Gerry

Not long ago Brainmuffin did a polar bear that looked great, though more realistic than yours. maybe he'll pop in here with some pointers.

Thanks for the suggestion Mouseman. I'll look at that.

that's a good idea. I knew there was *something* missing but I couldn't put my finger on what!

That's the model's name in the library. Do you think I'd make something like that up??! I suppose I could call them "Snow White and the Heavin' Dwarf" but that would be worng!

Wow, everything here looks terrific! Really believable spider movement that works even with the cartoony test-render look. Looking forward to more!

Thanks Robert. That bottle release is something I've been working on. It seems to be a matter of adjusting the enforcement of the translate to and orient like constraints of the bottle to the hand, and when they respectively should get switched off completely and the movement of the model bone to take over when the bottle takes flight. He also needs to release three frames sooner but I don't think I've tweaked every keyframe yet. Except for the timing of (and around) the throw, I'm pretty happy with Schlitzy's animation. As for the walk, I've got my wife giving me pointers on it as well as looking at YouTubes of "model walks". So it will come along eventually I hope!

Here's a small quick render of mine, from beginning to end. Still needs a lot of tweaking, mostly Lady Goodbody's walk cycle, but I'm working on it. the 32 bit version of the v1 beta doesn't appear to be doing much for my final quality render times though. in v15 one frame took 5 minutes, and in v16 the same frame took 4-1/2 minutes. I guess that's because it's not the 64-bit? Anyway, no big deal, I will just allow enough time for the render. And of course rendering to a jpg series I can render in sessions if necessary. Gerryv1_h264sm.mov

Nice test, robert!

If you haven't heard of this guy, check out his gallery of caricature portraits. Some really brilliant work, with lots of images of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (who he has known for years apparently) and an array of other celebs. http://www.sebastiankruger.org/index.htm

Not yet!

Here's what I have so far. The timing in the second half needs some work, I keep moving the keys closer together but it's still too s-l-o-w! Gerryv6_h264.mov

Oh, my mind is just in the gutter ... where it usually is. Is that what that black smear is on the curb? I had been planning a sort-of elaborate gag that had two parts, starting with Schlitzy, then of course Mrs. Goodbody comes on the scene for part 2. But I may just do the first part, it would still work and in fact it's almost finished. that's why I left myself an out, I didn't just want to say no since I had something started.

Just my $.02, but working strictly within the parameters of a given project is a valuable trait that is worth developing. dblhelix, I admire your boundless enthusiasm, but don't complicate things for the folks who have stepped up AND VOLUNTEERED to develop and organize this project for the whole forum! Coming up with changes, variations, proposals, etc. and then putting it to a vote sounds like a lot of extra work when the aim here is to animate, and work as a team within the parameters given.

The long and the short of it is that I really shouldn't try to participate in any A:M Forum projects that have deadlines, as all my A:M'ing is done on company time. That's why my entry for the Comicon reel never got finished and why I may not get to finish my Bus Stop entry. And in just a couple of weeks I need to start on the company Christmas animation! So if time allows I *might* have a bus stop entry but it doesn't look like it at the moment.

dude, you played on our anniversary! If I knew I would have made a request. We had our 31st on Thursday and continued partying through Saturday night. We *might* have had as good a time as you did. Nice photos!

I see this ending in tragedy!

...and all of them are Stian's!

I'm speechless.

Mark that coloring book art is terrific and the idea is inspired. Good luck with it!

I made some good progress in the last couple of days but now we're getting busy at work. So I may or may not have an entry.

Actually they both look like trouble to me!

Just tried a single frame render with AO to see how it looks. It makes all the difference! I'll be posting more as I go.

Good to know because mine seems overly bright too.

There are dots (and keyframes) in the rotation channels up to frame 180 although the bottle is constrained to the character's hand. then he flings it and it flies spinning through the air. But in that section (once it's in the air) there are not dots or keyframes.

Well, for what its worth, I was able to rotate the bottle, and it appears to be set to quat, but it doesn't appear there were keyframes created in the rotate properties. Can't explain kerzackly what happened, but it's flying and rotating just fine...for now.