JBarrett
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Posts posted by JBarrett
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Fun cycle you've got there. One thing that's missing, though, is some up and down movement in the overall body when he steps. Even if it's really subtle, it will make for a more solid, realistic walk (as much as it can be w/ a thistle).
The feet are also sliding...not planting solidly on the ground. I take it you've made an action and applied it to the character on a path using stride length. Check the original action and, if necessary, use the available moving "grid" as a guide to planting the feet so that they feel solid.
Looks like a fun character! Keep at it!
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VERY nice work! Still a tad floaty in some isolated places, but as others have said, you've really captured the essense of "cat" very well. Very fun modeling style as well. Lends itself quite well to a cat.
Kudos! -
John,
Fun looking character! The only comment I have for now is a caution related to the creation of facial morph targets, particularly for the mouth. The targets you've created look good in a sense, but those that open the mouth to any degree are completely leaving out the movement of the actual jaw. And with a chin as pronounced as you've got on that guy, it's really obvious when the jaw isn't moving when it should be. Keep in mind that the lower teeth are connected to the jaw bone, so if his lower teeth go anywhere, the jaw should be driving that motion.
Looking forward to seeing more. Keep at it!
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/me raises hand...
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I agree w/ JohnArtbox on the animation comments.
Despite that, though, this is going to make a great video intro. That baby is insanely CUTE!!! So expressive!
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Wonderful work, Zachary!
Really fun piece, especially considering the short time frame. Looks like you do well under pressure...the kind of thing that looks very good to prospective employers. 
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Re: entry number 5, I'm not sure why it has the MPG extension, because is uses the Indeo codec, which is for the AVI format.* Sadly, Indeo is no longer a free codec, even for playback. Older systems that come with the Indeo codec should be able to view it (guess), but newer systems (like the XP system I'm on) can't view the video stream unless the codec is purchased and installed. And while the latest version of Indeo may be great at video compression, I'm not about to pay for it to watch the few clips I find that use it.
This is purely a personal thing, but I don't recommend using the Indeo codec if you want widespread exposure to your work. There's no guarantee that your audience will be able to view it.
* Just to clarify things, MPEG-1 and AVI are video formats. Within most formats, various codecs can be used. MPEG-1 is sort of a combination format and codec all in one, so it doesn't use any external codecs for compression. AVI, however, can use a variety of codecs, including Cinepak, Indeo, DivX, etc. Because Windows Media Player attempts to download the Indeo codec when playing entry 5, that means it's an AVI file, not MPG as the file is labeled.
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It's also known as a "reel breakdown." Re: the layout of such a list, there really isn't a specific/standard format. On reel breakdowns that I've done, I typically include the following for each clip, listed in the order that the clips appear on the reel:
- The name of the clip. If a clip doesn't have a name, make one up. Try not to use actual character names in naming the clips. Never assume that the viewer knows the name of your character. Choose a short name that relates to the content of the clip, and perhaps something specific the character does/says. The goal is to identify it as quickly and easily as possible to someone watching your reel.
- Whether the clip was for a personal or commercial project.
- What I contributed in the creation of the clip. Keep it short and simple. Lengthy details of the process you went through to get the end result aren't really necessary. It's a good courtesy to also list what others have done, particuarly if you use someone else's model for your animation, but it's not necessary.
As an example, here's how I would list some of the clips on my last reel...
"Thief Among Us"
Copyright Big Idea Productions
Contribution: animation
"Scatman"
Personal project
Contributions: facial rigging, prop modeling and rigging, all animation
Hope this helps!
- The name of the clip. If a clip doesn't have a name, make one up. Try not to use actual character names in naming the clips. Never assume that the viewer knows the name of your character. Choose a short name that relates to the content of the clip, and perhaps something specific the character does/says. The goal is to identify it as quickly and easily as possible to someone watching your reel.
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Got tired of my mid range production, so I decided to experement a bit.
Fun experiment there! Thanks for sharing!
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By the way (OT) i am having trouble with coreldraw web exporting... it messes up some images. It's very frustrating, i though it would be easier to layout and publish from there, but it's not. Does anyone have experience with this?
Looks like a good tute, Emile!
