Leaderboard

Well here is the follow up to the previous animation Simple Pleasures For those having issues here is the Youtube link: MP4 version: Simplepleasures2.mp4

MONADA3_207_AlCHEM.mp4

Here it is! This is 10 yrs. of my life. (so THIS is why Pixar needs 300 people to make a film) Thank you robcat, fuchur & other AM forum gurus that helped me!

Installers: Windows: Windows 32Bit Windows 64Bit SDK: v19.5 SDK Change Log: Fixed 0007218: Gradient Materials not rendered with gradient Fixed 0007244: Bone positions corrupted on save and reload Changed: minidump files may have be greater, in this case please zip the dmp file before attaching to the bug report (command "zip -j9 dmp.zip *.dmp"shrinks the file up to 90%) Fixed 0007243: saving a project with relationships can corrupt projectfile Fixed 0007242: external modified decals not reloaded before final render Fixed 0007240: Constraints lost on close of Relationshipwindow close Fixed 0007238: PNG plugin bugs Fixed 0007237: Constrain cp motions during modelling rotations not working Fixed 0007234: Freeze after cancel load of missing asset Fixed 0007236: Freeze on missing asset Aslo bug 0007241 Fixed 0007232: Hair properties include several Toon Bias selections Fixed 0007235: Combiner not combining Updated For Security Reasons: External Libraries libpng bump to version 1.6.41 zlib bump to version 1.3 ziparchive bump to version 4.6.9 openexr bump to version 3.2 imath bump to version 3.2 jpeglib bump to version 0.9f

Happy St. Patrick's Day! A new time-lapse video to share. Many bowls of Lucky Charms were consumed in the making.. for reference purposes 😉

Installers: Windows: Windows 32Bit Windows 64Bit Mac OS X 10.13.6 or earlier: Intel Mac v19.0 Intel Mac SSE4.2 SDK: v19.0 SDK UpDate Change Log: Fixed All 7081 PNG transparency not working Fixed All 7074 Chain of bones scales erratically Fixed All 7077 Bone color not displayed only OpenGL affected, not OpenGL3 (recommended to use this driver) Fixed All 7057 Crash during A:M Backup it should have now a better error message for this (both as messagebox and in the logfile), let me know if the crash still occur. Fixed All 7073 OBJ export or Prop import not working 5 point / hook export fixed Repeated decal export not fixable, due obj file format doesn't know anything about repeatable decals Fixed All 7075 5 point patches render with gaps Fixed All 6976 crash on Paste Mirror on a Pose Fixed All 7072 Progressive renders are blank Fixed All 7070 Shift-cursor key doesn't move rotoscope. Shift + Cursor moves now the rotoscope/bitmap 10 pixel Ctrl + Cursor scales around center Fixed All 7071 CFA creates unnecessary copies of Materials Fixed All 7062 Copying patches dosen't copy decals on patches Fixed All 7060 Copying a patch (only 1) with a decal does not copy the decal Fixed All 7054 Decal exporting A new menu entry for single stamps / a opened stamp view is added. "Render Stamp to File" This renders the actual stampview to file with a user defined resolution. If You start from the stamp entry in the PWS and the stampview isn't open, a new stamp view is opened. In the dialog , which opend after hit the menu entry, You can change the Path and Filename (the button on the right side) fileformat is selected trough the filename extension (supported OpenEXR, TGA, PNG and PSD) the "Width" and "Height" for the newly created file limited to 16384 x 16384 for Win64 version, 8192 x 8192 for the others the limitation is the result size, means a resolution from 32768 x 8192 is also possible. Warning: On the highest resolution around 14 Gigabyte is needed at the creation process. The width and height are always changed to a even size. (1025 becomes 1028 , always modulo 2) "Save layered" If this checkbox is checked, two layers are created, one for the decal self and one for the splines. For all formats ,excluding OpenEXR, in this case two files are created with the naming scheme "Filename"_Decal".Extension" and "Filename"_Splines".Extension" OpenExr is saved as one file with two layers. "Render with CP's" rendering also the CP's on the spline layer Fixed All 7061 Snap Group to Surface snaps to wrong surface. Fixed All 7068 Rename Bone renames wrong bone Fixed All 7066 Crash on Radiosity render Fixed All 7052 Environment Map materials not working Fixed All 7059 Tooltips only show for keyboard-shortcutted buttons Fixed All 7058 Progressive Render of shag crashes

