Bricks in Motion
We are a friendly filmmaking community devoted to the art of stop-motion animation using LEGO® and similar construction toys. Here, you can share your work, join our community of other brickfilmers, and participate in periodic animation contests!
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Hi guys! I'm a newbie here on BiM and to brick filming. Here are a couple of tests that I filmed to get into the swing of things, and I would appreciate it if you guys could give me a little feedback. Positive feedback is always welcome, and negative feedback will also be taken graciously. Thanks in advance!
Hi there, and welcome to BiM! 
May I ask what your frame-rate is? I'm guessing around 12FPS, because it looks pretty good, but still a little choppy.
First, the effects are great. I really liked the blaster test with the added sparks and smoke. They were good little extras with just enough to be noticeable, but just small enough to not be over-kill. The jump looked pretty good, but a little bit more easing in and out would have made the landing smoother.
These are good tests, and once you up your frame rate, (15FPS is a good speed) you'll be really good. I can't wait to see more! One last recommendation is this, instead of doing three or four short videos, do one longer montage of tests.
It makes it easier on us reviewers, and looks more professional. 
Nice job on those tests, MouseDroid! And welcome to BiM. The best of these tests are definitely the jump and the actual landing and explosion of the EMP grenade (the vfx on that are quite good!). The shot where the clone trooper throws the explosive could do for some improvement as it was not that smooth. In the jumping test, I noticed some sort of orange compression artifact over to the right as the motion occurs. Perhaps this is due to the way in which the shot was masked out. Did you have your rig for holding the figure in the air placed over to the right and then mask it out? I'm not sure how this could be remedied though except by doing some testing with different techniques. Looking forward to seeing more video from you!
@Pritchard - The first two tests he says are at 24fps, while the last is at 15fps. (found in the YouTube description)
Those were delightful! 
I like the effects a bunch.
Very nice tests and the EMP granade throwing test is so awesome !
You don't have to take us to your channel. Just post links to the tests. 
Anyways...
Jump Test: The frame rate was a little slow and also, while the stormtrooper was in the air, there was some really weird orange stuff coming from one side of the screen. I suggest you work on that.
2/10
VFX Test: This one went way too fast. I couldn't tell what on earth was going on. 
1.3/10
Grenade Test: Even from a really close glance, I couldn't tell if that was a grenade. It was poorly designed. And, grenades don't electrocute people, they BLOW THEM UP. The animation was also pretty choppy and the effects were real sloppy and rushed, and I didn't like it at all. Plus, the logo, along with an obnoxious sound, at the end took up most of the run time. Just show the name.
2/10
Work on your animation a little more, please. 
Grenade Test: Even from a really close glance, I couldn't tell if that was a grenade. It was poorly designed. And, grenades don't electrocute people, they BLOW THEM UP. The animation was also pretty choppy and the effects were real sloppy and rushed, and I didn't like it at all. Plus, the logo, along with an obnoxious sound, at the end took up most of the run time. Just show the name.
2/10
Work on your animation a little more, please.
Actually in star wars there are grenades that electrocute stuff ( in particular, droids.) Also the logo, is AWESOME! The sound is actually very well done. Your grading system is broken. 2/10? What? I give it a 7/10.
Last edited by Legocloniac477 (August 14, 2012 (08:39am))
You don't have to take us to your channel. Just post links to the tests.
Actually, it was a link to a playlist of the tests he made, which makes sense.
Your grading system is broken.
Be quiet. I'm just giving him my honest opinion. It's perfectly fine to give someone that low of a rating if you have a good reason to...which I do.
If you expect him to respect your critique of the tests on the basis that it's an opinion, you shouldn't be telling him to "be quiet" for having an opinion about your criticism. He's correct that EMP grenades are an established part of the Star Wars canon. You have a habit of phrasing your reviews in a way that makes them seem overly negative- that isn't really necessary. Giving someone a 1.3/10 (wat) on a test without saying anything beyond
This one went way too fast. I couldn't tell what on earth was going on.
isn't really constructive. It was a two-second effect test; maybe the Youtube auto-play caught you by surprise and you missed it, but I'm positive that if you had given it another watch you would have known exactly what happened.
