Gerry

Nice, Eric! I believe I voted for this one. The careful attention to lighting and atmosphere is what makes this almost photographic. All very effective.

Edgy is highly overrated. I think you're making a smart decision.

And remember to turn on "Draw Particles/Hair" under Tools>Options>Rendering.

It might render a bit faster if you set it to render flat color vs. shading, but there are a number of settings for how it handles shading etc., unless you're using materials or other settings that normally kick up the render, but for what you're doing it's not a whole lot different.

Hi Bighop- Very nice work! I did a similar animation showing how a deck is built, and I found that toon rendering has a much cleaner or more diagram-like look for this kind of thing. It's on my website at http://www.mooneyart.com/three_d/movies/deck.mov. Keep posting as you progress through this.

Yeah, maybe decal the ground instead of that material. It's a bit too saturated. Try to get the colors more subtle in general. They're all a little too rich. Farmers, farms and the stuff on them are usually more faded and weathered.

My background is also as a cartoonist, and having a background in drawing is a huge plus. Also, if you have any experience at all in other 3D packages, the learning curve becomes a lot flatter because you're familiar with the 3D modeling paradigm. I started working in A:M in '99 and it was a couple of years I think before I became aware of the community, which is an enormous asset. Other pluses are the constant development, numerous updates during the year, and the new features that get incorporated. I'm often amazed at the seemingly newbie questions posed by people who I take for accomplished professionals here on the forum. We're all learning new stuff all the time and that's what gives the learning experience so much vitality and makes it fun. When I run into a problem on a project, even when I'm on deadline, I can post a query here and get good advice and information, often within an hour or two. It really is fantastic. Gerry

Well, now I have a followup question: What are you gonna call it when it DOES start winning prizes? Heh! Gotcha!

Really beautiful and minimal in the best way. I've left a comment on YouTube that unfortunately has something negative to say. (maybe that will get a few more people to click over there!)

So now you've got a backup!

All I can say is, Outstanding!

Worked fine for me on a pc and firefox. Opened just fine though I haven't delved into it just yet. Thanks and special thanks to Raf!! Gerry

That's really too bad, mark! I see that was a few days ago. Were you able to recover your files from the bad drive? EDIT: Nevermind, just looked in on the other thread.

Thanks, Martin! Your comments mean a lot. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I did rig him with The Setup Machine but neglected a step when I put fan bones in the knees and elbows, so they crimp at the moment. For this view, the gloves are hiding some ugly elbow joints! I'm going to fix the rig, but mainly trying to get this still done for this month's image contest, so I'm gonna be doing some more decaling and other details, etc. Believe me I want to see these guys runnin' and shootin'! That'll come next.

One more practice render. I still need to do some detailing here and there.

Oh good, here come's the ad hominem stuff. I'd say this thread has jumped the shark. Vern, I agree with you and I really appreciate your ability to articulate your anger. Frankly, it just makes me want to take a hot shower.

Creepy and simpleminded.

Welcome to the forums, Klum3D! Gerry

et voila!

Phil "The Drill" McCavity!

Looking better all the time. Am I the only one who thinks that if you gave that drill some hair it would be a very funny looking character? Gerry

Lots of good info here!

I'll have more updates on this shortly. I'm currently rendering images with some client alterations.

I was unfamiliar with hitting the period key twice to activate the 5 point patch button. I'll have to try that! I have found though, that sometimes getting the button to activate depends on the order I've selected the cp's. If it doesn't activate, I select the cp's in a different order, and eventually the button becomes active.

hey MT - when you were asking for more comments on your rigging work and got no responses, I tried to post something but for some reason was blocked from some of the rigging threads. It's fine now but maybe that had something to do with the lack of comments. What I wanted to say was, I am intensely interested in your progress but my rigging skills constrain me to sitting with my mouth open and no sound coming out as I read this and other rigging threads. I know in the long run your work will be of great value. I strive every day to be able to someday work fluidly with the work you're doing now. Gerry