Muvizu

12/09/2010 16:35:11

artpen
Posts: 362

Just some characters to think about...

A big ape, or big foot?
A ghost, maybe like slimer?
A character in a suite, a hog-dog, a burger, or fruit n veg?
A character in a spring, like zebidee?

Com on comnunity let's get these characters out there!!
Eat popcorn

12/09/2010 20:55:38

Frendor
Posts: 27

An owl
A witch on a broom stick (flying)
A skull and candle (light source)
A cat
(Halloween is coming)

A clown
A donkey with a straw hat
A bucket tooth red neck... with a straw hat
A mad Scotsman and kilt
A mad Scotswoman and kilt
A leprechaun

Rudolf
Santa Claus
and not forgetting the cuddly toy!

Didn't he do well?

Frendor.

12/09/2010 22:48:33

artpen
Posts: 362

I would love to see a clown, and the cat, I also like your idea of the witch and a broomstick.
The skull and candle could be done with the new 3d import, just need to find a skull mesh.
I have just thought of another, how about a t-rex character like toy story.
it could be done, it,s a bi-ped, more monsters, more monsters.

Ps muvizu, could we please have a cape....

13/09/2010 11:15:11

glasgowjim
Posts: 698

I have passed on the suggestions and made this a sticky, so that people can put all of their new character suggestions in the one place

13/09/2010 11:28:32

toonarama
Posts: 661

More "standard" characters with different body/head shapes and sizes (fat man and thin man are actually quite similar)
"old man/woman"

13/09/2010 12:17:52

artpen
Posts: 362

Here's a few helmet's for the muvizu wardrobe
1- The Predator helmet, with shoulder canon.
2- Stormtrooper, or spud-trooper helmet.
3- The Suron helmet.
4- The bradd pitt style warrior helmet.
5- The classic alien head. Also a retro alien head.
6- A cardboard box with cut out holes for eyes.
7- The classic ladys stocking over face for thug.
8- A chinn mask, ( Think kenny Everett )
9- A big brain head, or brain head add on like the frankie head?
10- Cyclops head add on ( think Davros )

Cheers, anybody know any more?
edited by artpen on 9/13/2010

14/09/2010 21:50:06

beretta
Posts: 9

Monsters

14/09/2010 22:49:38

artpen
Posts: 362

Another character to think about, what about an Alien character like the one in that xbox game, I think its called
Destroy all Humans, I think something based around that model would be fun, what do the community think? Drink

14/09/2010 22:59:07

artpen
Posts: 362

By jove I think he's got it, that Alien in that game is called Crypto!!! Cool Smoke

15/09/2010 00:52:20

beretta
Posts: 9

Ah a Crypto lookalike would be cool Big Grin

15/09/2010 01:56:35

ziggy72
Posts: 1988

The classic alien Grey would be good, but a bigger range of basic clothes would probably help more to add variety - I'm talking shorts, jackets, bow ties, jumper tied around the waist, etc. The shorts would be good for those football vids too.

Also, I think we really need some way of reshaping the basic forms - making legs or arms or heads bigger, longer, skinnier, etc. This way we could create something that would look like new characters. And I agree with Artpen - we need a cape!

16/09/2010 14:46:04

kennyb
Posts: 6

If we could morph the size of the body parts like the arms more muscles the head bigger jaw hands bigger or smaller it would give truly unlimited characters also a rob with big sleeves and a statue of liberty crown and the animal snouts and ears could have a horse cat and dog oh and pig that would give us so many more characters to chose from?

16/09/2010 15:19:44

freakmoomin
Posts: 272

Hey

all good suggestions.

one of the main reasons we dont make drastic changes to the chars shape is because of the skeleton/proportions of the original char.

We need to stay close to the original proportions of the char or the animations which have been made for the original character will look terrible. There would be all sorts of cut throughs in the animations with hands, arms and stuff dissapearing through the new chars body and just all sorts of ugly problems.

We also cant change the leg length because all the locomotion anim would then not work..... bla bla bla

theres literally a major list of stuff that would break and need re-worked for any char which would need different proportions.

This is something we are however looking into very seriously as it would be a major improvement to muvizu if we could REALLY change the chars proportions etc. so fingers crossed theres a solution to this prob without having to animate everything again for a new char.

Our rigger binu will hopefully come up with a solution somewhere down the line

just out of curiosity could i get some feedback on the question below?

How much would it bother you if we had a massive fat char with tiny legs, but as a result 70% of the animations looked terrible and didnt really work....... and because of the tiny legs the locomotion looked horrendous and slid all over the place...

would you still want that character? or would it be left on the shelf as the animations looked crap?

kev

16/09/2010 15:35:51

toonarama
Posts: 661

freakmoomin wrote:

How much would it bother you if we had a massive fat char with tiny legs, but as a result 70% of the animations looked terrible and didnt really work....... and because of the tiny legs the locomotion looked horrendous and slid all over the place...

would you still want that character? or would it be left on the shelf as the animations looked crap?

kev

kEV

I slightly leading question methinks but I can certainly see the issue that you have got.

I guess a (not very good) alternative would be to have a separate set of animations for each character shape (as the blobs have). That sounds like a lot of work!

thanks

Toonarama

16/09/2010 16:06:27

freakmoomin
Posts: 272

yep

thats the only way we can do it just now and its basically a non starter

It would mean that for every different char we need a complete new animation set and its just WAY too much work....it would take months for each char and weve not even scratched the surface with the original char

so we really need to look at a rigging/tech solution to sort this.

in the meantime we can hopefully find some workarounds to keep people happy

(biped dog chars and skeleton chars for example)

16/09/2010 16:09:45

artpen
Posts: 362

I think because muvizu updates are regular, I still would like to see these characters.
All us users know how hard you work, and know muvizu is still improving, and I would
Be happy with these experimental characters. Cheers...

