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Ken-- HUH? , I got from 10,000 down to 7,600 patches and lost a lot of detail... I formed the gums to wrap around the teeth... it was necessary to keep that detail, in my opinion. Without it, you have teeth growing out of a bump.

So far the textures alone are 1.26 gb! And I didn't waste much of that. It takes my computer about 20-30 mins just to load texures ... no problem though, because the render times are short thereafter; about 2 min.(full figure) to 5 min.(close-up) per frame depending on how close the camera is to the model. But then again I usually run other things while I render, so that probably slows A:M's rendering a little. I plan to use cloth simulation... just to test and see "what I can get away with". If it proves too time consuming to do, then I will just replace the body with unibody clothing+rigged with dynamic bones. edit: The texture maps I included to show what they look like but they are about 5 times that size... I was inspired by the work done on the HULK movie... I think those were 5 times larger than my textures... but they have a render farm!

I cheated on the nostrals... I took away lotsa patches that held the original shape of things because I was running up to 10,000 patches (lag city)... without teeth gums and tongue. By the way... his gums are connected to an inner lining of the mouth... yes I modeled the inside of the mouth completely attached, but I had to give up the finger nails to do it. Heres the UV-Head_color map/ head wire map. The ears and teeth have their own maps. Using alpha map to blend between the edges of some of the maps. Thanks for your comments... I can "see" a lot better now.

This is what I modeled from... I "traced" him, literally from photo reference, the only problem with that is when you model a character you are doing it with an orthogonal view... the camera the actual model was shot with has perspective... I've tried different camera angles and settings and find that this is normal depending on where your camera is and what your focal length/angle is... I may have pushed the virtual camera outside of the real world limits... so things got distorted. Realism is a B*tch.

Posting some work in progress on my character, he is not clothed yet, but 90% of the phenome poses are done, 1% of facial poses, and the "hair" is complete... I should have the model clothed in 4 weeks-- week 1: finish phenomes week 2: finish facial moves week 3: rework rig/shoulders week 4: finish/ test clothing + any textures The first renders are of the head from the modeling window (Each was 1280x960 and reduced and composited together in photoshop): (Note: Textures are 4000x3093...(Color/bump/diffuse/specular intensity) Head, torso, right & left arms, right & left legs, right & left hands (color only), and feet are not texured. The reason I have seperated textures for limbs is because I may want to add tattoos or scars to only one side, so I need individualized texures for each part.) The next renders are of the head rendered with Skycast plus two lights. Rendered at 1280x960 and reduced in photoshop. And I worked on beefing up the structure of the ears a little, before these renders. And One body shot: I got suggestions on another thread on this forum to make the shoulders bend at the proper proportions because the width compared to the hips is wrong.

So far, those attending the 2nd MAAMUG meeting: Don "Batteries Included" Davis John "Man with the Golden web space" Hubickey Chris "Zen Cyborg- Mech Operator" Hover Vern "Severely Overworked" Zehr Rich "Not There, Yet" Jackson, and Sandi "Frenchist-Artist-Authorist" Johnson-Bohannan Any others willing to attend, you can find out more information at: MAAM user group page... Basic info: The date for the second meeting is Saturday, August 21st 1:00 PM The location: 1817 York Avenue Williamstown, New Jersey (the home of Don Davis). I have provided some directions (On the MAAM user group page). Please let me know if you have any questions.

How about some wireframe shots... and could you also supply a side view and front views... I can't tell you whats wrong from what you're showing. other than the wierd shapes of these "Lucas-esc" type ships... you can get away with small changes to the actual plan... because when the ship is in motion... it'll be a blur anyway... and like you said far enough into the background to avoid close scrutinization.

I don't have a clue what to bring... I don't even go to my family reunions anymore or even "parties"... I don't get out much anymore... I do have a load of work to show though. And I can't wait to see what you have modeled or rigged next- John. And Vern, what are you going to present next, how far have you gotten on your script/story? Don D. - Looking forward to see your work, I'm sure you have some great stuff to show after the inspiring meeting last time. Chris-- Can't wait to see your work... do you draw analog, also? Can I see some of your work... even if it's from another program? I'm bringing a friend this time ... Her name is Sandi and she is a reporter at the newspaper where I work. She asked our chief editor if she could do a story on MAAM, because I am a local, but he has not replied to her... she is still attending because she is an artist and is interested in other peoples work... Nice to see someone attend who doesn't even know what AM is. By the way, are there any new users out there available for this meeting... I know you guys are out there... you could get a lot of knowlege from the meeting, there is so much I learned from even the newer users at the first meeting we had, and it's just plain FUN to be around new people with various talents and ways of doing things. It's not neccessarily for just "hard core" users... "anyone" living close by should not be intimidated by anyone who uses AM, because all of the users are so down to earth and passionate about helping others and seeing others succeed! I guess that IS the core of the AM community in general... so if you could attend the MAAM meeting, please come on by... even if you just cruise by and have a glance, it's well worth it to see and experience the fantastic essence other people are giving. Just bring some work or questions with you... everything is very casual, very relaxed.

