williamgaylord

I think I discovered why the iterative approach doesn't work. Only the spline and control points are automatically renamed. If you rename what you can in the model to save it as a unique model, then import it into a new model as I just did, the names will be unique, but the references in the constraints to splines or control points, etc. will not change, so they will conflict, causing a "circularity error". Note the identical spline reference in both imported models in the attachment below. Maybe there might be a clever way to avoid this be editing the relationship references in the file, but how you might track how the import process changes the numbering in the mesh would be the trick. If it just starts the numbering from the last one used, then you should be able to just add an integer offset to all the constraint references...or something like that...I don't know the syntax of AM files yet. Anybody have any ideas on how to overcome this? Bill Gaylord

Here is an interesting challenge: Make a complex rigged model out of smaller rigged models by importing the smaller models into a new model. Like a cut and paste operation, it could enable you to rapidly build complex abstract or natural looking models (like trees) to be animated in fascinating ways. Iterative operations like this could get you into trouble, but done right it could make for some amazing possibilities! I don't know if it will work, especially importing models with constraints and relationships applied. I would think that all the parts, constraints, relationships, etc. would need to be renamed to be unique each time prior to being imported. (I've tried it without renaming and got a mess.) Any ideas on how to make this work? Can it be done with AM in it's current incarnation? Perhaps a mix of using a text editor on the model file and the project workspace tools? I would start with very simple abstract rigged models with simple rigging for a test. I'll try something myself this weekend. Feel free to contribute! Especially if you've already figured it out! 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

Just posted a short short featuring the Marshmallow on the WIP forum thread "Marshmallow Safety Films". In this one the Marshmallow only speaks, so I'll have to do another to show off the rest of his rigging. Thanks, y'all for the help and encouragement! 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

I recently obtained Jason Osipa's book ("Stop Staring..."). This is one fantastic resource for learning how to lip sync and animate the face in general. Very clearly written. Osipa has a real knack for getting at the essentials, putting things in perspective and relative priority. This is one of the "must haves" for your animation resource library! One of the arguments against a "phoneme" based "automated" lip sync tool is that such systems do not account for the variation of corresponding shapes depending on the shapes that proceed and follow (especially if you are animating something like the joke about the Wide Mouth Frog). With the right kind of approach, I would think most animators would prefer more direct creative control. I'm just now getting into lip sync, and so far I think its one of the more rewarding aspects of animation. It's fun! 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

"He's alllliiiiiive!!! He's alllliiiiive!!!" The Marshmallow has been rigged with TSM2.0 with the modifications described earlier. Works great! May do some more tweaks here and there, but on the whole he is ready to rock and roll! Thanks to all who have helped! Bill Gaylord

For easier reference here is the description of how I did the shoulders on the experimental arm I posted in the "Marshmallow Safety Film" thread. I'm still experimenting a bit and will post what I finally use for the actual rig. Trying some simplifications and will let you know how they come out. "Here is what I did for the shoulder. The idea is to make the main shoulder ring pivot like it is fixed to an axel. The next ring is the actual pivot point and acts mostly as a hinge joint. The result is similar to a universal joint that connects two rotating shafts at an angle. This is a simplified shoulder design for simple characters where the shoulder does not really need to be joined to the body. The following picture shows how it works: The "axel" bone is a child of the shoulder bone. It has an "aim roll at" constraint to a target that is in turn controlled by the angle and roll of the upper arm bone. The target bone has two "translate to" constraints--one to a bone that is a child of the upper arm bone and one that is a child of the shoulder bone. This combination allows the arm to rotate forward beyond 90 degrees without the target bone passing to the opposite side of the axel bone. If it did, the roll of the axel bone would suddenly pop to the other side causing a gruesome kink in the shoulder. I use Sonofpat's idea of using several bones with "orient like" constraints around the shoulder ring associated with the pivot point. That does most of the work of smoothing the shoulder mesh. I then give it some final tweaks using a Smartskin on the upper arm bone, setting just four extremes--forward, backward, up, and down. Works great with the TSM2 arm rig! I'll do the same with the hip joints as the Marshmallow has no hips, strictly speaking. ("He has no butt!!!") I may post an animation of the arm rig to show off it's performance." Bill Gaylord

Here is a picture showing the case where I got popping in the shoulder when I used a simple "roll like" constraint instead of this "aim roll at" approach. Without Smartskin touchups, the shoulder still behaves quite respectably. The whole arm can roll 180 degrees or more without ugly kinking. Bill Gaylord

Fixed the popping in the shoulder by using part of the experimental shoulder rig I worked out and posted on the "Marshmallow Safety Film" thread. Basically I used a single fan bone for each shoulder. The parent is the shoulder bone. The fan bone has an "orient like" applied relative to the upper arm bone and set to 50% enforcement with "store roll" off. To get the intermediate shoulder ring associated with this fan bone to "roll" partially when the arm "rolls", I apply an "aim roll at" to the fan bone that points to the middle bone of three bones placed behind the shoulder. One bone stays put as a child of the root or "body" bone. The one to the other side of the target bone is a child of the upper arm bone. The target has bone two "translate to" constraints applied, one to each of the bones to either side (I set the "compensate" button while setting each constraint). The target bone stays halfway between the fixed bone and the one that moves with the upper arm bone. This both assures that the roll of the shoulder joint ring is always less than the roll of the arm, and prevents popping by avoiding ambiguous conditions for the "aim roll at" constraint. The attached picture helps illustrate how this works. Bill Gaylord

So far so good! Everything is working fine and as expected, except for some popping related to a "roll like" constraint in intermediate bones of the shoulders. Have some Smartskin touch-ups to do and then Mr. Marshmallow will be ready for animation. I think I'll have the popping fixed soon and will share the details when I work it out. The "Lazy Susan" idea works like a champ! I am so pleased! At each shoulder joint I have a single fan bone with an orient like constraint (50%, store roll off) and a roll like (50%) to the upper arm bone. Works like a champ unless I perform the following sequence of rotations: 1) first rotate the arm straight down to the side, thumb pointing forward. 2) next rotate the arm forward... When the arm reaches about level straight forward the intermediate bone's roll suddenly pops. I'll have to look closely to figure out what is happening, but I'm guessing the roll handle of the upper arm bone is crossing a plane where the relative angle between it and the fan bone's roll handle becomes ambiguous. If anybody already knows what is happening and knows a solution, please let me know. Thanks, Bill Gaylord