TNT

really nice!

I haven't made a study of TSM2 quadruped yet, but you may want to investigate some of the options for "necks" to see which you prefer. If you chose "IK Neck" there are really two neck controls. "head" controls just the stub at the base of the head. "IK neck control" handles the longer chain of bones in the neck. Here's a PRJ that shows animating the IK neck control (and head) to lower the head below the shoulders. Look in Action 2 from the side. It's bones only, no mesh. I've made visible the neck bones which would normally be hidden so you can see their movement. IKNeckMovement.zip Tail problem can probably be solved by placing the base tail bone to the base of the tail in the model. Thanks for take the time to help me on this. I just got back home and downloaded the file you made. I'll give it a look. I'm sure it will help.

I am working on rigging my cartoon Goat (he is in the WIP). Are there any tuts on rigging a quadruped with TSM2? I have a great one for bypeds (GALA by Caroline) but can't find any on the quads. I'd like to see how the bones were placed and find any advise on where "tricks" might be required. I did a very basic rig and auto assigned the CP's just to get a feel of what I was going to get. After doing so I feel my bones are not quite where they were intended to be. In an action the tail seems wrong (moves his whole butt) and the neck can't drop at all between the front shoulders. The neck seems to flex well at the joint near the head only. The rest is kinda stiff. This is my first quad so I am on uncharted ground. I would appreciate any pointers to tuts, good rigged quad examples, etc. to get me headed down the right path. Here a a few pics to show what I did to start.

That's great! Build a set for it and that will be perfect! Hope mine will be as good.

I absolutely love that short! I had not consciously thought of that character when I started modeling my goat. I'll take being compared to such a great character as a great compliment. Thanks,

This looks like it's going to be a hoot! Tons of great ideas and lots of people interested. Maybe once the rules are set even more people will join in. I hope we get every one from newbie to Hash Fellow participating. So who gets the noble task to set the final rules anyway? I'd say whoever is going to compile all the clips but thats just my humble opinion. Can't wait to get started.

This is great stuff! It's really fun. I can't wait to see the final cut.

While the debates go on for "Pass the Ball", I thought I would "model the goat". I thing I got him close. The primatives seemed to help me. It was easy to group them and then turn them on and off kinda like a 3D rotoscope. Anyway, here he is. Still a little rough but getting there. Again, I love the critiques I get. Can't always use them all but I appreciate every one. Let me know what you think.

Any feeling for when the due date for the individual renders might be?

Blues/Blues Rock/Texas Blues/Southern Rock That gets my vote.

Sounds fun to me. I'll give it a go.

I took some time to get the mouth pockets and teeth in all three characters. That done, I wanted to start the rest of the body. Since I am not the greatest with a pencil, I decided to adapt something I have seen suggested in a lot of art books but never seen done here. I used some simple primatives to block in the rest of the character. I just used spheres, cylinders, and cones to get an idea of the right proportions. Maybe it's a silly way to go about it but hey, it seems to make sence to me and gave me a way to put him here for feedback. I got such great input on the heads that I wanted to get some input on the body before I commited to detail. My thought is to make the hips and shoulders have a little of the boney look like most goats have. I think that will fit with the look of the head. He's supposed to be a kid (pun intended). Independant, happy, curious, good heart but mischievious. So please, how are the proportions? Does he fit the description? Any suggestions are appreciated.

Is the plan for the project to create a single still that is very photorealistic or are you planning to animate your project? Was the grass created with the hair system? I really like the reflections of the grass in the water. Looks like you're off to a great start.

Sure does. I'm curious. Is there anything in particular that lead you in that direction? I ask primarily as your color choices may depend more on the story you are telling and the scenes the characters move through than anything. Like you, I immediately thought of white for the girl. I wonder why that is. After that initial thought I wondered if it might not be worth testing further. It wasn't long before I felt a lot more comfortable with black for the girl. I'm not trying to sway you here one way or another... just delving into the thought process a little more. Depending on your interest I'd be glad to delve some more. Needless to say I'm interested in your characters and their stories. Rodney, I read and consider everyones opinions in the forum. I use some and let some go but even the ones that I don't use help me learn. I would not have the "kid goats" without everyones offering up great perspectives and insights. My favorit part of the forums is getting critiques. STORY: I'm not sure what the story is quite yet. The original idea was three friends in the barnyard (the goat, a potbelly pig, and a chicken). The goat, who as typical will eat anything, is irritated by others eating anything that he may have wanted. The friends teach him that sharing helps everyone and you get more of everything you need. The three goats we're discussing here really came from trying to figure out how to make the right aged goat for the story. Maybe the old goat and the girl goat will be extras????? Thanks again,

