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rusty

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Posts posted by rusty

  1. Well darn the Topic says it all: Is there a good model to use as a reference to how CPs should be assigned. I know most of this but in some places there are geometry bones whose specific use is unclear. Ideally the reference would use all those geometry bones stacked on top of each other or sticking out here and there.

     

    Thanks!

    Rusty

     

    Edit: Also something up to date -- some old examples I have are way different and so it looks like geometry bones have been added.

  2. There is a new utility that will be available as soon as I get the documentation ready. Responding a request I made several months ago with the specs for this utility, Glenn Anthofer spent several months writting the program while I tested it.

     

    In a word it creates a library file for a folder structure recursively working down through each sub-directory and it creates an AM library folder structure based on the disk folders. This allows you to organize your resources in folders and then create (or update) a library file for these that organizes them the same way in the AM Library. It has many many options and is very flexible. You can save your settings so they do not have to be typed in each time -- you can save mutiple setups -- it can run in batch mode processing unlimited customized runs set up before hand... say for creating library files for the CD, your own resource pool and the extra CDs. It is totally awesome, something I've been wishing for for years and I can't thank Glenn Anthofer enough for writting it.

     

    I hope to release it for Glenn within the next week.

     

    Screen capture of the user interface:

    LibMgr.jpg

     

    Cheers,

    Rusty

     

    Edit: Oh yeah, I'm working on the logic for and, getting someone... maybe my son... maybe Glenn to write a follow up program. While the above does a ton of stuff, the entries in the AM Library (the folders, the resources) will still not be in alphabetical order. This program would read in library files and alphabetize everything. It would also optionally combine multiple library files into one.

     

    Now all we need is a integrated search program!

  3. Atendee

    Non-Member

    Exhibits only code

     

    that should get you started. You can also upgrade to Exhibits Plus for $40 and that will get you into more, like the animation theaters, etc. The included extras are listed here.

    http://www.siggraph.org/s2007/attendees/re...categories.html

     

    Ah... when I get to SIGGRAPH Registration it doesn't let me get further unless I select an option that costs money. I thought this was free?

     

    RegType On or before

    29 June 2007 On or before

    25 July 2007 At SIGGRAPH 2007

    FC Full Conference Access

    - ACM SIGGRAPH Member $800.00 $975.00 $1,075.00

    - Student Member $345.00 $400.00 $450.00

    - Non-Member $850.00 $1,025.00 $1,125.00

    CS Conference Select

    - ACM SIGGRAPH Member $275.00 $305.00 $335.00

    - Student Member $195.00 $225.00 $255.00

    - Non-Member $295.00 $325.00 $355.00

    OD One Day (access to all programs only)

    $300.00/day $350.00/day $385.00/day

    SundayMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursday

    EP Exhibits Plus

    - ACM SIGGRAPH Member $75.00 $95.00 $95.00

    - Student Member $75.00 $95.00 $95.00

    - Non-Member $75.00 $95.00 $95.00

    EOD Exhibits Plus One Day

    $40.00/day $40.00/day $40.00/day

    TuesdayWednesdayThursday

  4. Well since I live here I have to go! How do I do this? What options do I take and where do I put the number?

     

    Am I an Attendee, Exhibitor or Contributor? What kind of code is this? What will it work for?

     

    Help... its too complicated...

     

    :-)

    Rusty

  5. If you can point me at a model that you have rigged and what you want replaced, I can give you a step by step for that, Rusty.

     

    Really don't need anything 'replaced'. I have working heads with assorted rigs... these just need to be constrained to the head bone. Any constraints imposed on the head by elements in the body (i.e. align head with chest or ??) should be connected to the head bone so this should work.

     

    If I can not figure out why I'm getting an error from the plug-in I will probably come to you model in hand so to speak.

     

    :-)

     

    Rusty

  6. Hi David,

     

    I'm sure things got skewed (by me). First of all I did a really lousy job of conveying what I wanted and I feel bad about that... you went through a lot more trouble then was needed (and a lot more trouble then I ever intended).

     

    The instructions I listed showed how to get rid of everything except the head stuff on a character rigged with the Squetch Rig

    I did not need this.

     

    get rid of the head stuff on the Posable installation rig

    This is all I needed.

     

    then combine the two so that you had the head and face stuff from the previously installed character and a new installation for everything else.

    I did not need this.

     

    I saw that you had gone over board due to my lousy and misleading description and I did not want to put you out further then I already had. So I attempted to extract the steps I needed; I took the latest posable rig, renamed it and then did this part of your instructions:

     

    1. Delete "Master_EyeTarget", "blink_main_INSTALL", "HeadProxy_INSTALL", "face_INSTALL" and the "FACE Interface_INSTALL_body_SQUETCH_base" (and their children).

