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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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- 10 replies
- 874 views
well, i put a skelliton in my model, and i was all done rigging it up, i opend the action window and the pose slider window and made sure i clicked on the action window first so i can see some thing in the pose slider window and lo and behold theres still nothing in the pose slider window, u know, it supose to say, hands rig,setup, ect. whats wrong with this picture? and please dont say do it all over again its my 3ed one, it takes a long time! ths paul
Last reply by LIGHTBEING, -
- 6 replies
- 873 views
hello. im studying the Facial Modeling tute from Anzovin, and i was wondering if im looking to create more cartoon-styled face models, am i still to use as much detailed splinage like is taught in the tute? i was hope to just take simple head shape and basically add eyes, nose and mouth, something similar to a Bruce Timm type style, even how Jeff Lew did "Killer Bean". is there a way that supposed to be approached when modelling a toon thats more cartoon than realistic? and if there's info pertaining to this, could someone direct me to a link? thanks.
Last reply by urthmaan, -
- 9 replies
- 873 views
Two question really. I'm working in V11 temporarily and I imported some images ( jpegs ) to use as rotos. They show in the PWS, they show when rendered or when the individual file is called up from the PWS but, when I try to open it in the view it only shows up as a white rectangle. Is there a way out of this? WXP on 1 Ghz machine with 512Mb of Ram I could try it in V14 or V15 but I'd like to fix it now. Second question is more general. I am working on my own animation which I hope to put out to festivals if it is good enough afterwards.A part of the story would involve people passing a shop window. They wouldn't be a integral part of the narrative just th…
Last reply by Simon Edmondson, -
- 5 replies
- 873 views
Hello, Have a spline ring selected and some of the points on that ring are not as even as I would like them to be. Tried selecting the whole ring and then setting Y and Z values to 0 in the Properties for the Y and Z translate values, but that doesn't seem to have done anything. Did I do something wrong? I guess it is not critical that they be perfect, I can eyeball them and get something acceptable but it seems like there should be a better way to do this.
Last reply by Roger, -
- 1 follower
- 12 replies
- 873 views
Go thru this every year when I renew (Got a new Computer and trying to get AM on it.) but run into this every year, I buy it-money is charged from my card- and ??????? no serial number, no download and no instructions- just a receipt in my email with no serial or download instructiions. Is it just ME? What am I doing wrong? Any help appreciated. Admin update: Jason has fixed this license mishap and Edward is back in operation!
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 7 replies
- 872 views
so far I've had no problem getting 3 or 4 point meshes to render, but I can't seem to get a 5 point one to render... Am I missing something that I have to do? Also I've seen alot on hooks but don't know what they are nor how to create one. this might be useful for me as well. Thanx guys.
Last reply by phatso, -
- 1 follower
- 7 replies
- 872 views
Does anyone know how to create a Towel or Terrycloth material? Is this something that should be done with Hair? below is an example of the model just a test. but it has a burlap bag look to it instead of a towel. Any suggestions or donated materials much appreciated. I am not getting paid for this just helping out a friend and will donate all models and projects to the community when finished. Pocketowel_test.mov Pocketowel_test.mov
Last reply by jason1025, -
- 5 replies
- 871 views
Hi there, I've been an on-again off-again AM user since version 4. When I download the v12 updates or the v13 alphas I get this message when I try to install:- " An I/O error occurred while installing a file. This is normally caused by corrupt installation media or a corrupt installation file" It happens with any .exe file I try to download. Anyone got any idea what this is, as the problem must be at this end. Mike Logan
Last reply by mike logan, -
- 8 replies
- 871 views
Hi! I've modeled my character for animation in the T-pose. I plan to use Anzovin's "Setup Machine" so I can start posing and animating my character. My question is: Should I do all the coloring and decaling of my character BEFORE rigging and animating, or should I animate my mesh, save the actions and then add them to a character who has been "decorated" after the movements are done? Any ideas would be appreciated, regarding flow. Tim
Last reply by heyvern, -
- 9 replies
- 871 views
Is there a limit to the number of decals I can apply to a model? I'm doing a model of a music keyboard, and its pretty decal intensive. I've reached a point where I can still apply more decals, but they will not show up in the render.
