I M dot StrangE

My Bitcoin Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:25:04 PDT

So I just got married to my longtime girlfriend in Iceland. She @RakelMusicbox and I @MdotStrange make up the smallest animated feature film studio in the world as we work together on my films. The wedding only cost $60 because we just did the little civil ceremony.

We both do our best to be socially conscious people so when the minister asked us to present the rings I said “We don’t have any rings, I just gave her bitcoin” because that’s what I did.

Children die because of diamonds. There is no such thing as a “Blood Bitcoin", so why would anyone want a diamond to represent their relationship?! Bitcoin represents positive change for the world and will actually increase in value unlike diamonds.

So if you're planning on getting married forego the rings and exchange bitcoin instead. It’s better for the world and we need some new traditions for this new world we’re building everyday. AND if you end up getting divorced no one knows how much bitcoin you have so they can’t take half unless you want to give it to them ^_^

If you're feeling generous and want to help support the smallest, bitcoin married, animated feature film studio in the world- you can do so below ^_^ Thanks!

1PcGwsvQ8fiwpb8iDTCDFiGJDpAxukYStE

I AM NIGHTMARE Production Diary # 13

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:04:49 PDT

So this month has a relatively low quota of 10 shots a day- I've been keeping up with the quota and things have been going reasonably well- I'm coming up to the halfway point of the film and its still on target to be completed by the end of October 2013

I'm going to have to figure out how I'm going to render the film very soon as I'd like to release a teaser trailer by the end of June OR I could cut the trailer together using the temp renders then once the trailer is edited I could just render the shots in the trailer? NOW that seems like a good idea ^_^

As I edit the film- I use the music that MadDashiell or myself have already created for the soundtrack or I'll whip up some new music on the spot if nothing seems to fit

Since I'm going to be able to complete this whole film in one year total- I have to start planning my next one- my goal is to make an entirely new animated feature film every year- I have a couple feature scripts lying around that I wrote but I'm not sure if I'm going to do one of those or something new- on my recent flight back from Iceland I outlined two different animated feature ideas AND I reworked a script I had already written entitled "God Lives Underwater"

So I going to have to have to choose one pretty soon and get to pre-production work on it- I've always admired how Osamu Tezuka used his characters like Astroboy as actors in his films- if I am Nightmare and its characters are well received I'm thinking of using some of the characters as actors in my next film-

So for the next film I have to choose between one of these

God Lives Underwater- my own retelling of the popular "good vs. evil" myth popularized by the Bible
Darksided- A full length film based on my Darksided animated shorts (goal would be to create the most nightmarish animated feature film ever)
(Title withheld)- a story/film I've been building on since 2007, its my "post apocalyptic" film which I look at like my magnum opus- I've been afraid to start on it because I don't think I'm good enough at 3d to do it yet
(Untitled monster samurai film)- another idea I've been throwing around for a few years now but I haven't found the narrative hooks to make it really strong in my mind yet- just have character/settings and the basic narrative BUT I haven't discovered the hooks, the really powerful twists or story elements that make me want to make it a reality just yet

So yeh I'm just grinding away on I AM NIGHTMARE whilst pushing forward on the next project

Self actualisation- The greatest challenge?

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Sat, 11 May 2013 10:44:04 PDT

It seems to me after venturing away from my computers for a few weeks and talking to a number of living humans that the one of the biggest challenges in life once basic needs to survive and be healthy are taken care of is trying to figure out what you want to do-

It makes me think of Maslow's hierarchy of needs

It's that self-actualisation phase at the top that I'm talking about- its attempting to tackle that which brings out the "what do I want to do" panic in many of us.

I think this is where Joseph Campbell's "follow your bliss" is very handy because it is as simple as that-

What do you love to do? What can you not stop thinking about? What are you endlessly curious about? What challenge fascinates you? What can you stay up all night doing/thinking about? What makes you angry/frustrated/sad? What causes your passion to erupt?

I feel if your an artist or solo creative person you have to jump from the Safety phase to the Self actualisation phase AND THEN you get the belonging and esteem.

That's what makes it such a difficult path- unless you've achieved your individual potential you can't afford a family (if you want one) and you don't really have time to be a part of any groups as you have to work away in your own little cave.

So its like your in the null zone for a long time wherein no one knows who you are, no one praises your work, you're probably making very little if any money with your art/creative work. You constantly doubt yourself and your choice with this path in life.

You think about giving up and maybe even killing yourself because your such a failure and a let down to those around you.

So if your on your loner path right now and feel like your in this dead zone just know that it comes with the territory- you just have to occupy your mind with progressive thoughts all the time- thoughts of moving forward- plans for the future- small steps you can achieve whilst moving towards your goal.

FUCK THE WORLD that judges and berates people based on how much money they make or what they don't own.

Look into the dividends market and futures trading- or watch this Ted Talk that touches on "black box trading" on Wall Street, or check out how the Federal Reserve scam works here in the U.S.

Once you look at those things you'll see trillions of dollars generated from nothing- making scores of people rich- you'll realize the status quo is based on complete bullshit. Being "rich" doesn't mean your smarter, a harder worker or a better person.

So if you're creating things that you LOVE and completing them you are a SUCCESS! I believe that to be happy in life you've got to achieve your INDIVIDUAL GOALS not the goals of the group that is manipulated by mass media which is in turn guided by the banksters.

Worship that higher force inside yourself that pushes you to create, help others and be happy.

This current monetary system WILL DIE in time- so please don't go dying with it!

Find a way to somehow survive and work to achieve your individual potential because when this big game is all over you'll be glad you did.

When you've created your own things you're never alone- and they'll live on making people smile, cry, or laugh- the money you've left to your beneficiaries can't do that and I'm pretty sure it doesn't help people not feel alone.

The Forever Alone Filmmaking Podcast now has its own youtube channel

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Fri, 10 May 2013 23:02:39 PDT

All of the podcast episodes have been uploaded to youtube for your listening pleasure ^_^

We'll upload each new episode onto that channel so subscribe if you prefer the podcast in this format.

While I was in Iceland my lovely assistant Rakel did all the work- so thanks to her for making it so!

Now that I'm back we'll be recording some new episodes so you don't have to be totally alone while working in your crazy forever alone filmmaking projects ^_^

Back on the animating joB

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:42:15 PDT

So my two week break in Iceland is over and I'm back to animating I am Nightmare- If you don't relax every once in awhile your mind and body will break down- I have a hard time relaxing when I'm in close proximity to my workstation- So I have to go 5000 miles away from it to relax.

