ZachBG

Wireframe as promised.

Starting an Apollo astronaut model. No textures yet. Or hands. I knew I forgot something! Dreading rigging this guy because he's so... thick! The good news is that he can't bend his back very much and probably doesn't need lip sync poses. Suggestions appreciated (wireframe to follow in next post). Zach

Looks good!

What were the lighting and render settings you used for that shot? /me is always looking for lighting tips Zach

Basically, you need to do two things: reduce the geometry on the back of the head using hooks, and "wrap" the splines around the back of the head using five-point patches. You've got way too many splines in the back of the head, where (I presume) you won't need much detail. So add another spline ring and hook into it, reducing some of those extrusions. A picture is worth a thousand words, so I attached a picture. It may not exactly be the best layout of splinage, but it could work. Technical details on hooks and five-point patches can be found in the manual; in my copy they're on pages 127-131. And finally, my younger, more handsome namesake (zacktaich) got it right: check out Colin's face tutorial. It's worth its weight in gold. (Do web pages have weight?) Hope this helps, Zach

Zoinks! I suppose the death of President Lincoln is my fault too!

Looks like you've got a good start... just throw some five-point patches on the back of the head to create a full, one-spline ring from which you can extrude downwards to create the neck. Hope this helps, you've prolly got it by now anyway... Zach

I agree, very inspring and very cool. Not to mention very brave, to stick your work out there as you're working! Do you plan on letting us in to the story as well (when you have it)? I can understand if not--stories are very personal, after all, at least for me--but I'd love to know how these guys will interact. Zach

Cute! Darn, I forgot yesterday was Wednesday. I mean...

Amazing! Thanks for the wireframe; you've given me a lot to think about, as someone who has yet to make That Perfect Head Mesh. Zach P.S. As I said about Jim Talbot's character, I Want Her Phone Number...

Very nice! Did you use post on the images, for that "soft" look? Could we see a wireframe of the head? Zach

Wow, I didn't expect this thread to pop up again! Thanks, everybody. Zach

I'm not a face guy--as my own WIPs all too clearly demonstrate--but I would also reccommend checking out Colin Freeman's face tutorial. The only nit I can see--besides the smoothing which you've already mentioned--is the hook very near the outside of her eye. Depending on how much expression you're after, this could cause some animation problems. Zach

I want her phone number. Seriously, beautiful work as usual... Zach

Which books are you talking about? What I have is "Cartoon Animation" and it's a compendium of a series of Blair books. (It's also published by Walter Foster.) The "take" info is under the title How to Animate Film Cartoons. Zach

Looks pretty darn good to me! As Grubber might put it, I have to say that I have nothing to say. Zach

Here's some more progress, attached below... Hmm. He's going to have trouble playing guitar with holes for hands. Zach

As an update: I just re-tested this and it still happens as of 10.5n. I sent a report to support. Zach

This has happened to me, too! I thought my project files were simply corrupted, but if it happened to you too, it's probably a bug. I'll send a report to Hash if you do... Great image, by the way! Zach

It all depends (well, mostly) on what codec you use. If you're rendering to Quicktime directly from A:M, you can click the "flippy triangle" in the Render panel next to Format. This will bring up "Compression: Set." Click on "Set" and choose your codec. (This is using the "Advanced" render dialog; in the non-advanced version, just click the Compression button.) Sorenson Video is a good all-around codec, I've found; it requires Quicktime 4 or later. Usually, if you're rendering to 320x240, setting the quality to Maximum and then limiting the data-rate to 40-50 gives a decent quality vs. file-size trade-off. Your mileage may vary... BTW, I couldn't download your file--Geocities said you'd exceeded your bandwidth and they took it off temporarily. Zach P.S. All of the above is what I found on the Mac--I don't know if QT on the PC is any different.

Nice--I love the "detached eyebrows" look; it's something I've wanted to do for my own characters for a long time. Just curious how you were planning to animate those (if animation is your ultimate goal)? Zach

Howdy, all. Got a man made out of the moon here. Blue moon, even. His textures aren't final (he's just mirrored around the X-axis at the moment) but you get the general idea. I need to get rid of the creases at the side, obviously. I'm also wondering if he's a little spline-heavy. His mouth will need to be very expressive. This is probably the best face I've done yet, which gives you an idea of my lack of facial prowess. But it's all a learning process, so don't hold back your critiques and suggestions! Thanks, Zach

Dinna be too hard on yourself, Cap'n! The revision is very good. But if you want to go back to Preston Blair, take a look at the section on "Takes"; in my copy it's on page 148. Notice how on the "down" the character has his eyes closed. This isn't to say that you _have_ to do it that way; but motivated blinks when the character moves his head are always a good idea. Zach

Hey there-- Something bothers me about the jaw drop. I think it's when the jaw comes back up--I think it might be better with a little anticipation before it comes back; a head movement down, then up, maybe? I also wished for some blinks, but maybe you were just working on body animation. Zach

I agree... my attempt to D/L got to 60% and then... timed out. Zach