Rodney

I've seen a park bench or two in rendered animation but can't seem to find the model itself. If you have a reference pic of what you would call an ideal park bench it should be easy enough to model. While looking for 'bench' I did see some weightlifting equipment and wondered if that might not be of use to you in one way or another.

I believe you are going to like Hitfilm (even the express version) more than Lightworks. Hitfilm is much more drag and drop capable and is heavier on integration of effects. In fact I'd say Hitfilm's focus is on the effects. Lightworks does have some effects, color correction etc. but it's first and foremost a video editor. It can use many of the plugins available for After Effects and Premiere but I haven't dabbled into that. I confess I haven't used Hitfilm much since downloading but not for lack of interest... mostly because I've been digging deep into After Effects. In many ways Hitfilm is more accessible than even After Effects. It's certainly more intuitive for beginners. I see Lightworks as software with a longer term trajectory. If they keep moving in the direction of open sourcing their code I'm confident they will see much success. Of course by then who knows what other video editing solutions will be capturing everyone's attention. In the interim, and perhaps beyond, I see Lightworks as a video editor for folks who don't have access to a powerful video editor.

Unless I missed something it looks like the non-Pro release exports to MP4/Youtube format only. You can therefore either upload via Lightworks to Youtube (it has a direct way to upload) or to local disk. Other export formats are apparently reserved for the Pro version. Note that all of the following formats will import: As such a direct path into Lightworks from A:M can be created. Rather than being a detriment I see this limitation as a plus in that we know that any movie created with the free release of Lightworks will be the same/compatible format. Given the unending variety of formats available it can be good to have some common ground/standardization in formatting. Final exporting of the film for other usage could then be made by a power editor with access to the full capability of Lightworks Pro.

It's been a long haul but the Beta release for Lightworks on the Mac is finally out. Link to Redshark news release for Mac Beta For those that haven't been keeping up, Lightworks is a high end non linear video editor on par with AVID. Over the past few years the owners of Lightworks have been moving toward a cross platform presence across Win/Linux/Mac with an end goal to open source a large portion of its code. Direct Link to Download page Note to those that attempted to install earlier versions on Windows: The installation and activation process is much improved so install and test the current version out. You will want the 32bit release if you plan to use .MOV format!

Oh dear. If only I had known that this was going to end in violence.

Keep us up to date on how that works out. Now you've got me thinking of other things that can be automated/recorded in A:M... and of course not all require utilities such as vTask. It's amazing how forward thinking the text is from 'The Art of Animation:Master'. I recall Martin Hash stating therein, 'Reusability is the foundation of Animation:Master'. To which I say, "True dat."

I'm not quite sure what you are trying to accomplish here. Perhaps you can clarify or reword the question? I've been staring at keyboard shortcut assignments and that might be why I am misunderstanding. I believe you are talking about both keyboard shortcuts and the setting of keyframes but that's about as far as I follow your question.

Here is playback showing a new model being rigged by an older 'macro' recording. A more effective method might seek out Group Names, hide all other geometry and then assign a specific Bone to everything visible in the window. While the video example attached is overly simple it does demonstrate that automation can be accomplished. AutoAutoRigPlayback.mp4

I downloaded TinyTask and vTask and played a little. You really only need TinyTask for the basic recording requirements. In a moment I'll upload a (very raw) example of recording and playing back the process of splining a simple vase. A few notes regarding the video. - No audio (I have a cold anyway) - Not shown in the video, I used A:M's Toolbar to set up a shortcut in A:M's dropdown menu to run a program called Go.exe. This go.exe is the recorded session which I update and run again during the course of the video - At one point the playback runs back through a few processes that are unnecessary (Example: In the first recording I used the right/click menu to set render mode to shaded wireframe. Since this had already been accomplished while recording the first time the process is repeated but doesn't really accomplish anything because that process is already completed) Disclaimer: If I were to change my layout in any way parts of the playback would fail because when I recorded I used mouse movement. Therefore if the mouse were to move to a location that is no longer here it wouldn't have the same icon/item to execute... although... it might activate something else! Therefore it is always better to record keyboard shortcuts because those won't change unless you specifically change the shortcuts in A:M. Therefore, folks that routinely use keyboard shortcuts in A:M will benefit moreso than those not familiar with those presets. This does demonstrate the precision that can be accomplished when recording processes in A:M but there are definitely things to watch out for and layout of the screen must be taken into account for recording of mouse movement because that playback of relative positioning relies on things to remain at the same screen location. As such it is usually better to rely on keystrokes or image-based navigation. Note that this video is simply the recording and playback of lathing a vase. As such, there is not much to see here. PsuedoMacros_in_AM.mov

