This week I worked on my new script for the Older Filmmaker’s Club, and started to explore Unreal Engine.
Older Filmmaker’s Club short film script challenge
I worked on my script for the Older Filmmaker’s Club short film script challenge. Last week I had written part of it as a short story. This week I got a draft script done. I decided to leave it for a bit before I had another go at it.
I have mixed emotions about it. It seems to me that it is too superficial. At the same time, I find myself getting very emotional about it. I feel that it was good for me to write it, but I am not sure that I really want to share it with other people.
Changing Priorities
I had planned to do some more experiments with ChatGPT this week. My idea was to feed it one of my story outlines and ask it to write the story based on it. I wanted to see if that would be of any use in helping me write.
However, I changed my mind.
Last year I bought my new computer so I could use some of the newer animation programs. Even the new release Blender, which I had experience with, wouldn’t work on my computer. I felt that it would be better for me to spend my time learning and testing those rather than diving deeper into ChatGPT.
Cascadeur
I looked at Cascadeur, an animation program with AI features. In other programs, when you adjust one body part of a character, you need to adjust all the other parts to fit. For example, when you take a step forward, the rest of your body will shift to maintain balance. With other programs, you have to do this body part by body part. This program uses AI to do it automatically.
It is an interesting approach, but, after a bit of investigation, I decided that it really wasn’t what I was looking for.
Unreal Engine
Last year I looked at iClone and Unreal Engine, but neither of them would run on my old computer. That is why I bought my new computer.
I had leaned toward iClone, but since Unreal Engine is free to use on movie projects under $1,000,000, I decided I should try it first.
I found a 4-hour long training video on YouTube teaching Unreal Engine for Blender users. Since I have used Blender, I figured this would be a good option. So far, I’ve only watched about 20 minutes of the video. I kept stopping to go try out what they showed. It does seem easier to get the photo realistic look. I was never able to get that with Blender.