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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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977 topics in this forum
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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, -
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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, -
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Was trying to use sweeper plugin and could not find it in 19 d or any other plug in ???
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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- 15 replies
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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, -
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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, -
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- 5 replies
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Hi, Where can I find documentation on how to use the terrain wizard? Thanks, Rusty
Last reply by Rodney, -
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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, -
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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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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, -
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- 997 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, -
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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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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, -
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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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I don't know where this belongs. All i know is that I am having some serious stability issues. I open my app and everything works fine to a certain point. After that point, if I do anything else, the program goes bonkers. I lose my toolbars, my menu bars, everything. The only way I can save is my right clicking on the project in the Project Workspace. I have never had this problem with the "Disc in Drive" versions of this program. I built this machine for the sole purpose of being able to run this program efficiently. My machine is literally only a couple months old. Why is it so unstable? I have a Dell XPS SE, Win 10, Radeon 8GB GDDR 5, Core i5 machine. Will Pro…
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
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Have tried installing several older versions like the "yeti" which installs but won't run. Error says need to be administrator but "run as administrator" doesn't work either. there is no administrator on my PC just me. I once had this same version running on it for years but now can only install/run Master 99. any help would be greatly appreciated.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Last reply by Tore, -
Well. I've got AM v16.0 and a disk with a v17.0 activation code. Not sure what the extra advanteges are between the two. I'm quiet a lot at work with it, with its happy and crash moments. I'm on Windows XP Professional 32-bit SP3 - Intel Pentium 4 650. Is there any chance, or how do I activate this v17.0 while v16.0 is installed?
Last reply by Madfox, -
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I think the most underwhelming Halloween treat I ever got was a page from a book of children's Bible stories.
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
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I tried to install Am2005 on a Windows7 platform. Luckely it's one of the netfree registering code. All goes well, but the programm won't start. Do I need some Visual basic programm to go?
Last reply by Madfox, -
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I have a project that is five models that can be joined together to make one object. I'm not sure how to do it. I've tried the constraints but since each model is it's own thing, kinematic chains and the translate to, orient like constraints aren't working. Is there another way to do what I am attempting? I've included a screenshot of my starting point. You can figure out the rest. Any suggestions?
Last reply by Goss, -
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Last reply by Tore, -
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Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Hi, It is funny how I always come back to AM, even with a few years break, for the simple pleasure of animating. Nothing beats its simplicity. I am using version 18.0p on Win 10. When I do a smartskin I would like to be able to track the movements of individual cp's in the graph window. That way, if there is an odd jerky movement of a cp i could smooth it out. But I can't see any way of bringing them up in the graph window. Is it possible? Kind regards Mike Logan
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Thanks to Rodney, I was able to enjoy A:M once more for a year. My subscription ended a month ago and I hope to get a permanent version. I contacted sales, and after a while ;-) sales contact me and offered to send me an invoice for the upgrade. I gladly accepted the offer and waited for the invoice, and waited, and waited. Send some more emails, no reply. And waited and waited. :-( At this moment as I am typing, no A:M for my projects. Yes, I am ranting. Rijk
Last reply by rijklau, -
- 1 follower
- 6 replies
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Is there any OTHER reason besides parenting hierarchy why one might not be able to choose a bone applying constraints ? I'm trying to rig a model and the right arm bones are not appearing in the dropdown nor can I apply constraints to them. I have tried moving them around the heirarchy and am pretty certain they are correct, yet I cannot associate anything to them, specifically translate/orient. I am tearing out my hair just trying to get this simple thing done yet I cannot see the bones in the dropdown no matter what I do. What am I overlooking? Please help ! adam
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Hello am trying to install an older version on my PC running OS7. Had it on this machine for years but upgraded and now can't reinstall it. Intstallation seems to run but program doesn't. Any help would be appreciated.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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When I look at old shows (and most movies) from the 60s they look very flat and dull. It's like they had given up trying. Television looks a lot different today. I think it had to. Flat and dull wasn't going to sell anymore. This article has broad level discussion of doing better lighting, for non-white skin tones and just to not look like 60s TV. Keeping ‘Insecure’ lit: HBO cinematographer Ava Berkofsky on properly lighting black faces "...the secret to making television resemble film is providing different levels of light to the scene. “[in sitcoms], everything is the same level of brightness. That’s what I’m trying to avoid,” she said. “The trick is keepi…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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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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My annual subscription came due. I have been using both AM18 -32 bit and AM -64 bit systems with no problems. I downloaded the new subscription for AM19 and got an error: The program can't start because api-ms-win-crt-runtime (some symbol here)1-1-0.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem. I then tried to download AM19 32-bit to see if that was the problem. I ran the extract mode again, but it never completed and just hung the system. I tried to contact support@hash.com I got this message: >>> suppor@hash.com (reading BANNER): 554 p3plibsmtp02-10.prod.phx3.secureserver.net bizsmtp 205.219.233.9 h…
