I thought it was only Brit's that drink tea!

Asians drink a lot of tea too. I am in the Philippines right now. This is where I live when I am not on the 7 seas. I drink a lot of tea.

Ah yes, forgot about the Asians, famous for tea ceremonies etc!

Yup... :biggrin:

... and something about that grin tells me you're not living in the Phiippines for the tea :woot:

Nope. I am living here because I own my home outright. No mortgage. I own a brand new car, which is almost paid for, I have a beautiful wife and two great kids, 3 dogs, a nanny, a maid, a yard boy and a hot little 20 year old who comes over once a week and gives me a full body massage for about 5 dollars.

Other than that, I really don't know...

"Nope. I am living here because I own my home outright..."

Finally, someone with a brain.  Thought about the Philippines myself quite a few times but couldn't find a way to legally buy land/property there without being married.  I think my only hope to buy "outright" without being married is Bulgaria.

Yeah, to be honest, if my wife wasn't a Filipina, I may still live here, but I would be renting a condo or something. Foreigners are allowed to buy homes now, but they will tax you right out of it. I own a home, car and a karaoke bar, all in my wife's name.

But we are getting way off topic again...

OT has a curse on me!

I am going for as close to the movie version as I can without serious copyright violations and still being able to tell what it's supposed to be.

I tried it as a single mesh. Yuck.

I am starting from the frame up this go around.

How is it looking? Do you think anyone will want this? I am hoping to collaberate with seachnasaigh on the flaming parts (the "eyes", the wheels).

long time since I saw that film

but looking good ;-)

what proggy you using ? in blender I'd make each part as seperate objects

gives a lot more control over subd etc

sometimes poser will have a wobbler (intersecting faces wotever)

then you might need to join stuff into one mesh

I am using Wings 3D. I just can't seem to grasp much of anything in Blender. I know how to use the shrinkwrap modifier and decimation. That's about it. I keep telling myself I am going to sit down with it until I learn it, but I keep defaulting back to Wings.

     I can't tell from the screenshot, Rokket, but I'm looking at the profile of the rear tire, and thinking that for purposes of posing it in a turn, leaning, the rear tire should have a rounded tread surface, rather than flat.  If it's flat, when posed leaning in a turn, it will only be touching on the edge, or that edge will be buried into the road.

     I'll wait until you finalize the mesh, because the flames will need to follow the shape of the mesh.  And hey, we may as well add hidden IDL emitters while we're at it.

     In the meantime, I'm working on Tink's Cafe' itself now, adding effective IDL to the jukebox, and giving the restaurant working fluorescent lights.  Also, new neon tubing signage for the roof.  The stove's gas burners can be rendered as "lit" and the flames will cast light if rendered with IDL engaged.  The jukebox will have automatically animated bubbles for the neon tubes, and the neon will cast light.

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Quote -      I can't tell from the screenshot, Rokket, but I'm looking at the profile of the rear tire, and thinking that for purposes of posing it in a turn, leaning, the rear tire should have a rounded tread surface, rather than flat.  If it's flat, when posed leaning in a turn, it will only be touching on the edge, or that edge will be buried into the road.

     I'll wait until you finalize the mesh, because the flames will need to follow the shape of the mesh.  And hey, we may as well add hidden IDL emitters while we're at it.

The whole tire will be a flame when it's rendered, so I am not sure that it will make that much of a difference when it's finished, but I'll render a close up of the rear tire and let you make the call on if it needs to be more rounded or not.

Quote - I am using Wings 3D. I just can't seem to grasp much of anything in Blender. I know how to use the shrinkwrap modifier and decimation. That's about it. I keep telling myself I am going to sit down with it until I learn it, but I keep defaulting back to Wings.

I know what you mean, in a way. I started with Wings, but it was actually easier for me to wrap my mind around Blender for some reason. I'm still learning though. I don't even know what decimation does or why you would use it, so you got me there.

Quote - > Quote - I am using Wings 3D. I just can't seem to grasp much of anything in Blender. I know how to use the shrinkwrap modifier and decimation. That's about it. I keep telling myself I am going to sit down with it until I learn it, but I keep defaulting back to Wings.

I know what you mean, in a way. I started with Wings, but it was actually easier for me to wrap my mind around Blender for some reason. I'm still learning though. I don't even know what decimation does or why you would use it, so you got me there.

In a nutshell, decimation is reducing the poly count of the mesh, while maintaining its form.

I can get all that. It's the modeling part I can't do. I keep telling myself I will learn, but...

Here is what I am trying to accomplish, if everything works out...

    The real bike has tire sidewalls which flex so as to keep the tread patch in contact with the ground.  That would be considerable work to incorporate into a Poser model.  But I'll concede that once it's flamed, that fire will hide a lot.

     In order to do my part (the flames), I did some research, since I've never seen the show.  Found this on YouTube...

GhostRider - Bad to the Bone

     We'll also need that flaming trail behind the bike for speed shots.  And I think I could manage an EZ-posed flaming chain/whip.

Wow! If you could do all that, then I really better deliver on my end. I'll remodel the rear tire to better grip the road.

Just FYI, I am modeling this bike to represent the essence of the movie bike, and not an exact replica. I figured that way, the fan art argument would be stronger. Plus this bike is so intricate and detailed, it would kill my laptop and Wings to do it all.

I should have something tangible in a couple more days. I just did the 'face' on the front of the forks, and I am incorporating it into the handle bars...

     That's looking good, Rokket - and don't just consider the limits of your computer,  also consider what the "system resource" load on the end user's computer will be.  I think it would be best to just get the main features and leave the intricate detail behind (maybe add some detailing with displacement mapping), so even folks with modest older computers will be able to enjoy actually using the finished model.  I refer to this (borrowing from an old preacher, J. Vernon McGee), as "putting the cookies on the lowest shelf, so that even the smallest children can get at them".

     It remains to be seen whether my contribution will look acceptable, but I think  an EZ-posed flame trail (to fit road curves) and an EZ-posed flaming chain/whip are doable.

     An animated refractive flame ghost version of Roxie (ultimate "hot" biker chick) should also be feasible;  but I'll want to generate a seamlessly looping (tiled in both space and time) flame texture.

Yeah, I considered that too when I mentioned my laptop. It's got 4GB RAM, and a decent graphics card, but it's 5 years old and running Windows 7 Ultimate 32 Bit... I have issues sometimes, especially with Wings. If I get over 20k polygons, Wings starts to choke...

I have the handle bars finished, and I am now working on attachment points: the front wheel to the forks, the forks to the 'face' and handle bars, the rear wheel to the disc brake and the drive chain and rear of the frame.

Render forthcoming...

I am taking a short break to walk off a huge cramp in my thigh! (ouch!)

I will begin working on the attachment points later today and should have something to post later...

Attached Link: Rokket's Ghost Rider Hell Cycle Build