As Robert suggests there are ways to get this done but knowing what success might look like will help. As A:M doesn't have a native macro recording capability I see two primary ways to record and replay your activity (in A:M): 1) Perform the process and save it (in whatever appropriate format). Reimport that result again where desired. Pro: Easily Accomplished Con: Locating files, Not all processes easily recorded (The example of this is things that can be stored in the Library. If it can be saved as an Action, Model, etc. then it can be immediately played back via drag and drop.) Not quite what you are after here. 2) Use a keystroking utility to record keystrokes, save that and then play that back. Pro: It works! Con: Not all commands have shortcut keystrokes, Mouse recording is usually screen size dependent (I thought this was going to be a great solution for sharing recordings with other A:M users until my tests revealed too much variation in everyone's screen layout (variations in menu placement as well as monitor resolution etc.). Note that this can work quite well in a single session with the same layout. A fuller solution might have the playback set the layout first... then play back the rest of the recording.) Closer to what you are after here. Added: For this second approach I should have noted that I was using freeware keystroke/mouse/macro recording and those often are more limited than software you might pay a little for. The paid solutions might work but I was looking for a more universal solution for A:M users. For those with the requirement, Macro recorders that cost a few dollars may be well worth looking into. The utility I was playing with back then was TinyTask. TinyTask is free (Windows only). vTask Studio, which is quite nice and may accomplish what you desire, is $69. Edit: I'm going to add this because I believe this is a direction that could be useful. The vTask Studio commands are stored in XML format and as such can be modified in a plain text editor. Example code: So, you only have to record an activity once. Then you can use it again as needed. Following this basic approach one could record all the standard processes in A:M and have them all at your scripting disposal to include custom processes you create (ex: Model a dragon and then assign that whole process to a 'Make Dragon' button.**) Of note: Other programs/utilities such as AutoIt (which is free) can also do this although in my estimation not as elegantly. Note that the primary downside of a vTask solution would be that it is for Windows only. For Windows users, they do have a 30 trial... so check it out. **Saving a Dragon to the A:M Library would be easier but with scripting playback you could include branching of code that solicits user input to create variations for the original dragon.

Ha! I'd forgotten about that tutorial John. That's a winner! There are several ways to change textures over time. The method can be as simple as animating a setting over time (ala Nancy's description) or via the creation of Poses (as John describes). Yet another method would be to use a sequence of images and then animate the frame number of that sequence over time. I know Marcos (Xtaz) has outlined the method for using smartskin to facilitate adjusting decals via bones. Yet another way to get textures changing would be to layer them in (via a variety of methods) and adjust the transparency of each level over time as desired. This works with materials as well especially where we reserve the second node for transparency which then facilitates seeing what lies beneath the current level. Then we can adjust and change the textures as desired.

...and this is accomplished in the operating system... not in A:M. A:M uses what the explorer (or finder in Mac?) is set up with to open the file.

Paul, You mentioned in another topic your desire to see your Papa Bear production progress and suggested your willingness to have others assist in that effort. I'm curious if part of your project could be 'open sourced' to allow public input and contribution. Every aspect of production would not need to be made public but perhaps some could be. I realize that a goal and a significant challenge in such a thing would be to maintain your vision for the production as you move forward but I don't see that as a major obstacle as long as everyone knows you reserve the right to green light and approve each element... and even change them later as you see fit. Believe it or not, there are some of us in the community that (at least occasionally) enjoy being directed. One of the detriments to involvement in any project is the prospect of long term commitment. This is magnified when there is no clear understanding of the extent of what 'long term' is. But if every day progress is made toward an end product. eventually a product will be made. There is no reason why productions should take as long as they currently do other than that a producer or director needs additional time to produce or direct. Is there something that can be done here in the forum to assist you on a short term (day-to-day) basis?

