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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.
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961 topics in this forum
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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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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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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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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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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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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, -
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I purchased the latest update for A:M and ran the installer program. Hash sent me the access code after they processed the payment. The installer appeared to do something because the settings got set to the default conditions. I expected that the program would ask for the access code and do some process to renew the license, but that has not happened and now the system says that the license expired. What am I missing? It is probably something pretty basic because I have updated the system in prior years without any problem. Does anyone have have an idea of what I should do?
Last reply by RS3D, -
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British BFI has recently released a 3 DVD set with the Czhec animation legend Jan Svankmajer's complete filmography. 26 fantastic animations plus interviews and documentaries etc. Highly recomended and very inspirational! Here is a cut from one of the shorts "Dimensions of Dialogue" from 1982 https://vimeo.com/15308509
Last reply by Tore, -
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I have applied decals many times. Now I have one that applies fine when I have the patches that it touches selected and the others hidden. When I bring back the other patches, however, the decal becomes spotty on one of the patches where it was fine before. I have tried to apply the decal with the entire figure showing, but when I do that, the patch that rejects the decal will not cover. I have found normals and flipped normals, and everywhere I could find anything about normals I tried to do something. Please tell me what is going on and why the decal will not apply evenly and continue to stick. Thanks.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Shhhhh... keep this on the lowdown. Recently I was plugging Don Bluth's effort to get his traditional animation project off the ground and this relates to that in a way. How? Way back when, at Don's Masterclass one of the attendees was Keith Osborn who near the end of the course showed me a few secrets of a then hush hush project; Warner Bros Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote when they were first making the move to CG. The highlight of the animation was Keith's work with smears, duplicate limbs, etc. which were all pretty hard to do in most software in that timeframe. Well, seeing ample opportunity to spread the word on his approach and technique, Keith has publish…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Got this program free from SharewareOnSale Thought it might be on interest Called AbstractCurves
Last reply by johnl3d, -
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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, -
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Last reply by Tore, -
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Last reply by John Bigboote, -
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Long-ago forum member Zachary Brewster-Geisz's acting career continues to edge upward. Behold, a very favorable mention in the Washington Post review of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Zach, seen reclining below...
Last reply by itsjustme, -
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I've brought a wav audio file into choreography for lip-syncing and have synced the actions to the file, but when I play the action the sound plays faster than the wav file I've synced the actions to. The time code/frame tells me the wav file is 72 frames in length, but on playback, the sound does not sync with the frame count. It plays much faster. How can I sync the syncs?
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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The current forum banner (over the Latest Info forum) is a single frame from a 500 frame sequence rendered straight out of A:M with one exception; it was resized (to a lower resolution) in an image utility called Irfanview. Where I have the option I prefer to use images rendered directly out of A:M; this is something of a 'purist' view. I would relate this to what most would assume is the approach of PIXAR which is to forego any compositing, post production etc.; what comes directly out of the renderer is what will be used. This is the A game of animation. The ideal environment in which to produce. The B game is what most of us tend to use if for no other reaso…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I was watching the slowest LA freeway chase ever, the transport of a SpaceShuttle fuel tank through the city to a museum. In the long shots it looks like part of the tank has wrong-facing patches and we are seeing through to the far side of the tank. But later there are some close-ups and it turns out that a corrugated surface is what caused that strange inverse shading effect...
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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I recently saw the rumor but it apparently is a done deal... http://deadline.com/2016/04/jeffrey-katzenberg-reaction-dreamworks-animation-sale-comcast-1201746411/
Last reply by Rodney, -
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http://www.wakingapp.com/#!vr-platform-cgsociety/aa946 might be of interest
Last reply by johnl3d, -
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So I'm getting a very late start on my contest entry, and I got to thinking: I have a laptop sitting on my desk that is probably faster (many times) than an SGI Onyx with Infinite Reality graphics (although I guess I'd be surprised if it wasn't, given 20 years of progress in technology). And even though I don't use AM as much as I should always...whenever I come back to it, I'm able to pick things back up without too much trouble, so that really speaks a lot for its design. And it probably costs about as much as a single Softimage support call would have cost back in the day. Funny how things change.
