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A:M Forum Rules
GENERAL FORUM GUIDELINES
The A:M Forum is for technical support and the sharing of tips and ideas between users/prospective users of Hash software. It is moderated constantly by technical support representatives.
DO'S!
-Ask questions about the software.
-Assist other users... everyone was new at this once.
-Inform people of your version/platform when asking for help.
-Share resources; tutorials, models, textures, tips and techniques (link to useful websites).
-Post links to your work, or where your art is being used online (on websites, in games, toons', etc.)
-Search the A:M Forum and FAQ. The question you are about to ask may have already been answered.
-Organize and inform others about user groups, IRC chats, image and animation contests, job opportunities, etc.
-Discuss what you are working on and let everyone know about magazine reviews and articles that relate to your projects.
DON'TS!
-Do Not be rude or disrespectful or mean to other forum members in any way. Personal attacks will be removed.
-Do Not post bug/crash reports to the list (send bug/crash reports to http://www.hash.com/reports.
-Do Not complain about forum content. Complaints or suggestions can be sent directly to hash@hash.com
-Do Not reprimand other forum members for violating forum rules, that's the moderators job, which (unless you are a moderator) you are not.
-No complaining or whining on the forum or distribution of misinformation.
-No flames of any kind.
-No Off Topic posts. (Posts in the Off Topics section should be related to A:M in some form or fashion or benefit the A:M community as a whole).
-No soliciting of any kind without prior approval.
-No threads or comparisons related to other 3D Applications.
-No "Wish list" or feature requests, they should be sent to www.hash.com/reports for categorizing and prioritization (User requests define the future development of the software).
-No "me too!" posts
-No discussion of Hash Internal Affairs (finances, advertising, PR.)
-No posting of private email to the forum unless permission of the author is granted. (Private correspondence should remain private)
-No very general questions like: "how do I make a good 3D model" make your questions as complete and concise as possible.
If you have questions as to whether it's appropriate, send it to: support@hash.com, We'll be happy to let you know whether it is, or is not appropriate.
User Led Forum Considerations
Firstly and foremostly, please remember this is Martin Hash's forum and that it is every A:M User's primary resource for information about A:M. In order to remain relevant we need everyone's continuing support and interest.
Secondly, understand there is a distinction between A:M (the program) and the A:M forum. There are some topics and issues that are outside the scope of this forum and most can be deduced by reading through the forum guidelines. These include such things as Hash Inc internal policies, business practices, trade secrets, and specific plans for the future not yet publicly released. Each of these would be fascinating topics of their own but are better reserved for private communications with a representative of Hash Inc.
Related to the second, is purchasing, customer service and other areas outside the purview of the common user who may have no interest in such things; subjects relating to money exchanging hands are beyond the scope of the A:M Forum and often can lead to conflicts of interest between users and/or Hash Inc. (If Hash Inc cuts you a deal on volume purchasing it's really no one else's business). Likewise, individual complaints about a product or service are best remedied by going direct with Hash Inc representatives empowered to make decisions. Please allow them them the time necessary to resolve your specific issue and consider the cost of customized solutions.
This last area is likely the source of much confusion because many see the A:M Forum as the official outlet for Hash Inc... and it is. But the forum is not designed for conducting business and private matters best resolved by going to Hash Inc directly. Similarly, bug reports are best resolved by entering them directly into the A:M Reporting system.
Many problems can be easily addressed at the user level just by asking fellow users in the forum. If someone at Hash Inc suggests the forum as a source, it is very likely a problem can be easily resolved. For tougher issues there is even more reason to take the issue directly to the source... you don't want the issue discussed... you want it resolved quickly.
Finally, remember that we want to pass this forum on to future moderators and generations of A:M Users in the absolute best condition possible. A:M is just that good a program and is worthy of our consideration.
Thanks for making the A:M Forum a great community.
4,141 topics in this forum
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- 1 follower
- 16 replies
- 734 views
ok im making a car of sorts and got the basic model riged but it has ocured to me that i dont know how to make the wheels turn execpt by frame by frame actualy rotating them , is there an easyer way to do this?
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 24 replies
- 1.6k views
It looks like when you weld control points Shift+Weld vs Weld (right click while holding the left mouse button on PC, or a ~ click on mac) the behaviors are different. It looks like Welding the ends of a spline together joins the spline, making one spline, while Shift+weld seems to attach them, but they don't form one smooth spline. Can someone point me to documentation that explains this better. The book also mentions something about spline direction, which I can't seem to find information about either. I've looked at the basic splinesmanship web pages, and they are great, but also dated. Also, in an attempt to force me to do things rather than just see…
Last reply by C-grid, -
- 20 replies
- 1.8k views
I had an idea for a some alien creature that would not have any surface shading, but just an outline to it. Is there a way to use the toon lines to do that and make the surface completely transparent or not visible and just show the outline of the model?
