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KenH Posted on Nov 3 2004, 08:30 AM Okay, looks like I need to smooth the upper torso bones movement. The hip movement makes it *snap*. I'll be getting back to it in a couple of hours. Thank GOD, I'm on vacation!

Sorry, to post so fast, but I just have the time to do this right now without interruptions. I'm in the process of moving right now, so I'm planing to move the computer on the last day... thursday to saturday, I may have to wait for my connections to cable. Hopefully, I won't have to wait that long for a transfer of service.- patsommer Posted on Nov 2 2004, 08:37 PM I'd say that helped a LOT! QUIKtestWALKhipLg.mov

Maybe give him a weird hat and a crazy belt. His feet, I would think could stand to be "like" his hands more. That may make his proportions more equalized. And as a side suggestion: maybe he could have a bulbous neck that inflates when he talks or something-- or maybe even jiggle? But that is totally up to you... because it could be a little overkill.

Looking good! It looks like I would expect a robot arm to move. The textures are just perfect for him, IMO. Good luck on rigging the rest of him.

I agree! It looks better... I'll be watching for the update. Looking great!

SeanC. Posted on Nov 3 2004, 01:27 AM Sean, Exactly what I was thinking, so that means I could've gone the conservative route and made the "foot lift" level lower... or I could follow the suggestions of giving him a more emphatic walk. I think I will also pursue a lower level walk that is more casual. patsommer Posted on Nov 2 2004, 08:37 PM patsommer, I have had bad luck with adding hip motion... but I'll try it on the next revision. Seems when I add hip motion the walk becomes more feminine... not that guys don't have hip motion, just that it would be such a small amount added, is it worth adding? EDIT: Forgot to upload the test animation: QUIKtestWALKLg.mov

OMG!!!!!

You have to see what I mean... I am only using smartskin on the abdomen area... so all the other smoothing skin is just fanbones. It doesn't have to be perfect... he's going to be wearing clothes eventually... and I want to keep my options open for that area, so smartskin in that area is a no-go. But I will probably try to reduce the rolling of the bicep (just enough to not break the streatching pec) and increase the lower arm swing, as was suggested. I think that will solve this, and roll only looks weird, in the pecs area, when he has his arms at his side- at -90 degrees. (as you can tell, I'm trying to get out of re-rigging that area that caused me such pains.)

... and if you want things to glow with less intensity... lower the intensity too.

Well, I believe my advice to you was wrong in that case. Try putting your speculars settings back the way you had them and use more lights... if you are already using 2 or 3 lights reposition those so the highlights/textures show up more, because you want people to be able to see/feel what your character looks like and is made of, unless you want him to be shrouded in darkness the way he is. Did you input a diffuse setting for his clothing or materials? ---- all this is assuming you want his textures and materials and surfaces to be seen. If he is supposed to be a shadow creature then ignore what I'm saying. EDIT: Just keep playing around with the textures and lighting til you find what you are looking for... is actually the best advice.

I've been wrong before. What types of surfaces are you trying to show on the Dark being? leather, black chrome, stone, plastic?

Yes, Thanks for coming to my aid. I'm going to rest a little before delving into this walk again. robcat2075 says: william gaylord says: modernhorse says: hypnomike says: Reply: Everyone, Yes, the walk needs the toe-push off... and a little more of a "heel plant" before "foot down flat"! It's hard to see from the angle of the camera, but his feet actually angle outward as they leave the ground and the leg swings outward a little and then comes back toward center again before planting the foot. hypnomike, As far as changing the speed--??? I don't think that would help IMO. It seems about right to me. I could tweak that too, but I have no context to animate this walk for... tempo/speed would have to do with timing and it's just the cycle I'm concerned with right now... the rythm and mechanics. It is noted though for future use of the walk. And Robcat it has lost some of the weight I had before. I felt I had to much... this maybe what it needs to, just a little... I don't want him to get too exaggerated. I'd be lying if I said I was going to look into that, so I'll look into that. WARNING: inside joke--> Depends on which Bar you happen to stumble into. And KenH, Okay swinging the lower arms adds weight also, and he needs that but when I walk, I don't swing my arms very much and not even as much as he does! ... and both shoulder joints have the same problem when the clavicle is moved. It's a long rigging story, but he was built as good as I could build him. What's causing that is the bicep roll. The roll moves some of the fan bones a little, but not enough... without getting too post heavy... I can't mechanically fix this and I'm not ripping his rig apart again for MY SANITY. Finally, I have to roll the bicep so I can swing the lower arms forward and back. Don't feel bad starwarsguy and ddustin! I've been at this for 8 months with my first attempt at building a semi-realistic human. This is my second effort and it's been about 6 weeks. It gets better as you go along. Just keep DOIN IT! Way back when I first got A:M version 6 my work wasn't even close to your work. When I got A:M version 8.5, I learned a lot more and built my first humans- I'll look for some old work to show you so you can see my progress...but later... for now, thanks for the replies and don't feel discouraged.

