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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.
4,149 topics in this forum
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- 0 replies
- 340 views
Just lately when i go to the AM still page it wants me to login every minute or so even though it has my name on the top of the page as login aready
Last reply by richard m peplinski, -
- 5 replies
- 579 views
i made a simple model and tried to make a whole by making the face transparent, unfortunately, when it renders, it renders with cross lines where the face should be transparent. attached is the mdl im having trouble with helmet.mdl
Last reply by C-grid, -
- 9 replies
- 649 views
I've been looking around to get a really good render of a car I'm working on. one of the tutorals i found seems like it would work but i need to do the thing called primary visibility. in other words the model is there but not there and can be reflected by another surface with out showing on the camera, you know what i mean? heres what i'm talking about.... Rendering better cars look at no.1
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 356 views
Hello! There is any way to recover registration info of AM serial number in the hash site? I bought AM several years ago and would like to upgrade to the latest version. I have boxes of storage cd's and still haven't found the old master cd. thank you! Benjamin Pastrana
Last reply by Bruce Del Porte, -
- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 470 views
As I've been working with this program I noticed my files starting to grow. Does anyone care to share their organization method for working with Animation Master? I notice that if I move a file the program seems like the program looses the decals. I'm trying to get a good system now, so I won't suffer in the future. Thanks, Andy
Last reply by bighop, -
- 1 follower
- 8 replies
- 696 views
i just downloaded A:M and the files i was working on and everything's working great, somewhat. when i'm in model mode and i have the bone mode shaded and wireframe, everything's wrong. when the bones flash, the CPs don't flash, they just look like black dots, even though i try to do color matching with the bones to help myself out, i'm still having a very hard time( because some of the bones have the same colors! and i can't make them all different colors!) and when i'm in action mode, if i move,rotate or even rotate the camera view of the bone, all of the bones turn into a solid black color, and are no longer transparent, and if there is a bone in front of that cert…
Last reply by yoda64, -
- 3 replies
- 469 views
I heard a long time ago of a property or something called boolean cutter (if I can remember) which allowed a model to cut another becoming invisible itself. It would mean that you can model a wall, then intersect a cube in it and, by using this boolean cutter, make the cube invisible but leaving a hole of this cube's size in the wall. If I can remember, this hole would be patched too. I mean that it would look like if you had modelled this hole in the wall previously. I'm interested in using this property for animation. I,ve modelled a simple object and I'm interested in using another object with this boolean cutter option as a mask in the same way as masks are used …
Last reply by loserem, -
- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 495 views
Hi everyone, I've modeled a city. Floating over this city there is an objet which casts a shadow over the city. The shape of this shadow is changed by the geometry of the city, of course. I'd like to render the city in a pass and then hide the city and render only the floating object and its shadow but if I simply turn inactive the city, the shape of the shadow changes because it doesn't reach any surface but the ground and I'd like to preserve this shape in order to composite both render in postproduction... How can I do this? I've tried to include the city in the object's render but making the city to be flat white the same as the background in order to r…
Last reply by loserem, -
- 7 replies
- 586 views
I am trying to rotate my camera around a model. Per Rodney's suggestion in another topic I made a circular spline as a model to use for the camera path, then dropped it into my chor. However, when I tried to path constraint the camera to this circular spline, it wouldn't work. The eyedropper picker would not allow me to choose it and it does not appear in the dropdown target list. The only targets that do appear are two other paths I've already made (created as paths right in the chor). So I guess I'm missing a step: how do I get AM to use this model as my path?
Last reply by RoyBU, -
- 1 reply
- 355 views
Hi everyone, I discovered A:M in its v7 and there, I founded a render property called oversample wich rendered the frames ad double of more size for scaling them down later in order to remove aliased borders and other artifacts from decals and etc... Now, in v12 I've lost this oversampling option. Is it hidden in another place of the program or it has simply be removed in favour of multipass? I've been trying to use multipass but more the passes are, more the general blur in the image and it doesn't involve neccesarily a better look of my render... more of this aliased borders still appear, but softened. Thanks everyone for your support
Last reply by itsjustme, -
Hi My name is Graham Easton and I live in Lancashire England. I am a retired mechanical engineer having run my own engineering company for 30 years. During that time I have been amazed how the drafting techniques have changed from pencil and paper to computer graphics. I now make short videos and I love trains both full size and models, (yes an anorak as we are referred to in England). However I have always found animation fascinating, particularly moving machinery rather that actors. Some time back I purchased a copy of Animation Master 2004 version 10.5 but never had the time to use the program due to work. Time has moved on and I now have the time but not…
Last reply by youngman, -
- 5 replies
- 377 views
is there any such thing as an "object collision" for a bone? if there is, can you tell me how to do it?