Last reply by captainrex, -
- 11 replies
- 732 views
I can quickly get overwhelmed by wanting to know how to do everything in A:M. So I have finally decided to study modeling. I am by no means an artist, but that is no reason not to know how everything works as far as splinemanship et al. This focus will also include creating phonems(sp) for speech. I have some models, from the extras DVD, with which I really want to do some lip. sinc. I guess I'll start with making my set of primatives, how to make holes in things, etc...So you are gonna see alot of examples and questions of how to do it better. I'm going back to Jeff Canton's tutorials and then moving on to whatever else I can find. I want to make frie…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 5 replies
- 428 views
hello all long time no see i just got a fresh new code for Am and have started drawing again but it seams that with the new version of am a few of my setting are missng/undone. there used to be a way to set the amount of "panels" to render when using shaded view. currently when i set a circle to shaded view it renders as a poly gone of sorts so its dificult to add to it.
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 2 replies
- 273 views
Hi All, My first flick. So tell me what you think and lots of advice, please. 1st.....................It is to fast, don't know how to slow it down??? 2nd....................The red strobe light stays on through the whole thing, needs to be off until frame 22, ON thru 27 then off again ( it is a bone and I can't figure out how to Aim At the holomap ) ??? 3rd....................The 3 colored lights inside should be flashing through the whole animation??? 4th....................I created a action for a spinning decal in the front circle but don't know how to get it in and working??? I know this is a lot to ask but would love to hear all your opinions and advi…
Last reply by Walter Baker, -
- 2 replies
- 198 views
Hi - I'm working on a gorilla model and posted in the work in progress forum and David Simmons mentions a few things including the hair- "I'm not sure about the hair or the chest scars in these renders. In these renders, it looks like the hair could be thickened at its' base and the scar could use a bump or displacement map" How do you thicken the hair at the base? I am looking in the Technical Reference - and it mentions "the thickness can vary along it's length" - I am in AM in the "properties" of the hair system - and it just has a "Thickness" with a percentage, but nothing about the thickness over the length (thicker at the base) Any help to clear this…
Last reply by flashawd, -
- 10 replies
- 648 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, -
- 6 replies
- 342 views
Working on trying to get a robe around some legs, and the robe is completely ignoring all CPs assigned to certain bones. I tried assigning the CPs to a different bone and the cloth detects them just fine... usually. The CPs assigned to the bones also seem to "snap" back into place if I pause an animation in the middle. Anyone got any experience with something like this, or know how to fix it? Using 15g on OSX 10.5.8.
Last reply by Meowx, -
- 1 follower
- 9 replies
- 302 views
Never have to wait very long for something new to pop up. Animated decal on leg. Have tried AVI, JPG & TGA with and without alpha channel. No change. Granted the skin is flexing but have run out of ideas for fixing it myself. Any help greatly appreciated. Results are the same when rendered with Netrender.
Last reply by svetlik, -
- 0 replies
- 262 views
Greetings; I hope someone here can give me some advice. I am considering purchasing animation master. I am a professional clown and magician, so it would be fun for me to learn a new skill that will help me express my creative side, but I am primarilly considering buying it for my teenage kids. My son is deep into comics, not much of an artist but has lots of ideas he has trouble getting on to paper because he can't draw. My daughter just learned how to use a graphics program and loves creating new pages and posters. Both kids are comfortable with computers and drag and drop graphic software and with acid, the software I use to create music. Is animation master som…
Last reply by jedlie, -
- 1 follower
- 6 replies
- 552 views
Greetings; I hope someone here can give me some advice. I am considering purchasing animation master. I am a professional clown and magician, so it would be fun for me to learn a new skill that will help me express my creative side, but I am primarilly considering buying it for my teenage kids. My son is deep into comics, not much of an artist but has lots of ideas he has trouble getting on to paper because he can't draw. My daughter just learned how to use a graphics program and loves creating new pages and posters. Both kids are comfortable with computers and drag and drop graphic software and with acid, the software I use to create music. Is animation master som…
Last reply by KenH, -
- 3 followers
- 33 replies
- 4.5k views
I bought my first copy of AM at a show in LA and Marshall sold me version 3 and told me to download version 4 when I got home. This was around the mid 90's give or take. I upgraded a few time and the last one around 2000 when they just made the native switch to the OSX. I upgraded again but was disappointed with the stability. I have a project coming up and thought AM would be good for it. So 11 years later I am tempted to get it. I did some searches here but nothing new came up. Is it finally stable or will I be disappointed? I know they were great at repairing bugs when they couple be replicated but that normal unexpectedly quieting and loosing work sucked to much.…
Last reply by Xtaz, -
- 8 replies
- 470 views
Is it possible ot make monthly payments on A:M? I'm going to have enough to buy it in a couple of weeks but I don't want to wait that long to order it. I relize this is silly cause A:M is only $300 compared to things like maya which go up to 7k. However I am a student and cannot afford somthing like that. (plus A:M looks way cooler) So, to sum it all up, is there a monthly payment plan with or without interest? /me blushes
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 3 replies
- 561 views
This topic is for Gary who is having some problems posting a new topic. Hopefully he'll see this topic and be able to post here. Here's Gary's first question (somewhat rephrased) for those who would like to lend a hand and welcome him to the forum: Welcome to the A:M forum Gary!