Ps fat people hardly shift there arses anyway, ha ha

16/09/2010 16:40:32

Dreeko
Posts: 1257

A lot of cartoon characters in a series (peanuts, southpark etc) all have similar proportions to the their framework as the other characters in their respective shows. When we watch these cartoons we are generally focused on the faces and this is where most of the customisation has to come from i believe.

Surely giving us the ability to change head shapes, move and resize eyes,noses mouths etc wouldn't have that great an impact on the animations as far as cut throughs etc are concerned, so long as you put an upper and lower limit on the moving and resizing

when i watch a cartoon i'm looking at the expressions and emotions conveyed on the character , not how big its arse is

17/09/2010 10:56:54

freakmoomin
Posts: 272

Spot on dreeko

we are looking into ways of head replacements just now infact (although as usual there are 101 issues with it from a tech point of view)

im really hoping we can find a way to do this as it will allow for a lot of expansion with a lot less work......

17/09/2010 14:00:13

Dreeko
Posts: 1257

freakmoomin wrote:

Spot on dreeko

we are looking into ways of head replacements just now infact (although as usual there are 101 issues with it from a tech point of view)

im really hoping we can find a way to do this as it will allow for a lot of expansion with a lot less work......

hurrah!

sounds like our wishes will be granted again...good stuff!

17/09/2010 21:57:55

ziggy72
Posts: 1988

Personally, I think that any new characters would be a good thing, deformed or not! If the model has a problem, you can always shoot around it. Or fake it. It's quite impressive the range of variations you can already get with the basic stuff, so any new shapes would lead to new possibilities. I think you should release some oddities with a Test or Experimental tag, and see what happens.
Rats. Need rats. Can't believe we have spooky sets and no rats. On all fours rats, not yer cartoon walking upright ones neither. Also, although not a character, having Effects like Mosquito Swarm, Bees, Flies, etc would be a nice option to have. Until we get some rats. :-)

17/09/2010 22:02:36

ziggy72
Posts: 1988

artpen wrote:

I think because muvizu updates are regular, I still would like to see these characters.
All us users know how hard you work, and know muvizu is still improving, and I would
Be happy with these experimental characters. Cheers...

Ps fat people hardly shift there arses anyway, ha ha

I'm sorry Artpen but I have to take serious issue with your PS message. It's THEIR arses.

18/09/2010 19:21:25

artpen
Posts: 362

Their arses, " My arse! , " " Jim!! There's too many arses in this house!!"
God I miss the Royal Family...

But ill say again, I think these experimental characters could be used, it'll give some
Good feedback for the muvizu team to work from.
I could work with these limited animations, no probs.
Example - a floating ghost ( Hey no legs!!! )
A Robot on a tank track ( Hey no legs!!! )
You could expand on the blob, make him a worm, or snake.
If there is a problem with the locomotion animations for these prototype creations we could
Get over this with clever camera shots.
I agree with ziggy, if the character is tagged " PROTOTYPE MODEL " I would still use them,
And I think the rest of us would be excited about these new toys to play with.

All the best

18/09/2010 19:21:44

artpen
Posts: 362

Their arses, " My arse! , " " Jim!! There's too many arses in this house!!"
God I miss the Royal Family...

But ill say again, I think these experimental characters could be used, it'll give some
Good feedback for the muvizu team to work from.
I could work with these limited animations, no probs.
Example - a floating ghost ( Hey no legs!!! )
A Robot on a tank track ( Hey no legs!!! )
You could expand on the blob, make him a worm, or snake.
If there is a problem with the locomotion animations for these prototype creations we could
Get over this with clever camera shots.
I agree with ziggy, if the character is tagged " PROTOTYPE MODEL " I would still use them,
And I think the rest of us would be excited about these new toys to play with.

All the best

02/10/2010 15:56:56

mackkifi
Posts: 1

I want a dragon character!

East & West dragon!
edited by mackkifi on 10/2/2010

22/10/2010 20:33:06

raptormarlins
Posts: 17

Army men with helmets, dog tags, weapons and camo suits. Would be awesome and can bring War movies to muvizu

05/11/2010 15:04:23

hugmyster
Posts: 107

Could we have a four legged character for a change please?
As to which one (dog, cat, horse, cow, griffon), that could be set with the variable heads, colours, tails and wings.

It would bring in a new idea - or have I been misusing the current dog character?

Huggy

12/11/2010 12:58:35

hugmyster
Posts: 107

artpen wrote:

10- Cyclops head add on ( think Davros )

Just nosing in case anyone else had requested this. A cyclops would be nice please.

02/12/2010 11:54:41

artpen
Posts: 362

Since there is a lot of feed back for a Dragon, do you think, a model based on Disneys Petes Dragon, or Toy storys
T-Rex would be cool, I just think they would fit in with muvizus comic look?
I also like these characters big chin, ha ha, funny.

Ps, don't forget about the needed Crypto alien lookalike, hint hint

Cheers artpen

02/12/2010 11:58:19

artpen
Posts: 362

Since there is a lot of feed back for a Dragon, do you think, a model based on Disneys Petes Dragon, or Toy storys
T-Rex would be cool, I just think they would fit in with muvizus comic look?
I also like these characters big chin, ha ha, funny.

Ps, don't forget about the needed Crypto alien lookalike, hint hint

Cheers artpen

02/12/2010 12:12:30

Emily
(Account inactive)
Posts: 346

If we're looking for a new character, my vote is for a GIANT BRAIN with lots of veins that pulsates in the idle mode and squelches and moves like the the creatures in THE TRAP DOOR:

edited by Emily on 02/12/2010

02/12/2010 12:23:26

artpen
Posts: 362

Ha ha ha, brill, love it, yeah we need stuff like this

02/12/2010 13:53:29

hugmyster
Posts: 107

The Brain??? What about poor Berk?
Incidentally, I've got a cyclops and I'll send instructions in as soon as I get a minute!

