Wildsided

Been a couple of days since I checked in so I thought i'd post some more details and a sneak peak of the upcoming EG Episode. But first I'd like to talk about my set idea. It became apparent to me recently that my Laptop lacks the grunt to be able to do all the things I want to do with regards to A:M. Money however is way too tight to even consider upgrading it. So I've been doing my best to work around it. I'd originally gotten hold of a stage rip from Sonic Colors that I imported into A:M and started texturing. Originally I tried to make all the grassy areas out of Hair and the one time I managed to get it to render it looked pretty sweet. But any subsequent attempts (no doubt down to the fact that I'd added to the group size) resulted in a not responding message that didn't go away. So I tried to texture everything instead. That worked out a little better but when I tried making a test animation, again my laptop wept like a little girl and then passed out. So I needed a set for Sonic to run on that wouldn't need so many resources to render. After a little while of thinking I came up with the idea of a tube. With a large ring at one end. A backdrop would be placed on the back ring and BG and FG objects (along with Sonic) would be put onto the surface of the tube. To test the theory I built a palm tree and a platform and of course the tube. After some placing and rotating I ended up with this. here's a close up of the palm tree As you can no doubt tell the set isn't totally finished, the textures need re-doing and I need to make a backdrop. But here's a test render of Sonic running along while doing his dialogue. It's low quality to save space but it doesn't look too bad maximized. Sonic_Animation_test.mov

Awesome Mark, Love puppets (Hell i have a puppet on Epic Gamin'). I'll be keepin' my eye on this.

Here's a quick animation test I did for the skit. sonic_talky_test.mov I haven't CP weighted Sonic yet and there's no background

I'm sure there's probably a better way, but I do my phonemes by using muscle mode to make % poses for the major sounds like A-I, E, F, L. T. O and U. Then in the chor/Action import the sound and adjust the sliders depending on the sound on each frame. I do all the speech first, then go through and animate the bodies relative to the scene and then a 3rd pass for inserting random blinking (Again with a pose slider) But I have no doubt that the pros around here have much faster and more efficient ways of doing things.

I've never done any CP weighting before. I usually just go into muscle mode and smooth stuff out. But things like CP weighting are things I keep intending to experiment with. Just to clarify would I make the whole spline ring where the two bones meet 50/50?

Sorry to get off topic for a second here guys, but I just realized why I love 3D animation so much (Don't get me wrong I love 2D animation as well just for different reasons.) I remember as a kid I spent a lot of time playing with action figures, spaceship toys etc and making say he-man run and jump onto battlecat to race over and save the day. Most of the action took place in my head but it just occurred to me that 3D animation is the next logical step from that. When you make and rig a 3d model you're essentially making your own action figure and making them act out those scenes that were once reserved for inside your head. Anyway that's the end of that little outburst just thought i'd share.

Nancy, It was probably screen capture software like Cam Studio or ZD Screen Recorder

Thanks for all the support guys it means a lot. If you asked any kid growing up in the 90's "Hey kid, gimme an example of something that would just never happen?" Below is an example of what they might have said. Now they're both rigged I can get some audio done and put the skit together.

Thanks David and Rodney!

Right that's Mario done. Now to rig him and Sonic and then start recording dialogue.

The filter keys are a windows function, If you hold down shift for 8 seconds without pressing anything it asks if you want to turn them on. I think it makes it so if you press shift (or ctrl, alt etc) once it stays 'pressed' even if you take your finger off and then becomes 'unpressed' when you hit the key again. Usually happens to me when i'm selecting CP's I want to group from a largers area and can't find the CP I want right away and I've just been leaning on the button.

The next episode will hopefully feature a skit involving an angry Sonic and Mario. Sonic is already done and I've just finished modelling Mario's Head. So I thought I'd drop in and show you all a quick render before I hit the sack. Later guys

Damn kids, no respect always walkin' on my lawn I mean why do I bother to plant my bagonias Sorry mr Moses sir, didn't mean to crush your flowers sir. MOSES! ARE YOU ARGUING WITH THE STREET KIDS AGAIN! COME INSIDE AND HAVE YOUR DINNER! Moses - Yeah yeah woman I'm a comin' Stupid kids, gonna pop their ball next time. Better be somethin' nice for my dinner, yellin' at me to come in.

I downloaded it and tried to load the .obj and it told me it didn't recognize the file format. So I imported it and then saved it as an .mdl

Congrats Gene! Really pleased for you

No probs dude

Hey guys! Epic Gamin' - Episode 15 is up. We're celebrating October with a double dose of Resident Evil. First up, Resident Evil the Umbrella Chronicles. More Gwen this time, we also learn a little about Dan and Tech's back story. Gonna keep building this up until the new year when we're hopefully gonna launch into the full on 'more than just a game' angle. Anyway here it is, hope you enjoy it. http://blip.tv/EpicGamin/resident-evil-the...sode-15-5651870

Hi Jake. I found this .obj of a gran torino and brought it into A:M. There's some repairs needed but should be a decent starting point gran_torino2.mdl Dan [Edit] I uploaded a new one that's less of a mess

Lol Thanks Rodney. I wouldn't say easy but easier than a lot of.....well actually all other 3D software I've tried. That said there's a whole bunch of stuff I don't get with A:M. Like SimCloth, Robert makes that look easy.

Nice Mike, nice

Hey guys! I've not uploaded anything in a couple of days, I've been busy doing the review for the next episode. But I just finished my model of Shadow the hedgehog. I don't know how I'm going to use Sonic and Shadow yet, but the more resources I have the better right?! Anyway here's a few pics

Awesome stuff guys

Hello! It's me again with a couple of pics. The first is a weapon that will be appearing in the series in the new year. It's called 'The Cutting Edge' and is based on the concept of the Gunblade from Final Fantasy VIII. However if you look at the Gunblade in that game, it's based around a revolver. This means the blade runs straight down the middle of the gun barrel and makes the gun aspect useless (how Squall fires it is beyond me) So around 2004 I designed my own Gunblade, this time based around a sawed off double barrel shotgun. this way the blade can go between the barrels leaving them clear to fire. The gun shoots a concentrated laser blast (because regular shotgun rounds spread and would damage the blade or worse) And here's a pic of Gwen posing with the Cutting Edge.

Rodney suggested I make a me model for long shots. Behold Baldylocks and the three hairs

Thanks Mouseman! That's definitely something to think about Rodney. I don't know if my stuff would qualify as even close to as good as the talents in the special projects, but down the line who knows I like the idea of making of a 3d me for long shots. I shall call him 'Stunt Dan'. Lol he can do all the work in fight scenes! There's a couple of experiments I'm working on as far as combining 3d and live action that I hope to post soon. One of the ideas is to film tech's head close up and have the rest of him as a 3d model to make him more versatile. But I worry that'd take away from his puppet charm. Never know until you try though right. The other one is props based. It'd be a lot cheaper if I could make my props in 3d and then add them into the scenes. Plus it's not like my 'studio' (Read spare room with a green screen and a camera) has a lot of space for prop storage.