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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.
4,165 topics in this forum
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- 7 replies
- 1.2k views
Hey all, I just recently built an amazingly overpriced computer ( Asus A8N-SLI Premium, AMD64 4400 dual core, and 2x Nvidia 7800gt in sli) specifically for rendering and animating and stuff. I know other programs out there support dual core/multi cpu setups, but Im wondering if A:M has high support with it, or am I better off turning of affinity to one core and using hyper transport? I havent really noticed a difference in rendering either way, just curious if theres a patch or a newer version that would support it.
Last reply by SirSpectre, -
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- 1k views
Well, first off, I'm completely clueless when it comes to just about everything on animation master. I know very simple things, such as the mirror button... which is the only way i know of to make my work 3-D. One of my problems. Question #1: How can you make images that arent the same all the way around-- I ask this stupid question because when you use mirror say you drew half a square, it turns it into a cylinder shaped figure. I know if you mess around with it, you could get it back to say, a cube shape, but I'm sure theres some easier way. Question #2: This may be normal, or not able to be changed, but when i go into shaded mode, my picture is not smooth…
Last reply by Kelley, -
- 2 replies
- 626 views
I am trying to work through the Lip Poses Tutorial. When I turn on the magnetic mode and click a corner of the lips to make adjustments the sphere of influence does not appear like in the tutorial video. What would cause this? T MAC
Last reply by Ganthofer, -
- 1 follower
- 0 replies
- 457 views
I want to try a Matrix effect I want the sound they use when the characters go into ths slow mode fighting stuff. Please attach her or Email it to me Please. THis is for MMC#3 and I have a deadline
Last reply by PF_Mark, -
- 1 reply
- 476 views
Hey people. I need help with a project in V 10.5 I got an idea of trying to make an animation that looks like a child's drawing with stick figures and such, and I was wondering how you guys think I should do the surfaces. The idea for the project is that I was going to start it with a zoom in of a simple drawing on a fridge door. The premise of the movie is a stick figure action blockbuster with a ton of stick figure fight scenes, car chases, and the like. I got the idea from an old Mtv short called Stick Figure Theatre on the show Liquid Television. So when the picture starts to move it's all in 3D. Most of the models that I've made The problem is…
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Continuing my fascination with clunky World War One-ish things, I started to build a seaplane. [bi-plane, center pontoon hull] Last night I was setting Specular highlights. I had done most everything: the hull, engine, fuel tank. nacelle, and the cockpit. [and had Saved] Just before wrapping up for the night, I came back to find that the cockpit nacelle's dark green upper surface, and the brown leather rims, had defaulted to the red used on the nose. Today, I undertook to repair that. After three attempts, I gave up. I can change the colors back. [i remove them from Groups first] But as soon as I assign Specular color, it snaps back to red. Might I have exceeded a limit t…
Last reply by KenH, -
- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 607 views
Hello, I got my A:M software about a week ago, I've been fooling around with different things. But now I'm ready to get serious on learning how to use A:M. I'm trying to create some gun shot blood splatters for head & chest hit's for my film. (www.revelation2222.com) I found A:M at an FX show in Orlando and was hooked on the spot! I could post some clips for examples from Land & Dawn of the Dead, But I'm not sure if that would O.K. there only about 19 frames long. Thanks! This is were I'm at so far.[attachmentid=14729] Blood_Test_1.mov
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 589 views
I am putting together a choreography in which a character climbs up a steep wall. The trouble that I am having is when I go to move a foot higher the body and more specifically the arms do not stay in place. Is there a way of locking down the hands and the right foot while I move the left? Thanks, Redwings
Last reply by Dhar, -
- 10 replies
- 788 views
When I cut a circle, I created with lathe, in half it does not keep it symmetry about the center. It bows into a parabola instead of keeping it's half moon shape. I then have to staighten it out slowly by hand, one Control point at a time. Anyone know a solution?
