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.
965 topics in this forum
-
- 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
- 7 replies
- 1.5k views
For those interested, there is now an Animation:Master Discord Server. Visit the Animation:Master Discord - Collaborate - Chat and share files - Share News and information - Search for topics of interest - Edit documentation in real time. - Initiate group or private chats (voice or video) - Develop your personal projects and explore your ideas These channels are meant to supplement the A:M forum with capabilities we don't have.
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 8 replies
- 1.6k views
I am having trouble getting two constraints: AimAt and Path to work together for the camera in a choreography. I have done this successfully in the past, but it seems that it has become more complicated now. I load a model into the choreography located a little left of center - see untitled-1. I then add a constraint AimAt the model for the camera. see untitled-2. Notice that the camera does not work unless you change the animate mode property from -not set- (evidently the default) to 'On' . You also need to change RotateOffsets for x,y,z to 0 in the properties of the constraint, otherwise it will not directly AimAt the model (evidently the default is not…
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
- 4 replies
- 1.2k views
Tonight, I was putting different hands on one of the models I made several years ago. I imported the hands into the model file, and some of the patches on the model turned solid black and others were spotty and looked singed. I tried refinding normals and that helped some, but I still have areas that are a problem. I was wondering what might cause this and how to fix it? Is there a setting that has gone haywire? I will attach a picture showing an area that was affected. Thanks for your help.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 3 replies
- 1.6k views
I used to be able to get a reference grid to appear when using the stride length option in an action. The one I am referring to is: (from the A.M. reference manual) From a Bird’s Eye view, a reference grid is visible beneath the character’s feet (it can also be seen from a side view, but offers better visual feedback from Bird’s Eye). Stepping through the frames (use the scrub bar, frame buttons, or the and keys on the numeric keypad) will cause this grid to move forward/backward. By lining the foot up with one of the lines on the reference grid, any adjustments that are necessary can be made to the character’s stride to prevent slipping. It no longer appear…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 4 replies
- 1.4k views
Change is in the wind... As of yesterday 13 April 2018 Amazon Studio is no longer accepting script submissions. Any currently submitted scripts will be available until 30 June. For more information: https://studios.amazon.com/help/faq Their recommendation to aspiring filmmakers is to submit to festivals via without-a-box.
Last reply by largento, -
- 12 replies
- 4.3k views
I couldn't locate the previous topic on Davinci Resolve bSo... Black Magic has announced the release of Davinci Resolve from Beta testing. It is now available in free and paid versions. If you don't have a dedicated video editor this is well worth a look, especially as Black Magic also produces the compositing software Fusion (which is not a dedicated video editor) and integration between the two will surely continue as time goes on. The primary difference between the free and paid release ($995) is higher resolution capabilities used in professional studios. The free versions (of Davinci Resolve and Fusion) operate on Mac and PC while the full version work…
Last reply by Xtaz, -
- 1 reply
- 903 views
Here is a very fun and quite astonishing project by Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/project-zanzibar-blurring-distinction-digital-physical-worlds-via-tangible-interaction-portable-implementation/
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 11 replies
- 2.2k views
Let me preface this by saying that I have not used A:M for quite a while. I do keep tabs on it though because it does hold a special place in my heart, I've still got a few buds around here, and I'm still seeing kick-arse art made with the program. Let's begin... ----------------------------- CPU+GPU rendering was a way to increase render speed for the Cycles render engine inside Blender. Now that EEVEE is coming on the scene and is basically a game render engine, Cycles will probably be used only for specific tasks that EEVEE can't handle (yet), such as caustics, etc. I don't know what went down when trying to get A:M to render on a GPU, or why there wasn't m…
Last reply by nemyax, -
- 4 replies
- 1.1k views
I'm wondering... Is anyone here in the A:M forums also in the Philadelphia Pennsylvania area and may be interested in meeting up to discuss all things Animation Master? There used to be a group here years ago called the MAAM (Mid Atlantic Animation Master user group). We don't meet any more and it seems that all of the members of that group, except for me, no longer use A:M or have moved on to other things. I think that it would be nice to actually meet other A:M users face to face again. It was pretty cool back then and I think that it could be pretty cool now even though it would not be the same group of people as before. I could go over some rigging stuf…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 3 replies
- 1.2k views
Here's a free program that might be useful for those that want to get at quad based topologies quickly. It's based on fairly recent paper about 'instant field aligned meshes' (Link to project page here: http://igl.ethz.ch/projects/instant-meshes/ Binary files are available for Windows, Mac and Linux here as is the source code: http://igl.ethz.ch/projects/instant-meshes/ The quick tests I did turned out quite good. DIsclaimer: Don't think this will keep your textures mapped.... it won't as it's not that kind of program but rather one that works deeply on topology.
