williamgaylord

Looking really fine! I really like the style of the tin man especially. Wonderful design. The loon jumping does have more of the feel of a small "bal-loon" jumping. Some acceleration is missing in the arc of the jump, like it is impeded by air friction. And as suggested by Jamajica, a delayed action of the "blubber" on take-off and landing might give it more of a sense of mass, too...or you could add some sort of wave-like jiggling in flight to make it look more like a large balloon or bubble like Greg suggested. Waves in a large soap bubble behave a lot like waves in a small pool or a tub. Bill Gaylord

Just a bit more interesting, but nothing to brag about yet. I want to keep it simple and direct, but interesting and memorable at the same time. Bill Gaylord

Love this little guy! You have a real knack for design, from the overall form right down to the little details. Look forward to seeing more of this "doodle". Bill Gaylord

I'm working on the logo design for one of my trademarks. Surprisingly, had more trouble with the border piece than I did assembling all the lettering! All kinds of squirrely behavior with bias. Not sure why. Anyway, here is what I have so far. It will be a lot more interesting once I add the art deco style decorative elements. Any comments or suggestions will be welcome. I'll likely have some questions to ask about why I might have had trouble with bias handles moving around unexpectedly. For now, I need to get some rest. Bill Gaylord zzzzzzzzzzz...

Yes, please! Bill Gaylord

That's really cool! For clouds it might need to be a lot slower, but looks like it would work quite nicely. As it is (expecially the first movie) it reminds me of something I saw on Star Trek. Bill Gaylord

Just a quick test of one of the newer branch rigs in version 11.1. Seems to behave itself. May resume work on this project this weekend. This is animated such that the leaf growth is staggered...a bit more interesting. Branch test in AM V11.1 *Warning* Will download and play automatically. To download without playing automatically, right click and select "Save Target As". Bill Gaylord

What a wonderfull Mother's Day gift! A lot cuter than the one I sent to my mom last year (I used it as my portrait on my member profile on this forum). Great work! Wish I had thought of that! Bill Gaylord

I've posted a higher resolution version on my "experiments" web site. Bill's Experiments *Warning* These are imbedded. They will download and play automatically. Not much else to contribute this weekend. Celebrating Mother's Day with my wife and son today instead. Bill Gaylord

OK. Really fixed it this time....I think. Should be able to view it now. Used the Sorensen 3 codec, too, so it looks quite good while taking up less space. *Warning: Movie will download and play automatically. Right click and save if you don't want it to play automatically.* Marshmallow Speaks Again....Really this time. Bill Gaylord

Try it now. Should also be much better quality. Bill Gaylord

Here is an update. He moves more than his lips now. Also tacked another cut at the end to help you see the punchline better. The quality is not that great. Rendered to AVI so I could edit the clips together and now it has some annoying aliasing and is compressed a bit too far. I need to take a closer look at the AVI setting in AM to see if I can tweak them for better AVI rendering. It is good enough to see the flow of the movie. UPDATE: Figured out how to adjust settings on AVI rendering. Looks much better now: *Warning: Movie will download and play automatically. Right click and save if you don't want it to play automatically.* Marshmallow Talks Again! Let me know what you think. Bill Gaylord

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll experiment some more with it. Want to try to get that quite effective psychotic look that Anthony Hopkins so wonderfully portrayed. Fortunately the voice does most of the work. Also I think I'll add a closeup of the "victim" so it is easier to see who it is. Bill Gaylord

Any suggestions of how I might impove on this little animation? If anybody has seen Silence of the Lambs, you'll remember, as Anthony Hopkins plays him, Lecter rarely blinks and shows very little change of expression...just an intense, fixed, penitrating stare of sorts. I want to mimic that. But I do want to add some subtle motion to make the marshmallow more than a manikin that talks, though that does kind of work. I'll do a higher resolution version later, with some other tweaks, like improvements in the lighting. Thanks! Bill Gaylord

Nice work on the dance! From the fine foot work to the details of the hand motion, great work all around. I would think being married to a dancer would be both a wonderful resource and at times a real challenge as an animator. I would think dance would lead to some wonderful insights into motion in general. I learned a tiny bit of mime years ago and even that little bit of training taught me more than I expected about creating a convincing illusion of motion and mass. Wish I had learned a lot more. Have enjoyed following the developments of your film! Love the style. Bill Gaylord

I might add some subtle movements. I was a bit surprised at how much like Lecter in the Silence of the Lambs he was without moving anything but his mouth. Thinking back to the movie, much of the time he had a fixed, "dead" stare and no movement except for his speaking...just before he would spring and scare the *&$# out of you. Bill Gaylord

I like it! More sort of art deco. What if the inner or outer (but not both) reflectors were frosted colored glass for contrast? Bill Gaylord

Here's the first talking Marshmallow. Let me know what you think. This isn't one of the Marshmallow Safety Films, but I think you'll get a kick out of it anyway. Not perfect, but worth showing anyway. Not much action, but that is partly because of the character being portrayed... *Warning: Movie will download and play automatically. Right click and save if you don't want it to play automatically.* Marshmallow Talks! Bill Gaylord

Looks great overall! I notice, though, under the left side of the lower lip the skin creases and folds over a bit, as though the CPs on that side of the chin are not moving. Bill Gaylord

Wonderful little character! As your animations so far have confirmed, you can express plenty of emotion even with fixed facial features, or even no face at all!! (Consider our little friend Thom...). Has plenty of "cute" without being syrupy sweet, too. Love this little character! Look forward to seeing more of Calico Cat in action. Bill Gaylord

Yes, the Marshmallows get their revenge in the end! Bill Gaylord

"He's allliiiiive!!! He's alllliiiiive!!!" Yes, I have the facial rigging almost to my satisfaction and the rest is rigging using TSM 2.0 with some minor modifications to account for his being a spineless little fellow. Working as I had hoped. Now I can get on with animating this guy and his future clones. Have a first run in the works that isn't part of the Marshmallow Safety Films, but y'all will get a laugh or two out of it nevertheless. Thanks to all who have helped and all who have encouraged me along the way! Bill Gaylord

This should be very interesting. Animating characters with missing parts can be a great way to learn how to get more expressiveness out of the remaining parts. Hands can express a surprising amount of emotions. Bill Gaylord

Nice work! Especially if you make the adjustments suggested so far. If you need ears, I've made two models available...one regular, one pointy. If you want to try making your own, I've also posted a picture of a sample mesh you can use as a template. Ears Bill Gaylord

Yes, thanks! I was going to ask you about that myself. A very interesting technique. Bill Gaylord