I'm ready to take what I've learned in building something extremely simple--my dagger and rapier--and build an articulated soft-surfaced model, specifically a "ragdoll" style teddy bear. Any hints on what I should look out for? I'm using a mesh modeler (anim8or) to do this for two reasons: Can't beat the price. I don't want to deal with nurbs or bubbles or anything that doesn't get me right into the vertices "hands-on" directly while I model. I'll try that out once I get my direct-mesh modeling up to what I consider to be an acceptable level. Step 1 will be, of course, producing a set of classic 2d drafts using pencil, paper, T-square, etc, then making a vector-graphic version of that using a cheap drawing program (can't afford a real CAD just yet). That's how I started with the weapons. After that, then I'll be in new waters.

Thank you for posting your baby steps... as someone who hasn't gone there just yet, i'm eager to see what happens.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=106&Form.ShowMessage=245427

Dunno if you will find the above link useful or not, but it's a quick-and-dirty way I came up with for making a humanoid figure out of a cylinder (vertex modeling). The end result looks a lot like a rag doll, so I thought you might find some helpful ideas. I did mine in Carrara, but I think the technique would work with anim8or too. Might have different names for the commands. I should probably mention that I'm a beginner myself, and am still experimenting. So it's entirely possible that I don't have the foggiest idea of what I'm talking about. Probable, even. Good luck! I look forward to seeing what you come up with. --Terri

I think someone (Thorne?) did a tutorial on making a poseable teddy bear... I wish I could remember where it was...

It was thorne - there ought to be a link to ThorneWorks around here someplace

Attached Link: http://www.thorneworks.com/tutorial/beartut1.html

found it!

Thanks for the suggestion, but it doesn't discuss what I want to do but haven't already done. I've got much more ambitious plans--it's gotta bend and squish as if it were stuffed cloth, and the joints have to work as if they were sewn along a straight or nearly straight seam.