smudge

Thanks for the reply, amarillospider. I worked with cloth some and have found that it creates too realistic motion for what I need. It feels alien to the rest of the action and models since things are so stylized. But I'd love to see a test animation of what you've done. Could you post one, pretty please? As for Kricket's tuts., I've actually been using a variant of them a lot for hair and other danglies (tassels and the such). The biggest difference is that instead of using free-floating translation lag bones, I'm duplicating my original 'Control' chain (which is affecting the model's geometry), renaming it to 'Target' Chain, adding 'Orient like' constraints to the 'Control' Chain targeting the 'Target' Chain, then setting the lag appropriately, offsetting by 2 to 4 frames going down the chain. I'll add spherical constraints as needed to keep the model from intersecting itself. While not perfect, the motion it creates is a nice simple over-lap that isn't overkill. I've got a version of this currently hooked up to the skirts, but with other factors involved (ie, lots of leg movements and very tight spherical constraints) I'm not really happy with it as a skirt option. Any other suggestions? Or answers to my questions about upgrading? I'd love to hear them!

I know this is a little earily for one of my weekly posts but -- Okay, discussion time.... To upgrade or not to upgrade, that is the question. When I started on the 'Stolen Child' project I made the mental decision not to jump to the next version mid-stream. After all, every time I've tried to upgrade in the middle of a project with *any* program, I usually find that I've hosed myself. So, I told myself that I wasn't going to make that mistake again. Simply to avoid temptation, I've gone out of my way to *not* get v.11 until after I finished the short. But.... Going through some of the documentation, they've added some new controls to the Dynamic Constraints (ie Collision) that looks like it would make my life easier and keep from pulling my hair out too much when it comes to hooking up and animating the skirts of the major characters (of which they have a lot). In the past, the problems that usually crop up with upgrades tend to be with; a. Smartskin (which my models have none). b. Muscle poses on the pose slider (if I upgrade I will have to reset them). c. Modifying animation done in previous versions (bad gen-locking problems, especially if a new bone has been added anywhere along the chain). <-- Note; playing the animation is fine, I just run into problems if I try to modify it after importing from earlier versions. At this point in the project, I've only completed half of the major character models and have done none of the animations for the short. Any animations completed so far have only been to test the models. Also, I know there was some talk about working on the Toon Renderer in future versions, which, for the most part, I think is a grand thing to do. But to change the Toon Renderer right now for this short would be a *disastrous* thing. Have there been any changes to the Toon Renderer from v.10.5 to v.11? Would the Dynamic Constraints really be worth the headache of trying to upgrade from v.10.5 to v.11 at this time? Can anyone think of any other problems I might encounter upgrading this project from v.10.5 to v.11? Any and all feedback would be really helpful! -- Thanks!

Wee! I survived San Diego! Actually broke even this year (a first after 10 years). Having dinner with the Hash guys on Thursday was wonderful. I really had a good time. On one of the few moments that I got to break away from the table, got the chance to meet one of my heroes, Bill Plympton. He's a lot younger than I imagined. That Con has gotten too frick'n big.... Been working hard on the Father now that I'm back. Got all his texture templates made and modified a few of the some textures (that were appropriate). Now, I'm going through the long tedious process of re-aligning the skeleton rigging. That's going to extend into next week, thou. More next week (as I get my butt back in gear)!

They're part of the texture map. A lot of the line detail work is being handled in the texture and I'm using the toon line to take care of the large overall/silhouette shapes of the model. Since the inking style I'm tying to imitate wants a thin internal line and thick external, this seemed the best way to handle getting the look I wanted.

Ack! Smudge bad! No work of 'Father' all week. Instead I re-hook 'Fay's sholder and upper arm bones beacuse I was geeting a really weird movement out of the elbow. All fixed now. Also did a test rendering of all the film elements together, ie, models, and backgrounds. Dang it's coming togeather nicely. Will have to post the shot later, though. Brain too wrapped up trying to get ready for Comic-Con.

Thanks for the reply Entity. Actually I can up with the constraints because I had so many problems with trying to do it via poses. I have found that there is a 5-degree sweet spot that works out. 5-degrees under and I don't get the movement I need. 5-degrees over and it starts hanging and popping. And of course, the 5-degrees varies per each bone... =le sigh= In other work, I've got the 'Father' all modeled now. I also got my other short ‘Ebin & May: Something to Remember’ posted to A:M Films. Boy, it sounds so much better than it did a month ago. I love my new sound card! Next week I will be setting up the Father's texture templates, then a week off(?) for San Diego Comic-Con International. Might try and post just before I leave, but no guarantees. No rest for me!