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 793 views
This years xmas card. A merry xmas and a verry happy new year to all of you! From a old user.
Last reply by noewjook, -
- 2 followers
- 7 replies
- 484 views
Hi, I'm trying to have a character sitting in a chair have a thought bubble pop up. Kind of like you would see in a comic book. I can't seem to figure out how to do this. I think for the most part I could just use decals and paste them into the air above the head. But, if I create a round white circle in Photoshop, of course the picture is square and I can't seem to get rid of the background and just leave the circle. When the top bubble appears, I then would insert a model, which I have to create and perform some type of animation on the model. Am I thinking right in using decals or is there a better way to accomplish this. Thanks. Greg
Last reply by greg, -
- 0 replies
- 397 views
Sorry... accidently posted this twice. Admin can DELETE this post. Sorry
Last reply by phnxpyre, -
- 2 replies
- 530 views
How do you go about making it so a model i have has a picture to go with it? Thanks!
Last reply by ArgleBargle, -
- 6 replies
- 4.1k views
I know you can use the tilde-key to join splines or press the Left and the Right button on the mouse. But.. I'm on a Azerty-keyboard so there is no tilde-key AND I use the Mac with a mighty mouse. I can't press left and right at the same time. (if can I? ) PLUS I can't assign a shortcut since there is no Join or Spline join command? I search the forum but with no luck. What are my options here? Waldo
Last reply by Waldo3D, -
- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 371 views
Hi! I'd like to make a material, if possible, that looks like regular square tile. Some type of material that has a grid structure with pattern that looks like standard bathroom tile and grout. I'd like to make a bathroom tile that catches light the way that real tile does. Can anyone point me to a tutorial on how to make a tile material, or point me to a repository of these, if they exist. Any help would be much appreciated. Tim
Last reply by johnl3d, -
- 2 replies
- 340 views
Seems like I recall there was a way to tile decals, and you could choose whether you'd want to flip them horizontally and/or vertically, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to do it. I made a small decal for a road surface, and I want it to repeat for the length of the road. Is there a way to do that without having to place a million different stamps? thanks, Tommy
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
- 1 reply
- 252 views
Part of my animation sequence is moving to slow and I'd like to time compress it by about half. However there are dozens of keyframes affected. Is it possible to time compress/expand a section of an animated sequence without having to go and tweak all keyframes? I've been scouring through the timeline but can't figure out if this is possible.
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
- 7 replies
- 1k views
Hi, everybody. I actually have some time off from work to animate! I have a great character modeled and it's time to really learn these constraints. I'd like to know some great tutorial resources that will help with picking up objects, surface constraints (ie. a hand not going through a table top). I'm finding it's difficult to manuever hands and arms realistically and easily. Any suggestions on specific tutorials would be great! Thomas
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 2 replies
- 300 views
When I went through TAO:AM, I know there were some moments that I was asked to do things that just didn't seem to be in my software. Easing is a great example, and since I finally have a reason I want to ease, I'm going to ask about it. So I locate the ease in the PW. I double-click it. Isn't it supposed to expand? For me, the "ease" looks like a bone's keyframe line or anything else's, but I can't find anywhere to edit it. In the Properties window, it lists only the title, "Ease*" and a single button which changes whether the waveform is curvey, sharply angled, or another one. I can't figure out how to edit ease functions on my computer, although I can…
Last reply by danf, -
- 14 replies
- 825 views
In the project on which I'm working, I have a medley of famous songs I animated to. When I started they were all split up into separate parts and each bit done as an action. With fresh eyes I realise that may not have been the best of plans (?) so now I am trying to put it all together as one with the whole 1min 54 seconds of medley. I tried to do this in the choreography but could not get the separate actions to run concurrently, even when I adjusted the input/output settings in 'properties'. So I tried to copy all the bones info in one action and paste it into a new one, along with the full medley. That did not work either. Is there a way to s…
Last reply by Simon Edmondson, -
- 2 followers
- 32 replies
- 2.6k views
Ok, so I'm experimenting with simple walk with my penguin model, and the butt has some serious "junk in the trunk funk" going on. (see screenshot) I'm thinking smartskin would help here but am not sure where to start. Ideas?
