VFS Animation Reel Character

[Heber]

are you term 3? looks pretty good , i like the design only thing that might need to be adjusted are his lips and how far back they go , when he opens his mouth it might look odd,
throw a quick bone chain in there and test out the face id say this is going to be an important part of your character's acting so its best to try it out early.

[Bartek|3D]

Hey Heber!

Yeah I'm term3 how'd ya know? Yeah a few people mentioned that already (including my wife!) so I threw a chain in there and it does work, but it is borderline odd. So I'll try pushing the corners of the mouth forward by 1 or 2 polys. I'll try and post a quick .mov to show the rig test.

Thanks for the input mate! ;)
Bartek

[Bartek|3D]

Here's a quick test of the jaw:
http://student.vfs.com/~3d52bartek/final/Conductor/jaw.mov

[pum]

cool character design,
i agree with what Hebs said, your character might have some trouble moving his lips( smile etc.)
and maybe the line flow should connect from nostril and loop around mouth?
I cant wait to see the secondary movement on the back of his Tux.
good luck ,

HB

[Heber]

oh yeah , definately need to push that area forward a bit , also how could i miss that you should connect your lines from the sides of mouth up to the nose , otherwise you will not get a proper "crease" for when your charcter smiles. Great design btw ill keep an eye out for your presentation , best of luck

[Bartek|3D]

maybe the line flow should connect from nostril and loop around mouth?


Yeah, you're totally right, thanks for the tip. I did the model in about 3 hours so I still have a long way to go! Besides, you seem to know what you're doing :D ! (wicked orc & beast, not to mention the maquettes...bloody crazy).

Thank you both for your help. I'll post some updates when I can!

[Bartek|3D]

I'm working on redirecting the lineflow and fixing 5 sided polys, but I'm still having issues :P. I want the lips to have a hard edge, but due to so many lines around the corner of the lips, I think I'm having some sharp creases goin on. Any suggestions?
http://student.vfs.com/~3d52bartek/final/Conductor/web_wires1.jpg

[pum]

hm, try to delete some of the lines on the lip and around it, I think you can delete some and tweak the wire so the shape doesnt change.
and if you are stuck already , try using smooth and relax. they might come handy

[Bartek|3D]

Wow, thanks for the smooth/relax tip! Didn't even know that existed. I think it's a conspiracy, and Paul is trying to make our modeling classes harder by not telling us these things! :argh:

I'll post some more progress later, thanks for your help HB.

[Bartek|3D]

Did some more work on him! I cleaned up the lineflow, shortened the length of the lips and did other stuff. What do you think?
http://student.vfs.com/~3d52bartek/final/Conductor/web_hires2.jpg

[Sanghoon]

I love the design..

It's funny that I love big head characters...
but I do not want to animate another big head character for a while..

Good thing you are already working on your character~~
Keep it up~~

[Bartek|3D]

[QUOTE=Sanghoon]I love the design..
[QUOTE]

Thank you, that's really nice to hear! :)
I'm still trying to work it out around the eyes and the eyebrow area. Also, I'll probably be doing a test with and without a chin. Because I think I like the no-chin design too.

[cpaulson]

wow great changes on those lips, he looks much nicer now. good job.

[pum]

good job on the update, the line flow seems to work now :)

cheers,
HB

[Bartek|3D]

Thanks guys!

HB: Lol, it's funny we haven't met yet, but I'm just across the hall in Classroom 2! :D

[vitorvilela]

Hey Bartek :D

Awesome character... Show us more :D

PS. I've replied your mail

C-Ya
Vitor Vilela

[Michael Miller]

heh, love the style man, looks great, nice concept, i just think u neet to get rid of that harsh seam-line down the middle of him:thumbsup:

[Bartek|3D]

heh, love the style man, looks great, nice concept, i just think u neet to get rid of that harsh seam-line down the middle of him:thumbsup:

Lol, I just merged the two halves, but that'll be fixed! :eek:

Vitor: Thanks for your email! I'll keep in touch :)!

[Bartek|3D]

Alright, did some more work! :thumbsup:
I think I was getting too caught up on making his facial features too "realistic", and that's not what I want. I basically want a character that looks like a human, but has a stylized design.
So I added some harder edges to the nose to match the lip design and made his pupils a little larger. I'll still work on the style more, but I'd like to hear your input!

