CRToonMike
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Posts posted by CRToonMike
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Ordered my upgrade with the 2 day delivery and it was FedEx that delivered.
And your model is just awesome. Using the Porcelain material is a big help, as was mentioned earlier. Made a big difference in the render of my character models.
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Just to chime in, I've also been "away" for just under a year and I have to say that I am so very, very glad I got the 2004 sub disk (with the organgutang, whatever on it) and am using 10.5 o. Very stable and the improvements in the interface over earlier versions are faboo. Seldom crashes (and I'm using it in classic with mac os X) and I've been having so much fun that it's getting the spousal unit jealous ("But honey, I gotta model this female character...") :lol: I don't regret buying the new sub disk. FYI, my budget is tight and I'm starting art school in January and even though this means I have to wait a while longer for The Two Towers Extended DVD, It's worth it in every way. And with the hair and such coming along in V. 11, well I view the price as an investment in my creativity.
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Thanks for replying, everyone. Got some info that I can mentally chew on now. Appreciate it a lot everyone! Thanks again, mike r.
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Love the bolts, to me it adds more to the "story" of this picture. Wonderful, wonderful job!
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Like the baggy pants, pretty much for reasons expressed earlier.
But the hands still bother me and I figured out why: they don't "match" the body. If the hands were larger and the fingers thicker I feel it would add to the whole character. Unless the smallish (relatively) hands are intention. In that case, nevermind.
I like this dude, in any case. Good work!
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It's all really cute. Mean that in a good way.
The worm's cool and has a bit of personality. Think the kids'll love this.
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Wonderful job there, duuude!
Suddenly I get one of the last scenes from Chinatown with this guy in it. "I'm a fruit" slap "I'm a vegtable" slap "I'm a fruit" slap...
Well, it's early here.
Really like the personality that this character has already. Best in continuing this Secret Project.
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Very nice. Like the other Mike said, it's impressive for a first model. If only my first one looked that good!
The abs are a bit "blocky" though. And the bottom of the ribcage is a bit undefined and there's some some wrinkles in that area that just don't match the rest of the model. Minor nits, those are, imho.
Looking forward to the face getting done.
Again, great job!
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Hi all, Having gone back to A:M (yea! :) ) after a year's long absence I've been reaquainting myself with the program and such. Think I'm finally getting the hang of splines and that brings up this collection of questions I have. Been to the forest and ARM and ransacked the Tutes there on modeling and such; but I noticed an absence of information on a few things. When creating a character (or machine) are all the "parts" done in the same MDL file, usually? I'm thinking eye, teeth, tongue, etc... that's the impression I have and would like to get other's opinions on this. On characters that will have removable clothing, (thinking of belts, gloves, etc) are the clothes done as separate models and then combined (using a constraint) within the Chor? There's this character (Saturn Girl, there's a thread in the WIP forum) that has a blazer that goes out into a segmented dress-like bottom that's cinched by a belt. It's kind of like the "Tails" on a tuxedo. Now these "flaps/tails" should act and behave like cloth. Can I do this all in the same model file as the character or does it need to be a separate model that's then added in a chor and made cloth-like there. Just can't quite get my head around this. Any suggestions? I want the eyebrows on this character to be very expressive, so it's an separate mesh within the model. I know that I'll have to add bones to it and do some smart-skin hoodoo. Is this a good way to go? Or should I make the brows a part of the head mesh and then when they move, the surrounding mesh moves also (would have to adjust the influences of bones, I guess) Any ideas on any of this, anybody? Finally, what works for you when designing a character for animation? Is this one of those "you'll get it when you get it" type concepts? I mean, the model will be completed and then boned and such. Then a basic animation created. When rendered, there's a bit that needs fixing. So it gets fixed and re-rendered. And so it goes. Is this more-or-less your experience? Is there any major thing to keep in mind when modeling that'll make animating more "painless" ( that is, preventing animation problems at the modeling stage). I've kind of elaborated on the Facial Rings method by applying it to the entire body, making the splines follow the contours of the muscles and bones on the model. I'm still working on the belly, pelvis, legs and arms of my figure; so it's not ready for movement quite yet. Just want to get other's opinions. To summarize my questions: 1] are all parts of a character in the same model file, as a general rule? Of course the parts would be grouped and named and materials applied. 2] When creating a clothed figure, are the clothing done as a separate mesh in the model or as a separate model? And if the clothing is removed, it would have to be a separate model, right? Some kind of constraint would have to be added (like the Thom carrying the lamp video tute). 3]For expressive eyebrows, should the eyebrow be done as a separate mesh or be a part of the head mesh itself and then grouped and boned? Which would work best? 4] Any major "gotchas" when modeling for animation? What are major things to keep in mind when modeling so the animation will be as snafu-free as possible? I realize that I'm not gonna just do a whammo animation right off. There's a learning curve that I'm eager to climb, but I want to avoid major frustrations and learn from the amassed wisdom of the members of this list. Thanks very much! mike r.
