Laptop model needed

[Gerry]

I'm looking for a free model of a generic laptop computer (patches, not polys). I'll model it if need be but just trying to save a few steps. Thanks for any help!

Gerry

[Tralfaz]

I'm looking for a free model of a generic laptop computer (patches, not polys). I'll model it if need be but just trying to save a few steps. Thanks for any help!

Gerry

 

Hi Gerry:

 

I am not at home so I don't have the Extras CD with me at the moment, but I believe there is a laptop model on the CD.

 

Al

[Gerry]

that's the first place I looked and didn't see one. I'll poke around there again.

EDIT: Dang! There's a laptop in the library but it has no keyboard detail!! Maybe I can decal it.

[Gerry]

I've been authorized to pay for a model. So if anyone knows of a laptop model anywhere, let me know. I'm modifying the one out of the library, but I like to present some options on something like this.

[Tralfaz]

Any particular version (e.g. A:M v13) for the model and what time frame are you looking at?

 

Thanks...

Al

[Gerry]

Thanks, Tralf (can I call you Tralf?) but my boss already signed off on the one I modified. It actually came out pretty nice. I'll post something tomorrow.

[Tralfaz]

Thanks, Tralf (can I call you Tralf?) but my boss already signed off on the one I modified. It actually came out pretty nice. I'll post something tomorrow.

 

No problem Gerry, glad you were able to get one working for you.

 

Hmmm, never been called Tralf before... no objections here.

 

Here is a bit of animation trivia? Any idea where the name Tralfaz comes from?

 

Al

[Gerry]

I've been thinking for two days but nothing comes to me!

[Chrury Sanson]

Any idea where the name Tralfaz comes from?

It's Zaflart spelled backwards?

 

After a quick search, It looks like it's your name, someones pet octopus, and a band.

[Gerry]

The only thing I keep coming back to is "Tralfamodore", the alien planet in "Slaughterhouse Five". But I know that's not it.

[Tralfaz]

The name Tralfaz comes from the Jetsons.

 

You know the show...

 

"Meet George Jetson,

Jane his wife,

His daughter Judy,

His boy Elroy."

 

Well in the show, they had a dog called Astro. But Astro was not his real name. Elroy found the dog in the park and brought him home and called him Astro. There was one show where Astro's original (and very rich) owner tracked him down and wanted to take him back. It is in that one show where Astro's real name was given, and it was Tralfaz.

 

Used to collect all sorts of useless trivia like that. A group of us would go out to our favourite bar after roller skating and try to stump one another with odds and sodds like this. And this was all before Trivial Pursuit. The one rule in our group, was you could not ask a trivia question without knowing the answer.

 

Al

[Caroline]

I caved in and googled - this was one of the hits: http://www.scamorama.com/jetson.html.

 

It's Astro replying to a request for assistance from a Nigerian.

[Gerry]

Ha! That has got to be THE MOST OBSCURE trivia question I've ever heard! But now if it ever comes up I'll know the answer!

 

I guess it would be plain silly of me to ask if you know where the name of the movie "Zardoz" comes from...

[Tralfaz]

I remember seeing the movie Zardoz a long, long time ago. No idea where the name Zardoz came from though.

 

Al

[Dhar]

Zardoz? That's easy, from The Wizard of Oz

 

Man I feel so smart

[Tralfaz]

I had no idea it came from Wizard of Oz.

 

Learn something new every day...

 

Al

[Gerry]

I have to create my *very first* alpha channel for this laptop project. I’m rendering out as a series of targas and I’ve noticed that they automatically generate an alpha channel when I open them in Photoshop, but by default the alpha is a blank screen, so I need to figure out how to silhouette just the main elements, However I think I’ve created a problem for myself before I’ve even left the gate.

 

Can an alpha channel silhouette only one part of a model? I need to silo the infamous laptop computer and its cast shadow. But in order to solve another problem, I had deleted the default "ground" from the chor and included a ground plane as part of the laptop model. Now of course I need to silo just the laptop for the alpha channel so I think I've screwed myself.

 

However I also don't see where you select elements to be separated out by the alpha, so I don't actually know what I'm doing.

 

Any help will be appreciated.

 

Gerry

[Gerry]

I am TOTALLY BUMMED! My beautiful laptop model is gone. I reinstalled A:M, after first uninstalling. However, the bare bones laptop model from the Hash library,that I extensively modified and made BEAUTIFUL, was apparently still linked to the library. So when I trashed the app and all the libraries, apparently the modified model went with it. It was real pretty too...

[higginsdj]

I am TOTALLY BUMMED! My beautiful laptop model is gone. I reinstalled A:M, after first uninstalling. However, the bare bones laptop model from the Hash library,that I extensively modified and made BEAUTIFUL, was apparently still linked to the library. So when I trashed the app and all the libraries, apparently the modified model went with it. It was real pretty too...

 

I have a laptop model if you want one......

 

http://www.hash.com/stills/displayimage.ph...m=23&pos=47

 

Cheers

[Paul Forwood]

I am TOTALLY BUMMED! My beautiful laptop model is gone.

 

Oh, man! That's bad news, Gerry! No backup?

 

Regarding the shadow and alpha channel problem:

 

If I remember correctly, in your ground plane's object's properties expand the "Options" and "Receive Shadows" and set "Shadows Only" to ON. This will setup the shadows, that are cast onto the ground plane, to render on their own without the ground plane rendering.

 

Then in the render options make sure that the Alpha buffer is enabled.

 

This should produce a render that looks all black but it is actually a dark shadow on an alpha background. When you composite it over a coloured background you should see the shadow.

 

I hope I explained that correctly.

[Gerry]

Thanks Paul. I'm already working on another solution with the guy here who does post work in After Effects. Rather than my try to create shadows and bg gradients with the lighting, I'm deleting the ground plane altogether, rendering with an alpha channel, and he'll fake it all in post.

 

The real problem is the loss of the laptop model. DJ, that's the problem. I do have about five versions of the .prj file (I save constantly), but when I open them they all ask for the laptop.mdl. When I found the bare bones laptop in the Hash library and brought it into the project, it stayed linked to the library. It never occurred to me that even after I did all that modifying that it was still linked to the library. So when I uninstalled the app and all related files, there went my laptop.

 

I can redo it in an hour or so. But that model was already approved by my boss and shown to the client, so I can't just switch to another model.

 

Let this be a lesson to me!