CGMan

Animation Progress Report

Sad tidings today...

I originally intended to give Naomi Yumi's wig.. And just recolour it to dirty blonde.  But since I had a little extra time because my mocap died and since I had this latest version of Lightwave I figured I would go all out and model a new wig for Naomi.. A wig that took advantage of the new feature in the latest version of LightWave I was so generously gifted.

Unfortunately... It did not work out so well.. Once I started rigging her new wig, I saw that it was n...

Hair-In-Progress

Since I have a little more time I decided to make hair to take advantage of one of the new features of my 3D software...  New hair dynamics.  Currently her hair has no dynamics yet...  We should see that by this time tomorrow.

How should I proceed?

Let me ask you guys and gals how I should proceed...

Sitting and waiting for the replacement hardware to arrive is a bad idea I think.  It is coming from China so it may take a week or more; esp. with this being around the Chinese New Year.

I could video-record myself and hand-animate the whole thing...  Obviously the quality will not be as realistic as motion capture and the process is slow.  It would be like Amy's Big Entrance.. I used video reference for that one.

Animation Progress Report (Bad news)

So I have been emailing tech support back and forth for the past couple of days.  I still cannot get the motion capture system working.  The guy at tech support believes the hub is defective, and they will send me another one under warranty.

So this means I will be finishing this first Naomi animation by making hand-keyed animation..  The old-fashioned way.  So unfortunate.  I will video-record myself miming through the motions so I can use that as a timing reference.<...

Animation Progress Report

Ahhhhhhhhh!  Lip sync animation is DONE!  Still have to animate her eyebrows and eyes, but this is a big chunk of the process in the can.  Naomi sure was chatty!!

The animation will be roughly 78 seconds long..  A bit longer than the last one.  Time to record mocap next..  Wish me luck! :)

Animation Progress

Here are the first few seconds of the animation lip sync.  I have sooo much more to do yet! :O

Animation Progress

Hope you don't mind these frequent updates..  I did some more refinements on her skin, added a map for skin tightness, so some parts of her skin is shinier than other parts (like the nose & forehead).

Animation Progress

Doop de doo... Some facial rigging (see attached)..  More to do yet.

Animation Progress

Unfortunately, my motion capture gear was not cooperating.  I sent an email out to tech support.  While I am waiting for a reply, I am working on Naomi's face rig and animation.  Above is a test render of my progress.

Audio Engineering

Here's a little behind-the-scenes look at how audio is added.  The dialog is recorded first..  And the motion capture is recorded later.  In the 2nd audio channel, you can see a series of tics.. These are sound cues like "Boop..boop..boop..BEEP!"

These count down events in the audio so the motion capture can make sure the acting performance is synchronized with the events in the audio.  Sound effects (foley) are added after the animation is done.

I should be recording...

Quickie Animation Update

Just a note that I have been successful at ironing out the problems after the first trial.  I have just a few things more to fix but she is looking UH-MAZING!  I really think you guys (and gals) will be blown away with this character.

I have some ideas on how the cleanup of the mo-cap data can go quicker so I am eager to see how that works this time around.  If successfull it will shave a huge amount of time off of the process.

More to come, stay tooned!!!!

Animation Progress Report

I am looking at Naomi's (huge) muscles moving with her body for the first time.  I'd love to report to you that it came together perfectly on the first try but unfortunately that is not the case.  There are 4 or 5 major issues that have to be ironed out.

In other news, I have all of Naomi's audio for the first anim and it's dope.

More to come, stay tooned!

Just a reminder...

I am not posting any paid creations to Patreon this month.  I am using this month to:

A) Get caught up from being behind.

B) Allow the extra time needed to create a new character (mostly) from scratch.

So any of you who wanted a retro release the next window for you to do this will be March 1st.  If you want to make alternate arrangements with me like mailing me cash for an older release, send me a private message.

- - - -

Some other stuff:

The stereosco...

Animation Progress

Hey there!

I've been busy!  Attached is the same animation data from the last animation, but Naomi's new rig.  Each coloured polygon strip is a different muscle group.  As you can see, there are a lot of them.