I was nearing the end of my third and final year in Illustration when my teacher approached me with a volunteer assignment outside the usual class projects. In Oakville, there was a summer festival that took place in the 1990s and early 2000s called the Oakville Waterfront Festival. It was a major event at the time, featuring live music, games, food, and craft shows. The previous year, my teacher’s studio had illustrated the festival poster, which featured a 3D rendering of an ice cream cone. Having seen what I was capable of modeling in A:M, he asked for my help in creating a 3D version of the festival’s beloved mascot, "Jake from the Lake." Over the next few weeks, I modeled Jake and his buddy, Fishy, and the rest is history. Below, you can see a screenshot of the final poster, along with the Photoshop revisions my teacher made, including the addition of the ice cream cone from the previous year. It was such an exciting time I had never seen my work in print like that before. The poster was displayed all over the city, featured in newspaper articles, and even printed large scale for bus shelter ads.

Hey yall! I've had some trouble uploading images to the forum and finally got around to starting my own html page on neocities: yopachi.neocities.org they give you 1gb of free website and it's super fun to make a simple page using LLM as a helper for the code. The site is just one page for now but I'll be adding my worthy splines are as I go. I even made an animated favicon! did you know you can animate favicons?

May you have a festive Ground Hog Day.

So...I think the Break Room is done now. I reworked everything and added a few things.

Installers: Windows: Windows 32Bit Windows 64Bit SDK: v19.0 SDK UpDate 0007210: [Net Render] NetRender Crashes during startup (sgross) 0007216: [Interface] Clicking outside of Chor locks out Manipulators (sgross) 0007222: [Bones/Rigging] Deleting bone causes crash (sgross) 0007225: [_Other] Crash on v19 model load (sgross) 0007217: [_Other] Crash on load of old model (sgross) 0007214: [Interface] Accent color of Windows does not change window color of tiled windows in A:M (sgross) 0007213: [Particle Systems] Hair width over length is somehow repeated several times (sgross) 0007208: [Hair] Crash on reset of Hair Parameter (sgross) 0007137: [Dynamics] Dynamic Constraints broken (sgross) 0007203: [Net Render] NetRender nodes close with format error (sgross) 0007200: [Interface] NetRender interface spelling correction (sgross) 0007194: [Net Render] Actions render incorrectly in NetRender (sgross) 0007196: [Modeling] Crash on Copy of Groups (sgross) 0007195: [_Other] Crash after edit of Expression (sgross) 0007189: [Bones/Rigging] Crash on delete of multiple bones (sgross) 0007186: [Bones/Rigging] Path Constraint target list crash (sgross) 0007185: [Bones/Rigging] Bone name trouble (sgross) 0007184: [Bones/Rigging] Crash on Bone Drag (sgross) 0007162: [Rendering] Surface transparency causing Hair transparency (sgross) 0007188: [Sounds] Playing any audio in A:M sets system volume to zero (sgross) 0007175: [Plugins] Mirror Constraints not working? (sgross) 0007180: [_Other] Crash during Backup? (sgross) 0007181: [_Other] Crash on Revert (sgross) 0007179: [_Other] Crash while renaming Pose (sgross) 0007177: [Decaling] Crash while examining decals (sgross) 0007178: [_Other] Crash on PRJ close (sgross) 0007176: [Modeling] CopyFlipAttach adds unnecessary dot suffix to new names (sgross) 0007174: [_Other] Crash loading PRJ (sgross) 0007173: [Realtime] OpenGL3 Hair with textures drawn not correct (sgross) 0007172: [General] False rounding for float/double values (sgross) 0007171: [Realtime] OpenGL crash, if a scaled copy for the realtime texture needed (MipMap) (sgross) 0007166: [Sounds] Sound stops before end of play (sgross) 0007157: [Rendering] SSAO not working (sgross) 0007165: [Composite/Post Effects] Feature: allow Blur greater than 15 (sgross) 0007160: [Realtime] Fluid particle false shaded render after load (sgross) 0007159: [Rendering] Crash on render (sgross) 0007129: [_Other] v18 D Box PRJ no longer works (sgross) 0007155: [Rendering] Fluid Particles render as Camera Background color only (sgross) 0007154: [Particle Systems] Blobbies don't die, don't resize (sgross) 0007152: [Particle Systems] Can't Bake Blobbies? (sgross) 0007153: [_Other] Default Resolution in Camera settings: Change from VGA to HDTV - 720p... (sgross) 0007146: [Lighting] Use Front Realtime Light reverts to OFF after onscreen render (sgross) 0007142: [_Other] Reverting property in Chor doesn't * project (sgross) 0007147: [Materials] PRJ saves forces unwanted keys in Material instances (sgross) 0007148: [Rendering] Custom Frame list renders only first frame multiple times (sgross) 0007143: [Plugins] Simcloth doesn't simulate (sgross) 0007145: [Net Render] NetRender Memory Allocation Error (sgross) 0007144: [Images/Animations/Rotoscopes] EXR missing from allowed image import types (sgross) 0007139: [Rendering] Shaded/Wire Renders don't show "Show Grid" or Rotoscopes (sgross) 0007138: [Rendering] renders use CPU SSAO instead of GPU SSAO (sgross) 0007140: [Animation] Euler/Vector/Quat default selection not retained (sgross) 0007134: [Net Render] NetRender nodes get stuck on "Loading Frame" (sgross) 0007121: [Materials] Increase the viewport size of a material? (sgross) 0007151: [Particle Systems] Crash on change of Attribute to Combiner (sgross)

