itsjustme

I just realized that I need to add one more bone to the thigh fan setup...it's a quick fix, so not a big deal. It will get rid of the 'Y' and 'Z' rotation on the thigh fan that is still in there...I only need the 'X' rotation on that bone. I'll be able to get it done late tonight before I release the installation rigs and an updated Sam.

Great stuff, Mark!

I've still got some cleaning up to do on the installation rigs, so, I figured I would post the present version of Squetchy Sam so that others can do some troubleshooting if they want (in case I missed something). Barring any major problems, I should be able to get the installation rigs posted tomorrow night. This is still a "stop-gap" version because I want to add some updates to the face rig before I start making the installation tutorial videos. Here are a few of the differences: 1.) The fingers are set up similar to the 2008 Rig in that the finger curling bones are separate bones from the actual finger bones (much better method, Thanks, Mark!)...I've also cut out a lot of bones and eliminated quite a few constraints that became unnecessary as a result. The fingers themselves can be squetched by scaling each bone (hand as well), which eliminated the squetch Poses for them. 2.) The soft IK has been updated to get rid of some things I accidentally left in that would react differently if A:M were set up for centimeters. 3.) Added "right_thigh_butt_fan_geom" and "left_thigh_butt_fan_geom" bones to get better butt movement...they rotate at 50% of the thigh on the 'X' axis when the leg is rotating forward and at 100% (adjustable) when going toward the back. The original thigh fan bones are still there, rotating at 50% of the thigh rotation and are weighted more to the upper butt area on Sam. 4.) This version of Sam has five fingers...I'll also have a four fingered version, it will make things easier to test. 5.) Sam's modeling is a little more dense than it was, but I think it's an improvement. If anyone finds a problem or thinks there's a design issue somewhere, let me know. ------------------------------------ EDIT ------------------------------------ The next version of Sam is in this post, this version has been deleted.

The latest version posted is in this post, but, I'll be posting another update in the next few days. If I'm lucky, I'll get it done late tonight. It will include an updated Squetchy Sam...lot of changes in the hands, a couple of changes in the soft IK, a better thigh fan bone setup and some better modeling on the hands, legs and torso. I'll also be putting together a few tutorials in the next week or two on the arm/leg rig and the soft IK setup. Hope that helps, Mack. --------------------------------- EDIT --------------------------------- The next installation version is in this post, this one has been deleted.

Since my last post in this thread, I've made another QuickStart Expression tutorial, this one uses the "Max(a,b)", "Min(a,b)" and "Round(n, modulo <>0)" functions (I had to make it code...otherwise I got some smilies in there), here. Once again, there is an included subtitle file. I've also done more work on the Squetch Rig...at the moment I'm updating the thigh fan bone setup, fixing an Expression setup that might break down under some conditions and tweaked the modeling some more on Squetchy Sam. I have what may turn out to be three more Expression tutorials in the works (I haven't decided how I want to divide things up yet) and I'm going to try to release another temporary "stop-gap" version of the biped Squetch Rig before I start working on the face rig portion of the updates. I'm hoping to start releasing these in a week or two, if things go well. Then, I'll get back to some more modeling on the Break Room set.

I think I see what you're seeing, Jake (the same frame stepping Robert and Nancy mentioned). It seems like a lower frame rate than it actually is...have you tried rendering it without blur?

Looks great so far, Steve!

Great stuff, Mark!

Happy Birthday, Dhar!

Looks great, Gerry!

Great stuff, John!

The best way to figure it out would be to post the rig that has the problem without the geometry, Mack. It would make it easier to track down.

Happy Birthday, Gerry!

Happy Birthday, Paul!

It took about thirty minutes for an AO render (plus about fifteen minutes for the ceiling render)...my laptop isn't the fastest. I rendered using v15 on a 32 bit OS as well. I'm thinking it would be a lot faster in v16 on a 64 bit system. Also, the backgrounds will get rendered once per angle instead of every frame...which should save time in an animation render. The patch count for this room is 108,327 at the moment...of course, it'll end up being a lot more than that.

Happy Birthday, Mark!

Just another update for this thread. I made another QuickStart Expression tutorial on making a circular orbit here that was also used to make a propeller rig with throttle for Jake here. The progress on the break room is in this thread. Now, I'm going to bounce back to the rig for a few days and make another Expression tutorial. It feels better actually seeing things get kicked out. I'll keep bouncing around between things for a while and see what happens.

I tried some experimenting with having the ceiling set to "Cast Occlusion/Off"...I'll need to do some more experimenting to see if I can get better results than I have so far. Here's an image done using the previous method, so, the lighting is inaccurate, but it will show what's in the room at this point. Still a lot to do.

Have you tried setting the ceiling model to Options > Cast Occlusion > Off ? I was under the impression that if you do this, you don't have to render twice and composite. Hmmm, I haven't tried that, Holmes. I'll do some messing with that. Thanks!

Great stuff, Robert!

Since it is an AO render, I rendered the room without the ceiling, then rendered the ceiling and composited them together.

Here is the beginnings of the second set...the break room. The room has two doors leading to a hallway (one door is shown here), the floor, baseboard and acoustical ceiling tile. I put the chair in the shot as a visual reference...eventually, there will be at least six tables with six chairs per table, kitchen cabinets, sink, soda machine, emergency lights, light fixtures, fire extinguisher, coffee maker, etc. Of course, it's not lit properly yet, but I wanted to show a little forward movement on this.

I'd be interested as well, Robert.

Great start, Steve!

Happy Birthday, David!