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963 topics in this forum
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- 11 replies
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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, -
- 1 follower
- 9 replies
- 1.9k views
Best wishes, Will! May all your Zandorias be fully tarred!
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 3 replies
- 1.5k views
Saw this and looks pretty handy but wondering how well it would integrate with AM http://www.allegorithmic.com/products/bitmap2material Maybe use it in conjunction with Bitmap Plus plugin?
Last reply by Clipping Path Specialists, -
- 6 replies
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For those of you working on personal projects of the non-commercial variety this might be of interest. Nuke is a high end compositor used in the production of many feature films. And of course Nuke does offer more than just compositing. Some of the features: http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/nuke/features/?product=nukestudio The PLE release is designed for learning the software with the obvious hope that you'll want to eventually purchase the commericial release because it is that useful to you. There is a long considerably long list of things you cannot do with the noncommericial release: These constraints may limit usage but they do allow acce…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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This is fairly self explanatory. Folks have long desired to be able to make sense of audio waveforms...
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 2 replies
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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, -
- 3 replies
- 897 views
This is a SIGGRAPH presentation on how the body deforms during breathing as applied to animated characters/avatars. Perhaps a bit more technical than routinely necessary... still, it contains some information especially useful for those striving to create 'realistic' performances. I wonder what qualifications one must have in order to be a 'breath actor'...
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 18 replies
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Octane Renderer is extraordinary. The company that sells it creates plugins for many software like Blender, Carrara etc ... And why not Animation Master. I sent an email to see if they have plans for plugins AM. It would be good that many send an email if interested in this renderer. Octane is a GPU engine Unbiased. User-friendly gpu allows use to make an image from 10 to 50 times faster. I use octane and it's really impressive.
Last reply by Xtaz, -
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hello, is anyone an idea for what's new in version 19? I dream of rendering GPU. particles as objects. UV tools and chamfer. That may be a bit early to talk about?
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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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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- 1k views
Hello Hashers- Just noticed a blurb about the upcoming new Pixar Movie, "Inside Out" coming out next summer. Looks pretty funny when you consider the premise and the voice actors. I don't know if anyone at Pixar saw this terrifc short: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuyB7NO0EYY) before they formulated their movie, but both concepts look great. Tom
Last reply by fae_alba, -
- 2 replies
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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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- 591 views
Some might say it was inevitable: Link
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
- 31 replies
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https://youtu.be/z5nBA45DvRo Andrew Kramer has announced a November release for Video Copilot's Element Version 2. Element is an Adobe After Effects plug-in that offers realtime GPU based 3D rendering, right within the After Effects application. Version 1 was a big hit but had obvious drawbacks in that with realtime GPU you can not generate shadows or reflections... well, with V2 he appears to have jumped those hurdles, and threw in realtime sub-surface-scattering and refraction as well! The shadows, refraction and SSS look pretty nice, and the reflections use a bit of a 'cheat' as realtime raytracing is still unobtainable. It is kind of amazing! Prices and up…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 704 views
This Saturday legendary Disney animator Andreas Deja will be conducting a brief Master Lecture online at Virtual Animators. The 1 hour limitation suggests it'll be a bit brief to be much more than a survey/overview but at $25 I'd say it will be well worth the money and knowing how Andreas enjoys teaching I'm sure there will be many learning opportunities too. He has stated his plans to conduct a demonstration. There is limit seating for online attendance so if you are interested it is best to sign up sooner than later. http://www.virtualanimators.com/index.php/workshops Saturday, Oct 11, 11AM PTD And whether you attend or not... don't forget to kee…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I am working on a small project and am wondering how I convert my model to an STL format for 3-D printing. I have ANimation Master Version-13 any helps is great Thanks Chris
