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A:M Forum Rules
GENERAL FORUM GUIDELINES
The A:M Forum is for technical support and the sharing of tips and ideas between users/prospective users of Hash software. It is moderated constantly by technical support representatives.
DO'S!
-Ask questions about the software.
-Assist other users... everyone was new at this once.
-Inform people of your version/platform when asking for help.
-Share resources; tutorials, models, textures, tips and techniques (link to useful websites).
-Post links to your work, or where your art is being used online (on websites, in games, toons', etc.)
-Search the A:M Forum and FAQ. The question you are about to ask may have already been answered.
-Organize and inform others about user groups, IRC chats, image and animation contests, job opportunities, etc.
-Discuss what you are working on and let everyone know about magazine reviews and articles that relate to your projects.
DON'TS!
-Do Not be rude or disrespectful or mean to other forum members in any way. Personal attacks will be removed.
-Do Not post bug/crash reports to the list (send bug/crash reports to http://www.hash.com/reports.
-Do Not complain about forum content. Complaints or suggestions can be sent directly to hash@hash.com
-Do Not reprimand other forum members for violating forum rules, that's the moderators job, which (unless you are a moderator) you are not.
-No complaining or whining on the forum or distribution of misinformation.
-No flames of any kind.
-No Off Topic posts. (Posts in the Off Topics section should be related to A:M in some form or fashion or benefit the A:M community as a whole).
-No soliciting of any kind without prior approval.
-No threads or comparisons related to other 3D Applications.
-No "Wish list" or feature requests, they should be sent to www.hash.com/reports for categorizing and prioritization (User requests define the future development of the software).
-No "me too!" posts
-No discussion of Hash Internal Affairs (finances, advertising, PR.)
-No posting of private email to the forum unless permission of the author is granted. (Private correspondence should remain private)
-No very general questions like: "how do I make a good 3D model" make your questions as complete and concise as possible.
If you have questions as to whether it's appropriate, send it to: support@hash.com, We'll be happy to let you know whether it is, or is not appropriate.
User Led Forum Considerations
Firstly and foremostly, please remember this is Martin Hash's forum and that it is every A:M User's primary resource for information about A:M. In order to remain relevant we need everyone's continuing support and interest.
Secondly, understand there is a distinction between A:M (the program) and the A:M forum. There are some topics and issues that are outside the scope of this forum and most can be deduced by reading through the forum guidelines. These include such things as Hash Inc internal policies, business practices, trade secrets, and specific plans for the future not yet publicly released. Each of these would be fascinating topics of their own but are better reserved for private communications with a representative of Hash Inc.
Related to the second, is purchasing, customer service and other areas outside the purview of the common user who may have no interest in such things; subjects relating to money exchanging hands are beyond the scope of the A:M Forum and often can lead to conflicts of interest between users and/or Hash Inc. (If Hash Inc cuts you a deal on volume purchasing it's really no one else's business). Likewise, individual complaints about a product or service are best remedied by going direct with Hash Inc representatives empowered to make decisions. Please allow them them the time necessary to resolve your specific issue and consider the cost of customized solutions.
This last area is likely the source of much confusion because many see the A:M Forum as the official outlet for Hash Inc... and it is. But the forum is not designed for conducting business and private matters best resolved by going to Hash Inc directly. Similarly, bug reports are best resolved by entering them directly into the A:M Reporting system.
Many problems can be easily addressed at the user level just by asking fellow users in the forum. If someone at Hash Inc suggests the forum as a source, it is very likely a problem can be easily resolved. For tougher issues there is even more reason to take the issue directly to the source... you don't want the issue discussed... you want it resolved quickly.
Finally, remember that we want to pass this forum on to future moderators and generations of A:M Users in the absolute best condition possible. A:M is just that good a program and is worthy of our consideration.
Thanks for making the A:M Forum a great community.
