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.
939 topics in this forum
-
- 3 replies
- 581 views
I would love to find some fellow A:M users down here on the South Coast of Mass. I live at the tip of the red arrow, between Fall River and New Bedford. I know that confidentiality precludes giving out names and phone numbers, but if I could discover whether or not we have other users close by (or, reasonably so) I'd get on Craig's List, or tap into a friend's Facebook page. Any help would be appreciated.
Last reply by KJ'd Beast, -
- 4 replies
- 663 views
Can someone explain the 'direction' of splines? I have never understood that.
Last reply by Kelley, -
- 3 replies
- 589 views
9k8nDOM7LZ4 . Direct Link: What I really like about this review is how JP Sans covers the following: Lean (Setting a character off balance in order to motivate a movement) The Contact Pose (This pose is so important and JP Sans knows what to look for) Exaggeration (It is always best to exaggerate in cartoony animation. It is rare that you'll need to dial it back but will more than like need to push the pose more) Missing Poses (JP Sans's ability to quickly spot the missing poses is something is a point I'd like to get to myself and I know that is primarily the task of constant and continuous observation) Opposing Directions (He doesn't s…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 0 replies
- 547 views
Looks like Bluesky just got the greenlight to animate a feature film with Charlie Brown and the gang. I think it was Keith Lango that was involved in a test years ago but folks in charge of 'Peanuts' weren't satisified with the adaption to CG and went with the latest hand drawn shorts instead. Trying to remain relevant it looks like their two years worth of negotiations with Bluesky finally broke through to a feature film deal. http://blueskystudios.com/studio-blog/entr...-press-release/
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 952 views
Hello everybody！I’m Chris. I come from China.You know the “Unity 3D” is a good software for games making on mobile telephones and other Platforms.Unity 3D support the file of .FBX, include the animation of the bones. Generally I save the action as models,then exprot them to .OBJ,improt them in 3Ds and compose animation again in 3Ds.But the animation of the composition without bones doesn‘t work in .FBX In this way,so it doesn't work in Unity 3D too. I'm not sure if anybody had asked the same question before: Could anybody write a plugin about exprot to .FBX in AM? If we have this plugin,we could make the animation of the games in AM,then exprot to .FBX and im…
Last reply by jebeck, -
- 7 replies
- 742 views
Just recieved this notice from Kinetic School of Animation: Note: I assume this to be west coast time. Time is: 2:10 PM Central Daylight Time
Last reply by Rodney, -
3dcoat with AM 1 2
by ludo_si- 50 replies
- 3.5k views
Here is the explanation for texturing a model AM in 3dcoat. 1. Create your model 2. Use bake texture to save uv without difficulty. 3. export obj 16* with triangle. 4. Import your model in 3dcoat (option perpixel) 5. texture your model with symetry, bump, specular, emission, ambiant occlusion etc... 6. Export your model in obj to. All the textures are saved. 7. Import in AM. and decal replaces by new images. 8. It work and it's easy.
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 0 replies
- 574 views
This might be of use to some folks. If you already upload to Youtube you probably know about it already though... so apologies if this is old news. http://www.labnol.org/internet/add-logo-to...e-videos/25948/
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 0 replies
- 519 views
IMO this is one of the best kept secrets in the animation biz... It's still small enough to be personal and isn't overly commercial as of yet. http://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/ Is there anyone from the A:M Forum planning to attend? I haven't heard that Hash Inc is considering setting up shop but if they are I'd be even more likely to attend. Dates are: November 16th through the 18th. Location: Burbank, California I know some folks that have attended and they thoroughly enjoyed being able to interact with artists and animators of like interests.
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 528 views
This will be of interest to those of you putting on your Director and Cinematographer hats and moving into production. Animation World Network is hosting a series of videos with a emphasis on Staging and Blocking and at this point there are about a dozen or so short lessons online. More is to be added over time. While the Poser-like quality of blocking may be a bit of a turn off there is a lot of information covered and those patient enough to watch all of the videos will begin to understand how to apply some of the lessons to their own projects. Subjects such as Deep Staging will be of particular value as they allow the camera to gain the best vantage point i…
Last reply by mouseman, -
- 2 replies
- 506 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, -
- 5 replies
- 546 views
In another thread about compositing, Rodney kindly supplied a link to a talk about the subject. I followed up the link provided and it asked me to update the Flash player. I did that and installed it but, when I went back to try the link again it still wanted me to install the latest version... This has happened before with other things, notably on Youtube, so I suspect it may be part of the Apple - Adobe battle I've heard about? Is anyone else using a Mac having this problem and, if so, does anyone know a solution ? I'm using OSX 10:68 with Safari regards simon
Last reply by Simon Edmondson, -
- 5 replies
- 697 views
Pretty amazing stuff. As amazing as this is we can come pretty close to that stuff where they draw on top of the guys hand and it inbetweens the rest automatically with A:M's new 'Snap to Surface' feature. Of course there is a lot more going on than just the matching of animation lines to surfaces in 'Paperman'...
