heyvern

Hmm... Have you tried the dof blur using a camera rotoscope instead of the cookie cutter model method? You know you can have the rotoscope ON TOP in the camera view, the alpha on the image would act the same as a cookie cutter. Whatever is "masked" in the image will be transparent in the rotoscope. I think using a camera rotoscope the dof would not effect the image. This also might make animating the can to the image easier since you would not have to worry about any other models in the chor. The image is locked to the camera. I beleive the camera rotoscope in a choreography was intended for this purpose. Just an idea.

Thanks Jim! You inspire us all to achieve greatness! I said you INSPIRE us to achieve greatness. Whether we reach it depends on how tall we are. Thanks for the great tips and tutorials. It will be a while before I am tall enough but I will keep plugging away.

Yes! That is why I, Vern is here to help with any Photoshop advice! When you get closer to needing more Photoshop help you know I will be keeping an eye on this thread. In the meantime check out these fantastic head texturing tutorials by Jim Talbot! http://www.lowrestv.com/arm/search4.asp?tutid=471 Tutorial ID number 471 on the ARM. this link takes you right to it on the ARM. Vernon "!" Zehr

Did I scare everyone with that last post? I did didn't I? I was afraid of that. That always happens. reveal your true feelings and out comes the pepper spray..... I did it again didn't I? Jim, We never see very much of your characters animated. I know you mentoned this yourself. Have you ever considered "teaming up" with someone? Not me of course..well... I would certainly not make it any worse...I heard that! (my fan club) Your characters are by far the most expressive profesional things I have seen done in ANY medium/software. It would be fantastic to see them come to life. Even if they were just for a short, 1 minute? 30 sec? Anyway, keep up the good work. You inspire...uh... jealousy, envy, voodoo dolls, inferiority, bed wetting.... Vernon "!" Zehr

Holy depletion of the ozone and global warming Batman! (Robin is a tree hugger now) I wish I knew more about the cloth in AM to help you. I do know that it can be done. I really wanted to comment on the great compositing you did...is it composited? it looks like live action video with the cape added... or is it all CG? Either way it is impressive. You may want to play with the stiffness of the cape. Since this will be a CG cape so it can act (the cape should get an acting credit!) make it really exagerated. So if the stiffness is lower it should flow more and fan out. Also I have heard that some people make the cloth less stiff then they increase (decrease?) the FPS on the final render to change the nature of the fabric. It looks "jittery" I can't tell if that is a low frame rate, bad alignment with the video or what. Is that the sometimes "jittery" effect you get with cloth when it won't stop moving? Another tip! Put the links to the movie files in your posts! Sometimes people won't scoll through another web page to find the link... yes I did, but I had to scroll past it twice till I saw it. Good luck. Congrats on BOTH of your recent successes. Vernon "Could've been Batman" Zehr

John, there seem to be very small faces inside this strange life form. As I look closer they seem to be very fami...... ! Hey! Isn't that a photo of that guy on the forums? You know that guy with the stuff who does the things using the whatsit? He looks like that I think...hard to see... Whoever it is he looks extremely attractive and very talented. His aura is so pure and powerful it eminates even from this low quality photograph.... I am sure that whoever it is he will be extremely flattered when he sees this ...uh...tribute. Vernon "I wish my head was that small!" Zehr

Hey! I voted for him in the mechanical image contest! I thought he should have won or at least placed! That was a beautiful image. I was unwilling to drop out though so.... Will the animation be rendered at that final setting? Look forward to seeing more. Love the acting. I can almost hear the music.....hear it?.....there it goes again.......none of you hear this?! Vernon "Voices in my head" Zehr

Darklimit, No specularity. Caterpillars, like this one seems to be based on, are very soft, velvety, dry. There are some different species that have that ..moist... appearence of course. It may have to do with it being a future moth or butterfly. This one looks like it might become a type of swallowtail. There might be some specularity (always makes me think of "hilarity) on the "hard" surfaces like the tiny head at the tip or on the "sticky" feet (I have that problem too). Shaun! This thing is gorgeous! I need to revisit my monarch caterpillar project! I did it ages ago before wieghted bones came along!! I used fan bones and was not happy with the results. Should have used smart skin but I think I had about twice as many "segments" as yours does. Have you thought about how it will "walk"? that was one of my problems. Coming up with a way to have each set of feet "stick" to the ground while the others moved and the body sort of ripples. Probably some sort of constraint system that you turn on and off maybe? That would really interest me. Vernon "Sticky Feet" Zehr

I love you.... ..uh...in a manly apprecitative way of course. I don't need any more restraining orders. Vernon "Real Man" Zehr

