Author Topic: BlobVanDam animation for JR (Read 10631 times)

splent · « **on:** July 23, 2011, 09:30:29 AM »

OK, Blobby hasn't been here in like a year... but he's been doing animation for DT for a lot longer. Anyways check this out, live animation for JR for their shows!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nggMAGKo7Dc

Mebert78 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 23, 2011, 09:33:24 AM »

Blob's animations are always breathtaking. Dude really made the BC&SL artwork come to life. I bow down to him.

CrimsonSunrise · « **Reply #2 on:** July 23, 2011, 09:34:42 AM »

Sweet!!! Go Blob!!!!

hefdaddy42 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 23, 2011, 11:03:10 AM »

Awesome.

SystematicThought · « **Reply #4 on:** July 23, 2011, 11:52:18 AM »

Quote from: Mebert78 on July 23, 2011, 09:33:24 AM

Blob's animations are always breathtaking. Dude really made the BC&SL artwork come to life. I bow down to him.

I would love it if he could post that animation of the BC&SL album art. I always loved that ending to TCOT using that animation

Mebert78 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 23, 2011, 12:41:49 PM »

Quote from: SystematicThought on July 23, 2011, 11:52:18 AM

Quote from: Mebert78 on July 23, 2011, 09:33:24 AM
Blob's animations are always breathtaking. Dude really made the BC&SL artwork come to life. I bow down to him.
I would love it if he could post that animation of the BC&SL album art. I always loved that ending to TCOT using that animation

It's streamed on his website, I believe. Check www.blobvandam.com.

El Barto · « **Reply #6 on:** July 23, 2011, 12:44:47 PM »

I've always enjoyed his work, but wasn't blown away by this particular one. And then I read this:

Quote

MIDI demo of new 3D Wizard, being used for Dream Theater's 2011 tour. This is live animation, not pre-animated.

Holy shit. That's fantastic.

DarkLord_Lalinc · « **Reply #7 on:** July 23, 2011, 12:46:46 PM »

Blob is one hell of a talented guy. I miss him. </3

antigoon · « **Reply #8 on:** July 23, 2011, 01:34:58 PM »

Pretty cool stuff!

toro · « **Reply #9 on:** July 23, 2011, 04:25:47 PM »

Quote from: Mebert78 on July 23, 2011, 12:41:49 PM

Quote from: SystematicThought on July 23, 2011, 11:52:18 AM
Quote from: Mebert78 on July 23, 2011, 09:33:24 AM
Blob's animations are always breathtaking. Dude really made the BC&SL artwork come to life. I bow down to him.
I would love it if he could post that animation of the BC&SL album art. I always loved that ending to TCOT using that animation

It's streamed on his website, I believe. Check www.blobvandam.com.

Oh sweet, I love the animation for Wither.

Ħ · « **Reply #10 on:** July 24, 2011, 01:19:36 AM »

never mind then

Progmetty · « **Reply #11 on:** July 24, 2011, 03:08:35 AM »

Quote from: DarkLord_Lalinc on July 23, 2011, 12:46:46 PM

Blob is one hell of a talented guy. I miss him. </3

Same here.

FlashCE · « **Reply #12 on:** July 24, 2011, 04:45:19 AM »

What happened to him?

rumborak · « **Reply #13 on:** July 24, 2011, 05:02:25 AM »

Quote from: El Barto on July 23, 2011, 12:44:47 PM

Quote
MIDI demo of new 3D Wizard, being used for Dream Theater's 2011 tour. This is live animation, not pre-animated.

Holy shit. That's fantastic.

Yeah, that's the amazing part about it. I guess he determines from the note patterns which hand is playing what, and then moves the animation to it. Props for that, he really knows his shit.

Quote from: FlashCE on July 24, 2011, 04:45:19 AM

What happened to him?

I never really understood it myself. He definitely had a knack for getting into clashes with people, and he would never back down really unless the thread was locked. So, in the end he was fed up and left.
He was also the single biggest KM hater I have ever seen on this board

Reading his posts about KM made you think KM ppicked up a Casio keyboard at the local RadioShack and randomly pounded on the keys during a DT concert.

rumborak

Progmetty · « **Reply #14 on:** July 24, 2011, 05:08:43 AM »

Some people provoked him constantly about his musical views and he couldn't deal with them the same way so he would either get aggressive or simply leave for a while. that's what happened in the end.
Which sucks because his views were right for the most part imo, he just didn't know how to be as peacefully annoying as the people he clashed with.

rumborak · « **Reply #15 on:** July 24, 2011, 05:23:31 AM »

Well, let's be honest, some of his opinions were a bit "abrasive". He was obviously drawn in at times into discussions, but often enough he would cause them too with some inflammatory statement.

rumborak

BlobVanDam · « **Reply #16 on:** July 24, 2011, 05:37:53 AM »

Meh, the video is alright, I suppose.

rumborak · « **Reply #17 on:** July 24, 2011, 05:55:36 AM »

Technical question, Blob: How do you decide how to split the notes between the hands of the animation? Doesn't sound like an easy problem.

rumborak

BlobVanDam · « **Reply #18 on:** July 24, 2011, 06:20:38 AM »

Quote from: rumborak on July 24, 2011, 05:55:36 AM

Technical question, Blob: How do you decide how to split the notes between the hands of the animation? Doesn't sound like an easy problem.

rumborak

The program keeps track of an imaginary split point between left and right hands that is continually adjusted based on previous notes played, so it chooses whichever hand has played the closest note. If the hands are far apart (over two octaves between highest and lowest notes being played), there's no ambiguity as to which hand has to play it, as the program only allows each hand to play a maximum span of 14 semitones (slightly over an octave to allow for mistakes and special cases). When the hands are closer, it isn't always going to be perfect.

