HeadlessBill

I'm waiting to see what it'll look like once you get the head and the strings on there. It's looking good so far. Any idea what the environment is going to be for it as a final render? Anyhow, here is the guitar I had to make for my C4D class I told you about in chat. The guitar

Got this put together faster than I thought, since I decided to turn off shadows on the lights comprising the glow. Ghost of Thom, 2nd Attempt Sorenson 3 8 sec. 612k

Thanks for the replies, people. I'm rerendering as I type this and hope to get the results of some of the minor tweaks up by Thursday at the latest. Now to address some comments and questions. CreativeAustin Yankee - There are actually thirteen lights making the glow of Thom. Extending from his feet to his head. I will probably use more lights in my project. I'm not certain why it looks like the light is predominately eminating from the middle of the character. :shrug: KingSalami - More info will be forth coming on this, if people are interested. But in a nutshell, the clip is comprised of three renders. A background render (contains all scene elements except for Thom), a gray-scale render (to create the transparency), and the render of Thom doing the action (contains all scene elements except for the glow effect). They are then composited together in Final Cut Pro.

In the short I'm working on, I have a ghost that appears for a bit and would like it so that he is not only transparent, but also casts a small bit of light on whatever he is near. This is a brief exercise into trying to create the effect of that. It still needs a bit of tweaking, but let me know what you think. Ghost of Thom Sorenson 3 compressed 8 sec. 508k

Looks good. The exageration in the features makes me think of a more true to life 'The Tick'. (But we've got Patrick Warburton for the real-life The Tick.) Looking forward to seeing more.

It does look very good. Though I do have to reiterate that it does seem a bit bright. Some suggestions that might make it spookier (in my opinion). I think that the fog should get darker where it gets denser rather than brighter (I have no idea how to do that with volumetrics, though). It might help in creating the spooky feeling more spookier. Also, for composition, I might move the camera just off one side of the path and aim it towards just off the opposite side of the path. Having the path disappear behind the trees before you reach the horizon line would add the the spookyness factor as well.

I like it. It almost looks like a directors chair I have here in my house.

Actually, I like these eyes. I think the color should be a darker shade of his skin color rather than the orangish color it is now. But the final decision is really MiddleKid's.

Yes, it does look like it is on display. But it's because of the way I have the room lit so I can see the way the it looks within it. The room will be much darker in the actual animation. To give you an idea of what it should look like here is another render without the fill lighting. The room is mostly furnished. Once I'm done with that, I'll just need to finish texturing, finishing the doors and windows and modeling and adding all the set dressing and props.

Okay, here is the nearly completed model with some textures applied placed in location in the set. [Aside] I really need to finish the door on the set. [/Aside]

Rodney - The wooden dummy is going to be set dressing for the animated short I'm working on. The 'really needs to be updated' website can be found here: http://www.tartpi.com Ross - Yes, it's a martial arts practice dummy. Based on ones I saw here: http://www.woodendummy.com I'm uncertain if I have my proportions correct though. Though there will be a mannequin/maquette hanging on the wall next to it. I do plan on applying some grunge maps to it eventually, but just am really uncertain about the process of doing it. Thanks for the comments guys. Keep 'em coming.

If you watch video clips of lightning, you'll notice that lightning actually doesn't move much, if at all. http://www.lightningwizard.com/ Actually, that web site has some pretty interesting clips of lightning flashes. I'd suggest downloading some and studing them frame by frame. It might help in creating something a little more realistic. * Edit: Ooops. The webpage doesn't seem to like me linking directly to one of it's files. Changed the link to the actual web page itself.

Here is a newer render of a model I've been working on. It's still not quite finished. I still need to add a couple of beams to support the wooden dummy as well as the anchors of the posts and bolts for the frame. Damn real life! It keeps getting in the way of me actually accomplishing anything. Anyhow, I need some suggestions on what I need to do to improve on it. I'm going for a realistic look, but not photo-real, if you get my meaning. Anyhow, here's the link. http://homepage.mac.com/cluelessmorgan/.Pictures/Test.jpg Also, which one looks better: The pine frame (1) or the red wood frame (2)?

They look modeled. Usually with a bump map, you don't actually get the protrusion you see at the top of the missle. Bump maps loose their effectiveness in creating the illusion of depth at extreme angles, since there is no actual geometry. Anyhow, the missle looks really good. If I see one for real that close, I hope it's on mounted on something rather than floating in mid air like that. I don't know why, but I was expecting more labeling on it than what you have.

Did someone say headless??? I agree that the character doesn't appear to have a pelvis. If it under his shirt, then his arms are mite bit long. Looks like a good start though. I keep thinking his shirt needs to have 'College' written across the front or have a texture that makes it look like a sweater.

This is really interesting to watch. And less problematic than my attempts to get my character designer to get into the same mindset I have about what the characters in my short look like. But he's getting so much closer. I'm really curious to see how this progresses.

Looks good. Very cute. A minor criticism though. Continuity. When you see the Macaroni man run to the bread, the jelly on the mayonaisse jar is gone. Hmmmm..... Vern's cereal killers, the tomato in the suit, this food fight. Fod and/or kitchen themed animations seem to be all the rage right now. I wonder if I should start one.

I'm sad. I cannot view this. I'm on a Mac BTW. Usually VLC will read Windows media files, but this time it won't.

I think he needs a tail. Maybe it could be the antenna, if it has an external antenna.

Once you mentioned the doctor was a turtle, I saw it, but I first thought he was an eel. I'm looking forward to seeing this final image.

Thanks for the comment Rodney. I've been so happy once I found that 'Save for Web' option in Photoshop Elements 2. That seems to help alot. Also, if anybody has any idea for questions in my FAQ area, please let me know. I need to loose the 'Under Construction' graphic and replace it with actual questions.

Well, I've got most of the things up on my website up that I want. I just needs some tweaking and a lot more (new) content. I hope to have time to actually work some on my short during the next month, so I expect some new stuff within a month. I guess the address would be good. http://www.tartpi.com/ Feedback is always welcome.

I was looking through a book of photography by George Hurrell (one of my favorite portrait photographers, I might add) and kept thinking that you should try and do an image of your characters in his style. Here is a link to a sample of his work. http://www.lafterhall.com/hurrell.html

[Doesn't take the conch shell since I'm only giving the Mac version of bakerrod's mini-tute] Mac users, if you do Command/Shift/3 you will take a snapshot of your screen. If you do Command/Shift/4 you can click and drag to take a snapshot of a selection of your screen.

The animation looks good. But I do agree with JohnArtbox. The demon does need a little something to his walk. Personally, I was thinking that a slow lumber, like he's big & heavy would help. Right now, it's movements are a bit lithe for the look that it has. But then again, it is your piece.