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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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If you haven't looked at the Online HTML Technical Reference you should check it out. http://www.hash.com/htmlHelp/v11.1/Technical_Reference.htm It's amazing what information you can find there.
Last reply by hypnomike, -
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- 744 views
I forgot how to asign a fixed distortion cage to a model, anyone know please advise. This is to be able to use the cage in conjunction with bones. Thanks
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
- 8 replies
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Thank you for looking. I'm just about ready to purchase for first time. Can I import an image, weather it be a digital camera image, paint program image, etc.... and use this to either "trace" or use as a guideline for making my image in AM? Again and thank you. Just a suggestion, a "Pre Sales" forum may be useful. Tom
Last reply by dwdmguy, -
- 1 reply
- 744 views
Is there a way to render a model performing an action in a choreography so that the model and it's shadow are all that render with alpha channel = ON in the rendering options? Basically, I want to render a scene to targas with alpha channels with only the model and it's shadow appearing in each frame.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 11 replies
- 744 views
Everything checks out but yet this decal is rendering chopped off like this in the chor. Any help appreciated.
Last reply by svetlik, -
- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 743 views
I saw this in the contest...what does it mean to be "The Art of A:M" Alum? Edit: Wow, i must have selective sight...i was looking at the stickies but somehow i missed the one that completely explains this. very sorry.
Last reply by forevernameless, -
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- 743 views
Hi all, I'm new to 3d animation and wondering about rendering times. I've got a Dell Latitude 3Ghz Laptop with 2GB of RAM. It seems too slow for me (only a 64MB ATI built-in card). I have access to an AMD 64bit system with 1 GB of RAM. Would that work any faster? Does AM take advantage of 64-bit? How about multiple Processors? Thanks in advance! -Tim
Last reply by ddustin, -
- 1 follower
- 2 replies
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Hey all, its been a tough few months but I'm really doing all I can to learn this beautiful app. Just need some help on a few things on modeling if y'all can be so helpful to clarify how it's done. When I select CPs to hide or lock, it will do the operation on the unselected CPs instead. Is there a way to reverse this feature? Can't seem to find it in the settings. Also I use to monkey about in NURBS back in the day when foolin around with Rhino and was wondering if there's any way to do a Rail Sweep or a loft? Seems like I'm just stuck with lath and extrude. I'll keep this thread active with my modeling progress and hope to really excel in this wonderful…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 9 replies
- 742 views
I'm wondering how to make an object disappear over an amount of time? I want my nuclear membrane to disappear.
Last reply by johnl3d, -
- 11 replies
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practically every time i try to import a texture into my project, it says: "Exception #019 in the "Jpeg" image to open." and about after half a dozen of these most of my current textures are gone. on top of that, the program quits very easily if i'm not careful, or even careful at times. it will easily freeze, in which i would need to forcefully quit, here is the data that the system gives me when i send the error report: szAppName : Master.exe szAppVer : 12.0.0.0 szModName : hungapp szModVer : 0.0.0.0 offset : 00000000 and i can't even render anything anymore.... i always get an exception #010, what a pain. this issue occurs in EV…
Last reply by Ravager, -
- 1 follower
- 5 replies
- 741 views
Well I am still very new to A:M but I have finished the workbook and practiced a little bit on my own but am still very new. Anyways...I am running the newest version which is version 13 point something, Well what my question is, Is how would I go about making a mirro or reflective surfae? Like say a typical mirror in a room or a mirrored reflection off of a car or sunglasses? Do I have to manually "Paste the mirrored image" over the surface? Oris there a way to get the computer to "know" that it is a mirrored surface that reflects? That way it will be better and more accurate with movements than if I did it manually. Because I really waana use this effect and make a char…
Last reply by Kaijin, -
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Heya! I've been using Hash for years, and still pick up on pretty simple stuff that I've been overlooking from time to time. One thing I've never bothered to look into is how to do a fully seamless decal. That is; usually you decal the front, then decal the back, and you'll get a seam down the side (unless you make the texture line up absolutely 100% perfect by hand). Normally, I've just worked around this, but now I really do need to do it properly. Is there a way to flatten an entire model (not just one side/area)? Could I use alpha channels/transparent backgrounds to "fade" one decal into the other? Thanks a bunch!
Last reply by heyvern, -
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Hello AM world. I've been working my way through the exercises and the forums for two weeks now and having a good time so far. When I drag a selection box in the workspace window, the box is opaque black inside until I release the mouse button, then it is clear. This makes it hard to see the CP's I'm selecting. In the videos I've watched the box is clear while dragging to size. How do I fix this?
