wwoelbel

This one is a top view in wire frame of the full column segment superimposed over the 1/2 segment. As you can see, The smaller square in the center is the bottom of the expanding region and will sit on a column. The line to the left of the center square is the left edge of the 1/2 version. I took a copy of the full segment and translated the left edge over until it was directly above the center piece. The problem comes in the next image.

This is a birds-eye of the full column segment. Just for reference

Mornin Paul; Unless *you* name him, "Bob" is as good as any. Right now, only you know "who" he is. Something fun to do with only a few other props - have him ski a slalom couse or ski-jump. The Agony of Defeat part would be pretty fun and perhaps gruesome to do. Of course, you'd need to get him some skis, poles and some snow to swoosh over. Have you ever been ski-ing? I did once. It was extremely fun and terrifying at the same time. Pax, Bill

Vash; I got that as well using IE and just clicking on the link. It worked for me if I right clicked and saved the target. Roughy; Thats some really nice work. I like the jawline you used as I am not a fan of the "muzzle" look. Bill

Hi Roughy; Are you modeling from rotoscopes or "on the fly"? Just curious. Bill

Hey Smudge! Are you awake yet? Poke Poke! Sorry to wake you from a well deserved nap. I grabbed your act I movie. Outstanding work! The style is wonderful. Its a cross between a musical, a graphic novel, and a movie. It grabs the best of each and weaves them together in a very pleasant way. The music is excellent. Who is the artist? I hope your body keeps up with your passion and drive. I'll make sure to keep up with your progress as it is really quiet excellent. Bill

I'm working on the re-plotting/scripting of a serial that has major social comment about the overuse of technology and the decline of Man to his creations. Whats funny is that my pastey white fingers are doing the writing on a wireless laptop while the multi-channel sound system is providing mood music extracted from a satelite.... Chuckle. A comment on the render though - The patch cord in the lower left corner - Is it floating? The shadow on the floor makes me think that the cord is not on the ground. Bill p.s. Nice conveyance of feelings like "depression", "loss", and "helpless"

http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscom...00_hoplites.htm There are numeruous other mentions in academic works about a hoplites "iron" sword. Mmmmm Sharp pointy things!

Its not "wrong" or anything. I think that it might look more "average" if you blended the legs of the pants into the (what do you call the part of pants that are not the legs). You have a distinct cut between the two shapes. I, personally, am working on some clothing for a currently naked model. The construction technique that I am using, which is showing some promise, is to model the item is it is put together in the factory. I took a razorblade to a pair of tennis shorts I had laying around and disassembled them. The important part for me was seeing where the heavy seams are and using them as foundations. An example is the relatively sharp crotch seam in a pair if shorts. Its not a nice arch. It comes to a pretty sharp point (where the two inseams meet underneath) unless you are more pear shaped, as I am, and the fabric has stretched. Clothing and the human shape are SO difficult as they are so familiar to us that we pick up on the smallest mistakes. Pep talk over! Back to work!

Hi David; Just a couple of observations on your last model - The transition between the seat of the pants and the legs looks a little "off". The blend might look better if it were smoother. The "bulge" appears to be a bit too pronounced. Put on a pair of jeans and look at yourself in the mirror (boy... did I set myself up on that comment). Could you provide a 3/4 view to the rear? He doesn't look like he has any butt. Perhaps round out his seat a bit? Keep at it. Bill

Hey Mike; Outstanding work. I would have used a painted surface for the stall dividers but that is a matter of taste and personal experience. It looks just like a (very clean) school boys room. Bill

Ahhh... I see how you are doing it. Tonight I tinker with vaults. Thanks Hutch - IOU some insightfull thought and a cold beverage of your choice. Bill

The wireframe is a darned good start but I would be interested in the play-by-play of how you went about doing it. Did you start with crossed half-barrels as I did? I REALLY appreciate your help on this. I was running into a wall not being able to see alternative construction methods. Bill

Hey Billy; Is the salamander/newt/chameleon going to come back? I could use one..... Bill

