Animation

   Even though the e-Storybook will be accessed via an online subscription, it will also be available as a collection of DVDs (probably as a collectable gift to our crew & investors), since I have a DVD Publisher. Of course there are also SSD drives as well, which may turn out to be the prime method of delivery, due to the size of the files.

   So, I recently acquired another laptop, a Mac Pro, of course. I've need another portable, since all my other ones are basically dead. But the real reason for another computer is that I am building an animation workstation and I will be moving my Mac Mini over to that workstation. I am building a monitor into one of my drafting tables and this will allow my artists to access previous art and also use the built-in screen as a light table. This allows us to craft movement from any of the images, in a conventional fashion using art panels. Of course, we are still introducing digital animation techniques, but I want to make sure we have a foundation in classic animation methodology (albeit, somewhat upgraded by using computer imagery to create underlays)

   Now, I am also constructing a sound stage, with a green screen, so that we might be able to introduce puppetry into the background scenery, which we are creating and using in the Illustrated Storybooks.

   It's interesting how layers can be applied to this process. For instance; if we create animation of a character (CGI or manually) we can insert that character and it's movements in any background as an upper layer. But here's the beauty of it - that animated character layer can be replaced with Digital Video of the same character portrayed with a puppet, captured on the sound stage in-house. 

   I was amazed to find a copy of Adobe Character Animator on this new laptop. I didn't even know this existed. Here's what I found out; Character Animator uses the car my era in the computer to monitor the movements of my mouth and interpret them in into the animated character. That amazes me. I was even more blown away to discover that the program ties into MIDI. If I understand that correctly, I can then tie the animation into our music midi files.

  The music for the Gnomes of New Hope had been composed using Digital Performer. We have a total of 70 musical numbers. Some of those numbers are bridges, backdrops and instrumentals, so they are not all lyrical songs. But the point is that; if the animation can be tied to a MIDI track, well, then we can sync the action, including the lip sync. Clearly, with Character Animator, I can sing the song and the animated character will react in like kind. I have not explored that program yet, but I believe we can scan our characters (artwork) into the program and build functional files for each character.

    All in all, I'd say we are on the right track for creating not only excellent artwork for the  Illustrated Storybooks, but an Animated e-Storybook as well.

AG

Puppetry

   I woke up thinking about the future of The Gnomes of New Hope after we finish the Illustrations for the books. I said to Jency that we will still need to paint the drops for the "shows".  Well, "shows" means the various kinds of shows that we need to present. Yes, The Gnomes project (overall) is a stage musical and the one difficulty that presents (for me) is the actors. After a spending time crafting the books and doing a production breakdown for the stage show, I came to realize that finding actors that are of the appropriate size to portray gnomes, may pose a difficulty.

   So, that being the case, one version of the show is a puppetry presentation. I am building a green screen/sound stage in the studio, in part for that reason.

   I have been building IMS since 1977. For a time I was making films, using 16mm, which was followed by video, and writing a number screenplays, before or almost at the same time as I was writing for the stage. In addition to this, I spent much time gathering the supplies necessary to build a theatre.

    Without going into depth on this subject here, I now have sufficient warehouse space to install a stage, which is in process. I will discuss this further on the IMS Virtual Studio blog.

   All this leads me to say, I am looking for people who are interested in building and operating puppets. One aspect of this is that I am also in the process of buying a machine shop. My plan is to engage in animatronics and robotics with the machine shop and to apply that to the puppetry of The Gnomes of New Hope. So if you are interested in being involved, send me an email at; image.of.the.mind.studios@gmail.com and we will engage is discussions on this subject. 

  I will address this subject again in the future.

AG 🎬🎶🎭

Main Printing Files - January 2023

Here's a caricature

 (of me back in the day)

 It's the "Never-Ending Journey"

I think I'll write a film with that title. 

   So, the journey to reconstruct the working files of The Gnomes of New Hope has reached a plateau. I just had a conversation with someone, whereby I explained how the process works. It is really very complex and the complexity is founded in the fact that there are seven books (777 pages) that must be coordinated, so that all the elements are the same. I never imagined that doing this would take so much time and effort.

   To someone who does not, or cannot, know what that means, it is this: imagine, if you will, that each page is composed of three primary elements- the background page, the text and the art. That sounds simple enough. However, two of those components are, quite literally, constructed from a hundred or more of layers, with protocols that must be either matched or adjusted to appear to match. You see, just because a setting looks good on one piece of artwork (example; a shadow) does not mean that adjustment will look right on another piece of artwork. Size, shape, color, resolution and proximity effect how any any given protocol effects that particular piece of artwork (for the illustrations). Relativity is not interpreted automatically, it must be set-up in the layout. 

