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This is an open forum for discussing Animation:Master and discussions should relate to A:M in some capacity.
Ask questions. Share experiences. Outline goals and aspirations.
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939 topics in this forum
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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, -
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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, -
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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, -
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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, -
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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, -
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I am posting this because it might be of interest to some users. I have been helped so much over the years by these expert forum comments that I feel I need to give something back. I don't use AM frequently (not my day job and all that) but when I do I go to town. This is basically about my efforts in creating a character with a highly detailed face but with minimal effort. The word lazy might jump to mind but I prefer the "work smart not hard" adage. I tried 2 workflows: ZBrush and Crazytalk back to AM vs. Zbrush through to IClone. The idea was to discover which produced the best output and which gave me the least work to do. A very interesting road so far but a mil…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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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, -
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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, -
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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, -
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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, -
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Hmm. Thought I posted this last nite, but don't see it. I've made about 1,000 models in A:M, but only now started to animate. I must be doing something wrong: A:M loses things. About every 5 minutes I get a real time render error message, so I save, and when I re-open the project, patches and decals are missing. Also, even more of a problem, in the timeline the lines and keyframes show up...and then they don't. Dunno what I'm doing to cause this, they just disappear, and they don't even wait for a save/reopen to do it. I click on a group and see the lines, click on another group, then come back to the first group and the timeline is blank. Along the same …
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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idea for 3D pantograph contraption DIY 3D Sculpture Pantograph for under $50 This is a bit more mechanized but doesn't have as much 3D angling... Building the 3-D pantograph
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Free until July. I don't know much about it but if you think you might want to get into gaming you should download. The Pro version is free through some time in July ($75 subscription otherwise). Personal version likely free thereafter. I was able to import Rabbit with textures... otherwise I didn't get through much of the workflow. Couldn't see a direct means to render. Features: http://xenko.com/features/ Of interest: PBR materials Compositor Cocumentation: http://doc.xenko.com/2.0/ Download: http://xenko.com/
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
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http://aescripts.com/aftercodecs/ I figure these guys are going to make a million dollars, then lose it all to an Apple lawsuit. For the last 5+ years, Apple's Pro-Res Quicktime compression has been the standard in video playback and delivery in the pro world. And Apple being Apple- they made it so that Windows users could read, but not write Pro-Res files. Which has been a royal pain to Windows users (most just keep an old Apple around for conversions)... 3rd party solutions have come and gone, most simply don't work, or were too complicated command line stuff. An article I read explained that Apple had tied part of the conversion to something inherant in Apple h…
Last reply by KNBits, -
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There are a ton of video capture programs out there and here's yet another one (PC only... sorry mac guys/gals). http://www.screentogif.com/ Source code is available as well. This is definitely a progam to check out because it has most of the tools that standard screeen capture software doesn't have. A few quick pluses: - Capture to GIF animation, image sequences, avi (mp4 and other formats via FFmpeg tab) - A basic frame editor - Basic drawing on screen (or board recording) - Webcam recording - Lots of other stuff I'm forgetting such as text, cropping, basic transitions, etc) - It's free (donations to the creator welcome!) - Actively developed (las…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Yet another online collaboration and review tool has appeared. The drawing tools are basic but adequate to communicate the reviewers intent. The free tier should satisfy basic requirements for a quick review but likely won't meet the needs of projects in full production. It's interesting to see where these online collaborative tools are heading. Worth checking out. https://syncsketch.com/#features I've lost track of similar products in circulation but a few of those include: RGBNotes Frame.io Artella While these services all have much to offer I think these may all be surpassed and eclipsed by what I'm seeing referred to as Web 3.0 (with a litt…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Is there a way to use DarkTree materials on a Mac yet?
