zandoriastudios

The right foot seems a little unnatural in mid-jump. The frozen frame between the two animations,where you are spelling out his name, sticks out--maybe a moving hold there. Are you going to have any facial expression? The model and rigging seem to work really well, I like how it turned out. Nice effect where he disintegrates.

There used to be complaints that the manual that ships with the program did not have all of the in-depth info on all of the settings and stuff. All of that information is in the HELP file (which you have on your CD, and is also online). So Last year, I formatted all of that information into book form, with the blessing of Hash,Inc. for a print-on-demand book. This gives the user the option of having a printed copy of the reference, which in my opinion is easier to read than sitting in front of your computer reading the helpfile... All of this information is available for free. The Printed version is available for $23.98 (this is to cover the cost of printing it and the storefront that makes it available). If you are using V11.1, then ignore the first section on INTERFACE--those features are no longer current. The rest is still the same for 11.1 I will do a new version of the printed Technical Reference (actually working on it now) to be available with V12 in 2005. [Rodney, it will have a bigger index] The number of copies sold, is small--you have to remember that this is print-on-demand and it is only marketed to this community (and only by word-of-mouth, and a hyperlink in my signature, and a link on the ARM[thanks Vern])... The total for the year (the question you asked) was about 460 copies, about 10% of the community.

kewl!!! I'm glad you have finally got Hair on the mac

I really like them! I agree that you could have a lot of fun with dynamics with them

Very surreal! Kind of disturbing, but that's ok. Not sure what to reccommend for your style, you obviously have a strong vision of your own--go with what seems best to you.

Here is the bump map at actual size.

It is all paintd in photoshop, using dodge and burn tools on a 50% gray field. The very fine skin texture is from a tileable pattern that I painted. I Filled a layer with that pattern, then set the blending mode to "soft light" to combine it with the other wrinkles. It is a color map, bump map, and specular intensity map. Thanks Yves, that is high praise from you, because I think your models are very fine! Your skin shader and skylights are also now part of my bag-o-tricks I think that Smartskinning and modeling are in the same category--It is all about "sculpting" the shape. Yes, that was the reason I did this at Siggraph! I did talk to someone at Weta about coming down to see the demo, but I don't think they did... I'm thinking of either him on the Empire State building swatting at planes, or maybe fighting the Terrordactyl. Thanks everyone for your kind remarks and encouragement!

Started on the skin texture. I may back-off on the bumpmap strength a little...

UV coordinates. OK,Ok, not really much to see, but I set the template to "bump" and it looked kinda cool, so I saved it...

I'm gonna donate him to the V12 CD, so that everyone will get a chance to animate him I haven't got anything planned for myself yet....

Rigging and smartskin done! Now on to the Decals and hair Doesn't this guy look like he'll be fun to animate?!!

Wow! Superb model!

Thanks to Yves and his skin shader!!! Just setting the surface attributes and tweaking the Skin shader, no decals yet (except the eyes).

This is an ocean material I used for "Miss Cast Away". There is a gradient combiner that changes the reflectivity based on the edge threshold. That would make a nice surface attribute. You could just delete the Attribute nodes that make the waves, since you already have that--or just copy the gradient attribute out of it. [the new Fresnal reflection feature, may make this type of technique obsolete...I haven't had a chance to experiment] Ocean.mat

One thing I noticed when it was rotating, the center-line of the back of the legs seemed a little sharp. That area on the opposite side of the knee seems like it should be flatter. The rest of the geometry looked great to me. I'm afraid that the logo is too subtle and wont stand out. I liked the glowing effect that you were trying the other day. I think that kind of contrast works well for a superhero.

great looking model, Colin! Looking at the arm position, it looks good as far as placement. The deltoid seems a little small from the front view. While that shape might look good in the arms down position, I think it would be "fuller" in the position he is in now. --But I'm having to try really hard to be picky, cause it looks so good!!!

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?act=A...e=post&id=18369 check out this thread for a different technique. Right now it appears that one side of the cylinder is being lit from a light source on one side and exhibiting translucency on the back side, leaving a sharp edge at the terminator. Translucency in A:M doesn't work exactly like you expect from the real world (yet)... J Griffins technique of material effectors is the best work around for your situation.

If giving up your "free" time to work on a project with someone more experienced doesn't have any merit with you, then apprenticeship is NOT something you should consider. If I am going to tutor someone and help them on their project, then it is not an apprentice program, it is a tutoring program. In that case, it would have to involve a tuition. Just as if you wanted to take piano lessons, you wouldn't expect the teacher to just show up at your house and teach you out of a sense of community spirit. We are talking about something more involved than just answering a few questions on the forum. Here is a different analogy: consider different ways you might learn a martial art. You might just join a class, pay your dues, show up for class, and then go home... You might instead join a more traditional dojo, participate in class, do a few chores around the place after class, showing a little commitment. You might find that the sensei will give you a little more help. You might find that you learn at a faster pace. The relationship of sensei to student is a mutual commitment, it builds a stronger dojo. The members of the dojo aren't just strangers showing up for a class--they are part of a community. There is loyalty and friendship that goes beyond just taking a class... If I were to take on the task of mentoring an apprentice, I would feel that it would be my responsibility to help that person learn what craft I have to teach. What they would get out of it would depend on how much effort they are willing to put into learning what I could teach... They aren't paying for tutelage. Instead they ARE doing a type of internship. They might be working on commercial projects--which they would not get the opportunity to work on without some experience otherwise. They would have their name in the credits, and would have work that could be shown on their demo reel. In addition, that apprentice may have their own projects that they need help and advice on. This person has already shown loyalty and dedication in the relationship of master and apprentice, and If I can help them achieve their own dreams then I will. As they go off on their own as "journeymen" their former master will feel a sense of pride in their former student... That kind of relationship is not really something that is going to work with a bunch of ad hoc rules defined by someone else. It is between the master and the apprentice. If the idea of becoming a "humble student" is offensive, then I suggest you are not ready to learn anything....

Smudge, I just stumbled onto this thread, and finished reading it and looking at all the in progress stuff--it is simply amazing!! You are a wonderful artist and it is really inspiring to see you bring your vision to life in A:M. Thank you for sharing!

Wow! Great job Ken! I love the job you did on the texturing too!

Fantastic! I loved the little touches--like where the dad pushes the plate away and the little fish slide on the plate like they are frozen--You guys are simply amazing!

Wallpaper

Noah, Great work!!! Very impressive!

all of that programming stuff is over my head. I just love playing isometric style games (like diablo), and would love to design and make the elements for something like it. The whole "World of Zandoria" is based on a D&D campaign that I ran years ago...I would just like to develop those ideas into something in A:M. Unless I can team up with someone, I'm stuck with "The Games Factory" as the limit of what I could do on my own

COOL!!! This is something that I am interested in doing with A:M too, can you recommend some sites or books that could help me?