I hate to break this to you Jim but... Well, I think you may have a problem. You seem to be obsessed with.... Bowties! There seems to be a tremendous amount of bowties in your work. Once you acknowledge the problem that is the first step to healing. There are many 12 step programs for obsessions like this. Also lots of drugs will help...trust me. They can't hurt anyway. On a serious note (yes! I can be serious!) Would it be possible to see some screen grabs of your lighting set up? Maybe one overhead and one from the side? Lighting is one of the things I struggle with the most. It can make or break the look of even the BEST projects. Thanks much! p.s. I like bowties too. We can go to meetings together. Vernon "Very serious" Zehr

The gig is up already Mr. D. It is the same image. Okay? You understand right? You understand that the 2 images are i-d-e-n-t-i c-a-l in every aspect? Unless you have another story? I am willing to listen. I have the patience of Job. Tell us about this program you used. p.s. You said "we" previously? Can you explain? Is this a team project? I am not angry. Just curious. Vern Z.

I have to say I am a bit confused Mike D. Are you Shi Kai Wang in disguise? the image you posted and the image attributed to Shi Kai Wang are absolutely identical in every aspect. Even in line variations. It is not traced at all. It is the same image with the artists name removed. Are you him? Just curious. We will keep your secret identity quiet of course. It could also be that there is some confusion on which image you are refering to. Your original render for this post, is that what your refering to as "not tracing"? Just want to be clear. I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. But I also don't like to be fooled too much either. Vernon "Naive trusting fool" Zehr

uh....mmm....huh... Is it... Janet Jackson? Hilary Clinton.... It looks a little like... Steve Sappington...but that's a stretch..... Bruce Campbell? p.s. If he doesn't win then all that work... wasted. I recgnized him right away. Vernon "President of Vernville" Zehr

Yes! those are flipped normals! I use the patch select tool. It will select 5 point patches in one click as long as they are legal patches (created with the 5pt patch button). So I click on the patch (with view normals turned on) and hit the "F" key (shortcut to flip normals). Turning off show backfacing patches is also a big help. The flipped normals "dissapear" when you "look" straight at them. Easier to find than with view normals in my opinion. I had a model with tons of flipped normals. That is when I learned the keyboard shortcuts let me tell you sonny bob yesiree! Vernon "Flipped my normals" Zehr

Be very careful! That is why she got the restraining order.... ..I was just looking...I didn't actually touch them. p.s. You know I don't think God used AM when he designed us. If he had we would have much simpler ears AND our legs and shoulders would connect differently as well... I wonder if he did any maquettes first..... Oh well... Vernon "?" Zehr

Yikes! I've seen that before I think. The doctor gave me some penicilin and cleared it right up! Creepy stuff dude! I like it! Vernon "I swear, it's not contagious!" Zehr

I guess poking pins into that doll of you when you use AM isn't working..... Kidding, kidding! I have a question about how you create these characters: Do you start from sketches and use rotoscopes? Or do you just model from your head? (I tried this but I keep hitting the hide key with my nose) p.s. I'm stealing that bump map as diffuse map idea! I never heard of that before! Very cool. Vernon "?" Zehr

Okay, Bill's post was correct, I was trying to go simplistic with the explanation. You should end up with a completely flattened image (no layers! None!) with ONE alpha channel that represents the transparency (black areas) and opacity (white areas). Remember the only layer showing should be called background in italic in the layer pallette in Photoshop. Keep a layered photoshop file saved with all of the layers intact (psd) just duplicate the document in photoshop and flatten that second document. Then when you save it, save it as a TGA for use in AM. Or, if you have only one alpha channel in your layered photoshop document you can do a "save as" in photoshop. Select the Targa as your file format. Layers are for Photoshop only and applications that can read Photoshop layered files. Although you can save with layers as TIF, I wouldn't recomend it. It just gets confusing. As for the smooth models....that is a tough one. It takes patience and experience to create smooth meshes. Be careful with using bias. As you said this can sometimes make things worse. There is a material on the AM disk called porcelain that smooths out rough meshes. Keep the patch count as low as possible to avoid "wrinkly" meshes. As you get more proficient with AM you will find that modifying the bias of cps can help. Vernon Zehr

