Pose Controller is a master plug-in that allows you to load, blend and save poses from a library to any skeletal structure. Includes mirroring and blending functions in a non-modal interface.
UPDATE
Poses help thread:
Further Pose discussion
- negative frames storage discussion
- lscript pose retrieval automation
Saturday, July 31, 2004
Lipsync MB 5.5 <-> LW 8 - part 2
Digging deeper I've learnt how to do the next stage: after tweaking the automated pass, tidying that and then manually keyframing on a seperate layer.
Immediately after the auto Lipsync you can plot it (dropping the frames onto the character) and then Edit those keyframes in the Fcurves window (deleting anomolies caused by pops in the audio, etc.) And THEN, start keyframing in a separate layer. The layers are merged at the end of the process, before exporting to another app, but the layer feature is awesome for obvious reasons.
It would be great if you could send the plotted animation from the Voice device (automated lipsync) to the Story window (big workflow enhancement new to Motionbuilder 5) but on the forums the Kaydara app monkeys are saying facial animation is something they recognise as needing work, and MB6 is launching at the Sigraph or Seinfield or Sigmund the Sea Monster or something, so that's good news assuming they do an upgrade deal. Which I'd assume they will the way they market MB.
Audio offset is a great tweak tool, doesn't seem to work in render from MB for me, posed question on the Kaydara forums, stay tuned...
Immediately after the auto Lipsync you can plot it (dropping the frames onto the character) and then Edit those keyframes in the Fcurves window (deleting anomolies caused by pops in the audio, etc.) And THEN, start keyframing in a separate layer. The layers are merged at the end of the process, before exporting to another app, but the layer feature is awesome for obvious reasons.
It would be great if you could send the plotted animation from the Voice device (automated lipsync) to the Story window (big workflow enhancement new to Motionbuilder 5) but on the forums the Kaydara app monkeys are saying facial animation is something they recognise as needing work, and MB6 is launching at the Sigraph or Seinfield or Sigmund the Sea Monster or something, so that's good news assuming they do an upgrade deal. Which I'd assume they will the way they market MB.
Audio offset is a great tweak tool, doesn't seem to work in render from MB for me, posed question on the Kaydara forums, stay tuned...
Lipsync MB 5.5 <-> LW 8 - part 1
I spent all yesterday doing a tute for Motionbuilder automated lip sync with the Voice Device, and took a lot of notes on the workflow to make sure I can do it again without any hiccups. The automation is pretty amazing, you can tweak it in many different ways to an extrodinary level of detail. Then once you're happy with the automation, plot it to the character and keyframe over the top in a different layer for expressions and offset.
Started a workflow sheet for modelers preparing character models in Lightwave for this pipeline. It will outline:
Phonemes and Expressions
- a minimum, then expanding on that for characters requiring more expressive face animation, more dialogue intensive, bigger parts etc
- clear description of phonemes using examples
Naming Convention
- so the models can be plugged into Motionbuilder and work, also saving time trying to track down oddly-named morphs
Also going to work up some demos/studies, logging hours to each stage
- setup
- first pass automated
- second pass keyframed
- final
I was blown away by Motionbuilder's power. In the last hour of a long day I worked out how go into a scene already set up with automated lip sync, replace the audio file with a different one, and tweak the settings to suit that file. 10 second audio files (from 10 second club archives.) So with a saved Motionbuilder file with the character model set up with phonemes etc all rigged up, we're talking about the first automated pass for a new audio take taking less than an hour. If it was the same actor and recording conditions for each piece of dialogue for a specific character, you could assume this time would be even less.
Started a workflow sheet for modelers preparing character models in Lightwave for this pipeline. It will outline:
Phonemes and Expressions
- a minimum, then expanding on that for characters requiring more expressive face animation, more dialogue intensive, bigger parts etc
- clear description of phonemes using examples
Naming Convention
- so the models can be plugged into Motionbuilder and work, also saving time trying to track down oddly-named morphs
Also going to work up some demos/studies, logging hours to each stage
- setup
- first pass automated
- second pass keyframed
- final
I was blown away by Motionbuilder's power. In the last hour of a long day I worked out how go into a scene already set up with automated lip sync, replace the audio file with a different one, and tweak the settings to suit that file. 10 second audio files (from 10 second club archives.) So with a saved Motionbuilder file with the character model set up with phonemes etc all rigged up, we're talking about the first automated pass for a new audio take taking less than an hour. If it was the same actor and recording conditions for each piece of dialogue for a specific character, you could assume this time would be even less.
