Short Scenes: Pygmalion Computer Graphics Project

#841

Hi all… I’ve finished the first iteration of the Covent Eliza… i’ve uploaded it to the FTP… its call Eliza_Complete.zip ~5mb

Can the animators please test the rig… If there is something you don’t like… or want some more control… let met know in the next couple of days, and I’ll go ahead and make changes… essentially thou the rig is fully functional…

You can have a look at this movie to see it in action

For the animators: When you get this download you’ll notice two character sets… one for the head and one for the body… I already have a clip loaded into each character… there are no keys on the timeline…

Have a play… and ask me if you have any problems…

Hope you like it…

Jamie

#842

Hello :wink:

I just joined the project and my first assignment was to animate a few of Fredy’s shots. I downloaded the model fredy.ma
The joints work fine, but I don’t see a way to animate the face? :shrug:

Any help would be very useful :slight_smile:

#843

Thanks Jamie! It seems that the patience is finally paying off on my end here. But upon looking at the rigged CGl in image mode (right now I can’t download…I’m still at work)…it won’t be a problem w/ the clothing isse. Her apron is seeping throught her skirt and the boots are showing through where it’s not supposed to be. Usually that would be a problem to make the “look”, look believable…

That’s not a real problem at all…right? :shrug:

But I can’t wait to go home and try her out…weeeee! :bounce:

Edit: Oh I’m rude…Welcome aboard Nemrc! :wip:
Whoever rigged Freddy will have to help you on that I hope.

#844

Hey guys, just sent an updated rig of the TaxiCab (Hope it doesn’t suck. :/)

And, I’ve been having problems trying to record a demo with it. I’m using CamStudio (The free version.), in the final recording. It’s VERY jerky. Like. 3 FPS. I have no idea why. Any idea’s guys? O_o

#845

Admiral Ra: Thanks Admiral! The rig is posted on the FTP site as taxiCab_Rig_v34.rar. This opens up three more shots for animation.

Wilson3D just told me that the original George B. Shaw model was made from polygons. So we can’t down convert from NURBS to make the low poly model. He did have another idea:

Can we discuss this here in the forum? The idea seems as simple as it gets. Is there something else we can do short of remodeling?

#846

Hi All…
I have a new assignment i have to animate Liza and the Taxi Cab (shots 29-31, Assignment 11) because GB Shaw has some problems:shrug:

Me109: Thanks for the amazing Rig… Can you provide a rig without any animation plotted to it, because the one on the FTP site has a walkcycle plotted to it…

Cheers,

#847

Hi!!

Thanks for the comments on the rig guys… Loulu has been doing some good tests and has found two problems with it I’ll have to correct!

1./ The big arrow on the ground is not connected… so you can’t move rotate the entire rig
2./ Request for a Toe controller… for tapping of toe etc…

Thanks Loulo…

omarhib: you can disable or even delete the animations information out of the trax editor, in this example there are no keys on the timeline :wink: Open up the trax editor… and the outliner… select one or both character sets in the outliner… Eliza_body and Eliza_head and then you should see the clips appear in the Trax editor…

If not turn on Auto Load Selected Characters.

While you have both characters loaded (by selecting them out of the outliner) so that you can see the clips in the trax editor… you can then… select each clip (highlight in yellow) and then delete them… or preferably right click each clip and choose the disable option… this will stop these animations evaluating all together…

Also if you right click the clip and choose to activate (clip goes purple) the keys stored in that clip will be transfered to the timeline for editing… you then can edit and when you de-activate the same clip… the keys will be stored again in the clip.

please note… you can lock in a character by selecting it with the triangle button… (goes red after a selection is made) instead of selecting it in the outliner… however this only selects one character at a time.

