Open Forum
Don't know where to ask your question? Post it here and it'll find a proper home
Open Forum Rules
This is an open forum for discussing Animation:Master and discussions should relate to A:M in some capacity.
Ask questions. Share experiences. Outline goals and aspirations.
Discuss what you hope to accomplish with A:M and projects you are working on.
There is one rule: Be kind.
Posts that violate this rule are subject to removal.
961 topics in this forum
-
- 6 replies
- 1.6k views
Long time forum member and A:M user Mark Largent (Largento) is prominently interviewed about his A:M production "Stalled Trek: Amutt Time" for "Fan Film Friday" on the Axanar Productions blog. Give it a read! Interview Part 1 Interview Part 2 (includes discussion of A:M!)
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 468 views
What is a Master Dump file when A:M crashes, and can I use it to restore the project?
Last reply by Jason Simonds, -
- 11 replies
- 1.6k views
I've been hesitant to post a link to this site but the reasons for doing so get more compelling every day. There are a lot of these masterclasses now online and as with most things certain themes and areas pique my interest. The most compelling masterclass at this exact moment for me personally is Ron Howard's Directing masterclass. Of the many others Steve Martin's masterclass intrigues me as I'm very interested in comedic timing and the setup, pacing and payoff of jokes. Hans Zimmer's masterclass on film scoring surely must touch on some areas I feel a need to explore. And on and on and on. It seems to me the primary business model behind masterclass.com is one of vol…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 0 replies
- 908 views
For those who watch such things... LucasFilm and ILM (read: Disney) have open sourced their MaterialX code. What is it? According to the release: Here's the general spec: https://github.com/materialx/MaterialX/blob/master/documents/Specification/MaterialX.v1.35.Final.pdf It's an interesting read on many levels. The specific areas of interest (to me) include: LIghts, Collections and 'Looks' which relate more to the area where textures/shaders meet geometry. Two focus areas reserved by the specification are 'twosided' and 'matte' which address issues of rendering that are not commonly implemented. Those are welcomed areas of interest. Exam…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 7 replies
- 486 views
Not sure where this is related to.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 301 views
I've been reading and watching videos for exporting animation from AM to other software I work with MDDs out of preference and also requirements for my small studio We're a Lightwave studio, and the current version is pretty adept at importing FBX from various sources Having read and watched export solutions from @Fuchurand others, I would like to get a bird's eye view clarity on the following questions: 1. Is MDD broken in the current versions of AM? I've seen other users having garbled meshes upon MDD imports into other software It seems like some models get exported with additional point information which is why the MDDs don't match to the mod…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 14 replies
- 1.8k views
A (maya) screenshot posted by an AnimationMentor student. Her character is flying apart and even the technical support at the school can't figure out why. That is life with maya for anyone below the guru level. I feel bad for her, I think she has a deadline of midnight tonight for the assignment.
Last reply by Zaryin, -
- 0 replies
- 518 views
I know a few in the A:M Community will be interested in this webinar as the price is certainly right for jumping into animating with music. Obviously some translation of software specific instruction will have to be negotiated but Jason's instruction always try to be applicable across the board. http://www.jasonryananimation.com/webinars...r-series-4.html From the site's description: The price? If you are already an iAnimate student this and previous webinars are accessible for free as they are included as part of the iAnimate tuition.
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 0 replies
- 4.4k views
May 30 was Mel Blanc's 112th birthday. Hear the "Man of a Thousand Voices" do eight different characters in "Birds Anonymous" (1957)
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 3 replies
- 634 views
I have something I am exploring for a long time now and it goes back from the time I made my first animations with GoldDisk. It is about my experiments with letters to make them appear and "melt" away in a short pose of time. It is very simple. I made a letter and then animate it in 30 frames to zero, like cream that melts away. As I did so I gathered the whole alphabeth. Later on I could import them in CorelMove4 and make little *.avi files of them. While doing so the idea rised to make a folio of text, that would rise up and disappear from the page and return another text within that time window. Point is.., now I have these little fractured files of all let…
Last reply by Madfox, -
- 5 replies
- 591 views
I noticed that V19 uses a lot of RAM on my Windows 7 laptop compared to V13 . Just looping an action will run it up, and there seems to be no way to empty the cache. Does anybody else has that issue? Thanks.
