ill only be happy with it once its rigged and saying "beam me up scotty'

seriously, great work, glad those tutorials have helped you out,

ive been lucky to turn my hobby into work too, just cant wait to start showing you all what we do at symmetry, really frustrating, when i return on monday i can get together some of the buildings ive made and show, but its the final animations that are incredible,

ive gotten 1 person a job where i work and looks like another 2 soon, their is work available out there,

I'm an artist and I'm not poor. My hobby is my work. I am focused on earning a living, not making money. I do my job and it is fun. We are all different. If you want something bad enough, never give up.

Hi Renderbydesign,

I have given up so many dreams in the past. Giving up one more is no great difference. Most artists die poor anyway, and I am no different to them. I am really not upset. I had a go and failed and I now realise that I am fine with that. I am involved in making a game now, and that is fun. Modelling is fun. There are probably a lot more oppertunities in America because it is a bigger country.

I write poetry, and I like writing poetry, but again I am under no illusion that it can go anywhere either.

I think you have to do your hobbies because you enjoy doing them. If you are only doing them because you might make money then what is the point?

I play guitar because I enjoy playing guitar. I don't do it to make money.

I think when you get focused on making money that is where the fun dies.

Asimov

Thomas
Don't give up your dream. Look how much more knowledgeable and younger you are than I and I still have hope.

Thanks Andy, Thomas, any help much appreciated.

Andy, making good progress with those tutorials you sent. check out the picard thread.

Thanks Tom, I can rig this baby now and animate it. I can't wait!!!

I have to say Phil, if I had a hat I'd be taking it off to ya.

Leaps and bounds and then some.

Excellent job mate, and its not over yet!

Regards.

Quote:

I am not a business man at all. I have too much of a concience to be a business man. A good business man is generally good at manipulating people to get what he wants and that is not me. I know lots of good business men though. Not really the sort of people I would go for a beer with. I am sorry to hear that you have given up looking for work. At least you enjoy your artwork and its really getting good. BTW.. sorry but you do have a resemblance to Wierd al.. lol.

so my model looks ok in the animation above?

All I can see is the hair. It's a small photo.

Hi Dave,

Apart from having curly hair I look nothing like wierd al at all. There are lots of people out there with long curly hair. eg Brian May, Slash from Guns & Roses, and Mark Bolan to name but a few. I also don't look like any of those either, although I kept getting people coming up to me saying you look like Slash or you look like Brian May, and no I don't. I have long hair and it is a bit curly, but no I don't look like any of these people.

For instance Wierd Al is Jewish, and has a big nose.

It does annoy me when people can't see past the hair.

@Phil: I gave up looking for work in 3D a long time ago. No good going around with the illusion I am going to get anywhere. The difference with you and I is one thing. You are a very good businessman where I am not. I get home and I can barely open my eyes at times, let alone do much more extra. I haven't given up 3D and I still enjoy it immensely, but I am not kidding myself anymore.

Asimov

Hi Andy,

Thanks, looks like a good tip. I might try that.

@Phil: I did have some tutorials on my drive somewhere. I will try and find them for you. It's one of those things where you memorise how to do it so you don't need the tutorial any more. A good couple of tips though. Turn on global supersampling and use Hammersly, and also use the Catmull Rom filter for best results. It takes longer doing it this way, but it is well worth it. Usually you have to reset the cage and then increase it slowly until it covers your geometry.

Asimov

Asimov

Thanks Dave,

Here is a quick render I did. I have nearly closed all those gaps in the map now. It took literally 5 minutes to completely unwrap this texture in Zbrush. could you imagine how long it would take to do in Max?

Picard is looking pretty awesome, Phil.

Quote:

It was a tribute to Thomas. The resemblance is amazing though. :)

If 4 hours sleep is the going rate, then I can handle it!

here is my first successful import of a Zbrush unwrap into max. There is a massive scar where the map doesn't line up right, but hey, it's getting better. I just need to work out the fine print of unwrap and I will get this sorted.

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its easy phil,

make the object, and then you just pick the object you want to bake in the projection mapping, and make sure the cage surrounds the object,

have you used project mapping before, if not ill dropbox you a great tutorial for the whole process, including floating geometry,

The sad fact is 4hrs sleep is about normal in this game, if not a luxury.

Regards.

I am in the UK. but 2.30 is about my cutoff most evenings to ensure I get enough sleep.
Usually I will work during the day and go home, do the family bit, then when everyone has buggered off to bed I get cracking in the Garage and can be there until 3am some nights. Then off to bed to be woken around 7.30 next day. I manage with this pattern during the week, then catch up at weekend. Recently I have been falling asleep after having my evening meal.

Phil,
Wow Is it like 2:30 am where you are at? Are you burning the midnight oil?

Thomas, is there a tutorial for creating normal maps with floating geometry? Just had a scour on the web but I can't find anything useful. Either the tutor cannot speak good English, is awful at explaining things, or there is no audio at all.

I have a commission to produce a character for an estate agents web page. Coming along nicely and the combination of max and zbrush skills is really paying off when it comes to the visuals.

Here is how I am working through the character design.

Draw a basic character mesh in max.
export to Zbrush and add the detail
Polypaint in Zbrush, and unwrap
The unwrap in Zbrush is so easy it is unreal.
I am still struggling to get the mesh to import into Max with all the UV attributes, but I can export a good skin texture map, normal map and the rest really easily.

I send updates to the client and they tell me if anything needs to be changed (where I am now)
I am making slight changes to the model and when it is finished I will rig it and animate it for the website.

I agree Phil.
There is work. I have even been doing quite a bit of Photoshop work. The following job has been on going with new products but I started with one bench or table and created 20 different color combinations so they did not need to build all of them and take pictures. I figure its work plus it allowed me to sharpen my PS skills in areas I did not spend a lot of time in such as Exposure, color bal, and such. I found it is a whole lot easier to turn colored items to black and white and then change it to the color you desire vs starting with a color and modifying it.

nice!

just a wee bit more on the roof and im done modelling

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