I ran across this short video and thought... that sure looks like it was designed as a showcase for a renderer... and sure enough it is. What I didn't guess is that the renderer is open source with an MIT license. The short is... very short so check it out: [vimeo]92172277[/vimeo] Direct Link The appleseed renderer is currently in Alpha testing: http://appleseedhq.net/

While creating a game is ideal there are other things that can be accomplished with A:M and Unity3D. Something as simple as telling a story for instance. This would represent an alternative way of 'rendering' our assets from A:M. Hey, back on topic! Seriously though, it is fairly trivial to get A:M assets into Unity (as either 2D or 3D assets). In the not too far flung future perhaps we can host a few courses in using other programs in conjunction with A:M. A basic course (the first of many if there were to be sufficient interest) might not have to cover much more than getting resources from A:M into . While I could be wrong, and often have been, I don't think we'll see much progress on developing a course for using Renderman with A:M until at least 2015. The free non-commercial license hasn't even been released yet.

Jake reminds us of yet another reason why a Renderman solution won't work. A streamlined Renderman pipeline would only satisfy a very small part of the 'need everything' solution. With regard to Unity3D and Marmoset (and the Skyshop portion which requires U3D 4.2 or greater) what isn't clear to me is why more folks aren't already publicly using Unity3D with A:M. That would be a good step in the right direction. Regarding why one would investigate Renderman over U3D/Marmoset the primary issue with pressing toward Renderman over U3D/Marmoset at this stage is one of price. PIXAR has just revealed that for Renderman non-commercial usage (which covers a wide swath of A:M Users) there isn't any. With all the talented folk who frequent the A:M Forum I do hope that someone is pressing into U3D (at least the free version). If not they should be. We've got a gaming forum area set aside for it.

If the priority is to see Papa Bear come to life I would forgo the commitment to Renderman. There just isn't going to be enough of a return on investment to make it worth the effort in the short term. The primary reasons I encourage others to extend out to Renderman is 1 ) it can be done 2 ) fully customizable rendering would be useful 3 ) it's nice to have options. Beyond that it's something of a fool's errand. If the polygon model is created in a piece-wise fashion we can do some of this now... even better in some cases as the polygon parts can be combined with the spline meshes to form a mix of hard (poly) and soft (spline) forms that can then be animated (it can help to think of the polys as bones and the splines as muscles). Exporting these new creations out however... um... that's something that has yet been done to store such a thing because there really is no file format for such outside of A:M... and barely within A:M. Then there is the rendering of this new creature as well... something only A:M could do at present. But if you prefer to live within the A:M ecosystem, life is good. And all of this is steadily getting better. And the best news of all (for those tethered to polys) is that over time (perhaps lifetimes) the polygon world is expanding to overcome obstacles within it's own ecosystem... increasingly moving toward splines. This brings other options and compatibility to light. This then is the real impetus for investigating what can be done through Renderman; to take advantage of what millions of lines of code and years of work have (at least potentially) wrought. It's that potential that intrigues... often against better judgement... and forms the premise of a potentially pleasing outcome.

Paul, Are you on Win 7 as well. I only ask because I don't see that mentioned in the other topic. If that is the common factor with everyone that is currently having these issues that would be good to know. Edit: Disregard... asked and answered: Win 7 does appear to be a common factor.

The various upgrades of hardware and software often do work together to fix issues as much as they conspire to break them. Getting the problem on the radar is important. Then as others confirm similar problems it can then be more fully identified and corrected. Perhaps the best way of confirming is to find someone else with the same (or at least similar) hardware and software configuration. As proof of my interest in this arena, for my last computer purchase (for my wife and daughter) I bought two laptops that are exactly the same (except color). There is additional method to this madness in that if any part fails... say even a battery... the other may benefit. But... I assume this isn't a showstopper in your case because v18b can still be fired up and doesn't have those issues? This maintains a lifeline so that your current production can progress. Not that it should make much of a difference but I note that those views you posted are not the same (hence a technically faulty comparison). The first two (bad stuff) are from Birdseye view and last (good stuff) from the camera. Also, the first two are displaying bones while the third isn't. And forgive me! I cannot resist adding: Be careful as this is a classic response from someone experiencing user error (or that has not updated their drivers correctly as suggested): When I read such I focus on what the user can do (or has neglected) to resolve the problem themselves.

