Artists

Cool. After thunderdome I might start working on this.

HEh, I might even enter this. Or just paint one, I dunno.

*paints a naked woman in chocolate*

Scott.

@rexn0r, look closer, that is not chocolate

I still remain very dubious about all live action anime projects. Akira is one that really shouldn't be done. Evangelion isn't too bad an idea, but am still very unsure about it. The live action Transformers could actually be interesting though.

I loved Evangelion, but not for the same reason most people do. I really couldn't care lessabout the giant mecha and aliens. I just loved the character developement and the story line. Plus every single character in it ends up being really fucked up :D

It was a pretty cool show i though and the storyline was bizarre but good, however. I must admit it was kind of a kinky show, but thats anime for you. I mean Akira was like that.

The most confusing anime i have watched so far was Perfect Blue on SBS, my god that did not make sense one bit no matter which way you look at it.

Perfect Blue is awesome. Even people who religiously hate anime like Perfect Blue. It made perfect sense (no pun intended). What did you have difficulties understanding?

quote:Originally posted by Aven

Perfect Blue is awesome. Even people who religiously hate anime like Perfect Blue. It made perfect sense (no pun intended). What did you have difficulties understanding?

The whole freaking storyline! lol

It didnt make sense. Shes a singer then an actress then her manager tries to kill her while running on lightposts, but her manager is her. Doesnt make much sense too me [;)]

The best anime movie i have seen is Metropolis by the father of anime, Osamu Tazuka. That movie was great because i watched it in the cinema at Civic. Even if it was subtitled it was good [:)].

I saw perfect blue and i got it, creepy but i got it.

Akira would be a bit... odd live if u ask me, then again i think all animies have a potential to be mega cheesy powerangers affaird when taken live. Anyone whos seen the guyver live action would agree with me :P

lol, I still remember guyver live action - RHINO MAN! My god that was horrid. I still have the scars :/

Oh yeah Guyver, I saw that, it was like power rangers with blood and bad language, one of the worst films ever

heh heh i remember the rhino dude, the funniest part would probably have to be when he was fighting the zoianoids in the forest (was that the rhino dude?) because it looked so b-grade. Guys in rubber suits beating each other up :P

also a lot of people are hyped about the transformers thing, i know theres plenty of older people who like it but today target audience for transformers is kids, so im expecting a kiddie movie there anyway

quote:Originally posted by Aven

Perfect Blue is awesome. Even people who religiously hate anime like Perfect Blue.

Hehe you can say 'Bob or Matt.' Perfect Blue was cool.

Err, not fussed either way on this project.. But if anyone can do it, Weta can.

The only problem i had with perfect blue is that she woke up about 10 times, but never fell asleep...

I feel that the "Huh!?! Oh, it was all a dream... or was it?" story mechanic is the cheapest nasties of the lot.

cheers

dont forget to add the spoiler tags people!

Anyone seen the live version of Fist of the Northstar? I haven't seen it, but the reviews and the pictures I've seen of it were pretty poor. [:)] It was a considerably low budget movie though.
I still wouldn't mind live versions of Akira and other anime classics, but only if they were done right. Keep the spirit of the movie, don't dumb or water the story down, and throw in lots of stuff that will amaze us (great set designs, CGI etc). I wouldn't mind seeing a live version of Macross either! Make it a trilogy at least though. [;)]

Speaking of another anime -> live movie...

quote:"Filmmaker James Cameron is finally preparing his next feature six years after his Titanic broke worldwide box office records. Cameron hopes to start shooting the untitled project - which he described to Daily Variety as "a big budget science fiction film with a pile of special effects" - later this year for 20th Century Fox using high-definition 3D video cameras. Cameron announced his plans to sci-fi buffs on Tuesday during a question-and-answer session following a special Hollywood screening of his Terminator 2: Judgment Day."

Could this be Battle Angel Alita??! James Cameron had an interest in doing a live version of it.

dont know but ive got faith that cameron will bring the goods. Specially when he calls it "a big budget science fiction film with a pile of special effects" :P

i hope that sentence ends with "and a good story"

James Cameron portray of powerful women borders on infantile, he like the whole ?I?m a powerful woman therefore I am attractive and use my sexual allure to achieve my goals? as aposed to the ?I am a strong independent woman? type. I?d rather not see Alita receive that kind of treatment., especially when you combine it with the guys limited knowledge of cyberpunk esk setting (he thinks he knows which makes it worse) .

