MJL

Vertexspline, Thank you for the vote and please vote every day, this is the finals and the voting ends Thursday. The animation was done mostly by Gene the Spleen. We have done quite a number of Video's together. If you go to his utube channel: Spleengene Here you can see them. They were all done in A:M we are rabid fans and supporters of this software.

Thank you Rob, I've worked with the Smartskin a little already, I think I can get that, but I WILL holler if I get stuck. Mr. BoooTaay, I figured if anybody would appreciate that model it would be you. Thanks for the figurative map. I'll try both methods just to enhance my skills. Thanks again, Gentlemen.

We have entered our latest completed video, done to another song from Franco Paletta's CD: "Can't Kick Love" The first one an award back in March, and this one is in the FINAL's to win this months award for the best music video for this month. So I am shamelessly soliciting your help to register with the site, and ask you to vote once a day to help us bring in a second illustrious award. thanks, here's the link to the site. "I Can't Stand It"

I'm working on a project where I will be using Lambrina (From the extra's CD), giving her creator, Den Beauvais, credit for her creation. The info file does not tell me what version she was created in. She will be in a red dress. My partner in crime, the esteemed Mr. Spleen, is working on the model and exploring the vagaries of cloth simulation. I on the other hand, am approaching things from a different tack. I wish to make a walk cycle of her in the red dress, and intend to manipulate the dress using Smartskin. Which brings me to my conundrum. The model in bones mode shows perfectly good right and left thigh bones. However when I go to create a pose to work the dress CP's in Smartskin, the thigh bones are hidden. I have looked in the PWS to try to un-hide them but have been unable to find the particular nook ( possibly a cranny) where they are hidden. So I have come once again, CG hat in hand, to the wise and generous forum Guru's to call upon whomever will, to take pity upon me in my plight, and guide me, once again, to enlightenment. How do I make Dem Bones visible in the Pose? I have uploaded the file so you don't have to go searching. Thank You. Lambrina.zip

The personality transcended the splinage. Great Piece!

Looking very good!

As usual, Gene has outdone himself again. Here are a couple of shots of the real Franco, just in case you might have been interested. I think Gene "captured" him well.

Did a successful search and found the answer to my problem Here EDIT: To get the transparency to animate in the groups of a model, AFTER you drop the model into the chor you activate the "show more than drivers" button in the chor's shortcut to the model and animate the group transparencies there. Will let you know how it turns out.

Ok, I'm ready to animate. The bee will fly into a black background, (speck to large) and "Sting" once and the words "Franco Paletta & The Stingers" will appear in the arc, one letter at a time, dissolving in from transparent to solid. At first I tried each letter as a group in the same model but I couldn't get the individual group Transparency attributes to animate. Neither as a pose or in the chor. I'm sure there must be a way to do this without making each letter a separate model? Suggestions? thanks.

Good wishes are never late, Thank You!

Thanks, everyone! It has been, is being, and will continue to be a wonderful day. At this stage of the game, the marking of the passage of time has somehow been diminished in it's allure. It IS however, still much, much better than the alternative. Thanks again.

Finally got the time to finish the rigging, CP weighting and some smart skins. Still need to refine a bunch, but I've managed to replicate the original logo with the new bee.

My spirits were lifted!

You will notice that the ground prong is slightly longer than the two power prongs. That is so that, with the ground on the bottom, if the plug were to "fall out", or come to be inadvertently pulled out somehow, the two power plugs disconnect before the ground plug does, as a safety feature. Incredible modeling BTW

Wonderful work, Steve!

Thanks, Guys. The pats on the back are all the more profound considering who they are coming from. These were just quick shots with the bee, rendered as a targa, imposed on a jpeg I had laying around and fuzzed up a little. Xtaz, I will eventually get around to the fancy lighting stuff as soon as I can, right now the learning curve is on relationships in the model. I have been learning so much with this project. These years of lurking on the forum, reading every post, is starting to pay off. This time next week I should have an animated turnaround to show.

Like it says in the title, I saw this post when I first got Animation Master. I have been so glad I followed this advice. The Second best Money I ever spent. ( A:M was the first}

Got him rigged, and CP's weighted ( I hope I'm done). Got some smart skinning left, a few of decals, then some poses. Oh yeah, and a hand gizmo. (Thanks Will Sutton, and Holmes Bryant for the vid tutes ) I'm getting quite an education on this little project.

The last word on my last bee, was that is was a copy of the Georgia Tech Hornet. My friend says that they copyrighted their logo with that bee on it and it should be ok to use. I still think that eventually there would be a challenge from G.T. I still wish to do an animated version of his logo, but I decided to make my own bee. When I am finished with it he can use it or not but I still wish to use it for a learning project. It may be another week or so before I will have the time to rig him and add some decals for flavor, but here is the start.

Thank you, Stian.

A lot of good ideas, Paul. In the end I decided to concentrate on re-shaping the snout. That was the most distinguishing feature. I added a pair of sunglasses. I think that's just enough to do the trick. Now back to studying CP weighting and smartskin. Oh yeah, we'll see if my friend likes the blue. I think I do.

I actually like my first attempt at modifying the bee. I will spend some time tweaking a bit, but I'm pretty sure that this guy is different enough that there should be no complaint. Is this pose more like what you had in mind, Robert?

Good idea, Robert, but at this point, it it a MOOT point. Evidently Georgia Tech likes that bee as well. *%$#@ I had no idea. Still, all in all, it was a great exercise and I learned a lot. I may try to modify the head shape and change things enough to avoid copyright infringement. I will probably finish the animated logo the way I intended, just as proof of concept.

Thanks a lot guys. that means a lot. I'm trying to use only surface attributes on this project, just to cut down on render times, when I get to the actual video. Here is the latest shot. He's now holding the harmonica. all I have left is the old style microphone that Gene uses in the videos, and the rest of the lettering, then I will start to animate the l.ogo

I'm working on an animated Logo for my Friend Franco Paletta and his band The Stingers. Gotta get the 3d letters finished then I'll try some animation.