4,141 topics in this forum
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- 5 replies
- 959 views
two questions: one, how do you make something look magnified by looking through a model, like a magnifying glass? two, what are the hash contests for and how do you enter them? thanks
Last reply by Bruce Del Porte, -
- 14 replies
- 958 views
As the last bit of the "Moving Foxhole" set, I'm building an alley where the action starts. I want it narrow and dark. So far, so good. But the lighting is giving me fits. I want a bright light at the far end so the characters throw long shadows in front of them as they walk forward. It's coming. But slowly. [ Biggest problem is that the right amount of light to produce the shadows makes a a burned-out, hot spot at the end of the alley]. But my biggest headache is the yellow rays indicated by the arrow. I searched Tools>Options> and there's no fog or volumetrics turned on. I looked in Properties under the light used in the alley: Volumetrics WAS turned on, now it's …
Last reply by Stuart Rogers, -
- 12 replies
- 958 views
Hi All, I have tried many times the Wizards Duplicator. AM will not duplicate the texture map attach to the group being copied. Do I need to turn on a menu item somewhere? I can copy a group and then paste groups with it texture maps ok but not when I use Plugin>Wizards...>Duplicator... Can somebody help me? Technodandy
Last reply by Technodandy, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 958 views
Anyone looking for a story boarding prog. heres a free one. They also have tutorials online on how to use it. http://www.atomiclearning.com/storyboardpro They also have tuts on how to use different software, like photoshop and premire
Last reply by mfortunato, -
- 1 follower
- 23 replies
- 958 views
When I model, I never use the bias - I always fill out with splines. I am sure that I should be using the bias handles, but I always seem to get creases instead of the nice curves I am looking for. Do "real" modellers always use bias to get definition? What's the secret to stopping that little handle from slipping out of control all the time? Is the secret to create the mesh as far as possible and only then tweak?
Last reply by itsjustme, -
- 1 follower
- 18 replies
- 958 views
See if you can figure out what has gone wrong here: bouncingBallX.mov Hint: it's about gravity. Don't worry, it's not by anyone from this forum.
Last reply by danf, -
- 3 replies
- 955 views
Hi! i'm new to this forum and Animation Master, so maybe will discribe my problem with wrong terms, but basically what i want is the view to rotate around all visible CPs when nothing is selected. Right now as far as i can tell it turns around scene center or global model center. or maybe at least there is an option to keep rotation center from previous selection?
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 8 replies
- 953 views
Are there some recommended settings for A:M if you are working with "toons" style rendering that will be most efficient for rendering and overall workflow? -SB
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 6 replies
- 953 views
After reading about poses in techref.pdf, I'm trying to set up a pose slider: Plop a cube into the choreography pane. Right-click the cube's bone, select New | Pose | Percentage. In the relationship pane, rotate the bone and scrub the slider to make sure it works. Back in the choreography pane, set keys on the pose channel. As a result, the pose slider value changes over time, but the cube isn't animated. What am I doing wrong?
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 9 replies
- 952 views
I am only on chapter four of disc one and I am already very pleased with Barry Zundels DVDs. I am on my way to a wedding or I would be working the dvds longer. I would encourage anyone wanting to be taught this program to invest in these dvds.
Last reply by largento, -
- 1 follower
- 17 replies
- 952 views
Hey all, I just purchased A:M and got done installing it. The installation process seemed to go okay(although the status bars were a bit quirky). But after I got the 'installation complete' sign and hit finished I tried to open the thing. And it never opened. I uninstalled and reinstalled but I keep getting this 'Please insert the correct CD-ROM(HASH), select OK and restart application' error... I don't really get it, considering I can be running the DIAG application off the CD and still get this error. Any help please?
Last reply by jup, -
- 15 replies
- 952 views
so im using the flame sprites that i grabbed from the tuts extra cd for a candle flame. the problem i found is that for some reason the candles glass container seems to block the bottom of the flame. i should be able to see the flame through the transparent glass. must be some parameter setting i missed?
Last reply by johnl3d, -
- 2 replies
- 951 views
Does the lifetime membership for $300 include all new versions for life? Or is it only the $80 a year that keeps you up to date with the latest and greatest?
Last reply by thumperness, -
- 1 follower
- 11 replies
- 951 views
Hello, I am continuing my face creation tutorials and I have a group duplication problem with its decals. At 10:00 we duplicate the eye patch to create the second one and the decals are duplicated with it. When I do this, the decals don't duplicate !? What am I forgetting ?? greats
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 9 replies
- 950 views
Hi I was wondering what are the lip sync tools like in Am? What sort of documentation does Am come with? What sort of technical support can I expect from am company, if i bought am. Does am have a paint program simular to that of bodypaint? What feature films does anyone know of that have been developed from am. How easy is it to learn the moddeling tools? What other software is compatible with am?, In your own words how does am compare with major packages like cinema 4d?, or lightwave? If you can answer any of these questions I would be very grateful.
