patrick_j_clarke

haven't had much time this last couple of weeks (sad family time) but here's what I added last night, some "buildings" in the background. I really just wanted some geometric shapes to break up the background. Thinking of adding cables (BNC) as dreds of some sort hanging around her shoulders...will update soon! - pjc

Well, that would just make too much sense I was looking in the timeline for keyframes for SmartSkin. Thanks!! - pjc

I'll see what I can do! I've got kind of a busy week and am flying out of the state on friday, and I have to get the final image(s) going, but I'll put it on my list to post on the board! - pjc

luckbat, KenH: The Shoulders Good eyes on the shoulders, I'll have to see what the SmartSkin is doing there, especially the left (hers) one. I guess I was drawn...elsewhere Is there any way to see what angles have keyframes in them on a SmartSkin any more? Mohawk Edges Hey KenH, which edge(s) on the mohawk are you talking about? Any help you have in that area is much appreciated! Gail's Irises She's actually supposed to have all white eyes (no iris or pupil) but I just couldn't do that, it was too creepy. I kind of like the little bit of creepiness in them, but I agree, they are hard to make out. I think I might see how they look when it's rendered for print, maybe the resolution will bring them out some more. I think the good old chaps at Event Horizon are gonna get two images. This just started out as a quick test pose, but there is something about this pose. It's great when a 5 minute set-up pose just clicks. Next up, she's supposed to have more hair in the back from the mohawk, so I'll see how I'll tackle that. Probably more geometry. Updates as soon as I can...I just got The Bloody Crown of Conan by Robert E. Howard and am waiting to dive into it...oh what a dilema!!! Thanks for all the input everyone! - pjc

The base model is based off of "Lambrina" which is on the A:M CD which was modeled by den beauvais . He did a great job. I can definately show you guys what and how I tweaked her so that she looked more like my reference photos of the model I have, and more like "Gail". Quick update of a render with the new hair and some Smart Skin tweaks... GAIL NOW WITH HAIR - pjc

Yeah, been working on Smart Skin for the clothes, not much to show other than fixing a lot of clothing...that and I was at the San Diego Comic Con as well. I did give up on the particle Hair for now. I was having good luck with Hair emitters, but it wasn't behaving with radiosity like I would like. So, I started with some geometry based hair for her mohawk. Gail Geometry Mohawk Wire Gail Geometry Mohawk QuickRender The tattoos are pretty much final, and I will do a close-up of them, they have a nice little bump-map on them.

yes, yes, I did that on purpose!!! I still have some smart skinning on the clothes to do Good catch. - pjc

yes, that works great, and I use that! The process I've been doing is really easy and has worked just fine, and fits with my personal quirks. 1. I hide the geometry I don't want to see, and just view the general area of the patches that I want the decal on. 2. I then select all the patches that are visible and "Lock" them (VERY IMPORTANT SAFTEY FEATURE, for me at least) 3. I rotate the patches (usually writing down the x,y, and z co-ords) so that my map will line up as good as it can. 4. Then apply the map(s) 5. Rotate the patches back to where they were. 6. Unhide. (Safety feature of LOCKED points is used if I forget to do step 5 because I want to see the results on the whole model. I can then just select the patches if the rest of the model is locked) 7. Go into the UV editor and with another modeling window open, adjust the maps. That's what I do. I've tried TUMBLING the window and it's not bad (GAILS boob Tats were done that way) but most of the time with these seam maps, I wanted to mimic it EXACTLY on the other side (leg, arm) and with tumble I don't have as much control to get it exact, but I could just be stubborn. I've done Poses, but I don't like having all those messy Poses and then deleting them... That's what's cool about A:M, twenty different ways to do the same thing. Whatever works for ya! - pjc

Got a little time to work this weekend... Got some great hair going for the mohawk, but it seems Hair and Radiosity don't like each other too much...so I set it aside for the time and finished almost all of the texturing, and started on updating the Smart Skin for the clothes. Here's a new picture, with a different lighting rig for Radiosity (instead of one Klieg at 180 and 4 shadows I have 9 in a grid shooting 1 shadow) and a REAL QUICK POSE (not the final pose in the least, just something to get her out of the JC pose). Will have to get some closeups of the new tatoos, I have a bump map on them that makes them look recessed and it's pretty cool. Here you go: GAIL: NEW RADIOSITY TEST - pjc

Very nice! I am a big watch collector and this would be a great addition! I'm sure Martin would want one too! Would love to see this rendered with Radiosity! Quality, quality work! - pjc

UV tute: UV tutorial Got the ears in last night, but need to texture map (UV editor) and hook 'em in. But having many issues with Hair right now on my Mac and v11.1h...going slow now. Might just make her bald (I don't want to have to do mapped geometry hair if I don't have to) if it doesn't start behaving. Still have more seams to put in, more make up, and I might be covering the nipples with some sort of thing, don't know tho, but the weekend is coming up! - pjc

Thanks for the ears, Bill!! They are awesome!! Gail honey, here's your new ears! iGeek You GOTTA upgrade! V11.1 is awesome and the UV editor is SO nice. I've used the heck out of it on Gail, and wouldn't know what to do without it. - pjc

exactly what I did!! But as I was positioning my decal, I found myself hitting "R" on the keyboard...that's when it hit me. Why can't we rotate a decal? Not that I'm complaining (I LOVE THE UV EDITOR!!) but it just seemed to make sense. - pjc

