Mechadelphia

[WTF???] Lee, Abandoned??? Not enough time??? Now that's just wrong.... Pull yourself together! Lee just model the arm copy and flip that baby and your done. Post that thing on CG Talk and go for the front page. Even if you don't then you'd probably get a CG Choice award. While your are at it... submit this for the upcoming Hash "Anything Goes" Image Contest and take 1st Place! If you do that then you really won't have enough time to reply to all of the posts about how good this is... What are you thinking??? [/WTF???] Now go make it happen! Good Luck.

Hi Eric, I'm glad that you worked it out. Rigging is not the easiest task to learn so if I see anyone trying to really "get it" I'll do what I can to help out. You were on the right track; all that you needed was a nudge in the right direction. Keep up the good work! Take care.

Hi Eric, I'm glad that you zeroed in on the problem. Just so that you know... you are not doing anything wrong. You may be overlooking a detail that is very easy to overlook when setting up these sorts of relationships in your rig. From what you've described it sounds like you have set bone ON/OFF visibilty keys in your Pose(s) that control your FK or IK controls (it's possible that they could also be set in other poses too.). There is nothing wrong with that, that's Ok. For the sake of simplicity try this: Delete the Smartskins for the bones that you mistakingly applied them to. Click on the model that you want to work on in the "Project Workspace". Check in the "Properties" window for your model and inspect your User Properties. This will have all of the Poses that you defined for your model such as your FK and IK switching. You'll notice that to the right of the Pose name there will be an indicator that tell you what percentage the pose defaults to in an Action, Pose, or Choreography window. If the pose is an ON/OFF pose it may indicate on or off. It is also possible the the pose may indicate "Not Set". For now, Right Click on the percentage or ON/OFF that is indicated set them all to "Not Set". This is to help prevent accidently setting a key for your Poses in your Smatskin. Now go into your model and create the Smartskin on the geometry bone that you want set. When you are done and exit out of that Smartskin relationship, you can set your poses back to your default percentages. That should do the trick for you. Try it out and see if it works. If it does not let us know and I'll get more details from you about this so we can get you back on track. Good Luck.

Hi flashawd It can be tricky to say for sure where the problem lies since we don't know how your model and rig are setup. It sound like you may have accidently set your Smartskin on your FK leg controls instead of the actual geometry bones of the model itself. If you set the Smartskin on the underlying geometry bones then your smart skin will always work when you switch from FK to IK and back (since the geometry bones always move the model's geomtry at the base level regardless of your rig's IK/FK mode). You said that you used Smartskin on your character's back. How does the back's Smartskin behave when you switch too IK legs? Dig a little deeper in the rig to find out exactly which bones have the Smartskin applied to them and let us know. If I can spot the problem I will help you with the solution. Good Luck.

Hi Peppr, Welcome to the A:M Forums. So far so good. Where's the mech? I think the first two city pictures look good. The second one really does capture the feeling of a sunset more than the first. I think its because of the warmer lighting and colors on the 2nd one. The bloom effect is a nice touch too on that second one. If you try lighting the first one kind of like the second one maybe it will look even better. The other 3 sets look to me to be interior lab type sets. Good luck to you.

Rich and John, This is some very nice work! These are only tests too?! Are you two doing post work in After Effects etc... for these shots or are they raw renders straight from A:M?

Thanks Rich. I glad that you like it. I definitely want to chat with you at the next MAAM meeting (If I can make it) because there lots of things that I can learn from your techniques as well. robcat2075, thanks for the comment. Before I submitted the image I asked a few people who were unfamiliar with my project to look at it and they were able to tell what it was in general terms. I think that this pose does read well in this image but in the image contest thumbnail I thought that it was hard for me to tell was it was too. I am assuming that you are referring to the actual image though. With a design such as this one it sometimes can be tricky get poses to read well in the camera (but this is true for human characters as well) so I am keeping that in mind for the future.

Thanks gazzamataz, Yes, it did take me a long time to figure out. Unfortunately, I did not try to learn the basics of modeling first... I went for the hard stuff right away. I wasted a lot of time approaching it that way so this took me longer than it should have. Then I had to learn how to rig the mech... I'm not complaining at all. I gained some valuable experience that will help me in the future. (Note to all new modelers: PLAN AHEAD! Especially for complex projects!) Aside from the modeling, I had to revise the design of the mech dozens of times. The reason why was because I wanted a "cheat" free transformation. What I ran into sometimes were situations where it looked OK on paper but when I modeled it then tested transforming it just was not working out the way that I wanted it. But it all worked out for the best.

I think that I will now. Thanks. By the way, are you using rotoscopes for your model or are you eyeballing it?

That's interesting. I was just thinking about modeling a Defiant model from DS9 as a change of pace from my work. Maybe I will now... Good luck Darkwing

Thanks for the feedback. the_black_mage, I agree with you about the sun behind the clouds being brighter behind the clouds. I'm going to work on that and post the results on my web site this weekend. dre4mer, MMZ_TimeLord, Thanks for the compliments. MattWBradbury, I do have a few animations but nothing that I'd care to post at the moment. I did show one a while ago at one of the MAAM user group meetings but that was really more of a test to see how my sky dome looked when the camera moved around in the environment. Thanks again.

