Animus

Some things I notice in the walk cycle. The foot on the ground is slipping, make sure the the Z curve for that foot is a straight line, it should correct that. There is a key on the arms going back that breaks the pendulum motion. Also, I think you need to give him body rotation on the X axis, leaning more in front of him, that would give him more of a heavy feel. Your character is very funny and appealing. Michel

Thank you! I'm using the new 2008 rig. I have to say it's quite an upgrade from 2001 rig. You are right, I just noticed that after posting, I fixed that and a few pops. Shaggys_take02.mov Michel

I wanted to try out the new rig on Shaggy. The rig works very nicely, I made an extensive use of IK FK switching, and it's IK FK OK friendly. The hand rig is great. I picked up the 11second club sound file, and I have put many hours since. Shaggys.mov Michel

I tried the new install rig with Shaggy. It seems to work ok. Thanks Mark, it's easy and fast to install, instructions are clear, and it's a Great Rig. Shaggy_2008.mdl Michel

Really great character! He already looks alive and funny. I love it. I read you have started rigging with TSM2, but if you have time for experimenting, you should try the 2008 rig Mark built, it is easy to install and uses A:M latest improvements. That guy could be very fun to animate. Michel

Thank you Mark! I read your installations instructions, very well done. Michel

Very nice stylized cat. Animating is fluid too. Great clip. Michel

That looks good Mark. It adds many facial expressions. Good eye animating is much more storytelling than lipsync, in my opinion. I really like your rig. Michel

Hi Mark, thank you for rerigging Robby. One thing I wasn't able to do without the installer was to place the foot null correctly,like it is now. One little thing, the thumb rotater doesn't seem to curl on Z axis. I really like your finger setup with the ability of rotating fingers on Zaxis, and curl with the rotator. I like the face rig; I guess it would be possible to use that setup to control decals the way Xtaz experienced in another thread? Michel

I hope your movie last long, I would like to see much more! Michel

Look for those switches. Hand lock and IK are different types of IK. Michel

They look great! Both the face rig possbilities and the characters. I don't like much doing lipsync, this is going to be of great help. I look forward to see more! Michel

What rig are you using? Most of the time you have an on-off switch in the pose window. Michel

Hi, I have been playing a little with constraints and 2008 rig lately. Mark is doing invaluable work with his rig. Automatic keyframing in A:M with on-off pose switches makes it much easier. I plan other tests for the other characters. constraints_test2.mov Michel

Hi Mark, First, I hope that I didn't make a mistake posting a model, I should have asked you before. I got overly enthousiastic when I found that I could install your rig with fairly usable results. I tought it could revive interest in what you are doing. I have animated on TWO and SO with the Squetch rig you and David created, and I have said it many times before, it is awesome. So much that I have much less interest working with TSM or 2001rig, they work well but the Pentium2 worked well and I won't buy one. I would think many people have tried to install the Squetch rig, but only a few reached completion. I am interested in rigging and I understand constraining and relationships, I could build something like 2001rig from scratch, but nothing close to the Squetch rig or the rig you are building now. I suspect many people assumed that it was another superb rig that they couldn't easily install, so I would think that is why you didn't get as much feedback as you have expected. Saying that, I am absolutely not blaming anybody for the Squetch rig being hard to install, it is such a nice rig done freely. The fact is that there isn't any easy-to-install rig right now making use of the not so new FKIK switches(all switches actually) implemented in the program; I come back to that because for me it makes a rig so much more versatile. I think your work is very very important, and I have much respect for your talent and dedication. I for one sure hope you keep developing this promising modern rig. Michel

I am also amazed such a good rig can be installed just like that. I just rigged a model today with version AMv13_2008_Rig4. It has advanced finger/hand control but no facial bones, and most of all, you have FKIK absolutely seamless switches. I've attached the model if anybody wants to play around with the new rig. It was installed exactly the same way you would have done it with 2001rig.AMv13_2008_Rig4gtest.mdl Thank you Mark, it is FANTASTIC! Michel

I spent some more time rigging the fingers. Everything is working like the Thom model. So this new rig is actually faster than TSMrig, once you have placed the geometry bones, well.. you're done, and ready to animate with a very versatile rig . I join a clip with some finger moves and a walk cycle. It's bad animation, it's just to show the rig is easily installed on another character. It's a very basic character, but I don't see why it wouldn' work on any character. rig_test2.mov Michel

Thank you. I did a very quick test on a simple model, just doing the same thing I would do with AM2001rig, scaling geometry bones very fast, and auto assign cp's. In the clip attached, I tried IK switches, left arms go from FK to IK every 12 frames, a different pattern with left leg. Those switches alone makes your rig much more fun to use than TSMrig. I still don't why we can have those seemless transitions now, and we could not do it a couple years, and TSMrig can't do it. rig_test.mov Great work Mark! Michel

Maybe I missed the information, does 2008 rig install as simply as 2001, just by scaling geometry bones? And, I tried to find out what in the rig gives you that great FKIK seemless switch? How do you implemant that? I use that all the time with the Squetch rig, it makes animation so much easier. Michel

Nice animation Steve, works really well for me, I like that everything is animated, shoulders and hands are very active, the constraints you used on the glasses are seemless. Speedy yet harmonious. Good luck! Michel

I always like your models, and they look inspiring for animation too. I like your image with the gray ground, but you need more light to show the face expreession on the guy with the ball. Michel

I just watched your 3 clips. Just great job, nice flexible character, good short storylines and funny endings. Michel

Thank you fot watching. Robert, you are right, it's a little ambitious for the time I could put in. I know I need some more variety in the poses, I still have Sunday left, to do more tweaks, and maybe find something different. Ken, that was my original idea to have some puzzled stranger, but I will go for the simpler sleeping guy, because of lack of time. Ten_second_march29a.mov Michel

I am playing around with Sam and the 11second club audio file. Not sure if i will have time to finish it. The rig is great, but making a character alive and believable is still hard. So many things I feel look strange, 11 seconds seems huge. I encourage everybody to try tthis great rig though. Ten_second_march23a.mov Michel

Just want to add a THANK YOU!, Mark and David, your rig is great! Michel