Hot damn you have come a long way, I’m impressed. To be honest muscles are of less interest to me than implicit skinning, but if you set up some kind of development fund for implicit skinning, I’m on.
Thank you guys for your interest!
I have tried implicit skinning demo not that long ago and the truth about Implicit Skinning isn’t that colorful as many people may think. This approach isn’t perfect and has some flaws. Starting on mesh translation itself and finishing on the performance of the method. Also requires some manual adjustments. However the Elastic Implicit Skinning method has some upgrades what of course makes it more attractive to have.
I couldn’t find the Elastic Implicit skinning demo to try so I guess it is not available for the public. I haven’t talked to the authors yet.
Anyways Implicit skinning is more like an experiment I guess and… what I think if we need to have something like this, that would have to be dedicated solution for new generation of skinning that will use the best from what we currently have. We could inherit some of them from implicit skinning but so far I think it’s still experimental research and not industrial standard. So according to this, it’s obviously a risk to put the effort and time to seek for and implement such method. But I decided to give it a try!
If it comes to rising funds, well I haven’t thought about this yet. I can only say that currently Blender Foundation will not support me (maybe except technical help, what is nice). However Ton mentioned that Implicit skinning would be nice feature to have in Blender 2.8 so everybody would be happy if I volunteer. I have not discussed financial topic about this task.
So far I know that Implicit skinning is compute expensive. It requires precalculations for each model and uses GPU CUDA support to work real time. So optimization of this method or optimized redesign (if it’s possible) is also nicely welcomed. So it’s pretty complex from engineering point of view as well as mathematics.
It’s big task and requires preparations. I am currently on the early stage of research, gathering docs, browsing blender code and data. I will create new thread for updating status of any progress I make on EIS. It may take some time (months) because I can’t focus right now on this with my 100% processing power because other projects take me much of my time. I hope this will change.
Best Regards!
Albert
This is just some teasing renders from the upcoming X-Muscle System tech demo. Everything starts in the Museum of History late at night…
Bring your digital fossils back to life!
Best Regards!
Albert
congrats on big progress again!
Thank you once again! I do my best!
You may be interested in the latest demo
Best Regards!
Albert
Hello everyone!
Starting from today for all X-Muscle System users there’s new rigged carnivore dinosaur skeleton available as a part of anatomy bundle for free or purchase separately.
Besides Human and dinosaur rigged skeletons, the Anatomy Bundle will eventually contain:
- cat skeleton
- dog skeleton
- horse skeleton
- cow skeleton
Best Regards!
Albert
Hello!
From the end of this week two new rigs will appear as a part of anatomy bundle (a dog and horse skeletons) for free download.
At the same time all current X-Muscle System users will have thier add-on upgraded to the XL (deluxe) variant, which includes all skeletons in anatomy bundle. This upgrade is free
From that time there will be X-Muscle System ($34,97) and X-Muscle System XL ($49,97) available
Primary X-Muscle System version will still contain Human SkeletonV1 rig.
Deluxe XL variant will include all the anatomy bundle rigs:
- HumanV1, ($15)
- HumanV2, ($20)
- Dog, ($20)
- Horse, ($20)
- Dinosaur, ($20)
- Cat ($20)
(over $100 worth bundle)
All rigged models will be also available for purchase separately on BlenderMarket or the internal market as well .
Please do not upgrade to XL variant if you already purchased the add-on
All purchases until 24.09.2017 will receive the free XL upgrade
Thank you for your understanding
Best Regards!
Albert
Hello!
Sorry everyone for the delay. I found horse skeleton pretty challenging and I have to say it is the most complex skeleton I made so far.
This detailed and beautiful rigged model will be delivered this week for all XMS XL users. I hope dog and cat won’t take this much time 
Hurry up if you want it for less! I won’t update product variants until all models will be delivered.
Best Regards!
Albert
Attachments
One more news to share
New Add-on versions will now provide access to beta features.
Accessing Beta-Features will be possible only with deluxe, X-Muscle System XL variant…
Best Regards!
Albert
Hello!
I am proud to announce new rigged skeleton model has been officially included into X-Muscle System anatomy bundle.
watch the demo:
get the add-on with the bundle directly from the BlenderMarket
This model will also be avaliable as a standalone product for only $24,97
High quality dog and cat models will join the bundle very soon.
Best Regards!
Albert
I was just thinking of a system like this. It should be possible for the script to dynamically generate the skeleton, muscle structure, and skin all from a base armature. Wouldn’t be convincing for humans or familiar animals, but could be really helpful for quickly making fantastical creatures, or as a base setup for real animals. Thoughts? After modeling all these bones by hand, I suspect you’d have a good idea how to automate the process.
Hey! This is cool idea and I’ve already met it before. This sounds like a new add-on for me.
X-Muscle System is VFX system, not a generator. It is universal tool which can be used with pretty any character and any armature. Skeletons are extra gift used mostly for visual reference and they are not required for the add-on to work properly. Of couse some skeleton bones can be converted to parts that could collide with the skin but that can be done exceptionally.
Models provided with X-Muscle System are based on anatomical references as much as possible. This precision could not be achieved with generated creatures. Anyway it’s interesting idea and could be considered one day.
The main issue with generated characters is that they would require manual final touch and they could look pretty awkward like a quasi creature without this manual fixing…
So once again, skeletons are not required for the add-on to work. It is compatible with pretty any armature and character which mesh topology doesn’t work against it. That was the main purpose when designing the add-on.
I tried to make skeletons as much universal as possible. The mesh is quite clean and can be adjusted to fit the model with proportional editing. So they can be modified to be used and reused for much more species than they were made with just a little of additional effort.
Generally speaking the plan was to make some cool assets that will allow the user to go straight into it, try on real-life example features and limitations of the add-on or follow easily the tutorials that are using the same kind of model available for everyone.
Best Regards!
Albert
ps you can not achieve this quality with generator:
Just found that skeleton models on turbosquid are at least 4x the price ($80 and more for single model) and they are not even rigged… mostly raw 3d models and there are nothing special about them, except they are commonly available with few different file formats. Some of them sorry to say but don’t even look too good… The models provided with XMS Anatomy Bundle are all blend files but the mesh itself can be exported to any popular format like 3ds or fbx.
By the way, the cat is on the way and also expect some new cool features soon…
And since this day human skeleton V2 has been added to XL variant!
It’s a detailed caucasian male skeleton
Best Regards!
Albert
A rigged cat skeleton will be available this week but most probably tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Best Regards!
Albert
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Here’s the cat for you! This one was really hard.
On the one hand it’s high detailed model
On the other, as all bundled models mesh is highly optimized for animation.
And as always mesh is 100% quads
Best Regards!
Albert
1 Like
man! you are on fire!!! great work!
Hey! Yes, that’s correct! Thank you! 
Here’s the short demo of what you get
Best Regards!
Albert
Here is 3D preview
Hope you like it!
Best Regards!
Albert
Hello!
Here’s the new dog model that will be deployed to Anatomy bundle for the XL variant of the add-on:
Of course as always uv, textured, rigged and 100% quads and free exclusively for X-Muscle System or for purchase separately for $24.97.
Hope you like it!
Best Regards!
Albert
And here’s the sketchfab upload
Best Regards!
A.