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Tai Shan

*A:M User*
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Posts posted by Tai Shan

    Canada's Greatest Power Trio

    in Work In Progress / Sweatbox

    Posted

    You're still a class act, Tai Shan. You must finish this one day. :)

     

    Thank you, Paul. :D Something clicked in me recently: enjoying the journey sure adds momentum to the progress.

     

    I regret not having much to contribute to conversations here at the A:M forums. Frankly, in person, I sound like Forrest Gump. At best, I can only pass on the advice I've found that gets me through the day:

     

    Somebody on this forum once emphasized how important it is to finish a project. It's so true. Also, to quote Brad Bird from an anecdote about a director dealing with a choreographer who is unsure how to begin: "Well, do something so we can change it!" :lol:

     

     

    New clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upJdIAXyTa4

     

     

    Up next:

    * smoother wrist bending and twisting

    * fingers that curl more cartoon-like -- think of half of a doughnut

     

    Down the road:

    * re-model Al and Neil with more faithful caricatures

    * Geddy's mouth poses

    * then it's back to animating! :D

    Canada's Greatest Power Trio

    in Work In Progress / Sweatbox

    Posted

    Its great to see you back in the game. :)

     

    I haven't done a comparison... going only by memory here...

    The new Geddy looks like he'll have more expression available to him in posing.

     

    Thanks, Rodney! :)

     

    This project has been my first major crossing of the threshold from modelling to animating in A:M. I took a break for a couple months and let my creative batteries recharge while my mind digested what I had learned so far.

     

    Here is the new Geddy model rigged to play guitar. The actions and poses are temps while I did some R&D. I found a way to animate the complex and repetitive actions of chord fingering without the losing one's sanity. Woo-hoo! :lol:

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOst6xFS69E

     

    :ninja:

    Canada's Greatest Power Trio

    in Work In Progress / Sweatbox

    Posted

    Hi everybody,

     

    It's time for me to come up for air and post a Progress Update:

     

    * Remodelled Geddy's head. Hopefully, he looks less like the Fonze but just as cool.

    * Remodelled a basic hand. Will use that for Geddy and the upcoming versions of Big Al and Neil.

     

    Top 3 on the To-Do list:

     

    * Remodel Alex's and Neil's heads.

    * Remodel their bodies with new joints and perhaps new clothes.

    * Re-do Ged's mouth poses.

    post-9228-1215303776_thumb.jpgpost-9228-1215303783_thumb.jpg

     

     

    That's all for now. Take care and keep on A:M'ing for the top! :D

     

    :ninja:

    Canada's Greatest Power Trio

    in Work In Progress / Sweatbox

    Posted

    If you go to you tube and search for guitar / bass or drum lessons for rush and song name you can get a understanding on were the hands should be if that helps?

     

    Thanks for the suggestion. Yep, I've been doing that. Some youtube videos of the song Far Cry give a decent view of the chord fingerings. They might not be exact chord voicings that Alex and Geddy use but it's a start.

     

    For Neil's drumming, I used his instructional video A Work In Progress to lay out his drum kit. The DVD features an album's worth of Neil playing, so I got an idea of his common positions and movements. Studying that video taught me so much that I can watch blurry video footage and know cold what Neil is hitting at most points in the song.

     

    Except when he's playing really fast. Then I'm screwed. :lol:

     

     

    Project status: Gave Alex eyelids. Gave Ged and Al new hands that are thinner and deform more smoothly. Next, will give Neil new hands too. Then, re-do Ged's mouth poses. Finally, will animate another test of Ged singing.

    Canada's Greatest Power Trio

    in Work In Progress / Sweatbox

    Posted

    It keeps getting better! This is going to be very good when you're done, Tai Shan.

     

    Thanks, Dave. :D I can't even begin to speculate on a possible finish date but I have a feeling that it will be worth the wait.

     

    And a big thank-you to everybody else who has provided comments or just kept tabs on the project. Like I said before, I have no formal training so the feedback is very much appreciated.

     

    Project Status: preparing for an overhaul!

     

    - Preston Blair mouth poses for Geddy

    - hands for Alex and Neil that deform more efficiently (I tested them with Geddy in AT#5)

    - a bass drum pedal for Neil

    - revamping of the vocal performance, drum performance, and guitar chord fingerings starting from 00:00 to the end of verse 1

    Canada's Greatest Power Trio

    in Work In Progress / Sweatbox

    Posted

    John Bigboote,

     

    As work on my project progresses -- and gets progressively more complicated -- I find myself recalling to memory your Rolling Stones "Don't Stop" animation. Keeping track of three characters is challenging enough for me. I can actually get myself dizzy as I shift mental gears from Alex's fingers to Neil's hands to Geddy's pick fingers to Geddy's fretting fingers to Geddy's mouth poses... :wacko:

     

    And yet you animated the Stones performing a song and engaging in some charming hijinx on the side. All I can say is... Bravo. :D

    Character Model: for Villikon Chronicles: Mysterre

    in Work In Progress / Sweatbox

    Posted

    For creating hair for the 2D render, would I need to create a model for the hair or would the hair particles work well with the 2D render? Is there a good tutorial for AM on how to work with AM hair. I currently work with AM V14

     

    I'm going to agree with what Rodney said. Both particle hair and geometry hair have their pros and cons. It depends on what you want to achieve and how you want to go about it.

     

    The particle system is a wonderful engine that's ready to go -- however, you do have to know what you're doing. With particle hair, you don't model the hair per se. Instead, you use points to control the direction or flow of the hair. There are so many settings you can tweak to make the hair look and behave just the way you want it to. Particles involve more computation, so be prepared to feel the hit in your render time.

     

    With modelled hair, you've got hands-on control of every point. The challenge is make the mesh look and move convincingly like hair. This can be achieved with color decals, transparency decals, and dynamic constraints, just to name a few methods. You don't have a robust system at your disposal but you have more direct control because you're doing everything yourself. Want one more strand or blade of hair? It's up to you.

     

     

    My advice: take some time, do a little experimenting, and get a feel for it. You'll never really know unless you give them a try. I've done both methods. It's good to have a choice of tools in your toolbox.

     

     

    ... nuts. I'm just repeating what you said, Rodney. Sorry. :P

     

    Anyway, keep up the good work!

    The Wannabe Pirates

    in The Wannabe Way

    Posted

    Cool drawings... expertly translated into 3D. So many great characters! Love the ship too. Sorry, I can't think of any advice to give because it all looks great to me. I'd pay for a ticket to see this in a theater. I'm not kidding! :D

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