Paul Forwood

It's looking much better, Ben, but I have to agree about the corners. The first thing to sort out is the alignment of the bricks. The way the maps are aligned at present makes it look like there are bricks of various sizes. Some as thin as half an inch, (12.7mm), which you would never find in a real wall. Align your brick maps with the corner and add a bump map to the mix to indent the mortar areas. Align the maps so that you have one full brick on top of one half brick. Just a suggestion to help make this very nice composition more believable.

Cool, Matt! Okay. Here is a bit of a test render that I did almost exactly a year ago to test vortex forces on spriticles and dynamic bones. The file is exactly 1 Mb so I'm hoping it will upload, but it may not. Sorenson 3, 640 x 480, 1 Mb

That seems to be working well. What version of A:M are you using, Mike? It's good to see an update on your project.

Wow! You've done it again!! You seem to have mastered the art of glossy vehicles. The modeling and materials look great!

Very nice looking fur, John! I agree with Rusty's suggestion. You could try driving the colour with a painted map.

Den Just a little pointer. You don't need to retype your whole post, just hit the edit button, which is visible in the top-right corner of your post.

Wow! He looks fabulous! One criticism only. It may just be the angle but the feet look like they would benefit from some bump mapping to bring them up to a similar level of detail as the rest of him. I think it's just the angle. Great character and pose!

I like it but she is crying out for textures. Keep it going, Ken!

Well, not being a Fellow makes it a bit difficult to compare it to the sketch but it looks like a good start to me. So how is life at the top, Ken?

He turned out great, Ken!

Thanks for the encouragment, Rodney. Very kind words. Ken: Yes that is a bell but I'm probably going to move it onto his hat band or remove it altogether.

Okay. just one more. This one is just one frame from the walk cycle. Still lots to do to him but I've got other things to do at the moment. Yes, Ken, his ears could use some attention but this model will only ever have very simple ears. I have given him pointy ears because he lives in a world of fairies, witches, giants, etc. and all my fairies have pointy ears. If anyone knows of a description of a Munchkin or Gillikin resident which describes their ears I would be interested in a link.

But just to demonstrate his nose:

That's a cute Teddybear and well done. That's really pretty good for a first attempt. You could lose alot of splines in there but get some practice in and do a bit of tweeking of bias handles to smooth out some of the more extreme lumps. Keep it up.

I recognise this guy's style from your entry in the 'Heroes' contest. It has a really strong graphic feel to it, so clean and well difined. Great use of colour.

Thank you, Nancy. I have deviated from Neill's illustration in order to make Woot more appealing and innocent and I'm pretty happy with this version so far. I considered making his legs shorter, so that he was not much older looking than a toddler, but decided that I would compromise and reach some balance between the illustration and an infant. Thank you, Drvarceto. Yes, hopefully I can find the time to do some texturing soon. Woot's skin will not receive much in the way of texturing though. Perhaps a subtle bloom to his cheeks, some bumpmaps for his lips and some detail to his hands but he is very young and unblemished in my mind. His clothes will be fun to experiment with though. Thanks, Ken. Hmmm, maybe. I'm going to keep it as it is for the moment though. This model is based on a child of about 6 or 7 years of age. It is a super light model and would probably require a few additional splines if it were to actually be used for production. In the meantime I have been reading more of the story and making very rough sketches of key scenes as references. I am following the original story and gaining additional inspiration from the script. Once the script has been finalized, at least in part, I will use the sketches to make an animatic of my own interpretation, which the directors can make use of or reject depending on their preference. I'm going to refrain from posting examples here as I think others are being intimidated by the look that I have chosen to go for. Just because I have chosen a semi-realistic look doesn't mean that it is the best way to go. I would like to see a wide variety of personal interpretations from everyone.

Beautiful! Something that you might want to try is putting a little depression in the paving slabs where they meet the brick walls and some grit. You could do alot by just applying some bump maps to those areas. Nice work.

Amazing and disturbing! Very well done!

Thanks, Zaryin, (Jeff). Yeah, I'm looking forward to spending some time experimenting with textures and adding some finer detail but not just yet.

Thanks, Ken. Yes there was a lurch forward when he took the weight on his left leg. This was caused by me over emphasizing the weight he is carrying on his shoulder. I've smoothed it out a bit but still needs work. Gerry and John, thanks for the comments. An offshoot in the making, 'Woots Further Wanderings in the Land of Oz' with outtakes on the extended DVD.

Oh, yeah. I need to fix the strap too. Walkin'... walkin'... walkin' ( 1 second, Sorenson3, VGA, 90Kb )

A very minor update. The hat and it's constraints still need fixing but I am currently experimenting with mouth rigs so that will happen when it happens. Sorenson3, 344Kb, 4 seconds at 24 fps, VGA

Robcat and Ken Yes, you're right! His toes should stay on the ground longer and push. His eyes are just spheres at the moment but I think I will try modelling some better eyes with dilating pupils at some point.

Try making his upper body, (thorax), smaller and the abdomen more prominent. He's looks full of energy.

Nice work, Bjorn.