3D Movie Maker

This site is here to record my journey making a 3D animated movie based on an old English story about the Legend of Smuggler Bill, also known as the Legend of Smuggler’s Leap.

The movie will be made entirely with affordable home use level PC based software. The experiences described will be of particular interest to fans of Machinima, since the cost of the tools is similar to that for a small collection of recent computer games, but they are dedicated to movie making rather than game playing.

Of course these pages were designed be of interest to anyone who would like to make 3D animated movies at home, not just Machinima fans.

The tale takes place on the Isle of Thanet, which is in Kent in the South East of England.

In the story the smuggler is chased down by an exciseman, who sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for a smuggler catching Satanic horse.

The story used for this movie is based on The Smuggler’s Leap as told by Thomas Ingoldsby (aka Richard Harris Barham) in his book The Ingoldsby Legends.

The pages, which I will add as when I tackle the many different movie making tasks, will describe the software tools, challenges, solutions and other areas of interest I encounter along the way.

Given the many aspects involved in making an animated movie, the focus will be broad.

Initially some research into the story and its historical era is required.

I will need to be able to create 3D scenes, props, characters (avatars) etc. and animate them.

Once I have created the animated movie clips, they will need to edited and assembled into the right sequence, adding titles, transitions and credits as required.

A sound track made up of music and sound effects can make or break a movie.

Initially I envisage my portfolio of tools will include Trimble SketchUp (formerly Google SketchUp), Reallusion iClone, Earth Sculptor, Corel PaintShop Pro, Pinnacle Studio and various sound and music generation tools from the likes of Steinberg and Arturia.

If I discover additional useful tools along the way or a better alternative to the ones I already have I will use them.

Please click on the indexes on the right of this page to view the individual entries, which each describe an aspect of the 3D animation movie making process.

I hope you enjoy the journey and find some useful tips along the way.

Tony