Ninjas going postal, fresh blood needed :D

So you where the one messing with the files all day, huh? :eyebrowlift:
Now I’m getting curious about looking at that texture…
I have this book, d’artiste Character Modelling, it has an article about faking SSS with ramps. Mind if I try it? :eyebrowlift:

& I think the Skin tone in the middle is best :wink:

I’m in your Dropbox, poking all ze filez… :stuck_out_tongue:

I have this book, d’artiste Character Modelling, it has an article about faking SSS with ramps. Mind if I try it? :eyebrowlift:

Not at all, go ahead! Use Human5, it’s the latest version (although I think only changes from Human 3 and 4 is material, so…). I backed up mine as Human5-(insert the skintone here).

& I think the Skin tone in the middle is best :wink:

Light Tan. I agree. I accidentally changed it when adding the lip textures, as you can see in the post, but I should get it back on track soon!

I actually grabbed Human3 to start playing XD…
I made a new file called “Testing” for my experiments :eyebrowlift:

I just checked it (I love Dropbox more and more :)). It already looks pretty good! Feel free to use my textures for detail, if needed!

Hehe ^^, right now I’m experimenting a bit with the textures :yes:…
You can check it regularly, I save just before every singe render :slight_smile: (cause my computer tends to crash with rendering XP)

I will do that when I get home, maybe link some of your work up with some of mine :slight_smile:

On another note, it would be great if someone did the missing concepts, they are kinda a hole in the video at this point :frowning:

I might do the other concepts, as it it about the only thing I can do without my computer :frowning: It broke. I had almost finished the end text too, but the files are safe, just have to wait until the computer is fixed.

@bmargoat: I’m sorry about that, but glad it lets you take other artistic venues :slight_smile: I assume you saw the pictures/video of what your first concept drawing turned into??

@Paragon: I have gone over the SSS tests (btw, did you accidentally save the actual SSS model over the non-SSS model? I had to use the Test.blend1 file, now Testm.blend, to get something non-SSS). It looks good, but the render looks like he is… moist? Damp? Sweaty? He seems like he has a thin film of slightly reflective moisture on the skin. Mine look a bit too dry, perhaps. I would love to examine yours in detail to see if I (or you) could produce something in between the two. I do like your fake SSS better than the real SSS, though. I always thought SSS made everything look waxy :no:

I am currently unable to work more on the human skin, though. I am experiencing a frustrating bug in Blender that keeps erasing textures from files. Could someone do me a favor and load Human5-lighttan.blend from the Dropbox and see if the materials have textures? If they do, it’s a bug local to my Blender installation. If they don’t, Blender 2.55 has a serious bug…

Edit: Btw, who is Jordan, and hasn’t he/she been working on the old lady’s appartment for close to 24 hours? Is it someone without access to the Dropbox, who is having trouble uploading the work? :confused:

@Pipeline: I made 2 tests: the first is called “Testing” & the second “TestingSSS” & I gotta say I like the non SSS one better too XP…
Though I learned a couple of things while experimenting…

Lightning GREATLY affects the final look of the material
SSS if freakin’ hard to set up & takes way too long to render…
Single layered SSS is very likely to look like wax no matter what you do XP…

So I suggest going without SSS one for now…

Lighting. My old nemesis. I never got too good at that. And I agree that we should not use SSS, though I would like us not to use it at all. I think SSS is only worth it if we really, really know how to use it. And I like our non-SSS results better, as well.

To all: Does anyoneknow who ‘Jordan’ is?? He or she has now had the Old Lady Apartment task for more than 24 hours, which means that he or she is not finishing it, but is still claiming it again after it expires. And he/she has never given mention of who he/she is, why the task is taking so long (is it a problem with our site? Is the task too hard? Does Jordan not have the time (in which case claiming the task was not nice to others who might want it)?). I don’t want to seem like a control freak, but Jordan is making me worry a bit…

Okay, I may just have produced the ugliest anything for this project (and considering the early stand-in model for humans, and the continued stand-ins for the cars, that’s saying quite a lot :D). It’s the concept drawing for the underpass. It’s in Locations, called Underpass.png. It’s ugly, but you can still see the idea, dammit :smiley: It just popped into my head, and my scanner doesn’t work, so all I had was Paint :eek:

I added an armature and drivers to the mustang since it was on the tasklist.
Also added a text file that explains what it does.
Saved the file with an _001 extension.
If you modify the file and do a save as, all you need to do is click the + (plus sign) to the left of the save as button and it will automaticly incriment the number for you.
But, seems a bit premature to be adding armatures to the car?

