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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.
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940 topics in this forum
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Hi, Renderserver is crashing on my Mac every time I hit ‘File-New.’ I’ve tried everything I can think of - reinstalling, permissions. What could I be missing? I bought a perpetual license for A:M v18 for my old MacPro with 10 render nodes but I’ve never used Renderserver before. I’m wondering if I never actually activated the render nodes, even though I bought them on the same order as the license? I run Hash on El Capitan so this is pretty old stuff but I still see a lot of advantages in using Hash over Blender on my Silicon mac. Because El Capitan is so old and unsupported, I keep the MacPro offline. I’m considering buying a ‘trash can’ MacPr…
Last reply by 10-K, -
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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, -
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Came across this extraordinary live action test. The mathematical perfection is astounding. Would be difficult to animate,,,but still amazing for the mathematicians out there.. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1b97-DsPHJ/?igsh=ZGMyZG82dXpwbHc2
Last reply by Tom, -
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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, -
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There is more 'making of' out there on Avengers but these sequences in particular show more of the simplicity in geometry/meshes that were textured and lit for the movie than other references I've seen. [vimeo]56664953[/vimeo]
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Pretty funny!
Last reply by TheSpleen, -
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Have a nice Holiday everyone !
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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I've been watching a lot of older movies lately. Its a study on camera, lighting, and most importantly acting. The latest has been Fried Green Tomatoes! The best scene I think is near the end where Jessica Tandy's character points out Ruth's grave site. There is very little dialogue between the characters, but the acting is superb. Little has to be said I think. The actresses convey so much with just facial acting. If anyone gets a chance go and check out that small part. Really great scene.
Last reply by Simon Edmondson, -
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Far be it from me to recommend anything from Autodesk but this is really quite impressive; send Autodesk a series of quasi-random photos surrounding an object and they ship back a polygon model of that object, for free. This explains it well. Normally we`d be shut out but the V17 retopolgy tool makes it potentially useful to an A:M user.
Last reply by thejobe, -
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I want to move some bones in a head with the geometary ,is there some keys to hold ,Im sure Ive done this before cheers Steve
Last reply by steve392, -
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Rather than add to the other topic that focuses on Phonemes I'll start a new topic where I hope others will feel free to explore A:M's Dopesheet. The Dopesheet has gained a bad name over the years and that is unfortunate because it can be used to do a lot of laborious work quickly. It can be used to block out stories, set up scenes and pose characters rapidly and without much effort. Folks see A:M's Dopesheet as only being good for Lipsync but perhaps it can do more than that...
Last reply by Rodney, -
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A thoughtful article about the complications of Kickstarter campaigns... http://www.thebaffler.com/past/whos_the_sh...ur_kickstarter/
Last reply by largento, -
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Here I am again fishing...this time for help. Everyone knows I'm working on the Woke Up Dead movie (check my signature) So I'm making progress with the models but now comes the part where I need to do phenomes and such....(think I spelled that right) Beyond the basic phenomes what would the rest of you guys recommend as a base line set of facial expressions that are a must have in the line up. I guess what I'm doing is trying to compile a complete list of what really comes in handy. So go ahead and hit me. Doesn't matter what anyone says this is all good stuff to know.... (all this stuff I'm learning will one day become a video tut for future AMers)... …
Last reply by higginsdj, -
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Nice Work Rodney !!
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Chuck Williams and Aaron Blaise have launched a kickstarter to fund the initial creation of their current effort; a movie called "Art Story". But that isn't what I'm posting about here... Previously to this effort Williams and Blaise were working at the ill fated Digital Domain on several other story ideas. During that process they recorded a TEDx presentation about their creative process in creating their stories. hSIfGs-DGQ Some concepts covered: Starting out Spaghetti Pitches Inspiration Capturing Moments Evoking Emotion (Emotional Experiences) Research/Reference Connecting with Real Life Beat Boards Non…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Hello all- I just saw a news article that says a UPS store here in San Diego (Kearny Mesa) is now having a 3D printer on the premises. People will be able to walk in with a file and print out their work as a 3D prototype. The 3D printers seem high end, meaning they are a cut above what the lowest pro-sumer models presently are. Don't know what the cost will be but the fact that you can walk in with a flash drive and walk out with your creation is pretty cool. If you don't live near San Diego, you might check the UPS store website and see if they are planning a 3D printer for a store near you. Best, Tom
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
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We animator types are an eclectic bunch of characters with diverse interests, so I was wondering. Is anyone watching Summer Slam tonight?
Last reply by Wildsided, -
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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, -
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Just announcing that I'll be doing the company Christmas animation (my eighth, yikes, this is the longest I've ever been at one job!) and as yet I have zero ideas, but I'm just starting, surely something will come up!
Last reply by Gerry, -
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It is time to renew my subscription. I previously used the 32-bit version of AM. I just bought a new Windows 7 Dell 64-bit machine. Does anyone have any thoughts on the pros and cons of 64-bit AM vs. continuing to use 32-bit AM on a 64-bit machine?