Stalled Trek: The City on the Edge of Foreclosure is on YouTube now! The last of the film festivals I submitted to is over, so I've finally set the movie free. 😀 You can see it on my YouTube channel here: Stalled Trek: The City on the Edge of Foreclosure

Hi Guys, I'm happy to share an animation I've been working on the past few months, I'll try to make a long story short... Since all this Covid 19 stuff things have been different, previously most of my spare time was spent working on fine art projects a lot of work I did preparing for art shows was put on hold and like many people it's been a stressful time. I guess psychologically the best way I've been able to deal with it has been to tap into my silly side and rekindle some of the things that inspired me in my younger years. Using Animation Master was one of those things, it was the first app that got me seriously into 3D and actually helped land me my first job out of college. I made a friend on this forum over 20 years ago (Bud) Mike Lium, we eventually lost touch and reconnected on Facebook even though I wasn't using A:M much or posted 3d stuff he was always a friend... always encouraged me and my art. These past couple months while working on this animation I couldn't wait to surprise him with it. Sadly I didn't finish it in time, and found out he passed away a few weeks ago. So I dedicate this to Bud. Mike https://vimeo.com/417019628

If you ever wondered why "likes" disappeared from the forum... it was my fault. I figured they reduced actual commenting and thought that getting rid of the "like" button might encourage more responses to posts. I still figure that is true but since removing the option to "like" things didn't increase the commenting, we might as well have them back. Thanks to Rodney for trying my experiment and for undoing it as well! I wonder if anyone will like this post...

Update of flame simulation i did long ago, but I can't find the old long ago thread!

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

[Mod note: Don't miss the many excellent WIP images above this post!] Okay, it took me a while...I think I worked the kinks out. Here is a test render that I'll probably watch a thousand times and second guess most of what I did (1920x1080 MP4 H.264). It's a quick pan around the room....it looked correct on a few players like VLC and Windows Media Player, but one it was washed out (I'm assuming it was the color correction in that one...it's more geared to viewing EXR sequences). If it looks washed out to anyone, let me know. BreakRoomFlyThrough_04_10_2025.mp4

not mobius mp4 version: MOBIUS3.mp4

Simple Pleasures Well I have rendered the animation. 17 cores at 16 passes utilizing 77% of CPU and 38%, running at 5ghz at 39 Celsius, 1440x1080 resolution, 156 frames, took netrender 59:07 minutes. Here is Hans finding something new For those who can not see it on the forum here is the Youtube link PickupFlower.mp4

Getting in the spirit of Halloween, so played around with an older model and some lighting.

wow cool ! I used it in a video!

Hey guys, I wish you all the best and a great celebration time Best regards *Fuchur*

Long time A:M user William Hennes @willaim is so busy with A:M that he never gets around to showing the cool stuff he does with it... so I'm posting it! Oct 15, 2022 Dwarf Head modeled in A:M, 3D printed in resin. For his "dragons of winter" project.

Happy New Years Everyone! 🎉 Just completed a Time-Lapse video been working on over December. Cheers

I used the Transfer_AW plugin to move the weighting of the spline-controlled lo-density tail to the higher-density Eugene model.

Here is the next phase

Here is a truck I modeled for a friend to use in his advertising. The truck has been fully restored now, but this version sat in his driveway for several years.