On the flight back I bombed my notebook with new ideas and creepy things

I even storyboarded some new little sequences for parts of I am Nightmare I already animated

And I fantasized about making toys of my characters from We are the strange and Heart String Marionette

I'm just about to go storyboard the shots that I'm going to animate this month- its the 4th sequence of the films 9 sequences- it ends at page 48 of the scripts 102 pages-

I'm pretty sure I can animate both the films 4th AND 5th sequences this month- that would take me to page 60 of the scripts 102 pages and over the hour mark of finished film-

I'll be back animating live on Ustream real soon so follow me on twitter @mdotstrange to be notified of when I'm doing that-

So yeh- I'm back on the job so expect updates, blog posts and all that starting again real soon!

I AM NIGHTMARE Production Diary #12

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:49:48 PDT

I just finished animating the third sequence of the films nine sequences- this sequence was 177 shots and I completed it in about 12 days for an average of about 15 shots animated per day

So now the rough cut of the film with these three finished sequences is about 45 minutes long

I was animating live on ustream for the past week- thanks to Jemilla, Dash, Dave and the few other peeps who stopped by to see what I was doing.

The last thing I animated was this scene with the town drunk named Flan- it was fun to do as the voice actor does a hilarious and awesome job so I was laughing the whole time ^_^ I was laughing but its a pretty dark and creepy scene

I'll be in Iceland for two weeks come tomorrow- so I won't be animating the film live on ustream for another two weeks- follow me on twitter @mdotstrange as that's where I post the ustream links when I'm working on there

So yeh just moving forward on the film enjoying the animation/filmmaking process! I really think yall are going to love these characters! The voice actors really did a great job making them come to life- as I'm animating I'm just trying to bring out the life they've created with their voices

So this is the first time I recorded all the final voice actors ahead of time- so this is my first acting centered film- I'm not trying to wow with style or cool looking shit- I'm just trying to tell my story and have my little actors performances take center stage-

I'm really excited about the results and I think this will be a big step forward for me as a storyteller and a filmmaker- I think it will also open up my world to a lot of people who wouldn't step into my previous more esoteric films out of fear of WTF is this shit-ness ^_^

So yeh I'm just backing up files so I can go kick it in Iceland for two weeks with my lovely assistant/girlfriend Rakel ^_^ She actually modeled a fair bit of the props in I AM NIGHTMARE- the bottles and stacks of sandwiches and stuff on the above images were modelled by her.

So production will be on hold for two weeks- then by the end of May the film will be at or past the one hour mark ^_^

Getting back in the flow

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:59:51 PDT

I took five days off animating last week to go to a film related event and when I got back I had a bad case of "IT'S SO HARD TO SIT STILL AND WORK ON THIS" I'm locked back in now after 3-4 days of struggling with the evil forces of procrastination-

I'll be starting work in a little while which you can watch me work live on Ustream

It got me thinking about taking time away from your passions- I took five days off and felt totally lost and confused as to what I was doing for a few days- I got out of the flow- that was five days-

What would it be like after five weeks? Or five months? Or five years? Or if you buy the big lie and only chase your passion once you've "retired" how bout fifty years? 0_0

The more time you are "away" from actually working towards your passion the further out of the flow you get- the more alien it seems- the more difficult it is to get started- so we need to chip away each day even if we can only draw a few pictures, write a few lines- whatever! Gotta keep it alive! Gotta stay in the flow!

I was planning to storyboard for those five days- but my pen exploded as I was storyboarding on the flight over and I never got back to it-

After pen SPLOSION on plane

If ya ask me- STORYBOARDING IS FILMMAKING- so if all you can do is storyboard you can still sharpen your skills as a filmmaker.

If you've been away from your work and it seems like you lost the connection to it- you've got to re-immerse yourself in the ideas/emotions/concepts/feelings that inspired you to start it in the first place- go back to its roots- for my new film thats reading the script and listening to the music from the soundtrack- I've been listening to the music that Mad Dashiell has made for the soundtrack whilst working and that's really helped me stay in the flow so thanks for making all the dope tracks bro!

If you recently pre-ordered the film I'll be mailing out the next batch of hand drawn postcards this week!

So if you've let yourself get out of the flow- fight to get back in! It might take some time but you'll get there.

Watch me work on I AM NIGHTMARE live!

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 12:52:23 PDT

As an experiment I'm going to be streaming my desktop as I animate I AM NIGHTMARE for the next week or so- you can watch it here on Ustream

I HIGHLY recommend you install ADBLOCK for your browser or else Ustream is annoying with all the ad's

I can't guarantee how entertaining/educational it will be- just trying new things.

In the future I plan to do live Q&A's where I'll turn my mic on and answer your live questions about all things cg filmmaking and M dot Strange.

Get your garbage thrash on with KOOL SKULL

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:50:41 PDT

So I've known this d00d online for years- his name is KOOL SKULL- he's a dope artist and his newest album is awesome- I just bought it and if yer into edgiest underground stuff from the streets of LA throw KOOL SKULL some dollars on his bandcamp.

The songs are dope and they appease my inner old skool hiphop/chiptune geek.

My favorite song is probably "Cold Pizza"

COLD PIZZA by KOOL SKULL

The hook is "Fuck everything I don't really care- I just wanna eat cold pizza and skateboard to nowhere" If you've ever seen the wastelands in downtown LA known as "Skid Row"- the box cities, the grime- this song really captures that- I imagine some young crazy d00d skatin through those areas with a gameboy in his pocket writin rhymes on street corners eating cold pizza.

"Cowboy Hat" features KOOL SKULL rappin in old skool BIG EGO style "I'm from LA and I'm cooler than you"
COWBOY HAT by KOOL SKULL
The hook reminds me of the golden age of hiphop where the DJ would scratch on the choruses but instead of a DJ scratching KOOL SKULL rocks on some chiptune stuff with his Gameboy which I think is dope ^_^

Buy the album at his bandcamp page

KOOL SKULL is %100 original, %100 real and his stuff is dope so I support him- if you like these songs drop the man some dollars so he can get some more cold pizza and skateboard to nowhere.