Last reply by largento, -
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Standard Disclaimer: Installing software from Shareware on Sale (SoS) can be detrimental to the performance of your system. Pay close attention to information you share and the installation process. Filter Forge is a node based texture and effects editor with plugin for Adobe Photoshop, Corel Photopaint, etc. Filters created with FF can even be used in freeware programs such as Irfanview. Normal pricing is $250 but in teaming with Shareware on Sale a 100% discount is available for the next two days. I pass along this notification because I've found Filter Forge filters to be useful in the past and access to the filter editor is recommended for those that use such filter…
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
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I'd love some advice, other than reading Jeremy Birn's book (which I have somewhere, lost in the move and separation... ugh), about how you would go about achieving lighting as in the attached sample. The character is well lit, seeing all features, and even the underside of his cheeks, while there's still a nice soft shadow being cast by the brim of his hat. I've been playing in a .cho all day tryint to get something similar. I built a psych w/ my character on it, and I probably had about 18 lights in there trying to achieve this effect and still wasn't even close. The sample came out of 3DS Max - it's by a tremendous 3D cartoon artist in Paris, Julien Trom…
Last reply by largento, -
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There are are few Games out that brag about 3D Scanned models exact within in 1 mm Like iRacing they brag how exact the Car and tracks are right down to cracks in pavement iRacing is a True Race Simulator very high tech Simulator is this the kind of stuff they would have used. I was just woundering How many models in games are created like this now. https://www.goscan3d.com/en?gclid=Cj0KEQjwxPbHBRCdxJLF3qen3dYBEiQAMRyxS_Gt6x9Yn0nLOZ4ml1SycZFWFETW1CAwhXzCUzt_h_AaAoxQ8P8HAQ
Last reply by KingVidiot, -
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Hi all, FYI finally got some time to get back onto setting up AM after going through a learning curve to install Windows 7 on the old Mac Pro 2008 3,1 - finally did this, installed and new subscription and am happy to report, AM now works Flawlessly ! The old mac with a quadro fx 4800 card is no slouch and makes a damn good PC with the dual xeon processors and heaps of ram, now I am super happy and can get on with work, and possibly even get a new mac and have a great PC to run AM on it stable which happens to also be a mac he he, I have tested both ATI and Nvidia cards and they both work fine with no texture or rotoscope glitches at all. Exxxceellleent !
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Hi Guys, just noticed that importing images seems not working, I have a FX4800 using the Nvidia drivers and after update to 18p its not importing images, I'll try the mac native driver now and let you know . . . anyone come across this ? Before when it was buggy I found that if I toggle the open GL settings in options it would kick in but now . . hmmm . . let me have another crack
Last reply by a.quaihoi, -
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Okey Doeky, went and got myself a Radeon HD 6850 3D card for mac and swapped it with the quadro that was in there, now AM is behaving good, except the last project I was working on is crashing on opening, there is a model in there which I did not save out, I think because I had the project setup with 4 windows for the views, AM boots, loads the files, then draws the windows and crashes . . . is there a way to reset this on the project file to one window or extract the model file ? . . . next step . . . install windows 7
Last reply by a.quaihoi, -
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Hi guys, I finally got windows running on 2008 mac and installed AM 18 64 on it, I was going through the process with Jason to transfer my Mac since over to windows and have left it a bit late, so I just bought a new subscription now, I removed the old license file and put in the new activation code and it tells me the code is invalid - am I doing anything wrong - or has the procedure changed ? I have uninstalled and reinstalled from a fresh download and still the same - I did notice that when the panel containing the company names etc. comes up it has the test name I used for Company Name / User Name / Email ect. Can anyone tell me how to completely reset AM - e…
Last reply by a.quaihoi, -
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https://sketchfab.com/maniacgraphics I just found this site still figuring things out Thought I would share my find
Last reply by Maniac, -
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Hey all, checking out v18 and started modeling again and maybe it's me, but I seem to remember not having to use keys to move CPs around and have them go haywire. For example, I used to move CPs around with the mouse and could move them into desired position. Now with v18, I move a CP around and it shoots all over the place (moving in different axis). I'm using keys (1, 2, 3) with mouse movement to move CPs around and it's so not intuitive. Is there a setting? I checked in Options and there is an "Use old compensate mode" option, but, that doesn't seem to help. This used to be quite easy to move CPs without the extra keys. Any suggestions? Thank you.
