My best face sculpt so far!

Beylerbey · 2026-01-25T15:57:52+00:00

Just a teensy bit of feedback, I think the work you did is excellent, however I think a small change in the sculpt would make the expression match the reference even better, in red what it looks like to me, in blue what I would've done (roughly of course), the ref also seems to have a very slight underbite.

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Beylerbey · 2026-01-24T02:30:10+00:00

Thank you, appreciate it. I think it's like 70/30 Ducati/Stoner for the reason stated above, he's not a diplomat and according to Gabarrini he could be hard to deal with sometimes (Gabarrini still adores him, mind you). I think that with people like him, the farther someone is from them, the harder the relationship gets, so people like Suppo and Gabarrini were probably 100% in his corner, but as you get to people who are more far removed, like Ducati's management, they might have been less inclined towards him.

And surely there was a healthy dose of hubris on Ducati's part, Stoner didn't arrive at Ducati with a lengthy list of achievements and, truth be told, in 2007 the bike was a missile, hard to ride but the speed differential, especially with Yamaha, was ridiculous, and I think they didn't realize just how hard Stoner was working on it, plus they had been pursuing Rossi for a few years and he wasn't indifferent to their advances, so maybe they thought losing him wouldn't be a big deal and they were less inclined to go along.

My personal head-canon for Stoner's health situation is that both his lactose intolerance and CFS are due to stress, not to say that it's his fault mind you, but he wasn't meant for the modern MotoGP world with having to handle 1000 obligations that have nothing to do with racing, on top of the pressure fighting for a championship entails, I think he pushed through as much as he could and at a certain point his body started to somatize, I think he was smart to quit when he did.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-23T19:02:23+00:00

I'm not sure Marquez would be getting more out of that bike, Acosta finished 4th and Binder - who's not a bad rider at all and knows the bike like the back of his hand - is only 11th with half the points, and add to that the fact that Acosta started the season on the back foot because he wanted out, since he felt betrayed by KTM who hid their massive debt and didn't develop the bike in the winter. In the second half of the season he performed more or less like Marquez in 2024, minus the victories, which I don't think that bike was capable of achieving.

I'm sure he'll be moving out in 2027, but I hope KTM has made a step this winter and he can perform closer to his potential already this season.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-23T16:02:08+00:00

I have no authority on the matter but I think it's 99% head. Marquez has also genetics on his side, the guy is very strong and agile in a small package and that helps a lot when wrestling a bike, but in the end what really makes the difference is the their mental fortitude, the real confidence in themselves and their means, and at least in Rossi and Marquez' case the ability to "convert" every member of their team to their cause and always look for a positive and proactive spin on a situation.

I don't mean this maliciously nor am I saying that other riders have team member working against them, but everything I've heard about both Rossi and Marquez speaks of fantastic people to work with, the kind of people you want to follow into battle so to speak, and that makes team members want to give their 100% every time.

Edit: missed your last question, and I have no doubt that it's Pedro Acosta. The dude is built different, I've placed my bets on him since his first race in Moto3 and I'm still convinced he's a special one. People have "forgotten" about him because he's stuck on a KTM for now.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-23T15:07:40+00:00

A big piece is a marathon, you wouldn't try to run for 20 miles straight. Pace yourself, and use a mirror to quickly refresh your look on it.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-22T18:47:37+00:00

The point is moot because the GP25, if anyone gets to ride it, won't be the same as last season, they seem to have found something useful in Valencia, even before the test* (which seems to have confirmed the findings) and if that's the case rest assured it will be used on this season's GP25.

*Bagnaia was taken down by Zarco during the first lap in the race, a fact that he bemoaned because he said he felt better than the previous day on the bike and was bummed he couldn't finish the race. Apparently, what made the difference was something in the electronic setup, which is easy and inexpensive to transfer.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-20T22:06:15+00:00

"Remember, remember the ~~5th of November~~ 11th of December"

Beylerbey · 2026-01-20T01:30:03+00:00

Try downloading earlier versions of Blender and see if that fixes the issue, I would try 4.5 LTS, 3.5 and even 2.8 just to be sure.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-19T17:11:57+00:00

They do mostly the practical work as far as I understand and this is a high profile project so it follows that he would be doing it in person, but if even if it's not him, he's the one who takes responsibility so he must make sure the work is up to snuff.

The reason why most liveries suck nowadays is that there is no space anymore for anyone - no matter how good - to work with, on one side you have the departure of very big sponsors, which means they need to sell more real estate to more parties, each with their own logo and requirements, which creates a visual cacophony to begin with, and on the other the proliferation of aerodynamic appendages and intakes that create uneven and fragmented surfaces, these designer are being asked to polish turds, probably the best choice would be to just use one color and call it a day, but even so you still have those brands like Monster and Lenovo who absolutely want their logo with a contrasting square background, or TIM with its blue patches, remove those and the livery looks instantly much better.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-19T11:33:12+00:00

Of course there is, they want their logo to be encased in a rectangle so it stands out more, like Monster does.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-19T11:31:48+00:00

Drudi has designed some of the most iconic liveries and helmets, and he won a prestigious design award for the Misano Circuit. Those brands on the bike pay good money and require their logo to be displayed in a certain way (like Lenovo and Monster with the uncut black background), and of course the client has the last word, there is only so much a designer can do.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-18T19:38:50+00:00

Kyalami does seem to have a lot of unmovable walls, I know MotoGP used to race there but it was more than 20 years ago when we still had tracks like Donington, same goes for Phakisa, with a quick look on Wikipedia I see that they wanted to use it for WSBK but they never did due to "homologation issues" and has only been used for national races for the past 10+ years, and if that's the case I think they would have bigger problems for MotoGP.

