largento
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Posts posted by largento
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Awesome work, Paul!
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gee Largento, Thank you very much for all the testimonials--I'm happy that the AM:Technique CDs were helpful for you!Haha, you're more than welcome, Will! I'm grateful for all that I've learned from them!
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You can use 3DPainter to automatically decal an entire model, but it's not the best way to do it. The decal 3DPainter creates is recommended only for projection painting. It's like putting a glass up in front of a view of the model and painting in 2D on the glass. Then that's applied to the model's decal. This works pretty well, but being able to paint in 3D around the model is the really cool part about 3DPainter and painting in 3D requires that the model already have decals.
The best advice I can give is to purchase Will Sutton's Decal and UV Setup CD tutorial (you can get it on his zandoriastudios website). It'll explain exactly how to set up your model to flatten groups and apply a single decal with the UV editor. Then when you take the model into 3DPainter, you can paint in 3D. I was really intimidated by the process until I watched the video and saw how easy it was to do it.
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That's a really cool ship design, Michael!
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Thanks, David! I hope so! I'm definitely feeling less pressure about this project than I was about Stalled Trek.
Okay, I'm probably the only person who thinks this is cool, but I found out that if you keep the Windows icon in the dock and select it, it not only launches Parallels and Windows, but it does so invisibly and then opens the application minus the Windows desktop! The little "please wait" box and the title screen appear over the Mac desktop, like you're launching a Mac app! (Except not like the Mac A:M, since it doesn't have the "please wait" box or title screen.) :-)
Then the application opens fullscreen, rather than in the Parallels window.
Wowzers! :-)
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Three strikes! (Well, actually just one strike, but I couldn't figure out how to make the file loop, so I repeated it a couple of times.) :-)
I was playing around this morning and just did this quick animation test. I did it using Parallels. I haven't used it in awhile and the latest updates seem to have really made it usable. The times I tried it before, you couldn't use quick-render and there were screen redraw problems, but now the quick render works fine. There are still some glitches with the screen, but they only seem to show up after you call up a contextual menu and go away when you move or zoom. Nothing like what it was doing before. That's killer, since I hate having to restart to use it in Boot Camp. Now when you're using Parallels, the Windows applications show up in the dock! So, now I see a Windows A:M icon with a little parallels symbol attached to it:
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You're doing a really fantastic job, Kevin! Especially on keeping the elegance of the lines and curves! Even on something as incredibly un-elegant as a "gut sack." :-)
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The constraint to use for the feet not going through the floor is "translate limits." Set the minimum Y value to zero.
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Thanks, Dhar!
I'm still working on facial pose sliders, but couldn't resist modeling a quick sword and putting him into a swashbuckling pose! Wouldn't you know that the weekend I finally get close to finishing him is one where I have obligations that are keeping me from being able to work on it as much as I'd like.
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Whew! Progress at last! :-)
I'm nearly finished with the rigging for Errol Flemm. The only thing I have left is the face and I'm going to set that all up with pose sliders. I feel like I passed a few more mile markers with the rigging. I decided to create a custom rig mixing and matching things I've seen in other rigs and trying to make the rig work with the character, rather than making the character work with the rig. I'm going to do a bunch of animation tests with him and try to get out any bugs and then I'll use the same basic setup for all the other characters.
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Although not exactly what you say you're looking for, I high recommend Barry Zundel's Animation: Master Training DVDs! It really jump-started my learning and they are discs I still go back to again and again. The first disk covers modeling, the second is rigging, and the third is animation. Following along, you can model your own character, rig it and then animate it. Along the way, Barry covers the interface and concepts behind A:M. He originally created them for a class he was teaching, so it's like sitting in on lectures.
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I'm currently rigging and weighting my pirate character and have been building a custom rig (part of keeping the character simple.) The plus side, is that I'm able to put in orient-like bones where I have spline rings to cut back on a lot of the guesswork. I've also stumbled into the happy solution of using cosmetic bones at intersections (shoulders, elbows, wrists, etc.) which orient like at 100%, but do not store the roll. I then add another cosmetic bone further down the bone that does the same, but adds a roll like constraint at a percentage (say 50%.) That way I can finally roll the bicep without destroying my shoulder!
