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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.
4,166 topics in this forum
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- 1 reply
- 604 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, -
- 5 replies
- 807 views
I'm building my first path, but one of the points developed a kink where I want it smooth. I found the path in the PWS Choreograhy list, I've got it selected with a yellow box...but how to display the CP that I need to fix?[attachmentid=13115]
Last reply by Kelley, -
- 2 replies
- 538 views
I made a simple decal in photoshop with an alpha channel to be used as a cookie cut in AM. Once pasted and applied as cookie cut, the decals does it's job, but the patches that lie withing the edges of the decal do not render. I'm sure there is a very simple explanation and fix, but I'm not an expert on decals, sooooo...anyone?
Last reply by Eric2575, -
Mist Render
by Tacku- 2 replies
- 682 views
I have a problem. Whenever I render a mist effect in action mode, it turns out great. But when I render in Chor, it turns out like a transparent white sphere. What's the deal?
Last reply by cuboos, -
- 6 replies
- 886 views
can some one send me the font wizard? or upload it as a zip or post a link to ware i can download it i need it for a project
Last reply by cuboos, -
My mate Pengo!
by Guest SandGroper- 7 replies
- 746 views
Hey here is a model of my first character my mate pengo! Please dont laugh as pengy gets very upset if you do, he may even bite your nuts off so be nice . cheers groper btw : whats the deal with attaching him ....some upload error?
Last reply by higginsdj, -
- 1 follower
- 0 replies
- 510 views
Hi, I wanted to stamp a decal on my character, but she had a light list already. Decal was nothing special, targa with alpha also tried without (it made no difference)... and suddenly.. she was in darkness. No light list. Anyone else have this problem? Using 12.0q for Mac 10.3.4. Seana
Last reply by sbk, -
- 5 replies
- 684 views
I've had good success using a Klieg light with a rotoscope on it to fake being an overhead projector. However, I need to switch to another image during the choreography. I've put multiple rotoscopes on the light, but only the first one turns up. I've changed the order of the rotoscopes. Again, just the first. I've changed the transparencies of the rotoscopes. Still nothing. I've tried changing the "on top" setting. Again, no change. Stranger still, in the choreography, I get a group of blank oddities. They are attached. How do I make this work right? Is there another way to do this. I don't need to go as fancy as faking sliding an overhead sheet off the su…
Last reply by ArgleBargle, -
- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 734 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, -
- 2 replies
- 683 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, -
- 0 replies
- 506 views
Sorry... accidently posted this twice. Admin can DELETE this post. Sorry
Last reply by phnxpyre, -
- 5 replies
- 816 views
How do I completely duplicate a model with groups, poses, and sub folders?
Last reply by KenH, -
- 2 replies
- 590 views
Hi, after I´ve installed A:M and the 12.q upgrade, I found, that all object in the libraries are there two times. Does that mean, I´ve made something wrong during installation? Thanks a lot RingerT
Last reply by Dhar, -
- 1 follower
- 11 replies
- 2.1k 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
- 9 replies
- 1.1k views
Hello all, I am trying to use the Dwarrowdelf set so generously donated by William Sutton, as found on the Hash2005 CD under data\models\sci-fi\balrog. I loaded the dwarrowdelf.prj file and tried to render out (to a file) one frame as a TGA. Although I specify the beginning and ending time as the first frame, the render nonetheless begins rendering all 300 frames. When I abort the process after waiting for one or two frames to have finished, I find that the resulting TGA files are basically empty and unreadable. By the way, I tried with both AVI and Quicktime and both of those also ignore my direction to only render a subset of all the frames. (In mucking a…
Last reply by RoyBU, -
- 0 replies
- 572 views
Does anyone know how to fix this.... [attachmentid=12968] It seems that the bone edit tool bound box are not on center when I scale or edit bones. I have gone into tools>options... but I am unable to find anything that will fix this. I am really getting disappointed with this program and I want to like it but when this kind of stuff happens I can't work on the program. ****Update: I have talked with A:M support and it appears that the editing box around the bone is correct. It looks like it has been change since version 11 or in the middle of 12. Is anyone else getting the same editing box around a bone, please let me know. I thought that …
Last reply by tjk_17, -
- 3 replies
- 963 views
OK, AM crashed, and the file got corrupted. Luckaly, I had an export of my model. So I imported him. He was perfect when I imported him, but when I did a Render of him, all I got was a colored wire frame! (all of it was white, but the wireframe only was colored.) How do I restore my model to his former glory?