What do you like about him? Do you like the larger pupils? How is the style? Length of the nose ok? Do you like the harder edges (a la Mr.Incredible!)? Please tell me what you think. I'm in one of those phases where I'm looking at him soo much that I don't know what looks good and what doesn't anymore, that's why I need crits! ;)

Thanks alot guys & gals!

*EDIT: I should mention that I'm currently only working on the face, the eyebrows and the hair are just placeholders until I get to them!

http://student.vfs.com/~3d52bartek/final/Conductor/web_hires3.jpg

[pum]

Hi Bartek,
the style is totally up to you, I love either way( hard edge or not)
On the eye, I like it with large pupil(more cartoony), make sure you texture it well, I think it will give the character more characteristic( Try to look at the annoying thing's eyeball)
http://turboforce3d.com/annoying/index.htm

cheers,
HB

[Bartek|3D]

Hey H,

Thanks for the tip! I'm not quite sure what I'll do with the eyes yet, but I'm definitely going to make them the most realistic out of the whole face since they express emotion the most. I do think I'll replace the one large pupil with an iris and a pupil.

[Bartek|3D]

Ok, I need input from you guys. I can't decide which one I like better?! I tried the updated model with the original neck design (no neck). So please tell me which one you like better?! The one with the thin neck (look at above posts) or the this one with no neck? I hate choice! :D

http://student.vfs.com/~3d52bartek/final/Conductor/noneck1.jpg
http://student.vfs.com/~3d52bartek/final/Conductor/noneck2.jpg

[pum]

Hey Bartek,
I like the older version of the neck better, the new one looks like the mushroom dude that Paul made us model in term 3( I dont know whether he gave you the test or not this term)

[Bartek|3D]

Lol, yeah we did do him :P
Thanks for your input man, anyone else?

[fabianloing]

hi there,

this is a good character for animation i would say. keep it coming! by the way, i agree with herbert, i like the first version of the neck way better than the second one. it really does look like the mushroom assignment. other than that, good job!Good character design too!

-Fab :thumbsup:

[cstkto]

Hi I think you should keep the original with a chin it looks much better the only thing that I would say is that his nose should go down further as in your original sketch so he has a real beak like nose but it is a style call.

But looking good keep up the good work

[Bartek|3D]

A little update!
I added ears, gums/teeth, a tongue, refined the eyelids, and I started weighting the head a bit to test it's limits. Crits would be appreciated! ;)

http://student.vfs.com/~3d52bartek/final/Conductor/web_hires4.jpg

[pum]

very nice bartek, I am happy to see you finally go with the one with chin and jaw.
If you realy want to get ahead from everybody , I would suggest also start making blend shape for him.:)

cheers,
HB

[Bartek|3D]

Yeah that's what I'm trying to do over the break, but it's taking longer than I expected!
I'm having issues making his eyelids work right now, that's my biggest setback from getting my shapes started.

I'm trying to weight the lid to a null and rotate it (since it's a perfect sphere), but it's harder than it sound. I thought about just shapes, but it'll most likely crash since it has such a long way to travel.

I'd love to hear some tips on how I could get this done easily? I'm constantly looking at Finding Nemo reference because there are alot of fish in the movie with almost identical eyeballs to mine.

[pum]

hmm, i never weight it with a null,
did Paul ever gave you guys the smurf assignment? I think he used lattice for the eyelid. If you have msn, I can give you the scene file if you want

[Bartek|3D]

We never got that assignment. I did ask Paul for his help, and he said he tried lattices and it didn't seem to work?! I'd like to see the smurf assignment tho if you don't mind! :)

Here's my msn: spiderman2006@hotmail.com

[Bartek|3D]

Update! :D Crits anyone?

http://student.vfs.com/~3d52bartek/final/Conductor/full_body1.jpg
http://student.vfs.com/~3d52bartek/final/Conductor/full_body4.jpg

[ThomasMahler]

Just keep going man, I'm watching you... :)

The gloves are a little too big, even for a stylized character.