I AM NIGHTMARE Production Diary #11

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:35:24 PDT

I just got back from Texas where I got to hang out with my friend and fellow forever alone filmmaker Jimmy ScreamerClauz- here's Jimmy and food poisoned me in some cafe (I ate a little too much Tex-Mex and ended up half dead for two days 0_o)

Jimmy ScreamerClauz and a sick M dot Strange

Thanks to our homie Josh for flying us out there! It was nice to take a 5 day break and geek out for a bit.

I just finished storyboarding sequence 3 of the films 9 sequences. This sequence is 177 shots and covers 14 pages of script. I'll have a 15 shot/day quota this month- I start animation tomorrow and I'll finish Sequence 3 on the 21st of this month.

First page of I AM NIGHTMARE sequence 3 storyboards and 2013 schedule

Since I'm able to crank out animation so fast I'll be able to release the film on Xmas 2013 with no problem whatsoever-

I'll be in Iceland to visit my girlfriend and lovely assistant April 22nd - May 8th we're also going to planning a live action/animated documentary we're going to do on an icelandic sailor who has the best real life stories I've ever heard. He's an amazing storyteller and has some awesome and hilarious true stories. So in the documentary I hope to capture the stories of an icelandic sailor travelling the world in the 1950's through animation.

I'm going to do as Jimmy Screamerclauz suggested in the comments on this here blog and leave one PC on to render while I'm gone- and once I get back I'll just leave that one PC rendering 24/7 as one PC won't destroy the power bill like seven will.

There is another STRANGE production on the horizon as well- I wrote an animated sci-fi feature script in 2011 which I wouldn't be able to produce with my normal no budget means. So what I've decided to do is this....

The first 7 pages of the script is like a short film in itself and also sort of a standalone trailer for the full film. So I'm collaborating with a talented musician in Moon and Azure Shadow- whose album I posted about here in the past in which I did the album art for ya see- buy it here its dope!

Moon and Azure Shadow CD

So I gave him the script last week or so ago- he's going to create the music for the 7 page snippet which will lead to the creation of a 5-8 minute short animated film- once we have the finished short we'll release it for free online and launch a kickstarter campaign to fund the full feature film in which I'll hire other modelers, animators and artists to work on it- if it gets funded we go ahead with it- if it doesn't the standalone short film will still be something we'll be proud of.

So yeh lots more to come! I have to get started on the next solo animated feature film I'm going to do after I AM NIGHTMARE as well- so lots to do but I love the work so its fun times ^_^

Mega thanks to the people who recently pre-ordered I AM NIGHTMARE! You should have received your hand drawn postcards by now- I'll be prepping the next pre-order bonus download soon and it MIGHT be a teaser trailer ^_^ Ok I'm back to work!

New Rabbit Junk music video + making of

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 18:10:03 PDT

I AM NIGHTMARE Production Diary #10

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:53:48 PDT

I just finished animating the second sequence of the films nine- the sequence was 137 shots

Shot files produced in the past two weeks

The 136 shots equal about 10 minutes of screen time

Rough cut timeline- about 10 minutes of screen time

So when you add what I just finished to the films first sequence that I finished earlier this month I've produced 27 minutes of completed/edited animation from this month alone 0_0

At this rate I'll finish the whole film in 3 more months- BUT the films ninth and final sequence is more complex than the entire film before it so I'm going to dedicate 1-2 months for that final sequence- but I have moved up my new target release date to late October

I could have done MORE this month but I took five days off of I AM NIGHTMARE to do an animated music video for Rabbit Junk which they'll release on the 5th

As fast as I'm going the shots that take the longest to animate are ones like the above with multiple characters talking and interacting which this film has a lot of- it takes long enough to animate one character when their talking and miming etc- so shots like this take the longest BUT if their done well they help flesh out the characters a lot as you learn a lot about them watching them react to the other characters

A few months ago I was contacted by an old friend who used to act in my crazy live action films I was doing 2001-2003 It's the guy playing the crazy annoying Brandon guy in this

We hadn't talked in maybe ten years? He found my site and contacted me through it- he was away from doing any acting for about ten years AND he was taking classes to do voice acting- there was one open role in I AM NIGHTMARE that I was going to do it myself but I thought it was meant to be that he contacted me so I gave him the role and he ended up nailing it and doing an awesome job- So I'm glad to have my friend Damon back on the strange team- well he was on the team before I was "M dot Strange" as I was just SomeGuy ^_^

Speaking of voice acting- the voice actors are killin it! When ever I'm going through and editing their takes I'm smiling and laughing as they have done such a great job!

The music created my Mad Dashiell and myself fit the film perfectly! We've made some new tracks since I made the soundtrack available to pre-order customers- so I'll be sure to update it to the final version when the film is done.

I'm off to the Victoria Independent Film Festival on Wednesday to show Heart String Marionette and watch a few films.

So watch out for the new Rabbit Junk video this Friday the 5th- the song is boss and the video is pretty fucking crazy I must say- its easily the best music video I have done- I spent 5 days on it and I'm really happy with the finished video as it captures the energy and violence I wanted to express ^_^

I want to do a nice making-of for the video- I was working so fast I didn't have a chance to screen capture any of the animation I was doing as I was doing it- but after the video is released I'll do a blog post about it sharing some techniques and the like.

Thanks for the recent I AM NIGHTMARE pre-orders! I'm going to draw and mail out your postcards tomorrow as I have a free day before I leave for the film festival.

Redefine your limits

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 04:13:50 PDT

You truly don't know what your capable of until you go all out and push your limits.

The limits and boundaries you have built for yourself are only theoretical until you have REALLY given %100 effort for a prolonged period.

The limits or boundaries you have accepted may have come from other people...

Recently I received a comment online that I was making my new film too fast! haha

Pushing the boundaries may make other people uncomfortable- but thats not your problem.

Pushing the boundaries may make whole groups or organizations uncomfortable to the point where they pretend you and your work don't exist- thats not your problem either.

When I see great work it shakes me up- it makes me feel inadequate and drives me to work harder and improve- if we never admit other things exist that are beyond us- we'll never have to drive to push our limits.

The more you know, the less you know- the more you want to learn and improve.

When it comes to film/art/animation- humans as a whole are fucking weak, lazy, and mediocre- we pat ourselves on the back for minor achievements than pretend like we changed the world by producing derivative work that will be forgotten in twenty years time.

Instead of just doing enough to appease your peers who have settled on mediocrity go further!

Instead of just doing enough to get your head patted by the film/animation/art establishments go further!

