Sweet!



Ron G.

Here's another video, this one demonstrates some extremely basic lip sync capability -Video Removed By YouTube

Phonemes (a-i-e-o-u mouth shapes) aren't possible yet because I have to figure out some workarounds for the somewhat limited bone animation system in Blender's GE. I actually had the face almost completely set-up for full animation yesterday, but it couldn't turn or tilt.

Work on this will continue through the weekend and I'll post again when I have more to show.

Thanks again Andrew, you are determined to breathe life in to this beast aren't you. 
Keep at it, , just be careful and don't let things get out of hand. You may be responsible for the next King Kong and he will carry you away......... 

Just a little humor there, you're doing a fine job and it is coming along great. Thanks again for sharing your progress with us. It interesting to follow your work. You are yet another inspiration to the puppet community.

Billy D.

Thanks Billy. I pulled down the video at the link above because I forgot to add two additional clips.

Here's the new link -

The second part of the new video shows an articulated jaw with a very crude squash/stretch effect. The third part demonstrates a keypose that's triggered by pressing a joystick button. In the video the keypose is just a movement of the monkey's snout (it was done quickly and is really bad actually), but the keypose could be any movement or animation cycle that you wanted. For example it could be programmed so that a scream or a laugh happens when you press a button.

I also smoothed out the surface of the model so it looks a little nicer now.

Really impressive Andrew!

It really has come along since the first time you showed us your test!! I like the "skin" tests, you can really start seeing a character come through.

Can't wait to see more!!

Daryl H.

Here's another head control video test, this time using a pre-existing Mouse character that someone else created for Blender. In the video first you'll see some individual actions and then how those actions can be mixed to create different kinds of expressions and movements.

I haven't played with body control because I have to pick up a second joystick for that this weekend, but this is at a point now where if someone has a 3D character there's no reason it can't be performed in real-time.

I am taking about a week off from this project to get ready for some workshops I am doing next week, but the next step is to program a way to automate much of the process of setting characters up in Blender so you don't need to know much about Blender's animation system and anyone can do this (right now I set-up everything manually in Blender).

Once that is done the next step is to code a feature so that performances can be recorded and it's possible to take real-time stuff that looks like this:



And render it out to look like this:



I am very happy with this so far. It ain't Pixar, but it ain't too bad either.

Thanks so much to everyone here for their interest and support. With a little luck I'll have a beta version of Panda Puppet ready to release before summer.

I haven't played with body control because I have to pick up a second joystick for that this weekend, but this is at a point now where if someone has a 3D character there's no reason it can't be performed in real-time.

Wow... that's a very impressive accomplishment, Andrew!



Ron G.

Once again another impressive step in the digital puppetry!  I love when the ears drop, just a great character feature!

Daryl H.

Nice job Andrew.
Now we can really respect the time consumption it take someone creating those cartoon at Pixar.
Enjoy your workshop and we will all be waiting for more on your digital puppet.

You mentioned a Joystick controller, can I suggest Saitek controllers. The X series of controllers have a two hand flight simulator joystick that can be programmed to any assignment you need. Budgetwise, the x52 is pricey. You might want to check ebay for a x45, a older model, but quite precise.

http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod/pcgc.asp

Great Job Andrew, Your project seems to be moving right along. It looks like you are going to get done. As for a Pixar quality.Andrew quality has been proven very effective up to this point. Everyonr has always been pleased with your accomplishments.

Thanks for keeping us updated..............

Billy