Rigging Tutorial!

First off, a big thanks to everyone who has posted in my comments section. I really appreciate you stopping by to say hello, especially since my posts are so few and far between. It's fun to hear from some of my favorite people. I especially liked Debra's comment about Jeremy's Vespa, which makes me feel better because people at work are often giving me flack about wanting one.

Now to business, I've just posted a rigging tutorial about a feature I've called "smart blinks". We've implemented this setup at work and it's pretty handy. Though the eyes rarely get much attention, I think something like this is a small, but important feature for speeding up the animation process. I thought I'd share it since I had fun figuring out how to make this kind of thing work. I hope you'll enjoy it too. You can find it at the rigs and scripts section of my website. Expect to see it as a part of the new JTDriggingTools and Andy 2.0 if I ever get those done :-)

In other news, I finally cut my hair. I've had long hair with a part ever since middle school, so I thought it was time for a change. I'll see how the short hair/no part thing goes over. So far its gotten good reviews. Now if I can just get myself to the barber shop more often I can keep it that way!

Also, I picked up the Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers DVDs last week and have been enjoying re-living some fond childhood memories. When I was a kid I was crazy about this show. I've always had a fondness for rodents, adventures and inventing things, so needless to say it was the ultimate afternoon cartoon. Also, I have to admit that I had a crush on Gadget the mouse and I wanted to see if it still held up. Well, it's true, Gadget is still one great lady mouse. Now if I can just figure out why she's the only girl in a house of four other guys (Monteray Jack, Chip, Dale and Zipper)...

Lastly, a big endorsement for the people at Valve Software and the recently released: Orange Box. I picked this up the hour it came out on Steam and have been enjoying it ever since. I had forgotten how great the Half Life games were and can't recommend them enough. Halo who? And yes, ep 2. is the best episode yet! Portal (which also comes with the Orange Box) is truly an innovation in gameplay and really messes with your head when you play it. I can't wait to see how they integrate this mechanic into Half Life 2 ep. 3. Good work Valve!