JTalbotski Posted February 18, 2004 Author Posted February 18, 2004 Just because you're so damned good, J., I'm gonna throw you this crit: The effect of his face being so... organic has made his clothes stand out in a poor contrast for me- detracts from the image. I couldn't resist... wanna see you go to town on his clothes now. Thanks! I would work on his clothes, but he uses a LOT of starch. Can't do a thing with 'em. I'll probably move to the hands next after a couple more tweaks to the head, then the clothes. Jim Quote
JTalbotski Posted February 18, 2004 Author Posted February 18, 2004 6 minutes is really good going seeing as you're using hair - though his age related lack of it may be to your benefit! Have you tried using A:M's native bloom 'post effect' on one of your renders? I've been playing around with the 'post effects' myself and have been very very pleasently surprised by their capabilities. I tried to use them a couple times, but kept running into an "out of memory" message, even though I have 1.5 GB of ram. (Mac G4 Dual Gig Processor) I haven't tried running it on a previously rendered image as was posted by Randy (I think) in another thread. I should give it a go. Thanks, Jim Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted February 18, 2004 Hash Fellow Posted February 18, 2004 Great looking Stuff! That bump map reminds me of the grandfather in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Quote
Daveyrose75 Posted February 18, 2004 Posted February 18, 2004 To us A:M beginners this is really inspirational stuff. Would be great if you could do tutorials for bumps and maybe even hair. I've learned more from your previous 4 tutorials than from the numerous others floating about the place. Many thanks and good luck, not that you need the luck Quote
mediaho Posted February 18, 2004 Posted February 18, 2004 I don't know how I missed this thread originally. Spectacular, Jim! Quote
ypoissant Posted February 18, 2004 Posted February 18, 2004 Wow! jim. Your skills never cease to impress me. Really nice character. And I'm also impressed that you achieve this warm skin look through lighting alone. Quote
JTalbotski Posted February 18, 2004 Author Posted February 18, 2004 If I remember correctly, it took around 6 minutes to render, with 2 ray casting lights and one z-buffered light, 9 pass multipass at 600X800 pixels. There are 2 different hair materials on him and I gave it a tiny bit of bloom and softened it a tad in Photoshop. Well, I was wrong in remembering. It took about 10 minutes for the 9 pass render. It took 6 minutes for the 5 pass render. ------------ Thanks, Yves! Jim Quote
Dearmad Posted February 19, 2004 Posted February 19, 2004 Alright everyone, PIPE DOWN! Let J get back to work! SILENCE!!!! (wanan get to the next step ASAP!) Quote
JTalbotski Posted February 19, 2004 Author Posted February 19, 2004 Next step! Specularity maps. And a touch more hair on top. And a spiffy new name. Sir Nigel. Jim Quote
Mike Lium Posted February 19, 2004 Posted February 19, 2004 Must be easy to work on an image looking in the mirror Quote
zacktaich Posted February 19, 2004 Posted February 19, 2004 Must be easy to work on an image looking in the mirror cruel..... zact. Quote
JTalbotski Posted February 19, 2004 Author Posted February 19, 2004 ROTFLOL!! I'll get you, Bud! Actually, I may look like that eventually. I got the hairline and most of the wrinkles already! Jim Quote
Mike Lium Posted February 19, 2004 Posted February 19, 2004 ROTFLOL!! I'll get you, Bud! He He He.. look forward to it bro.. Quote
Zaryin Posted February 19, 2004 Posted February 19, 2004 Hey Jim, this is looking great. Does anyone else notice the resemblance to Robert England? You got to finish some new tuts . Quote
nixie Posted February 19, 2004 Posted February 19, 2004 yeah you need to do a bump and specularity tute! I understand bump mapping, but have never really used it effectively. And specularity, I can see the need for it but I dont use it because im scared! Oh and if you ever feel super generous, with a little time to spare, a 'speedy head'modaling tute would be cool (if asking a little too much! awesome - want to see more! Nixie Quote