Last reply by strato, -
- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 1.1k views
-
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 2 followers
- 9 replies
- 1.3k views
I hope you all have a fine holiday! My 2013 musical Christmas card. Gustav Holst's "Cranham" also known as "In the Bleak Midwinter" uy26H7oMGZg
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 2 followers
- 3 replies
- 1.1k views
Last reply by Roger, -
- 1 reply
- 345 views
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 0 replies
- 618 views
Sad news for animation fans and especially for those that followed his blog (splog). Michael Sporn died on 19 Jan after a three year battle with pancreatic cancer. Michael Barrier has a bio up on his career on his blog. http://michaelbarrier.com/Home%20Page/What...elsporn19462014 It isn't clear what will be done with his blog and it hasn't been online for some time. Michael had amassed a considerable amount of history and commentary on animation that was greatly appreciated by followers of animation.
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
- 17 replies
- 1.7k views
It's been a year but my M3D micro 3D printer arrived yesterday and I finally got a chance to get it a try. The two initial runs didn't work so great, so recalibrated... created much simpler test models... and am seeing better success now. I just put in a print of Thom to test the yellow 3Dink but (at 9% complete) it looks like his neck broke off in the process and the printer head melded it into his hip... Abort! Abort! Abort! It looks like most of my models will need to be set to print with higher quality... i.e. more solid. I'll post something if and when I get something worth posting.
Last reply by jakerupert, -
- 1 reply
- 762 views
Go get your Windows Updates today... Microsoft fixes '19-year-old' bug with emergency patch
Last reply by johnl3d, -
- 1 reply
- 538 views
The Tinkering Gnome is one of the few who have bravely ventured into the realm of midi music and A:M and I've long thought to exploit the technology. I still haven't. I am however, moving in that direction. Here is a site that has a 3D keyboard that plays midi music that may be of interest to some (especially programmers as the code is available via github). Of specific interest to me is that this is similar to several sites where you can simply drag and drop the midi file into the browser window and the page's code takes it from there. http://qiao.github.io/euphony/#211 The song that should play by clicking the link above is Tchaikovsky's Sweet …
Last reply by johnl3d, -
- 2 replies
- 1.5k views
Steve Jobs was pretty good at presenting. Most corporate heads are not. Wanna see a painfully long stretch of mirrored posing and mechanical delivery? Skip ahead to 2:00 and watch the CEO of General Motors talk to a crowd... Mary Barra CES Keynote Speech
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 7 replies
- 658 views
I have a model performing a dance action and am wondering if there is a quicker way to mirror the whole action other than to "copy/paste mirrored" each keyframe. Using A:M 15j on Mac OS 10.6.8. Thanks.
Last reply by NancyGormezano, -
- 2 replies
- 958 views
Got a character constrained to a path-when it reaches the end of the path I want to have it sit down but when I add keyframes it makes a keyframe at frame 1 of the chor. - wiping out all the previous animation for that joint. I know chor. animations take priority over actions but isn't there a way to BLEND the two?? Thanks in advance.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 7 replies
- 1.2k views
Article from the NYTimes about the problem of presenting "The Wind Rises" outside of Japan. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/06/movies/h...l?smid=pl-share
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 11 replies
- 2k views
I've run into a slight problem. I've added several Klieg lights in a model (as opposed to in the Choreography). However, I'm having trouble rendering them. Sometimes one will render, sometimes three will render and sometimes a different one will render. I can't get them all to render at the same time! Does anyone have any advice on what might be going wrong? Thanks, Dale
Last reply by Dalemation, -
- 1 follower
- 18 replies
- 1.9k views
Like the title says, looks great in HASH, but exporting to OBJ gets wrecked. Not sure what I'm doing exactly wrong, might be export settings... Or maybe I screwed up making the model... Goal is making something 3D printable. I've included the file if anyone wants to poke around. MG Rings Fix.prj
Last reply by fae_alba, -
- 1 reply
- 677 views
Everything is fine now.
Last reply by Wildsided, -
- 2 replies
- 637 views
http://www.3dworldmag.com/2012/10/02/compe...ake-a-3d-human/ It wouldn't be for me but some of the better modellers out there might be interested in this competition run by the magazine 3D World ? simon apologies, I just read it properly and its for other software, My mistake. I don't know how to delete the post. Sorry.
