Mike Hart

I relate to the frustrations of both camps, in this thread. I'm glad Rodney let it ride. As I read, I was thinking of sayings like, "said the the spider to the fly" & "thrown to the wolves" but..., it has such a happy ending. Hopefully, it's "happily ever after". The hard-part is just beginning; it can be done, though never finished. Secondly, I was called "Troll", when I was in the 6th grade by a guy, not so much of a bully, but just a jerk-of-a-guy in my class. He had an inflated opinion of himself and I was able to ignore him for most of the year but one day, he underestimated me and, said it once too often. He never called me "Troll" again (I whupped his ___ and then glued his prized pen to his desk). Clearly, his expectations of me were not jibing with reality and he simply needed some "gained-perspective". Just like this fellow's unrealistic expectation of support for 7year old software and a sympathetic ear to his complaint in this forum. The forum gave it to him (perspective) and he responded well and now we're all friendly. That's very cool. Perspectfully yours, Mikey

I'm an oldie-newbie. I was an AM user up to v.13 and I'm wanting to dust off some of my old v.11-13 projects with v.15. Are there any issues/procedures I should become aware of ta do dis ting, right? I searched the archive but found no clear answer. MAC G4 Quicksilver, Leopard Thanks, Mike Hart

Your observation that the image of God looks, exactly, like Zeus is very interesting. Mike Hart

Why..., if he were my crawdaddy, I'd..., What would you do Daddy? Why..., if he were my crawdaddy, I'd..., What would you do Daddy? I'd cover my crawdad in Cajun sauce and eat 'im, til' the cows came home. (sung ala Mothers of Invention) seriously..., I enjoyed it. It brought a smile and a chuckle. Along with the animation/film refinements you mentioned, some additional sound fx (clanging pot lid, flames, etc.) would be good. Mike Hart

Very nice. One of the best, of her kind, that I've seen. She does look a little mesh heavy but, well done. nit-pics: The line from the nose to the corner of the mouth seems a little harsh, for her age, in the first pic, and the ear is a little "deflated", as others have said. It just needs to be plumped out, a tiny bit. The last image with the smirk expression is excellent. The way you've got the lips cheeks and nose working is right on. Those lips are killing me. Mike Hart PS - the hair is beautiful.

Wow! This really is great. I love the facial textures. He looks capable of tremendous havoc. I can't offer any criticism for the ape. I don't think the diaper is working, though. I don't understand the folded paper-looking thing in the front and it needs a fabric texture to integrate with the ape. Is it too obvious to mention that the fur isn't working, as well, towards the top of the diaper. I don't want to seem nit-picky because, this is a truly wonderful model. Mike Hart PS - I've always preferred clean monkeys.

Yeah; but..., can she cook? How does she expect to attract a husband with an attitude like that? Who's taking care of the children? What about the kitchen floors? Can she see her face in the reflection? Are her whites... white and her colors bright as morning sunshine? Mike Hart PS - nice work Mike. She dusted off pretty well, I'd say.

Good work. You hit all the "bases"; weight, aniticipation, recoil and mystery orbs. Your Top Ten is hilarious. I think it would be a good premise for a bluegrass song. "Greenbluegrass"; if you will. I'm thinkin'...."Them Alien Men Sure Can Love" or "Alien Holler Breakdown". Mike Hart

It looks like you're getting the hang of it, to me. Besides the eye lids, I don't see any glaring problems. Have you played with "Distortion Mode", yet? Isn't it odd how the shadow has a hole in it? Mike Hart

Thanks for sharing this. Very cool models and beautiful texturing. The progression from the beginning of the thread is a study in character development. Seeing the progress you've made with these fishes is great, despite all the advice you've been given (just kidding, guys). I won't even pretend to give you any. You, obviously, know what you're doing. Mike Hart

Hey, In deference to the comments about Edna's hand movements; I've decided to rename her "Pheromone Fanny". Her significant WIP (formerly known as Mortimer Mertz) will heretofore be known as "Enzo Pharr". For the proposed cable series, I have a working title of: "Phenomenal Pheromone Fanny and Her Feminine Hygenx". I did some tweaking of the hand movememts and uploaded the revised "dressed" and "nude" QT clips: Animations Folder. Thanks for the comments, Mike Hart

That's superb acting. A very enjoyable animation. As a viewer, I was totally unaware that it was a model. I was absolutley sucked into his character and mannerisms. There's a lot of subtle stuff going on there. Modeling, texturing, lighting, acting, directing, timing, the concept and it's all excellent craftsmanship. You guys are up to good. Mike

This is a great head model. You've constructed it just right to me. Everything you need and no fat. I prefer the the version before the "update", however. It has a lot more character than the updated one, IMHO. Maybe that's just camera angle. Mike Hart

mmmmh... yummy. It, literally, makes my mouth water. I can almost smell it. I'm licking the screen and I swear, I can taste it. To be 100% honest; it doesn't taste very good. Sort of like dust and fingerprints. Seriously, it looks great. Mike Hart

Ah... I was going to say something about using the toon render mode but, now that all the pictures have loaded, I see you've already done that. Have you played with the gradients settings, yet? You can get a lot of cool looks by creating your own sets. Like one for daylight and another for night scenes, etc.. Anyhow, this is a very cool idea you've got started and I am very impressed. Mike Hart