Huggy

02/12/2010 17:59:06

Dreeko
Posts: 1257

artpen wrote:

Since there is a lot of feed back for a Dragon, do you think, a model based on Disneys Petes Dragon, or Toy storys
T-Rex would be cool, I just think they would fit in with muvizus comic look?
I also like these characters big chin, ha ha, funny.

Ps, don't forget about the needed Crypto alien lookalike, hint hint

Cheers artpen

Jeez!

Right let's put this one to bed!
I don't want a dragon
It was a joke. Neither do I want a griffon. That also was a joke. Such requests would require an enormous amount of work from the muvizu team as they would have to create a whole dragon/griffon model, then rig it and texture it and then create animations and accessories for it.
The best chance of new character requests being granted will be the ones based on the two armed, two legged and one headed variety which would utilise existing animations and accessories
But taking all that into account ....Who couldn't use an octopus!

GIVE US AN OCTOPUS!!!!

This also is a joke

Cheers
D
edited by Dreeko on 02/12/2010

02/12/2010 21:07:54

RightURKen
Posts: 62

What we need are- Animals, quadrupeds. Horse, dog, cat, pig, etc.. And make them ridable, not just the horse, all of them. Can't be limited when it comes to animation. And we need birds, a bird of prey, a song bird, a chicken, etc.. The more the better.

And Childern characters. Yes, I know we can scale down an adult character but that doesn't work all that well. It works O.K. when they are full size adult characters in the scene for comparison. But a scene with only the "kid" characters just looks like a bunch of adult characters interacting. Especially with the fat guy character. I can in no way make a "chubby kid" out of him. He always just looks like a fat guy, even when reduced in scale, he still looks like an adult.

edited by RightURKen on 03/12/2010

12/12/2010 12:48:31

artpen
Posts: 362

Hi again, to go with the wrestling stuff I've just harped on about, could we have a mic-head set for our characters?
And the classic wrestler suite?

The mic-headset would be cool for sports announcers.

01/01/2011 17:38:37

FurryCakes
Posts: 7

Two requests:

1. A (suit) jacket for men and women, so that they can dress smartly at the office. I notice that the current garments for the top of the body are both tight fitting. This would also be fine for a jacket if you could add lapels, cuffs and a tie. It should be possible to customise the colour of the cuffs and tie, please.

2. A police helmet as worn by English and Welsh bobbys. I guess that the current helmet is based on a Scottish or US police cap. The one I would like is the one below:

11/01/2011 14:12:27

mos6507
Posts: 34

"We need to stay close to the original proportions of the char or the animations which have been made for the original character will look terrible. "

There is a solution to this. The way Xtranormal works is they describe the various body parts (think, bones) of the model and they use this information to help offset the animations to conform to different body types. Even for animations that appear to use motion capture, they are able to reuse the same animation files but have them work with characters with big or little heads, etc... I can tell they are reusing them because they point to the same physical files.
One of my next hacking projects with Xtranormal is to do more research into these settings, but it's a pretty flexible system they have there. Some of the animations are actually algorithmic rather than canned mo-cap, as such you can script them out just with a handful of settings. It works well for arm/hand gestures.
It's something to look into.

18/03/2011 18:14:22

glasgowjim
Posts: 698

Now that I am no longer Muvizu staff I can make suggestions on the forum!

Can we have Cthulu? Pretty please?

21/03/2011 09:30:12

Marco_D
Posts: 582

glasgowjim wrote:

Now that I am no longer Muvizu staff I can make suggestions on the forum!

Can we have Cthulu? Pretty please?

Hahahaha Jim, very funny

We know where you live!!

Cheers,
Marco

22/03/2011 10:10:48

Emily
(Account inactive)
Posts: 346

glasgowjim wrote:

Can we have Cthulu? Pretty please?

Gosh, now that you've crossed over to the 'dark side'...things are really...EEEEEEVIL!

I think I liked the nice Jim better :P

22/03/2011 11:13:32

hugmyster
Posts: 107

Jim, I always thought it was spelled with an apostrophe - C'thulhu.

How are you going to rule the universe if you can't spell it right?

Zaphod would be soooo miffed...

27/05/2011 11:46:23

artpen
Posts: 362

This one's for Barry and the artists
Love the new stuff, but could you on your next round make the Predator Helmet Stormtrooper

including the shoulder cannon? Please, pretty please sugar on top

Thanks artpen
edited by artpen on 27/05/2011
edited by artpen on 27/05/2011
edited by artpen on 28/05/2011
edited by artpen on 28/05/2011

28/09/2011 11:23:59

artpen
Posts: 362

Hi team, muvizuers, just had a little thought....

Do you think a talking mouth on its own would be a good idea?

Think about the possibilities, a taking car, a talking cup, anything you want!

The mouth would be great, also eyes like dreekos horse...

28/09/2011 12:43:21

Danimal
Posts: 477

A floating set of lips? That is an excellent idea!

27/10/2011 12:54:06

hugmyster
Posts: 107

Did anyone merely suggest, something with 4 legs?

You can change the face with a mask and the tail with a... well, tail!

Now there's a thunk...

11/11/2011 11:03:04

artpen
Posts: 362

Hi Team Muvizu, I feel like a kid wanting to look in the cupboard for presents.

Christmas is coming, could I have a sneak peek on Character advancements?
Sorry Santa Clause, I was the little boy you left behind so I want to see my
Presents now!!

Spoilt little prat I was really...

14/11/2011 17:12:21

miaritis
Posts: 1

hey guys
What about fishes
a fish character help us to make better a bottom of sea

14/12/2011 20:59:29

robsmart
Posts: 2

Would be great if there was an Android mascot as a character. So many mobile presentations could be enabled and made really fun.

