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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.
4,160 topics in this forum
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- 11 replies
- 1.5k views
I've got another one for you guys... I search these forums but just can't come up with the right answers... I need to put about 20 to 40 Thoms on my stage, each at about 20% scale. I tried using the "duplicator" plugin wizard, but doesn't seem to work. It scales relative to the last copy each time. Also need to add the same action to them all. Can I add the action to them before I bring them in??? Please help. Running late!!! Thanks!
Last reply by TommyDAQ2, -
- 1 follower
- 11 replies
- 1.8k views
The Copy/Flip/Attach command is mirroring my half-model across the XZ plane instead of the YZ plane. How do I fix this? It doesn't happen for all models, but it does for this one. On a related note, is there a real instancing-based mirror mode? The face-icon mirror mode (although useful for gluing points to YZ) doesn't cut it, because it only mirrors transforms.
Last reply by Clipping Path Specialists, -
- 1 follower
- 11 replies
- 1.2k 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
- 11 replies
- 898 views
Thanks to all the help from robcat and others with my "thread" reveal pose I set it up and it works fine in the pose window, and the threads flow as wanted but as soon as I put it into the choreography - ZIP! NOTHING! No effect and the pose slider is wigging out-displaying numbers that aren't the same as the timeline. See attached PRJ and JPG file screenshot. Any help greatly appreciated. Why would it work in the pose windows and not the chor?????? ThreadsTest01.prj
Last reply by svetlik, -
- 1 follower
- 11 replies
- 1.2k views
Can anyone guide me to some tutorials on thread/cloth texturing techniques? Tried the Weave plugin but couldn't get it to do anything. Any help appreciated.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 11 replies
- 737 views
Everything checks out but yet this decal is rendering chopped off like this in the chor. Any help appreciated.
Last reply by svetlik, -
- 10 replies
- 1.1k 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
- 10 replies
- 709 views
During the modeling of a somewhat detailed FW190, I realized that I would have to apply cylindrical decals to some parts of the model. The only way that I know how to put cylindrical decals on a surface is to have the part on the 0,0 xy coordinate. How can I translate the decal to the model instead of moving the model part to the 0,0 point? Say I have 20 different parts all over the model that need cylindrical decals applied. It would be a real pain to move the part to 0,0 one at a time, then put it back in place on the model.
Last reply by NancyGormezano, -
- 10 replies
- 728 views
When I cut a circle, I created with lathe, in half it does not keep it symmetry about the center. It bows into a parabola instead of keeping it's half moon shape. I then have to staighten it out slowly by hand, one Control point at a time. Anyone know a solution?
Last reply by Kamikaze, -
- 10 replies
- 803 views
Continuing my fascination with clunky World War One-ish things, I started to build a seaplane. [bi-plane, center pontoon hull] Last night I was setting Specular highlights. I had done most everything: the hull, engine, fuel tank. nacelle, and the cockpit. [and had Saved] Just before wrapping up for the night, I came back to find that the cockpit nacelle's dark green upper surface, and the brown leather rims, had defaulted to the red used on the nose. Today, I undertook to repair that. After three attempts, I gave up. I can change the colors back. [i remove them from Groups first] But as soon as I assign Specular color, it snaps back to red. Might I have exceeded a limit t…
Last reply by KenH, -
- 10 replies
- 1.2k views
I'm new to A:M so naturally I jumped in over my head and started a big project. My WIP is a music video. I have a 2d model of a stage with some scenery in the background. I'm trying to fade the background to black (as the sun sets) and leave the stage lit up. I thought I could just make a black background behind the scenery then slowly make the scenery transparent with a pose slider, but it didn't work. I searched the forum and my manuals I have but haven't found anything to help. Any ideas?
Last reply by Kamikaze, -
- 10 replies
- 888 views
well that wasnt long at all now when i click the format button it drops down and gives me 3 choices avi. mov. tga. but no jpeg and when i try to upload it it says that the file extension is forbidden?? a little more help plz...