Is it a requirement that everything in this project be built from scratch (ie why not use one of the couple of hundered car models that are available for free, after all, that’s why they built them and made them available for free)?

Anyway, play with the mustang. All ya have to do is move it and the wheels turn.
Also, if you want it to do a little wheely when it takes off I put the pivot point at the rear wheels.
Also, the bones in the wheels are limited to scaling on one axis. So if ya think it needs bigger meats hanging off the back end just scale the bones in the rear tires (lol).

aljo

@aljo: Saw the rig, looks good! Could you add a bone, though? I would like a target bone for the turning of the front wheels, so we can have the wheels ‘follow’ something, instead of having to turn them manually. Just a TrackTo modifier to a new target bone (but do make it a bone, so it is a fixed part of the rig). Also, remember to register at the Tasklist at State of Flux, so you can claim the assignment (and now, finish it right away :)). We do this so people know what things have been done, or are being done. I think you should have gotten my invite now, right?

And yes, it is a bit early to start rigging cars, but I want the idea of a car rig (which is not that common) to be apparent early. This way, people have it in mind when the cars become more complex.

About the free models… There is no real rule against it, but be careful because free models are not always completely free. Many do not allow certain kinds of use, or require you to do something (some even require you to donate, even if they claim to be ‘free’). The model for the human mesh was a free one, from Blendswap, but I read through every detail of its documentation to make sure it was completely free. If I start saying “just use a free model”, I risk people grabbing models that are not 100% free, or models that make annoying demands. So in many cases, carefully checking a free model takes almost as long as making one :smiley:

But if you have found free models for the cars somewhere, post a link. Even if they have some obstructions, we can always import their meshes and use them as tools to create our own quicker (shaping our models to the size and curves of theirs, NOT copying their meshes :eek:). Hell, even if they are not free but simply available, using them as a modeling reference is perfectly legal, I guess, as long as they are not concept designs (which have intellectual property rights)… Although it is cheating a bit :wink:

So I did a lot of nitpicking on the face. Most of it I discarded again, because it either did nothing or made it actually worse. I only ended up sticking with one alteration: Added muscle between nose and cheek. It wasn’t a task, but it had been bugging me, and I finally found it and fixed it. Then I rendered. I thought “yeah, he looks kinda alright”. Then I rendered a 200 frame animation of him turning 180 degrees in the light.

F*cking… awesome…

Now, I’m not saying we’re there yet, just that this guy looks real enough to put is in Uncanny Valley territory. And not as in “this is starting to look real enough to be a little creepy”, but “we’re getting back out on the other side of the Valley, and reaching real realism!”.

I am going to be spending my weekend doing a lot of work to find the exact way to do a few minor improvements. I just edited my post so as not to bore you with the details, but Paragon, a link to the fake SSS article you used could be really helpful on skin improvement.

Also, two new human tasks are going up in a moment: Teeth/gums/tongue, and a basic face rig. Yes, people, we are that far on this guy! :smiley:

Yes, I got the invite. That’s how I accessed the files.

I look further into a better car.

Free models, this site has about 15,000 free models.
http://archive3d.net/

Heres the licenses agremment:
By downloading 3D model you are agree with:

  1. This 3D model is provided “as is”, entirely at your own risk.
  2. Archive3D.net doesn’t accept any claims regarding quality of 3D model or any standards conformity.
  3. This model may be used in any commercial way only if it is a part of artwork or project. Single reselling or redistribution of this model is prohibited.
  4. This model may be freely modificated or elaborated.
    Remark: The models are provided in *.3DS and *.GSM formats. The basic ways of use are 3D Visualisation, Interior Design, Architectural Visualisation, Landscape Design, 3D Animation and 3D Art.

Blender can open them in .3ds format.
But of course they are all triangles. So, they work for somethings and somethings they don’t. Still cool to see some of the great work people are doing.

Also, for free human models check out makeHuman (if you haven’t already.)
Cool program, but to bad they don’t give’m some clothes (can’t be having a naked ninja delivery man :wink: But even so, it generates some great topology to start with.
Which make me think, you seem to be doing a lot of work on the characters before they have clothes?

aljo

Nice :smiley: The license seems agreeable, too!

Blender can open them in .3ds format.
But of course they are all triangles. So, they work for somethings and somethings they don’t. Still cool to see some of the great work people are doing.
They would still be great for 3D references!

Also, for free human models check out makeHuman (if you haven’t already.)
I know MH well, but there are some work requirements for using the results in Blender that are problematic on anything more than a few characters. I would like for this project to lay the foundation for something that has a lot of MHs features, but is fully Blender integrated, if that makes sense?