Last reply by oakchas, -
- 1 follower
- 14 replies
- 871 views
Hey everyone, This is my first attempt to add AM to live action. I followed the Sam Buntrock CD's, it's a good guide. Homer_in_my_house.mov
Last reply by bighop, -
- 12 replies
- 870 views
Didn't know wheather to post this here or in the TaoAM. I guessed here. I'm working on some simple smart skin for a petal on a flower. Is there a way to measure the length of the center spline before smart skinning and then while smart skinning so I can make sure the petal maintains its length? Seems like it should be simple but I can't find how to check a spline length between two CP's. Thanks,
Last reply by TNT, -
- 9 replies
- 870 views
ok trying textures for a bit to reduce rendering times and have run into a problem here is a pic of the rendered image , you can see a belt of circut like textures surounded by a distortion of the rest . when in normal mode it looks like its fully covered by the circut texture part2.bmp here is a copy of the model i used Model9.mdl
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 reply
- 870 views
Hello do you know the best style for rendering cartoon.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 6 replies
- 869 views
Hello. I'm an indipendent cg filmaker-artist, recently graduated. To produce my (3d) shorts I used till now 3ds max (character studio let even a single person be able to produce a nice animation, taking much less time to configure rigging, and animation itself of several characters at the same time). Since my budget isn't big,and i'm not a student anymore, I was considering switching to something like a:m..... the animation I've seen are really cool, comunity seems very friendly and responsive... but... well... It is there out any tool like character studio that will make my life easier? even a script, or something like that with a footsteep editor, some levels etc?…
Last reply by luckbat, -
- 20 replies
- 869 views
As I was smartskinning my model the other night, everything was looking good with the shoulders and I decided to move on to the legs. In an action, I then discovered something very odd and very frustrating. If I move the left leg up a lot, the geometry on the character’s chest and right arm gets distorted. Basically, several select CPs move slightly as though they were connected to the leg bones. However, this is not at all the case! I see no logical reason why some CPs in the arm would move around when I lift up a leg, since no CPs in the arm are assigned to anything but arm bones! Tonight I am going back through my 250 saved files to see how far back in my project …
Last reply by edlundart, -
- 9 replies
- 869 views
Copyflipped/attachted this modelhalf here, fixed the hooks and expected the mirrormode to work but nothing. What can I possibly be missing here? SimpleRigMan15H_130808.mdl SimpleRigMan15D_130808.mdl
Last reply by Luuk Steitner, -
- 7 replies
- 868 views
I don't know how to really explain this one too well, so I'll try my best! I've been playing around with the camera trying to make real quick but stylish moves around the models (for instance, a 20 second clip with the camera basically flying around the model). The way I currently do this is to place the model in 1 location, switch to another view option (like "Fill Light"), locate the Camera 1 in free space and then transform it (zoom it closer to the model, spin it around the model, etc..) This is hard as often times with it being wireframe, you'll aim at something completely far off from the model even though it looks like its aimed dead-on. I usually have to…
Last reply by mrollers, -
- 4 replies
- 868 views
A couple of years ago, someone kindly pointed me to an info file which dealt with "shadows only" rendering. I used it but in the interim have been distracted by many things. I recently reorganised the house and, when I went to get it it again couldn't find it ( it was a big change around ! ). The file described the basic wok flow behind using shadows only and then compositing in AM. I think it was part of the official documentation (?). Could someone kindly point me to the files again, or a good description of the method used? Thank you very much. regards simon
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 9 replies
- 867 views
how do I join two choreographies into a single large one?
Last reply by Eric800, -
- 5 replies
- 867 views
After a long period of illness I am back trying to finish my project. Working on an IMac 3.3 under OSX Snow Leopard, using V15J. Trying to output a test of the current revisions. It will render as a sequence of TGA files but, it won't render as QT file ? The render crashes and the program closes. I get the following message, "Format error, try adjusting the settings in Output/options/settings" I have looked under Tools/options and tried to find the required bit using properties, but to no avail. I think the problem might arise because I was using Final Cut Pro the other day and outputting using using a different codec ??? Could anyone kind…
Last reply by Simon Edmondson, -
- 6 replies
- 867 views
today my program went all crazy So I reset the settings....now I get this: dotted lines? and if I try to grab anything I see whats behind it and if I use the lasso tool this: seen these before but cant remember how we fixed it Please help Gene
Last reply by TheSpleen, -
- 1 follower
- 6 replies
- 866 views
I'm looking to create the heat distortion you get from jet blasts. I have some ideas about doing it in post production in After Efects or frame by frame in photoshop. Has any one done this yet? And how was it done? Thank you, Camillo
Last reply by Camillo, -
- 2 replies
- 866 views
In a model window, I have an unattached 4 point spline. I click on a CP to select it, then right-click to bring up the context menu. I select "Delete", and it asks me if I want to delete "Untitled". I click "Yes", but nothing happens -- the CP is still there. However, if I use the "Delete" key instead of the menu, I can delete the CP. Is this normal? Is the Delete menu reserved for something else? (A:M 11.1i, WinXP SP3) -SB
Last reply by sb4, -
- 5 replies
- 865 views
I am trying to export a video file to DVD for playback on TV. I am doing 720X480 with aspect ration of 4:3 but the TV is cropping the sides off of the video. Do I drop it down to 640X480? Do I go smaller? If any of you guys are video-heads please let me know. Thanks, Justin
Last reply by Slipin Lizard, -
- 8 replies
- 865 views
I have tried doing the baggage patch water tutorial millions of times. But it I can't seem to translate most of the old version steps to v13. If anyone can help that would be great.
