Kelley

Thanks John. To tell the truth, I'm curious as to where it's going myself.

So...it's down off the roofs, cross the street behind a squad of troops, up a side street, and now...up a dark, grungey alleyway.

Tonight I tried my own advice with mixed results. Here's what I got [did]. The candle is three pieces assembled in the Choreography. [1] the flame [2] the upper candle with deformed lip and [3] the lower shaft of the candle. The stumbling block was that you can't make a Translucency map [as near as I can see], just a Transparency. [someone please correct me] Each object has its own light put into a Light List so only that object is lit by it. The Flame has a Transparency map. It's a radial gradient done in Photoshop with the 100% transparency spot near the bottom. It has a photo-flame decal applied twice: front and back. The Flame mesh has a Glow applied in Properties>Surfaces. The Upper Candle [with a pale yellow decal] has it's Transparency map set at 80% [as I recall] most transparent at the top, opaque at the bottom. The Bulb Light [in a Light List] is half in and half out of the mesh, set at 111%, and very yellow/gold. Since we're in a Light List, the lower part of the candle is [basically] black, as it gets no light. So I duplicated the lower 7/8 of the candle, colored it red, re-applied the Transparency Map, brought it into the Choreography, centered it on the Upper section, then scaled it up to 102% on the X and Z, gave it its own light, and put that into a Light List Last, a spotlight overhead, also in a Light List so it falls only on the table top. Since the light from the candle can't shine straight down, there should dark area at its base. A gel on the spotlight with a dark circle at the center should do it. But that's for another night. CANDLE_PROJECT.prj

Getting there. The mouth is lagging a bit behind the words.

The candle flames aren't hot enough. I'd try making the candelabra an object, and make a single candle, then assemble all three candles on it in the Choreography. Put a Bulb light above each candle with a yellowish light and then make a light list for each candle. Adjust for a steep fall-off so the top of the candle is brightest. Then put a fourth bulb over the whole candelabra and light the scene.

Great character. Not sure he needs the pants, but the rest looks really good. Can't wait to see some poses.

Got the Guardsmen walking down the street, Azzaz crosses behind them in a quick dash. [thanks again for the help.] Now, backing up 10 nseconds, or so, I bring Azzaz into the story [not that there really is one. I'm just winging it here with bits and pieces.] He moves from the far right darkness to far left foreground leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Next scene: [shot from street level] he appears at the edge of the roof, looks down, then jumps from ledge to ledge to street. Then the guard detail passes.

With the shapes so simple, why not just make an Action [ like one bar/four beats long]? You could make several to allow for changes in the timing, then stack them up on the timeline?

Outstanding! Thanks Will. Quick footnote: Tried it last night. Worked like a charm. Spline#526 instantly became a Path.

Paul: Last night, that's what I did. I have two Guardsmen on two parallel paths and they seem to be working fine. Tonight I'll get a few more on, and maybe we'll see a test sequence by Friday. Ken: Your solution seems to conflict with Will's. If I Shift>Select a spline [in the modeling window I presume] how to I get it into the Chor. as a path? Thank you all for the assists.

C'mon Will! You can't stop there....

Mike: As I've mulled over the possibilities, [short of being able to designate a spline as a path] I think you're right. Thanks.

I want to make a small group of guardsmen [six or eight] walkj down this section of street. [The right-hand pic in the first posting.] As you can see from the attached .jpeg, the street is far from flat. [my bad...had I but thought ahead]. But somewhere, in one of the manuals, I recall seeing a reference to attaching an object [A] to a spline that's part of another object , so A travels across the surface of B. Can anyone advise me on this?

Thanks, Riste. It keep getting more and more fun to work on. I started it only as a background for the character [Azzaz] to walk around in. There is no story, no goal. We'll see where it leads us. Today's work: Officer of the Guard.

A Guardsman...

A quick dash across the street. [A very rough first take on it]. And here's a re-make with a four cycle run instead of three. FIRST_DASH.zip FIRST_DASH_02.zip

Excellent. Thanks again Ken.

It seems that the only way to get a Bulb light is to change the Rim Light [ in Objects folder] from spotlight to bulb. But I found that it changes all the Rim light types in a Project, and in all Choreographies. Is it possible to have Spot Rims and Bulb Rims at the same time?

Thanks for the in-depth. I'll print this one and add it to the book.

Here's the next [?] room which is somewhere much, much below the room with the columns.

There it is! You have hit the nail on the head. My mindset is from the bad old Polygon days. All my previous experience has been that two maps were needed, the bump being greyscale and labeled as a bump. Thank you all for the assist.

I'm having a problem with the "simply" part of the instructions. I've brought the Color and Bump Maps in as Decals. I've gone to Properties and told A:M that the bump is a bump and set a value. At this point, I'm assuming from your instructions that I should be able to drag the Bump from its Image Folder to the Color Image Folder. But A:M won't allow it. It get a red 'Prohibited' circle under the cursor, and a "bing!' chime as I attempt to insert the bump into the new folder. Should I be pulling the Bump Map from a different place? I tried opening both the textures Folder in My Documents and dragging the Bump over to the PWS. But that didn't even get me a red circle and chime. Just nothing. Where am I missing it? Thanks.

I have a stone floor texture. I bring it in as a decal, but it has to be re-sized. I have a high contrast black & white version I want to used as a bump. How do I get them aligned? I've been struggling with them, and they have to be perfectly in sync or it looks like a red/green stereo image, seen without the glasses.

Thanks. I'm working on a subterranean room now as I try to work out a smooth convincing run for Azzaz. Which is defionitely not easy.

You should pitch these characters to the "Jimmy Neutron" producers. There's a similar feel. You might end up doing this full-time.