higginsdj

If you would like to see comparisons between my character and Proog from "Elephant Dreams", jump onto my blog where I have posted comparison pictures (http://www.david-higgins.com/blog). Yes this is the 'Captain' character. In relation to the design I wanted a very strong jaw but with enough jowl to have age and character - to show wear and tear - which is the next step - the texturing using 3D Painter. Rigging - well that's a whole other can of worms Cheers

Here is a render of the near completed version of one of my main characters. As previously mentioned it is based on another model (Proog from "Elephant Dreams") but I think it is different enough to not cause anyone any concerns. Rendered with a 260 light skylight rig (Yves). Took 3:40 in Win 7 64bit on a Core i5 2.27ghz laptop and 11:34 in OSX on a Core 2 Duo 3.06ghz iMac! Thoughts/critiques/comments are most welcome. Cheers

In the end, if OSX is going to take 4 times longer to render than windows........ Personally I'll be buying Win 7 64 bit installs for both my iMacs now and won't be buying any more OSX subscriptions. Cheers

OK, Each machine runs 15j+. No idea how many cores AM is actually using (can't see where this can be set or seen anymore) Acer Aspire Laptop i5 M430 2.27Ghz CPU 4Gb DDR3 RAM Win 7 64bit Render Time: 9:23 27" iMac Core 2 Duo 3.06Ghz CPU 8Gb DDR3 RAM OSX 10.6.3 Render Time: 33:32 27" iMac Core 2 Duo 3.06Ghz CPU 8Gb DDR3 RAM Win 7 64bit Render Time: 8:43 Note that the last 2 are the same machine - just different partitions on the HD. So who would even bother buying AM for a Mac (Edit - I should say - for OSX)? Cheers

Thanks Guys. Cheers

Hey Will, do you still need the fairy modeled? (I've now got 7 mths off work to do my own movie and wouldn't mind the distraction every now and then) Cheers

Well tracks aren't usually flexible so shouldn't be curved. If you are looking for a conveyor belt then the CP handles are your best bet. And if you are animating it - well you have additional headaches. Cheers

Perhaps you are referring to Action Objects! Cheers

No bevelling? I assume there won't be any closeups of this craft in the movie! Cheers

The shot with Trot reaching up for the door knob seems to hold just too long - it's dead ie there is no movement there. You might solve it with a longer transition (say fade to black or cross fade) with the sound of the door opening. Cheers

If you're after a freebee app, then I am 99.999% sure Blender has depth/Z map support in it's compositing nodes functionality and it certainly supports OpenEXR images. Cheers

I think with a disolve transition in there it will work a treat. Cheers

These are all wonderful characters (I really like the Moneky Wizard) but is't that/this an awful lot of characters for a short? Cheers

If you bought it from Hash then I think your chances are reasonable.

The trouble is, most people do not realise that the mouth shapes have to preceed the actual sound. The most common mistake with the dope sheet is lining up the word with the sound of the word - the lips are going to be late this way. The other thing is that if you do the dialogue as a separate action then bring that into a chor then the dialogue is goiing to be generally late by 1-2 frames. So in the action, when you are stisfied with your results, pull all the keys left 2 frames then refresh the chor. Cheers

The joys of iMac's. QT to .mp4 then iDVD to output a DVD fit for any DVD player menus, titles, chapters and all

jason at hash dot com might be your best bet at this stage. There is a protective device in the software to prevent users from changing their system clock to try to fool the subscription process. A bad MB/system clock has run you into the same issue. Cheers

Haven't been following this thread so not sure just how much critiqing you wanted..... There is not enough anticipation or follow through in the jump. His upper body bends up whilst he bends down in the knees. His body and head should bend the other way then just befor he launches with the legs the head and upper body shoudl then bend up. As he takes off there is only movement in his arms and legs - nothing in the head and body. Once he has left the ground the relative distance between the feet is maintained though one might expect the legs/feet to get closer to each other. Cheers

Compositionaly speaking, I would move Howie away from direct centre. Cheers

The above AM Tutes link is broken.

Is such a tight mesh required overall or just where 'pointed' contact is expected? I imagine that the areas associated with point type contact (elbows, knees etc shouldn't have 5 point patches or too many hooks) BUT it has been some years since I last played with cloth..... Cheers

You appear to be thinking like a Poly modeller. The 'subdivision' is only necessary where the extra splinage is necessary. Compare your example results for 1/2 and 1/3. Look at the shear volume of extra, and most likely unnecessary, patches the 1/3 version has. Sure 1/2 is not perfect and will need to be manually tweaked but AM doesn't have the concept of or even need subdivisions like Poly modelling does. Cheers

Its nice to know we still have professionals in the ranks. My fear is producing rubbish and not being told. Cheers

I can see a face in that artsy hair........ Its faint but its there (isn't it?)

There is a thread on one issue with AM installs on the iMac - I think it is to do with repairing permissions. Threads of interest are: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showt...;hl=permissions http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showt...;hl=permissions Cheers