Biped key all … key all biped limbs with one click

This is a tool for keying all your biped limbs in one click (including the root or COM ).

Simply select part of the biped and click ‘key’
This will set a TCB key at the current frame on all the biped limbs.

You can also delete all the keys at the current time using the ‘delete’ button.

It’s part of my script pack. You can instruction to install it are here

Keeping keys aligned is part of an organised keyframing style I use to animate efficiently. I generally key all the characters limbs at each key pose. It also helps stop random wobbles in Bipeds FK spine. I wrote this tool to make the process faster.

Concept art and inspiration Links

Man there is a lot of sci-fi art on the web. Every time I create a mood board I’m just swamped.

Some of my favorites are

www.conceptartworld.com
www.cgsociety.org

Heres some work by Scott Robinson at http://conceptships.blogspot.com/

I was discussing Concept Art with my friend Nick who lectures in Finland. He directed me to this book.

The Skillful Huntsman: Visual Development of a Grimm Tale at Art Center College of Design.

It’s a great example of how to generate ideas. I found the silhouette studies really inspiring. Shape and feel can be the most important part of the process.

I’ll keep updating this post as I go along

How to remove the annoying wacom circles in windows

This will show you how to remove the annoying circles that appear in windows 7 and windows 10 when you use a wacom tablet.They’re for touch screens, and you don’t need them if you have the wacom pen buttons.  They just get in the way and slow you down.

How to remove the pen and touch right click… (the radar circle)

1.Open the windows control panel.
2.Select ‘pen and touch’
3.In ‘pen options’ select ‘press and hold’ and press the settings button.
4.Uncheck the ‘enable press and hold for right-clicking’ option.
5.click ok to close the dialogs.

Windows Press and hold settings

How to remove the splash circle in windows 7

1. Click windows start and type gpedit.msc into the command line
2. Click gpedit.msc from the programs list to open the ‘local group policy editor’
3. Navigate to… User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Tablet PC > Cursor.
4. Set ‘Turn off pen feedback’ to enabled.
5. Now navigate to… Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Tablet PC > Cursor.
6. And again Set ‘Turn off pen feedback’ to enabled.

How to remove the splash circle in windows 10

  1. press windows key
  2. type “settings” and hit enter
  3. click on “devices”
  4. Select “Pen” from the left column (if it’s not there, first install the wacom driver for your tablet)
  5. Turn “Show Visual Effects” off
  6. Close the settings dialog

Turn off windows Ink.

I was still getting some glitches in windows 10 where the wacom pen failed to left click. This seemed to cure the problem.

  • You can turn off windows ink in the wacom tablet preferences.
  • Choose the ‘Mapping’ tab then uncheck Use windows Ink

Disable Windows Ink


Disable flicks

The radar circle and the splash circle are the things that really bug me when I’m using the wacom pen. But you can also dig a bit deeper…

Disable flicks in windowsHow to disable flicks

1.Open the windows control panel.
2.Select ‘pen and touch’
3.Choose the flicks tab
4.Uncheck ‘Use flicks to perform common actions quickly and easily’.
5.Uncheck ‘Display flicks icon in the notifications area’
6.click ok to close the dialogs.

Additionally you can turn off all the tablet PC components

1.With the control panel view in “view by category mode”.
2.Go into Control Panel > Programs > Turn Windows Features On or Off
3.Untick the Tablet PC Components

And Finally

It melts my brain that this is still an issue in windows 10. Hopefully the solutions above will help. If you try working through in stages you’ll get a feel for what windows trying to do and how it messes up Wacom.

…. So then there’s windows uac to fix ….

Script Navigator

This tool simply helps organize, run, and edit your maxScripts more quickly.
Quickly create menus of your favorite scripts. Then place this menu anywhere you choose in the max.

In the newest version. To change the currently selected name in the list. Just type in the top text box and press enter. Note that the .ms file name remains unchanged if you do this.

Instructions to download all my scripts are here.

Video introduction to the Script Navigator

 

Adding a toolbar button for the script navigator.

You can also add a button to any 3dsMax toolbar using:-
‘customize user interface’ > toolbars

Find the Script Navigator action. The click and drag where it needs to go.

 

Editing Script Navigator Directories

The tool generates a new text file for each tab in the menu. It’s simply a list of paths written in plain text. The Script Navigator edits these files for you. But, if you wish, you can edit the text files by hand. They are located in a subfolder of your 3dsMax user scripts directory

Your user scripts directory is called Additional Scripts your 3dsMax system paths.

To locate this folder go to the menubar and chose:
.. Customise > Configure System Paths > select the ‘System’ tab >  ‘Additional Scripts’ path

The Script Navigator path files are located in

user scripts…\KenzorsScripts\common\Script Navigator Directories

Business and all that jazz

Caught this article in the Guardian today. The jazz of entrepreneurship may be pushing it a bit. But as a musician I guess I feel there are many similarities in directing artists of all kinds be they musicians, actors, animators, compositors.

If I want to get the best out of someone then I need a day to day instinct for what they can achieve, and what they need to do it. Pushing too hard can be as counter productive as pushing to little.

If I’m improvising with a band then I need a moment to moment instinct for where people are and what’s going to happen next. Some of this instinct is based on knowing the music some of it is based on knowing the people.

There are a bunch of techniques I use in art management and direction. I guess a good creative meeting is a bit like a good jam…

You can read the academic paper here