WIP: Hit and Run

[mtpeak2]

You saved the png file with the "save background color" checked. Open the image in gimp and resave with the option unchecked.

 

You can also just set the key color in the image properties.

[mouseman]

You saved the png file with the "save background color" checked. Open the image in gimp and resave with the option unchecked.

Worked like a charm! Thanks!

[mouseman]

Current Progress: 8839 patches, 18 5-point patches

 

Bus doors

Worked on decals ("School Bus" and lines on the side; thanks to mtpeak and robcat for pointers)

Tire tread texture

Improved metal texture and stairs

Some work on the driver's console, but slow going; I will probably simplify it greatly

 

 

TODO:

• Grille
  
• Headlights
  
• Driver's console and window [ In progress ]
  
• Emergency door windows, handle
  
• Misc lights and mirrors
  
• More Texturing
  
• Rigging [ in progress ]
  
• Add edge to the fender
  
• Under-carriage
  
• Windshield wipers, frame
  

[thejobe]

That bus is bringing back haunting memories.

I give it 2 thumbs up! Don't forget the little fan to cool the driver LOL.

[kwhitaker]

Nice School Bus, lots of work, mouseman:) I'll bet the windshield wipers are on you list.

[mouseman]

Don't forget the little fan to cool the driver LOL.

Good idea. I think they are usually intended to keep the windows clear of fog and/or frost, but I'm sure the drivers are not above turning them on themselves!

 

Nice School Bus, lots of work, mouseman:) I'll bet the windshield wipers are on you list.

Thanks! And I've been thinking of wipers, but hadn't yet put them on the list. They are added!

 

It's good getting back to doing something on it after 2 months away.

 

I think the door and the stripes and the "SCHOOL BUS" lettering and the treads on the tires really added a lot to the overall impression. Still a lot of work to go, but I'm going to have to cut corners to get back into things and move on to other parts of the project.

[mouseman]

Current progress: 9171 Patches, 26 5-Point Patches

 

Turn signals

Front window frame

Driver side mirrors

Rear window improvements (all but the window)

Bones and constraints for the individual side windows

 

 

TODO (must get done - will be visible in animation):

• Grille
  
• Headlights
  
• Driver's side window
  
• Handle by stairs
  
• Metal guards in front of front seats
  
• Driver's fans
  
• School name on side of bus (plus a number)
  
• Windshield wipers
  
• Flashing lights
  

FUTURE

• Driver's console and window [ In progress ]
  
• Driver rear mirror
  
• Emergency door windows, handle, texture
  
• Corrugation on side of bus
  
• Misc lights and mirrors
  
• More Texturing
  
• Rigging [ in progress ]
  
• Add edge to the fender [ half done]
  
• Under-carriage
  
• Stop Sign
  

[robcat2075]

Nice bus!

 

I like the varied windows.

 

Needs an identifying number so no one gets on the wrong bus.

[pixelplucker]

Very nice work. Hope you don't put those annoying blue headlights on it hehe

[Glob Studios]

Very nice! I particularly was impressed by the shape of the engine cowl. The shape registers as "yes, it's real" (not some animator's approximation) on my brain.

 

-Vance

[mouseman]

Thanks, everyone.

I particularly was impressed by the shape of the engine cowl. The shape registers as "yes, it's real" (not some animator's approximation) on my brain.

That's what I was going for. The front most closely resembles a Bluebird Vision. The rear is more similar to old Thomas or International Conventional. I made lots of guesses after doing a fair amount of research -- I love the bus walkthroughs on YouTube. If I were re-doing it, I would do a lot of things differently, but I'm rather satisfied with the result. Still a few more things left before I move on.

 

 

Current progress: 9367 Patches, 26 5-Point Patches

 

Changes:

• Driver's side window
  
• Started on the Grille (ran out of time)
  

 

TODO (must get done - will be visible in animation):

• Grille (in progress)
  
• Headlights
  
• Handle by stairs
  
• Metal guards in front of front seats
  
• Driver's fans
  
• School name on side of bus (plus a number)
  
• Windshield wipers
  
• Flashing lights
  

FUTURE

• Driver's console and window [ In progress ]
  
• Driver rear mirror
  
• Emergency door windows, handle, texture
  
• Corrugation on side of bus
  
• Misc lights and mirrors
  
• More Texturing
  
• Rigging [ in progress ]
  
• Add edge to the fender [ half done]
  
• Under-carriage
  
• Stop Sign
  

[Zaryin]

That bus is looking good. Are you planning on adding any grundge?

[TheSpleen]

looking great!

[mouseman]

468 patches; 18 5Point patches.

 

Leaving the bus behind for a while. Starting on the main character/protagonist, Rick. The photo reference is for someone a little older than the character, I'm hoping it will work out by messing around a little with the proportions. Nose is getting close to done; mouth is not bad but needs some work, as do the jaw line and cheeks (esp the line from the nose crease to the edge of the mouth). No eyes or ears or hair yet. (Or arms or legs.) The face is still a bit too broad, but that will get fixed as I put in the eyes and redo the cheeks.

 

 

The wireframe probably isn't clear enough to tell how I did it.

A little more detail:

 

Side note: it feels really creepy finding reference photos by doing Google images searches for "teenage boy". I half expect police to come through the doors within 15-20 seconds after doing a search. All questionable search queries are flagged and immediately reported to the police, right?

