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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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956 topics in this forum
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So I'm getting a very late start on my contest entry, and I got to thinking: I have a laptop sitting on my desk that is probably faster (many times) than an SGI Onyx with Infinite Reality graphics (although I guess I'd be surprised if it wasn't, given 20 years of progress in technology). And even though I don't use AM as much as I should always...whenever I come back to it, I'm able to pick things back up without too much trouble, so that really speaks a lot for its design. And it probably costs about as much as a single Softimage support call would have cost back in the day. Funny how things change.
Last reply by Roger, -
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This is largely unrelated what is needed by the average A:M Users but I found some of the information about USD interesting for a number of reasons. The site provides insight into where PIXAR is heading and why some popular tech (such as Alembic) currently isn't sufficient to get them where they want to be. For the A:M User with an eye (and patience) for technical explorations much can be gleaned to spice up the ol' workflow or if nothing else to capture the imagination. From the site: http://graphics.pixar.com/usd/
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I have a box full of old A:M books and dvd's that I would like to find a good home for. I used to play around with animation with my kids, but they've lost interest. I don't see a lot of stuff on ebay, is there a better place to sell?
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Rob, Found this stuff online, not sure if this helps you: xhttps://vimeo.com/channels/219173/79500922 xhttp://www.marvelousdesigner.com/community/forum/News/4596?culture=en-US xhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1524070306000622 xhttp://www.textures.com/category/wrinkles/112397 Some are tutorials, others are more general reference.
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
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Hi, I am an old user (still using v10) and is looking at the current version for a possible upgrade. But the subscription method is making my head spinning. (May be I'm really too old ) If I purchase a subscription, will the software stop working after one year? Or can I still work with it but with no access to updates only? Also I read somewhere that A:M now supports STL export with improvement in subdivision of patches, but cannot find information on Hash's site or the forum here. I'm using A:M to build real physical models with 3D printer so that could be the one feature that makes v18 a must have for me. Another issue is using Win XP with v18. Seems tha…
Last reply by rijklau, -
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I'm hoping this is some sort of CG trick and fake but I don't think it is... The Creepiest Phone Charger ever Seen: Umbilical Cord iPhone Charger
Last reply by itsjustme, -
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- 9 replies
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I've been seeing a lot of 'build your computer' magazine issues, but most seemed aimed at gamers. What tweeks do A:M users prefer or recommend for their computers to make working with A:M better, faster, easier, etc.?
Last reply by tysono_71, -
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I have a friend she is writer and wrote a book named Fada de botas ( Fairy with boots ) ( http://www.fadadabotas.com.br )... we are planning to transform it in a 3d short movie... here is a little test that i rendered to show him some possibilities... modeled and animated in A:M rendered in C4D ( Octane renderer ) teste0001_1.mp4
Last reply by johnl3d, -
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http://www.wakingapp.com/#!vr-platform-cgsociety/aa946 might be of interest
Last reply by johnl3d, -
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- 12 replies
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So I was poking around on A:M Films and the first video under Animation called Star Trek Red Squad takes you to a porn site. have fun
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Thought this might be interesting with Mascot contest going on My first version Also
Last reply by Shelton, -
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Hi I just wanted to say that I just recently purchased a new license and a new set of render nodes and the experience has been a bad one. I feel like Hash customer service is ignoring my issues. I purchased render nodes and the .lic file did not take and customer service has just stopped responding to my emails. I purchased additional nodes in 2014 and the same thing happened, only customer service fashioned together a new .lic file that did indeed work. I just got a new computer with 8 virtual cores so I thought it might be fun to up my nodes. I am starting to get really upset with this insane process of getting a new license. I have not found it to be straight …
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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This is a bit of an odd question but I'ma gonna ask it anyways... When a person using a program such as A:M performs a copy/paste I must assume that: Data selected is stored in a copy/paste buffer That data is not stored in the operating system's clipboard (i.e. the operating system's standard copy/paste buffer usually used for text and images). I will further assume that if we could see the data we might only see the bits or the bytes or... perhaps the exact data that was selected at the time (numbers, text, etc). I realize this can get complex when we step away from standard text and image data for those times when a spline is selected and copied... or a …
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Hello All, It's been awhile since I used A:M. I wanted to try it out again so I signed up for the trail. I got my license file and instaledl A:M 18.0p. When I launch it I get an error about not being able to load the graphics assistance driver. Then I get a screen that says it couldn't load it. It then takes me to the options page where the Real-Time driver drop down is empty. By the way, what is difference between SSE4 and regular AM? I am using Mac OS X 10.11.5 (El Capitan) with 8G of RAM with a 2.3ghz i7 Any ideas? thanks, Tyson
Last reply by Fuchur, -
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Old news to some, but useful advice in this article... Sticking with Windows 7? Make sure you do these 5 things first
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Heya! Cracked open A:M (v17 Mac) for the first time in ages, and it seemed like something was missing. Sure enough, it's the Project Workspace! I think it must be off-screen somewhere, but I'm having absolutely zero luck getting it to show up. Tried all the usual tricks (changing resolution etc). I've poked around in the prefs and even done a complete factory reset (which unfortunately does not seem to affect window position). When I open a model or a project, all the other windows are here... but the Workspace is completely absent. Hitting control-1 (hide/show) produces nothing. Any suggestions? Is there a way to reset window positions (reseting form the H…
Last reply by Meowx, -
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Hi, In libriairie, we can see icons. I would like to know, if it will be possible to see this icons, instead of the generic icon, in windows explorer?
