Smapdimation 3D technical art and animation. Oh, and other random stuff too.

Now Available: The Character Animator Toolkit for MotionBuilder
about Technical Art, Uncategorized on 04/04/2008 with no comments - Bookmark this?

Brad and I are proud to present our Master Class from Siggraph 2007!

Click the image to buy at http://stores.lulu.com/animatortoolkit

You can read about this class, other training and Motion Builder related topics here …
http://motionbuildertraining.blogspot.com/

Here is what the class is about and who it is targeted for:

This Master Class will demonstrate both practical tools and ideas for creating custom character rigs and animation using Autodesk’s Motion Builder software. Our intended audience is current Motion Builder users of the beginning to intermediate level, as well as riggers and animators whom are new to Motion Builder. Our topics will include the rigging and keyframe animation of characters as well as special animation procedures often needed in production.

Course details:

• 100+ pages of course notes.
• 1.5 hour video recording of the Master Class presentation at SIGGRAPH.
• Two video walk throughs of the keyframe animation process in MotionBuilder.
• Many example videos and files for rigging our character.
• Python scripts for an alternate finger posing and keyframing methodology.

All this is included for $40.32 USD.

Tags: Animation, Motion Builder, Rigging, technical art

Whats the time? Time to get ill!
about Python on 19/03/2008 with 3 comments - Bookmark this?

So lets make a python script that creates a folder on your desktop named ‘todays date’. Why you ask? Why not I say? In all seriousness this example will demonstrate some of the basic python concepts. Also I use stuff like this all the time. In fact, today, I figured out a way to spit out a .csv file from a database and compare it to another .csv. Nerd Alert! But it really helps in scheduling. Anyway I digress …

Go get python from here if you don’t already have it installed.

Here is the code, note I am writting this on a mac, so if your on windows the ‘myPath’ will look like this ‘C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\Desktop’.

import os
from time import strftime
todaysDate = strftime('%Y_%m_%d')
myPath = '/Users/Chad/Desktop/'
myPath = myPath + todaysDate
print todaysDate
os.mkdir(myPath)

We’re going to store the path to your desktop in a variable. A variable is simply a place for you to store information. That info can be numbers or text. There are several types of variables, one of the most simple is a string. Thats what we will be dealing with in this example. A simple string of text that notes the location of your desktop in a variable.

So lets start back at the top. the import os is a call to a module. Python is efficient, it allows you to load only what you need. Each module has various commands and flags. Note the last line of the script os.mkdir(myPath) is in the form module.command(flag). It is the magic that actually makes the directory. Note that you can be very specific about the functions within modules, hence the from time import strftime.

strftime allows you to call the system time and format it in a lot of ways. Experiment and check the docs if you want to change the date format.

One last quick note. This line looks a little confusing huh? myPath = myPath + todaysDate.  All that is doing is concatenating variables. Concatenation is basically just mashing things together. So you are telling python that myPath is equal to whatever myPath already is plus the todaysDate variable.

Please note I have no formal programming training, and I am learning as I go.  The very fact that I am writing this is to share what I am learning, as I am learning it.  Corrections, comments, better practices are most welcome.

Tags: programming, pythonGeek, scripting

Are you an animator who hates/fears motion capture?
about Uncategorized on 04/03/2008 with no comments - Bookmark this?

Blame these guys …

Tags: mocap, wacky

Giant Snowman
about Uncategorized on 01/03/2008 with 1 comment - Bookmark this?

Giant Snowman, originally uploaded by mrssmapdi.

March came in like a lion, so we decided to build a giant snowman with the 5 inches that fell this morning. Sam and Sophia and Momma Mo’ all helped out and we had a blast. That being said, if that was the last of the snow for the season, fine by me.

The hardest part was getting the mid section up onto the base. We had to roll it up.

Picture taken by Emily.

Tags: family, snow

PythonGeek: Coming soon - Variables
about Python, Technical Art, family on 26/02/2008 with 4 comments - Bookmark this?

PythonGeek has been slow, I admit it. I’ll have my first post on variables up soon. There is a lot going on at work. I am currently writing a ton of Python for Motion Builder and Maya with the very generous help of John Hood, Mike G and Jason Parks as well as KxL over at the Area Forums.

On the home front, . Sophia started preschool again today and we think shes already settling in (read: running the joint).

Sam is doing well, he’s saying a new word or two every day and he really is a little one man wrecking crew.

Emily does an outstanding job blogging about the kids and other stuff over at the cuppamo.

I have an interesting freelance gig developing, more on that when the time is appropriate.

There just isn’t enough time in the day.

Tags: family, kids, pythonGeek, scripting

Python for Motion Builder Artists
about Technical Art on 05/02/2008 with no comments - Bookmark this?

At Siggraph last year myself and Brad Clark presented “The Animator Toolkit for Motion Builder”. Jason Parks presented a sister class called “Python for Motion Builder Artists”. His class is now available for purchase at lulu.com.

Jason’s class is quite well done and very informative on Python in general and also for using Python to automate repetitive tasks in Motion Builder. The lack of automation in Motion Builder was perhaps the number one complaint/request for a long while now. Autodesk partially addressed the issue with the addition of Python to Motion Builder. Jason’s thoughts on the process of scripting and usage of Motion builder are illuminating. The code he has provided with the class provides a really strong jumping off point to control and master Python and Motion Builder.

If your interested in Python and Motion Builder’s implementation of Python do check out the class!

Tags: Master Class, Motion Builder

Not sure which game console to buy?
about Uncategorized on 08/01/2008 with no comments - Bookmark this?

Funny; I saw it on digg, I guess it came from here …

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/6989/consolechartyr2.jpg

Tags: funny, pics

Boogaboo
about Uncategorized on 05/01/2008 with 1 comment - Bookmark this?

DSC_0033, originally uploaded by smapdi.

Tags: family, kids, pics, sophia

Why Python?
about Technical Art on 12/12/2007 with no comments - Bookmark this?

Python is a popular programming tool for many uses, not just in the 3D animation world. Now that most major 3D applications support Python in some form it’s becoming quite popular for technical artists, riggers and animators.

Generally speaking Python is powerful and easily accessible for new programmers. It reads like English, and has limited funky characters. For example declaring a string variable and printing it looks like this in MEL …

string $myVariable = "Smapdi";
print ("My nickname is " + $myVariable);


The python version reads …

myVariable = "Smapdi"
print "My nickname is " + myVariable

If your unsure what variables are and if none of the code above makes any sense, don’t worry I’ll be explaining in detail with future posts. Hopefully at this point you can recognize how light weight and easy to read python is. In my next post we will cover the tools and basics for writing Python.

Tags: programming, pythonGeek, scripting

PythonGeek
about Technical Art on 08/12/2007 with no comments - Bookmark this?

Things are settling into place after the move to Boston and I am finding my rhythm at the new job. One of the things I need to expand my knowledge of is scripting in Python. Several years ago, I started the melGeek blog to help me learn MEL. I’ll use this blog in a similar fashion to help me further my knowledge on Python. I learn best by doing, then talking about it. I guess that comes from all those years teaching; explaining things to people helps me processes the information I know in multiple ways.

So brace yourself for the forthcoming PythonGeek posts and feel free to comment.

Tags: programming, pythonGeek, scripting, technical art