Website update using Anime Studio

[heyvern]

I recently finished a large website update for one of our clients.

They came to us a while ago to do some fixes and updates to their existing website.

Recently they needed a whole new section added to their website related to over-the-counter medicines. As what usually happens with these types of projects, things change and along the way they requested some additional "eye candy". Since there wasn't enough time or money in the budget to do too much, I was lucky enough to have a character I had just completed that worked perfectly for this project.

I used my "mad professor" as a sort of mascot for a quiz section that was part of this new OTC section. I was able to pose him, render, and add in to the site as a sort of "Pharmacist" type mascot. It wasn't in the budget to incorporate animation so I basically just used stills on various pages of the site. I hope to incorporate some HTML5 CSS3 animation at some point down the road. Maybe using Motion Artist.

You can see him in a couple of places.

If you click the left arrow on the slider once, he is in a promo for the new section:
http://consumermedsafety.org/

His main job is as the mascot of the "Quizzes" for people to use to learn and test their own knowledge of OTC medications:
test-your-knowledge-jeopardy-style

Anyway, not a huge Anime Studio project, but it was just so lucky that I created this character totally on a whim, and he just happened to work perfectly for a project. All I had to do was give him a stethoscope.

[funksmaname]

Looking good! I just hope that "just coz you had him lying around" doesn't mean you got paid nothing for his use!

[heyvern]

Looking good! I just hope that "just coz you had him lying around" doesn't mean you got paid nothing for his use!

I was initially planning to sell him for a few bucks on Content Paradise so part of using him on their site is that they don't have exclusive rights to the character. I made it clear that if they wanted to "own" the character exclusively we would have to charge more for it. He can rotate 360 body and head. Very versatile.

To be honest they are a very good client and this was a character I had used to experiment with full body and head turns using smart bones. I was able to blow the clients socks off in a "5 minute conversation" and earn some brownie points. While trying to come up with some simple, fast ideas to add some "eye candy" for the quiz section (which was a bit "dry") during a phone call i showed them this guy and they jumped all over it. Anything else would have been more work, budget discussions, red tape... change orders... so it was worth it to me.

[Little Yamori]

Very cool Vern,

I may have to get in touch as I'm planning an upgrade in the near future to my site and am looking to incorporate a ton (well maybe half a ton) of animation. My architect doesn't specialize in animation so it's a bit difficult to know the way forward. Congrats on the use of your professor.

LY

[Danimal]

I bombed every quiz, but at least the mad professor didn't mind. Looks great and it's cool to see him in action!

[heyvern]

I bombed every quiz, but at least the mad professor didn't mind. Looks great and it's cool to see him in action!

Yes, but at least you learned something!

p.s. I've been working on this site for months... I have taken every one of those quizzes so many times I thought I would go insane.

[hammerjammer]

Looks good Heyvern, I think I remember seeing this professor character awhile ago here in the forum. I seam to remember the sleeves of his coat moving up and down or something like that.(Or maybe I'm just crazy) Anyway, nice character. I think its really cool when we get to see where some of the work you guys do is actually used. Mine are always just for fun. Good job. Maybe in the future, there will be some money in budget to do a little animation too, especially since you have already put so much work into rigging it. Good luck.

HammerJammer

[heyvern]

Looks good Heyvern, I think I remember seeing this professor character awhile ago here in the forum. I seam to remember the sleeves of his coat moving up and down or something like that.(Or maybe I'm just crazy) Anyway, nice character. I think its really cool when we get to see where some of the work you guys do is actually used. Mine are always just for fun. Good job. Maybe in the future, there will be some money in budget to do a little animation too, especially since you have already put so much work into rigging it. Good luck.

HammerJammer

Yes, I did do a topic on this guy. His sleeves roll up using a smart bone. The sleeves and arms of this character were done with that cool stroke only shape trick. I simply stuck a shape at the end of the sleeve stroke with a follow path and stroke exposure to simulate the sleeves rolling up.

I really really.... REALLY like stroke only arms and legs. They are so freaking versatile and flexible. Now with the v10 point width updates it's even better. To do that sleeve trick with SHAPES would have been ten times the amount of work and wouldn't have looked as good.

[hammerjammer]

His sleeves roll up using a smart bone.

Cool, So I'm not crazy! I thought I saw this guy before. Funny how the sleeves rolling up impressed on me. I tried to go back through the forum and find that thread, But could not remember what it may have been called. Can't do a search if I don't know what to look for. Do you happen to remember? Don't drive yourself crazy over it or anything, I am just curious. Cool character though. Good job.

I really really wish I had some drawing skills worth a darn. This animation stuff would be so much more fun for me if I did. Anyway, just a little jealous I guess. So many artist on the forum these days getting into animation, and doing well. Its fun to watch it all happen. I have even helped a few people with the technical & animation side of software. That make me feel a little better about my lack of drawing skills. Sorry for rambling on.

HammerJammer

[heyvern]

Do you happen to remember? Don't drive yourself crazy over it or anything, I am just curious. Cool character though. Good job.

I probably should have just posted this to the other topic... but I zoned out on it.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=24838

[hammerjammer]

Nice, very cool. I really like that detail of rolling up the sleeves. Thanks for posting the link to it. Lots of really good tips there too.
I knew I remembered seeing this before. Just don't ask me to remember something really important like my wedding anniversary, Just ask my wife. LOL
Not that your character isn't important too. Well, you know what I meant.

HammerJammer

[3deeguy]

We might miss the Mad Professor a bit. I'm joking Creating a character is still a lot of work even when there is no animation. The character I did for a friend took me four days to get it to my satisfaction. He wanted changes which took another two days. And it was not rigged. Please keep us updated!

[exile]

Thanks for posting, Vern, and also for providing the link to the old thread with the short video. I think you'll get even more mileage out of this character. He's generic but likable and and original at the same time.