Rodney

I was kind of hoping all the A:M programmers who have ever worked on A:M (to include plugins!) might come together for a 25th anniversary summer of code but... perhaps we'll have to wait for the 30th anniversary.

I learn something new every day. Thanks Mark!

Very nice Jason! Once it goes live it may even classify as 'awesome'.

Not impressed you say. Here's something of an essential non-hack that extends v18's capabilities with the HAMRviewer to allow specific objects in a scene to have interaction that other objects don't. In this video I'm just testing that the kettle and fire haven't been released to move/rotate whereas Keekat has. I'll have to check to see how best to lock down an entire scene to avoid unintended movement (i.e. the kettle and fire can be moved if the entire set is move... but note that Keekat moves too). Keekat should also be poseable (!) but I don't think the viewer was ever coded for that while the webviewer was. Note that (to my knowledge) the webviewer isn't compatible with any modern browser... bummer... so I'm only playing with the standalone viewer. At any rate, the way to get this additional functionality into v18 is to copy/paste the HAMR.hxt file (which is found in the HAMR installation folder) into the v18 hxt folder. This exposes objects to additional options in a similar way/location as the Newton plugin. There are four elements this exposes (Moveable, Turnable, Scaleable and Poseable of which the latter two appear to be limited in the standalone viewer) And while I haven't delved deeply, technically you don't need to set those special attributes for the viewer in A:M. You could add them with a text editor just prior the the end of the desired bone: ModelMoveable=TRUE ModelTurnable=TRUE ModelScaleable=TRUE ModelPoseable=TRUE Properties> Or set them to FALSE as appropriate. Extending_v18_functionality.mp4

Very nice Chris! You mention in your breakdown of After Effects cheats that you could have done some of the effects in A:M and I find this to be a great point. The underlying question being how much time can you budget to the effect and what are you most comfortable with in getting that shot done. A lot of time can be wasted... yes wasted... in picking the wrong option. Thanks for the insight into your process. You've got some really nice behind the scenes CG shots in there. I hope they'll do a future episode where the alien morphs into another character/object... that'd be fun!

A:M animation in other applications/browsers in realtime. What a great technology. Somewhat unfortunately... way ahead of its time. HAMRminitour004_projectfile.mp4

A lot more simple if the current HAMR code is compatible with that. I recall being very impressed with HAMR's ability to render particles in real time. The one in particular I recall was one with magic pixie dust but... I can't find that one.. so here's the basic TaoA:M Smoke, Wind and Fire setup: HAMRminitour3_particles.mp4

A lot might depend on the ability to release code. I'm not sure if the API/SDK still supports the HAMR elements as that may not have been an area that Steffen was involved. Is the code available... is it not... I dunno. Here's another mini tour of the standalone viewer moving around a few scenes from the Extra CD. Note that the error messages pop up are for textures that aren't supported by HAMR (those messages could be suppressed by default) Of interest... HAMR does display particles quite well, to include spriticle images and particle hair. I would say that given some of A:M's current capabities HAMR is even more powerful than it was when first released. HAMRminitour002.mp4

Background HAMR (Hash Animation:Master Realtime) and WebHAMR (HAMR for browsers) was an effort of several years ago (2009) to press A:M content out to new platforms. From the basic write up: The ultimate goal of HAMR was of course to push A:M content to web browsers but the API allowed other access as well (as demonstrated in the standalone HAMRviewer). Some general thoughts: - HAMR tech still works quite well although I don't know the extent of whether the API is used by anyone and some connectivity has been depricated over the ensuing years. - HAMR tech didn't get out of the initial development phase (as such it didn't get to the Mac port phase) - The Mac port and some modern updated features notwithstanding... the standalone viewer (PC only) still works great and as it is now could be included with the current distro as an alternate means to view Projects/Models outside of A:M. (barring that it is still available via the Hash Inc FTP so can be added to your toolbox and even given to other PC users who may not have access to A:M to view A:M content) With interest in development for A:M continuing I'm wondering if the powers that be would consider releasing some of the HAMR code so that a new generation of developers can take a crack at it. Now, some folks might point out that A:M dropped the compressed format .PRJB (a zipped/binary version of a project file which was used with HAMR) from it's menu several versions ago but I would counter with the fact that HAMR viewers can just as easily use uncompressed .PRJ files and even load individual models and actions. In fact, without even launching A:M one can populate a scene, play back canned actions and freely roam around. To sum this up... HAMR is dead. Long live HAMR. REF: Direct link to HAMRviewer exe on the Hash Inc FTP (yes this is an .exe so standard downloading rules apply... when in doubt download first and then scan it) HAMRminitour001.mp4

Happy Birthday Gerald! Thanks for all you do behind the scenes. Very much appreciated!

