NancyGormezano

Hmmm...Very Interesting...Yes - it works for me now...but I wonder what changed in 15g to have this show up (same rig wasn't a problem in previous versions)... Yay David!

path: SO/Data/Actors/Trot/Trot.mdl but in case you don't have SO database - here is trot model - no decals, materials TrotNOdecals.mdl

The test I did in 15g: start new default chor with Trot only (rigged in 15e?) - can select trot, can switch between director/chor mode & skeletal mode - however eventually it seems that at some point (very quickly) can not switch modes in chor on that model by selecting trot in chor window, nor in pws - try it I think it's a selection type thing - maybe related to new filtering change in 15g? - maybe related to new compensation default change in 15g ? However if add tinwoodman (rigged in 13s,t) to same chor in 15g with trot - can switch modes between director and skeletal on tinwoodman, but something is still funny with trot Both models work as should in 15e chors - can switch between skeletal and director mode

I haven't come across a problem like that...throw it at me and I'll see if I can figure it out, Steve. It's a problem with 15g - the models with the squetch rig used in Tinwoodman work in 15g, the ones with the new squetch (used in Scarecrow) don't work in 15g (I believe lite rig has same problem, not sure)...they all work in ver 15 e,f...Perhaps it is related to which version of A:M the model got rigged?

Paul - Your characters are terrific! hmmm...this looks familiar - Are you also using the skin shader? I remember noticing similar anomalies with the skin shader when working on Princess Gloria for Scarecrow of Oz - I can't remember if it was also due to using the skin shader, with a fake rimlight material, or doing multipass rendering, or doing final AA (no multipass). Try temporarily removing the skin shader to isolate the problem maybe?? And go from there.

heh heh...I think you misunderstood Robcat - and he misunderstood you (i.e. - It seems to me you both seem to agree) AND coincidently - in the process of finally getting around to installing 15g - I was just downloading the 15g versions of Steffans plug-ins (an absolutely amazingly helpful collection) - I came across the "smooth" plug-in - I haven't tried it - but it looks like it might be very useful in the decreasing creases quest.

try the porcelaine material? (the lazy people way) edit:bad idea - not included with 15, and produces anomalies sometimes

Muhair is deliberately shiny and I like the look that you have going there...(but I of course would make the spec color purple) However - if you want to tone down the specularity of muhair - then set the primary strength to hair material/hair emitter/surface/specular render shader=Muhair/primary strength=50%

Alain Desrochers - aka alweb

Caroline wrote a plug-in called Dress Me awhile back that was for that purpose - essentially it applies translate and orient like constraints on the clothing model bones to the same named bones of the base model. I think however - you will find that you might have to refine the geometry of the base model so that it doesn't stick out in certain situations.

Elegant! Very clever. Thank you once again for presenting a generalized solution. I have just recently did an general exercise for myself following your fabulous tutorial on "Modeling a character with A:M". One of the things, that I have always struggled with when modeling a character, was having to re-figure the spline layout. Especially on the face. Your generalized methods are brilliant! . I had a little trouble with some of the language - but the screen capture illustrations are excellent. It's wonderful that your delightful artistic style comes thru as well, even with a general solution. Thank you so much - I will be using your method from now on, and I no longer have to think!

Al - That IS nice... even makes a wavy line slouch-junkie such as moi want to go straight! (and your signature cracks me up - How true, how true. Reminds me of the BS that my husband thinks I'm buying about all those bargain "Toys R Mine" acquisitions of his)

Myron - you would be better off adding a bone to the lever and rotating the bone. As you have it, you are moving the cps in a straight line - so it is an illusion that the lever is being scaled. You would have to move the cps in an arc. But better to use a bone - much easier powerswitchbones.mdl

This mass takes one look at the size of the download for any animation - and I usually won't bother if I see greater than 7-10+mb, but it also depends on who posted. I especially won't look at a 3 sec animation that weighs 20MB...AND especially if I have to wait for it to download completely before it starts (can recompress in qt pro for quick start options) My screen rez is 1162 x 864 for a 19" crt. I use 320 x 240 (or 480 x 360) when I render my tests & will rerender to 640 x 480 or 720 x 405 when I post That said, I liked your animation, and it played without a hitch on my system - but the controls were off the screen. This is a pain if you are doing tutorials, and render these huge formats - I will download first (if it's not monster weight) and resize it in qt pro so I can view it. Youtube sizing is good enough.

He turned out well! Cheeks are a tiny bit creased...but he shows improvement and great character. Did you try the Lite-rig? TSM2? 2008? Not sure what the "nightmare" was - the face? Show your problems and more than likely someone will chime in (that is, someone who has more knowledge than I)

very cute, effective! howdja do the little crumbs?

NO - NO - NOT TRUE !!! I am very interested - Eventually I will be installing this in a model I'm doing (including the light rig). Not at that point yet I tried installing face rig in the toad/frog for practice - but ran into some confusion, and I was reluctant to ask for help at the time. I installed some of face but not all of it. I found that there are 2? versions of the face rig - specifically how the eyes operate - and that the lite face seemed to be installed in different places in the hieracrchy. Ie if I recall, Bumpy face works differently than Gloria? or Bumpy was different than Robbi? - can't remember exactly. Eventually I would love some help when I run into trouble. I love the way the lite rig works, and I love the face controls as well. I was even able to scale the lite-rigged Robbie model (ie change torso, legs, arms proportions) and still have it work - didn't have to reinstall. I find this an easy way to use the re-proportioned Robbi as a proxy template for more complicated models - and then just wipe out robbis geometry, and substitute my model - and then I just have to assign it's cps to geom bones.

very nice Matt!

A:M only renders what is in camera view. It does a culling process first, to determine what's in view - this is relatively quick. The render time is is more related to "what percentage of the final image screen has to be computed" - If a resultant image has 100% of the screen filled - it will take longer than something that has 10% of the image filled. Eg. same model seen close up (fills 80% of screen) takes longer to render than same model seen at a distance (10% of screen) Render time will go up if you are using lots of lights with lots of rays with raytracing shadows, and/or reflections, and/or complicated materials (lots of depth, fractal, fbm, etc), and/or Ambient Occlusion, and/or dense hair, and/or other particles. And/or some other things probably...(eg size of image, number of passes) HOWEVER - you will start to find that your modeling process, ie your realtime response will start to bog down as you add patches/detail to your model and get up around 10000 +. At that point you can choose to make separate models and add them to your base model in the chor, or in an action (as action objects).

Hmmmm...I hope you don't mind - but I couldn't resist. It's not clear how your mushers will be used on your web site: full page? added as accents only ? with text ?, other imagery? So I played - assuming it's a background for a page with some text. Hope this is food for thought when you come back to this. I liked the black & grey/taupe backgrounds to start (I used grey) - here's what adding color does (deeper, richer, more complex mixtures). Color always plays on feel rather than logic.

If you want to keep the art nouveau look - then the black background is the way to go. The white has a more tooney feel. The blue is bleh. A different blue (more turquoisey, more vibrant, maybe with a green-turquoise gradient) might work, if you are wanting something "naturalish but still arty". And then of course - you might try a coppery, or a regal red, or a deep purple or a deep rich forest green background - or variations that include gradients of those colors if you want high impact.

very Fabulous OF COURSE! I'm curious if you will be adding the statues? Any plans for textures/materials? I'm also curious as to how long this takes to render? And what are your settings? (I'm assuming you are using 100% AO, AI) Will you be using this as a target for your trebuchet ? I had to ask. Amazing.

Fabulous stuff! I love your Art Nouveau style -

Great model - excellent likeness

Well done! (I see a great future for you in designing ladies dainties someday... )