noah brewer

Thanks. Yes, there are no materials for the skin. There is a VERY subtle bump map, and the skin color map (which aligns exactly to the bump and specular maps) does a very subtle hue shift from red to green. I don't recall if I used a blue specularity color on the skin in this render, but I do on all of my skin textures now. Noah

I agree. Yes. My brain may be shaky at times, but undertaking images like these in 3D without a skeleton is not something even I would attempt... Painting? Are you a historian? I don't think I'm that cultivated -Noah

I will probably post a nude image in a couple months. I have to think of an appropriate pose first. I used to have hooks in the hands and feet, but I decided to just go ahead and run them up the arms and legs to gain more detail in the knees, elbows, and neck. I made this change at the same time that I started using the porcelain material. Yeah, the more that I see this image, the more I don't like it. I will replace this image as soon as I make a new pose : ) thanks, Noah

Okay, here are the wireframes: http://www.angelfire.com/film/noanoa/figure1w.html http://www.angelfire.com/film/noanoa/figure2w.html Sometimes I'll start by copying and pasting geometry from the human model itself, but it's always a bit of sweat and pain to make clothes look like they're conforming to the body correctly. Yup, the cushion has a mind of its own; Its just afraid to touch her : ) Oh, and I turned her feet a little to the side in the front view image. (You may have to reload the image on your browser.) Thanks, guys, Noah

Thanks for all the comments, everyone! I will address the issues with the hair and legs eventually; Depending how lazy I am feeling, it could be sooner, or later : ) Oh, I didn't realize that A:M Stills was so advanced now! I just uploaded 10 of my renders, so they will be availabe there now, as well. Well, I'll be shifting gears back to animation now, so it will probably be a few more weeks before I make any new stills. I'll post some animations as soon as they're worthy... : ) -Noah

I'll take a look at her eyes again. I've got to rotate her feet to the side a bit, anyway, so I'll fix the eyes while I'm at it. More than anything, I would recommend studying human anatomy and practice lots of life-drawing. Having good reference makes a world of difference in making 3D humans. But I may make a few specific tutorials sometime if I can think of something helpful. -Noah

Here's two more: http://www.angelfire.com/film/noanoa/figure1.html http://www.angelfire.com/film/noanoa/figure2.html Let me know when you guys get sick and/or tired of seeing these : ) -Noah

Hair is always hard to make. Since this hair is non-particle, it takes a lot of back and forth tweaking of the transparency, bump, specularity, and reflectivity maps, in addition to the modeling. I don't think that I could write a very good tutorial on it. As for that elbow crease, I don't know why it is occuring. I'll have to fix it.

Alright, I just fixed a few things. Here's an updated version: http://www.angelfire.com/film/noanoa/fig-bike.html

Thanks for the input! The concensus is to fix the pants and the lighting on her head. Will do! Thanks, Noah

good point! I'll de-emphasize the lighting on the bike. Yeah, I'll make the belts tighter around her waist, so that it makes more sense visually. THanks!

I still have to assign some CPs in the hips, but its almost done: http://www.angelfire.com/film/noanoa/fig-bike.html Comments and critiques are always welcome. -Noah

Nice Stones animation!! Yeah, there are definitely some situations when mocap is the logical way to go. There's just something about putting a bvh motion into a character (esp. that you've created) that shows you how much animation detail we usually miss. It also became apparent to me that while the pelvis is a convenient base for the body's movements, the base actually changes quite frequently depending on what the body is doing. Hence more complicated character rigs... Keep up the good work!

That's pretty good! I especially like the folds on the shirt. His 2nd image on that link (a monster) has a nice overall feel to it, as well.

Yes, very huggable. Very nice!! Is that a 9-pass render? How long did it take to render? BTW, is Peter Jackson as picky as everyone says he is?

It looks great to me! Just out of curiousity, do you like to go through and rough out many of these shots in 3D (to get a clearer idea of pacing than just animated storyboards) and tweak/perfect them LATER, or do you work on a shot like this until its perfect before moving on to the next one? Thanks! Noah

Looks great! That was quick, too!

Yes, very cool! I also thought that the first voice was the fish talking, but I got it the 2nd time I watched it. funny!

Unbelievable! Poetry in motion. 2 questions, if I may: I love the hand-held camera feel. Did you just Key-frame the camera until it looked right, or do you have some tips on animating that kind of hand-held motion? Also, the hand grabbing the punch was awesome! Did you just key frame both characters' hands together (a pain) or did you use some kind of constraints (kinetic, etc) to help out? Thanks a million! Noah

This ONE part of the face has always been a pain for me to resolve, and so far, this is the best solution that I've come up with. I used that dead-heading spline that you mentioned into the top of the cheek because the resulting crease is less visually disturbing than the weird bump that results from a 5-point patch at that location. However, (though it may not be visible in the wireframe) I actually have the dead-heading spline CONTINUE past the intersection with another cp to make the spline's adjacent surfaces as smooth as possible. On top of this, using porcelain helps a bit. Still, with certain lighting conditions, the crease on top of the cheeks can be visible... As for modeling the face and hair, in general, it takes dozens of hours of work to get right (if you're a perfectionist). The more good reference that you have, the easier it will be to model. I've redone my basic face spline structure at least 5 times over the past few years to get to the one that I use now. I think the key is to just try and enjoy the process and make improvements one step at a time. Noah

How timely to bring up animation! (BTW, thanks for the suggestions, too!) I wasn't planning on animating the renders from this thread, but I will repurpose the character model into my BGC animation. Over the past 3 months I've been digesting a lot of source influences, in hopes of gaining a clearer direction for my Bubblegum animation. These sources are wide-ranging, and include watching video games, music videos, the invasion of Iraq, analyzing mocap movements in A:M, attending a workshop on Sesame Street Muppeteering, and observing the production of my company's pilot episode for a new 3D cartoon. All of these new things are swirling around in my head now, so I'm trying to re-evaluate the best direction for my Bubblegum animation. In short, I want to improve its content and visuals over my previous expectations. Time to do more storyboards...

This is fantastic! I'm particularly curious about the horizontal lines towards the bottom of the piece. Were those part of the original decal, and if not, how in the world did you make them? They kind of look like lines carved into wood. thanks! Noah

There should be a couple more wireframes here, too. http://www.angelfire.com/film/noanoa/kokubu8.html http://www.angelfire.com/film/noanoa/kokubu10.html As for the veins, I have to address them on an image by image basis depending on the lighting. (The lighting will make them either too subtle, or too pronounced) I will tone them back in future revisions; Thanks! Noah

ok, I sent it to steve. I hope that heroines count as heros, too. Noah

Thanks for the compliments and advise! I will make all of your recommended changes in my next revisions. I'm working on some new images, as well. Probably another week or two before I will post them, though. Thanks, Noah