United3dArtists Archive

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 14 Jun 2009, 20:31

No pics just yet but, as I said in the califorum, I am gonna bring my WIP's over to this forum.

Give me a few days to get it going again...

Mad Mouse · Post by **Mad Mouse** » 14 Jun 2009, 21:43

I am gonna bring my WIP's over to this forum.

About time to

marcel · Post by **marcel** » 14 Jun 2009, 22:04

[quote="splinters" I am gonna bring my WIP's over to this forum.[/quote]
Me too. Soon.

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 14 Jun 2009, 22:18

Mad Mouse wrote:
I am gonna bring my WIP's over to this forum.
About time to

I agree...now, about your WIP's young man....we have all been waiting a long time...too long!!

Mad Mouse · Post by **Mad Mouse** » 14 Jun 2009, 22:59

I agree...now, about your WIP's young man....we have all been waiting a long time...too long!!

Oh.... so you've noticed that I've started one then

Mad Mouse · Post by **Mad Mouse** » 20 Jun 2009, 09:31

BUMPTY BUMP BUMP!!!

Come along young man your adoring public demand more Harold!!

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 22 Jun 2009, 12:20

Steady on Madmouse, I just got through hundreds of exam papers, school reports and the mother of all hangovers....

Anywa, still looking at the cover. Is this any better?

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 22 Jun 2009, 14:55

Looks much more readable to me. The U could be more clear -- clear that it is a U. Some cement or such on the rim of the mixer could emphasize the O.

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 22 Jun 2009, 15:19

Cheers, I tried all the lettering as bricks but just didn't like it...not quirky enough!

I will try working on it some more...but perhaps I better get on with the story too....

Mad Mouse · Post by **Mad Mouse** » 22 Jun 2009, 18:51

Steady on Madmouse, I just got through hundreds of exam papers, school reports and the mother of all hangovers....

Don't worry mate you've got six weeks off soon to recover

Is this any better?

Honestly.... to my eyes.... no.... sorry

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 07 Jul 2009, 23:21

Oh well, I will keep trying.

Here is the man himself.

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 08 Jul 2009, 08:27

Mmm...looks a bit dark on my monitor. Still, good to see he is taking appropriate safety precautions.....for now!

nigec · Post by **nigec** » 08 Jul 2009, 09:06

Tiz a tad dark on mine too
Looking good though!

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 08 Jul 2009, 12:25

Mad Mouse wrote:
Steady on Madmouse, I just got through hundreds of exam papers, school reports and the mother of all hangovers....
Don't worry mate you've got six weeks off soon to recover

Is this any better?

Honestly.... to my eyes.... no.... sorry

As I look at it now that Harold is 'in da house' the cement mixer looks way too big.....what is big and round (don't say my arse!)??

Mad Mouse · Post by **Mad Mouse** » 08 Jul 2009, 19:34

Mmm...looks a bit dark on my monitor.

Yep me to. I do like Mr. H in his H&S get up though.

what is big and round (don't say my arse!)??

Er.... my arse? I suppose a cement truck would be too large?

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 08 Jul 2009, 21:42

Cement truck my arse!

As for lighting, well you know I have no idea about that Madmouse.....

jeffroig · Post by **jeffroig** » 08 Jul 2009, 23:35

I like your work, its very interesting and colorful.
We have a similar interest.
After looking at the house how about using a piece of gutter for the S.
As for the "O" what about using a coiled garden hose, a nice green one.
He needs a tape measure on his waiste.
Just suggestions.

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 14 Jul 2009, 00:18

Very slight update and still working on that logo...

Mad Mouse · Post by **Mad Mouse** » 14 Jul 2009, 08:58

Very subtle but a definite improvement

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 18 Jul 2009, 15:31

Christ, this is taking some time to get moving with. Everytime I commit to doing a bit more some paid job turns up, some DIY (ironically) that needs doing or I am just too knackered.

Mouse, I am starting to feel your 'pain' at being uninspired last year......

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 19 Jul 2009, 22:19

At last....a bit of progress. Well, a bit anyway.

Harold tries his hand at decorating.....oh dear.

Mad Mouse · Post by **Mad Mouse** » 20 Jul 2009, 10:56

Looking good Paul. I can see fun times ahead when he starts the papering

Karthogen · Post by **Karthogen** » 20 Jul 2009, 13:22

So, did someone send you a picture of my last home improvement project for your inspiration?