Last reply by simpleyork, -
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Finally came in, set everything up without a hitch and wow what a nice machine! Lots to watch out for as with any high tech equipment, biggest issue is keeping the resin tray clean, keep material mixed and plan on a resin tray with each liter of resin to play it safe. Thought they sell the trays separate they are the most prone for print failures simply because of the wear and tear of how the machine operates. I did my first print of a coin, tossed it on edge because I didn't want to have to glue 2 parts together for a quickie proof. I printed it at med resolution 50 micron and the detail of the text all held perfectly. Far better than any Objet or Polyjet print I hav…
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
- 1 follower
- 7 replies
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does anybody know what is going on over there? it seems like someone buys them... at least the mail i received is indicating that. see you *fuchur*
Last reply by ruscular, -
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- 648 views
From the Hollywood Reporter... I presume there's some sort of signal light they shine on the clouds to call an emergency board meeting.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
SyncSketch
by Rodney- 0 replies
- 833 views
We are seeing more and more of these type of applications... a definite trend in collaborative software. While useful and interesting once online sketching is ubiquitous I imagine many of these application will either fade from existence or be assimilated into other products. I fully expect Youtube and other video services to move in that direction as well. But... in the meantime these application are available and can help bring collaborative projects to life. Like several similar offerings SyncSketch provides online annotation of video uploaded to the cloud. Sharing a link with someone else allows you to then share that information with others. Here are a fe…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 711 views
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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I am having trouble posting links here, but I put an update on my website http://www.monoboom.co/ Sorry to say I've lost my other downloader so I'm back to 1 download on Play for my app (me!). Anyway, with a green screen, and the ability to convert that to a black background PNG, I think a lot could be done... But I'm on moderator queue and you took down my topic. Am I really that bad at posting? Looks like http://www123videomagic.com/ has a green screen kit that could create an image sequence (with a not included camera to a RAW file) that could be converted to PNG (with other software) for color transparency (which is not the old color transparency just…
Last reply by DZ4, -
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Hey all--- Working on an outdoor scene with a grassy plain that rises to a mountain. I'm looking at a grassy texture, then a rocky, then a granite-like one for the sheer mountain. Question is, how to effect a smooth transition from grassy to rocky to granite without them obviously being patch breaks. Just getting into texturing heavily and any head's ups or links to getting started would be appreciated. Thanks, Rich
Last reply by Rodney, -
Sony Picutures/Imageworks is pressing toward the release of an updated Popeye. Initially I was quite skeptical but if anyone can pull off a decent Popeye feature it's bound to be Genndy Tartakovsky. The 'animation test' begins after a short intro. I have never been a huge fan of Popeye although at times I almost became one when a story hinted at his potential. But I watched him a lot when I was a kid. As a kid of four or five years old I use to have a recurring nightmare where I was down in a deep well being chased by a shark and it wasn't until (by happenstance in my late teens) I saw an episode of Popeye where that scene played out with Popeye as t…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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http://genero.tv/georgeharrison/
Last reply by nemyax, -
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Hello Hashers- I was watching the "Secret of Kells" and saw some cool smoke effects which have me stumped. They used celtic spirals for the rising smoke and the outer spiral lines changed from white to dark when they crossed some sort of masking line.(see animated clip). I'm sure there is a pretty simple explanation how they achieved this effect..but I can't figure it out. Can anyone explain this cool effect? Many thanks, Tom SmokeQuestion.swf
Last reply by Tom, -
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Microsoft To Abandon Windows 7 Mainstream Support. Pressure Builds On Windows 9
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
- 9 replies
- 2k views
How long should your next animated story be? You can tell more than a few stories in 10 seconds or less... So before you invest in your next story as a 90 minute epic animated feature film perhaps you may want to tell one a bit shorter... more economically... ...perhaps even in 10 seconds or less.