Admin Rodney Posted February 23, 2004 Admin Posted February 23, 2004 Jim the recently posted update with the new 'tuft' of hair at the front looks a bit off to me... Like I qualify to critique your work While the gentleman can direct his barber to perform as he will, the length of hair in the back might be lengthened as well to keep the hair somewhat uniform. Looks a little like the barber didn't know what to do with the front. I get the same thing with my widow's peak all the time <_> Quote
psylancestudios Posted February 23, 2004 Posted February 23, 2004 Jim, How many times did AM crash on you while trying to accomplish this character? Thanks :-) Quote
Scottj3d Posted February 24, 2004 Posted February 24, 2004 I see this character evolving and it makes me wish I had five more years experience. Thanks for sharing the images and techniques you use to achieve them. The tut's are like kicking in the warp drive for those of us who can watch and learn better than deciphering what appear to be long drawn out explainations of "how to" the manuals offer. Great work! Quote
mykyl Posted February 24, 2004 Posted February 24, 2004 Flipping heck. I cant believe what some of you folks do in A:M. I will get my head around this modelling lark if its the last thing I do. Very nice model and textures. Cheers for sharing. Mike R Quote
JTalbotski Posted February 24, 2004 Author Posted February 24, 2004 Thanks folks! Here's the latest render of Sir Nigel. I've added the bump map as a diffuse map @20% to help show the wrinkles a bit more. And I started assigning the mesh to bones. And I textured the hands, too. FYI, his fingernails are just decals: color, bump, and specular. They look much better than I expected. bakerrod- I agree about the top hair not matching the shorter back hair. It is too long, but also it doesn't render as smoothly as the other hair. I bet my widow's peak beats yours! psylancestudios- To be completely honest, the only times A:M crashed while working on this model was when I was using the OSX alpha. I wanted to see how far the alpha would let me go with a model. I found out when it would crash anytime I tried to render hair. It also crashed randomly here and there when trying to render without hair. But since I brought it over to the OS9 version of A:M, it hasn't crashed once while working on this character. Tally-ho! Jim Quote
natess44 Posted February 24, 2004 Posted February 24, 2004 Awsome picture! But I think his fingers are a bit too thick for an skinny old guy( they look like schlitzy's). Quote
Parlo Posted February 24, 2004 Posted February 24, 2004 Gorgeous Jim! He looks even more like Gieguld with his hand holding a cigarette like that. Now all you need to do is build a model of Dudley Moore and you've got the lead cast for "Arthur 3D". Come to think of it Schlitzy is pretty much Dudley with a beard and he's already got the trade mark drunkeness down to a fine art! If I had any criticism, it would be that the mouth and (especially) the bottom lip seems too harsh when compared to the rest of the model. But it's just because you've got such a great softness in the shapes of the eyes. What's that odd lump just below his left shoulder? Quote
Admin Rodney Posted February 24, 2004 Admin Posted February 24, 2004 Incredible! Just when I think you can't get it any better... Has the look of a portraiture painting. You even have smoke wafting into the air... curse you! Quote
JTalbotski Posted February 24, 2004 Author Posted February 24, 2004 natess44- You're right about the fingers being too thick. I haven't smartskinned them yet, and I think they are swollen because the spline rings are bending and deforming badly. I know I didn't model them that thick! Parlo- Can you explain about the harshness of the lower lip? Do you mean like "non-friendly"? The lump on his shoulder is the start of modeling some cloth folds into his suit. Doesn't read very well yet. bakerrod_ Thanks! I should have stated that the smoke was added in Photoshop. Jim Quote
Parlo Posted February 24, 2004 Posted February 24, 2004 It's not so much a character thing, as in 'non friendly', it's almost as though he lacks a lower lip. To my eye it looks like there is too little modelling detail in that area - the lower lip looks at though it pretty much just drops straight down into the chin and that there is no fat there. With the amount of droop that he's got under his eyes and the bulbous nature of his nose, you could get away with more shape there under his mouth and still keep his dignified and refined look. At the moment it's the one area that somehow looks less organic than the rest of the model. But again any criticism is like complaining that the sun looks too yellow. Quote