    The background alone took years to design, construct and structure properly. It progressed through minute changes, which were effected by, and because of, other components and processes that came into play. That background has finally settled into, what I now consider to be, the ultimate of what it can be. Although, even now, I have discovered errors that have occurred between files. Just yesterday I found that a portion in one layer of the background in a section of book four had accidentally gotten erased, apparently when the layer I was working on switched in the middle of erasing anomolies in a piece of artwork. The layer switched because I accidentally hit the wrong key on the keyboard. These are the things one must be aware of and correct before going to press. It was very fortunate that I found that, because the error was very subtle. The thing is, now I need to check all the other files to make sure that mistake has not been transferred over to those files as well. I say this because; when a change happens to the background layers, that background file (which contains many layers) needs to replace the previous background in all the files. This layout consists of at least 60, if not 80 files. That is a big part of the complexity.

  You know, people have said to me "you could make changes forever, why not just call it finished?" and I did that as best as I could... until, a change was required. Here's the thing, particularly in regard to the background; four primary components. Those four primary components have been created using hundreds of layers that have been shaped and reshaped, with countless EFX and adjustments, to create the final look of those components. There are sub-files that allow me to go back to any component and change the look, but in the main working file those primary components are simplified down to a few layers that can be adjusted as necessary. I say this because I have found that different printing presses produce different results. Hence the need to make adjustments to assure that the final printed product will be consistent if the printing press changes. This would be the reason I am looking into putting a press in the studio. Of course, that will depends on what kind of quantity I can get with orders for the finished books. Also that depend on whether or not the press is leased or purchased. I may be able to shift assets around in order to secure the press and supplies, either way.

   OK, well, the initial layouts have been converted over into a layered scenario that gives me full control over adjusting all the components, as needed for printing, but also design adjustments, because everything now is in PSD, whereas it originated and grew in a DOCX environment. The reason for this is that - the narrative story was originally written in DOC and gradually changed into an Illustrated Storybook, so converting the text over to the present format occurred in DOC with artwork inserted, which became DOCX.  As the artwork came about, going from TIFF, experimenting with JPG, requiring PDF, and creating backup files in PNG, the ultimate editing format for the art has been and remains PSD. But storage is another matter. As well as resolution.  There has been size issues with all the files, issues that have been effected by RAM and processing speed, required lowered resolution storage and caused hard disc failure (multiple times) resulting loss of a great deal of material. I have rebuilt all this material, literally, countless times. Looking back I can say those rebuilds resulted in improvements.

   As insane as it sounds, my working files are up to REV 463. I am now going back to inspect the artwork in the earlier books of this updated edition, being that by the time I reached the end of the series, although I started by simply updating the background, I made improvements to the EFX on the artwork that need to be reflected consistently throughout the series. I am finding that much of the artwork which was satisfactory for (what I now view as ) the preliminary layout, is not acceptable for the finished artwork that has EFX attached to it. I am inspecting the artwork for clarity, but I also am finding a great deal of artifacts that need to be removed. Those artifacts were not apparent without the EFX. So I've actually taken to adding a bright blue stroke which reveal any artifacts and clarifies the edge of the artwork, whereas a black or gray stroke does not isolate the anomalies the way bright blue (or hot pink does), the reason is that those colors are not present in the artwork. So this needs to be another tool for inspecting the artwork in order to gain the maximum resolution, clarity and separation in the layout.

   In the meanwhile, Jency is coming in on a weekly basis to continue with the artwork. We are basically only working one day a week on the artwork, although she is drawing the remaining sketches at home in her own time. It won't be very long before we switch over to refining the sketches into finished line drawing and then begin creating the watercolors. I may be able to entice her to work more often with an increased budget, but that MAY only happen with an external investment.  Possibly a license for the film or theatre production?

   Of course I have a great deal of work to do, in order to prepare the finished watercolors for publication and then insert them into the layout. So I have no real clarity as to how long it will take to actually finish the publishing end of things. But we are closer than ever to the finishing line. In fact, three of the seven books are completely finished and three others are almost finished, while one other book (about 156 pages) has virtually no watercolors, although the illustration panels are approximately two thirds filled with sketches (not even line drawings yet, let alone watercolors).  The "somewhat unfortunate thing" is that - that book is number five, which contains "The Gnomic Tales",  a completely separate set of stories.  That was the reason for the hang-up. We skipped illustrating "The Gnomic Tales" because they were not originally part of the project.

     "The Gnomic Tales" comprise the Back-story of "Zach & Zebby's Grand Adventure. It became clear that a backstory needed to be inserted into the stage play, in order for the characters to advance with justification of their motives, so a version of "The Gnomic Tales" were created as a mechanism for that and, of course, they ended up in the book series.  I say it's unfortunate because being in Book Five they become a roadblock to releasing Books Six & Seven.  But we are working on it, so hopefully we can get it moving faster. 

   There's a lot of other things to talk about, but not now. I welcome any serious inquiries from producers or investors. I am not producing this with Loans, nor with Venture Capitalists.  Industry Professionals,  Theatrical & Cinematic Investors, or Studio Operations only.  We are setting up to produce things at Image of the Mind Studios in Southampton Pennsylvania. In case you are interested.

"That's All Folks".  (as they say)   AG