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phraught In reply to DynastyChopper [2018-04-26 17:02:37 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!!

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phraught In reply to radaVid [2018-04-26 17:01:21 +0000 UTC]

Thanks - glad you liked it.   Yeah - does look like breathing, doesn't it - that's not the final plan - but we'll see.


(Any eagles this spring?)

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phraught In reply to madaigual [2018-04-26 17:00:25 +0000 UTC]

Actually, yes - these are figures converted to wavefront OBJ files and yes, to do the morphs, the number of vertices have to be the same.   But neither is V4 based, the Grey Alien is apparently a very old "freebie" in Poser (yes - I'm doing POSer - at least for now) and the Smexy Layday is from the amazing Project-E by erogenesiscgi.deviantart.com .  They're both around 80k vertices and I used a bit o' the olde Python to set this up.   The first night (a week ago Monday) was morphing the two to a pose where most things lined up, then save each as an OBJ file.  Then the python scripting I did for the other projects takes each pixel in one and finds the one in the other that is closest.   They scroll by about 10-15 a second - which is pretty impressive when you figure that works out to about a quarter million multiplications each (x*x + y*y* + z*z for each of the 80k vertices in the target).   The process takes several hours and I have to do them in both directions, but then I can take the translation file I save and map each alien pixel in a starting pose, to the lady pose and vice versa.

One complication, the Project-E figure has lots of little "invisible" handles that can be used for posing - when converting to an OBJ file, they appears as little cubes all around the outside.    Took a few go arounds last week to track those down and explicitly leave them out of the OBJ export.  I have to get the number right each time or the vertex count doesn't work.  We'll see if I can remember them all next time I do some exporting.

I want to add some motion to the figures during the process and my plan is to create two or three poses, create OBJ file for each, and use them as likely six+ morph targets during the process.  What could go wrong?

Interesting - it does look like breathing, doesn't it?  The idea is the transformation will be in phases / pulses where it's pulled and stretched a bit, then reverts slightly, then a bit more.   It actually goes past the final form (which also ain't bad) before settling into the final.

Yeah - we'll see - after setting the morph targets up week ago last Monday - I was a pretty good boy, did a couple of background renders here and there.  This Tuesday (which I'm favoring for my "play day") I managed to create a "display".   Something I can put graphics on and that will give me some good reflections.  Took longer than I expected, but it looks like what I want.   Yesterday I limited my fun to just putting these two together rendering, then tweaking and rendering again in the background.

That said: I've got a lot of tasks left - and we'll see if I can keep it under control (I've got the 1st oboe part in Dvorak's 9th - that perky little solo in the middle of the second movement is unbelievably awkward - and I suspect Anton did it on purpose).  I see these few tasks keeping me busy for likely a few months:

- create ship interior, complete with stasis tube, lounge chair, tons of blinky lights and as many displays as I can squeeze in there as well as any spaceship type goodies that are needed to make it convincing.
- insert a generic human character that will be in the scene (and will be us).  We may see our feet in the scene.
- create that "chair" - likely a series of flat cushions that can be moved to accommodate an alien or a human (yup, I've got a little story line in my head)
- build content for the various displays - I've got 4 in the scene already - and I think we need a couple more. 
- figure out how to do the hair "morph"   I think I'll just build a series of masks and merge two sets of renders.
- create and animate a "keyboard".   Seeing as Mr. Alien has only two (very long) fingers and a thumb, i imagine (decree?) that their species use a form of chord typing - 4 or 9 buttons per finger 2 or 3 for the thumb, and press them in combination for each key press.   I think it'll look pretty cool and I bet this guy can "type" pretty fast once I get done with him.
- animate the characters - I know bury the lead.   But the current scene is not planned to be that long - just a few seconds on either side of the transformation.
- do the transformation work - shouldn't be all that hard - though if I add the movement (this is supposed to be a learning experience) each of the two objects (Alien → Lady, Lady → Alien) will likely have as many as a dozen morph targets as well as effects objects surrounding them.

And then...

