Rodney

Here's a space to post notices of upcoming chats. If you are logged in to the A:M Community chat room and primed and ready to chat, post a note here and others will join the chat. If there is a regular time you login to chat please feel free to post that! Upcoming events: The Secrets of A:M

"Galoop, Critter, Spikey, Flim Flam, Sally, Gurgle Glug, Billy, Ted, Professor, Tea Lady, Prinsess, Gent". Note that these character (or at least the majority of them) were updated and are available with the 2001 rig added to them in the Extra CD. These files can be found via the Hash Inc FTP as well as ***HERE***. So what I'm suggesting is that the vast majority of A:M Users will have more success animating with the updated versions of these characters. Here's where most people get lost in the Extra CD menu:

Here's an early character from Raf Anzovin (hence the name I gave this model) that was used to test/demonstrate rigging concepts. A few notes about the model: - The model has been edited slightly but needs additional attention. For instance, his head appears to be connected to the wrong bone. - Whereas in the original model most of his parts were cylinders in this model the cylinders are closed at the ends. - The original model didn't have eyes and so two black dots were quickly thrown into the mix to meet that need. All of this creates something of an odd model... one with four objects for the head (head, eyes and nose), two arms that are connected to each other and the cylinder shapes of the thumbs and hands), and two legs that connect to each other as one shape. This is a great model to study for those that want to delve more deeply into Raf's thought process as he moved toward his Setup Machine rig. There are elements of the Eggington rig as well as Patriarch bone which I haven't seen referenced in many years. I'll try to dig up the original model and add that here as well as that would give better insight into Raf's approach to testing/rigging without my tweaks. The original came with at least two action files for posing (one of which is the pose we see him in here which is the pose he was in when I saved out the first version of Ralf Riggins). In a Chor I recall those two poses split apart and inbetweened automatically by Animation:Master accounted for a very nice (and smooth) transition in between. So, "Who is Ralf Riggins"? Answer: Whoever you want him to be. RalfRigginsV1.mdl

This one looks close. Mask.mdl

Well, it only took 7 years but here (I believe) is the Mannequin character you were looking for Vance: (Martin said Tim Elston created him but this file has Justin Barrett's name embedded in it... both are equally famous as far as I'm concerned) Okay... Perhaps these aren't the droids you are looking for. Sorry... hopefully it won't take another 7 years to find her. This model is called 'mannequin' however. Mannequin.prj

Very nice character. Thanks! (I think you might have forgot to attach the character though)

I was running through some old CDs and ran across this model of Leela. The files info says she was modeled by Klaus Uwe Shomann. She is fully rigged and given that there is a Sci Fi contest currently running... she might be of interest to someone. *The CD must have been from very early in my use of A:M because the content was very scary... lots of little things that surely must have been my attempt to understand splines. Leela and a few models by Rodger Reynolds were the only models worth the time it took to burn the CD. Still, it was interesting to look back at those exciting times! Thanks to Klaus for the model and the inspiration. Leela_embeddedmaterials.prj

Awesome Character Nancy! That guy would make a great A:M Mascot. (Sorry... press on. Press on!)

Which scene are you referring to? The one that no one can find with 'Cool Guy' in it? But not important enough to make the attempt to contact the creator of the file who might be able and willing to provide a copy of the file directly from the source.

