Halforums Academy 2 Story Commentary Thread
- Thread starter GasBandit
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GasBandit
Staff member
Can't MMD at work. I can, however, go to draw.io.
GasBandit
Staff member
Ok, I got that fixed. Apparently when I copied over Amy's bones and physics I forgot to copy the "joints" tab because I didn't understand what it did, and how it differed from "bones." Well, it turns out "joints" are what pin physics-responsive bodies in place, and without them, the attached bones (and their vertices) just fall on the floor.
So anyway, Shego's looking fairly good now, but I still need to apply physics to her hair and do her facial morphs. After that, she'll be done.
That guy hasn't gotten back to me on whatever utility he's using that exports morphs. Geh.
So anyway, Shego's looking fairly good now, but I still need to apply physics to her hair and do her facial morphs. After that, she'll be done.
That guy hasn't gotten back to me on whatever utility he's using that exports morphs. Geh.
Gravity's a bitchSay it with me now...
There seems to be a porblem.
That's.... not supposed to do that.
GasBandit
Staff member
So all of tonight has been dedicated to Shego's hair. I tried following several manual hair tutorials but it just ended up being more work for less satisfactory results, and I ended up going with my first gut instinct to use the "Skirt plugin" (which is for generating physics for flowing skirts) to kludge a physics solution for the rear, longer hair, and I did the shorter side hair manually. I think the result is acceptable.
I'm glad it works because when it comes to the skirt plugin I'll be damned if I understand the concepts involved, really. I feel like a warhammer Techpriest Enginseer - I don't REALLY understand what I'm doing, I just have somebody else's ancient arcane scribblings giving me step by step instructions with numbers I don't understand that produce equally indecipherable runes and glyphs in results, but if I light the incense and invoke the proper prayers to the Omnissiah, I seem to get the result I'm aiming for.
I'm glad it works because when it comes to the skirt plugin I'll be damned if I understand the concepts involved, really. I feel like a warhammer Techpriest Enginseer - I don't REALLY understand what I'm doing, I just have somebody else's ancient arcane scribblings giving me step by step instructions with numbers I don't understand that produce equally indecipherable runes and glyphs in results, but if I light the incense and invoke the proper prayers to the Omnissiah, I seem to get the result I'm aiming for.
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GasBandit
Staff member
As I said, you should have seen the earlier attempts. It looked like she had the bushiest of beards because it came through her neck and then got stuck in front of her torso.
That said, I've been tweaking the collision bodies and it's improved a little since that video. It's a very difficult fine line to walk... if you make the bodies too small/far apart the meshes clip through each other. If you make them too big/close together, the hair bounces away over and over again like it's made of jello and her back is a trampoline.
I'm just happy the hair bends semi-believably. My earlier manual attempts made it look like some kind of robotic tentacle when it moved. THAT was distracting.
And really, in amateur MMD, there's pretty much always gonna be some clipping. Even in the official stuff from the company, they didn't consider it important enough to worry about. MMD videos are usually lousy with clipping polygons and fluttering/spazzing physics. After all, watch the Amy singing video earlier, and note all the clipping going on with the "official" models I used on either side of her, specifically the sleeves of the one on the left and the collar on the one on the right.
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GasBandit
Staff member
Spent tonight redoing Amy's phoneme morphs from scratch because I was really not happy with how they turned out the first time... they looked like Marlon Brando choking on a chicken bone, really. I redid them and I'm a little happier with how they look now. Also added lipstick, looks better I think. Have an odd problem with the lower teeth sometimes clipping out through the bottom lip, but I think I can fix it. Tomorrow. Bed now.
No video this time, I'll save it for when I have all three teachers done I think. Then I'll start in on converting over students.
No video this time, I'll save it for when I have all three teachers done I think. Then I'll start in on converting over students.
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GasBandit
Staff member
Well, the plan is to convert all the models, at this point. I am just doing all 3 teachers at once because they have the same body type, and so it's easier to copy/paste the bone structure between them with minimal adjustment. I'll probably do all the short students at once, then all the medium students, then all the tall students. Or maybe the tall students will be close enough to the teachers to be able to reuse the skeletons there, too. I'll probably have to do something new/special for the chubby students, though.
