#but the tail is weight painted to the pelvis and not the arm

[crocodile-tears-game]

Teo - Rigging and animation

The general idea behind animating a model is to give it a skeleton and move the parts in pose mode adding keyframes where you want the bones to move between. I used an IK rig meaning the bones moved realistically to how they would in real life, for example if I moved the foot up, the knee would also move up. I used a YouTube tutorial for the rigging and animating. I added some extra armatures for the neck and tail bones.

I started by adding an armature and extruding off of it to create my characters spine, neck head, arm and hand bones. There are two bones in each arm and in the spine. I only added arms on one side of my model so I could mirror it later, I named the first bone I placed near the pelvis, "Root", the two spine bones; "Spine1" and "Spine2", the neck bone; "Neck", The head bone; "Head", the first arm bone "UpperArm.l" and the second one "LowerArm.l"; the hand, "Hand.l". All of the bones in the arm have .l after them because they are on the left side, when I mirror the rig, the right side will automatically have .r on the end of the bone names. After adding these bones, I duplicated the root bone and moved it roughly where the hip would be and moved the bottom to where the knee would be. I extruded this to where the ankle would be and then again from there to the tip of the foot, naming them the same as I did for the arm. I then used the side view to move the armatures to follow the models structure a bit better. I also add a bend in the knee and elbow to make the rig work better. Next, I had to set up the IK target and IK leg pole which will be used as targets in the IK modifier and will help maneuver the rig. I extruded off of the knee joint and pressed ctrl + p and clear parent to detach it from the rest of the rig. I moved it away from the knee joint along the Y axis. I named this "IKLegPole.l". Next, off of the ankle joint I extruded another armature. I pressed ctrl + p and clear parent again but I didn't move it away from the bone it was attached to. I named this "IKTarget.l". I also deselected the "Deform" check box on both of them. Next I selected the lower leg and went into pose mode. I added a bone constraint and then within that, I selected the inverse kinematic. I set the targets to the armature. The bone for the first one was set to the IK target and the second to the IK leg pole. The foot was facing outwards so I set the pole angle to 90. I then connected the upper leg to the root bone. I selected the upper leg, shift selected the root bone and then pressed ctrl + p and keep offset. When I tried this originally, I connected the wrong bones together and My IK rig wasn't working properly, luckily I we3nt back a couple of steps and redid that section of the instructions. Next I wanted the leg to follow the rotation of the target bone. To do this I selected the foot bone and added a bone constraint called copy rotation. The target is an armature and the bone is the IK target bone. I selected invert on the Z and Y axis. To mirror the rig. I entered edit mode, selected the rig, pressed F3 and searched for symmetries. To add weight, I selected both my model and the rig and pressed ctrl + p and armature deform with automatic weights . This connects the armature to the model, meaning I can now move the armature and it will move its corresponding body part. I had a few weight issues around the feet so I entered weight paint mode and tried to even out the weight around the legs.

Now the rigging was done, I needed to animate my character. This is quite easy to do. I entered the animation tab and changed the view modes so I could see the textures and shadows of my model. I changed over to pose mode on my model and changed from the dope sheet too the action editor. I renamed the animation "0TPose" and protected it with a fake user. I selected the rig and pressed I and location and rotation keyframe. This would be my characters default pose.

To add another animation I renamed the animation to Idle and enabled auto keying. Now I just had to change the body parts how I wanted, move to a different frame and change the body parts again and the animation will move between them.

I pressed new action and started to make my run animation using a run cycle reference sheet. I also used ctrl + c and ctrl + shift + v to copy and mirror certain parts.

[tearlessrain]

making sims 4 cc is a terrible hobby. I make a tail accessory for adults. it works perfectly. I make a tail for children using the same process and an edited version of the same mesh. it distorts the movement of one arm in exactly one CAS animation, but not if the sim is also wearing one specific base game bracelet, in which case it works normally.

[dopescotlandwarrior]

Sinners & Saints-Chapter 10

A special thanks to @Statell for all your help and wisdom

Previous chapters at AO3

Chapter Ten

The sun bounced its light off the surface of the water looking like a million diamonds sparkling all around them. Jamie watched Claire laughing at something Darius said and he almost pinched himself to verify this wasn’t a dream. He had not seen her this relaxed in quite some time and she looked so beautiful. Adso stretched out on her lap and she stroked him while her attention was on Darius. She turned to look at him suddenly with a smile that would melt a glacier.

“Happy birthday Jamie. I have a present for you, want to see it?”

“Nothing can top the day we’ve already had but yes please show me.”

She led him below deck and unlocked the door to the guest cabin pushing it open. Jamie’s face was unreadable as his gaze swept the room and stopped at the tubes of oil paint, the container of brushes, a pallet, turpentine, and empty canvases waiting to come alive with color. He pulled a brush and bounced it between his fingers and then smiled at her. His heart was beating rapidly as the paintings appeared to him, one after the other.

“Do you like it? Will you paint?”

“Come here Sassenach. I love it, yes I will paint,” he whispered.

Jamie kissed her softly and when she moved into him he could hear his heart ramming as his large warm hand slid down her body making his intentions known. The mind-bending heat came on them so fast their mission in life was suddenly to get the other naked. Jamie pulled where the sarong was tied and it dropped to the floor around her feet. She was naked except for her tiny thong panties.

“Ah, God, you’re a beauty Claire and I love you.”

One grab of the bed cover stripped the bed and Jamie pulled off his clothes while Claire reached for him. They were out of control and Jamie pulled away and looked into her eyes.

“This is the consummation of our marriage, Sassenach, I feel we should slow down and pay it the attention it deserves,” was panted out.

“Too late.” Claire pulled him on top of her and raised her knees on either side of him. “I’m with you until the wheels fall off sweetheart.”

It wasn’t the slow-burn lovemaking they had fantasized about but reinventing themselves, breaking all the rules, and finding the alternate route had become their forte. When they dropped back to earth, panting and clutching each other, it was just perfect.

Maia served a late lunch and then it was time for bikinis and jet skis. They played until exhausted, pulling themselves up on the lowered aft deck as the beautiful sunset filled the sky.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect day when the couples curled up on the deck couches and watched Casablanca. Jamie carried Claire to bed and spooned her into a deep sleep. He was restless and his hand itched to paint. Rather than wake his bride, he went below deck to find a suitable place to work and he set his watch for two hours to prevent painting all night. Just before dawn he pulled his wife to him and sighed his appreciation. Claire smiled to herself in the dark room, aware he had been painting all night and thrilled she could lead him back to the canvas, even if she slept alone occasionally.

In Washington, Hesser sat back in his chair and thought about Claire Beauchamp. He was impressed with what she had overcome in her short life to become a full professor at the University of Chicago. A virtual globe trotter because her appraisals were in such demand. He wondered what caused the birth of Casper and how she became so notorious for stealing art. Most likely Javier pulled her into the dark side and he would spend the rest of his life in prison. It wasn’t enough to save her, but he would be punished for what he did to her. Hesser would keep her leash short and execute Javier’s lover, Joseph, as a warning to stay in line. Jamie Fraser would be of no use to him. There was a kill on sight order on him so he couldn’t be used to pressure Claire. He just wanted this resolved and these loose ends cleaned up. It was taxing to even think about.

