Likewise, Vern, it's nice to see there's some pros using the same methods I do
heyvern wrote:I render out the "assembled" character before offsetting to use as a reference.
I usually just take a screenshot. I like to be able to see where the bones are too when I'm taking characters apart and putting them back together.
Anyway, version 3. This one's simpler; I removed some bones that weren't necessary and got rid of a lot of details; it should be fairly easy to do a 90 degree turn by only moving a few bones and points, though I haven't tried it yet. From there, it could be continued another 90 by reverse ordering the shapes in a switch, then the final 180 by doing the same thing with a mirrored layer.
I also simplified the arms and hands. His arms now use those "cross joints" I invented for his legs, since it feels more natural for me to position hands before I position elbows. Rather than detailing every finger, I based the hands off those of minor characters in Half Life 2, grouping all the fingers except the index and thumb together and making it easy to tweak with point and bone movement.
Also, I changed a lot of the bones that only affected one point to affect an area. This makes rotations sloppier without manually modifying points, but will make it easier to add clothing or accessories to the template later.
Download at
http://foxmage.com/waving.anme
Here he is enthusiastically saying hi. I made him translucent so I could see how shapes behind him looked without having to switch to the point layer, and put his colors into a style so I can quickly change them later.
Any comments, criticisms, etc. appreciated. Also, I accidentally built it on a skeleton layer rather than a switch; is there a way I can change the skeleton layer to a switch layer?