JTalbotski

Shaun, As I told you before, I love it! His smile, as he looks at the camera at the end, cracks me up! And I want to learn to dance like that, too. Jim

Hi Ross, Glad the tues are helpful. I think a combination of bump and color and specular will give the best results. I wouldn't advise trying to show form with the color map, but you can certainly add color wherever it would look good, since not many people have seen a real merman (at least up close). Look at some fish photos and see all the possibilities there are. Should he be scaly or porpoise-like? Multicolored or monotone like sharks? Decide on his personality, that may make the choices easier. Jim

Good start! Lots of character to him already. Don't be afraid to take the time to tweak him as smooth as possible. It's worth it in the long run. Keep updating, Jim

I like the character a lot. I think his expressions could be more dramatic or exaggerated since he is obviously a cartoony type character. You won't have to use them full strength all the time but it will help you if you need to show strong emotion. And don't forget to add a pose to control the lower eyelid. It seems too static right now which causes all the poses to look similar. Nice work, Jim

Very nice model! Excellent hair! Is it done with the v11 hair guides? And as always, how about a wireframe? Congrats! Jim

Very clean mesh you have going there! Just a few suggestions: Widen the cheekbones a bit more and try to avoid having the sides of the head flatten out too quickly and too much. The ears seem a little big to me. The area from the outside corner of each eye could be pull towards the back a bit more, too. Her mouth curls up in the corners also. Thanks for posting the wires, it looks very good! Jim

Very good likeness! How about some more angles and a wireframe? Keep us updated, Jim

Zaryin, Nice modeling! The area around the neck and collarbone are especially nice. The proportions look pretty realistic. Maybe just a little too realistic for a comic book super hero? Their proportions are pretty exaggerated, especially in the lower legs, feet and hands. Still, it looks great! Jim

He's a wonderful character! Nice work. And I'm glad you were able to use the tutorial. Jim

Sorry, William. It was only a test and I'm sure it didn't cover anything you didn't know already. I will be doing a better (I hope) version and continue through the entire process of decalling a head model. I can't say how long that will take, but they will be freely available to all A:M users. Jim

[quote name='Mike Lium' date='Dec 12 2003, 04:07 PM']Jim WOW! Very nicely done :) My only critique would be to fire the guy that does the voice work. :D[/quote] Hey Bud, He's not much good for anything really. He can't even keep this place clean. It's tough finding good workers now a'days. ;) Thanks all for the comments, suggestions and encouragement, Jim

Just for those fellow Mac users who might want to do video tutes, since Camtasia is PC only, I'm using SnapzPro X for the screen capture. [url="http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/snapzprox.html"]http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/syst.../snapzprox.html[/url] or [url="http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/"]http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/[/url] I actually got the full version of SnapzProX on a "value added" cd when I got my G4. You might have it lying around, too. I'm recording the sound onto my analog mini8 camcorder as I work and importing it into iMovie through my Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge after I'm done recording. Jim

Thanks all for the feedback! robcat2075, Great suggestions, thanks! Especially about the screen size. I already know about my verbal bumblings :lol: Since my studio isn't very well heated, your advice about the comforters can serve 2 purposes. It's funny, that was my first run through. And now I'm trying to redo it and I'm making dozens more verbal mis-steps. Aaarg! Thanks again, Jim

[quote name='Vong' date='Dec 12 2003, 12:53 PM']Opened and played just fine here, Jim. Looking forward to the completed tut. Windows XP Pro, running QuickTime 6.4. Curtis[/quote] Cool! Thanks. Jiim

Hi Takahiro, Thanks for letting me know. Yes, that's the actual length of the movie. Unfortunately when I was editing it I accidentally cut off the last couple words. I'm glad you were able to see and hear it. Has anyone been unable to see or hear it? Jim

Hi all, Inspired by Steve's excellent video tutes, and being extremely lazy myself, I am trying to produce a series of video tutes about texturing a head model. Creating an html tute was driving me nuts and was too much work. I have a first round test up on my .mac site, which I will keep there only for a short time. I'm posting this now to find out if both Mac and PC users can view the video. It is a Quicktime movie, compressed with the Apple animation codec, and the sound is compressed as an MPeg-4 sound. You will need Quicktime 6.x to view it, I believe. If a few of you (both Mac and PC folks) could download it and let me know if you can see and hear it okay, I would appreciate it. [url="http://homepage.mac.com/talbotj/"]http://homepage.mac.com/talbotj/[/url] Click on the download arrow next to the file name. Thanks, Jim P.S. By mistake I cropped off the last couple words, they are "....in Photoshop."

Hey Doug, That's really cute. I think we can guess what your character might be. Are you going to go further with the texturing or keep it simple? Simple is good, too. Can't wait to see more. Jim

[quote name='CRToonMike' date='Dec 8 2003, 06:05 PM']I've included a wireframe, not by me and I wish I knew who did it, I dl'ed it years ago and two computers ago and the author's info has been lost and haven't found it again. But it bears some close looking at nevertheless.[/quote] That was modeled by Yves Poissant, based on a sculpted figure by an artist I can't remember the name of. Brian somebody...maybe? Jim

Holey Moley! You got a lot of patience, Rodger! It looks great as usual. Jim

Hey John, thanks! Jim

Andrew, I will *think* about doing a tutorial on texturing, but most of the work I do will be in Photoshop not A:M, since I rarely use materials for textures. They render slower and aren't as controllable as a hand drawn decal. The ability of materials to be resolution independent is important to many people. But I rarely will have a such an extreme close up that I need to show pores of the characters skin. I think trying to be so photorealistic is a hindrance to being creative and getting anything done. So if I did a tutorial, some people might be surprised (even disappointed?) how little detail I put in my textures. Hey Gilles, I don't know how I missed your renders of Jane earlier, but it helps me see that my modeling has improved a little bit. Thanks, Jim

Doug, Thanks, glad you like her! I have considered doing a tutorial about modeling and texturing, but I don't really do anything original. I probably do it the way everyone else does with endless tweaking and flattening and screen captures and all. But I think there are *three* equally important parts to rendering good 3D models. Modeling, texturing and lighting. If any of those areas are weak the whole image suffers. I tend to do dozens of progresive and final renders trying to find the right lighting set up. But I only show the ones I like. And thanks agin, Gilles. Jim

Thanks, Gilles. Dagooos is right about the 5 point patches with the normals facing the wrong way. Once you flip them they still might not look right but save the project and then open it again and they should be better. Jim

Very nice composition! Jim

Very cute character! Jim