Last reply by bossofme, -
- 1 follower
- 7 replies
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another one of these very, very fundamental questions. here's my decal with leaf-type shapes. leaf pattern saved from PS as TGA 32 both as color map and as bump. but what's the white frame doing here? TGA's appear with white frame even in the hierarchy, object > group name > decal > image. i'm thinking this wrong but where? (i first saved TGA's as 24, seeing the white went back, resaved over the old - could this be a problem? rebooted a:m twice.)
Last reply by dblhelix, -
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Ok, so i photoshoped some gyroscopes i want to use but when i put them onto A:M they have a white background, even though i deleted it and made it transparent, i imported it as a .jpeg because A:M doesn't let me put in .psd im i doing something wrong? How do i make the white background go away and so it just the image i want? Thanks! -zam1137
Last reply by zam1137, -
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well i was just wondering how to take stills and not animations. I open director mode then lay everything out then i hit the render file do i type 00:00:00 or 00:00:01 or is there a diffrent way to go about this sincerly, |logan|-|BHS animator|
Last reply by BHS Animator, -
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Hi.... I'm currently working on animating speech in spanish.... where can I find info on it??? That is phoneme poses for spanish and would I have to build a spanish dictionary file???
Last reply by C-grid, -
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does anyone know where i can find some (or at least one) tutorial(s) online about how to squetch rig a model in AM: 2004?
Last reply by phatso, -
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How do you model perfect angles/shapes. I know I can create a pentagon or octagon with the lathe tool very easy. Pentagon 5 cp's or octagon 8cp's lathe and then peak those points. Free hand guess work I don't consider to be accurate. So how do I measure/set a perfect angle manually?
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
Hi Guys, Coming from Lightwave, i m wondering if it s possible to rotate/ move a light from the current light point of view ? It s definetly easier to target when you are "inside the light". Thank for you help ps: did the cA:M ommunity stop the developement of the T.W.O project ?
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 1 follower
- 2 replies
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I know that you can use a bone to add a boolean to a model but can you also use that to make the boolean become part of the model's geometry? Also is there a function or plug-in to subdevide or add additional splines to a model easily rather than having to manualing adding all the CPs & stitching them together?
Last reply by KenH, -
- 1 follower
- 9 replies
- 738 views
Hello, I'm a new but old member of AM. Used it about 7-8 years ago and slowly drifted towards the polygonal programs on the Mac. I've decided after seeing the newest program and repurchase that my characters, the SunPower Kidz®, would be best served with Hash. It's an all in one inclusive program that is obviously very user friendly and would allow to achieve an ultimate goals in creating interactive DVD's for children based upon my characters and their tale. When I open a new project, and create a simple spline, then lathe, it is titled 'untitled' but when I try to 'grab' it with my arrow cursor, only 3/4's of the figure is chosen, that is red splines turn t…
Last reply by sunpowerkidz, -
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I have a decal applied to the floor. And it repeats over and over abot 20x20. My problem is when it renders it realy starts to blur as you get closer to the camera. I thought i read something about antiailising. Is this what I need? If so where are its controls? Please someone help. I'm at work working on this right now. Help before the next hour or so is crucial. Thanks for yalls help.
