itsjustme

You can use the "BitmapPlus" material type to make the image a material. You should be able to tweak it into something useable using that. Hope that helps, Steve.

I'm out of time at the moment, so I'll just type a quick description...if necessary, I can make some screenshots tonight. I used GIMP, but I'm sure it can be done in any other paint program. I make a base layer of neutral gray, make a second transparent layer and use the "Filters/Noise/Hurl" to spray noise on the layer and the "Filters/Blur/Motion Blur" set to "linear" at 90 degrees with a length of about "50" to smear the noise into streaks. Then, I make a third layer, repeat the steps for the second layer except I set the motion blur to 0 degrees. Then, I flatten the image so that it is a single layer and use the "Filters/Map/Make Seamless" to make the image seamless and then save as a grayscale image. Hope that helps Steve.

I don't know what kind of weave pattern you're looking for, Steve. I just push some noise around to get a basic look like this one (it's seamless).

If you use your own character, make sure it has the necessary phoneme Poses...otherwise it won't work.

A step by step of what you are doing might help locate the problem. I'll list what I'm doing: 1. I open Keekat, double-click on the "Action" folder to create a new Action (selecting Keekat for the Action). 2. I select the newly created Action, right mouse-click and select "New/Dope Sheet". 3. When the "Add sentence" menu pops up, I input the sentence I want. 4. I scrub through the Action to make sure everything is there, then I double-click on the "Choreographies" folder to create a new Choreography. 5. I drag the Keekat model from the PWS into the new Choreography, then drag the Action onto the Keekat in the Choreography and check to make sure it is working correctly. Some things to check: 1. Where is your dictionary file located? If it's on your hard drive, move the file (make another folder and put it in there), go through the steps again and when it asks where your dictionary file is located, browse to the new location. Hopefully, that will cure the inability to find the file. 2. Is the Choreography adjusting to the length of the Action? Is the Action adjusting it's length to the sentence in the Dope Sheet? In the Dope Sheet, does the whole sentence show up? 3. If you're using another character, try it with Keekat...it should work with him. Hope that helps.

Looks great, Steve!

Just to keep people updated, I got rid of all of the compensates in the biped rig a couple of weeks ago...I still have an installation issue I need to fix on part of the face rig. I haven't done much on this for the past couple of weeks...lots of overtime at work. I should have time this week...hopefully, I'll get over my present hurdle quickly.

Congrats, Mark!

I don't think it was the rigs that caused the slowdown for animating TWO and SO...of course, I could always be wrong. As a test, I put 11 Squetchy Sam's into a chor. Yes, there was slowdown...until I hid the nine Sams I wasn't animating by setting "Active" to "off"...working in wireframe mode speeds things up even more. I made additional Sams active to see if things would slow down and it gradually got slower as I did so...with all 11 visible, it was a little irritating, but not unmanageable. Here's what I got: With realtime rendering set to "curved" on all objects in the chor: 11 Sams active: 1.2 FPS in shaded wireframe, 4.1 FPS in wireframe 1 Sam active: 4.4 FPS in shaded wireframe, 12 FPS in wireframe With realtime rendering set to "vector" on all objects in the chor: 11 Sams active: 3.4 FPS in shaded wireframe, 7.8 FPS in wireframe 1 Sam active: 9 FPS in shaded wireframe, 14 FPS in wireframe The performance will vary on faster or slower computers than mine, but that's the relative performance I got. So, my assumption is the slowdown was related to the visible geometry in the scenes and the realtime render method used (the Squetchy Sam I used has 4,995 patches). My thinking is that if all unnecessary objects are hidden, proxy models are used when possible and the realtime rendering is adjusted as necessary, slowdown while animating can be managed in most cases. My test method and assumptions may very well be wrong and I'm not a completely unbiased source of information, so feel free to ignore me.

Great looking strip, Mark!

Great tests, Robert!

If you used less specularity on the frame and put some wear on the seat, it would be hard for me to tell it was a model. Great job, Josh!

You could always delete the attachment and add a link to the download page for the plugin...

For initial capturing, I use the Camstudio lossless codec...here. Then, I do any editing using Virtualdub and make a finished master using the same codec (so that it remains lossless up to then). I then take that master and convert it to an H.264 Quicktime using Super. Finally, since older versions of Quicktime have trouble with video converted using Super, I open it up in Quicktime Pro and resave it as an H.264 Quicktime. I know, it's kind of convoluted, but that's what works for me. Hope that helps.

Nosir, I disagree...the 2008 rig kicks ass. The Squetch Rig still isn't going to be everyone's "cup 'o tea" and the 2008 rig is easy to install, "bullet-proof" and full-featured. It is definitely needed. One of these days, we will manage to convince you of your awesomeness, Mark. I'm still thinking about a "Mark kicks ass" float for the parade in your honor...just be prepared to wave to the crowd for the entire three mile parade route.

It keeps getting better, Mark!

The 2008 Rig kicks ass, incredibly good job on it, Mark! Also, I want to express my gratitude for all of your help on the Squetch Rig...I don't think I can say that enough. I tend to be kind of myopic when I'm working on something, so obvious things can easily get by me, unfortunately. Going over everything in the rig as much as I have over the past year has brought about a ton of improvements. I kick myself sometimes because I feel like I should have caught them the first time. As an illustration of one of the changes, here is a Zip containing the old version of Squetchy Sam's tongue (contains compensates and "aim at" constraints) and the updated version (no compensates). Sams_tongue_differences_08_06_2009.zip

Are you saying that it may be possible, by the time you're done with this, to install the entire Squetch rig and only one compensate would need to be reset???? Yessir...actually, I think I can get rid of the one I thought I couldn't, so, no compensates. The biggest hurdle in installing the rig will now be the CP Weighting. Sometimes you just have to look at things sideways.

Thats pretty crazy. I hope you are going to let us in on the secret of how you reduced all of those constraints. Like everything else, it's simple once you see it. If the bone you are translating to is in the same location or the bone you are orienting like is oriented the same, it doesn't need a compensate. Here is an example Project with a simple arm...there are no compensates needed on the two "orient like" constraints because of the orientation of the targets. For the rig, it just took a little more fancy footwork to get that accomplished. Some of the "aim at" constraints were replaced with "orient like", a few bones had to be added, etc. v13_eliminating_compensates_example.zip

I'm down to 21 compensates remaining in the biped rig...I'm pretty sure (not 100% though) I can get rid of all of them except one, which wouldn't be a bad thing. Still a lot of testing to do and then update and test the Quad Rig. I'll be back on it late tonight. Then, back on the face rig update and the gut rig.

I don't think that is an accurate statement. Knowledge is freely shared on this forum every day...and that includes one on one help, video tutorials and examples, written tutorials and sample models. It takes a lot of time to put together a comprehensive set of tutorials, so, something like that doesn't happen every day (Barry's tutorials are the most recent commercial set that I'm aware of). However, all of the information you would need to put something like that together exists here. If you can't find the information you're looking for, ask, and someone will either point you at a tutorial or help you with your problem.

Great stuff, Mark!

Extremely cool, rijklau! Great work.

I did some work and I think I got the compensates down to 57 in the biped rig...still a lot of testing before that is confirmed, but I think that's where it's at so far. I've got some more tweaks that should make installation a little easier that I'm going to work on tonight and then I've got to get the Quad Rig caught up.

Here is a tutorial that might be helpful.