Nothing to show this week pre say (except a minor problem that I can use some feedback on). Got distracted by my new DVD burner and sound card. Ended up finishing the sound re-edits on my other short, Something to Remember which should be posted to A:M Films next week (God! It sounds so much better!). Also trying to get a (very) small run of disks together of my two short to sell at San Diego Comic Con International this month in the vain attempt of paying for my hotel room (I hate going to Conventions broke....). If you're at the Con, please come by and Say "Hi". I'll be at my publisher's table (Radio Comix). But -- I have run into a minor glitch with the models, with the rigging to be exact. I'm currently working with a skirt rig on the Son (and Father) that's almost working. The Rig: A series of single bones parented to the Hip(root) bone. They are Aim At a target bone parented to each leg. There is another set of single bones, again parented to the Hip bone, that are Orient Like the first set of bones and also have a Spherical Limits on them to help mimic gravity as well as prevent collisions. This last set of bones is what the skirt geometry is parented to. The Problem: I'm getting a Popping from the bones that have the Spherical Limits from where they 'slam' into their min/max then 'pop' out to a very radically different position when the control bone returns into the Spherical movement limits. Does anyone know a way to easy this? Or have a better rigging solution? I'd love to hear them!

Weekly update. Been working on the Father model. He's a bit of a burry fellow. I've got most of the body taken care of at this point, model wise, thanks to using the 'Son' as a starting point. Next week, I'm hoping to work on the face/hair. After that, it's getting the skeleton back into alignment.

Very funky stuff (in a good way), Heiner. Here's some help with the toon renderer. -- with the sound FX; Try going into the models 'Surface' properties and changing the 'Line Thickness' in the 'Toon Line' properties to '0'. As far as the Toon shading goes, did you; A ) Have a klieg light to caste shadows with set up in your scene? B ) Are your 'Toon Shade' setting set up properly in you model's 'Surface' properties? C ) Do you have shadows turned 'On' in your renders? D ) Do you have 'Flat Shaded turned 'Off' in your model's 'Options' properties? These are just some of the culprits that come to mind. The two most likly are B or D. Hope this helps.

The Son's Done! One more model down, a hole bunch to still to go. I think next week I'll start work on the 'Dad' and use the 'Son' as a base to start from. Here's the final image. And here's the test walk I did to make sure he was working correctly. SonSmall.mpg

Thanks for all the encouragement folks! While I have been working, I've got nothing to post (yet) this week. Tweaked with some of his constraints (mostly the overlapping lags). Still need to fiddle slightly with his skirt constraints. Right now, they seem to be popping as he walks. Not so noticeable in the small render I've got posted here, but really annoying at full screen. Also, been getting the son's painted textures finalized. I'll post him when I get them all done. Also, finally heard back from AP Watt. And what I feared was true.... The poem is Public Domain in the US (region 1(?)) but not in the EU (region 2(?)) (as well as Brazil, Israel and Turkey too). Won't be until 2010. Well that cuts about half the film festivals I could send this too. The up shot of this, thou, is that Ms. Shaughnessy of AP Watt was kind enough to give me the contact info of who currently handles the International Rights for "the Stolen Child". So, off I go to draft another letter.... Ah, the joys of clearance....

Sorry about not posting last week. Ended up showing at an Anime convention (FanimeCon) over the holiday. Back on track now though. Got the Son rigged up and did a test animation with him. Kibbitz from the peanut gallery are very much welcomed. All I have left to do to him is set his face targets and paint his textures, then I can go onto one of the other characters; probably the Mom. SonSmall.mpg

Nothing new to post on Stolen Child this week. Did more paperwork stuff for the short instead. Namely, getting the contract finalized for the music and getting the letter off to AP Watt to try and figure out if the poem is truly public domain or not. I originally started the short thinking it was, but I found some stuff recently on the web that seemed to contradict that. So in the name of fairness I sent a letter off to the W.B. Yeats Estate’s agent asking if it was. We'll see how things go from here. Did, however, get the re-render done of the earlier film 'Yote Tail and got it posted on A:M Films. Yeah! So at least I didn't waist the whole week.

Well, I've been kind-of bad this week and didn't get as much done as I would have liked. I did, however, finish off the final modeling touched on the 'Son' (i.e. teeth, eyelashes and the such) and am now on setting the model for texturing. Right now, I've got all his hair and skin templeted and ready for painting. I was hoping to have all of him done today, but I got sidetrack on another project (re-redering an earlier short, 'Yote Tail for posting to the AMFilms site). More next week!