Last reply by clonewar12345, -
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Hello Group. First point here and first time using this software. I am trying to close the Points on a tail for a Fish that I modeled (see photo) but can't. Not sure if 5 points applies to this or not. Thx in advance for the assistance. Sal
Last reply by El-manchego, -
- 5 replies
- 738 views
I am following through the tutorial and I have just finished the first one which results in a short video .avi file. If I select "Play Animation File" in the A:M top toolbar, I can see the video file. It has a small lock in the lower left hand corner which I imagine means it's read only. Anyway, if I select the file, I get an error in the media player. I first tried WMP 12. Then I installed VLC media player and still get an error. The strange thing is if I use windows explorer to navigate to the directory which contains the video file, I don't see the video file listed in the directory. I am getting discouraged since I can't even get past the first tutorial!?!? …
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 4 replies
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Can any one make this work correctly... (this is the procedure for making the tires in the FW-190 tut in TAoA:M) Lather yourself a circle like you are going to make a torus. Instead of moving it so you can lathe it around the default axis, Group it and move and rotate the pivot so you can lathe it into a torus where it is. Lathe it. I get very distorted splines in v16
Last reply by knipple, -
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- 738 views
I installed V15J as standard from the CD on my Imac. For some curious reason the help files did not seem to install at the same time ( this was some time ago I admit ). In order to stop me asking my usual dumb questions, is there a way to install the help files after initial installation ? regards simon
Last reply by Simon Edmondson, -
- 2 replies
- 737 views
Hello and Goodday, I am trying to rotoscope a simple vault and I have an image... however when I go through the process to put it into the work place through the rotoscope selection all I get is a white box... I thought maybe there was something wrong with the picture so i tried the image used in the video tutorial but it did the same thing... any ideas how I could fix that? Raul Castro
Last reply by ofgiants, -
- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 737 views
Dear Animasters, Does anyone recommend a link or process to create soft lighting effects that appear to be generated by a realistic background without using the time consuming GI function or HDRI? Also, to create a crystal glass object and glowing lights through skin, are there any cheats available? As I understand it, AM does not do this effect, so I thought, perhaps someone would have suggestions on how to set up a cheat. Finally, is it possible to do subpixel displacement maps to create subtle wrinkles and skin textures? Thanks, Michael Angelo
Last reply by luckbat, -
- 6 replies
- 737 views
Whoa! So, I'm in the midst of doing the piston tutorial. Everything is going along swimmingly. The tutorial works. I can make a piston go up and down while the crankshaft turns. Exactly as advertised. Well, except for those inbetween keyframes where you have to make more keyframes to get the "shaft" bone to line up correctly with the crankshaft pin... Then it's "close enough," but it really isn't. Somewhere (early on) in the tute is mentioned the fact that we're going to "brute force" this animation without relationships, etc. Great, I can handle that, as long as it works. But, it really doesn't. Well, not accurately enough. It will look fine as it's m…
Last reply by R Reynolds, -
So , i got it , for one year at least !! I m so happy to be a part of this incredible intelligent piece of code !! it s going to be a hard way to go ! but animation is the art of..life. i want to share everything i m going to learn, to every one here at the AM community , and i m already proud .... So let s have funny situaation ! Majid
Last reply by maddle, -
- 2 followers
- 4 replies
- 737 views
I thought I knew but I didn't. What I have learned about is "Dynamic Constraints and cloth" But Spring Systems although related seem to be different. I don't want to debate that part. I just want to know if there are any tutorials showing how to use the editing features in dynamics mode and assigning masses, using the constraints that are designed for spring Systems. Could someone point me in the direction of a tutorial for this? Or could someone make a video tutorial. In the tech ref they talk about using this for stuff that I would normally use a dynamic constant for like pony tails, locks of hair, loose jowl skin, ear-rings, bouncy noses, ear lob…
Last reply by jason1025, -
- 1 follower
- 5 replies
- 737 views
Boy these quirks just KEEP finding me. When copying a Prj from Computer 1 (System 7) to Computer 2 (System 10) the Prj files refuse to update. Have tried re-naming the Prj files-no effect, tried closing AM down before transfer-no effect. This involves 3 Material effector objects. When the transferred Prj file is opened on machine 2 the objects are in the Object list but will NOT show up in the Chor and with none of the animation that was saved. Have tried to replicate this with smaller sample Prj files without success. Also had this problem with Lights and Models not showing up when transferred. Anybody else run into this? Have run out of ideas to try. Any …
Last reply by svetlik, -
- 6 replies
- 736 views
Hi to all and excuse me for the bad english. I would like to know if there is some way to close the holes in the 5 points patches without selecting them. I use also Hamapatch and where this is possible. Thank you Art
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 4 replies
- 736 views
I have look around the forum and thought I had seen something on this but I can not find it. After some searching I decided it would be quicker to just post the question. I have a model in. .OBJ and I would like to convert it to .MDL but the A:M program keeps freezing. Dose anyone know how to get around the problem?
Last reply by DJBREIT, -
- 9 replies
- 736 views
ok im tryin gto put off an effect simmilar to the one in this image in the bottom of this lords staff you see the effect im looking for. i have tryed a few attempts but have since got nothing of the sort.