Last reply by NancyGormezano, -
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From the "If You Want It Done Right, Do It Yourself Dept." The program from a recital I attended last night:
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Hi yall. I want to show gas molecules bouncing around in a bottle. I've got Collisions turned on to contain the molecules, and for the most part it works, but about 5% of them zip right through the glass. Judging from the angles, many of these are escaping on 2nd or 3rd bounce. (Drag set to 0.) Still using V13 (blush). Any ideas?
Last reply by phatso, -
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Just wondering since earlier posting mentioned trouble viewing my animations what codec people are using when they render I am working on a 64 bit windows 10 computer and have no issues watching anyone's posts John
Last reply by Bobby, -
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OK, So I want to export a model from A:M and import to Unreal Engine 4. However I have just tried exporting as an OBJ file and importing the model into UE4 and the mesh that is displayed in unreal has lots of holes in it. I am a big noob when it comes to this sort of thing so does anyone have any ideas on what I'm doing wrong here? two pics are attached. Thanks C
Last reply by Fuchur, -
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Long time no see my friends here！ I make a Short as my Graduate student work。I could find A：M in IOS app store，but there is still nobody use A：M except me in China，how I whish I could find another one just like me。 If A：M could export model and action to MAYA and control .mdl or .act in MAYA，it would be more suitable for animation enthusiasts in China。 Ok，this is my work： http://v.qq.com/page/x/g/5/x0303owsng5.html I‘m sorry for the long advertisement。^^
Last reply by jebeck, -
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I saw this software mentioned recently and haven't investigated it very deeply but sense that it may be well worth considering... Edit: For a number of reasons, Shotcut is getting my recommendation. So, go get it! And yes, it can convert to .MOV format (as well as just about any other format including animated GIF) Shotcut is a free, open source, cross-platform video editor for Windows, Mac and Linux. Major features include support for a wide range of formats; no import required meaning native timeline editing; Blackmagic Design support for input and preview monitoring; and resolution support to 4k. Basic Features Support for the latest audio and video formats th…
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
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The 2D animaiton software used by Studio Ghibli (of japanese anime fame) is going open source according to a recent press release. Other than that I don't know much about it. From their site: So... six days away. Here's the press release: http://www.toonzpremium.com/#!news/aawrs Here's a video of Toonz Harlequin 7.1 in action. I'm not sure what is different from that release and the one going open source. xhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jjeh1USIlY
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I don't have any references to site or links to post but I'm hearing rumors that Apple Adobe is planning to release Pro Res resources to counter the issue arising from abandoning older Quicktime support on Windows. Of note: Several of the ProRes codecs support alpha channes although other do not. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202410 If anyone has info related to this please feel free to post and point us to more official info. Edit: Some of my info was incorrect. It is Adobe that is planning to bring Apple's Pro Res formats forward for use in Windows to address the issues caused by Apple no longer supporting Quicktime. I've edited this topic's titl…
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
Hello Admired, Inspiring and Appreciated People of this A:M Forum, my best wishes for you all!!! ******** I was writing this topic, because is kind of interesting to me know a little bit about the current lives of this "Great Heroes" of the History of the Great "Animation Master". ******** Especially when I see that Jeff Lew in his website "killerbeanforever dot com" says that is "OUT OF BUSINESS". It is for me a little sad to think that a Great Talent and Ability like his, can't find a place and a long and profitable career to make a happy living in the CGI World. Also I would like to know about Stephen Millingen (and his currents animations, if any), J…
Last reply by zandoriastudios, -
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Intel invents the concept of mega-tasking to sell new 10-core CPUs Of course with A:M NetRender you'll get way better than just 35% more throughput when rendering frames.
