Rotation in what axis? Do you mean the long xis of the forearm?

Matt

OK,

Kbot has brought up the subject of NIA's appearance again, so I have been thinking about it some more.

My current thinking is this:

She should be attractive without being beautiful, average height or slightly below, age anywhere between mid-twenties to mid-thirties. Ethnically, a mixture of the three main human groups, and colour-wise non-descript, that is to say a dark coffee colour, so as to be most representative of everyone.

Build should be reasonably athletic, but not skinny. She should be rounded rather than angular, to be more 'mumsy'. Obviously feminine, in that she should have broader hips and a reasonable (though NOT excessive) breasts.

I have attached some thumbnails of hairstyles. Personally, I think the hair should be either in a short bob, held up in a bun or the like, or at least held back ffrom the face. This is more a technical issue than one of aesthetics, as it makes it easier to control. It is important that the hairstyle seem casual, rather than a style statement, have a good degree of cohesion, so it doesn't fly all over when she moves, and still have a friendly feel to it.

As far as clothing goes, I would opt for something akin to the trouser/top sets worn by Indian women, with some form of toga over the top. This gives the flow of the clothing, but keeps it as a relatively simple shaped piece of cloth, so the cloth sim can handle it, whilst giving us a controlled 'undergarment' that covers all the pertinent bits regardless of what she is doing.


Any thoughts, or shall I go ahead a do a rough drawing or model to demonstrate?

Matt

Thanks TM - you can put some sketches up if you want, currently I am trying for the UV texture of the hair as based per your storyboard. I am doing a rough trial concept first (based on a humble sphere) and then I can progress to a real humanoid mesh. I have a hunch that in future the "hair" base can be allowed to use some particles.

The fourth picture down seems appropriate as far as hair goes.

As for build, you repeated my exact thoughts.

Ummm . . . the fourth Halle Berry look as per my own counting . . . just doesn't hit the mark. My limited of knowledge of the particle system does find it feasible though.

I'm partial to the second last one, in terms of appearance

but for a good balance, I think either the second one, or the last one.

Interesting choices.

My first choice from a purely practical point of view is No4. It is tight to the head and will need little if any animation.

My thought on these are:

1) A bit modern, and will need very good animation.
2) A bit scragged back from the face. Perhaps too unfriendly.
3) Quite exotic but the long bangs might cause animation nightmares unless hand animated.
4) Neat and easy but might not be mumsy enough.
5) Classical but very impractical to animate.
6) A bit modern. Again not very mumsy.
7) Practical and classical. Not very mumsy but could work.
Classical but casual. Can't see the front, but with some wispy bangs could look quite soft. It also has the possibility of movement without going everywhere.

Matt

This is a WIP - very in it's infancy stage. I gathered a few spare ten-15 minutes and whipped this up.

-still need to adjust the vertices in UV mode & then edit this in GIMP, and finally throw the texture to make it kind of opacity like. Oh, a few other major features are missing - but I want this to be like the hair style in the storyboards, so I will add/subtract mesh as I go on, but this is just to give you the idea. Long term, if my hunch is correct, we should be able to add particles so come animation time (I intend to generate some !!) we'll find if this sways nicely during a walk/ other movement.

Kbot,

I did a bit of testing some time ago on mesh hair, and I found it works best with a lot of separate sections of hair layered one over the other, each with a similar or identical hair image UV mapped to it. Using a single mesh section mapped with a texture requires the most huge texture map to be used, and slows the system to a crawl.

I did have a better test, but I can't find it. This one uses a single small mesh with multiple copies in separate lattices. Didn't work the way I hoped, cos you can't make a lattice work well as a softbody, but it shows the principle.

Matt

Thanks TM - I have downloaded what you had. I will trial it out tonight. Amazingly, I although of this myself, but figured then that if it took a month of Sundays to render hair that is "real-life", then so be it. And now I have my own doubts as well.
Not sure why, but Christmas break is meant to be well a break, and for me a break is what'll I spend some time on Blender and OWF.

Kbot,

no problem. Wish I could spend more time on Blender over the hols, but I always seem to be so busy with the kids.

One point to check before going too far: I'm not sure, but it might be that a softbody mesh needs to have volume, not just surface, so that it can have mass. If that is the case, you need to make each part of the mesh into a 3d shape, rather than a curved plane, as I did in that test.

Merry Christmas to everyone, by the way.

Matt

Thanks TM. I loaded your file and saw what you were trying to explain. Yeah - there needs to plenty of time spent on your method. Anyways, here's just what I came up, before finally understanding why my "hunch" wouldn't cut the mustard. Your approach kind of reminds of "Lens" facial where he used the same thing for his goatee.

Lucky a visitor came in last night whom I had not reason to entertain, so I had some hour or so.

OH - maybe I should have put this in another area, but never mind. The last one is of of a mullet style - I was just messing around with this, but I will put some of elbow grease on this over the break.

Here's a first rough model for Nia.

Apologies for the nudity, but we have no decision for clothing, and she is not anatomically complete, so I thought there would be no harm done. (Correct me if I'm wrong and I'll remove the post)

(Edit)
Looking her over again, I will have to shorten the lower leg, as it is too long, and increase the front to back dimensions of her head, as it is too flat. I also need to lengthen the arms a bit, and I may add a little fat to them too, to match in metter with the hips and legs.

She matches the written description so far, but I need feedback as to any major issues with the build before I do any more detailed modelling.

Matt

Updated images and link to 360 degree view:

http://www.vimeo.com/9607335

Nearly a month, and no comments or psts about this?

Matt