Tore, I've never used Win 7 (skipped it and waited to Win 8/8.1*) but am curious about where you are adjusting your compatibility settings. I assume this is via the A:M icon's Properties? In the past when I've had display issues they have almost always been resolved via upgrading a driver. That and upgrading a computer and operating system which automatically updated my drivers. Apparently my current system is running Intel HD graphics. *Hearing that 8.1 was pending was the breaking point that compelled me to upgrade because I felt strongly that it would resolve some of the reported issues of v8. I doubt I would have upgraded to v8 unless absolutely necessary.

While waiting for a response I'll offer the following regarding a scratched CD. As long as the scratches are on the plastic side of the CD and not the printed side (that is to say the side with the A:M Logo) then it can be polished/and the scratches removed. I'm no expert at this but lightly polishing the plastic is an option if you really believe that may be related to the problem. Regarding v16 and later... I sure do wish you'd spent more time here in the forum troubleshooting while your subscription was still active. Then at least we'd be able to go back and have you install v13 or any other version also compatible with subscription activation. Installing v13 and activating that would have been an option but I'm not about to suggest you resubscribe in order to test that out, especially given that you are on such an old system. If you are *entirely sure* you've upgraded all of your Windows drivers and patches, and then if you are really up to the challenge you could request a trial subscription. That runs for only a few days but would give you enough time to test other versions back to v13 out for optimum operation. The source of the problem is the computer, cd drive and/or operating system so it's important to first look to that. Folks give away newer computers than that for free these days when they upgrade so that might be worth checking out.

This: Does not equate with this: In the first case the program isn't loading but in the second it loads? You've got me scratching my head here. This: Is not what you queried in the first post: The program either is or isn't running. It either is or isn't finding your CD. Perhaps you can clarify.

For the brave and bold I'll add this into the mix: While I'm sure there are many ways to convert to RIB format here is fairly straightforward way via a program that should be updated again soon if it's author's recent news release is correct. The program is Ayam: http://ayam.sourceforge.net/ There are some issues with the current release (which I believe is about two years old), especially in that it doesn't like large amounts of triangles so those should be tesselated first (there is a write up on that in their forum). I recommend importing the model/scene then saving out to Ayam's native format then exporting that out again to RIB. This seems to resolve some issues with writing directly out to RIB format from the original OBJ, etc. (i.e. sometimes it doesn't want to do it... period) Disclaimer: I don't know any particulars about using Ayam with Renderman beyond that. Concerning Ayam itself the author wrote in his documentation: So, it seems likely that the exported files will work well with Renderman. Note that you don't need to use Renderman to render RIB files. The following can also be used: Aqsis, Pixie, Gelato, RenderDotC, 3Delight, Air, Angel (and of course PRMan).

Now there is a bit of history.

Well said Robert. I wish someone was interested enough to dive deep into the technicalities but that's a tall order and then there is the maintenance aspect on top of all that as well. What works well today is not guaranteed to work in the future so these technical solutions have a long tail. That was the problem with the previous RIB exporter in that the author wasn't invested in upgrading it as Renderman itself improved and added features. This isn't a fault of the author but simply a result of the law of diminishing returns. At first blush the use of Renderman seems like a great idea but implementation of great ideas is rarely easy. There is a reason PIXAR is releasing the non commercial license to everyone... to encourage usage. This in an age when increasingly even PIXAR is looking for better and more cost effective solutions. Concerning export to RIB (or Renderman friendly formats) the process is fairly straightforward. You just have to have a utility between A:M and Renderman that converts resources. As A:M can export to a variety of formats many utilities can be used. There are several methodologies that may not be considered by others as easy will prove trivial to those who speak Renderman. If interested in this path, pull up a chair and get ready to dig deep. Where there is will there is way. If interested in Renderman, and while awaiting its non-commercial release, you may also be interested in CGkit.