mtpeak2

You can use an image decalled to flat plane (single patch like the default ground plane) and position it behind the set so it's in view in the camera. Or you can add a new layer in the chor and apply the image to it. You could also apply it to a dome, so any camera angle can see it. The Squetch rig is David Simmons' (itsjustme) creation, I only helped some. The Squetch rig is downloadable for anyone to use, but it's alot more difficult to install than TSM2 or 2001 rig. There is a Squetchy Sam model with the rig installed already to use, downloadable from the Squetch rig download thread. I was working on the 2008 rig, I'm not quite finished yet and I don't have an installation method for it yet. There is a Thom model downloadable with the rig installed, minus the face controls, in the 2008 rig thread. I haven't worked on it for awhile now, didn't think too many people were interested, so the motivation level dropped on finishing it (lost interest). I was in the middle of working on the face controls and that's where it sits. With alot of people using TSM2, there's no real need for another rig that no one is going to use. So who knows if I'll ever finish it or not.

Pretty cool. Some of the scenes with the witch need something though. Maybe a starry sky in the background, even the scenes with the moon.

I'm fixing issues and changing things with the quad installation rig as I go, so hopefully I'll get all the potential problems ironed out when I'm done.

It's a regular bone that I use to smartskin hair to, I just call it a smartbone.

Thank's Katt.

Actually, the expression could be added right to the enforcement or lag property of the constraint, even the offsets could have the expression.

Yes, more smartbones could be added to break it up even more. This can be taken even further. The constraints can be setup in a percentage poses. These poses could be driven by the expression bone with smartskin to vary the enforcement of the constraints or the lag, to give even more variation to the hair.

Here's a render with the 3 smartbones and 1 expression bone. The smartbones are constrained to the expression bone with a lag setting. lowered realtime density and thickened the hair for this render. How's that Robert, is that what you were looking for? RB3.mov

That's what I was thinking Nancy.

Here's another render showing what the smartbones are doing and how the grass is responding to it. Sorry for the size of the file, I'm trying to get them as low as I can without losing too much quality. RB2.mov

Nancy, I have an image for the grass, but it's just a white blade with an alpha channel, I don't even need to use it. I'll see if that helps by removing it. Thanks Robert. Each side of the river has one bone for the smartskin, that's why it moves in unison. I could add multiple smartbones for each side and set the expressions to vary/delay a bit to make it more wave like. Or just one expression bone and 3 smartbones with an orient like constraint with lag, that will probably work best. It will be alot of work setting up the smartskin though, since it doesn't work like weighting, but I'll see what i can do. I'll probably add a density map for the hair, so it gradually get less dense as it is further away from the riverbank. This might help with the scintillating as well.

Thanks Martin. This was just the smartbones with the expressions, no dynamics or force involved and no animating.

Nancy, this was a 1 pass render, with very low quality compression, shaded render. The scintillating will be no where near this bad in a final render, but there will be some with no way around it.

Thanks David. Well, the render didn't come out as clear as I wanted, but here it is. RB.mov

Thanks guys. Martin rendering a test now, shaded no reflections though, I wanted it to render sometime today. That's a good idea Mike. I'll get right on it as soon as the render is done.

Thanks Nancy.

Here's another start of a landscape project I decided to work on.

Thanks Steve.

Thanks David.

Here's a test of a quick and simple brow setup tied to the eye controller with expression. Brows.mov

I'm not sure I understand your questions Serg. I assign cps in the modeling window and hand weight cps in an action. The zip contains a rigged Thom model ready for animating. There is no installation rig yet. The bones showing in the Thom model are the geometry bone (there are a few control bones showing though). The bone names are setup to use the "install rig" plugin for hiding control bones and unhiding the geometry bones.

Thanks Martin and Steve. I was able to add the thumb to the lag pose. Started working on the face. I got the eyes and lids rigged. The setup uses one controller, like the fingers. The eye and lid bones have expressions tying them to the controller, no constraints. There is one constraint, but that is a translate limit on the controller. Hopefully this mean you'll just have to position a master/parent bone for each eye to the center of the eye geometry and assign cps. I hope to tie the brows to the controller for some movement, while still having their own controller. Everything is animated using the controller. eyes.mov cross_eyes.mov

I was able to isolate the constraints with the lag and create a percentage pose to adjust the amount of lag for the fingers. The pose percentage represents the amount of frames, the finger with the most lag (index finger), should be delayed. I have to figure out how to set this up for the thumbs, the ON/OFF pose for the thumbs creates an issue to set the lag pose. This pose can be animated. (see clip) If there is any interest for this update with Thom, I'll post it. If not, then this update will be in the version I post with Frankie, whenever that may be. I have alot of work to do on Frankie before I post the model, so I don't know how long that will take. lag.mov

Your initial pose had the fingers bent pretty far backwards. I would use just the X axis of the controller (use the Y axis to counter the lag if necessary). There are also poses to make a fist. Your action was quite short in terms of frames (6), the lag takes 8 frames to complete the fist using the X axis. I could remove the lag if this is an issue or create a percentage pose to make it adjustable (if possible, I think you can animate lag). Also, I could add an euler limit to the controller too, so you can't get the fingers too far out of position.

There is a lag on the finger when using the X axis, this is why the fingers continue to move after the last frame. I'll look at the action.