itsjustme

Sorry I haven't posted much in a while...it's been a very rough couple of months. This week I got a little time to do some updating on the Squetch Rig biped neck setup which I'm going to get a peer review on and I also got a couple of peer reviews on the tutorial interface before posting it here. If the neck updates work out, I'll add them to the installation rigs that will get released once I get finished rigging Bertram...and probably close to when the Squetch Rig tutorials are released. There may end up being a big explosion of stuff all released at once...I just need to get a little free time. I'm still pedaling...when time permits.

That's a shame, he looks great. Fantastic work, Mark!

Love the ape, Mark and Ken!

Thanks, Paul. I'll include them in my searching.

I haven't posted in a couple of days, so I figured I should give an accounting of where I'm at on what I'm concentrating on for the moment. In thinking about the font, I found out a lot that I didn't know. It made me consider just painting something for the lettering in the banner. I'm still thinking about it...I might end up using an OFL (Open Font License) font. There are more things to consider than I initially thought. Here are a few links with some reading on the subject that is shaping my thinking: Do you know why you need Public Domain fonts? Font Licensing Are fonts copyrightable? Font legalities OFL (Open Font License) FAQ I've also managed to get the navigation look I was after...I just have one more javascript thing to do that I'll need to research. I've rendered most of the buttons for the "Animating" section of the document...I still have to figure out how to represent "Other" (which is where I'll show the overall body squetching, on-character switches and anything that isn't covered somewhere else). I'm hoping to have the interface done soon...I'll post it for review when I get there.

Mark, you are the bomb! I'm going to keep saying/typing it until you believe it too. I don't think the number of recent downloads is an accurate indicator of interest in your work either. As a community, we need as many people working in their "lab" as possible...that's where the real innovations are born. You're doing fantastic work, and I'm very appreciative.

Fantastic job, Luis!

If you can point me at a link where I can download it or throw it at me, I'd appreciate it, Sebastian...it might save me some time.

how about that ? I like it, Sebastian...the lettering was too clunky before and I like the resizing of Sam. I'll re-render it and go with that. Thanks! Once I get the interface close to done, I'll post it with a dummy video so that I can get more feedback on it. ------------------ EDIT ------------------ Oh, what fonts did you use, Sebastian?

Very nice job so far, Glenn!

A little more of my trials and tribulations...maybe it will also help save someone else some time. I was using TiddlyWiki as the interface for the tutorials until a day or so ago. I thought it would be a good way to have something that could be easily edited by anyone after what I'm doing is finished...and maybe provide a template for future similar tutorials. I had things working fine using TiddlyWiki in Firefox, but came across some problems with Internet Explorer. I hadn't done it previously because I didn't have the latest version of IE installed, I use Firefox and really like it a lot. It turns out, the increased security features in IE didn't like some of the strange things I was doing from inside of TiddlyWiki...which the more secure Firefox had no problems with. What I was doing, was opening an HTML file with an embedded Quicktime video in a window. So, I decided I would knock together an HTML interface because the same thing would work fine with IE outside of TiddlyWiki. I also got some recording of actual portions of video done this week and did some subtitling. Still a long way to go, but I'm whittling it down...very slowly. I haven't gotten back to Bertram, but he'll have to be completely rigged before the tutorial can be finished. I've been bogged down in this seemingly unrelated stuff...but it is part of the whole.