Last reply by Kamikaze, -
- 2 replies
- 600 views
Can A:M use shatter maps (or some other technique) to simulate exploding/breaking materials such as a dropped glass or window being shot out? Seems like it can do about everything else so this may also be a pleasant surprise! Thanks. raf
Last reply by raf1, -
- 2 replies
- 550 views
im trying to give this model facial expressions but im having trouble doing so what i am trying to do is, rig a bunch of facial poses (mouth pose sliders, eye pose sliders, etc) to a single slider for a specific emotion (happy, sad, mad, whatever) i got the pose sliders to move the different facial features ok but i cant get the stupid pose sliders to work with the emotion pose slider i mean it works (at least i think it does) but i cant see the sections of the face move ? any advice?
Last reply by Paul Forwood, -
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- 566 views
I'm wondering... Was there a change in the standard chor and lighting in ver 12 from ver 11.1? I've been rebuilding something that I lost in the translation between 11.1 and 12.0 t and when I put it in the standard chor, the render finishes "overexposed" washed-out... But not until after I click on the finished chor. It's darker (a more "normal" exposure) until I click on it or pan with the scrollbars. this is not a big deal, I'm going to change the lighting anyway. but just a curiosity.
Last reply by oakchas, -
- 2 replies
- 583 views
i couldnt find it in the help in my AM
Last reply by ufoman4, -
- 8 replies
- 779 views
I got Boneless Thom to walk...thought Cheech would be easy. He's just Legs and Spine. But something has gone awry. Perhaps I missed a step. The Knees and Foot Targets don't want to stay with the mesh. Feet flip around backwards. This rig of Cheech has the Head, Hands and Arms deleted. IK Leg Setup is ON, IK Arms Setup is OFF, and, as in the tutorial: Steady=0, Balance=100 and Balance Rigid=30 [The Blue Arrows=Knees, the Red Arrows=Foot Targets] Hips/Pelvis and Spine bones have no problem. Where have I gone wrong?[attachmentid=14619]
Last reply by Stuart Rogers, -
- 1 reply
- 472 views
seem to have lost entire content of library wondering if i could pick up a few primitives to play around with cheers demt
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 2 replies
- 570 views
I have the playback sound problem again. From 16 bit 48,000 Hz Stereo WAV I converted it to a 16 bit 44,100 Hz Mono WAV file and it did not work. So I changed the different tipes of wav and it still did not work. I reduced the file to 44,100 16 bit and then down to a 32,000 Hz Mono WAV and it still would not play back the sound. I solved the problem once but I am sure I did exactly what I did now. Namely converting it from a high quality stereo wav file into a low quality mono WAV file. Can you please help me again on this one? Thanks Fybs.
Last reply by fybs, -
- 4 replies
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Hi, I've been doing a control points faces but, I realised that, if two faces that needs 5 control points are side to side, it won't work and, in another model (I didnt do), I saw something that might solve my problem but I don't know how to do it. Look at the picture: how we do that? BWT, the thing circeled in yellow has no control point, it is just a spline without red dot thanks tido
Last reply by tido, -
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- 588 views
OK, this may be a stupid question. Project; exercise 6 the door's stuck. Stage:door,city park,tree. Scene 1:Model-Shaggy w/Beachball Scene 2 thru 4:Model-Shaggy,Beachball. Scene 1;Time 00:15:00...Shaggy bouncing beachball walks onto scene from left behind tree, down the path to the door. Scene 2; Time ?... Shaggy tries to open the door,dropping the beachball he uses both hands and feet. His hands slip from the door knob,he falls back onto the beachball.The beachball acts like a trampoline and throws him over the door to the other side. Scene 3; Time ?...Shaggy in a state of rage opens the door and grabs the beach ball.He slams the door shut. It loosen…
Last reply by Stuart Rogers, -
- 11 replies
- 834 views
Hi, I've done my first animation model and I was animating him. I had some control points not animating very well and I've heard about smart skin that could solve my problem. I did a search in the help and followed the instuctions but, when I do "new smart skin", on a thight bone, in the relationship window, I dont see that bone, I only see the other ones (look at image) if I try to select a foot and move it(so it would move the thight bone as well), a msg box poops and says "circulatiry found: "balance left foor" shortcut to relationship1 /translate to ..|left foot target" what am I doing wrong? thanks tido
Last reply by luckbat, -
- 4 replies
- 643 views
I'm trying to create some 2D props with my scene. I have a pic of a tree with an alpha saved as a 32 bit TGA. I would like to apply this to either a plane or box and have just the pic of the tree visible. I've tried the decal feature but this still shows the geometery of the box it is stamped on. How to I set the transperancy so that only the tree is visible? While I'm at it, is there some place to get a detailed reference on the functions in AM? The manual that came with the software isn't very informative beyond it's tutorials.