Found this online

http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/3d-model-android-character-cartoon/585773

-rob

15/12/2011 09:52:03

simonheffer
Posts: 225

A baby character - with crawling,crying,thumb sucking etc animations.
I know some people (like ukberty) have come up with some pretty good attempts but they still remind me of a school play I was in when our chemistry teachers dressed up as babies (very disturbing).

15/12/2011 13:15:04

bigwally
Posts: 399

simonheffer wrote:

A baby character - with crawling,crying,thumb sucking etc animations.
I know some people (like ukberty) have come up with some pretty good attempts but they still remind me of a school play I was in when our chemistry teachers dressed up as babies (very disturbing).

Good idea! I went thru a hair-pulling session when I needed a baby for my video "Deteriorata". I Use the "fat man" character and used a fish-eye look at him (using Pinnacle Studio) to achieve the desired (?) results.

15/12/2011 13:28:32

Dreeko
Posts: 1257

How about a morphing slider which would blend from young to old giving a greater variety of characters from baby to pensioner
I'm sure the devs could have that ready for Monday

15/12/2011 15:53:56

mysto
Posts: 471

Dreeko wrote:

How about a morphing slider which would blend from young to old giving a greater variety of characters from baby to pensioner
I'm sure the devs could have that ready for Monday

We should at least give them until Tuesday! Toast

15/12/2011 17:42:53

Dreeko
Posts: 1257

mysto wrote:

Dreeko wrote:

How about a morphing slider which would blend from young to old giving a greater variety of characters from baby to pensioner
I'm sure the devs could have that ready for Monday

We should at least give them until Tuesday! Toast

Oh ok then
But only till lunchtime!

15/12/2011 19:13:20

robsmart
Posts: 2

i still think Android mascot would be cooler. there are 1 billion apps downloaded per month from android market and 100K new apps added per quarter. all of these apps need to be marketed!

09/01/2012 02:12:12

Steven547
Posts: 66

My suggestions:

Birds (Ducks, penguins, variety of "tweety birds" even)
Fish (Dolphins, Sharks, other variety)

17/04/2012 14:09:44

hugmyster
Posts: 107

I had the maddest thought about quadrupeds the other day and a way that might make it feasible.

With some beings, such as elephants, the knees are very important in the forelegs (arms) when walking whereas with others, such as dogs, the heel is much more important.

If a percentage could be set for the front and back legs as to where the heel and knee (or elbow) should go and the same for the rear leg, then something for the size of the animal (so you can have your bit chunky elephant, your slender horse, your skinny greyhound), would this be at all possible?

Yes, you have to allow 'masks' for the face and back - camels for example.

An idea or just asking for trouble?...

(Please note, I didn't even mention centaurs.)

17/04/2012 20:38:50

Dylly
Posts: 555

The thing is...the thing..the..look it's not that...even though centaurs were not mentioned... it's the double ended camels with masks on that have me realizing that in Muvizu land... I may be nuts...but I will never be lonely! ROFLMAO

17/04/2012 22:01:17

WozToons
Posts: 494

A pantomime horse.

18/04/2012 10:01:26

hugmyster
Posts: 107

Dylly wrote:

The thing is...the thing..the..look it's not that...even though centaurs were not mentioned... it's the double ended camels with masks on that have me realizing that in Muvizu land... I may be nuts...but I will never be lonely! ROFLMAO

Oh, man, welcome to my side of the looking glass!!!
Toast

28/09/2012 11:01:02

artpen
Posts: 362

Hi team, muvizuers!

Ok, just a little one to think about over the week end.
Firstly, the new characters are great, but I really think they lack a fourth character
In the shape of a normal, Male, slender type body hero, ok I know you have the original
Characters, but their head shape and slouchy standing pose does not cut it.
What I think is something like beefy, but half the shoulder width?
edited by artpen on 28/09/2012

28/09/2012 11:03:54

Dylly
Posts: 555

artpen wrote:

Hi team, muvizuers!

Ok, just a little one to think about over the week end.
Firstly, the new characters are great, but I really think they lack a fourth character
In the shape of a normal, Male, slender type body hero, ok I know you have the original
Characters, but their head shape and slouchy standing pose does not cut it.
What I think is something like beefy, but half the shoulder width?

I agree! We need as Freezo to go with Mr Incredible!

28/09/2012 12:13:11

hugmyster
Posts: 107

I was going to ask for a more modifyably (?) face. I love the brows but you are stuck with the one nose and one set of ears, or have I just not looked hard enough?

Amazing characters though.

How about an evil lady just to balance the odds - a Queen Zelda.

12/10/2012 21:33:43

EEFilmz
Posts: 397

Not to poop on your request, but ONE evil woman far exceeds a balance of MANY evil men. By the way you did not hear that from me! LOL
hugmyster wrote:

I was going to ask for a more modifyably (?) face. I love the brows but you are stuck with the one nose and one set of ears, or have I just not looked hard enough?

Amazing characters though.

How about an evil lady just to balance the odds - a Queen Zelda.

edited by EEFilmz on 12/10/2012

15/10/2012 10:18:52

hugmyster
Posts: 107

EEFilmz wrote:

Not to poop on your request, but ONE evil woman far exceeds a balance of MANY evil men. By the way you did not hear that from me! LOL

It depends what kind of mood they're in.
Look, mate, you've got me into it now!!! shake head

Could we have a mega-doodle alien then?
Or - PLEEEEEEASE - a quadruped? The head is irrelevant as you can change them but think of the possibilities. Yes indeed, the tap-dancing elephant lives on...

15/10/2012 11:44:11

hallo
Posts: 17

Anything what lives round the world?!?

31/01/2013 04:46:46

AuroraMoon
Posts: 30

I would like cartoon characters that looks sorta similar to the Japanese style animations...basically, anime characters. and I'd kind of like to have them set up like the default muv characters, with swappable eyes and stuff like that. Because you see, even though a lot of the Japanese cartoons look alike to those who aren't familiar with it, they still have highly distinct eye shapes.

