Calling all Pedagogs
The All New All Different TaoA:M
28 topics in this forum
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- 102 replies
- 11.9k views
"The Art of Animation:Master" has been around in it's present form for about 8 years now. Since then we've learned a lot about good practices and good workflow and we could probably revise this set of introductory tutorials to give beginners a better start by introducing these better ideas sooner rather than later. I have my own ideas about what needs changing but I bet some of you do too and this thread is to share those ideas. Here's the current line up in TAoA:M Animating 01 You're the Director 02 Chorus Line 03 Move it 04 It's a Pitch 05 Take a Walk 06 The Door's Stuck 07 Can you Say that? Modeling 08 Customized Car …
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 23 replies
- 2.7k views
A few versions ago Distortion Boxes seemed to be rather unpredictable in the Chor and I avoided exploring them but now that appears to be fixed and they look quite powerful. Quite a bit could be done with these in making stretchy characters that would be impractical with bone effects alone. Although the bones get left behind, their influence isn't broken so, for example, I can still rotate the eye bones to pose the eyes even though the eye isn't where the eye bone is.
Last reply by itsjustme, -
- 9 replies
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Here's an informal challenge... what's the best you can do with the Terrain Wizard to create a one-step lunar landscape? What settings could you plug into the Wizard and get a mesh that might pass for an alien terrain? Post a pic of the mesh and screen capture of the Terrain wizard settings.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 78 replies
- 9k views
This teaching beginners stuff is tricky. Ideally I should make a list of everything that needs to be taught and cross them off as each lesson gets to them Starting anew... a somewhat more thought-through plan: Lesson 0 Quickstart -installation? -first model: lathe a vase -basic splining: the CP, the spline, the patch -basic navigation: zoom, move, turn -basic file handling: save the vase and reload it. Lesson 1 Flash Gordon Rocket launch - a quick project that does something cool -lathe parts for rocket ship -use duplicator wizard -path constraint -simple channel edit. assignment: lathe some household objects. Lesson 2 Basic boun…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 2 replies
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Is there an official name for the area where we see the Chor and Model and other such windows?
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 35 replies
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What other ideas do people have for tutorials that would teach something that needs to be in a beginner course?
Last reply by RU2D4, -
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project uses -latheing -dupe wizard -motion on a path -terrain wizard rocketlaunch.mov
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 78 replies
- 13k views
It's almost like he was posing for a rotoscope.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 reply
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There are some topics that may not fit in the core curriculum of modeling, rigging, animating but still deserve coverage Two that come to mind... Toon Rendering, because it's not just a render setting it also requires a somewhat different modeling strategy. AMComposite and OpenEXR rendering, one pretty much needs the other to be useful If anyone wants to strategize on how to explain these things and what a new-user project for these would be... have at it here!
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 10 replies
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Let's see... If we were trying to build to a short that uses all the things in the exercises... Space ship lands on alien planet... Eggbot and his deputies get out... They get chased by a dinosaur (or a giraffe)... ... need to figure out how to get Monsieur Candle into this...
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 26 replies
- 2.8k views
I've been watching the complete works of the Flintstones.
Last reply by Gerry, -
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Here's what I know.... -It's long, but I'm not sure what to cut and still leave them informed about what they need to be informed about at this point. -My delivery is slow and plodding at many points. It needs to be done with more movement and enthusiasm. -The live segments need better light, audio and hair. Consider these to be placeholders. It's 48 minutes long, if you have time to watch it I'd interested in what you feel can be improved, and I'd be particularly interested in how useful new users find it. It has Quicktime Chapters in the pop-up menu on the lower right which I think should be available in any QuickTime player. These let you easily re…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 30 replies
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This is still in the larval stage. It's not in a great sequence yet and there are awkward overlaps and ommissions... but we'll call this chapter list v0.01 Quickstart: Lathe a vase. -concepts: CPs, splines, patches, contour modeling, basic interface navigation. -assignment: Lathe 3 more models of simple things in your home. (examples: dinner plate, drinking cup, sewing spool...) Rocket Launch: -concepts: using lathed parts, duplicator wizard, sweeper, path constraint, ease, simple channel edit. Extra credit: terrain wizard. -assignment: make spaceship fly in and land instead of taking off. Mechanical modeling: Robot Simplest ri…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 24 replies
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I think I like this take on the body shape a bit more. Still needs some more development. eggbot.mov eggbot.mp4
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 10 replies
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What would be some classic things that a new user definitely wants to learn to model? A biped, humanoid character is one of them, i think. Discuss...
Last reply by largento, -
i am using am v16, please can any one tell me how i can make the leg bones of my model visible in the action window.