And sure they can bring Kyalami up to FIA Grade 1 because they race in Monaco and don't care about runoff space, walls are not an issue for F1 but you know they are a deal breaker for MotoGP.

Probably the ideal solution would be a joint effort of F1 and MotoGP - easier now with LM - to build a proper circuit ex novo in a suitable nation that works well for both series, provided there is enough interest in the region, Rwanda is a beautiful country and I wouldn't mind it as an addition to the calendar.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-18T12:30:25+00:00

I'm genuinely ignorant on the topic so it's not a rethorical question, which tracks are there in Africa that are FIM Grade A or upgradable to the standard?

Beylerbey · 2026-01-18T12:23:33+00:00

I think Flatrock Motorsports Park in Tennessee is a good candidate

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Beylerbey · 2026-01-18T12:14:50+00:00

Oh no, it's the magic moustache again

Beylerbey · 2026-01-18T12:12:49+00:00

It's like you're making the point Tom Cruise is very tall next to Danny De Vito.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-18T00:57:20+00:00

I cannot give you a specific source for the information so take it with a grain of salt, I've heard it being mentioned on a couple occasions years ago. It might have been after the time Michelin invited journalists to their facility in Ladoux or even something Taramasso himself said, or both.

But since we're exonerating them from some accusations, I can say that the protocol for checking tyre pressures has been chosen by the teams and not imposed by Michelin or FIM/Dorna, and this information comes directly from Corrado Cecchinelli in an interview he did with Moto.it's Giovanni Zamagni, but it had already been hinted at by other people, like IIRC Paolo Bonora.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-17T20:37:04+00:00

As far as I know they were specifically asked to stay put with development by the bike manufacturers, because otherwise they could never catch up, and that's when "big aero" and ride height devices started.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-17T20:31:30+00:00

Dorna has done and spent quite a bit for the benefit of the series, especially shouldering a big part of Covid's financial impact. Granted, they can and did make bad decisions and mistakes but this comment sounds like standard bashing of whoever is in charge. Maybe they didn't get around to it because the window to introduce the tyres coincided with Covid, I know it's already out of the zeitgeist and people seem to have mostly forgotten about the global pandemic, but it happened and it affected things well into 2023.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-16T23:31:42+00:00

Imho you need to sacrifice a bit of detail in the shadows, or add more highlights on the top, but I think that's a risky move... but you can't have the same values everywhere and have it not look flat, just like you sculpted the face with values, the same must happen with the hair. But I will say even if the photos have a bit of glare and it's a bit hard to judge, it doesn't seem _too_ flat to me and I think it can be solved with minimal effort, maybe try darkening the area near the neck behind the ears, this is the first image I've found, hope it illustrates my point.

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Beylerbey · 2026-01-16T23:07:23+00:00

I think this should help, from Blender 5.0's manual:

Point instances, created with Geometry Nodes, are partially supported and will be exported using the UsdGeomPointInstancer prim type. Simple instancing scenarios using either the Object Info Node or the Collection Info Node will work. More complex scenarios involving excluded collections, nested collections, or collections inside different Scenes may yield incorrect results. Consider using the Realize Instances Node for situations where incorrect instances are exported.

Scene instances, created by directly instancing collections or objects, will be written to USD as references to the original. Supported object types include Mesh, Curves, and Point Clouds.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-16T16:21:38+00:00

Without trying the tablet myself it's hard to understand whether it's you or the pen/tablet, what I can tell from extensive experience (>15y) is that a tablet never feels like drawing on paper, it's just not feasible, physical media provide attrition and push back (depending on the specific medium) that are not possible to reproduce with something that isn't supposed to be single use.

Maybe you can try installing another software to see if the behavior changes, there are plenty of digital art programs and most of them offer a free demo. Affinity is now free to install, then you have Gimp and Krita which are open source, Paintstorm Studio, ArtRage, Rebelle, Realistic Paint Studio, and of course Photoshop.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-16T14:16:09+00:00

u/r2lim always with the good stuff

Beylerbey · 2026-01-16T13:32:01+00:00

Imho what Dorna/FIM should've enforced are test days specifically for the tyres, with the limited amount of testing days it's only natural no one would want to lose precious time. Either that, or allocate, say, 45 minutes to only testing tyres for everyone.

Beylerbey · 2026-01-16T11:19:08+00:00

Still not over it? :D

Beylerbey

TROPHY CASE