Last reply by Roger, -
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Microsoft always has a bevy of critics eager to pounce on any effort they put forth but this one is aligned in a way that purveyors of 3D modeling and animation should take note. Not that they will be able to ignore it... Microsoft recently announced several products that point to their behind the scenes efforts to move the computing experience forward. One of these is their move to improve the desktop experience via the Surface Studio computer. Another is their forays into the world of mixed reality with new VR headsets. But the one that I find most applicable and compelling at the moment is on one hand slightly trivial but on the other should prove to be a long …
Last reply by Fuchur, -
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Body Mechanics Boot Camp won't be a "10 weeks to a new career in animation!" kind of class. Our goals are narrowly focused. As i have interacted with forum members over the years I've noticed that many are not using A:M to their advantage for animation and are often lacking in animation fundamentals they need to get good results. I'm envisioning maybe 10 exercises over 10 weeks with the aim of introducing proper use of the A:M tools and developing your eye for better motion in your animations. We'd start with a bouncing ball because that is a key entry point for some animation and workflow fundamentals. Hopefully we'd get up to walking characters because that also …
Last reply by Dpendleton77, -
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I am reordering (Subscribe to A:M for only $79!) v18 by the end of next week but if v19 comes out say in 4 months of new subscription of v18. Would i be able to upgrade to v19 I am not pushing to find out release date.just wanted to no if you can upgrade.or have to buy new version seperate to run v19 Thank you
Last reply by Maniac, -
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Wondering if anyone has tried Marmoset Toolbag 3? Was thinking it could be a good real time render and viewer since they seem to have a player for ios, android and win. www.marmoset.co/toolbag/ I do quite a bit of t-shirt art for my customers, have some stock models I made in AM way back but it is a pain to render them out and email. In some cases sending pdf mockups isn't always practical especially if the pdf is large. Having a good webgl viewer might be a good secure answer. Also be cool if possible to have articulated models the clients can move around on their phones!
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
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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, -
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Hi all, do I need to get another serial number for AM Net Subscription if I want to install it on Mac through bootcamp - Win7 ? Have had it up to here " " with it crashing on Mac and not rendering rotoscopes and throwing my pallets everywhere cant use it for production - so windows it is, have sent a email to orders@hash.com but didn't know if the original serial would work ??
Last reply by a.quaihoi, -
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Last reply by Tore, -
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I thought I would play with sounds in A.M and I hear nothing tried i got a secret sound and hear nothing see it in time line scrub no sound what am I doing wrong
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
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http://aescripts.com/aftercodecs/ I figure these guys are going to make a million dollars, then lose it all to an Apple lawsuit. For the last 5+ years, Apple's Pro-Res Quicktime compression has been the standard in video playback and delivery in the pro world. And Apple being Apple- they made it so that Windows users could read, but not write Pro-Res files. Which has been a royal pain to Windows users (most just keep an old Apple around for conversions)... 3rd party solutions have come and gone, most simply don't work, or were too complicated command line stuff. An article I read explained that Apple had tied part of the conversion to something inherant in Apple h…
Last reply by KNBits, -
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I am posting this because it might be of interest to some users. I have been helped so much over the years by these expert forum comments that I feel I need to give something back. I don't use AM frequently (not my day job and all that) but when I do I go to town. This is basically about my efforts in creating a character with a highly detailed face but with minimal effort. The word lazy might jump to mind but I prefer the "work smart not hard" adage. I tried 2 workflows: ZBrush and Crazytalk back to AM vs. Zbrush through to IClone. The idea was to discover which produced the best output and which gave me the least work to do. A very interesting road so far but a mil…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I know practically nothing about 'The Emoji movie' and haven't seen it but I noticed an interesting link that points to something I'd like to see more of happen as it bridges a gap in the creation/production/distribution process. Concerning the movie itself it appears to be Sony's attempt to grab some of that same success shared by Disney's 'Wreck it Ralph' and that franchise's upcoming sequel. Add in a good dose of the general feel of PIXAR's 'Inside Out' and you've got yourself 'The Emoji Movie'. Sony has released an 'The Art of Emoji Movie' as an online website. It seems to me that this approach might not only be emulated and result in more of the same from ot…