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 7 replies
- 1.1k views
I'm not smart enough to get A:M data into it but I'm sure there are some folks out there that are. Dreamworks Animation recently released one of their proprietary tools: http://www.openvdb.org I found this while researching a project management program that I'm hoping will work well with A:M.
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 reply
- 550 views
I'm on V16b and am trying to import an image sequence. On the images folder I and select Import Image Sequence. The problem is I don't get a file open dialogue displayed. This happens on both the 64 and 32 bit apps. I'm running on a win7 box. Any thoughts??
Last reply by Rodney, -
Circularise
by Malo- 8 replies
- 1.1k views
Hello, There is there a plugin or a function that transforms a closed spline in a circle?
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 3 replies
- 726 views
I know we can export Lights to a python script but... Can we reimport that script back into A:M or is this for external usage only? (If not I know the workaround... perhaps more direct route... is to simply save the Chor setup and import that back into A:M. I do note however that editing the script to create lights is easily readable via the python script) The same appears to be true for exporting Choreographies to python scripts.
Last reply by johnl3d, -
Unite
by jakerupert- 1 reply
- 663 views
For those interested in gamedevelopment there are some very interesting insights from the upcoming Unity 4.0 gameengine and its userconference at Amsterdam: http://unity3d.com/unite/#6947115
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 0 replies
- 552 views
More SIGGRAPH 2012 related postings... This by itself is very cool and interesting but I'm already wondering how the tool can be extended. Rather than take multiple shots of a chrome ball to capture lighting, duffuse, mirroring/reflection, specularity etc. some folk decided to pursue the idea of having one single ball to capture all the sampling needed. http://gl.ict.usc.edu/Research/SSLP/A_Sing...IGGRAPH2012.pdf This has bigger more colorful imagery: http://gl.ict.usc.edu/Research/SSLP/ Now what I'm thinking is how we can use this idea to capture the environment that exists inside a manufactured 3D scene. There are obvious problems with this (…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 3 replies
- 652 views
The best way to show you is with a video... sorry my poor english again erro.mov
Last reply by Xtaz, -
- 47 replies
- 4.8k views
This will mainly be of interest to programmers... and if you are into such things you likely know about this already but just in case... Pixar has released Open Subdiv as Open Source. What does that mean? I'm not a programmer so I really don't know. http://graphics.pixar.com/ http://graphics.pixar.com/opensubdiv
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 2 replies
- 617 views
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, -
- 16 replies
- 1.1k views
Another quick question. What is the deal with the timeline? While trying to setup phenomes shapes for the animation I can select a particular part of the text on the dope sheet and then hit the curve button to edit the curve and all I can see is the graph of the sound file. No matter what I do I can't find the curves for the phenome shape? There has got to be an easier way to do this!!!!!
Last reply by Ilidrake, -
- 13 replies
- 936 views
So I would like to get some feedback from the animators on this subject. How does one "block" in the animation poses using AM? I ask because doing so causes some issues with AM's auto curve of the timeline. How do you guys do it?
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
- 23 replies
- 1.7k views
I'd like to open a discussion on budgeting for projects. The primary bias I have going into such a subject is that I equate the outlay of a budget with the establishment of the project's priorities. As an example of this, lets say that you are allotted 10 bazoozas in which to apply to a production. These bazoozas are all that you have at the moment to pay forward toward the final product. You have considered approaching the producer but he's already complained that you are on a tight budget and you think you might actually be able to pull off preproduction on a 10 bazooza budget. The only guy signed up on your team as of this moment suggests the following …
Last reply by zandoriastudios, -
- 60 replies
- 3.8k views
Source: Heavily adapted and reordered from SIGGRAPH educational notes: The five key elements of a good story: audience, content, motivation, semiotics and timing. Audience: The goal of a story is to share knowledge (and experience) with the audience. If we are sensitive to an audience we can even use stories to move people from one understanding to another understanding (more often than not without their conscious awareness). Telling a story with no one in the audience is not storytelling. Consider the old adage, "If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it..." If the event doesn't resonate with an audience it will be of little significance. …
Last reply by Rodney, -
as you know I'll seek a sponsor for my project "Trem do Pantanal 2020", the first step is to concept a good demo reel to be presented to them... well for this I'll need your inestimable help as always. Please .. can you guide me ?? I'm thinking in this intro... does it work ?
Last reply by Simon Edmondson, -
- 8 replies
- 836 views
Is anyone up on the specifics/requirements regarding creating images for Mac Retina Displays? I've read a few articles but lost the one that I thought outlined it best. For those that haven't heard of this before it's related to how Mac displays are now produced with pixels spaced closer together which allow for crisper displaying of shapes and lines. This has ushered in a requirement for higher resolution images because the lower rez (normal pictures found all over the web) now look blurry by comparison. Has anyone seen a definitive guide?