Character Modelling Vid Tute - Colin Larkin's
Step by step really well broker-down tute, starts with the very basics (like "move tool") but is worth checking out as he goes right into each relevant tool, then later poly flow and edge tools. Lots of little vids around 2 meg each.
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Monday, July 26, 2004
Low Poly Cars
I made these for Shirow Project. Looking at them full screen I found I was tweaking them endlessly, but they will be way in the background so look fine for that purpose. Still to do spec reflec and dirt maps.
When my 3 yr old got up today I said look I made you a car. He said thanks and made me "drive" it around on the monitor for 45 minutes until I wished I could just will myself to die.
MB pose to pose
if you go too animation>pose control
when the box opens, and you have the character posed, click the create button. the pose is stored, once you want to have the character in the pose again, hit the paste button in the pose control box. say you have 3 poses stored. make sure full body parts is selected in character controls > paste the first pose> key it>move the time slider a bit>paste pose 2>key it > time slider move it> paste pose 3> key it
play back the animation
when the box opens, and you have the character posed, click the create button. the pose is stored, once you want to have the character in the pose again, hit the paste button in the pose control box. say you have 3 poses stored. make sure full body parts is selected in character controls > paste the first pose> key it>move the time slider a bit>paste pose 2>key it > time slider move it> paste pose 3> key it
play back the animation
Friday, July 23, 2004
Rigging tute videos
Rigging the Clavicle, Shoulder and Upper Arm
and
Rigging the Spine
"These are not "beginner guides." These are for people who have done some rigging and want to learn some more advanced techniques."
Note also watch XP trying to rename the file to .mov when you download. The extensions should remain .mp4 or the video won't play. In download window set "file type" from quicktime to "all files" and add ".mp4" extension, then download and it will play fine.
and
Rigging the Spine
"These are not "beginner guides." These are for people who have done some rigging and want to learn some more advanced techniques."
Note also watch XP trying to rename the file to .mov when you download. The extensions should remain .mp4 or the video won't play. In download window set "file type" from quicktime to "all files" and add ".mp4" extension, then download and it will play fine.
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Monday, July 19, 2004
EASY IK/FK blending
Check it out. He's talking about writing a tute, doesn't sound too hard though from the Newtek forum link.
UPDATE: Tudor has updated that Newtek thread, and also added to the Spinquad rigging thread
DOWNLOAD Tudor's example file HERE
"The only downside with this is that the hand deform bone and the arm deform bones are not connected, so you cannot get proper joint compensation or muscle bulging..
Forgot to mention this in the last post.
the FK (animation) chain should be set to 0% strenght exept for the hand.
the deform chain should be the deforming chain up to the hand.
Ofcourse the IK chain should not influence anything at all."
UPDATE: Tudor has updated that Newtek thread, and also added to the Spinquad rigging thread
DOWNLOAD Tudor's example file HERE
"The only downside with this is that the hand deform bone and the arm deform bones are not connected, so you cannot get proper joint compensation or muscle bulging..
Forgot to mention this in the last post.
the FK (animation) chain should be set to 0% strenght exept for the hand.
the deform chain should be the deforming chain up to the hand.
Ofcourse the IK chain should not influence anything at all."
Saturday, July 17, 2004
Normal Maps - Plugins
Newtek forum link
Normal Maps for Lightwave
Note that plugin page has links at bottom to discussions on various forums.
Normal Maps for Lightwave
Note that plugin page has links at bottom to discussions on various forums.
How to combine a photo and a cg object
And heres the Newtek forum link which got me there:
Why use skydomes, when you can just use a white backdrop?
Interesting HDRI stuff
Why use skydomes, when you can just use a white backdrop?
Interesting HDRI stuff
Skelegon Editor
Comprised of two parts, Skelegon Editor for Modeler and Skelegon Reader for Layout. Can create and modify skelegons and set parent relationships which do not have to start with the items beginning/end positions. One can even use the knife tool on Skelegons and set goal objects automatically.
Plug-in panel is comprised of three sections: An itemtree which lets you select, rename, hide, display, set goals, set color or otherwise manipulate the skelegons. A GL display with various modes which can also display the background layer, use symmetry and the like and finally a operations area which allows the creation, destruction, operations, information displays and various other options.
Here's BABELFISH
Plug-in panel is comprised of three sections: An itemtree which lets you select, rename, hide, display, set goals, set color or otherwise manipulate the skelegons. A GL display with various modes which can also display the background layer, use symmetry and the like and finally a operations area which allows the creation, destruction, operations, information displays and various other options.