No, 'fraid the 'Son' model is a young as this gets. The term 'Child' in the title more refers to 'A Child of Man' than someone under the age of 10. 14? I think I get close, but not quite there. Good luck to you on getting them all put together, entity. I'm more grumpy that I'm modeling at all when I really want to get onto the animation. But since the models aren't gonna build and rig themselves, I should probably quit my grousing and get back to work. Last I check, this was my model list: Fay -- DONE Son -- In Progress Father -- Not Started Mother -- Not Started Sprite 1 -- DONE Sprite 2 -- DONE Will O Wisp -- DONE <--Start Over Buttery Spirit 1 -- Not Started Buttery Spirit 2 -- Not Started Grey Herrin -- Not Started Highlander Cattle -- Not Started Highlander Calf -- Not Started Mouse 1 -- Not Started Mouse 2 -- Not Started Trout -- Not Started Chair -- Not Started Table -- Not Started Stine -- Not Started Dirk -- Not Started Staff -- Not Started .... I guess that is more than 14, huh? *grumble*

More Progress to report. (Trying to post something every Friday simply to keep my butt in gear...) Been working on the 'Son' model. Had started the model earlier, then let it sit dormant for a long time. This week I was able to finish up his hair, and his leg straps, and model ears (which you can barely see, but if they weren't there, he'd look weird). I still need to model teeth, tounge, and eyelashes. Then it's on to texturing him. I also adjusted Fay's walk cycle a bit as par Ross Smith's suggestion. You're correct Ross, this looks much better. Fay Walk Cycle (new) MPEG1, 2.4mg And here's the Son so far....

...And here's a full body. I've found that for building a toon model you want to use as few splines as possible. I also spent a lot of time carefully moving the CVs and then rendering to make sure the model was as smooth as possible since any irregularity the toon line would pick up. To that same extent, I also made sure there was more distance than I normally would model in between the different surfaces so that the toon line would pick it up properly. The shoulder pieces are an excellent example. Also, I've changed the toon line to a thickness of 1.5 with a toon bias of 60 since I'm trying to imitate an inking style where you'd have a really thick outline, and then a thin interior line (which is being handled in the texture maps). When I render the figure, I'm over-sampling the render to get a sharper toon line. Example: My final move size is 720x480, so I'm rendering the character at 1440x960 then shrinking the frames in Premiere at the time of editing. Hope this helps.

no problem, ZachBG. Here's a bust wireframe of Fay.

And here's the Full body turn around! FullBodyTurnAround_small_.mpg

Ask, and ye shall receive! Fay Bust Turn Around. (trying out this file attachment thingy) BustTurnAround_small_.mpg

Been working really hard here. Since James, my roommate, rebuilt my main work machine, progress on this short is going to be much faster. I think Fay's model is done. The new and improved Fay! With less skirt action! Fay Test Walk MPEG1, 2.3mb I've also posted the final sprite models (1 & 2). Fay has a variety of 'little helpers' throughout the film. (Why do something when she can sent someone else to do it for her...) The Sprites are two of them. They tend to be her 'good' little helpers. Now it's onto modeling the son. (*BLARG* This film has too many models.....)

Yes, Ray-tracing works. Yeah! Thanks (to you and Martin) for the help. However, this will change my rendering flow a bit since ray-tracing doesn't work well with front projection maps(which is how the backgrounds are being handled). I guess I'm gonna have to do a 2(?) image render to get the final. One for the characters w/alpha, one for the shadows embedded into the alpha, and then complile them with the final background in my editing program. Not that big of a deal. I'll post a test render later. Again, Thanks.

It's a Geocities addy. They, like several other free web services, block views from links. ... But ... If you copy the link and paste it into your navigation bar, then it'll work just fine.

Hey all! Sorry I've been so quite on the board these last several months. Been Busy as all get out. But I'm finally getting off my bum and getting onto my next short, "Stolen Child", and thought I'd create a WIP. Story: A classic Celtic fairy tale. Fey, one of the fey-folk, convinces a young man to with her to the Fairy-Lands. Done is a psydo-Jim Fitzpatric look, all the characters are going to be done in Hash while the backgrounds are hand draw and colored in Photoshop. 5 minute short. Progress so far: Storyboards: complete but sketchy (need to re-scan and compile them into a likareel) Backgrounds: Complete for act 1 Characters: all the designs have been done, but I've only really worked on the Fey model. Mics. Models: have a long way to go.... Current designs; Old Fey Design Son Design Current Fey Model (new Design) As one can see, I've already had to change Fey's design from what I was originally intending. (=grr!=) I could not get a skirt rig that I was happy with. So I modified the design. I'm also running into another problem. Can anyone tell me why Fey's body is casting a shadow, but her skirt is not? I've checked the model and group attributes (in both the modeling and choreography windows) and they all look correct. I've tried flipping the normals too to no affect. Anyone have an idea? More to come!

One person's sign of horror (swastika is still illegal to print in Germany, I believe) is someone else's good luck symbol (Native American (reversed) and Oriental).... Go fig. Personally, I thought it worked well with the piece, but I can understand about not wanting to cause too many waves too.