Last reply by phatso, -
- 3 replies
- 950 views
Just purchased your yearly subscription. Windows 64 bit type in my shiny new activation code and get this... Bad return data from webserver (no status) (-134) no such file of directory (erno:2) I deactivated my anti virus and it still does it. Help please
Last reply by Jason Simonds, -
- 4 replies
- 947 views
I'm finding if I create a new Action window with a model, and I like the model default pose for my first and last keyframe, I can't just press "Force KeyFrame" on frame 0, move to frame xx, press "Force KeyFrame" again, and get keyframes. They just don't "take". However, it seems if I perturb a bone once in a keyframe (such as keyframe 0), and do the same procedure as above, the keyframes are "recorded" -- meaning I can skip back and forth to the keyframes. I typically have the filters: Key Skeletal Translations, Scaling, Rotations active and the Key Bone filter activated, and the other filters inactive, but I don't think any combination of filters has changed …
Last reply by sb4, -
- 11 replies
- 946 views
Would anyone be kind enough to help me out here ... for two days now, I've been trying to create this knob ... any and all help is greatly appreciated. I'm totally stuck ...
Last reply by vf124, -
- 16 replies
- 946 views
Hi all Once again I dived in the deep end and decided to take another crack at character modeling. This time, partially for an overly ambitious idea for advertising my webcomic on youtube, I started playing with one of my newer characters a cute, perky and petite goth punk from Devonshire: P. Blossom Hannaford. anyway as per usual i whipped up a rotoscope and got to work. So far it's coming along nicely so far. For what it's worth, I think it's much more successful than my previous attempts Mainly because this time I worked a lot smaller so the computer isn't choking on it yet and since this is a cartoon figure I went in with the Kiss principle in mind which give…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 4 replies
- 945 views
I'm finally back with a brand new copy of AM and raring to go , only problem is a error right out of the gate AVIFileCreateStream error: C:\Users\(my user name)\AppData\Local\Temp\AMV17\Untitled\Untitled0000.avi. i get this when i render animation preview but other wise the render goes of with out a hitch, it just complains that it cant write the file, then it cant delete the file a render to file does not cause this issue so far i have gone throptionshe optons menu but thnot does nto appear to be a place to chtemporarytemperary location to write these and i am running as administrator
Last reply by Master chief, -
Okay, I made the statement that I am modeling a keyboard type device. I have decals for each key.. there are 45 some keys. I have a seperate graphic for each key. Currrently, my method is as follows: Here are 3 keys: [attachmentid=14144] I select one of them. and hide the rest. With the one key zoomed in, I load a decal, something like this: [attachmentid=14145] The checkerboard area is transparent. the letter graphic is centered on the key and applied. Assuming the next letter is "B," I would select the next key and apply the graphic as before. And so on, thru the complete keyboard layout... this is a lot of decals, on a lot of …
Last reply by JohnArtbox, -
- 10 replies
- 941 views
Has anyone out there used the AI plug in that comes with Animation Master? I am trying to bring in a logo from an illustrator file and I can locate the file no problem, the option dialogue box comes up, but when I hit "ok" nothing happens. The model window just sits empty. Anyone actually been able to create a 3D logo with the AI plug in?
Last reply by ArfGraf, -
- 1 follower
- 6 replies
- 941 views
What other software do you guys use with A;M software. I know some use Photoshop but whatelse? What video editing software do you guys use ?
Last reply by the_black_mage, -
- 12 replies
- 939 views
Hello - I have created as short walk cycle with a model I created that I am now in the process of animating for a short film. The resulting choreography is okay, but I feel it is hard to focus on the girl model as she walks across the screen. I'm experimenting with lights and what not, but really have no idea what I'm doing. I thought it might be because I rendered it at A:M's default 30fps, but when I change the project's fps to 24, the choreography speed still looks the same. I'm unable to attach the file to this forum because I get a "You are not permitted to upload a file with that extension." error message. How can I show my results so members can see it? …
Last reply by cribbidaj, -
- 15 replies
- 939 views
Just saying thank you to rodney for all the helpful advice he has given me on the boards and through PM. And thank you to any others who have answerd my noobish qustions and putting up wit me horribl' gramma und my das 'orrible speeling
Last reply by the_black_mage, -
- 18 replies
- 939 views
This seemed like the best place to ask (?) I am using V15J on a Mac under OSX10.68 and trying to set up some cycles at first but animations later. There is an anomaly on the Mac version which never seemed to happen in the PC interface and I wondered if there was a way to correct it ? When setting up key frames over a timeline you can 'bracket' the frame range at the top of the window to just play back those you want to see. On the PC ( as I remember it ) the inactive frames were shaded in a different colour and it was easy to spot the limit and then adjust it. On the Mac version, its a slightly darker shade of grey, and that makes it awkward to find…
Last reply by Simon Edmondson, -
- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 938 views
Is there a newer version than Version 11? The store dosent say.I have v11 .It just says -This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 06 November, 2007.The only copyright date I see is next to Mr.Dodo ,copyright 2003 Zandoria Studios ,did know if that was for the book or just the "Mr. Dodo" character.