Thanks for the comments Bill. I really appreciate them and I know Edna is pleased with the vote of confidence. You're right, she may have some tricks up her ... ah,...hmmm,..er,... well, I was going to say "sleeve" and then I thought about saying "skirt" but, that was lude. So, I went with that thought, for a while well,...nevermind. "in her head";... that's the ticket. Mike Hart

Thanks Mike, I appreciate your comments. I was wondering if you'd pick up on the fact that Edna is one of your Cogeny. Perhaps you suspected it since Mortimer is also Cogenic. She is up to her eyeballs in COGology. A true Coghead or Cogite or Cogette. Hey, here's an idea, we could do a chorus line with Edna and Widowmaker doing highkicks n' such. They'd be called the Cogettes (since, it's my fantasy). I can see them in Vegas with feather boas, kicking ass in the Casinos and on the streets, if the need should arise (and it would). Heck, I can see them on Hoover Dam disarming nuclear bombs, highkicking the crap out of the bad guys. Bad guys might tend to underesitmate Edna because of her flip-flops, not suspecting, their lethal, recoiless kicking power and arch support. Of course, the widowmaker would make mincemeat out of them. She'd have to be the brains though. I'm afraid Edna isn't the brightest bulb in the box. Anyway, enough nonesense. Thanks for the comments and, mostly for the COG tutorial which is at: 3DArtz, for those interested in "learning to fish", without Smartskin. Mike Hart

Thanks dude. Yes, Edna is very concerened with mesh hygene. She's, a little, embarrased that you noticed. I think you're right about the hands; they need more drag and thus, more swing, not less. Actually, the hands do drag behind the forearms but, it's kinda subtle, they should drag more. You can see it, if you advance frame-by-frame, mostly, as she turns and walks away. They do little figure-8's at the top of there arcs. Not enough, though. I'll tweak that in the walk Action. Right now, all the finger motion is 100% lag, no keyframes in the Action or Chor.. I'll tweak that, in the Chor., by opening her fingers on the down swing and closing them, a bit, on the up swing. I've already got a slider, for that purpose. The hands are so big that I had to articulate the palms by adding 2 extra bones so, it bends in the middle. Like an extra joint between the thumb and first row of knuckles. They were really stiff before that. Hey...you do make a lot of sense, for a newbie. Thanks, Mike

I've added some wireframe clips to the folder. Both in avi and mov formats. Hopefully, Mac users can view them too. I've labeled them as dressed or nude so, upload as you see fit. I still recommend doing the right-click, "save target as" routine. Edna's Halftime Show Mike Hart

In a regular walk, I might agree but; a bobbing head (IMHO) makes her walk too masculine. Women glide, especially when they're walking "sexy", with very little up and down head movement. Head-bobs are dictated by the hips and women have more side-to-side movement in their hips which, "disipates" the up and down bobbing motion, that would be more apparent in a guy. They also rotate their hips more than guys do which, results in more pronounced arm swinging. That's, also, why women have more side-to-side rocking in their head movements than men. And she is a toon so, she's exxagerated. She has a large personal space to match her ego and she has to swing her hands pretty wide to clearher hips. Especially, with the dress on. She considers herself to be the Queen of Sheba and is making a statement. There is something that bothers me about the arm swing however, I think it's in the shoulders or bicep. I've consideed putting a "break" in her upper arm to give it a slight elasticty and more fluid movement, as it swings. Don't take me wrong, I appreciate your comments, I'm just rationalizing outloud. Thanks, Mike Hart

Thanks Glen, How about "Edna and the City" for, the cable series? or "Edna, She-bangs Sheboygan". I guess I'd have to get cable then. Edna doesn't normally go around in just her skivvies. She wants me to make it, absolutely, clear that; this is for academic puposes only. It's a public service that she's providing, exclusively, to the Hash community, for free. Well..., that and she wanted to show off a little. After all the chaffing, she insisted on doing it in the nude. I told her to wear band-aids but, a woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do. She, probaly, won't appear nude, on camera; I just wanted her to have some "naturalistic" jiggling apparent under her dress but, I don't want that to be the main focus of her personality. Just enough to loosen her up some. Before adding the jiggle she was very stiff looking. It (jiggle), of course, did become my obssession, though. I don't know why. I also added some jiggle to the backs or her arms (thanks for suggesting that). It's subliminal but, it all adds up. Thanks for all the great help you've given me, Mike

Please tell me you already had that ear made, before today. It would probably take me a whole day to do just that. Very nice. Me tooly, Mike Hart

That's a perfect description except, maybe not quite as "advanced" as Mrs. Howell. Actually, I was thinking of Ethyl Mertz doing Lana Turner. In fact, that may be her last name. Her "significant WIP" is named Mortimer Mertz but that would make him her husband or brother so, I'm not sure she's married. She doesn't have a ring. Thanks, Mike

I really like him. I think he'd be fun to animate, you could get a lot of emotion from an Adam's apple that size. I don't think the size of his head is a problem. He's a toon, afterall. He could probably do a lot of damage to a robot with a head like that and I'm sure he's got lead ballast, in that shell, for counterweight. Mike Hart