Last reply by Tacku, -
- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 875 views
Okay, I am this far on this tutorial. I have tried this tutorial a number of times since I first received A:M v11.1. [attachmentid=12934] Anywho, my question is this. I am about to start adding splines around the brow and cheeks, as it sais in the book, but do I do this like it was done in the Plane tutorial???? Or do I just click add, and just start from an exsisting CP. Thanks
Last reply by Odog2020, -
- 1 follower
- 0 replies
- 669 views
Hi I just can't get through the manuals - it's not my best way of learning, and the software I have doesn't really match what's in the manual - and i want to do stuff not covered in the manual. The best way for me to learn is to spend time with an expert. If there's an Animation Master Master in the UK, ideally within the Thames Valley, that would be prepared to help with questions and take me through what i want to do and answer the questions I have, I'd really really really appreciate it. Please email me neil@fairbrother.net Thanks and best regards Neil
Last reply by Neil Fairbrother, -
- 1 follower
- 6 replies
- 766 views
I'm trying to add a series of flat Shelf Corals to the scene. It would make life a lot easier if I could select one within the camera view, duplicate it, and adjust its position...rather than dragging down another from Objects>Choreography, then have to back 'way out [visually] to find it, rotate it, drag it into position, then scale.[attachmentid=12929]
Last reply by heyvern, -
- 2 replies
- 784 views
Hello All, I am having a bit of a problem with how bone boundboxes are showing up (being displayed) When I try to change the size of a bone the boundbox that is showing up is not correct. Please see pics. Here is what I am getting when I edit a bone... [attachmentid=12903] here is the boundbox that shows up [attachmentid=12910] This is what I would like it to look like... [attachmentid=12905] [attachmentid=12906] This was displaying or working fine before, but all of a sudden it is showing up like this. I did roll back the video drivers (Nvidia 6800) to the version when I first installed the card but I never had a problem…
Last reply by tjk_17, -
- 2 replies
- 735 views
How do you delete poses from a model?
Last reply by Julian, -
- 2 replies
- 783 views
Are there any plugins available to allow exporting a figure so it can be opened in 3dmax? The plugin included for saving as 3ds doesn't create a file that will open in Max. I like the spline based modeling but AM renders the slowest of any program I've tried. Also, what happens if something happens to your cd (crack, scratch, etc.) can you get another so you can run the program? Thanks
Last reply by bobaloons, -
- 4 replies
- 779 views
i have been trying to post some pics and movies as attachments and it works up until it finishes loading then its like i never loaded it in the first place and help on this?
Last reply by Odog2020, -
- 5 replies
- 846 views
I'm trying to finish all of TAoAM and was just about to start the one where they all do the cancan...number two i think. i open a choreography, and start to drag the stage to the choreography window...then a window pops up that says "parameter is incorrect" and the mouse dissapears onthe AM screen...help?
Last reply by .:shortdog:., -
- 2 followers
- 12 replies
- 1.1k views
Having got my camera questions sorted out [Thanks again to all...] two other things I'd like to include in this first animation is [1] shafts of light coming down from above. I suspect it's a volumetric light solution, but could someone get me jump-started? In Carrara, we could install 'light cones'. [2] Does A:M support caustics for shimmers of light on the ocean floor? Thanks.[attachmentid=12862]
Last reply by Eric2575, -
- 1 follower
- 5 replies
- 1k views
Hello, I am new to the forum! I just recieved AM 2005 I believe (V12?). It the one with Sorserez on the front of it. I have done the exercises up to "It's A Pitch" and got through that one all in one piece! I LOVE this program! Is there any place I can paste these exercises for suggestions and/or grading?
Last reply by Johnny-N-Motion, -
- 1 follower
- 12 replies
- 1.6k views
As a test for my first animation in A:M, I want everything to happen around a group of rocks [underwater]. What's the easiest way to make the camera revolve around a center? In other programs, I could move the 'geometric center' of the object. In this case, do I need to move the 'camera bone'?[attachmentid=12848]
Last reply by ArgleBargle, -
- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 970 views
Well, I've decided to get A:M. Even though I will post here again, I just wanna say thanks to you guys, these forums have been very helpfull with my decision making. So, I'm going to buy it in about three months or so, until then I'll make a good old fasioned analog effects mafia movie, and put off my fan film until I get A:M. Thanks again!