Last reply by ernesttx, -
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A friend of mine still had an old Dark Tree on His PC. As a Mac user I hadn't given it much thought but now I have access to PC for animation. Can this be made available again? That material generator looked like a hoot! thanks, Adam
Last reply by Wildsided, -
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I thought I would play with sounds in A.M and I hear nothing tried i got a secret sound and hear nothing see it in time line scrub no sound what am I doing wrong
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
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I'm toying with giving the Body Mechanics Boot Camp another try after the holidays. It would be a free class where you learn some basic character animation essentials. The curriculum might be something like -Bouncing Ball -Broad Jump -Weight shift -Side Step -Generic Walk It would need about three or four interested people who have the spare time to work on the exercises and who could all meet once a week at the same time on Skype.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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I just saw the Joe Daniel's video walkthrough of VR drawing here: xhttps://vimeo.com/211768999 And thought... hmm... I wonder how close I can get to that basic premise using A:M. After quickly modeling, rigging and animating a swingset like the one in the demo I quickly got to the point of drawing over the animating swing while the sequence was playing. A problem arose where I couldn't get A:M to keep playing while drawing so I used the HAMR viewer instead. Ran into one problem with the HAMR viewer in that it didn't want to recognize the swingset model. Turns out HAMR just needed a Choreography. Cool. While none of this is much to look at... I'm pleased t…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I had this on my Back up hard drive.this was on one of the old A.M cds forgot I had this . Render 3 Pass 45min 3 Passes 47min.avi
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Once upon a time I was attending the wrapup gathering at Martin's house for initial foray into 'Tin Woodman of Oz' and suddenly felt the urge to depart wisdom to Martin Hash. Martin had just revealed he had a boxful of the original Preston Blair books on Animation and wow, what treasures they were*. With regard to the Preston Blair approach to lip sync I explained that I thought it should only take four or five shapes to account for all that was required for lip sync**. Martin graciously nodded and smiled as if to say, 'thanks for stating the obvious Rodney' and the conversation pressed on to other things. But the idea of using limited shaping for lipsync still reocc…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Background HAMR (Hash Animation:Master Realtime) and WebHAMR (HAMR for browsers) was an effort of several years ago (2009) to press A:M content out to new platforms. From the basic write up: The ultimate goal of HAMR was of course to push A:M content to web browsers but the API allowed other access as well (as demonstrated in the standalone HAMRviewer). Some general thoughts: - HAMR tech still works quite well although I don't know the extent of whether the API is used by anyone and some connectivity has been depricated over the ensuing years. - HAMR tech didn't get out of the initial development phase (as such it didn't get to the Mac port phase) - The Mac port and so…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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been working on Dye Sublimation. Updated computer so i still have to get Animation master back. Will be using Animation master for projects as well Just thought I would share Video is rough Thank you https://youtu.be/inicJyCjwtk
Last reply by Pitcher, -
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These are the main characters and extras of my coming feature "The Great Pastrami Safari". Copyright March 15, 2017. If you want to see a larger copy, click here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByP4k82JQ7ION0JScTdoaFpZSmM/view?usp=sharing
Last reply by Fuchur, -
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<Begin Advertisement> How to Convert 2D Movies to Side-by-Side 3D Movies on PC? If you have 3D glasses that supports Side by Side 3D mode and a 3D TV, you can enjoy the vivid 3D Side by Side video. You never need to worry about the 3D Side-by-Side movie sources, as you could convert 2D movie to 3D Side-by-Side movies. This guide helps you easily convert 2D video to 3D Side by Side movies on your PC. To convert 2D movie to 3D Side-by-Side movies, you need to use 2D to 3D converter. Leawo Video Converter is just what you need to carry out 2D to 3D Side-by-Side movie conversion. Built in with a 2D to 3D video converter, Leawo Video Converter offers high qua…
Last reply by Bellaween, -
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- 2 replies
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Hi all, do I need to get another serial number for AM Net Subscription if I want to install it on Mac through bootcamp - Win7 ? Have had it up to here " " with it crashing on Mac and not rendering rotoscopes and throwing my pallets everywhere cant use it for production - so windows it is, have sent a email to orders@hash.com but didn't know if the original serial would work ??
Last reply by a.quaihoi, -
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- 7 replies
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Every time I restart AM on mac, or after crash it throws all my pallets, project / properties etc all over the place, like a poltergeist and is driving me nuts, doesn't seem to do this on windows, I'm using a dual screen setup, anyone got any pointers ? Do I need to delete system prefs for AM to reset it again ?
Last reply by Fuchur, -
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I have asked a large number of questions as I have been learning how to operate Animation:Master. I used to save URLs so that I could revisit the many helpful answers that I received. Unfortunately, my computer got a virus last summer and had to be cleaned of all contents. I no longer have my own index of former questions, and I tried to use the search engine here for topics that I am sure I asked about before. I also tried to search under my name. The search engine is finding no entries, regardless of where I search. Is the search engine not operating, or is there something extra I need to do?
