"Live Answer Time" Saturdays Noon CST

[robcat2075 262]

On Saturdays from Noon to 1PM Central time I will be available on Google Hangout and attempt to answer/solve/demonstrate any A:M question you may have.

1PM-2PM Eastern time
12 Noon to 1PM Central time
11AM-12 Noon Mountain time
10AM-11AM Pacific time

6PM Saturday Greenwich Mean Time (while US is on Cold Dark Wintry Standard Time)

You will need your Google account and a microphone. You don't need a camera, I don't have one either but we can show each other what we are doing with screen sharing.


To access the Google Hangout, click on this link. You may need to load or enable a Google hangout plugin. It may work better for you in Chrome.

https://hangouts.google.com/call/cV_AN2YYtHmerYqal5ptAAEE

If possible, please add an avatar image to your Google account so you may appear as something other than a generic icon.

I will attempt to record these Hangouts for posterity.

[Rodney 197]

I hope folks will take advantage of this opportunity to have Robert answer A:M related questions live.

Sadly, I don't think I'll be online at that time but just in case need to dust off Skype and make sure it's operational.

I hope some folks will use OBS or other screen capture software to record some or all of the session.

 

Oh, and as a reminder... Satuday is today!

[Shelton 39]

I am encouraging anyone to take advantage of the nice offer that Robert has given. Robert has graciously joined our time as a "animation consultant". He is very generous and giving with his time and is very helpful. Every time that we have met over the last few months I have learned something new or have been truly impressed or inspired.

 

Anyway take some time to join Robert on Saturday mornings even if it is for short time.

 

Steve

[robcat2075 262]

Thanks, Steve!

 

 

Live Answer Time returns... Saturday, February 13.

[Rodney 197]

One of these weeks, I'm going to remember about this. :-)

 

I have to set my alarm because it's right as I get into REM sleep otherwise.

Too short but always a good time.

[Rodney 197]

Had a great time in the ol' Live Answer realm today.

 

I didn't post this during the session but as a follow up here's an example of a model I'm currently using to test hair.

Finding a lazy way to control hair length is my underlying goal but I know that sometimes the work just has to be done.

As Robert mentioned during the session, an image map (specifically a decal) driving the length property is likely to be optimal.

I don't know why I always stubbornly resist dong things the 'right way'.

Instead of pushing forward with a decal I find myself manually adjusting and wishing I could use materials or patch images instead.

 

 

In the attached the hair near the mouth would need to be considerably shorter in order to show that there is indeed a mouth hiding under there.

I've included the model/project but it isn't much to look at.

Kat.prj

[robcat2075 262]

She's a cutie!

[Rodney 197]

She's a cutie!

 

Thank you kindly.

 

She may not look it but she's the leader of an elite team of time travelers that go about fixing things in history that get mixed up.

It's lucky for us she's on the job because... not sure if anyone has noticed... things are pretty messed up.

 

(She's not quite as dainty/cute as in my original drawings so that part of her transition to 3D is still a work in progress.... and in my initial take she's a tad more blue/green than radioactive green)

 

Here an initial look with really really REALLY short hair (I think this was one of the first tries out of the renderer):

[robcat2075 262]

I just gave it a quick test.

 

i notice that "undo" doesn't work on guide hairs. It resets the hair to straight.

[Rodney 197]

Kat had to borrow a few things from Keekat (hands, feet and tail) in order to celebrate yet another (upcoming) Live Answer Time.

I was trying to channel Nancy for her dress.

[Rodney 197]

Among other subjects... hair was discussed at today's Live Answer Time.

And an interesting discovery was explored.

 

Here's a random test I did after the session where I was mostly just trying to explore a multi-material approach to grooming hair with the underlying goal of being able to create and adjust it quickly.

[robcat2075 262]

That looks very promising, Rodney!

 

 

 

After the message today about needing Skype Premium for group screen sharing, I looked up Skype Premium and found, "Skype Premium has been discontinued."

 

So, I don't know why that message came up at all. A ghost of product offers past.

 

I look forward to seeing everyone and anyone next week!

[robcat2075 262]

Because of the poor performance of Skype, we will be giving Google Hangouts, a meeting app similar to Skype, a trial this Saturday.

 

I will add more details as i investigate this.

 

For now... make sure that you have your Google account active (your password works to sign in) and that you can find the "Hangouts" app under Google "Apps".

