That blasted X-mirror

Today I worked on the re-weight painting as much as I could. At first it was working. I was periodically checking if it was importing as I went, and it was going ok, until one time after I painted close to the middle of the mesh, and then imported to test it. Then the old error showed up. I'm thinking that it must have to do with the X-mirror option in the weight painting. I might try just painting one side, then using that script that I actually thought was the culprit of the problem at one point to mirror it all at once. Ironic that it might be what turns out to be what saves the day.

Call me Michelangelo

So I continued weight painting today. I am at the point where I realize there is no more to do technically (Every bone in the armature will deform the mesh pretty much correctly) but for some reason It doesn't feel like it should be done. I guess I will just keep posing it until I am satisfied that no more adjustments need to be made. And I probably should import it into RCT3 for goodness sakes. I keep saying I'm going to do that but for one reason or another it never happens.

Painting, and a commitment

I hit the weight painting really hard today. Only about halfway done, but I'm doing it completely manually instead of creating the vertex groups from the bone heat of the armature. It's a fun challenge at the current resolution, but any more vertices and I'd be very frustrated. I'm glad I never spent this much time trying to weight paint the subdivided mesh.

I generally try not to make any promises when it comes to my filming schedule. However, I believe that most things in life are a balance. And I don't think that making promises about my filming schedule is an exemption to this rule of thumb. So, although I will not be stating anything having to do with specific dates, I think it would be good for me to announce that I will not be taking any breaks in work for the foreseeable future. I will not spend a day getting distracted by Minecraft. I will not spend a day benchmarking Crysis. I will not spend a day owning people in Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer. I will not spend weeks taking a break from production to do "mental production." My work is engaging, has clear direction, and there is NO JUSTIFIABLE REASON (that's in caps to help me remember, btw) for me to not be working every chance I get. This is not me stressing myself. This has nothing to do with when I finish The Battle for Axis Mundi. But it's the season for work. And my work is pretty darn fun, so there's no reason I shouldn't be working.

Rigging

Today I got into the meat and potatoes of rigging, i.e. weight painting. It's a lot more time consuming painting this model than with the Warrior of Light, because it has so many more vertices. But I really like how it is looking so far. I can't wait to get it fully rigged and textured; I think that there's a lot of creative stuff that can be done with the animation of this model.