WIP Dominique

[gaetan]

Dominique now has clothes. All that's left is to give her some guns!

 

The overcoat does not have very many details yet. It's a question of splines vs bumpmap and graphic.

 

The model is 75% boned, and thanks to the all your help, the overcoat will be boned very soon with Dynamic Constraints. My experiments with the test model were mostly successful.

 

I should have a small clip up by next week. Hopefully she'll be able to shoot the guns in a dramatic fashion.

 

Gaetan

[Paul Forwood]

I like this model very much, Gaetan.

Very economical splining.

I look forward to seeing her move.

 

Paul Forwood

[gaetan]

Thanks, as for the low spline count, I used to do polygon models on a very slow and old 300Mhz system. It forced me to design some very creative solutions to complex volumes. Now, I am happy with that experience, at the time however...

 

Gaetan

[jon]

she's looking better and better!

 

i do notice a few triangles in her nose and midline (top of shirt collar, just under her ribcage).

 

three point patches have a tendency to cause creases, so i'd scrutinize those areas, and remodel them if any weird artifacts appear.

 

-jon

[gaetan]

Thanks for the advice. For the moment the two triangles on the chest, upper and lower rib cage are in stable areas. They came from poor planning and I'm not 100% comfortable thinking in splines, as of yet.

 

As an example, the upper area where you connect the shoulders, neck, front and back together, it's a very basic, let's get them connected, sort of solution that I'm not happy with, but for the moment works enough to get to the next step: animation.

 

The nose and the corner of the mouth triangles are there because I need sharp creases. The nose triangle isn't presenting any movement problems.

 

The mouth triangles, are there because I've not figured another method of design for effect I want. I want that crease. It is slightly problematic in certain very large and dramatic shapes such as a yell but it works great for the more subtle closed mouth shapes like a shy smile.

 

Question: When the overcoat is on should I, create a duplicate model and delete any non-visible splines to reduce on the render times? I can smartskin both the overcoat and arms at the same time. My old way would be to delete any unnecessary data to speed up calculations and rendering. Any opinion?

 

Gaetan

[jon]

i don't ever think about using creases to my advantage, but the best modelers do... so you're on the right track!

 

i never noticed any big increase in render times due to hidden geometry, but i'm sure it has some kind of impact -- most likely minimal -- on the modeling and chor windows. you're really only talking about most of the arms in this case, so i'd say if your processor is over a gig, it's not an issue.

 

you can smartskin both arms and coat... as long as they're both associated to the same bones. some folks have been known to build seperate rigs for their clothes, and traslate them to the character. i'm not that organized. ' ' )

 

-jon

[gaetan]

I began by with the overcoat and the arms linked to the same bone. This made smartskin adjustments a nightmare because of the confusing array of CPs. So I've copied the model and erased any unseen splines.

 

The original will be reboned so that the overcoat has it's own set of bones. This is in case she ever need to let the coat slide off and fall to the floor.

 

Now on to animation...I have a idea for an add-on on the next release of A:M...how about a mind reader so that the program can assemble, colour and pose everything that I see the model doing in my head.

 

 

Gaetan