Last reply by robcat2075, -
Hi Is it possible to either move the start of my action in the chor to say frame 30, or to start the choreography at frame minus 30. I can stretch all the keys to the right or left (up to frame 0) apart from the first one that seems glued to frame 0. I know should have thought about it in more detail before I started, but I was sure I could tweak it afterwards. I am using v15. Thanks. Hoggy
Last reply by Hoggy, -
- 4 replies
- 700 views
So I was moving another window and some how dragged my timeline off screen. there is still the time controls and slider at the bottom and despite clicking on views and checking time line it still doesnt reappear! Awesome.
Last reply by mtpeak2, -
- 1 reply
- 723 views
Just installed my brand-new AM subscription and I saw a new option during the install process...Timelog plugin? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess this lets you keep track of use but I haven't managed to find it anywhere yet.
Last reply by itsjustme, -
- 3 replies
- 263 views
attached is a short animation test. the chor is 3:01, the action (walk exhausted) is 4:00 long. I'm trying to figure out how to make the action slower. I can't. I must be getting "slower" with age. How can I make him walk more exhaustedly (slower)? test.mov
Last reply by .:shortdog:., -
- 1 reply
- 1.6k views
Okay you know this stuff already right? Because I'm a big fan of Right Clicking I sometimes forget about the ease of double clicking in the Project Workspace and use alternative ways that often add a few extra steps. The primary exception to the rule in double clicking in the Project Workspace is the top container (Project). As you are already in a project double clicking won't create a new project. In fact it won't do anything. When clicking on Image, A:M will prompt you to open an image. The same goes for double clicking on Sound. A:M will prompt us to load a audio file. Double clicking on a Material will create a new (default) material, ready and waiti…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 reply
- 980 views
One of the easiest ways to combine Choreographies is to create a third (empty) Chor and import the others into it. As a cautionary note, saving that Chor will result in one that is truly merged and combined so make sure you save your originals. For realtime organization and planning of Projects consider creating Choreographies with themes. For instance you might have one Chor named 'Characters' that has all of the actors needed in a particular storyline. Similarly, a Chor named 'Props' can be populated with all manner of props. As you need these resources simply drag and drop from the Character Chor into the active Chor you have set up for with a camera for that s…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 214 views
Hi - Work mellowed out a bit, so I just started back up modeling a motorcycle from a few months back, and I am working on the tires and need some suggestions on how to put tread on a tire w/o the use of a decal. I did a seach, but didn't really come up w/ anything. I created a torus, but not sure where to go from there. Any suggestions would be appreciated, or even better if there happens to be a tutorial someone knows of. Thanks again - Eric.
Last reply by flashawd, -
- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 399 views
well the fun four days are over, here's the result. a whopping two seconds. on the bus stop theme though the set is not there. this would be the beginning so yes, he just missed the bus. only just animated the hands today, couldn't post without at least an inkling of follow through. arms were the hardest thing to do. the balance i've been at for the longest, have a hearty go! it was very interesting to move the hips in relation to the feet to experiment where he is the most tired, when the motion is the most cumbersome. what's here is not the only thing that worked, but the most "thom organic". a dead tired jogger does his best to not let the hips sink cause …
Last reply by dblhelix, -
- 0 replies
- 262 views
Hello, I'm working in the new v.15 and the purple Title and Action-Safe lines that are traditionally visible are not showing. They are necessary, so I know where to place my objects, in regards to the screen. How can I turn those guides on in v.15? Thanks, Tim
Last reply by Laconic, -
- 22 replies
- 928 views
I've been taking another run at bump maps. I made a bump stencil and put blur on it in Corel. I put it on as a bump map on the model and did a render lock on the model and it looked fine, but when I did a render to file it barely showed as a shadow trace on the surface. Is it because I have a material on the Vase? Why would it render one way in render lock and another in render to file?