Last reply by Ravager, -
- 2 replies
- 351 views
How do you do limit what frames to do the rigid body simulation. I've got some 8000 frames of choreography with a bit where I need some marbles to pile in a reasonable fashion, and then tip over some 6000 frames later. How do I limit the simulation (which is slow) to just the frame range where change occurs?
Last reply by ArgleBargle, -
- 11 followers
- 179 replies
- 17.2k views
Welcome to the New Users forum! The idea behind this forum is to provide help and support for users who are new to Animation:Master and are going through the Art of Animation:Master tutorials. We encourage you to post your Works-In-Progress (WIP) from these tutorials to this forum. You will learn a lot from the feedback you get. As moderator of the New Users forum I'm here for you. You could say I come with the box. I'll be here to answer basic A:M questions but the entire community of A:M users is here for you too. They'll guide and encourage you as you explore the world of animation as only they can. New users are welcome to post to any of the forums…
Last reply by Graham, -
- 1 follower
- 5 replies
- 418 views
I scanned in parts of a book.I'm making a book prop(s). The scans are saved as jpegs, I choose them as my new decal, the bounding box appears, but no image. The image is in the DECAL section. I don't know why. I've done the same process before, and it worked. I scanned the book cover under 200 dpi, is that too big? Ahhhhh!
Last reply by Paul Forwood, -
- 1 reply
- 341 views
Just wondering what happened to the animation contest, and is there a new topic for the stills contest, i completly missed the christmas contest, and i was working on a good one anyway
Last reply by Luuk Steitner, -
- 6 replies
- 637 views
I have a couple questions about how the "rotation" transform works. 1. Under the "Transform" property for the typical object in a chor are the "translate", "scale" and "rotate" properties. If I click the little triangle next to each, I can get the X, Y and Z (or X and Y for scale) listed separately. If I then click on just one of the dimensions under translate or scale, the graph for just that dimension will show up in the timeline and I can add or manipulate its keyframes. HOWEVER, if I click on just one dimension for the "rotate" property, I get nothing. The only way I can manipulate a dimension for rotate is to click on "Rotate" and get all three dimensions in…
Last reply by ypoissant, -
- 5 replies
- 560 views
Why does AM keep on making that annoying Windows "dong!" sound when I run it? It seems to happen randomly, every minute or two. Any suggestions? Thanks, Sruli
Last reply by Tralfaz, -
- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 375 views
Hello all. I work on a Macintosh, and I had started some models at home. I also use a Mac at work, same operating system. I saved some files on my USB drive and took the program to work, and the files won't open. I'm running the same, updated AM program at work. Am I missing a step in saving the program? Thanks!
Last reply by ArgleBargle, -
- 8 replies
- 721 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, -
- 3 replies
- 559 views
Help Help! I thought, the links to the older releases wouldn't point to the same file, but they do. Is there any way I can get version n, because I think there is a problem with o that's forcing me to roll back.
Last reply by Tralfaz, -
- 2 replies
- 433 views
I've lathed a jar that's supposed to hold a bunch of marbles one of my characters later pours into a dish. I figured either the rigid-body thing or the Newton plugin would do the job. I went with Newton. Marbles are clones of the 32-patch sphere and are used as Dynamic Sphereobjects [sic]. The jar is "Static with Action." I put 24 marbles in a semi-random vertical stack over the jar and ran the simulation. The marbles all pooled at the bottom of the jar in a likeable fashion. So far, so good. Later in the chor I lifted the jar and, to my horror, the marbles all simply fell through the bottom of the jar as if it wasn't there. This included the marbles that…
Last reply by ArgleBargle, -
- 3 replies
- 360 views
you know the last post i made, "feet?", it had questions about the legs following the feet and stuff. this time, i imported the "2001 Skeleton", and stuff, after a while, adding all the flesh and stuff to the bone, it worked fine. just now it has seemed to have forgotten the constraints to the bones, and it wont move with the targets. can you tell me what constraints go to which target/bone?
Last reply by C-grid, -
walk cycle
by bighop- 1 follower
- 6 replies
- 415 views
I made a very simple model, and created a walk cycle for it. Now when I put the model on a path, and try to increase the time is walks the path, the model completes one walk cycle and freezes, but glides through the path. Any ideas anyone?
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
- 1 follower
- 5 replies
- 614 views
is there some way to generate water or liquids to make a stream or fountian exe, like a sprite, only in water form and not "particles"?