Claire let Jamie sleep and pulled Adso from under the covers while he stretched and yawned. Adso’s preference was to stay in bed if either of them was still in it but his purring right into Jamie’s ear would surely wake him up. She held him against her mouth and gave kisses all the way to the galley.

“Time to head out Claire,” Darius was smiling and looked sleepy. “Or, we can stay right here for as long as you want, the choice is yours.”

“I got rather excited about seeing Croatia and eating more lobster of course.”

“Where is your husband?” No response. “Your husband?” Nothing “Who is your husband, Claire?”

“Hmm?”

“Your husband.”

“My hus…” Claire’s eyes went from conversational to lovesick in seconds and she left the galley, drawn to him, awake or asleep, she wanted to cuddle with him.

“Nice going, Darius,” Maia giggled, “ my egg casserole is done and there’s no one to eat it now.”

“I can fix this sweet girl.” He bent over and hoisted her over his shoulder heading for the stairs to the upper deck. He kept climbing and smacked her ass when she tried to get down. At the highest deck, he set her down and smiled like a fox. When she turned to the stairs he ordered her to stay. Maia knew his voice intimately and could recognize happy, bored, stressed, aroused, and dangerous. She closed her eyes and felt the excitement of what was to come.

“Come here, Maia.”

“No.”

“I will come over there and get you.”

She turned around as he was advancing and she held her hand up, “I will jump overboard if you come any closer!”

Darius let his eyes wander up her body slowly and he noticed her nipples standing at attention and the flush to her face. It was like catching a wild cat that wanted to be caught sometimes but he would trick her. He held a quarter up and asked her to call it.

“Fine, then I’m jumping, heads.”

She watched the coin toss into the air and land on his arm. “Ha, you lose!”

Darius pulled his shirt off and the sun bounced off his toned bronze torso. Maia licked her lips open so she could breathe. He told her to call it.

“Heads again!”

“You lose girl, off with the shirt.”

“But I have nothing on under my shirt.”

“You should have thought about that when you got dressed this morning.”

Darius had a beautiful smile with bright white teeth and full lips that made her weak. “C’mon little one, off.”

Maia raised her chin in defiance and finally pulled her shirt off, naked to her shorts barely hanging on to her hips. She was breathing hard and called tails for the next toss. Darius barely touched his cut-offs and they fell to the ground around his feet. He was uninhibited by nature and Maia was stuck on looking at him letting him sneak forward and pull her to him.

“You have a choice, dear one, I can pull them off, or you can.” She felt his hands pull once on her shorts and they were off. He pulled her up on the handrail at the top of the stairs and sank to his knees using a slow tongue to pull her into orbit. He watched her head go back to lean against the boat and her breasts bounce as she got close.

He kissed her and carried her to a mattress dropping onto his back and pulling her on top of him. Darius moaned when she dropped her body onto him. He sat up and pulled her feet behind him pressing down on her knees to supply the needed friction. She was too good at this and he held her still while he regained control. He slipped out of her body.

“Put your legs over my shoulders.”

When she did he told her to bring it to him and pushed her pelvis up and to his mouth. Maia was losing her mind and her arms burned from holding her weight up. She was making strange noises that made Darius pull her higher and then over the top as she screamed his name. Her arms buckled and she came down on the mattress as her orgasm ripped through her. Darius pushed into her and hammered with his own need until he growled and held her against him.

“That’s a good girl,” he panted. “Now you can jump overboard.”

He kissed her face a dozen times and then ran a towel under the cold water tap behind the bar. She looked like a sated angel lying there with her eyes closed. When he ran the towel down her arms, chest, breasts, and stomach she moaned and smiled at him.

“Will you be flinging yourself into the ocean?”

“From way up here? Not a chance,” she giggled and reached for her clothes.

In Paris, Joseph sat on a park bench and watched Javier walk around the park while he talked on his phone. They had been on the surface too long, Joseph felt, and he flicked his eyes to Javier as a warning, it’s time to go. Javier walked back to Joseph growling into the phone to go two-million and make the deal by noon tomorrow or he was out.

“Two million Javier?”

He sat down heavily on the bench and exhaled nodding his head. It looked like he had aged a decade in the past week and it broke Joseph’s heart.

“Our girl needs a miracle so two million is a small price to pay.” He looked at Joseph and his eyes were full of love. “I have lived a full life, I want Bear to have that chance and it’s all I want. I’m ready to rest in the ground and wait for you Joseph.

Joseph pulled him up and walked him toward the path to the bunker hoping the package would be delivered at noon tomorrow.

Cruising back to Greece would be a memory Claire would not soon forget. She glanced at Adso sitting at the edge of the deck watching something in the water. When she looked up the water was boiling with jumping dolphins who were keeping up with the boat like it was a game. She grabbed a phone to the bridge and asked Darius to drop the speed so she could see the dolphins.

The yacht stopped moving and Darius came down to lower the hydraulic aft deck to the water level. The four of them sat with their lower legs in the water watching the playful dolphins. Several of them came close enough to touch their feet and babies would swim between their legs. When Adso sauntered out and jumped down on the platform everything changed. He sat watching like he was unimpressed and the dolphins gathered around the platform trying to see him. He walked forward and batted at the long noses making them lurch back and blast out of the water like it was the most fun thing to happen in a long time. They tried to lift their upper body out of the water to see him bringing Claire two inches from a large wild dolphin who was captivated by her cat. She didn’t dare move and scare them away but she got brave after a while and reached out to touch one of them. Jamie got to his feet which dipped the platform underwater and Adso ran into the boat like a shot, shaking his wet feet as he went.

He pulled Claire up and walked her inside because the dolphins were leaving and it was too dark to see anything. He looked at her face and chuckled at the wonder in her gaze.

“Well, my wife is in a dolphin stupor so we might have to hold dinner for a bit.”

When Santorini was in sight the next day, Jamie and Darius were chomping at the bit to go spearfishing. Once a mooring was purchased the women saw them run to the tender and wave goodbye.

Claire laughed and followed Maia outside with a pitcher of iced tea and a deck of cards. Darius had secured a commercial grade fishing pole to the boat and the baited hook drifted out to the current to spin and bounce while the girls played cards.

Claire looked up sharply at Maia, “what’s that sound? It’s like a huge zipper going up and down.”

“It’s a fish,” and then she yawned.

“It’s a what?”

Claire looked at the pole and the line was being dragged out to the open ocean at a rapid rate. She felt adrenalin course through her body while Maia walked over and waited for several minutes, then reached down and locked the reel causing the pole to jerk almost in half.

“What now?”

“We play another hand and then bring him in if we can. It’s a very big fish.”

Halfway through the hand, the pole almost jerked out of the holder and Maia ran to grab it but the pole slammed her against the railing and she couldn’t move.

“Oh my God Maia, let me help you!”

Claire held onto the pole and both women were straining to hold onto the fish. They fought with it for twenty minutes before Maia could feel a bit of slack and started reeling with all her might. The fish would let them reel it in for a few minutes and then suddenly dash back toward open water pulling the line with it. They were exhausted after an hour and both sat down on the deck, holding the pole, sweating through their light clothing. Maia smiled when she heard the tender coming.

“Reinforcement.”

Jamie came running when he saw Claire looking like she went three rounds with Mohammed Ali. When he was told there was a monster fish on the line he ran to get Darius.

Strong male hands took control of the pole and they took turns reeling the fish in. Darius had the timing down to snap the reel lock driving the hook deeper into the fish. Jamie had the strength to drag it closer to the boat. Claire brought cold beers out for everyone and was captivated by the muscles that bulged in Jamie’s arms and chest.

