John Bigboote
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Posts posted by John Bigboote
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I am grabbing it... as well as update 19.0i... will play and see how/if it works with A:M. It might be the bridge to getting more A:Mer's to use EXR file format.
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Here comes 'JohnnyBigboote comes lately'... always the last one to the party. I had stumbled upon Godot in my searches and have been wowwed by it, and yes- a LOT of people are looking into using it as it is extremely lightweight (25mb) and uses its own proprietary GDscript programming language which is (said to be- as programming languages go...) rather quick to get up and running with. One thing I got snagged on- being free and user-programmed like Blender they stay away from formats that cost money to implement... so the FBX file format is not supported- BUT(!there's always a big BUT in bigboot-land!) it does support the COLLADA file format(.dae) which we can get to similarly to Gerald's '.X to Unity' method. That method employs using the .X file format from A:M(you save your model as a .X file and then attach your actions to that model's .X file additively so 1 .X model can have several actions within it.)Then, using Ultimate Unwrap- you would 'Save-As' a collada file which Godot can import... I am learning.
Good snag, Rodney! I was just coming to the forum to see if Godot had crossed anyone's radar and there you are 4 months earlier!
MY goal... wouldn't it be great to have your A:M animated character 'live' within a beautifully-rendering game engine? How about an entire scene complete with dynamics and physics? It's where I thought we were heading 15 years ago with Arctic Pigs.(alright... HA:MR)
Here is a WONDERFUL 'getting started' 2 part series to get your feet whet in Godot:
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I cringed at 25:20 as guys are spray painting laquer colors onto the cars... no masks... probably every one of those guys died of lung cancer!
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Good question. I am working-up the nerve to approach Unity... or Unreal... or whatever is the latest-greatest game engine. I would probably say 'no' because A:M's constraints live within A:M, hard to constrain to something down the line. That will be answered in that arena- not Sketchfab, which is a great viewer and tester... it is becoming a marketplace for 3D models as you can buy/sell if you are a 'premier($) user'.
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On 5/1/2019 at 6:38 PM, robcat2075 said:
Is that the case for everything? It also can not handle "morph targets," as they are known in the polygon world?
A detail I glossed-over... in the Sketchfab FAQ's and in Gerald's A:M to Unity Tutorial is that the number of bones should be kept minimal... 'bare bones' so-to-speak. Well, I threw caution to the wind and used an old TSM2 rigged model- and the Anzovin TSM system uses LOTS of bones but it seemed not to make any difference- it does not load too slow, and plays just fine. I do notice there is some 'feet-slipping' around on the floor which does not appear in A:M tho... I need to try putting the legs into FK mode see if that helps. I had to switch the arms from IK to FK in the 'gun shoot action' so that the constraints that hold the gun to the hand bone would work better... so IK/FK is all working in SF.
I have not noticed yet or tested to see if SmartSkin makes it thru to Sketchfab... I know all the bone weights I set are working.
I now have real-time SSS on the skin and Screen-Space-Reflections on the floor which look cool but are in no ways accurate or ray-traced... but c'mon- IT'S REAL-TIME RENDERING IN A BROWSER! I'm digging this! https://skfb.ly/6K66F
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I added a gun shoot action... and embellishments- I noticed that Sketchfab does not take any of my spline actions in poses- they all need to be bone based so I redid some facial poses with bones... too bad, I like the muscle-motion stuff!
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COOL! I would like to see that, Gerald!
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OK- that took some Rnd...! After speaking with Rob and implementing his sage advice... suddenly NOTHING worked- as far as getting my baked textures thru to Sketchfab. After about 20 iterations of 'what am I doing wrong'... eliminating EVERYTHING and trying over again and again... I finally figured-out that I seem to have been crossing Sketchfab's naming conventions which DO NOT allow for spaces or special characters... and A:M's Bake Surface feature uses an underscore for each plate (character_color...character_bump...) so I need to rename the files outside of A:M and then relink them back-up within A:M.
Here is my test now with 4 animations(look, walk, run, punch) https://skfb.ly/6JVUP
Here is a higher subdivision (4 quads from every hash patch in the .X exporter.) https://skfb.ly/6K66F
BUT- Rob's advice on using the 'margin' worked, things look a little better in Sketchfab now- Thanks Robert! (used a setting of 3)
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Thanks- I wondered what that setting did... will try! Timely answer!!!!
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Hello esteemed Spliners!
I am working on getting 'game-ready' assets out of A:M- hoping to get them into Snapchat, and have made good use of Gerald's(Fuchur) 'A:M to Unity' video tutorial where models and actions are exported from A:M to Ultimate Unwrap via the .X file format... and as always I figure that Sketchfab is a great place to view, test and share your UU exported FBX file. However- I am finding that when I employ my 'Bake Surface' option in A:M- it looks good there but in Sketchfab I see overspill or some anomoly that I would like to lose or lessen.
Take a look here at my Sketchfab model with animations: https://skfb.ly/6JSDM Latest rev: https://skfb.ly/6KtZW
You will see what I am talking about... lots of lines everywhere especially around the mustache area. Is there a setting or trick to get better UV mattes when I Bake Surface?
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Coming in late on this--- someone- I think Wildsided mentioned this might be a good way to do hair... like large swatches of dynamic cartoon/anime hair. You would need to attach the bullet to something tho, like Rob said we could do that in Newton- can we do it in Bullet?
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FUN! I just grabbed a random photo (of my fav band the Stones) and painted my own depth map image following the near-is-white and far-is-black rule and the results are pretty eye-catching! Of course- I can't show it here, you have to see it on my Facebook page- what fun!