Last reply by RS3D, -
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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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Hey guys, I want to do something similar to this old Continuums open credit animation. The material and particle FX should be straightforward, but the cutting aspect might be difficult. I'm not a super power user. It looks like the pre-made text fades in so that is not so bad, but what is the best way to make the beam trace out the letters to fake the "cutting"? I'm going to simulate an actual CO2 laser cutting steel and using the red reference beam. The laser will be in some sort of a gimbal apparatus. I can't find any decent tutorials on the techniques. Thanks ahead of time... ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/movies/continuums.mov
Last reply by KingVidiot, -
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LIteManager Pro is another one of those free offers from Shareware On Sale that might be useful. I figure at this time if the folks at SOS want to take over my computer they've already got enough software on my systems to do that so... what the heck. There are many benefits to having a remote control application such as LiteManager. This application is in the same general category as others such as Team Viewer which allow another person access (of various types) to another computer. That access can be limited to simply viewing, projecting a demonstration, transferring files and taking over full control. Scary stuff no? This is the type of software that is usef…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I didn't get far in my initial look into this suite of applications. Perhaps others may fair better. http://www.sitexgraphics.com/html/air.html Note: I've bolded a few areas that piqued my interest for any number of reasons. The primary difference between paid and free versions is reportedly texture/image size. Note that Air itself (like Renderman) is command line driven but has applications/plugins associated with it that provide graphical user interfaces. For WIndows and Linux. Sorry Mac users.
Last reply by jalih, -
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Okay, this is probably a pass for most people but I see some potential in it and therefore value. Since availability of these offers are of limited time I want to let people know it's currently available. The gist: This is via Shareware on Sale (I've definitely warmed up to this company and their approach although standard disclaimers apply when installing any software) Offer Efficient To Do List (Efficient is the software company) What it does: Creates basic To Do lists and allows organization of those lists Normal cost: approx. $30 Free through SOS offer for the next two (2) days. This program is almost too simple and yet it has a few things…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 2 followers
- 27 replies
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I'm keeping notes my experience using the new v19 for mac. My main problem immediately is still no predictable appearance of rotoscopes. I'm trying to compare my models movements to the rotoscope reference in the background and it can't be done !
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 3 replies
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This should appear as an animated GIF notice... - basic quadruped walk cycle: left back, left front, right back, right front - only brief instants where two feet are both off the ground. - watch either the front pair or the back pair... the trailing foot stays on the ground to push the body forward even after the leading foot has been planted. - overlapping motion of the feet as they fall behind and curl under while they are being pulled forward. - front shoulder visibly sags when it's not supporting weight. - the classic walk up-down motion is more evident in the rear hips which have real ball and socket joints. Cat front legs are just he…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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For those of you that like to composite imagery rendered out of Animation:Master... BlackMagic Fusion 8.0 is out of Beta and available for Mac and PC. (The Linux release is still in development) https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion The program is free for commercial and non-commercial use. The full studio version ($995) adds stereoscopic rendering, project management etc. and has also been released. The manuals are well suited to get you up and running quickly as are the quickstart and introductory tutorials. And of note, many of the features in Fusion are available in Animation:Master but are optimized from the standpoint of an image and ef…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
- 9 replies
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Hi, I can't seem to remember a good way to rotate a sphere at a constant speed. I seem to recall that there are several ways...can anyone help? Rusty
Last reply by Elm, -
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- 925 views
Sketchfab... Artella... Folks that see this will be wanting to make some of their own animated experiences. The biggest news here (besides the successful creation of a 3D VR short film shared online) is that Sketchfab now supports audio. https://artella.lpages.co/artella-lily-snout-giveaway/ The characters (models) are currently available for download. I must assume some other formats besides .ma will be forthcoming. There is a good interview with the team behind 'Lily and Snout' that delves into the creation of the project also online.
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 3 replies
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Hello I'm looking for new 2d animation software that would suit my needs. More precisely I'm looking for something with the following characteristics: - 2d - easy and intuitive UI - vector or bitmap based, preferably hybrid - free or cheap So far I really came to like the Pencil2d animation software - it's simple, intuitive, supports both bitmap and vector graphics and it's free. The problem is that it's also super buggy at the moment, to the point of being nearly unusable, and it doesn't seem like it's going to get better any time soon. Please Help. Thanks ! I didn't find the right solution from the internet.