You are capable of MORE than you think you are! You can do amazing things if you leave the possibility open and aim for targets no one else can see -and work harder than you've ever worked before- for longer than you have ever worked before.

Humans as a whole are a sleeping giant- we are capable of SO MUCH MORE yet we have accepted the limits the status quo has given us- we have accepted the trinkets it offers us in exchange for our true potential.

Take your potential back! Redefine your limits by pushing the boundaries and you will be shocked at what you're able to do! Your dreams might even come true ^_^

NEVER accept the limits or boundaries placed on you by other people NO MATTER WHO THEY ARE. If you can imagine it and create a plan to accomplish it YOU CAN DO IT.

You can do that and MORE!

I AM NIGHTMARE Production Diary #9

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 05:51:27 PDT

Production is still going smoothly- I'll be animating full time for the next three days then I'll take about a week aside to create a new animated music video from scratch for Rabbit Junk- its an epic track so I really have to do something awesome for it- I use music videos to test new styles and techniques so I'll be sure to try some new things when I get to making the video this coming week.

Teenee eats a sammich in front of his friends

I'm animating pages 12-24 of the script this month which is 136 shots- It's the second sequence out of the films nine and I will complete it this month-

I'll be sending out the rough cut of the films first 17 minutes to the voice actors some time next week- I've added my friend and fellow filmmaker Jimmy Screamerclauz to the cast as the voice of the films monsters btw-

Speaking of Screamerclauz- that crazy guy and myself will be attending and showing our last feature films at the Victoria Independent Film Festival on April 4th in Victoria, Texas

If you're anywhere near there come out and watch the films and meet Jimmy Screamerclauz and myself- come out and see our films on a screen bigger then your laptop! AND if you're interested in Reptilian humanoids and demonic possession you couldn't find two better guys to talk to about it ^_^

Bog is not very motivated by this motivational image

Once I get back from Texas- I'll be animating Sequence 3 in April- and then I'll be going to Iceland where I'll animate the beginning of Sequence 4 also in April/May- I won't try to do production animation on a laptop again- tried that on HSM and it was way too frustrating as I'm used to dual monitors and good gfx performance.

Thankfully I have access to a decent PC with dual monitors to work on there- HEY it might be one of my render nodes that some how made its way over there?! ^_^ I'm going to grab another one of those $89 Asus gfx cards to use on that PC as it has my old 8800GT card in it which won't even play my character rig back at 24fps 0_0

RUN from some un-textured non final rendered thing!

I feel like I've learned so much in the past few years its made creating this film really fun and easy and I HOPE TO be able to create some thing to share the way with you- I outlined this whole new tutorial series but that is on hold as I use an older version of Cinema 4d- version 11.5 which is no longer available- IF I create tutorials I'll have to use a newer version like R14- unfortunately changes were made in version R13 which broke my workflow so I can't do fast or fun work in the new versions- and again if I made tutorials I've have to use the new version.

My major problem comes with the overhaul of the Visual Selector which was done in R13- I've tried but I can't work nearly as fast or as smooth with the new one- its throws salt in my game- it totally ruins the fast and efficient way I've come to work-

So I want to share the way I'm doing these things BUT I can't do it with old software that isn't available anymore can I? I want to share project files BUT they would be incompatible with new versions so yeah it sucks.

I have several other film projects waiting to start once I finish I AM NIGHTMARE but I'll do my best in creating/sharing something big in hopes of helping others make their films in Cinema 4d.

On a random note- I have a live action horror script I wrote last year "in development" 0_0 I'm not even lying- I'm not going to direct it or anything I just wanted to try writing a script to sell- I don't have first hand contact with the producer but apparently its going to be made this summer. I'll post here when I know more about it- but I'm writing another live action horror film to try and get produced as well.

I also have an animated Sci Fi feature script sitting around- no one will probably want to produce that- as Sci-fi isn't as marketable as horror or romantic comedies apparently 0_o

I want to try something new with that- I want to produce the first 12 minutes of it as a pilot and use Kickstarter to fund the feature AND its not something I'm really interested in animating- I would just want to act as director- I'll animate the pilot if I have too BUT I'd really like to start working on side projects as a director and let pure animators go nuts with the animation- its also in a realistic style that I don't do- so if you're some dope 3d animator and you want to work with me on a 12 minute animated sci-fi pilot holler at me!

I'll do a formal introduction and call for crew on that project later in the year- right now I've got I AM NIGHTMARE to handle.

Here's to "constructive criticism"! ^_^

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 16:00:30 PDT

If David Lynch offered me some advice I would listen-
If Stanley Kubrick gave me some some constructive criticism I would listen-
If Osamu Tezuka offered me some advice I would listen-

Random people who DO NOT create work I admire offer me their unsolicited "constructive criticism" from time to time and I never listen- become great first and then I will pay attention to what you have to say- until then your words mean NOTHING but the blithering's of the status quo- fuck the status quo.

I've NEVER done what other people thought I should do- I NEVER listened to unsolicited advice or criticism- If I did- I never would have had my own style and I would have never even made We Are The Strange- as I received advice against both of those things from "professionals"

If I would have never done those things- I wouldn't be working on my third film- I wouldn't have traveled to over 30 countries for my films and I wouldn't have met all the awesome peopleS I have through my films ^_^ I wouldn't be having the awesome time that I am now!

Be wary of even opening the door and giving people a chance to offer you advice or criticism- if they do- simply nod your head and humor them but in your mind hold that image of Siouxsie at the beginning of this post ^_^

Life is to short to let someone else try to live their own life through you as that's what they are trying to do a lot of the time.

Most people assume winning = being rich and famous and accepted by the masses

I'm playing an altogether different game- and in it I'm already winning ^_^

How to render a 2 hour long cg movie on the cheap?

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 03:44:44 PDT

In producing my new film I AM NIGHTMARE I've been able to keep costs really low- since I'm using the same PC/equipment I used on Heart String Marionette which I bought with profits from We Are The Strange by the way- I didn't have to buy any new hardware/software I was able to use what money I do have on hiring voice actors-

The other major expense I've avoided so far is RENDERING- rendering takes a lot of time and does end up costing a lot of money because of the electricity consumed- it also depends on how much electricity costs where you live- In California where I live it happens to be one of the more expensive places in the US when it comes to electricity as you can see here

In order to keep costs down I want to avoid rendering the film here- PG&E- the power company here REAMS you and they've only gotten worse since I last did any serious rendering- so I'm looking at other options-

How much is power per kilowatt where you live? Its about 20 cents USD here- If its super cheap where you are I'll pack up my render nodes and render at your house ^_^

Where to render?!

