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Nice cans! Now if I can only get Coke to sponsor my next animation ...

You could conceivably build a TSM rig right in AM. So the chances of the rig itself no longer working are probably about the same as any rig built in AM not working. The TSM builder/flipper plugin however is another story...

The Step option tells AM how many frames to skip. If you are just doing test renders, you can render every 100th frame (step = 100). Or if you have two instances of AM rendering the same project (different cores or different computers), and your project has, for example 1000 frames, you can set one instance to render frames 0-1000 with a step of 2 - and the other instance to render frames 1-1000 with a step of 2. The first instance will render frames 0,2,4,6 etc. The second instance will render frames 1,3,5,7 etc. If aren't rendering with AO or SSS, you can get quite nice renders by using the non-multipass renderer, which gives decent (but less accurate) DOF and MoBlur. Plus the render time will probably be much faster than rendering 16 passes. 63MB for a render/animation test is probably a bit much for many people to want to download. If it's just a test, I bet you can resize/recompress it down to under 10MB.

The tears are great! Like the burning leaves too I think Robcat is right about the gravity.

I don't have Vista, but I think other people had luck by right-clicking on the AM program shortcut icon and choosing "compatibility mode" ... somewhere. Turning Off Aero has also help some people I think.

Very nice model!

Here is an extensive tutorial on working with Post Effects in general. http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=30168

Awesome models I can't help render either. I work on my computer all day. But if you are at school ... there is no reason your computer at home can't be rendering all day long. And you aren't using your computer at night while you are sleeping. Another option is to render smaller, then use Irfanview or a Photoshop action to scale the frames up to 720p.

Hey Gerry, I just made a new face rig that might work a little better. It also might install with fewer hassles ... but I need a model to test it with. Would you be willing to send me a version of your model with? * The body rig already installed. * All the Face Bones positioned correctly. * And all the face CP weighting done. * Face Rig NOT installed If you do, I'll install this updated rig in it ... and if it actually works, I'll send it back to you If you don't have a version with the face rig Not installed, that's OK. I can just delete all the relationships and start from there. Thanks. holmesbryant at gmail dot com

You can just move the Jaw Control Null up a bit on the first frame of your animation to close it. Normally, you would model the character's face in it's "default" state. For some characters, their default state might be that their mouth is just naturally slightly open.

Turn Off both the Face Constraints and the Mouth Corner Constraints. You can do this in the Action if you want. With the Mouth Corner constraints Off, the mouth corners will no longer move when you open the jaw. If you want to test the weighting with the jaw open, clear the action (when you clear the action - if you turned the constraints off in the Action - the Face Constraints and the Mouth Corner constraints should revert to their default state, which is ON.) When you want to refine the weighting further, be sure to turn the Face Constraints and the Mouth Corner constraints back Off.

Hi Gerry, Sorry I didn't reply to your Oct 18 post. I didn't see it when I hit the "View New Posts" link. -------------- For the mouth corners, see below. For the Inner Eyelid corners, I have never run into that problem. How much do they jump? ---------------- For the mouth corners: In the *User Properties Panel*, turn Face Controls > Hide Face Bones Off. Edit User Properties > Face Controls > Mouth Corner Constraints. Go to Front View. In the *Pose Slider Panel* (Not the User Properties), Turn the Pose Off. Place a horizontal and a vertical guide (forming a cross-hair) at the tip of each Mouth Corner bone. Turn the Pose ON. Move the Mouth Corner bones so the tips match up with the guides. Switch to Left View. Turn the Pose Off. Place guides where the tip of the left Mouth Corner bone is. Turn the Pose On. Move the tip of the left Mouth Corner bone to match up with the guides. Do the same with the right side. Then close the Pose window. In the *User Properties Panel*, turn Face Controls > Hide Face Bones back On. ----------------------------------------- To make the top eyelids close completely, the the easiest way to make smartskins for the (4) upper eyelid bones. If you already have a smartskin for each of the (4) upper eyelid bones, you can use those. You don't have to make new smartskins if you already have them. In the Model window, select the CPs that are associated with the upper eyelid bones and hit the "Lock CPs" button, so only the selected CPs are editable. In the *User Properties* panel, turn Face Controls Hide Face Bones - OFF. Open the model in an Action. Set Face ON/Labels ON/Split Controls to "1". The face controls should appear. Move the Eyelid Control null straight down. The top eyelids should close about half way. Select each of the upper eyelid bones and either create a new smartskin or, if one already exists, edit the existing one. In the smartskin, move the CPs associated with that particular bone until that particular part of the eyelid is closed. Do the same for each of the eyelid bones. ------------------------------------------------ I don't understand this question. In the movie you posted, the mesh seems to move fine. ---------------------------------------------------

