Animus Posted November 12, 2009 Posted November 12, 2009 I never did that much modeling characters. I want to start a little bigger(little big? excuse my french) project, so maybe better and safer to own my characters. I have tried to stay with a fairly low mesh density so far, hope it works for animating. Do most people still apply decals on the face using flatten? I used it a few years ago, worked well, but this time I can't find the way to apply the decal in the action window where I flatten the face. I will rig them soon with 2008 rig to test the models. Michel Quote
NancyGormezano Posted November 12, 2009 Posted November 12, 2009 Do most people still apply decals on the face using flatten? I used it a few years ago, worked well, but this time I can't find the way to apply the decal in the action window where I flatten the face. Flattening in an action still works (I think). Are you asking How to flatten? Or are you asking How to apply a decal in an action window? Nice models! Quote
John Bigboote Posted November 12, 2009 Posted November 12, 2009 HEY! Good looking smooth models there! I usually just use patch images for an even skin-tone and just apply regular decals for blush- red nose- etc. Quote
mtpeak2 Posted November 12, 2009 Posted November 12, 2009 I like the guy with the hat. The face on both models looks like they would animate well, but I can't tell for the rest of the body. If I have the time, maybe I can get an installation rig for the face ready, if you are willing to test it. [EDIT] You will like installing this face rig, you can scale the install bones in any direction as needed. The weighting is the hardest part, as it is with any installation. Quote
Animus Posted November 12, 2009 Author Posted November 12, 2009 Thank you! I'm asking how to apply decals in the action window, I don't find the way. The flattening works, but not as good as I would expect from a totally symmetrical model, result is asymmetrical, but I can fix manually. Michel Quote
mtpeak2 Posted November 12, 2009 Posted November 12, 2009 Add decal to model in the modeling window, but don't apply. In the action ,double click the decal container in the PWS, to show the decal in the action when in muscle mode. Quote
NancyGormezano Posted November 12, 2009 Posted November 12, 2009 I'm asking how to apply decals in the action window, I don't find the way. With the action window open - Right click on the decal folder in the PWS - choose NEW/Decal/image of choice - the decal will be applied in the action window - (and actually be applied to the model) Quote
Animus Posted November 12, 2009 Author Posted November 12, 2009 Thank you all! Very quick help, clear now. Mark, I will be happy to use your face rig, the 2008 body rig works really well for me. Michel Quote
mtpeak2 Posted November 12, 2009 Posted November 12, 2009 I would also suggest rigging your model BEFORE texturing, incase you need to make modifications to the mesh. Have you tested the sample model with the face rig? Quote
Animus Posted November 12, 2009 Author Posted November 12, 2009 Yes, I want to rig even if the modeling is not definitive, and no texturing is done. If there is major reproportion to make, might be better to do it now. I like to see what the model looks like with his arms down and rigged. Adding or adjusting a spline here an there is easily done, after rigging. Michel Quote
Animus Posted November 14, 2009 Author Posted November 14, 2009 Thank you David! I installed the 2008 rig in one character to test proportions, the rig works great. I am getting familiar with the rig installation, I can almost do it without the instructions. I am not happy with the hands (not the rig, the modeling), not big enough, and having a hard time with good thumb modeling and correct bone positioning. I will have to study other model's hands. I wonder if there is an easy way to rerig just the hands. In the image, model has no cp weighting or smartskin, just the model and the rig. Michel Quote
mtpeak2 Posted November 14, 2009 Posted November 14, 2009 What kind of adjustments do you need to make to the hands? Equally scaled in the XYZ axis'? Bone placement? Quote
Animus Posted November 14, 2009 Author Posted November 14, 2009 I was thinking redoing the hands completely, deleting those and remodel or borrow hands from anther model. Michel Quote
mtpeak2 Posted November 14, 2009 Posted November 14, 2009 It shouldn't be too much of a problem. Delete the Left Hand_Geom bone and all its children. Use the finger Parent bones and the finger_Geom bones to position, following the same process as in the instructions. Once finished positioning and weighting, right click on the Right Hand_Geom bone and run the MirrorBones plugin. No need to re-export. You may need different settings in the plugin, so make sure you save a copy before running the plugin. Quote
Animus Posted November 14, 2009 Author Posted November 14, 2009 Alright! Thank you!, looks simple. Michel Quote
mtpeak2 Posted November 14, 2009 Posted November 14, 2009 Sorry, but you may need to re-export to reposition the IK hand controllers. Just make sure you turn all the IK poses and the spine poses OFF before exporting, just like the instructions. You won't need to if you don't rotate the Right Hand_Geom bone when repositioning. Scale doesn't matter. Quote
Animus Posted November 14, 2009 Author Posted November 14, 2009 Ok, tried it, it worked! Thanks Mark! Michel Quote
Animus Posted November 21, 2009 Author Posted November 21, 2009 Just playing around with the characters. Can't find a way to render with AO and have shadows on the ground. Any clue? Michel Quote
