New girlfriend

chucky · Post by **chucky** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:19 am

I'm not going to sneak around behind your back, Anime.
I just opened a package and I'm holding between my knees a brand spanken' new copy of maya2009.
So I might not be around so much on the ol' LM forum.
I'm not breaking up, just thought it might be good to see other software for a while.

ASPRO darlin', it's not you.....it's me....

Any other maya users here? I might see you on the AREA sight.

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:42 am

Dang chuck! You freaked me out! Thought it was some more spam! Big holiday push of spammers the last few days. Freaking arse holes. it is a relief I didn't have to ban you.

-----

As for balancing time between two wicked cool applications, I know the feeling dude. I've been working with Animation Master the last few weeks on a big (little) project. Little as in "not that important" but big in that it's important to me.

It needs to get done by the end of January for the NYC comic con that Hash will be at, and it is ALL bunches and bunches of physics and cloth simulations all over the place so I'm under the gun. It's sort of a... hysterically funny short film demonstrating the physics simulations in AM.

p.s. I had to create an entire alphabet of plastic letter models with little tabs on the back to stick into thin grooves modeled into a sign board so I can knock them off and scatter them on the floor.

Works great... but... <sigh> what a pain in the arse. Less work banning those spammers.

-vern

chucky · Post by **chucky** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 8:02 am

I used to use animation master a lot, I did some previz with it earlier in the year, I actually bought it from the Hash stand at E3 in your fine country some years back.
I don't know how you can block those WOW and runescape spammers, the wow makers hate it too I think they are well aware of forum spamming, I have actually done a few searches on your behalf (I know you must be going nuts about it) to look for forum tools that block gold ads automatically , but have found nothing as yet.
I'd love to see some of your AM work, I have a few little things on my site, the black and white car/plane chase thing is mostly in AM.

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 9:48 am

chucky wrote:I used to use animation master a lot, I did some previz with it earlier in the year, I actually bought it from the Hash stand at E3 in your fine country some years back.
I don't know how you can block those WOW and runescape spammers, the wow makers hate it too I think they are well aware of forum spamming, I have actually done a few searches on your behalf (I know you must be going nuts about it) to look for forum tools that block gold ads automatically , but have found nothing as yet.
[/quote/

Those guys are backstards. I have gotten quite adept at searching for anything "wow gold" in the web site or email or whatever. I am reluctant to block them before they post but I keep an eye on them. I stopped deleting them because I heard it messes them up better to just block or ban them. It probably makes no difference.

I'd love to see some of your AM work, I have a few little things on my site, the black and white car/plane chase thing is mostly in AM.

Here's a few things I've done over the years:

This is the latest. The image came in first place in the Hash mechanical image contest. My first win! I wrote a short parody script that kind of makes fun of the Terminator series... but in a loving endearing way

DK · Post by DK » Mon Dec 22, 2008 10:27 am

Holy Cow....how did you do the inner crumple lining of the cardboard box in the Dandy BO_big.jpg? It looks real! Was that modelled?

D.K

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 10:52 am

The cardboard textures are all image textures scanned from... well... a card board box.

with some bump maps. I just put the different "edges" and surfaces of a piece of cardboard on the scanner and then used a repeating texture map for the edges of the box model. I even lined up the ridges on the surface so they match the cut edges.

The model is all one piece, like a real box. I modeled it flat and it has what are called "poses" to fold it up into a box shape, so I can open and close the flaps. The corners even "bulge out" because of the thickness of the cardboard.

That's what I use AM for most of the time.. hyper realism. Quite a contrast to the "cartoony" style that I like using AS.

-vern

chucky · Post by **chucky** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 10:53 am

EXCELLENT, thanks Vern, they're way cool.
You truly are the Vernimator.

That robot will look great when finished, I have no doubt, it looks good now, great to see all those hydraulics working in concert.
I remember seeing the chrome dog skull before, on the Hash forum probably.
The DIY DNA pack is very funny, I think I know someone who may have been cooked up in one of those.

Genete · Post by **Genete** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 12:42 pm

Vern,
Have you got any Eastern Egg in the texts of the images?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg_(media)

Awesome man!
-G

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 1:04 pm

I usually like to write real copy as much as possible. It's hard to see in a lot of images and if it's a ton of body copy or way too small to see I just use fake text. The CD rom in the Dandy DNA has a lot of interesting text.

It's hard to see but you can almost read "Junk DNA" on one of the boxes. At the time I created that image there was a huge discussion on the AM forum about evolution vs. creationism and how junk DNA could have played a large roll in evolution... which is what inspired the concept. I did put a disclaimer on the CD, warning creationists that this toy teaches evolution as science and it may be considered offensive, but it got covered up and was too small to read anyway.

I think I may have chickened out at the last minute.

Another "easter egg" I suppose is the names of the fake companies. In most of them I used the initials "AM" as a tribute to the program I used to create them, like Automated Mechanics, ActivoMoto toys, etc. (actually there is copy on the box somewhere that says ActivoMoto toys is a wholly owned subsidiary of Automated Mechanics.)

So... yes... lots of easter eggs.

p.s. Here's another in the series. You need red/blue 3D glasses (Dynamic Dimensions is also a division of Automated Mechnaics):

http://www.lowrestv.com/misc_images/fourthdimension.jpg

-vern

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 1:11 pm

Holy cow!

Sorry chuck! I hijacked your thread! Let me know and I will split this off into another topic.

-vern

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 12:44 am

Yeah I was impressed with that styrofoam box packing. Not just it's look, but that it was there at all. Keen eye for detail, Vern.

dueyftw · Post by **dueyftw** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 1:24 am

I have an old learning addition of Maya. Anyone want it? Sorry but I was just turned off by the layout and the controls. I thought that it was over priced.

Dale

chucky · Post by **chucky** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 5:51 am

Personal Learning Edition is free, I couldn't bear the maya watermark all over it.
Maybe this should be in the other software thread, Vern you are welcome to move it.
I know what you mean Dale about the interface, I reluctantly plunged into Maya for work reasons, If everything was equal I would have preferred for selfishly to get CD4 which has a beautiful, eye and brain pleasing interface- it's really sexy and it has great features.
And there are some god-damn stupid interface issues with Maya OHHHH really mega dumb, ugly, illogical ways of doing stuff , I actually spent three hours yesterday looking through (or or stumbling through) some of the advanced features which frightened my hardware - (realising it's own mortality) and after that time I thought ,' what the hell have I got myself into here?'.

SO then I set about doing something I was going actually use Maya for- a lot- character modelling for the purpose of animation (which is the real issue)
Let's just say I went to bed very happy about what I had achieved, it is a masterful tool for anything, actually quite a joy to use merely for the AWESOME tools, it's the unlimited version which you can get a self teaching licence for about 750 bucks as opposed to 4000 if I was using it immediately for work,

I still agree with Dale about the UI I know the fanboys will say ' but you can totally modify the UI' my answer is 'If it was really good I wouldn't need to'
The icons and miasma of palettes look like vegetarian vomit spread over a phone book- wake up and change it, Autodesk.

Besides that though it is WAY quicker and more reliable than AM- true- for which you actually end up paying quite a lot over the years for all the empty updates and add-ons that don't really work.