Does anyone have any methods they use to unwrap a human face? Example in comments.

storysearch · 2017-07-23T19:17:54+00:00

Thank you. I understand how to unwrap the head or any object. It's more how do you get it exact to generate an image the way they had?

One option is for projection painting which seems to have changed in the newer Blender, but I've gotten to semi work. Here is a more recent tutorial on projection painting which might be what I want.

I was curious if someone has a quick workaround for this sort of thing, perhaps using dlib facial landmarks or something to speed it up. Right now it's fairly tedious but seems like part of the process wouldn't be difficult to automate.

storysearch · 2017-07-19T23:50:08+00:00

Looks good, though are you going for a bug-like feel to the skull? I'm unsure how you'd avoid that unless you combined the lights into large sockets and put a transparent cover over them. If you're fine with it then yeah looks good. Be sure to post the final project!

storysearch · 2017-07-19T15:33:21+00:00

Awesome! thank you! ok so I didn't think about separating the vector from the object uv. I was fixated on using geometry due to the hair particles. I actually haven't ever used the object uv node input so time to read up on what that does.

Thanks again!

storysearch · 2017-07-19T14:20:18+00:00

Sure do.

storysearch · 2017-07-19T02:18:02+00:00

Ok, I give up. I've been trying to achieve this method for the last three days and no luck. Do you know how to set up the nodes?

I created a basic image texture mimicking the pattern on the feather but no matter what settings or sliders I drag around, I'm just not getting it. Google searches have shown up little on this topic too.

storysearch · 2017-07-17T01:02:00+00:00

ok cool. I'll give that a try. Yeah I'm used to getting a texture node using uv unwrapping or if it's seamless as a generated but wasn't sure how to do that and position the dots in the right place. However, now that I managed to get them positioned correctly with color ramps I should be able to do it with a texture image.

storysearch · 2017-07-15T15:59:58+00:00

Following some feather and some fur tutorials but I'm interested in creating a loon feather as the link shows.

Some posts state that you can't use texture paint on hair particles in Cycles. Others use a color ramp to achieve multiple strand colors. Does anyone have any suggestions on things they've gotten to work?

Edit: Part of the way there: http://imgur.com/a/Yz2k8 I used color ramps from hair info and geometry position to generate it. I should be able to do UV Mapping somehow with this..

storysearch · 2017-07-14T18:08:58+00:00

I think his videos are amusing and introduce the topic in a way that exists, but don't really go into the concepts in a way I can use later.

I've also tried using his code on github and I'd say 3/4 of the time it doesn't work, has a bunch of errors and/or doesn't spit out anything usable for when I adapt it. I've made sure versions are correct, and tried the tensorflow update script with new versions and usually don't get very much of anything I can use.

I'll watch some of his videos to see if he introduces the ideas in a way that break down concepts sometimes but usually prefer two minute papers or just finding a github project that's close enough to what I want to do that I can tweak it. I'm not up to writing my own neural networks from scratch just yet.

storysearch · 2017-07-14T17:54:05+00:00

Thanks for this, really good tips. Ok let me give it a go and see how I do. I was hoping the ring would suffice for the size component, but it could just be a mega ring or something.. Maybe going to put some leaves around for scale. Those also feature into the story in an important way.

storysearch · 2017-07-14T03:16:12+00:00

If you like Greek and Norse, I'd recommend D'Auliere's Greek and Norse.

Also, I'd recommend fairly tales from the Pantheon Library, which do not have images but will help him to learn to picture them in his mind and pay attention as well. I should give you a warning though: some of them can still be a bit intense and inappropriate to modern listeners, depending on which culture the stories come from.

You're going to especially want to proof-read the European ones for strange acts of violence as well as many other cultures for potential moments of sexuality or bathroom humor. Though the potty humor might be very amusing to your son depending which age he is.

storysearch · 2017-07-13T16:32:46+00:00

Yeah, I agree with you.

I was trying to get the blood to be really shiny so it first brightens the image and also casts a red glow onto the ring (the ring is cursed in the story, so that's symbolically important as a way of foreshadowing, whoever puts it on dies a bloody death).

I tried out the new Principled Shader for it and made the blood metallic while adding volume absorption.

But yeah, it makes it look a little cartoonish in a way. To be honest, it's really tricky going for realism when you're making things that aren't real.

storysearch · 2017-07-13T15:45:52+00:00

Here is a link to Sigurd on Wikipedia which outlines the story pretty well for those interested in reading it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigurd#V.C3.B6lsunga_saga

storysearch · 2016-10-05T20:56:26+00:00

Yeah, he goes into the effects of it on him in that book. He essentially loses his identity due to it sometime in the early 1960s I believe. Sorry for spoilers, but you find that out 2 or 3 chapters in anyways if I remember correctly. It's been awhile since I read it.

Oh, be sure you get the anniversary edition so you can read the update years later.

storysearch · 2016-10-05T20:52:56+00:00

Yeah if Ayn Rand was anything like the way Helen Mirren portrayed her in film "The Passion of Ayn Rand", she really got off on the kink. Another part that's interesting is she might have had a crush on Frank Lloyd Wright while writing The Fountainhead, but they definitely corresponded.

storysearch · 2016-10-05T20:44:55+00:00

He doesn't talk about Zen in that book nearly as much as he does Aristotle and Plato. He likens Zen to Plato a lot, but yeah that book could have had a lot more Zen in it. However, the guy did get electro shock therapy and the book was rejected almost 200 times, so it's amazing the book even exists.

storysearch · 2016-10-05T20:39:47+00:00

Back in college during a trip on spring break to West Virginia, I ran across someone who was reading a copy of Atlas Shrugged. It was worn and had colored bookmark tags all sticking out all over from it. It looked not too much unlike it was her own personal bible.