I thought the tests were well done, albeit with some minor flaws. I don't really think you need to speed up your framerate; there's some wobble on the jump test that makes it look choppier than it actually is, but that's just a side effect of using a high framerate. If you want to stick with 24fps, you'll have to make sure the tiny little movements that cause that sort of thing are worked out as you film. If you use a capture program, I've found that the most accurate way to check for slight wobbles is to flip through the frames as opposed to relying on onion-skinning. Onion-skinning is good for large movements, but a lot of the time it has too much overlay and keeps you from seeing exactly where the minifigure is at each moment in time, effectively hiding small bumps and jitters. That's just my suggestion, though, and I don't work at 24fps much at all. Take it as you will. For the most part, I've found 12fps (*gasp*) to be a happy medium between the time it takes to film and the end result, but 15fps can look great. In the end, you should aim for whatever you think you can handle.
I was really fond of the dolly shot with the bouncing grenade. The camera motion was a little jerky- if you could set up a rig that would allow the camera to slide smoothly in controlled increments, that would likely fix that problem. Regardless, it was an ambitious shot and I like the idea behind it. Keep practicing and you'll iron out all the little kinks in no time. I look forward to seeing more of your work.
Thanks for all of the awesome feedback, guys!
In the jumping test, I noticed some sort of orange compression artifact over to the right as the motion occurs. Perhaps this is due to the way in which the shot was masked out.
It wasn't because of my masking, since the only masking I did was right underneath the figure. I guess YouTube did something weird to it when it was uploading, because it definitely wasn't there in the original video. Also, if you look closely, the shadow looks like the figure
You don't have to take us to your channel. Just post links to the tests.
Well technically, it took you to a playlist. I didn't want to post individual links so you wouldn't have to go back and click on each link.
I couldn't tell if that was a grenade. It was poorly designed.
In the Star Wars universe, EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) Grenades usually have a square-ish shape. But I wouldn't expect you to know much about Star Wars (since you called a clone trooper a storm trooper) or the specific types of grenades there are in Star Wars. (Not all of them go BOOM)
Work on your animation a little more, please.
Like I said before, I'm just beginning to brickfilm, so I don't think I'll stop animating anytime soon.
The camera motion was a little jerky- if you could set up a rig that would allow the camera to slide smoothly in controlled increments, that would likely fix that problem.
For the dolly shot, I actually moved the set instead of the camera. I probably won't be doing that again unless I'm more precise about it. I'm trying to make a rig that would allow me to control the camera movements since I don't want to spend too much money on a fancy mechanical one. Also, I'll probably stick to 15fps instead because animating 24fps is a hassle and you can get some pretty good looking results with 15fps. I don't use a capture program, but I probably should get one. What I currently use is a program that came with my camera that just allows me to control specific functions from my laptop. It wasn't meant for stop-motion, so I don't have any way to play back the frames.
Again, thanks for the feedback. I'll definitely be posting some new stuff soon.
Yeah that was really good mouse droid
I actually really liked all 3:
The jump test did have some weird colours, but the animation itself looked natural and fairly realistic
I also quite liked the VFX test, it was definitely fast, but then again, gunshots ain't slow 
Finally, I thought the grenade throw was pretty good (The bounce effect was nice), though I actually thought it could have been sped up a bit...And yes, like others have said, SW Clones do indeed use EMP grenades against droids
Nice job!
I second what Squash said.
Mod edit: Let's keep this about the tests, please.
Work on your animation a little more, please.
And you can work on your attitude.
Anyways. Liked the test. Especially the last one with the grenade. The camera shot that panned along the grenade was well executed. I hope to see great brickfilms from you in the future!
Hey, MouseDroid! Welcome to BIM I really enjoyed those!
Jump Test:
I thought the masking was great I really looked like he was jumping!
I give it a 7/10
VFX Test:
I really liked the Effects! It was a bit fast but other wise great!
I give it a 6.5/10
Grenade Throw:
I loved it! This one was my favorite test!
I give it a 9/10!
The Effects & Animation overall was great!
Keep Brickfilming!
I thought they were good tests (they were just tests after all!). I am new too, but they looked smooth with really good special effects. How did you achieve the effect of the shot on the droid and lightning effect on the grenade? What software did you use, I thought both were very effective.
The gunshot test was a little fast though.
@Chrisjrowlands
For all of my VFX, I use Adobe After Effects. Regarding the gunshot, like Saminatorger said, gunshots aren't slow.
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