John Keates

The specularity colour of skin is dependent on the light source and not the colour of skin. If there is a bright blue sky with the sun behind clouds then this would lead to a blue highlight. Often though the highlight would be an orange (in aritificially lit scenes).

The thing to remember about hair collision is that the thing that collides is the guide hairs - not each individual hair. This improves calculation times and makes the movement compatable with poses etc but means that you might run into limitations. It is possible to use poses for specific movements so it should be possible to work around problems with a clear idea of what you want and suitible planning.

No more to crit from me. I am surprised that you havn't ascended to spline land yet.... Victor.... Victor? He's gone.

Oh also, did you set 'face to camera' on the grass to 0?

Thats lovely. It has a really 'tickly around the legs' feel to it... if you see what I mean. One thing though, the density of the mesh doesn't affect the density of the hairs - that is down to the size of the model. To have fewer hairs you could reduce the dimensions of the model. You could always enlarge it again with a pose.

Sorry Victor I'm sure it will be worth it in the end. You never know, if you make the perfect animation then you might get transported to a higher plane of pure spline.

I like the smile at the end more now. The eye wobble works really well and gives me the same feeling looking at it that I would have if I had just spun around a planet ( I guess). The a-symetry of the smile comes across more now that it is slower which looks suitably goofy. I am missing the hand movement at the beginning though. I agree that it looked a little odd having his hands loosing grip like that though. What I would like to see is his hands - or perhaps just one of them, grasping further around the planet to get a better grip on it. Maybe one hand shuld go, and then the other should follow. Also, I am starting to think that I would like to see a lot more cartoon streatch on the neck just as he starts to decend. The look on his face as he starts to realize what is happening is priceless and it would be good if we got a better look at it. If you keep his head hanging there as the rest of the body moves down and then spring it back down then that could work quite well. I feel odd giving you crits but I guess that is what this is all for.

Looks like we hav a budding BPrince here. It is a v.nice image. The main thing that strikes me at the moment though is that the light seems to be coming from two directions. I think that the glow at the end is a little too powefull for me to believe that the main illumination isn't cominig from there. I look forward to seeing more.

Hey brian, I saw your entry in the Expose website. Good luck! I have some digital paintings in there too. I was looking at your painting of a tower illuminated by sunset, not realising that it was yours, thinking "Damn! I don't have a snowflakes chance in hell". I think you could be in for a chance. Tough competition though. Real tough.

I love the stlye of these! I particulrly like the first one. I want to see him move. Actually, you kinda beat me to it on that one - making a character just out of hair. I would suggest setting the angle limit of the hair to about 60 degrees as this should stop the hair from going right through the body.

I like to call it that. Some call it 'jack-of-all-trades-to-many-coals-on-the-fire-scatterbrain'. I'm off to play my bass...

What a beautifull composition. I particularly like the light catching on the shelf. The only suggestion that I have is to make the window a little wobbly. Looking forward to seeing some more.

Thanks Mark, I like your title fading suggestion. This was my first time putting titles into the animation and I rushed it a little. I am planning on holding the shot at the beginning for a while with the sound of squiggle walking down the corridor. I could combine the title with this first shot in the way that you suggest. It is pretty tough getting animaitons finished. I almost feel like completely re-doing some parts of the animation now. I am looking forward to seeing more of your work. I am sure it will be good.

Oh yeah, ChrisThom, The lettering effect was done in painter 9. It was quite easy really, just buy painter, use a Wacom graphics tabelet, select 'impasto' and away you go. I used the demo of painter to make the art in the animation. Be carefull doing this as, after the 30 day trial you will find yourself buying it. It was money that I didn't have. Bloody good program though.

He he.. Mr MM, do you have your own show? You could do pretty well in performance art circles. I appreciate you bumping my thread up like this but it is going to be pretty hard for someone else to join in if they'r not on drugs.

I loved the grey painting bit - I thought it was really clever - I mean - how many times have I been to a gallery and there's a 1 color painting? (usually red) - I thought the gag was a parody of a cliche... Yeah, I don't know how many times I have seen a blank painting with a note by its side saying how clever it is. Sometimes I think that it is a game that art dealers play - how much can they take the piss. Often the artists themselves doesn't get what the fuss is about but if it sells, it sells. Mr MM, I think there is a bit of a culture clash here. It is interesting to see you read all this into the animation but it really isn't supposed to be all that deep. Just a little character peice and a dig at contemporary art.

