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[Khaspah]

Hi again

Well, this is my sencond try with anim8or and I have to say it´s amazing how a beginner can get decent results instead of getting disappointed as with other low-learning pace programs.

Here I´ve been just playing with basic figures, extruding and so. I´ve downloaded the floor and sign textures from the sites that appear in the Resources section. The rest is mine.

Ok, it´s not as spectacular as most of the works I can see here, but I feel very proud of myself  . Hope to see some comments on it, and also ways to improve the final result.

Thanks in Advance,

Khaspah.-

[Arik_the_Red]

No, it's not some absolutely mind-boggling work of realism... Yes, it's basic and simple... But not everything made with anim8or has aspire to be "Wall-E" or "Finding Nemo".

I like it a lot!
 
This has a distinct style and method that could be a lot of fun to create more of. The scenery and little characters are whimsical, and you could make more things with the same style and create some nice cartoon-style storylines.

It makes me think of the tower I began creating a long time ago for a series of mini-animations I intended to create around my "namesake goblin" (Arik the Red).

You show that you are able to create something appealing using the skills you have without pressing beyond your current ability.

I'd really love to see you make some animated bits with a little story-plotting!

More, please!

[Khaspah]

Wow, thanks for the encouragement! 

[falloffalot]

Great work.
It's got a kind of a cute Nintendo toon feel to it.
Nice crisp and simple modelling with good positioning of your characters.
Just one little observation, be careful to use only high res textures for large areas like floors as they can tend to look a little blurred.
Awesome start.

[ENSONIQ5]

I agree with Arik, particularly about the possibility of animation.  Anim8or is a great modeller, but is an excellent entry-level animation program, and your models are very well suited to animation.  You clearly have a good theatrical sense of scene layout, the passive-aggressive expressions on the little characters' faces matching the "GO BACK" sign perfectly, and this ability suggests that you could come up with some excellent animations.  The best animations I have seen have been based on great characters and sensitive motion, rather than amazing models.  I hope you continue to post your work, I certainly would like to see more.

[Khaspah]

Thanks a lot for your comments. I didn´t expected nothing better than "keep working", so I feel very good right now :-)

As for animations, I´m not sure if I´m prepared for that. I´ll try to do a little test and, if it doesn´t work, I´ll continue modelling and learning. I´m pretty far from your spaceships, red steam tractors and so... :-)

[Arik_the_Red]

Do some practice working on making your little characters walk. Have them come in and out of the tower, walk around on the roof, etc. It could be fun!

The spaceship I made is a very basic thing and didn't even come out well in the animation side. 
You could easily make it (it's not complete)... with a little thought and modifying basic shapes. It's really not much more complicated than your work here. The whole thing is made from basic shapes with minor changes and some subdivision work.  It's mostly cylinders and spheres cut up and reshaped, pieces being joined together to create the parts. The animation is a simple matter of making the ship figure slide from the far back of the scene to the front in a straight line. The camera is moved below the scene, looking up at an angle.

[Ratticis]

Just like modeling, it's all about expermenting and seeing what works and what looks good

[ENSONIQ5]

The point Arik made about complexity is a very good one.  With very few exceptions all of my models are constructed from either lathed or extruded splines, occasionally with a bit of vertex point tweaking, and in essence are no more complicated than your tower scene.  If you can construct a simple tower, you can duplicate it a few times in a rough circle, make a gatehouse, a keep and a few walls and you have a castle.  My point is that a "complex" model is usually not complex at all, it's just got a lot of stuff in it.  And the methods used to move a spaceship across a scene are identical to the methods used to move a basic sphere.

While on the subject of animation, I really do encourage you to have a look at it.  It is far simpler to learn and master than modelling in my opinion, and for me much more rewarding. 

[dwalcott]

Love the story... what are they looking at... who are they telling to go back?  Great work!

In your animation... think story...

[Khaspah]

Well, I´m trying to do a short animation with those green things, and find very difficult to animate the eyelids. As they have no mouth, arms, etc., all the expressions, gestures, feelings and so will be shown through the eyes, so I want to be able to move the eyelids back and forward and from side to side... but sometime they "hide" behind the eye globe, so it´s going to take longer than I thought...

While I solve this I´m creating some equipment for the soldiers, trying to keep the "cartoon" style. Next weapon should be a sword and maybe a cannon or a crossbow... Another problem is that greenies don´t have hands, so posing them with weapons can be a headache... but it´s funny! 

[Ratticis]

You might want to use morph targets for the eyes.
http://www.anim8or.com/tutorials/from_users/morphs/MorphTut.htm
http://www.3d-anim8.com/tutorials/morph.asp

It looks great, btw

[hihosilver]

You can also use bones, but you have to make sure that the pivot point of the bone is directly centered on the eyeballs or they will rotate oddly.  This is the same for eyelids, if you're not using morph targets, the bones for the eyelids should be centered at the center of the eyeball, not the eyelids, so that they rotate around the eyeball nicely.

[Arik_the_Red]

These guys look great!  It'd be fun to work on a project like this! I love the simple approach.

They sort of make me think of lego-land animation work.

It would be so cool to fix these guys up for animation and have them marching around.

[Khaspah]

Thanks for your advices. I think I´ll go for the bones option, only to know its use well before I try morphing anything.

Regards