luckbat

Man! Now that's what I call lighting. The new neck and arms are totally kickass. (What's with that weird dent on the back of his tricep, though?) The scales are, obviously, too uniform the way they are now, but I know they're just placeholders. Are you still using BitMap Plus for them? It's scary how much that looks like a material. If it weren't for the deep shadows, I'd swear I was looking at an expensive plastic model. My only real crit, and I'm reaching here: the nostril looks a bit... sharp, compared to the bullish rest of the head. Personally, I'd broaden the lower legs substantially, Clydesdale-style, as he looks a bit top-heavy to me. But I know you're going for a particular look.

This is true, but you can add poses to objects that you plan to use multiple times with variations in a Chor. Those poses could control decals, additional geometry, proportions, or anything else you'd care to vary.

You might try Splitpatch.

Man, that's good stuff. But why does he do that one-handed smack on the hilt near the beginning?

Of course. Be sure to post your comments in my WIP thread over here: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15373

It is indeed very nice, with an attractive set of lips, but the low splineage around the eyes will seriously limit your ability to convey emotion. The ears help, but they can't compete with an expressive set of eyebrows. I don't think you need to re-spline anything, but even a single extra spline loop around the eyes would work wonders for you. (Though two would be better...)

Here's another reference image for your collection, if you don't already have it:

True motion blur / depth of field requires Multipass. Using Final will only give you a crude approximation.

I can't find the Briar Rose entrance online, but here's a lipsync test that uses the same shading technique: http://www.hash.com/users/milos/briar.MOV Also, Light Lists: http://www.hash.com/htmlHelp/v12.0/CustomH...LIGHT_LISTS.htm

Most people have dynamic IPs, so that wouldn't do much good. This is the second time he's been banned; I doubt he'll be cut much slack if he appears again.

Hmm. He seems kinda knock-kneed, now that I'm scrutinizing. Would you consider something a bit more bowlegged? That tends to look better on heavyset hoofed-leg characters, in my opinion. Speaking of posture, is he the chin-held-high sort of demon, or more of a nefarious type? If the latter, you might want to think about more of a hunched-over silhouette. Just my two cents. Well, they clearly do not have genitals, so I'm guessing no.

Are you sure it wasn't Superman, Tarzan and Wonder Woman? Because if so, it was this one: http://www.hash.com/stills/displayimage.ph...ed&cat=0&pos=54

Phew! You could carry groceries in those bags under his eyes. Seriously, this one's the best version yet, although I do miss the fur.

Did you miss the last one? Here's your chance to restore your honor! The NYNJAs meet once again at Luckbat's secret underground volcano headquarters in Brooklyn. No special guest appearances are scheduled this time, but we will have Doritos. You bring samples of your latest projects; I'll show some more animated shorts; good times! P.S. Also, are the noon start times working for everybody? Would you prefer later? Earlier? Do let me know.

Are you using multiple choreographies?

Hopefully DDustin can answer some of those for you in detail, but the short answer is, yes, A:M can handle accident reconstructions. See for yourself: http://www.accident-recreation.com/finnell-animation.htm

Ditto what Stuart said. Your shadowing needs are a perfect candidate for Light Lists.

Targas can have alpha channels. Just save them as 32-bit out of Photoshop.

Then perhaps you could upload a picture?

You can use Quicktime Pro, if you have it. It's $29.

Oh, you mean 'cause of the number of topics. Took me a second. Yes, indeed, very evil.

Seriously people, please get out of the habit of rendering directly to Quicktime. Rendering to targas is the best way to do it. There are two very serious drawbacks to rendering to a movie file. The most obvious one is that if you crash during a render, you'll lose the entire render. If you crash while rendering to targas, you restart and pick up where you left off. Second, rendering to targas means that you can play with movie compression settings to find the best possible compression after the render's done. If you render directly to a Sorenson-compressed movie, you're stuck with what you chose at render time.

You're using the Real Time render setting, which is simply the output of your graphics card. Switch to Final render in the Render Settings to do a "true" render. (Warning! Your render times will get longer!)

Well, it depends on who's drawing him!

It helps to study popular low-spline models like Kong or Kapsules. Stian posted a great low-spline head recently: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19983