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 3 replies
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Hope I'm using the forum correctly. I recently had to refresh Windows 10 because of operation problems. When I tried to reinstall AM, it said that the license had already been used. I contacted support, got the download, and sent the "your host id.txt" file back. That was July 1st, and I've been trying to contact someone since, but have gotten no response. I'm feeling ignored, and was wondering what to do next.
Last reply by JBRountree, -
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For those who watch such things... LucasFilm and ILM (read: Disney) have open sourced their MaterialX code. What is it? According to the release: Here's the general spec: https://github.com/materialx/MaterialX/blob/master/documents/Specification/MaterialX.v1.35.Final.pdf It's an interesting read on many levels. The specific areas of interest (to me) include: LIghts, Collections and 'Looks' which relate more to the area where textures/shaders meet geometry. Two focus areas reserved by the specification are 'twosided' and 'matte' which address issues of rendering that are not commonly implemented. Those are welcomed areas of interest. Exam…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
- 5 replies
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Hi people , am trying to rig up a RC car steering but am getting no joy - the first bit is easy - but I need to do the other half - so far have tried constrain to / roll / dynamic but havent got it working The selected bone is the driver / main - then there is a bone on the tie rod to the pinion, which goes to the swing arm to another pinion and one bone for the hub Now when I move the main bone which is from the servo steering in a RC car the other bones should work in chain - but I dont know how to set the constraints - can anyone give me some pointers please , would be much appreciated , I'll continue to tinker in the mean time
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
- 4 replies
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I purchased the disks for AM. My PC crashed, now I'm trying to install on a new computer. I get a "activation code already used" message. I sent the "your_host_id.txt" file as requested and along with my Activation Code. I received a codes.txt file and the link to install v17 which I did. I clicked the link and installed. It asks for my activation code and I still get the same message, "already used". What do I do with the codes.txt file? I was told they'd send a new master0.lic file, so I thought I'd have to rename and replace with codes.txt file. I searched and couldn't find a master0.lic. What am I missing? Thanks, Michael
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 1 follower
- 2 replies
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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, -
- 0 replies
- 841 views
Posting this here mainly so that I can find it later. This has roughly to do with a few thoughts I have related to 'drawing with splines' (as opposed to click/extend) and maintaining curvature (as much as possible) as control points are removed from or added to a spline and of translating/converting raster/bitmap lines into vector lines/splines. https://github.com/ideasman42/curve-fit-nd#origin The guy who adapted this code (Campbell Barton) is well known in Blender/Linux circles. Original code is from Screen Gems, updated with insights from OpenToonz and further enhanced by Barton. The library is described thusly: A (related) command line utility f…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 10 replies
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Hi Folks, I've an issues with AM and I'm not quite sure where to start looking for a fix. It's has been 4~5 possible more years that I had to set AM aside for other projects, hobbies and other time consuming things like family... A lot has changed, AM has it's share of updates as well as my own system OS & hardware. I'll be using my training wheels again to familiarize myself with AM again, but got an annoying selection issue to deal with first. Running on Win10, 64Bits OS, GTX 980ti Both AM32 and AM64 version 17g are installed and both have the issue. Only with the 32bit version there is an render option for Direct3D v8, that fixes the issue, but bind me to…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 0 replies
- 589 views
This relates to some previous musing on devices that are 'constantly on'; something that is fairly common now that wasn't all that long ago. The term 'pre-record' can be a little hard to research online because of the use of the terms such as 'prerecorded' which imply video recorded for later viewing. This aspect of pre-record has to do with cameras/sensors that record continuously so they can time travel into the past from the moment where the user of the device first hits the record button to retrieve data. Generally, 30 seconds of video footage can then be recovered prior to the moment the recording was triggered. A downside of this in first generation models is…
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 reply
- 2.1k views
Computational Thermoforming is an old technology (paints applied via immersion in water) modernized an applied to 3D printing with impressive results: xhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFkVxurKeAs More closely aligned to the older methodology, hyrodgraphy is highly useful as well. Both approaches are familar to those who texture models in Animation:Master and other programs. The trick being to do the texturing as precisely as possible with minimal passes to achieve the desired results. That (wet method) can be seen in a more modern form here: xhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlUhPrAqiY0 There are quite a few youtube videos that demonstrate the h…
Last reply by EmilyBrown,