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 3 replies
- 1k views
Tired of animating? Or anything else? Scientists agree: Coffee naps are better than coffee or naps alone
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
- 0 replies
- 783 views
http://tandf.msgfocus.com/q/16vqEHslJb5/wv This was posted on facebook by animation magazine
Last reply by johnl3d, -
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CGTarian is yet another online school that has offered a wide range of courses. I'm not sure if we've discussed those before. Recently CGTarian launched out on an updated path with new instructors and few newer approaches. I note that JP Sans (highly active in the Animschool realm is an instructor*) and a focus is said to be that individual courses can be taken without signing on for the longer term. A little about CGTarian (from their website): The price of admission is still high for attending online classes but as long as the value is also then taking a course may be well worth the effort. As always, my suggestion would be to sample the lessons ava…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 753 views
This is the best rock, paper scissors tale I've seen told.
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 1 follower
- 22 replies
- 2.8k views
This is an old clip but the results are so cool, thought the Hashers might enjoy it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT9qU_fJNuw Wish there was some sort of plug-in which would simulate some of these effects... Tom
Last reply by Clipping Path Specialists, -
- 1 follower
- 86 replies
- 8.6k views
I got my feet wet in the '3D Printing' arena this week... turned out kinda cool! I uploaded a hash model of my Tireman character to sculpteo.com(via OBJ exporter with a .mat file for colors...) and interacted with their online 'repair-bot'... which sent me back to A:M to make revisions maybe 8-10 times as I learned what I could and could not get away with... and mostly what geometry was deemed 'too thin' for the scale I had chose... which was 3.8" tall. This print cost $80...I am pretty happy with what I see. My method was to pose the character using his TSM rig in a chor and save it out from there as a .mdl... which I opened and deleted all the bones and decals f…
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
- 1 follower
- 19 replies
- 2k views
More often than not creative types find themselves locked in a self contained cycle of non-creativity at one point or another. One of the most significant of locks they place on the imagination is that of the eternal self fulfilling prophesy of 'I can't draw.' Let's cut to the chase. To draw is to pull something up or toward you (although if something or someone else is drawing in an opposing direction it might also be said to be drawn away or down) One need not place lines on a piece of paper with graphite, pen or other instrument capable of producing a visible line but some form of line must be placed in order to reveal the structure of a visual idea. One…
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
- 0 replies
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I'm a bit behind the times, but I viewed Harlock Space Pirate(2013 cg version) for the first time a few nights ago. The texturing details jumped out at me so strong. If you like CG texturing and lighting, this film is worth a view. The characters faces do however look generically anime. It seems like they all use the same head model as the other CG Anime films. But those are even well done. I rather enjoyed the film and found myself drawn to the details of the texture details in both the characters and props. It was obviously a motion capture driven project for both facial and body animation, but it was very well done. William
Last reply by detbear, -
- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 890 views
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, -
- 4 replies
- 743 views
I like the look they've achieved. Simple, stylish and appealing. Show You Care
Last reply by largento, -
- 14 replies
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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, -
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Rendering to file that is... Increasingly real time rendering is going mainstream and in consumer markets long render times won't be acceptable. Just in time for SIGGRAPH 2014, Physical Based Rendering is being demo'd without plugins via HTML5. https://labs.sketchfab.com/siggraph2014/viewer.html?model=devastator It's a far cry from fully rendered real time animation but it's getting there.
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
- 4 replies
- 1.3k views
Hello Hashers- I have a copy of Version 18.0F SSE4 on a Windows 7 computer that did not have any animation previous animation software on it. It runs great. I also bought another copy of Version 18.0F SSE4 at Comic Con so I could bring my old computer (which already had an older copy of AM 17) up to the latest version. This machine performs well except that it won't render avi files when rendering.(?) while running V18. I know V18 has no problem with rendering avi files because the first machine renders them easily. My thinking is that maybe there is something that V17 has on the machine which is preventing the newer updated V18 from rendering avi.'s properly…
Last reply by Tom, -
- 7 replies
- 764 views
This reminds me of a few far fetched story ideas I wanted to use in a project many years ago. In those projects I intentionally targeted things that were 'impossible' because the technology added an element of mystery, fantasy, science and fiction and suggested a sense of the futuristic as a point of departure within an otherwise present day context. The trick being to tie the impossible tech into reality just enough to keep it from being entirely unbelievable with the gist of the resolution of the plot being something of a Rube Goldberg approach to problem solving; "How did the hero solve the mystery?" Why, Everyone knows he's a master of forms of science and technolog…
Last reply by Simon Edmondson, -
- 3 replies
- 955 views
I created my first upload video. It is from Disney Frozen. Please let me know how I did. google; Animation Master Let it Go.