I have been going through all the old models and I have noticed how some of them have held up while others, well, are not very good. Cupid is one I am pleased with and the rig is in and now rigging the face. Here is an action shot of cupid.

Just wanted to say a quick "thank you" to Rob for going to the trouble of running the image contests. It's always interesting to see the different themes and see what everyone comes up with. Thank you again, Rob, for your efforts.

Robcat spotted this movie on my YouTube channel and suggested I post it to the Forum. The movie is composited from two clips made in A:M. First clip (the color pattern): Years ago I made light boxes using Xmas lights on posts that supported cylinders with cutout patterns; the tops of the cylinders were vaned so heat rising from the lights drove the rotation of the cylinders. The light patterns were projected onto a sheet of translucent plastic. Recently I got to thinking about light boxes and wondered if I could simulate the mechanism in A:M. After some trial and error — that being trying to find a method for doing the cutouts without actually modeling each hole and discovering that while a cookie cutter map would perforate the cylinders, light would not pass through and appear on the projection screen; perhaps someone knows why? — I modeled the cylinders using the brute-force method, lots of CPs and splines. The choreography is simple. Two cylinders, one within the other rotating in opposite directions, with red, blue, and green lights inside the cylinders, and a screen to receive the projected lights. I set the rotation speeds for the cylinders so that it takes more than 10 minutes before the exact same pattern repeats. Here are birds-eye view captures from A:M showing a wire-frame of the cho set-up, a render of the set-up, and a frame from the resulting movie: While the colors and patterns are pretty and the simulation is quite representative of the light boxes I used to make, I wondered if I could get something more visually interesting. Second clip (the black and white pattern): I decided to experiment with sprites. I made a simple white square and modeled an emitter to spin the sprites outward. The result was a little too clumpy. I put a black edge on the white square and got a much more interesting look. Rendered with Alpha channel = Off. Here is a frame: I edited the final movie in DaVinci Resolve with the sprite clip on top of the color clip and Composite mode set to Multiply. Here is a frame from the movie: The soundtrack is a generative music composition I made in LogicPro. The piece uses standard orchestral instruments with some effects processing — reverb, delay, etc. — and a quasi-12 tone compositional approach. Each chord in the piece is made up of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale, or in some cases 2 and even 3 octaves of notes. A Probability Gate is applied to each note of each chord in each instrument track to determine whether or not a particular note will sound. With a sufficiently low probability value, the likelihood of hearing the same music twice is vanishingly small. The movie is intended to give a pleasant audio-visual experience inducing a feeling of stasis, motion without progress, evolution without advancement, calmness, trance, even a semi-visionary state of consciousness. Or boredom, perhaps. Here is the YouTube link to "Prismatic Fracture": https://youtu.be/Em6VyzsNcgc Best to all, Joseph

https://youtu.be/1WSxujQAmxM Hey folks all the CG was done in AM about 5 years ago. I used BVH mobcap for the Animation which worked great with AM. Im actually going to start selling the tubes shortly because of the corona virus. I still have 30,000 tubes in my basement. 004.mov 003.mov 001.mov 002.mov

Hi Guys, Been experimenting with rendering some gem and glass like objects in A:M and decided to try my hand at rendering some quartz crystals. Have a few more things I'd like to add and experiment with in the scene so figure I'll keep adding here as a WIP when I get around to it. ( have to get back to my Snoopy post as well ) A few post tweaks were added in Photoshop like exposure and blurring.

Before I move on to the next railcar I beg your indulgence while I brag about getting a believable "look" to the rear running lights. The rear facing lenses are tinted red with the other three are tinted green. The light from the internal bulb is quasi collimated i.e. the lamps appear illuminated only if viewed close to on-axis with the lenses. I wheeled the caboose back into the dark factory to get a better view.

