New Years?

Any recommendations for more friendly utilities? Good books/beginner guides/sites/streams? Cheap/free suites that are well guided/Youtubed well with friendly folks etc etc? He's taught on something at school (Mischief maybe? Something with a M I think..) and likes his arty stuff a good deal more than the maths and errr just about all the other things..

Guide me O wise and jaded old curmudgeonly Creative folks.

Edit: Wahey! Handy totp magic! It must be the Christmas.

Jaco

This is a great place to start. And comes with everything he'll need.

I'd recommend Correl digital painting tutorials on YT, there are HEAPS of them.

isanbard

Well we're off to a great start there Jim as that's the one I've got arriving this evening already. That's a nice relief.

Looks like a winner. Ta!

Heavy Voodoo

Lo all - Just wondering if you can still get dodgy / cracked software from the internet? I used to use torrents but Virgin Media have blocked most of the sites I used to use. Quite fancy trying out some 3D modelling in the New Year. Looking for ZBrush , Maya and Substance. Any links 'n stuff gladly received.

nick_md

Hoh fuck Heavy Voodoo, mahdays. Good to see you back, chief, hope all is well.

Nina

Why not give Blender a try Voodoo?

I've been using it for a couple years now, it's good. And free. And doesn't crash as often as Maya.

And of course, good to see you again.

Jaco

Yeah, was going to suggest Blender too.

Good to see you HV.

Nina

Just asked B, you can do zbrush and substance kinda things in Blender too. I've only used it for basic modeling.

LivDiv

Hey Voodoo.
I use CGpeers for software. Registration opens for 48 hours on the 1st and 15th of each month so maybe try that in a few days time.

They will defo have what you are after and the community is a good one.

Heavy Voodoo

Thanks for all of the suggestions and the Voodoolove! Downloading Blender now to have a go.

I'm doing fine, just not really gaming anymore. Doing a lot of comic-cons and illustration stuff. Hope y'all are doing well too!

g.man

Always nice to see you pop in mate. Don't be a stranger.

monkey

Heavy Voodoo wrote:

Thanks for all of the suggestions and the Voodoolove! Downloading Blender now to have a go.

I'm doing fine, just not really gaming anymore. Doing a lot of comic-cons and illustration stuff. Hope y'all are doing well too!

Blender is annoying and confusing for until you learn your way around a bit. Then it’s pretty good. Stick with it.

Gamermike

LivDiv wrote:

Hey Voodoo. I use CGpeers for software. Registration opens for 48 hours on the 1st and 15th of each month so maybe try that in a few days time. They will defo have what you are after and the community is a good one.

This.

Jaco

Dealing with clients that lack any technical knowledge, or for that matter common sense, is beginning to test my patience.

Background: I'm editing/building a video for a company meeting that's happening tomorrow morning. The MD chose a particular piece of music for the soundtrack, and the whole thing is basically animation, slides and images that move and bounce in and out on specific music cues. There are, literally, dozens of elements.

Just had this conversation:

Client: Just one minor amend and the video is ready to go.
Me: Great, what's the amend?
Client: We need you to remove the section from 0:35–0:42. And that's it!
Me: ... er... You want me to remove a seven-second chunk from the beginning section of a 5 minute video??
Client: Yeah, nothing too dramatic.
Me: But it's been storyboarded to match the music. I'll have to re-time and re-cut the whole thing.
Client: It's only a quick delete, it's not that bad. Can we have that back after lunch?
Me: ...

Kill. Me.

LivDiv

Yeah. I had that earlier this year.
Animated everything to the music.

"Can we just..."

Unlikely

The answer is no.

Gamermike

I would just go back and say you can either replace with something else or amend/tweak that scene.

AJ

I'd be tempted to just crop the beginning off the completed video and send it though with a "I don't think it works, but this is what you asked for".

Jaco

Thankful I think I’ve found a way round. There’s a repeated theme in the soundtrack, so I’ve managed to chop out a section of the music between matching beats and then slightly rejigged the cuts around the deletion to keep 95% of the edit timings intact. Now to nip and tuck... what a palaver...

cockbeard

Maybe I'm just a belligerent old sausage but yeah I would have done exactly what AJ said, always worried about setting an expectation when you jump too high for folk, especially when it's not actually an emergency

nick_md

It's a ridiculous request yeah, but I'd be fucked off if some passive aggressive contractor sent me the thing back with the start just cut out like a petulant child, knowing full well that's not going to work out. it's hardly professional.

FTR I agree it wasn't a realistic expectation / request.

Jaco

nick_md wrote:

It's a ridiculous request yeah, but I'd be fucked off if some passive aggressive contractor sent me the thing back with the start just cut out like a petulant child, knowing full well that's not going to work out. it's hardly professional. FTR I agree it wasn't a realistic expectation / request.

And that's always the dilemma as a contractor. How much do you push back without coming across as a passive aggressive douche?

nick_md

Aye I guess. I've had unhappy contractors before but they always expressed this in private to me, and explained their reasoning, which I'm always fine with (they probably complained about me on a forum somewhere

). Clients will always push for more, they kinda have to at times, right?

Jaco

Oh absolutely. It’s when there’s a complete lack of common sense or realism, even after you’ve explained the issue, that it becomes a nightmare.

nick_md

We're all just trying to make beautiful things together, at the end of the day x

Jaco

You’d hope so, wouldn’t you? ;-)

cockbeard

I hear what yo're saying nick, and I do agree, it was this part of the conversation that triggered me

Jaco wrote:

Me: But it's been storyboarded to match the music. I'll have to re-time and re-cut the whole thing. Client: It's only a quick delete, it's not that bad. Can we have that back after lunch?

That's the part that infuriates me, really not the clients job to decide the timeline like that, that triangle of speed, quality and cost has to be taken into account

nick_md

Aye that's a fair comment, chief.

g.man

I'd have sent it back to them with a seven second shot of my arse replacing the portion they wanted removed.

AJ

But they'd probably approve that version and push it hard in their marketing. Is that what you really want? For everyone to see your arse?

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