Pantmonger

Thats just because you hated Dark Angel isn't it Pants [:P]

Maybe. [^]

But his writing in strange days left a lot to be desired with his understanding (lack) of the cyberpunk genre and bad stereotyping of gender roles.

Pantmonger

Yes he is an infidel, he must be stopped!! But can I still admire Jessica Alba Mr Pants? Plllleeeaaaaassseeee???? [:P]

James Cameron has done some good movies. [:)] He's a pretty anal guy with details, and definately a perfectionist, so most actors find him hard to work with because of this. Anyway, I reckon a movie like B.A.A would be in great hands with James Cameron! You could do much, much worse for a director [:)]
Yeh, Strange Days was pretty uncompelling, I must say.

I think I'll have to disagree with you Pants. I don't see sexual allure getting anything for Ripley, Sarah Conner (esp in T2), Mary Elizabeth M's character in the Abyss, or Angela Bassett's character in Strange Days.

I am forgiving (in the "lets just pretend it never happened" way) of Strange Days (as it was written but not directed by James Cameron) and Dark Angel (which is for TV so cannot afford the time for the special effects or perfectionism JC is renouned for, not that I think he has much to do with the day to day production of it).

And for sure I am biased.

I have never used LW, but would love to give it a go one day.

Always check out the creator's website first. They will either have some good tutes or links to good tutes.

Here are some general 3D links as well as a few that I just found by doing a bit of browsing.
www.cgtalk.com
www.cgchannel.com
www.highend3d.com
http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/
http://www.luxology.net/index_d.aspx
http://cube.phlatt.net/forums/spiraloid/index.php

Don't be afriad to look and try things out.

Well If you got the manual with it thats the best place to start, if you didnt it might actually be on the disk in a PDF, for me with Max the manual was the most usefull for pretty much everything I've wanted to learn. Also there should be some tutorials or a quick user guide that come with it.

dear god, (i've been programming for the last 3 moths, lightwave was a long time ago...) um, 'shift +' right click, right click, right click, 'p' (make poly out of selected vert) 'cntr t' to deform selected part of mesh, space bar to toggel through modes, '/' to deselect...

I checked some websites didn't really help, I read the manual pain in the postirial opening for no good reason and i would follow davidcoens advice if i was smoking the same thing he was when he wrote it.

All the other software packages out there have learning editions, but i don't think lightwave does. This is why i feel like i've wasted 700 big ones buying the full package. I have no idea and find my self trying to learn 3D all over again.

I've heard rumours of a Lightwave Discovery Edition but i think they are just rumours. Can someone please help me. Is there a Discovery edition. How do I learn?

P.S About to give up and cry [xx(][V][?][:(]
700 big ones, wut was i thinking[xx(][V][?][:(]
Am I the only Lightwaver here[xx(][V][?][:(]
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh[xx(][V][?][:(]

Just stick with it. Don't get so discouraged so quickly. Start off really simple. I mean try making a box and then just extruding faces. Nothing too difficult. It doesn't even have to be anything with a purpose. Don't try making a character as your first project, you will just fall flat on your arse and end up frustrated.

A really good way to learn tool's functions is to just make some basic geometry and then apply each tool at a time. Learn how to use each tool to begin with. Even if you don't think you will ever need it, it can be good to know how it works. Don't be afraid if you break it, it is the first step to learning what not to do (you learn from your mistakes after all :D).

If you crash LW, re-open it. If you crash your comp, re-start it. No perminent damage will be done. The amount of times I crashed Max and Maya by doing the most stupid and ridiculous shit is beyond count. The best one was making a sphere in Maya with 1000faces and applying a Smooth with 4 iterations. Needless to say my comp didn't like that. I have tried using hardware renderers that dont support my card. Name it I have done it.

If you are having troubles learning the interface then read through each chapter of the help file. Word by word. Read everything. I don't think that LW's help file could be any worse than Maya 3x's help file. It took me two days to learn how to move the Perspective Camera :p

Just start slowly and go from there. Just be patient and persistant. Very few people can open a package and make the most unbelievable character straight away (I'm looking your way here Inglis :) ).

