Scottj3d

Wow another 5 years. Looking into 3d printing but gotta update.Still see a few old timer's on here but need to spend some time to catch up on who's doing what. Used to know my way around here.

I've been brushing up a model I made back in 04. Amazing the thing's you find that you would never do now. I'm putting togther a scene with a castle and a battle in progress.

I haven't been splining since 2006 but recently fired "my" latest copy of AM V15 up and am starting to model again. Never got too deep in the animation part of AM but I had forgotten how much I enjoy modeling and although still learning in the chorwindow I enjoy setting up the image's. Still have some health issue's but I hope to improve my modeling skill's and maybe spend a bit more time catching up here.

Hi all, it's been a while since I've posted but in light of the new Sarah connor chronicles I decided to attempt a Terminater model. Heres some early stuff as I am still shaping him up. Crits and suggestions as well as reference pics are welcome.

Nice work dude! It's cool to see how you've progressed over time. (not much time at that actually) Can't wait to see that rifle come together.

The more you practice and possibly screw up the more you learn. Go back in a few years and compare how you build then to how you build now and you'll be suprised at what wasn't 2nd nature before.

Not to worry Joakim. Due to mystical powers he can tell us AM'ers from mere mortals. His fear of our power to use our keyboards on him is deturrent enough to keep him from looking upon us as fodder. Can't wait to take him into V13 and try some displacement's (my other new toy) on himThank's

Here's a color map test and the new improved bump (filled in some gap's). Still working on the belly. Needs some tan,biege and some darker highlight's. Working on a tileable texture for the leg's and arms of the wings. Not quite there yet. And hair using an image with an alpha channel for the maine.

I'll have to study up on adjusting magnitudes and using bias handles and such. I've been seeing a few threads talking about magnitude(Last couple months) and it's obviously very useful especially when trying to keep patch count's down. I wonder how much it will show once textured.

Do you have a spline similarly placed like the ones (basically bevelled) I have the yellow arrows pointing to on this example? (my best example of a similar shape and not as well tweaked as can be yet) If so I'm at a lack for ideas. I've found it gives you better control on the effects on the splines outside the curve. Even a third spline (you can see here how the splines are effected) running with the two with the arrows would smooth the bias out where the splines head out into the ships hull.

Awesome detail. I can see it's a good thing I'm getting alot of practice. I'll need it for my ship to be up to spec for this fleet. I like the lighting.

I have'nt put up any decent wires. I know I certainly study others meshes whenever possible. Hopefully these will help anybody who has difficulty with head's and feet or just how to put it together. This may not be "the best" spline layout and I'll surely modify it again but heres what works for me so far.

Theres a few decent shots of him here.http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/yoda/ Not too high rez but good for reference. Dont really know how to posta link I guess but that was in the address window.....(edit) and pasting in in works for me.

He's coming along quickly. Look's great so far. I think yours looks more like theres something going on between the ear's than the one on the link.

Thanks Joakim, I used to play with Paint Shop Pro before I got AM so I was pretty sure of how to paint stuff in this "graphics program". Until the forum came along decaling was scary. I got a high speed connection and was able to to view Jim Talbot's decaling a face tutorials. Seeing it done in realtime makes a big difference. They made understanding the process possible for me as the only other stuff I could find at the time seemed technically way above my head . (I've only been computing since 2000 with no previous experience with 3d software tools etc.) Just watching the workflow back and forth between AM and photoshop on those videos made it clear on not only how to flatten the mesh take a screenshot,make and stamp a decal and work in AM , but the power of using layers if you have a graphics app that supports them. PSP is different than Photoshop but can be persuaded to do alot of the things that make a good decal to use in AM. I dont tend to use the flatten command on this type of mesh. I make groups for the part's that I want to work with and manually flatten them in actions with a seperate action for each group that gets flattened to prevent the mesh from stretching. (flattening the sides of the head in the same action as the top of the head in the same action tends to stretch the splines as the outside perimeter of each group shares two decals at the seams) I strongly recommend Jim's tut's and William Suttons Balrog UV mapping tutorial even though I'm still not sure how to go about switching the blank image with the one with the high rez decals. But I still learned alot from it. I don't recall doing any tutorials! Never really thought I was qualified to produce something that would inspire learning. I help where I can here on the forum . I have posted some stuff on using the diffuse colors that are part of AM to get the metallic look. Prolly on my seraphim WIP. Take what you can from the tutes and if inspired "run with it" . Make copies of projects or models and experiment

