Plastic Animation Paper: free

I've played with the demo version of this software, and it is quite user friendly for a paper-less drawn animation workflow. The developers have released the full version of the software for free, no strings attached. I'm not sure if I have any readers at this point, but if I do, maybe you'll be interested in this.

Free download page
Thanks to Speaking of Animation for the news!

Back to basocks

I took a break from animating last week to make a few more sock creatures. I only remembered to take pictures of one of them, and here he is!

Smiley

Who's your dentist?

This is a WIP shot of the last major "character" of the project. It may end up having dozens of cousins, uncles, etc., but he will be the main attraction. It is loosely based on my memories of other artists' depictions of actual pterosaurs. So I guess that makes him (her?) authentic!

(What, you don't see the resemblance?) Image via Wikipedia

I did decide to go with a bold red color scheme for this one. It will have quite a bit more color once I do some textures for it. But that probably won't come for a while. I hate making textures, and sometimes they make animating less responsive, so I may wait a loooong time before I do them. Or if I get inspired, they may come sooner! I still have some more work to do for this. I see a medium-large crest in his future...

You're going down!

"You're going down, hand control bugs!"

I spent about an hour reassigning points to the bones in his hands. This will result in smoother, but not perfect deformations. But with the level of realism I'm aiming for, a few funky finger creases won't bother me. I thought I was going to have to reinstall the rig because of the hands. But I found out I just didn't understand the controls for the fingers! So after tonight I will turn my attention back to the pterosaurs and the zeppelin (which I haven't really shown yet).

Color Schemes

When I started working on this project I wanted it to be very "pretty." I tried to be deliberate in choosing my colors, instead of just randomly slapping different colors on different parts of the characters. The result was this outfit, which we all now know and love:

(Yes, I also mourn the loss of the suspenders, but I didn't want to fight them through the whole animation process. Only a few new frontiers per project, please.)

Back to the point. Today I discovered an online color scheme chooser. Using my base inspiration (the orange shirt) I made this monochromatic color scheme:

Kind of uncanny how closely my previously picked colors matched the generated color scheme! But it gets even more interesting. Here are shots of the critters I created for the project:

(In the interest of full disclosure, I tweaked these colors to match the palette, but the original colors were very similar. I just didn't remember the exact colors after-the-fact when I made the screen grabs.)

And finally, here is an overall color palette I generated based on the starting color (the orange shirt):

Yup. There's the shirt, there's the pterosaur, And there's the shark. I wonder what color the next major beastie in this project will be? I really was not planning on having a bright red critter, but now that I look at this palette, I'm seriously considering it. But will my artistic vision over rule the generated palette? Only time will tell.

Stretching

There are a few pose tests just to see how the rig reacts. So far, pretty nicely. There are a few strange things going on, but it look pretty nice to me.

Flight

well, the rigging went faster than I thought it would, thanks to TSM2. And my old wing rigging system works better than I remembered it did. So I have flight. and wings that fold and crease nicely, even when the pterosaur is in all kinds of crazy poses (those will come later). But for now, I am happy... and I need to go to bed.

Argh! It was supposed to loop so you didn't have to click "play" over and over. Sorry.

The Dark Night

In creating models to animate, there is a dark period. Modeling is enjoyable. My drawings or imaginations gain three-dimensional form. After modeling comes boning, rigging, and smart skinning. The controls for 3d are easy to think about as "bones." A bone to move the arm, leg, etc. But it isn't always easy thinking about where to put those bones to make my creations move like they should!

After bones, a rig must be created to animate the model. The rig is the controls used to animate the model. Most models get stuck in modelling limbo for a long period of time. (The oil shark was a notable exception. No legs/fingers/toes makes things go much quicker!) And then rigging a pterosaur... But after the night comes the morning! (Maybe he'll be done this week.)

Trusty Animal Sidekick

Every fisherman needs a faithful pterosaur at his side!

(P.S. It will have eyeballs when it is done.)

...RAWRR!

Dun-nuh, duh-nuh, duh-nuh-nuh-nuh...

He Moves!

I now have a partially rigged face and skeleton. It's a nice milestone, but it shows me a lot more than needs work, too.

