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My Project: Brash Lonergan adventures - Warning AI Discussion Possible

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  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    Cool work!

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182

    Thanks, Phil.  For some reason, I am having touble getting the ERC to link control of a morph by rotating of a skeleton bone.  I wonder if it might be the angles vs quaternion thing.  But it might just be the issue of controlling a slider between 0-1 with something rotating in radians.  I'm not even bothering with the Brash model.  I'm just testing it on a more simple mesh.  See the feet model above.

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    From the Manual:

    The ERC Modifier only works with a rotation method of Angles.  It is not compatible with Quaternion rotation.
    The ERC Modifier only works with a constraint style of FULL or NONE. It is not compatible with any other constraint style.
     

    Maybe the issue is one of these?  Or have you tried applying a large scaling factor in case it is actually having an effect but it is so small as to be not noticable?  ERC is very powerful, but not always the most intuitive thing to use!

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182

    Thanks, Phil.  Yes, it is very powerful.  yes​  I've successfully followed your video to control one object with another (see feet split object).  Your explanations are always clear.  Part of my problem with the morph controller is that there are so many options that it is hard to go through and isolate when something goes wrong.  That is the price to pay when a function has so many abilities.  There are a lot of boxes that could be checked or unchecked. 

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182

    Couple of options for eyebrows and similar details.  Here is a concept test of using 3D paint to create an opacity mask on the face for eyebrows.  For Toon III and NPR renders, a procedural shader may work for skin.  The opacity mask simply isolates an area for the eyebrows.  The procedural shader is a layer list.  I think a similar approach can work for lips for Toon III and NPR renders.  Here is a first attempt using a brush with multiple small dots.  I think the concept is OK but I should use a different brush.

    gg brow mask.JPG
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    gg2 opacity mask for face.JPG
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    gg3 brash toon face with brows.jpg
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    gg4 brash npr.jpg
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  • DesertDudeDesertDude Posts: 1,238

    You have made incredible progress Diomede - looks great!!

    Maybe you could create a custom brush in a 2D editor, or from a photo of eyebrows? Just thinking out loud...

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,996
    edited March 2017

    This is really impressive stuff Diomede, thanks for sharing .

    Post edited by Headwax on
  • VyusurVyusur Posts: 2,235

    Very impressive, Diomede! Your work inspires me to break with Blender (for the time being) and  begin doing something similar in Carrara.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182

    Thanks, DesertDude, Headwax, and Vyusur.  Really appreciate your feedback.

    @Desertdude.  You are right.  There are several good ways that reference eyebrows could be incorporated.  Your suggestions made me think that maybe a photo reference could be integrated with the 3D paint "stamp" tool.  My current thinking is to try to simplify shading by using a procedural rather than a 2D texture map.  In addition to the texture, ,aybe photo references could also help specify the opacity maps.

    @Vyusur.  I know you would do amazing work in C8.5.  I'd really love to learn from what you would do.  I've already gained so much from your Blender videos, especially the head and ears.

  • VyusurVyusur Posts: 2,235

    Thank you for kind words, Diomede blush

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182
    edited April 2017

    Some progress on Brash's transportation.  Similar to a train car that can be attached to any engine, future space flight will have interchangeable pods.  Many pods can be loaded in a single interstellar transport.  Once within a star system, the pod can be transferred to an individual spaceship (think of it as a rental car).

     

    Brash has a cheap old shabby pod - the minimum.  The bed swings down from the ceiling like a train berth.  The shower, the toilet, and his office chair all occupy the same spot.  The chair collapses and can be stored in the wall revealing a drain underneath.  His sink, stovetop, oven, and minifridge are so old fashioned that we can recognize them!  There is a tall thin compartment to hang clothes.  The other drawers have to hold all of his dry food and all of his personal possessions.  One of the slots has a wall safe (combination lock).  The unit on the right has a desktop and a computer screen that fold out for office work.  The half of the pod nearer the camera (not shown) primarily holds equipment for the functioning of the pod.

     

    You can see a lot of doors opening and drawers sliding in the second pic.

    jj01 Brash Interior Model 1.JPG
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    jj02 los of stuff open.JPG
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    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182

    BTW, Moxie will have a much more luxurious set of pods when she travels.

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    Looks good, but if it's designed to go into space, certain things need to be made micro-gravity (or everywhichway-gravity) safe, including the plumbing . . .

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182

    Thanks, Tim.  My design has enough moving parts to satisfy the casual scifi fan, I hope.  The chair has a sliding center to allow for bodily functions.  There is a drain.  I can easily add an extendable hose from the drain.  The drain is revealed when the seat collapses against the side wall to convert the spot to the shower.  The first two images show the morph to open the seat hole.  The second two show the morph to collapse the seat against the wall and reveal the drain.

