Whacky Super Hero

[Don Cassity]

Alrighty then.....got him rigged and did a qwick pose to show off his muscles:D Though after moving him around some, I feel that his triceps are a bit big. Will work on that:p Now I'm off to do some facial morphs.

Later, Don

[Will_John]

good tried and true style..

the knucles look odd.. did u smooth shift them/

[scone]

nice waky super hero :) thums up from me :D

[MorituriMax]

Is that what happens when the Tick and Superman have a Baby? Sort of a Conan O'Brien thing?

:D

[bobakabob]

Great work... what a fabulous chin! He needs a supervillian to conquer. Looking forward to the animations. How about a logo?

[Meaty]

hehe coool! reminds me of Todd Grimes stuff from www.evil-plan.com

groovy

[Don Cassity]

Just a couple more pics.............still working on the facial morphs.

Later, Don

[Don Cassity]

here is the 2nd one

[jrm3d]

I like your Todd Grimes Super Hero. Looks good.

I have also purchased the Todd Grimes training dvds from desktop images. These are the best character modeling, rigging, and animation tapes that I have seen.

Look forward to seeing your lip synching.

[Don Cassity]

Thanks jrm3d. Just to set the record straight. When I first started posting this character I did state that it was from Todd Grimes. See Whacky Cartoon Head. Though I guess I should have been more clear about it. Sorry Mr. Grimes. The training dvd's are great and has taken some of the mystery out of modeling and setting up a character. The only thing I did diferent on my version (aside from obvious size differences) was to give him an adams apple, and to make the neck flow into the torso. Also gave him collar bones. And I wanted to keep the mask and shorts. Just to see if I could get them to work. I have done alot of toy packaging art for ToyBiz, Illustrating Marvel super Heros. I'm hoping to recreate some of them in Lightwave and I'm using this character as a test bed. So in the future who knows............... :p And as far as the lip synching is concerned.........I'm curious to see out it turns out too.

Later, Don

[ptaverner]

Hey Don, GREAT job!!!!

I just finished the Head Modeling DVD, and I'm about to start on the body Modeling.

I have a question... The ref files in the Images folder are missing. I went to the Desktop Images website, where they had a download related the the DVDs, but that folder was empty also.

Did you get the files???? Are they missing on the DVDs???

Thanks
Peter

p.s. I bought all 5 DVDs. :) I'm a newbie at LW, but not to 3D.

[Don Cassity]

ptaverner. Thanks for the cudos:p My content folder was missing the concept art also. The folder was thier but it was empty:confused: I e-mailed Desktop Images and they told me to download the content directory from thier website. I did and the concept art was still missing :mad: I've yet to call them and talk to a human to find out whats up. Though it would be nice to have, you can get along without them. If I find out anything I will let you know. You do the same.

Fire out an image of your head model. Like to see how you did. And if you need help on the body let me know......though I doubt you will. I'm working on the last phoneme for my character. Then I'm going to see if I can make him talk;) Check out the thread "He's Baaack" for images of facial morphs.

Later. Don

p.s. you on PC or Mac?

[ptaverner]

I wrote to them also ( last night ) Still waiting to hear back. I'll let you know if they have another fix other than downloading what we already have. ;)

I'll post a pic of the head I made, ( which isn't all that good, because I'm still getting use to LW ), but when I went into layout, the model rendered faceted. I checked AA in the Cam properties, but it still came out all blocky. ( It looks better in Modeler. ;) )

Is there some sort of setting I'm missing in Layout????


Thanks
Peter

[Don Cassity]

In surface editor make sure smoothing is checked. That might be your prob.

Later. Don

[ptaverner]

Ok, I'll check it out. Thanks!

Peter

[ptaverner]

Desktop Images sent me the missing character sketch.

If anyone wants it, send me an e-mail ( info@petertaverner.com ) and I'll forward it to you. Or just contact Desktop Images like I did. :)

Does anyone know if this is all that was missing?

Peter

[ptaverner]

Here's the head I created.

Like I say, I'm new to LW, and as much as I wanted the head to look like the one in the DVD, it just didn't. So, I tweaked it a little here and there. Not too much though. I want to be able to go through all the DVDs without having any problems.
The laugh lines are there, I just pulled those polys out a little.

Aaaaaaanyway, here's what I came up with....... ( default lighting )


Thanks again for the smoothing tip. That fixed the blocky look I was getting when rendering.


Peter

Forgot to mention. I'm on a PC. We have both Mac and PC here. :)

[Don Cassity]

Peter. It looks as if your on the right track. Though I feel that his eyes and nose are too far in. Try moving them out some. Also the eyes seem to be flat. I think it has to do with the distance between the corner of the eyes and the temple. Try moving the temple in a bit. Also, on the left image there seems to be a pinch on his head near the hairline. Without seeing the wireframe to be sure, I'd say you could spin a quad there to smooth out the geometry. Keep up the good work and keep posting.

Later. Don

[ptaverner]

Here's an update. I just finished the 3rd DVD ( model rigging ) and I'm about to start on the 4th ( facial animation )

Aaaaaaaaaaaanyway, here's what I've got so far....



You can tell I went back in and fixed up the head and face. :) After creating the body, I knew enough that I was able to make some changes to areas of the head I wasn't happy with.



Peter

[Don Cassity]

VERY NICE! He looks much better. I like the colors of his costume. I took a break from my character. Have all the facial morphs done. Just need to go in and start animating. But I wanted to sart another model. See Mr. Freeze. When I finished with Mr. Freeze I'll come back here. Keep up the great work.

Later. Don

[ptaverner]

.

