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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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- 3 replies
- 436 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
- 468 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
- 631 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
- 441 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
- 413 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
- 530 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
- 592 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
- 501 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
- 404 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
- 358 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
- 467 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
- 374 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
- 455 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
- 1k 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
- 2k 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
- 491 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
- 363 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
- 383 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
- 374 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
- 617 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
- 451 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
- 429 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
- 522 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, -
- 3 replies
- 525 views
Hello, Can A:M export to the FBX file format, or any similar format which includes UV mapping and animation information? Thanks! kali
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 4 replies
- 528 views
I started to build another pseudo-WWI tank. The lower hull uses a stamped steel pattern. Each section is a closed six-sided box. Each side of each box has been individually selected and all other CP's hidden, and the steel pattened decaled on. All twelve sides should look alike. The project has been saved many times. However, upon re-starting A:M and opening the project, or, sometimes after a freeze-up and re-start, some sides will look smeared...as though the decal had been applied to one side without hiding the rest of the box. On this example, the side of the lower box is smeared fore and aft, while the bottom is smeared left to right. The other side. and the front and…
Last reply by Slipin Lizard, -
- 1 follower
- 11 replies
- 1.6k views
Hi to everyone, I´m completely new to animation:master. I got my A:M last week and today it´s the first day I dive into it. I try to follow the exercises from the manual and got a problem with exercise 4:"it´s a pitch" and the knight-model. I´ve tried and tried, but I can´t get the knees of the knight model to do what I want. They always bend in the wrong direction, mostly backwards but never as they should. Especially when I lower the torso of the knight, they bend backwards, so I can´t pose him with bended knees. The only way to work around I´ve found was to swich IK off, but then I loose all my poses. Can anyone tell me, what I´m doing wrong? Than…
Last reply by Liquidspaceman, -
- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 420 views
I've tried this tutorial twice. Both times when I get to where I've "copied keyframe" say, from frame 0, I advance to frame 20, go to paste mirrored, but it doesn't take. The contents of frame 15 remain. What have I been doing wrong? Carl
Last reply by carlf, -
- 8 replies
- 747 views
I have been working on a complex model. I am "cleaning it up" removing some unessesary cps, and consolodiating patches. I have much of the model hidden. When I go to group and delete some patches, A:M closes abruptly. I was hoping to do a Copy-flip-attach. but If I can't delete some of these extraneous patches because of closing, I doubt I would be able to do the c-f-a for the same reason. this is in 11.1b... on a P4 3.4 GHz w 1 GB ram and a 200MB HDD. Should I report it, move to a later version of 11, or move to v12 s?
Last reply by oakchas, -
- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 540 views
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, -
- 2 replies
- 483 views
is there an easy way of modeling an environment? like lets say, using some sort of scattering tool or some kind of tree/rock/foren object generator or would i have to model and place everything one object at a time?
Last reply by ddustin, -
- 13 replies
- 894 views
This is pretty straight forward. Apply a decal in cylindrical fashion to a model centered on the xyz/0 axis. When checking the model, I find it doesn't close in back. I tried changing the repeat, but that doesn't do the trick. Searched the forum in vain. Tried scaling the decal wider and then reapplying with no luck. Turned the "Seamless" option on in the decal properties with no luck. What the heck does "seamless" do anyway? Ok, what else is there?
Last reply by KenH, -
- 5 replies
- 682 views
I'm working on a fire extinguisher model to put out some text I've set on fire. I'm at the spray part of it and am not sure how to handle it. I was thinking about using a particle system to generate the spray on the end of the nozzle. I want the fire extinguisher to be able to be "turned on" though so I need the spray to be off and later on. My other thought is to use a small circular model placed in the end of the hose to generate the spray from. I can put this in place or remove it any time I want. Is there a way I could group this with the end of the nozzle so I don't have to consantly position them individually? ie if I move the nozzle the spray model shou…
Last reply by johnl3d, -
- 1 reply
- 431 views
I have problemw with my grid display. I have set everything to the defaults and yet the grid still seems like the point/thickness is set at 5, but I have it set at 1. I am attaching a print screen of the problem, anyone else encounter this? I am running version 12.0n, an upgrade from version 11. Thanks in advance.
Last reply by TacoBallZ, -
The links to Fontwiz seem to be dead. Is there a new link or a newer utility for importing text and Illy files as 3D objects? Carl
Last reply by carlf, -
- 5 replies
- 555 views
Hey All, I have had AM for a week now and I am having some weird things happen. I have been trying to follow one of the video tutorials on walking cycles. I double click the an actor, it opens up, I close that window and double click Actions, set the view to shaded. But, when I try to rotate the model it vanishes leaving only the bones visible. This is happening on a lot of different models. What is causing this? Thanks for your help! T MAC
Last reply by triath5147, -
- 4 replies
- 521 views
Dose anyone know if there is a way to make a water mark on AM? if so plez let me know by emailing me
Last reply by Stuntmunky90, -
- 1 reply
- 397 views
Is there a shortcut or something that will allow me to move a group under another group, like a directory tree? I've got a pupil, eyewhite, iris, and cornea, and then an eye group that selects everything, but it would be a bit cleaner if I could just put the group elements under the eye group. Can AM do this?
