thanks adam. hopefully your wallpaintings went smoothly ;) hard
without a resizable brush i guess ;)
i went some staeps further meanwhile.
i got a character+textures+shaders
i got a rigged character (the rig should update later)
i got a animated character, with the above rig ovious.
i got a scene with some cloth simulation in it.
what i dindt found out yet is how to have a master scene that holds all
the changes that are made in the other scenes. textures/meshes update,
animation updates etc.
always quite a bit handword is involved to merge all informations into
one scene/one character.
so far the only thing that goes in over a referece model is the
rig/skinning. then i need to apply new textures/shader via gator (works
great) and load previously saved actions that i apply then and then i
can render it out.
one thing that set me back a bit as well is that i cant assign meshes
from a reference model as obstacles in simulations. :/ is there a
workaround? i think each time i have to go the local model route i
loose the advantage of automatically proapagating changes throught
scenes. via ref.models.
ciao
franky
Tuesday, May 16, 2006, 7:55:24 AM, you wrote:
AS> yes.. Gator should be good enought to do what you are asking..
AS> As for saving out envelope weights... select mesh... CTRL + E to
AS> open the weight editor.. Then file > save preset.
AS> It won't work well if the vert count changes, but if you have
AS> similar weighted and vert count characters in different scenes,
AS> this will work... otherwise GATOR, or some of Michael Isner's
AS> older weight map tools on Netview still do a nice job transferring
AS> weights between meshes with disparate counts.
AS> I'm sorry I don't have a lot of time to detail the workflow right
AS> now.. Its not that difficult really.. I think cgsoup.com has a
AS> blog or two on workflow and granularity in XSI which might get you
AS> headed in the right direction.. If I can get around to it, I'll
AS> repost with an example of what I mean, but I'm smack in the middle
AS> of renovating my place right now and up to my ears in primer and eggshell.
AS> Perhaps when all clears a bit ...
AS> Adam
AS> ----- Original Message -----
AS> From: Frank Lenhard <franky(at)ixdream.com>
AS> Date: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:52 pm
AS> Subject: Re: Non Destructive Character Workflow
>> ok, to switch on the "locked parameters" did the trick with the
>> animationeditor ;)
>> i checked in xsi4 and it worked there and found that this little
>> switch was not set in xsi 5.1 ... pfew... lets see what happens next
>> ;)
>>
>>
>> ciao
>> franky
>>
>>
>> Monday, May 15, 2006, 9:21:26 PM, you wrote:
>>
>> FL> thanks adam for your answer.
>> FL> would it be possible that you go abit more indepth when you
>> say you
>> FL> use this workflow all the time? how? :)
>> FL> i try to build a little test course for that. so far i got a
>> characterFL> mesh, a rig (from biped), and the resulting model
>> referenced in a
>> FL> animation scene.
>>
>> FL> i plan to update model and most of all the rig and keep the
>> animationFL> in the other scene intact!
>>
>> FL> but i already stumble into problems like, why doesnt the animation
>> FL> editor show the curves on a referenced control? just plain
>> nothing. i
>> FL> can go to the kinematics and click the animated entry right
>> and call
>> FL> the animation editor. and THEN it shows me that one single
>> curve. when
>> FL> i just hit 0 with the control selected it doesnt show me anything
>> FL> (tried all combinations of view settings as well).
>> FL> when the model is local(not referenced) it works like expected.
>>
>> FL> another question, where do you save you the envelop datas? vertex
>> FL> weights? and what happens if you make changes to the model and
>> reloadFL> the weight datas? how it gets applied when the vertex
>> count changed??
>>
>> FL> i understand gator and the power it has. but what i am after
>> is not
>> FL> transferring stuff from low to highrez or different
>> characters. its
>> FL> just one character :) and is gator good enough (and fast) to
>> use the
>> FL> old mesh of the character and its skinning to drive a new
>> version with
>> FL> different vertex count?
>>
>>
>> FL> ciao
>> FL> franky
>>
>>
>> FL> 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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>> following
>> >>> text in body:
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>> >>> >>
>> >>> >>
>> >>> >
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>>
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>> text in body:
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