you should email support@hash.com

That's very clever. Thank you for sharing it.

Oops ... I left out an important step right before you export the install action as a model: * Make sure you have the appropriate filters active and [shift]-click on the "Force Keyframe" button. (see instructions in the Installation PDF file) * Save the project (or at least the Action). If you do not save it, it will not export properly. * Right-click on the Face_Install Action and choose Export > Model from the context menu. ---- awesome. Please let us know how it goes.

That's great Matt. It reminds me of something I might have seen as a kid watching Saturday morning cartoons. For some reason, I am more prone to overlook issues in an animation done in a rough style, such as this one. When watching animations that have more visual polish, I find myself being more critical of little issues.

Yes, if you have not already weighted the face, you can wait until the end. Although, it is generally easier to weight the face before the rig is installed. (If you have already weighted the face, you do not have to re-weight it in order to use the alternate install instructions.) I'm not sure I understand. * If you only have a copy of your model with no face bones at all, start at the beginning of the instructions. * If you have a copy of your model with the face bones already positioned, start with that. Then continue with the "Make a new empty model" step. * If you have a copy of your model with the face bones already positioned and the CPs already weighted, start with that. Then continue with the "Make a new empty model" step. * Since AM crashed when you originally tried to export a model from the face_install Action, do not use that model. There is a slight chance it might be corrupted somehow.

Well ... um ... ... yeah there are several iterations of the LiteRig floating around. Please use the latest one I uploaded a couple days ago to the original LiteRig thread. I'm pretty sure the Liteface in Bumpy Man is different than the LiteFace in Gloria. Getting LiteFace to work in Gloria was something of a hack because Gloria uses the 2008 body rig ... and I'm easily confused.