See the image in Patricks post - thats a bump map. It's an image where white represents hills and black represents valleys and you can have the entire grey gradient in between. When applied as a Decal (with Bump image type selected) it creates the illusion, when rendered, of hills and valleys on the surface of the model - ie bumps - hence the name. Cheers Also, bump maps are just faking the look of actual bumps on the surface. If I turn the leg to it's side a little more, you would notice that there is no real crease. It's just an less spline intensive way to make the model look like it has more detail than it has! I have to get to tweaking some of the modeling (I gotta re-look at her pelvis area like you guys said), and get the "mange" look out of her mohawk, but when I got the seam texture, I was really having fun. Now I wish that when you position a decal, you could rotate it as well as scale and move. I don't like having a pose that's just for rotating parts to match the straightness of the decal....or am I missing something? - pjc

The seams are just a bump map applied as a stamp. Here's the image map I used. I was going to pull in a seam in geometry, but this bump map is working great so far. - pjc

Yeah, there are going to be more seams. Arms, somehow, somewhere on her head, torso. I gotta start working her goth makeup too. - pjc

I agree! The uniqueness to the walks instantly defined the characters. Rendering quality was impeccable! Great work guys! - pjc

Started work on the Hair...still preliminary. Love the new grooming tools in A:M!! Also continuing to tweak textures...now she has leg seams like a real android should Oh, and now she has latex arm cover thingys. GAIL with new face tatoo and Hair Mohawk GAIL's fancy leg seam More soon! - pjc

Very nice! Are all those windows hand cut out or boolean? WIRE! WIRE!!! - pjc

Sounds cool jin! BTW, on both Dodge projects, my main modeler and animator, Kevin Lyon modeled most of the A:M truck (I spent most of my time on the cargo and the wheels) and in the Durango version, Kevin did an excellent job on the environment. MORE PORSCHE!! - pjc

jin, Great job modeling the car! It's nice to see other A:M users doing some mechanical modeling. We used A:M the first year of our Dodge contract to model their line of trucks and found it to be pretty nice (low patch count is NICE). We now get he CAD dataset (polys) direct from Dodge (the same file is used to produce the actual vehicle) so we now use Cinema 4D for our Dodge project, but building from scratch, I'd go back to A:M in a second. I feel we could achieve the same quality as our Cinema 4D stuff with all we've learned over the last 3 years. Dodge Truck in A:M 2002 If you want, I can help with some of the materials (paint, chrome, lights), just let me know if you would like me to give it a shot. Headlights are tricky. To get real good ones without using maps, you need all that crazy geometry that's actually in a headlight. I really haven't found a way to fake having the real stuff in there. Dodge Durango in Cinema 4D 2004 Anyway, EXCELLENT job on the car! Great splining! Can't wait to see more shots, and more of your tutorial. - pjc

I wish I could take credit for the great modeling, but this model is based on the Lambrina model from the Hash CD. I just took my photo reference and resculpted to match my photo reference (other than the chest, because I wanted to keep the "unnatural" ones since she is a idealistic model) With the timeline I had and the quality of the Lambrina model I decided to just alter Lambrina into "Gail". I have built my own human models in the past, but Lambrina is a great model. Definately agree with the hair. That's top of my list for this weekend. In the story she has a white mohawk, and I plan to use A:M hair unless I start getting crazy render times with radiosity. I don't like her ears, either. That's another spot I'm gonna work on soon. No toes? Yep, no toes. And since she's in her platforms, I don't think I'll add them. The fingers bend good. Great smart-skin. And yeah, the pelvis is kinda weird, now that you mention it. I'll look into that. - pjc

I am on my way out to go home, but I thought I'd post some more renders (I had my computer render while I was in meetings this afternoon) Will answer some questions tonight: I'll be back around 8-9PM PST. Later for now! - pjc

Let me tell you, I was quite surprised when they asked me to do a pin-up for the second issue when I saw who was going to have stuff in there! Here's some grabs : WARINIG!!! SOME 3D MODEL NUDITY BELOW Body Wireframe [Like I said, this is based on the Lambrina model, so there shouldn't be too many surprises] Clothing Shaded Mode All of the clothes are modeled and for right now are on top of the body model. I haven't chopped anything out just yet. Gail Face Close Up Shaded Mode I'm not too happy with the ear right now, will have to go in and fix it. It was great having awesome rotoscopes for this project. It made re-sculpting the face from Lambrina a piece of cake! Body Texture Mapping Shaded Mode Here is the model without her latex outfit. I need to fix some seams in the textures, but I didn't know how much skin was going to show, so I kinda quickly set it up and will tweak when I get all her clothes done...which is like right now... I am rendering some close-ups of the face and the pants so you can see some of the detail. Next up after this is some sexy poses! - pjc

The skin textures are from photo maps of a model named Simone. Tweaked in Photoshop and massaged in my new favorite tool, the UV Editor! So far, my favorite part was modeling the zipper for the pants. Something so simple, yet is very satisfying when I render it. I'll post some close-ups soon. - pjc