A dream made possible with Blender 3D!
"By our stumbling the world is perfected" S. Aurobindo
Since 2017 I work on my project to bring back to life the center of my hometown in an animation movie based in 1934. What sounds already as an impossible task faced several difficulties, mistakes, and unexpected events (including Covid-19). Yet, the path towards success brings a lot of fun!
Read the blogThe postcards collection
In 2016 I collected postcards of my hometown in this website (see Gallery), I bought them in auctions or found them online . After that, I realized that the project became static.
The re-discovery of 3D
Having found a lot of postcards from the '30s, why not rebuild a center that does not exist anymore? 3D design can be difficult and expensive. Sure an high risk if this is not your core business. However, I discovered Blender 3D.
The Blender Conference
After two months of assessment I still did not know where to start. Living in The Netherlands, I joined my first Blender Conference in 2017. Since then, inspired and energized, I dived into a world of infinite and always entertaining knowledge.
The first presentations
With the first stage of my project ready (although beginner level) I began presenting my project in Rome, in my hometown and in Amsterdam. Many positive feedbacks, ideas, and eventually the decision to produce a short animation movie.
What am I working on now
At the moment this is a one-man show, I have an agile workflow, however I miss the experience of the animation studio's.Buildings modeling
Being some of the buildings completely destroyed, there are no more blueprints. Most of my references have been the postcards.
Learning by doing
Thanks to the huge Blender community, I could learn a lot from online tutorials , forums, courses (big Up for Rob Tuytel), the Blender Cloud and the Blender Italia community
Build, edit, delete, rebuild
As I get more experienced in the use of Blender tools or when I find a postcard with more information, it is easier to delete and start all over.
Texture and shading
I learned the hard way that the road towards photorealism requires a deep knowledge of textures and shading techniques. Lights play an important role as well.
A script has been written, keeping in mind that this is a first ambitious tryout, the character animation does not involve fights or fast actions, more a lot of acting roles
Motion capture fantasy
I had the luck to study motion capture and the use of Rokoko suite. With this technology, I am ready to play every character of my movie and make another step towards the completion of this movie.
About the pandemic and the new strategy
Since the end of February 2020 and the spreading of Covid-19 in Italy and in The Netherlands, I had to postpone the crouwdfunding campaign and the possible teamwork with other enthousiast professionals. The animation project went in standby, as well as my constant practice with Blender, untill August, when I finally started again with another strategy in addition: thanks to the versatility of Blender, and Armory 3d addon, I am working on developing a small platform game (also available in VR), to navigate inside the center of Nocera Inferiore in 1934. Soon you will find a demo down here!
... and the animation movie?
Not being able to raise the necessary funds for a proper movie production does not mean I am going to quit. Nevertheless, I decided to start a Patreon Campaign to raise the necessary funds to buy a Rokoko Suite and gloves (approx 4k euro including the software license). The location for motion capture and, eventually, CGI is already available. "Just keep swimming!"HOURS SPENT
CUPS OF COFFEE
NEW SKILLS
ENCOURAGING FEEDBACKS
BLOG
Here you find my updates. Please keep in mind that I am an entrepeneur, a teacher, and a father of three children. If you do not see frequents updates, does not mean I am not working on the project, however, feel free to send me a reminder!
30 october: BCON2020 Together Apart
Tomorrow we will join the online presentation of the Blender Foundation. This is the first version completely online due to the Covid 19. We will have the chance to show ....
Read MoreTEAM
At the moment it is me who is driving, cleaning, cooking and making the coffee. If you like what you have found here and you feel like you want to come aboard, feel free to write me here
Prisco Vicidomini
ProducerOne thing is never to give up, another is to know when it is time to stop.