Here's BABELFISH
Friday, July 16, 2004
IK/FK hybrid system
NOTE: This IK/FK hybrid system is still a WIP. I will continue to develop it as I use it in practice (I'm an animator, too.) Here's an example on how to use it: assuming your character is in a T-pose and fully-rigged (I personally use Christopher Lutz's excellent SimpleRigger), turn off full-time IK and make sure the rig still works. Next, select the IK hand control and move the hand along the character's side. Run IK Key on the hand control. Next, select the forearm bone and rotate the forearm so that the hand is at chest level. Run FK Goals on the forearm bone. All the goals should snap back into place and you can continue to use either FK or IK.
IK Key v0.92IK Key, designed specifically for non-full-time IK usage, creates and deletes keys on IK goals and their corresponding IK chains, thus eliminating the need for full-time IK in many cases. To use, select the IK goal and activate the Create IK Key (or the Delete IK Key) generic. You can also use Select IK Chain to select an entire IK chain, which can be useful for editing keyframes in non-full-time IK mode.
FK Goals v0.9FK Goals, designed specifically for non-full-time IK usage, keys an FK rotation and snaps all goals of the IK chain back into place so that you can continue to use IK on the chain. When used in combination with IK Key, it becomes the foundation of a hybrid IK/FK system that will allow you to use IK and FK on the same set of bones on the same frame. To snap all the goals without creating an FK rotation key, turn off Key Current Object.
IK Key v0.92IK Key, designed specifically for non-full-time IK usage, creates and deletes keys on IK goals and their corresponding IK chains, thus eliminating the need for full-time IK in many cases. To use, select the IK goal and activate the Create IK Key (or the Delete IK Key) generic. You can also use Select IK Chain to select an entire IK chain, which can be useful for editing keyframes in non-full-time IK mode.
FK Goals v0.9FK Goals, designed specifically for non-full-time IK usage, keys an FK rotation and snaps all goals of the IK chain back into place so that you can continue to use IK on the chain. When used in combination with IK Key, it becomes the foundation of a hybrid IK/FK system that will allow you to use IK and FK on the same set of bones on the same frame. To snap all the goals without creating an FK rotation key, turn off Key Current Object.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
SILO
New modelling package
$109 US
Looks pretty groovey
- Downloadable demo with 17-day trial period.
- Also learning edition (now at version 1.22) is completely free and has full functionality, though saves are limited to meshes with 100 faces and plugins are disabled.
$109 US
Looks pretty groovey
- Downloadable demo with 17-day trial period.
- Also learning edition (now at version 1.22) is completely free and has full functionality, though saves are limited to meshes with 100 faces and plugins are disabled.
Monday, July 12, 2004
Normal Displacement v.1.2 out
Newtek forum thread:
http://vbulletin.newtek.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25645
"Multiple texture layers with alpha did not work correctly, must have once again interpreted the SDK wrong...
I also could reduce memory requirements sigificantly and improve update performance a little.
A new option allows using the normals of the undisplaced mesh, i.e. previous displacement won't affect the normals (however this also includes bones from what i understand)"
http://vbulletin.newtek.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25645
"Multiple texture layers with alpha did not work correctly, must have once again interpreted the SDK wrong...
I also could reduce memory requirements sigificantly and improve update performance a little.
A new option allows using the normals of the undisplaced mesh, i.e. previous displacement won't affect the normals (however this also includes bones from what i understand)"
Sunday, July 11, 2004
LW 7 ragdoll thread at Cgtalk
"I was working on a way to simulate some rag doll dynamics in Lightwave without purchasing any plug-ins. We all know that out of the box Lightwave is very power full so I knew it could be done.
Basically it is body segments of a rigid material linked by segments of flexable cloth. It calculates pretty quick and my test dummy reacts well to most things I throw at it. Tell me what you guys think."
And the thread has the settings he used in motion designer
Basically it is body segments of a rigid material linked by segments of flexable cloth. It calculates pretty quick and my test dummy reacts well to most things I throw at it. Tell me what you guys think."
And the thread has the settings he used in motion designer
BOOLDOZER
BOOLDOZER
An "all in one" boolean operation plug-in. It supports all the normal boolean operations and adds functions like 2D booleans and knifing. It also works with objects residing on the same layer and supports boolean subpatch operations. Selection mode, continue, backup, auto-merge.
An "all in one" boolean operation plug-in. It supports all the normal boolean operations and adds functions like 2D booleans and knifing. It also works with objects residing on the same layer and supports boolean subpatch operations. Selection mode, continue, backup, auto-merge.