Last reply by petokosun, -
- 9 replies
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Howdy, I'm back asking newb questions ... doing the giraffe excercise. Can't seem to get the two halves of the giraffe to touch after I use the copy/flip/attach option. It's two in the morning; that could be it. Anyway. Could my problem be that some of the center control points on the model are not totally aligned to the y axis? If so, is there a feature that will allow me to align or snap the the control points to the y axis? As I write this, I'm manually moving the control points to line up on the y axis... Using V17
Last reply by rekh, -
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I would love to see a tutorial of a humanoid character pick up a bottle, raise it to his lips then drink and replace. the hand movements and constraints required is something that novices like myself really need to focus on. thanks guys and girls!
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 2 replies
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OK, I've created a spiral path and a thread cross section but any attemtp I make at using sweeper to sweep the cross section up and around the path just fails - It generates wierd and multiple odd shaped spirals. Cheers
Last reply by Kamikaze, -
- 25 replies
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Hello all... So, I'm working through the "It's a Pitch" project and am finding that I'm getting stuck very early into the process. I've restarted a few times, and get stuck at the same point each time working on my own. So I decided to follow the tutorial video for it, located here, but am having trouble still at exactly the same spot. I've been following the video as closely as I can by watching it. There's no indication of how far to rotate or move anything, so I'm just following what the person doing the demonstration is. The problem comes in for me starting at 2:31 where he begins to move the torso into position. In the video, exactly what I would expe…
Last reply by MikeV, -
- 5 replies
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Hey Rodney whatever happened to the classroom thing you had going on in here a number of years back. I am a returning user from 2005 ( i went on a north american tour for a few years) i am back again and now i see we are at version v16 wow. so now i have to start from scratch again and if memory serves me you had this learning am class you did, is it still out there. thanks mike
Last reply by phatso, -
- 1 reply
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Heya all, In the next iteration of TAO A:M, should there be something concerning the "Animate Mode" button? Thing is, it looks an awful lot like a button one would use for onscreen text. And no, I'm not posting this because I just did it, couldn't get anything to animate on the screen and didn't understand why Rich
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 3 replies
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Hi - in the am tech reference it says to turn on the “Options/Cast Shadows” under my klieg light settings but I can find no such option. I've made soft shadows but not for a couple of versions - could someone tell me what the trick is that I'm missing. Thanks.
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 14 replies
- 2.7k views
Dealing with Sound is an area that could be enhanced in the new TaoA:M and we are lucky to have Robert heading up this effort (he's quite musically talented). - Music - Dialogue - Sound Effects - Timing - Beats All very important subjects and huge areas of interest. The current TaoA:M certainly deals with Dialogue (mostly via A:M's Dopesheet) but it doesn't delve much further into related matters of synchronizing animation with sound. Here is page 71 from the current TaoA:M that hints at the importance of sound in animation. I readily admit I am way out of my league here!
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 6 replies
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Okay, so in the past I've written up a how-to on setting up a NetRender Farm. I've revised it a bit with a VERY detailed example with modern hardware. I have the following sections in my current document. Setting up a Animation:Master NetRender Farm By Jody Krivohlavek 09/08/2011 Basics: Understanding a NetRender Farm How it all works: What does what. Networking: Understanding basic Ethernet Terminology Networking References: Example Render Farm: Hardware Needed: Example Estimated Hardware Costs: Example NetRender Farm Total Cost: Ethernet Network Setup: Router: Netrender Nodes and Netrender Server (if separate): File Server (Linux): Network Topology…
Last reply by mouseman, -
- 35 replies
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Just think of the potential SSS examples Radiosity Image based lighting Caustics
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 reply
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So I import an OBJ model with textures and it has a decal stamped. However, I need to 'fix' the mesh and in doing so destroy the stamp (ie those fixed patches are new and not stamped) Is there a way to 'add' these CP's/patches back to the original stamp? (when I double click on the stamp the modified CP's no longer show) I still haven't worked out 3DPainter as yet. When I prohection paint the UI shows the result I am after but once I accept the projection paint the model and texture reverts to pre painting (this is for imported models with textures) Cheers
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 7 replies
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Okay, this'll seem silly but bear with me... With a revised TaoA:M under way, is there a way we can upgrade A:M's current default ground plane? Some considerations: - The current Ground plane isn't even a proper extrusion of a spline which makes quickly editing it something of a pain. It's easier (and seriously, it is easy) just to replace the default model but because it is A:M's default it'll always come back again. - Should we develop a new 'TaoA:M approved' method of managing/switching the Ground Plane to other pre-made sets? - Would users be interested in such a thing? Some would be utterly simple while others would be very complex; t…
Last reply by robcat2075,
