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Question about character modeling in PowerAnimator / Alias - Printable Version

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Question about character modeling in PowerAnimator / Alias - RetroGamer1985 - 04-20-2019

Hi, I wanted to ask them:

 PowerAnimator is for character modeling before Maya?

Because I read that in the 90s PA was used to model the characters and Softimage 3D was used to animate them. I know PA specializes in NURBS modeling, I have been practicing character modeling in PA for several weeks and what I have not been able to do is to join surfaces like join the arm with the torso or the legs with the hip. 

Can you tell me to use Maya but I want to learn to do NURBS character modeling in PowerAnimator I want to know how the modelers of the 90s did to make NURBS characters like the T-Rex, Terminator or some cartoon character in Nurbs.

Someone in the community that has modeled in PowerAnimator could tell me some tips to be able to join Nurbs surfaces in order to create NURBS characters, please, I would appreciate it very much.

RE: Question about character modeling in PowerAnimator / Alias - def13 - 04-22-2019

Modelised with Alias and animate with Softimage, was a popular expression in the 90s because Softimage was not really a friendly modeling tool and PA (Alias) was not as powerful as SI for animation.

According to me, polygon modeling is more versatile than NURBS modelling to create organic topology ; you don't have to take care U and V direction … but you have to take care of the number of polygons.

NURBS are really cool for every manufactured products or to prepare a part of an organic body before convert it in a polygon model.

Take a look to this making of :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QpUE7vZQbI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zs-SAuCstk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xyLVKV9020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRK5jPCDNYI

RE: Question about character modeling in PowerAnimator / Alias - Dylanear - 05-30-2019

Depending on the version of Power Animator there are different tools for "blending" nurbs surfaces by generating "blend surfaces". But this was always problematic and a lot of work to get working well. You had to plan the topology of your nurbs well, then use Alias' tools to build procedural nurbs patches that blended other nurbs together based on curves on surface and various weighting and control parameters. These problems were the major reasons that subdivision surfaces (subDs) were developed in the late 90s. The big fx studios in the 90s had their own solutions. I believe ILM modeled in nurbs, but then converted to bezier surfaces for animating in Softimage. But I didn't work at ILM until late 2000 and I think everything was subDs by then? I never have done modeling or animation at ILM. I don't think Alias or Softimage was used at all at that point, Maya for modeling and animation, maybe softimage was still used for some animation?  We did lighting in a proprietary package called Irender. I did some character work in Nurbs in the 1994-1997 time frame and it was REALLY hard to get good blend surfaces and texture map them properly, not see stretching and creases when animated. Polygons didn't have the limitations of nurbs when it came to blending them into whole surfaces, but they had all the poly problems, faceting, texture mapping issues.
I was thinking more about power animators "blend surfaces", but thinking back, the serious studios would break down a model with complex topology into many smaller nurbs (or simpler bezier) surfaces. Then used various tools to keep the edges "tangent" so you wouldn't see creases or gaps between them.

I don't see anything for Alias specifically, but this looks like it shows the concept and some implimentations in maya.

https://flylib.com/books/en/2.770.1.22/1/
This doesn't answer your question at all, but it shows how subDs were developed to get around all the problems nurbs had in complex organic shapes and in animation/deformation. Hard to imagine Geri's Game was made WAY back in 1997, but I guess it was that long ago??

https://graphics.pixar.com/library/Geri/paper.pdf

RE: Question about character modeling in PowerAnimator / Alias - gijoe77 - 05-31-2019

you can use tutorials for studio tools to help with modeling in older versions of Alias - but some stuff might be missing or in a different location.

see https://forums.irix.cc/thread-263.html

RE: Question about character modeling in PowerAnimator / Alias - BackPlaner - 06-01-2019

Do it all in Maya, trust me Wink

RE: Question about character modeling in PowerAnimator / Alias - Irinikus - 06-01-2019

(06-01-2019, 05:57 AM)BackPlaner Wrote:  Do it all in Maya, trust me Wink

Exactly what I would have said!

RE: Question about character modeling in PowerAnimator / Alias - gijoe77 - 06-01-2019

boooo!
I say do it in powerAnimator and make a tutorial on how you did it!

RE: Question about character modeling in PowerAnimator / Alias - RetroGamer1985 - 06-01-2019

(06-01-2019, 05:57 AM)BackPlaner Wrote:  Do it all in Maya, trust me Wink
Altougth maya is easier but I prefer to use PowerAnimator if it were easy it would not be fun to find the solution, I also found this video tutorial abot the character design I NURBS from Softimage 3D that i will apply in PowerAnimator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L4OpB8MBEs&list=PLXaIAS5A1fo9hy8GW8aP98HJfnq1ctQ2T&index=33&t=0s

RE: Question about character modeling in PowerAnimator / Alias - Irinikus - 06-01-2019

If Alias made both Maya and PowerAnimator and Maya is easier to use, what advantage does PowerAnimator have?

I have both of them installed on my Tezro and Octane2

RE: Question about character modeling in PowerAnimator / Alias - RetroGamer1985 - 06-01-2019

(06-01-2019, 07:00 AM)gijoe77 Wrote:  boooo!
I say do it in powerAnimator and make a tutorial on how you did it!

I was able to find these videos for the creation of NURBS characters.

Green Lantern Modeling:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eF4aGio1rc&list=PLXaIAS5A1fo9hy8GW8aP98HJfnq1ctQ2T&index=27

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f308ut-BLVY&list=PLXaIAS5A1fo9hy8GW8aP98HJfnq1ctQ2T&index=28

Softimage realistic 3D character development:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L4OpB8MBEs&list=PLXaIAS5A1fo9hy8GW8aP98HJfnq1ctQ2T&index=32