jklind

Almost...

Finally got around to cleaning this one up! I debated inking and coloring this, and making it a paid post - April starts next week, and it could be fun to do some raffle images. Unfortunately, my bo...

All coming together

Not a whole lot done today, but then technically there's not a whole lot left - I added controls for her clavicles and pelvis, attached the pieces together so she can be moved as a whole... and that's...

Legs

Lazy day, today - Violet's legs are about 90% done. A couple minor fixes, then I need to rig her feet, and then the hardest parts of her rig are done. Until it's time to rig her face. Apart from th...

Progress!

After all of the problems I had yesterday, Violet's arms are finally (mostly) rigged! Hopefully the legs will go much easier... Since I'm likely to run into problems with this script again in the fu...

Vaguely Familiar

If you've ever used 3DSMax for animation, this may look a tad familiar... For the majority of my career, I've used 3DSMax's Biped for character animation. It's far from the greatest rig out there, b...

Nitpicking

I've been thinking about this one for a while, and it's something I'll have to decide on before I start modeling her expressions - should Vi's nose and mouth be raised up a little?

These are not expressions

This is one of those things that is more trouble than it may appear - the mouth corners. A trick I learned from the Malcolm rig is to have the corners weighted to special joints, which are constraine...

Violet's eyelids were one problem, her mouth is another. Getting the weights just right is not just a pain, but nearly impossible. Normal mouth ranges might be okay, but on the off-chance I need her...

Solving one difficult task with another

You know a task sucks, if you would rather spend time writing a tool to do it for you, even if writing it takes just as much time (or more) than doing it by hand... Before I start rigging Violet, I w...

I haven't yet decided what I'm going to work on today, so here's a look at some of the shader work I did last night, after messing with her pupils. Getting just the right settings was/is a pain, but ...

Dem Eyes

I should probably get Violet's rig started, and maybe block in some animation, because otherwise I'm reaching the point where things stop being fun for me - texturing and shading. Vi's eyes are going...

Problem - Daisy can't reach the service window between the bar and kitchen, and probably a few other things. Solution - a track ladder!

The server counter is now fully blocked in, so now I'm moving on to the surrounding area

Serving Counter

Sooner or later, I'm going to need an environment to pose my characters in. I've decided to start with the serving counter, because I think it might be the most difficult part.

Taking a small break from Violet, I decided to focus on one of the props for Daisy's Diner - a stackable cup/plate rack. I put way more effort into these two pieces that I probably needed to - around...

The American Way

I actually am looking to outsource some tasks, so naturally the question is how much it's going to cost me...

Violet hair test

Vi's hair is finally to a point where I can test out the rendering. The first problem is some hair poking through her ear, which may be an easy fix. The hair is also a bit jagged in some areas, whic...

Hairy Situation

There's a difference between knowing how something is done, and knowing how to do it yourself. Case in point - I've seen plenty of examples of hair setups for both games and films, and yet I don't kn...

Climb down animation

Sometimes a client wants something... less dramatic than what you turn in. Personally I like this version more, so here it is. Minus their character & ladder models, of course.

Snap Crackle Pop

Another something for me to clean up, when I have the time

There's Something About Mary-Anne

I may not have time right now to work on my characters, but I can at least review the hell out of them for later. I've already been doing this with Violet, Daisy, and Rose, but now I'm also throwing ...

Done, for now

Violet's skin weighting is more or less finished, at least from the neck down. There are some areas that could be improved, but I'll have to make note of those for later. I've got my next freelance ...

Violet's skin weighting is going smoothly, so far. One thing I'm testing out along the way, are helper joints. Skin weights alone aren't enough for natural deformation, and often pose-space deformer...

If I did change Daisy's hair color, I'd probably have to change her clothes as well, because red hair doesn't mix well with a pink uniform... Good thing the change will only be for a one-off, because ...

New Look?

I have a potentially non-canon comic planned that toys with Daisy's design a bit, but this will have to do for now. Her being a redhead would make sense though - her mom and aunt are redheads, and Ro...

Vi's model is inching closer to being done, now that her shoes and teeth are in place. The next step will be to make sure everything is UV'd properly. I'll need to get started on her color maps soon...

Vi's hair is now at least blocked in. I don't know how well these solid shapes will render, so I may need to look into either dynamic hair, or textured polygon strips.

On and off over the past couple of weeks...

Violet's model isn't done just yet, but it is far enough along for me to review the hell out of it.

A couple hours of cutting and point-pulling, and Violet's head is starting to take shape! :)

Violet's model sheet is more or less finish, so now I can get started on her model. Her base mesh is in place, so the next still will be to sculpt the rest of her in Zbrush...