I didn't read your post correctly the first time-- I had the same problem and just used another way-- you may want to use the pose route and pose the position you want it in there, bypassing constraints all together.

Try getting rid of the "popping" by diminishing the escape route the bone is using to pop toward the unwanted angle... ie eliminate movement in individual axis... if you make spherical contraints in this fashion: longitude=x, latitude=y; If it's popping in x then (look at the rotate on the bone as it pops in properties to find out which axis is changing there); contsnt#1: leave full open movement long min=-180 long max=180 your variables below lat min=what you want lat max=what you want I'm sure you don't want roll roll min=0 roll max=0 ---------------------------------- constnt#2: your variables below long min=what you want long max=what you want previous values from contsnt#1 lat min= what you want lat max=what you want Roll remains "0" roll min=0 roll max=0 ------------------------------------ it worked for me in certain curcumstances but not all... depends on where the angle of popping is. note: You are just adding a secondary measure for the constraint you already have, except you are allowing movment in the popping axis the first time before constraining the pop-- so you isolate it. I think I used this and it worked, but I ran in to other problems and just added an additional bone constrained differently. Pop is usually connected with movements that place the aimed at bone "suddenly" in a place the constrained bone can move to within the constraint... you may choose the constrain that bone instead-- or put another bone there and translate it to the aimed at bone and make it's enforcement change in a pose, depending on what angle it is at... that would be the best thing to do at this time... there are many ways to do this and I'm sure you will get more help soon. Sorry if this doesn't help, but I've been done with rigging and my brain ain't as submerged in the subject.

That would be too far to travel to philly from Hawthorne? What, it must be a two and a half hour trip? You could join the MAAM user group if you don't mind traveling that far. Just a suggestion.

I signed up!! Great play-by-play... very well written, I finished the tut but I didn't write html. I made a textfile with the text there and added in a line for the placement of the jpgs. Other than that, I hate writing html! PLease help me... John I sent you a zip file with all the info inside-- could you put it together?

This is a *new* part of the forum, so you didn't miss anything... This part of the forum goes to the list also: Time??? What's that?? Why do you think I sent you guys all that info??-- feel free to model anything you want from my drawings! But If I like the model can I use it also? We can share the use of the things we create along that line? Unless you have other plans for the models. I don't mind anyone using my models or drawings... it doesn't infringe on what I'm doing. Mechadelphia: We have all been waiting for this! It's the greatest thrill... It seems like it's going to be the 21st of August... lets see what happens.

Rodney, If I'm ever in Denver---

Thanks Mech. You pointed me in the right direction.... Are you near philly? (MechADELPHIA)? We welcome new group members... next meeting I believe everyone is still deciding on the date-- one of the last two saturdays in August? You game? 1st meeting attendees: Vern Zehr John Hubickey Chris Hover Don Davis Rich Jackson possible attendees: Ed Lynch "omoanime" Zach Brewster-Geisz Mack Chapelle Rodney Baker-(if he ever comes to town)

Good luck Carl!

Very entertaining commercial! It would catch my eyes. But then again I love to see cg anyway so I guess I'm already hooked. You have an interesting way of convieing the messege. That's what's important.

You are a very good modeler! The way most of the modelers show off models are to do wireframe shots blended or fading in with the skylighted version/ or really dramatic lighting with a turn around the character a couple of times. The camera should do most of the moving to show your model off from several views. Camera pullins and pullouts to and from the models will increase the focus of the audience... take them on a journey around your character close enough to see the work you have worked hard on... your models are great... you can do the dinos walking in slomotion for instense to get a longer look at the structure you have made. In my opinion, what I think is important, is that you get your future employer to focus on the models. Be subtle with the animation and camera moves and suggest a dramatic look at the models/ meshes and fine detail work you do. Meditate on this. How do you see them inside your mind?

I don't know Vern, It would take quite a while to render that out don't ya' think? The cookie-cutter ones are better at blocking the dust particles, they are just like windshields... so actually it wouldn't matter if the normals are facing the wrong way. Very nice job Yves, they look real enough to me, to be able to block any dust. RJ

NOTE: Yves, I probably use a lot of exclamation points (!!!) because I listen to the "Saint-Saens - Danse Macabre" frequently...

The potential comedy of it just ... !!

I imagine him in an "alien" sea, since he's a Martian type alien. I guess that answers the big question... was there water on Mars?

You did a lot! Sometimes it gets slow... we get sidetracked... that usually means we need that break! You can always do double work next time round...

The lashes are realistic! The positioning along the edge of the lids looks random enough. The curl/curve of them seems quite even along the groups though. But that is not such a critical "need" so that they "look" real, unless someone was planning a very intense closeup shot of the eye area. ... I know you didn't have time to mess with the brows too much, but a hint so far looks like the direction and shape are great. Length you haven't got'tn to yet so I'll leave that alone. What does the map image for the hair look like, assuming you used one (or more)... if not which, if any, grooming tool(s) did you use for which aspect of control? I have many more questions, but that's enough for now I guess.

Amar-- edit: http://www.antropus.com/english/home1.htm There was a v on the end of the link.