Archive for the ‘TDDUP-Production Log’ Category
Rendering this thing has always concerned me. Throwing a few machines at a 12-minute 1920×820 res film isn’t going to make much of a dent. At least not if you want to get it done any time soon. I mean, there are over 16,000 frames with a dozen or so layers per frame. You need horespower. Despite those worries, I chugged along rendering at night and when the computers weren’t doing anything better. I’ve somehow managed to pass almost half of the film through, but I need to speed things up now that production is over and I’m just sitting around waiting.
Enter RenderRocket. This company provides remote rendering services to animation studios that need extra muscle. Ruben Perez (contact@renderrocket.com) and company have been nice enough to help me out. After duplicating my file structure on their FTP site and uploading the needed files, I’m seeing an impressive 100 or more processors tearing away at these shots. The interface to start these jobs is super easy to use and I can que things up in a matter of seconds after uploading is complete. I just started firing off renders on Monday and have already seen more frames completed than I could do in .. I don’t know.. weeks?
Maybe I’ll show some screenshots and give more info about how I’m using it. I’m still pretty geeked out by the whole thing. It is very cool. Almost like magic. If any of you guys are doing a job and need extra processors, I suggest you contact these guys. Ruben is down to earth and really nice/extremely helpful. He’ll walk you through it and get you going pronto.
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I’m slowly running out of things to do on this short. The sound effects and audio mixing have been completed. Of course I’m still rendering, and that means running the comp script from each shot as they finish, but other than that — there really isn’t a whole lot left to do.
That is exciting and scary at the same time. I’m not sure what to do with myself. Something that I’ve been working on for so many years is coming to an end and I’m suddenly left with absolutely nothing to work on at this moment. Amazing.
While tweaking the last little bit of audio, I realized that I needed the credits inserted so that I could add music for that portion as well. They were quickly put together in Shake and are approximately 44 seconds long. That brings the short’s total running time to 12 minutes and 17 seconds. Not only will this help me finish the audio up, it gives me an opportunity to scratch one more thing off the list.
I’ve finished making my way through the entire short. Now, it is just a matter of finessing sound levels. I’m really enjoying doing this portion of the short. Instant gratification. There is a real art to doing sound design/editing. Not that I didn’t know this before, but I can really appreciate it now. The exciting part is mixing just the right levels of ambient noise with sound cues, all at the same time making sure the music is mixed in just right. I didn’t think I would enjoy this so much.
As much fun as it is, I’m glad it is going quickly. I can imagine getting sick of it if I had to do it day in and day out. I’m still on schedule to finish the audio this week. Perhaps as early as Wednesday evening.
Okay, maybe not quite. However, there is a striking similarity. Animators know that they could work on a shot forever if given the chance. Continually massaging it, making it better and better. Sound design/editing seems to be the same way. I find myself going back and mixing over and over again. It feels like it is never going to end. After getting something that works well, I find another option that will (hopefully) be better. A never ending cycle. I’ll have to cut myself off at some point. Just not yet!
Getting sound levels right is trial and error, after all, this isn’t exactly what I do for a living. It seems to be going very well if I constantly shift between speakers and headphones. The headphones provide me with a way to get the exact left/right levels and it also allows me to hear screw ups more easily. They seem to pick up the most subtle issues. However, most people that see the short won’t be wearing those things. Because of that, it is important for me to edit via typical speakers and deal with the not-so-sensitive output to make sure it’s working.
I’m also finding myself re-editing the music. I had done this a while ago and was really happy with it, however, I’ve had some minor changes here and there. No big deal, but it is something I thought I was done with.
Still on track to finish audio next week or a worst case scenario of the week after.
