CAMERA DL:
credits, personal journal, and cool lil behind-the-scenes workflow comparison thing below the cut:
+Motion Epic Games/Hulasemoos
+Camera me, AntagonistChan (see above)
+Model Noire by DatMMDGuy
+Stage Salutations Park by Kirlia Team
+Effects SSAO PostRimLighting PowerDOF Diffusion7 o_SelfOverlay ObjectLuminous
+Shaders PaletteShader (colorrim, spotadult) Green Wire Shader AlternativeFull
+Fonts Crostan by Genetypeco
+Programs Used MikuMikuDance MikuMikuEffect DaVinci Resolve Krita
MAN so this was a journey. I've been TRYING to get back into MMD seriously for years now, ESPECIALLY since early 2024 when I got really into Koikatsu (yes, getting into ANOTHER 3D program also encouraged me to do MMD too. Koikatsu is really good but it can't replace MMD. I have two hands. Well, really more like FIVE hands since I also wanna dip my toes into Blender (I already use Blender for modelling but not for animation) and SFM and-). But I REALLY started getting back into gear in April of this year, when I started doing a bunch of spring cleaning of my massive filesystem- and my first order of business was completely overhauling and cleaning up both my Koikatsu and MMD folders. Getting really acqainted with all my data again REALLY got the itch going, and I even did a couple practice things… but I soon realized I couldn't publish them for various reasons. So I got to thinking- WHAT, exactly, do I want to make to establish my silver age comeback? Unfortunately, it turned out that the practice animations were the beginning of a CURSE.
The first thing I really wanted to do was an animation of Do What U Want by Lady Gaga, after I used it to test a model (specifically DatMMDGuy's Uni, funnily enough)… until I remembered that the featured artist was R. Kelly. Now, this doesn't COMPLETELY rule out using it, because Lady Gaga also released an alternate version of the song that replaced him with Christina Aguilera… but I've always found the Aguilera version to be a bit disappointing. I love the idea of a Kellyless Do What U Want, but unfortunately I just don't like the Aguilera version as much. And I'm not confident that the timing would match up perfectly. Shortly after that, I was going through my motions to see if there were any I really meant to get around to using back in my golden age but never did, and I quickly found Ass On The Floor. Oh yeah, that's one I had an itch to use back in the day! Now, just to jog my memory, who exactly made the song…? Oh, fuck. In the time between my golden and silver ages, the song's creator, P Diddy, got exposed as a horrific monster of a person. After THAT, I got pulled around the ringer for a number of reasons- largely stemming from the rather dramatic end of my time in the Combofriends Creative Collective- so I didn't have much opportunity to work on further MMD stuff. But eventually, I stumbled upon a video of Turn Up The Music, and remembered how much I absolutely adore that motion. That dance is SO up my alley. But then I remembered… that song is by Chris Brown. Oh my god, I am cursed. But FINALLY, my girlfriend sent me a video of Matikanetannhauser from Uma Musume dancing to Forget Me Nots, and I got hooked. And after a week or two I suddenly realized: Hey, I can do THAT motion! Finally, I had a plan!
Now, the motion didn't come with a camera motion. The Uma Musume video just went with a static camera, so I was originally planning to do the same- but then I thought… why not get a camera? Better yet, why not MAKE a camera?! This motion's only 35 secs long, and really clean and simple camerawork is fitting for Tiktok-ass stuff like this, and the claps are a really nifty thing to work around, so this is like, a REALLY good opportunity to REALLY try to SERIOUSLY make my own camera motion! I've already been dipping my toes into that for years, and I even did it in the practice animations, but this is my first PROPER attempt. And I'm proud of it! Basically, the camera cuts every time there's a clap. Since the claps come in pairs, this means there's a split between the shots that last for less than a second, and the shots that last for about four seconds. Since the shorter shots are barely even there long enough for you to process them, I decided to do a bunch of strange and uncomfortable camera angles for them- angles like "looking at her from a distance" and "looking at her from upside-down". And since you actually need to sit with the longer shots a bit more, for them I went with more smooth and dynamic looks at the scene. Towards the end I even play around a lot with dolly zooms, which are a ton of fun. I'm proud of this.