Well it looks like the Lightwave Discovery edition is not just a rumour. I use bigpond cable and i went to there download section and i found they had a special section for 3D. It had not only the Lightwave Discovery Edition but it had a gameSpace trial version as well. I downloaded both and have taken quite a liking to Gamespace. Quite easy and 3DBuzz's VTM's for it are great. I highly recommend there downlaod site. heres the link for it. http://files.bigpond.com/library/

well, as with any package, the best way is to do. See all those buttons and sliders and icons? Click them. Click them all. One after the other until you figure out what they do and how they can help you. Most people do this while they go through the source material/manual/online tutorials/3rd party books. Most people never stop doing this. Find a new button, click it. Click it now and keep clicking 'til you find out what it does. I think that sums up my guide to learning packages [:)]

sorry, i have been using lightwave for 10years and don't nessesarraliy even know where the buttons are in your unknown version of lightwave ( I just use the keyboard shortcuts)

i would still say that lightwave has the best low poly tools hands down, and yes i have use a lot of other software products

the basics are shift 'p' to place a point in point mode and wait a second. there is a thing called a manual. have you tried reading it before blaming me for wasting 700$. read the fu king manual, 'i can't instantly learn somethinging by rubbing it in my face, i give up now...'?

Sorry if it seemed like i was blaming u but i wasn't blaming anyone please don't hurt me david, we're all freinds here come on no violance please.

just started using lightwave too, this is a link to a varied and helpfull tutorial site that ive used a lot.
[url]http://members.shaw.ca/lightwavetutorials/Main_Menu.htm[/url]

I can't remember it perfectly, but Max3 should be able to render it's frames with alpha channels stored in them. This means that the background colour doesn't make any difference at all as it would be stored as transparent data. When you composite it over a live footage plate, you just have to make sure that it's alpha channel is turned on and it will work perfectly. Just make sure that the frames are rendered out in a format that supports alphas (tiff, png, rla)

As for the animating bg. It sounds like you had the animate button turned on with the time slider further on in the movie. You then changed the bg colour. Quick fix is to make sure that the animate button is turned on again, take the slider to frame 0 and then change the bg colour to the value you want. It will still be animating the bg colour, but it will animate it from one colour to the same colour. Long way is to open up the gtraph editor and find the keys for it. Delete the keys and start again.

Note: I haven't used Max for two years now, so my memory isn't the best :)

yeah it appears that the reason was to do with changing the bg colour on the last frame (as that was where it was sitting because thats where i just animated it). Ive now got my spinning bullet ready to go into film, thanks a lot :D

After its done, can you post a link to the bullet, like record it please, and congradulations

After its done, can you post a link to the bullet, like record it please, and congradulations for getting your bullet in film.

i dont have anywhere to host a film, ive made a 300x240 version but thats still 5 megs (heh not the master of compression me). Its not that interesting really, its just a bullet that spins... its for the purpose of a slow motion shot which will be much more interesting in full.

Did you ever finish this of mate?

well the bullet? yes. The film? No.

i offer a forwarning to anyone who plans on making a film with your mates, be certain there in it for the long run, now i see why people have "employees" instead :P
i organised the whole thing with everyone but people just lost interest. To nurture that creative bone in my body im looking into machinema (specifically, with the unreal engine).

whats machenima

Machinima is films created in Game engines. Stuff like in-game cinematics and Red Vs Blue (www.redvsblue.com). www.machinima.com is a good place to research.

When you say grunge tutorials, do you mean for adding dirt and rust to textures? Or the currently popular form of graphic design?

Or maybe a 'how to dress like a 90's alt-rocker Nirvana style'

Hmm. I guess I'm not being very helpful. Perhaps if you link to what you've found already, we'll be able to help out better.

Cheers

http://www.spoono.com/photoshop/tutorials/tutorial.php?id=23

that what your after?
because its using the cloud render its a bit random as to where your getting your grunge and how much of it though

thats about it aven...

no more help needed, found what i wanted

Any app should be alright as long as you don't try to do anything too taxing. That means dynamics or overly high poly work. Also expect a little slowdown all the time.