Hey Den; I'm in Carbondale, IL which is about an 90 minutes southeast. Given enough notice, I could make a meeting although my dayjob has me traveling quite a bit for the next 6 months. Let me know. I've never met another living person that thinks Hash is something other than something you hide from the dorm advisor. Bill

I am hijacking your thread. The new topic is OMG! That is an outstanding job. Can I ask a couple of questions? Is the detail in the corner of the eye geometry, decals, or a combination of the two? How did you go about getting the eyebrows and eyelashes to come out so nicely? I have tried transparent decals on an arced patch for eyelashes and always endup with something from a makeup artists nightmares (THE MASCARA EXPLODED) Again, the modeling is excellent and the texturing is outstanding. Bill

Wowsers! Your actually working with Drexler?!? He a seriously visionary man. Very cool indeed. I will make sure that I see the special. Bill

Hmmm... Have to check that part out. Good catch.

Ragnar - What a wonderful idea! I have MS Visual SourceSafe installed on my machine. It should work well. I'm going to give that a try tonight. Bill

OMG! This is something that cannot be overstated. I am seriously paranoid about my data. I may not have produced anything that is going to appear in Nick at Night but what I have done is very dear to me and is the result of counless hundreds of hours. Recently, AM and my video driver had a minor disagreement. AM disappeared without a peep. When I reloaded AM, it turned out that it had completely digested my project with all of the models, materials, and the tweaking and tweaking and tweaking in the choreograophies. All gone. Thanks to my habit of saving the project file with a date and time in the file name after I do anything even remotely consequential, I lost about 15 minutes of work (which was a bit of texture orientling). Every week I cut the weeks worth of project files to a DVD (A CD would do just fine but I keep forgetting to buy them) and take it to my office for storage. Preach on Good Rodney! The message is needed.

Yeppers - The rug is just plain wrong. I'll re-texture it. Funny thing with the current texture, the moire pattern appears to have added a wrinkle that is not there. The rug has a wrinkle built into it - runing from front to back. The texture has added a side to side wrinkle. Its gotta go. The furniture textures are just not working, the more that I look at it, the more I want to not use wood. Maybe a painted surface (as was suggested). The choice of colors for the chess pieces is not working either. I think that I am going to go back to a black and white marble texture for them (and move the chess board off the floor). Shelves on the wall? I had them in my room as a kid. That goes on the TODO list for visual interest on the walls. The bed is going to get linens and have the mattres rebuilt so as not to appear to be cut from a block of foam. The hat does look like its right from the store. I'll mute it out a bit and "squish" it some. Simon simon simon.... You task me! (big grin there) The "goodies" that you pointed out are some of the things that I think are what really missing in making the room look lived in. There are no clothes. no personal items. no toys.... The book on the bedstand is a copy of The Animation Master Technical Reference. The other books are.... well... nothing! I think that I need to detail the books out so that they at least have spine titles. I have much to do this weekend p.s. "when he's challenging his favorite author to a game of chess?" - thats what I was hoping to convey with that :-)

Hmmm Reflections on the floor..... I ran a specularity map out of DT but perhaps I don't have the value turned up high enough.

You all have made excellent comments and I will be incorporating all of them in updates to the project. My biggest self-observed failing is the crisp sterility of the room. Its supposed to be the bedroom of a little boy (a little on the introverted and cerebral side). I need more "Stuff" and the stuff needs to look "used". The model of Rafe (the boy) is under re-construction at the moment. I need to do alot of work on the bed as the night lighting scene will work much better if he is asleep in the bed. The radiosity render is taking about 6 hours which will be not so bad when I get a seperate rendering machine online so that I can be working on the scene while in-progress renders are running. There are alternate renders of this scene in the radiosity forum under the topic of "Modern Art". More to come in the near future. Bill

Hey Gene - Nice render! You can indeed add a key light but remember that it will contribute to the entire scene. I was going to suggest bouncing some light off of the wall that is behind the camera to lighten up the front side details. (of course, I am guessing and by no means the expert) Perhaps Yves will chime in. Bill

This is a test render using photon mapping of the bedroom suite that I am working on. I think that it still a bit too sterile feeling. Feel free to be brutal when commenting. Bill