JTalbotski Posted February 24, 2004 Author Posted February 24, 2004 Okay, I see. I intended for him to have very thin lips. I think my decal has the lip texture going too far down his face towards his chin. I think I will adjust the decal. That will be easier than stitching in more detail and reapplying the decal. Thanks, Jim Quote
Parlo Posted February 24, 2004 Posted February 24, 2004 I think that may be it - the decal is drawing attention to something that's not there. Reduce it and the thinness of the bottom lip should look 100% intentional. Quote
Admin Rodney Posted February 24, 2004 Admin Posted February 24, 2004 Thanks! I should have stated that the smoke was added in Photoshop. You can tweak your images of smoke in a stove and I won't complain. Thanks for that info though... might have kept me from spending hours trying to recreate in A:M! The only time I lean toward total purity in standalone A:M use is in my efforts to conform to the monthly contest criteria. I'm so use to using other programs on the images I create in A:M that it is not easy for me to do everything in A:M only. CorelDraw is my biggest stumblingblock to living completely inside A:M... although I use it more in a plugin fashion I'd consider it a bit of a cheat if I used it in a contest. Whether for pre or post tweaking. Not about to give up these other programs as they make my work in A:M much simpler though and are complimentary to it. I doubt we'll see you give up Photoshop anytime soon, right? Quote
JTalbotski Posted February 24, 2004 Author Posted February 24, 2004 No, I won't be giving up Photoshop. I have become less of a purist about renders than I had been. Why beat yourself over the head trying to do something difficult in A:M, that would take 10 seconds in your image editor? Now if I had to animate the smoke, I would consider using particles, but I would probably render out the particles separately and use the render as a decal on a flat patch. Or video tape a real stream of smoke lit against a black backdrop and decal that on a flat patch. Jim Quote
HeadlessBill Posted February 24, 2004 Posted February 24, 2004 I was looking through a book of photography by George Hurrell (one of my favorite portrait photographers, I might add) and kept thinking that you should try and do an image of your characters in his style. Here is a link to a sample of his work. http://www.lafterhall.com/hurrell.html Quote
JTalbotski Posted February 24, 2004 Author Posted February 24, 2004 Thanks for the link...beautiful stuff! That guy knew how to light his models! I love the dark solid shadows he created, gives an almost graphic look to the images. You look where he wanted you to look. Jim Quote
nixie Posted February 24, 2004 Posted February 24, 2004 Yes, genius! Sir Nigel needs one of those very British, aristocratic 'one raised eyebrow' ! we all do it over here! youl see all the guys in George Hurrell's work doing it! awsome as I have already said! well done Jim Quote
3DArtZ Posted February 24, 2004 Posted February 24, 2004 Jim I would just like to take this opportunity to say HOLY COW!!!!!! Amazing..... as usual. I get the feeling that you are assembling your cast of characters. Mike Fitz www.3dartz.com Quote
KingSalami Posted February 27, 2004 Posted February 27, 2004 that dude is tight, take him off botox and add some wrinkles to the forhead Quote
cosmonaut Posted February 27, 2004 Posted February 27, 2004 Fantastic work as usual Jim. Between Sir Nigel and the woman you were working on are you planning some kind of spy movie? It'd be pretty cool if you are . Kevin Quote
Admin Rodney Posted April 10, 2004 Admin Posted April 10, 2004 Has anyone heard from that guy.... what's his name James.... Jeff..... Jim!!! Jim Talbot! That's the guy. Anybody seen or heard from Jim Talbot lately! Quote