Thanks for the comments guys. There are too many for me to answer individually withouth feeling like I am leaving someone out or writing an over-sized post but I will see what I can do. Mr MM, Are you really getting sensored here? Seems odd! I wonder what you said. It wasn't my intention for her to die. She is supposed to just faint a little. The reason she feints is that she is in ecstacy because she found the perfect painting - for her. I plan to add a scene where she wakes up and starts dancing about so don't worry too much about her. The idea is that the painting looks like her but she doesn't think of it as being a picture of her. It is stylised in the same way that she is and that is why she likes it. She likes what she knows and rejects everything else. Maybe I could improve the painting to get this across better but most people seem to get it as it is. One reason why she looks dead in the last shot is that I wanted to get it rendered quickly so it is just a view of a pre-rendered layer. When I re-render the thing I may have her breathing or whatever so she doesn't look dead. I thought that I could make her look less dead by closing her eyes but then she would no longer look like the painting. I agree with the cross fade thing. At the very least it would be a good experience to try it. I will work on the grey painting. Actually, I had originally just forgotten to put an image there and then someone said "nice gag about the blank painting" so I thought I would keep it in. I probably would have made more of a play of it if it were planned from the beginning. Oh yeah, the story is inspired a little by the fact that there was once an oficially recognised mental state with a fancy name which would happen to people who saw a masterpiece. There are reports of people feinting at the sight of a painting. This seems odd to us now but you have to remember that people wern't bombarded with images like we are. Some people would travel on a donkey for months to see a painting in another country or city. Obviusly my animation is set in a more modern time but there are people who have some very strong and one sided views on art and squggle, bless her, is one of them. I am fairly confident that the basic jist of the animation is clear to most people.

Thanks for the comments guys. Hi Nancy, "clever use of squiggly stuff" He he, funny you should say that, I called her 'squiggle' "some of animation is a little floaty" Which motion were you thinking about particularly? There is a lot there that is a bit floaty so I could do with knowing which is the worst. "I didn't quite understand the implication of the last scene after she faints on floor - (other than we're just viewing her?" I was going to place that shot after some credits - maybe it would work better then? The idea is that she looks dazed and confused. I am thinking of also having her wake up and start dancing wildly around the room. "Titles go by a tiny bit fast" Yes, I will fix that. Hi Tony, "I feel funny commenting on someones animation when I cant animate yet but..." You have a lifetimes experience of watching people move so anything you pick up on is welcome.

I got drawn back to these animations for another look. I hope you finish this. One thing that I would like to happen is for his left hand to wobble when he sniffs the flower in the first clip. Just a suggestion.

Hi there. I have rendered out my animation and would like to show it before making some finishing touches and re-rendering. I already have a list of things that I need to do but I would like to hear about what really sticks out. Low quality version (not that bad) 4 meg medium quality version 10meg Ooops! fixed the med quality link. Hope you like it John

That is looking really nice. I don't remember seeing the head - there are so many WIPs here. It looks really nice (what I can see of it behind the helmet). Once you have some texture on the metal this thing is going to look really impressive.

That was really nice! I love that style. The animation is lively and I really like the set/use of colour. One thing that I would suggest is that you keep the body moving just a little bit even when it isn't really going anywhere. At the moment it has a stop-start thing. I know that is the style of the animation but perhaps just a little more movement would boost the sense of life a little further?

I am busy rendering off an animation at the mo. Should be ready in time (if a little scrappy). I look forward to seeing what you have all been up to.

Hi Paul, Here is a map. Map here It looks like the place is a boat club now. Aparently we will be on the island in the middle of the river. It starts in the evening sometime. Apparently it is going to be a kind of festival. It would be great to see you there. The atmosphere shuold be good. They are trying to get it back to the seventees feel so it should be right up your street. I hope we get this sorted fairly soon. It will be nice to meet up with you all.

Can't make it this saturday, the next one is ok though.