Iceland, where my girlfriend lives- where I visit pretty often USED to have 5 cent/kwh power but they doubled it to 10 cent/kwh recently- still thats the cheapest I have access to- Then I'd have to haul my render PC's over there- I don't want to see the oversize/overweight luggage bill for that 0_0

They have a pretty big geek culture over there so I got an idea....

Putting together a LAN party- but instead of using all the PC's to play games- use them to render a film ^_^ Still don't know how you'd pay the power bill but I'm not a business guy haha AND that would probably be illegal according to software licensing etc

Rendering over the internet via online render farms, Amazon Ec2 or renting a remote server has been available for some time- unfortunately my scene files are pretty big at 200 megabytes to 1 gigabyte- compressed with 7zip they shrink down to a third of the size but we're talking 1500+ shots here- upload speed is another roadblock if your in a country that is ranked 34 and 44 when it comes to internet download and upload speed...

I'm in Silicon Valley- you'd think we'd have awesome internet speed but NOPE! The US is ranked 44th in upload speed 0_o The fastest I can get in Silicon Valley is 300k upload - way to slow to upload thousands of 800 meg files- I better move to Lithuania if I want dat upload speed 0_0

IF ONLY I knew someone that had access to a school or work network with lots of decent PC's that we could render on after hours- that would be the best haha

So the ideas that seem the most realistic to me are...

Use crowdfunding to pay for the power bill and render them myself-

Haul my render nodes somewhere else that has cheap power and pay for it myself

Throw a Render LAN party in some other place that has cheap power

What are your ideas?

Before you post your film in progress online prepare for this

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 16:35:27 PDT

I posted a little behind the scenes video on my youtube channel yesterday as a sneak preview to people interested in the film- this is the video

Here is a comment it got

Now many of you have probably gotten comments like this on your stuff- I'm just showing you this so you know that it never goes away you just learn to deal with it- the proverbial "Haters gone hate"

At this point in my career these comments just strengthen my resolve ^_^ They just add fuel to the fire that will never stop creating ^_^

I myself have NEVER left a comment like this on anyones work/film- if I don't like something I don't say anything at all- I mean what is the point? If I think I know better and can do something better shouldn't I be doing the thing in question myself instead of complaining about it?

The more you know- the less you learn that you really do know- so knowledge and experience humbles you- Conversely with human beings- The less they know, the more they think they know!

If you're miserable and hate yourself and your life- do something about it- don't try to drag others down like the crabs in a bucket Joe Rogan talks about

If you think my animation and films suck etc- then please do it better and show me! Until then I'm lost without your guidance! ^_^

It sounds kinda douchey but its true- if you know of a better way to do something then do it and show us! We don't want to hear any excuses- if you have excuses then you're probably full of shit and don't really know anything at all.

If yer hatin just to hate and over the age of 30 do the world a favor- but a small barbecue grill- take it into a car with the windows rolled up or other small enclosed space- light the charcoal and take a really long nap as you'll be doing the world a favor- thanks ^_^

Sound cruel? Well I know a few people that were very talented and happy people who were creative once and loved it- and at some point in their lives when they were still maturing as an artist- some hater came along and stamped out their spark- and they were never the same again-

It would have been so much better for everyone if those old crabs took one of those special naps ^_^

So if people hate on your work- know that we're in the same boat- that's what happens to people who get off their asses and decide to chase their dreams! It's a minor bump in the road that in NO WAY stops the great joy, happiness, and feeling of achievement and fulfillment you get from creating your own films ^_^

If everyone seems to be hating on you and doubting you- know that I believe in you! That's how I feel as I know most all of you believe in me! So I'd like to return the favor ^_^

Don't ever let anyone stamp out your spark!!!! Let them live and die miserable as they are- humor them if you have to but don't take them seriously. If you know their miserable/unhealthy why would you take their advice anyway?

A PERSONS ADVICE CAN ONLY GO AS FAR AS THEY HAVE GOTTEN

If they are not exactly where you want to be- don't listen to them.

Some random dude's guide to buying bitcoin for the first time

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:19:51 PDT

I heard about Bitcoin some time in 2012 when it was around $5 each. I wanted to buy some but was too afraid as I didn't totally understand the concept of Bitcoin and the sites I found at the time seemed sketchy to me.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago as I start hearing about Bitcoin again and it was at $40 each! I had to buy some and I did! It was fast, easy and painless!

Some analysts predict Bitcoin will go up to $100,000 to $1,000,000 each 0_0 So it couldn't hurt to buy a few now while we can afford it!

I won't pretend to understand everything about Bitcoin- I just think its an awesome concept- I like what it stands for AND I don't want to miss the boat ^_^

1) BUYING THEM

I bought my first Bitcoin's from LOCALBITCOINS.COM

It's international. You remain anonymous and can use cash.

Go to the site and find someone in your area- check out their rating and feedback score- use your internet spider senses you've honed from your Ebay and Amazon.com buying experiences and choose a legit seller-arrange to meet them and pay in cash.

Here's how it works- Localbitcoins gives you both a code- when you meet you show each other the code so you both know you have the right person- then pay them the cash and they'll transfer the bitcoins to you right there with their phone or laptop.

The coins will go into your localbitcoins.com wallet- once they are there you can transfer them anywhere you want.

Now I buy my Bitcoin's from Bitfloor.com

Bitfloor is also a really fast and easy way to buy Bitcoin

Here's how it works- Create an account on bitfloor.com. Create a "deposit" for as much cash as you'd like to be able to buy Bitcoin with. Print out the deposit instructions and take them to a Bank of America with the exact amount of cash per the instructions. Hand the print out and cash over to the teller and they'll fill it out for you.

Log back into bitfloor.com and your money will be there- go into the "trade" section- and use your now available funds to buy Bitcoin- its took less than 5 minutes for my transaction to go through. Now you can send the Bitcoins from bitfloor.com to your wallet.

2) Where to keep them?

The most secure place would be to keep them offline in the form of a "paper wallet" which is a printout of a QR code and a password-like keycode to access them. But don't lose or destroy that paper or the code or your bitcoin's are bye bye! You export a paper wallet from your online digital wallet.