Which make me think, you seem to be doing a lot of work on the characters before they have clothes?
Rigs and topology in the base character will influence clothes so greatly that I want it to be pretty solid before we spend time on clothes, also because the clothes are really simple (ninja bodysuit, simple postal uniform). But yeah, it’s going to be time for them soon. As for the detail on the character, I just felt it was so good now it might as well be pushed all the way :slight_smile:

Edit: The Archive is, indeed, full of amazing models, with a sufficiently free license that we can use them without wondering. They are, however, 3ds, as earlier stated. That means they import in one big mess. I just downloaded a very nice Mustang, but it has taken me about two hours of scaling (they come in 1000x standard Blender scale) and moving things around. The end result, so far, is this:

It looks very nice so far, but it is not a free lunch. I think it is a very good option to have, though, and there are tons of good models there for the taking. Now I just have to get the last things in place in the model, and then I will start retracing it, because honestly, the mesh is a heavy mess (about a hundred individual objects!!!). But it gives us something to work with. I will upload the file as MustangWIP as soon as my brain pops out of my skull trying to get this right :smiley:

I changed the tasks related to the imported model. Retracing everything will take forever (I have spent 4 hours just on the basic body), so I am attempting a conversion of the imported elements, since the site explicitly allows change and use of models. Plus, my arm and eyes hurt from trying to get everything right, perhaps needlessly :frowning:

Edit: Okay, we need to figure out how to deal with some obstacles if using archives like that one. 3ds imports poorly, and are very and needlessly polyheavy. Are there some tricks? I seem to remember a way to optmize polycount automatically?

Edit2: I have started understanding how 3ds thinks, I think/hope. The image above should have been changed to an updated progress. Also, I realized I have yet to scale the car… :eek:

http://tube.freefac.org/post/drinking-the-blenderaid
^^ this looks interesting for a project management
also, how does the payment work/ is there a way to show what projects we’ve completed?

Checking it out :slight_smile:

also, how does the payment work

If you are refering to the original thread about micropayments, I think that notion sort of died, because nobody wanted me to pay them (the amounts were mainly symbolic, if it had been millions, things might have been diffferent :)). My current (till now undisclosed) plan was to collect a sum of money and simply make a celebration donation to the Blender Foundation when the video is complete. A couple hundred bucks, was my idea. But I don’t know how people stand on that whole micropayment thing anymore?

is there a way to show what projects we’ve completed?

If you mean demonstrate the final result, there is the public video (click Vimeo on SoF or just click the titlebar video). It is public domain. Everything made for it will be released publicly, too.

If you mean individual tasks, I have been thinking about it. Right now, tasks are only tracked until completed, the rest is notes here and there. This is in part because people replied they didn’t want the micropayments. I have thought about getting something done on that front, especially because Ecrivain has asked for a wishlist of features for the tasklist…

Hey, haven’t been on for about 4 or 5 days, been sick as can be >.< but I think I’m over it now, and I’m able to focus enough that I might feel like blending when I get home!

I’ve read the comments that’ve been posted, and rather than reply to them all individually I’ll just reply to the most recent few, so we’re not going back to days old topics :
Micropayments - I still have the same opinion I stated with my first blendfile, though I DO like the sounds of donating something to blender foundation. Maybe have a discussion to allow for each member to donate something… I was thinking anyone who would want to could pledge so much per view within the first week (with a ceiling incase we do better than anticipated XD) but only members who want to/have money to donate would be required, I’d personally be willing to donate along those lines. Maybe we could save our donation until the next open movie project is announced, and get listed as a sponsor! that’d be cool :smiley:

That car IS pretty nice, and it’s lookin right along the lines that we’ve been aiming with other models, so I personally think it will fit in nicely.
Free models ARE free, and I know the trash that comes from importing 3ds :confused: Back in my studying stages I imported some meshes from Battle Field 2: the way blender handled them made me simply exit and declare I would never become a game artist XD (though then dad got me an ancient copy of 3ds 6, which opened the files and I could actually make sense of stuff)

Though, we ARE trying to make a name for blender here, and I say we should use free models sparingly. Something as major as the lead car kinda says “blender’s not good enough to make that.” but using free models for civilian cars and background stuff no one could blame us. Perhaps we could check blendswap, I haven’t kept up to date on it but there might be some hi-quality cars up there. The only problem last time I checked was the lack of any documented licensing, meaning we’d probably be best trying to contact the authors of anything that’s up there…