This is the FINAL, Working Collaboration thread for the bot

[Gary David Bouton]

Realistically, and if we can enter this piece in any competition, there has to be balance in the composition. And that means that the background must yield to the foreground bot. Actually, it wouldn't hurt if a toy with eyes, like a teddy bear, was watching the bot spell its plea.

Now here's possibly an unpopular idea:why not let everyone model at hogh res, and let me do some shadows and composite work so the other toys are played down. My reasoning? This is supposed to be fun, and who wants to contribute 4 polygons to the scene? Make it your best toy ever, and then allow me to handle the dynamics of the picture in Photoshop. This would also take care of modeling platform incompatibilities.

Urgent message coming in: we should probably not use trademarked products, or if so, disguise them in a clever way. I know, I know...I myself am the WORST at copyright violation. But I'm doing it for a giggle, and not a piece we could get published.

Examples of creative subterfuge:
-cover the bottom of an Etch-A-Sketch with a doll or book or something. The knobs on an Etch-A-Sketch are the identifying trademark...you don't show them, no problem.
--Raggety Ann and Raggety Andy are copywritten out the wazoo by Knickerbocker toys...and I know the owner and the answer is still "no". So you put "Groucho glasses" on Raggety Andy...it's funny and problem solved.
-Sharon, be REAL careful with book titles. If I were you, in fact, I'd make cover illustrations on models of books and skip titles for 2 reasons:
1.)We can be sued for unlawful appropriation of title.
2.)No one, in theory, should be able to clearly read titles. If you can, the attention moves away from the toybot and towards the book. If you REALLY want titles on the books, I'd suggest sound-alike titles, such as
-"Raggety Carl and Raggety Phyllis"
-Curious Georgette"
-"The Little Princess"
-"The Velvetine Swamp Lizard"
...and so on.

Other toys might be small,tradional ones, like the ball in the cup toy, a yo-yo. Ross, it would be interesting if you told us what year this scene takes place, and we could accomodate with toys of the era. For example, today's Jack in the Box dates back to 1613 when it was called "Punch in the Box", presumably after the puppet of Punch and Judy fame. Does this influence anyone who's searching for ideas for the Jack in the Box?

By the way, all of Sir John Tenniel's renderings of Alice in Wonderland went public domain a few years back. Anyone want to do a caterpillar on a mushroom smoking from a hookah, a Knave of Hearts, playing card soldiers, Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle Dum? You can get a copy of the original renderings from a pdf file at adobe.com.

How about a Humpty Dumpty toy?

My Best,

Gary David Bouton
Gary@GaryDavidBouton.com
Free education! The Writings Web site
and the updated GaryWorld Gallery is pretty okay, too.

[This message was edited by Gary David Bouton on October 08, 2001 at 15:09.]

[Ross Macintosh]

Gary writes: "Ross, it would be interesting if you told us what year this scene takes place, and we could accomodate with toys of the era".

I can't see much value in constraining things with particular eras so I'm inclined to say this should be contemporary. That opens it up to all styles of toys. Kids these days do have a wide variety of toys.

Copyright experts: Are we pushing our luck with Scrabble? Even as 'Skrabble' I suspect the whole look and feel of the game is protected. Maybe the robot should be spelling out the words with those traditional wood blocks that have letters engraved on them? It could still look great??

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[Mark (theKeeper)]

Hey ya i agree there Ross!

The block toys would also work well, and actually... might even work better when considering the robot's lack of mobility in the arm'n'hands department. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

What say folks?! Toy blocks instead of a scrabble board?!

I'm into that!

[randyrives]

Blocks are ok with me. It will also add to the modeling, since blocks can have more detail and can vary from letter to letter.

--Randy

PS-Mark we both agreed to do a skateborad, so I will back down and do something else. (just haven't thought of anything yet)

[\"W\"]

This brings a more generic, less contemporay or commercial flavor to it all. It actually widens creative parameters in my view.

Steve, no, I wasn't offended at all. I just thought I was given the brush somewhat. Sorta like, "another cook in the kitchen"... I understand. But, as we all know, it takes some preparation to make a great meal. Fortunately, we have a lot of great cooks here.

All we have to say to ourselves now is "Alright, I'm done staring at my bellybutton, time to model something, have fun, and get this puppy goin'" ....

Thanks to all who liked the clown, I apreciate the feedback. Thing is, I'll have to send it to the render (person) "mafia style"! Yes, you guessed it, in pieces. It's 3.5 meg - whole. Sorry, I'm not familiar with optimising models so that they export and import small, but can still be smoothed in a renderer. Anyway, I'll figure something out when the time comes.

I'd also like to take a stab at wooden toy train (blocky). All in all, if Ross or anyone else would like me to contribute further with something specific, let me know.

Regards, Wayne

[Mark (theKeeper)]

Hey i really like your clown too Wayne, nice job. I don't think it looks "butt ugly"... hahaa not at all! Looks just like a toy clown to me bud. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Sorry Randy!
I didn't see your offering to do the skateboard bud. But since i'm pretty much finished it now, we may as well move on to other toys. Sorry 'bout that! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

Gary... i'm totally ok with us all creating hi-res models... i was just making a suggestion/observation that might perhaps help the poor sod who'll be rendering all this. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]
But i don't mind one bit if we create in hi-res.

NOTE: Rhino users can create NURB models and export them as hi or low res at that time, with no hassle at all. If later a better quality mesh is needed/preferred, we can just re-export our NURBS model with a 'thicker' mesh.

I LOVE that capability! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[\"W\"]

Here's another for offering. A quickie, I know. Again, if someone else did one, please offer it up and I'll not submit this one. If you need it, you got it.

Mark, tnx dood. I know you're into Rhino. My boss ended up buying it, so guess who's gonna use it. I really, really like it. But it tough going sometimes. I've tried a couple of tutorials from spike et al, but I was hoping there would be a definitive book I can buy on it. Even a "Modelling Basics" type dealie. I want to clearly understand modelling and its constructs within the application environment.

Ok all ... where are we (as individuals) at. I move for a status report from all involved to determine how far we've come so far... no matter how little or how far.

Keep on Chuggin'

Wayne

[mom_de_bomb]

Blocks sound great to me and easier to read because they can be at a better angle to the viewer. This will give us greater leeway framing the scene.

Awesome train

Sharon P.
www.fischerpassmoredesign.com

[Ross Macintosh]

Great choo-choo "W"!

By blocks I'm thinking the kind of thing represented by the attached image. If we wanted to be really detailed, the side face would have an engraved image relating to the letter "P" - such as a pig. Clearly that kind of thing would be much work given we'll have a number of blocks. Perhaps we can keep the blocks simpler and only have one engraving - the letter. For whoever wants to tackle the blocks I point out that it is typical that the edges of such blocks are smoothed. Take out your virtual sandpaper and soften all the edges for a more realistic block. We don't want our robot to get a splinter.

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[randyrives]

Since Mark beat me to the skateboard [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] .
I decided to do a handheld game. It is loosely based on the Gameboy.

Let me know if it is detailed enough, I tried to have enough detailed to easily identifiy the object, but simple enough not to overload our scene.

The textures are just to show off the model. Whoever textures it can most likely do a much better job.

--Randy