Simon Edmondson

Update on the problem. Set the renders going again and, although the black patches did not appear on the ground plane they have started to appear on the slop model. I will try to check it tomorrow to see what might be happening. simon

As threatened yesterday, Here is the revised version with the displacement map removed. C5_Ground.mov This is a very compressed version as the original was 40mb in size. However, no strange black marks or odd brown patches so, a big thank you to Nancy for suggesting the solution yesterday. The only downside is that I've had to go back and re render all the relevant camera sequences but thats a very small price to pay. Splene Gene got it right when he talked about 'constant rendering' ! regards simon

Robert Thank you once again for your help. Much appreciated. I am always rather taken aback by the speed at which help is offered here on the forum. The bear model does use Displacement at 100% but it seemed a bit OTT for the snow so dialled it back to 25 as you noticed. Following Nancy's suggestion I have a test going through now with no displacement, only bump, and will post it later. So far it seems to be working as required. Following a discussion on project organisation a few months back I have started to organise project files in one folder but, while getting used to it, they tend to be located within others. You are right , it is a pain when transferring files between one machine and another.I'll hit the right structure and organisation eventually ! regards simon

Nancy Thank you for outlining your approach it is very effective. I started out as a painter and still do when possible. When a student a visiting lecturer upset some fellow students when explaining his use of colour, as " I believe any two colours go together. If you want them to..." and another artist I was interested in at the time explained how he used a structured and random approaches to colour, and always got more out of the accidental method because it generated combinations that were unexpected. I tend to do that with my own paintings too so find it difficult to generate an appropriate 'palette' for the cg work. There was an article in 3D world a couple of years ago on how Pixar choose and use their colours. I'm always impressed by that too. regards simon

Nancy Thank you very much for your helpful reply. Gosh you're quick ! I will try to change it straight away. The path was animated because, when originally laid out, the wheel of the unicycle came off the ground at places, or into it at others. I'd wondered afterwards if 'snap to surface' might have prevented that but, I'm still getting used to that with the Charlie model (who is going to dance with the Bear next) currently underway during the week. regards simon This was the ground model Snow_Ground.mdl and this the map you kindly supplied the other week.

Trying to sort out the Bear unicycling I've encountered some problems I don't know how to fix and would like to ask if anyone else knows the cause and especially the fix ? This is a movie showing the problem. C5_Ground.mov It is taken from the sports Day movie from the other week. I had thought it fixed but no. The ground plane is not animated at all. It does have a map applied to it in the PWS but nothing is changed in the chor. As you can see render artefacts appear. seemingly at random ? This is the consolidated project file. Slalom_Grounds.zip This was done in V17 but the same problem is occurring in V18 which I upgraded to last week. The curious thing is that, in the original, the set and animation are the same but, there are five separate cameras, and the render artefacts are different in each of them when rendered??? Any help greatly appreciated. Regards simon

Terrific set of models and renders Nancy. Great job. Do you use colour swatches to choose your colours or personal preferences ? You mentioned some time ago that you had a collection of fabrics and surfaces that you liked and sometimes referenced ? regards simon

Mark Thank you very much for your reply and help. I will try them tomorrow. Good to see you back on line. The windows options were not previously greyed out, honest ! I used to use them all the time when switching from final render in multi pass single frame mode to quick render in modelling or animating test mode. regards simon

Working with V18b on a Mac Mini running OSX10.85 noticing a few quirks and wondered if they were Mac related ? For example, when using quick render, either area or full screen, the screen goes blank as the render goes through,there is no progress bar at the bottom of the window, the clock timing the render is not visible, nor the text which denotes the stage at which its going through, eg"anti aliasing pass...". That is not a real problem but it would be good to see them all as I'm used to it and can check it going it going through. Of more import is that, when setting the parameters in the render menu under "render to file" the only way to exit the window back to the main screen is to click cancel. The enlarge, reduce and close buttons in the top left corner are greyed out and unavailable. That might sound unimportant (?) but, if you you have 'multi pass selected and want to just do standard for example, you can't just change it then click apply and exit. You have to start a render with the new settings and abort it before it goes through so the new settings apply ! Or am I missing something here ? simon

This mornings update. Twist added to torso and head, extra emphasis on arm moves. It wasn't originally animated to the sound, although it will be later, but has been adjusted to it today, ( if that makes sense ? ) . Any critical feedback welcome. simon Bert_Ska.mov

Nancy. Thank you. I haven't edited the curves yet or put some twist in the torso and will try to do that tomorrow. This was just this afternoon before going to a drawing class. Its really just a test to see if the weighting is working but I am hoping to use it as practice for an idea later using Charlie character the bear is the companion to. This was the reference video if interested ? regards simonHow_to_moon_walk_like_Michael_Jackson.mov Ps The model at the class was a dancer and I asked about moon walking, so she proceeded to demonstrate but explained that a young boy she taught was much better at it than she...