Last reply by Tacku, -
- 3 replies
- 853 views
I am trying to change background color, permately if possible, so I can key out background when compositing. I can't find the color chip mentioned in the help files to save me. I find a control for the ground color but not background color. Any help is appreciated.
Last reply by luckbat, -
- 2 replies
- 768 views
Hello and Goodday, I am trying to rotoscope a simple vault and I have an image... however when I go through the process to put it into the work place through the rotoscope selection all I get is a white box... I thought maybe there was something wrong with the picture so i tried the image used in the video tutorial but it did the same thing... any ideas how I could fix that? Raul Castro
Last reply by ofgiants, -
- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 841 views
HELLO! Hmmm, I treat to explain me... A Patch or surface is not generated when the area is delimitated by five points/lines/faces/splines (I don't know how call it...) or more and I wonder if there was a secret way or ways... Well, THANK YOU very much (in advance) and CIAO!
Last reply by Ramón López, -
- 7 replies
- 1.1k views
Wondered what folks thought as best enhancement for my AM experience. Currently have a Geoforce 4 Ti 4600 Video card with 128 ram and have a p4 2.53 processor with 512 ram. Having only been working with AM for ver 12.n for about two months so I was curious what would be best choice to get a better video card with maybe 256 mb of video ram or increase my system ram to 1gb. Sometimes for me choreography is a little jumpy when I have a number of items on screen especially with textures and sometimes my model manipulating seem a little quirky . So wondered of these two choices what might be best. Overall I am having great time learning AM. And I know a faster cpu is always …
Last reply by Motility, -
- 3 replies
- 895 views
I am still on exercise 7 and having some more trouble. I have tried to find the index file on the disk. I am using a mac 867/ 1gb memory and tiger 4.3 When I right click and go to the dope sheet. I then add "I've got a secret ect. I click on ok and get the message: Dictionary modified or Index file missing. Recreating Index File. From there it just goes in a circle with: Trouble opening the dictionary index file! I need to know where the index file is on the disk for the mac. I can't find it. (in the tutorial it says that you take the file from the disk and drop it into animation master folder) Thanks
Last reply by Douglas, -
- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 775 views
I saw this in the contest...what does it mean to be "The Art of A:M" Alum? Edit: Wow, i must have selective sight...i was looking at the stickies but somehow i missed the one that completely explains this. very sorry.
Last reply by forevernameless, -
still help
by cuboos- 2 replies
- 751 views
i need to know how do i make a still pic what i have been doing is making a small avi movie and then take a pic from it is this how i'm suppose to do it or is there another way?
Last reply by Stuart Rogers, -
- 5 replies
- 1k views
I am trying to get started with A.M. I can't seem to get the Pose Sliders to come up. I am on exercise 7. I am using tiger. Everything was working before I had to reinstall everthing on my mac and now I get no pose. Is there anything that I can do? Thank you for any help.
Last reply by Stuart Rogers, -
- 3 replies
- 668 views
Following along with the book Excercise 5 Take A Walk, I've been unable to fix the slipping occuring. I've adjusted the stride length, shortening both points, lengthening both points, lengthening one point while shortening the other, nothing seems to really work. How do you adjust the stride length to get rid of slipping?
Last reply by sbk, -
- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 762 views
I've animated tanks in Carrara, but this one is a first in A:M. I'm thinking that I should arrange one whole track [treads. drive wheels, armor. etc.] as a named group, animate a full cycle where each track-plate goes all the way around once, and save that Action to the Library. Then duplicate it, flip it on the Z-axis and drop the Action onto the new tread. Is there a better way? [in Carrara this was not difficult, but it was tedious. So before I launch in...] Secondly, in Carrara, there was a way to select groups of key-frame markers, and, [if I recall correctly, by holding down the Alt key] drag the markers out proportionally, thereby slowing the action, or compre…
Last reply by cstanton, -
- 2 replies
- 751 views
I'm trying to model a '50's style fedora similar to the one shown. The hat itself is little problem, but my challenge especially concerns the portion of the band circled in yellow. Would it be better to model this in geometry or as a (bump, normal, or displacement) map... I'm concerned that a map would make it less 3D than it is, though the actual "bow" on a fedora is pretty form-fitting in real life, it does have dimension and this photo shows it fairly well at the rear of the bow where it is obviously not "decaled" to the hat, but a seperate piece. [attachmentid=12783] Of course, since it would be part of complex scenes (with a person under it) patch cou…
Last reply by oakchas, -
- 1 follower
- 5 replies
- 1k views
I find that if a texture is applied 'planar', it looks as it ought to. [unless stretched over a large area] But if textures are applied spherically, or cylindrically, [even if the bounding box area is reduced to fit] they want to look blurry, or smeared across the object. Has anyone else had this problem?