Last reply by livewiresrus, -
- 11 replies
- 938 views
Hi I'm Keizerzilla and my mom got me Hash Animator for Christmas. We have tried to install it with the discs we were sent, but the program will not work. When we inserted the disc, the setup file did not come up. We tried double clicking on the file on the disc and it appeared to have downloaded it, but no icon of any kind to launch the program is on my computer. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what we failed to do or could it be that we didn't receive adequate disc info?
Last reply by mouseman, -
- 5 replies
- 937 views
(I tried to post this in archive forum to not bother up-to-date users, but forum is readonly.) To any other AM 11 / Windows Vista users: I'm having display problems where the screen doesn't seem to refresh, or partially draws with my Windows Vista Compaq laptop. Particularly, when only one A:M window is open (say, chor or modeling) the background grid does not fully draw. Having two windows open magically makes the grid draw fully in both windows. In a Model window, I'll switch to "shaded" mode and a patch won't render. If I tweak a control point, suddenly it might render. Sometimes while drawing a spline, parts don't draw while making it. …
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 2 replies
- 936 views
Hey Guys, I'm Back I was wondering if anyone can tell me the total I would pay for a subscription? I know they are using paypal now and was not sure if it added anything to the $79.99. David
Last reply by thumperness, -
- 8 replies
- 935 views
I keep seeing mention of stuff not being beveled or being beveled as if beveling were a good thing. I'm assuming that it is desired to have bevels in your models of things like buildings or boxes. I did a little searching but have not been able to find good instruction on the whys or hows. I remember seeing a tutorial somewhere that even talked about doing the bevel(s) first before the rest of the model.
Last reply by ypoissant, -
- 16 replies
- 933 views
I havent worked on A:M for about 2 years but now im getting back to it by the influence of the 11 Second Club. I guess Hash doesnt support the phone help anymore since the number is only good for redirection back to the internet. Anyways... I have a new computer but now with Vista Home Premium. The program works smoothly but has a little bit of glitches. I'm not sure if I should upgrade since I have V11.1 now that i decide to be up-to-date. Should I Upgrade or not?? So im working on a 11 second animation short thats due before December 25th and I'm having trouble with the actions. Im using KeeKat and i made 2 seperate actions for him. First I got done with the lip s…
Last reply by TRN, -
- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 933 views
Hi, I wonder if there is any issues running A:M in windows 8 and if we change computers, how to reset license for new installation. Anyone use laptop and what is the machine spec recommended? Thanks.
Last reply by Philip Fong, -
- 8 replies
- 931 views
Hi, folks - Thanks for reading, sorry for such a basic question. I'm modelling a mini servo with some attachments - the first is the "rotor" that attaches directly to the servo shaft, the second is an elbow piece and the third is an extended arm, as attached. On the attached screen dump, I've photoshopped the bones of the different models in the choreography as best I can so they can all be seen. The dark red one at the bottom is the servo main bone. The big cyan one can be ignored - it's a boolean cutter. You can just about see the bone for the servo shaft - it's in there, but it's overlaid by the light red model bone of the rotor. At the base of the elbo…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 7 replies
- 930 views
My new computer has Microsoft VISTA. When I open the giraffe file, I either get the giraffe without the graph stage or just a white box without the giraffe. How can this be fixed?
Last reply by mikeydee, -
- 1 follower
- 5 replies
- 929 views
You know how we flatten models in a pose so that we can evenly distribute the decal. Well I cant remember how you actually apply the decal after you flatten the model in the pose.
Last reply by Vertexspline, -
- 5 replies
- 929 views
I just downloaded and activated v17.0 subscription and the program opened and would let me draw lines, etc but when I tried to open an existing project file from a previous version (v11.0) instead of opening a file from the directory it automatically went to, the program stalled and then crashed. This is the same problem I had with v16.0 last year and never did figure out what was wrong so I went back to my v 11.0 (run as v12.0 with a downloaded patch file from the ftp site awhile back). Unfortunately that option is becoming increasingly difficult as the CD has gotten all scratched up and the Disc repair I tried didn't work. Needless to say, half the time it doesn't even …
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 16 replies
- 928 views
I'd create an image sequence of this display in a paint program, going from lowest price to highest price, and apply that sequence as a decal to your sign. In your chor you can control the displayed frame of an image sequence. It would be easy to make it go up-down-up-down as needed for your story. And easy to revise the timing of that as you refine your animation. Is "image sequence" a technical term? I made a bunch of .jpgs of the various prices, but I don't see an obvious "apply image sequence" option under applying decals.... (the glitches I'm getting w/ jpgs is another problem, I'll just mass convert them..) Is this just another way of saying m…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 22 replies
- 928 views
I've been taking another run at bump maps. I made a bump stencil and put blur on it in Corel. I put it on as a bump map on the model and did a render lock on the model and it looked fine, but when I did a render to file it barely showed as a shadow trace on the surface. Is it because I have a material on the Vase? Why would it render one way in render lock and another in render to file?