Still working on the cp weighting but, this was this afternoons test of the setup ( hope to refine the movement later ) simon VGA from 1080 conversionBert_M_Walk.mov

I haven't watched Roberts video, so the following may be redundant: According to instructions for installing 2008 rig (4/20/2011) on page 72, 73 of the pdf, it says: Nancy Thank you for your reply. You are correct. In my usual impatience I had overlooked that and went on with the installation. Glad all the iterations got saved now. Back to the grindstone. regards simon

Try this clip3442_MirrorBonePlugin.mov Robert Thank you, downloading now to watch after exercise. regards simon

Robert Thank you for your helpful reply. There are mirrored bones, because they come with the 2008 rig as part of the installation process. If I click on Mirror Bone again in the PWS will that mirror the weights too or do I have to click on individual bones ? Either way will be faster than the current process. It keeps sticking as well but thats another matter altogether. regards simon William Thank you for your reply. I've watched some of your tutorials, they are far from tedious. regards simon

Working on the Bear model and trying to set up the cp weights. Two things occur to me. One, is it possible to do all the weighting for one side then mirror it to the other side, as it is with the "Mirror Smartskin" option ? Two Is it a Mac quirk or, when selecting the bone in the weighting window, for example Right Bicep geometry, the bone named in the box below could be the Left Knee Fan bone. It is then necessary to scroll through all the bones to find the one you want ( and there are a LOT in the 2008 rig ). It does get a bit wearing after awhile. regards simon

Nice model. Have you imported it from a polygon model? Why not animate it against the slope, or use one of the setups from the earlier strand ( February Sports Day ). Mark W had a very good Heavy lift setup which is shown in the banner screen at the top of the forum page. Or make your own event and animate that ? I look forward to seeing it in action. regards simon

That appears to be your ground plane. Perhaps it, or your snow model are animated to move up or down somewhere in the animation? Otherwise I'd say perhaps you have another model in the scene that you haven't accounted for. Rodney Thank you for your reply and help. The ground and the slope model don't move but, I was just typing a reply earlier when a thought occurred, so checking that now. Initially the slope was green because it made sense to be on grass, so the surface properties were set in the chor to achieve that. When it seemed funnier to do it on snow, I couldn't get the "Not set" option to work in the chor under properties so changed them under the object properties in the PWS. However, each time I looked in the chor properties it had stayed at green, even when reset. At least that is what I recall. So, have deleted the ground in chor and replaced with the one from PWS, now rendering it through to check. regards simon

Happy Birthday Robert and thank you very much for all the help. Have a grand day.

Revised version of composite with altered animation and changed composite timings and placements. There is an unmapped patch on the Bear's right wrist which has subsequently been corrected and the cp weighting need to be revisited as it was lost with the revisions mid way through. Still no idea why the brown sections appear and disappear seemingly at random in the original renders ? simon Composite_B.mov

If anyone else wants to have a bash at it, this is the rather rough model of the slope used, sledges, skiers, skateboarders, roller skaters, spacehoppers, gardeners with wheelbarrows all are possible and more... Slalom_Slope_03.mdl If you want to use the same decal map this was it, supplied by Nancy a few days back. This was the map used on the gate flags as supplied by Rodney and Mark

This isn't finished yet but I promised to do it for the weekend and encountered a few difficulties along the way. Its all done in AM. There are a couple of puzzles with regards to the renders. The set is the same in each section and the same materials are used each time but, occasionally a brown patch will show up on the edges. It will be there one frame and not on the next, I have no idea why that might happen ? I'll post an example later. regards simon Composite.mov

Nancy Its been a few years since I worked with AM on a PC ( the days of Vista ) so memory maybe faulty but, I recollect that it used to happen then too. I'll see if I can reproduce it later in the new week as I'm a bit caught up in getting actions to work as expected at the moment. regards simon

I'll be happy to donate the bear if there is a need, although I would prefer to wait until I've done what he's been made for ( if that makes sense ? ). In truth though, I must confess to not being a very good modeller at all so, in that light, the bear is actually based on the Thom model that comes with AM. The proportions have been changed and a few splines added to the body but, the only real new parts are the hands and the head. He's still being developed and changed. The cp weights had been done ( hah !!! ) but further mods require resetting them. He's presently undergoing sports training to see what else is needed. The rig installed is the standard 2008 rig, its all magic to me. I'm still finding out how to use it. regards simon

Mark Thank you for your reply and again for your help earlier. Sorry to hear of your access troubles. The only open wifi around here is the Macdonalds down the road where the Born Again Bikers meet at the weekend.My guess is that Granada is slightly different ? I used the decals approach in the end with a mixture of cylindrical and planar applications. There are two maps, one I modified and got off a fabric sample on Ebay for the colour and the other than Nancy kindly supplied, of a thatched doormat, for the displacement and bump. It still need some work as I missed some patchs in the stamps. One curiosity, found out about the missing patches when I changed the background colour to bright red, difficult to miss then ! However small pin pricks of colour were showing through were the maps were solid? Hope you get your access problems sorted. regards simon