Cartoon Character

[Shelton]

I saw a hand drawn character several years ago that I always thought would translate to 3d.  I have tried to recreate what I saw but of course put my spin on things.  Here is one that took a couple of evenings to create.

[CaptBobo]

That's awesome!  I'm not sure how effective those legs would be.  He looks a little...top heavy.   😄

[Shelton]

He really is top heavy!  

 

Here are a few more shots

 

 

[Shelton]

Here is the next phase

[Shelton]

Not much progress tonight was out of pocket today.  Just socks and shoes.

[Shelton]

Just a little more belt buckle and loops

 

Edited May 13, 2022 by Shelton
Wrong pic

[Shelton]

We made it back from a trip to WDW.  Came back feeling exhausted so I slept in this morning and this evening started back on AM.  worked a little on several things.  Finished the grumpy man's body and clothes

[Shelton]

The last 4-5 weeks included a trip WDW and then work at a part time facility turn into overtime.  Mix in two weeks of tooth ache followed by oral surgery, a little dash of flu with a pinch utter fatigue and don't forget an ear infection that lasted 4 weeks.  I have done nothing except watch a few animation videos.  I did tweak my old man slightly. But now that I have decided to move forward and feeling better

[Shelton]

So, to say things have been chaotic is an understatement.  But I will say coming to the computer and getting away from the world has been a blessing tonight.  I have worked on Hans and have created a hybrid rig from Barry Zundel's rig, David Simmon's Squetch Rig, Mack Chappell's Saucy rig and a little of Robert Holmen's ideas and my own.  I have just about half the rig in place and about 40% weighted.  I am getting Ready for the motion capture contest.  

[Shelton]

Here is an update.  Rig has been flipped and weights still have a long way. 

 

 

[Shelton]

This rig has kicked my butt.  From starting over twice to duplicating bones, to goofing up the concept to flat out giving up a couple of times.  Robert has encouraged and coached all along the way.  Add in travel and illness, a house that flooded from a washing machine malfunction, family events, I have forgotten how I did a lot of things.  For now the rig has been a valuable lesson but it is time to get the contest model ready,  I am watching several helpful videos to complete the contest but for now enjoy a happy Hans.

[Shelton]

Ok finally, Hans is now rigged with TSM2, weighted, and ready for the contest.  Video was horrible so I will reshoot this weekend and try to get started applying the video to the character.

[Shelton]

I have fun exploring with Hans

 

 

[Shelton]

Three of my favorite characters

[Phil]

Hi Shelton,

Love your work. I was hoping you could shed some light on adding clothing to your model. I've been working on a model for long time and would like to add clothing other than modeling as part of model. Can you share some pointers?

Thanks

[Shelton]

Hi Phil

Well I have dabbled in Cloth and the simulation.  It can be very frustrating as the simulation will vary from render to render.  I have learned from Robert Holmen.  He is the cloth guy.  He taught me to start with the model in a compressed state pose in the animation / simulation.  This allows the cloth to settle for the first part of the animation.  As the cloth is ready after a few frames enlarge the model through a pose to regular state.  Sometimes behind the cloth the model may have to be deformed in another pose to keep the cloth from pinching.  Remember the properties of the cloth will help with deflection.  

 

One thing I have learned is the placement of the cloth material on the model and the deflector group is dependent on the model hierarchy.  I have found placing the cloth in deflector group higher in the property hierarchy. 

There is a tech talk by one of the programmers of the cloth when they were doing TWO.  That really got me started.  It is found on the forum somewhere.

 

Phil, if you haven't been to Live Answer time on Saturday you are missing a wealth of knowledge from Robert.  I am going to send you question to Robert as he has quite a few experiments and tutorials on cloth.

 

 

[Shelton]

Phil

I misread your question.  I thought I read that you were asking about cloth.  My bad.  

Clothing a character for me is easier than cloth.  So what I do is build a model at skin level.  I then copy a section and paste and enlarge for clothing.  I modify the new section such as shirt.  Once I am happy with the clothing I then remove the mesh of skin under the clothing. Or use a pose to hide the mesh that is covered by the clothing.  Robert has shown me a complete of tricks that enhance the clothing such as a edge material that highlights the clothing.  

 

Materials are incredible to help enhance the clothing.  whether it is darktree material or materials from scratch they help cover deformation in an animation.  I am just now scratching the surface of how to use materials.

[Phil]

Thanks for the insight. Let give some materials a try. I've been using decals for my clothing