Simon Edmondson

Happy Birthday Yves

You can start at Will Sutton's site. That should get you pretty far. Mack Thank you very much. Heading over there now. regards simon

Pardon me, I'm very late to all this but, could someone point me to a start for the process as it may well be appropriate for what I'm working on at the moment. Also, is there an outline descriptiom of the UV editor and how to use it anywhere ? Thanks simon

William I haven't done a direct comparison ( although I can try tomorrow if you'd like ? ) but it seemed about the same to me. An oddity I noticed was, on the Mac at least,obj worked a LOT faster than 3DS importing in 17 and 18. an 150mb size obj file imported in about 15 mins but a 15mb size 3DS file still hadn't got beyond 60% after 8 days ( not a typo, DAYS ).I gave up then as I'd finished the basic woodwork I was doing at the time. If you have a file you'd like to try , let me know and I'll give a bash tomorrow? regards simon

Robert Thank you once again for your help, and your tutorials. Very much appreciated. I had thought that the centre line was zeroed and the loops removed but plainly missed somethings. Didn't know what a deadend spline was until watching the giraffe tut, will try to correct those too. I think my impatience is getting the worst of me. When I redo the figure from scratch I'll try to avoid the "make Human" shortcut option. The mesh is workable that results but even I thought it over complex. Progress is slow but ( barely ) discernible. regards simon

Robert, Mark, Robert and Robert... Thank you very much for your helpful replies. Much appreciated. My modelling skills are not of the highest order, so the model is adapted from a "Make Human " model. The mouth cavity was only added just before the crashes started. I will have a look at the things you suggested and report back later. Tank you both. regards simon

Have been working on a model of a young boy for the next project. Learnt some lessons last time so was cautious this time around, saved regularly in different iterations as progress was made. Installed the 2008 rig up to the point were it said, " set up cp weights and smartskin", so have spent the past few days trying to get that ready for next phase of the rig installation. Had been working on half a model then intended to copy flip attach before going on to finish the rig installation. However, every time I try to CFA it crashes out the program. Sometimes when I reopen it then crashes when I just try to copy before pasting. I have tried it in V15 and V18 with the same result each time. There are no decals on the model and no particular features. Would anybody have the time to try it and see if they have the same problem. If you can suggest a cure I would be very happy !!! regards simonCharlie__Rig_08_.mdl Ps An observation was made a few weeks ago that I have a lot of groups in the PWS that is still the case with this model but ( honest !) I was intending to edit those later. It was just to keep track of everything in the process...

Mark Thank you for your reply. I tried your suggestion and ended up with the teeth of "Tommy Boy" and the tongue of "Woman", both being heavily modified now. regards simon

Still plugging away at the model of the young boy for the next project. Does anyone know if there are any models of human teeth available or references thereof that I could adapt or use ? regards simon

Robert and William Thank you very much for your replies and help. The evening is set to follow the path of the day before, but with better results. regards simon

Robert Thank you as ever, for your reply. I'll give that a go on the Mac. I did notice that, holding down the mouse button while moving it, varies the values but you have to click 'apply' before seeing the result ? I'm certainly glad it doesn't have to be done every day ! regards simon

Having learnt a lesson with the Teddy Bear now trying to CP weight his partner. It is a very long, tedious, involved process. Would it be possible to make a feature request ?I have read a few tutorials on how to do it but may have missed something ( ?) The process appears to be that you select the cp's in muscle mode and then add %values to vary the weighting ? Two factors make it a bit tedious for me, 1. When you select a bone in the dialogue window the same bone does not always show up the selection box below ( see screen shot ), so you then have to scroll through a long list to make sure the correct one is listed. That gets a bit tired after awhile. 2. When trying to adjust the weighting it is necessary to type in the values. With experience it might be possible to get it right quickly (?) but, if not, you have to guess and keep guessing until the desired result is achieved. Might it be possible to have a dial or slider which allows you to vary the weight with the mouse or a keyboard button and see the result that way ? Pardon me if I'm missing a feature here. regards simon

Chris Thank you very much for the info. Its a fun style. regards simon

Chris I'm not in a position to offer advice on rigging but I did enjoy your animation. The movement was fine and I especially liked the look of it. What settings did you use for the render ? regards simon

Mark Thank you for your reply. Which version of windows are you running? My younger brother is a complete tech geek ( I was convinced at one point that he dreamt in machine code ) and he's a PC man, although Linux is his preferred flavour of OS. He was very underwhelmed by W8 and said it was the only time he had ever had to look up how to shut something down. A friend prefers it to earlier W's... I haven't used a PC since Vista so no experience of them from then on. regards simon

Mark Thank you for the insights. What version of Windows are you running on your Pro ? I'd like a Mac Pro but, aside from the cost, not sure I have the space at the moment. Is Parallels a commercial or an open source program ? I had thought of trying to persuade my brother to build a Hackintosh for me but the same limitations apply. regards simon

Mark Thats champion. Thank you regards simon

Mark Thank you for your help. Seven !!! I don't think my mini will stretch that far. Working up to a pro eventually but might have to get a PC laptop first to try 64bit , that might speed things up a little ? regards simon

Robert Thank you> I'll try that now and see if it works with the Mac too. regards simon Quick update. Not at all familiar with running scripts but it seems to have allowed multiples to run. Thank you for your help.

Robert Thank you for your replies once again. I was trying to see how it came out as splines first. I started a retopology with a prop last week and will resume next week. I started with a model car but that was overly complex to start with so have reverted to a figure instead. The long import time is for a BMW mini model. The multiples option is very much a useful thing for me. Have other Mac users had the same problem? Is it still there in the PC version as well. I'm using 18B ? regards simon

A few weeks back I learnt about Multiple master in V17 and have used it extensively when rendering. Upgraded to V18 two weeks ago and went to use Multiple Master in it today but couldn't find it. MultipleMaster.scpt But no.app. My guess is that needs to be activated. Could somebody kindly explain how ? regards simon Ps One of the reasons for wanting to run MM is that an import of a 3DS model is taking a very long time is that common ? Appreciate it varies per model but, have left the machine chewing it over and its stayed on 20% for the past 16 hours and counting... OBJ import was a lot smoother and quicker. The results make me appreciative of the economy of splines though !!!

Rodney thank you for your reply and help. I will have a look tomorrow. I am working on the bears friend ( owner ?) and the first test will be him wearing pajamas dancing with the bear. Being able to readily dress him would be a definate bonus. regards simon

You are talking about DressMe, right? See you *Fuchur* I think so Gerald. Thank you very much for the link. regards simon ps I just had a quick look at the first few listings. Is there a Mac version or is it still windows only ? With 64 bit rendering PC only as yet it may have to be a PC laptop...

I may have misunderstood but, there was mention a few weeks back about a plug in that helped with dressing a model. If so, could someone kindly direct me to it and most importantly, instructions on how to use it ? regards simon

Bit of a faff getting here with all the glitches in earlier versions, but here is a version with sound. There are some errors but time to learn from them and move on to something fresh I think simon Slalom_Sound.mov