I was kinda dispointed with the heroine in that dept. :P

The best part about those models that I'm suggesting is that they could easily be scaled down or up to resemble children to adults, because anime characters tend to be very versatile that way, espeically if you go with different eye styles like I suggested up above.

31/01/2013 11:54:52

mos6507
Posts: 34

Muvizu has never made a character with normal proportions. They are basically muppets. They have skinny floppy limbs, big cylindrical heads, and cucumber-type noses. The superhero characters are better, but still on the comedic end of the spectrum. And since they've never come up with a way for 3rd parties to make their own characters, it really limits animators to doing comedy and satire. I've seen a few brave attempts at a serious clip with muvizu, but they simply aren't credible, because the instant association of comedy that one has when one sees the character designs. So you always are thinking that it's tongue-in-cheek or for kids. I wish machinima software wasn't so closely linked to the style of the software company's internal assets and it could be judged purely on the merits of the engine itself. Moviestorm has a similar problem, because all of its characters are some variation of a store mannequin with cold, dead eyes. The reason I gravitated towards Xtranormal is they had more diverse assets. I think Muvizu hasn't really acknowledged that its art-style has limited how many people decide to use it. The software's been around long enough that they probably should start to ask some tough questions about what is holding it back from hitting critical-mass. I thought that thing they stuck on the homepage a while back was meant for gathering that sort of feedback. To me, the character designs are at the top of the list.

31/01/2013 14:22:42

AuroraMoon
Posts: 30

mos6507 wrote:

I wish machinima software wasn't so closely linked to the style of the software company's internal assets and it could be judged purely on the merits of the engine itself. Moviestorm has a similar problem, because all of its characters are some variation of a store mannequin with cold, dead eyes. The reason I gravitated towards Xtranormal is they had more diverse assets. I think Muvizu hasn't really acknowledged that its art-style has limited how many people decide to use it. The software's been around long enough that they probably should start to ask some tough questions about what is holding it back from hitting critical-mass. I thought that thing they stuck on the homepage a while back was meant for gathering that sort of feedback. To me, the character designs are at the top of the list.

True. the one thing that Muv really has going for it is the fact that you can litterally customize the characters any way you want, such as putting textures on the characters in the program itself! not to mention being able to change eye shapes, sizes, etc. from what I've seen not many other animator/3d movie makers is able to do that. in fact, not many of those programs actually allows for customization of characters... all you can do is just download the characters they made for you and play around with them.

in this way Muvizu is more powerful than the other programs in terms of customablity. this could really be their selling point if they started expanding to cartoon characters with "realistic" portions for those who aren't a big fan of the "muppet look" but could still retain the Muv feeling somehow. then they would really have nothing stopping them.

31/01/2013 14:54:33

mos6507
Posts: 34

"True. the one thing that Muv really has going for it is the fact that you can litterally customize the characters any way you want"
Customization is a broad term. I can't get them to look the way I want them. I want them to look like this:

31/01/2013 15:21:54

hugmyster
Posts: 107

Wasn't the bald one on the left the one from the first film?

Not healthy, I shouldn't know this kind of thing...

31/01/2013 16:08:18

mos6507
Posts: 34

The bald one is a Deltan. Ilia was the character in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. My character's name is Ilsa and she's the ship's counselor, like Troi, rather than a navigator.
Sorry for the topic-drift.
I've added a bunch of extensions to Xtranormal State and I would have helped Muvizu be able to get their characters to emote better if they were interested in any of this sort of thing, but apparently they aren't as they didn't even see fit to reply to my emails.
Now Xtranormal is dying and there are more options available like Source Filmmaker so Muvizu doesn't seem as attractive to me to eventually migrate into the way it used to be.

31/01/2013 16:14:01

AuroraMoon
Posts: 30

They kinda look like the heroine character. it's just a shame that the heroine doesn't have different eye shapes and more hairstyles... I imagine you'd be able to make them then?

31/01/2013 16:33:45

mos6507
Posts: 34

The Heroes and Villains stuff definitely is a step in the right direction. I should spend some time with that.

31/01/2013 17:40:44

urbanlamb
(Account inactive)
Posts: 1786

for character design since each company has its own vision etc the assets they produce are going to be in keeping with their art direction. Muvizu has made it possible for us to make any world we have in our minds eye. What is difficult and always will be a point of contention is characters because of the complexity and riging needed. Muvizu has its own patented emote system which they built themselves from the ground up again with its own art direction behind style of animation. What they can or might do or what we can ask them to do is open up the back end so we can import our own rigging which is complicated and its no small task. Creating a new character with new dimensions and have all the emotes/animations fit them its a manual and massive task to go through every animation and try to get them to work with a new structure so you then often have to make new sets of animations which is what has happened with the hero character set.

At the moment if you want your own completely new characters the best route is iclone because its not really considered a machinima tool its an animation tool. I am not a fan of xtranormal and never have been and their system was much more limited then muvizu and source film maker has the same limitations character wise as muvizu with their own brand and look that go with the games that run off the engine however you can if you have the time and are a bit on the masochistic side bring in your own characters but.. its not easy (no that is an understatement actually lol)

Anyhow if i want a more serious look or to make something that looks like something else characterwise i go take out my iclone where its a total open end and play with my storm troopers and micheal jackson and ET and any other character I can dream up.

There should be another female heroine for sure but if you look at what they are doing they have made their own characatures based on certain concepts. Everything else is possible if you go to their digimania site. Will they add it to their free version? I think what they will eventually add to their free version is a way for us to bring in what we feel is the right character as they have with the other 3D assets. Everyone knows they have something planned no one is completely sure of exactly what it is. I think at the moment one of their big issues is hand held props which would bring muvizu to an entirely new place . Big Grin

There is a point at which I expect them to put a price tag on this software although i am sure they are watching source film maker but again that tool is much harder to use then muvizu is and I dont actually use it i prefer if I insist on animating at that level move to iclone which is easier to work with then source filmmaker. Although I will admit that I just at the moment dont have the will to learn an entire system of that level of complexity from the ground up. I have enough things to play with and blender is free

edited by urbanlamb on 31/01/2013

31/01/2013 22:40:02

AuroraMoon
Posts: 30

Yeah, most 3d movie-making programs seem to be awfully limited or WAY TOO complex for mere hobbyists like myself.

