Rodney

As the article indicates, Robert Talyor is an amazingly talented artist. His quick-sketch storyboards and character refinement were certainly inspirational. I was so looking forward to learning more from him when he decided it best to move on from TWO. My recommendation: Mr. Taylor should teach a few courses on Directing and Storyboarding.

Very cool news Mark! I should point out that your link didn't work for me. But this one did: http://starbucklers.thewannabepirates.com/ I like the look of the new site! Edit: Okay... that was weird. The link updates now. Must have been a slow connection or cache problem on my end.

'Tis done. I think the reason it was buried in the Newbies Forum is because folks working through TaoA:M tend to ask the question.

By 'original post' I believe Robert refers to here: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=32426

You are out of control. I love it. Cool... and opportunity to express my opinion on fart jokes. Gotta mark this day on my calendar. My one true test in the 'I've given up and don't know how to make this thing work' category is the use of toilet humor. A fart joke almost never fails to get a laugh (if nothing else the shock value alone tends to work) but it's rarely the kind of laugh you want associated with your work in the long term. Side splitting laughter may ensue but it will still devalue the work. Better to understand how the anticipatory build up of the sequence led to an expected outcome but the presentation of a different result caught the audience off guard, then reset the scene for a different joke.

Top shelf! You obviously haven't lost your talent for modeling. Beautifully splined. If I didn't know better I'd say you were going after winning the next A:M Mascot contest!

If you are having a problem moving/reordering Poses in the Properties Window you can create a temporary Folder, drag and drop the Poses into that Folder... then drag and drop the Poses out in the order you wish to have them. Finally, delete the temporary folder. ...this is the same thing mentioned above but with more words.

Well... I did confirm it was Shaun's tutorial and that it is no longer in the same place on the FTP site. I believe it was placed on the Extra DVD if you got one of those. I know it wasn't put on the original Extra CD as files of that size would have filled up the CD too quickly.

Impressive work thus far! Very nice.

Edit... sorry. Not the right link. There was a reason I suggested you wait.

I was thinking that tutorial was by Colin Freeman but I may have my Freeman bros mixed up. I'll keep looking... (there are a lot of type of smoke and a whole lot of related topics in the forum... search on 'smoke') If it was by Colin he's taken that tutorial down from his website. While waiting for the tutorial you are after you may find success with some of the other resources available. Will Sutton for instance has fire and smoke on his Balrog model if you have access to that. Holmes Byrant's sprite tutorials provide a good undestanding of the underlying settings and options used for creating smoke effects. If you understand variables you can adapt a lot of methods used with other programs. The various topics on cigarette smoke demonstrate potential for lofting smoke. Volumetrics will do wonders for that hazy room filled with thick smoke look. There is a really cool project file posted by Javier Poot here: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=35939

Wow. You guys really nailed it! I'm impressed. An underlying theme for those looking in on the topic: Not all splines need to be unibody in shape to appear as if they belong to the same model.

Here is a simple cube shaped proof of concept using spheres and cylinders. (Following Robert's basic idea) Adding materials would hide breaks/creases in the surface. In my example I've just ramped up the ambiance setting. There are no Bones used in this animation. The Control Points were animated. wiredshape000.mov

I'm a little slow making the rounds these days so I just now read this.... This is such a cool thing for you to do for us. Thanks so much!

One of the secrets to hair is apparently placing a texture of some kind on the surface underneath the hair. This will then cover the bald spots from those angles. You may also want to investigate whether a material (such as Keekat's fur recolored white) might work for your purposes.

I'll donate to the tip jar regardless of whether or not it gets me a coloring book. If you can find and please new fans with your coloring books please do that! Hopefully you'll sell out and need to launch a few more print runs. Coloring books or not... I'm a fan. Hopefully I'll snag one.

Thanks Mark! Nice covers.

Very impressive Jost! You have quite a talent for translating your drawings into computer models.

Nicely modeled and rendered! I like the caricatured design. It's like a Stian Ervik Wahlvåg masterpiece... but simplified and cute. More please! Oh wait a second... you have posted more via your website! Cool. http://www.jostkeller.de/marinavonsee.de/3DModelle.html Tell us more about those comics. Did you draw all of those? Whoever did... I really like the layout and style. These are wonderful. Now you've got me very intriqued. If I can afford it I'd like to purchase some of these.

That coloring book is too cool Mark! I want one! (Actually.. more than one. One to color and a few to give away to really cool people as gifts.)

Great news Mark! I'll have to start saving my pennies for when your characters make the transition to action figures.

It should be noted that while you can manipulate photos in A:M this task is generally better suited to photomanipulation software designed for such alterations (Photoshop, photo morphing software, etc.) It can be done in A:M though. The benefits can outweigh the cost of rendering in cases where the image needs to be incrementally animated in ways that would be harder to do in those other programs.

I'm not aware of any tutorial that focuses on the subject but the principle is direct and simple. Steps: Create Grid in the Model Window Decal the Grid with an image (Preferrably something that can easily be distorted and still be recognizable) Open an Action Window with your Model Change to Modeling Model (or alternately you can use Distortion...Magnet or Mirror Modes) Manipulate the Control Points to change the imagery. Post your questions/images here and we'll build you a custom tutorial.

Your name is officially equivalent to the term 'prolific'. There may be some rough spots here and there in that last animation compilation but you sure know how to entertain.