Yes indeed. And as confirmation I see v15 was the first official release with a link to a web subscription. (and of course it should be noted there was a transitional period circa v15 where both websubs and CDs were available)

I believe you are right... and I've corrected my post above to reflect such. I have no idea why I've got v13 and above locked deeply into my brain. Perhaps I was using both CD and subscription versions back then but I don't think I was. Thanks for setting me straight Robert. Some weird stuff is going on with my posting (edits reverting to earlier versions) so I think I will stop at that. The issue with installing prior websubscriptions to v15 is that I don't see any AMweb (i.e. websubscription) installers.

Jason, I'm noticing some admin permission issues (i.e. can't see all of the forums). This shouldn't be an issue for you as you are likely operating at the root but want you to be aware just in case that matters. For what it's worth I can see more forums via the new forum/server so additional permissiond must be granted there. As no one else has complained, this may not be effecting anyone else.

For v18, but as you now know we can run earlier versions back to v15 along with our subscription*... so D3D still applies as stated to those releases but that was as of 2011 so account for 3 years inbetween that and current versions. If you must run D3D I would expect you'd want to target the earliest versions. Disclaimer: I don't have those releases installed at present so would have to check. The changes should also be listed in the change listings in the Latest Information forum. *The only reason we cannot run releases earlier than v15 is that subscriptions as they are currently programmed didn't exist yet. So we can only time travel back to when the invention of the first time machine occurred.

One of these days we'll have to work out a training track/production pipeline for video editing as that is an essential part of filmmaking. The experience gained in editing together a few tutorials, ads, promotions, etc. would go a long way toward transferring experience to animation projects in A:M. A major obstacle in learning the process of editing is having enough content to edit but assuming Robert and others are open to the idea, available content would not be a problem here. It should also be noted that way back in the day, the focus for the next Extra DVD was to be on tutorials. Hmmm....

Glad to hear it! Hope you are back to 100% soon Steffen.

Intelligent people can and have had very deep discussions that delve into other software but one of the reasons competitor comparisons are prohibited is that other programs tend to have huge budgets that speak for themselves and throngs of attendants all too eager to present one sided comparisons that have no place here. A topic might start out with good intention but inevitably degrade into mush when someone seeing opportunity to air a petty grievance, plugs their favorite competitor or spreads misinformation all while simultaneously deriding A:M and/or those who programmed it. In the end an entire topic is closed due to the inherent negativity in software comparisons. To make matters worse, the bad blood often generated by personal attacks etc. in such topics suggests it would have been better not to start the topic in the first place. If folks could learn to focus on the positive and how various software can more seamlessly work together you might be surprised what would float to the top in the A:M Forum. Hopefully this helps to demonstrate how a proper approach can avoid the pitfalls (and therefore the forum prohibition) of software comparisons. We must assume that making the most of Animation:Master is the reason we all are here.

Very interesting. As with most films these days this trailer is no different. The FX rules the day. And in a film such as John Carter of Mars what else could be expected,

A link to it is also in EVERY post that Robert adds to the forum (at the bottom in his signature).

Many happy returns of the day! Keep on tinkerin'! (I remembered the gray hair this time)

Um... why exactly would that be unpopular or deleted Matt? Rhetorical question. Press on. Press on.

Can you clarify what we are seeing here? (or if preferable I just can read about it in A:M Reports)

For those that might have wondered what legendary Disney animator Glen Keane has been up to since departing Disney, a theatrical release of the immersive application was revealed at Google I/O. Glen was challenged to create a follow up to the very popular and innovative 360 immersive entertainment 'Windy Day' and the result was 'Duet'. The part on 'Duet' to include some technological behind the scenes work as well as the short itself is at the end of this youtube video. Other releases of just the short itself are beginning to appear. As the 'rendering engine' Glen animated at 60 frames per second in order to create the animation for the application. cV8JDSO1NS8#t=54m18s Note: These should start with and play only the short film 'Duet'. If not I apologize as the timecode is fighting me. To view some other related videos: cV8JDSO1NS8#t=38m13s Note: All of the video is well worth watching but the 'Duet' focus isn't until the end of the video. I'll try to insert the proper timecode to start the video at the optimum location. The final/playable application is to be released in the fall. At the 50 minute mark Glen Keane is introduced and draws a character from the film and explains a little of his approach to animation. What is rather amazing about the whole production is that it took a year to create.

Robert may be on to something there with Mirror Bones. Definitely turn that off. Since you are just now starting out with A:M I'll recommend working through the Manual (TaoA:M). Also: If you ever get A:M's interface into a configuration it shouldn't be in you can select Reset from the Help menu. After reset reset A:M. Also, I'm not sure where you are getting the stock character from but you might save that to another place and reopen it from there.

Are you wanting to look through the camera? The image you posted doesn't show anything out of the ordinary other than that you are in a birds eye (i.e. user defined) view.