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Installers: Windows 32Bit Windows 64Bit Intel Mac v19.0 Intel Mac SSE4.2 v19.0 SDK UpDate Change Log: Fixed All: 0006942 Audio in Chor doesn't play Fixed All: 0006941 Crash on Decal scaling New All: for chor new entry in the menu -> "Bake and Remove Bullet Constraints" bake simulation data and remove than the Bullet Constraints from the models If the Shift key is hold while clicking this entry, a simulation run is first done for all Bullet Constraints New All: for objects new entry in the menu -> "Reset Main Bone", set the main model bone back to the default values (helpfull for simulation with bullet constraint, if the main bone not at default , unexpected behavior can occur) Fixed All: 0006934 Bullet "Bounce" parameter has no effect Fixed All: 0006938 Bullet simulates with strange results Fixed All: 0006820 Specular highlights not working on transparent surface. Fixed All: 0006931 Magnet Mode distance handles disappear Fixed All: 0006935 Rotoscope disappears if resized Fixed All: 0006933 32 bit version crashes Fixed All: 0006928 AI-Wizard crashes A:M Fixed All: 0006932 Explode/Rebuild doesn't work Fixed All: 0006937 Crash on adding Null Fixed All: 0006936 Crash on Save Fixed All: 0006895 Depth of field doesn't work Fixed All: 006894 Scale keys lost after save Fixed All: 0006914 NetRender: Corrupted surface on first frames Fixed All: 0006927 Final render darker than previous versions Fixed All: 0006926 Decal Image name lost after adding non-loca material. Fixed All: 006921 Crash on dragging Groups in PWS Fixed All: 0006919 Crash after selecting CPs Fixed All: 0006912 Netrender: Can't expand "Time" Column Fixed All: 0006913 NetRender: Disabled slave Prgress precent freezes Fixed All: 0006925 endless loop for complex undoing operations Fixed All: 0006920 Pose slider made by Push_CPs doesn't work Fixed All: 0006855 Soft shadows not soft Fixed All: 0006917 Reordering Groups after making keyframes in Chor causes crash 11 Fixed All: 0006922 Substeps for frame render is always 0:0... Fixed All: 0006811 incorrect real-time and progressive renders on particle image sequences New All It's now possible to show in which group a cp is in.For existing installations the button needs to be add manually. Add the button Tools->Customize->Commands->Manipulator -> "Show Groups, where the CP is included" to the toolbar, or "Reset Toolbars" For new installations it's default in the manipulator toolbar. Works only for single selected cp's. OSX latest supported version is OSX 10.13.6, because my mac can't be updated to a newer OSX version

I've been messing with cloth settings to try to get a decent material for a shirt. Here's a test of what I think might work...still have to try it on a tank top. Cloth_Test_01_23_2019.mp4

I oft times get sucked down the rabbit hole when it comes to A:M. Someone shouts "squirrel!" and I'm off on a tangent faster than you can animate a blink. Last month I bought some new filament for my 3D printer. It was advertised to print looking like wood. So I ask myself, just what can I print to test out that claim? My mind went to a pirate cannon. Of course it did. So I go straight to my favorite 3D modeling software (A:M) and model up a pirate canon, and send it off to my 3D printer. Needless to say the first time through wasn't all that great, but lessons were learned. Below are some images to show how this little worked out. I'm forcing myself to move on to another project, since if I allowed myself I'm sure I would be modeling a whole pirate ship! The A:M model looks a bit like this Of course I had to animate it: canon_fire.avi and the final 3D printed looks like this: The A:M model had to be broken up 18 separate models

This came out of a discussion with Simon Edmondson and David Simmons at Live Answer time...

Even squirrels bent on world domination require help every now and then. Here are Dick and Mongo waiting for their new job interview. Produce_0.mp4

It's been sitting there for a year now but I've never tried Bullet Soft Body Dynamics. It works very well! Here is the PRJ if you want to try. RubberDonuts05 unsimmed.prj in the Chor and Choose simulate Bullet DonutDropAO1500.mp4

AMAZING! Fantastic job!

Rob your the best!!! I'll check these out. Rusty An ad for my scifi books I made in AM. ExplorerTwoAd.mp4

Playing with fishy idea 1st "draft"

Hi Robcat, You have always been very helpful. It's too late for the contest, but it just so happens that my project involves a model of a plane.

I decided to hold off on the laptop, but have been working to install Windows on my Mac via Boot Camp today. A much easier process than the one I remember from the olden days (which involved burning an install disc and lots of hoops to jump through.) Everything seems to be fine, so far. I've set up a Dropbox folder that I can use to share files with my Mac and I think it'll be good for my productivity to have a kind of distraction free workspace when I'm working in A:M.