Installers: Windows: Windows 32Bit Windows 64Bit Mac OS X 10.13.6 or earlier: Intel Mac v19.0 Intel Mac SSE4.2 SDK: v19.0 SDK UpDate Change Log: Changed All Particlesystem Streak and Blobbie there is a new Boolproperty "Color change over lifetime" , this controls how the color is changed as default the color is changed over the lifetime from each particle, if it set to "Off" the color change is done for all particles equal Fixed All 7011 Particle systems should only display modifyable properties Fixed All import plugins if peaktolerance is set to 0 , all cp's are peaked ,usefull for importing mechanical models if peaktolerance is set to 360 , all cp's are smooth New All obj import plugin dialog changed added option for displaying the info messagebox (default the messagebox is displayed)added option for open a frontview for the imported model after the plugin has finished Fixed All 7010 Selecting a spline by "Spline select" with Mirror Mode on and hiding everything else results in a different selection Fixed All 7012 Crash , when loading a obj file created from blender Fixed All 6827 Changing Decal parameter turns all light off Fixed All 7008 Crash when activation pose slide (on/off) in Action Fixed All 7006 Editing Toon Gradient causes freeze Fixed All 7009 Crash when rotation STL-Prop in Chor Internal Dumpfile for unhandled exceptions has now a new naming scheme "ApplicationName_DayMonthYear_HourMinuteSecond.dmp" Dumpfiles deleted , when the Master / Master_64 starts Dumpfiles now enabled in release builds and netrender Posteffect Frameburn changed added PercentProperty "Opacity" -> control the text opacity Default : 75% (as before) Min Value : 1% Max Value : 100% added BoolProperty "Display name" -> display the filename Default : True (as before) if it set to False, only the framenumber is burned the default font is now "MS Sans Serif" Windows only added BoolProperty "With shadows" -> display the text with shadows Default : True (as before) if it set to False, only a white text is displayed (better readable in my opinion) Changed All Stampview , "Plugin properties" not longer displayed , makes no sense in this context (if You have one let me know and I revert this change) Changed All for groups in a choreography fixed a crash , when a object in a named group was deleted from the chor removed properties, which makes no sense in this context added the possibility to add other objects to the named chor group(select the chor group -> than Shift + LMB Selection objects can be deleted with a Dialog (RMB -> "Remove From Groups...") popup menu only displayed menu items , which make sense for this type of group

Hi guys! Here's our new minishort clip. Corona related GREETINGS, stay safe. FYI: Everything was completely one in A:M, except for compositing (AE) and sound etiting (Samplitude).

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

Okay....so I have been endlessly tweaking things (I'm still debating the level of bloom). Here is an updated image and I'll post more soon. ------------------- EDIT ------------------- I didn't realize one of my settings was off and made it a little dark...I replaced the original image with the updated version.

Probably the most exciting project I worked on while at my teacher's studio (around 1998/99) was the package design for the ATI Rage Fury video card. I remember hearing they wanted to incorporate an eye-shaped ship created by another animation studio, but we got to design the main character, a sexy cyborg girl with a glowing sword. How cool is that! After modeling the character in A:M, I experimented with a few poses until we settled on the render below followed by further edits in Photoshop for the final packaging. At the studio, they had a storage closet for supplies, as well as a collection of old manuals and software boxes. To this day I still think about some of the marketing slogans printed on those boxes. One was for Electric Image (EAIS) which said: "Render Fast, Retire Young!" That was so cool. Another package had the slogan: "Dream, Create, Astound." One of the best marketing lines a software company could use to inspire an artist!

Hey everybody. I want to wish you all a great pre-christmas time and have as each year a little treat for you created with A:M, which will hopefully give you a smile or two with each little clip each day till the 24th of December. I hope you have fun and wish you a nice time (don't forget to visit it each day, since there will be a new clip for you each day opened up): https://advent.targomed.de/adventskalender.php?lan=en Best regards *Fuchur*

I served myself a bit of a hazard job by trying to convert a *.stl file to a low poly object. It obtained about 3 milion verts and 2 miljon faces. The file I needed had a 2000verts 1000 faces limit. So I tried to convert it with MeshLab back to that low count, but as expected there was hardly a form left. So I used Furcher's retopologize methode (thanks for that!). Still a bit of a whirle as the object prop was so dense I could hardly trace the outline. To keep the relief right I know that exporting .OBJ files from AM: to .3DS leads to the half outcome of the model. This needs some clarification. When exporting models from AM: like this OBJ one:2680v /5563t. Importing it in MeshLab and exportin it to 3ds I get a file with 1007v / 2045 tris. And that's precise the limit I needed. Still a bit confused why this works that way. Then I could import it to Quake and give it the right texture. 🐘 calendrius.mp4

Just noticed Perry Animation added a bunch of Petey & Jaydee shorts to their Youtube page. Some funny and well made A:M Animations worth checking out! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH9lVBbmbu_dQEl1CnAbNPA

We just delivered character animation for a tv commercial and currently working on an animated feature in AM. Perry Animation is still active 👍🏾🎉