“It’s close Darius, how do we get it onto the boat?”

Darius laughed at the question and told him it would be several hours before they got it close enough to grab it.

“No, it’s close, I can feel it getting very close.”

When the monster fish came to the surface and saw the boat it dove deep and ran the line out to the original distance.

“My turn!” Darius sat down on the deck and pushed his feet against the rail. He let the fish fight until he got tired and then started reeling. He worked the pole, pulling it taught and lifting high overhead like he was dragging the fish toward him and reeling quickly to take up the new slack. Jamie watched and learned.

The girls brought dinner to the table and ended up setting the plates and food on the deck and they all sat cross-legged eating and encouraging whoever had the pole.

A fishing boat passed slowly coming in for the day and two crew members laughed and pointed to the line in the water giving them a thumbs-up as they motored by.

The sun was starting to go down and Jamie warned Darius the fish was close. Darius looked out at the water and seemed to freeze and blink his eyes. He squinted and stared at the water.

“Holy shit!” In the next instant, he was overboard swimming toward the fish, he yelled to Jamie to pull it to the surface and waited for the fish to come up. When he saw the sword break the surface he yelled holy shit again and swam hard toward the boat. He climbed up on the aft deck and dripped water running through the saloon to the forward deck getting a stern look from Maia.

“It’s a Swordfish for Christ’s sake! Oh my God, what is he doing close to the island? He should be long gone by now. Oh! Jamie, don’t let go.”

Claire wondered if she had ever eaten Swordfish, she didn’t think so. It wasn’t long before Jamie’s strength was too much for the fish and it was reeled close to the boat. One last push of fight or flight from the Swordfish and it was completely out of the water dancing on his tail with the long sword in the air. Jamie looked at the gorgeous fish shimmering in the moonlight, thrashing up out of the water and crashing back. He had never seen anything so beautiful come out of the water.

Darius grabbed the pole and walked it back to the aft deck by the side deck that ran along the side of the boat. He sat Jamie on the deck and told him to keep reeling. He was back in two minutes with orange gloves on a grappling hook that he carried out to the lowered back platform. When the fish came alongside the deck, Darius swung the grappling hook into its side and told Jamie to hold it. He jumped into the water and fought the wounded monster. Once he got a hold of the sword and the body Jamie lowered the deck under water so Darius just had to sit with the fish on his lap while Jamie lifted the deck up. Darius sent the fish’s soul to heaven and once dead he took a picture of it and then cut it into thick fillets.

He and Jamie worked quickly to cut and clean sections of the Swordfish put them into freezer bags and stow them in the chest freezer. Jamie was sitting on the deck with his feet in the water throwing the waste far from the boat.

“Get your foot out of the water before you get bit,” Darius warned. He flipped the underwater lights on and Jamie looked down at a dozen large sharks right under his foot. He jerked it out of the water and they wrapped it up for the night. They both carried their loves to bed and Jamie locked up and set the alarm. It was a very good day.

Claire stretched and gave kisses to Adso who purred contently next to her ear. She showered and dressed before finding Maia in the galley.

“Where are the guys this morning?”

“Darius had to clean the bottom of the boat and Jamie jumped in after him to help. You two don’t act like millionaires.”

“Ill-gotten gains, sweet pea.”

Claire looked down both sides of the boat from the foredeck and could not see the men in the water.

“Maia they aren’t in the water.”

“They are under the boat and use long tubes to breathe. Look harder for the two clear tubes just above water level.”

“No need, I’ll wait until they’re done, just looking for a morning hug.”

Claire felt her phone vibrate and opened her text messaging. She read Javier’s message and walked up the stairs to the bridge computer to read his email. She knew he was working tirelessly on a solution and she loved him for it, hoping for a breakthrough. She downloaded a video file, hovering over the video she clicked the mouse and waited for it to load into the player. She was looking out the bridge windows when she heard Frank's voice and a child crying. She turned her gaze to the video.

Maia heard something crash upstairs and called to Claire but got no answer. She bounced up the stairs and found Claire on her hands and knees retching on the floor. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and tried to say “Jamie” but she couldn’t push the words out. Maia ran to the deck and pounded the side of the boat until they surfaced.

“Claire is in the bridge and something is very wrong Jamie.”

Enough said and he was taking the stairs two at a time.

“Sassenach! What’s happened?”

He pulled her to her feet but she couldn’t do more than snivel and shake. She pointed at the monitor and said watch. Jamie felt her pull away from him and head for the stairs she turned and put her hand up telling him to watch the video. She was crying and apologizing and then slammed her hand against her mouth and ran down the steps.

Jamie started the video and the images shot into his brain where they would torment him for the rest of his life. He had seen a lot of violence in prison, some that made him physically ill, but nothing could have prepared him for this. He turned it off and ran to find Claire wondering who he would strangle for sending this evil video.

Claire laid on their bed in the fetal position, clutching Adso and crying.

“Who sent you the video Sassenach?” said through his clenched teeth.

“Javier.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s Frank!”

Jamie struggled to hold onto his composure. He wanted desperately to run to the deck and throw himself in the ocean until he felt normal again if that was even possible. He heard Claire crying and forced himself to sit down and take a deep breath. He put his hand on her thigh and promised to make everything alright. He told Claire that no one else should ever see such a thing and he was going up to the bridge to shut her email down.

“Claire, hold on for five minutes, I will close your email and clean up the bridge and be right back. Okay?”

When he saw her nod he ran upstairs and read Javier’s email message. “Darling Bear, First, load the VPN and the email security program attached to this email. The video and documents attached are not to be viewed by you, I forbid it. Forward the attached to the Washington Post and every major news outlet, the DC chief of police and the DC district attorney. Send the attached to Senator Frank Randall as well. Above all, do not view the video, just forward them. This will save you Bear.”

Christ Claire, did you not read Javier’s message? Jamie closed her email and locked the video so no one else could open it. He cleaned the floor of the bridge and went back to Claire.

“Sassenach, come here love.”

He laid against the headboard, held his arm out to her and she crawled into his strong embrace. Her crying subsided and she gripped him around his waist like a shield against the horror she witnessed.

“We will forget, eventually, your mind wants to protect you and what you saw will be forgotten. Now tell me what you intend to do with the video.”

“I will ruin Frank Randall so he goes to prison forever,” said through clenched teeth. “I don’t care about the blowback. He belongs in a dumpster, dead and rotting. I’m sending it everywhere Javier told me to.”

“So you read his email and played the video anyway?”

She dropped her head, “I wish I hadn’t but there is no turning back now.”

Jamie tried to get Claire to rest but she was hell-bent on following Javier’s instructions. Back on the bridge, she loaded all the email addresses and attached the video. Jamie watched her finger hover the Enter key and then she pushed it. Her eyes instantly snapped to his and she looked scared.

Jamie sat in the captain’s chair and pulled her into his lap where she laid against his chest with her head under his chin. He stroked her hair while they were silent, watching the water and boats below. They didn’t move or speak until the sun had set.

“It feels like we just lit the fuse on an explosion we know nothing about Sassenach.”

“I agree, but I trust Javier, implicitly. One thing is certain, Frank is no longer a candidate and I won’t be forced to marry him.”