This what I got so far lo falling.3gp falling.mp4

This question came up in Live Answer Time today and I thought I would post the official word from Hash (link is to store page): Can A:M use multiple cores? A:M is currently not fully multi-core-optimized. However A:M is able through Netrender (included for free in v16.0 and up) to use multiple cores for rendering.  OpenMP is used to utilize multiple cores for several operations. More operations are altered to use multiple cores in each update.  Since A:M is a rendering application, it is recommended to use a CPU as fast as possible to decrease rendering time. So if you have an 8 core system, base AM may not make full use of all 8 cores however if you pick up an additional 4 or 10 netrender nodes for the nominal cost of $10 or $15, you can utilize the other cores as background render nodes. So those of you contemplating Threadripper/Ryzen/Ryzen 3000 updates may find this useful info. *EDIT: I should add, most programs are not fully massively-threaded aware yet. I expect that to change over time, but for right now Netrender is the best way to make use of those extra cores.

Started to play with an idea create1_mpeg1video.mpg create.mov create1_mpeg1video.mpg create1_mpeg1video.mpg create1.prj

A fine New Year to you all...

Ok, I've printed this with PLA filament , on a "fine" setting, at two different sizes. The small one is 1 in high, the other is 2.5 inches. I also did a quick test with white ABS filament, but since I don't have my printer tented it didn't fair so well. But, the PLA prints look pretty good. They would need some cleanup, a bit of sanding then hit with a primer/filler spray paint. If you want them, send me a message with your snail mail address and i will send them along to you.

Hey everybody, I just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas with a small little card created in A:M :). Best regards, have a nice celebration and keep on splining *Fuchur*

An old mouth pose test from 2009... SmileTest.mp4

In between other projects and work, I sometimes get a free moment to continue with A:M. Of course my latest obsession is my 3D printer. I decided to push the limits and create a print of Papa Bear fishing. Below is an A:M chor image of my model. The base with fish, Papa Bear, and the fishing pole all will be printed separately and glued together once cleaned up. As a first test run I printed them at a small scale (Papa Bear is only 2 inches for the test) with a "normal resolution". Papa Bear I printed standing up, with full supports to try and reduce the amount of surface contact and clean up. This is what he looks like coming off of the printer... Cleaned up (roughly since I'm only interested in deciphering what may need to be adjusted ) the entire model looks like this: Already I can see the hands need to be opened up a bit so the rod can be fitted better, and re positioned a tad. Also Papa Bear looks a little off in his pose so that needs some addressing. But overall, I'm happy with how the first pass looks. Next we print larger with a higher resolution.

i printed it out again with supports enabled and a size of about 7 cm x 3.5 cm x 6.5 cm. It already looks promising. printed with 300 micron layerheight in black pla on my replicator 2. not perfekt but pretty ok already. As you can see we have supports at the front at the nose and the mask. i'll break them away and see how it behaves. best regards *Fuchur*

An alternative to the standard chor paths... We can also use any spline from any model in the chor as your path. Create a new (empty) model and drag/drop that into the chor. Draw a spline and edit that path as desired in the Chor. A reason I prefer modeled paths is that they can be considerably more complex than standard Chor paths. Under the hood Chor paths are just specialized models with limited parameters.

Hit the "A" key and then draw your path. Hope that helps, Rusty. path_tool_example.mp4

Here is a first look at the "Summer Memories" medals, cast by Ken Citron (AKA pixelplucker)... 3D print in resin... Clay mold... Pewter casts...

Heres a link to a private listing on vimeo. You'll need the password: FredSWE I tried to post it here but it wouldn't load with sound (?) Its a 720file from a 4K original. I hope to try it on the festivals game but, just personal enjoyment at the moment. Any critical feedback very welcome. simon

Here is an example I did long ago that uses the path constraint to place bones along a spline. Then you just animate the points of the spline. TentacleSplineRingPath04.zip TentaclePathB.mp4

Great solution, Robert!

Here is a test implementation of David Simmons' suggestion of a spine switch. It's fussier to create than using a premade rig but once it works it does make for a better controlled spine... tubeFlip000.mp4

I got the TSM2 spine that i was trying yesterday at LAT to behave. Basically this is animation of a pelvis bone and a torso bone to get the flips going, The interpolation of the IK spine isn't as smooth as I hoped so i will look into other solutions. ButterFlip_12.mp4

Y=30*GetTime

Well, I'd hold off on that. It's possible there are some problems with the store since Jason did some stuff n teh server.

All the subs are one-PC each

I just went to the store and selected Hash, Inc. Software (3). The center choice is the one I've always purchased.

All it needed was the rotate offsets to be set to "0" on the BicepLeft bone's "Orient Like Control Bicept Hint Left" . Just turn off "Compensate Mode" when you apply that constraint. Hope that helps. Rig_update.prj

I'm wondering if there will be a new one. I'm constantly finding myself making or looking for new scenery, especially buildings. I for one, would be happy to contribute some models. Is there enough interest in the community?