I just find it slightly amusing that on a 1.5gb machine, you only have 128mb RAM and a 16mb card. The prosessor should be more than adequite for most purposes. The RAM and graphics card is what will give you troubles and limit you.

well i plan on getting a radeon 9200, i upgraded the memory and added 2 x 512 sticks but it seems to be screwing up my computer and giving me these blue screens. so i'm thinking of taking them out.

You *definately* need some more ram..

well some good news i just bought a new 512 and 64 so now i have 704 MB. Next up a new graphics card.

MilkShape 3D good, trust me http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/ and peoeple say GMax is good, it can make shit like this (MilkShape 3D) http://www.volved.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=336

There is quite a few free "lite" versions of 3d software. Theres Maya and XSI versions as well.

I use gmax simply for the fact it's free and easy to learn on. It's also very similar to 3dsmax which means that i can change to Max quite easily later. But if you have broadband download the 30 day trial version of 3Dsmax from discreet.com. There are also a lot of other learning editions like as makk said. Max is great because it's very widely used which means their are a lot of tutorials. Also don't choose a program by the gallery on it's website (someone told me this long ago and it is good advice) I saw the Maya gallery and got the learning edition because of that. But it is a hard program to get into if you are a n00b like me.

Thanks, I'll go check these ones out, I had worked a bit on lightwave, but yeah thanks for your ideas!

cheers

I decided to go with gmax, purely because of the amount of info and tutes it has out there, oh and also because it is close to 3ds max.

cheers

I'd say it's your 3D card, I wouldn't use anything less than 32Mb, even then you can get painful amounts of lag.

just realise that meshsmooth is adding a _LOT_ of triangles to render, and thus the slowdown. (not certaing what algorithm you have running, but for example, at level 1, 1 triangle could be split to 4, at level 2, 1 triangle could be split to 16, level3, 1 goes to 64....

so at level3, your 1000 triangle model is changed to a 64000 triangle model, which might be a bit slower to render

David is right on the ball here - each iteration in subdivision is consecutively multiplying your geometry by the power of 4. That's a lot of overhead to translate and render all those polys (plus the extra layers of wireframes and vertices if you've got them showing too)

If it's an Nvidia Vanta then I wouldn't be expecting you to be running it in hardware acceleration since in the end the vertex transformations needed per frame would top out making software rendering more reliable and fast. So in the end I'd assume your CPU; with this said however, don't expect to preview and edit in real time in viewports with a meshsmooth on at all.

How do people get around this? Well first of all, the meshsmooth shouldn't even matter when you're making the mesh. The control mesh is the important thing, and should define -all- your volume and shape; you should never get the computer to do this for you. Example here is don't make a meshsmoothed sphere out of a box. It's just overkill and bad practice, taking out so much control to the artist. Keep your control mesh detailed, but still efficient - use your polys where they're needed to add detail. So, you've got this control mesh that looks like your near finished mesh - you only need 1 iteration of meshsmooth to make it lovely and smooth since the control meshes density allows this. So with this 1 iteration you can preview at an ok speed in the viewport, but you can also just set it to only meshsmooth at render time (dunno if this works with gmax... is there a render?). But anyways, that's how you usually handle it.

Here's a cheap easy way for me to explain visually - an old torso/head I did ages ago, wireframe is the control mesh without meshsmooth, rendered is with 1 iteration.

[img]http://www.garandnet.net/~malakai/content/highpoly/pictures/tastes_like…]

Don't worry. The worst thing about SubD (fake or real, although real is even worse) is the lag that is involved. I have a P4 2.53 and a gig of ram and in Maya a whole character will lag. When working I just have to drop the smooth to no iterations and make my modifications. It still does lag a bit, but that is the joy of SubD. I haven't used Max in a while, but from what JI has said, it sound like you can drop the levels quite easily. Just get used to doing that. If you can set up hotkeys to pop your iterations up and down, then that's even better.

are these images by any chance hyperlinked to your hard drive. It's meant to be to a website if they are.

Its a pic from my hard drive

you have to put the image on a website like photobucket.com (thanx Moonunit) and then link it to the website otherwise people can't see it. Only you can.

Oh ok, thankaz

Damn, finally, after like 20 tries got the image up!!!

can we see it now?????

Finally, again, got it working, have fun with it, and rember print in black and white.