Jamie felt their story was racing to an end and he didn’t know what to do, except run. He helped Claire downstairs and they sat at the table when Maia brought dinner from the galley. While they ate, Jamie gave a brief version of what had transpired and now felt they needed to put distance between them and Greece.

“I say we leave in the morning and head somewhere far away. Maybe Jamaica.”

Claire looked pale since she and Jamie returned from the bridge, now she stuttered out her concern.

“I need cat food, litter, and treats before we leave. It’s still early, can we tender to Santorini tonight and be ready to go in the morning?”

“I’ll go with Jamie and you two can rest. You don’t look so good Claire.” Darius looked concerned. “Let’s go, Jaime.”

Jamie and Darius made short work of their trip ashore and were on their way to the tender in thirty minutes. A junior CIA agent recognized Jamie and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. After they passed him he stayed in the shadows and watched them tender out to a huge yacht. He pulled his cell phone out with shaking hands and dialed the private number for Hesser who was throwing every object in his office against the wall in a rage over a video that was sent to him. Hesser could hardly speak through his panting and told the agent to give him the details and say nothing until he arrived. He pulled a notebook out of his breast pocket and wrote while the agent talked.

Frank Randall sat at his desk and stared at the monitor. He knew the video was a fake because he had no memory of such brutal behavior. His mind raced to find a solution and he tried to reach Hesser over and over again. He finally made his way to Hesser’s office and was jogging to the building when he saw the man walk out. Frank caught up to him and begged for his help. Hesser towered over him, looking down at the hysterical Senator with a menacing face.

“You’re finished in politics you pustular pimple on the ass of humanity. You better get your affairs in order before they come for you. Get the fuck out of my way.”

Frank argued that the tape was fake and someone was trying to ruin his campaign. Hesser pushed by him but before he reached his car Frank pulled his arm and drove his fist into his face. Hesser was shocked and staggered a bit looking down at Frank with bulging eyes. Then he dropped to the pavement, out cold.

Frank searched his pockets and pulled out the notebook he was always writing in or reading from. He pushed it into a pocket and ran for his car. He found a parking garage to hide in and read the notebook cover to cover. He giggled hysterically at the names and events he read, happy to have dirt on the powerful people in Washington who would have to help him. He flipped through to the last page and read the notes from the junior agent in Santorini. There was a description of the yacht and location of the mooring. He read the other notes on that page where Hesser had written video=Claire? Frank’s blood boiled and he headed to the airport.

The close circuit security cameras in the parking lot recorded a clear picture of Randall attacking Hesser. It would be added to the list of atrocities and they would nail his prison door shut with the evidence. Hesser didn’t know that Frank was already at cruising altitude on his way to Greece. He got lucky, had his passport, and found an open seat immediately.

While Jamie and Darius plotted a course to Jamaica Claire slipped away to soothe her jagged nerves in a hot bath. After drying her hair she slipped her new nightgown on, and it was a near duplicate of what she wore in Paris. Candles were not allowed on a boat but every lamp in their cabin had a dimmer switch and she turned them all way down and opened the big doors to the outside.

Jamie watched Claire lean against the door looking at the water. Her bare back was crisscrossed with tiny straps from her nightgown that stopped high-thigh to show most of her tanned shapely legs. He crossed to her quietly and kissed her shoulder feeling her press into his chest. When he asked her to wait for him to shower she looked up at him with wide eyes that he couldn’t read. Worry had settled into his stomach after they sent the video so he assumed that is what he saw.

After a calming shower, Jamie dried off and walked naked to his wife. He had pulled the bedding off the mattress and wrapped an arm around her to lead her to it. She giggled at him for running his hand along the satin garment whispering how soft it was. He started at her feet and talked about how beautiful Jamaica was while he rubbed and pulled moans out of his lover. His strong hands wrapped around her calves and massaged them to her knees for ten minutes. He was not in a hurry and noticed her smile when he described the crystal clear water around the island.

He moved to her side, slowly massaging her thin arms and hands explaining how long it would take to cross the ocean to Jamaica.

“Poor Darius will be stuck on the bridge for days, I don’t suppose we can take turns driving the boat.”

“He will set the autopilot once we’re at sea. The boat will warn him of other boats or objects under the water.” He turned her over and rubbed her back, then butt, and then down her legs.

Claire wanted to look at him and flipped onto her back, searching his eyes.

“I knew you before we met at Sotheby’s, not what you looked like but certainly as an artist. I broke many hearts appraising paintings that were fake. Every master painter has distinguishable strokes and I would know your work anywhere.”

Jamie blushed and looked at the skin he was working on. “I am a forger, not a master painter love.” He kissed her before she had time for rebuttal. She felt the kiss to her toes and wanted more but Jamie indulged himself in sliding his hand up and down the satin material getting closer to her breasts and core until she opened her mouth to breathe.

When his hand slid down her inner thigh she gasped and looked at him with a mixture of heat and pure love. Jamie twisted himself and settled between her legs where his soft, wet tongue made promises of the heights he would take her. He stopped before she lost her mind, wanting to love her slowly and let their passion build with simple strokes. He entered her, feasting on the story her eyes were telling, about love, hero-worship, and devotion. She looked at him like he was the king of men and he stopped moving so he could kiss her until he found her soul. She breathed into his mouth, “I love you so Jamie.”

When they cuddled to sleep Jamie hoped to find a jewelry store in Jamaica and a beautiful diamond befitting his extraordinary wife.

[oct0lightsquare]

Praline Paradise

Animatronic Species: Fox

Height: 6’4”

Weight: 412 LBS

Appearance:

Pastel Pink: The inside of ears, paint across face, the middle section of torso, middle section (between thighs), paws and feet

Magma Pink: The deepest part of ears, painted cheeks, claws and paw prints

White: Outer part of ears, the outer section of face and rest of head, outer section of torso, outer section of thighs, calves, upper arm and lower arm

Gold: The outer ring of eyes

Sunset Red: The pupils of eyes

Build: Semi-Slender (Slightly Bulky Arms, Petite Waist)

Talents: Singing, Announcing, Leadership, Commanding

Occupation: Main Singer/Performer

Nickname(s): Mrs. Paradise

Residence:

Building: “Preline’s Paradise” Family Bakery

Room: 1A

Location: On top of the stage

Facts:

Has a bossy, impatient, somewhat motherly and authoritary personality

Takes the role of the boss very seriously

Fellow animatronics call her “The Denmother”. (Jokes on them she takes pride to this)

Won’t let other robots now this, but she adores children

Made a rule of “No bad-mouthing adults” because she heard Linda yelling slurs at the adults.

Not that she doesn’t agree with some of those slurs. It’s just that “....there were children in there Linda.”

Has a giant soft pink rosebud in the middle of her chest. It’s not fake and cannot be easily picked off. It wasn’t there before and the staff doesn’t know how to pull it off so they just go with it

(Has an audio tune chip that activate showtime fireworks. Don’t worry, they aren’t real. But have to make them kiddies happy, right?)