Last reply by Rodney, -
Hair Question
by TNT- 2 followers
- 9 replies
- 736 views
I am trying to make the eye lashes on my model. I have selected the narrow row of patches that make the edge of her lids. The problem (if you look closely) is that there is one row of hairs on each lid. On the right upper lid the hairs grow from the front edge of the patches. The hairs on the other three lids all grow from the inner edge of the patches. Is there a way to get them to all grow from teh front edge? Thanks is advance,
Last reply by TNT, -
- 1 follower
- 8 replies
- 736 views
So right now I am working on learning smartskin. I'm in bones mode, I right click the bone that I want to drive the muscle motion, then go to New smartskin (I didn't see an option to choose x, y, or z rotate though - this was listed in the technical reference, and the copy I have is pretty old so something may have changed). AM then brought up a new Action window. I then moved my bone where I wanted it, and went into Muscle mode to adjust the control points at that extreme position. It seems to be working, when I move the bone now the points follow. Is that more or less how it is supposed to work? Also, in Muscle mode, the points that make up the smartskin t…
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 5 replies
- 736 views
Firstly dose anybody know what "Exception #035" is ? I'm getting it every time I try and bake particles and then A:M locks up. Mac v16b and v17beta. Here's a test project that consistently fails for me, maybe someone could see if it fails for them too. Or am I just doing something wrong again? The zip contains the .prj and the .tag sprite images used in it. Secondly, for speedier rendering I would like to use NetRender. Do I need to bake particles before rendering? Particle_Bake_Problem.zip
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 4 replies
- 735 views
i have been trying to post some pics and movies as attachments and it works up until it finishes loading then its like i never loaded it in the first place and help on this?
Last reply by Odog2020, -
- 1 follower
- 5 replies
- 735 views
HOW DO U MAKE THOSE SUN RAYS UNDER WATER? anyone know?
Last reply by trajcedrv, -
- 1 follower
- 9 replies
- 735 views
Does anyone know if Enhance:AM is included with the new version of Animation Master? Thanks. Actually, I think it doesn't matter, since I have a MAC, and it probably doesn't work with MAC. Justin
Last reply by jmart714, -
- 5 replies
- 735 views
Hello - I have a project (cartoonish - not realistic) that I have a cloud that I need to have rain coming out of it raining on a character - then have an umbrella come into the scene and block the rain. Does anyone have samples of rain that they have done w/ fluids that they could post a link to? It's cartoonish, so the rain drops could be pretty big. Thanks for any suggestions - Eric
Last reply by flashawd, -
- 4 replies
- 735 views
Hello - I found this in the forum... "If you are wanting to composite A:M images over something else, turning on the alpha buffer in your render settings and using alpha channel transparency instead is way better." The found the "alpha buffer" in the export settings, but where do I find the alpha channel transparency? Do I have to set the camera background a blue-screen color? Thanks for any help, Eric
Last reply by flashawd, -
- 2 replies
- 734 views
Hello All, I am having a bit of a problem with how bone boundboxes are showing up (being displayed) When I try to change the size of a bone the boundbox that is showing up is not correct. Please see pics. Here is what I am getting when I edit a bone... [attachmentid=12903] here is the boundbox that shows up [attachmentid=12910] This is what I would like it to look like... [attachmentid=12905] [attachmentid=12906] This was displaying or working fine before, but all of a sudden it is showing up like this. I did roll back the video drivers (Nvidia 6800) to the version when I first installed the card but I never had a problem…
Last reply by tjk_17, -
- 1 follower
- 5 replies
- 734 views
Hi - I am playing around with the dust effect - my character jumps and lands with both feet - the dust is too "round" looking - is there a setting in there that would disperse it a little different like swirl - so it doesn't look like a perfect round ball of dust? Thanks - E
Last reply by flashawd, -
- 5 replies
- 734 views
Hi! Yeah, that is... All my raytraced proyected shadows seem to me like a bit "sharp" and I think there must be a light option to avoid it in the same way I can add blur (or smooth) to my Z-Buffered shadows, isn't? Although I've been study all the options unsuccessfully and finally I don't know if really I won't be missing something about all this... Ohhh, this damned A:M curse! Always a newbie... THANKS!
Last reply by Ramón López, -
- 1 follower
- 7 replies
- 734 views
I am thinking of purchasing a pre-made model. Does anyone know what formats are accepted in V13? Has anyone had a good or bad experience? Bob
Last reply by largento, -
- 1 follower
- 5 replies
- 734 views
I completed an animation in AM about a few weeks ago. I may post up a high quality version on gallery section later on in the future. Take it easy guys! www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJUmVFYtUcw
Last reply by jweinrub, -
- 3 replies
- 734 views
alright this ones a bit out there but bear with me. thanks to the help i have been getting i have managed to get some of my AM skill back and have rendered a few short animations to my liking ( again thanks guys). my main concern now is that i want to put these in a web page, but try as a might i cant find an option to render as a animated gif. that said first question is does AM have this capability. second question is that if AM does not, does any one know of a way to load a small movie file into a web page to auto run and repeat as if it where a animated gif? hopefully with out the pause paly bar?
Last reply by Xtaz,
