Opposable Thumbs

[StudioMartillo]

It's a right brain, left brain sort of thing.
I'm at that point, the scene is all set up, the characters in their places, time for the final touches. Got to
adjust those eyes, she's supposed to be looking at the door.... ok good, got it. 'Better make sure' the inner
geek whispers in my ear. Oh, all right, use the face camera, pan out and around to inside the door. Uh oh,
the eyes aren't looking at the door/face camera. 'Glad I thought of that' the geek says. Hmphh..well, adjust
the eyes, now, there we are. Back to the main camera. The eyes are not looking at the door. They're
looking downward. Time to throw the geek out the window. He doesn't belong here. Got to get rid of him for
a while so I can be artistic.

 

[StudioMartillo]

It's the 'reflection map'.
Re-adjust those eyes like they were. And a test render. Oh phoo, the eyes are still looking downward. Back
to preview, not looking downward. Where's the geek, what do we do now? 'Take a close look at the eyes,
there's a highlight that makes no sense' the geek says.
To the material room! What's this? A reflection map on the eye surface? Reflection of what? Nothing in the
scene. ZAP!, goodby reflection map. 'The specularity should take care of this. And get that "Highlight_Size"
right' says the geek. . ('highlight_size' a poserish inverse of glossiness'). 'Got to be a very tiny value.' Right...
re-render. Well there it is. Looks right now, and it'll stay like this. Grrrrr.

 

[StudioMartillo]

My best resources for eye textures are by Mairy & 3Dream and by Fabiana Kofman. Between these two, every color of eyes you could want. And no false 'reflections'. If I want reflection I just put a ray traced reflection node on the eye surface, and remove all mapped reflections and 'glossy' speculars.

 

[mininessie]

nice work and explanation!

 

[Dakorillon (IMArts)]

Are eye materials/textures something that people actually want more of? I used to make TONS of eyes for Second Life, in the way-back time. I love eyes. Just didn't think people would want more of them....

 

[Mythocentric]

Are eye materials/textures something that people actually want more of? I used to make TONS of eyes for Second Life, in the way-back time. I love eyes. Just didn't think people would want more of them....

I think that would be well worth the effort Dakorillon. I hate eye reflection maps and frequently 'borrow' eyes (textures) from other modellers who are perhaps better than the ones I'm currently using. A constant source of well-made textures with a wide range of colours would be invaluable!

 

[StudioMartillo]

Are eye materials/textures something that people actually want more of? I used to make TONS of eyes for Second Life, in the way-back time. I love eyes. Just didn't think people would want more of them....

Well, that silly story is really a suggestion for artists making not only eye materials, but complete character materials. I think probably most users have good render engines that handle raytracing with ease. Reflection maps, and shadow maps and substitutions of that sort are now passe'. So probably time to let them go by. I'm spending a lot of time in the material room getting things to work in a modern style. Probably because of the age of many of my assests, only I still like them a lot when updated.

Now I'm wondering if anyone is laughing at the joke. Ever notice how the rigging of the thumbs on a lot of characters doesn't work naturally? Opposable thumbs!? Ha! Ever try to hold your thumb facing in the SAME direction as your fingers? Not easy is it.

 

[StudioMartillo]

I think that would be well worth the effort Dakorillon. I hate eye reflection maps and frequently 'borrow' eyes (textures) from other modellers who are perhaps better than the ones I'm currently using. A constant source of well-made textures with a wide range of colours would be invaluable!

Yes indeed! The ones I said are my best are overall not modern materials. I just rip the diffuse image in the library and plug it into a preset of my own style.

 

[Dakorillon (IMArts)]

I think that would be well worth the effort Dakorillon. I hate eye reflection maps and frequently 'borrow' eyes (textures) from other modellers who are perhaps better than the ones I'm currently using. A constant source of well-made textures with a wide range of colours would be invaluable!

Quick question then, so I understand what you are saying, and not thinking my own tangent.

Do the eyes need to be set up completely, so that one just clicks and viola? Or just texture maps? Or sets of texture, bump and reflection maps that are separate, but you put in yourself?

I would think the Click and Viola (Hereafter, the C/V method) would be what would be wanted, but StudioMarillo was saying that he didn't like reflection maps...so?

Thank you

 

[Mythocentric]

Hi Dakorillon!

I don't like reflection maps either. I've had some pretty strange results from them, noticable especially in portraits/close-ups. I'm not an expert on the inner workings of Poser (my preferred program) so what I had in mind was the C/V method minus the reflection maps, if that makes sense! An example of what I get up to would be THE SUMMERS GIRLS in the 'I just wanted to post an image thread'. Both characters are by Godal including textures with the exception of the eyes which are from Mihrelle's Eirwen character!