So you finally managed to put it up good stuff. Nice work on the drawings to. the proportions are great if the arms were spread out and his legs a bit wider i could use it as a referance image for 3D work.[:)]

The only thing is that his legs make him look like he was leaning forward but it probably wasn't meant to win global acknowledgment.[:D]

Did you outline these from the Loomis book "Figure drawing for all its worth"?
Edit: oh and this is not a "wild accusation" or anything, just wondering

nice work, mind if i save these as perhaps a reference image for a later project or something?

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/simagesmisc/loomis13m2.jpg[/img]

These images are from the Andrew Loomis book "Figure drawing for all its worth". The book can be downloaded as PDF from http://www.saveloomis.org

I knew they where copied but I didn't know from where.

codyalday its a good idea to give credit to the maker when its not your work, otherwise it looks like you are saying that it is yours. When the truth comes out things can turn ugly, artist are a bit ancy about this type of thing.

Pantmonger

Yeah, well i didnt mean to make it out like it was mine, thats why i left the "ideal proportion, male" on top, becaseu we have all seen these pics before.

It isn't by default a downloadable version, but you can always save the page to a directory and view it latter. Either that or do a lot of cutting and pasting :D

http://www.3dtotal.com/ffa/tutorials/max/joanofarc/joanmenu.asp

If you use this tutorial,(its a great tutorial btw) either use it as a base to make a totally different model or don't put it on a showreel, there are enough Joan of Arc models floating around out there already as you want to show you can model not just copy.

No i'am not planning on making a showreel for a while as i'am only 16. I just heard it was a good tute and heard it teaches you most the things you need to know to make characters. Anyway i couldn't download it so i just save it from the internet.

For tutorials.. Check out the 2d tutorials thread at the top of this forum.

C'mon help me, help me. tell me what's good and how to get started.

Bullet: People don't tend to help you wit hsuch basic things as figuring out which software to use for a few reasons.
A] its personal choice something you should experiment with to find one you like.
B] it reeks of laziness, check out some software, try it, look at what others use, most people say what software they used when they post.

My best advice is to use photoshop or painter but you really need to take some initiative and look for things yourself a bit first, people will help you alot more if it looks like you tried to help yourself.

Malus hit it right on. Personally I like PS as it has some useful filters (noise especially), but you can't rely on that. Some people use their 3D software as well. It just depends on how you work. The whole reason why I love this industry is because you can find your way to do things. Not someone elses.

If you really have no idea where to begin though, here is a start.

http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials/dr_julians_texturing/dr_julians_t…

I warn you that this tute is very in-depth and meant for higher poly characters, but it can be adapted to suit low poly/low texture characters as well. It is also meant for Maya/PS, so if you use different apps, you just have to find different ways to get the same result (Max can do everything that Maya can in this tute).

The best idea though is to actually create a texture and post it on here. Even if it is bad, don't worry, we will give advice on how it can be made better. I'm pretty sure that no one would say 'ugh. that's shit. give up man'. We may say it is bad, but then advice will be given on how to make it better. PRACTICE.

I think its just using the box primitive to model or modelling in quads or something, I dunno.

Box modelling is another (rather ugly) term for subdivisional modelling. Other names you'll hear are sub-d, nurms, quad-rule, etc etc.

Subdivision is using a more primitive "control mesh" which then has this geometry multiplied by 4 times per iteration or step, and the result averaged or smoothed across the surface. So for an example, a square would become 4 squares - sliced vertically, then horizontally. That's subdivision. Quad rules are where you're using this technique in a more efficient, smart, and "readable" way - it all comes down to the fact a triangle won't subdivide as nicely as a quad, so you use these rules to keep your mesh wholistically quads. Anyways, hope this explains it - to toy with it in max, make a box and put a meshsmooth modifier on it. go back down your stack to edit mesh again and unhide some hidden edges (your box should start as quads) - now notice the triangles that unhiding those edges made don't subdivide as nicely as the quads?

