Rodney

Aaron Blaise is another Disney artist/animator who has resources available online. He considers himself primarily a painter and from what I have seen has some great insight into how the real world informs art (and vice versa). Aaron is perhaps best known for his work in 'Beauty and the Beast' (Mulan, Brother Bear, etc. ) and for some nice behind the scenes insight into his work there see Art Tip#4 on thumbnailing. There are also at least four books/tutorials on drawing and animation (average price around $15 each) available online at his website: http://creatureartteacher.com/ These include: - How to animate a four legged walk cycle - How to animate a trot - How to animate a four legged run Recently Aaron has been posting video tips on drawing and painting. Subject matter of his online tips currently includes: Aaron's Art Tips 7 - The Importance of Good Silhouette You'll find these and more on his site (and on his youtube channel) Here's Tip#1 - Avoiding "evenness" in your work oUmV_gfAbxQ For more check out his blog: http://www.aaronblaiseart.blogspot.com/

There is certainly something to be said for the detailed models/renderers we all love to see but there is also something powerful in the simply things. You've proven that yet again here! Nice model!

You might study the KeeKat (and I believe Rabbit) models that come with A:M. If I'm recalling correctly both of those characters have pupils that slide over the surface of the eyeballs. Somewhat related to your discussion here, note that at least with Keekat the surface sliding effect isn't active in the Model. At least in Keekat's case, the constraint turns on once the character is opened in an Action or Chor.

There is a nice bit of free effects you are gaining from the shadows. It almost looks like the bag drops some dust at the point he stops it's descent. I had to play the animation again to see if you'd added an effect. I'm liking this one even better and feel more of the weight. Right now there is only one thing that distracts me: There doesn't seem to be any motivation behind (or for keeping) that second set of kicks). I know that he's kicked the bag and stubbed his toe (probably even painful) and yet the two kicks still read to me as excess. I suppose we could go back to that old crutch and ask, "What is he thinking" but I suspect you are more interested in focusing on weight. As the point seems to be to emphasize that this guy has dropped the bag as soon as that is happened in are in performance territory. What is the significance, not of kicking the bag, but of dropping the bag. He can react to kicking the bag but perhaps it's more important to deal with the primary activity which is that of dropping the bag. Pure pie in the sky thinking out of hat follows: My thoughts again turn to motivation. After kicking the bag and beginning to react he could first turn and look to see if anyone has seen him drop the bag and THEN, when he thinks the coast is clear, he might again assault the bag. The first assault being an involuntary action but the second one purposeful with intention. (remember to always show the character thinking if you can!) If he were to vocalize his thoughts he might simply be saying, "...stupid bag." And to end the shot (and the whole shebang) he might then begin to crouch down as if to lift up the bag. I'm thinking somewhat in terms of if this were a scene that plays over and over again with different results each time (or as if there will be a subsequent scene where he returns to get a second bag). We don't really care at this point if we'll ever see those scenes as we are already involved with the character here. But regardless, the important thing to remember is that there was a reason he was going to get that bag in the first place. Beyond the pure exercise value of this animating this sequence, it is important to get back to that initial motivation of the character. I'm not exactly sure what his motivation is beyond "Go get a bag."

A black and white test. For toon and line work I tend to prefer the screen capture more than the final rendering and this one is no exception. Note: This is not a toon render. It uses two 10x10 pixel black and white layered patch images. The patch image approach allows me to adjust or change colors outside of A:M (if necessary). Added: Moved things around and added blue, skin, and yellow patch images. A little noise then added to the whole thing in Irfanview. The spotlight is a simple spline ring (assigned as a five point patch). Text created with the Font Wizard. Hmmm.... I'm starting to think Batam needs an exclamation mark...

Here's a test of a Boolean Cutter mouth for the 'Batam' character. Using specified boolean cutters we can cut parts of the model out without effecting other parts (i.e. cut the mouth out of the head but leave the teeth). The Surface property of the cutter then colors the area cut out of the head.

In trying to think of a way to salvage what you have of the attempt to lift and regrip... Bag topple It seems to me that you might be able to get away with a knee coming up to assist with pushing the bag upward as he leans back. When accidentally released then it is the knee/leg that provides resistance that rolls the bag as he loses his grip. I note that you've already got one of these knee lifts just prior in his first effort to lift the bag (nice touch by the way!). A second more powerful knee raise would add progression and continue to emphasize that the bag has weight. I'll have to look at the previous take again because this current one is looking really good with regard to the initial weight as he pulls it off the shelf and it drops/slides all the way down to his knees. The (second) final kick As the first kick of the bag works really well, I'm not sure you need that second. In considering some other options one might be to have him sweep his leg in from the side and topple over/push the bag with his right (kicking) leg. Something has made it much more easy to accept the bag topple as he attempts to get a new grip on the bag. Perhaps it is me just watching the movie over and over again? If you'll pardon the pun, you are getting really close to having this one in the bag.

And just before Batman I doodled the beginnings of yet another generic man.

This guy is from back awhile... before I started modeling the Tinkering Gnome.

...and a five minute cartoon car.

In case you were wondering... this guy ain't got no body... and no mouth. Thought I'd see how far I could push a few setups hinting at the body via the cape and by manipulating the light.