Sometimes let’s the birthday child sing with her on their special day

Also has a big fluffy tail. Let’s the children pet it but stops once they try to cross the line and pull some of the fur

The animatronics invite her to playtime and even though she is flustered easily, she accepts every single time

Crystal

Animatronic Species: Cat

Height: 6’3”

Weight: 347 LBS

Appearance:

Thistle Purple: Entire Head, Neck, Entire chest except the middle section, torso, thighs

Royal Purple: Outer ring of ears, muzzle mouth, heart-shaped spot in the middle of chest, lower arms and hands, calves and feet, tail

Soft Pink: Painted Cheeks

Wine Purple: Eyes and Make-Up (only eyeshadow)

Build: Slender

Talents: Singing and Dancing, Teaching, Interactive with Children

Occupation: Second Main-Singer/ Main Performer

Nickname(s): Mama Christie, Momma Kitty

Residence:

Building: “Preline’s Paradise” Family Bakery

Room: 2A

Location: On the highest stage

Facts:

Has a classy, motherly and helpful personality

Loves dancing with children and teaches them new dance tricks that they can try at home

Has a little violet tutu with gold balls at the end

Doesn’t only dance in that though. Sometimes the boys want to learn how to classy dance, so she either wears a tutu or tuxedo.

However, if some boys want to wear tutus and learn to dance that way, she will allow them to do as such

Cannot cook. Has to read a cooking book at least 6 correct times before she can properly complete the first step.

Only sings when on stage with Ginger and Praline

Only calls Praline “Denmother” once in a while, as she believes the name could upset her

Has two lavender roses on her hands. Sometimes they get in the way when teaching and can mess her up often. The staff doesn’t know how to get rid of them and just provides Crystal the ability to teach without touching the children’s hands as it can harm them.

Does not like having her picture taken. It harms her eye lids and sometimes she closes them when taking a picture for a newspaper or family photo

Ginger

Animatronic Species: Bird (Mix of a Pelican and Chicken)

Height: 6’5”

Weight: 365 LBS

Appearance:

Ivory White: The front section of face, last row of feathers on wings, splotches on the second and first row of feathers,Thighs and Calves

Olive Green: Left section of “Feather Hair”, Upper Section of Torso, Arms and Chest, The second row of feathers, Calves and Claws/Feet, Eyes

Pastel Blue: Right section of “Feather Hair”, Lower section of torso, arms and chest, thighs, the first row of feathers, Painted Cheeks

Build: Petite and Fluffy (Has a lot of feathers sticking around)

Talents: Baking, Dancing, Teaching, Pun Master

Occupation: Third Lead Singer/ Baker

Nickname(s): Gingy, Ginger Ale, Mrs. Pelican

Residence:

Building: “Preline’s Paradise” Family Bakery

Room: 3A

Location: Behind the curtain on a stage

Facts:

Has a bright, silky, big sisterly and childish personality

Loves baking, and loves it even more when her friends and children come to help

Thinks it’s funny when people mistake her for either a pelican or chicken

She basically have three rows of feathers, each a different color; her first row (which begins right after the bone of the arm) is pastel blue, her second row is olive green, and her third row is ivory white

Sometimes wears an apron that says “Kiss The Chick” (Coco made it for her)

Tries to eat sometimes (Even though she can’t and sometimes has to be enough to technician to get pizza and pie out of her endoskeleton mouth)

Blushes and gets flustered easily

Has a little cupcake called Candi. She’s Black, White and Orange (White Icing, Black Wrapping and Black and White Candle)

Has a periwinkle rose in the oddest place in the world- on her tongue. It doesn’t really bother her that much, since her entire mouth is made of metal. It’s just weird when she poked her tongue and bam!- there it is.

Tries to teach the others how to bake and cook so they could try to make the cakes for the children. She doesn’t mind making the cakes, she just wants the others to experience a baking talent as well.

She can’t sing, like at all. Her musical voice box was broken in an accident and she couldn’t sing properly without a scratchy tone. She stuck to baking after that, afraid of being embarrassed once more

Has a southern accent to replace her voice box a little. Can explain why she can’t sing so well because she doesn’t have a southern accent for her musical voice box which is still broken and would sound scratchy without the southern accent to help it.

But she can surely dance her feathers off.

Sometimes lays eggs during Easter for the children to find

Cookie

Animatronic Species: Bear

Height: 6’0”

Weight: 350 lbs

Appearance:

Bubblegum Pink: Entirety of Face, Top section of torso, Thighs, calves and claws

Apricot Orange: Tuft of Hair across face, painted cheeks, bottom section of torso, calves, paw prints and paws,

Jade: Eyes

Build: Short and Chubby(“not chub. Fluff. Fluffy.”)

Talents: Singing, Baking, Motherly, Interactive With Children

Occupation: Second Lead Performer/ Second Baker

Nickname(s): Mrs. The Way The Cookie Crumbles, Mama Bear, Mother Bear, Chub Bear

Residence:

Building: “Preline’s Paradise” Family Bakery

Room: 3A

Location: Behind the curtain

Facts:

Has a shy, mature, isolated but sweet personality

Hides behind the curtain when Ginger is performing

Mostly speaks to Ginger, barely talks to the others

Why? It’s not that she doesn’t like them. It’s because she has a soft and adorable voice that isn’t usual for a bear animatronic. Not to mention she’s the shortest animatronic there, and feels very outnumbered when in the large group. Overwhelms her, prefers to stay alone

When she does perform, she sometimes sings “Happy Birthday” for the birthday child. Ginger adores it when she does. She even gives toys and free prizes to the birthday child and their friends because no one should feel left out just cause it ain’t their birthday

The kids love to cuddle her and she loves it too. It’s just - “They’re-They’re so- so little. I could- could smoosh them and they- they could get crushed and oh-oh I could do so much harm-harm to them and oh...” “Cookie hun, Ah love ya and all but you’re overreacting.”

Has a large golden rose on her back. Doesn’t bother her at all but when she cuddles with the children, they tend to get curious and try to pull it. Believes it’s important to her structure and tries to calm the children down before they can completely pull the Rose off.

Can sing great, but cannot dance for the life of her. Due to her structure, she can try but she is very clumsy and most likely fall on her butt.

Gets cookie crumbs in her hair sometimes

Loves “sleeping”. “Sleeps” all the time

Hates when others call her clumsy or chubby. That’s why she hides a lot.

Adores when the children call her mama bear. May cry sometimes by accident. (Wait if she’s a robot how can she cry?— *Hits you*)

Sometimes has puppets and may put on a puppet show, or use them to tell stories

Linda

Animatronic Species: Lynx

Height: 6’5”

Weight: Nearly 290 LBS

Appearance:

Mauve Purple: Entirety of Head Excluding the Muzzle, Top section of torso, calves and thighs, Arms

Blush Pink: Eyes

Peppermint Green: Tips of Ears, Eyebrows, Painted Cheeks and Corner Cheeks, Sections of Lower Arms, Pelvis Area, Paws and Feet

Build: Tall, Petite and Agile

Talents: Agility, Acrobatics, Atheletic, Interactive with Children

Occupation: Lead Entertainer

Nickname(s): Linsey, Da-Da, Lin-Lin, Mrs. Firecracker

Residence:

Building: “Preline’s Paradise” Family Bakery

Room: 4A

Location: On the Highest Stage

Facts:

Has a wild, feisty, childish and protective personality

Is extremely protective over Coco

Has the sharpest teeth you’d ever see. The staff sometimes has to put a muzzle on her when she gets too wild.