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Monday, July 05, 2004
Sunday, July 04, 2004
ANIMEFU
Anime site with reviews etc, has a good search function so you can suss out the titles you saw down at Blockbuster...
How to Finance Independent Animation
An article from AWN about funding and how the hell people manage to do it.
KVAALEN.com
His new site with plugs tutes etc
(The bloke who made Quick Picker PRO, the quick picker that comes with T4D, Expresso)
(The bloke who made Quick Picker PRO, the quick picker that comes with T4D, Expresso)
Friday, July 02, 2004
Thursday, July 01, 2004
TEXTURING threads
I never really looked at the CGtalk texturing forum until today. Oops.
The TEXTURE TUTORIALS and FREE TEXTURES Thread
Skin shading
Human Skin WIP
There's a whole lot more there, but those are a start...
The TEXTURE TUTORIALS and FREE TEXTURES Thread
Skin shading
Human Skin WIP
There's a whole lot more there, but those are a start...
Vertex Colour Maps
cyroz2000 speaks in a cgtalk thread
Vertxpaint allows you to add color weight to vertex and mix this with the standard color map.
"I used vertex paint to make a color map, it adds colors to the mode, you can also assign weight to blend textures (bump, spec, color...).
You can have a look at the vertex color map on the Lightwave3D website:"
"Vertex Color Maps" tute on newtek site
"A vertex color map is VMap type that lets you color the vertices (i.e., points) in your object mesh. The color for areas in between the vertices is averaged. (The Baker surface shader also uses vertex color maps.) You can see the effects of vertex color maps in Flat shade, Smooth shade, and Texture viewport modes. Vertex coloring is multiplied on top of the base surface color with its texture. "
Vertxpaint allows you to add color weight to vertex and mix this with the standard color map.
"I used vertex paint to make a color map, it adds colors to the mode, you can also assign weight to blend textures (bump, spec, color...).
You can have a look at the vertex color map on the Lightwave3D website:"
"Vertex Color Maps" tute on newtek site
"A vertex color map is VMap type that lets you color the vertices (i.e., points) in your object mesh. The color for areas in between the vertices is averaged. (The Baker surface shader also uses vertex color maps.) You can see the effects of vertex color maps in Flat shade, Smooth shade, and Texture viewport modes. Vertex coloring is multiplied on top of the base surface color with its texture. "
Welcome AVRIGUS
My 3D Doommetal buddy from Sydney who has taught me a lot of LW stuff.
Hopefully I can gain some pearls of wisdom from any posts he makes here, and this blog will make it easy to show each other works-in-progress.
PS, get "Hello" thru www.blogger.com ("how to post pictures") it makes it easy - you dont have to resize etc in photoshop, just tell Hello to blog the picture, it makes a thumbnail with a link to the pic on its own page, and asks you what comments you want to add to the post - and you're done.
Hopefully I can gain some pearls of wisdom from any posts he makes here, and this blog will make it easy to show each other works-in-progress.
PS, get "Hello" thru www.blogger.com ("how to post pictures") it makes it easy - you dont have to resize etc in photoshop, just tell Hello to blog the picture, it makes a thumbnail with a link to the pic on its own page, and asks you what comments you want to add to the post - and you're done.
LW8 Manual PDF
Click the link above, sign in with your ID there to get to the "Register NewTek products" page. There are a few boxes running down the page, the top one where you register stuff and then one for each product you have registered online with Newtek. In the bottom left corner of the top box is a "download" link, click that to get to the "downloads" page. Click on the LW8 manual pdf link, **Not right-click save-as**. A little window will pop up telling you its about to download, then you'll get the save/open option window. Save away. It's slow, seems to be down sometimes probably due to bandwidth issues, every man and his dog is trying to download it RIGHT NOW and simultaneuosly whingeing on 4 different forums at once.
The printed manual is $100 US, I have a sinking feeling I will have to order it even though my reseller assumed I would get one mailed to me. I think he was overly optimistic. I gather from forum chatter that the pdf download is the manual only, pay $100 for the printed version and you get an "exclusive" printed "tutorial manual" as well.
The printed manual is $100 US, I have a sinking feeling I will have to order it even though my reseller assumed I would get one mailed to me. I think he was overly optimistic. I gather from forum chatter that the pdf download is the manual only, pay $100 for the printed version and you get an "exclusive" printed "tutorial manual" as well.
Zbrush->LW->Fprime
Zbrush->LW workflow threads are always an interesting read, this is no exception, and links to some insanely cool work rendered with Fprime, of HR Giger's Alien.
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