There's a lunar eclipse going on now. Go out and look at the eclipse but remember to wear your moonglasses. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/dallas

I am a bit rusty at splining but it all comes back. I don't want any compensation, AM community has been really good to me and it is a way I can try to return the favor. There is still a good amount of content that has been contributed already, anything there feel free to toss in the dvd. I don't know if other contributors feel the same but might be worth reaching out. It is a healthy start. For distribution, why not an iso on the company store?

1st

Breaking the glasses was easy enough with soft bullet. Getting it to settled down... still working on that.

Hello, everyone the store is in it's new home. https://www.hash.com/store we really https://store.hash.com

I think this one would be pretty much perfect for A:M: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834850877 But it costs $499. This is pretty good too and costs $389.99: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAA0S7XB3555 Refurbished once like this one are pretty nice too (but this is not the most modern technique... I own a similar HP Elite Book 745 and it is pretty good too): https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834269117R It costs $271.99. Still I do not really like buying refurbished stuff and it just is an older technique. I would not recommend going below those prices... everything that comes below that is just not meant to be used for graphic software. All of the above a AMD based. If you really want to go with Intel (especially for the Ryzen once there is no good reason for that if you ask me), you might consider one of those: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAEYA8M52010&ignorebbr=1 (costs $569.99) In general look for a laptop which includes an AMD A10-APU (or better), AMD Ryzen (close to anything will do here) or an Intel-Chip (i5, i7) but WITH a dedicated graphic card from Nvidia or AMD. The included graphics of Intel are really worse than anything else. Go with a SSD (not really important which one) and 8 GB of RAM (or more). Best regards *Fuchur*

Back in 2004 A:M Justin Barrett created a video tutorial set on facial animation in A:M. He has now re-released it on Youtube for free! Check it out! Thanks, Justin! Animate a Face

This year is already full of surprises, the first one being pointed out by Robert: my account is still active! And on top of that, I somehow remembered the password! Thanks to Robert for being willing to start this thread on my behalf. I hope that Animate a Face will still prove useful to the community!

I wish you all good health joy of happiness and peace! Power FLOWER! (2019 - the year of the pig on the Chinese calendar)

I pulled PM from Cupids Sick day and started working on a basic face rig. I have put bones in the eyes, eyelids, brows, lips and jaw. I have done a quick weight run through and then added a couple of constraints. And well, I am pleased with the basics. I have a lot of relationships to build but other wise the basic face rig is installed.

Installers: Windows 32Bit Windows 64Bit Intel Mac v19.0 Intel Mac SSE4.2 v19.0 SDK UpDate Change Log: Breaking Change: sdk changed, external plugins must be recompiled Fixed All: 0006908: Layer are not visible in chor rendering with Render Lock Mode (green button) Fixed All: 0006899: View Undo, View Redo shortcuts not editable Fixed All: 0006906: Reordering Null in heirarchy causes crash Fixed All: 0006907: Adding one model to another model causes crash Fixed All: 0006904: Cloth object doublesizes and misses deflector objects Fixed All: 0006902: AppHang on Render Fixed All: 0006901: Five pointers and splines disappear Fixed All: 0006903: Duplicator wizard doesn't work. Fixed All: 0006900: Can't Undo after Lathe. Screen redraw stops working. Fixed All: 0006898: UV-Editor does not show any wireframes/CPs of mapped objects... Fixed All: 0006896: Distrotion box in Action causes crash Fixed All: 0006893: Multiple Models on Path not on path and wrong multiple For the second problem (does not insert choosen number of models) a new checkbox "Allow overlapping" is added , then the choosen number is always imported , otherwise a overlapping bbox check is done and this can reduce the number of imported models. Fixed All: 0006887: Pose Sliders do not show current value of Pose Fixed All: 0006888: Image sequence "Frame" settings are ignored Fixed All: 0006890: booleans broken in final render

You probably have noticed that Z-buffered Kleig light soft shadows (most of what we use) are not rendering soft. Shadow cast on Ground Plane... However, it turns out that models can shadow themselves correctly. So... Use the Grid wizard to add a flat plane to your model and give it a bone that is independent from everything else in your model. In the Chor, constrain that bone to the Ground, then set the Ground to OFF. You can scale that bone to scale the plane to be as large as you need. Shadow cast on plane that is part of model... Of course this won't work when you have more than one model in a chor. For that, take your project to V18 and render there.

What if my grandma got run over by a reindeer? I mean dealing with that could eat up a lot of my time.

Further dev on helmet hair with displacement map and "Westin" specular shader (lower right). The image map is Photoshop "noise" with a horizontal blur.

So now that the Animation Master forums is on a new server that supports the latest software! the forums will be always in the latest and greatest version. You can read more on what is coming for 4.4 below. https://invisioncommunity.com/news/product-updates/44-turbo-charging-loading-speeds-r1109/