Made this I was bored no reason. Messing around with lighting as well

My "Planes Trains Automobiles" Contest entry was an experiment in displacement mapping... The body of the car is just a simple spline form... All the surface details... the doors, the handles, the windows, the rubber and chrome trim... that is all made with displacement maps. There isn't an easy way to manually paint such maps in a paint program but it was easy to model the shapes on a flat plane. I put a white-to-black gradient on them and shot the arrangement with an orthogonal camera. That render to OpenEXR format was applied to the body to be the displacement map. I made maps that way for the front and back details also... I recolored the patches of that details model with white, gray and black to render versions of the map for Transparency and Reflectivity... A turn-around of an earlier WIP version of the car... 155Lefts_3500.mp4

Roughed out model partner for Thom ,,,not complete for now pt1.prj

This is an edited compilation of A:M's incremental release notes so that they may be found in one place. This includes new features and enhancements but excludes bug fix and SDK reports. I will endeavor to organize this and add links to relevant documentation and explanations as I find them. If you see something here that already has existing documentation, PM me and I will add it. v19 New features and enhancements Top Five Hot v19 Features... Bullet Physics includes soft body simulations SVG importer enables design of lathe and extrusion outlines in low-cost vector art programs Bias Handle Aim at next CP simplifies common mechanical modeling task of creating straight splines Birdseye View Queue allows stepping through many previous birdseye views Scale to X=0 reduces common Copy/Flip/Attach prereq to one step Been away for a while? Check out the v18 features in the next post! Bullet Physics Bullet replaces Newton for dynamic simulations. See full Bullet Section at bottom. Speedup Coding optimizations make v19 render 10-15% faster than v18. This benefit will vary by CPU Interface Birdseye View Queue v19a It is now possible to step back/forward through many previous Birdseye views rather than just recalling the single most recent one (Numpad 7). undoing/redoing for view position now have a separate undo stack, have their own buttons and shortcuts... shortcut for view undo Shift+Alt+Z shortcut for view redo Shift+Alt+Y If You don't make a new install or "Reset Toolbars" You must manually add the buttons from Tools->Customize->Commands->Standard Discussion thread: https://forums.hash.com/topic/50244-birds-eye-view-queue/ Clear Undo stack (Edit menu) v19a Removes all entries from undo/redo. Also has a button... Forum thread Feature Clear Undo Stack Choreography Groups v19L Added the possibility to add other objects to the named chor group(select the chor group -> than Shift + LMB Selectionobjects. Can be deleted with a Dialog (RMB -> "Remove From Groups..."). "Constant" parameters in PWS now display their current values in the timeline. CP Weights dialog box v19c Remembers last position. Duplicate for objects in a chor. v19a Right Click/Duplicate Menu entry "Duplicate" for objects in a chor. If the Shift key is held down while clicking "Duplicate," keys from the source object are not copied. Progressive Render Limit v19c Progressive renders can be set to make less than five passes to allow more quickly regaining control of the interface after onscreen test renders. This setting also exists in Camera properties so each camera view can have its own setting. Render settings dialog box v19a Resizable Maximize Render to File Dialog Window button added File Menu>"Render to File" Option added Render to File dialog box Size/Open/Collapse state are remembered. Works only in "Advanced mode" Two new buttons here too, "Expand All" and "Collapse All", expand/collapse all possible properties Reset Toolbars (Help menu) v19a Reset all toolbars to their default layout. Save before Render: v19a saves the project, if it is modified, after hit "OK" in the "Render to File Settings" Dialog can be controlled with the "Save upon Render" checkbox at Tools/Options/Rendering , Default is ON Translate manipulator minimum size v19m The translate and the scale manipulator now scaled up, if the size is too small AND the "World Space" button is set to ON. Viewport settings Copy/Paste v19j It's now possible to Copy/Paste Viewport settings from one window to another one. Click on the Viewport settings display to open the "View Settings" dialog for the source window , push "Copy", open the "Viewport Settings" dialog for the destination window, push "Paste" Viewport Settings display is at lower right corner of A:M Modeling Bias Handles: Aim bias handle at next CP v19n Holding ALT while adjusting bias handle snaps the bias to the next CP on the spline in direction of the handle side. SHIFT+ALT leaves the bias handle on the other side unchanged. Discussion thread with demo video Bias Handles Snap to Grid button v19a New button for this , Tools->Customize->Commands->Manipulator (default key Shift+2) Acts like "Snap to Grid". Existing installations needs to add this button manually to the toolbar or "Reset Toolbars" [demo video in post] Bias Handles Snap To Grid menu option v19a When a group of CPs is selected, >Snap Bias to Grid snaps the in- and out-bias for the selected CPs to the nearest grid interval. CP weighting dialog Cancel/Undo/Redo v19a The weight dialog has now a "Cancel" button , which reverts the changes done in the dialog to the state before the dialog was started. Weighting has now also a general Undo/Redo , if the dialog is exited with the "Done" button. Remove Internal Patches v19a "Remove internal patches" Tries to break internal patches , detach CPs from detected internal patches and create a named group with this CPs for 3 and 5 point patches it works only partially depends on the spline layout. [demo video in post] Remove unused drivers menu entry. v19a Delete all drivers without a key available only for model cache, not for instances. Remove User Properties menu entry for models. v19a Deletes all user properties and relationships for this model available only for model cache, not for instances. Warning : This action is not undoable Reset Main Bone v19h Set the main model bone back to the default values (helpful for simulation with bullet constraint, if the main bone not at default , unexpected behavior can occur) For objects> menu -> "Reset Main Bone". Scale Group to X=0 v19a Before doing a Copy-Flip-Attach it is good practice to scale all the center spline CPs to be truly on the center axis. Now this task can be done in one step: select the CPs and then >"Scale Group to X=0". Show Groups, where the CP is included Button will show which groups a CP is in. For existing installations the button needs to be added 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 CPs. Spline and CP selection from PWS v19n It's now possible to select Spline and CP from the PWS. Select the Spline or CP (under Objects -> Your model -> Splines) and hit SVG importer: v19a Plugin for importing the SVG vector graphic format. This enables graphic outline importing as the .AI importer does. Particles/Simulations Particle system: Hair v19a Support for Turbulence on forces. Forces no longer need high magnitudes to affect hair dynamics groom mode: selected guide CPs now drawn with the selected CP color groom mode: added possibility to select more than one Hair guide for operations except the "Brush Mode" operation two new buttons "Select Hair guides" if You press this button you are now in the selection mode, and can select more than one Hair guide. Limitation: it's only possible to select one Hair guide CP, for the other selected Hair guides the Hair guide CP from the first selected Hair guide is used. "Deselect Hair guides" deselect all selected Hair guides Hair grooming Disable Particle System Update v19o For faster manipulation of hair guides. Implemented for Edit, FK, Brush and Lengthen Mode. [demo video in post] New button "Disable Particle System Update" is available under Tools->Customize->Commands->Categories:Tools to add this to Your grooming bar... The other way to enable this button is Help->Reset Toolbars If this button is checked, the particle system is not updated while you're modifying the hairguides. Be sure that only the window where You modify the guides is visible (no tiled or cascaded view mode), otherwise the other views are updated. Particles: Color change over lifetime v19L Streak and Blobbies there is a new Bool property, "Color change over lifetime". This controls how the color is changed. Default ON: the color is changed over the lifetime from each particle OFF: the color change is done for all particles simultaneously. Simcloth v19c Simulations faster with with OpenMP (multicore processing), to disable this option set "Tools->Options->OpenMP Threads" to "Disable OpenMP" Simcloth v19b "Custom Attach groups" now only editable in material instances. Makes no sense to edit the cache. Attach groups are used for temporarily constraining a portion of a SimCloth to a bone. For example, to have a character pickup and drop a handkerchief. new property "Remove previous simulation Data" Deletes the simulation data from previous Simulation. Setting it to "OFF" is helpful, when the cloth object has many CPs. Default is "ON" Plugins plugin: Batch v19d added Bullet "Rolling friction" and possibility to set the values back to default. Plugin: Brick v19a it's now possible to add Bullet Constraints for the instanced model. Access with RMB>Choreography>plugins>wizards>Brick z position can be set models can be imported in user folders save/restore settings documentation Plugin: Simple_Scatter v19a it's now possible to add Bullet Constraints for the instanced model models are now imported into user folder documentation Polygon import plugins v19L If peak tolerance is set to 0 , all CPs are peaked ,useful for importing mechanical models. If peak tolerance is set to 360 , all CPs are smooth Other Bake Surface: optional larger margin for Baked Surfaces. v19a Makes it easier to use some paint program filters on tiled image maps. Options dialog