williamgaylord

Beginnings of another project? Space Kapsules? Bill Gaylord

Sounds like the project is picking up steam. "...I wonder what went through his mind?...It looks like a pine tree!..." LOL! Really looking forward to seeing the outcome of this project! Bill Gaylord

Yes! I love your Mac & Mallow film! Hope you and many others will get a kick out of the Marshmallow Safety Films, if I ever get around to finishing any of them. Once I get the basic marshmallow model and rigging worked out I look forward to doing some "screen tests" and then starting work on an actual episode. Most will range from relatively simple sight gags lasting a few seconds, to more elaborate "accidents" that will likely run for a couple of minutes. Once I get some of those under my belt, I may tackle a "feature length" film that might last a whopping 10 minutes or so (a takeoff on the movie "The Blob"). I'm hoping Colin Freeman and I can get the Atlanta AM user's group going again soon. This might be a good collaborative project for such a group. Thanks for the jokes and the encouragement! Bill Gaylord

Amazing what becomes obvious after you take a break from a project. Although the bias adjustment problem mentioned earlier is still a problem, I found a simple solution to getting a nice pucker. It is so obvious! The mouth has a spline ring with CPs I can pull back a bit to round out the pucker, as can be seen in profile below: Still would like the bias adjustments issue fixed, but this will work just fine for now. Have submitted a bug report to Hash. Man, I am eager to get this little guy movin' around and talkin'! Have a lip sync test scene planned that will be a parody of a parody that Justin Barrett did. Hope y'all will enjoy it when I get it put together. Bill Gaylord

Here's a suggestion that should be relatively easy to add, but might give his emergence from the book cover a lot more kick without any need to alter the initial pose: add a bright flash just as he springs from the cover, as though a flash of energy propelled him out of the book. This would be somewhat consistant with the way he "disolves" at the end. This is clearly a test run, but a pause at the very beginning that gives your eye a chance to take in the layout would help a bit, too. I like the overall concept! Bill Gaylord

Quite a lot of progress since my first glimpse of Clay at one of the early Atlanta AM User Group meetings (it may have been the first one!). Love the fly-through. Looks to be a very imaginative world. Very like some of the microscopic worlds I've explored over the years with my microscope (one of a myriad of hobbies). Glad to see what you've got cooking. Bill Gaylord

John, you always amaze me with your experiments! Such inventive uses! Bill Gaylord

Thanks, Jeff. I really look forward to bringing this little guy to life. Animation is my favorite part of the process. RE bias adjustments in a percentage pose: I tried a simple experiment in both 11.1a and 10.5. Both have very similar results. The bias handles don't work like they do in a model window. Also any CP with bias altered in the pose no longer responds properly in the model window. Have reported this to Hash support. Not sure whether these are bugs or I am just trying to do something that isn't supported yet. Bill Gaylord

I can see it now...Shaggy instructing superheros how to pose dramatically! LOL!! That would make one very funny short film! A fuzzy Yoda.... Looking quite fine, Colin! Actually the binary sprites are a pretty cool idea..."Digitize him!" Sort of a double layer pun. Bill Gaylord

Oooh! I like it! The foliage looks a lot like patches of moss. I like the overall effect. Like something you would expect to see in a Dr. Seuss book. Bill Gaylord

I said to myself, "Yah, Vern! That's got to be it!", so I tried it. No such luck. I'm beginning to think this might be a bug or at least a needed feature. All I can do is lengthen the handle. I think it might be time to contact the Hash support crew. Thanks anyway man! Love your Happy Bear and friends! Bill Gaylord

Need some help here. I'm trying to adjust the bias when moving the lips in or out in a percentage pose. I want to adjust the curve of the lip in profile using the bias to pucker the lips when they stick out. I can't get the bias handles to work! Nor does it seem to work when I adjust the bias numerically in the properties window. Is bias not a property you can animate? Or is this perhaps a bug I should report? Here is a view of the pose window: Any idea what I might be doing wrong, or might be missing? I'd have had the whole Marshmallow rigged by now if it weren't for this hurdle I can't seem to clear. Bill Gaylord