Last reply by Rodney, -
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- 7 replies
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Avalanche Software that was shuttered by Disney after they closed their gaming divisions is back in business again under the Warner Brothers banner. Interestingly enough, their first major project is a Disney property; the 'Cars 3' game. http://www.polygon.com/2017/1/24/14371888/cars-3-video-game-avalanche-software-warner-bros I'm not surprised. Their breadth of experience and talent.is substantial and has been since their early days of using Animation:Master. The downside? If Avalanche at Disney had 300 employees they now have approx. 100 and while it can be assumed that some of the 200 stayed at Disney in some capacity most had to seek other opportunities…
Last reply by Wildsided, -
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No I won't be getting one but sure... I want one. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/line-us/line-us-the-little-robot-drawing-arm?ref=NewsDTFeb2317 More evidence of robots invading the home. What I like about this is how it combines several technologies together in ways that haven't been merged before. The magnetic base is an example of that. Edit: It appears there are no longer any units available in the first batch (of 1000 units). Not sure when the next will be available.
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Hey all, Still working on the landscape and looking for a good "how to do a tree" tutorial. I've got one, but having a hard time making it look full. Thanks for any pointers, Rich
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I'm posting this mainly as a reminder to follow up on this. Attached is a comparison of two sound files. On the bottom, the original "I've got a Secret" audio and (above) a quickly edited version that accomplishes a few things: 1) Removal of unwanted noise 2) Adjusted timing 3) Adjusted volume* 4) Separation, removal of sound/sound bytes on a frame by frame basis 5) Keyframe and Spline-based refinement (Free!) *Appeared to work well but need more testing. Not yet explored in any depth but available for use: - Automatic Time Stretching (All or by Selection) - Integration with Papagayo and Magpie Pro Also attached are the original and updated wav…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Saw this out on the interwebs... http://www.pixelfondue.com/blog/2017/2/7/template-subd-head-mesh Available as an OBJ (free) thought it might be useful to grab and have... as-is... there is trouble with 5pointers and hooks... maybe I will give it the time to make an A:M version.
Last reply by johnl3d, -
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Been in the market for a new video card, looking for something that has workstation performance without the big price ticket and came across the Fury cards that have 4096 bit data path. Seemed interesting but wonder if they have any double precision available on them? Seems so far in my hunt for a new card the range I was looking at is the Quadro m4000 or AMD FirePro w7100 or w8100. Not even sure if those are worh the money they are asking. I don't run a 4k display and only use my single 21ux cintiq so 4gb of memory should be plenty. The issues I have with my GTX 950 is limited zoom range on cad models and the shaded surfaces aren't exactly matched with edges when…
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
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Wondering if anyone has tried Marmoset Toolbag 3? Was thinking it could be a good real time render and viewer since they seem to have a player for ios, android and win. www.marmoset.co/toolbag/ I do quite a bit of t-shirt art for my customers, have some stock models I made in AM way back but it is a pain to render them out and email. In some cases sending pdf mockups isn't always practical especially if the pdf is large. Having a good webgl viewer might be a good secure answer. Also be cool if possible to have articulated models the clients can move around on their phones!
Last reply by pixelplucker, -
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(Moderator update: A work-around for this problem has been found. See post # 26) SO I'm sure that there is a place for this topic but I don't have time to go hunting. Here's my problem: So applied for the AM 18 trial version, downloaded it and followed all the instructions and it is telling me that I need an activation code??? I sent a message to support to see if I can get that resolved. In the interim and because I just did some serious upgrades to my machine, I thought I would try to get one of my older versions to work. When I say older I mean v11,12, or 13. Umm yeah, no matter what I effin do, they won't run. Even when I go through the "compatibility troubleshoote…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Using v18 on windows 10. I get the error rendering out a .avi format. See error message below. Any help or guidance is appreciated.
Last reply by Jason Simonds, -
- 14 replies
- 1.9k views
Hadn't modeled anything in awhile, so I thought I'd use the holidays to play. I had never owned one of these Funko Pop! figures, but for Christmas I was given a set of five of them (Animaniacs Yakko, Wakko, Dot plus Pinky and the Brain.) I've seen them everywhere, though. Just for my own amusement, I decided to make one of me. It looked like a simple model to do and it gave me an excuse to try out the v19 alpha on a modeling project. I'll have to check into trying to reproduce some of the issues I ran into. I had several times where I had to hit the "f" key multiple times to get the normals to flip and the delete key sometimes had the same problem. I actu…
Last reply by fae_alba,
