modernhorse

Wow ! Just beautiful! True character. Very well done. Doug

I'm just so stuffed that I finally got this squash and stretch rigging settled that I had to post this silly little test. It's one of those, it's easy once you know how to do it things. Have a pleasant day, as mine is now complete. Doug CubeRigTest.mov

Yeah that's the one. I should have been more specific. Doug

Peter - I really like the look on Ravel's face at the end of the clip. Aside from the aforementioned stuff here's what caught my eye. The foliage. I don't know why but my eye was drawn there and it confused me. Perhaps when the marble is more visible this will automatically be corrected. Doug

Beauty ! One light? Get outta town. The vegetation really looks great, not to take anything away from the beetle. Doug

Again, I thank you all for your very informative input. This is a tremendous help to me. Yves as you said here in your post ; I guess I've been under the mistaken notion that the Radiosity forum was for developing Radiosity renders. Would you like to move this thread or should I start a new one? Either way I'll take this discussion over there if it's more appropriate. Thanks again all. Doug

Okay - Here's an update. Robcat - the strange shadows occured from not using enough rays cast for the shadow (i was using a setting of 5 on raytraced shadow). I've since discovered that setting it to '1' is better than 5. I tried one at 16 and it was still too grainy and way upped render times. I also did some more reading and following tech reference I tried a bluish tint on my sun light and it just made it look cold. The current setup is two lights. One sun to the right. And one rim in front of the character. Thanks for the help so far. It's been very helpful. Doug

Thanks very much for the pointed replies. No offense taken at all (one would have to wonder why anyone would post here if they were that thin skinned ). Actually, this isn't a skylight rig. I started out with one light, added another. I think I'll take your advice Peter and reduce it down to one again and solve the shadow(s) issue and then move on. I'm on it and thanks again. Oh and thanks also for the link. I was actually reading this before I started this scene. More reading is in order. Doug

Hi all - I've been meaning to do this for a long time. One of the things that my mini movie work proved to me was/is that I need to work on lighting. I've started this thread so that I might gain as much input into the process as possible from anyone who wants to comment. This first exercise is supposed to be an outdoor setup, I'm going for afternoon sun. I understand that this isn't the most interesting from a character and modeling standpoint, but that is not my intent here. Thanks for any thoughts. Doug

The hair looks swell. For a squirrel though his ears look a tad too big. More cat-like and I think that may be adding to the cat-like appearance you were mentioning. Unless this is not sposed to be a grey squirrel, that's the kind I have all over my yard. Either way a fine looking model. Doug

With this model and that story (hilarious) you've got a winner. Show us the Sherpa next, eh? Seriously, wonderful model. I love the obvious anatomy study you've done. And I love the "pixar" styled eyes - there is alot of depth to his stare. Great great character. Doug

Hi Lazlo - That looks great ! I like the lighting alot. Hmm ... the leaves look fernlike, but also a tad like some sort of oak. Ya got me. Doug

Hi Tom - Think this looks great. I recently saw one of these on some show and thought "hmmm wonder if we'll see some of these in the next Pixar movie". Then thought hey I might model one of those. Then saw yours. Now I don't need to model one. hehe Keep going, can't wait to see where you go with it. Doug

Sheesh! This post reminds me of how much I miss you around here Colin. This is truly a great looking model and transformation. I didn't read all the posts here but ... is this all done with magnet mode on the original mesh? And does it preserve your poses and so on? Doug

Rodney - attached is a render from my sequence that I am trying to save as a QTime .mov. For those reading about this issue for the first time here is the original thread ... Rendering TGA's and Quicktime conversion issues Thanks again! You're a pal. Doug *NOTE* I failed to mention that I'm using A:M version 10.5r. Sc7_0006.tga

Just beautiful work. I particularly like the Cat one. For some reason on that one the music seems to lag the action a bit. The jellyball's movement is just perfect. Well done! Doug

Hi Gerry - I like your alien guy. I have a green one that I'm gonna get back to again one of these days. Aliens must be green ! Who said that? As far as the pencil sketch thing goes, i've experimented with toon rendering a tad and have stumbled on some of that sort of look. There is also a toonation plugin (that I think is still included on the A:M cd) that Rodney mentioned will help to achieve that look. Cya, Doug

Okay - decided to put up a bit of animation to whet your appetites, and to give you a hint of his personality. Comments welcome of course (note - I don't know how much time i'll have to employ your suggestions as the deadline is looming). Doug Sc11testA.mov

Peter - How I do enjoy these updates. Of all the things I like about your production, and there are alot of them, I feel the lighting is super. I hope that you will give us more info about your lighting process as you go. I think we would benefit from your knowledge. I know I would. I also know that time is precious so fit us in when you can eh? Doug

That second one gives much more focus on the ball. Great job. I might tone down the color of the ground a tad, but that's just me. Doug

Hi all - Yes, i've got a master plan and have begun animating him but I've got no where to post my anim's at the moment. So I'll guess you'll just have to wait until the mini-movie contest is complete before you see. btw - have you all considered entering? There will be no dialog except maybe a couple of grunts and/or guttural vocalizations. At least not for this short. Appreciate your continuing interest. Doug

Hmm, yeah I see that. This won't be a still so maybe it won't really show up. Thanks for all of your comments. Very encouraging. Doug

Looking great so far. I like the semi-real vs toony thing you've got going on. A couple things caught my eye. 1) I think the bear's eyes are too stark and my eye was drawn to them. Maybe some eyelids would tone them down a bit. 2) The suit of armor guy's feet seem too round (to my eye). I am so new to lighting I couldn't even think of commenting on that. Except to say you've got a mood now. I personally can't move on to radiosity as I don't even know what I'm doing with more traditional lighting setups yet. Keep on! Doug

Okay guys, good thoughts. Here's a render that shows all updates as I have them. As I say, I've moved on but I guess I have changed him enough to update the thread. I appreciate all the suggestions and critiques. Doug

Thanks Mr Jage. Thanks, but I'm not sure I know what that is. Is this a procedural included with A:M? Or is this a third party thing? I'm presuming that latter. I've pretty much moved on with the character, in the interest of the deadline, but I'm open to revising him for later use or the next character. Thanks guys. Doug