I guess it's why we kind of take for granted that if MUV is so easy to use, then it might be easy for the creators to make characters for us. ^^;; so if we seem greedy, I hope that the creators can forgive us our ignorance on this matter.

the only things I've seen that came close to MUVIZU's easy modding, was the Movies PC game (a sims game that is geared around making movies, and even then it has it's own limits)...... and this free program called Miku Miku Dance.

The downside with that MMD program though, even though it comes in both Japanese and English, is that even though it's easy to use once you learn how to set things up, the UI makes it seem more complex than it is....which can easily confuse a lot of people new to it. plus it's default language is Japanese so you have to switch it to English mode before you can do anything with it.
here's a example of what MMD can do:

(adventure time parody)

as you can see, it's sorta like MUVIZU although the setup with that program is way different.

31/01/2013 22:52:29

urbanlamb
(Account inactive)
Posts: 1786

haha no i dont think your greedy I was more responding to the basics of the thread in one giant post. In each case each of these engines has its own uniqueness. Muvizu is pretty powerful and versatile in its own right so you can make it do more then say the xtranormal system which is a complete closed system and extremely limited. Its not nearly as complicated as the other one suggested here which is source film maker which limits the hobbyist to a very few characters unless you want to start modding in their engine which I dont haha I have engines I can make my own little characters in and not have to worry about the propriatary unreal engine stuff.

I would like to see a characters customization system with sliders and all sorts of things

Their heros characters function completely differently to the original sets and its apparent in the uv maps for the clothing as well. It is more likely they could build on that set to add anime but I always wonder when people make requests (Including my own requests) if what they are doing is trying to make a piece of software into something they already use and have access to. For some reason I totally latched onto the original muvizu characters I just love them and their goofyness. This is probably because I already do "serious" in other softwares and so have no need of that other stuff here.

31/01/2013 23:05:32

mos6507
Posts: 34

I don't want to be disrespectful in this thread, since I definitely am an interloper and naturally here is where Muvizu fans congregate. However, I think there's been a little too much uninformed Xtranormal-bashing here. I don't blame anyone for having a negative opinion about it, since the company really sabotaged itself, but the original desktop software (State) was capable of a lot, and I have spent over two years expanding it. Barely anyone besides myself uses the expanded system, and State has since been replaced by the inferior XD (not that I can't help anyone curious enough about this stuff get it on their system if asked.)
This is the kind of work I want to do in Muvizu.

I don't think it's capable of those sorts of nuances. I am taking some time to try to recreate this scene on my own, but since it's really the first true Muvizu clip I've done, it's slow going.
I'd be glad to supply the audio for this if anyone wanted to prove they could do this. I mean, it's only a few lines of dialogue and a ton of body language.
As far as it being closed, the current system is, but State isn't entirely closed. I know how to import props and sets. Characters are doable but you have to really know Maya to prepare a proper rig.

I think you would agree that this bridge is better than Muvizu's.

31/01/2013 23:11:04

AuroraMoon
Posts: 30

well, we can't help it... MUV has a very nice-looking and easy to understand UI/layout, and plus what it does tends to cut down time on editing, etc. all we have to do besides setting up scenes is just direct.

in other programs we would basically have to spend hours setting up everything and animating everything before we could get to the final product. It would be sorta ridiculous to spend 8 hours on a 3d movie clip that only last 5 minutes. when you think about it like that... is it any wonder why we would like to take some of our favorite stuff from other programs and stuff it into another program that's easier and faster to use?

31/01/2013 23:22:00

urbanlamb
(Account inactive)
Posts: 1786

I have state. yes their bridge looks better in this case. however everything is glued down and non-moveable and you can't change anything. This is the point, but I can build a bridge just like that one if I so choose or a bridge from a star wars movie. I can't do that with state .. well unless I hack it maybe then I can but state is a totally different beast in that respect all the rooms are confined I can't walk down a hallways or open a door because state is very limited in that respect.

I can't make that bridge purple and I can't copy that chair and put another one beside it and I can't get my character t walk off the bridge with a camera pan opening a door and follow him down the hallways. State does what is called "talking heads" very well. One room at a time.

Anyhow I am not interested in any holy software wars but aside from the graphical textures which I can do something about in muvizu there is no comparison. However if you want a bridge exactly like that one you just showed me I can in fact build it just like that or someone else with those skills and inclanation can.

my plate is full but if this is your desire give me a couple of months and you can have that exact bridge in muvizu.

I think I actually might make that bridge .... well there are a few things which i would leave out because I worry about copyright

31/01/2013 23:22:38

mos6507
Posts: 34

"in other programs we would basically have to spend hours setting up everything and animating everything before we could get to the final product."
That clip I did with the robot took me, I dunno, 3 hours start to finish maybe? It wasn't mean to be that much of a big deal, and I even forgot to turn the Orion's eye blinks back on. It's just not a big time-investment to work at this level. Most of it spent on getting the body language right, none of it requiring the sort of keyframing you see in SFM, for instance. I'm not going to argue that Muvizu can't be fast doing the things it is good at, or that other software can be time-consuming, but XN is really fast. And XN is designed specifically for dialogue scenes. I am not enjoying the way you're supposed to enter dialogue wav files in through Muvizu. It is a slow process with tons of clicks, and no TTS supports. Plus, they apparently changed the UI in the last update and I don't see a new tutorial on how it's currently supposed to be done. You can not click to import the WAV directly in the dialogue section. You have to make an audio track and then link to it through the dialogue, which just adds an extra layer of complexity. The tutorials only feature a single speaker so it's not really showing me how to do a typical one on one scene like this. If anyone has a good dialogue tutorial for the most recent build, let me know. I do want to see how far I can go with it.
This is my first attempt to duplicate the look. I know it won't come close, but I am more interested in the virtual-acting capabilities than the look right now.
http://i.imgur.com/YieRnIr.jpg

