Gerry

And porn! don't forget the porn!

Yeah this is looking great!

Masna, don't worry too much about learning to draw. The main thing is to work out as much in advance with pencil and paper, but don't let your drawing skills hold you back on this step. Stick figures are fine as long as they help you think things through.

Here's a sketch and a start on modeling his double-barreled stinger.

It looks like you have a lot of creasing where you don't want it. Can you post a wireframe shot? You might also want to check out these face modeling tutorials, http://www.colins-loft.net/CoopFace.html and http://www.hash.com/users/jsherwood/tutes/SkyLark.pdf. the second one is a pdf download. they're both excellent.

Thanks Dennis! I'm looking forward to it too.

Nice modeling! you just need to get that lighting right, which I'm sure you will. We're working on a project at my day job that required hiring an outside 3D guy to do a kitchen and conference room. unfortunately they didn't ask for my input and hired a 3DSmax guy. It's coming out fine, but if we ever get another project like this I'm recommending AM so I can post a job offer here.

...Aaaand, copy/flip/attach worked just fine.

Well, he think he is, anyway! EDIT: hey, my 500th post!

More modeling progress...

That's a nice walk. I like the gut jiggle in there, lots of nice weight to it. A walk that loops would be nice! The fur in the stills looks grainy or pixelated. The yellow doesn't bother me, I'd heard about polar bears' hollow hairs and algae, but thought it was more green. Looking forward to seeing how this whole thing shapes up!

Yeah, that rig is sweet! Very smooth around the hips when the back legs move. Maybe post some renders of your hair problem. But really nice work overall so far!

Nice!

Or you could set up the render to have the action repeat a few times.

That link to the cp weighting tute was really useful! I downloaded the tute, it's a big help.

Yeah, but I probably won't put in the word balloons, though!

Mark, this is a nice image. Try the cougar's head in profile, looking off to the left like something off in the distance got her attention.

Yeah, can you show a wireframe?

Got it covered!

I've never entered one of the image contests because my AM work was usually rigging practice or the occasional live project for my day job. But I've got this online comic, Bugbots: The Mansect Rebellion! that has been back-burnered for a couple of years now. I've occasionally tried some 3D treatments but usually ran into some glitch or complication and put it aside. But I decided to try one more time to model and rig a character, and recreate a scene from the comic as a still image. So what I'm working on is a model of Croaker, the assassin bug, in a 3D recreation of the last panel of Chapter 3.

I hope looking at these is some help, Rob.

Things were slow at work the other day so I spent some time playing with walk cycles. I'm not taking this further at the moment so it's not exactly a work in progress, but I thought you might enjoy these. Comments welcome! KeyKat_render01_h264.mov

Luuk, that's a great workaround. I'm sure you must have been pulling your hair out at times, but once you get something like that to work all the frustration somehow melts away. I hope we can get to see it here (or you can link to it) sometime. And John, whenever you can post your test I'm sure I'm not the only one who would like to see it.

Wow, this is a really cool effect! Thanks for the tip!

Paul, you're right about starting with a good script! But just as important are concept and character sketches, and storyboards and animatics as things progress. I would recommend spending some time with pencil and paper before even firing up A:M. It will make the animating part about a hundred times easier.