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 0 replies
- 912 views
Some of you may recall Jeffrey Dates 'Day Off the Dead' short from many years ago when he was an avid A:M user. Like many others Jeff used his time with A:M to move into the animation industry and is still quite active in animation. He has been working for The Mill of late and their efforts at The Mill to promote real time character animation has recently made the news https://www.cartoonbrew.com/vfx/how-the-mill-is-embracing-real-time-for-character-animation-157603.html
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 2 replies
- 1.1k views
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, -
- 17 replies
- 4.5k views
This topic was previously titled: Thor - a new (open) video codec championed by Cisco For those with an interest in such things... https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-fuldseth-netvc-thor-00 The primary impetus for bringing it into existence appears to be to ensure the codec is free from patents. The linked document goes into detail of how the codec processes data.
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
- 14 replies
- 2.2k views
---
Last reply by nemyax, -
GPU Slave?
by Tore- 2 followers
- 37 replies
- 4.3k views
---
Last reply by Tore, -
- 2 followers
- 4 replies
- 1.3k views
--
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 943 views
---
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 1.1k views
--
Last reply by Fuchur, -
New Icons?
by Tore- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 1.8k views
--
Last reply by Tore, -
- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 900 views
--
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 8 replies
- 1.4k views
This tech watch focuses on one specific foray into bringing image formats up to date with modern hardware and software but there is much more to come. I hesitate to say there is a war of sorts on the horizon but some negotiations are ongoing to determine which approaches get adopted and what settles in for the long term. Microsoft has initiated their roll out of the HEIT format. There currently aren't any editors for the format and the focus is on playback. This would appear to be a byproduct of Microsoft's purchase of Nokia several years ago. For more information see: http://nokiatech.github.io/heif/ Of interest, this format is one of many approache…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 1.1k views
This little video explains the basics of PBR materials: https://youtu.be/_LaVvGlkBDs
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
- 5 replies
- 1.2k views
I'm making a masted ship. Masted ships usually have guy ropes going all over the place to hold up the masts and yards. I can model ropes and tie the knots, but that runs up the patch count quite a bit. Is there a better way to run the ropes?
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 reply
- 828 views
Way back in the day Computer Graphics pioneers Jim Blinn and Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith conducted lectures on their work to young and eager minds that were interested in pushing the technology to its full potential. It would have been wonderful if someone would have thought to record some of those lectures. And they did! These lectures haven't been viewed a lot on youtube bit should be for historical perspective alone. The lectures dive more deeply into subject matters we are well acquainted with to include splines and patches: xhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNXre0qpHjdhC29xH8WkKnw/feed From my perspective, this timeframe was while I was in h…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 6 replies
- 1.3k views
I had a random thought so thought I should investigate. The underlying observation/conjectures: Application (and Editing) of Decal assignment in A:M can sometimes run afoul of the inherent curvature of splines. This is one of the reasons why it is useful to flatten a model before applying decals. The question Would it generally be better to peak all the splines in a model prior to applying a decal? A follow up question After the application of the decal presumably the would be an adjustment of the assignment of specific locations of the image decaled onto the model. What impact (if any) should we expect to see as a result? I'm in the early stage…
Last reply by Rodney, -
Decal glow?
by Tore- 1 follower
- 39 replies
- 3.3k views
--
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
- 9 replies
- 2k views
--
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 2 replies
- 1.1k views
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, -
New website
by Tore- 1 follower
- 0 replies
- 652 views
--
Last reply by Tore, -
- 8 replies
- 2.3k views
The prizes may not be of great use to A:M users and the judging criteria are rather hazy, but a lot of you already have great looking female characters on the shelf that might be dusted off to be worthy entries. https://www.cgtrader.com/challenges/3d-challenge-female-characters#section-awards
Last reply by largento, -
- 28 replies
- 3k views
Are there any brave souls out there willing to help me test some peer to peer file sharing? I'm looking for one or two people to help me test the basic process. The underlying idea is that of distributed computing where files are shared from my computer directly to anyone with the address without need for a middleman server. If they so desire they can also share files as if they have their own server. I'm leaning toward this approach for the next round of A:M Extras and other productions but it really needs to shown to work well first. I think I can only use WIndows users only at this time. Later testing should expand to Mac and Linux. For those to…
Last reply by rusty, -
- 4 replies
- 1.1k views
All you guys and gals knew this stuff already but I'm slow and only recently read the memo... Script Lining is something I have long knew needed to be present in the filmmaking pipeline but I had never really seen it in the wild. Having now seen it I gain that sense of satisfaction that I knew it was there but renewed frustration in that digital solutions still fall short of capturing it's potential. For those that share my lack of knowledge concerning Script Lining here's a good overview of the process and how it helps us break down a script to the point where we know where our cameras will be and what should be seen in the lens/renders: It can be a very useful…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 reply
- 969 views
Just as a general curiousity, here's what an empty Project file looks like in JSON format: When converting back (to xml) there are a few formatting things to watch out for: Extraneous text in red. The extra space needs to be removed as well.
