Forum - Tips & Tricks - Use Mandy for animal heads - Messages http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Forum - Tips & Tricks - Use Mandy for animal heads - Messages en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Jitbit AspNetForum Tue, 22 Mar 2016 02:37:45 GMT Tue, 22 Mar 2016 02:37:45 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from PatMarrNC
I think if Muvizu ever provides an official solution for creating 4 legged creatures, they have enough stuff that works already , with one or two small tweaks to an existing character, we could have a quadraped . The advantage of building quadrapeds from the legs of existing characters is that we'd inherit all the smooth moves that are already built in (as opposed to animating pieces with keyframes)

How about it Dev team? I just want one utility character that can (turn off / make invisible) the whole body except for the legs. I'll take it from there

Better yet, take this idea and run with it and create one or more generic quadraped characters that we can modify with different feet, heads. Man I'd pay whatever you asked for that character pack! (and I bet everybody else would too)]]> Tue, 22 Mar 2016 02:37:45 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from braj
edited by braj on 09/03/2016]]> Wed, 09 Mar 2016 01:17:31 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from braj Mon, 07 Mar 2016 07:53:43 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from PatMarrNC

On a different but related note... Poser game dev is pretty expensive! Did you find a deal somewhere? oh wait... 2014... ebay? I think I may have looked at that too!

I'm in a similar situation.. not disabled, but retired with time on my hands. Keep us posted on whether the Poser Game Dev stuff works out... either for your own projects or with MUVIZU in general.
edited by PatMarrNC on 07/03/2016]]> Mon, 07 Mar 2016 07:43:08 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from braj edited by braj on 07/03/2016]]> Mon, 07 Mar 2016 07:25:03 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from braj
]]> Mon, 07 Mar 2016 03:50:00 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from braj

edited by braj on 07/03/2016]]> Mon, 07 Mar 2016 02:38:03 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from braj Mon, 07 Mar 2016 02:36:32 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from PatMarrNC braj wrote:
Yeah, I'm spending my time in Poser a lot, I'm about to buy add-ons for it instead of Muvizu.


Speaking of Poser, there's a ton of free Poser content out there if you search for it. I'm not at the computer where I have the links saved, but next time I am, I'll post a few. But if you just google it you'll find it.]]> Mon, 07 Mar 2016 01:12:02 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from PatMarrNC braj wrote:
The closed nature of all content development beyond static props IMO is what is limiting the audience for Muvizu. It really needs an injection of energy. Blow the doors off, I say.


I don't have the insider information to make any claims about whether Muvizu's audience is growing or declining or staying steady. But I suspect its pretty large... and growing.

Although they have some do-it-yourself expansion options available, my gut feeling is that their prime demographic is people who don't WANT to make their own content.. they just want to snap animated Legos together and quickly create presentations. And Muvizu EXCELS at that! In fact, its in a class by itself.

The ability to model attachments has indeed led to a core group of really talented power users who have a real presence on the forum... so it's easy to imagine that most of Muvizu's customers must do that. But I doubt it.

Statistically speaking, there are always more people with dreams than there are with talent. This software makes it easy for the dreamers to create animations that are actually better than users of other software and more talent are making. That's a pretty compelling advantage.

Yes, there is almost no doubt that the smaller number of more talented animators will eventually drift away to other software... but I think there are more people whose skill level is compatible with Muvizu than there are people who will out grow it... so theoretically, as long as they keep this baby floating, they should continue to get customers.

(My opinion, not expressed as universal truth, but as one point of view. Other people may see it differently)]]> Mon, 07 Mar 2016 01:04:17 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from braj Sun, 06 Mar 2016 23:33:40 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from PatMarrNC
But until that happens, at least having the tools to create reasonable workarounds would be better than no options at all for creating animals. You make a bunch of good points... one of which is that by forcing customers to use other software to include animals, they inevitably start to prefer the other software.
edited by PatMarrNC on 07/03/2016]]> Sun, 06 Mar 2016 23:01:09 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from braj Sun, 06 Mar 2016 22:42:57 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from PatMarrNC braj wrote:
That cow has some skinny legs!