JTalbotski Posted April 10, 2004 Author Posted April 10, 2004 Hi Rodney, I'm still around. I've just been busy with work so I haven't had as much time for the forum as I did before. But now that I finished the big crunch, I may be more visible (too visible probably). Maybe time to continue the texturing tutes? Thanks for asking! Jim Quote
Zaryin Posted April 10, 2004 Posted April 10, 2004 Get to work on those tuts Jim . I just started textureing my El Burro character and will need some bump maps soon, haha. Quote
JBarrett Posted April 11, 2004 Posted April 11, 2004 Just discovered this thread. As someone else said, I don't know why I missed it when it first came up. Wonderful work as usual, Jim! And very inspiring to see this guy come together piece by piece. I'm also glad you re-posted the links to your tutes (downloaded them all...will investigate after sending this). Where were these links originally posted? I'm really curious, as I've never heard of them before finding them in this thread. Quote
JTalbotski Posted April 11, 2004 Author Posted April 11, 2004 Hi Justin, Thanks! I think I posted something to the Animaster part of the forum about the tutorials. I can't imagine you'd need them, though. I also finally got them added to the ARM in the decalling section, although they are all listed in the one link. Okay, I found the original posts by clicking on my nickname and then clicking on "Find all posts by this member" that appears under the large nickname of my profile. It took a while to weed through all the results. Boy do I post a lot! http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2315&hl= http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2610&hl= Jim Quote
Admin Rodney Posted April 11, 2004 Admin Posted April 11, 2004 Jim, Glad to see you're alive and well. When talking to someone about 'dreamy photo' style rendering is became painfully obvious to me that you were missing in action! Justin, et al, We all dropped the ball on putting the tutorial links in an easy to find location... Don't know WHAT we were thinking.... trying to save Jim the hit in bandwidth I guess... Yeah... that was it! Didn't want everyone to visit the page at the same time! Lookin' forward to more posts by that guy... Jim... James... Justin... John... Jeffrey... whatever... Quote
Sharky Posted April 11, 2004 Posted April 11, 2004 Hi Mr. Jim Talbot! This model is wonderfully,and I like your splinemanship! Can you give me more details on this model, for example : ears attached! Thanks , Sharky! Quote
pally Posted April 11, 2004 Posted April 11, 2004 w-o-w! Wut?!? That was done in AM? I guess so. Just looking at this thread and saw it grow legs and take off. Great work. Very inspirational [...James shakes head in shear amazement] Quote
JBarrett Posted April 12, 2004 Posted April 12, 2004 Thanks! I think I posted something to the Animaster part of the forum about the tutorials. I can't imagine you'd need them, though. Trust me, I need them. I've done almost nothing when it comes to decals, and what little I've done wasn't even dealing with characters. I've been putting the vast majority of my time in A:M toward animation, with rigging probably coming in second. Decals are so far down the list I need binoculars. Thanks for sharing! I can't wait to see more! Quote
VeridisQuo567 Posted April 12, 2004 Posted April 12, 2004 I'm jealous! Human modeling isn't my thing, but you've clearly got the talent for it! Quote
Bill_Y Posted April 12, 2004 Posted April 12, 2004 Wow Jim, This guys is really looking good. The hair has great form to it, but looks a little flat specular wise. The ears specular also seems a bit hotter than the nose and forehead area, but the eyes! Wow! They say so much tired yet wise and concerned with almost a hint of arrogance. Good stuff. I'm guessing since "Mighty Mouse" he's porcelain all the way. Quote
heyvern Posted April 12, 2004 Posted April 12, 2004 I guess poking pins into that doll of you when you use AM isn't working..... Kidding, kidding! I have a question about how you create these characters: Do you start from sketches and use rotoscopes? Or do you just model from your head? (I tried this but I keep hitting the hide key with my nose) p.s. I'm stealing that bump map as diffuse map idea! I never heard of that before! Very cool. Vernon "?" Zehr Quote
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