In other news, I have half of Naomi's audio.  I don't know why she decided to record it in stages but I should be getting the rest of it in a day or so.  After I get the audio and edit it all up, I can record the motion capture using the audio as a guide. 2017-01-27 23:28:17 +0000 UTC View Post

Animation Progress Report (Technical)

Nothing too exciting to report..  The last couple of days I've been wrestling with a pair of technical problems I was having:

1. Popping forearms

2. Needing to independently assign cage deformation to every individual muscle group.

The first problem was kind of an "Ah-HA!" moment..  I've known about it before, but didn't realize how often the issue can appear.  The problem of bones flipping around from one frame to another.  The problem was related to the order ...

Okay

She has arm muscles now.

Naomi Looking Funky

Thought you might like to see this weird look for Naomi as I continue to put her together.  Beefy torso and bony arms. :)

Back-In-Progress

The muscles you see here and modeled underneath the skin.  They are also rigged (and animateable).  I just now have to model the rest of her anatomy. :)

Eureka!

"It works!  Hahaha!  I've finally invented something that works!"

-Doctor Emmet Brown

Great news..  All of the necessary ingredients are done for a full-scale test of the new shrink-wrapped skin technology.  And I have just seen the results.  You will too.. See the attached file.

It's beautiful.  Ignore the spazzing out on the fringes..   She won't have fringes when she is whole.  But the center of her back is TRUE shrink-wrap...

Naomi's rig progress

Here is a look at Naomi's rig.  This is the previous animation but the rig is Naomi's bodyshape.  Note that I rigged individual ulna and radial bones in her forearms.  I've never done that before.  I think attaching the muscles to the actual bones will lend even more realism in that area.

Naomi's Jaw weighted

See attachment.  Now she can say "Ahhh."  (Teeth/tongue will be in there later)

Naomi's Progress (unimportant)

Hey all,

This is for those who are into the technical crap.  What I am doing right now is modifying Yumi's rig to fit Naomi's body.  One of the things that bothered me about Yumi (as much as I liked her) were some body proportion flaws that Naomi corrects.  So I am lengthening or shortening Yumi's bones to fit Naomi's body.

Also because of the new rigging tech I am actually modeling a simplified skeleton that goes under the fat, muscle and skin.  I currently have the ...

Release #36 Still Images Sent Out

I've just sent out the still images from the animation.  If you are missing anything from release #36 (Yumi Breaks A Car) and donated towards it, please send me a message!

Those of you who donated for the stereoscopic version, please hang on loosely (but don't let go).  It's gonna take some time to render the other eye's animation! :D

A message to all of my new patrons!

Hello!  Thank you so much for your pledge!  I wanted to post this to make sure there was no confusion regarding what you are donating to and how you can get older stuff if you want.

I recently posted the YouTube preview version of release 36 "Yumi Breaks A Car" and have gotten a bunch of new donation pledges, which is awesome.  Thank you very much!!

So I have been running a bit late on delivering the animations recently.  While I just finished up #36, #38 was the most...

CGMan Release 36 "Yumi Breaks A Car" Preview

Thank you all for making this possible!

Stand by for the animation....

Some of you have the animation in your email.  I need to get some sleep then I will take care of the rest of you after I get up.  Thanks!!!!!!!!!!

Animation Progress Report

The software is estimating another 24 hours remain for rendering.  I know that two days ago I said it would be done in 2.5 days, but some parts render slower than other parts based on how close the camera gets to the subjects.  So yeah..  It's not always so accurate at making estimations. :/

Really Cool News Today!

As if today's earlier news with the skin test wasn't cool enough....

I got a really cool surprise today.  I was chatting with one of the developers of my 3D software..  I was having some trouble getting the skin simulation working and asking him to help me with it.  He was suggesting some alternative options..  Displacement mapping and such..  I told him, "No, I want no compromises if at all possible.  I want true skin simulation!"

Anyway in the end...

Skin Test (success)

Happy New Year!  Did I say that already?  I said that already.

Here is the first "shrink wrap" technology test on Naomi.  She's literally just skin and bones at this point, but the effect shows tremendous promise.  I'm super excited about this! :D

BTW the rendering on Yumi Wrecks a Car is going great.

CGMan Release 38: Naomi 2: Re-Armed Part 1

Thank you very much for your support in 2016!  Have a great New Year!

P.S. Above is a prop from the animation..  I just thought it was thought provoking.  Or maybe not.