Joe Gamblin

Awesome! Can't wait to see it fly.

Thanks to everyone for the responses. This has probably happened to everyone else too, but I had a name that I really liked and I did a google search on it, and the name was used by a radio DJ. Then I came up with another . . . taken. I was going for action hero with hidden puns in them, I got so fed up that I thought I'd ask everyone else. Here's the ones that I came up with. Marv Ellis Mel Strom Rick O'Shea Donny Brook Ray Gunn Ed Venture When that didn't work I came up with a list of first and last names (taken from comic books and sci-fi novels) that fit the genre since I plan on there being lots of rangers , but nothing stood out. Maybe one of y'all see something I didn't. First Names Buck Dean Dirk Drake Frank Justin Lance Nick Truman Ulysses Victor Wolfgang Last Names Black Bolton Blitzer Crowe Fox Green Hunter King Marshall Masters Maxwell Queen Springer Storm When I read this, I thought of Jules (as in Verne) and Watt's a good last name, but together it just didn't have the right ring. I'll add them to the list. Uhhh, not what I was looking for, but you get the most original award. Yeah, I'm not real happy with it either, but it was the at least fitting the genre. Exactly the type of name that I'm looking for, but it has the same problem as those on the list in that it's so perfectly an action hero name that it doesn't stand out. Wasn't there a Max Action cartoon? I know there was Max Steel, Mighty Max, the Maxx, yeah Max Action's taken. The main character in a Star comic book and toy line in the 80's called Animax. Thank ye. He's mostly human under the armor. One of those gene-modified near human types. Love it! With your permission I might use it for some alien soldiers.

I like Goodman, but how about Guy as a first name? Captain Guy Goodman of S.T.A.R. Force Is good?

So I'm working on a science fiction comic book and I can't think of a good name for the lead character. He's a member of the S.T.A.R. Force (Special Tactics Armored Rangers), and I'd like something with a old fashioned pulp sound to it like Flash Gordon, but I'm stumped. Any ideas? Here he is after running him thru the comic book render that I'm planning on using.

He looks great, but a little request. How does he look cel-shaded? Bet it's awesome.

As for the hand Here for a simple cartoon hand http://www.hash.com/users/jsherwood/tutes/britton/hand.html And here for another good one on how to avoid creases (beware, lots of fives involved) http://bellsouthpwp.net/R/o/RobertFrazier/...ts/Digits01.htm

Yeah, Tanman, I think you're going to have to go the five point route. First thing I'd do is extrude the mouth ring and use two rings so that the area that you deform during animation doesn't have the five pointers in it. Take a look at the picture below, I think that can explain it better than I can. However, I would try to make the outer circle as large as possible so you have lots of room to animate the mouth area with. Second, you have five splines going into the points under the eyes. I'd turn that into fives as well or you'll get creases. Third, I don't know if you'll need it, but remember that you can add detail to the model pretty easy by clicking on a point and hitting the Y on your keyboard. So I'd add a spline between the eye and the mouth so that the fives will will be more pentagon shaped and the closer to a pentagon the smoother it is. Hope this helps.

Uhh, you gotta post a screenshot or the model itself if you want help. We have to know what exactly is the problem.

Love your tots, but where's Spidie Tot? Come on, you gotta have a Spidie Tot.

Nevermind. I had mirror mode on. ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH! Boy, is my face red.

So I'm working on a model for the image contest and for no reason, group connecting (the / key) quits working. Then I create a group and the color is added to the whole model, not just the group I've selected. Then I delete all my groups, and try selecting the whole model, which doesn't select half the points. I lasso them in, and try copy and pasting into a new model window, and I only get half of them pasted. Basically, this model is acting all funky, and I can't understand why. I tried opening some other models, and everything works perfectly on them. I've never had stuff like this happen before, what am I doing wrong? Here's the model so far, if someone else wants to try messing with it to see what I've done wrong it would be great. Hall_of_Justice.mdl

For that particular project the goal was just to see how smooth of a model I could get with as few splines as possible. And here's the next project, so I could practice decaling a sphere and seeing if I could get a planet's atmosphere looking the way I wanted. It didn't, by the way, but I was overall happy with the outcome. I call it "What Makes the World Go Round". [attachmentid=23005]

