Character Wizard

General Moho topics.

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madriver
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Post by madriver »

Thanks for that file Jonbo. Makes me feel somewhat better about CW.

I think the first instinct is for people to create their own bodies, etc. and when that can't be done, they basically give up.
rpc9943
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Post by rpc9943 »

I'm horribly disappointed that we can't simply insert your own character bodies into this. Are you serious? So it's just a beginner's toolkit or something? I was under the assumption that the pro version would have complete compatibility for customization. I thought it was heavily implied in the webinar.

I really hope that there will be an update to this aspect of the software, because this is pretty much the only reason why I jumped at the upgrade.

Sighhhhhhhhhhh

RonC
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chucky
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Post by chucky »

Have to agree about this CW, it's actually quite bizarre that it seems to discourage the use of artist's content.
I took it for granted that this was going to be more of a character management tool. I don't understand exactly what is expected by the user, surely they don't expect people to use ANYTHING supplied in regard of the packaged art......peeeuuuk.
I am too very disillusioned by this and have vented much on the 'other' forum.
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x-vishon
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Post by x-vishon »

I was really hoping for more with this to. I thought we would be able to store custom characters with our styles and make changes to get new characters in whatever style was setup. So if you wanted to do a style like lets say... South Park Then you have some round bodys with different styles of clothing some different hats and eyes and feet and change parts around. That way you could have for example sake...a Cartman rig with different props and Actions. But if you wanted to give him glasses or something you could make a new eye set with that and be still able to rotate views of the character with the different actions. Also I think it would be cool if interpolate layer worked on groups or bone sets. That way you could do smooth rotation. And that head rotations were separate from body so you could turn just the head if you wanted to.
rpc9943
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Post by rpc9943 »

well if the issue is that they made a body that's coded specifically for changing the param's such as height etc... Hell, man. Disable those areas, or something. We can resize it later on, or something.
I don't know. I guess I'll be fine. I just have to get back into Anime Studio in the first place, It's been quite some time. I've got to really get going on finishing up my characters, so I can start making some shows! lol

RonC
Anime Studio, Xara Xtreme 4, Magix Movie Edit Pro 11, Papagayo, Ableton Live 8, Artrage Deluxe
arwenc
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Post by arwenc »

aleXean wrote:This is true Jonbo, which is why I think I can speak for all of us when we say we want to be able to add our characters to the wizard. That way they are always easily accessible.
Hi sorry to gate crash. I been having a look at the character wizard and this is exactly what I wondered - is it possible to add your own character at the moment?

Sorry if I've misunderstood something in the thread - did I get it right that it isn't possible?

Also how easy would it be to edit things like the clothing afterwards since it isn't possible inside the character wizard.
ASP doesn't have an eraser / rubber tool that you can apply to discreet areas, so I'm not sure how easily you'd do this?

I also wondered if it is practical to create your character in another programme like Photoshop for e.g. and then import it to ASP for bone rigging etc? As I probably find some other programmes a little easier and more flexible to draw with - bear with me if these are dumb questions I am reading the info I got with ASP and watching the tutorials but I'm new to the programme.

Is there a limit to the number of Photoshop images you could import in this way?
:oops:
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jaakay
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Post by jaakay »

Hi,

I have been playing with the Character Wizard. At first I was horrified at the characters included. They just look so crude. However, because they come with animation presets that are customisable so I thought I should persist. The skeleton is all that really interests me at present, as that is the only way that I can use the action presets and as a newbie to animation and ASP, I don't know yet, how to produce my own walk cycle.

Anyway, my experiment was to just pick any female character from the CW, add and delete points at will to come up with something more original ie., new clothing, then bind the new points to the appropriate bones. I deleted the head altogether and created something else.

The ankles and wrists I haven't amended as yet, they are as they came out of the box, so to speak.

Question for the experienced ASP users - Is this the correct workflow for creating characters with the CW.

Please see link below:

http://www.janetkay.com/vector-art-1.html
jonbo
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Post by jonbo »

Hey jaakay, you are correct in your workflow. At present, it seems to be the best way to use the CW. The main problem with the CW is that for new users it requires a slightly more advanced skill set to get anything useful out of it. And for more experienced users, they are probably better off creating their own rigs themselves and skipping the CW altogether. You seem to understand the basics, so it might prove to be helpful to you. Having to do extensive modifications to the base character for all the views kind of defeats the purpose of the CW. I like your character by the way :)
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jaakay
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Post by jaakay »

Oh thank you Jonbo :D

I didn't edit all the other views for this character (not yet anyway). That would have taken me sooooooo long.

I'm not really sure what Smith Micro were thinking when they released the Character Wizard. A wizard to my understanding is supposed to make things happen a lot quicker. For the fun characters you can get away with minimal editing, but for the human characters they just can't be used without extensive editing.

My feeling is they should have put more thought and work into the Character Wizard before releasing it.

What I think would have been more useful instead of the CW would be a library of preset actions. For examply, walking, running, jumping, sitting that could work on any character you create.

Just before I bought ASP I bought a copy of Crazytalk Animator Pro, but have kind of ditched it as it doesn't have any drawing tools for creating content within the program. What they do have is a lot of slide controlled animation presets like the ones I mentioned above.

Anyway, I get such a sense of satisfaction when using ASP as it allows you to be really creative.
SirCumferance
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Just so I am clear...

Post by SirCumferance »

Is there a way to actually edit the character after it has been made? Not so much in the wizard, but afterward? I made a guy with no eyes so I can make my own....is there a way?
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Víctor Paredes
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Re: Just so I am clear...

Post by Víctor Paredes »

SirCumferance wrote:Is there a way to actually edit the character after it has been made? Not so much in the wizard, but afterward? I made a guy with no eyes so I can make my own....is there a way?
Yes, just edit the layers of the created character.
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dueyftw
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Post by dueyftw »

What is really needed for the Character Wizard to be even useful is to have a point editor in the preview. Move, change line with, and save as new.

This feature is not pro. Or half pro, but more as a joke that is only half done.
SirCumferance
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Post by SirCumferance »

dueyftw wrote:What is really needed for the Character Wizard to be even useful is to have a point editor in the preview. Move, change line with, and save as new.

This feature is not pro. Or half pro, but more as a joke that is only half done.
So, a man walks into a bar and says...
ruibjr
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Post by ruibjr »

Man, I have been playing with the character wizard.
It is amazing.

You can modify the original body, by simply adding layers and attaching them to the same bones as the body parts you want to modify.

For instance, you can easily modify the character's arm, by adding details, like a lightning symbol (like Flash's), by simply duplicating the top arm, removing the duplicate shape and drawing the symbol there.

It behaves just like you were able to create an arm with that symbol.

As someone said, I believe the purpose of the CW is to allow one to instantly build a template character that can easily be modified - and I mean REALLY easy!

Now, we have instant layers, all in the correct order, with all the right patches in the right places.
And we can easily build characters that look totally different, by adding layers on top of the original CW body parts.

This is just so cool.

Of course, I hope this feature evolves in next releases, but, man, this is magic.
The way it is right now, it makes it possible for me to start using ASP for real.

I know some people may be disappointed on the way it SEEMS to work.
I was kind of disappointed, too, but when I read here that CW is more of a tool to help you setup characters, I found that it is an amazing tool at that.

I guess if people start using it this way, they are going to love it.

Cheers!
SirCumferance
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Post by SirCumferance »

Cool, as a beginner of this (way beginner), it helps to know that more can be done. I am gonna start doing experiments, with what you wrote there ruibjr, and get my animation on.
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