Animating Builds

[Royalridge]

So rather than derail the exhibition thread I thought I'd split this out.

Just out of curiosity, for new animations what does the group think?  Stop-motion (as per the Saturn V) or a time-lapse, where the build is done at normal speed and the video is speeded up to compress the time-scale.

The way the car video is done but what's easiest for you will give equally impressive results

The car one was my first attempt and I found it tough going, it was only like the ~200 pieces that were in a Speed Champions kit and it still took over 6 hours and that was cheating by having the guys walk on with semi-assembled parts.  It took something like 6 to 12 frames to get someone walking in from the edge of the frame to bring in a part, that's with the zoom close in on the car, imagine how long it would take to walk in from something as big as the Falcon! :)  I suppose you could zoom tight on whatever area was being brought in.

[John]

Well you've got till the 21st  ,Chuck a few sickies and  hire more minifigs 

[Royalridge]

lol, unfortunately can't really do the sick days.  Between Falcon, Porsche and Super Secret project it's going to be a busy few weeks.

[Royalridge]

So I did the Falcon with time-lapse on a couple of fake "GoPro" cameras, not exactly great as the battery life on the cameras let me down and I only realised towards the end that I could power them directly from USB.

Given the time constraints for 21st I think I'll do time-lapse on the Porsche rather than frame by frame.

[Royalridge]

https://youtu.be/qvh8Wgl7lps

[Royalridge]

1 minute time-lapse of Lego Technic Porsche 911 GT3 RS - 42056 here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FPZgVPR2k0

[Chawkeye90]

Looks great! What type of camera / equipment do you use to make the videos?

[Royalridge]

Looks great! What type of camera / equipment do you use to make the videos?

Two 600LED light panels on stands above the table to give a relatively constant light on the workspace.
A £50 4K "fake" GoPro set to 2s between frames.  The "trick" I learned after using them the first time was to power them by the USB cable in to a phone charger.  That way I wasnt at the mercy of batteries running out.
"Original" video for Porsche runs to 30 mins, so this was edited in Movavi and compressed to 3 mins then the 3 min was compressed to 1 min

The frame by frame animation of the Saturn V and Ford GT were different techniques and gear.

[Royalridge]

The stop-motion animations were done using "Stop Motion Pro" software on the laptop tethered to a Canon DSLR.

For the Ford GT I THINK it was a Canon 1200D with the "kit" 18-55 lens.

The Saturn V was a Canon 7D-II with a vintage 70's lens.

[Royalridge]

Argh! Argh! Argh! Argh!  When you muck up you action camera and find out you DIDN'T record the last 90 minutes of your 14 hour build :( :(

[John]

I take it argh means something else cos that's what I said when I read it, hope you have fun un building and trying again

[Royalridge]

I take it argh means something else cos that's what I said when I read it, hope you have fun un building and trying again

Part of me is tempted to undo/redo.  I also have to take apart and fix the rear wing, but to be honest, all of that can wait for this weekend. 

I wanted the Bugatti for Friday's exhibit, it was supposed to arrive Thursday and I'd the weekend plus evenings to build.  In the end it arrived on Monday due to it be held up in customs.  Did 3 hours Monday evening, Tuesday evening dealing with a couple of things so no building, 3 hours Wednesday evening and was half way through.  Forgot that I'd a work night out on the Thursday.  Still, I'd already booked Friday off to leisurely prepare for the exhibit.

So Friday morning, I've a slight hangover (one of those "you know you've been out drinking but not too bad" ones), so was still determined to show the Bugatti, started 9am, worked through, worked through, figured it was going to be the easy half of the build, but nope...... last part got clipped together at 4:50pm.  Just in time to load everything to head up to Blanchardstown.

So yeah, the Bugatti needs pulled to fix the rear wing, but I also have the lighting kit for it on the way, so I'm going to hold off until that arrives.

[Royalridge]

So yeah, the Bugatti needs pulled to fix the rear wing, but I also have the lighting kit for it on the way, so I'm going to hold off until that arrives.

Turns out that the rear wing wasn't a big problem and didn't involve stripping too much off, anyway it's done, and so is the time-lapse:

https://youtu.be/YXBlMFphyLo