Bit of a tangent, but I hope this explains it a little

Extremely helpful thanx JI

hmm I always thought box modelling was where you created extrudo men from boxes..

lol, nope just another crazy name for subd modelling; here's a 5 min search for tuts on the subject bullet21:

http://www.comet-cartoons.com/toons/3ddocs/bodymodeling/
http://www.secondreality.ch/tutorials/modelling/head.html
http://www.dlc.fi/~ops/tutorial/human.htm
http://www.3dluvr.com/grid/tut3D/tut3d.htm
http://www.ronniet.demon.co.uk/Tutorials/BoxModelling/BoxModellingIntro…
http://www.ronniet.demon.co.uk/Tutorials/BoxModelling2/BoxModelling2Int…

and, for those more discerning individuals among us...
http://www.cg-flemming.com/3dstuts/tits.htm

quote:Originally posted by J.I. Styles


and, for those more discerning individuals among us...

:looks around blankly while whistling: The final version looks kinda odd, but it is a good idea.

The best head modelling tute I have found belongs to Julian Jeremy Johnson-Mortimer (say that three times fast :) ). His web site died a few months back, but I managed to find the tute again. MASSIVE WARNING: Do not even attempt to go into his level of depth if you are just starting out.

http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials/julian_creating_character/julian_…

He also has an awesome texturing guide for the same head.

http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials/dr_julians_texturing/dr_julians_t…

Enjoy

Try changing the layer (with the face paint on it) to overlay, softlight or hardlight

Another method you could try is selecting an area with the wand tool, feather it a few pixels, and adjust it's hue/colour...

hmmm yeah i tried that to (using hue/saturation) but it lookd kinda odd... best yet probably

oh well its probably just best to paint the whole thing up (including the rest of the neck shoulders etc) as one big illustration

sorry about the double post but if anyone was intersted in what i finished with:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/4265977/

read the comments thing there to see why its kind of a half assed job

Just a word of advice more than anything, but not only are they hard to find, but crawling through tutorials that deal with specifics in modelling rather than working at improving modelling skills wholistically is a very bad idea. Don't look for a tutorial telling you how to model a hand. This leads to the very bad practice of relying on someone to guide you through steps, instead of learning how to just do it.

Look for tutorials on how to model. Not anything specific. Just go through the tools and learn what they do and how to use them. Then look at hand referances - study hands (you have two of the best references sitting right in front of you).

JI hit it straight on. Most of what I have learnt has come from looking at other peoples wires and trying to make them better. ie, follow muscles better or save on polys. Look at your hands, ask friends if you can take photos of their hands. Even look on the net.

Your best bet if you really want tutes is to look for complete character tutes. Go from there.

there was a script I remember which was an attempt to do this, but if of course failed and was very innaccurate - sorry, but there's no magic button to do it.

'k thanks...

well, at least I know i'm not doing 2x the work i need to :P

this feature is in max6, i saw it in one of the demo video's for max6, i think they were on the disceet site, it was sweet you could mirror vert assiagnments even if it wasn't a mirror/symmetry polygon model

There is a mirror bones tool for skin modifier, very handy.
Not sure about physique though...yucky physique...bad...bad.....

This post is probably a bit late for you urgrund but just to let you know it is definitely possible, and simple too (what's this yucky physique business Malus?). Just go into the Physique's 'link' sub object mode, select the link you have set up, click on 'copy' in the rollout, then select the opposite link and click, you guessed it, 'paste'! You'll probably also need to click 'mirror' which will rotate the link 180 degrees for you, and you're done, vertex assignments mirrored using physique.

There is a script in scriptspot.com that mirrors physique weights do a search there are 2 of them one done by Anthony Delen anf the other new one by juan martinez...

they both work well especially anthony delens script. The thing is u have to mirror your objects for the weights to import/work properly (if u get wat i mean? there is a help file there.)

here is his site and tutorial on mirroring physique for juan martinez's script.. : [url]http://www.juantwo.com/scripts/phytool/index.htm[/url]

hope that helps...

Has anybody find a tutorial on mirroring physique in Max 6? I'm trying to mirror a right physiqued hand.......

ah, thanks for the new replies...
yeh, maybe too late for what I was doing, but never too late to know something new :)

cheers

Finally figured a way but not sure if it's the best way...........I'm having trouble at the parent bone......they're stuck! Look at pick below. Used physique skin modifier.......

[IMG]http://dynamic3.gamespy.com/~prefablab/attachments/mirroring.jpg[/IMG]

umm, looks to be max bones - can't you just break the assigned child link?

Wizenedoldman: Never been a big fan of the workflow and systems used in character studio or physique.

