Wire 3d Models for Video

starixiom wrote on 6/18/2003, 10:11 PM
I was wondering if anyone knew of a software program that allows you to create 3d wire models of geometric shapes, animate their movement and then input the characters into your video?

I was thinking something along the lines of the "Michelin Man" but with no white coloring and lets say hot pink lines instead of black. Animate his movements out a few seconds then drop onto a black background. Similar to a laser show except within a movie. Just for reference:

http://www.michelin.com/portail/index.jsp

I know that there is hundreds of 3d packages out there that create wire models before you actually render what the image is going to look like. WHat i am looking for is a simple to use program (meaning not years of learning 3d animation) that can create varied colored wire objects then output to .avi so i can manipulate them within Vegas.

Comments

rebel44 wrote on 6/18/2003, 11:45 PM
Did you try Particle Illusion?. I have fun with a demo. You can make a cool stuff.
The downloaded file are about 3M and fully funcional, but have watermarks on final video. Good for learning and see if is what you want.
starixiom wrote on 6/19/2003, 9:22 AM
Funny you should mention particleillusion 3. I just downloaded it a couple of days ago and have been playing around with it. I ran into some OPengl problems with the program so it is dog slow on my computer. I emailed the tech support and still havent been able to fix this issue. It seems like a good program but where are the 3d wire models for what i want to do? Are they in a subfolder that im not aware of?

Thanks.
FuTz wrote on 6/19/2003, 10:03 AM
Try this site:

www.computerarts.co.uk

... and check out the 3D/Animation tutorials: there's a few programs listed there and it's hell of a good site for anybody interested in graphic computer work .
Dezine wrote on 6/19/2003, 11:36 AM
Take a look at Ulead Cool 3D Production Studio http://www.ulead.com/c3ds/runme.htm at $129, it's by far the best in it's class at that price range. It's the big brother to Cool 3D which is more basic.
I use Maxon's Cinema 4D as well for complicated 3D, but that is a far more expensive and professional program.

Dezine
starixiom wrote on 6/19/2003, 10:49 PM
Would an AutoCad program allow an outputted Avi mesh of objects? I really want a program that creates a geometric mesh object, allow you to manipulate it, animate, then output to avi. Not quite sure on the logistics and dont really want to spend hundreds of dollars for a limited feature.
Rain Mooder wrote on 6/19/2003, 11:35 PM
You might want to invest the time in learning a 3d app. Blender is free and
will do everything you want plus a good bit. The learning curve might be
a little steep. I recommend the "The Blender Book" by Wartmann. It might
take you 20 hours of learning curve but it sure is a whole lot of fun once
you get the hang of it!

I started on learning Monday and I've got some pretty neat animations to show for it!
http://www.blender3d.org
seeker wrote on 6/20/2003, 12:14 AM
Starixiom,

I went to your URL, http://www.michelin.com/portail/index.jsp, but didn't see any wireframes, and I clicked on a lot of stuff. How do I see the wireframes there?

-- Seeker --
starixiom wrote on 6/20/2003, 12:45 AM
HA HA HA, Okay i see what you are saying. There are no wire frames per se. But if you take the Michelin Man as a point of reference and strip away the white elements you are left with a "wire frame". Basicaly i want to animate a "Michelin Man" type character and input him into a short film. But Instead of the wire frame or outline (which i think is a better term) you substatute a color, lets say pink. So now you are left with a black background with a pink outline of a character thats representative in a 3d space.

I choose the Michelin Man as an example because i thought he was easy to imagine what im talking about. Except in my case i want his outline and not the white color in between the lines. 3d animation packages do this before you render light, shadow, color, etc. What i am looking for is a EASY TO USE program that can do this without spending hours learning a new program. Sort of how a CAD program works only in this case i want my creation to be outputted to AVI.

Spot|DSE wrote on 6/20/2003, 12:07 PM
Ulead Cool 3D does awesome wireframes of anything, and they are fast and easy to create. Moreover, rendering out to a 32bit avi gives exceptionally clean alphas that Vegas recognizes very nicely.
seeker wrote on 6/20/2003, 9:32 PM
Starixiom,

"But Instead of the wire frame or outline (which i think is a better term) you substatute a color, lets say pink. So now you are left with a black background with a pink outline of a character thats representative in a 3d space. ... Except in my case i want his outline and not the white color in between the lines. 3d animation packages do this before you render light, shadow, color, etc."

Well, I agree that the term "outline" is a better term for what you want. I really don't think you want 3D wireframes, but animated colored outlines, which are altogether different. But you asked for wireframes and with SPOT's Ulead Cool 3D, that's what you got. As they say, you have to be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it.

"What i am looking for is a EASY TO USE program that can do this without spending hours learning a new program."

I dunno. You might have to spend a few hours to get the effects you want. A lot of people are doing neat things with Flash animations. But I wouldn't recommend Flash as "easy".

-- Seeker --