Hello everyone, I reworked my May 07 "Toon" Image contest entry and am posting it here for your review. I made a few changes in Photoshop and I prefer this version over my contest entry. The model is my own original design of a transforming Fighter Plane/ Robot that is part of a short personal animation project that I am working on. The model is designed so that I don't need to swap models when I am transforming in in a shot. It is rigged and ready to go. The mech in the image is one of the mecha designs that will be in the short. This model is pretty much done but I have a few more minor details to work on on this model (so it is still a WIP). Questions, comments, and constructive critisisms are always welcome. Thanks. Take care.

Don & Co. , thanks again for hosting the MAAM meeting. I had a great time and was glad to meet you all again (and a few of you for the first time!) Everyone has very interesting projects in progress. Its wonderful meeting people like you who have the same kinds of interests in animation. When you are all ready to meet again count me in again (Just post a few weeks notice so I can plan around it). Take care...

Ok Don, I'm in for the 14th of May... ...but only if you agree to show us some of your work this time Seriously though I want to see anything you have no matter what you may think of it. Is it a deal?

I'll be there if I'm not working that day. Right now my work schedule for that far out has not been posted yet. The sooner that everyone decides on the date the better my chances will be on my request for that day off being approved. I'll keep my eyes on this thread to see what the concensus is and then I'll let you know if I'll be there. Thanks for keeping the MAAM active Don & Co.

Hi John, You could also invest in your own domain name instead of using Juno.com's It can make you seem more... "savy" and "professional" to potential clients (not that you are not savy and professional) You can obtain one for really good rates nowadays and many registrars will let you set up email accounts for your domain for free. If you register a name make sure that you register with an ICANN accredited registrar. Check it out and good luck.

Hi Zach, Wonderful Job!!! My wife and I just watched it again and we still keep laughing at it. Congratulations Zach! One comment: In some areas the subtitles are hard to read because the color of the text blends into the on-screen action. This is a common occurance (I even see this in theatrical movies). Adding a thin black outline around the text may help alleaviate that phenomenon. Great job all around! Thanks for posting it.

Hey Don, I tried having somthing around her waist and I doid not like how it looked at all. I will admit that I was feeling lazy when i tried it and did not put my heart into modeling that accesory so I may give an new version a try. Yes, she will have rank and other insignia and her sholder armor will be developed more (there is supposed to be another segment to it but thats not finished yet) A helmet is out of the question for this character (she does not have to look 100% combat ready) but I had not considered any alternate head gear. Hmmm... maybe I will do a few concept sketches and see if I like it. Thanks for your thoughts on that.

Thanks everyone for your comments. UNGLAUBLICHUSA: You'd like a butt wireframe? Ok. When I post an update i will post a picture where it shows a bit more. In the meantime, you should be able to use what I have already posted as a start. If you think that nudes are easy then you should find pants a little easier. Don: The catches are there to stay. I suppose I should have said costume additions. At this point most of the additions will show once i add the textures to the model. As far as the story goes, her role is a supporting one... she is not the main character. She is kind of like an unconventional soldier type who is assigned to protect "certain kinds of things or people". Her costume will become more rugged to reflect that but still retain the "lines" that reveal her figure. Her hair style will likely be decided on how far I want to take the hair systems in AM (it will be a practical style). I have not even touched them yet really so that is something I will save for last since I reall want to get that right. That refelction/ shadow (or whatever) thing certainly is or was a bug. I have not tried to replicate it lately and I have yet to try it since moving to ver 11.1 I will see if it's still there probably this weekend and if its still there i will send in a report. jon: Thanks. I'll certainly keep you posted

Hey Guys, Here are some of the wire frames that I did not have with me at the last meeting: "Protector" WIP Thanks for waiting.

W.I.P. I showed this model (actually pictures of this model) to the attendees of the most recent MAAM user group meeting in Philadelphia PA. I did not have the wire frames to show at the time so I have posted them here today. I have been trying to settle on the overall look of my project and I am leaning towards an toon-lined/ semi-realistic style. This is still a WIP. I have yet to complete a number of things with this model that I intend to complete. Such as: Costume changes. Adding hair to the model. Finishing the rigging and smart skinning of the model. Applying textures to the model. Any questions, comments, and/ or constructive critisism is welcome. Thanks to Middle Kid for posting his eyeball model on this forum awhile ago. I am using it in this model.

Don (and company), Thanks a lot for coordinating the MAAM meeting. My wife and I had a wonderful time! Count us in on the next meeting whenever you decide on having it. Vern and Zach, You two are great guys. You both displayed some fabulous projects and I wish you both good luck with completing them. It's certainly great inspiration for me to keep at it. I'll post the wireframes for my images that I showed you in the near future so that you can see what I was unable to show at the meeting. I suppose that I'll post them in the WIP forum rather than here in this thread. (I'll post a link to it here though.) Ok guys, take care and I'll see you later...

Hi Everyone! I got the time off from work that day so I will be there for sure! I'll see you all on the 11th at noon. Take care. Oh by the way... Is there room for us to bring a desktop computer with us?

Hey everyone! The 11th sounds good but I will need to know the time we will be starting before I can say for sure. Don, do you have a time in mind yet? Thanks

Hi Don, First and foremost: Thanks a bunch for organizing these meetings! Now that I'm back in the country I can finally attend! Sorry that I could not make the last one. After I landed I had some unexpected business that I need to take care of. I'll be there this time if I can get that time off from work. It would be great if you can decide on a date and time in the next few weeks that way I can give my job plenty of notice. As far as the locations you've listed, any one of them is good for me. Please keep us posted. Thanks again