They just don't suit my workflow, I like a more hands on approach to everything I do, if I'm rigging I prefer to be able to do it exactly how I want, without compromise, not how a particular system tells me they should be.

I also find the skin modifier alot simpler to work with for game models as it doesn't really have all that many over-complicated functions, rigging a 500 - 3000 poly model needs less functionality than a film or highres model, too many choices tend to over complicate things.

Since I've never done a model above 30,000 polys my opinion of physique may change when I do though. [:P]

JJStyles@ I've tried unlinking but nothing happens..........any idea what's happening?

Wow, what a bargain! :D

What's the difference between Painter Classic to the normal Painter software (e.g Painter 6,7,8)?

Painter Classic is a watered down version. Basically a demo version that doesn't expire and you can save properly. From what I have read Painter7 seems to be the most popular, as they changed a few things in 8 and a lot of people miss those things. I have only used Calssic though, so I am not the best person to ask.

[Later] Here is a link to Corel's sites about Painter Classic
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel/Products/productI…
Painter8
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel/Products/productI…

Also worth a note that Corel will even allow you to use Photoshop as an upgrade package :)

Gah, I hated Painter 7.
The GUI has overloaded and cluttered. Plus they removed the cool watercolour from version 6.
I tried the Painter 8 demo, its a big improvement. Especially in the GUI and has digital watercolour which is like the painter6 watercolour. I want it

My upgrade to Painter8 came in today :D (YAY!!). Unfortunately, I had to work :~( (Nooooo). I will be in there first thing tomorrow morn picking it up. I will then go straight home to install and test it out.

I can let you know then what the differences are Souri.

btw Souri. Cool new Avatar :D

Edit: er. Is your avatar set to random display? It just changed.

Putting "Classic" on watered down software versions is a pretty good marketing idea.. [:)]

And nah, I just changed the pic then..

I have been messing around with Painter8 all afternoon, and it thoroughly kicks arse.

There is actually quite a bit of a difference between Classic and 8. 8 adds in the following

. Better layer support. Layer Blend modes (hooray), and Masking Layers (use them all the time in PS, but I don't know how much I would use it in this).
. Different Brush engine. Just as I was getting used to Classic engine, I use this and all the brushes are vastly different.
. About 20 new types of media. Charcol, Sponges, Calligraphy :D, Gouache, so on and so forth. Plus a shit load of brush types for all those media.
. The Brush Editor (MAJOR drooling). Makes PS brushes look like POS brushes (I was up until 2 this morning thinking up that one. you all better find it funny....). Change EVERY aspect of how a brush acts. Even change how much the bristles clump together. Save your changes to the brushes and share them with other Painter users.
. A Swatch Pallete. No more having 20+ dots of colour on the canvas. Just store them in the swatch, then save them.

They are the main things that I have found so far. There are probably other things, but I havent found them yet. Overall this little gem is awesome. I will post my first pic tomorrow morn some time.

Depends if you want the clothes to be dynamic or not. Sometimes it can be helpful to model the character first for proportions, then make the clothes, then delete the body. It doesn't really matter how it's done, just how it looks in the end.

I assume you're talking about general modeling - highpoly type o' stuff. Generally, from my personal experiances and what I've found from students, is people react quite positively and fast to basic quad rule subdivisional modelling, in favour over many other techniques. In my personal opinion it's the most robust method (resolution independant, fast turn-around, well developed methodology, etc etc) - I could go on about it's pros/cons for some time, but that's not really what you need to hear. What I'm sure you want to hear is yes, it's easy to get into comparibly with other techniques. Yes it's a very technique for both organics and inorganics. If you're interested, study quad theory, subdivision modelling (aka box modelling), and edge loops. If you don't turn up too much, we'll be happy to point you in the direction of some resources.

Then again, if you didn't mean that, disregard all the above [;)]

In regards to the book, inside 3d studio max 3, it's actually one of the first books I got my hands on many years ago - I'd recommend a large chunk of it to any beginner starting out. Yes it's old now, but it's got a lot on basic stuff like colour theory and the basic mechanics that every standard 3d tech works off.

