Nightcaps - Moving Whiskers
From Create Your Own Story
I choose various stills and quickly get to work, plotting key points on each still, and eventually there are enough to blend them into one wire frame. The easy part is making a low-poly model and applying textures, and is done in about a minute. Now the hard part; making the high-poly model to convert into a normal-map. On second thought, creating that model out of just these vids (no matter how many hours there may be), or out of thin air, is out of the question. And retrieving Whiskers is still out of the question; I don't want to use up that much of my time with Jeffrey. Then it hits me, and I bring the wall of Whiskers back to the center of my vision, just behind the 3D model.
"Carl, collate the differences in how Whiskers refracts light, based on all occurring variances of light source and body position. Then compile the data into a normal-map for the current model." I wait a moment, then remember the magic word. "Please." No immediate response like before. Considering the vast amount of optical data the program has to sift through, I'm not surprised that it's getting a bit of a slowdown. Still, it shouldn't be taking--
One moment there was a cat that you could probably mistake for Whiskers, which looked like it was being viewed in a dark room with some good infrared, the next it was... Whiskers, gently lit from above. Maybe its outline was a little angular, but otherwise spot on. And with the wire frame already in place, it's a snap to animate, once Carl gets a hold of what kinds of motions I'm trying to show. So it's not but a couple minutes before I've saved a small collection of Whiskers showing off how cute he is.
Just before I take off my nightcap, I remember to thank Carl, I glance at the time, and I've spent ten minutes with the 'cap on. Jeffrey is taking longer than expected.
Where is he?