Last reply by vealti, -
- 3 replies
- 603 views
I have a window that I want the bone to be constrained so that it will rotate only on the x-axis. In the default models for A:M they have similar bones for knees. How is this accomplished? Here is a picture of what I am working on.
Last reply by ccmsteach, -
- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 557 views
I have a piece that I am working on. I'd like to post a short movie of where I'm at, to get some pointers. How do I do that? Are there size guidelines for attachments? Carl
Last reply by KenH, -
- 7 replies
- 942 views
Hi fellow Animation Master I would like to know something about purchasing Animation Master but let me first introduce myself. I am Pieter, I live in Holland, 18-years-old,student, hope to study industrial designing after I've passed mu final exams this year and I love to be creative. I am completely new to Animation Master although I've got some 3d model experience. I used to model in 3d milkshape(low poly models) and anim8tor, some of you might know these programs. Nevertheless, I've got some programming experience and I made a few games myself.. Here's my question: I got a question regarding the purchasing of Animation Master. First off all, is there a…
Last reply by Pietervdb, -
- 12 replies
- 1.2k views
I'm currently looking at A:M's various abilities. Can A:M import various scene files from other 3D app packages? Can Animation Master import/open a Lightwave scene that contains only nulls? What can be imported (other than images) and what can't? Thanks in advance.
Last reply by luckbat, -
- 14 replies
- 1.3k views
I just want to know which one is better for using AM, a wacom tablet or optical mouse in a long run?
Last reply by UNGLAUBLICHUSA, -
- 3 replies
- 622 views
Ok, so I've just modeled half of my head, but when I select it as a group and select copy/flip/attach, it flips it along the wrong axis everytime so that it connects the left half of my head nose to nose! How do you decide which direction to copy? I'm using AM v13 Alpha, and my help topics won't start, but I'm sure there is an easy explanation for this... Thanks! -Tim
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 2 replies
- 642 views
I am having a problem now where whenever I try to open a project while in the program it just causes the program to shut down completely. Is there some feature or button that I can check to keep this from happening. It is quite fustrating when I am working and just want to check other files as I save multiple files when working on stuff. I was taught to always save in increments. Thanks, Leo
Last reply by Leo73, -
- 4 replies
- 869 views
hey anyone know of the best way to make animal fur/hair?? im tryin to make fur for my squirrel model
Last reply by the_black_mage, -
- 2 replies
- 612 views
do you have to have the cd in to use a:m. i have nother software i use with it and it requires a cd too
Last reply by the_black_mage, -
Okay, I made the statement that I am modeling a keyboard type device. I have decals for each key.. there are 45 some keys. I have a seperate graphic for each key. Currrently, my method is as follows: Here are 3 keys: [attachmentid=14144] I select one of them. and hide the rest. With the one key zoomed in, I load a decal, something like this: [attachmentid=14145] The checkerboard area is transparent. the letter graphic is centered on the key and applied. Assuming the next letter is "B," I would select the next key and apply the graphic as before. And so on, thru the complete keyboard layout... this is a lot of decals, on a lot of …
Last reply by JohnArtbox, -
- 3 replies
- 663 views
Okay... I downloaded V 12.0 T of A:M and the Help installer for same. I have attempted several times to use the help installer.... and it connects to the Hash site, I think, and begins to DL the files... A couple of times it "failed to connect to server" or some similar error msg. So, I downloaded the Zip of the Help file HTML. I unzipped this to the help folder in the Hash directory (that was probably the wrong thing to do). Then later, I tried again to use the help installer... It seemed as though it was working... said it had about 174 minutes left.... (and I'm on DSL, shouldn't that be faster?). Then all of a sudden (about 3 minutes later)…
Last reply by oakchas, -
- 3 replies
- 736 views
Hello, I've been using Master for a while, but there's one thing that I still find tedious, and that's texturing my models, which probably means that I'm somehow doing it the wrong way. Here's an example -- I'm creating a piece of lumber, a 2x6 board 8 feet long. I want to texture all six sides of it with a wood texture. For simplicity's sake, I want to apply the same wood texture to each side. There are several ways that I know to do this. One is to select the whole model, and then drag&drop a texture onto it. This "stretches" the texture to fit the model. The 8 ft long side of the 2x6 gets a long skinny version that's all stretched out, and the narr…
Last reply by luckbat, -
- 14 replies
- 952 views
One day I noticed that the top menu bar was missing. How do I turn it back on? I can not find the menu item for that.