31/01/2013 23:26:17

urbanlamb
(Account inactive)
Posts: 1786

trust me I can build that set and so can a few others Big Grin

Have you checked out the asset gallery here?

anyhow glad you enjoy state myself i found it too limited and closed. I think though that aside from the actual character look I can do anything that state does inside muvizu. So the only difference is actual character model and lack of TTS.
edited by urbanlamb on 31/01/2013

31/01/2013 23:41:27

mos6507
Posts: 34

"everything is glued down and non-moveable and you can't change anything"
Not for me it's not. I removed the chairs and laid down positionable props. That's not the stock captain's chair. I have a whole separate utility called Set Decorator that lets you reskin sets, bake props, and customize the lighting, just like Muvizu. I'm sorry State Plus wasn't officially released by Xtranormal so if you want to look at it as though it doesn't exist since it's a hack, so be it. I certainly tried to get them to fold it back into the application, but they were stupid.
"I can't walk down a hallways or open a door because state is very limited in that respect."
State characters can certainly walk. They can't open doors, no. Neither State nor Muvizu offer true character interactions. Yes, you have guitars and mics and things, but you can't pick up arbitrary props.
"my character t walk off the bridge with a camera pan opening a door and follow him down the hallways. State does what is called "talking heads" very well. One room at a time."

I added camera moves to State. Can I do a steadicam shot like in Goodfellas, no. A straight dolly down a corridor yes. But not a slinky path. But there's more to telling a story than how fancy the camera moves can get.
"my plate is full but if this is your desire give me a couple of months and you can have that exact bridge in muvizu.

"
I can give you the bridge in OBJ if you want to try to import it, plus the Wrath of Khan chairs. I was just comparing it to the stock Muvizu offering with all of its off-kilter angles and solid colors.
I mean, if you're going to talk about importing objects into Muvizu, it's only fair that I show you what can be imported into State, officially or not. I imported a ton of props from Star Trek: Elite Force. Anything that can get spit out in OBJ that has a single diffuse map per mesh should work. It doesn't require the weird ASE format that Muvizu does.
You know, I'm trying to be objective in this thread and I don't think it's fair for me to be accused of trying to touch off a holy war. If there's something Muvizu can't do well, then that's a fact. But whatever I do with State, whether it required hacks or not, is still what this thing can do, otherwise I would not be able to demonstrate it in clip after clip. The capabilities are there.
Just to get this back on topic, I have yet to see a 100% straight (no tongue in cheek) Muvizu clip. If someone has ever successfully accomplished this, I'd like to see it.
My belief is if I finished duplicating the clip in question, I would wind up with something that, emotionally speaking, falls far short of what I'm doing in XN. Is my work Pixar grade? No. Is it "Meet the Heavy" SFM grade? No. But I did it in like 3 hours.

31/01/2013 23:51:55

urbanlamb
(Account inactive)
Posts: 1786

mos6507 wrote:

"everything is glued down and non-moveable and you can't change anything"
Not for me it's not. I removed the chairs and laid down positionable props. That's not the stock captain's chair. I have a whole separate utility called Set Decorator that lets you reskin sets, bake props, and customize the lighting, just like Muvizu. I'm sorry State Plus wasn't officially released by Xtranormal so if you want to look at it as though it doesn't exist since it's a hack, so be it. I certainly tried to get them to fold it back into the application, but they were stupid.
"I can't walk down a hallways or open a door because state is very limited in that respect."
State characters can certainly walk. They can't open doors, no. Neither State nor Muvizu offer true character interactions. Yes, you have guitars and mics and things, but you can't pick up arbitrary props.
"my character t walk off the bridge with a camera pan opening a door and follow him down the hallways. State does what is called "talking heads" very well. One room at a time."

I added camera moves to State. Can I do a steadicam shot like in Goodfellas, no. A straight dolly down a corridor yes. But not a slinky path. But there's more to telling a story than how fancy the camera moves can get.
"my plate is full but if this is your desire give me a couple of months and you can have that exact bridge in muvizu.

"
I can give you the bridge in OBJ if you want to try to import it, plus the Wrath of Khan chairs. I was just comparing it to the stock Muvizu offering with all of its off-kilter angles and solid colors.
I mean, if you're going to talk about importing objects into Muvizu, it's only fair that I show you what can be imported into State, officially or not. I imported a ton of props from Star Trek: Elite Force. Anything that can get spit out in OBJ that has a single diffuse map per mesh should work. It doesn't require the weird ASE format that Muvizu does.
You know, I'm trying to be objective in this thread and I don't think it's fair for me to be accused of trying to touch off a holy war. If there's something Muvizu can't do well, then that's a fact. But whatever I do with State, whether it required hacks or not, is still what this thing can do, otherwise I would not be able to demonstrate it in clip after clip. The capabilities are there.
Just to get this back on topic, I have yet to see a 100% straight (no tongue in cheek) Muvizu clip. If someone has ever successfully accomplished this, I'd like to see it.
My belief is if I finished duplicating the clip in question, I would wind up with something that, emotionally speaking, falls far short of what I'm doing in XN. Is my work Pixar grade? No. Is it "Meet the Heavy" SFM grade? No. But I did it in like 3 hours.

I dont hack your into doing something that is not in the normal realm of the software. If you want to hack be my guest, however your being completely unrealistic at this point and I am gonna leave it at that because your arguments and reasoning is inconsistent. One minute your willing to actually hack a piece of software to make it do what you feel it needs to do to satisfy your needs and the next minute your telling me "its too hard".