    More discerning folks may be interested in the $30,000 space poop challenge prize.  The top 3 were awarded just a couple of weeks ago.  Brash may have to wear a girdle to remain regular.

    http://www.npr.org/2017/02/19/516064679/nasa-announces-winners-in-space-poop-challenge

     

     

     

    gg01 seat hole 1.JPG
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    gg02 seat hole 2.JPG
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    gg03 sat start collapse.JPG
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    gg04 seat collapsed show drain.JPG
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  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182

    Here is a concept sketch for the pods.  The oval represents a space station section.  The pod is put in sideways so that the section rotates and people walk with their feet walking on the outside of the ring and their head on the inside of the ring (sideways to the viewer).  Passenger pods can be as long as an entire segment, but Brash's is smaller so that it can be placed in a small regional pilot ship.  There are also freight pods which are typically the length of an entire segment or a half segment..

    jj03 conceptual pod.JPG
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  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    I like the way that you have thought this through, it adds to the realistic feel.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182
    edited April 2017

    I will be posting my attempt to create morphs for G2M and G2F that correspond to my custom Brash and Moxie figures.  The key obstacle had been that I didn't understand how to adjust the G2 skeleton because my figures have different limb proportions and joints from G2 default.  My figures have comic proportions.   This video tutorial by SY is one that I finally understand how to get the Daz skeleton to match the changed obj.  Pretty simple, really. 

     

    I have mentioned that I have some drawing guides by Chris Hart.  Here is a hero guide on the web (why oh why did I buy the books?)   https://issuu.com/miguelmartin43/docs/christopher_hart_-_how_to_draw_comi

     

    Anyway, here is the SickleYield video tutorial.

     

     

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623
    Diomede said:

    SOLVED - Split object

     

    Split will split up polymeshes that are in the same vertex object.  If a vertex object is a single polymesh, split will not work even if the polymeshes are not connected.  I had modeled the feet as a single polymesh by using the symmetry function.

    Right. What a great feature to have, don't you think? Kudos to the team for adding that one!!! yes

    I am absolutely loving your new edge loops! From a checkerboard mesh, which I must say really still looked great, to this well-looped new form... you've really been working hard, I can tell. Not easy concepts to switch into... but you're looking spot-on! Bravo, my friend!

     

    Diomede said:

    ​Inpired by Genesis 3, I have been experimenting with adding bones to the head to aid facial expression morphs.  Just as a test, I put a bone in the middle of the head towards the front, then extended bones for the chin, corners of the mouth, nose, cheeks, outer eyebrow, and iner eyebrow.  The following are entirely with bones, no morphs at all. 

     

    Morphs would still have to be the primary expression tool, but these bones could be helpful as long as the effect is kept subtle.

    Yes. Bones can really help or kinder the animation experience, It's all in how well the weight maps are configured. Sometimes less bones leaves more 'weight' to the few that we have, making smooth shape changes easier to manipulate, while more bones, well-weighted, might make it easier to get greater precision over small areas.

    I'm very uneducated when it comes to any of this stuff - having learned mostly from this forum and other online sources and books. That's where I'm still happy being stuck with using morphs - and if the morphs don't give me what I want, I make more morphs! LOL

    Seeing those major studio's rig with all of those little handles which can tug various weights from specific areas of the mesh looks like fun, but also looks harder to do - to me at least. But again, I'd imagine that college changes what is easy and what is, well... just plain different - like the way I do things! LOL

    It's a tough call on how specific to get with the rig structure.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182

    Thanks, Dart

     

    i have been experimenting with SickleYields approach as linked in the video above.  I think I almost have enough of a grasp of the basics to do a tutorial on G2M and G2F character creation with a workflow that goes from Carrara's modeler to Daz Studio morph loader pro and then back to Carrara.  If so, I will post it in the No One Asked Me thread later this weekend.  It is surprisingly (surprise to me) simple to do FBMs using Carrara even if limb proportions change - at least the basics.  Up until now I have been ignoring creating Studio morphs.  Instead, I have been editing the mesh directly in Carrara on a one-off basis.  This has prevented me from taking full advantage of the auto fit function.  With this SY method, will get much more utility from content acquired over time.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623

    Right, and it can keep growing as we'd create more FBM, JCM, MCM, etc., for anything we make them for. I haven't watched that one from SickleYield yet, but I will. She's just plain, freaking Awesome!!!