Last reply by Rodney, -
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My computer is really trying hard to upgrade it self to windows 10 I am Running Windows 7. I would allows this But I am worried about my A.M Subscription and A.M Paint will I lose Them. was working with A.M and all program shut down lost my unsaved work and computer was trying to install windows 10. So I shut down Computer to stop windows 10 from self install, very strange
Last reply by Phil, -
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Continuing a trend in software where companies are trying to introduce their products to the lower teir... Also, if some reports are to be believed, an increasing shortage of experienced fx artists suggests when folks are hired they need to already know the basics of software used in production. There also continuing competition at all levels in fx as well as innovations that tend to make older software obsolete.at a faster pace. https://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/non-commercial/mari-non-commercial/ Features: https://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/mari/features/ Some data related to differences between commercial and noncommercial releases:: The commerci…
Last reply by nemyax, -
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I was watching the slowest LA freeway chase ever, the transport of a SpaceShuttle fuel tank through the city to a museum. In the long shots it looks like part of the tank has wrong-facing patches and we are seeing through to the far side of the tank. But later there are some close-ups and it turns out that a corrugated surface is what caused that strange inverse shading effect...
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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Hi folks, I bet there is a completely obvious solution to this but I can't seem to figure it out. I wanted to swing the camera around a model character and in a process of manipulating the camera at several second intervals, I start getting a 'brick wall' in the camera flow. What did I do to start getting this issue that ultimately causes the camera to jerk and interrupts it's smooth flow? thanks ! -Adam
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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This is a growing trend and one we are likely to see a lot more of in the future. Of interest are two primary things: Raw production material for inspiration and study (and as starting point for other production) Looking behind the screen into how a production is planned and produced, studying the assets used and gaining insight into approaches used. A means of increasing value and return of revenue* Many of the assets used in a production will never been seen again and (rather sadly) will often be lost forever (especially in a digital world). Sharing of these assets can be a means to keep the originals intact as well as to maintain interest (current and historical) as…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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http://www.thewrap.com/disney-interactive-closes-disney-infinity/ Surprises me.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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I saw a mention of this JPEG standard and thought it of interest because it proposes to address some issues with the current standard. Specifically, the XT flavor seeks to address issues of higher bit compression, HDRI imaging and... the alpha channel. JPEG with Alpha... that's been needed for a very long time now... and using alpha channel with both lossy and lossless processing would be a welcome addition to the format. For more info: https://jpeg.org/jpegxt/ For some open source software that reads and writes the format: https://jpeg.org/jpegxt/software.html On the downside: The JPEG standard itself has some limitations of usage due to patents.
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I'm having issues with a rig i put on a character.... specifically (believe i mirrored bone plugin after using the 2001 rig as a base) my right forearm can rotate in all three axies... however my left forearm can only rotate in the y-axis (or the green circle). I can not figure out how to fix this and really don't want to have to start from scratch. Can anyone give me a hint or clue??? Thanks for your time
Last reply by robcat2075, -
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All are welcome and encouraged to contribute their approaches, best practices... recipes for success... to this topic. May the best days of productivity be ahead of you. I recently moved a bunch of files from my main harddrive to an external drive and it has me thinking about why I had set up that directory in the first place. I want to share my thoughts related to this because I'm trying to learn (mostly from my mistakes) and to move forward to the next stage (whatever that may be). Some time ago I made a change in the way I organized files on my harddrive (as I tend to be a very disorganized person and need structure). A critical change for me was to cre…
Last reply by largento, -
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I recently saw the rumor but it apparently is a done deal... http://deadline.com/2016/04/jeffrey-katzenberg-reaction-dreamworks-animation-sale-comcast-1201746411/
Last reply by Rodney, -
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The Tinkering Gnome clued us in to this site that frequently presents 100% discounts on software. (Thanks John!) On occasion some pretty useful software is shared. I've hesitated in the past to post some of these offerings for a number of reasons but I've found several of the software packages useful for myself so they might be for others as well. The way it (generally) works is that in exchange for your email address and occasionally a request to share the link to the site with others you get an activation code. Sometimes the code is one specifically used with that promotion. Other times its the same as you would receive straight from the software developer. …
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 1 follower
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I saw Zootopia on Thursday night. I went in with mixed feelings, but really enjoyed the movie. I was amazed at the number of characters and what it would take to rig them. From a technical aspect I think Disney did a great job. Steve By the way I go to all the 3d animated films, well I did not go see Norm of the North
Last reply by Rodney, -