Yeah! What he said! Vernon "man of few words unless I have a lot to say" Zehr

okay quick short lesson on channels in photoshop: First you need to find the channel pallete. It is usually on the same pallete with the layers depending on which version of Photoshop you are using. Assuming RGB is in use, any computer image is made up of 3 "channels", red, green, blue. An alpha channel in a tga or any other type of file format that supparts an alpha channel is for "keying" out parts of the image. In photoshop using channels creatively can be considered an art form unto itself. They are very powerful and until the addition of layers in version 3 or 4 I forget, channels were the only way to do sophisticated compositing. In photoshop a channel is basically a selection area, white is selected black isn't. If you create a complicated selection and want to save it you would save the selection as a new alpha channel. Here is where it gets fun, if you have an image and say you want to "erase" parts of the image for use in AM, you can paint on a new alpha (by clicking the eyeball icon on the channel it shows up on the image) masking out those areas using any of the tools you like, paintbrush, pencil etc. By leaving the original image alone, and painting the alpha channel when the image is saved as a targa with an alpha the alpha "hides" those areas that are black and "shows" those areas that are white. If you had deleted those areas of the image, and used the transparency to create the alpha whatever is behind it (default is white) would sort of "bleed" into the alpha channel and show as a fringe around the image area. It is similar to what you do when applying a decal in AM. The decal extends beyond the area you want to cover. Same with Photoshop alpha channels. You want the image to extend beyond the edge of your alpha. Keep in mind you can still make the image as complex as you want in photoshop. You can have all kinds of layers and effects. Then just create a new alpha and paint the areas you want to show or have hidden. Then save as a TGA file making sure include alpha is checked and save as 32 is selected (24 bit, 3 channels rgb, 32 bit includes the alpha). You must have only one "extra" alpha channel. I think it will use the first one as the alpha if you have more than one. I have a friend I have been trying to teach about alpha channels. He is having trouble understanding it as well. I have been doing this for so long it seems like second nature. Hope this helps. Vernon Zehr

This may seem like a lot of work, but I would reccomend using a decal on each tooth. You will spend as much time trying to "flatten" the teeth moving points around etc as you would just applying the decals needed. You may want to try using a cylindrical application method as a test on one tooth. See how it turns out. The gums should be easier to do. You could flatten and apply a texture although that might not be neccessary. Just hide the teeth and create a new pose and in muscle mode IN THE POSE move the cps around so you can more easily apply the decal to the gum area without spots that aren't visible. Decals don't "stick" to splines that are behind other splines when the decal is applied. As for using alpha channels in photoshop for more seamless textures this is fairly easy. Generally I always have a layered PSD (photoshop) file that has my original layers and channels etc etc. You really should avoid using the eraser tool on layers as this will delete the extra color information that you will need later to get a good texture with an alpha without any fringies. I always use a layer mask in photshop to "delete" portions of the layer. Then when I create my TGA file for AM I turn off the layer mask and load it and save it as an alpha channel. In the alpha, white indicates areas of the image that is visible and black hidden. By having the color area extend beyond the alpha channel this will totally eliminate fringies because the soft edges of the alpha will contain the image itself thus creating a soft transition. To create my TGAs I use the duplicate image command in Photoshop, flatten this copy, remove all of the channels except what I need for the image and then save as a TGA. Let me know if this helps or if you need some more specific instructions. I could also send you some simple layered photoshop documents as examples to see the process. Vernon Zehr

You nailed it on the head dude! the target practice sequence is incorrect. It is suppose to be the end of the previous sequence. I put in a fade to black by mistake. At the end of each "mistake" it goes to a scene of him "fixing" his problem. Each of these scenes always include some other character, doctor, technician, other agents. These additional characters will reflect their annoyance at his ineptitude and the agent will respond (with body language) with some sort of excuse. The doctor scene will just have him wincing in pain as he is bandaged. In the technician scene (the gun exploding) he will indicate that he switched one of the parts and slap his head and laugh at himself. In the target practice scene when the other agents look at him in disgust he will be looking at his gun as if it is broken or malfunctioning and try to ignore the staring. That scene also needs to be "tightened" up and shortened. I plan to change the pan also; start with the bald agent on the end and pan to our hero. p.s. Same music. I wrote it and since I am not a trained musician I am well aware of its lack of....uh....quality? Just a temp track. I didn't want to put in anything really good that I couldn't use. It is always a dissapointment later when you have to change it. This way I have no where to go but up! (2001 was suppose to have original music but Kubric loved the "temp" music so much he left in). I just spoke with a friend who has a band. They are very solid and talented and I may get them to write and perform something for me. Vernon "I write the songs that..(insert description)" Zehr

....holy breakdown of American values Batman! ...I just blew coffee out my nose...... I just woke up and this is the first thing I read..... Better than a caffeine pill I tell you! (hee hee...Paris Hilton....hee hee) Vernon "!!" Zehr

Okay, version 2. It isn't complete yet. Still have to finish the roof sequence and the torch cutting scene. There may seem to be some awkward pauses on some of the scenes. Those are for things I know I want to add I just haven't put them in the animatic yet. The roof scene is a little rough. It will basically be some over the top jumping and rolling of the agent just to travel a short distance. I need to put in some more quick cuts. Enjoy! It is about 4.7 mb. The (incompetent) Secret Agent Vernon "!" Zehr

Mmmm....Coffee... heh heh... coffee I love coffee.... I am drinking coffee right now.. Coffee's good... mmm. I love the animation too! And not just becasue of the coffee reference. I had to click on this topic just because of the subject. The bounce on the door as it slams is excellent. How do you get that kind of subtle motion? I always struggle with that kind of thing. It is worth the effort though. What was the reference audio from? Vernon "Caf-Fiend" Zehr