Struggling to make 3D Character Animations

After seeing Rosa, I have been trying to make a short video using opensource/free software but I must admit that this is hard. I found Daz3d easy to use (compared to Blender etc) but then I have been unsuccessful in creating realistic motion. Even a simple walk cycle is difficult. I found a pretty neat run that was created quite a while ago using Natural Motion's software which is not available any more :(
I collected many links like http://www.posermocap.com/resources/ (nice info on clothing using Marvelous Designer)
I thought of capturing motion using software like http://www.kinovea.org or http://b-tk.googlecode.com/svn/web/mokka/index.html or https://www.cabrillo.edu/~dbrown/tracker/ and using with Daz3d's characters but in vain :(

Can anyone suggest how I can create or learn to create a short character animation? I don't care if it is 3D or 2D for now. Please share some ideas.

Scratching your head after hitting a production issue!

This is something not related to movie making... when programming in Java have you ever wanted to capture information about memory utilization etc so you have some data to help you in debugging should you run into weird issues... I ran into one such issue and was badly needing and hoping if I could have had some sort of profiler. Anyway, I ended up using something like TimedMemberStateFactoryHelper.java of Hazelcast. Have you developed any such tool yourself? Tell us...

Angular 2 - Special Event at Google

I was there today! And it was a special event to announce the release of Angular 2!!

I met with Misko, Vivek(?), Naomi and a few others whose names I can't recall now :(

It was super cool to be there today! 

This release announcement would help me coax some of the development teams I work with to use Angular 2 - they can no longer give the excuse that it is still in beta :)

Have you tried Angular 2? I think it is cool - give it a shot and tell me what you think...

Maniratinam... a musing on his style...

I was reading about Maniratnam today (again)... he really has achieved something! I really wonder how he developed his unique style. What inspired him to settle on that dialogue style? I would really love to ask him how he developed it. I think his screen plays carry his unique style. Every one of his move is a master piece - am sure most of you will agree.

He brought together the dream team... P.C. Sriram, Sujatha (of course not introduced to movies by Mani - but his story and Maniratinam's direction is a blazing combination), A.R.Rahman and of course Aravind Swamy and Mathavan! BGM of Illayaraja was good but somehow the chemistry didn't work out and ARR really rose to the occasion. Anyway, I want to ask him how he breaks down the screenplay... does he observe certain people/elements in real life and incorporates them in his films? Or are they purely imaginary? May be he observed little kids growing up. Who? Where?

Another question: is he able to envision the end product even when he is penning the script? I have heard that the mark of a good director is to envision the final product. But I that that is truly an impossible aspect.

All these questions just let me linger in the void... I really had wanted to ask Steve Jobs how he developed his unique insights into product design, but couldn't. The closest I could learn was that he used to walk in the parking lot observing the cars he liked and stool thinking, trying to understand what aspects appealed to him. How does one develop such unique style? Do you know how anyone famous developed their style? Oh well...

After musing for quite a while, I searched for the BMW film series The Hire and found these - enjoy!

Tools for zero budget film making

This is cool! These are nice tools .
Check it out: http://www.raindance.org/zero-budget-software-suite-for-filmmakers/

Looks like Daz 3D is another free software!
And there is Source Filmmaker (http://www.sourcefilmmaker.com/) too! (Here is a write up on SFM and link to some tutorials.)

You would need CrazyBump to create realistic textures (see this tutorial)...

(Not related to the ones above, but here is a bunch of tutorials: http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/index.php)

Check them out...

Introduction to 3D Modeling

As I started playing with the free version of Hitfilm 4 Express and after watching Simon's tutorials on Aeroplane and Atomic Particle Titles I was intrigued to try it myself. (Here are their other tutorials). But those features are not available in the free version and so I started to look for alternatives. Seems like good old Blender is the only capable tool and now I want to learn it...
Here is a wonderful tutorial by Jason Welsh that I found. Here is an article that highly appreciates this tutorial. Let me know if you know of any better tools or tutorials.

Here is another set of tutorials: http://www.creativebloq.com/3d-tips/blender-tutorials-1232739

3D Models for Compositing

Here are a few websites  from where you can get your 3D models:

• http://tf3dm.com/
• http://www.turbosquid.com/
• http://foundation3d.com/

You can find great stock pictures (still pictures) here:

• http://thestocks.im
• http://unsplash.com
• http://littlevisuals.co

Here is something totally different. Green screen plates:

• http://www.hollywoodcamerawork.com/
• http://www.hollywoodcamerawork.com/greenscreenplates.html

Enjoy!
I am not associated with any of these companies.