 

 

[robcat2075 262]

Hangouts supports the Following Browsers:

 

Chrome

Firefox

Internet Explorer

Safari

 

 

 

For Hangouts to work you may need the Hangouts plugin.

 

See this page: Hangouts Help

[robcat2075 262]

Thank yous to Rodney and Roger for helping me test out both Google Hangouts and join.me today.

 

Neither app was entirely satisfactory, so watch this thread for further developments as to our venue next week!

TSM2Demo(Part1).mp4

[largento 59]

To follow up on what we discussed today, here's the first draft of the movie poster I was working on. Thanks to Robert for introducing me to the Diffuse Fall-Off!

 

[robcat2075 262]

What is causing those concentric rings on the texture?

[largento 59]

Not sure. It has a material on it as well as decals and I'm using FastAO. I would guess it's the material, since they do sometimes reveal patterns when you lower their scale.

[robcat2075 262]

Is there a "quality" setting like volumetric lights have?

[largento 59]

For the material? Not that I'm aware of. It doesn't bother me.

[largento 59]

You guys were asking me about doing a "live" modeling stream during one of these. I'm fine with that, but I was thinking about it last night and thought maybe it would be better for me to record my screen beforehand and then play back the video during the stream?

 

That way we could pause and fast forward and maybe get through most of it during the hour.

 

Also, I believe the capture software I have will show keyboard shortcuts on screen.

 

This might be something other folks could do, too. If we recorded the Google Hangouts, we could have some neat video content for new users.

 

What do you think?

[robcat2075 262]

I kind of envision it being fun to be able to ask questions as it's happening and chatter over it in a way that you can't quite do when even when you're group watching something.

 

Next Live Answer Time we do I'm going to try the Hangouts "on the air" option that records the session and see what sort of a result that creates.

[Shelton 39]

Do it live. While i am away, would love to see some others and how they model

[robcat2075 262]

Live Answer Time returns to Google Hangouts, Saturday August 6, Noon CDT

 

Approximately 10 minutes before the hour I will place the URL you may use to enter the Hangout in this post....

 

https://hangouts.go... sqrae

[Rodney 197]

I refuse to join the Live Answer session until that URL is posted.

 

BUT... now that it's posted I'll give everyone a few minutes to get connected and settled in before I click the link.

[robcat2075 262]

URL in previous post now

[robcat2075 262]

For Kevin... this Legoman PRJ I was using today contains the boned and flipped, but unrigged version in addition to the rigged version.

That will make it easy to remodel the arms in T-pose, then run Rigger on it...

 

 

attachment=70144:LegoManRigged12.prj

 

Update... Hold off on this, I've been looking at some solutions

[robcat2075 262]

And Rodney, I will continue my demo of TSM2 rigging someday for you.

[robcat2075 262]

According to Google, our hangout hasn't started yet so nothing was recorded. I'll try it again next week.

[largento 59]

So, I started playing around with the Lego model and kind of made an alternate version to play around with. Definitely not as accurate as the existing one, but still, it was fun to mess with.

 

 

I put in a very basic rig to see if I could figure out a way to make the arms work better. I ended up putting in a shoulder roll bone, a wrist roll bone and a hip roll bone to control the rotation of the joints independent of the twisting bones. I put in some hand sliders, too.

 

Might be something that can picked apart and mixed with the other lego to get an improved character.

 

new_lego_man.mdl.zip

[detbear 39]

Looks great Mark. Robert has also reverse engineered a more practical arm system.

 

I really want to begin building some phoneme Libraries for lip sync and expressions.

[detbear 39]

Could be really cool if we began building a community library that housed ALL THINGS LEGO. Models, Textures, Shaders, Actions,

Lighted Sets(for easily dropping minifigs into for nice lighting). I anticipate continuing to produce short films with Legos for a while.

 

I know there are a few 3D bricks done in A:M currently, but much more could be added.

[Rodney 197]

Nice modification Mark. Fun stuff!

Could be really cool if we began building a community library that housed ALL THINGS LEGO. Models, Textures, Shaders, Actions,

Lighted Sets(for easily dropping minifigs into for nice lighting). I anticipate continuing to produce short films with Legos for a while.

I know there are a few 3D bricks done in A:M currently, but much more could be added.

That's a fact.

 

 

The way the A:M Exchange area of the forum is setup, as things are added to the exchange they naturally suggest like items and collections of resources that work well together. As folks add more Lego related props and characters those should find a subcategory/forum of their own. Currently, there isn't enough of any particular theme or area of interest to categorize beyond the basic categories of Character, Props, Environments, etc. This isn't just Lego related... that's across the board. So, not a lot of same-type assets but we do have a nice sampling of themes and styles.