     

    2. Delete the "head_manual_control" bone and its' children (it's under one of the children of the "head_INSTALL" bone).

     

    3. Under "Groups", delete the "FACE_groups" folder.

     

    4. Delete the FACE control labels in the modeling window.

     

    5. Delete all of the FACE related Smartskins.

     

    6. Delete the following Pose folders:

     

    a-"Animation_Controls/Face_underlying_controls"

    b-"Animation_Controls/FACE Interface"

    c-"Show_and_Hide_Rig_Components/hide_all_eyeblink_nulls"

    d-"Show_and_Hide_Rig_Components/hide_face_setup_bones"

    e-"Show_and_Hide_Rig_Components/hide_FACE_non_tweaking_bones"

     

    I then imported this altered posable rig into my model (which was the body only, mesh only), I read in the action I had already created using the full rig -- this action only contained the steps up to the part where the head is dealt with -- skipping the 'head' step I then continued the last steps.

     

    I looked things over and still feel that this should have worked but there are lots of places that I could have made mistakes.

     

    David, if you followed all of the above and if you see something off the top of your head, let me know. But beyond this, please do not go to any more trouble on my account at this point. Please. Okay?

     

    Cheers,

    Rusty

     

    PS: And don't take this post the wrong way -- I greatly appreciate all of the help you have tried to give me.

  7. David / Mark -

     

    As you know I took away the head rig and everything associated with it. When I ran the install plug-in I got the following error.

     

     

     

    This may mean nothing because I know this bone is missing. Or it may mean that the plug-in aborted and did nothing or ab ended before completion. I'm not sure how to find out. Any ideas?

     

    Thanks!

    Rusty

     

    Edit: Darn... looking at the PWS I'd have to say that the plug-in blew up:

     

  8. Usually, I put the date in every character's name so that I can keep track of them better. That way I know which version is the latest, what rig version I used (or at least close) and what is old enough or unfinished enough to delete. I could put the rig version number in there somewhere if you really think it's necessary, but the way I work it isn't.

     

    No. The file name is enough.

  9. When you save out your model, you could include the rig version in the name...that would be one way to do it, Rusty.

     

    Oh yeah! Put it back on the users! (smiles) :-)

     

    Actually a very good idea. And that's probably where it belongs. Even better, for myself, put it in the description or note field of the action then the model.

     

    r

  10. Hi!

     

    I wanted to see what version of the Squetch Rig (the posable one) I was working with in my model... I've been working on this for sometime due to interrupts and I certainly didn't remember what I had imported at the start. I wasn't sure if later versions had come out that I should upgrade to and what, if any, risk there might be* (I'm almost sure more then one version has been released). However, once the rig is imported into your model the name is lost and unless the rig's version and/or date has been placed somewhere to survive the 'import', so has this info.

     

    (* For example, if 8 versions have come out since the one I'm using, perhaps I should take a close look at what has changed... if only two versions, perhaps I would not bother.)

     

    Is there anyway to tell what version the rig is after it is imported into the model (short of looking back at dates when the rigging was started)?

     

    If not, perhaps in the next release the version and/or date should be placed within one of the bone or relationship names so that it can travel along with the rig after the import process.

     

    Cheers,

    Rusty

     

    Edit: If this were done... remembering to always rename the bone or relationship 'would' be a problem sooner or later... perhaps a reason to simply deny this change request (more hassle then its worth)... perhaps a point were release check lists need to go in place (are things falling through the cracks already?). This rig has to be coming a monster to support even if you love doing it. :-)

  11. If I'm understanding (maybe I'm still not), isn't that what I outlined, Rusty?

     

    Yes. I'm sorry for the 'email hiccups'... this is a forum but it seems that stumbling 'cause written messages aren't always clear isn't confined to email... my bad.... it happens.

     

    Thanks!!

    Rusty

  12. Maybe I'm confused, Rusty...the instructions I outlined are for if you have a face and head on a character that you want to keep the rigging for and want to replace the rest of the rig. The instructions for the character deletes everything except the head and face/FACE stuff, the instructions for the installation rig deletes only the head and face/FACE stuff. On the Posable installation rig, you will still need the main head "INSTALL" bone so that you can get the neck to end in the correct place.

     

    Is that what you need?

     

    Using the Posable rig, remove (as in get rid of) everything related to the head except the head bone... leaving the posable rig for everything below the neck and the head bone.

  13. David,

     

    Your instructions seem strange. Or, they look great if I were wanting to do something a little different... or I'm just confused LOL.

