fae_alba

perhaps, instead of failing straight back..a two step stagger, then landing hard on his keester

I'm liking that!

I'm biting my tongue.

was the night being bad, or was the queen being a mean sister??

I used to stand over the back of the TV set just to smell 'em! umm... they have rehab programs for that! I can remember neighbors knocking on our door asking for dad to come and fix the "boob tube" for them, and dad following them out the door with a monster size tool box. A few hours later he'd come home, a few bucks in his pocket and a happy neighbor. Ah, the 70's...what a time!

the guy from the old anti polluting commercial standing alongside the rode crying... Actually I like the test pattern vote...looked at a lot of those with my dad as a kid while he repaired all of the neighborhoods old tv sets. Remember vacuum tubes?

Thanks for the reply! I did a little more digging in the forums and found that you had posted a newer lite face rig and instructions (I had the old one downloaded some time ago). Using that rig I was able to get it installed and am now on to your great smart skinning tut. One thing I did notice on the rig; after exporting it, then opening the model, was that some of the control nulls were sized incredibly large. I had to select each and manually size them down. But other than that things progress.

Ok, so I've forged ahead and added the Lite Face Rig to Old Man Willies. I've gotten to the point of exporting the model, but when I do the export AM crashes. I've tried several times, and always get the same result. I've attached the project with the model embedded if any of you would care to diagnose and tell me were I went Oh So Horribly Wrong. Thanks in advance. Lite_Face_OldManWillies_Embedded.zip

or perhaps this list...Table - Index i particularly like the fact that they list a value for beer!

Aye, and well it should! I'm fixin' to open a new bottle of Balvenie...maybe the Celtic Spirits will provide some inspiration!

I feel...inspiration....must resist or my short film project will never get finished! Really...I'm going to have a go with trying the same sort of thing with some celtic knotwork...won't come close to this 'cause man that is way out cool!

bee dee beee dee beeep...hey Buck... (sorry, couldn't help but date myself)

So I've cleaned up some of the spinning, re-rigged the old man, and did a quick test, really just to see how the basic lite rig behaves. The only optional rigging done is a dynamic constraint and a null on the beard to see how that behaves. I now will go in and throw in some fans at the joints and cp weighting. One big issue that I need to answer is some sort of collision detection on the beard so I don't have to keep checking that it doesn't disappear into the old man's chest. Check it out, give me your thoughts. arm_rig_test.mov

That is why I said in my previous post that you have to turn IK legs ON (hip null will then be effective, knees will bend, etc) as well as turn Hide extra bones ON (so that you don't grab the wrong bones/controls). The poses are located in the user properties/body rig section. After you do that it will be easier to see the remaining things that need to be done (eg cp's that didn't get assigned, better weighting, etc). I will have to go back and check these settings out..I could have sworn that I did turn on those settings....

I've come to call that technique "Frankenspleening." Glad I'm not the only one...while I'm not totally without talent, sometimes modeling, especially human-oid like characters befuddles me. I'd rather get on to telling the story than get overly frustrated with the modeling/rigging part. My bent is more to the writing, directing , producing side of things, but since I'm going this one alone I must soldier on.

Man, Hutch, tough love! I've had the sneaking suspicion that my bad splinig habits would come back to haunt me, and started to draw and quarter poor old man willies last night. While the lack of a symmetrical model will be an issue down the road, it's not the rigging issue I have right now. It may be my simple lack of awareness with the rig (actually that most likely is the issue) but the biggest example of my problems is that the hip null seems to have no effect on the model in a chor. If I grab a hold of the hip null, and move it down, I would expect the knees to bend, the old man to groan because of his aching joints,etc. But what in fact happens is his feet go straight into the ground and the knees do not bend at all....rather disconcerting to the old coot.

Well I'm totally flumuxed! I tries Homeslice's instructions, and wound up back at where I started...nuts! I'll beat this bugger, but I fear I'll have to scrub the model down to no bones or anything else and starting over. If anybody would like to have a go here is the model.. btw, before anybody gets all prais-ey over my modeling prowess, allow me to place this disclaimer: Old Man Willies is based largely on Sir Nigel. I played Dr. Frankenstein and pieced the model together using Sir Nigel's head, hands from here, teeth from over there..etc. I then tweaked, moved cp's to taste, modeled boots, pants etc. Anyhoo, had to give creds where due OldManWillies_Boned_RiggedV2d_LiteRiggedFinal.mdl

Thanks, I'll give that a go tonight. The only issue I have is the arms are in a straight T pose in the modeling window. The left arm dropped down after I did the install action...

So I tried to install the lite rig on Old Man Willies. I followed the steps, honest I did. But it seems that much of the controls or constraints didn't come along for the ride. Is there some way to do a quick re-install into an existing character or should I simply start back at square one? I've added a bunch of other bones (fans, beard) that would be a real pain to recreate, but if I have to I have to. I've attached the model if any are willing to peruse my errors.... OldManWillies_Boned_RiggedV2c_LiteRigged.mdl

! Thanks for the tip, Paul. I've always drank mine "neat". What size straw? The skinny straws that come with the sissy drinks? Or the even skinnier stirrer straws that the "finer establishments" provide to stir the Jack in the coke? It is really just a few drops of water...I use a regular drinking straw..man I'm going to have to trade in my black and tan for a dram of Macallens now!

Macallan is a fine choice. I usually go cheap and stick with a 12 year old, and while the older bottles may be a wee bit smoother, over all the 12 is very very good. Hint: never ever never put ice in your single malt! Instead poor your room temp dram (shot) in a tumbler, then, using a straw, put just a few wee drops of water into it. Swirl it a bit, then savor. Most of the flavor of a good single malt comes from the wood casks they are aged in, put wood tanens into the liquor. Chilling the scotch tightens the tanen molecules, reducing the flavor. A few drops of water allows the tanens to relax, giving a much deeper, fulfilling experience. Every once in a while I'll host whiskey tastings, and this is the first thing I go over, doing a taste test, of a dram without water, and a dram with. I won't even discuss putting other "additives" in a single malt. If you aint drinkin for the flavor, then don't waste your money on a single malt!

I sort of fell bad for poor MacKnuckles...I'm sure he's standing in the corner shaking his wee animated head wonderin just what the bloody heck happened to his thread! I myself haven't got much work done as well since I keep coming back here to see what other hijinks have been posted here! And the 3M folks must have been drinking scotch since to name it for Scottish descent it would have been named Scots Tape...much funner to dream up things whilst drinking uisge beatha (the water of life) or Scotch (me thinks I need to run out and acquire myself a bottle today and get back to work on my own short!)

oh wow! I bow to the master of one liner quick come-backs!

My funny bone received some punitive damage a few responses back...

The monarchy of Scotland and England are/were closely related, having so many intermarriages to cousins, sisters, uncles. Mary Queen of Scots Father was James V, a Stuart. Father was James IV a Stuart Mother Margaret Tudor Source