Last reply by Simon Edmondson, -
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Last reply by Tore, -
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Can 3D printed objects (plastic or otherwise) without batteries and electronics be connected to the internet? Apparently so although that may depend on what you define as electronics. The approach uses ambient wifi to absorb or reflect signals and communicate in a binary (on/off) manner. With this method buttons, knobs and sliders can 'talk' to each other and other devices via wireless connection. So basically, anything that can move or rotate can relay it's current state. Obviously power is present somewhere in loop of the greater system (via smartphone, router etc.) but no power is required in the sensor itself thus suggesting almost any object can become a s…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Aaron Blaise is branching out to offer some additional courses via his site. I'm posting this here... now... because the introductory pricing of $29 ends 14 hours from the time of this post. For those pinching pennies... that makes a big difference. I've purchased and have started watching the videos. I anticipate that much of what will be presented won't be new but will help to solidify what is already known. The underlying theme is.. Writers write. Directors direct. "Go out and do it!" That's the best way to learn. Here's the link:https://creatureartteacher.com/product/story-course-film-and-animation/ Here's the write up of the course. Here's …
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Last reply by Tore, -
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I just returned from the theater and enjoyed the film a lot. Well worth the price of admission. (no surprise there) This felt like (at least) three movies in one as the various stories of the characters played out on the screen. I'm glad Disney doesn't break them down into three movies but they certainly could be and... it may be that they are playing to the idea of serials even more with logical drop off points where one story ends and others continue on. The storytelling is very well done with lots of little surprises along the way. This is (to me) especially interesting given that there seemed to be a limited way forward and yet the writers managed to bui…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Google has released a "Machine Learning Crash Course" https://developers.google.com/machine-learning/crash-course/ Someone learn it and tell me if it's useful.
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Last reply by Fuchur, -
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As opposed to the less stable neo hookian flesh simulations... PDF and video are available here: http://graphics.pixar.com/library/StableElasticity/ Addititional info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Hookean_solid
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I have several fires going in a picture. I want to make some minor changes in another part of the picture, but every time I make any move, the computer goes into calculating dynamics. It is taking almost forever to get the changes made. Is there any way to turn off the calculating dynamics until I am ready to render? Thanks.
Last reply by Pitcher, -
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Hi, Re the face controls…the nulls in boxes drawn via splines…what keeps the nulls within the spline boxes???? Where do I find it? I thought it would be bone translation limits but no…nothing’s set there. What, LOL, and where the heck is it???? Thanks, Rusty
Last reply by rusty, -
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Looking for A:M users in Charleston, SC area. You out there?
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
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I hope someone out there can help me...I want to render my animation with a full alpha background for compositing reasons. The ground i simply turned off, the sky is another thing...how do I get rid of it???
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Trying to composite sequences into scenes and can't get anything to work. Elements (rendered frames) are totally unresponsive. Am trying to layer clips and have one clip start at a certain frame. It shows on the layers timeline(the one next to the project tree) correctly but wont start with the frames specified in the Chor Range settings. The layers are compositing ok but cant control the TIMING. Anyone have any experience with this at all? Any help would be appreciated greatly. thanks
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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All of a sudden the keyboard controls are not doing what they have always done. I may have inadvertantly hit Control/something and changed what the keys do? Is there a way to get the keyboard settings back to a default setting?
Last reply by MJL, -
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It's been a while since I've been on this Forum. Hi everybody. Well my CD broke with my version 15 on it so I got the 64 bit download version and some things have changed.I can deal with that, but I'm having a problem. I try to apply a decal and AM crashes when I hit apply. It does this when the application method is Planar. It doesn't crash when I apply in cylindrical mode, and of course, it is extremely distorted and quite unusable. Anybody have any clues?
Last reply by MJL, -
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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,
