thanks adam for your answer.
would it be possible that you go abit more indepth when you say you
use this workflow all the time? how? :)
i try to build a little test course for that. so far i got a character
mesh, a rig (from biped), and the resulting model referenced in a
animation scene.
i plan to update model and most of all the rig and keep the animation
in the other scene intact!
but i already stumble into problems like, why doesnt the animation
editor show the curves on a referenced control? just plain nothing. i
can go to the kinematics and click the animated entry right and call
the animation editor. and THEN it shows me that one single curve. when
i just hit 0 with the control selected it doesnt show me anything
(tried all combinations of view settings as well).
when the model is local(not referenced) it works like expected.
another question, where do you save you the envelop datas? vertex
weights? and what happens if you make changes to the model and reload
the weight datas? how it gets applied when the vertex count changed??
i understand gator and the power it has. but what i am after is not
transferring stuff from low to highrez or different characters. its
just one character :) and is gator good enough (and fast) to use the
old mesh of the character and its skinning to drive a new version with
different vertex count?
ciao
franky
Monday, May 15, 2006, 7:13:44 PM, you wrote:
AS> Hey Frank.. what you say is all possible and is something we try
AS> to utilize on all of our projects to minimize the amount of repetition in character work.
AS> GATOR works very well for passing assets such as
AS> envelopes,shapes, UV's and textures back and forth between different res characters.
AS> XSI also gives you the ability to save out .preset files of uvs,
AS> weight and shapes that you can drag and drop onto other characters.
AS> The main thing to keep in mind with swapping out deformers like
AS> quat for FK spines in your example is to establish a naming
AS> covention that works for you, as well as ensuring that the
AS> deformers initial kineState is the same between old deformers you are replacing and the new ones..
AS> You could also look at reference models for utilizing a non
AS> destructive workflow between low, med and hi res characters that
AS> all share the same skeleton and rig.
AS> The workflow is there to be taken full advantage of, however you
AS> still have to follow some fundamental steps to ensure flexibility
AS> further into your production schedule.
AS> Adam
AS> ----- Original Message -----
AS> From: Tim Leydecker <BauerOink(at)gmx.de>
AS> Date: Monday, May 15, 2006 9:24 am
AS> Subject: Re: Non Destructive Character Workflow
>> Hi Frank,
>>
>> I haven´t touched the Animation mixer in XSI, nor animated at all
>> so far but currently try to setup a PassSystem that should allow to
>> move the Lighting stage infront of the Texturing.
>>
>> Basically, I do the lighting in greys plus a colored environment
>> bounceand later add a flat textures pass plus a selfoccluding
>> reflections pass
>> from with the same colors.
>>
>> Here´s a breakdown of passes I´m playing with, I´m 75% there:
>>
>> Incident angle (camera position), no shadows/spec/refl/lights.
>> Environment sampled occlusion, as above
>> Ambient occlusion
>> Fake shadow pass using a white Lambert material (not just shadows)
>> (env) Reflections, via an amb_occ spread=0
>> Optionally, a global broad specular pass to determine bounce area.
>>
>> For setting things up:
>>
>> The Incidence controls the amount of reflections with the viewing
>> angle,facing get´s less reflections...
>>
>> The environmentsampled occlusion is used as the main filler, replacing
>> a FG pass (to prevent flicker). You can try incidence and brad
>> specularas the mask and take whatever you prefer.
>>
>> The Shadowpass is multiplied using a mask of the env sampled occlusion
>> (multed over the incidence if you like).
>>
>> The stanadard occlusion is used to shade down caveats where
>> neccessary.
>> Boiling things down, the incidence brings the most *filmic* effect
>> and makes
>> it a joy to play around with front/backlights, e.g. the amount of
>> fill and bounce.
>>
>> It´s a bit difficult for me currently to squeeze the colors in
>> correctly without
>> flattening out the tonalrange but as I said, I´m just ~75% there.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> tim
>>
>> P.S: You could also check out a SSS pass (for the textures) looks
>> quite good.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Daniel Bachmann" <dbachmann(at)mediagenerator.ch>
>> To: <XSI(at)Softimage.COM>
>> Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:12 AM
>> Subject: Re: Non Destructive Character Workflow
>>
>>
>> > hi franky,
>> > actually i think this is a good idea to compile a workflow fact
>> sheet.>
>> > as newbie on xsi i cannot tell anything about that at this time
>> but since i have
>> > started to work on my new short that involves a lot of parallel
>> working i can state
>> > about my thoughts and workflow from time to time.
>> >
>> > so any pro hints are welcome about the non destructive workflow.
>> >
>> > daniel
>> >
>> >
>> > Frank Lenhard wrote:
>> >> Hello XSIlers
>> >>
>> >> i finally got a bit of time between projects and try out what i
>> >> actually bought xsi for :) the ability to have
>> >> modelling/texturing/rigging/animation in an almost paralle
>> workflow.>>
>> >> now my steps are rather small and slow at the moment but i
>> would like
>> >> to hear if ppl out there really using the promised flexibility
>> and if
>> >> there are traps and downfalls i should be aware of.
>> >>
>> >> i checked the xsi4 production series, which has some good hints
>> here>> and there. i read the manuals on the topic. but i didnt
>> found a
>> >> "ready" workflow somewhere. like its advertised here
>> >> http://www.softimage.com/about_us/pdf/getting_into_character.pdf
>> >>
>> >> i imagine the following scenario and would be happy to hear if its
>> >> possible.
>> >>
>> >> naturally we would start with roughing out the character based
>> on the
>> >> designs. that would give us a model which already got the right
>> >> proportions. but it might missing details like finders, face, toes
>> >> whatever.
>> >>
>> >> this model gets passed on to the rigger, who builds a basic rig
>> into>> it so it can be posed for animatics, layouts.
>> >>
>> >> thats what the animator is getting and starts on the preproduction.
>> >>
>> >> while the layouts are in works the modeller doesnt sleep but
>> gets the
>> >> model refined, also based upon client response, which might
>> come late
>> >> in the process. he applies textures+uvw's
>> >>
>> >> while the modeller is busy the rigger is building the actual
>> rig for
>> >> animation. with new revisions ready from the modeller he just takes
>> >> the new model and has to reenvelope the newly added vertices.
>> the rest
>> >> of the skin stays intact.
>> >>
>> >> the first rigged char for animation gets to the animator who starts
>> >> animating it.
>> >>
>> >> refinements are done to the model+textures and to the rig, as it
>> >> appears that it needs to support moves there where not
>> anticipated and
>> >> where the rig currently breaks.
>> >>
>> >> the animator requests a quaternation spine instead of the fk spine.
>> >> but he doesnt wanna lose the already made animations.
>> >>
>> >> the face rig becomes available and the animator takes his ready
>> body>> animation and applies with the new face rig the facial
>> >> animation+lipsynch.
>> >>
>> >> finally everything is finished and goes of for rendering.
>> >>
>> >> in a perfect world the modeller would finish shortly before the
>> rigger>> who shortly finishes work before the animator.
>> >>
>> >> is THAT possible? at least that how the softimage advertisement
>> sounds>> to me :)
>> >>
>> >> maybe if there is interest and several ppl know about different
>> >> aspects about the pipeline, i can compile a little "how to" and
>> "what>> to be aware of" list, so there is something we can safely
>> go along in
>> >> production.
>> >>
>> >> ciao
>> >> franky
>> >>
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>> >>
>> >>
>> >
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