pixelmech

Ok, here's an update rendered in preview. I've gone through and tweaked a bunch of stuff, so things are smoother. I added the frightened look after the point. Adjusted some timing, fixed some wayward stuff. In the render there is still a problem with feet inside the ground.. problem is.. it doesn't show that way in shaded renders, so it's gonna be tough to fix. My 'hill' doesn't have enough patches is the problem. I added another element ... and I have an idea for the end game..not giving it away just yet http://www.pixelmech.com/movies/rr16.mov C&C please!

Hm I like the flinch idea Rich... I may try that if I can fit it in the timing. Thanks!

Well I made some adjustments. Let me know what you think. I really want to *add* some time where I can hold some poses and the like, but having a hard time doing so. I tried using the dope sheet and moving all the keys after a certain point for both models, but it didn't match up right. The slap, point, walk at the end, walk up hill (a bit) a few other things all adjusted and should be better, although far from done. The follow through on green's hands/arms after his walk is not right either. http://www.pixelmech.com/movies/rr11.mov

TMI TMI! Good model. The back of the robe at the shoulder area looks rather pointy in places, instead of smooth like it is draping around the shoulders. Nice job.

Hmm..its a thought. I think he definitely has to do something bossy

Thanks Anthony - and your comments are definitely welcome, believe me I did notice that he feels off-kilter a bit - almost like he will fall forward. I like the idea of leaning him back and I think I will try that. Thanks!

lol melissa, exactly!

THanks guys. Tonight I hope to start back at the beginning and smoothing up everything and adding in some follow through, anticipation, etc. There are some timing issues too. Tom

Keep in mind this is really a blocking out - I'm only animating them to a point, so there is a lot of sloppiness to address. Yes, I did make the model (it's simply 2 versions of the same one, with a different frontal decal). It's a variation of the one on my animation website. I had grandiose plans for it at first - which is what kept me from animating! I scaled him back, got him workable enough and went at it. At any rate, got white to walk off the hill mostly. I got him in some odd positions with the turn. I need to get him fully off screen and then go back and begin fixing things. I don't think I'll do much action other than that.. maybe one last thing with green. Something VERY odd with greens fingers going on. I've had this problem with fingers and TSM2 rigs before, not sure what happened. http://www.pixelmech.com/movies/rr10.mov All for me tonight!

Thanks guys, Josh - everytime I tried to plan something out I found an excuse not to animate, so I just went for it. I think so far it has paid off big dividends for me. Each time I open the project and work, it seems more comfortable I hear you about the silhouette and agree - I may try and fix that if I can. It made it tricky to put white guy's hands down because their arms were too close together. Here's my latest, not a whole lot added (been a busy weekend.) But white guy puts his arms down after the point, sags, and begins his walk away. I still consider what I am doing blocking for the most part, I will try and smooth things, add follow through and more anticipation and the like after I finish the action. Most likely he will walk down the hill, the other guy will do something and follow. Not sure if it will be anything more than that. http://www.pixelmech.com/movies/rr9.mov

Sorry so long in replying Stian - the chrome is the one I got from that free AM materials website (not the CD), not sure of the link but if you still need it let me know - looks like you are there with your car now based on the McLaren thread. It didn't actually look that good until Matt rendered it in his scene - didn't look so good (or as good) in my "black" render. The paint is Colin's 'basic metal' from the materials forum area - colored white of course. BTW your car came out awesome, it continues to get better and better! Tom

Ok, I reblocked that end portion so he points in front of the white bot. I also hung his arms more and that does help. http://www.pixelmech.com/movies/rr8.mov

Yes, Garcon - great points! Thank you! Thank you!

Thanks Jess! It hardly feels nailed tho hehe. It's funny about the foot - in the chor it looked like it was right on the hill and the other foot might have been floating a bit - but the render shows near opposite. Would it be best to make those adjustments in wireframe mode? I'm animating in shaded mode...

JohnBigboote and I did a co-entry into this month's image contest and here it is - platform and more! The girl models and the setup was done by him.

I added an updated version that is rendered in preview instead of shaded. Now I can see a whole bunch of other errors I couldn't see before! Added a few seconds at the end, tried to fix the foot drift, got most of it. But now his feet are inside the hill... http://www.pixelmech.com/movies/rr7.mov Will try and do more later.

Excellent! Excellent! Did I mention excellent?

Right, duh! You know I just started running with it from where I first placed him. I didn't give enough thought to that. Yes - so far everything I have animated since I got AM - these things are my biggest issues. The guy's foot on the left floats forward a bit at one point during the head spin I think. I hope to fix those once I get the sequence down. Oh totally! I mean that's the whole point you know? I can see where once I get the technical part of animating with the software down enough, I'll be able to tackle the artistry of animation without tech things getting in the way, and that will be golden. Tom

Well I've had AM for 4 months and done too much goofing around. The ol' saying is writer's WRITE, so I guess animators ANIMATE! I've been so busy tweaking characters to be better than the previous version and worrying about rigging and things I can't do that it paralyzed me from doing much. So I decided to just rig something (since I have TSM2 anyway) and jump in and do something, so here's the start. I'm animating this as I go, but consider this version a kind of blocking, because I intend to go back and put in all the detail. Right now I want to get the short story down. It's been fun since it has been fairly quick to do to get it this far, maybe a few hours. So keep in mind with your C&C, there is not really any follow through yet, not much squetch or really anything other than the basics. Not much of a story, no real title yet. Essentially they are supposed to be leaving and they will kind of walk off into the distance after I finish whatever action will happen. I wanted to just jump in and get experience animating and not worry about making a perfect first project. So far it's been really worthwhile, I think I'm learning quite a bit about animating in A:M and some things have gotten clearer (so if you are hesitating, jump in!) Just a shaded render, 20 seconds. Note the camera movement is not good, working on it. EDITS: Latest version at the bottom!. http://www.pixelmech.com/movies/rr24.mov http://www.pixelmech.com/movies/rr25.mov http://www.pixelmech.com/movies/rr34.mov http://www.pixelmech.com/movies/rr40.mov http://www.pixelmech.com/movies/rr42.mov http://www.pixelmech.com/movies/test1.mov http://www.pixelmech.com/movies/rr54.mov http://www.pixelmech.com/movies/rr55.mov

I like him very much, he looks very bear-like! My only suggestion is he needs a bit more "paunch" in the front view. He looks awesome from the side (keeping Jim's comment in mind) but he seems slightly off proportion from the front - a bit too thin and top heavy. Nice work. Tom

Neat! Excellent job of making that look old. I like how his walk is a bit too fast like those old movies where the speed was goofy. The whole blurring and fuzziness works great - how did you do it?

Edit: Now it played go figure: Looks real nice! Can't wait to see a final product. I'm totally with you on your thoughts about finishing the project - and why Pixar etc has so many animators! I read somewhere that a good animator does some 10-14 seconds of animation per WEEK. Lot's of people can say they've animated 10-20-30 seconds or a minute of film. The pool gets a lot smaller when you talk about people who have actually finished a short!

Thanks guys! Yeah, there is an issue by the door because I didn't do a good job of breaking the door out and making it an actual door so it can open. I just don't have the time to redo it now. I almost wish I could start it over - but I'm not going there!

Really nice Josh! Great colors, I like it a lot.

A rear shot, didn't come out as well. I need to get some materials for the floor (carpet or something) and seats (some kind of synthetic leather or something) and probably the dash and door insides - metal is not good there! I kind of stopped doing much in the cockpit since you can't really see in, but you kind of can here.