Is extremely stubborn, and won’t listen to riders given to her by Praline unless bribed with something

Or unless Coco asks her to

Gets into arguments with Praline a lot

Can get bribed with a bell or cat toys. But she hates to admit it

Sometimes tries encouraging Cookie to come out of her shell more. Hates it when Cookie shys away from group activities or playtime

Acts like a child during playtime and loves cuddling Coco the most

She and Coco are really close

To entertain the children, she and Coco sometimes do acrobatics and adventure activities with the children. They’ll even let some of them join the acrobatics, but only when they’re safe.

Have their own acrobatics room

Has a Bright Red Rose on her left eye. It bothers the h#ll out of her, and it strangely itches when she’s aggravated. It also emits this disgusting smell when she’s stubborn or angry. It’s really annoying.

Has a total sweet tooth (even tho she’s a friggen robot—). Sometimes she’ll have to join Ginger to clean out her endoskeleton that’s filled with Chocolate Dream Snap Cookies and Vanilla Frosting

Won’t admit it, but actually is pretty protective of all the robots, even Praline. Is pretty Tsundere about it.

(I don’t know about her design so much. I might change it but I’m cool with it right now. I want to see how it develops.)

Coco

Animatronic Species: Red Panda

Height: 6’7”

Weight: 310 LBS

Appearance:

Sangria: Entire head except for muzzle, Entire Torso, Upper Arm, Thighs, tail

Blush Pink: Half Section of Ears, Muzzle, Splotches shown across torso, kneecaps, claws and hands

White: Tips of their ears, Markings down eyes, Calves

Seafoam Green: Eyes, Nose, Painted Cheeks, Upper Arms, Scarf, Second color in tail

Build: Tall, Slender, Fluffy

Talents: Dancing, Acrobatics, Cuddling, Interaction with children

Occupation: Second Lead Entertainer

Nickname(s): No Nicknames

Residence:

Building: “Preline’s Paradise” Family Bakery

Room: 4A

Location: On the second highest stage

Facts:

Has a shy, gentle, delicate, sensitive, and emotional personality

A total gentle giant. You simply could not make this one sad unless you’re a total jerk and keep pestering them

Muzzle makes everyone think they ate some cupcake frosting. It’s really embarrassing.

Cares a lot about everyone, Linda the most

Was given no gender. Is referred to as they/them

Please do not call them an “It”, it offends them and makes them believe they are an item of some sort

Is sometimes picked up by Linda. Doesn’t mind if, just flustered by the suddenness of it sometimes

Tries to speak with Cookie sometimes, whenever they feel that the bear is lonely or needs some company

Hates standing on the stage because it brings up some memories. Will become calm if Linda is able to stand alongside them.

Is sometimes scared of Linda’s teeth.

Has a big seafoam green rose on their right eye. Doesn’t bother them much, but it doesn’t leave them alone either. Sometimes it will leak oil which could frighten the guests.

Always has a squint on their right eye

Can bake only a little. Can sometimes bake Linda something to make her feel better.

Penny

Animatronic Species: Puppy

Height: 7’0”

Weight: 380

Appearance:

Violet Purple: Her ears, the muzzle, her lower arms and paws, her belly and middle torso, the middle of her thighs, her paw feet

White: Head (exclude muzzle), upper arms, outer torso, outer portion of thighs

Gold: Eyes

Build: Tall and Petite

Talents: Puppeteer Practice

Occupation: Out of Order/ Former Puppeteer

Nickname(s): Pen-Pen, Mystery Puppy

Residence:

Building: “Preline’s Paradise” Family Bakery

Room: Storage Room

Location: In the back behind chairs

Facts:

No body in the pizzeria knows about this character too much. No one has ever seen them

[sidpah]

Mirage Part 1

Holding but one thing dear, I glance around taking in my last few particulars, storing up existence fodder for the next go round, when from a great cloud of sewer steam and taxi exhaust materializes an imposing mirage… Her feline grace bare, unclothed, riding a pale drift of clove smoke – A Devi creating, preserving, destroying, all without a single movement…

Drams of ambrosia pour from somewhere even higher than these sky-piercing glass-lingam rooftops to shower her swells of fallow lust; a thousand stunned countrymen are locked mid-commute, their destinations moments ago all-important, all-encompassing and now entirely forgotten… She runs a playful hand across hazy pink nipple and giggles – unaware of her growing horde of admirers.

It must be a sign! – A grainy photograph, an ad for perfume! An ad for the temptation of addiction – feeding our addiction to temptation… A pitchfork singeing the eye, loosed from flaming bow...

But how can I get down there? Even one Kaya into the great old celestial lightshow, I’m struck dumb by her limitless perfections laid bare… I feel blessed, even in this state of high-street marketplace confusion… I place a finger to open temple…

A resonant tone hums from every mouth that stands nearby, gaping without extending word of aid – Spiked rings of Sri Yantra surround each body like protective nets –

A car backfires, I wince, a thousand mandalas shatter into frantic ripples of panic – The ripples cascade upward where they shimmer the clouds and constellations – I lie, gaze anchored to the firmament, far above crumbling buildings into the same sky overlooking every city with a hum of migrating wings beating pulses in sync with my own… If I immerse myself in, all lines become phallic and all circles leak a tiny red dot upon white lace coverlet...

No mind can distinguish between fantasy and physicality, I once explained to a sullen stranger – I’m thinking of Olivia and I making love on a bridge over the unbridled current of a great blue-black ocean...

The Sun caroming, dispersed into a million glistening jewels of flame on the water’s crust, the reflected heat warming our bare skin... Images of our escapades flicker on brick storefronts… Sex in limousines, windows wide open spreading our screams like tails of red paint across the city – Mouth buried deep between her slick thighs in the bathroom of a snooty French restaurant; her bare ass on the ledge of a white marble sink, her fingers knotted in my hair grinding her pelvis in rhythm with the impatient knocking on the door – Fucking like feral cats in an alleyway, my back enmeshed with a pile of rancid black trash bags, empty cans rattle and clank…

“It’s so much better with rats scurrying round their ubiquitous shadowed homes,” this old alcohol-beaten professor used to tell all the girls, and all the gin-soaked sailors looking for an erotic word to get their pants off – Thrown into fits of the passion he could never find alone – Trash cans and bar bands singing a tune just for them… But I keep those images to myself. Instead, I’m jacking-off on this goddamn street corner to found photos of a lovely girl with hiked-skirt pressed flat against magazine gloss inches from my panting face… She’s lying on hardwood floor, smooth pink skin rolling beneath outlines of my dry chapped fingers… White shirt, mostly unbuttoned, tussled around sinuous midriff, musky perfume evaporates in heat ripples off the concrete – Heart pumps, stomach churns, sweat beads, cock ejaculates just as hard – My hands and her arched belly merge as spilt ink in gossamer waters – caressed by the other until both water and ink dissolve in a fresh creation naked and straddling an invisible lover’s neck…

 Oh, fated Ixion, I too must share your fiery revolving torment… It’s clear now; it is far too late for me to avoid the dim lights on this revolution… I’m too skittish and fearful to recognize my own transcendent radiance...

Oh, to be even a Once-Returner! A dream!