Cool! I haven't animated a lot beyond the TaoAM work. I am feeling my way to good balance between definition and ease of animation. I have the Stop Staring book and have followed some of the examples for around the eyes and the brows so they can be expressive (I hope). Thanks for the input.

He looks cool. The shoes and laces are great. I've never tried to model laces cause they seem pretty tough but yours look great. Right now he reminds me of Santa in the off season. I can almost see him doing the treadmill. Hope to see him animated!

I'll offer the following You'll be able to differentiate them even further in the colors that you use. As a starting place I'll suggest some earthy tones as a baseline; gray, brown, black, tan and white. You could then add the more character oriented color as necessary (via lighting, tinting, etc) to enhance and nail down the individuality of the characters. The general idea would be to pick two colors representative of each character. One very conservative and one that will stand out from it. The combination of these two color themes alone will give you a lot of room to play with when setting up scenes with your characters. Then a third set of colors are used to set mood and give insight into what the character is thinking. These colors will tend to change depending on the scene. At a guess I'd say they are the primary colors; blue, red, yellow, green, etc. Apologies if this gets a little too much into your creative biznez. Looking at your characters made me think of this. Hey Rodney, your comments are always welcome...I just don't always know enough to understand what you are telling me. (like the flock of birds and the moving clouds) I was planning on using some maps and the 3DPainter to do their coats. Maps really have me interested now. You can do so much with them. I was thinking white with lighter spots for the girl. Maybe make the pattern on her face a bit symmetrical while the boy is more light grey/dark grey and asymmetric for that unkept boy with a dirty face look. Does that kinda' get what you were suggesting? I know some of the other suggestions are about lighting and mood colors in the chor but that is a ways off. I have a lot left to model to finish these guys and then get them rigged.

Here are some pics after the changes. I included the splines since I was asked. They are a bit heavier than I intended. I may need to try to thin them out if I can keep the shape I want. My wife suggested the top right looked like a girl with pigtails and a pink nose. I gave the boy (lower left) a taller bridge to his darker nose, ears that stick out more, and smaller iris'. I also gave him the beginings of a chin and a tiny bit larger horns. I think its working but I'll take more great suggestions.

That was my plan. Who knows, maybe I'll end up with a whole family.

I thought he looked a bit like the avitar. It's just a look I like I guess. I better watch that everything does not start to look like copies of the same theme. Like I said in the reply to Rodney, your distortion really helped he see what I needed to do. Thank you for taking the time to help me out.

Thanks Rodney, You're right about the horns...what was I thinking. I really like the distortion pics. That helped a bunch. I think pulling the chin up helped a lot also. I think I want between the middle and youngest looking. Maybe I'll give him the button horns to grow into. That should help him be identified as a goat and still be the right age. I can't wait to get out of work and back home to work on him some more.

WOW! Thanks for all the kind feedback. I was aiming for that young to mid teen type look. I figured that would be the right age for a goat that was solid gold at heart but nieve enough to easily wonder into mischief. I think you guys are right about the eyes. The lines are maybe a bit hard. Maybe if the eyes are made a little larger also, or at least bigger iris' in the eyes???? I will plan on the head being a little big for the rest of his body to help him look younger as suggested also. I'll try to keep posting as I progress but I am new at this and sometimes a little takes me a lot of time. Thanks again for all the suggestions,

I thought I would try my hand at modeling a silly young goat. I wanted an curious, innocent look. Best intentions but able to get into trouble. Like a typical kid. I just added a little color with diffused color. Let me know what you think of the head.

http://www.virtualmediastudios.com/tuts/mapping/index.htm This is where I would start. It's from Rusty, one of the masters of AM. I doubt you'll find a better road map than this.