accessed by holding SHIFT while selecting "Bake Suface" Distortion Box Action Objects Resolution v19a Now the same resolution as the modeling window Distortion boxes (maximum 1000), and now uses for initial value the same settings as for the distortion box in the modelling window. Measure Distance v19n Menu entry "Measure Distance". Select 2 CPs (both in same view) -> -> "Measure Distance". If more than 2 CPs are selected the distance is calculated for the first 2 CPs in the group. Can also be started from the PWS, select a CP entry, then select a second CP while holding down the CTRL key -> -> "Measure Distance" "Render Stamp to File" v19p Discussion in AMReport 7054 Discussion in v19p announcement This renders the actual stampview to file with a user defined resolution. If You start from the stamp entry in the PWS and the stampview isn't open, a new stamp view is opened. In the dialog , which opend after hit the menu entry, You can change the Path and Filename (the button on the right side) fileformat is selected trough the filename extension (supported OpenEXR, TGA, PNG and PSD) the "Width" and "Height" for the newly created file limited to 16384 x 16384 for Win64 version, 8192 x 8192 for the others the limitation is the result size , means a resolution from 32768 x 8192 is also possible. Warning On the highest resolution around 14 Gigabyte is needed at the creation process. The width and height are always changed to a even size. (1025 becomes 1028 , always modulo 2) "Save layered" If this checkbox is checked, two layers are created , one for the decal self and one for the splines. For all formats ,excluding OpenEXR, in this case two files are created with the naming scheme "Filename"_Decal".Extension" and "Filename"_Splines".Extension" OpenExr is saved as one file with two layers. "Render with CP's" rendering also the CP's on the spline layer A new menu entry for single stamps / a opened stamp view is added. Bullet Physics - v19a Bullet replaces Newton for simulations. Bullet includes soft body simulations which were absent in Newton. Alpha Documentation constraint: Bullet Constraint for dynamic simulation with the Bullet physics engine. constraint: Bullet Soft Constraint v19d Model with this constraint applied act as softbodies (deformable hull) in Bullet simulation Reset Main Bone v19h for objects> menu -> "Reset Main Bone", set the main model bone back to the default values (helpful for simulation with bullet constraint, if the main bone not at default , unexpected behavior can occur) Plugin: Add bullet constraints to multiple models in a cho. v19a on choreography -> "Add Bullet Constraints to multiple models". Plugin: Modify Bullet Constraints on multiple models v19d Modify parameters for bullet rigid constraints on multiple models in a chor. Only parameters where the checkbox "Set" is active are applied to the selected bullet constraints. on choreography -> "Modify Bullet Constraints on multiple models" Menu Remove Bullet Constraints v19d menu for Choreography has now an entry "Remove Bullet Constraints" starts a dialog, where You can select the Bullet constraints , You want to remove from models (Extended selection in the listbox) Menu Bake and Remove Bullet Constraints v19h for chor > menu -> bake simulation data and then remove the Bullet Constraints from the models. If the Shift key is held while clicking this entry, a simulation run is first done for all Bullet Constraints. Plugin: Batch v19d added Bullet "Rolling friction" and possibility to set the values back to default. Plugin: Brick v19a it's now possible to add Bullet Constraints for the instanced model. Access with RMB>Choreography>plugins>wizards>Brick Plugin: Simple_Scatter v19a it's now possible to add Bullet Constraints for the instanced model

Typically most of my renders are exteriors shot under direct sunlight. Since I have this factory in the background I thought I'd take a crack at an interior with sun and sky light streaming through the windows. Ultimately the desk will be pushed against a nearby wall so I don't have to ask any awkward questions about where the lamp and phone cords go. The ceiling has a few hanging incandescent lamps, the hand car under repair is under one of them.

I've been updating some of my old models including this wooden desk chair. The large image is from today, the small inset image was rendered on Dec. 20, 1997. If nothing else my colour sense seems to have improved.

My brother-in-law got Covid-19'd out of his job in HR management and is considering starting up his own firm. So I made him an animated logo. Animated Logo.mp4

The first type of boxcar I built was the older style where the handbrake wheel is mounted horizontally above the roof line. In order to maximize the number of boxcars, I decided to cheat and put a different railroad line and specs on each side of a single car. This scheme only breaks down when looking at the end of a single car where you see the two different numbers. However once the two cars are connected together and their ends are somewhat obscured I now have two boxcars for the price of one model.