     

    First let me be clear on where I'm at and what I want to do. I have gone through the posable install through step 5. Step 6 deals with the head install and I won't need this (there really is no head yet). So at this point, what I wanted to do is skip Step 6, remove everything related to the head and then proceed with the Posable installs 'Step 7' and 'The Final Step'.

     

    Now, in your email it looks to me like steps 1 through 4 under "On your character" removes everything but the head -- just the opposite of what I am looking to do right now. If I'm right about this then... this is okay as later downstream I'll need these instructions.

     

    The instructions 1 -6 under "In the Posable rig:" look more like instructions that will remove the head rig portion -- the stuff I need now.

     

    Am I on track here?

     

    Rusty

  14. David!

     

    You are the man!! Thanks for all the effort you put into answering my question!

     

    Strange, about every hour I checked for this and a couple of other replies using 'View New Posts' as I always do and I saw nothing. Just now and just for kicks I checked for replies by going to the postings and there they were! It seems that 'View New Posts' is somehow selective; it shows you all the new posts except the ones your looking for LOL. There are probably all kinds of replies I'm unaware of!

     

    Thanks!

    Rusty

  15. Hi!

     

    Because my character models are virtual actors who must ware many outfits, heads and bodies are separate. Also my heads are already rigged using an earlier version of the Squetch head rig and, for now, I will use this. So I need to chop off the Squetch rigs head. I've said all this before and the stuff below has been asked and discussed before but, before I start deleting I felt I needed one more check...

     

    This seems pretty straight forward. There's all the head bones, many under the 'FACE Interface_INSTALL_body_SQUETCH_base' bone and probably elsewhere. There's the relationships which seem to be nicely placed in separate areas; HEAD/NECK, Face_underlying_controls, Face Interface and lots of stuff under Bones Relationships with the word 'face' in the name. There maybe stuff mixed in with the 'Hide' relationship but I don't think so.

     

    There's the poses that front end many of these relationships up there in user properties and finally the splines that make up the 3D controls.

     

    For the most part 'stuff' relating to the head rig is grouped separately where every they maybe. As far as I can tell, there are no 'ties' between the body rig and face rig that will require special handling or patches of any kind.

     

    Sound about right? Anything else I should be aware of?

     

    Cheers,

    Rusty

     

    Edit: *** Do you know if the install plug-in will have problems if the face rig elements are absent? ***

     

    Also, if I create PWS filters selecting 'Everything' and searching for 'face' will I probably find everything?

  16. Hi,

     

    After many trials and tribulations in other areas I'm once again back to installing the Squetch Rig (the posable version).

     

    After I go through all the steps and export the action to a model and read the model back in and do more stuff and finally run the plug-in (deep breath)... I assume I'm left with the geometry bones which I assign the mesh to and then weight and test and tweak and so on.

     

    I also know there is a whole bunch of stuff needed for the face rig but... for now I'm using my own face rig (which is very close to the same).

     

    My question concerns the 'control' bones you actually use to animate the model. Somehow the geometry bones get hidden and the 'control' bones appear but... how does this happen?

     

    Thanks!

    Rusty

  17. She's COOL. And she's a 'hotty'... however, she lacks one ability that is esensial to being a 'hotty' but, since she's purple we'll forgive her. Can you guess what it is? ;-)

     

    Rusty

     

    Hi Rusty,

     

    yeah, i'm already thinking to give her a second (or third?) boob, she'll be a real hotty :D

     

    Not even close! And I even give you the answer... draw you a picture... right after I ask the question! Gads!

  18. Thank Rusty for your responce again

     

    I tested v13 and v14, both have the same problem, I will report it,

     

    gee, I thought I was becoming a nuisance over this. :blink:

     

    You were becoming a nuisance! -- Just kidding. :-)

     

    However, you should try and post images to help us visualize your problem -- you can see how many times everyone got the wrong idea.

     

    Yes!!!! Please report this ASAP!!! Mark it as urgent. I came back to this thread because after leaving I realized how serious this bug was! How MANY people in how MANY projects and models have used seamless to better match repeating decals! They'll devote hours to rendering these in the latest versions and find that they have a problem only afterwords. Maybe, hopefully, not too many. Even worse, those of us who know about the problem are stuck until its fixed because there is no way at all to get around it because you can't go back to V12! (Though maybe 'seamless' worked in an earlier release of 13 or 14.) I know that if I were not involved with rigging right now, I'd be animating and rendering and I have at least a few scenes that use 'seamless' (again, I guess I could modify the image and manually make it seamless).

     

    Rusty

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