Suck the knowledge up - it's part of the basis of everything that's to come! [:)]

edit: Gmax... If I remember correctly it had the meshsmooth modifier (necessary for subdivisional modelling in 3dsmax), but had things like patches, surface tools, nurbs etc crippled - so you may actually be forced to pursue subdivisional modelling in any case! [:)]

Congrats Adamant. It is always good to hear when something good happens to someone so talented.

Merry Christmas to you as well.

Merry Christmas to you Adamant and the best of luck in your new job... I made the move to Melbourne to myself some years ago for my first job in the game industry so I know exactly how you feel... very excited!

Cheers

Max 2.5 eh.. May want to try an archaelogical dig..

Seriously though, just run through the tutorials that come with the program before you try jump in too deep.. Learn the tool, then you can start getting into the fun stuff like characters.

You may want to get Gmax.. Max 2.5 really is an old dinosaur (they're up to 6 now), Gmax has better modelling tools, at the expense of rendering.

dont feel so bad, im on R3 :P

Actually, 3DSMax 2.5 isn't that bad. If you're doing low polygon work, it should be fine. There's tonnes of plugins for Max 2.5 as well - I know that Metareyes released a lot of their commercial max 2.5 plugins for free, [url="http://www.reyes-infografica.net/register/regplug.php?outcome=1"]available at their site[/url]. Don't let an old version of max inhibit you. I've seen some incredibly fantastic work done with old versions of max.

Wow, and I'm feeling behind still using 3.1. Especially after seeing the 6 launch. Phwoah...

Perhaps look at gMax, as suggested.

Check this out, use it allot, find very easy and good. Got from this site http://www.josh.ch/joshch/tutorials/milkshape,modelling-human-leg.html .

www.actionquake2maps.0catch.com/home/html sign guesst book please.[/size=3][/size=1][/size=1][/size=2]

If you don't mind spending money on books, then this is a very popular book.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/078948045X/qid=1070658669…

I also saw another book in a book shop last night, but can't remember the name of it (damn). It was perfect for what you need as well.

Some samples of various books can be found at.

www.fineart.sk

Hope that helps just a little.

when i was excited about writing a voxel renderer i got a password for the visable human project (sliced up human at 0.25mm intervals ) however the images where very large and only downloaded the head...(800mb) though perhaps this is much greater accuracy than you need....

yeah sounds like a bit of a overkill, thanks codyalay, thats the kinda thing i want, though itd be better if i could get one with with arms at 90 degrees

Thats what we are here for, to help each other out, also call me Cody if you want.

As Aven mentioned, www.fineart.sk is one of the best places for reference images (human anatomy, head, hands, feet, whole range of animal types etc). Another excellant place is www.correct-proportion.com . It shouldn't matter if it's scanned or line art - you should be able to use either the same way. You can simply open up photoshop and do a quick outline with scanned references yourself to make it easier. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes.

If you are after pics for modelling reference (ie arms at straight angles), then www.3d.sk is a VERY good site. They just added in VISA capabilities, so I will join up soon. If you go to the 'Site Map' area though, you can access all the pics in small thumbnail format.

Souri, is there anyway that a new forum could be set up, just for Reference links? That way people don't have to search all over the forums to find links like these. I know that a few of these have been mentioned before.

I've made your 3d tutorials/links thread sticky, so anyone can post useful links there.

Sorry, should have read the topic. Cross sections for bodies? They're pretty rare to find. I think cross sections are more useful if you want to model something like cars. For human bodies, I'd prefer the common way of doing it all out of cylinders.

im doing my current project out of cylinders but id still like some backing so i know where to curve them and so on.

this thread: http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1173
has a link to the project that i was interested in getting cross sections for

The images in the tut linked to by codyalday come from a book called "Figure Drawing for all it is worth" by Andrew Loomis. You can download a PDF of it from here http://saveloomis.org

Its worth the download. It has the same same front/back/side view for the ideal woman and a lot of other good fundamental stuff.

This is a good UVW mapping tutorial for 3DSMax.

www.planetquake.com/polycount/cottages/bk-coffeehouse/tut-max-mapping.s…

I don't know any easier way than using the edit UVW window? The old way (pre Max2.5?) was to split and detach portions of your model, clone and hide the copy, flatten all your portions, apply planar mapping, then transform it back to the copy.

I'm sure no one would ever want to do it that way again. [:)}