The dealer I bought them from, who is very experienced btw- recommended blockchain.info as a wallet so that's what I did. He also recommended I use 2 step verification with Google Authenticator with blockchain as well. It takes 5 minutes to setup and makes you feel like your some secret agent ^_^

You can also export your blockchain wallet as a paper wallet in case the site vanishes or something. I did some googling as well and it seems blockchain is legit. I'm loving it so far!

3) What is a wallet? Paper wallet?!

You keep your coins in a "wallet" which can be digital or paper- think of it like being paid in dollars through direct deposit and then using your debit card to spend money- you never see your physical cash- you're just dealing with numbers. So your digital "wallet" is like that- your dealing with numbers and thats a way you can store your bitcoins.

You can also use a "paper wallet" which would be like taking your physical cash out of the bank and keeping it under your bed. With Bitcoin a paper wallet is a QR code you can printout AND a keycode you can also print out.

This is what confused me- you can export your Bitcoin wallet to a "paper wallet" but the Bitcoins remain in your balance- once you exported your paper wallet you now can access them through your paper wallet so you can now DELETE your "digital" wallet.

If you want to put your Bitcoins back in a digital wallet you would simply create another wallet through one of many website or use a bitcoin client program and import them by scanning the QR code and inputting the key.

So you can have as many wallets as you like- where ever you'd like- and you can send your bitcoins to and fro any of them as you please.

4) Buying stuff with bitcoins?

More and more sites are popping up everyday selling goods and services with bitcoins and major sites like Reddit are starting to adopt bitcoin as a form of payment. If you just want to hold on to them as an investment you can do that too.

Btw: I'm actually an independent animated filmmaker and you can buy my film with bitcoins see!

I'm using bitpay.com- apply for a merchant account if you want to sell your stuff and accept bitcoin as well! I hope it replaces Paypal myself!

If you found this article helpful in buying your first bitcoins please consider leaving a bitcoin donation with the button at the top right of this site or buying my movie ^_^ Thanks!

Again, I'm not claiming to be some expert- I'm just excited about Bitcoin and have had a good experience so far and I want to do what I can to help some other people buy their first Bitcoins as well!

I hope his was helpful and I hope bitcoin helps make the world a better BANKSTER free place ^_^

23 tips on cg animated filmmaking from M dot Strange

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:41:20 PDT

I'm M dot Strange- love me or hate me or simply go MEH- I get cg animated films made- no one can argue with that- I'll be releasing my third solo cg animated feature film this year with I AM NIGHTMARE-here are some things I've learned through my battles making my films over the past ten years. You can check out my second animated feature film here.

If you want to make 3d animated films then Storyboard- it will make your life so much easier, allow you to work faster, and give your films stronger visual storytelling and flow.
If you're writing scripts and need a printer- get a cheap laser printer- inkjets fail us hard and eat all our money- I got this Canon Laser Printer and I love it- I also use it to photocopy/scan my Storyboards.
Use a daily shot quota- do animation tests so you can know exactly how many shots you can animate a day without dying- use this knowledge to form an ambitious BUT reasonable daily shot quota. Since you storyboarded your whole film you know exactly how many shots it is- use basic math to figure out how long it will take to make your film using various quota's- decide how little of a life you want to have and how much work you want to complete- GET IT DONE!
Keep your rigs as simple as possible with the fewest number of controllers and morphs/blendshapes possible- yeh the "pro's" might have 300 controllers and 1000 morphs/blendshapes but they also have numerous TD's and I enjoy sleeping occasionally myself.
If you don't know exactly what's going on in your script- don't expect any viewer of the finished film to figure it out for you so you can pretend that was your intention at a Q and A.
Don't buy the top of the line PC to do your work with- buy a mid tier one that you can afford to replace in 2-3 years- Don't spend $5000 on a single workstation when you can spend $1500 on a decent one AND have enough money to buy a few render nodes OR pay an online render farm/EC2
For viewport speed when doing character animation its SINGLE processor speed that matters- a quad core clocked at 4.0 ghz will perform much better than a 16 core machine clocked at 2.8ghz
Don't buy a high end graphics card like a Quadro or FireGL- crossfire or SLI won't help you either- mid/low end graphics cards suit us best- I'll never spend over $200 anymore on a gfx card- I just got this one for $89 and I'm loving it
If you can go dual monitors do it! With the above $89 card you can do three monitors! More screens and screen space means less juggling of windows and palettes and a faster workflow.
Beware of the underwater look! if you're lazy with your keys and don't touch your f-curves all of your movements will happen at the same speed- which gives animation a zero gravity or underwater look- my earlier works suffered from this until I got in there and started workin those f-curves! Just a few tiny tweaks can make all the difference in the world.
Just because something hasn't been done doesn't mean that you can't do it- filmmaking is young- and 3d animated filmmaking is even younger- there are many new paths to be laid- don't be afraid to lead us somewhere new!
Learn to ignore online forum threads wherein people with little to no experience actually making animated films are discussing "how to make a film" or are trying to lay down rules or guidelines based on what they read about Pixar or some shit- a lot of those threads are havens for people who are too afraid to make the leap on their own and get bustin on a film so they are looking to others to tell them that "its ok" You don't need anyones acceptance or permission- just go do it and show us the result.
You'll be better than you think you are once you stop believing you are great when you have no finished work to base it on- do the work- face the reality and work hard to improve yourself- its a grueling and exciting journey but the most rewarding one in my experience.
More polygons doesn't mean a better film- long render times doesn't make a better film- complex tools don't make a better film- an expensive education at a reputable school doesn't make a better film- you and your ideas make a better film.
Before you make a 3d animated film know that if you have a Pixar branded dick in your mouth that I don't want to see your film- and I believe a growing number of people won't want to see it either. Strange is the new normal- give us something we've never seen before or face the MEH!
If you try to kickstart you're film and it fails- don't let that stop you- I tried to raise $25,000 to make my newest film- it failed and ZERO shits we're given- I've already finished 17 minutes of it and its awesome. Money is GREAT to have to make a film but again just like with the technology- YOU and your IDEAS are what's important.
Optimize your shots as much as possible by deleting objects/geometry that are not seen by the camera- create simple 3d matte paintings by rendering out things that are far away from the camera and dropping them in during the compositing phase.
Want to use GI on your film? GET OUT OF HERE! Learn to light the real way and save MASSIVE amounts on render time and gain an opportunity to create your own personal look rather than the look everyone else has who is using the same algorithm. Leave GI to the architecture crowd.
Study lighting/color/composition and make your shots look dope on their own- don't just use vanilla photography/lighting and throw a ton of Magic Bullet Looks slop on top of it. Do be an instagram cinematographer- make your shots look dope THEN throw some Magic Bullet on it if you choose.
(OLD MAN VOICE) You don't need a multipass render with like 10 passes of crap to make your shots look good- I can make any shot look awesome with just a beauty pass, a depth pass and an alpha channel Gawd DAMN IT! Don't drown in passes- use the minimum you can get by with to make your images look good.
Don't be self loathing in regard to your software/hardware- if it works for you- it works for you- use it- make awesome stuff and show it to us- we won't care what you made it with- if we do, we're dicks anyway and ignore us.
When people see your finished film %99.999 don't care how/why/where you made it- they judge the film for what it is- as it stands alone- so do what you need to do to make it the best it can be- making yourself popular will help you market and sell it and make lots of money- but if your film is mediocre- your film is mediocre- your friends/fans can't help you with that one.
If you're making a film- please create a blog or something similar and share some thoughts/experiences with us- When I first started I was inspired by the people that made films before me and shared their experience with the world.