Likely I’ve hardly entered the Stream but with one shriveled big toe… So much delusion to put off and so few hours of consciousness before me… Again, a barbed pitchfork singeing the eye… loosed from flaming bow…

Mara, you gloriously cruel bastard! Withdraw your haggard daughters and remove your plague! You are powerless! Powerless! Your daughters are ugly and rotten; they are assembled and revolting. They stink like the putrefying meat from which they are cobbled! They’re dribbling from every orifice, thick pus, rancid milky fluids – They’re wrinkled and sprouting out patches of thick black fur sagging with dark moles and stretching elastic tattoos... Thinning hair grey and white, eroded cartilage, slipped vertebrae and plastic knee replacements… On walkers they hobble, in wheelchairs they wail high on Darvocet, delusional with dementia… Incontinent urine runs through their lacey silk panties while green shit leaks from cellulite cheeks. Their mouths full of black gums, rotting teeth and nagging, constant rancid nagging, demands of duty and mortification... All these visions of form are fleeting! One renegade sperm and a lifetime of attachment ensues... From her curdled ass straight to my mouth!

 My gods, my gods, not unlike the revolting hirsute nature of my own bacteria-riddled flesh… These are egoistical joys, ephemeral and self-serving… The most divine portraits and sculptures age even with their subjects frozen in their prime. I am not frozen, nor will I ever be, so I cannot maintain the brief roving lust for beauty… To be held like that doll... Cherished, nursed, protected by those slender arms and narrow chest. Huddled against breast warm and heaving – Smell of clean powders... Gripped like the clammy hand of a boy, cheeks flushed in a shy grin. Doesn’t want his friends to see them together, but can’t bear to let her run away... Pressed lips to my forehead with the gentle affection she shows her sleeping kitten – This honest sedentary love…

Her buoyant form, perfectly sacred – The inwardly curving small of back soft and precious – Her arm that hides a cheek’s milky blush – Slight shoulders of easy confidence – Thinly defined legs smooth and toned, down to moisturized feet and petite toes arrayed in green polish and summer sandals – Her unpainted countenance enchants me so I stare and then blush, myself nearly caught – Her defined feminine jaw, her chin, its dimple, its red line of contemplation – Large dark eyes framed by auburn hair thick and radiant – Her elfin ear, revealed by a sweep of her fingers, then gone...

When I take her hand in mine, hallelujah! Spring’s thaw at last! Sprouts of tender green – A buzzing bee takes flight – Thick taste of nectar… The fields reclaimed! – Tiny fingers swaddled in broken palm. Her fine downy arm pressed to my own, shoulder against shoulder – The weight of our bodies neutralized. Our footsteps in rhythm, triplets, with a small skip between repetitions. Giggling at the sparks cascading through our stomachs, once joined at the navel... Creatures of the gods are we tonight…

 But what magic do these gods possess? This magic is barren… This magic is equal parts Romance and Carnal Desire. Subtract Carnal Desire and leave Romance – you’re left with a weak watered down ideal of vague destiny like thin decaf coffee film on the roof of your mouth… Leave Lust and take away Romance –  at least the hot tingle from Svadisthana still functions wildly, burning, spinning, sending us running in inert circles bathed in cold sweat, craving the oozing pheromones of suitable mates, jacking-off in white shower stalls to memories of high shorts creeping up firm alabaster thighs, tiny glimpses of pink cotton exposed and magnified a thousand lurid times... This at least feels a little like magic because it outruns Reason. Reason annihilates Romance like a candle vanquishing the darkness of a small room. The word magic is derived from the Sanskrit maya, meaning illusion. Poof… Romance is Hollywood’s drug of choice. Romance is societal pressure to feel attractive and prove your desirability and worth. Romance is an archetypal myth.  Reason disposes of the mirage. Reason will not, however, brush even a single hair from Lust’s glistening brow…

Fingers embalmed together keep the spark of that romantic enchantment alive. Analysis douses the spark, suffocating it in a brilliant snuff of musty smoke…

 A booming voice resounds through my ears… Male? Female? I can’t discern anything anymore. Can anyone else hear it? What’s it matter if they could? It only matters to me right now. No one else… “At the bottom is the flesh on flesh act of sex which is, at best, boring, functional, mundane and even a bit embarrassing in its messy vulnerability. But grafted above it is the artificial skin of eroticism, which could be just as easily grafted over any structural artifice – food, music, sports, religion – all of the naughty nurse, sexy school girl fascination has little to do with sex, but with our own fabrication of an edifice of pleasure from which to hang our molten sorrows and crippling fear of all that we can never fathom…”

[lestrange-games]

Dinosaur Progress Week 7 - 10

Here is the dinosaur enemy for the prehistoric level of the game, it is fairly low poly as that’s the aesthetic we are going for with the game. This model took a few weeks to work on as it’s a really important part of the game and I wanted to make sure it looked good. I started modelling this in 3DS Max as I was much more confident in modelling complex things in that software, as opposed to Blender which I was very new to.

So here is the original 3D modelled design, which is a little rough looking as it didn’t have a ton of detail or the correct form yet. The model seemed too large compared to other parts of the body and I tried to resolve this, which I did somewhat in the final piece, however my team liked how the dinosaur ended up a little bit chunkier in places so I left some places like the stomach fairly the same.

The dinosaur started out as a simple cuboid, that I then worked from that adding more polygons as I went on but to begin with I made the basic head and body shape before adding any of the other details. Once I had the body modelled the way I wanted, I then extruded the back face to create the tail, adding more polygons to allow it to bend. I also extruded the legs and arms and began working on those.

This version is the finalised version, where I had finally added in all of the details for the arm and legs, as well as improving on the head. The model now has feet with separate toes so it is no longer just stubs for legs, I also added in separate fingers for the T-Rex, which look a little weird but I still think they work well. 

For the improvements to the T-Rex, I made its body slightly more in proportion than it was in the beginning, however he is still chunky in the abdomen. I also added details to the face, such as a more detailed eye that now stands out and opening the mouth up and adding teeth to him, I had to be careful and make sure none of them would line up together as the jaw is meant to be able to open and close. To finish him off, I split the model down the middle and deleted one side before mirroring the leftover side and attaching the two sides together to make a symmetrical dinosaur model, that would hopefully be easier to rig.

Once I had the finished the model and was happy with how it looked, I exported it from 3DS Max as an FBX and transferred it into Blender to rig it with bones. Lewis suggested rigging the model in Blender instead of Max as I would have to export it to Blender later in the project to test the scale anyway and also because Max’s rigging system apparently breaks when the model is imported into Blender.

To avoid any problems with it I decided that it would be best to rig it in Blender, plus I didn’t have the knowledge of working with custom bones in either software yet. I searched the internet in hopes of finding some tutorials on how to create custom bones and I found a few that were useful but they didn’t really convert well from human forms to a dinosaur form. 

I looked for rigging tutorials that were specifically for monsters and dinosaurs and I only found a couple, neither of which worked completely, so I had to combine the knowledge that I had learned from all of the rigging videos I had watched for Blender and piece bits together. With trying to rig it this way, you would think that something would have turned out wrong, which one thing did however, that was a fairly simple fix and would happen with most rigs, only was a lot easier to fix with a normal humanoid rig compared to this oddly shaped one I had to make for the dinosaur.

To rig the model, I started with creating the pelvis bone and dragging out the bones from there, at first I managed to complete one side, which I then tried to mirror. However, that technique didn’t work at all as the bones didn’t turn out symmetrical or connected to the rest, so I built them out manually and realigned all of the bones for both sides, as they weren’t perfectly inside the parts that they needed to control. 

After making sure they were all in the correct places, I went on to creating the Inverse Kinematics that would be making it so the dinosaur could move correctly, which was quite complex with how the dinosaur was rigged, but I got it to work and attached the bones to the model before weight painting.

