DemoReel
Contents
The Result
Took far longer than I'd have liked, but the first demo reel is done.
You can get it in mpg4 & mpg1 versions from the internet archive - http://www.archive.org/details/SynfigDemoReel
or download a 268MB DVD quality mpg2 version from Mediafire, split into 3 RAR files
- http://www.mediafire.com/?rqmkyygyr1m
- http://www.mediafire.com/?bondhjbmoj5
- http://www.mediafire.com/?4uygz1x7gju
Thumbnails
Don't really do it justice, but they are here -
http://www.archive.org/movies/thumbnails.php?identifier=SynfigDemoReel
Observations
- Synfig studio wasn't robust enough to render all the videos. Most were rendered separately with Synfig command line, and then compiled with a commercial Windows video editing package. Hopefully dooglus can continue his excellent work in improving Synfig Studio stability.
- Differences in frame size and rate caused several headaches. Nothing that couldn't be worked around, but took additional time to ensure that all images looked as they were intended to look. Plan for this next time!
- Compiling video clips to match a pre-recorded soundtrack is extremely difficult. Finding clips of the right length, tempo, matching styles etc. is definitely an art form (and one I don't claim to get great at). I recommend finding a composer that is willing to write a soundtrack to match the visuals (or conversely, script a set of visuals to show off Synfig's features to a pre-existing soundtrack).
Background
Goal
Produce a demo reel for display on Youtube, revver, etc to showcase the capabilities of Synfig, and generate interest in the community of artists and coders to use and improve Synfig. Ideally the whole video could be produced in Synfig (excluding audio).
Proposed screenplay
Unless otherwise stated the source is from the Synfig examples. There seems to be a recurring theme of 'eyes' here, so the tentative working title is 'The Eye's have it'.
Introduction
Open with
- Cutscene by genete
then an animated figure synched to some speech - "Welcome to the Synfig Demo Reel" (I have something in the works for this one)
Either - Cover the basics - shapes, lines, filters, distortions, transforms, etc, or just launch straight into a slide show of still images.
- For this step you could add some stills (or capture videos) of close ups of the GUI using he main important synfig features (parameter list, keyframes, navigator, waypoints, gradients, effects, curves...)--Genete 13:30, 21 November 2007 (EST)
Stills
- Gradients.sif
- wallpaper/backdrop.sif
Some combination of zooming in and out on the eyes of the following to demonstrate that Synfig is vector based and looks good at any resolution:-
- Rore's Cat
- Tux
- prologuekid.sif
- pirate.sif
- Macwolfen.sif
- New Julia/newjulia2.sif
Transition to -
Animations
- mandelbrot.sif
- cells.sif
- noise.sif
- z_depth test.sif - deleted (we have better animations)
- warpcube.sif
- Preamble taffy.sif - deleted (we have better animations)
- Rotating gears by dooglus http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ljmQARJccYk
- underwater by Ulrik http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=j7fO-1V_IFA
- plant growing by Ulrik http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UqeUOrAoziE
- room by Ulrik http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UWxj9NenDTE
- eye.sif http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nAYdf-CJwPo
- Eyes (by Madsen - he already gave us permission to use it in a demo reel)
- Synfig trailer by StephanMorin http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7q2jN3qcOcM
- Flowers by AkhIL
- Mouse by AkhIL
- Sy'n'fig by Zelig http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bySt14ufRmU
- boot.sif by pxegeek - Call to action help stamp out bugs in Synfig
- Credits
- links to Prologue, Werewolf, Light pen
Various transitions
Other thoughts
Need clearance from the copyright holders for the use of these works. Please comment if it's OK or if you don't want your work used.
- It's OK to use any of my animations -- dooglus 04:12, 30 October 2007 (EDT)
- It's ok to use any of my animations and music at my site -- ulrik 05:29, 30 October 2007 (EDT)
- It's OK to use Sy 'n' Fig. That's why I created it; to promote Synfig! -- zelig 20:28, 10 November 2007 (PST) [sources|Http://www.hoodyhoo.com/toons sources]
http://dooglus.rincevent.net/synfig/logs/2007/%23synfig-2007-11-21.log
16:30 < pxegeek> 'morning rore 16:31 < pxegeek> Did I ever ask you if we could use your cat picture in the demo reel? 16:41 < rore> pxegeek: maybe you did, I don't remember, but sure you can use it ;)
- It's OK to use any of my animations :) --Genete 13:14, 21 November 2007 (EST)
http://dooglus.rincevent.net/synfig/logs/2008/%23synfig-2008-04-04.log
07:01 * AkhIL proposes his mouse, eclipse and flower to demoreel 07:05 < pixelgeek> AkhIL: would definitely welcome mouse, eclipse and flowers 07:06 < pixelgeek> Could we render a version without the text? 07:06 < AkhIL> yes 07:06 < AkhIL> are you have sources? 07:07 < pixelgeek> AkhIL: no 07:08 < pixelgeek> I could probably find the ones you've linked, but if you have the links handy... 07:08 < AkhIL> I'll reshare it
Music? If some of the more musical amongst us are willing to share their music -
- Madsen has some funky music that I can't begin to describe, and some nice electronic stuff also (e.g. http://laxness101.lillesvin.net/strg/lax-Lay.mp3).
- try^d has a song that is similar to this as well: http://www.jamendo.com/en/download/track/26747 JavaJake
- Ulrik has some accordian music that may not be to everyone's taste ;) and some great piano music at http://www.musikboden.se/mymusic/solopiano/solopiano.html (yes, I'm biased - I only try to play piano).
- If we want to go up tempo, Ceox has some nice synth music that I think would work well. (Oxysphere?)
- I could make a new song for the reel by making a whole new song or making customized versions of older songs. Regards, Ceox