More random doodles... Keeping in mind the idea of simple shapes, first up was a ninjoid. I then started splining a generic face and the next thing you know I was doodling batman. (Hope these aren't too dark for folks)

Very interesting. You've got some nice hints at weight in key places. I'm liking where you are heading with this. The one part that doesn't work for me is the last bit with kicking the bag and it then falling over. Given what we've seen up to that point it doesn't seem to me the bag would tip over with a kick like that. My thought being that the mass of weight in the bag has spread out closer to the floor and therefore the kick would only dent the bag slightly inward. I'm trying to imagine what might make the bag fall over and coming up blank. I sense that you are suggesting the bad is perhaps 1/4 as wide as it is deep. Even then I'm not sure it would topple over with a kick. You've got me curious! Edit: In looking again it seems the bag appears to leap and twist out of the man's arms whereas I believe it should (could?) slump/lower and then when it meets the greatest point of resistance against his body begin to rotate. This would make the turning/twisting/falling of the bag out of his hands happen at least 1 foot lower than where it now is. IF he is attempting to reestablish his grip on the bag by jerking it upward that would motivate the movement currently there. You would probably need an anticipatory lean forward prior to that.

I haven't looked at this... but there is at least one X Wing in the A:M Exchange: X Wing Fighter Note that a second version with landing gear is also posted in that thread. There are quite a few Star Wars models floating around... as I recall there is quite a collection the Extras DVD.

Fun! I see lots of little details despite the ultra simple characters/presentation. Congrats to you for another successful commercial.

Outstanding demonstration of Surface Constraints Robert! Everyone needs to watch and absorb that information. Thanks!

Do you have a Project file you could share that demonstrates the problem? A very wild guess on the second part of the problem: Perhaps you need more geometry/splines in the mesh to allow the constraint to follow the surface?

I like the idea of the sci fi rays more than a freezing ray... the effects like ice rays were difficult to pull off in the B&W days when Flash Gordon was created. If you do go for the ice though, the Tinkering Gnome has a nice example of a character encased in ice: HERE I added an example of it melting away HERE. But I guess that would be the next episode. P.S. I also like the sepia/old school treatment!

If you click on your forum name (above your avatar) you should be able to see a dropdown menu that has "Find All Posts" and "Find All Topics". That is probably the easiest way to see all your posts. Another way would be to run a search with your name as one of the criteria for results. Or... you could click on these links: AZ3's Topics AZ3's Posts In case I misunderstood you there are other options down at the bottom inside each forum. The one on the bottom of the page allows you to filter. Note that the filter option at the bottom of the page doesn't appear in a Topic/Discussion... only in forums/subforums.

Jason has posted the fix/update for Mac OS Mavericks here for downloading: v17g+ Note: There is no change to the Windows version from v17 to v17g+.

Steffen said: Can someone point me to this SVN link (I assume the changes referred to here are not the old online SDK). Don't worry... there is zero chance of me ever developing and maintaining the mac version of A:M. I might however, learn a great deal about A:M that would further expand my understanding.

Great turn around Steffen. You are a machine. (In this case that's a very good thing)

Sebastian said: Sebastian, I might have read too much in to this then? For what it's worth I understand the frustration but many a bad decision is made in that state. If this community is important to you don't let others convince you to burn that bridge down. Jesse said: Jesse, First let me apologize for just grabbing an isolated sentence out of your post... there is too much to respond to and still be brief. I really should be starting my response by saying 'Thanks' for discovering and reporting that A:M wasn't running on Mavericks. Because you installed Mavericks immediately upon release (perhaps even had it running prior to official release) you were the ideal person to get the word out of incompatibilities with A:M. The fact that several other companies experienced the same unexpected jolt of reality (despite the beta being out there for the time that you state) and have already begun to release initial fixes (pending validation) bodes well. That alone should encourage folks to be optimistic that a fix for A:M on Mavericks is on the way. (At least the primary cause of the problem is known) I've debated with myself how best to respond to you and have edited myself on multiple occasions because what I had written was sure to make things worse rather than better. You've made some assumptions that only time and reflection might serve to convince you otherwise. The bottom line is that you aren't some newbie. You surely know a lot of what you've been saying is hyperbole. You are good with words, so use them wisely. As are we all.

I had forgotten these luminaries shared the same birth day. Happy Birthday!

Sebastian, I'm not sure what to say. I can't help but think you were already moving that direction. It seems for the present a few doom and gloomers have once again convinced someone to put A:M on the shelf (for invalid reasons). Way to convince Steffen maintaining A:M on the Mac isn't going to be worth the effort Mac heads! A minor history lesson: Five to six years ago a group of A:M Users decided it was the end of the world because Ken Baer had left and there was no more hope for A:M on the Mac. Despite their dire predictions both Mac and PC versions have consistently improved since then. The tragedy of this... if they had continued to support A:M, we might not be at this 'Mavericks' debacle today. How can we learn from the errors (all errors) of the past? Perhaps those who prefer A:M can learn a new software to allay their fears while still supporting and using A:M? Now, that'd be a novel concept. By all means learn new software but save a few bucks and stick with A:M as well. You'll have the best of all worlds for a few more dollars a year.