CGMan

Cool New Spine System For Talia

I just created a new way of adding motion to spines... I call it the Spine Skew control.  Check it out!

Getting Better

See?  She's doing better already.

Talia Doesn't Look So Good Right Now

She's just going through a phase.

Talia Rigging Progress

I've got maybe 70% of Talia's legs and feet rigged up.  This is not counting joint deformation sculpting which needs to be done last.  You are seeing her lower polygon cage model moved by the bones, not her actual model.  This is why she doesn't exist above the pelvis..  Haven't modeled that part of her cage yet.

More to come!

Flash Suki Anims Sent Out And More

Hey all!

If you didn't get the Suki Car Model animation and were expecting it, please send me a private message and we'll get it sorted.

In other news, my package arrived earlier today.  The new vertical mouse is nice.  The joystick is nice, and the mic may be nice but I can't use it yet.  More on that later.

So I already had of of these flight sticks I used for games.  This new one is in much better condition so I will use this for games and I disassembl...

Suki's 3rd Animation partially sent out

I haven't gotten to any of the Silent Flash versions yet, but most if not all of you who were due the Deluxe should have it now.  If you were expecting it but don't have it (Deluxe), please send me a private message and we'll get it sorted.  Thanks!!  Sorry for all the delays! :/

Nap time.

Suki Progress!

Hey!

I've finished the sound effects and video editing for Suki's latest animation; except for some end titles, and I gotta do some custom stuff on this one because of the music.

I'm really pooped though.  I'm gonna try to get some sleep and I'll finish this up and get it out to you tomorrow.  Nite nite!

I've Been Bad!

So today, thanks directly to all of you, I went and bought Storm.  And naturally, if you buy a new sports car you want to take for a spin, right? ;)

So I took a few hours and was playing with Storm.  It doesn't do soft bodies yet, but the above image was rendered in Lightwave using an object sequence exported from Storm (I didn't make it).  So at the very least it's a nice liquid solver, much better than the last one I bought.  The developers estimate soft bodies wil...

Suki Progress

Hey everyone, just letting you know all is well.. The rendering is done and I'm just adding more sound effects.

Suki Rendering

I'm gonna get some sleep.  If there are no other problems, Suki's rendering will be done before I wake up.

Then it is time for adding foley.

New Approach to Spine Rigging

I tried a different approach to rigging Talia's spine.  I think it came out quite well.  Rather elegant.

Talia's Improved Skin Bumps!

I'm remastering Talia's skin with a new (to me) RenderMan procedural texture someone showed me.  It looks great!

Before the skin kind of look like noise, but this looks more natural.  So far only her face is done.  You can probably make out how the skin bumps are larger on her cheek and smaller around her eyes, nose and mouth.  It will be more obvious on her body where the skin cells are larger.

2019-09-05 19:52:46 +0000 UTC View Post

Suki Needs More Love

Hey all (sigh),

So I gotta re-render some stuff on Suki.  Maybe only 60 frames need to be completely re-rendered.  But several the following need a small portion re-renderd to fix a nasty issue:

3779-4082, 4101-4306, 5109-5454, 5838-5858, 5888-6029, 6222-6271, 6312-6403, 6414-6449, 6499-6510

Not sure how many that is.. could be close to 1000 frames.  But it's not full renders, it's a tiny patch that should render quickly.

EDIT: Okay aside from the minor ...

I went shopping (online)!

I bought a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro flight stick.  But this isn't for videogames.  I will be clipping the length of the central spring so the re-centering is greatly reduced and I will use it for puppeting animation data.  I might get a 2nd stick as well but I will start with one.

I also bought a "J-Tech Digital Scroll Endurance Wired Mouse Ergonomic Vertical USB Mouse".  One of them fancy vertical mice that straightens your forearm as you use it.  The middle mou...

Oh my soft! (Redux)

I have been in email contact with Storm's developers, as well as in contact with someone who owns Storm.

The feature I want, soft bodies, is not ready for prime time yet.  They are estimating it will be in there in less than a half year.  I will wait.  As far as the main function, the granular simulations..  That may or may not ever work directly in Lightwave because Lightwave does not support alembic files where the number of points can change over time.  But f...