Also, fixed the typo
it was 1 am, and really, how often do you use the word "phoneme?"
GasBandit
Staff member
Just in case anybody is curious, here's a list of the "standard" facial morphs in MMD.
So far, I'm getting by only just using the six eyebrow poses, "Blink," and mouth movements for A, I, U, E, and O.
Maybe when I get the models all converted over, I can start adding the other expressions as I think I need them.
They're pretty difficult and time consuming, but the more I do it, the better I'm getting at it.
So far, I'm getting by only just using the six eyebrow poses, "Blink," and mouth movements for A, I, U, E, and O.
Maybe when I get the models all converted over, I can start adding the other expressions as I think I need them.
They're pretty difficult and time consuming, but the more I do it, the better I'm getting at it.
GasBandit
Staff member
Also, obviously, you can combine multiple morphs in the motion data. They're multiplicative. For example, if you combine A and O, you get a great big "NOOOOO" type facial pose. This is because, while both poses involve moving the lower lip down, the O pose also narrows it... so the practical effect is that the jaw opens farther but the mouth, while elongating up-down, isn't as wide as "A" left-right.
I dunno if I'm explaining this right.
Watch the video with Amy singing again, the part near the beginning where she belts out "needed to HOOOOOLD youuu," "Hold" is combinging A and O.
Right now I'm having a problem because both A and E involve moving the teeth down, and the multiplicative effect is that if movement data tries to combine A with E (which seems to be a common crutch for yelling an "a" sound), it moves the teeth down twice as far as they're supposed to go and you can see them through the skin under the bottom lip. I'll probably try to fix this by having the "a" animation move the lower teeth back some as well, instead of just down. Of course, all this is exacerbated by the artistic choices of the AA2 developers to basically give all the models overbites/weak chins. But, c'est la vie.
I dunno if I'm explaining this right.
Watch the video with Amy singing again, the part near the beginning where she belts out "needed to HOOOOOLD youuu," "Hold" is combinging A and O.
Right now I'm having a problem because both A and E involve moving the teeth down, and the multiplicative effect is that if movement data tries to combine A with E (which seems to be a common crutch for yelling an "a" sound), it moves the teeth down twice as far as they're supposed to go and you can see them through the skin under the bottom lip. I'll probably try to fix this by having the "a" animation move the lower teeth back some as well, instead of just down. Of course, all this is exacerbated by the artistic choices of the AA2 developers to basically give all the models overbites/weak chins. But, c'est la vie.
GasBandit
Staff member
After this is done, I need to learn After Effects, then after that, I may as well quit my job and just start an anime production house. Sheesh.
I was just reading an article on Cracked about how the anime industry in Japan is basically a series of sweatshops and near-slave wages, actually.
GasBandit
Staff member
Well, I said "start," not "join." Heh. So maybe I can be the guy at the top getting rich and paying underlings a pittance to slave away for me. I CAN BE THE EA OF ANIME.
"DLC Pack 1: Heavy Petting!" "DLC Pack 2: Blowjobs!" "Season Pass Exclusive: Tentacles!"
A lot of guys think they can get into the big leagues by working as an animator in Japan. Nope, you're just a line monkey and Abe wants to make it easier to hire foreigners in the animation industry so they can lower the costs even further. At the same time, this is basically the only way to work in anime industry if you aren't top in the field. Self-publishing and indie work hasn't really caught on in Japan yet.
Outside of doujinshi, at any rate...
Pay the monthly fee and you'll get immunity from teacher killings!
And you basically make all of your money at one convention if you do it that way, baring getting something serialized.
GasBandit
Staff member
Heh, but on the other hand, if Rooster Teeth can do it, why couldn't I, eh?[DOUBLEPOST=1457731215,1457731168][/DOUBLEPOST]
NOBODY gets immunity to teacher killings.
NOBODY gets immunity to teacher killings.
GasBandit
Staff member
Well, the murders will be put off, at least, until I figure out how to make characters hold things like knives. I'm not that far along yet
Crone always looks like she's in a state of existential terror.