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For those of you that want to delve into the world of PBR materials and texturing this might aid you in getting that ideal texture onto your model in A:M. Basic workflow would be to export OBJ models from A:M which would then be used as the basis for texturing your spline based models in A:M or to import as Props. This was (apparently) the the primary program used to texture that real time animation recently featured by Unity 3D and according to the hype (and 3D world) is 'this year's best texturing application'.* I note that there is currently a 40% off banner on their site so for those with the $ to splurge it might be worth investigating. Photorealistic text…
Last reply by detbear, -
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Autodesk has gobbled up yet another company. This time the makers of the Arnold renderer, Solid Angle. Here's an interview delving into the decision to sell to Autodesk (the owner and originator of the Arnold renderer) courtesy of MIke Seymour at FXguide: https://www.fxguide.com/featured/autodesk-buys-arnold-2/ Two primary takeaways: - This will be the first time Autodesk has an in house high end renderer (other renderers have been licensed. Ex: Mental Ray/NVidia) - According to the article "Rendering is certainly one of the hottest areas in 3D right now". This no doubt ties in with Autodesk's longer term plans for render in the cloud. Recent deals l…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I mentioned this briefly in the plugins topic but want to separate it because I think it is one of those 'features' anyone with time and patience can create. There also could be potential benefits in the realm of plausible/physical based rendering/lighting, etc. Furthering the initial questions I find myself wondering if a variant of the spinning light trick, used for global illumination might be shoehorned in such a way as as to create environmental data used for positioning, lighting and... more esoterically... heat. (This even harkens back to a very old posit on albedos... not taken seriously... which interestingly is now at the fore in physically based rendering…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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My apology if the following linked resource has been posted before. There is a lot of misinformation about copyright and fair use out in the wild and I recently read an article that attempted to shed some light on the subject. I haven't vetted the article itself nor examined it for links more appropriate for 3D animation but the article did reference some publications that can and do speak for themselves. One of those publications primarily concerns itself with the plight of the documentary filmmaker, who navigates an increasingly difficult arena of copyright laws and limitations but many aspects of fair usage they claim as self evident cross pollinates into common …
Last reply by Rodney, -
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The current forum banner (over the Latest Info forum) is a single frame from a 500 frame sequence rendered straight out of A:M with one exception; it was resized (to a lower resolution) in an image utility called Irfanview. Where I have the option I prefer to use images rendered directly out of A:M; this is something of a 'purist' view. I would relate this to what most would assume is the approach of PIXAR which is to forego any compositing, post production etc.; what comes directly out of the renderer is what will be used. This is the A game of animation. The ideal environment in which to produce. The B game is what most of us tend to use if for no other reaso…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I don't really need one of these but I WANT ONE. xhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pl7xM6atCQ I don't see an anticipated price yet. Sold only through resellers a this point. 96TB of capacity on the desktop up to 2600MB/s speeds RAID 5/6 Specifically designed for use with data from 4/5/6K cameras. For those with the need you can sign up to win a free one here: http://textseagate.com/nab/signup/
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I'm not sure this is actually news as Apple hasn't supported/updated Quicktime for Windows in a long time but... some folks are even recommending an uninstall to avoid exploits that might take advantage of the static code and critical flaws. Ref: LINK The bigger question becomes one of what format to use instead of .MOV format when that is a primary format for A:M (at least the 32bit version). According to a recent Ruetuers report even the US government has an opinion: The warning does not apply to QuickTime for Apple's Mac computers.
Last reply by Rodney, -
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I just returned from seeing the new movie and... This is an impressive movie on many levels. What perhaps surprises me most is that I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as the original animated version that is such a classic. No spoilers here except to say the film remained faithful is significant ways to the animated film. I was surprised by that too. Two other things that was a bit wary of going in but turned out to be just fine and well executed: - The film intentionally exaggerates scale on and they work that element like it's almost a character itself. As such it enhances the experience in significant ways and enlarges our view of the jungle especi…
Last reply by Rodney, -
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As more and more collaborative teams hit the internet to bring their projects to life small and large services are popping up to address that need. In the past I've mentioned a few and several of those have since had significant upgrades. Shotgun (recently purchased by Autodesk) is one that gets the majority of press because they got a head start on their competition and have invested deeply in the features needed to bring projects through production. Frame.io is another of these services. Will it work well for your next project? Answer: It depends. On the low end (the space which most independent creators occupy) where a team of two or three work on a pro…
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
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Go check out this software. It's for special effects, compositing and video editing and it's free for the PC and the Mac today only. http://hitfilm.com/express/free The pro version (which adds 3D and particle effects) is also deeply discounted. Go get it quick!
Last reply by Rodney, -
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Flash plugin users (that's almost everyone) on all platforms should update theirs immediately because of a new serious bug discovery that has been discovered. Adobe releases patch for major Flash vulnerability heres how to download it See post #7
Last reply by John Bigboote,