01/02/2013 02:19:55

AuroraMoon
Posts: 30

I have to agree with Urban lamb....

if you feel the need to hack something to make it suit your needs.... okay, that's great. but keep in mind that not everyone is willing to do something like that.

the point of using software like this, is so that we DON'T HAVE TO start hacking the software just to get something we want. plus, you just pretty much told us up front that the software you were using were no longer available officially so the only way we could get it is though sketchy torrents or something like that.

Surely you see the problem with that, right? so it's not like we could download that program and see for ourselves how right/wrong you are.

Plus, it seems like Muvizu is still in the process of expanding what it has currently.... so it seems a tad premature to be complaining about something it doesn't have. Because you never know, the staff could be looking at all the existing software out there currently, and thinking about how they could make this program ten times more awesome compared to the rest out there.

Currently, it only has a few handful of hair, clothes to help customize our characters but I'm sure that will change in time.

01/02/2013 02:59:29

urbanlamb
(Account inactive)
Posts: 1786

Yes sorry for being so grumpy I do have a copy of a "legal" state engine and I know what an unhacked copy was capable of. I am all for suggestions and criticism its how products get improved but when someone says "i had to hack the software to make it better then muvizu or product y" then I just get cranky.

Anyhow I will go hide now and possibly price graphics cards although my present one is only a year old .. Big Grin

01/02/2013 10:25:16

Marco_D
Posts: 582

Hey guys,

I've been keeping an eye on this thread and I want to thank you for the feedback.
There's nothing wrong about criticism if done in a responsible and respectful way

Here at Muvizu we are not over sensitive about criticism, otherwise we just wouldn't make this great piece of software.
And believe me when I say that we read and take your feedback seriously.
Our community can expect some nice things this year, but I'm sorry that's all I can say.

The Startrek sets that I've seen can be done in Muvizu, and those female characters too. I've seen it

Anyway, please continue providing us some great feedback. We need it in order to improve Muvizu.

Cheers,
Marco

01/02/2013 17:25:18

urbanlamb
(Account inactive)
Posts: 1786

Marco_D wrote:

Hey guys,

Our community can expect some nice things this year, but I'm sorry that's all I can say.

Cheers,
Marco

okay you have my attention with this statement although I noticed already in the "news" there does appear to be a soft body physics type flexible tie not unlike the one I saw used in zubox's edition of muvizu so my wheels are going around

13/07/2013 21:25:45

PatrickDFTBA
Posts: 28

Hi,

I would like human characters but then more like sim characters...realistic...

13/07/2013 21:27:01

PatrickDFTBA
Posts: 28

Dances moves: Macarena, Hokie-pokie

And I wouls like it if characters could march

13/07/2013 21:37:47

MrDrWho13
Posts: 2220

Thanks for bringing this thread up again, Patrick.

I love how lots of the stuff here has been completed, well done Muvizu!

14/07/2013 02:44:03

PatrickDFTBA
Posts: 28

No problem I am just participating

18/09/2013 19:33:08

IanHolmes
Posts: 8

sorry if this has been answered but I'm in a hurry...I could use an animated plant type character based on the existing rigging for the standard characters just with the head and neck the same size and arms as branches and legs/feet as roots. It needs to be a bit weed-like and would be used in some work I'm doing for the Genesis Revisited world tour (part 2) with Steve Hackett (clang clang). I can see a great visuals sequence using Movizu, but I need this character to do it. Can anyone help or give me some pointers. I like that fact this is dead simple to use and it helps me as I've a lot going on!

18/09/2013 19:45:23

ziggy72
Posts: 1988

You can't change the shape of the characters, or the preset animations, so it'd be hard to do. The stick man character is most plant like, but you couldn't add leaves to his arms, for example, to make him more weedy. This kind of stuff is in the pipeline for Muvizu, but not for while yet I think.

18/09/2013 20:00:32

IanHolmes
Posts: 8

thanks ziggy. Its a pity because the movements, particularly the walking are perfect for me. I saw stick man and that's actually where the idea came from. Best laid plans and all that

19/09/2013 09:58:59

Lev_Dynamite
Posts: 157

IanHolmes wrote:

Its a pity because the movements, particularly the walking are perfect for me.

Importing a static plant object would surely be even BETTER suited to your Genesis video? Because then it can't dance, and it can't sing.

19/09/2013 10:02:49

Mike_Num_5
Posts: 165

Lev_Dynamite wrote:

Importing a static plant object would surely be even BETTER suited to your Genesis video? Because then it can't dance, and it can't sing.

Leave....leave now.

19/09/2013 10:09:15

IanHolmes
Posts: 8

I see what you did there :-)
This is for the Giant Hogweed which has had me stuck for about a month wondering about content for the screens in the show, and then I thought " an army of marching plants". I should get out more. It'll be in the Royal Albert Hall in October if anyone's feeling keen to make one...

19/09/2013 10:40:01

Dylly
Posts: 555

Shouldn't that be 'leaf now'?

Back to the problem of the Green Man, perhaps resorting to a little creative photoshoping and old fashioned frame by frame animation. I have to admit it's something I often resort to in my Muvizu films to get me out of tricky situations?

19/09/2013 18:08:51

urbanlamb
(Account inactive)
Posts: 1786

yes stop motion is usually the answer to most of these issues.

01/11/2013 07:29:20

rickedirol
Posts: 1

I am needing Jesus and his disciples characters, do they exist? Does anyone know where I can get some made?

Thanks
Rick

01/11/2013 08:54:02

hugmyster
Posts: 107

rickedirol wrote:

I am needing Jesus and his disciples characters, do they exist? Does anyone know where I can get some made?

Hi Rickedirol,

You could make them using the standard Muvizu characters with long hair and a beard, assuming that's what you're after.

If you wanted baby Jesus then I don't know....

Huggy

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