Last reply by Fuchur, -
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I just put in a new graphics card in my Mac Pro. I'm going from a ATI 2600 with 256MB to an ATI 5870 with 1024MB. I wondered if there'd be any difference in render times. I don't think it had any effect, but just to share the results. This was a VGA size render with 16 passes and 60% Ambient Occlusion. No reflections, no hair. Mac v17G = 8:43 Mac v18beta2 = 8:45 Win v17G (running under Parallels) = 7:23 That's a pretty big advantage to running the Windows version. I'm not sure if it would make any difference to change the allotment of resources to Parallels. Right now, I'm letting it use 4GB of RAM and 4 CPU cores. I also gave it 512MB …
Last reply by largento, -
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Here's something cool and useful. This guy has drawn skeletons into cartoon characters. Interesting to see where he has placed the joints and something that could be handy when you are thinking about rigging your character.
Last reply by thefreshestever, -
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Hello appreciated people of this forum!! I was researching about Anzovin's Training Videos here in the forum, and I read they are free to share here in the community... so I was wondering if they were uploaded somewhere... and if not, I was wondering in they could be uploaded in Low Quality for someone here, at least, to have the information they are teaching there, no matter if they wouldn't look so good... I have been compressing some videos with a software called BENCOS, and it compresses a lot the videos without take off too much quality... I've been compressing with a relation 1Mb / 1Minute video + size of audio track at 32 kbps, that's to say, a video of 6…
Last reply by Rodney, -
Much like Scultpris but this sculpting application is WebGL and Javascript based. If you need to make some quick topology for use with the Snap to Surface tool in A:M this might do the trick for you as it exports to OBJ etc. Very interesting. http://stephaneginier.com/sculptgl/ Source code is hosted on github: https://github.com/stephomi/sculptgl Added: A quick paint job on Thom...
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Dusted off my old HASP dongle and was going to mess around with A:M over the break, but it seems that the HASP software isn't working on Windows 7. After getting through a few other hoops, I'm stumped on this HASP error, when I try to open A:M: "HASP not found (15)" My USB HASP Dongle is plugged in and lit up, Windows seems to think the drivers are up to date, but A:M won't see it. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Recent US court ruling in favor of ISP allowing them to favor some traffic and disadvantage other. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/14/n..._n_4597831.html I don't know where an independent presence like Hash, Inc would fall on the favored/disadvantaged line. I'm going to guess that Youtube might go into the disadvantaged hole unless Google starts paying ISPs to favor it.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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During the live demo, the presenter had a 3D Bugs Bunny. He then did something that turned it into a 2D character which resembled traditional animation. Does anyone know how he did that?
Last reply by edifex, -
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Is there a video of the live AM presentation that is performed at the conventions?
Last reply by edifex, -
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Materials is one of those areas I haven't mastered yet, so over the years I've built up a library of canned ones, just in case I needed them. But for the life of me I can't seem to get my hands on a decent felt material, or any felt material. Anyone happen to have one kicking about in the dusty corners of their 'puters?
Last reply by largento, -
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For those of you wth money to spend... Zurbrigg has released their video player that is enhanced for filmmakers and animators. Their site states that introductory pricing is $25. Keyframe MP is currently available for 64-bit version of Windows (Vista or newer) with an OS X version in development. http://zurbrigg.com/keyframe-mp There are several videos that demonstrate usage: [vimeo]90056692[/vimeo] Getting Started with Keyframe MP (Direct Link) [vimeo]89196777[/vimeo] Keyframe MP Overview (Direct Link)
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Of possible interest... As of April of this year Autodesk released Toxik (now named Composite) and MatchMover which runs on Linux, Mac and Windows 64bit for free. Composite is a node based video/image compositor. As the UI isn't exactly intuitive I highly recommend reviewing all available videos and tutorials BEFORE diving in. The learning curve is a bit steep and the UI doesn't always react in accordance with the tutorials. Aside: I'm not aware of any way to access the custom channels created for the EXR format but that doesn't mean it can't be done. Accessing standard RGBA channels is straightforward enough. MatchMover is a 2D/3D tracker for …
Last reply by Rodney, -
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This looks to be a positive development: jR8XBZRkkao The video doesn't go into detail but the general idea is to allow viewers to assist and support directly (translation, captioning and funding).
Last reply by zandoriastudios, -
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Just noticed the Troll?, spinning the words Animation Master round, for the Special Topics forum Was that your handiwork Rodney!?
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Here's a clever pricing strategy for all you free-lance types... Freelance pros take the zeros out of project bids. Here's Why.
Last reply by fae_alba, -
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No details yet, but the official Star Wars website has announced the awards for Star Wars Fan Films is returning next year. Wikipedia has a page about past contests, rules and winners.