[ptaverner]

I'm really digging this whole character building and set up. It's a lot of fun. :)

I've set up the targets for the mouth and the eyes. I still have to do the eyebrows. Once I've got that done, I'll create the facial animation. After that I'll work on the body animation. Anyway, here are a few tests. Just some different looks. Once I get the eyebrow targets set up, I'll be able to give this guy much better expressions. As it is, I have all sorts of mouth and eye targets, but I really need those eyebrows set up!!! :)

Here's the small update..........................

http://www.petertaverner.com/posts/lw/ptaverner-character-tests.jpg


Peter

[ptaverner]

I just finished a quick face test. First time animating anything really, and of course, first time animating in LW. I did learn something though. ( I won't point out the errors, as I'm sure they're pretty obvious. :( )

The next facial animation will be the one I have planned. He'll be speaking the recorded audio, and his entire body will be moving around. I'll probably have that done in a few days.

Anyway, here's the small test I made tonight........
www.petertaverner.com/posts/lw/ptaverner-face-test01.avi

http://www.petertaverner.com/posts/lw/ptaverner-wth.jpg

Peter

[ptaverner]

I did a quick test tonight to see how the audio was going to work out. I read up on the keyframes and sorted a bunch of stuff out.

Anyway, here's a quick test. This isn't the audio for the piece, I didn't feel like recording audio tonight seeing as I had answers the questions I had about the keyframes, I wanted to do a quick test. :)

Here it is...........

http://www.petertaverner.com/posts/lw/ptaverner-face-audio-test.htm


Peter

[MarkJTaylor]

hey looking great. Awesome looking character you've got there. I've had a hankering to do a cartoony figure for a while now. I may get around to it one day ;)

Keep up the excellent work.

[ptaverner]

Hey Mark,
Thanks for the comps. Nice to get such good feedback from somebody with your skill. :)

I'm really looking forward to working out the whole scene I have planned for this guy. It may take a few nights, but it should be pretty good. :) ( fingers crossed ) ;)


Peter

[Don Cassity]

Hey Peter, any chance on getting a mpeg version of your face test? I can't veiw a avi. Anywho, your stills are looking pretty good.

Later. Don

[ptaverner]

Hey Don,
Thanks. :)

Here's another quick test I made tonight. You should be able to see this one. I didn't tweak the keyframes at all in the graph editor. This was just me having a little fun.

Now I have to get my REAL audio together and get his face animated, then tackle the body animation. :)

Here's the link..... http://www.petertaverner.com/posts/lw/ptaverner-test-scum.htm


Peter

[MarkJTaylor]

Hey nice work. Although your timing appears to be a just a little off. It has that "Godzilla is comming" effect from a dubbed hong kong flick. Which isn't really a bad thing, just needs a little more work.

Apart from that excellent stuff!


P.S I personally *like* the gozilla is comming* effect ;)

[ptaverner]

Thanks Mark. I didn't dope the track, I just dropped it into LW and winged it while scrubbing. :)

Here's another test I made. Thought I'd give the body a little movement as a test. Everything seemed to make sense so all went fairly well.

Same audio as the clip above.

http://www.petertaverner.com/posts/lw/ptaverner-test-scum-body.htm


Peter

p.s. It's not the greatest animation in the world, but for a first attempt I'm happy with the results. :)

[MarkJTaylor]

ptaverner::

I couldn't get the last animation to load. I don't know whether that's a problem my end, or yours.

[ptaverner]

Hmmm. That's odd. I'll save it out as something else and repost it.

Peter

[ptaverner]

Here's a quick Flash mockup. After it loads it'll play and repeat. :)

http://www.petertaverner.com/posts/lw/ptaverner-test-scum-body-flash.htm



Peter

[jrm3d]

Hey ptaverner your character turned out well. I like the animation. Looking forward to seeing more.

Hey Don, have you gotten around to putting any animation on your character. I sure would like to see an update.

Here's a link to a character that I am working on using the Todd Grimes DVDs. Endomorphs and me are not exactly friends yet and I am working on defining more definition and less subdivision mush. Oh yeah, I am also working on bigger guns.

http://vbulletin.newtek.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8920

[jrm3d]

Hey ptaverner your character turned out well. I like the animation. Looking forward to seeing more.

Hey Don, have you gotten around to putting any animation on your character. I sure would like to see an update.

Here's a link to a character that I am working on using the Todd Grimes DVDs. Endomorphs and me are not exactly friends yet and I am working on defining more definition and less subdivision mush. Oh yeah, I am also working on bigger guns.

http://vbulletin.newtek.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8920

[Don Cassity]

jrm3d. I have not gotten around to animating my character yet. Everything is done though. I just got sidetracked with the Mr. Freeze character. I plan on getting back to him soon. I have two other characters I want to start on also. So we'll see...........

Peter. Loved the flash animation:D Can't wait to see if I can do that with mine. Keep going dude!

Later. Don

[ptaverner]

Thanks Don.

This was my first attempt at animating. The more I look at it, the less I like it. :(

I have the Todd Grimes Body Animation DVD, and I'm about to watch it.

I got so caught up in moving this guy around I didn't bother with the last DVD. I'll be watching it tonight. I skimmed through it briefly this afternoon, and he seemed to be approaching the animation process in a different way. I figure it'll be a good thing to check out. :) :) :)


Peter

[ptaverner]

I watched the Todd Grimes Body Animation DVD tonight.

Wow.... there's a lot more to getting this thing animated properly than the quick test I threw together!

I have to say that these DVDs are very impressive! I'm learning so much from them. AND it's nice to be learning from somebody who not only knows what they're talking about, but also does this stuff for a living at a professional level.

I think I'll leave this first test where it is, move on to the short I have planned, and then come back and compare the animation that I create PROPERLY to this test I just made. Should be good for a few head shakes. ;) ( Should also take A LOT longer! ;) )



Peter