Last reply by Darkwing, -
- 0 replies
- 256 views
Yearning to learn, I decided it was time to do the Volumetrics tutorial. Images 1 & 2 show my attempt to animate the Fall Off of the Dust per the tutorial. Before setting the fall off, (image 1), right-clicking the Fall Off property shows that the "Use Cache" is set. After changing the fall off to 0 for frame 1, another look at the Fall Off properties shows that the "Constant" is set. Also, under the Drivers/Action Objects/Dust Action Object property, a Fall Off property has been added showing a lock. That was the experience using AM 14.0a. When replicated using AM 13.0l, after setting the frame 1 fall off to 0, the Fall Off property shows "Time Based" …
Last reply by wingalls, -
- 1 reply
- 577 views
Thank you. Niels Krook This still, from my first animation, took 49 seconds, it has field of depth, lights, etc.
Last reply by Odog2020, -
- 4 replies
- 443 views
ok, so my post yesterday about having 10 splines join caused a ruckus and I finaly threw the modele out , how ever going trough some of the images iv seen is some of the help files iv nocoted that splines can terminat on another spline with out creating a CP , and i have tryed this , only problem is that it seams to attach the spline where ever it wants along the attached to spline , how can i get this to go where i want as if i can find this out i could reduce the number of splines in my model drasticaly
Last reply by Master chief, -
- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 430 views
I started building my house in AM so I could see what a wood floor would be like throughout my little place. A friend of mine saw the attached picture and asked if the cold air return was real or a decal. I told him I really modeled it. He suggested that a decal would be better because when rendering, the light will have to be calculated for each fin (There are 68 fins, and a decal or map would be better. (This is based on a 3D program he uses) Does that apply to AM? Am I really going to tank my render times for adding too much detail?
Last reply by bighop, -
- 2 replies
- 235 views
I managed to detach the render bar from the rest of the toolbar and I can't get it to reattach. Is there something that is preventing putting it back in the toolbar?
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 3 replies
- 245 views
I just started using 15.0g about a week ago, and from time to time when I go from a model into an action - to, say, test out some rigging - and then close the action and go back to the model... the modeling toolbars won't come back. It just stays with the animation ones. Closing and reopening the model doesn't work, not even closing the entire project! Fiddling with toolbar settings doesn't work either - the modeling toolbar will show up when I'm in the customization menu but then go away as soon as I close it. I have to save and reboot A:M to get the toolbars back. Anyone else having this issue?
Last reply by Meowx, -
- 5 replies
- 464 views
In the customize window, all the selections (tool bars, etc) remain until changed except for the scheme. If I want to change it to something else (I quite like the Bordeaux) I have to do it every time I open a project. Is this the way it is designed?
Last reply by bubba, -
- 4 replies
- 467 views
There seems to be some circumstance that makes tooltips not appear even though "Show Tooltips" is checked in the Customize window. Anyone know how to get them back? Besides a Reset? (This is not "Tip of the Day" that I am asking about)
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 3 replies
- 377 views
Hello all, I am not sure if I am messing up the applicatoin of my "toon" material or if it is an issue with AM 2005 (Version 12.0w). When a 5 point patch falls along an edge during a render, the toon line color is wrong. This picture shows the under arm area of my model. Notice how the area under the arm has a hazy orange outline. This material should render as a cyanish-blue with a black outline. Does anyone have any tips? Do I need to do something special when applying a material to a 5 point patch? Thanks.
Last reply by animsakari, -
- 2 replies
- 424 views
I'm having a problem with the toon shader which when I render it, I get these weird shadows and lines in the background of my walls. Here's a picture to show what I'm talking about. :)
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 reply
- 428 views
Hi there, I want to toonrender a model of mine with blackoutline only upon white. I made all the according changes in the renderoptions, modelproperties and cameraoptions and it works fine in the previewrender, but when I do a final render in the chor, I get only a total black picture. Any help anybody please? What am I possibly doing wrong? AM12 q WinXP Thank you ;>/ Jake
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
- 6 replies
- 2.2k views
First of all, let me say that A:M is pretty amazing-- the very first thing I've tried to model (after being away from 3D art for over 5 years and never having used A:M before) is actually coming out way better than I expected. On the other hand-- it also has some major issues. So-- as the attached images show, I have some weird stuff going on with my topology, and when the model is rendered, it has nasty creases all over it. I'm looking for some pointers on how to manage topology in A:M, and, more importantly, how to go back and fix things after the fact. Can someone point me to some good tuts on this, or where I should look in the manual for guidane? Thanks! …
Last reply by bcgreen24, -
- 2 replies
- 936 views
Hey Guys, I'm Back I was wondering if anyone can tell me the total I would pay for a subscription? I know they are using paypal now and was not sure if it added anything to the $79.99. David
Last reply by thumperness,