Last reply by animation man hi, -
- 9 replies
- 864 views
You know, I'm finishing up my first animation and all, so I'm a total pro... hahaha. But I've hit hundreds of hurdles, and I've got to say there's some basic stuff that would be well to place in the TAO:AM routine. Call it my A:M wisdom to this point... call it me venting my frustrations. Either way, it's healthy for me, it's healthy for new students, so drink milk: While Lesson 1 does a good job of introducing one to the "talent" pool, and notion of a "pose," I think it fails to properly represent the workflow intrinsic to the design of A:M. When understood, the design of A:M is a beautiful thing that puts everything at your fingertips. When not understood, yo…
Last reply by Gerry, -
- 7 replies
- 864 views
does anyone have or know where i could get a siren that rotates with lights? the kind that sits on top of police cars, ambulances, fire trucks etc? something that looks like this.
Last reply by new guy, -
- 6 replies
- 862 views
Can anyone point me toward a good plug-in [or tutorial] for trees and other vegetation?
Last reply by ddustin, -
- 5 replies
- 862 views
I´m working in a project for my school, and I am doing a short animation with an anime style, I was doing some testin with Toon render but i cant find the anime option to get the right effect, where can I find it? Im workin on version 10.5 any other tips about anime style are very welcomed ^.^ thankyou~
Last reply by Logrus, -
- 8 replies
- 861 views
I have a model with two user properties (pose sliders): "Twist left" and "Twist right". Sometimes I'd like the two properties two change exactly the same way for awhile. So in my chor I used keyframes in the timeline to define the "Twist left" property the way I wanted and then I selected all those keyframes with the mouse in the timeline. I right-clicked on the bounding box and chose "copy". Then I went to the timeline for the "Twist right" property and right-clicked on the timeline and chose "paste". Nothing happened. I tried the same thing but using the "Edit" button at the top of the screen and chose "copy keyframe" and then "paste keyframe". That pastes just t…
Last reply by RoyBU, -
- 16 replies
- 861 views
OK i really somehow gotta learn this slowly, but i need to learn this, itll make my animating like 100x easier. Whats happening is when i animate someone in a choreography i make then maybe jump or jump then spin, or also recently happening the can can then a slap on the face, but whenever i do this it always starts from the begginning so for the can can move, it totaly ruin it, because he starts slapping himself in the face at fraom 0 moving his hand slowly up. and for jumping he starts rising into the air from the very begginnimg and for the jump and spin he start spinning from the very begginning too. i dont know how to make it so they start the second actio…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 9 replies
- 859 views
downloaded animation masters 2005 version 11.1 succefully but when i try to open it an error messag come up that says "This application has failed to start because KSAPI32.DLL was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem." but i reinstalled it like 3 times and it still is not working so i looked here and i found an older thread that said that i need to download the ksapI32.DLL but the link was inactive. im hoping someone can help.
Last reply by tommycs, -
- 1 follower
- 9 replies
- 859 views
Hi! I want to animate a little logo - i.e. spice up a fly-by type of scene that holds just one model that was done using the font wizard. Here's my problem however: I'd like to have the text object change it's appearance over time as the camera moves past it. I do see two options for this. 1.: Use a material effect and aminate it as desired. Problema: The effect just doesn't "look right". This may be a bug or the font wizard object I can't tell but the material just "dissolves" and not the way it's intended... Also the effect just ends with the effect object. So there is no way I can have the object "all 100% effected" at the beginning and gradually move to…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 3 replies
- 859 views
the title says it all where can i find a smoke tutorial? thx
Last reply by HomeSlice, -
- 12 replies
- 859 views
I have finished roughing out the bottom portion of my BattleMech and now I want to start adding bones. I believe I should start in the middle portion of the "lower body." Should the "root" bone be perpendicular from a line drawn between the centers of rotation for the two legs? Do I need to add another bone pointing down? From the first (or root) bone I believe that I should draw bones out to the leg joints. Then down each leg, then through the foot pedestal and out to each "claw." All bones should be children of the previous bone - except of course the two in the pelvic region. Here is my model. legs0.tga Thanks.