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 0 replies
- 927 views
Got these links in my email today: You can download a bunch of different LUTs here for free: 35 free LUTs And this page on using LUTs and color grading: Color Grading 101
Last reply by largento, -
- 1 follower
- 7 replies
- 1.4k views
Hi! Recently I installed the latest version of A:M, it asked me for an activation code which I looked up and entered and A:M started and worked just fine. However, today I got an error message when I tried to start it…something about contacting support. In an attempt to fix this myself I uninstalled A:M and reinstalled it but when I enter my activation code I get an error saying that the activation key is already in use. Looks like I somehow I screwed everything up. I tried sending an email to support@hash.com an it was kicked back as undeliverable... ??? BTW, I have two activation keys; one for my laptop and one for my desktop. This happened on my laptop. My …
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 7 replies
- 1.6k views
Hi, Attached is an image of my A:M 19.0 Help->About. I attempted to install and run the latest version (19.0d) and it asked for an activation key. My current subscription expires 17-Jun-2018. Shouldn't I be able to run 19.0d and how do I get my activation key? Sorry, its been several years... Rusty
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 1.3k views
I just installed the latest version of A:M, but when I try to run the program it gives the following error: "The program can't start because api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll is missing from you computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem." I've tried reinstalling several times, no joy. Anyone have a suggestion? I'm running windows 7 with Intel i7-5960X CPU on ASUS X99E WS MB
Last reply by Squirrelly, -
- 90 replies
- 7.7k views
I ran into this informative video and couldn't help but wonder if A:M suffers from a similar limitation. This video is lengthy, but if someone has the time to look through it, I'd like to find out if A:M might be set to the old sRGB scale and unable to rise to a better "Dynamic Range" for more realistic renders using a single sun light. Since I don't know a lot about the tech in these matters, I'm wondering if someone else might shed some light on whether A:M could be improved also like Blender is in this video. xhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9AT7H4GGrA
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
- 3 replies
- 997 views
What is larger than a nanosecond but shorter than a second? If Facebook (and presumably others) have their way it is a 'flick'. A flick is defined as: 1 flick = 1/705600000 second Somewhat usefully (mathematically) a flick can "in integer quantities exactly represent a single frame duration for 24hz, 25hz, 30hz, 48hz, 50hz, 60hz, 90hz, 100hz, 120hz, and also 1/1000 divisions of each." This helps with conversions of frequencies and image/audio sync. One potentially useful bit of information I saw outlined in the write up on flicks is this on the NTSC standard of 29.97 frames per second... something I have always thought was painful to consider: …
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 6 replies
- 1.2k views
Was trying to use sweeper plugin and could not find it in 19 d or any other plug in ???
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 15 replies
- 3.4k views
Aaron Blaise is another Disney artist/animator who has resources available online. He considers himself primarily a painter and from what I have seen has some great insight into how the real world informs art (and vice versa). Aaron is perhaps best known for his work in 'Beauty and the Beast' (Mulan, Brother Bear, etc. ) and for some nice behind the scenes insight into his work there see Art Tip#4 on thumbnailing. There are also at least four books/tutorials on drawing and animation (average price around $15 each) available online at his website: http://creatureartteacher.com/ These include: - How to animate a four legged walk cycle - How to animate a t…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 11 replies
- 1.8k views
Hey, I tried the tutorial of Robocat Rigging Bones. So I tried it on a model of mine, and I can follow it clear untill 38m00s. Then the wizzard mirror bones is used, and as far as I can see I get another result. When I try to mirrorbones there do start another -x bone collection. But there is no attachment. Also I see a new Root bone, while this was excluded. Further there apear only a left bone with a foot. Maybe I have overseen something in the parms?
Last reply by Madfox, -
- 1 follower
- 5 replies
- 3.8k views
Hi, Where can I find documentation on how to use the terrain wizard? Thanks, Rusty
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 11 replies
- 1.7k 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, -
- 2 replies
- 977 views
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, -
- 3 replies
- 1.5k views
If you have an extra $10K laying around and want to set yourself up for the next golden age of hand drawn animation blockbusters... Don Bluth has announced his online course that covers a year of instruction. Having attended a week long animation masterclass with Don I can attest that he is the real deal. (and that one week was not long enough!) I was also fortunate to have subscribed to his weekly seminars when they were live and got to interact with him during a few workshops. $10K is well outside my budget so I won't be attending. A portfolio review is conducted before acceptance into the program as well. This is a wise decision because while it would be g…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 3 replies
- 937 views
Due to a computer crash I'm forced to install Am on another computer. When I want to start the programm it asks for an activation code. Then it says the code is already used. It is a lifelong version with an internet activation. Now I have it installed, but what file should I send to activate the code? regards, Rien.
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 2 replies
- 978 views
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, -
- 4 replies
- 1k views
It appears to be official. https://www.awn.com/news/disney-buys-fox-52-billion-deal For Fox's part this seems like a new way of splitting shares while maximizing profits as just prior to the merger Fox will split the parts of Fox that cannot be merged into a newly branded company. On the comics and cartoon front it would appear that X-Men are now back in the fold with Marvel/Disney... so look for cross overs in the future... once the legal dust has settled. And now Mickey can hang out with Homer Simpson.
Last reply by Rodney,