Assuming you read what I wrote above then you realize that's exactly my point. If we could make the heads invisible, I could have used the Rosie character's legs, which would have been more proportional. Better yet, if we could attach our own modelled appendages to an otherwise invisible character frame, we could do ANYTHING!

When I first joined this forum, the general consensus was that there are no quadrapeds because the engine didn't support it. The whole purpose of this test is to point out that the MECHANICS are indeed possible, even with the current engine. The missing ingredients are not that far different from what already exists. My hope is that by showing how close we already are, the developers will provide a character that can be used to provide attachment points for whatever we need, and remain invisible apart from that.]]> Sun, 06 Mar 2016 22:24:40 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from MrDrWho13 braj wrote:
That cow has some skinny legs!

Never skip leg day.
]]> Sun, 06 Mar 2016 22:00:25 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from braj edited by braj on 06/03/2016]]> Sun, 06 Mar 2016 21:45:47 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from PatMarrNC
If Muvizu developers could provide us with a utility character as stated in a previous post... one that could be completely invisible except for the legs.... or, one with attachment points at the feet so we could model legs that are proportional to the rest of the creature... then we could make our own quadrapeds all day long



notes:
1) The head is attached to a character that is completely invisible except for the head (which is inside the attachment)

2) The legs are two separate characters that are invisible except for their head and legs. In order to keep their heads from popping out the cow's back, I had to make them so small you can barely see the legs... but this shows that using the current Muvizu framework, all the elements necessary to create a quadraped can be assembled. Now it's just a matter of refining the elements that are available

3) Because the newer characters don't yet have separate eyes that can be moved around in 3D space like the potato heads, I had to hard-model the cow's eyes. It would be better if we could add "live" eyes to our creatures
UPDATE: after more testing I see that most of their eyeballs can be moved around in 3d space and the pupils can be directed... but the blinking is hard-modelled to the head.

4) The legs are directed to walk in place. That way you don't have to worry about two moving entities getting out of synch positionally. Movement is simulated with scrolling background and camera movement.

to Muvizu developers:
any chance of getting either a utility character that allows any/all body parts to be invisible except what is needed? Or with attachment points for adding modelled legs/feet?
edited by PatMarrNC on 06/03/2016
edited by PatMarrNC on 06/03/2016]]> Sun, 06 Mar 2016 20:55:15 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from ukBerty braj wrote:
Mandy or the other newer characters let you deselect most body parts related to them, allowing you to get only the head remaining, which you can then add a new object to.


Well I never knew that... everyday is a school day at the university of Muvizu !!]]> Sun, 06 Mar 2016 17:30:47 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from mrmuviz
Hesh]]> Sat, 05 Mar 2016 21:54:24 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from PatMarrNC Sat, 05 Mar 2016 18:55:19 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from PatMarrNC
I wish they had gone one step further and allowed the head to be made invisible too... then it would be more convenient to create quadrapeds by adding an extra set of animatable legs to a model.

But the ability to "turn off" the arms already provides the solution to one problem with using human characters to simulate animals.

Suggestion for the MUVIZU development team: How about a utility character with the following options:

1) all parts of the character can be made visible or invisible (including the head)
2) foot and hand attachments include paws, claws, hooves etc.. or at least attachment points
3) allow use of the potato head eyes or other new style animatable eyes that can be arranged in space to line up with head attachments
4) create a standalone mouth that can also be attached to a head, but repositioned within a certain radius, so characters could have an animatable mouth at the end of a long snout
5) allow the grouping of character s so that actions assigned to one character will automatically transfer to the other grouped character(s). This would allow dance sequences and also it would allow two sets of legs on a quadraped to walk at the same time.]]> Sat, 05 Mar 2016 18:51:06 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from ziggy72 ]]> Sat, 05 Mar 2016 17:31:10 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from PatMarrNC Sat, 05 Mar 2016 16:20:27 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from braj
I later added the legs as an instrument, the character's only attachment I think, and it works great even for walking, all things considered. I'm definitely using this.

edited by braj on 05/03/2016]]> Sat, 05 Mar 2016 08:23:43 GMT http://www.muvizu.com/Forum/topic5577-use-mandy-for-animal-heads.aspx Message from braj

edited by braj on 05/03/2016]]> Sat, 05 Mar 2016 07:59:15 GMT