pixelplucker Posted November 21, 2009 Posted November 21, 2009 Look good but are those a couple of artifacts on the arms on the character on the right? Might want to check the normals and make sure they are ok. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted November 21, 2009 Hash Fellow Posted November 21, 2009 Very nice looking! Quote
Animus Posted November 22, 2009 Author Posted November 22, 2009 Thank you! I don't know what causes these artifacts. Normals are pointing in the right direction. I'll try to find the reason for it. Michel Quote
steve392 Posted November 22, 2009 Posted November 22, 2009 Good looking charectors ,glad the finger thing worked Quote
NancyGormezano Posted November 22, 2009 Posted November 22, 2009 Can't find a way to render with AO and have shadows on the ground. Any clue? Nice friendly looking characters! I believe the black specs are an artifact of AO (and insufficient passes? not sure) You might try adding a klieg light, with z buffered shadows. Add a rotoscope (an all white image) to the camera. Make the ground plane front projected and flat shaded. I think? it will work with AO (I know it works with AI). You may have to decrease the AI value, and/or you may want to set the klieg to just be spec ON but diffuse OFF, and definitely shadows ON. Quote
Animus Posted November 22, 2009 Author Posted November 22, 2009 Thank you Nancy! I will try that. I know how to access front projection, but have to admit I don't know what it really means. On my way to find out. Michel Quote
Animus Posted November 22, 2009 Author Posted November 22, 2009 Tried Nancy's recipe. Works and I like it better with this lighting. A useful addition is to have a light list for the ground with only the klieg light; this way shadows don't get washed out by other lights. Michel Quote
NancyGormezano Posted November 22, 2009 Posted November 22, 2009 I like it with the shadows too - hadn't thought about using lite list. And I repeat - nice, friendly characters Quote
Animus Posted November 26, 2009 Author Posted November 26, 2009 Thank you Nancy! I want to bank some reusable actions for the characters, beginning with walk cycles. Here is my first test with Slim. walk_test.mov I want to make him look lighter, life is OK beat. Michel Quote
Admin Rodney Posted November 26, 2009 Admin Posted November 26, 2009 Looking really good! (That one of the slickest versions of the 'Take a Walk' exercise I've seen too!) Quote
Animus Posted November 26, 2009 Author Posted November 26, 2009 Thank you Gene and Rodney! The bigger character'walk is harder, nothing convincing yet. Michel Quote
Animus Posted November 29, 2009 Author Posted November 29, 2009 Did some work on Ben the bigger guy walk cycle. Still needs some refining. walk_test_2.mov I will now try some facial animation with Mark's face rig. Michel Quote
mtpeak2 Posted November 29, 2009 Posted November 29, 2009 The walks look great. The one thing that stands out to me is the hands. Maybe rotate them so the palms face back slightly. Quote
Animus Posted December 3, 2009 Author Posted December 3, 2009 First face test. I use this month's 11sec audio clip to test the face rig, not entering the competition, I don't feel like hearing the same clip 6000 times this month . It's Mark's face rig, works very nice! You can see the setup in the wireframe clip, light with a wide range of controls. I'm not too good at face animation, trying to learn. facial_test_wireframe.mov facial_test.mov Michel Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted December 6, 2009 Hash Fellow Posted December 6, 2009 That's working well. my one suggestion... probably too late... is too model with straight eyebrows and then it's easier to do good looking / \ poses. Quote
Animus Posted December 6, 2009 Author Posted December 6, 2009 I see what you mean. Right now it's too much like a ring around the eye, and I can't really just modify the decal cause the mesh is very pronounced around the eyes. This guy is fully rigged now, so I don't want to alter it too much: but that's something I'll have in mind for the next models. Thank you! Michel Quote
Animus Posted December 9, 2009 Author Posted December 9, 2009 I posted something before with that idea. Animated with A:M, assembled in AE. Animation is rough and blocky, just playing around, planning a scenario. Ben___Slim.mov File size is pretty big, but I need a large image for this one. Michel Quote
Animus Posted December 9, 2009 Author Posted December 9, 2009 Thank you Nancy! Glad you liked it, I will refine it in coming days. I can move things around pretty quickly with that format. Michel Quote
Animus Posted December 10, 2009 Author Posted December 10, 2009 I like the cartoon horse from the CD, so I had to try that. Sorry, I can't find the way to delete older files in the Edit post. Watch the last clip. Michel Horse_ride.mov Quote
Admin Rodney Posted December 10, 2009 Admin Posted December 10, 2009 Sorry, I can't find the way to delete older files in the Edit post. Deleting attachments is a two step process from inside a post (three steps if you count submitting/updating the post) 1 - Access the Attachments Dropdown Menu 2 - Delete attachment by selecting the document with a red X 3 - Resubmit post Nice Horsey! Have fun cleaning that up! Quote
Paul Forwood Posted December 24, 2009 Posted December 24, 2009 Merry Christmas, Michel. Cheers! Quote
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