Last reply by DZ4, -
- 1 reply
- 580 views
In all but the rarest occasion graphics glitches can be resolved by installing a current/updated driver from the graphics card manufacturer (or third party rising to the challenge). For those currently experiencing display issues, let's get those drivers updated, regressed to an earlier/better state or into whatever configuration needed to maximize performance and stability. Official sites for driver downloads: AMD / ATI http://support.amd.com/en-us/download Intel http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/detect.htm nVidia http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx 3S Graphics http://www.s3graphics.com/en/drivers/index.aspx Want to try out beta d…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 1.3k views
Is it me or is this program a lot like animation master. These folks have copied the program. Not cool. Any one have an opinion on this? Goose
Last reply by nemyax, -
- 4 replies
- 827 views
I'm staring at a dilemma that seems to resolve around the necessity of including bitmaps (for decals, backgrounds, etc.) and am actively searching for a solution to set aside or exclude bitmaps from the general workflow. Now, this isn't to suggest that bitmaps would not be a part of the project workflow at all but rather to set them aside for a time to optimize the given workflow. As an example, let's say we have a system where the use of only text files is the norm and is preferred. Let us also assume that text-based image formats (SVG and base-32/base-64,etc.*) aren't ideal either although additional development might allow for them, especially the latter as they …
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 3 replies
- 1.7k views
Well, no mistake about it--I'm a train wreck! I have had two or three issues in the last week or two, and another occurred last night. This time, however, I had the answer, because of the help I received previously. Here's what happened. I use version 15i. It is what I've used since I started in November 2011 when I started into this. I have been working on the same project since then and was afraid to change because I want it all to look consistent. Yesterday, I was updating a file I did about two years ago trying to make it better. It is a scene that is so large that I can only look at it occasionally in shaded or shaded and wireframe. It will not go from frame to f…
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 1 follower
- 37 replies
- 3.4k views
On Tuesday I met with Paul Harris for several hours and discussed a very wide range of topics. We should have recorded the meeting although it's surely best that some things were off the record as that allowed us to wander far afield in the discussion. One of the subjects of interest concerned financial support (a very broad topic). I have a lot of opinions on this subject which I'll be more than happy to discuss but I am more interested in the thoughts of everyone in the A:M Community on the subject of grants and sponsorship. Some general parameters should probably be stated for the discussion but I don't want to miss important feedback by artificially limiting di…
Last reply by DZ4, -
- 10 replies
- 1.7k views
I was wondering if there will ever be an FBX importer that can import the mesh and bones of an FBX file. I currently use a program called Fuse combined with Mixamo Rigged character models that export into FBX and would love to animate them using A:M. I love A:M, but there's been no progress on any plugins for it in forever... I can understand if it's never going to happen, I just need to know so I can use something else that can handle more modern file formats. The only reason why I'm asking is because I would rather not use something else... I love A:M...
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
- 12 replies
- 2.2k views
So over the past year or two, I've started volunteering my services to some fan productions. So far it's been a great experience and I feel a sense of accomplishment as I'm now completing projects on a very regular basis. Now I'm considering expanding that practice into something that might make a few dollars here and there. I by no means am looking to quit my day job. Rather, make a little bit of money on the side doing what I already do in my spare time. Thing is, I'm not really sure where to start. Also I'm not entirely sure how to best "get my name out there" so to speak. I'm not looking to do big things, rather target smaller groups that need a bit of work …
Last reply by John Bigboote,
