Kelley

You are far from wasting time. Nice model.

Announcing a new Blog Post. [ http://kelleythennow.blogspot.com ] Mostly older stuff that I ran across while looking for something else. CAUSTICS.zip

'Seems there is a problem going on at my Blog. Many are e-mailing in complaints that they can't upload video. So...while they sort it out, here's SFX Extravaganza #2. CROSSWAYS_with_SFX___HEAD_ON_.mpg

Here's a still from the next 12 seconds. [somewhere around 00:06:00] If the particle streak sparks at the stack work out in the render tonight, this will be on the Blog tomorrow. EDIT: 'Seems to be some problem uploading this video to the Blog. I'll deal with it later. Here's the new 12 sec.: my first with SFX and music. CROSSWAYS_with_SFX.mpg

Yo' Pimp Cat be stylin', bro..."

Thanks John. Coming from you, that's high praise. More to come. [ ...tho' what, I can't say.]

True, I need some closer shots. They're coming. There will be a few sequences before this, and several after. Stay tuned. [and here's a shot of 'el bog'.]

I hereby debut a vague, confusing, fragment of a tale in the process of creating itself. [albeit snippets have slipped out here and there]. The main character [bipedal and arthropoidal] is "EL Cucaracha". [Grammer, spelling and emphasis in the original]...a James Bond-style freebooter, now in the process of fleeing for his life, for reasons unknown, though those reasons are no doubt good ones. It's the confluence two idle, non-related thoughts suddenly recognizing each other. One: 'el bog' himself was the product of pushing elements around with no particular goal in mind, and, Two: what the world really needs is a locomotive that can run on a single wheel, a 'razor-rail'. I've accumulated nearly a dozen short renders, looking for camera set-ups. I juggled them into [hopefully] some semblence of chase narrative. You can see the whole 62 sec. at http://kelleythennow.blogspot.com/ LOCO_JUNGLE__zip__06.zip

Nice. I just arrived at this thread...how did you do the field of flowers? Are the flowers an image-with-hair-system?

Actually, it's not backwards. Santos-Dumont's No.14 was a 'canard' arrangement. [cannard=duck] The boxkite structure on the 'front' can be waggled sideways and up/down. That's essentially the whole of the steering mechanism. The pilot stands in the rear in a large basket and navigates by cranking two wheel-and-cable pulleys to steer the nose up, down or sideways. Behind him is the two-cylinder engine with pusher prop. It flew, but just barely. First 'flight' was 23 ft. In suceeding months he was flying 700+ feet, but he never really solved the steering to allow for controlled turns.

Put up a new posting on the new Blog. Just a simple right-to-left fly-by to see how an all-white airplae films against a background. http://kelleythennow.blogspot.com/

I was convinced by a friend to start a Blog. Despite less-than-riotous enthusiasm on my part, he pressed on, built it, and posted a few animations. It was great! I've been meaning [for years] to update my website. [Who hasn't?] This was so painless. And the blog will take file sizes 'way beyond what I can e-mail to friends. So here's my first public posting. A Santos-Dumont Airship No.6 is rendered over several views of the Eiffel Tower, giving the appearence [with only a mild suspension of disbelief] of circumnavigating. The clips were edited together in Sony Vegas Movie Studio. http://kelleythennow.blogspot.com/

Thanks Mike. It was really simple. Fuchur; I'll try the A:M approach tonight. Thanks again...

How do I access the post-production options in the librarey, specifically, sepia tone?

I'd use, or build, a whole new character model. [maybe use something from the 'Extras' CD] Then, using a "Translate to..." constraint, superimpose one over the other and make them walk together. Moving from sunlight to moonlight, I'd turn one or the other models off. You could get get a transition to happen by adding Transparency Maps to the 'human' pirate which would allow the skeleton to show through.

Thanks, robcat. 'Key Filters', you say? Another concept to be "wrassled" with. Could you point me to a text, or discussion, on Filters? Thus I will be forearmed for my next attempt.

mtpeak2: Thanks. It would seem that the 2001 is finally installed. "Hi-lite and use the Delete key"? Never saw that one coming. Seems every time I have to change something in the PWS, I have to right-clik and make a choice from a Dialog Box. So I right-cliked, and chose Delete...it being the only choice offered. How foolish of me. The other nice thing is that I, at last, can do a 'paste mirrored'. Periodically I attempt it with one of my home-made rigs. Never works. Can I asume that 2001 or Squetch is mandatory in these cases? Thanks again.