Last reply by heyvern, -
- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 556 views
I am trying to get the effect of a light shining through a doorway into a very large dark room. The doorway won't be visible, but that seemed like the easiest way to change the light cone's shape from a circle to a rectangle. The problem I'm having is that if I turn volumetric on for the light, then the light rays are visible as they cut through the air in the dark room (which is what I want), but the doorway does not block any of the light. If I turn on shadows for the light, then the doorway blocks the light as I want but now the light cone is no longer visible. How do I get both shadows and volumetrics to work at the same time?
Last reply by RoyBU, -
- 3 replies
- 430 views
Just wondering for people who have done a lot of decaling, what resolution do you save your decals at? I've been using AI to create decals, save them as 32 bit Targa files, and I choose 300 dpi for resolution instead of 72 dpi for screen resolution. My thinking was to use the highest resolution I could so that if I'm getting close up on a model the decaling will still hold up and look good. Is this correct? Or am I just adding unnecessary file size to the decals? My final destination for most projects is to end up as an AVI file going to DVD.
Last reply by heyvern, -
adding sound to your animation?
by Guest SandGroper- 1 follower
- 9 replies
- 776 views
hi how does one add music/sound to a avi , mov file i can add the default sounds that come with am , but not my own? any ideas?
Last reply by heyvern, -
- 3 replies
- 579 views
hello all. im looking for some old super-hero models for referrence that was made in A:M that i once found on the now gone 3DCC.com website. they were Flash, Batman, and Wonder Woman, and i just got a friend of mine interested in A:M, and i wanted to show him what Hash could do. anyone know where these can now be found? and who made them? i thought they were pretty cool. thanks.
Last reply by dtu031770, -
- 14 replies
- 659 views
Ok, I'm lost here. This is what I know. I'm using about 19 decals. If I add more, they won't show up in the final render. I can switch decals. So, in other words, I can delete a decal, and a different one in a different spot, it will still work. Here's the strange thing: when I use render lock mode, all the decals show up fine. So I can go past my "limit" and using render lock mode click the screen in choreography and all the decals appear just fine. I am going to try and post screen captures. Assuming I'm successful, here's what you'll be looking at. 1) the model un-rendered. 2). the model rendered using "render lock" mode. 3) the model rendered hitting the "rende…
Last reply by heyvern, -
- 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, -
- 14 replies
- 957 views
As the last bit of the "Moving Foxhole" set, I'm building an alley where the action starts. I want it narrow and dark. So far, so good. But the lighting is giving me fits. I want a bright light at the far end so the characters throw long shadows in front of them as they walk forward. It's coming. But slowly. [ Biggest problem is that the right amount of light to produce the shadows makes a a burned-out, hot spot at the end of the alley]. But my biggest headache is the yellow rays indicated by the arrow. I searched Tools>Options> and there's no fog or volumetrics turned on. I looked in Properties under the light used in the alley: Volumetrics WAS turned on, now it's …
Last reply by Stuart Rogers, -
- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 390 views
Hello everyone! I'm really excited to be finally getting a taste of what Animation Master can do. After learning all the industry standard programs at school and bemoaning that I could not afford to legally own any of them, I'm finding a promising home here to continue my passion for animation with far fewer obstructions and more intuition than say, Maya. That said, I have actually hit a bump that you might be able to help me with. I am doing the A:M tutorials, naturally, and thought it would be logical to preface "The Door is Stuck" (exercise 6) with a walk cycle like I did in the previous exercise. Cool. Shaggy walks up to the door, nonchalantly to set the…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 426 views
Hello, Is there any way to render an image so that the background is transparent in Photoshop. For example, say I have a character, but I don't want the background to be rendered. When I render the image the background shows up as transparent after I bring the image into Photoshop. Or do you have to render the image and then clip out the character like any normal photo. I was just wondering because I see cut out (clipped) 3D images and type used everywhere in graphic design layouts, but I don't know how they get those images into the layouts. I know Photoshop can simulate some 3D type effects, but the stuff I see seems more complicated than Photoshop simulated 3…
Last reply by Moonshine, -
- 3 replies
- 422 views
I guess the title says it all. Now that I'm not stumbling over my thumbs, [as much] it's time to jump into the deep end of the pool.
Last reply by Kelley, -
- 1 follower
- 5 replies
- 556 views
Models, Models, Models... Also - where can I get (preferably realistic, european) vehicle models for A:M? Thanks
Last reply by KenH,