This is a long answer, but you asked for it. I'm working on a theory that that there are a huge number of elements in animation, and if while learning you try to study it as a whole . . . well, your head just explodes. I mean think about it. First is the art of the story, which is its own discipline. There’s the plot, theme, character, foreshadowing, symbolism, and so on. Simply put, it is infinite in execution and it can take a lifetime of study and practice to be adept in it, and it has always been my passion to tell stories of a fantastic bent that remind me of the speculative fiction that I so enjoyed in sci-fi novels, comic books, and cartoons. In my experience, there can be a sense of wonder that is almost divine then a well-told story is combined with visual artwork whether it been the surreal imagery of Sam Kieth or the subdued lines of Charles Schultz. That artwork brings me to my next point. There is the style of the drawings themselves. Again, we have a complete field of study that one has to strive to excel in and in combination with the story brings creates a new third angle. For example, how would it have changed the mood and meaning of the Looney Tunes if the animals were shown as photo-realistic animals? What if they didn’t squash and stretch? There are many, many considerations that have to be made to ensure that the visuals compliment the story and don’t work at odds against it. Also remember that once one has the decided on the look of the characters, the setting, and the props, there is still the process of modeling, texturing, and rigging all the elements. As readers of this forum know, each one of these takes a great load of dedication to master. Then you have character animation, which involves both voice and body acting, which yet again one has a multitude of decisions to make, which also has to mesh with all the other pieces. And still! There is the craft of cinematography. As the director there are camera angles, fades, pan shots, and basically the guiding of the viewer’s eyes to the point that you want to tell the story. Plus there are decisions to make about lighting, a whole slew of sound editing with the score, sound effects, atmospheric sound. And there are also the elements of physics, particle systems, sprites, sim-cloth, and probably twenty other things that I forgot to mention. And cartoons are kid’s stuff? Phooey. Sorry about the rant, but sometimes I think about all of that and do just a tiny little something to sit and think about how far I’ve come and how very, very far I have to go. Sometimes I do have a specific thing I want to try out, but on this project, I was just goofing off.

Since it's so hard to get my big projects off the ground, I thought I'd share with everyone my little stuff that I do just to keep in shape. So here's the first, a simple mouse. [attachmentid=22871]

If you have v12 installed, you can just get the DLL files from there...that's what I generally do. That did the trick. Thanks a million!

Hey, Can anyone help me out? I downloaded the latest version (yes, I have the yeti CD), but I get an error message on startup [Master.exe - Unable To Locate Component. This application has failed to start because MFC71.DLL was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.] Well, I tried that, twice, and nothing. What am I doing wrong?

Yeah, I'm working on something right now and they just won't take. The weird thing is that I have matching patches on the other side and I had no problem. Here's a reference if anyone wants to help.

I think it's a breakdancing chess piece

Yep, that helps. Man, the tutorials need more pictures or better wording to be idiot proof. *One giant Thank You to Ganthofer*

So I'm working on the lesson when I come to p.178. Pick the "smoke" emitter in the Project Workspace. Click on the Opacity Over Life property and set it to 0%. Well, I looked and looked and I can't find it to click it. I don't see it in the Workspace, or the properties window, and I have all of the trees opened. All I see is the properties (Bone position, transform, etc) Can someone help me? What am I doing wrong? Oops, I forgot to say which 'it' it was I can't find. I found the emitter no problem, it's the Opacity I can't find.

Looking great! One little note, while I love the blood on the floor (looks greasy, sticky, perfect), the blood on the column just doesn't look right. It's too Kool-aid red. Imo, it needs to be a much deeper and darker red (esp. with spec highlights) and there needs to be more splatter and splashes to get that good and creepy feeling. Also, with the chain loop being centered so well on the stain, it reminds me of an person's outline (chain being the eyes). Just food for thought, it really is looking good. I just it nitpicky about blood since I see it so often in the basement MWUHAHAHAHAHA!!! Roll a D20 of will save or run screaming.

He's looking great, but he needs an antenna! They're wonderful for secondary motion and give that off-center look for more character.

Hey people. I need help with a project in V 10.5 I got an idea of trying to make an animation that looks like a child's drawing with stick figures and such, and I was wondering how you guys think I should do the surfaces. The idea for the project is that I was going to start it with a zoom in of a simple drawing on a fridge door. The premise of the movie is a stick figure action blockbuster with a ton of stick figure fight scenes, car chases, and the like. I got the idea from an old Mtv short called Stick Figure Theatre on the show Liquid Television. So when the picture starts to move it's all in 3D. Most of the models that I've made The problem is that I want to do it with the toon render to get the black outlines, but I want the surface to look like it was colored with a crayon - just like a kid's coloring book. So should I go with decals or procedural materials? Also, I want to achieve the depth of field with perspective, not with shading. I'd like for the shadows to be flat black to get that crisp edge look such as in Frank Millar's work (Sin City). Has anyone else tried anything like this so I can see how they handled it?

Excellent work. I esp. like the glow on the digitial readout.

Sure thing. The work's done in V 10.5 with default "final render" (only taking about a minute and a half) and just a few little touches in photoshop afterwards. Mostly just playing with the contrast & brightness, plus a tiny lens flare). I still suck at lighting and my current projects are geared towards getting better at that and animation. If anyone's interested, I can post the project files here. Just give me a few days to bone the suckers and I'll add a little animation too. However, I really want to work on Megaman next, but I'm having problems with his eyes. I'm finding it difficult to match the look of the classic artwork with the model. Like I said, give me a few more days to try and solve it on my own and when I get fed up I'll come running for help.