I would add a little more time just before the green guy comes falling into the scene. Add enough time for your eye to take in and register the surroundings before the he falls into the scene. That would help emphasize the impact when he does fall into the scene. Nice bounce! For better continuity I would also show the big guy turn and start to walk toward the door (perhaps viewed from the location of the door), before cutting to the view of him walking to the door with the door in view. Nice work overall. Very interesting character designs. Lot's of potential here! Look forward seeing the work unfold! Bill Gaylord

Looking mighty fine! You need an "Arnie" (now Govenator) model to fly it (remember True Lies?)...or maybe not, now that I remember that scene... . Great looking model. It will be cool to see it come to life! Bill Gaylord

Still not much visible progress, but now he has teeth! They are patterned after "jimmies", those little cylindrical candy sprinkles. May actually finish rigging this guy today. Let me know what you think about the design. Any comments, critiques, suggestions quite welcome! Bill Gaylord

It would be interesting to see an animation with the bump map contrast varying...a transformation from Young Kong to Grampa Kong before your very eyes! Great looking work, William! Bill Gaylord

This may not look like much change, but most of his face rigging is done. Just have to add the main mouth controls now that I have all the low level controls done. Before long he should be talking, if not singing and dancing! Need to add some teeth. I have enough low level controls that I can get a wide range of mouth movements. I'll probably do a fairly realistic setup and a cartoony one similar to Justin Barrett's "Veggie Tales" mouth poses. Anybody know how to get bias handles to work in a pose? I want to adjust the curvature of the lips as they move in or out, but I can't seem to get the bias handles to move while in a percentage pose. Anybody know what I may be missing here? Bill Gaylord

How very generous of you! I would love to animate this guy! Really look forward to it's availability. Thanks in advance. The UV map picture does look pretty cool. Bill Gaylord

That's pretty cool! I would suggest on the return the tentacles should start bending where they join the body, keeping the ends together at first as the tentacles curl outward...sort of make a curve traveling from the inside out in a smooth motion...like the curve of a whipping motion, but slower. It should also be slower than the push motion. You probably already had that in mind. Anyway, it's a pretty darn cool idea for a ship! I like it! Might be cool to send a glowing pulse of light down each tentacle as it pushes, shooting out as a combined pulse of light at the end, or something similar. Bill Gaylord

Yes, indeed! Looking great! Looking forward to seeing your work on his fur. Will there be a Fay Wray to match? Or will it be Godzilla? Bill Gaylord

John, that was the view as you exited the wormhole...it's caused by the immense gravitational gradients... This has got to be one of your most elegant mistakes! May not have been what you intended, but visually it is really cool! I'd call it a happy accident. It would be interesting to figure out how to do this sort of thing on purpose. I love your experiments. Bill Gaylord

Just tried it again and it worked fine. The key does seem to be to select only one side and then the other for the copy and paste mirrored. Worked just fine with .1cm tolerance and could probably work with a smaller tolerance. Phil Leavens explained it in more detail and it finally clicked in this rusty cog mind of mine. Thanks!

Still not getting it right somehow. Perhaps a simple step-by-step example ("micro" tutorial) would help. I haven't found much info on how to use it properly. It's got to be something simple I'm missing. I agree about the eyes needing more reflectivity and specularity. Have been focusing more on the mechanics of making them move. I think teeth would add a lot as well. I was thinking along the lines of using "jimmies" (those little "capsule" shaped candy sprinkles) for teeth. It might be interesting to animate one marshmallow adding teeth to another--multicolored teeth from a small pile of "jimmies". Thanks! Bill Gaylord

I've got the eyes rigged and have started working on the mouth. To save some time and perhaps even get symmetrical controls, I've been trying to copy in one pose and then "paste mirrored" in another. Can't seem to get it to work. Copy and Paste work, but not "paste mirrored". I've tried tolerances all the way up to 5cm, which is larger than the mouth, but still no response. Any ideas what I am doing wrong? I select the mouth area in the source pose (which simultaneously highlights the same area in the destination pose) and copy. Then I click on the destination pose window and click "paste mirrored"--nothing happens. If I simply paste, that copies the moved CPs just fine. Not sure what I am doing wrong. Here is a picture of the two windows: I copy from the bottom one and try to paste mirrored to the top. Maybe somebody out there can figure out what I am doing wrong. Should the relationships button be on or off? Animate button? Bill Gaylord

I love the design! Sort of like an alien Homer Simpson and a Dr. Seuss character rolled into one. This looks like it will be a fun character to animate! Bill Gaylord