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 4 replies
- 797 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, -
Hi everyone, I would like to put a heart shaped window in a door. I have my heart shape-----I have my door----and I have A:M's documentation. But I can't seem to find the "Boolean Cutter" option anywhere? Is using the "Boolean Cutter" the best way to go about building a window? Thanks -Josh
Last reply by Luxo, -
- 3 replies
- 613 views
I tried to uninstall A:M since it had some install errors, but when I use the Uninstall Animation: Master thing it gets partway through before it says "Uninstallation could not occur due to an error.". Has anyone else had this problem or can anyone help me uninstall it? I'm running it on a Mac on Tiger, if that makes a difference. Also, the uninstaller says Uninstall AM 11.1, whereas I have 12.0 installed. Is there another uninstaller I need to download or something? I couldn't find a 12.0 uninstaller anywhere. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Last reply by timewastingguy, -
- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 536 views
If anyone can help tonight, I would appreciate it!... I am not to familiar with decaling and alpha channels or decal transparency. Basically i am trying to decal portions of a ship i am working on. the decals i have are colored with black around the edges. I would like to apply the decal to the model and then change the image so the black portion becomes transparent leaving the color portion of the decal. I am attaching the cample images i have along with a screen cap of the decal i am trying to apply. I need help to get this worked on tonight fo the AM meeting in philly tomorrow. [attachmentid=14532] here is one of the decals i am trying to apply. …
Last reply by Hubukai, -
- 4 replies
- 915 views
After buying a new computer I installed AM2005. Made some animations and wanted to save. Suddenlly programm ends. Tried again, but for some reason the programm terminates. Iyt isn't a big animation, trying to make a wheel for a carmodel. The computer runs under WinXp Media Centrum. Second is my concern I can't copy my AM2005 disk, so is there a way to make the programm start without the CD input? When installing the whole CD on my computer there's still the question NO CD found. I would be glad to understand these questions.
Last reply by Atomike, -
- 1 reply
- 533 views
Hello Luckbat, Thank you for giving the correct answer in your second reply. Niels. ps. If others are wondering, look here ps2. There are unfortunatly alot of people who read one or more sentence's with their own anger, beware don't let this happen to you.