Looking good.

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 22 Jul 2009, 19:40

Still a long way to go...but the chaos has started.

Mad Mouse · Post by **Mad Mouse** » 22 Jul 2009, 19:49

LOL I knew it would mean trouble

That's some shiny blue paint he's got there

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 22 Jul 2009, 19:58

Shiny....and wet!!

RAYMAN · Post by **RAYMAN** » 22 Jul 2009, 20:02

He realy knows what he is doing

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 22 Jul 2009, 20:06

RAYMAN wrote:He realy knows what he is doing

As always....

jeffroig · Post by **jeffroig** » 22 Jul 2009, 20:14

Nice work you are doing there, please keep us updated on the progress.
I look forward to seeing more.

theuns · Post by **theuns** » 22 Jul 2009, 20:51

lookin good splinters :) love little Harod and the peeling wallpaper :D

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 22 Jul 2009, 20:57

Quick question guys. Wallpaper has two sides; plain and patterned. Some of these are simple planes, others are nurb based. Just how do I get to paint the two sides differently?

theuns · Post by **theuns** » 22 Jul 2009, 21:24

wont good old face paint work? time consuming yeah but should work, otherwise copy and offset it slightly then paint them different colors?

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 22 Jul 2009, 22:05

Yup, face paint it is...does anyone else get tS crashing when you use face paint? Has always done it for me...

theuns · Post by **theuns** » 22 Jul 2009, 22:28

nah, for me it is usually boolean operations, but it hasn't crashed in a while since using 7.61B

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 22 Jul 2009, 23:56

Ok, we have a problem. Bottom image shows the rendered image after getting textures right. When I painted the faces as required ot looks ok. BUT, once I save the scene and reopen it, certain textures have become red. When I render the object it looks fine...but render the scene....Mmmmmm.

Any ideas guys?

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 23 Jul 2009, 00:09

Are the wall paper sheets made from planes? Try a test with very thin boxes.

I see that the back is white on some sheets but in the render it is all like the front.

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 23 Jul 2009, 00:22

Sorry, bottom render is before I painted the faces as needed. The problem was there before I did that though.
The flat ones are planes but the curved ones are nurbs but I converted them to poly's.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 23 Jul 2009, 01:37

"Sorry, bottom render is before..." What was I thinking? Of course it is.

Nurbs converted to polys still might have no thickness. I don't know why but I intuitively believe that zero thickness might have something to do with it.

What about double sided rendering? It could be as simple as single sided is turned on.

The red on reopen is a mystery though.

Post by **Mr. 3d** » 23 Jul 2009, 01:52

I'm not sure if this is the case, but sometimes the last texture you use will jump onto your selected objects when reloading them from your Library. I actually use this to my advantage sometimes...It allows me to apply two separate textures on one object!

Nez · Post by **Nez** » 23 Jul 2009, 08:11

Weird... one possible option as an alternative would be to make the paper using very thin swept rectangles and applying sds to get the curved shape... you could model and texture flat and then point-edit to get the deformed shape where needed...? Bit convoluted perhaps....
Great looking scene, as usual.

RAYMAN · Post by **RAYMAN** » 23 Jul 2009, 09:06

Finis is correct you cant pant on both sides of an object with zero thickness.
You cant paint on both sides of a polygon. Well I havent tried with UV 1 and uv2 but generaly not possible.
Give it some thickness even non visible and you shouldnt run into trouble.
Here I painted both sides.....with some thickness(on the front polys and the back polys)

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 23 Jul 2009, 09:44

All great responses as usual guys but I have got the look I want through painting faces. However, it is not remembering the textures when I save. Well, it remembers some of them. No idea where the red is coming from; there is no red material in the room!!

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 23 Jul 2009, 10:19

Here is the image as I want it but if I save then reload the textures will be red again...Grrrrrr!

Any fix for this without remodelling?

nigec · Post by **nigec** » 23 Jul 2009, 10:44

I wonder if the front texture is stretching across the back faces when you reload, giveing the red look?
if all else fails you could duplicate the paper, crop it to the size that shows and drag it away from the paper slightly? If you crop it'll be easier to adjust, a load of big bends would be a nightmare

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 23 Jul 2009, 15:39

You're on modelside? Try saving the scene in different formats (TS 6.6, TS 5, ...) and loading from that file. Some of them might not have the problem.