Last reply by Simon Edmondson, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 1.2k views
Hi, I have a head model (the way I do things, this is the character), a hair cap model (what hair-do I want to use) and a body model (what 'wardrobe' is needed). Currently I constrain the hair cap to the head model in an action (the hair cap being the action item) so I can just drop the action on the head in the chor and then I constrain the head to the body in the chor (involves 6 constraints). I'd like to use an action to do this however, if I do, either the body model or the head model would be an action item and of course I need to be able to select the head and body models in the chor to animate them (and perhaps I can somehow select an action item in the chor to…
Last reply by rusty, -
- 2 replies
- 1.6k views
No I won't be getting one but sure... I want one. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/line-us/line-us-the-little-robot-drawing-arm?ref=NewsDTFeb2317 More evidence of robots invading the home. What I like about this is how it combines several technologies together in ways that haven't been merged before. The magnetic base is an example of that. Edit: It appears there are no longer any units available in the first batch (of 1000 units). Not sure when the next will be available.
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 5 replies
- 1.1k views
Thought I'd post this because it represents several trends in software of late. A few of them include: Higher Resolutions (including support for 4K) Screen Capture Motion Tracking Video Layering These represent must-have technologies in my estimation. In this case, I see Corel is pressing into the market more fully by enhancing their Video Studio products and at $79 that makes for an affordable solution when similar products can easily range toward $399 and upward. dYWGQnjFWmk They have a trial version for those who want to explore. (Trial Link) Disclaimers: I have not used Corel VideoStudio in years so cannot attest to its current ea…
Last reply by Vertexspline, -
- 2 followers
- 27 replies
- 3.9k views
Hello, Years ago I played with using bvh MoCap files with AM and various rigs. I also purchased the entire Truebones collection and started indexing the files. I'm looking into bvh MoCap w/AM again and wondered if there were any tuts or other information on the subject. I remember stumbling onto a way to scale each part of a bvh mocap rig to the model rig and also got whole mocap thing working pretty well (though I didn't document any of this...DUMB!). So I want to research it all and try it again. If I get it all working again and find that none of the current AM/BVH MoCap tuts cover any of my own methods/discoveries I'll add a tut to demonstrate these. S…
Last reply by rusty, -
- 1 reply
- 149 views
"What free or affordable software or mobile app would you recommend for motion capture?"
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 5 replies
- 633 views
Since I am having trouble with decals and v18 on my laptop, and I am working on a new cartoon-ish fish model, I decided to create his eyes with the eyeball material. I had an eyeball model with the material already applied that I imported into the fish model, but of course i needed to move the eyeball and rotate it a bit so it would fit the model. What I discovered is that the material also needed to be translated and rotated as well. My question is when I animate the eye, what is the best way to get the material to move along with it?
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
- 11 replies
- 1.7k views
Brendan Bolles, creator of the ProEXR plugin for After Effects etc. has launched an effort to cull together various open source image and audio formats into a new (more universal) media format for image sequences. It looks like he'll easily make his initial funding goal. This is of interest primarily because having a -simple-, -universal- and -patent free- image format that allows for still and moving imagery has long been of interest. Will MOX just be another file format to contend with or can it achieve it's lofty goal? If anyone can do it it might be Brendan Bolles. This video outlines some of the problems and the support behind the idea:
Last reply by Rodney, -
Mr Homeslice
by Xtaz- 1 follower
- 11 replies
- 1.9k views
I'm missing Mr. Holmes Bryant. Does anyone know where he is? He doesn't appear here since 2012
Last reply by thefreshestever, -
- 5 replies
- 1.5k views
The user interface for this program isn't exactly intuitive but I thought it might be useful for those that don't have a dedicated viewer to open and adjust EXR renderings outside of A:M. Being able to relight images easily is very useful. https://sourceforge.net/projects/mrviewer/?source=typ_redirect The program can do a lot more than just open, display and convert EXR images so may be worth a look. Listed features: A video player, interactive image viewer, and flipbook for use in VFX, 3D computer graphics and professional illustration. Features Flipbook player HDRI viewer Multichannel Support in OpenEXR, PSD, MIFF and TIFF formats MultiView OpenEXR …
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 89 replies
- 9k views
A review of the Surface Pro 3 I didn't even know there was a 3 yet.