Last reply by the_black_mage, -
- 10 replies
- 974 views
First off, this program rocks. But I keep encountering an error that is preventing me from saving ANY of my work. "Exception #005. Saving. Atempting to continue, but this object may have saved incorrectly. The Door's Stuck Objects. If you can repeat this exception please send data and steps to http://www.hash.com/reports." There's no way I can send my data, that takes for friggin ever. I can save my project just fine up until I receive that error, then it's like it knocks out everything I saved before that and my project reverts as though I hadn't touched it. Any suggestions? Jake
Last reply by KenH, -
- 10 replies
- 920 views
when ever i'm in shaded and wire frame mode the CPs are black and they don't change color when i select them and when i'm in a coragraphy or action the bones are black and they blend in to well with eachother and its hard for me to tell wich bone i have selected what do i do?
Last reply by the_black_mage, -
- 10 replies
- 1.1k views
Hi my name is Daniel and I am 13. I hope I can learn how to use animation master and, the reason why is that my Dad uses animation master all the time for work and I always wanted to use it so now I have the chance to.
Last reply by FlyingMonkieBoy, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 914 views
hi, just purchased A:M, but am experiencing problems on my mac. I've a MDD DP 1gHz Mac, with 1.5GB ram , OS X 10.4.6, and standard graphics card (Radeon 9000 Pro, 64MB). I am forced (!) to use a PC at work (trans to I rarely use it), and compared the performance of the two. I used Lambrina, with a Can-Can chor. On the PC (a very lowend P4, standard GPU) it will play without dropping frames, no problem. On my Mac, the same file is practically unuseable - it drops so many frames. Am I missing something? If it's the GPU, would something like a 9800 Pro (either 128 or 256 MB) make a difference? At the moment, it makes using A:M for animation nigh impossible. Hope you guys can…
Last reply by popster, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 954 views
Is it possible to have an object that is behind a transparent object not be affected by the color of the transparent object? I have a head and a space helmet: [attachmentid=16725] The green helmet is 50% transparent. The helmet and the face are simply flat grids. What I want to do is place the face behind the helmet so it looks like it's inside of it but I don't want the helmet's color to affect the color of the face. I want the original skin color to remain. As it is it looks like this: [attachmentid=16726] Does anyone know how to prevent a transparency's color from affecting a model that's behind it? There must be a simple way to do that. (I k…
Last reply by luckbat, -
- 10 replies
- 939 views
OK...sorry if this has been brought up...(i'm sure it has, I just couldn't find it in the search), but what does everyone turn off on the computer to increase render time? (Virus programs, etc). There was a post talking about what to turn off, but I can't find it. Thanks.
Last reply by Ganthofer, -
- 10 replies
- 1.2k 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, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 1.1k views
hi all are there any battlestar galactica ship models for download for use in A:M
Last reply by oakchas, -
- 10 replies
- 983 views
Hi all Does anyone know of a free site where I can upload my images for someone to download? I have images round 20MB and are too big to email, is there a way that I can put them somewhere for my publisher to download, so I dont have to keep burning them to CD and couriering them. If there is some way that I can do this on some free site, could someone please point me in the right direction. preferably it must also be password protected. any Ideas will be appreciated thanx Leo
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 10 replies
- 801 views
Whenever I try to open the options, it shows up for less than a second and closes itself! What's going on? Can I fix this? Please help. Thank you.
Last reply by MrShandavio, -
- 10 replies
- 846 views
I'm having problems when first opening A:M. I click on File, New, then Model. According to the book, a grid is suppose to open, yet all I am getting is a blank screen with scales on the top and side, but I'm not able to draw anything. I tried opening multiple new model windows, then minimize and maximize the windows at random and MAY eventually get a grid. Any help would be appreciated.