Re: the image quality, it might not be a problem w/ Corel. Here are some suggestions that might help...
- Be careful about scaling images from their original size. If Corel has the option, choose Bilinear resampling when making an image smaller. Generally, though, it's best to adjust the size of things in A:M to match the target size you'd like them to be on your page, so that no scaling needs to be done. In some instances this isn't possible, and you'll need to scale things to fit, but it's a good general rule.
- Save your A:M screen capture images in GIF format instead of JPEG. JPEG is good for photos and other image w/ lots of colors (i.e. final renders). Most program interfaces, though, use a very limited color scheme, which lends itself more to GIF reproduction. You should have fewer artifacts this way.
Keep at it!
- Be careful about scaling images from their original size. If Corel has the option, choose Bilinear resampling when making an image smaller. Generally, though, it's best to adjust the size of things in A:M to match the target size you'd like them to be on your page, so that no scaling needs to be done. In some instances this isn't possible, and you'll need to scale things to fit, but it's a good general rule.
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YES , it's TGMEnc , sorry...
What's the URL for the web site? I'm curious to check it out...
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Here's an updated shot. Give comments please!!!
There are some spline continuity issues around his hips and shoulders, which is why you have those creases in the render. Remember, you can't quite build w/ splines the same way you build w/ polys.
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Fly dude is here. he is a low patch, fast render model. All he needs are some bones then I can animate him (ah-hem) on the fly. All comments are welcome.
What kind of facial animation are you planning for this critter? If it's much more than blinking (i.e. just about any movement of the jaw/lips) you'll need a slightly higher patch density in the head for the deformation to look decent.
Looking forward to seeing more!
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From: "M.R.C." <mrsl13@yahoo.com>
L0oking for a way to take my tga files to Avi...
Try TMPEGEnc...
While it's primarily for creating MPEG files, you can also export AVIs with it. Great little tool, and it's free!
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willp, the "Save Topic" feature is nifty; is there any way it can be configured to offer plain text as an option?
Choose the "Printer friendly" version. When the page comes up, select everything (CTRL-A), copy it (CTRL-C), then paste it (CTRL-V) into whatever program you want to use for storing it.
Along that line, I've been using a fun little "free-form database" program called Snippets for several years, and find it to be a great tool for just this kind of archiving. For more info, go to http://www.softcircuits.com/snippets/
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Fun piece! Kudos!
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Forum posts will soon be sent back to the list. (At least from the AM2003 forum) Should be working sometime Monday. I saved the easiest for last. Getting the mail from the list was going to be hardest to do. Now that it is working I'll go the other way.
But won't that potentially lead to a (pardon the borrowing of an A:M phrase) circular relationship? Messages written on the forum will echo to the list, which will then in turn echo back to the forum, then back to the list, etc. Unless you've got some extra trickery you can do to prevent such endless message looping.
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Agreed, wonderful work! Any chance of getting a direct link to the animation?
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(typical warning for artist sites: some of the images contain nudity)
Some nice stuff on there, and it's not just bodies. Reference images for clothing, vehicles, animals, weapons, etc. The collection is constantly growing, but so is the site's popularity...which at the moment means a little bit of lag in the site's response. Still, a great resource.
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it's going to be a bit confusing trying to figure out if a post is a native forum message, or a ported mail list message.
Messages coming from the mailing list still have the list tag at the end of the message (i.e. the name of the list, how to unsubscribe, etc.)
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I believe it works automatically. I know the links in my sig were automatically converted to the proper URL code w/out me having to type it all out.
(amendment: links appear to be automatically click-able for messages typed into the forum. Messages that come into the forum from the mailing list don't appear to go through the same conversion process, though, and links must be copied and pasted. Hmmm...)
One odd thing, though, is how the list mail is coming through. List threads aren't quite connecting into forum threads because of the variations in "Re:"-types of prefixes that individual mail programs tack onto the subject. Not sure if there's some way of filtering the subjects so they all connect properly into continuous threads instead of a bunch of disconnected posts.
Overall, though, the forum looks great! Can't wait to see how it'll grow and expand.
Pretty amazing animation
in (2003-2004)
Posted
Yeah, Sony is the place. A former co-worker from Big Idea is working on this project in the technical department.