Thank's Jeff ! That is a bump, I have the percentage set at about 200 (have'nt tried going over that yet) to help it stick out but am still playing with the percentages depending on which version of AM I'm running. I tend to bounce around between versions. I'm currently in 10.5 but plan to take it into 12 so I may have to adjust things then. I actually am adding just a bit more detail and some adjustments to smooth the throat scales where they should appear to overlap. I have'nt done much with displacement's yet. First couple of tries didn't result in any progress but that was some time ago. BTW: Love the spiderman! The technique you used with the webbing on the suit was intimidating!

Thank's Joakim! I'm thinking I'll re-decal the albino using the same bump and a fresh color map as well as it has a ton of decals. When I started it I was stamping seperate left and right side decals completely oblivious to hiding the right and left sides as needed and restamping a single decal. It's kinda like the difference between building the whole mesh versus building half then copy/pasting it only were talking painting decals (tedious eye abusing work...But fun!). In short it'll be easier to zip up all the parts when I donate it. Thank's dre4mer! I'm still working on the bump to try to add more detail. I see some holes that need to be addressed in the scales and transition areas as I study the renders. Should look a bit better in a week or so as well as have the colormap. If I could just remember to do the hornbases and horns, oh, and the transition from the gums to the skin at the jawhinge the head will be done!...Mostly!

Here's A test of the new body bumpmap. The albino has seperate neck,body and tail decals. This single decal eliminated some seams but took forever to make. Got some streching above the shoulders but I'm hoping to adjust that. The underside shot all lines up but the lighting gives the impression that the left and right side are off a bit. Color map is near ready.

Titusville here. Guess theres more AM'er's than I thought here.

I'm with everybody else here. "Wow" Incredibly detailed!

Good to see you Joakim and thank's. I seem to let thing's simmer then come back and stir them from time to time so the dragon making has only slowed down a bit.(I really want to finish this one) Actually I'm hoping to bring another previous model into this project not to mention some environmental modeling for some imagery. Yes those are bumpmaps that give the scales thier texture and cookie cuts with bumps on the fins on the lower jaw. I use a multilayered image (actually several images Tophead,sidehead,body ect.) to make my master decals so that they will stamp "cleanly" By hiding the layers I can expose the greyscale stuff to save a copy as a tga for the bumps. Then expose the colored layers for the skin color again working with the layers to add the striping under the scales etc. It's tedious manually flattening (in actions) then painting them but worth the effort. Still not quite up to speed with the UV editor but Jim's tutes on decaling were well worth watching and are still the technique that I am most comfortable (confident) using.

Thank's Martin! I believe I've seen Paul Forwood mention that "make dragon" button on several occaisions. As far as donating him to the extras DVD I have mixed feelings in regards to the green version but I'm willing to do so with the albino version. The green version I'll say is an eventual possibility at this point in time. Niether is complete as far as decals and could be rigged better but I'll see what I can do about finishing up the albino's decal's soon.

Finally dipping back into this project. He's going green! Still adjusting the decals as it's very tedious. I also did some resplining. It's funny how after letting him sit I know better ways to spline and decal him. Just testing his bones here as I am having to re-rig him. Liked the pose so I rendered it. Gotta play with the lighting a bit still and apply some of what I've been learning on the car wip.

This is looking great! I was starting to think it might have been overkill adding an engine to the chevelle. Glad to see getting into extreme details (ones that normally wouldn't be seen in a typical animation) appeals to others when modeling a car. Is the setup very complicated to get the realistic lighting on those render's. The engine area is looking nice. I especially like the hoses and connections. Cool stuff!

Yeah,what Eric said:)