I wrote a little ebook sharing my workflow that might be helpful to some- get it here.

Lastly, if you're making a cg animated film on your own and need some advice- I'd be glad to help! you can contact me at here.

I AM NIGHTMARE Production Diary #8

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 00:04:14 PDT

Two weeks into production I just finished animating the films first sequence which was 200+ shots and equals 17 minutes of edited footage- Here's some screenshots of the damage M dot does in 2 weeks these days ^_^

Cinema 4d content browser filled with shots

Cinema 4d project files on disk

edited sequence in Premiere Pro

Now if you've been following along you'll know that I'm not editing with final rendered shots- I'm using hardware renders to do an offline edit- once the entire film is animated I will then go through each shot and render out the final version- so I am NOT doing final lighting OR final rendering right now just ANIMATION and temp renders for the offline edit.

I must say that the voice actors for this film are making it great! And they are making animating to their voices really fun! I'll introduce you to the I AM NIGHTMARE cast as soon as all the voice acting is done! I'm really lucky to have such a great cast!

I'm actually amazed at how fast work goes when you are JUST ANIMATING- it just flies by when you don't have to worry about lighting or the look of the final render- I'll do that later- I'm just enjoying making the film right now ^_^ Animating the film IS making the film- if it doesn't work in this preview state all the fancy lighting/rendering in the world won't help it- So I'm just making sure the animation and visual storytelling is legit- then I'll come back and shine it all up- which I also love to do btw ^_^

So as of right now the film is ahead of schedule- I intend to push the pace so I can have it ready for release by Xmas- NOW this is only the first sequence out of nine BUT it couldn't have started any better ^_^

Backup note: Every day after work I use Allway Sync to back up everything I've done that day- then when I finish a sequence like I did today I do another manual backup to a different hard drive- so I'll have three copies of my work at all times.

Things are progressing nicely with the new film+

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 04:12:28 PDT

I've animated 20 shots a day for the past three days for the new film- two more days and I finish the first of the films nine sequences- which is about 15 minutes of animation and 200 shots- I'm editing it as I animate it so the plan is to have a locked edit on the sequence before I move on to the next- I gave myself a month for each sequence but I'm going to finish this months sequence way ahead of time which gives me time for....

MORE ANIMATION!

I'll be animating a music video for new Rabbit Junk song starting on the 25th of this month- It will be finished on April 1st- the song sounds like it has big crowds of psycho people and much destruction- so I'll be creating that AND I'll be bringing back the rabbit characters I made for the last RJ video I did- so once this month is over I'll have done about 20 minutes of new animation-

Then on April 3rd I'll be going over to Victoria, Texas for a film festival type thing- so that'll be five days off of animating-

Once I get back from that I'll get to work on the films second sequence- well actually I'll probably start that this month before the music video as I only need two more days to finish off sequence 1 and its only the 15th-

I never thought I would be this comfortable animating in 3d if I were to look back at my start with character animation wherein I had NO IDEA wtf I was doing and I just hoped the rigs wouldn't break or do anything I didn't understand SO if you don't know wtf you're doing today- don't worry ^_^ Just keep banging away at it and studying the art and craft as much as you can and more importantly DO MORE OF IT!

A lot of the speed and confidence I have gained when animating in 3d came from me doing my st00pid series Badassery- I learned so many tricks including my auto lipsync setup and so many other things from animating those ridiculous episodes- so like with anything else you only get better by doing it-

You don't become a better dancer by thinking about it really hard or reading books about it or by watching other people dancing- you get up and dance and dance- no matter how clumsy and stupid you might feel thats the only way to learn-

So if you want to make films or learn 3d animation you've got to make films and animate- more and more!

Something I've seen with a lot of people who "want" to make films but don't- is that they think too hard about making their first one- don't think- do it as soon as possible- get it out of your system- if your first film is as awesome and 2001 thats amazing BUT it's probably not going to be so just do it- get it out of the way-

Since I feel like I discovered some secret to making cg animated films quickly and easily I'm working on some things to share it with others- I have a deadline on my calendar at the end of this month for that too- hope I can do it all!

My favorite classic anime films free on youtube

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:43:15 PDT

I was pleasantly surprised to find a bunch of my favorite old anime films in their entirety on youtube- if you're into darker animation and you haven't seen these- check em out!

Demon City Shinjuku- I used to own the on DVD ^_^ Based on a book written by the guy who writes Vampire Hunter D and directed by the guy who directed Ninja Scroll

Wicked City- I think this film had some of the first tentacle sex strangeness + an homage to The Thing with the final monster in the end ^_^

Jin Roh- I was lucky enough to see this one on film in a cinema

Vampire Hunter D- the old school classic ^_^ D's voice isn't like D's voice in the English Dub but its still cool shit! One of the first anime films I ever saw

Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust- I saw this in a cinema near UCLA on the last day it was being screening, at the last screening and I took the last bus there- seeing this film in the cinema changed my life and made me want to make animated films

Fist of the North Star- the original super buffed ridiculous badass ultra-violent anime

Darkside Blues- this one is very dark and trippy and awesome ^_^

Akira- if you call yourself an animator or fan of animation and haven't seen Akira- you better akS somebody!

