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I think in another thread someone suggested putting some geometry, such as a single patch, above the model and making it transparent. Not sure why that would work, but I think it did the trick in that particular case. I can't find the thread right now though.

voted twice now. Largento, is there any way you can put the vote link in your signature so it will be easy to click on in the future? [edit] Dude, you're at 357! Keep up the guerrilla marketing Maybe have some simple contest every month. Some security would have to be set up, but here is a simple idea. Place a page on your web site that has a simple form with an email field, and an iframe that loads your voting page on topwebcomics in it. Every time someone goes to your site, enters their email address and votes (through the iframe), their email address either gets sent to you or gets stored in a database. Every month, run a script that chooses a random email address from the list. The winner gets an original signed panel from the Wannabe Pirates suitable for collecting sent to them via snail mail. The more times someone votes (maximum of once per day of course), the more times their email address gets added to the list and so they have a greater chance of winning.

nice characters Shelton!

If you post a picture, it would be easier to see what problem you are having.

Very nice tutorial David. Thank you for making this.

oooo that's a very nice flame!

As long as it is the same bone, I recommend doing all the angles in a single smartskin. I tried making a new smartskin for each bone angle in a couple of projects and it was just a big pain with no advantages that I could see.

Great model! While it would be possible to create that particular model with fewer than 10,000 patches, you have already made it you may not want to go back now and cull patches. In that particular model, it may be possible to break some of the parts out into separate models/rigs and join them in an Action. I don't know for sure if this will work, but it is worth a try. Make a new model and paste the geometry for the right leg into the new model. Make a new model and paste the geometry for the left leg into the new model. Rig the legs however you like. In the main model, place a bone at the "hip" joints where you want to attach the legs. make sure the *base* of the bones is at the exact location where the legs should be attached. Make a new Action. Name it something like "Robot Assembly". Use your main model as the base model for the Action. Bring in each of the leg models as an Action Objects. Constrain the "Upper Leg" bone in each of the leg models to "Translate To" the hip bone in the main model. Make a new Choreography. Bring the main model into the choreography. Drag the "Robot Assembly" action onto the main model in the chor. Try to animate the legs and see if it works. If that doesn't work, close the choreography window. Go back to the Action window. Delete the "Translate To" constraints on the Upper Leg bones. Select each of the *Hip* bones in the main model and apply a "Kinematic" constraint, with the Upper Leg bone as the target. Open the choreography window and hit the space bar to refresh it with the changes you made to the Action. See if that works. If it doesn't, maybe one of the rigging gurus will have other ideas.

What model are you using? Is it keekat (the cartoon cat)?

yeah I know I apologize for my part in all of that. I did eventually discover what about the Bumpyman set was causing *me* so much trouble. It was the shadows cast by all the roof shingles on the house. As soon as I set the shingles to Not Cast Shadows, all my rendering problems went away. The other fixes I mentioned in that thread helped a little, but nothing compared to turning off shadows for the shingles. Sooo... back on topic. I do all my dialog in an Action Window and all my other facial animation in a separate Chor Action, but doing everything in a chor does have some nice advantages. In addition to the update issue, in a chor you can see where the character is facing, what it is looking at and what it is doing while it speaks. It would be nice if all the keyframes associated with a chor action would move when you move the red bar (that determines the chor range). That would make it even more convenient to do dialog in a chor action. Building a set in an Action Window has some very strong advantages, but unless you are using the same set in several different scenes, it is MUCH easier to construct it in a chor. Doing all the set lighting in its own separate Action Window has serious advantages. But again, if you aren't using the same set in several different scenes, it is MUCH easier to do the lighting right in the chor. Walk/Wing Flapping/Swim Cycles are done in an Action Window and are mighty convenient and sure save a lot of time. Sure, they can look canned, but if you are doing a project by yourself or with a small number of people, these kinds of cycles can be a real life saver. External Actions are great for repetitive environmental animations like water waves and swaying trees and such.

Wonderful

Hey Nancy, can you create a simple project that illustrates your problems? Every time I tap on the space bar after making any kind of change in an Action, the Chor window updates without any problems. It may take awhile, depending on the size or complexity of the action or chor, but it always works. If we can isolate why you are having so much trouble, maybe someone can make a suggestion or even submit something to AM reports. Stefan does look at AM Reports from time to time. It doesn't seem that whatever animation rig you are using would have much to do with your problem.

That's great Gene. It's nice to see you progressing so much.

Oh, he tripped over a hitching post ... I didn't see that. I thought he just tripped or lost his balance or something.

wow. very nice largento.

That's pretty funny. You did such a nice job modeling the bike though, it might be nice to focus more on the bike so it takes up more of the frame and the ramp takes up less of the frame. The ramp is only just a background piece that provides a little context. The real subject is the bike itself.

That last one is a gem Robcat. Can we get a project file or a tutorial?

Maybe set their ambiance intensity to 100% ? Or make them Flat Shaded ? would love to see what that looks like with AO instead of Radiosity. Here are some possible ideas. http://farm1.static.flickr.com/84/220904785_7c54291925_o.jpg http://www.tbnnetworks.com/affiliate/resou...%20in%20air.jpg http://www.flickr.com/photos/longristra/188904115/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/moop/2688679946/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/moop/2525697667/ http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/...NGSPFG45-lw.jpg

For a beauty shot idea, how about jumping it off a gnarly cliff, like you see in one of thos extreme skiing videos? You may even be able to use a photograph for the background. You may have to paint out the crazy SOB jumping off the cliff in the photo ...

I found this simple Newton Tutorial after a quick Google search. http://www.foro3d.com/attachment.php?attac...mp;d=1120766934

That's a nice looking bike. Great job.

sigh ... yes that sounds like the best solution. I'll write a note to myself to do that.

I am not able to reproduce your problem. Try increasing the percentage of the bump map to something like 500%-800% and see what happens. EDIT: Ahhhh ... yes I think Nancy is right. Try rendering with multipass on. It seems that applying any kind of gradient material to a model causes bump maps to not work in a non-multipass render. Ouch - non-multipass has the best motion blur and depth of field.

Here are directions for the E_Rebuild plugin that will transform your model into something Newton Dynamics can break apart. http://www.sgross.com/plugins/plugin3/index.html But I can't find any directions for setting up the Newton Dynamics to make it break.

That's a nice demonstration Robert.