Colour tone fade?

[Telvak]

Hi,

 

I'm trying to make this model's mouth, but as you can see on the left side, it sorta dies down to a grey-er shade, I'm trying to keep it as look-alike as much as possible, is there a way to, say, start as a color and have it slowly change into another at some point?

 

Another thing, I don't necessarily know how to use Photoshop, nor do I have any drawing talents whatsoever. Latent or potent. And rather than draw a mouth, eye, anything really that isn't 3D and make it a decal on a model, I basically just draw it with splines, render as lines and add colors to it. I've been doing this for a while and I wanna know if it's frowned upon, for lack of a better term, or should I absolutely go out there and learn how to draw to use Photoshop and use these as decals?

 

If it's a bad way to model, I wanna get rid of this practice before I can't shake it off and it gets stuck with me.

 

Thanks for the answer, it's a good thing to know there are boards you can turn to for help when all else fails

[phatso]

There's no rule saying it's a "bad" way, it just depends on your preferences. Yes, you should learn photoshop (and so should I - like I'm ever going to have the time, hah!) cuz every additional trick in your bag is an additional degree of freedom. BTW, there are freeware alternatives to photoshop that may or may not be as good, but are probably more than good enough for the uses animators will make of them. I can't speak from experience here but maybe somebody else can.

 

Is the mouth perhaps fading out because it's physically sinking into the face? You may have to adjust the precise positions of some CPs.

[Caroline]

To change the colour gradually, you could search for 'gradient material'

 

You can do fabulous things with materials (at least johnl3d can - I can't. Yet)

 

But decals are often easier than materials. You don't have to be able to draw - you're only creating colours and textures. Have a look at Will Sutton's tutorial:

http://www.zandoria.com/uv.htm

 

You basically flatten the splines in an action and take a screen shot which you can then use as your outline in Photoshop.

[Telvak]

Thanks everyone for the help, I won't change the way I make models then, but I just got the book "Animation:Master The Complete Guide", so it might change a few things I do, hehe

 

I'll try the gradient thing you mentionned, the link is down because the site is down I think, but it's alright, I'll find something on the net.