[robcat2075]

I suspect there will be some resplining to do, but do the eyes before you bound further.

[mouseman]

A little more done (click for animated gif). I did a lot of resplining. I'm going with some rings/loops around things that didn't have rings/loops before. I think he's starting to look older than I wanted and a bit more feminine, I'll have to undo some of the things that had that effect.

 

[mouseman]

I'm mostly happy with the spline layout, except the eyebrows. I went through a number of iterations. I was somewhat particular about the line from the side of the nose to the side of the mouth, as well as the area between that line and under the eyes, hoping to get a layout that could be used for a variety of characters of multiple ages. The next step is shaping the head to get the dimensions I want for the character in question, then start on the body.

 

 

Here's the incremental development:

 

 

This time I used ImageMagick to create the animated GIF. The command-line is imply:

convert -delay 100 -loop 0 Rick0*.png RickAnim2.gif

[mouseman]

Improvements in the face.

Beginnings of the ear.

 

Animated GIF of progress below; click on it to see the animation. (Anyone know what the largest size is for an image attachment in the forums not to have to resize?)

[mouseman]

1016 patches, 56 5Point patches

 

Animated GIF showing progress:

 

I am a slow poke these days! But the drive upgrade didn't go that well this weekend, so I both didn't get that done and I didn't get much modelling done. At least back where I started, with no data lost.

[Vertexspline]

Chris....that's coming along nicely. Hey I looked at the start of the 2011 task schedule you made ...that's a pretty nice idea and good way to keep progress moving along. I may have to copy that when I get ready to make a project. Smiles.

[mouseman]

[...] Hey I looked at the start of the 2011 task schedule you made ...that's a pretty nice idea and good way to keep progress moving along. I may have to copy that when I get ready to make a project. Smiles.

Pretty nice in theory, anyways. I haven't been following up with it. I did with my old project years ago (Eggs, Potatoes, & Bacon), which was kind of nice to have.

 

I have been thinking of writing a program that would let me create projects, tasks, etc. to keep track of it all. I would use it for both the contracting that I do (software developer) plus animation projects. But that will probably not get done any time soon.

 

I think my big downfall with the spreadsheet is having to open it up. The current timesheet software I have starts up at login, and has an icon in the system tray at the bottom, so it's very convenient.

 

If you do have the time, by all means do use the spreadsheet. It is nice having all the numbers there to reference, along with a graph of how much you've worked on it.

[mouseman]

1060 patches, 56 5Point patches

 

Click for the animated GIF.

[TheSpleen]

great stuff!

[mouseman]

1348 patches, 62 5Point patches

 

Added arms and legs. The legs have only been done from the front and not the side, so they don't attach properly at the waist (see the shadow).

 

Still looking too old. I'll finish the main geometry and then work on de-aging him.

 

Animated progression:

 

And the model and wireframe:

[robcat2075]

Don't worry too much about patch count. 2X the patch count doesn't make for 2X the render.

 

The way the abdomen overhangs the legs bothers me but you're probably going to model clothes over that anyway.

[mouseman]

The way the abdomen overhangs the legs bothers me but you're probably going to model clothes over that anyway.

I haven't done modeling from the side or done general smoothing/sculpting on it yet, so I hope that will be one of the next things to work on either Sunday or Monday. But now date night. We're watching "How to Train Your Dragon".

 

EDIT: After using the side-rotoscope:

[mouseman]

2666 patches, 98 5Point patches

 

Remove custom bias settings in arms

Add extra splines in arms

Create hands

Redo a CFA (manually done)

 

 

Funny thing happened. While I was modeling, all of a sudden I couldn't move CPs. I reloaded the project, didn't help. I exited A:M and restarted it, didn't help. I tried moving a CP a long way, and then it snapped over. I had accidentally clicked on the "Snap to Grid" icon instead of the "Show Manipulator Properties" icon at some point.

 

Although my progress has been slow, it's been fun working on this model. As soon as I add some feet, I'm going to try to resize him to a younger person's proportions.

 

Edit: here are some of the references I've used. I also used some personal photos as reference. Click on them to go to the source:

 

From Athey's DeviantArt page. The facial splineage I used ended up being quite different than this.

 

 

IDrawDigital has a number of good anatomy-related posts. I've used the 15 Years version, but I'm going to try to switch it to the 10 Years version. The proportions of the 15 Years version were dead on with a profile of a kid in the background of a photo I took a few years ago.

 

This one is just a random photo found using Google Images. I used it before I found the IDrawDigital reference, especially for the shape of the shoulders.

 

[mouseman]

It's been a while since I've visited this thread, as I've been working with Steve on the Cupid project. However, we were looking for things to put in the scene, and Steve suggested the school bus. So I put a bit of work into it with the grille and the headlights as well as fixing some structural things you can't see here. I also wanted to make the seats use a model embedded multiple times via poses, but there were issues when I tried to make constraints (they always added to the first or last action object in the pose).

 

Work remaining: I want to add the special mirrors on the front, which will require moving the turn signals back. Possibly "dirty" it up a bit. At that point it may be good enough for what we'd need it for in Cupid.

 

There's also a quick animation.

SchoolBus1.mp4

[robcat2075]

Good lookin' bus!

[itsjustme]

Looks great, Chris!