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
- 23 replies
- 2.5k views
I suppose this is old news, but... Microsoft is ending security updates and bug fixes for Windows XP Does A:M v18 still run on XP? I couldn't find the current system requirements on the Hash.com page. support for Windows XP will end on April 8, 2014
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 9 replies
- 2k views
--
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 reply
- 415 views
Rodney and I have been learning C++ and now we are looking at MFC with an eye to writing A:M plugins MFC or Microsoft Foundation Class is an addition to C++ that handles standard Windows GUI elements like menus and dialogs and interactions with the main program. WinTester.exe is my first program using these. WinTester.zip WinTester has an "Exercise" menu with four choices: Blank - erases screen Red Rectangle - makes one Gradient - asks you to input RGB values for start and end colors and will draw a smooth transition between the two. Ballistic - will plot a projectile path based on parameters you input... X and Y de…
Last reply by Tom, -
- 0 replies
- 2.6k views
I just saw the Joe Daniel's video walkthrough of VR drawing here: xhttps://vimeo.com/211768999 And thought... hmm... I wonder how close I can get to that basic premise using A:M. After quickly modeling, rigging and animating a swingset like the one in the demo I quickly got to the point of drawing over the animating swing while the sequence was playing. A problem arose where I couldn't get A:M to keep playing while drawing so I used the HAMR viewer instead. Ran into one problem with the HAMR viewer in that it didn't want to recognize the swingset model. Turns out HAMR just needed a Choreography. Cool. While none of this is much to look at... I'm pleased t…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 2 replies
- 593 views
For all you guys out there using Macs, thought you might be interested in this: https://deals.cultofmac.com/sales/the-name-...-mac-bundle-3-0 I don't really recognize the other apps, but this would be a great way to get Camtasia for cheap.
Last reply by Roger, -
Nate's Auto
by MJL- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 453 views
I can't remember if I posted this or not. Sorry if it's redundant. It's a WIP commercial for a friend of mine. First Draft.m4v
Last reply by Pizza Time, -
- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 564 views
In all of our collaborations, Spleengene was the animator. I provided music and helped with modeling and other background stuff. I have started a project that has grown exponentially. Nate is a young mechanic who helped me out when I was in need. At the time he was a professional mechanic working at a shop in the next town. He tried for several hours to get the junker I had at that time running. He never once brought up money. We have become friends. I've spent a couple of months learning how to animate, and I'm bettter than I was, but I still have a looooong way to go. During the time I've been doing this, Nate has moved to a bigger (3 Bay) shop in a nearby to…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 16 replies
- 1.9k views
My daughter is interested in going to college. She wants to learn character design and level design for games. I am just a novist designer for cg animation. I would like advice from people in the biz. (I'm going to teach her what I can. She's already getting better than me. I feel like Yoda in "Return of the Jedi".)
Last reply by DZ4, -
- 3 replies
- 409 views
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 1 follower
- 42 replies
- 4.6k views
I'm researching software for the initial workup of a game app proposal and have been asked to investigate software to build the proposed application. At this time the project is pre-pitch/prefunding with much of the material confidential so I can't go into detail on specifics of the game itself but the following is basic criteria: The team is affiliated with an Educational Institution and likely eligible for education/student licensing. The team consists of approx 14 people most of which are technical experts in the games subject matter (not gaming, graphics or software development). -- Depending on funding/green light to go ahead the team may involve students an…
Last reply by Darrin S, -
- 2 replies
- 1.3k views
Who has tips on designing white glossy background. With white glossy words. What should I set my properties to also.
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
- 1 reply
- 811 views
My computer went haywire again. Everything had to be cleared off. I have my data files and program files backed up, but that doesn't do me much good in installing the program. I am reinstalling A:M version 18. (I have the permanent one, rather than the subscription.) It says my activation key has already been used. I also have a file named "master0.lic" I put that in the folder. I also have a folder called Get host id for license. I have forgotten what to do with any of this. Thanks for your help. I sent a request to support@hash.com but have not heard back. There is more information in my email. I think I heard before that sometimes answers come a little more quickly…
Last reply by Pitcher, -
- 1 follower
- 5 replies
- 1.1k views
Greetings Folks, Been a few years since I have worked with my AM so these will probably be stupid questions. Couple years ago I bought the program ( v. 18.Oo SSE4 2008). I run a iMac 'High Sierra v. 10.13.6 My problems are 1 I can not import images for Rotoscopes or backgrounds 2 When ready to save I can not choose a name or a location to save at. (see attached image) Any suggestions? Please.... Thanks
Last reply by Walter Baker,