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Thanks for the tutorial, Rob- good to know you can do this ALL right from A:M without a pitstop in Pshop/Gimp. You are correct in assuming most people will just see this on their phone, and these things are REALLY EYE-CATCHING as you scroll-thru FB and the depth parallax happens.
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Hey- anyone noticed the 'depth images' that are all the rage on Facebook right now? Here is a instructional sheet (not mine) I found regarding how to do it, and of course my first thought is... we can do this in A:M really easily with the depth map render!
I am out the door for the weekend or I would whip one up... anyone else that wants to be the 1st- HAVE AT!!!
The Facebook depth effect is an image that as you scroll over it... on your phone or desktop, appears to have a multi-plane that is driven by your scroll. The image is built by Facebook as you load-up 2 images... your RGB color image and a depth greyscale image.
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This was when we both smoked- but we quit- Doctors orders (at least I did!) I think I remember the trick with A:M particles is to make them very transparent and let them build-up additively, this way you get the organic 'non-sprite-like' look.
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On 4/10/2019 at 2:45 PM, robcat2075 said:
How does one encounter the snapcode? What would be the situation where i would get the snapcode for this building?
We had a small flier in our window, with the snapcode and instructions on where to stand and where to look... but I've since took it down because, it's just a test, nothing fancy.
My idea is for festivals, like we have here in Royal Oak. You enter the scene and see a snapcode sign that says 'check out this snapcode for festival information'... so you scan the code into your snapchat app, and begin to look about with it. You will see landmarks of the festival you might want to visit... 'drinks' 'bathrooms' 'food' 'bandstand 1' 'exit' 'vendors'... etc with big arrows that correspond to the titles and point your way. Also, a button would bring up a small video that would show the history of the event... another would have a welcome message from the mayor... and another would list the sponsors and band/event schedules...
Another idea is to have a 'snapchat' treasure hunt with multiple snapchat locations each with hints on how to get to the next...
Ideas abound.
Thanks for the explanation of snapchat, Gerald. My impression is it is something for a busy parent to pull-out to occupy her kids while waiting at the doctors... taking silly snaps of themselves with fuzzy ears and bear noses... hearts floating about. Totally underuses the tech but I think that is snapcode's fate.
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Yes- first, you need to scan the QR code- or in snapchat terms... the 'snapcode'. This gives the user the programming for a 48 hour license. Then, when the app senses the correct imagery- in this case a building- it will unlock the content (video, 3D animation, gif animations, still imagery, sounds...etc) and 'lock-it' to the scene.
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Another cool thing... when I was testing this animation out on the street, I was able to walk up and under the 3D animation... looking at it straight UP from a true 'bottom view' or numpad 0 if you will. I've never interacted with my own 3D like that before... my jaw was on the ground and passersbys must have thought I had flipped.
More tests to come.
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Yes- here is an mp4 I made last week, explaining to myself how it works and making it into movie form so you don't need the app to see(most people my age don't have Snapchat... even the clients who are asking for it!). The animation is nothing to get excited about, a spinning logo... what I was happy to see was that I took a picture of a building and used that picture to trigger the AR programmically, but when I went back to the spot where I snapped the photo- low and behold it registered and triggered the snapchat engine(even under different daytime lighting into a blazing sun- probably would NOT work at night)... the tuts i was following said you could only scan the image digitally to trigger the AR- which is what I am doing toward the end of this vid.
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Hello Forum- have not been here in awhile! Busy!
A client recently inquired if I could perhaps make a SnapChat lens... he may as well of asked if I could have made diced clabberboards, because I had no idea what Snapchat... or a snapchat lens even WAS! My research taught me SnapChat has been around since 2011 and is a popular (amongst the young-uns) social media chat and photo-sharing software, much like Facebook. After downloading it to my phone and playing with it i realized it was resonsible for much of what I have seen on Facebook as far as kids with bear-noses and fuzzy ears, face- paint and sparkles that track with them of distort their face and voice for the length of a very short movie. I downloaded Lens Studio, a free software from Snapchat.com and discovered the wealth of possibilities I had unearthed, as far as 3D and Augmented reality... my client was thinking of using it in a somewhat commercial way- and light-bulbs kept flashing in my head... IDEAS...POSSIBILITIES!
Within the week I have been learning Lens Studio they have now released V2 which goes even deeper into the realm of gameplay.
My first inclination was... can I get my A:M content into this thing, and seeing that it only allows .FBX file format (A:M needs to add this FEATURE REQUEST!) I embarked on Gerald's (A:M user Fuchur) 'FBX Pipeline to Unity' tutorial - https://www.patchwork3d.de/html/page.php?page_id=64 and discovered that thru A:M's robust .X exporters and purchase of Ultimate Unwrap ($50) I am indeed able to pipe my 3D animations (keep 'em simple) into Lens Studio- and the process is NOT as painful as I pre-judged it to be.
The debate is open as to whether Snapchat has seen it's better days- or needs to become part of Facebook or Twitter, or perhaps there is something better out there. I am wondering what the forum knows of this... is anyone else making Snapchat Lens's... does anyone even bother with Snapchat at all? Thoughts.
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Merry Christmas, Hashers! I have been way-layed (is that a word?) with other projects that have pulled me away from Hash-land, but always keep it in the top-drawer of my toolkit as a 'go-to' solution that can't be beat! Looking forwards to 2019! -John BigBoote aka Matt Campbell
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Great! Hit us with some Q's!
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A lot of things are just taken care of and not apparently adjustable, but upon further inspection you find it. Like I found with the render image size setting.
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I think user Kevin Detwiler (DetBear) is a Carolinian...
EXR 2.0 plugin for Photoshop
in Open Forum
Posted
Well- once installed it gives you this nice option box when you open an exr in Pshop...