Last reply by thejobe, -
- 19 replies
- 1.6k views
Hello, I ask myself some questions about the history and evolution of the polygonal subdivision in Hash patches after reading this link from pixar, which reminds me a lot with AM patches : http://www.opensubdiv.com/?page_id=84 - When was the last consolidation made on patches? - When was made the triangle patches? - When was made the quad patches? - When was made the five sides patches? - Is that the subdivision of polygons in the interior of patches has evolved since the beginning? - Martin Hash did he actually abandoned his baby, or does he think back on it later? - Stephen Gross, does it have the right to change the code of the constitution of t…
Last reply by Malo, -
- 1 follower
- 13 replies
- 2.1k views
This topic is for those interested in belonging to (or leading) A:M Users Groups. To go beyond the discussion and join a User Group follow this link: Animation:Master Users Groups
Last reply by Vertexspline, -
It seems that dream has come true animators )))))))) We try. Sharing experiences http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4964558/rigmesh_v1.01.zip
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 33 replies
- 5.5k views
Is anyone familiar with the Lightworks video editor? It went open source a year or so ago and phase 2 of their release is to provide source code to potential developers. http://www.lightworksbeta.com/ Windows only at this time. Sorry.
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 4 replies
- 754 views
I just recieved a note from Sherm Cohen that he'll be removing his Storyboard Q&A video to make room for his next online class. So go see it now or you may miss it. http://storyboardclass.com/q-and-a/ Note: I haven't purchased his DVD set (yet) but it's a great deal. Highly recommended.
Last reply by largento, -
Some ideas
by Malo- 3 replies
- 683 views
Hi, I don't know if it can interest somebody, but just in case, I post anyway. It is just some ideas and reflections about imagination's tools to help to model and rigg more quickly in AM. The idea, is to regroups modeling, armature, weigts and fan bones in a few clicks. I write the ideas in a PDF with pictures. PDF
Last reply by Malo, -
- 11 replies
- 1.1k views
Hello! Importing 3D models from polygons application, 3D scanner, or sculpt application pose many problems in AM. The high-definition models are too dense to be exploited, others require to be re-examined in the topology In reality it was better and faster when it is rethinking the topology in AM as a whole (patches, hooks, UV, joints, etc ....). Hence the usefulness of rotoscope, it is possible to import 3D informations: - By drawings (which requires a good knowledge of perspectiv) - With photos (with some imperfections because of the position shooting) - Or to import 3D models (scanner or other soft 3D) as props to make rotoscope. …
Last reply by Malo, -
- 1 reply
- 648 views
Hello, My ignorance on the subject and my bad english, may explain a topic off-topic. From what I understood, It was not possible to use Visual C + + express with the SDK, because this version does not come with the MFC and don't support it. While surfing, I found a link that explains How to compile MFC code in Visual C++ Express :. I do not know if it's useful, and if it is sufficient to create plugins for AM ( I do not know Visual Basic C + + express, C++, and neither the SDK), but by ignorance and by any chance, I give the link. http://www.codeproject.com/KB/MFC/MFCinVis...dioExpress.aspx
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
- 0 replies
- 739 views
Since XML format, it is possible to read the MDL file by a text editor. Here is some information about the MDL format, that I could understand. Hope this can help someone. The CP: The splines : I have not found meaning the first number. Hooks: Patches : I have not found meaning the first and last number for patches. UV, Stamps:
Last reply by Malo, -
- 1 follower
- 14 replies
- 3.6k views
Hi, Some time ago, I tried to find a way to use Roadkill ( http://www.pullin-shapes.co.uk/page8.htm ), a free standalone program, to autounwrap mdl model. And there is a way! ... I tried to do it, with help of PHP scripts... But as I am not a programmer, the script is heavy, slow, it has "Undefined offset", problems with big models,and it is not a plugin in AM. But don't be worry, the principle works better than my scripts to download the scripts: the order to use the scripts: step 1: translate the mdl model in a obj model ( by the "MDL 2 OBJ for roadkill" script. ) step 2: import the obj in Roadkiller, and unwrap it. Then export it. step3:…
Last reply by HomeSlice, -
- 0 replies
- 618 views
Found a pretty neat program that creates seamless textures from Spiral Graphics ( www.spiralgraphics.biz ). There is a free program called Wood Workshop that allows you to create seamless wood textures with an almost limitless control over color, texture, pattern, etc. You can create the texture in just about any size you want, then export it to a .jpg, .png, .etc. They also have a program called Genetica 2.5 which allows you to create all sorts of other seamless textures, like brick, marble, cloth, wood, stone, metal and lots of others. The Pro version also allows you to create atmosphere and hair textures. They have a downloadable 30 day demo of Genetica. …
Last reply by Tralfaz,