Oh my soft!

I just found out about this software.  It is not a plugin, it is a stand-alone simulation system.  I was particularly interested in the soft bodies at 0:27 in the video.  I sent the developers an email asking them if the soft bodies can be glued to an animated object.  If so, this could be the solution I've been searching for for a long, long time!

Failed Experiment

I had a kooky idea earlier and wanted to set aside some time to try it out.  I thought if I modeled a 2nd skin layer, a "subdermis" and only applied self-collision on this subdermis, then the results would be more stable on the outer skin.  It worked.

The problem is it introduced this "denting" issue that I couldn't figure out how to solve. :/

Release #054 - Talia's 1st Animation Part 2

 (Working title/Advanced posting) 

Thank you all very much for making these animations possible!  I have a TON of retro requests this month so please be patient with me as I get to all of you with special requests.  If you got your Patreon receipt and want to know when you will get your stuff feel free to send me a private message.  Thank you all SO VERY MUCH!!  Talia will be a stunner methinks!

Work In Progress of Talia's Chest!

I'm still working on this sculpt, but I wanted to plug it into her and see how it looks.  And I'm loving it so far. :)  Again, these are asymmetrical..  Each side was sculpted separately, and this allows for the crooked line where the two hunks of she-beef meet in the center. :)

...Oh and Suki is close to 5200 frames rendered of a total 6775.

I've Got Your Back (Updated)

Is that pun over the line?  Anyway, I'm quite pleased with how she's looking back here.  I need a bit more detail on her shoulders.

EDIT: There is a bit more detail on her shoulders.

I also wanted to let everyone know there will be a paid creation post in the final hours of this month.  Also I've noticed a few $2 pledges have been made recently.  I just wanted to make sure everyone was clear that all it does is let you see this work-in-progress stuff (as is wri...

Progress Report

Suki is still rendering away... Let's see..  She's on frame 4705 of 6775 total frames.

I just updated my catalog list including what I'll be posting at the end of this month:

 http://carm3d.com/Media/Patreon/Patreon_CGManReleaseList.HTM 

....and finally I'm sculpting Talia's torso and back right now.

The 3D Rudder

I'm considering buying this as an animation input device when I get paid next month.  Could be a great time saver!

EDIT: I just found out it doesn't support Windows 7.  Damnit!

You probably don't recognize her because of her red arm

Is Talia Well-Armed?

I'm not completely satisfied with her arm sculpt yet..  It needs a few more hours of sculpting.  But I'm done with it for tonight and I'm quite pleased with how it looks so far.

Talia and Suki Updates

Done sculpting Talia's legs.  While alternate sculpts will be needed for flexing I probably won't have time to do that on her legs for her first outing.

Suki's rendering has passed the 2/3rd complete point.

More to come!

Sculpting Progress (Updated)

On the thighs...

EDIT: One of you pointed out to me that the muscle details were not so anatomically accurate.  I was using someone's art as a reference.  I've just redone her thighs.  Please ignore the shit.

Retopology Complete!

Talia's final model is now polygon-complete.  Every vertex lovingly placed for optimal quality.  Now it is time to make UV maps and sculpt her final details; add that shred!

Update and New tool in develoment

Hello,

Talia's arms have been retopologized.  Then I decided I wasn't fully happy with her abs / obliques and I resculpted it.  And then I re-retopologized them.  So three steps forward, one step back.  The result is, in my opinion, more anatomically-accurate.

EDIT: OKay I now have her lower legs and knees done.  Getting there!

In other news, a new spline toolkit is in development for Lightwave.  It's pretty slick.  It's most useful functio...

Talia Progress

I've got her torso retopologized, and merged it with her head.  Arms and legs not done yet.  More to come!

Retopology has begun

This is where I convert the raw sculpt to a model with fewer polygons and has a more organic polygon flow.  After this is done I will project the shape of the raw sculpt on to the retopologized model and then sculpt further details.

In other news, we have passed the halfway point of rendering on Suki's latest animation.