Karthogen · Post by **Karthogen** » 23 Jul 2009, 16:03

I have been having TExture issues on Modelside a lot with loading and saving scenes. Seems if I have anything but the default texture in teh material editer when the scene is loaded, it will load all objects with that texture. If I bring up material editor and reset all. It will load the scene fine.

theuns · Post by **theuns** » 23 Jul 2009, 16:14

hmmm, interesting... haven't had this with textures before but i have had some objects moved/scaled and rotated from its last saved state... weird!

nigec · Post by **nigec** » 23 Jul 2009, 16:47

I've had stuff move around while saving scenes in 7.6, a whole ago a load of geometry just disapeared although it was still listed but all the values where zero, wouldn't rescale or do anything useful, I think it was the original little boy bomb scene

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 23 Jul 2009, 17:20

I better leave this until I figure it out. I am going to have some fun with this book; probably make it look like a notebook/scrapbook. This is just a quick mock up to see how it looks.

theuns · Post by **theuns** » 23 Jul 2009, 18:22

very nice splinters, mesa lika da picture mesa does! :)

what lighting setup did you use?

RAYMAN · Post by **RAYMAN** » 23 Jul 2009, 18:55

Paul when I run into problems like those I try to export it as an obj file into another application.
the trouble mostly shows up......
like a zero thickness object comes into 3d coat one side black and the other paintable as an example.
Truespace is often very forgiving for things like these and shows the texture on both sides...and even renders them but only screws up if you save...
Peter

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 23 Jul 2009, 19:23

theuns wrote:very nice splinters, mesa lika da picture mesa does!

what lighting setup did you use?

Unusually for me; 1 IBL and two local lights, one shadow casting.

theuns · Post by **theuns** » 23 Jul 2009, 19:30

kewl! tnx, wll try it out...

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 24 Jul 2009, 17:37

Can you believe the problem was sorted by going to a Vista machine?

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 24 Jul 2009, 18:01

Here is a small update; still a bit to go but nearly done.

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 24 Jul 2009, 18:32

Contrast is all wrong and a few other niggles....

theuns · Post by **theuns** » 24 Jul 2009, 19:00

[quote="splinters"]Can you believe the problem was sorted by going to a Vista machine?[/quote]

vista? really? i have vista business on my laptop and have tS loaded on it but it had always been to slow because the machine only came with 1gb ram, i did upgrade to 2gb but can't recall if i tried it after that again, will have a look ;)

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 24 Jul 2009, 19:37

I fear this may now be too dark but I needed more contrast between Harold and the wallpaper behind. it is meant to be a bit of a dowdy room as well....

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 27 Jul 2009, 15:43

Not like you guys to refrain from comments...

I put these images up over at 3D Artist if anyone would like to comment or vote. I appear to have the most viewed gallery but, alas, not the highest rated.
Nice to see tS making its presence felt in the galleries there.

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 30 Jul 2009, 16:31

An early image from the Califorum...and the cause of much of Harold's misery.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 30 Jul 2009, 18:40

The depth of field effect is too strong for my tastes. Since the room Harold is in isn't that big I wouldn't expect DOF or not this strong. Otherwise looks great!

Mad Mouse · Post by **Mad Mouse** » 30 Jul 2009, 22:25

That's just crying out for a buried dinosaur skeleton. PLEEEEEEEEASE!!!

Looks great Paul

Steve · Post by **Steve** » 30 Jul 2009, 22:39

Gotta agree with Finis, that DOF just kind of makes your eyes uncomfy trying to focus on Harold, it's just noticable to get in the way

On the other hand though I love the paint shader and the floor texture, and that wallpaper must have taken years to model

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 30 Jul 2009, 22:47

Dinosaur skeleton, yes. Maybe underground things that are links to other Buddy World stories.

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 02 Aug 2009, 23:47

Skeletons, dinosaurs and spaceships all planned for the underground and that DOF is going too.

Now, a bit of advice. I do want to go with this style rather than some of the suggestions of tools etc.

But which one is clearest and/or more effective? Top or bottom?

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 03 Aug 2009, 00:22

Thought I would try something different with this cover....whadya think?

