Lesson 58 - Using Inverse Kinematics - Part 1 Let's continue with the character animation topic we began in the previous lesson.In this lesson, we're going to learn the difference between using forward and inverse kinematics to rotate the bones of our character, and therefore to animate his movement. We'll be sticking with Lightwave for this demonstration, but all the concepts presented here are equally applicable to all...more
To Crowdsource Or Not? That Is the Question Research is critical in marketing strategies. Marketing research is the unsung hero of the marketing world that tends to be overlooked or forgotten as concepts turn into execution and execution turns into engagement, conversation, or criticism.Sometimes, the cost alone of carrying out a valid study can blow a budget. Also, as timelines are reduced in order for brands to get consumer...more
Lesson 57 - Getting Started with Character Animation - Part 1 Chacacter animation in 3D is an enormous subject, so let's try and narrow things down to some reasonable goals. In the last few years, the principles and practices of traditional drawn character animation has been successfully transplanted into the 3D Models environment. The art of traditional character animation has been developed over 80 years to successfully persuade an audience, generally of children, that moving drawings are actors with emotions and motivations. We can't even pretend to address these timeless principles here. Rather, we'll have to confine ourselves to the more basic (but very challenging) tasks of creating and animating 3D models so that their shapes movements appear convincing and organic. And we're going to do it using Lightwave.Every program has its peculiar strengths, and Lightwave is, in my opinion, the ideal place to learn character animation. Studio MAX is a much more difficult environment for character work, in part because building organic models in MAX is tough, and in part because MAX has adopted a rather unique toolset for character animation requires a lot of experience...more
How your life will look …When you follow your inner compass.How many times have you went camping or perhaps on a long-distance car trip? Would you go without a compass or a map to locate your way through the rough terrain? That's obvious: you wouldn't. Most folks are conscious about their travel plans and want to make certain...more
Pearls--Nature vs. Nurture Pearls: Why Simulate If They're Cultured?Man's fascination and love with luminous pearls dates back to ancient times. Glorious myths and folklore surrounds this gem which was once reserved only for royalty. Natural pearls, from days of yore, were created from a small irritant being trapped in a mollusk. The...more
Lesson 55 - More Texture Mapping - Part 1 Let's take what we learned about texture mapping in the previous lesson and apply it to some practical problems.I created a simple checker pattern bitmap in Photoshop to use as "wallpaper" for a room.Take a look at this map to pick up the pattern. 3D Models It's composed of 8 yellow and blue squares in each row and column. The bitmap is 256 pixels square. The size of the bitmap is important because if it's too small for the surface to which it will be applied it'll lose definition. If it's too large, it will inherently be resampled downward, which will not generally be a problem. But unnecessarily large bitmaps consume system memory, and for real-time uses (such as games) texture memory is precious. For the very small renders that will use here, even the 256 x 256 size is much bigger than we'll need.We make a room in Studio MAX by creating a box primitive of the desired dimensions, converting this parametric primitive object into a fixed polygonal mesh (an "editable mesh" in MAX terms). This creates a straight polygonal object of a type we could make in Lightwave or any other polygonal modeling program.Let's take what we...more
Modern living room furnishings In case you're like most people, you need good furnishings in your home. That is simply to be expected. All people needs their humble abode to look nice. Thankfully there are all forms of furniture and...more
Lesson 54 - Texture Mapping Basics - Part 1 We've been studying texture mapping lately in my classroom at Cogswell College, and I was impressed--as I always am--with how much confusion seems to plague this subject. The big problem...more
You shouldn't Choose Your Acrylic Photo Frames Until After You've Read This Report! The majority of persons have plenty of photographs laying about the home that, at some time, they may be going to do something with. If this...more
The Candlestick Summit | Steve Nison's Seminar You probably know I'm a big fan of Steve Nison. He's the "godfather" of candlestick charts. I can't even quantify how much his candlestick training has helped me. But it's huge. Steve...more
Your Accent Is Not Holding You Back -- Your Diction Is Unless you are planning to become an actor, I see no reason to try to get rid of your accent as long as you speak clearly. This is a prerequisite for success. It does not matter...more
Do You Have a Rogue? Here are some synonyms for the word "Rogue" so you can understand the title; other words for Rogue include scoundrel (like the title), villain, miscreant, reprobate, good-for-nothing, and wretch. The last ones are...more