I don't know. I've never tried to install it in a model with the TSM rig. It will probably work with the alternate instructions below, but save a backup before you try it. Gerry, I had the same problem with one model. I haven't been able to pinpoint why the install fails on some models and not on others. I thought placing dynamic constraints on the model before the face install was what caused the problem, but since your model probably doesn't have any dynamic constraints, that must not be it. It seems you are the only one besides me who is interested in the rig, so I haven't been too diligent about keeping it updated in this thread. Sorry about that. Here are some alternate instructions that should work. If you have any questions, please ask. -------------------------------- * Download the new LiteFace from the first post in this thread: LiteFace Rig (updated 10/15/09) * Open the LiteFace project. * Save the project under a new name (It is important to keep the original LiteFace project in it's pristine state). * Import your model into the project. -- (If you have already done the steps below, you don't have to do them again) -- * In the PWS, drag the Face Bones model onto Your model. This will import the face bones and several relationships into your model. * Position the bones * Do CP weighting/smartskins on the face -- (if you have already done the above steps, you don't have to do them again) -- * Make a new empty model. For convenience, name it "empty model". * In the PWS, drag the "Face Bones" null in the container from *your* model onto the empty model. Do not drag it from the Face Bones model. Drag it from *your* model.(A copy of the Face Bones null and all its child bones should import into the empty model.) * Import the "Face Labels" model into the new empty model - it is located in the "Face Controls" folder. (If you do not want labels beside your face controls, you can skip this step) * Make a new bone in the empty model. This is a temporary bone to show where to place the "Face Controls" null in the next step when you open the Face_Install action. This bone should be at about the level of the nose on the Y axis and positioned so the tip of the bone extends 1-2 cm past the tip of the nose. (if some other feature protudes farther out than the nose, then extend the bone along the Z axis until it is 1-2 cm past the protuding facial feature on the Z axis) It does not need to be a child of the "Face Bones" null. For convenience, name this bone "position controls helper". * Open the Face_Install action using the new empty model. * In the PWS, under the Action, select the Face Controls Action Object. The large Face Controls null shoud become visible in the Action window. * Position the Face Controls null so it is located at the tip of the "position controls helper" bone. * Position the Face Cam Control bone so the face control nulls are roughly centered in the camera view. * Position each of the face control nulls to your liking. The only restriction is that you cannont move a control null from one side of the face to the other. If you cannot see the control nulls, select the Face Controls Action Object in the PWS once again. The nulls should then appear in the Action window. * Leave the face labels alone for now. The labels are down near 0 on the Y axis. * Make sure you have the appropriate filters active and [shift]-click on the "Force Keyframe" button. (see instructions in the Installation PDF file) * Save the project (or at least the Action). If you do not save it, it will not export properly. * Right-click on the Face_Install Action and choose Export > Model from the context menu. * For convenience, name this exported model "empty model exported". * Bring the "empty model exported" model into the project. * Delete the "position controls helper" bopne from the "empty model exported" model. * Delete all the *child* bones of the "Face Bones" null from the "empty model exported" model. IMPORTANT - Do not delete "Face Cam Control", "Face Controls" or "Face Labels" or their children. (To delete many bones at once, click a bone in the PWS, then [shift]-click another bone. All bones inbetween will also be selected.) * Now delete the "Face Bones" null from the "empty model exported" model. * In the PWS, drag the "empty model exported" model onto *your* model. This will import all bones and relationships from "empty model exported" into your model. * Save you model under a new name, such as "MyModel FaceRigged". * In the PWS, in the container for Your Model, drag "Face Cam Control", "Face Controls", "Face Labels" and "Face Bones" onto your model's Head bone. This should make all the LiteFace bones and controls children of the Head bone. * In Your Model > User Properties > Face Rigging , switch Hide Face Bones to ON. * If you imported the Face Labels in a previous step, now is a good time to position the labels. * Open the "Face ON / Labels ON / Split Controls" pose for editing. * Slide the "Face ON / Labels ON / Split Controls" pose slider in the *Pose Slider Panel* to "2". (In the Pose Slider Panel- Not the model's User Properties). The face labels will appear. * Position each of the the face labels so each is near its appropriate control null. * Close the pose window. * Edit each of the Phonemes poses ( Your Model > User Properties > Face Controls > Phonemes) so the mouth shape matches the appropriate phoneme. If you plan to do manual lip syncing instead of using a dope sheet, at least edit the MPB, O, FV and E poses because these poses are used by one of the face control nulls. * Save your model. * That's it!

Nice commercial Matt. You guys done good!

Be sure you save a copy of your rigged model without LiteFace installed ... just in case you run into any trouble and need to try it again.

You shouldn't have to turn off the hand gizmo to access it. It should be available when the hand gizmo is ON. ....

The manipulator options in the Model's Properties are for limiting how the bone can be manipulated by you in a chor or action. It doesn't limit how the bone moves via other means. To limit the bone so it will only rotate along a certain axis, no matter what, place a Euler Constraint on it.

Sure, what would you like to know? Rotate the carpal controller null left/right to spread the fingers. Rotate it up/down to bow the hand. What else would you like to know?

Mr BigBootay, love the Frankenstein theme