Last reply by Darkwing, -
- 2 followers
- 33 replies
- 928 views
Apologies for the butt shot. Anyone else run into this??? Cps wrinkle in objects when twisting/turning and whatever it is is truly happening to The CP and shows up when rendered. Only happens in action or Chor. As soon as you click on the Cp it straightens out but then goes right back to being twisted when you advance a frame. This seems to show up randomly.See Pic This is shutting down my 5 yr. project unless I can fix it. As always ANY help appreciated. These CPs are in their natural state - no bias tweaking at all.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 10 replies
- 926 views
Hi all, I'm looking at trying to do post editing completely in AM and create an animation showing that you can do post effects without having to spend big money for programs like after effects (I'm not a student so I'd have to pay about a grand for the professional version of after effects). My question is, can you control the shudder of the camera to create fade effects? I've got a work around that works very cool if not but I'd think you could. If so how? I'll tell you my work around after I get responses. Jeetman
Last reply by Stuart Rogers, -
- 13 replies
- 926 views
Maybe this will help me with some of the other questions I have been posting... I am trying to just take a character (i.e. KeeKat) and lifting the right arm at frame 5 and the left arm at frame 10. I do not want the left arm to lift until after the right arm is done (frame 5). However, the left arm begins lifting at frame 0. I have tried to nudge the left arm at frame 5 (by the way, you can only nudge with the mouse cursor...moving by arrow buttons on the keyboard doesn't make it recognized as being moved) to set it in the same position as frame 0 but that doesn't seem to work. I have done several of the tutorials but it seems that I may be missing some basic…
Last reply by Kurrykid, -
- 1 follower
- 14 replies
- 925 views
Hi everybody, This is my second post and my first new topic. I appologise if this is in the wrong forum, but I couldn't figure out which one to post it in. My computer is having problems. I just got Animation Master Last weekend, and My computer runs the program ok. When I do anything more taxing than web surfing, I get a message alert that beeps and says that the processor zone is overheating. I don't want to render anything untill I get this fixed or buy another computer. Does Anyone have any overheating suggestions? If I do need to get a new computer, does anyone have any suggestons as to what I should look for? Any help would be apreciated…
Last reply by Krazyman, -
- 5 replies
- 922 views
I just got Animation Master at Ces show and this is my first model I just made. Now I have To keep working on him
Last reply by RedEye4Ya, -
- 4 replies
- 922 views
Does anyone know where to access the "Post Effects" for V.19? I thought that there was a folder with them, but when I looked I didn't see them anywhere.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 3 replies
- 922 views
I've started work on my Prehistory entry but I have a number of five-point patches. While I know how to close these, is there a recommended technique for avoiding them in the first place? (Don't be fooled by my forum membership longevity. I'm still a noob, I've had a twelve-year hiatus and wasn't particularly good before that!)
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 921 views
just got the book and there is a pair of 3-d glasses enclosed...why.
Last reply by jon, -
- 21 replies
- 921 views
I know I know newbiest question ever! I how do I change the background screen to a .tga of my choosing? I am finishing off a new animation and need to add the credits. Thanks.
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 13 replies
- 916 views
OK hopefully simple answer to a irritating problem . is there a way i can change the texture on one surface to that of another. OK what I'm trying to do is sort of a nanite eruption. theres a grass filled valley that gets hit with a missile of sorts, from the missile metallic lines radiate out wards eventually turning the entire valley into a metallic version. i already have the mats/textures for it i just have yet to find a application method. i know that Boolean cutters can create a new texture into what ever they cut in but i need something that mearly changes it not remove it out right
Last reply by Master chief, -
- 9 replies
- 916 views
Hi there! Yesterday I tried the cloth tutorial. Now I had the idea to use the cloth simulation to create primitive Hair for a simple character. But the results where not appropriate. At least I do not know If i should assign the points of the hair to the head bone or if they should stay with the main bone of the character. But if I do the last thing, they won't move with the head. Any ideas? I try to attach the project file Modulvorspann2.prj
Last reply by Florian80,