After slogging my way through several subtitling solutions, I've decided that the best way to provide subtitles is outside of the embedded versions in the interface for the tutorials. I'll list off a few of the reasons, in case someone else is looking to do something similar. First, I like Quicktime video...with it encoded using the H.264 codec and AAC audio, it looks very good, is small in file size (by comparison) and is easy to scrub through. The problem with Quicktime, there isn't a built-in multi-language subtitle solution. Quicktime can do closed captioning, and has a non-standard way of providing a single subtitle, but won't satisfy what I think is necessary at this time. Second, I think non-embedded multi-language subtitles are a big plus for anyone hearing impaired or non-english speaking. I've been kicking myself a little because I haven't provided them up to this point in the other video tutorials I've made. Third, I want to try to avoid requiring the installation of additional software to view the tutorials. If there is the need, I want the additional software to be free and not require a lot of different programs/plugins. The best solution to the multi-language subtitle requirement that I've found is to use VLC...and the best solution for embedding that player in a web page (while using multi-language subtitles) is at Revolunet (here is a zip file containing examples...the advanced example is what I modified in my testing...I got rid of the unnecessary controls and changed the subtitles from on/off to a pulldown menu of languages). I did a lot of reading and testing and ended up deciding that if I went with the Revolunet solution, I would have to rely on nothing changing between Internet Explorer, Firefox, and VLC...which has happened several times recently. So, I decided the least breakable method would be to embed the videos for use inside the tutorial interface with the Quicktime plugin while providing Subrip (.SRT) subtitle files so that they could be used with an external player like VLC. I would have preferred to make it a seamless part of the interface, but every embedding solution had something I thought would be a problem. So, that's where that stands at the moment in my head. Maybe this post will save someone else a little time...at the very least, it dumps it out of my head to make room for what I really want to get done.

Extremely cool, Mark! Great choice of sound clips too.

I decided I needed to embed the Quicktime videos in the Squetch Rig tutorials differently...I wanted the option for multi-language subtitles. I found a solution that uses VLC, but I needed to change it some. It works, but I need to do a little more Internet Explorer testing with it (Firefox runs it without a problem on my laptop, but I might have cut out some code that IE needs). It usually works out like that though...I end up spending a lot of time on something I don't want to know about. I think it will be a good set of tutorials when I'm done though (we'll see).

They look great, Mark!

I got a little side-tracked the past few days working out some things in the rig documentation formatting. It has been a while since I've messed with any HTML or javascript and embedding Quicktime videos has changed a little. I'm happy with the results, so the time wasn't wasted. I've also gotten back to working on Bertram's shoulders...hopefully, I'll have something to show in a few days.

I like it, Rodney!

For decaling try here. For converting Icarus or Voodoo camera data, try here. Hope that helps.

It works for me, Rodney. I want to hold off a little before I show the final setting...I need to do a lot more populating. However, it will get a showing before it's finalized so that I can get input on it. The header image is just the top of the main page, the other material is going to be mostly videos. Thanks for the help, Rodney!

Here's the first thing on my to-do list this evening...an updated documentation header image using Rodney's suggestions (I also had to change the width a little to work better with the format I'm using). If anyone sees something that could be improved, let me know and I'll do some more tweaking.

Fantastic stuff, Robert! I think you should put your website and blog info in your signature...it would make them easier to find.

Here is a v13 Project with both the YellowDude and GreenDude set up in a choreography...everything should be embedded in the Project. I just put both characters' arms at their sides to show that things work correctly. Rotate the bones, don't translate them...that's how these characters are rigged. Hope that helps, Kyle. v13_Yellow_and_Green_Dudes_project.zip

That is a fantastic looking character, Paul! He looks like a Clint Eastwood caricature. The eyebrow hair could use either more density or more thickness at the base of the hair and the specularity etc still needs more tweaking, but other than that, it kicks ass.

I'll make another version using your suggestions and post it tonight sometime. Thanks, Rodney!

I've got several things going on at once that I'm starting to get back to after a month of pretty much working and sleeping. This is an image for the header of the biped version of the rig documentation I'm putting together. It's loosely related to Bertram, because I'm using Bertram to iron out any problems and install additions to the rig before releasing the next version. I'm just starting to get my legs back, but I'm going to put my head down and see if I can start getting something done again. If anyone sees a problem with the pose in the image, or sees any other problem with it, let me know so that I can correct it before I get to a point where I can't go back.