KenH

Yeah, good point. I see now all the bones that are created when you switch on the FACE interface are interface bones. They even appear if you do it with the FACE slider directly. One of the best things about working with the rig in TWO was there was so little scrolling required in the PWS to access all the bones used. These bones alone possibly double the amount of bones you'd normally see. Why didn't these bones appear in the rig used in the TWO characters? If they can't be made "not to key", then I would favor putting a Z at the front of their name so they're all down the bottom and there's no reason to scroll past them. Ideally, I'd love if bone icons in the PWS could be assigned a color so we can easily pick out/identify commonality. But you can only do what AM allows you to. Edit: I also notice that the FACE slider bone controls the FACE slider in the pose window, but it doesn't work the other way around. That could lead to confusing situations if someone takes over someone elses animation. Though laying down a guide to only use one method could solve that.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this, but I'm nearly sure it can be done. I'll let you know if you explain it more fully. I agree. It'd be nice if the camera was hidden when the FACE is turned on in an action. I could have sworn that's how it used to be. PS I'm not an AM coder! Edit: Hey Mark/David....would it be possible to replace the FACE switch bone with the Eye Aimer bone at the top. The z-axis of that bone isn't used for anything else is it? If it is possible, maybe it wouldn't be clear....but I'm sure people would learn and it'd be one less bone round the face. Edit1: Just a small thing.....the new blink and target patches and writing in the FACE Interface have their patches flipped the wrong way. Edit2: Ooooo....this is going to save me sooo much time in animation. Edit 3: Cool. If there's no way, then we can just set it in the default settings pose......oh maybe that's something that could be added. A blank on/off pose that's easy to get to so people can just edit/switch it to get all their default starting options. Edit 4: A bit of an indulgent one......if it causes more problems or it's alot of work, then don't even consider it. If you open Sam in a new action and then grab his forearm from the front view. Then drag it down......his elbows should pop up. Is that normal? I would have thought it should drag down with his elbow facing backwards. If you drag it down slow enough, it could be possible. Edit: Aha! If you drag down and move the mouse away from the arm as you do it, then it doesn't pop. Actually that makes sense.....unlike me. Forget about it. Edit 5: I think Sam likes his new improvements!

I think those switches are great! No more searching through the poses to turn IK on or off! Great idea.....never seen it before. The only thing I worry about is how much all these mods add to the size of the rig. I see the latest Sam is nearly 3mb in size and he's a relatively simple mesh. The new changes are too cool not to have though. PS Would it better if the spine was IK by default? I would have thought that was used most often.

I think that feature has gone by the wayside recently. I can't get in either.....it freezes AM and I have to turn off my modem to get it back.

Make sure you have the latest drivers for your card. Download and install anyway to be on the safe side. If that doesn't do it, try changing between Opengl and Directx in the options.

Maybe try going into the customize menu at the top (it's inside another menu) and in there you can set the cp size. They may be too small.

Try resetting to defaults using the help menu at the top. Maybe you've changed the color of the cps or something. This is a very un-unsual problem so, it's most likely something you've done/aren't doing. My money was on pressing the zero key. Maybe a screenshot would help. Can you see cps if you load a model from the library?

Yeah, it's an excellent rig that really makes animation easier. Nice work guys.

Are the models actually gone? Try opening the project in notepad. What exactly were you doing when it happened? Saving?

Oh yeah....here it is in mov format. You really aught to ditch the microsoft(?) player. Other free ones let you step through non movs. 1) I extrude a couple of patches down the center line and get the profile. Then I extrude patches out and around the head. 2) At this stage, I've made up a small bank of noses/ears/eyes (that I'm happy with) so I don't really need to "re-invent the wheel" alot now. I can just modify those if they don't look right. But if I were, I would make the nose first. Then the mouth and eyes. Finally the damn ears. 3) I always save the model first. When I cfa I make the changes with mirror mode on. Then I copy a side, delete the model and paste the side to make any changes to the mesh. I probably do that about 3/4 times through the model. brat.mov

Okaaay....officially freaked out. But thanks. I'm never really sure if my models are right until they're rigged. But I've seen enough 3D faces and practiced making them enough times to know generally what needs to be done. Sometimes I err too much on the spline lite side. But I like to think of cps as little handles that give you control over a certain part of a face. Need more control.....then put in some more handles. But on the whole, if a face turns out well, I'm very happy as it feels like I captured lightning in a bottle. 1) The side profile is what defines a face best IMO so I model that bit first......then it "just" needs curving into a face shape. 2) I don't use magnet mode that much from scratch. But I did for this model to alter the original mesh. From scratch I like to get the basic shape right for one side and then mirror it. Usually I make the face too fat and forward. So, I thin it out with mirror mode and if the face is too forward, I rotate a piece at the edge so it's more side on. If I can't get a part of a mesh smooth, then I delete the splines and do the 'ol Y key trick. That's all I can think of. I'm bled dry.

Thanks. To make the vid, I just threw the rendered frames into vegas to stretch them out.

Here's a progress video of the character in my avatar which I'm making for a project I'm working on. The head in the first frame is from a character I made previously so, this character grew out of that one. There aren't as many steps as I'd like but it's all the models I have. The original concept was inspired by a sketch. testbrat.wmv

It's where it should be but it's not angled the way it should be and that's why the box is angled wrong. I've attached how it should look from the front view......

I'm afraid there are no models in the project you posted. But at a guess, you probably need to go into bones mode in the character model. Left click on a blank part of the window (blue area)......then the model bone will show up. This bone should be short and point the same direction as the feet at the base of the character.

A black sphere would surround the scene.....ie your camera/set/lights would be inside the sphere. That way, no matter which way you turn, the background would be black. But if you're not moving the camera, the plane should do it.

Fog uses the camera background color as it's color. So, I guess the only work around for this is to use white as the camera background color. Then to get the black background, you could use ablack sphere around the scene.

It's probably the interpolation. Can we get a screenshot of the timeline....in graph mode? Otherwise, you basically need to smooth out the splines in the timeline. Probably a quick way would be to select all the keyframe cps and press the P key to peak the splines so they're just straight.

Funniest character yet! Good progress.

Where was this thread before? I missed a whole 4 days! I could have sworn it wasn't in the thread list. The model looks great. Looking forward to more.

I'll refer you to TWO for all my most recent animation work.

The v15 download only consists of the program. The library is another optional download (I assume you got a link to it after download) for people who want to go to the trouble of downloading it all. If you already have the library on your drive from previous versions then it's just a matter of pointing AM to it in the options.

Kel has animation to show....finally? This I have to see. Edit: Looks good! One wheel trains....very original.

They don't render. Whether they don't effect render time needs exploring. Though their very existance is taking up computer resources.

Drag the red group below the grey group in the PWS.