Last reply by johnl3d, -
- 2 replies
- 282 views
there is one bone in an action that i want to change by copying and pasting the action to the single bone, but instead, it pastes the entire action to all of the other bones, is there any way to make it so that it only pastes the action to the single bone? thx
Last reply by Ravager, -
- 2 replies
- 325 views
I've done the first five tutorials and I'm now having fun doing bouncing balls routines with Shaggy. And I thought I'd like to add some music to them just to play around with that. I have a 54 sec. WAV file to use, but I'm not doing too well getting it into the choreography, timeline, etc. for synchronizing. I went into exercise seven "KeeKat, can you say that", to try and get a handle on adding sounds. I read the info on the HELP menu, but I'm still missing something. Is there more information out there on adding music that I can get to help me out on this? Thanks...
Last reply by DonnyG, -
- 1 follower
- 7 replies
- 370 views
Hi, i just bought a new pc, p4 2.0, 512 ram, win xp sp2, but i cant get to load primitive.hxt!!!, i unzipped the primitive.zip to the v11.1/hxt and then i run rhe AM (the little witch version) and then an error apears that says "unable to load plug-in c:program files/hash inc/v11.1/hxtprimitive.hxt no se puede encontrar el modulo especificado" that translates to "unable to find the specified module", thing is, that in my laptop and my pc at work, it runs fine!!! HELP PLZ!!!
Last reply by chuchi, -
- 0 replies
- 262 views
Has anyone completed exersize 20 of the 2006 manual? I was able to complete it all the way to the end then it crashed when turning on draw for the hair. From then on it was impossible to reload the project file wihtout getting an error. I have submitted an error report to Hash but will also include the PRJ file here to see if anyone else can load it. [attachmentid=23103] Ex_20.zip
Last reply by rbjohnsn, -
- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 340 views
Hello all, I'm trying to put an AM character into a video. I'm trying to import a video file (quicktime) but nothing works. I have quicktime pro so I can export the video into different formats. However none of them seem to work.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 reply
- 280 views
java script:emoticon('', 'smid_2') Hi i try to install A|M 13 and when i try to work with it, and place material to a model i get the massage that the program does not have plugin? what should i do? please help...
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 reply
- 314 views
I've been lurking for awhile, trying to decide whether to buy A:M or not, and I'm almost persuaded, but have one question (actually two) in mind before committing? 1. Can you "Frankenstein" together models? In other words, if I have a perfectly good head, can I say copy/paste it into another model and still preserve all the relevant bones, poses. smartskin, and muscle movements. 2. Further, if I have a head that I mostly like, but need to modify it, can I cut it in half vertically, then make all the changes I want including bones, poses, smartsking, and muscle movements - then copy/attach it all back into a whole head again? Of course, I know that when pa…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 reply
- 337 views
I've got a bone with a kinematic constraint to a null. After the bone has followed the null, I need to have it let go and continue on an alternate path. However, when I set the enforcement to 0%, I find it popping back to the angle it had when I set enforcement to 100%. I can find no way to key the bone where it is just as I release the constraint. I find myself having to copy and paste the values found in the X, Y and Z rotation values in the properties window. (FWIW, keying the bone essentially does nothing as it records rotations at the time the constraint was enforced, and if you enable compensate mode, the angles all go to 0.)
Last reply by ArgleBargle, -
- 1 reply
- 335 views
...and the 2004 support files reference an 'Orangutan' on the CD. Will these files do for my ver 11? I believe ver b was the one that comes off the CD. Thanks, C.
Last reply by Dhar, -
- 3 replies
- 477 views
I seem to recall running across the answer to this here a while back. Can all the model libraries be transfered to the HD and not run off the CD? I know that it would still be necessary to have the CD in to run the prog, and I'm fine with that. I just thought it might make things go a little faster to have all that goodness running of the box instead of the CD. If so, has anyone tried this and was there a noticible difference? Thanks. C.
Last reply by marshall, -
- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 478 views
I have something of a dilemma with a shadow. As you can see in the image accompning this question, the shadow of the horn charactor is incomplete. The bell is open, and thus the shadow does not show it. What can I do to get the shadow to cast fully as it is supposed to?