Here is the skeleton in action, as you can see it works pretty well in moving the model, there’s some minimal stretching of the polygons when the model is pushed too far from what it should be, but the dinosaur shouldn’t walk weirdly enough for that to happen but if it does I will work on fixing the problem.

Once I had exported this version of the model so that it could be put in the game, another few problems showed up, which I had to deal with before I could work on anything else. 

One of the problems was that the feet could go past the floor where they were meant to and clip through the ground, I had to search around to try and find a way to stop this, which I found in a humanoid form, but was really awkward to convert to this form, but I still managed to do it by adding in constraints and more bones to link the constraints to so that the could no longer go further than a certain point.

The other problem was that when imported into Unity as an FBX, it would be in a different orientation to what it needed to be, so I had to switch the orientation of the model multiple times and export it to test if it was in the correct orientation for Unity and eventually I got the right combination.

Once the model was implemented into the game with no more problems, I decided to go back and texture it, as it is a very important piece in the game. However, I really don’t like how this texture looks so I’m hoping to come back to this and fix it after I have done animations but only if we need animations for this enemy.

For the texture, I searched for a scaled pattern on the internet and found a pretty nice one and brought it into photoshop to play around and edit it. I made it a lot smaller than it originally was before turning it into a tiled pattern so there wouldn’t be any seams. I liked it up until this point, where I added in new colours and it really doesn’t look like scales anymore, in my opinion just looks more like ground meat, which isn’t the effect that I was going for. I hope to be able to make a new texture from scratch and use a better colour palette than this one, possibly going back to the concepts, where I liked the beige and green versions better than the red version.

[thegreenhorseman]

Good horsemanship follows a solid understanding of the horse and it’s physical makeup.  In order to assess the horse’s well-being you need to have good working knowledge of what you’re looking at, and what is hidden by the skin and fur.

A couple weeks ago we began our physical anatomy with Equine 101: Anatomy Part 1: Parts of the Body. Let’s get down to the bare bones and look at the skeltal system of the horse this week.

Although imperfect, a mashup of a skeleton (pixabay.com) and a horse (wikipedia).

When I was at Equine Affaire there was a fantastic booth presenting a skeleton of an actual carriage horse (and behind it is a foal).  It was fascinating to see because you could actually see some of the skeletal defects this horse presented with.  If you look closely you’ll be able to see some degeneration between several of the vertebrae.

I wanted to use this photo to make a labelled diagram like I did for the body parts post, but the photo is simply too busy.  Since my artistic talent is limited I am borrowing from Wikipedia this week.  The most important thing I want you to take away from today is a working knowledge of how the horse moves based on it’s bone structure.  When you watch a horse moving, Try to picture what the skeleton is doing.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia commons

  The horse has about the same number of bones as humans.  While we have 204, equines typically have 205.  This number varies between some horses because some breeds have slightly different makeups.

Beginning at the head we have the skull, made up of 34 bones (humans have 22).  Looking at a closeup of the skull you can get a good look at the molars.  Without going to dental on you the incisors are located at the front of the mouth.  These are used to pick and tear at grass…and bite.  Food is processed further back in the mouth by these giant molars. We’ll cover them more later.

Also seen in the skull is the large ocular orbital for the eyes and the nasal passage.  You’ll notice the nasal bone gets very narrow at the end, this is where cartilage takes over.  You can imagine, however, the pain it could cause by having the noseband of your bridle and halter too low on the horse’s face.  Any heavy yank or jerk there could cause damage (Not that you should be yanking on your horses face all the time even with proper fitting gear).

Running back from the skull you’ll hit the vertebrae.  There are 7 located in the neck and they are the cervical vertebrae. Further down from the withers to the end of the rib-cage you’ll count 18-19 thoracic vertebrae.  Moving along you’ll see 5-6 lumbar vertebrae which end at the sacrum (where the pelvis begins) which consists of 5 more vertebrae that fuse together.  Finally, at the tail there are 15-25 caudal vertebrae.

Fun fact: When the horse is free of tension and injuries the caudal vertebrae in the tail can actually bend up and back and touch the sacrum/pelvis area.  DO NOT EVER force a horse to do this; in order to loosen the horse up I do myofascial release (topic for later).  Previous injuries could also hinder a horses flexibility here.

  Moving back to the front end of the horse, you’ll see the scapula.  The scapula is the horse’s shoulder (they have no collar bones like humans do).  When you’re fitting a saddle this is one of the most important bones (other than the thoracic vertebrae) that you need to be aware of.

The video embedded was added by Charlotte Bullard CBEST.  I really love the way she has painted the skeletal anatomy to demonstrate to real time movement.  Watch the scapula as it walks; as the horse moves it’s leg forward to step the top of the scapula slides backwards.

This is important to note because when you tack a horse the saddle rests over the tip of the scapula.  As the horse walks the scapula needs room to slide under the flap of the saddle.  If the saddle isn’t fitted properly this will cause pain and hinder the horse’s ability to extend and stretch out it’s gaits.

Connected to the scapula is the humerus, which is mostly cutoff in the photo of the front leg.  This is similar to your upper arm.

Moving down the leg you get to the ulna and radius.

Below that at the knee is the carpus, which leads to the metacarpal, or cannon bone.

      Below and behind the cannon bone is the sesamoid (fetlock bone). The longer bone under the cannon and the one below it are both pasterns. Finally at the bottom you find the coffin bone, which we talked about  briefly in National Pet Obesity Awareness Day.  The coffin bone sits in the hoof capsule surrounded by vessels and laminae.  As the horse walks and moves the laminae absorb the pressure while distributing it through the hoof capsule.

FUN FACT: The forelimbs carry 55-60% of the horse’s body weight.

Back to the top of the horse we reach the rib-cage, horses have 18-19 ribs.  Of these, 8 attach all the way around to the sternum.  The rest are open to allow the body to expand for breathing.

Most of the midsection consists of tissues and organs, so the next group in the skeletal system is the hindend. At the top, the pelvis. 

The pelvis is a large area and common source of pain in many horses.  The pelvis attaches to the femur,  which changes direction and runs toward the front of the body.

If you run down the femur just below the breeching (thick leather strap the runs around the back end of the horse) and in front you will see a small bone.  This is the patella, or knee cap.  This region is the stifle (remember from the body parts page).

The tibia and fibula run back down toward the hock, which is made up of a couple tarsal bones. As in the forelimb’s metacarpal, the hindlimb has a metatarsal,  which runs down to the pasterns and coffin.

  I hope this helps you look at your horse in a different way and provides you with the beginning knowledge of what goes on beneath the skin.  Although it seems lengthy above this just scratches the surface.  In time I plan to look at specific locations so we can see what goes on at each area.

  Pictures above courtesy of Wikipedia.

As always I want to leave you with some extra reading material.  These resources have helped me in my learning as I’m sure they’ll help you.

HorseChannel.com – 7 Facts About Your Horse’s Skeleton

Equestrian and Horse – Equine Skeleton Vet, Horse First Aid

Kentucky Equine Research – The Equine Skeleton: How Does Bone Grow and How Do Abnomailities in the Developmental Process Affect Soundness?

Equine 101: Anatomy Part 2: The Skeletal System Good horsemanship follows a solid understanding of the horse and it's physical makeup.  In order to assess the horse's well-being you need to have good working knowledge of what you're looking at, and what is hidden by the skin and fur.