 

[Dakorillon (IMArts)]

Okay! I got the idea now. I may poke you later for some feedback. Thank you StudioMartillo for your wonderful thread and letting us hijack it for the moment.

 

[Dakorillon (IMArts)]

This is going to sound like a really dumb question, But what is the difference between the basic Dawn MAT's, the 3DL MATs ? I was thinking that they were the same thing, but now, I'm thinking not. Often I don't bother to load the 3DL MATs....But....I'm confused now.

 

[Dakorillon (IMArts)]

Okay, moving Eye test/questions to their own area.

 

[StudioMartillo]

Okay! I got the idea now. I may poke you later for some feedback. Thank you StudioMartillo for your wonderful thread and letting us hijack it for the moment.

Hijack? I was hoping for a discussion, like the thread is a seed for aspects of development that are good in one way and bad in another.

Okay, moving Eye test/questions to their own area.

Moving now? Well, where did they go? Maybe there was already a section for eyes. Must have missed it.

 

[StudioMartillo]

Did you know?
Raccoons have hands. Yes! And they're quite adroit the little berry bandits. The can work latches and other clever mechanical devices. It would be fun to have a raccoon character. Maybe he could be based on a cat, but would be dependent on fur. He doesn't do much with his fur, it just flexes when he moves, so it wouldn't need morphs really. Maybe just magnets. Does P11 support magnet type deformers? If so that would probably do. Raccoons get into all sorts of mischief so they would be good in stories. Could fur be developed that works with just magnets?

 

[Dakorillon (IMArts)]

I think that with Look At My Hair for DS that you wouldn't need magnets. It automatically follows the movements of the body. And I know that the developer is making a squirrel as we speak. In fact he is doing the fur and morphs for 5 different squirrels. So, a raccoon, should not be beyond the scope of things to make hair for.

Yes, raccoons are very clever with their hands. And very strong! They can tear staples out of wood to get into the chicken pen! There is also the Raccoon on Guardians of the Galaxy that is very popular, as well as cartoons like Ranger Rick, so there would be quite the market for it, I think.

 

[Dakorillon (IMArts)]

Hijack? I was hoping for a discussion, like the thread is a seed for aspects of development that are good in one way and bad in another.

Moving now? Well, where did they go? Maybe there was already a section for eyes. Must have missed it.

Well, then we shall continue the discussion here. I just moved my eye development thread, and I saw that you found it.

 

[StudioMartillo]

A close up of Rialein, star of my Faerytale, and charming Irish girl, reveals the style of eye material that I use.
This is probably not a shot I would normally use, but you can see here clearly what is reflected in her eyes.
The scene, and nothing else. It aids credibility. The mind knows these things from continuous experience.
Subtle things that aren't in our forethoughts can help us to interperet what we're experiencing, let us know what to believe.
Give a feeling of harmony, or dissonance. It's as feng shui is to the architect.

 

[Dakorillon (IMArts)]

Well said, and a very nice shot.

 

[StudioMartillo]

Kitbashing, is it safe? Will the insurance pay if you bust a thumb?
I saw this term used in a render thread.
It got me wondering. Just what constitutes a 'kit'?
A collection of items? Or a composite prop? Or game objects?
For instance, I offer collections of furniture for unrestricted use.
You can download the collection and use any item in any way.
But what about a prop say, that is more like a scene than one item?
Now that could be fun to get parts out of.
So I went in pursuit of some real, serious, thumb and hammer kitbashing.
With some fortuitous searching I found the perfect specimen.
$6 for almost 600MB of diverse geometry and textures.
17 OBJ files and over 40 textures all referred to in one .pp2 file...
and not single props in each OBJ but large collections of items.
Imagine hundreds of tiny mice, scampering in all directions.
Teromasu would be in owl heaven.
I could pose him diving, fiercely yet gracefully, talons extended.
About to snatch a warm furry midnight meal.
But with so much geometry poser becomes ponderous.
The preview jerks and jumps about.
It's like playing music with your speakers 30 meters away.
You don't hear the note you play for 100 ms. Quite annoying.
So load the OBJ into Lightwave and select all the polygons for say...
only two or three mice.
Move them to another layer, make sure they reference the UV's...
and save that layer as a new object. Name it maybe 'Three Blind Mice'
Now load the new object, center the polys, load the texture image,
and then export it back to a new OBJ. EXCELLEMUNDO!!
Now I've got something I can use.
I'll post a render that makes use of 'kitbashing' in the Just Wanted to Post and Image Thread.