largento Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 I often see cartoon characters and am seized by the urge to model them in A:M, but never seem to have the time (or a good reason.) I've thrown out reason and decided I'll make the time every once in awhile. :-) One of the ones that I've always wanted to do was Huckleberry Hound... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsjustme Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 LOL! Great job, Mark! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Rodney Posted May 23, 2013 Admin Share Posted May 23, 2013 Nice! Folks like to give the old HB cartoons a hard time but they are great stuff IMO. And the lessons of limited animation are highly applicable to computer animation. I wish the classic HB shows were playing today instead of some of the craziness they've been showing. Aside: Seeing Huckleberry here reminds me of Martin's story about taking his software to HB and pitching its use to them. I am confident they'd still be in business today if they would have taken him up on his offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve392 Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 Looks a nice use of splines Mark,good model Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted May 23, 2013 Hash Fellow Share Posted May 23, 2013 Excellent work, Mark! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefreshestever Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 the master of spline efficiency strikes again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fae_alba Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 How sad is it that I can remember those 'toons! Great job and O the memories! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largento Posted May 23, 2013 Author Share Posted May 23, 2013 Thanks, everyone! Those old character designs are deceptively simple, but they were really made for 2D and getting things like the front view and side view to co-exist is a challenge. Took me awhile to realize that part of the trick is that Huck looks slightly down when he's facing the camera, so you can see his eyes over his nose. :-) I don't think anything could have saved HB after the networks assassinated Saturday Morning Cartoons, Rodney. Besides, we're seeing how Warner Animation handles the HB properties after Bill & Joe died and it's not pretty. Thanks, Sebastian. It's just way easier to tweak the model when you don't have a bunch of control points. Same with doing weighting when you're rigging. It's less about efficiency and more about me wanting to take the easy way out. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyGormezano Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 He looks terrific! It's just way easier to tweak the model when you don't have a bunch of control points. Same with doing weighting when you're rigging. It's less about efficiency and more about me wanting to take the easy way out. :-) Amen to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted May 23, 2013 Hash Fellow Share Posted May 23, 2013 It's less about efficiency and more about me wanting to take the easy way out. :-) In A:M the efficient way is also the easy way and the best way! This is a fine demonstration of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largento Posted May 24, 2013 Author Share Posted May 24, 2013 Thanks, Robert! Well, I got back to him today and finished him up. I'm thinking I may do up a bunch of old HB characters and put them into some kind of poster I can put in my portfolio. Here's Huckleberry Hound in full. And for comparison, here's the wireframe: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largento Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 Hadn't planned on doing this, but thought it would be fun to Walk the Dog, as it were. :-) Here's a 90 frame shot of Huckleberry walking down the road. I modeled Huck with no knees, so I had to figure out some way to reload the foot without scraping it on the ground. I used a sort of clown like waddle and turned out the feet at that point like you would do if your shoes were too big. huckwalkin_s.mov Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Rodney Posted May 25, 2013 Admin Share Posted May 25, 2013 Nice. Another scene with a viewmaster feel to it. From initial idea to storytelling animation in two days... that's an impressive workflow you've got going there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largento Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 Thanks, Rodney! You know how much I love the old viewmaster stuff. Years ago, I looked into creating custom viewmaster reels of The Wannabe Pirates to sell, but the cost at the time was prohibitive. I just checked today and there are now options for ordering a single reel. They're still too high to make for sale (unless you knew you could sell lots of them), but as a novelty, it's not too bad. You can get a single custom reel with a viewmaster in a white box for $30. I'm totally going to do it! :-) The images have to be 1112x955 pixels. I can't find any specific info about 3D settings, but obviously a viewmaster just does plain old stereo images. The fun would be to make the shots as dimensional as possible. I once read an interview with the woman who did a lot of the sculpting work for those old viewmaster reels and she said they would use a single camera and take two shots from different angles. They would even move some of the elements between shots to exaggerate the 3D. Might be fun to experiment with that sort of thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve392 Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 Haha that walk works a treat ,love it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largento Posted May 26, 2013 Author Share Posted May 26, 2013 Thanks, Steve! I hadn't intended to do any of this, but it was a great exercise for thinking about how to make an odd-shaped character move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted May 26, 2013 Hash Fellow Share Posted May 26, 2013 The viewmaster thing would be an interesting give-away for very high dollar contributors to your next kickstarter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyGormezano Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 So cute! Nice goofy bounce to his walk. The clown foot turn looks a bit strange, awkward on the right foot, more so than the left. How would it look if you lifted/rotated his hip/pelvis up a bit more so that the foot can clear the ground? (This was assuming you only have one leg bone rigged, so there is no knee joint?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largento Posted May 27, 2013 Author Share Posted May 27, 2013 That's a good idea, Robert. Thanks, Nancy! I did play with that a little, Nancy, but the rigging is really basic. I cheated by pulling the leg bone up into the body, but I didn't have the ability to tilt the hips to allow for it. Afterwards, I took a look at a Huckleberry Hound cartoon, and he pretty much walked on the toes, so, his feet never tilted back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Good tests, Mark! And great job on modeling the character and keeping his 'look' in 3D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largento Posted May 27, 2013 Author Share Posted May 27, 2013 Thanks, Gerry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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