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The length of the leg is okay, for leggy "good girl" art. The legs could taper more and that would take care of the kneecap bigness that Ruscular talked about. The inner thigh curves outward into the crotch where it could buldge outward a bit. One thing to help keep the leg somewhat porportional is to see where the heel ends when the knee is bent -- the heel should end up somewhere at the buttocks. One thing that could, imho, be causing the visual wackyness of the pelvis is that the stomach area. The tummy is a peanut/elongated pear shape and the bottom half is larger than the top. Not quite the case as the side view shows. Then the sides of the midsection connect into the hips. The outer hip joint is kind of a central meeting point for those muscles and the muscles of the thigh. (iirc, the thigh muscle is the longest in the body). So there's the midsection side muscles going into that hip joint and the thigh muscle going out and around to end at the kneecap. Most of the curve of the hip is those two muscle groups "weaving" together. Maybe it's that there's no indication of the lower rib cage that adds to this visual impression? And there's the outer hip bone that is close to the skin at the hips, it compresses the lower tummy and gives that part of the stomach its buldge. And the bottom of the tummy goes inward and then buldges outward just a titch for the top of the pubic area. Rusclar was spot-on in his description. Don't forget that there's a lot of "s" curves in the femme form. The muscles under the breasts curve up and become the shoulder muscles and attatch to the clavicle there. And begining at the hip joint, the thigh muscle curves around the thigh and joins into the kneecap and the lower leg bone curves out a bit (like you've indicated) and the calf muscles are pretty much like you've done. I would make the transisition between the end of the calf muscles and the upper foot a bit more severe. In the side view, the leg is fine, but I feel that the heel of the foot should jut backwards just a bit. Maybe by making the thigh/upperleg go forward a bit and the lower leg back a bit and keep the foot pretty much where it is now could help. What's helping me in my modeling is do do sketches of the figure and do contour lines so I have an idea of how the splines flow. The moment I got over my fear of unsmooth splines, I began to intuit how to use that aspect of splines to my advantage. There are dozens of areas where we want creases. Like around the shoulder and lower hip/inner thigh area. My gut feeling is that you have a good model here, now make a copy and exagerate things a bit. Go for creases where they exist in the body, like in the shoulder/bicep area. Make those lil' splines work for you. hth. Looking forward to seeing this model develop more. I've included a wireframe, not by me and I wish I knew who did it, I dl'ed it years ago and two computers ago and the author's info has been lost and haven't found it again. But it bears some close looking at nevertheless.
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Ohh, it's so twisted. I mean that in a good way
Great pix, it looks like it's done. This is going into my A:M keeper pix folder. Thanks for posting this.
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If you have the OS X Alpha downloaded, you can select the icon for the program (the alpha is named Amimation MasterD -- D for debug) and do a command-I (File|get info) and click on the A:M icon in the info box and do a command-c to copy the icon to the clipboard. Now find the icon for the A:M that runs in classic and do a get info on that icon. In that info box click on the icon and then do a command-v to paste the spiffy osX icon to that app. If you don't want to d/l the alpha, e-mail me (mike@crtoons.com) and I'll send you an empty folder that has the icon pasted on it (Just follow the steps above but do a get info on the folder itself). hth mike r.
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Very cool progress. The flyaround movie was very good. I agree with CarterHawk about the fish looking old and battle-scarred. Adds a bit of backstory to 'im.
Now I have the phrase "keep away from the green ones, they're not quite ripe.." going though my mind.
Anyway, I think the eyes could be a bit bigger, they kinda get lost in the texturing. Have you given any thought as to this fish's personality? With the downward angled mouth, I'm assuming he's (she's) a predator.
Really fun model, in anycase. Really like it.
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Not bad for first models. If you haven't, check out the ARM for tutes on Modeling Head and bodies. Big help for me.
And if you haven't, use rotoscopes. When I started drawing the objects I wanted to model, I was drawing them (front, side and rear) I was "thinking" more in 3D than usual. By the time I finished the drawings and began to model them, it was like I "knew" how to.
And extrusion is your friend.
Next time when you post wireframes, could you either hide the front/back/sides (depending on which view you're doing -- if the front, hide the back, etc...) or just do a screen capture of the shaded wireframe view. It's a bit confusing to me (and maybe, others) to see the entire wireframe at once.
Good begining, in anycase. Looking forward to more.
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Really good costume design. Especially like southern cross's costume.
Too bad about the ZB tute. I'll experiement my self, you just keep on with this project -- it's a lot of fun it seems for all of us to see!
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Really nice work. From the color scheme to the composition. Yeah, this one's a keeper!
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Uhh... is there a link?
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Been following this thread and it's lotsa fun watching the evolution of a project like this. Of course, John's great characters make it that much more fun.
Am kinda curious though, about using ZBrush and A:M together. There is a tute on ARM, but it comes up 404. Where is it, John? Very interested in reading it.
Great work again.
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Hey thanks Nate! I did the changes you suggested and just couldn't get the mesh to look smooth. Then I stepped back and reworked the splines along the chin and cheek and the 5-point spline moved down to the dimple area, which if it gets creased, is just perfect.