Last reply by jason, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 1.1k views
Hey-ho. I have a problem that happens every so often: CPs that aren't attached to anything, ones that should only have one bias handle, have two. This makes it so that it's impossible to connect another spline to them and have the two merge into one spline. Anyway, a better explanation is the picture below. That CP has two handles. When I connect the spline to it, I get a spline and a patch that are just weird. What causes this? To fix it I'm having to rip out entire splines (at the moment this seems to be a catching problem, as deleting that one CP makes the one behind it have the same issue), and it's driving me nuts. Thanks in advance, ~ Charles
Last reply by kattkieru, -
- 10 replies
- 1.2k views
I'm not sure where exactly this post would belong - I didnt see any "general help" forum, so please feel free to move this if its in the wrong place. I just bought one of the Sony UX180P Micro PC's and would love to use Animation Master with it. The Animation Master software requires for the CD to be in the tray while it starts, but the UX180P does not have any sort of CD/DVD Drive included (and the optional one sells for $399 and (I believe) requires it be plugged into a power outlet, eliminating the advantage of a mobile PC. I'm not talking about bypassing the protection or anything illegal, but just looking for a general way of running the software without us…
Last reply by martin, -
- 10 replies
- 844 views
i would put in my movie in the file attatchments and click " add this attatchment " then it would take me to a page that says: The connection was reset The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading. * The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments. * If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network connection. * If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted to access the Web. what do i do? ( the file format was mozilla fir…
Last reply by Dhar, -
- 10 replies
- 800 views
Hi folks! It's been a while. I own version 10 of A:M and I bought it back around the time it came out. It was when I was just starting to get into animation, and I didn't really understand anything I was doing. I still don't understand much that I'm doing, but the difference is I understand that I don't understand it. A while after getting into A:M I tried a bunch of other programs. Around last August I switched to Maya and have been using it since. I've drifted from doing modeling (which drives me insane) to effects work (which is pretty cool), but the reason I originally got into this field was to do character animation. I'm starting to return to that now. …
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 919 views
Hello, I'm trying to change the ground for a rendering, and I also wanted to change the sky color...any ideas? I must be missing this in the manual. Thanks, Andy
Last reply by kalibur, -
I'm not really new to AM (5 years) but I still find butts to be a problem modeling properly. Any pointers. Here's a screen shot to show you what I mean.
Last reply by UNGLAUBLICHUSA, -
- 2 followers
- 10 replies
- 1.1k views
I recently rendered an animation and I noticed 2 black pixels showing up on one of my models during the scene that keep flashing. What causes this?
Last reply by C-grid, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 828 views
Hi, I'm new to animating and I wanted to know what was the best to do: create a bunch of actions we load in a choreography or create some actions and modify them in skeletal mode directly in the choreography to suit a particular movment. The problem I found with the second option is that, when we animate in the choreography, it also modify every following actions that we give to the model. I have another question about actions: How do we smooth the movment fron 1 action to the second one. I mean, my guy is walking and then stops to idle. How do we make the transition between walk and idle without creating a new animation between these two? thanks tido
Last reply by Muff, -
- 10 replies
- 724 views
well, I like what I see, and the price you just can't seem to beat. Ive read alot of reviews, some really positive, some not so much. My biggest concern is that people are saying that it is unstable. Has that been fixed in the lastest versions? I'm 15 and I used to do animation in power point just for fun. I tryd maya at a friends but it was really hard to use and WAY out of my price range. Also, is there a return policy if the cd is defunct? thank you.
Last reply by the_black_mage, -
ive heard people refer to "hooks", what is a hook? how do you make one?
Last reply by nimblepix, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 1.2k views
just got the book and there is a pair of 3-d glasses enclosed...why.
Last reply by jon, -
- 2 followers
- 10 replies
- 977 views
I need to know how to do skies and put clouds in the skies. Everytime somebody does make a sky, they always say that it is made from a dome shape. I don't understand what they are talking about. Can somebody please help me?
Last reply by the_black_mage, -
- 2 followers
- 10 replies
- 796 views
Does anyone know were i can download Rebump X? I saw it in one of my animation master books and it looks cool but i cant find it anywear on the internet. If someone could post it for me to download that would be great. Or if you could email it to me my email is daniel.x16@gmail.com thanks
Last reply by clonewar12345, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 1.2k 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
- 10 replies
- 1k views
Hi folks - I'm on version 13 - Love the Darktree textures, but I'll be darned if I can get them to show up in my library. I'm able to create additional libraries and modify existing texture libraries. Any ideas? Thanks, Zola
Last reply by zandoriastudios, -
- 10 replies
- 1k views
I'm sorry if there's already a helpful link or something that I've missed, but I've been studying eye anatomy to make realistic looking eyes, and I've noticed other 3d projects with usually simple irises but they're illuminated.....light fades around the edges. An example would be the character Tak. I just want to know how other people are doing it, maybe it'll save me a missed shortcut. I like the look of those eyes.