The World's Strongest- If you've never seen any Dragon Ball Z this movie is a good introduction

There's a few other classic anime titles that I love in Ninja Scroll and Bio Hunter but I couldn't find those on youtube.

Eviscerate the excuses

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:33:31 PDT

In my experience creating various things and also working with other creative people- I'm going to force everyone into two groups for the sake of this post.

1) those that embrace excuses and use them to avoid doing what they really want to do

2) those that acknowledge the potential excuses but instead of telling some sweet lies to themselves they pass the excuse by and do the work- or if they're unwilling to do the work they are honest with themselves instead of making excuses

EVERYTHING is possible- its just about how bad you want it.

Excuses may make us feel like we get a pass- as we temporarily avoided doing that thing- whatever it may be- but how long can you use the pass? Until your death bed? I believe a lot of people do- and they are filled with regret and live miserable lives. As that thing we want to do will be at the back of our minds reminding us about how we failed it- about how we are a failure. I don't like that voice myself 0_o

If you want to write a book- A) The book exists B) The book does not exist

The excuses or circumstances that prevented said book to come into existence DO NOT matter to anyone outside of the excuser- no one gives a shit how crappy your computer was, no one gives a shit if you didn't have money to eat, no one gives a shit if you were sick, no one gives a shit if your girlfriend/boyfriend was acting crazy, no one gives a shit how lonely you were, no one gives a shit if your cat died, no one gives a shit if you live in a basement of a diaper factory, no one gives a shit if you "didn't have time"

NOW sometimes it is impossible to work on this thing- that really sucks but understand the world is not going to stop and wait for you to have time- it will simply pass you by- someone else will create the thing you've wanted to and that will probably feel shitty. That should change your approach- it changed mine.

A positive thing about creating things is that- no one gives a shit- about what M dot? If you do create that thing- no one will care how crappy your computer was, how poor you were, how sick you were, how crazy your boyfriend was, that your cat died, that you were lonely, that you live in a basement of a diaper factory, or that you didn't have much time.

Once it comes into existence NOTHING MATTERS- it stands on its own- once you've had excuses and then created things and made them real you realize this and it helps you put your life in order. Then you can decide what is important to you.

Now it seems harsh at first BUT when you think about it- its actually kind of liberating- in an age wherein an artists lifestyle is glamorized- having the newest/best gear, living in some cool artsy place, looking all stylish, having famous friends etc- but NONE of that bullshit MATTERS- if you are able to create your thing- however and where ever you do it- THATS ALL THAT MATTERS.

I want to make video games- I started on some projects then stopped- why? I have no excuses- I just wasn't into it at the time and stopped- I hope I do get into it in the future but I'm not going to make excuses- SO I haven't let go of that power- once we make excuses we give the power away to that excuse- If you don't make excuses you KEEP THE POWER to use at a later date-

If I were to say I'm not making a game because learning the software is too hard and I need to take classes or something I just gave the power away to "classes or something" because I'm saying to myself and others that I do not have what it takes and I NEED (insert excuse) to do it. I think that THIS IS IMPORTANT!

So I say take the power back from the excuses! If you're making excuses right now- repeal them- take your power back. Until you do, those excuses will be bleeding you dry.

Eviscerate the excuses and take your life energy back!

*M dot Strange is available for private consulting and motivational speaking seminars to help you stab the fuck out those bloated ticks sucking your lifeblood we call excuses! ^_^

Setting the mood for my "kids film" ^_^

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 10:59:08 PDT

Now that I've animated eleven minutes of the film I have a better idea of what the mood of the film is- I created my part of the film's soundtrack based on the script and now that I have animated a bit of it I realized it doesn't entirely match the mood as I don't have enough creepy or scary music 0_0

I can say now that I am Nightmare will be my funniest and cutest film but also THE MOST TERRIFYING because the first appearance of the monsters came out a lot scarier than I imagined- like serious nightmare fuel staring into your soul scary 0_0

So now the creators of the soundtrack, MadDashiell and myself are creating some creepy music- so if you pre-ordered and received the soundtrack already don't worry it will be updated and sent to you with new creepy songs ^_^

Here's the first little mood piece I've made...

No more children, no more dreams by M dot Strange
Doesn't really sound like a "kids film" does it? WELL it's an M dot Strange kid's film as reality for a kid today is a lot more fucked than what mainstream animated films like to portray it as.

Back to animation!

An animation only workflow is so much better 0_0

noreply@blogger.com (M dot Strange) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 08:05:47 PDT

So in about a week of production I've produced a little over ten minutes of animation- I'm actually surprised that its going to so fast 0_0 I made some changes to my workflow and that has allowed me to work faster than before and it has allowed allowed me to produce my best animation as well...

As you know in being an Uberector or Forever Alone Filmmaker I have to do everything myself- with We Are The Strange and Heart String Marionette my workflow was like this during production-

Animate the shot, tweak the lighting to prep for the render, do still frame test render until the shot looks right, send it to the render farm and move on to the next shot.

And now my workflow is this-

Animate the shot, do a hardware render of the shot, drop the shot into the edit, make sure it plays right with the adjacent shots and that there are no animation problems, if it needs a change, update animation and do another hardware render until everything is good- move on to the next shot.

So while I'm animating that's all I'm focusing on- I'm not dealing with lighting, rendering or any materials. Hardware renders of a given shot take 10 seconds - 3 minutes so they are extremely fast and give you quick feedback on a shots animation, the way I was working before I would only seldom do hardware renders because I was more focused on getting the lighting/rendering right as I was trying to do it all at once- and I did but I believe this is a better way to work.

The reason I was doing it the other way before is that I didn't want to have to go back over 1500+ shots to light and render them out which worked out ok BUT I ended up re-rendering a number of shots because of mistakes and now I want to avoid that because of the time and money(for power) involved.

Since I'm now using xref's for my proxy lighting setups within each set I can easily update all the animated shots with near final lighting- I'll have to add special lighting setups to each shot to high light the characters and specific action in each scene but by having the overall scene lighting already done via xref that saves a ton of time.

So once all the shots are animated I'll go back through each shot and tweak the specific lighting and do test still frame renders and render them out.

So far I'm doing ten shots a day as a quota and I plan to keep that up- I've already done a lot of very complex shots and I'm able to get them in with my ten for a day- so lets hope I can keep that up and finish this thing quickly!