[CGMann]

Yeah thats me. 🙂

[CGMann]

Thanks 10-4.  Unfortunately I will not be fleshing this out into a complete character right now.  Too much work on my plate at the moment.  It was just a test.  After I get SyFlex I'll do another.

[CGMann]

Thanks Tonus.  That alternate version of the video I uploaded last night never took.  Appearantly YouTube doesn't like the Sorenson video codec.  I have re-uploaded it and it's live now.

[CGMann]

Is there a button that I can push that says "Make Muscles" ?  Nope.  But there are tools for automating various kinds of behaviors.  I just uploaded another version of the same animation.. This time with a texture on it so you can see the skin sliding.  Perhaps the technology isn't quite there yet..  At least, not in native Lightwave.  I do have my eye on an alternative cloth simulation as a plugin, SyFlex, but it's $2k.  SyFlex has been used specifically for simulated skin (and I think it won Oscars for it).  I just can't afford it quite yet.  :-

[CGMann]

> This is an object based animation and not just a mesh being morphed?

No morphing.  It's a combination of bones & cloth sim.

> Building a person out of component shapes seems harder to do than merely moving a rigged surface.

It is harder.  You gotta model not just the skin but the underlying muscle groups.  But more flexible and realistic results.  For example, the under-muscles can be morphed / grown to just about any size without the skin tearing or other distortions due to the geometry and nearby bone influence.  Hard to explain.. But if you wanna have a character's muscles grow, this is the best way to do it.

> What sort of programs are you using? The cloth deformation suggests Poser.

Lightwave v9.6

> Here's hoping you get the results you're after.

Thanks. 🙂

[CGMann]

Excellent work!

[CGMann]

Great drawings!!  😀

[CGMann]

Bummer.  🙁

[CGMann]

Hmm.. I don't see how that would effect cloth sims..  Maybe your software does it differently than mine.  But I wasn't suggesting using displacement to convert a normal-shaped woman into what we see here.  I was suggesting using it for all of those sirations.  But in any case..  I hope it goes well for you.  I've rigged more than a few characters and the more dense your base geometry, the more work it is.

I've recently purchased SyFlex and I want to experiment with modeling the muscles underneath the skin and having them displace the skin.  Now THAT is doing it the hard way.  😉

[CGMann]

Wow… You went and modeled all of those sirations.  You are a glutton for punishment. 🙂

Maybe you don't have a large budget, but you should look closely at some displacement-based sculpting software to compliment your work in Maya.

The expensive ones are ZBrush and Mudbox.  But are you aware that there are options out there as low as $120?

Check out http://www.3d-coat.com and nevercenter.com (Silo2).  I own ZBrush and Silo2 and ZBrush is king.  But if you can't afford it's $500 price tag, Silo2 is an excellent alternative.  And it's also a killer polygon modeler with great UV tools to boot.

I bring all this up because all of that detailed geometry is going to make your rigging and animation experience 2 or 3 times more painful than it needs to be.

[Author]

Posts