Parlo

Truly exceptional work Dusan. The texturing alone is some of the most accomplished I've seen in A:M. Inspirational stuff! Is it all decals?

There's some really nice work in there. Congratulations to all involved!

We should definitely try to get together again sooner rather than later. I'm at the Chocolate Factory a lot at the moment, so getting a room will be no problem. If we get enough interest, I'll look into dates.

What you've shown is that you've made a pretty good model of a fencing mask. But I'm still not convinced that the mask in that ad is a render of that model. Even with substantial touch-up. There are just too many intricacies that make it highly unlikely. The standard way to solve these kinda things is to show a wire frame of the EXACT choreography or scene. That way people can be in no doubt. Nice model though. Ken - Humble pie? Nope. Not yet at any rate. You've really got to learn to look closer. Hone that acumen.

I'm with John and Vern, and tried to subtley hint at the fact in my previous post. A long long list of observations has lead me to this conclusion. I didn't want to be antagonistic originally, but trying to pass this thing off as a render is just a little bit too far fetched. Prove me wrong. I, like Vern, would be more than happy to be proved wrong.

Wow - I'm also amazed by that render. What were the ad dimms? I assume that it's atleast a full sized magazine ad, due to size of the text. You've got stunning clarity out of a 1200*1600 image if that's the case - I'd usually get artifacts if I was to use that rez for an ad half that size. It's a shame you seem to have lost the original render as I'm sure it would have much more fidelity than the scan you've posted. I'd love to know the lighting setup you've used. If you get time a few grabs of the final choreography would be nice Did you use radiosity? Keep up the good work.

John, At the risk of just repeating my comments at the London Users meeting - wooo hooo! I'm especially impressed by your ingenuity in creating that "dazed" double image effect in the final shot. Talk about using an imperfection as an asset! There's also some really nice animation in there. Oh, and your paintings are inspirational too. What's going on Jon, are you a polymath or something?

Paul - Get well! And see you there. Stephen - Get back to work! John - Get that thing rendered! Gary - Get that mouse in your bag now before you have a chance to forget! Steve - Get yourself to "The Rose and Crown" tomorrow @ 2pm. ----- Little question about the laptop... does it have firewire? I was thinking that if it does, it will be easier for me to bring my external firewire hard drive than to have to burn everything to disc. See you all there

Would be good to know who's coming on Saturday, if anyone needs additional location info etc etc. Start time is 2pm, meeting place is "pub just behind the Menier Chocolate Factory". So, if you are planning on attending, post below.

It's totally free - huzzah! So... Saturday 19th February @ 2pm @ The Menier Chocolate Factory I suggest we meet in that pub we met in last time, just behind the factory. Can anyone remember the name of it? I just remember it as being a tiny bit scary.

We are on for next Saturday! 2pm till as late as we like (as long as we are out by midnight ) Sorry for the slightly scatterbrained organising - it's been a case of working on other stuff with David and then sucker punching him with "oh, can we have that room again?"

Gary - Funny you should mention it. I've got a meeting with David tomorrow so the time is ripe! Anyone got any preferences for dates?

I too agree with John - it's the type of rig feature that actually seems to create more work than it does for you. There are only 5 kinds of features that I like to build into my rigs these days. 1 - control simplification AND optional complexity - something that enables you to control a group of things with a smaller number of channels whilst maintaining a large amount of flexibility in that control OR to work with a larger amount of control and channels when you want them. 2 - Bone/body part isolation - The ability to isolate an area of the body so that it maintains it's own rotation etc. 3 - Squash and stretch - Ideally I like to use both simple non targeted proportional scaling and IK targeted squash and stretch. I've found the latter invaluble when animating legs, it gives allows you to build much stronger poses and easily tidy up those fiddly knee pops. 4 - Advanced blenders/rollers or fan bones - eg. a rig that correctly maintains the roll of a bicep and direction of the elbow so that you have complete freedom in how you animate the forearm and upper arm. These things are just there to make the mesh deform nicely, they are there to make animating less limited. I think of them as a good antidote to the excessive use of rotation limits to keep a mesh looking pretty. This way - the animator moves what he wants to get the arm to the position he wants it in, and the geometry finds a way to make it work. It's nifty. 5 - The ability to individually TURN OFF any of these things when I need to. I've been rigging characters for more than just myself to animate recently and have found that, in these circumstances, the best rig is the one that allows flexibility. Having the ability to select exactly which control features you want and which you don't not only gives each animator freedom to choose how they work generally... but also allows them to pick the best setup for each individual shot.

I finally got hold of David (apologies that it took so long, but anyone who's ever played the "Trying to get hold of a producer on the phone game" will know how hard this can be ) and unfortunately next weekend is the worst one I could have picked. He's got a show in previews, and another West End show is rehearsing there that has a large cast and needs all the rooms. So, anyone have any other ideas? I'm starting work with him on a project in February so will be able to wrangle a room more easily then, but for the timebeing.... are there any viable alternatives?

Just to keep everyone up to date... I phoned David at the begining of the week but he's out of the country until sometime next week, I'll speak to him then to confirm the availability of a room. Also, I think I can lay my hands on a video projector - so we can aim that at a wall and sit comfortably infront of it. There is a projector at the venue but I think that it's currently a perminant part of the set in the theatre. This other one is one of those tiny portable ones, perfect for our needs. I'll post again as soon as I've heard from David.