Old Character- New features... lookin good!

[John Bigboote]

I stumbled acrosst an old character and a cool animation- I decided to throw some new features on the render and see how it looks... (SSS and AO)

[Rodney]

Ha! I remember that guy.

Great character!

[johnl3d]

Great 1

[John Bigboote]

Here's the action. I think I used this in my 'Bus Stop' entry. It is a GIF loop- so I guess you have to click on it to get it to open and play... I was hoping the gif would just play straight off but I must have exceeded a file size limit for that.

[John Bigboote]

It is hard to see but there are springs in his nose and ears causing nice 2ndary actions.

[John Bigboote]

smaller... seeing if it will auto-play. I am trying to figure this out on Facebook too. I see you can link to a gif from an external link (like tumblr) and it will play without needing to be opened... other people are doing it but every time I link to a gif it appears as a still image... there is a trick I am missing!

[Rodney]

Yes, there is a trick to posting larger animated gif files.

The process is to upload the gif file first then go back in and edit the file linking to the initial animated attachment (instead of the generated thumbnail).

Unless linked in a separate post this will results in two images displaying in the post one static thumbnail and the original animated attachment.

The alternative (as you've seen) is to reduce the size of the file because if the images is small enough not to require a thumbnail the forum will just utilize a link to the original attachment.

 

So for instance, to post the animation from your earlier gif we would Right click and select 'Copy image URL' or whatever equivalent in the browser of your choice. Then past that URL back into the post and submit:

https://www.hash.com/forums/uploads/monthly_11_2015/post-3042-0-13788400-1447947855_thumb.gif

Note that in order to copy the URL you'll have to have posted the attachment.

At this point we want to remove the following text from the URL in order to get the full animation to link into the post rather than point to the static gif thumbnail the forum generates automatically. The text we are looking to remove is: '_thumb'. Thus making the URL posted into the image:

https://www.hash.com/forums/uploads/monthly_11_2015/post-3042-0-13788400-1447947855.gif

Which displays:

 

 

Bottom line: URLs with '_thumb' at their end are statically generated in the background via the forums code. This is because the forum has a set limit for size of images shown in via attachment... larger images then get the thumbnail treatment that links to the full size attachment. For gif animation I assume the code grabs the first frame of the animation (as if the gif file consisted of a single image) and uses that as the thumbnail.

[John Bigboote]

Trying Rodney's most-excellent advice:

HMM! It just worked this time... and the file is 5.5mb!

[stefff285]

excellent work ! what surface / textures did you used ?

3dpainter ?

[John Bigboote]

Hi Stefff, No... no painting, no decals, just settings in each groups properties for color, specularity etc. I think there is a matcap ambience shader on his suit... and I have been toying with Sub Surface Scattering settings for his skin which adds the red to his fingertips, adds white in his inner ears and other nuances. Also, barely visible- is a hair added to the group that puts a littte bit of stubble to his beard and scalp. Finally, I do a post effect for Ambiance Occlusion which helps to define edges with a slight amount of shading. Thanks!

[stefff285]

hello john

 

ok ! i have to learn soon about all this.

this software is definitly very good

 

regards

[John Bigboote]

another... SSS!

[stefff285]

extra !