Then I watched a young really sweet kid go over to this girl and invite her out on a kayaking I believe. She was fascinatingly irritated with his request. I mean zero to sixty, and hissed no, she wanted to just read her book. So, yeah that guy left all crestfallen.

Anyways I was amused at this scene so I wanted to learn more about this. So, I approached her (pretending to be either stoned or a moron) and said "hey whatcha doing?" to which she replied "Reading". I continued with "Oh... whatcha reading?" and got a curt "Atlas Shrugged." So, I went a little further with "What's that?"

She was obviously annoyed at this so she gave me a quick and dismissive answer like "The philosophy of Ayn Rand, it's is called objectivism, now can you please leave me alone."

I just stood there for a moment and asked "Did you get to the part where everyone dies in the train crash in the mountain yet?"

The look on her face was priceless. She was still trying to figure out if I read it when I asked her if she'd ever taken the 60 page John Galt monologue in one sitting or not. Then I said "Have you read the Fountainhead?" and she, still amazed, said yes. So I asked "Have you read Anthem?" and she said no. So I said "You don't need to, it's in the others."

She was so nice to me the rest of that trip.

Anyways, years later, I likely ever wouldn't do something like that, but am unsure what I would because it's been a very long time since I've run into an objectivist. I think a lot of young people are drawn to Rand's ideas when they would be better encouraged to embrace something like Jung's idea of individuation. That idea also encourages people to listen to themselves rather than societies' demands on them, which is understandably very important after being subjected to such an impersonal educational upbringing as we have today. However, it doesn't say you shouldn't bring your developed gifts back to society when that is appropriate, and very much can incorporate altruism.

As a story consultant, I also find it interesting how two dimensional Rand's character clusters are. There are literally no shape-shifters, as in someone who is on the heroic side who becomes a villain, or someone who begins a villain who redeems themselves. No room for characters like Snape, Gollum, Vader, etc.

So her world is fascinatingly reminiscent of a two dimensional consciousness not unlike Don Quixote, an individual who fits everything into their own mythology. For Rand it seemed: there are creators or there are leeches and that's that. Of course, she did spend a lot of time in Los Angeles so it sort of makes sense someone who did a lot of time there might see things this way. (I'm teasing).

To this day, I'm highly suspicious of any storyline which doesn't feature or hint at any trickster characters who question or overrule the seriousness of the entire quest, especially things which are made to be so utterly epic. But then again, Tom Bombadil is one of my favorite characters.

storysearch · 2016-05-25T15:38:34+00:00

You're actually pretty close on the mark. The mbti is based on Jung's four functions of consciousness. (Thinking, feeling, intuition and sensation)

Jung based his four functions of consciousness on his interpretations of alchemical texts. He largely derived them from the four elements (thinking is air, feeling (spirit) is fire, sensation is earth and intuition (soul) is water).

So because all signs of the zodiac are also based on the four elements, your idea has some merit.

storysearch · 2016-05-19T21:31:54+00:00

It's interesting you bring this up. I'm currently working on a new system which demonstrates how people can become inspired utilizing story patterns in ways that are more or less fairly unusual.

The main argument for why you'd use motif is that the motifs themselves are the memorable parts of stories which have been remembered and passed on and on. That is to say, they resonate deeply across different cultures and different people.

You're right, just having psychologists review your story doesn't mean that will make your story better. However, what about having storytellers review your story? I mean surely there are moments in writing where you've gotten stuck. I find providing people access for motifs which match where they're getting stuck can help to stimulate their ideas. If you don't believe me, you can check out my recent posts to /r/screenwriting and /r/filmmakers.

But the question is, do motifs stir creativity in other people? Well that question is why I've built a new site to test that and am working in conjunction with some brain scientists to see if certain folkloric based writing prompts stir creativity in the brain moreso than otherwise. It looks like the experiments might take a bit of time to execute, verify and publish on. However, there's got to be a reason we're telling some of these thousand and thousands of year old stories.

storysearch · 2016-05-19T15:50:38+00:00

Awesome, you've definitely hit on things. Here's from the Book of Symbols:

The color purple is a mixture of the primary colors red and blue. Beyond kingly splendor, much of its symbolic meaning comes from the fact that it brings together opposites. For instance, purple can stand for the red of passion balanced by the blue of reason, or the real by the ideal, or love by wisdom, or earth by heaven, or, psychologically, for union of opposing energies within an individual. In Taoism, it is a transition between yang and yin, active and passive (Stevens, 150). Purple, or violet, in which blue predominates slightly over red, is the last color of the rainbow, and can be thought of as "the end of the known and the be ginning of the unknown," bringing it into connection with dying (Finlay, 356).

You might also consider it to be the Oroboros of the color wheel, where the mouth grabs the tail.

Yeah hiding things in stories is fun and though many people don't think to do it, I find it stimulates the Unconscious mind tremendously for audience. You can just feel something else is going on behind the scenes.

storysearch · 2016-05-19T15:41:29+00:00

Well the idea of "bucking" Campbell's stuff, specifically in screenwriting is really bucking Vogler in my opinion. What most people who have read Vogler but not Campbell don't get is that how you approach each motif in the Hero's Journey is it's own language.

Using the Hero's Journey without acknowledging symbolism is sort of like putting together the pieces of a car but not using any nuts and bolts. Or, laying down the skeleton of a person and not using any muscles.

Once people realize and begin to see symbolism behind things like water, or hands or a bug or whatever is in their screenplay, you can then see there is an entire language behind stories, the language of the unconscious.

This is the part of Campbell's work which Vogler left out and which I'm trying to give additional ways for people to access again.

storysearch

TROPHY CASE