Happy/Angry Eyes

I'm having fun with this guy. When the character begins to have expression instead of being a lifeless manikin, it is so great! He even has ANGRY EYES!

Fisherman

Another project I'll probably never finish... But at least I'm branching out this time. I deliberately tried to exagerate the proportions this time. The character-type is not original (hulking gorilla-like tough guy) but this type of character is original to my work. Oh, and he pilots a zeplin while he's fishing!

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I usually avoid literary criticism. But after I discovered this literary "gem" on the shelf of an airport bookstore I couldn't resist. A week later (online library reserve system to the rescue!) I cracked open this little "masterpiece."

Let me preface this by saying I don't normally read zombie/horror fiction. The genre is usually an excuse for gratuitous violence and gore. But the combination of classic literature, and zombies? I just had to take a look.

At first I chuckled. The juxtaposition of Jane Austen and zombies was hilarious. But as I read on, I found myself chuckling a lot less. Although the fate of the ever-annoying Mr. Collins almost seemed appropriate. (That's as close to a spoiler as I'll go.)

The text was about 80% original Austen with only 20% of the text dedicated to Zombies. So the book was mostly the original Pride and Prejudice interrupted by brief interludes of assaults by and/or slaying of zombies. But as I read on I found myself skimming through the zombie parts so I could get back to the "action."

Although I had not previously read Pride and Prejudice, I was thoroughly familiar with the story from the various film interpretations. So on the rare occasions that the action got good, I was never afraid anyone of consequence would come to any real harm, since the original plot was preserved in this book. The zombie victims began to feel like the red-shirt-wearing crew members from Star Trek--new characters introduced only to be killed off a page or less later.

The zombie element also introduced some other problems. The main characters could not be substantially altered, so the addition of their new mighty-zombie-slayer skills often clashed with their established character from the original. Just try imagining Jane Bennet as a vicious zombie-slayer. It doesn't work much better in the book.

In short, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is not a good zombie thriller. Neither is it the original Pride and Prejudice. If you want my advice, read the original. And if you want some zombie-slaying action, look elsewhere. But I'm afraid I don't have any worthy recommendations.

Old Sock News

The Frog is back again! This low-quality test is a page from the alphabet book i'm making for my son. Maybe I'll even get it done by his Birthday...we'll see. I have about five letters done so far.

My Review of K200D SLR Digital Camera & 18-55mm II Lens

Originally submitted at Abes of Maine

The PENTAX K200D, perfect for developing digital SLR users, offers an easy-to-use interface and incorporates award winning PENTAX imaging technology. With 10.2 megapixels, this DSLR features many of the advancements that are incorporated in the PENTAX K20D, including a 2.7 inch LCD monitor, Custom ...

K200D SLR Digital Camera & 18-55mm II Lens

Excellent for hobbyist/semi-pro

By Matt the traveler from Greenville, SC on 11/2/2008

 

5out of 5

Pros: Fast Shutter Speed, Consistent controls, Nice Features and Settings, Rugged, Easy to Use, Excellent in Low Light, Good Battery Life, Great Resolution, Wide ISO range, Good sized screen, Works with old lenses

Best Uses: Outdoors, Portraits, Home, Travel, Pics for Video Slideshows

Describe Yourself: Photo Enthusiast

I have used the K-200 to get shots for video slideshows, as well as during travel. Takes good pictures, even in low-ligt due to high ISO range. Grain is acceptable even at high ISO setting. Accepts old Pentax lenses, but works best if they have auto exposure (manual exposure is a hassle with old lenses).

(legalese)

Eye can see!

I decided that I needed to move ahead sans buttons, and give Mr. Hanes some eyes. Quite the dapper fellow if you ask me.

Mr. Hanes

This is Mr. Hanes. He is my latest weird sock creature. I actually made him over a month ago, but he has no eyes, as I have no buttons. I found socks by the pound, but I am sorely lacking in buttons. Maybe he will never have eyes. I guess that depends if he is destroyed by my son or not before I get some buttons.

The Frog is back

I am playing with the lighting on my frog. I constantly go back
and forth between a more "realistic" ray-traced look (example here) and a cartoony, flat shaded look.

Excuse the lable. This was a screen capture and I didn't notice it until after I had uploaded the image.