Here's the wire frames:
And the final (so far) render:
Although I did take your advice and then "did my own thang" I just want to make sure that if it wasn't for your good advice, I never would've had the train of thought that eventually I used. Heck, I eliminated a hook in the process. One of the probs I had with your solution, or with the way I tried to do it, is that it created two 5-pointers too close together.
Ain't that the neatest thing about art -- there's no real wrong or right answers, just what works better for someone in a specific situation.
I'm having a blast working on this figure in A:M, once I began to grok splines. When working in polys, I would dread moving a vertex. Now in A:M moving CP's are a lot easier and not a chore at all.
next up, teeth, tongue and a body (dunno, should I do au naturale or costumed version?
)Thanks again, everyone who posted a comment! I apprectiate it a lot.
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Thanks for the comments, Mike!
I've been told that I really do well with character design, guess when I start Art School in January, I'll find out...
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thanks for the words Francois! As far as this being "just like the Saturn Girl in the comics" -- well I'm taking a page from Tim Burton's book and "re-imanging" the Legion. So it's not supposed to look exactly like her. Just an excuse to model a fem's head, that's all...
Here's the latest render, improved on the lighting, maybe...
The front and side wireframe (just in case y'all wanna see it):
And for the halibut, a few bird's eye view one with wireframes:
The bangs will be duplicated on both sides. The figure's left side bangs will be a bit more up-n-out than the other side. Eventually she'll have a braided thing-a-ma-bob (where guys have sideburns) that some anime fems have.
I'm going for Bruce Timm-style eyelashes, I think they may have to be shortened a bit, but I'm too "close" to this face to judge. Any comments? Oh, the 'lashes will be changed to be a darkish-sandy-blonde color. If anybody wants to share their technique for eyelashes, I'm all eyes,
BTW, no decals are used, yet, think I'll wait for the '04 disk to arrive.
Trying for a glossy-lipstick for the (duh!) lips, but just can't quite figgure it out. Help...please I'm new to A:M and to the material editor. The Gold metal link in the ARM comes up 404 (as does a number of the more interesting links in the ARM and the Forest) so I'm pleading for some 411 on it, tia.
Any other comments, especially on how the mesh could be optimized would be greatly appreciated, tia, again. Oh, the neck bottom looks like that on purpose, I think it'll make it easier for me to attatch the body when I get to that point.
Next up, as I'm a bit burned out on the hair, is to model the (snort
) body. Or maybe Teeth.edit: Oh, Francois, I'm not sure if it'll be toon or "real 3D" rendered. Figgure that one out when I get a better handle on modeling and working in the Chor.
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Holy gentle giant, Batman!
The curves and shape just seem really right for a big fishie. Wondering also about doing the fins as separate meshes. Seems to me by doing them separate, you could be missing out on some folding and wrinkles on the skin around the fins. Just my 2 CP (as opposed to cents) worth.
When I used to work at a petshop in Berkeley CA, I would stare and watch and study the fish every chance I could get. Even had a 30 Gal aquarium at one point.
Looking forward to your interpetation of a big fish. On a great start so far, it seems.
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Like what Grubber said, the eyes are great and the shape of the face, chin and such are just perfect. Conveys (to me at least) a quiet reflective attitude.
Wonderful work!
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nice job so far, smooth surface. But the ear and jaw line's a bit off.
Here's a quick 1 minute sketch I did in painter:
The red lines are where the front and side views "line up" along the features.
The green lines show where things are relative to other things, e.g. middle of the eyes line up with the ends of the mouth.
In the side view, the green lines show that in (my cartoon in any case) that the nose is a bit further out than the forehead. And the lips are not even with the forehead, but not out as much as the nose. The lips are on a kind of curve (like a flattened barrel). Some faces have the chin jutting out past the lips and others have the chin behind the lips, so to speak. The neck is sometimes at an angle, as shown. The ear top lines up pretty much with the eyes, and the bottom of the ear is around the nose line.
The bottom two drawings are basic face construction aids -- front view two circles, one is about twice as big as the other, directly above each other. Side view has the same two circles -- but aligned along an angle.
Keep in mind that I'm a cartoonist and this drawing is exaggerated to show relationships.
hope this helps. Looking at your face, it almost seems that the bottom half is squeezed a bit. By pulling out the nose, lips and chin you may make it look a bit more "natural." But it all depends on what kind of face you're aiming for.
my first A:M project
in Work In Progress / Sweatbox
Posted
eyelids do add a lot. Only quibble is that the lids don't look like they're part of the body itself. If that's the look you're going after then it's cool. However, by making the eyelids part of the body mesh itself can give you a bit more flexibility, imho. For instance, the lower lid can then be affected by the cheek of the character. And the top lids could have some poses created for it so it could have a sleepy lid pose to a wide-awake pose and so on...
Any thoughts to eyebrows? Just curious.
Really enjoying the progress so far. Great work!