Watching Will's CP Weighting disc has completely convinced me to do it the way he does. All in an Action window. You can easily switch back and forth between muscle and skeletal mode with no worries of accidentally moving something in the model. I've been selecting a ring of splines and then editing the weights with the control panel like Will describes.
Go get his disc!
Here's a question, though. Is there an easier way to take all the constraint relationships to the other side once I've mirrored the bones? Easier than going back and redoing all of the constraints?
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Thanks for the reply and the excellent info!
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One thing I've noticed is that it doesn't work if you have the "none" radio button under "subdivide edges" checked, nothing will import. I usually set it to "auto." If you're using CS3, they don't have the legacy thing anymore, but if you save it as an illustrator file, you'll get the option to pick which version to save it as and Illustrator 8 is one of them.
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Hi, Satyajit!
You're blog is fascinating and especially interesting to folks who are wanting to do their own films. I wanted to ask you a little bit about your process with using painted backgrounds. I'm wanting to do that with my project and I have a basic idea of how to make it work, but I wonder if you could talk a little about what the challenges are and offer some tips. I watched Hansel & Gretal and the backgrounds were not only beautiful, but the integration with the 3D elements was really good, as well.
Mark
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"Get up, Mr. Bubbles! Please get up!" :-)
I just started playing it yesterday morning on the 360. I had the day off and played it for the better part of the day. Nice sense of being in the environment.
Nice model! Are you going to decal it?
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Largento I used to have a big wheel in the 70s to I also had a green machine. I added the seat for ya haha
You were one of the lucky ones! I remember staring for hours at the Green Machine ad on the backs of comic books. :-)
BTW, the seat looks great. I don't know if you've ever said in any of your posts, but are all of these character designs working towards a project?
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Just in the way of an update...
I spent some time this weekend experimenting with doing UV decals. I watched Will's tutorial disk and really wanted to give it a try. It's still a work in progress (I'm working on painting the hair in 3D painter, but haven't figured out exactly how I want it to look yet.)
Nothing too dramatic with it. I think the tunic looks pretty good. I gave the color decal some noise and then added a bump decal with white pixels applied with a brush set to dissolve. It doesn't look quite as soft, although, I've found that when you add depth of field, the softer focus areas sell it as being felt.
Here's an image of the model and the decal sheets...
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Keep the thread going, Dhar. It's a nice "case study" for people wanting to create their own characters.
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I wouldn't dare look for a single fault in it, Lee! You've done a tremendous job with it and should feel really proud!
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That's really cool, Gary! I just realized looking at your model that Big Wheel design has come along way since I last rode one in the mid 1970s. The way the back end curves up to form a seatback is really great. I remember that if the seat back (which was a separate piece back then) broke (or you lost it), you couldn't pedal the thing. :-)
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I also have both and second Dhar's recommendation to get both. I bought Barry's first and I'd advise going through that disk first. Barry's disk covers the really basic elements of spline modeling, whereas Will's is more advanced modeling.
I would also recommend the other disks from both parties. I've learned tons from them (and still have more to learn!)
I don't have any experience with poly-modeling, but when I first came to A:M, I was coming into it thinking that control points and splines were like paths and points in Illustrator. So, I went straight to the bias handles and tried to use them like bezier curves, became frustrated that the add tool didn't work like the pen tool and succeeded only in making a mess. :-)
I'm hardly a seasoned A:M modeler, but I'm getting there and I hardly ever touch the bias handles. In my way of thinking, they really are useful for trying to make really low spline-count models. Essentially, you're tweaking the biases to make up for missing splines. For that purpose, it would make sense to go ahead and model with all the splines you need. Then when it's finished, go in and see what you can take out and adjust the bias handles to compensate.
The key that unlocked it all for me was learning about continuity. Once you understand that, the rest just seems to fall in place.
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Thanks, Nancy!
Those long arms might? be a challenge when you start to animate him.Given my inexperience with animating, just the fact that he *has* arms is going to be challenging! :-)
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Thanks, Jeff!
I've got most of the body finished. I've still got to build the collar (which will join the head and body), the hanging part of the sash and his vest. Then spend some time cleaning it all up. I wish I didn't have to run out today, because I'm sure I could get them done in just a few hours. Probably won't be able to come back to it until late tomorrow.
I rendered out a turnaround to show my friend and thought I'd put it up here, too:
I'm having big time fun with this!
Problem Grouping Points
in New Users
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Do you have mirror mode turned on?