Last reply by Eric2575, -
- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 793 views
Hi Guys! Hope u all had a good Christmas and don't drink and drive tonight for the New Year! Just a quick question. When I try to bring up the Help in A:M, it just comes with 'Failed to Launch Help'. I know I can just go into the Programs, Hash etc using explorer but I'm lazy Anyone know the secret? Thanks!
Last reply by noewjook, -
- 1 follower
- 5 replies
- 1k views
So... how, or when does a 'newbie' (or should I say apprentice) get to join a user group, or no longer be considered a 'newbie'? (newbie... I always hated that word)
Last reply by nimblepix, -
- 24 replies
- 2.3k views
Hello - I have purchased a custom built PC with an AMD 320+Ghz dual core processor with 2 gig of RAM and I'm still running into long rendering times. Rendering a 20 sec (491 frames) animation in "preview" mode at low res (320x240) is still taking over 2 hours. My choreography's ground and sky are just the default A:M backgrounds. I am running A:M 11.1 on my startup disc and rendering to a seperate internal hard drive. Surely this rendering time is abnormally long. Any suggestions? Thanks, Chris
Last reply by luckbat, -
- 2 followers
- 19 replies
- 1.9k views
Hello, I think this is what David refers to as "gamma popping" in his book. Sometimes when I am animating a character in the Chor, the arms in particular will look a little "planar" and concave along one spline (flattened-looking). If I switch to muscle mode and select what I think is the offending CP with its spline direction, it will suddenly go back to the way it should look. I understand what gamma does, but because this character is not a mechanical model, I haven't adjusted the gamma at all. All randomly sampled CPs have a (default?) gamma of 0%. It's as if occasionally a spline forgets whether it is to bend in or out. As I said, as soon as I touch a CP+splin…
Last reply by sbk, -
- 6 followers
- 147 replies
- 14.1k views
It is that time again. Time for upgrading to the latest edition of Animation:Master. As a way of saying thanks for your continued support of the New Users Forum I will again be raffling off a free upgrade here in the New Users Forum. This year the rules have changed a little in order to include more A:M Users and to thank everyone for supporting new users of A:M. The rules: 1) Only legal owners of Animation:Master (any version) are eligible. 2) Hash Inc is not affiliated with this contest and no connection with them should be inferred. 3) A:M Users can enter their names in the contest twice* 3a) A:M Users must post in this thread to indic…
Last reply by dborruso, -
- 22 replies
- 3.3k views
Okay so I'm modelling my thing. I've gotten started on putting insides, but I accidentally make a wrong few splines and when I delete them there's still one spline left following the same path as the one already there connecting other splines. I can't deelete this withought screwing up my model. And sometimes I just want to delete other things and it screws up there too. It deletes whole areas of my model from just deleting one vertice. How do I delete it w/o doing thart? How do I delete individual spline segments? Also I'm having through with undoing in the modeller. It alwways goes back a couple steps on the same step I just did and starts to deform it and mess it …
Last reply by Sacman, -
- 10 replies
- 1.2k views
Has anyone out there used the AI plug in that comes with Animation Master? I am trying to bring in a logo from an illustrator file and I can locate the file no problem, the option dialogue box comes up, but when I hit "ok" nothing happens. The model window just sits empty. Anyone actually been able to create a 3D logo with the AI plug in?
Last reply by ArfGraf, -
- 0 replies
- 729 views
It may have been mentioned but its worth repeating. The v12 Help Installer has been added to the Help Page. You can view the Help files online or... with the help of the installer from right inside Animation:Master The links and installers can be found here: http://www.hash.com/htmlHelp/
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 9 replies
- 1.1k views
All, Just a note from your friendly neighborhood New Users Forum moderator to say I'll be out quite a bit in July. I may have limited connectivity to the internet so my ability to answer personal mail etc. will be effected. This is something of a summer family vacation that will take me to Illinois, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Los Angeles and a variety of other places in between. The tour should end with a visit to SIGGRAPH 2005 where I'm looking forward to meeting some of the great people that frequent this forum. If you see a guy that looks lost in LA it'll probably be me so please direct me to the Hash Inc booth! I'll be checking the forum every time I'm near…
Last reply by vf124,