    I've been (when I was researching this stuff) addicted to Josh Darling's channel. He's one of the folks that does the official work at Daz3d for their figures, and does this channel on his own, just to help us out. He's awesome as well! Both are so great at explaining!  yes

    Both Daz3d's Content Creation Tools and 3D Figure Setup Tools playlists are also packed with great tutorials. It might seem that they're only for Daz Studio (because they are) but, in truth, since they relate to using an external modeler, that's where Carrara fits into the whole picture. But instead of exporting and importing special versions of base figures, we Carraraists can just load them from the browser!  yes

    Getting into this stuff I saw, early on, how the tools included in Daz Studio are a huge boon to figure users in Carrara as well ;)

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182

    Havent posted in a while, but have not abandoned the project.  Very excited by some of the discussions in the NPR threads. 

  • mmitchell_houstonmmitchell_houston Posts: 2,484

    This looks like an exciting project. Good character design and I dig the retro color scheme. If I may suggest, however, that you shift focus to some details in the comics format itself. A few observations:

    • In comics, text in word baloons is centered, not flush left.
    • If you want to use a ragged word balloon, that's cool. But you should change their shapes to indicate which is coming out of his mouth and which is coming out of his headphones (typically, a jagged-baloon is used to indicate radio dialogue). 
    • There are some GREAT lettering tips here from a professional comics lettering: http://blambot.com/articles_tips.shtml  (and Nick has great, free fonts for comics, too -- I acutally paid for some of his pro fonts).

    Regarding panel arrangement and composition -- it's okay, but you could use more drama (lower POV looking up at the ship in the panel where he ejects).

    I hope I'm not coming off as negative -- this is a cool looking project with a neat character design that most certainly does not look like the run-of-the-mill 3D figure with some filters run over it. This has a kind of rough charm that is very interesting and I would like to see more.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182
    edited June 2017

    Thank you for the very helpful information and links.  Please, I invite you to offer any other constructive thoughts and suggestions.  Did not come off as negative at all, and would be OK if it did.  Only way I am going to learn. 

     

    Here is an update on the Brash figure itself. The mesh, rigging, etc. is done, or close to it.   I have a low res and a hi res version that both use the same uvmaps. I am still experimenting with different texturing options.  I made one head uvmap that allowed use of Michael 6 maps, and one that could use a map developed from a photo I bought from that Dutch reference site.  However, I'm not sure I liked either.  I have a skin merhcant resource product from Daz that I am currently playing with.

    EDIT - here is the male skin merchant resouce that I mentioned - Forbidden Whisper https://www.daz3d.com/merchant-base-skin-essentials-for-genesis-3-males-s

     

    I have been experimenting with a couple of different clothing options.  I have not had much success trying to use "fit to" even when I start the clothes with the same mesh and same rigging as the figure.  However, VWD has been an incredibly useful add-on. 

     

    Base mesh (Low res with smoothing)

     

    UVMap that includes all shader domains  (Hi res mesh - allows for more detailed Carrara morphs)

     

    UVMap that includes a subset of shader domains (face, ears, head, nostrils)  (EDIT - uvmap taken from low res model room)

    ee01 low res version of brash.JPG
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    ee02 brash uvmap consolidated.JPG
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    ee03 uvmap just face ears head.JPG
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    Post edited by Diomede on
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,996

    Terrific work as usual, really enjoying seeing all this. Carrara is lucky to have you.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182
    edited September 2017

    Very important!!!! 

    Animation Group compared to standard Group

     

    If you create custom figures like Brash and Moxie, remember to use the Animation tab in the Assemble room to group the mesh and the bones skeleton.  An animation group has the ability to create, save, and use NLA clips for poses and animations.

     

    bb01b brash standard group no NLA clip option.jpg
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    bb02b brash animaion group NLA clip option.jpg
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    Post edited by Diomede on
  • mmoirmmoir Posts: 821

    Diomede, your modeling of the character is impressive.  Nice job.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182
    edited September 2017

    Thanks, Mike.  Has been a great learning exercise.  Your modeling tutorial helped a lot.  https://www.daz3d.com/carrara-modeling-tutorials

    .

     

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182
    edited September 2017

    BTW - just saw an old Jack Lemon movie called How to Murder Your Wife.  The plot is that Jack Lemon is a single cartoonist writing Bash Brannigan comics and leading a perfect life until he gets drunk and wakes up married to an Italian woman who does not speak English.  Comedy ensues.  Thought it was interesting that the name of the hero in the writer's comic was Bash Brannigan, which seems close to Brash Lonergan.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058212/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt

     

    and here is a link to the site of the comic artist hired to make some sample panels for the film.

    http://www.melkeefer.com/pages/film-tv.html

    .

     

    bash.jpg
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    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182

    Here is my Brash mesh side by side with the default G8M.  

    .

     

    aa01 brash next to G8M default.jpg
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  • VyusurVyusur Posts: 2,235

    Excellent geometry, Diomede!

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