I got it as smooth and as even as I could, but he still has a slight hick-up in his walk. I've BUSTED MY BRAIN over this. There's hot neural fluid leaking from my skull! GmanWalk3.mov

You have a dark being that doesnt have much specular on him. Increase the size of your specular in his "surface materials" or "surface colors". Make the specular size larger than 100%. It works good on dull or shiney surfsces to bring some light on your character. (A good example is the way George Lucas lights Darth Vader.) Experiment with different (opposite colors?) colors to make things pop out against each other more. Tone some things down toward gray, let others be bright in tone. The composition is very good. I like creatures with glowing red eyes!

Good job Biotron2k, Keep working on it. Don't for get to "punctuate" the actions he is doing, to seperate the actions... but for a preview it's going good!

Fantastic ship animation. It's definately got that hover craft feel to the motion. That was kool the way you allowed it to go out of frame and cut to a new angle-- smart way to handle that... most people would have just moved the camera, but whenever you move the camera, it's disorienting... so you have to change timing as a result. I'll have to remember that solution you have for scenes like that. Thanks.

Good! The only suggestion... is to keep going! Are you going to go on to animating the brows? I see a lot of possibilities there. I almost missed this posting. There are a lot of wip's going on, right now. **EDIT: Sorry, I didn't see the brow movement the first time around. It's very muted. I suppose you don't want it to interfere with any of the other jestures going on there, but I think a few strong arches are good for puctuation "!" . Just a suggestion since I'm not much of an animator. Just my first impression, concidering the subject matter here.

How far into pre-production is the mentioned "testbed" project...and where will it be available at the end of 2006?

I think it looks fine as is... She seems to me to be calm... so her mouth movements should be lazier than normal. But we don't know her yet, so we are seeing this out of context. All we know is she is a Vamp. She's an ethereal character so I think that she NEEDS something wierd or odd in her movement. If that's how you "invision" seeing her say it. But don't change it to suit a technical perameter acording to the way humans act. There are no guidlines for human emotions or actions. It's all relative and changes with each persona and generation. *EDIT: You payed for a URINAL picture.

I say include both... one with pupils and one without-- or at least use a pose slider for it. That gives people a choice. You could change the properties of the clear part of the eye to become opaque and white+ more ambience, and I guess it could be an off/on pose at that... I like the classic-- without pupils. They look sooo heroic without them-- beyond human. It kind of just looks like a human wearing a costume-- with pupils.

What about DAVROS? Will they be fighting the Cybormen? I remember, there was a war between them... or they had joined forces at some point. Doesn't matter, they both loathed the Doctor. You could use a strong rim light, on them to define the dark blended edges.

The A:M online video tutorials have the subject pretty well explained: 3:30 minutes into the video they talk about stride length... the link direct to the video: http://www.s1.hashmirror.com/ftp/VM/walk_w...walk_wheel.html Or link to the actual page (it's the walk/wheel cycle tut under MISC.): http://www.hash.com/VM/ That pretty much explained it for me. EDIT: Ohh... and if you should change the size of your walk cycle remember you have to do a new stride lengh setting for it, too.

Why? It's HIS film.

Could you give a little more info on what you did there: It looks like the mesh is turned on it's side and flat.... Really weird.

Yes... and Yves cleared that up also. It is too high.-- back to the rigging board, again...