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Hash, Inc. - Animation:Master

stephen

*A:M User*
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Posts posted by stephen

  1. (you need to be 16 to be in the exhibition, stupidest rule ever created).

    That really sucks! Can't you have a parent or adult guardian with you?

     

    I won't be going, either. But that's because I'm in Australia :P

     

    I've been to the San Diego Comic Convention a few times though, and I haven't had trouble with my age there. First time I went I was about 15 I think (but I can't remember exactly). Is it just SIGGRAPH that has the age limit, or is it other conventions, too?

  2. I'm not sure if it's a look you're going for, but his chest seems kinda "blocky".

    Yeah, I've noticed that too. I plan on making it a bit smaller so it doesn't stick out as much, so it'll look less blocky. The body is still based on my early ideas for the body, so I still need to update it.

  3. Thanks again for the input.

     

    Firstly, I currently don't have any plans to open his mouth. In the past I've tried making a mouth, but nothing ever looked good. If you want, I can dig up some past screenshots when the head had a mouth. But for now there won't be a mouth, however, if I can find a way to add a mouth without losing too much of the look of the face, and have it look good, I might add a mouth.

     

    Andrew, you're right about the wrists. When I move them in certain angles, they do kind of fold over in an unflattering way. Any tips on how to improve the wrists so they are more animation-friendly?

     

    Ross, I tried lowering the splineage on the body yesterday, but I lost some of the look I wanted, and it also made it look worse when animating, so I think I'll leave the body how it is. Thanks for the suggestions though.

     

    Phil, I have had him rigged for a while now. The thing is, I'm not very good at rigging. I don't have TSM, and I also don't really know all there is to know about bones and rigging. So far, it's a very simple rig with nothing special. I'll include a few screenshots of my rig setup. I based it on setups I've seen from other people's models over the years. I just tried to add bones where, 1) I'll be able to move the body, and 2) where other people have had their bones.

     

    Any suggestions on improving the rig would be greatly appreciated. Or, if anyone knows of any sources (websites, etc) on learning about bones and all the different types and settings, please let me know.

    post-7-1081571835.jpg

  4. Excellent characters and render. I like the red light, the way it shines on the metal. Is that part of the model, or is it part of the chor

     

    Thanks! The red light is actually apart of the metal. I wanted to have a red-like glow on the body. I feel it adds to the effect and the whole "evil/bad" idea. Adds character :)

     

    Here's another render of the evil robot. As I said before, he doesn't really have a name yet. I just usually call him Evil Bolts for now.

    post-8-1081569826.jpg

  5. Thanks for the comments!

     

    Rodney, you're right, it is toon rendering. In v9.0q, it's a standard toon render with a line thickness of 0.5. I found the deafult 1.5 was too thick and ugly, but the combination of the 0.5 thickness, white background, and the textures of the robots really worked. Actually, I also set all the lights to white, too. So it's a white background with white lights. I was mucking around one day and found these settings turn out really well, so I use it often.

     

    Ross, thanks for the comments. The evil robot (no name yet) isn't suppose to be a cat. It's just suppose to be evil/bad. The big head is suppose to be horn like (think of a devil). I'm not sure if the cabinet thing was something I decided to add in from my own imagination, or if I was inspired by Bender's chest from Futurama. I don't really remember if it was my idea or inspired. :D

     

    Here's a render I did a while back with Bolts (he's the white/good robot). Also seen is a smaller, inferior version of Bolts I made. I'm not really sure what it is, or what its purpose is, but I just call it Toy.

    post-8-1081569302.jpg

  6. I'd love to upgrade. Part of the reason why I haven't is because I've been a student and haven't been working. As such, I haven't really had a lot of money. And I know $99 is quite cheap for an upgrade, but I come from Australia, so that's $USD99 + $USD35 International shipping (from the Hash website), which works out to be $USD134 for the cost of the upgrade. Then, I have to convert that to Aussie dollars, which works out to be about $AUD175.37. And even that won't be the exact price, as the exchange rate is always changing, so it could be from anywhere between 170-180 Aussie dollars.

     

    I'm not complaining or anything, I'm just explaining why I haven't upgraded yet.

     

    :P

     

    At least the original version of the plugin you released works with my version. I still have fun making trees with it!

  7. Thanks for the comments!

     

    I have tried lowering the splineage on the head a lot more, but I lose the look I want, so there's not much there I can do.