[Heber]

hey bartek ,
its looking really good , i agree with the above comment about the gloves, are his hands going to be disjointed (olive oil from popeye) because if they are than thats cool , could make for some very interesting animation ,
If not you shiould think about tapering them a little more to make the arm more separate from the forearm.
I think you could benefit alot from giving him shoulders (or more apparent ones) , really think about that since shoulders play a big part in acting. You can get alot of expression/subtlety from just shrugging and so on.
Well best of luck as you start your demo , ill keep an eye on your progress, it looks promising. :)

[LowJacK]

Every crit I had has been addressed in each new update you post. He really seems to be taking shape quite nicely and starting to have some attitude. Keep it going!

I might change the upper eyefold/eyelid, where is blends into the temple area.

P.S. Say hi to Magic. Class 32 booyaa!

[Bartek|3D]

Just keep going man, I'm watching you... :)

The gloves are a little too big, even for a stylized character.
I'm starting to see that now, I'll start shaping the fingers and shrink the whole hand. Thanks!

hey bartek ,
its looking really good , i agree with the above comment about the gloves, are his hands going to be disjointed (olive oil from popeye) because if they are than thats cool , could make for some very interesting animation ,
If not you shiould think about tapering them a little more to make the arm more separate from the forearm.
I think you could benefit alot from giving him shoulders (or more apparent ones) , really think about that since shoulders play a big part in acting. You can get alot of expression/subtlety from just shrugging and so on.
Well best of luck as you start your demo , ill keep an eye on your progress, it looks promising. :)

I think you're right about the shoulders. I always wanted some shoulders in him, but I will try and define them more for sure. I'll post new updated with the hands soon.

Every crit I had has been addressed in each new update you post. He really seems to be taking shape quite nicely and starting to have some attitude. Keep it going!

I might change the upper eyefold/eyelid, where is blends into the temple area.

P.S. Say hi to Magic. Class 32 booyaa!

Thanks mate! I know what you mean about the eyelid, but I'm not sure how to tackle it? I guess I'm just having some probs with the size of his eyes with respect to his strange head shape. I'll definitely say hi to Magic from you, he's a cool guy! (who should I say it's from?)

Thanks alot for the crits everyone, it's the only way I'll be able to make this demo reel better than awesome! :bounce:

Stay tuned for more updates...

[pum]

hey hey there, looking much better now, almost there, Bartek :)
This might be only me , but maybe he could get some more hip? so he can have some more noticable hip action going?just a thought


cheers,
HB

ps:its hard to get on cgtalk nowdays, if you know what i mean :)

[thesuit]

This is looking great... the hands are a bit too big but the overall look of it is comming along awesome.
Sorry for the stupid question... if you mentioned it before i missed it... what software are you using for modelling and what do u plan to use for animation? I ask out of curiosity only...

are you planning to map the hair with more realistic hairlines or keep it a solid looking structure, cause either way done well would look cool...

[Robken]

well, I always set up my eyes this way

I create a bone and parent the eyeball to it, I use that bone to rotate the eye. then I create 2 extra joints in exactly the same position as the first joint. those control the upper and lower lid rotation.

I weight the vertices to the right joint, and then use these joints to open close the lids. this mostly works, but the bigger the eye, the more problems you'll get.

this is because points that are weighted 50% to a bone, don't follow the bone in an arc, (as you would expect). they create a straight line between the 0 and 100% rotation. what you could do is add another bone in the same position, weight the poking vertices to it and make the bone follow your orginal eyelid bone by 50% using an expression :)

it's the same way as jason osipa does it, it's explained very nicely in his book.
hope it helps :s

[Bartek|3D]

Thanks for the help man! :)
I did exactly that, and now his eyes can blink. yay!
I also started to rig him up yesterday so I can start posing him out for the animatic. Face shapes are next I think.
http://student.vfs.com/~3d52bartek/final/Conductor/pose1a.jpg

http://student.vfs.com/~3d52bartek/final/Conductor/pose1b.jpg

[Scotcho]

Looking great Bartek, his body figure suits well as a conductor. His face has a lot of potential to show lots of expression, looking forward to your face shapes. Hope you have as much fun making them as I do.

AdamS.

[JBoskma]

Nice character, looking forward to your reel :)

[Scotcho]

oh he's already done.. he was last terms grad. I'm sure you can find his reel on his site.

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