itsjustme

Happy Birthday, Myron!

I know you have the best intentions, Jason, but the way this offer is worded implies that I haven't been able to record a "proper audio track", haven't properly formatted my video tutorials and have glossed over things...at least often enough to point out. If you want to release an improved version of any of my previous tutorials, it won't bother me. Any tutorial could always be better and I have no problem taking constructive criticism, so if you would like to critique the tutorials before they are released, I can shoot them your way before posting. My schedule is pretty crazy, so it would be very difficult to do the screen sharing Q&A type of thing. I don't have issues with collaborating with anyone, I've done it quite a bit.

Either way would work fine. For that particular step it isn't critical which order you do it in. Sorry for creating the confusion.

I forgot to mention to use the bone placement and CP Weighting in Squetchy Sam as a guide...definitely when setting up the bone placement in the face.

Once you have the bones positioned in an Action, export the model, delete the installation Poses, import the "FINAL_IMPORT" models that apply to what you're working with, run the "InstallRig" plugin and then start assigning CP's. Hope that helps, Marcos.

Yes, but I've been trying to put it together over quite a long time...things have changed too much. I don't want to put it together and then have it outdated immediately. It is actually going to be a lot of little tutorials on how to use and set up the rig as well as install it. I have several things that I need to tweak in the rig before it can happen, but it is part of the rotation in my "things to do" list. At the moment, I'm about two months behind where I want to be on my personal project, so I've been concentrating mostly on that lately (although I squeezed in a rig update). I've got a quick upgrade to the FACE interface that will make it a lot more adaptable and a foot control that I would like to put in (still need to experiment with it and see if it is worth adding...it would be very cool if I can get it workable) and I need to do an experiment with a shoulder setup that I don't think will end up being viable (so I'll just do a quick test first on that). Once I can get the set modeling finished for my personal project, I'll be doing more rotating of things...which has worked very well this year at getting stuff released (I think it has been six under five minute tutorials and one thirty minute tutorial). Another week or two and I think I'll be at that point, I'm thinking.

The method for installing the fingers changed last December, so they might be unfamiliar at this point. I made a quick video when the change went in that might help...it's in this post. I'm going to be putting together the installation tutorials as time permits...there are still a few things that need to be tweaked first though. I realize it has taken forever, but the rig has undergone a lot of changes and I only want to make the tutorial once...or at least one that will last for quite a while. Hope that helps, Marcos.

I know I'm not doing it the most efficient way...I just delete all of the left arm and leg bones, set the tolerance on the plugin to ".01" or ".02" on the "use tolerance for cp position" and run it. I think there is a way to do it without deleting the bones, but I never spent the time to figure it out. Hope that helps, Marcos.

Looking extremely good, Steve!

Nosir, you should be able to use the MirrorBone plugin to copy the weighting from one side, Marcos. However, for something like the face, I tend to just copy things manually...arms and legs are good for copying. Hope that helps.

It's just an AO render...in the "Properties" of the Choreography, set the "Global Ambiance Type" to "Ambiance Color" (255, 255, 255), "Ambiance Intensity" to "80%", "Ambiance Occlusion" to "80%", the Camera background color is set to white and in the Render Options, turn "Multipass" to "On" (16 pass), "Ambiance Occlusion" to "On" and "Occlusion Sampling" to "70%" (you can set it lower for faster renders with a little more noise). Hope that helps, Jost.

Here's a try at an adjustment to the coffee maker...it's a little taller and a little thinner with some travel mugs around it.

Great stuff, Robert!

It's supposed to be a "coffee-on-demand" or single cup coffee maker, so there wouldn't be a pot. It's not a direct copy of any particular model...maybe that's where I went wrong. I was trying for something that was a cross between something like this and this...more for a larger metal glass instead of a coffee cup (I figured it would give me less problems than reflections on the glass pot and liquid sloshing inside would) and able to dispense more than a single serving without reloading. Like the microwave, I was also trying to avoid putting a clock or digital display on it...in an attempt to prevent possible future continuity problems. I thought it worked for that, but maybe not...I'll do some thinking and see if I can figure out something that might help it. Thanks, John. When did people start putting the ground on top? I'm no expert, so I could be completely wrong, but I don't think it's wrong to have the ground on top...I think it's just preference. I was going by the outlets in my kitchen, which have the ground on top and the writing on the "Test" and "Reset" buttons were right-side up when oriented like that. The sockets on the home improvement site I was checking had them both ways...here. However, most of the sockets in my house have the ground on the bottom, so, I did a quick survey of a few sockets tonight (at work and a store on the way home) and found them installed both ways (when they weren't turned sideways). Most of what I found had the ground on the bottom, but, I found several with the ground on top as well. Then, I found some images here and here, but I think the most telling is the image here ("Reset" and "Test" are written on the buttons to support either orientation). That's what I found while trying to figure out if I goofed. It could easily be turned the other direction...I'm thinking I'll texture the "Reset" and "Test" buttons for either orientation. Thanks, Robert.

Another very small step forward...a coffee maker for the Break Room.

In addition to the tutorial Chris recommended, you might check out Will Sutton's modeling tutorial videos here. Hope that helps.

If you already have a rig installed, the standalone FACE rig can be added and it works with A:M Track...it's here.

I found a bone parenting issue that is now corrected, finished the standalone FACE installation for use in other rigs, flipped some normals on Squetchy Sam's teeth, updated some of the documentation and corrected the example Zign Track Action...so a little of everything. I think I found all of the outstanding issues. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. If anyone finds a problem, let me know and I'll fix it as fast as I can. ------------------------- EDIT ------------------------- These files have been deleted. The next version is here.

Cool cast of characters, Steve!

My guess is you're right, Mark.

Ooooo! I like that one, John!

Well, not completely, Rodney. The page discusses the shoulder movement based on a kinematic chain, so a little different discussion. That would make the shoulder move at all times, which it shouldn't. The shoulder would come into play whenever the bicep rotates to above level with the shoulder and about twenty degrees forward and back...which can be separated if rigged differently. Whether or not it is worth adding to a character rig (and whether or not you would be fighting against it more than using it) are more of the debate in my mind. It would have to be an IK control, because the entire arm will be difficult to control in FK if the shoulder lifts when you try to rotate the bicep. So, it could be an extension of the IK that is already in the rig. I've been rolling it around in my head a little. I'll have to add a setup to a test version of Sam and try it out...I'm still not sure if it's worth adding.

Nice! I want to see it when it's finished too...great work by all involved!

You seem to know that this is already missing so yes, I think it should be added to the Squetch Rig. I'm not sure of the specifics here but the lack of automatic shoulder movement when the arm/elbow moves is what I was referring to. It's not something that has been included in most biped rigs that I've seen (unless I'm remembering incorrectly), but I know it has been done in rigs in other software. My thinking was that it would end up being something like "auto balance"...a good idea that causes other problems, making it not worth doing. I'll take a look at it, Rodney.

I'm not understanding the question, Rodney. I'll list off a few things going through my head from this question (in no particular order): Are you asking about automatic shoulder movement based on the positioning of the arm? I'm sure it's do-able (I did something similar in the Quad Rig in IK). Is that a feature you would like added? There is a "shoulder_steady" Pose for each side...it maintains the shoulder orientation while rotating the chest. The shoulder controllers are available in both FK and IK. Is it that the deformation of the shoulder doesn't look right for certain movements? Can you make a quick video or series of stills showing the desired behavior? I think it would help me get a better handle on this.