     

    Do you also mean lower the splineage on the body? For the body, there are some bits where there are too many patches, but I did that for texturing purposes. I probably could cut it down, though.

  8. A while back I made this post: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2189&hl=

     

    Well, I've updated my model a bit, and just thought I'd show it off a bit. I actually made these updates/improvements a while back, but have just now decided to show it off. The texturing for the body is still incomplete (think of the texturing just as an example of what the texturing could be). I also cut down the splineage in the head and around the body.

     

    The patch count of the model from the previous post (above) was about 1074 (I think), and the new patch count is 974. It may not seem like much of a difference, as while I did lower the patch count in some areas (ie, in the head, hands, etc), I also changed the pelvis/waist/leg area to look better, which added more patches.

     

    I'm still unsure on what I'll do to texture his body, so if anyone has any ideas, please suggest. Also, any suggestions or comments on the model itself will be very much appreciated! I'll also include some shaded wireframe images of the model from various angles. (Bear with me, I'll have to make individual posts to show them, as I don't have webspace to host the images).

     

    Cheers

    post-7-1081389717.jpg

  9. Here's the second one. This one has two of my robot characters in it.

     

    Oh yeah, the leaves were made using the hair system in v9.0q. They look different in each picture, though, because I was still fiddling around with the settings, trying to get the best look. The above uses a slightly larger thickness than this one.

     

    Enjoy!

     

    I'm not sure if I've said it already (I may or may not have, I don't remember), so I'll say it now:

     

    This is a great plugin! Keep up the good work! Thanks!

    post-7-1080104681.jpg

  10. Here's two more I've done. Both of them show a new tree I've made. It's supposed to be a old-like tree. I also added a bit of a hole in its trunk. In case you're wondering how I did it, I made the tree using the plugin, then from the base, I extruded downwards to make the trunk longer and thicker. From there, I added the hole. (So, as far as I'm aware, you can't add bumps and whatnot using the plugin - although it'd be wicked if you could ;) )

     

    Sorry, but I don't have my own website, so I'll have to post two messages and attach each file. Enjoy.

    post-7-1080104381.jpg

  11. Holy cow! This is a great plugin! I downloaded the project file and the plugin to test try out. I didn't think it'd work, because I have an older version of A:M, but I thought I'd try it anyway. Well, it worked. It worked like a charm! I was surprised how good my first attempt turned out! I added some basic materials for flavour, and presto!

     

    Also, good news, the plugin seems to work fine in A:M v9.0q (I'm not sure if it has been already established that it works on older versions, so, if it has, sorry :) )

     

    Anyway, here's my first attempt...

     

    Cheers!

    post-7-1079751662.jpg

  12. I had a similar problem when I first got A:M. After I installed it, I tried to execute the programme. The "Please Wait" sign would come up, and then nothing would happen, A:M just would not load up. This went on for about six months (shocking, I know!), and nothing would fix it. I downloaded the latest updates and associated files, and still nothing.

     

    Eventually, I had another look in the manual, and I found a seemingly insignificant piece of information that ended up fixing my problem.

     

    My computer runs in a resolution of 1024x768. I tried starting A:M in this resolution. I then stumbled across this in the manual which I had read long ago and forgotten:

     

    "A:M works best in 1024x768 screen resolution or above, but depending on the amount of RAM in your computer and the limitations of your video card, you may have to run in 800x600 resolution (or maybe even 640x480). You can close some of the windows to gain screen real estate. Also undock some of the panels and close them until they are needed."

     

    After reading that, I turned down my screen resolution to 800x600, and started A:M again. To my absolute surprise and pleasure, A:M started! After about six months, I had the programme running. The only problem was, my screen resolution was 600x800, which I did not want. So, just to make sure, I changed the resolution back to 1024x768, and A:M worked! Since then, I haven't had a problem.

     

    I'm not sure how it happened, but, by initially lowering my resolution, I got A:M to start up, and since then, I have had no problems running it in 1024x768.

     

    I don't know if it'll help you, but I suggest you try lowering your resoultion first to see if it'll run before you buy a new video card.

     

    I hope this helps,

     

    Cheers!

     

    Edit: I forgot to mention: I pretty much had the same problem as you described, except, I never got the blue screen of death. The "please wait" sign would come up, disappear, and then nothing else would load.

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