JetCycle

Another metal plate is a long shot unless I'm really, really happy with every stage that's left: The cycle, the environment, and - since it's on open seat vehicle - a pilot ( I've never attempted a character before). The original vision, once the project stopped being a texture game, was a view which resembles a vintage travel poster. Since I've come to like animating textures, there may be a looping image, too. I've bookmarked some of ZooHead's animation/movement threads, but that would be a project in itself. Regardless, I wanted to finish the model in such a way that other views and perspectives would work well.

I need to experiment more with camera settings - to find what settings reliably make things appear dramatically bigger or smaller than the default view settings. Everything I do always seems to feel toy-sized until I really struggle with it.

I bought a version of Poser a year or two ago (a big software bundle sale), but I've never actually used it seriously. Adding a decent pilot will be the truly hard part.

Pretty much everything I do in 3D is recreational. However, I've been pushing different projects to a finished/polished state lately, bearing in mind how they might appear in a portfolio - in case the economy tanks and my web business goes under. If I ultimately have to find a new job/career, I want to aim towards something I enjoy doing as much as I have programming and web work. If I wind up working in/with an ad agency again, it would be nice to have a fairly uncommon skill to whip out. If that path becomes likely, I suppose I need to start building a library of subject matter that's a little more mundane and commerce-oriented. But for now, I'm pushing my self-education with fun things.
 
It's similar with me too. I am a graphic designer for print media and work in the home office. Not just now in Corona times, but always. That's why I can organize my time relatively freely. When there isn't much to do, I use the time for further education and do something in Cheetah. It's all just for fun at the moment, but you never know .. If I'm reasonably good (in 10 years or so ...;)) I might be able to offer that to the customer. At least small, simple things. Graphic artists and small agencies are ten a penny, but very few can use 3D apps. Due to the crisis, our order book has decreased a bit (we have some customers from the event sector) and I have even more time for Cheetah.
Maybe I'm just telling myself that to soothe my guilty conscience that I spend so much time with Cheetah: "No, no, this is not just for fun, this is further training! I sure can need it ..." :LOL:
However, I try to do something in Cheetah every day, also because I fear that I will forget what I have already learned. I often open older files and don't even know what I was doing there. :oops:
That's why I make short films. They don't have to be good (I know they aren't) but I always have an ongoing project that I'm working on and that motivates me. And I think there is almost everything there that you can learn. And yes, it's fun!
Since I discovered Cheetah in the spring of last year and downloaded the trial version, I can't get away from it. Suddenly my design world is no longer flat. There are so many new possibilities. But the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know and how much there is still to learn. At least now I have something to do for the rest of my life.

By the way, Zoohead's posts helped me a lot too. Especially the character rigs with controls.
 
MonkeyT, Lydia, I am a graphic designer too, lost almost all of my clients, spending a lot of time lately improveing my 3D skills and doing a lot of submissions on 99Designs (2D and 3D)
 
...That's why I can organize my time relatively freely.

I wondered about that last week, when I posted something at 1AM my time and saw your response come in about fifteen minutes later. Are you a night owl near Dallas, or somewhere on the other side of the world?
 
MonkeyT, Lydia, I am a graphic designer too, lost almost all of my clients,...

Yeah, back in the last recession, we lost about 2/3 of our clients - right when we were ready to expand for the first time. About a third just folded in the first months, and the other third decided to shop for bargains. It took about half of those a year or two to realize that cheap hosting comes with no hand-holding, so they decided to come back to us. Fortunately a couple of them have realized this time that their companies may struggle if they spend money, but they definitely won't survive if they do nothing. A few even saw their web based commerce processes actually thrive this year ( our online chocolate store customers did very well. Basically, they learned how to actively promote). We'd just like to see a few new moderate setup jobs come in, which would raise enough monthly hosting charges to cover the nut reliably once more.
 
I'm from the other side of the world, from Germany. Here it is 8 a.m. :coffee: :)

My boyfriend and I also work in the lighting sector at events - weddings, concerts, town festivals, Christmas markets, carnivals, that sort of thing. All canceled!
It turned out so well and now everything is different from one moment to the next! :cry:

Well, complained enough, it will go on somehow. Even if everything is very uncertain right now.
But this stupid virus ... ! :mad::mad:
 
I spent about eight weeks in Switzerland back in college. I adjusted to the daylight hours easily, but I never got the hang of guessing the time back home. No one in the States heard from me for about two months. Thank goodness for online forums - human interaction on my schedule. :D
 
But this stupid virus ... ! :mad::mad:

This thing has for sure consequences for everyone of us (it did cost me the shiny new computer I planned to buy and actually need for my work among other problems it created). In a way, I'm pissed off, but all in all, I think everyone (!) who has not lost someone, was down with a serious case of covid or isn't able to pay rent, food or anything anymore should count himself lucky.

What makes me angry (and I sometimes this means almost turning into Hulk) are the people who show such an astonishing amount of stupidity, claiming that their rights are seriously touched if they have to keep at social distance (for me, I like to have a minimum of personal space and shaking lumpy, sweaty hands) or if they have to wear a mask, actually seeing it as their damned right to infect (and maybe kill) anybody. It's sometimes surreal and very creepy to watch the news, seeing all those people who clearly fell down the ladder of evolution. And they are not some national proplem, but a worldwide one (although I have to admit such nut-cases seem to make up a greater percentage of the population in the U.S. where a lying, corrupt, wanna-be dictator without empathy, a simple ounce of integrity, or more than 3 working brain cell president who's a danger for the whole planet actually has some 42 % in polls and still a very real chance to get reelected). But we have people here in Europe believing in QAnon, right wingers, racism, Trump fans, climate deniers (that one I had to look up) and with all the education and in some country (like mine) really excellent schools, possibilities like man never had before such an astonishing rise in "tremendous" idiocy. (and sorry about this rant, but corona sadly isn't just a pandemic, it's also politics).

So, I count myself happy even if in times as these modeling isn't just a joy but a mental yoga that's a really important compensation for all the madness going on, thankful for forums as this where people actually behave as normal, intelligent (at least the regulars) human beings.

And let's not forget: I like that rear view of your JetCycle very much, MonkeyT
 
Its remarkable how a box model can turn into a COVID disaster :cool: maybee we/you start an off-topic threat about that
 
I have finally found the inspiration I need to finish the cycle's interior: the dashboard of a '61 Chrysler Imperial.

61_Imperial_Dash.jpeg
 
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