The more difficult task is assigning the fingers to play each note, which is done after assigning them to each hand (I don't take into account the current fingering when assigning notes to each hand, as it's not completely reliable, and can be easily tripped up). The finger choice is done a bit more musically, and is mostly a big case select table based on intervals up/down from the closest finger being played or last note played, and required me figuring out what finger should play a note based on every interval up/down and finger combination for both hands. That is about 1000-1500 lines of code. There are also several special case overrides for larger intervals, and for when the program can't find a solution (which happens often as it is only making a best guess, and its fingering will usually differ from the player).

j · « **Reply #19 on:** July 24, 2011, 06:23:56 AM »

Ah that makes sense, interesting. Really impressive stuff Blob!

-J

rumborak · « **Reply #20 on:** July 24, 2011, 06:26:12 AM »

Again, props dude. That is awesome. And a lot of effort to get the fingering right, which might only be noticeable for a very few select people in the audience

rumborak

TimmyHiggy · « **Reply #21 on:** July 24, 2011, 06:30:10 AM »

Timmyhiggy likes this

Jamesman42 · « **Reply #22 on:** July 24, 2011, 06:31:37 AM »

BLOB!

Awesome work buddy. Still waiting on my mud pie.

Zydar · « **Reply #23 on:** July 24, 2011, 06:39:40 AM »

Blob!

BlobVanDam · « **Reply #24 on:** July 24, 2011, 07:05:52 AM »

Quote from: Jamesman on July 24, 2011, 06:31:37 AM

BLOB!

Awesome work buddy. Still waiting on my mud pie.

Is that anything like a Cleveland Steamer?

Oh wait, you probably mean mud cake. My bad.

Lynxo · « **Reply #25 on:** July 24, 2011, 10:11:50 AM »

Long time no see!

Yeah, that video is awesome, good job!

DarkLord_Lalinc · « **Reply #26 on:** July 24, 2011, 10:14:19 AM »

BLOB

PlaysLikeMyung · « **Reply #27 on:** July 24, 2011, 10:16:25 AM »

HOLY SHIT HE'S BACK YAYYY!

Metropolis Pt. II · « **Reply #28 on:** July 24, 2011, 11:06:22 AM »

I didn't recognize him at first with that new avatar

axeman90210 · « **Reply #29 on:** July 24, 2011, 11:15:07 AM »

Good to see Blob back

Quote from: Metropolis Pt. II on July 24, 2011, 11:06:22 AM

I didn't recognize him at first with that new avatar

ditto

Silver Tears · « **Reply #30 on:** July 24, 2011, 11:19:22 AM »

Ha that's awesome!

Ben_Jamin · « **Reply #31 on:** July 24, 2011, 12:57:49 PM »

Cool to see you again Blob. I really enjoy what you did with BC&SL.

robwebster · « **Reply #32 on:** July 24, 2011, 01:20:35 PM »

Oh, howdy Blob. Just throwing this out there... stick around for a bit?

Quote from: rumborak on July 24, 2011, 05:23:31 AM

Well, let's be honest, some of his opinions were a bit "abrasive". He was obviously drawn in at times into discussions, but often enough he would cause them too with some inflammatory statement.

rumborak

Right, I'm gonna defend him here (not that he needs defending any more - good to see you!) 'cause this is actually half the reason I adopted a different username when I came back after whenever my last hiatus was. Specifically, I did exactly the same thing. I don't mind disagreements, but there was a point where I found the antipathy towards the new stuff so disrespectful and downright abrasive that I got very grumpy and started responding in an equally condescending way.

By the time I returned, I'd kind of decided that the better way to disagree is to be cleverer and nicer than the person you're speaking to. A good writer is a writer you can enjoy disagreeing with, and being polite but confident a. gives your speech more weight, and b. implores people to want to listen to what you've got to say, so I'm not saying ferocity is necessarily a virtue... but I think the violent clashes were only ever a response to equal violence from the other side, and an attempt to better represent his home team, which was so frequently and unnecessarily lambasted. I'm kind of with him on that.

(And as a footnote, I do also think that the clashes were a long time ago and we're not like that any more. So welcome back Blob! Stay! We'll bake you cakes!)

antigoon · « **Reply #33 on:** July 24, 2011, 01:33:42 PM »

Welcome back, sir.

DarkLord_Lalinc · « **Reply #34 on:** July 24, 2011, 01:41:33 PM »

Don't let

Quote from: BlobVanDam on July 24, 2011, 07:05:52 AM

Quote from: Jamesman on July 24, 2011, 06:31:37 AM
BLOB!

Awesome work buddy. Still waiting on my mud pie.

Is that anything like a Cleveland Steamer?

Oh wait, you probably mean mud cake. My bad.

be your last post in here

News: Track-by-track video for Fall Into the Light: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ezfzdMpRc0

Author Topic: BlobVanDam animation for JR (Read 10631 times)