Last reply by Moonsire, -
- 6 replies
- 453 views
I just tried to flatten my exersize 11 for a decal, and I was unable to find the dilog FLATTEN in the Rotate Window. Has something changed in ver 13? I've flatten a face before and thought I had it all figured out. Also I tried to submit this to the Forum FAQ but it wouldn't let me Any help would be welcomed
Last reply by ArgleBargle, -
- 3 replies
- 379 views
Thanks to a trick I learned in these forums some time ago, I'm implementing some motion with a chain of bones, of which the end bone has a kinematic constraint to a null, and the null has a translate-constraint to another object. (Imagine, for example, an octopus leg hanging on to an object moving in a perfect circle. This method realistically is the only way to do it.) Anyway, so far I've not had any problems with this until today. I have a null that successfully translate-constrains to several objects. Then I constrained the null to a bone of an object (not the model bone). I tested the motion and it looked good. Then I positioned to a frame prior to enfo…
Last reply by ArgleBargle, -
- 1 reply
- 346 views
Hi, I just got a new computer(intel Mac) and the buttons (like zoom etc) are not visible when I open A:M. I upgraded to v14 and that did not help. Any ideas? I did try to change the toolbar settings but this did not work. Lori
Last reply by Lori Hiatt, -
- 2 replies
- 321 views
I haven't been on here in awhile (trying to find a new job and move), so i've been absent. But, I remember there used to be a site that had free animation master models (characters, animals, etc..etc) that you could download and use. Does anyone know of or remember that site? I d/l some good models off there and would like to get a Santa Clause one as well. Thanks.
Last reply by Rodney, -
Happy days
by bts0- 1 reply
- 343 views
O I am so happy lol I finally had enough time to drive 4 hours to get a graphics card (not to mention save up money! lol) but yea! now i have one! so I hope to finally post my finished produnct of my plane soon
Last reply by Rodney, -
ok i'v noticed when i make a walking seen the model alway look like its powerwalking (very fast) How do I get it to walk slower?
Last reply by bts0, -
- 5 replies
- 413 views
how do i make a completely different character (just made) do that timeline and talking thing, like " can you say that?"
Last reply by Bruce Del Porte, -
- 0 replies
- 198 views
hi i try to implement a material to an objet and i get the missing plugin error, what should i do?
Last reply by Hathatool, -
- 2 replies
- 379 views
Old time A:M user here, Has Biased normals replaced porcelain as an option for smoother model surfaces in the current version of A:M? In the old days there was default/normal patch surfaces, which are great for most models, and there was also a Porcelain.mat that would average the surface for smoother surfaces that worked great for some other kinds of models. Maybe a cartoon baby, for example. They were both great and both had advantages and disadvantages. (Don't worry folks, I'm not trying to avoid good modeling technique). The technical manual says that Biased Normals is now the default. Does that mean there is biased and unbiased rendering available now? Or i…
Last reply by Glen Crowell, -
- 5 replies
- 544 views
Is there a place I can go to learn more about how to model and set up things like tubes sliding around circular rods, making cymbals flop around on a stand when struck by a drum stick without the stick passing through the cymbal, making machine type assemblies rotate on an axle without sliding through the axle. The learning experience has been hard for me, but I am determined to learn no matter how long it takes. Thanks in advance! Tony
Last reply by itsjustme, -
- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 344 views
Hello hashers, After a long time in the wilderness I'm trying to get back in to A:M. I feel like a newbie all over again. I'm very familiar with A:M V8.5 p++, but it will not work on our new WIN XP CPU. I've installed my A:M V9 2002. My old A:M model work uses half traditional modeling and half use porcelain depending on the type of character. Is there a different way of making porcelain.mat to work in V9.5f? When I apply it to a model it doesn't work like i'm used to. It has no effect at all. Any one have any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I look forward to upgrading to V13 as money and time free up. Thanks, Glen Crowell long time A:M user.
Last reply by KenH, -
- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 409 views
I've got a very detailed photo-realistic facial mesh that I'm trying to re-fit to a 3ds prop that's a 3D scan of an actual person, I then have high resolution flat lighting orthogonal photos that I'll be using as decals... The eyes, nose, mouth, and ears are obvious things to group and move around to match their positions on the actual face, so I've made groups for these and the surrounding patches. Later on the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears will have to be tweaked, adjusted, and (possibly) remodeled (a bit) to closely match the real person - but I'm just wanting to get them into the right relative positions to start. The problem I'm running into is that as I move…
Last reply by ypoissant, -
- 7 replies
- 585 views
I am currently working with Animation Master version 11.1 Does anyone know what file formats work for exporting models into After Effects 7.0 Are there special plug-ins that I need to download for this? Thank you.
Last reply by rickh, -
- 1 reply
- 488 views
sometimes i would like to render amovie in the shaded mode, because it doen't need to be that detailed, i am just trying to get an idea across and don't need hair or fire, but it has the pink camera frame in it, is there a why to do it to get rid of the frame
Last reply by Noel,