 

The A:M Exchange collection is roughly at the size where it might benefit from being refined for better ease of access.**

My expectation is that in time you'll be able to get at all of the various exchange resources through a live sync with an A:M Resources repository.

I've got a test repository working as a proof of concept but I'm not sure that will go anywhere. Most folks tend to create their own stuff so they can call it their own.

Still, it can be a great time saver to have an asset that can quickly fill in as a proxy and/or one that can be modified to fit the requirement at hand.

 

One of the primary reasons I like the A:M Exchange is that it's a place for resources when they go into mothballs and are no longer needed in an active project.

More than a few have retired their projects only to discover at a later date that they've lost those files and no longer have access.

By contributing resources to the A:M Exchange they remain accessible.

Of course there is a trade off as the resources added to the exchange become fully accessible by everyone.

Especially for resources that are closely associated with a specific style, person or project this can be problematic.

On the plus side, some folks do awesome things with shared assets!

 

 

**The forum's exchange was originally created to fill a basic need of sharing resources but always with the expectation that at some point it will expand. Its underlying design and application is driven by the need of our community which sometimes has a need for shared assets.

[robcat2075 262]

Friday the thirteenth falls on a Saturday this month!

We'll note that convergence with another Live Anwser Time, Saturday August 13, Noon CDT.

 

I will post the URL for the Google Hangout in the first post of this thread at ten minutes before the hour.

[Roger 23]

Live answer time today?

 

[robcat2075 262]

Live answer time today?

 

I will post the URL for the Google Hangout in the first post of this thread at ten minutes before the hour.

 

[Roger 23]

Derp...sorry about that.

[Rodney 197]

You've got mail.

[robcat2075 262]

Did you find the URL in the first post?

[robcat2075 262]

Live Answer Time returns, Saturday August 20, 12 Noon CDT

 

I will post the URL for the Google Hangout before the hour in the first post on the first page of this thread.

[Rodney 197]

Here's a link to the booklet referred to regarding Clothes and Folds.

I'm not entirely sure this is the one I was thinking about but it does have some similar categorization.

 

It includes 'the laws of folds' etc.

 

https://www.scribd.com/doc/31462832/Famous-Artists-Cartoon-Course-Lesson-9-Clothes-and-folds

[robcat2075 262]

thanks, Rodney!

[robcat2075 262]

Live answer time returns. Saturday August 27, Noon CDT

 

The link to join the Google Hangout will be posted in the first post of this thread before the hour.

[robcat2075 262]

Live Answer Time, again on Saturday September 3, Noon CDT

The link to join the Google Hangout will appear the first post of this thread before the hour.

 

 

Bring your questions, your show-and-tells or other interesting discussion topics!

[Mitovo 1]

Ooh... Not sure if I'd have much to ask, but it would be at least interesting to listen in. And who knows, I may think of questions as things go.

How long does that usually go for? Is there a minimum time, or is it just "however long people are able/willing to hang out"?

[robcat2075 262]

Ooh... Not sure if I'd have much to ask, but it would be at least interesting to listen in. And who knows, I may think of questions as things go.

 

How long does that usually go for? Is there a minimum time, or is it just "however long people are able/willing to hang out"?

 

I try to adjourn after about an hour.

 

You are definitely welcome join in and listen and/or contribute!

[Mitovo 1]

Hey folks! Just wanted to say I had a good time meeting and hanging with y'all! I didn't have much to discuss, or ask... I guess because my immediate concerns have been answered by not using a 10+ year old version of the software!

I'm sure by next week I'll have some actual questions to ask related to modeling or something that's, otherwise, not tech related.

See ya then!

[Rodney 197]

It was great to see you there Mike.

[Elm 7]

When's next?

 

I don't even know about all that google hangout stuff yet, but hanging out with you guys for a while sounds fun!

[robcat2075 262]

Live Answer Time returns, Saturday September 10, Noon CDT

 

Bring your questions your errant Actions, your confusing Chors, your problematic PRJs...

Successful show-and-tells also welcome.

 

When's next?

 

I don't even know about all that google hangout stuff yet, but hanging out with you guys for a while sounds fun!

 

It would be great to have you drop in!

 

All you will need to do is click on the link I post at the top of the thread on Saturday.