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 03 Aug 2009, 01:12

I like the bottom one ("cover2.jpg") better because the "E" and "U" are clearer.

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 03 Aug 2009, 09:56

That one was my first choice Steinie; hence it made the mock up cover...

Whadya think of the book cover?

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 03 Aug 2009, 14:19

The bottom picture has the clearest lettering and looks good. The book cover has a good design. It uses the construction or do-it-yourself theme without over doing it.

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 03 Aug 2009, 17:22

Cheers guys. That is the one I am going with but I will make the pipe that is the 'U' a bit brighter and then very lightly trace the shapes that spell the word House so, subconsciously, they will stand out more.

But, will it pass the Madmouse test?

Now to get on with the story again.....

jeffroig · Post by **jeffroig** » 03 Aug 2009, 17:26

Can you give us the short version of the story, would love to hear what its about.
Have you ever thought of animated the story?

jeffroig · Post by **jeffroig** » 03 Aug 2009, 17:28

If you do decide to create an animated story of one of your books I would be interested in helping.
I am currently doing work with a group that has produced a childrens music CD and I am doing the animation to each of the songs.
Let me know if you would be interested.

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 05 Aug 2009, 08:31

Animation is not really my thing and would take years to produce something I was happy with. I don't like amateur looking animations which is what this would be if I tried it. Unless it was Pixar quality I would never be satisfied...

As for story, no real secret I guess. All Harold stories are basically 'disasters'; nothing goes right for him. They are also based 'loosely' on common mid life dilemmas; hair loss, buying a motorbike, doing up the house (I did pencil in Harold buys a Thai Bride but decided against it).

So it starts with wifey leaving until Harold fixes a leaky pipe but he decides to go one better and give her the house of her dreams. But, of course, Harold tries to do more than he his capable of with disastrous results. There will be the usual DIY blunders; plumbing, electrics, excavation, decorating etc.

Story is about 70% done but needs tweaking to flow better and be more humourous. I am in Tenerife next week for a fortnight so that will give me time to work on the story by the pool...

I hope to have it fully illustrated by Xmas but I am trying to be realistic about how much time I can spend on it.

Mad Mouse · Post by **Mad Mouse** » 05 Aug 2009, 19:01

(I did pencil in Harold buys a Thai Bride but decided against it).

LMAO! I'd paid good money to see that.

"me love you long time Mr. Harold"

jeffroig · Post by **jeffroig** » 05 Aug 2009, 19:08

I quite understand what you mean about wanting it to look like pixar.
The people I am working with are utilizing a film studio in North Carolina to do all the motion capture in.
They then send me the files on CD and the process of fun/ Pulling my hair out begins.
I have had to design a whole city for these people so that each animated video will relate to the next as their songs all reflect a group of characters that live in the same town.
The motions that I have applied to my characters for them are very smooth and very life like.
Now if I had $15,000.00 to spare I could use the motion lab also, I think I will pass.

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 10 Aug 2009, 16:28

Just to let you guys know that I away from tomorrow for a few weeks which should explain a. why I do not reply to messages or posts and b. why it seems that I am simply not submitting any WIP's.

See ya when I get back.

jeffroig · Post by **jeffroig** » 10 Aug 2009, 20:18

Everyone needs that every once in awhile, give the brain time to relax and come up with new creative ideas.. Have fun and try and enjoy.

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 11 Aug 2009, 01:22

Great work as usual, Paul. I love all the attention to detail in your pics. I also like the whole premise of the Harold's House storyline. In fact, I think it will turn out to be a favourite for all the Dad's browsing your site with their kids.

splinters · Post by **splinters** » 26 Aug 2009, 17:09

Well, I am back, well rested and tanned and the story is finished. Now for the hard part; illustrating it.

It's all storybooked and sketched out but I need to make a lot of props. Hopefully it will be completed this year......

Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?

Mad Mouse · Post by **Mad Mouse** » 26 Aug 2009, 23:14

Welcome back bud

Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?

Er...
1) Microsoft has reinstated development of TS

2) Disgusted at MP spending the people have risen up and taken control of government.

3) Gordon brown has announced that he wishes to live life as a woman and now wants to be know as Talulla.

4) Due to global warming the isle of white has sunk.

5) I've got a new car.

That's about it.

(P.S. only one of these facts is true

)

Good to have you back Paul, now get on with some bloody work

ATB

Steve

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