Last reply by bubba, -
- 8 replies
- 859 views
On a Mac, does A:M have to run in full screen? I can't even find a button to minimize it if I want. I'm aware of Command/Tab to get to other stuff, but I'd like to have more control.
Last reply by Gerry, -
- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 858 views
im doing a project in which two police thoms are trying to take out a giant rabbit... im done with everything but i still need a skycover so that whenever the camera moves the sky effect will look real. can anyone tell me how to do that?
Last reply by kalibur, -
A:M on EEE?
by Bryce- 10 replies
- 858 views
I use to use A:M on my desktop a lot back when I first got it, then I started slacking off. Recently, I found Anim8or and started playing with that and decided I wanted to install A:M again. Problem is, my EEE doesn't have a CD-ROM. I'd like to know if there is a legitimate way of running A:M without the CD (aside from a volume license). If A:M and Anim8or shared any format, it'd be a non-issue, but I'd prefer to use A:M. Like I said, its been a while since I used it. I have "Sorserez" version CD. (Old, I know.) My brother and I bought it at a computer show because the guy giving the demo showed how simple everything was. I don't remember exactly why I stopped using …
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 2 replies
- 858 views
How does AM open LBR. files? I have a digital copy of the extras CD and it looks like if I could get AM to open it, all the stuff will appear in the AM Library window.
Last reply by Eric800, -
- 2 replies
- 858 views
I have the Eddie model in a model window. In the PWS, I open the Splines group and click on a spline (Spline #....). I would expect to see the corresponding spline in the geometry highlighted, but don't. I then click a CP in the geometry, which I'm not sure if selects a spline? (green highlight on part of the spline). I would expect to see the spline, or the CP, highlighted in the PWS, but don't. ... Ok, I now see that clicking on a named group will highlight that group of CPs in the geometry. I would just expect clicking on a spline in the PWS would also highlight the spline, and vice versa selecting the spline in the geometry would highlight th…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
- 9 replies
- 857 views
i finally got this animations file size lowered so it should be able to be uploaded here it is, i uploaded it finally!!!!!! ians_birthday_party3.mov if the sound happens to work for you then great because its not working on my computer or is it the file. i dont know, im not really sure
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 857 views
Hi Guys I know its been a little while. Where can i find the data download zip? Cant remember.
Last reply by jason1025, -
- 2 replies
- 857 views
Gotten to a point where I'm adding a light to a model. However, adding the light completely blackens the model surfaces that don't have ambiance set high. It's likt all reference lighting in the window turns off..anyone ever seen this? Thanks, Rich
Last reply by Rodney, -
hey every one im new to everything but im learning it at school and i love it already i just perchised it
Last reply by phatso, -
- 3 replies
- 856 views
Is there a way to select an arbitrary set of CPs or splines sequentially, similar to a bunch of "ctrl-clicks" in most Windows aps? My purpose is, for example, to select a set of "CP - spline sides" in the geometry and then set their bias gamma simultaneously by entering a gamma value into the property box. -SB
Last reply by yoda64, -
- 1 follower
- 8 replies
- 855 views
Hi! I dont know if this is the right forum to post in. I'm curently modeling a model of a character in A:M and it's beginnig to become a large mesh (loads of splines, cps etc...) The more i model the lower fps i get and this slows down the program, so i was hoping that someone can help me. Do i ned more ram? Or a better video card? My laptop has 512mb of ram with a 64mb video/3d card, is it possible to get better speed or fps if i'd upgrade to 1Gig of ram? Or do i have to have a better video card? Elias
Last reply by Muff, -
- 5 replies
- 855 views
When animating an object, how do you keep it completely still in one segment between keyframes and then move it again? An example is a character that stops everything it's doing briefly, frozen in time, then looks around. It seems like any animation program won't let you do that because it only allows constant movement while you're animating. Can anyone help?
Last reply by GAngus, -
- 5 replies
- 855 views
Hey! I'm new here, and trying to make the leap from 2D animator to 3D with A:M. So I looked around but i couldn't find a tutorial where I saw somebody build a character from scratch. I think watching someone do it with a little commentary is the best way to learn. I must have overlooked it so I hope someone can help me with this .
Last reply by Tralfaz, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 855 views
I have a scene with particles that, when baked, has the particles apparently jumping back and forth from where they should be in time. For example "falling" particles might go down, down, up, down, down, up... instead of down, down, down, down... Is there a cause?
Last reply by robcat2075,