Last reply by luckbat, -
- 6 replies
- 746 views
hello. i was looking throughtout the forum but couldnt find the info i was looking for, so here i go. i want to start modeling biped characters and i was wondering if i had an idea as to if i wanted to model/bone a character, say like Marvel Comics X-Men "Cyclops" or "Wolverine", who in real life might be 6ft. and 5ft.tall respectively, and im thinking of using a measurement scale of 6in./5in. or 6cm/5cm in relation to actual footage onscreen, would this pose a problem once i got ready to animate? and does modeling/boning something this small aid in creating smaller file sizes or faster rendering time? and if in doing so would cause a problem, how small could i model …
Last reply by dtu031770, -
I need help
by T MAC- 1 follower
- 15 replies
- 1.5k views
Hey Guys, I am new to AM and need help with some issues. I have e-mailed support@hash twice, but have recieved no reply. How can I get some advice for my problems? Thanks T MAC
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 30 replies
- 2.7k views
Hi all, Anyone has the solution for this: When I make a (TOPview) rectangle (4 cp, peak,snap to grid) and extrude it, there are still 2 side's open. Well, I do know that adding points on the right way will close it, BUT... Using the primitives plugin from Steffen Gross, let's me create a cube, all closed on 8 cp...(!?) So here is my question: Is there a way I can apply a 'make five-point-patch'-manner to do this, thus a 'make four-point-patch'? Hope to hear your solution. Niels. ps. I don't think there is such a manner...(I do hope, I am wrong about this...) Maybe a reply from you, will make me request this feature, if it ain't the…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 reply
- 641 views
I am looking for a tutorial on ice, but I was not able to find anything. Would it be the same thing as glass? If so, would you point toward some good resources: tutorials and available materials. Also, on a different topic. How do you constrain a bone so that it rotates in only one direction? Such as the knee bone on the Hash model "Eddie". Thanks.
Last reply by fybs, -
- 0 replies
- 511 views
Hi all, This is my fifth or sixth object I made with Animation:Master, it could also have been the second or third... This is my way of telling, I like splining very much. Niels. [NOTICE] It's in A:M v13alpha8 format. (I made it with A:M v12, then altered it (decals) with v13.) NielsWShoe.ZIP
Last reply by C-grid, -
- 1 follower
- 0 replies
- 508 views
1 lousy fire, and when i try to render it it exits out of the whole A:M program! So whats wrong?
Last reply by Robert-Jank, -
- 1 reply
- 532 views
I'm not sure if this is an issue anyone else has posted about but: I was trying use a dope sheet with KeeKat (like in Excercise 7), but no matter what words I type in I get the same pop-up saying "Dictionary modified or Index file missing. Recreating Index File." I hit ok, and then another pop-up comes up saying "/Applications/Animation Master 12.0/index.i was not found." It has a bunch of pop-ups all about the same basic thing, at one point giving me a chance to find the index.i thing, before it finally gives up. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to fix this. My guess is it just messed up while installing, but I thought I'd check to see if theres something else I c…
Last reply by ArgleBargle, -
- 5 replies
- 842 views
I'm attempting to use "Paste Mirrored " in an action, and it just won't work. It used to, but now it won't? I cant figure out why. Has anyone else had this problem? I'm wondering if perhaps I hit a key without realizing it and deactived it. I'm using 11.1 Ed
Last reply by Ed Doyle, -
- 2 replies
- 639 views
I know I am missing something here, and even after surfing around the forum for firework effects and such I still am not able to animate my Streak Emitter properties. When I create a new material I can click on Attribute then animate such things as diffuse color in the timeline. However, if I click on the Streak Emmiter then try changing the rate of emmission at different frames AM does not set a keyframe. I even tried creating a new action, but I could not get the material to show up under the "Shortcut to Model" in the action. That was also the case when I tried looking for a shortcut to the material under the Model's Choregraphy Action in the Project Works…
Last reply by ccmsteach, -
- 4 replies
- 667 views
I know I am missing something here, and even after surfing around the forum for firework effects and such I still am not able to animate my Streak Emitter properties. When I create a new material I can click on Attribute then animate such things as diffuse color in the timeline. However, if I click on the Streak Emmiter then try changing the rate of emmission at different frames AM does not set a keyframe. I even tried creating a new action, but I could not get the material to show up under the "Shortcut to Model" in the action. That was also the case when I tried looking for a shortcut to the material under the Model's Choregraphy Action in the Project Works…
Last reply by ccmsteach, -
- 3 replies
- 768 views
When I use a .png image file as a decal, it renders it as super bright and saturated, really blown out. Targas work fine, but I'm just wondering if anyone else gets this problem with .png. I wish I could use them because they're usually quite a bit smaller in file size....
Last reply by skurge13,
