itsjustme

I'm not sure why it's not showing up...it's 900x600 in size, H264 encoded video at 5 frames per second with no audio. I converted it from a desktop capture that was an AVI (made with Camstudio) using SUPER. It plays fine in my Quicktime (v7.5.5) and VLC (v0.9.8a). Here's the same video exported from Quicktime Pro...does this one work for you? I'd like to get this figured out because I'm using the same method to make the tutorials I'm presently working on. five_point_patch_selection_H264_new.mov

I've been using this for a week or so now and i'm still baffled. Where on EARTH is the pentagon tool/5-point patch? I have also been using the patch group button. But I cannot find the 5-point ptcha maker. The tool isn't active until you select the five points...here's a quick video that might help. five_point_patch_selection_H264.mov

Looks great so far, Josh!

Kickin' ass, Mark!

Better with every update, Mark!

Fantastic so far, Stian!

This week I fixed another little problem I found in the Squetch Rig...very minor. I also saw an area that might be improved upon. I don't think it's an absolutely necessary upgrade, but it would make one thing a little easier. I've spent three or four days tearing a few things apart and experimenting (with some minor victories), I'll probably spend a few more days seeing if I can get what I'm after.

Very cool, Steve! Looking very nice.

Very cool, Ethan!

Happy Birthday to the four of you!

Very cool, Luuk!

Very cool, Michel!

Absolutely!

Very cool, Mark! The working drive shaft is a nice touch. Fantastic, as usual.

This week so far, I've finished another video for the tutorial, started a second video and did some tweaking and fixing on the biped Squetch Rig. I found one of the things that needed fixing while working on the second video...that's what this process is partly meant to do. Hopefully, I'll find everything that needs attention by the time the process is finished. Still a long way to go, but it's getting whittled down.

Very cool, Nancy!

Thanks, Steve. I did the CSS, HTML and rendered the buttons, Sebastian Pfeifer came up with the color scheme, font selection, layout and made the header image...he was extremely patient and helpful. It came out a lot better than the original version I made.

So then... tell me truly, not much has been added to the rig that was used back then in TWO? I last looked at the Squetch about a year ago I think and unless you started backing out features instead of adding more, a whole lot has been added. That does not mean that it will slow things down at all, but it is a legitimate concern given the number of features added. [[Edit: Actually it absolutely does mean that it will make things slower... but, will it be noticeable?]] I don't remember seeing a 'lite' version of the rig for low res proxies (that is not a feature request BTW, but that would be neat)? To be fair, there have been additions and modifications since TWO, but I don't think any of it would slow down response...I haven't tested it, so there is a possibility that I'm wrong. I'll post a version of Squetchy Sam that is up to date soon so that anyone that wants to stress test him will be able. There wasn't a need for a lesser rig, but the character splineage was cut down to only what was necessary for the TWO proxy models...the TinWoodman and TinGirl proxies could do anything the actual models could do except for any muscle-based poses (since the CP numbers changed, those Poses would not have transferred from the proxy to the actual model). So, things like puffing out the cheeks would have to be done on the actual model.

I'm not trying to sell anyone on switching rigs, I'm trying to provide information on the use and installation of the Squetch Rig. I don't care what rig anyone uses, there are several good rigs currently available, the Lite Rig, 2009 Rig, TSM2, Barry Zundel's rig, Jeff Lew's rig, the S.U.R.E. rig, etc. This tutorial (when it is finished) is meant to give as close to a complete guide as possible for the Squetch Rig. It's going to show how to use every control when animating (that's what the "Animating" section of the tutorial is for) and how to install and set up the rig (that's what the "Installation" section is for)...it should make the rig more accessible. In my mind, the Squetch Rig is not a product, since it's free...all the work on the rig and tutorials have been donated to the community by everyone involved. I realize that "product" doesn't necessarily mean something that costs money, but I think it might be confusing to some people if that word is used...reading with translation software is one possible scenario. A video tutorial on the process (which is going to be part of this), might help clear this up. For some, it's going to be a deal-breaker and I understand that. All of the other rigs I mentioned don't require the resetting of compensates, so there are other options. I'm not a programmer, so there isn't an installer for the Squetch Rig that will automatically reset the compensates like TSM2. Quite a few of them were eliminated using Expressions, but there are a lot of places where the design of the rig requires the compensates. Every time there was a bug fix or improvement, I used to release it immediately. There have been quite a few updates made since the last posted release. I have made them available to those wanting to use them, but I have been holding out on a posted release until I get the tutorial finished. The Squetch Rig was used in TWO...I don't know of any time that the rig was the cause of a slowdown. Proxy versions of the characters and sets were built to improve the speed of animating, but those proxies had the same rigs in them...although the muscle-based poses (for the characters that didn't have bone rigged faces) were not transferred. The tutorials were being outpaced by the updates, so they were outdated as they were finished in the past. That's one of the reasons I have waited so long to put this next set of tutorials together...I think it's going to be stable for quite a while. I can only speak for myself, but I have never been offended by anything you've posted, Rusty.

I'm finally starting to get a little free time, so I should be getting things rolling again on Bertram soon. This week (so far), I did a little more tweaking to the Biped installation rigs and (finally) worked out the remaining issues with the Squetch Rig tutorial interface. I posted a new topic here for the interface. Thanks to Sebastian Pfeifer designing a layout, color scheme, font selection and putting together the header image! I'll be adding him to the "Credits" section of the tutorial along with Mark Skodacek (in addition to the long list of other things he'll be thanked for, he also did some testing on the interface) and Rodney Baker (for his input on the header image). The interface took way too long to put together because I had to get up to speed on some CSS and I had next to zero free time. I had only used a little CSS the last time I did any HTML...and it wasn't as well supported at that time (tells you how long it's been). If I'm lucky, I should start to show some progress soon...barring any roadblocks.

Thanks to some help from Sebastian Pfeifer, I think the interface for the Squetch Rig tutorials is set. Some of the buttons have gray placeholder images for now and the video links go to the same dummy video so that it can be tested. I have tested this in Firefox 3.07 and Internet Explorer 8.06, so it will definitely work in those. Because of the non-standard way that different versions of Internet Explorer handle CSS, my guess is that it won't look right in any version prior to 8. I have to have a cut-off point somewhere, so, for IE, it's version 8...it will save me a lot of headaches. I've put the latest version of the interface in my online storage so that it can be knocked around by anyone that is interested. It is in a Zip file located here. If anyone finds a problem with the way the interface works, let me know. It will be getting populated with the video tutorials as I put them together and then released as a single collection.

Very cool, Nancy!

It could be that the bone that contacts the surface loses contact? There's an old project that I put together here...it's a four-wheeled cart that uses surface constraints to keep the wheels on the ground. A better setup was put together by Mark Skodacek, here. Hope that helps, Robert.

Very cool, Marcos!

Very cool, David!