I did drop the folder onto the model name. Nothing happens. Can it be because there's already a Relationships folder there? [which I cannot delete] In comparing the contents of the two Relationships folders, I see that while the bones in the [newly imported model] 2001 Rig have question marks before the bone name, the Bucky Bugg bones have a 'bone and folder' icon before the bone names. Is this because the Bugg bones have CP's attached to them? I installed TSM2. It seemed to go well. But when I right-clik the model to get to Plug-Ins, TSM2 does not appear in the list like it used to. [i did do a re-start] Any ideas on how to shake it loose?

First, I checked the Anzovin website. According to them, The Set-Up Machine 2 [my version] is, in fact, discontinued and worked last on [some builds of] A:M v.13. Since I'm now on v.15, that's that. Pity. Moving on...I opened the 2001 Rig as a new model in the Bucky Bugg .prj...but the Relationship folders cannot be dragged from one to the other. Neither will they delete, although 'Delete' is shown as an option when I right-clik the folder. So...I moved the Balance bones to the fore. And I went through each sub-folder in Relationships and changed the numbers. I see the ArmIK and LegIK in the Rig>Set-up folders. Each bone in these folders has a question mark icon prefacing it. Does this mean that the On/Off state is not yet set? How does it look now? BUCKY_BUGG__.zip_.zip

I've got Bucky Bugg nearly done. But the Foot Controls don't move the feet in the Action Window. Someone posited that I don't have the LegIK turned on. I'm sure this is somewhere in the Pose Window, but can't find it. Can someone point it out? Second, could someone just take an over-all glance at the 2001 Rig installation, and tell me if I've missed anything else? Thanks much. BUCKY_BUGG__.zip_.zip

Good point. Thanks for reminding me. I bought The Setup Machine [Anzovin Studios] a few years back. Time to dig it out again.

I am, at long last, trying to install a 'real' rig. I have, in the past, limped along with a home-grown collection of Bones that allowed me to pose characters and even make some actions. These home-grown varieties are what I had always imagined Bones to be before I ever got a program that actually had the capability. They look much like a human skeleton without, of course, things like Balance Base Rigid, Foot Targets, Balance Point Rigid, etc. Would someone be kind enough to look over the 2001 installation I've done on this model? First, the Foot Targets drift away from the mesh when grabbed by the cursor. I'm told, [via a thread in WIP] that the Leg/Foot IK is not set. I suspect it's in the Pose Window, but d'mned if I can find it. I need a solution to that, and I'm sure there are other things that I'm unaware of. Another comment made in the above-mentioned thread was "Your foremost problem is that you've chosen the 2001 Rig." Is it generally accepted that the 2001 has problems, or should be avoided? Thanks. BUCKY_BUGG.prj

As Donald Rumsfeld once said: "When you need to rig a character, you go with the rig you have, not the rig you'd like to have". Well...something like that. So...what's wrong with the 2001 Rig? And what should I be using? And where might I find it? I mean, there may be slicker, more complex rigs, but are there any real minus's with the 2001? I think I've corrected the alignment problems. Couldn't believe that the Foot bones would point straight down, but I checked a few books, and a downloaded tutorial on the 2001, and sure enough! Then, where do I set the IK to ON? I see a Lock IK in the Properties, but the A:M2002 Guide says that's not it.

Just finished installing the 2001 Rig and started to animate in the Action window. But the Foot Targets are not attached for some reason. They don't affect the mesh at all. Where have I gone wrong?

Thanks, robcat. Unless an event is taking place in full daylight, I have a tendency to start 'dark' and progressively add lights. Much massaging is in order. The goal at this point is to get the rider on the handcar, and smoke coming from the locomotive's stack. [plus a Fireman and Engineer...in due time] Once that's done [rider and smoke] I can set up several other camera angles and piece together the chase. What things are, and, what's going on, will, I hope be more clear. Here's the handcar rider. Just got the 2001 Rig in him yesterday.