Last reply by Dhar, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 728 views
Hi - I am running through exercise 11.5 - the face. I am having trouble w/ the 5 point spline where the eye and the nose meet. I have the 5 control points set up but when selecting the 5 cp's the "5 point spline button" doesn't activate. So I try a few more times and about the 5 time of selecting the 5 cp the button becomes active to where I can press it and it creates the 5 point patch. Is there a certain order you have to select the cp for it to activate - not sure what I am doing wrong. Thanks - Eric
Last reply by flashawd, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 673 views
Hi - I am playing around creating an animated fan character and I am getting these weird distortions when I render the image in different areas of the model - Here is a pic of the back of the fan - I have the distortion circled. Thanks
Last reply by zandoriastudios, -
- 10 replies
- 881 views
Okay... I've been futzin with this off and on for days... I've looked in the Tech Ref, I've looked in the TAO A:M. I've searched all over the forums and I get different answers. I think it would be beneficial to all newbies to "get" this... so I'm posting it here, hoping that an old tar like me will get an answer... I'll even do a tute on it once I get it figured out. Just as a test animation, I took Thom into the default choreography. I placed him on a figure-eight path to see him from all angles as he completes the walk along the path. I applied the resolute walk action to Thom. I want the finished render to be 3:00 long (that's 90 or 91 frames (another min…
Last reply by T-Dogg, -
- 2 followers
- 10 replies
- 834 views
ok...so i imported a .3ds model into AM: 2004. and it worked out successfully, but when i tried to build a different model from within AM: 2004 after importing the .3ds model, NONE of the modeling tools within AM worked! every time i would click on the spline tool to use it, the 'modeling' button in the tool bar at the top of the screen turns gray, and i can't even see the spline that i am creating! whats going on?!...
Last reply by KenH, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 1.3k views
how do i bring my 3d max model to animation master?
Last reply by KenH, -
- 2 followers
- 10 replies
- 1k views
A few years ago I attempted to model a human form in A:M by taking images of a character from Poser with the right, left, front, and back of the character as my rotoscope guides. The worst problem I had was I found myself doing a lot of tweaking of CP's to get the mesh to have the right shape in comparison to the guide images I was using. This eventually led to a really lumpy model and it even seemed to lack good looking muscle definition and was quite disappointing, but it was my first few tries at doing this. Is it worthwhile trying to use something like a Michael 3.0 Poser figure as a guide? How do I minimize the lumpiness problem when modeling? I thought I recall…
Last reply by jon, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 649 views
Hello All, I've been trying to save an image with an Alpha channel, bring it into AM and loose the black background. I think I finally did it. I created a set of directions, so far this process has worked for me. If anyone knows of an easier method, please let me know. Andy leaf.mov Alpha_channel_directions.pdf
Last reply by rusty, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 884 views
Hi all i'm a new A:M user and i have a lot of bvh files (animation capture) and i would like to know if i can import a model and apply this bvh animation file to it ? In case A:M does not not support this sort of file , does exist a plug in or another method to do this ? Untitled_8.mov
Last reply by Dhar, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 778 views
Hi All; I have been using AM for about two years and love it. But, even with all the fun, I have not been able to figure out how to make a hole in a compliated 3D shape. So, if I wanted to make a hole in a shere, or a rod (at a right angle). How would I do that ? From the other posts, some say I should make the hole first, then build around that.... but that can't work for the intended applcation. In AutoCAD, it uses a 'filet' where everything on the selected side of the shape is deleted, leaving the balance; thus creating a hole, or window.... Thank you for your efforts. ! KM
Last reply by phatso, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 868 views
Hi everyone, I am begginer in 3D and I have AM2003 V11. I have some video presentation of AM in wich tutorial guy made in modeling mode wireframe model and then by pressing "some" button he made it becom grey and mashed like a real object. How to do that? Thanks
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 10 replies
- 695 views
When I try to pose Lady Goodbody for a walkloop, I dont understand it how to move the figure around "stiffly" . Let`s say, I have positioned her feet and want to move her backwards slightly by her hips, then the just achieved pose falls apart again. I tried switching off ik for her arms and legs, but then when I turn it on again, her legs and arms jump over the place and get twisted. Thank you for advise Jake
Last reply by robcat2075,