Last thing… very important… if you set a key while you have a character set locked (as above) or selected in the outliner… every channel in that chacacter set will be keyed… (every keyable object of the rig) this can be really annoying… so make sure the characters are not selected before you start keying…

Hope that helps out… give it a go

I’ll be updating the rig soon with some fixes…

seeya
Jamie

#848

Admiral Ra: Don’t worry about the demo, sweetie. :wink: The most important part is us animators trying it out…testing it and mucking it up to see it’s really animatable. I’m sure you’ll do fine and hopefully will be the last time…so that you can move on w/ your life. Hopefully. I’ll have to go check and see…

Maronson: Yes let us talk. Wilson3D is making this annoying dilemma of GBS simple as cake! That’s sooooooo obvious. You see … I can’t even toggle nor zoom in properly…much less in wire frame! This is nuts and bolts! And the thing is I could tell it was a polygon. On top of that…it’ll take me way too long for me to delete those unnecessary vertices, edges and faces. And that’s tiring! If I had to re-model the Englishman’s head…and had less faces…and it’s just the head … anyone working on GBS will be swamped in the Valley of Maya Hell! That’s a headache…

And you say it’s going to be too long to re-model from scratch?!? I look at my February calendar and…I don’t mind doing it…I wouldn’t mind that at all…but we’re in the shortest month of the year…:argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh:

So I for one go w/ Wilson3D’s idea. At this point … every day is equal to that of four months… :argh::argh::argh: Which unfortunately we don’t have!

Omarhib: Have fun w/ the latest rig of CGL! You’d think he painted a few places for weighting. But she doesn’t have any! You’ll be amazed…

Me109: How many times must I have to say this: Thank you! You’re such a help w/ explaining Character Set…you’re the bomb! I really like what you’re doing w/ CGL. I can’t wait to start my engines on 'em…i.e. animating both CGL & TaxiCab. And you’re welcome.:slight_smile:
Wee!

#849

Loulu79: Loulu! I really like your attitude. You light a fire under us all. Thank you. That is the kind of spirit we need in February. We should put an ascii version of Covent Garden Eliza on the FTP ste for animators who don’t have Maya 7.0. It will make it easier to find more anmimators.

Me109: Thank you for instructing us in Character sets and non-linear animation. One purpose of a Project like this is to push our skills up. We all appreciate it.

Admiral Ra: has posted two versions of the taxicab today. The second one is in .ma format.

omarhib: Welcome to the Project! We all look forward to seeing your WIP posts.

nemirc: Welcome to the Project! Nottoshabi says he will add a mouth control to Freddy.

You probably notice I’m not saying much about the Models and rigs. I spend 12 1/2 evening hours per week in the rehearsal hall as well as 40+ daytime hours at work so I only look inside the archives on Saturdays. That doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about you and your work and the schedule. I am. I just don’t have time to talk about it. Good work everybody!

#850

Hi all… i’ve just uploaded a newer version of the Eliza rig to the FTP

—> Eliza_Complete_08-02-06.zip <—

Animators make sure you get the latest version…

Mike: sorry mate but it seems that it’s impossible to save this file as a Maya ASCII anymore… I’m sure its because I’ve rigged it using Maya version 7.01
Basically i get an error saying that it can’t convert all data to this format…

Maybe someone knows of a way of doing this?

Sorry for any inconvenience… in hindsight I should’ve rigged in Maya 6.0

Anyhow this version Eliza_Complete_08-02-06 has the following changes
[ol]
[li]I’ve fixed up the Primary helper… now you can translate and rotate (to ‘almost’ any angle) the rig to where ever you want in space…[/li][li]She now has Toe attribute under the Heel helper… for animating a tapping toe for instance… have fun Loulu![/li][li]The hip controller has the Y rotation locked out now… it is now restricted to X and Z rotations only ( like real Hips! )[/li][/ol]

As always if anyone has problems or wants additions to the rig… please let me know and I’ll make the required changes and fixes…

With using the character set… Animators will be able to retreive the latest updated Rig off the FTP and import their WIP animations into the newest rig and continue working.