Last reply by largento, -
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This is for folks that use TechSmith's Camtasia screen recording software. With the recent update to Camtasia 8.4 the recording file format has changed to allow full compatibility between PC and Mac. Good news. The bad news is that this change makes files recorded in the latest release incompatible with earlier releases. You can't open them, etc. This is something to consider if you use more than one release version of Camtasia or work with other who do. Note that a general workaround is to save/produce the content as a video file and share that but all of the specialized recording data (mouse movement etc.) will be lost (flattened?) as you do. Also noted,…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/9/6951375/david-letterman-hatsune-miku-anime The other night David Letterman featured a band led by a hologram, Hatsune Miku. I had never heard of her, have you? You will. This video compares pop idols like Justin Beiber to, and suggests the future may be dominated by 'entities' like Miku. Animation plays heavily thruout the scheme, and it is going-on BIGTIME as I write. INTERESTING.
Last reply by nemyax, -
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Looks interesting: The parallel between Disney marketing via movie subject matter and the Disney theme park has always been tied together but with Lasseter in charge that tie and subsequent cross pollination has increased dramatically. And they have only scratched the surface. It is telling that Lasseter's involvement in the theme park predates his involvement in animation. He's come a long way from ferrying folks around on jungle cruise adventures.
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I tried rendering a chor. file in the bitmap format, and the sky became black on the rendered picture. When I rendered as an avi, the sky was light blue as usual. I would like the sky to be light blue in the bitmap. Any ideas?
Last reply by Pitcher, -
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Hi Guys, its time for me again to treat me with a christmas gift, and I want it to be a new AM subscription. Since I am a fan of the Setup Machine Rigg and it is now for free i just want to make sure, that when i get a new subscription vor V18, I can also download V16 (32bit) and use it on the machine where my subscription is running on, right? Please correct me if I am wrong! Regards Heiner
Last reply by ruscular, -
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I thought this had been posted but I don't see it anywhere. Verve is a (free) application that it's creator (Taron) created as an exercise/experiment in programming. It is rather unlike any other paint program He demos some of the features here: https://www.youtube.com/user/333taron/videos Download Link to latest installer is: http://www.taron.de/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6
Last reply by itsjustme, -
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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, -
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This video breakdown by Pixar storyman Michael Arnt of how stories are broken down (focusing on how to get a story started) has been out for about three years but I don't recall seeing it before. Well worth a look: xhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6mSdlfpYLU Source: Spline Doctors (via onanimation.com)
Last reply by johnl3d, -
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- 554 views
Does Animation Masters offer a training course? I thought I saw somewhere it said they do offer it.
Last reply by Mr Buzzkill, -
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As more and more collaborative teams hit the internet to bring their projects to life small and large services are popping up to address that need. In the past I've mentioned a few and several of those have since had significant upgrades. Shotgun (recently purchased by Autodesk) is one that gets the majority of press because they got a head start on their competition and have invested deeply in the features needed to bring projects through production. Frame.io is another of these services. Will it work well for your next project? Answer: It depends. On the low end (the space which most independent creators occupy) where a team of two or three work on a pro…
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
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- 550 views
The one thing that my current workflow lacks is a high end video editor that doesn't break the bank. Several companies may help to resolve that. Avid is on the move lately with some major purchasing of other companies and an announcement that later in 2015 a free version of Media Composer will be released. While I don't imagine the free release will meet all the esoteric requirements needed the entry point is priced to make the determination of how well the program can fit into a production pipeline and fit current needs. It is also worth noting that a company recently purchased by Avid (Orad)is known for their realtime 3D technology. Sign up to receiv…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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- 680 views
I bring this up again, but I am very much opposed to the subscription model which was introduced some years ago. It is not the monetary outlay, but the principle of dependency which irks me to no end. I also find this protectionist attitude to be the greatest hindrance of proliferating this software and its qualities, and it will be the ultimate cause of its demise. I do have a couple of subscriptions and I will let them expire with no plans to renew in spite of my great affinity to this program. I also find that most improvements since V12 are simple window dressing, or entirely useless inclusions of open source libraries for fluids and cloth etc., but coupled to a…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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- 632 views
Hello- Simple question (but it has me stumped)... When you drag a decal into the model window, the decal can be scaled...but can it be rotated? In the past I have always just rotated the image before I import it into AM..but it would be nice if the decal could be rotated in the model window.. Is this possible? Thanks for any info.. Tom
Last reply by Tom, -
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- 563 views
My major complaint about Youtube for animation is that you couldn't step thru something frame-by-frame to study the motion. But now you can, at this site (and Vimeos too) http://anilyzer.com/ I'm not sure it's frame accurate but it seems to get most of them
Last reply by fae_alba, -
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Pixar has teamed up with Khan Academy to offer a free course on how animated movies are produced. Introduction: https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/pixar/start/introduction Course page: https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/pixar The folks at Pixar can now point aspiring creators to the Khan Academy when they ask those inevitable questions about CG animation. The basic breakdown of course material: Environment modeling Explore how blades of grass in Brave were created using parabolic arcs. Modeling grass with parabolas Calculating parabolas Character modeling Explore how clay models are transformed into digital characters using weighted averages. …
Last reply by Rodney,
