age234

Great character, I like it

Finished up the feet. I had forgotten about the shoelaces, I guess those will have to be clothsim'd or something. Another rigging issue to solve when it comes time. Now to improve the realism of the jacket cloth, and do the pockets.

When you do "copy-flip-attach" always make sure that your geometry is centred around 0,0,0. Thanks, I'll keep that in mind

I've finally had some more spare time to work on this. I've copy/flip/attached everything (mostly manually; the automatic command often flips along the wrong axis ) and have worked on the lower body. All that remains is the socks and shoes, and some details of the jacket such as buttons and the pockets, and probably more wrinkle detail on the jacket sleeves. As an aside, having done more organic modeling with polys and NURBS than with AM patches, I'm really starting to appreciate the methods AM uses in this area. It's incredible modeling the leg, tail, and abdomen separately and then being able to elegantly attach them together the way AM does. I'm really having a fun time with this.

All right, I've started to work on the jacket and arms. I watched an episode to get reference for the body, and I noticed something. The character has a habit of putting his hands in his jacket pockets all the time, and doing gestures from inside the pockets, moving the jacket around. This is getting a little ahead of myself since it deals with rigging, but would be the best way to pull that off? I don't really want to get into cloth simulation if I don't have to, is it possible to rig something like that?

I've worked on the spline layout some more. I've tried to move the 5-point patches away from high-deformation areas, and I've also removed some unnecessary splines with hooks (now that I've figured them out). Is it a good layout for rigging and facial deformation, or where could I improve it? [edit] Also, reading through some of the earlier posts, I don't want to misrepresent myself - this isn't my first-ever character model. I've done a fair amount of character modeling in other software for school with polys and NURBS. But this is my first real attempt at character modeling in AM (my personal software of choice).

Yes, this Macbook's screen is extremely bright (I really should get a CRT to test these things on). I'll rerender it brighter after I fix the spline layout. Thanks again everyone.

OK, I found it. You have to do Shift-A to create a hook-ready spline.

Thanks for the kind words and suggestions, everyone! Thanks for the tips. The trouble I'm having is that I try to add a hook, but it adds a CP to the spline instead. I did manage to get one to work on the side of the head by the bottom gill-type thing, but I haven't been able to repeat it. Does it only work when joining two separate pieces of geometry, as opposed to ending a ring of CPs on an existing surface?

I've been working on this in bits of spare time I manage to carve out now and then - 10 minutes here and there, basically. It's Robbie Sinclair from the TV show "Dinosaurs" (I couldn't come up with any original ideas that were interesting enough). I plan on modeling the whole thing, texturing, rigging, and eventually animating as well. This is the first character model I've really committed to in A:M, since I don't really consider myself a modeler, but I want to get better. I know I have to work on the CP layout, parallel rows are getting pretty dense in some areas. I've had some problems with hooks (they never seem to want to work, is there a trick to making hooks?) It also needs smoothing out on the snout and side of the head. I'd love some constructive suggestions and anything that will help me make it better.

Tahnks for the pointers, everyone. I can't say I've ever seen anyone really do the UP. But thanks for the tip. Yeah, the hands do need a little work. And I agree, the scream and ending is floaty. Good idea about the bug eyes and all. The slide show was done in Final Cut Express, then projected as a light rotoscope. I'll post again when I get those changes made.

I'm actually working on it to put on my demo reel. I'm a student at Full Sail and the final projects/demo reel class is coming up. As an aside, I have to say that I like using A:M quite a bit more than Maya. Sure, the modeling tools are nice and the renderer is great, but A:M is a lot nicer of an experience. The non-linear way it works--like the separate ACT files. And to me, modeling, rigging, and scene setup in the same window doesn't make sense. So kudos to the Hash team for being ahead of the curve.

I was just wondering if I could get some constructive criticism on something I'm working on. The link is here (2.5MB) Oh, and if you're from any of the States mentioned and have a better idea for pictures to go on the projector, let me know that, too. I'm going for a sort of inside joke/stereotype thing. For example, for Michigan there's a hand, because we Michiganians will quite often point to a place on the right hand when asked where we're from (unless one is a Yooper). So, yeah. Looking forward to comments.

In the research I've done, I've seen them have a trough with water in it, which the bowls rotate through and keep the bowls wet. I've also seen just a bowl of water sitting on a nearby table. I think I'm going to make a cylindrical enclosure around the glass, the bottom half would keep the water in it. The top part would open and close like a piano keyboard cover thing, also setting the glass off from the background.

Here's a WIP of a glass armonica I'm working on. Not overly exciting. Just a tiny piece of a larger project.