-  the opening dream sequence.  This might well be done in Blender - I need to do some volumetric things to simulate a "fog".  That's why your refraction caught my attention - I don't think POSer can do that.  This alone will probably be more work than all the rest - but it can be done later.

and of course - I need to see if my man in Riga is up to it.   After the last horrid round of render crashes, we both pledged to not use Poser any more.  And of course...    

Anyway - we're both insanely busy through most of May - which is just fine.  We'll see.

Well - that went a little long - forgive me for the list - but that's the first time I've called out the various tasks.  (Does writing this up count as working on it?   Nah.)

Thanks for the comments as always.  It'll be fun to see how this plays out.

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madaigual In reply to phraught [2018-04-29 21:27:27 +0000 UTC]

I is truly dumbstruck phraught!!! You actually equalised the vertices for 2 different models … (Sadly 99.9% would never notice or even care/understand, nonetheless you still have that 0.1% of us that are in awe of your endeavours!)

As for your list of furniture…Whoa! The blinking lights would be easy in C4D sans lights  (Gridded spheres>100% luminosity/Random colours/Random On/Off), but the keyboard is a different kettle of fish…I think that’s why the Dalek creators went with the trackball, in fact (IMO) trackballs are far more Alien/Futuristic than keypads (and a lot easier to make/control)   

Ah, Dvorak’s 9th…. Or “Hovis Bread” music as it’s  always been known in the UK (Britain’s all-time favourite advert)

  (as always!)

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phraught In reply to madaigual [2018-04-30 03:52:05 +0000 UTC]

Actually, it's very similar to what I did here:   Kroton Scouts - How I Did It...After posting my animation, Kroton Scouts: 
I promised I'd do a write up on how I did it.   This would be that.
It runs a bit long and there's… math, but it's fairly simple and you're obviously free to skip it - it's pretty obvious where the math parts are. And they probably won't hurt you.
All Poser references are for Poser Pro 2014.  You should be able to click on most/all of the images below to see a larger version… if you are so inclined.
To Start With
After seeing NICELab's :iconNICElabs: Racks View: New Horizons, http://nicelabs.deviantart.com/gallery/51694514/Racks-View-New-Horizons - which I highly recommend if you haven't seen it - or even if you have - and seeing the evil beasts in that saga, Nyhlloghast by Sixus1 :iconsixus1:, I was struck by how much the creatures looked like the mental image I had when writing an unpublished AltaWoman :ico

I'll, no doubt, do a similar break down if/when I finish this baby.

I was going to do the blinking lights with something very similar to that, and I may yet, but for now, I've simply installed another display in the back (over our right shoulder) and I think that'll do what I need.

I think what I have in mind for a keypad might be pretty cool - at least what I'm seeing with my mind's eye.

Just pulled up the 1973 "Bike" commercial - directed by no less that (Sir) Ridley Scott. (They put in in parens.)

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phraught In reply to MollyFootman [2018-04-26 15:51:16 +0000 UTC]

Well - the plan is to transition from the one on the right to the one on the left somewhere in the middle.  I still might try to work up a few tweaks to matching things up more, like getting rid of that smashed in face on the one on the right, also the backs of the calves - but this might just work for what I have in mind.

Thanks!

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MollyFootman In reply to phraught [2018-04-26 17:26:04 +0000 UTC]

To be clear, I recognized that the one on the left is based on "Smexy Layday" and one on the right is based on the alien.  It amazed me how you had Smexy Layday all mashed down to the basic shape of the alien to start with...  as far as that goes, it's amazing that you stretched the alien out to be kind of like Smexy Layday there on the left by the end of the animation.

I read your reply to madaigual and gleaned some interesting things from it but mostly it left my eyes crossed!   I am certainly in awe of what you're doing here.

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phraught In reply to MollyFootman [2018-04-26 17:39:15 +0000 UTC]

Ah - well if you're in awe, then I must not be explaining it well - it is a bit convoluted - but I'll see about posting something later that explains more of how I did it.

Thanks as always - btw - was out of town this weekend - still hope to catch up on your latest soon.

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phraught In reply to akizz [2018-04-26 15:48:19 +0000 UTC]

Ha - thanks, glad you liked it!

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