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Delura: A Complete Behind the Scenes Feature of an independent 3d animated series

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I want to preface this by saying that for-sale tutorial content is not in my future and will probably never be a part of my regular way of doing things. Selling instructional content isn't something I'm interested in doing so I publish it freely both for the community and for the people I work with. That said, the whole purpose behind the creation of this particular video is of a special circumstance: to help fund the replacement of my athlon II workstation (running on winxp 32-bit), which is what i've been working on since this series began and has pushed me through over 10 years of animated and digital media projects prior. I really want to retire this machine... it has lived a rough life and has gone through countless band-aid repairs. All revenue earned from this video will go towards this purpose. As of this writing, we've already raised nearly $500, and my target mid-range system will cost around $750.

Anyone who contributes $10 to the Delura project will receive exclusive access to ultra-high quality videos (details below) that I will not be releasing to the public in the foreseeable future. This is not impromptu stuff like most pay-for info content; it is elaborately scripted and thoroughly edited to present you an abundant amount of content within a short timespan. NOTE: I will be processing the donations manually for the time being, so please allow a few hours after donating to receive access to the video.

Anyhow, here's the basics of my first and likely my last for-sale Lightwave instructional/informational content:

VIDEO #1: Delura's Entire Workflow

Resolution: 1600x872
Runtime: 27 minutes
Format: AVI (divx 6.8.5)
Audio: mpeg-II
Filesize: 1.2 gb

Summary:

This video covers my entire workflow process in a basic overview format that, while it does not go into the specifics of the many topics I speak of, will give some extensive insight as to how a person can approach creating episodic content. My goal is to de-mystify the whole process and show everyone that production does not have to be nearly as complicated as people make it out to be (or would want you to believe).

The projects before Delura

A brief look at the evolution of our works, and how they have influenced Delura's content. A lot of our earlier projects were done in Flash.

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Writing
This is a process that a lot of people tend to overthink; it really isn't that hard and 99% of the work is coming up with the ideas, not the actual process.

Collaboration methods
I cover the communications systems i've used to organize the project; how, when, and where they are used. Also there are mention of systems that *didn't* work, or became obsolete over time (IE: forums).

Concept work
Using rough sketchbook drawings for the conveyance and creation of ideas for usage in 3d model creation. Also, usage of 3d animation storyboards... the way I do it looks silly, but it works, it is lightning fast, and I provide comparison shots.

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Asset building
I segway into how I integrate every single program I use with AutoHotkey, including Lightwave. It is kind of off topic, but I consider it a vital tool in my workflow and its one of the reasons I work so quickly. Brief simplified demonstration of a fur painting technique i've depended on, how texture resources like CGtextures are fine-tuned to Delura's content and often in unexpected ways. Also, the art of "implied detail": focusing on the whole picture rather than parts of it to greatly enhance the viewer's experience without sacrificing quality of the core content.

Animation
Demonstration of how some of my animations look behind the camera, complete with all my unorthadox ways of going about things that save me tons of time. IKBooster demonstrations, with emphasis on saved time via avoiding "selecting" things (which is why I can animate characters at 60 seconds per day). Basic explanations and demonstrations of Straight ahead vs. linear animation (hint: good idea to master both). Various rigging/relativity demonstrations.

Visual FX
I don't benefit from high level compositing software, so I gotta do everything with what I got. There are still a lot of techniques you can utilize to get around software limitations; among them are things like Lightwave's built-in features, video crossfading, video filters, cel-painting/rendering. Also, I demonstrate a bit how I took advantage of the power of Blender's robust (but sluggish) compositing workflow to circumvent the severe hardware limitations I faced with Delura EP 005.03's high production demands.

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Sound FX
I first show a minor resource I use for SFX, then I demonstrate the works of a foley artist (a person who creates sounds from objects for use in media). I can make a bag of tortilla chips create 7 or more completely different sounds suitable for the big screen... can you? Using everyday objects in your house can be many, many times faster than trying to search for a sound online and I show you how and why (the method I use to radically alter sounds can be applied to most commercial software packages).

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VIDEO #2: Other aspects and scene walkthroughs

Resolution: 1600x872
Runtime: ??? (will likely be around 20-30 minutes)
Format: AVI (divx 6.8.5)
Audio: mpeg-II
Filesize: ???

Summary:

Video #2 is incomplete as of this writing, but people who donate will receive this video when is it done at no additional cost (it will also not be released publicly). I would like to wait until I have a new system to publish this as it would significantly cut down the amount of time it requires to compile the video. Here are the topics I will cover:

The website, branding, building an audience

A lot of developers tend to stick with places like YouTube or other 3rd party video places to publish their content, but this is only a small piece of the puzzle. I'd like to cover our mindset behind our website and the many functions it serves (hint: it isn't just for our audience!). Though we don't make much from ad revenue as of this writing, it is still at least enough to pay for monthly webhosting service and I'd like to detail the platform we use and its advantage over google adsense. I'd also like to go over the importance of analyzing website traffic to give you clues about the effectiveness of everything you do. Some of the results i've gotten really surprised me.

Delura 2013 Kickstarter

Here, I go over my experiences with the Kickstarter that we recently attempted (but did not succeed). I'd like to talk about what I felt I could have done differently, what I think set us back, the preparation/research involved, how the whole campaign played out, resources I used and their effectiveness etc.

Scene Walkthroughs

Finally, I will fly you through most of Delura's main scene files and highlight some of the interesting aspects about them (the good, and the bad!). I'm still kicking myself for using so many unbaked lighting elements in EP 004... it made render times a nightmare when they didn't need to be!

Feel free to contact me at ryanroye@gmail.com if you have any questions. Visit this page to contribute $10 and receive this video.
 
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