Things left to do…
[ol]
[li]finished up painting weights on the low poly[/li][li]convert the Sub D to a high poly and skin this high poly[/li][li]rig up the scarf thingy[/li][li]if time permits… Add fully automated FK/IK switching to the arms… (am working on script)[/li][li]and run softbody dynamics on the skirt etc…[/li][/ol]

Ok thats the update!

Jamie

#851

Loulu79: reports that Admiral Ra’s Taxicab rig has passed her extensive quality tests and is now certified for use. Animators should be sure they have the latest version.

Me109: Wonderful update. I’ll bet the part of the model that can’t be converted into Ascii are the animation clips! Can someone post this question on the Alias web site? Can someone post this question on the cgtalk Maya Forum?

DeathStar129: turned in some British Coins today. I’ll place it on the FTP site under props.

#852

Admiral Ra: Don’t worry about the demo, sweetie. The most important part is us animators trying it out…testing it and mucking it up to see it’s really animatable. I’m sure you’ll do fine and hopefully will be the last time…so that you can move on w/ your life. Hopefully. I’ll have to go check and see…

Haha! I hope the animators like it! (Still trying to learn to make good rigs. Right now i suck at it. :/)

If you guys need any help, i’ll do my bestest to help! But i can only help till march, then it’s…Well…meh…Have to go to the army next month…Cries DON’T LET THEM TAKE ME!sighs

Loulu79: reports that Admiral Ra’s Taxicab rig has passed her extensive quality tests and is now certified for use. Animators should be sure they have the latest version.

Yay! The taxi rig was probably the most fun rig i’ve done. Learnt so much from it too! I’m glad to have the chance to rig it! :smiley:

#853

Working on the night time scene. Just had tons of overtime this week. I think its almost over and I will be able to paint again!

#854

O.K. I am going to lay into assignment 16 tonight. I have not checked out the Taxi rig yet but it sounds like everything should be great. I will post a WIP in the next few days.
just wanted to touch base again. :stuck_out_tongue:

#855

Nice Taxi Rig Admiral Ra. Top notch stuff.
Here is a WIP of assignment 16. Let me know what yo think.

Taxi cab WIP

Feel free to leave Comments and crits.
Thanks
Wilson 3d

#856

Hey Chris,

Cool stuff, i really like it, but in my opinion when the taxi starts talking the movement of the eyebrows are a little weird, i guess that you have to ease its movement a little bit…

Great stuff you are doing here… Keep it up…

Cheers

#857

Just a quick note to everyone. I have a meeting on Monday with the board of directors of the theatre. If you are close to making a new WIP please post this weekend so I can put it on a demo disk and take it with me to the meeting.

Wilson 3d: That’s really sweet Chris! Neil Yarnal is making the background for this scene. I forget, did I give you a copy of his reference art? Here is a thumbnail.

#858

Burkester: has posted a partially rigged version of Col. Pickering on the FTP site. Now I’m looking for someone who can bind skin and paint weights on it. Any guest readers want to give it a try?

Rodney Brett checked in this morning with news he is working on the Henry Higgins model to make it easier to animate. He will see if work lets him get it rigged also.

#859

Admiral Ra: has started working on rigging the Limousine model. He learned so much on the Taxicab that he thinks he can do the limo quickly.

Most of the large set pieces for the stage production are now built. Here is a snapshot of Jean Sullivan our scenic designer. I took this as she came in to the set shop this morning to start painting the set. And yes, that is what her clothes look like BEFORE she starts painting.

#860

Wilson 3d, Taxi Animation looks cool my friend. But I noticed somethings that you might want to fix/improve. Such as;

  • When Taxi stops, he starts to talk immediately. I think it would be better to make it stop, take a look at side, then start to talk.
  • Too much eyebrow action my friend. It’ll become distracting when used too much. You may just well use a eyebrow lift when say “Sir!” or when he first starts to talk.
  • Is there a front and back squash controls on the Taxi rig? It would be better squash-down front of the car when it start to brake. You know, like real cars, just exaggerated. :wink:

Thats all my critique so far. :slight_smile: Keep up the good work guys.