Jack, You may be able to help us make some decision about those A:M User that for whatever reason cannot or will not upgrade. The dilemma: 1. We want to support current A:M Users. (Especially those that financially support Hash Inc) 2. We want to support all A:M Users present and past. 3. We want to encourage those who have never purchased A:M to purchase (A:M is well worth every penny). 4. We want to encourage and support those who are willing to support themselves. 5. We want to unite the community not segregate it into fragments of what version they are using. (Note: with a current subscription all releases of A:M can be used all the way back to v13). Over the years I have pondered how we might approach this here in the forum (a forum provided/hosted for us by Hash Inc). Should we create a subforum where those that (for whatever reason) do not upgrade to support themselves with the general support and encouragement of the core A:M User community and Hash Inc? Could we do that without constant reminders being posted to upgrade to the current release of A:M? There are a lot of sad cases out there... upgrade A:M... or put food on the kitchen table for their kids. How do we support those guys and gals? I confess that I do not have the answer here and ask in all honesty for your valued input. It's obviously easier for everyone just to subscribe and stay current than to compartmentalize A:M Users into specialized areas of the forum for the version they use (when it's not the current release). If we were to create a 'legacy forum that supports those who only use older releases of A:M' would you be a moderator? I'm sure the solution is a simple one, I just don't know what it is. Well, he was the splash screen character for the '98 release! That's where he is burned into my memory. I like that businessman... not quite as much as Pencil Guy... Funny story... in another forum there was a guy who told many a tale of the Slender Man and wished to complete a hand drawn animated film with him. The problem was that every time he drew the Slender Man he scared himself and couldn't continue. He apparently had been dreaming about Slender man for years. I encouraged him to knuckle down and tell his tale but thus far I don't think he did. 385MB of data in the Data folder (this includes all the various Models, Materials, Project Files etc. Perhaps we could get it posted to the Hash Inc FTP. This would at least resolve the 'old user access' dilemma.

I wonder why the helmet is an Actor.

Here's a project that contains all the various actors from the 1998 A:M CD. Note: For one reason or other many of these were not deemed appropriate for updating so they never made their way to the inaugural Extra CD. As these are mostly for inspiration and nostalgia decals and materials are not included but can be uploaded if requested. Although there are 37 characters (two Thoms, etc.) they weigh in at less than 9MB in the embedded file. If you want to save the models our separately just Right click on the model in the Project Workspace and Save As, as the models are embedded in the Project. Added: It was during this timeframe that Hash Inc officially changed the name of their product: Project98.prj

Calm thyself Drama. You are stating the obvious. Nancy was simply pointing out a lead to the creator of the model who might have posted it in the contest (but did not). When in doubt you could always query the artist: http://www.richlovato.com/ (Disclaimer: I'm not 100% sure this is the same Rich Lovato. I believe it is... if so he goes by 'richlll' in other forums)

That was a good guess Nancy. I see from the wayback machine though that Lovato's contest entry included multiple Thom models on a chess board. https://web.archive.org/web/20060624072123/...an01gallery.asp Note that some of the project files are still accessible via the wayback machine but I recommend a Right Click/Save As or else it may appear not to access the file. I don't recall that particular model being shared with the community. I'm sure it was shared with someone though.

Depending on your setup you might also be able to export your multiple models from a Chor (creating a new model with combined mesh and bones). Then with the new model you'll be free to assign bones to any mesh you want. The biggest problem I've had in that arena is with same-name bones which A:M now at least attempts to rename. Edit: My memory says that most constraints don't make the transition out of a Chor back to a Model... I assume it is because Models do not in and of themselves contain Actions or Constraints. So with this in mind one could create multiple models, combine them in a Chor, export them out as a new model and then apply new contraints, actions to that combined model in a New Chor. Hope that makes sense.

Just played with your Project file. Awesome. Everyone in the world should have a copy of A:M just so they can play with files like this. There's nothing like realtime spline animation... except perhaps realtime spline anmation mixed with spline based effects!

The very happiest of happy birthdays to you Jason!

Glad to hear it Lloyd. (Not that you had to get a new PC... that things are still chugging along) You've been missed!

Awesome. Not only educational... entertaining! Well worth the wait as well. I think I know where you are headed with this in the next episode. If not... I'm thinking of a decent alternative. Time will tell!

Nicely done!

Well, that's easy enough. Personally I'd model them into the guy but you have a lot of different avenues you can approach. Added: While I'm sure you are looking for more detail than in the attached, the pants and shirt for Thom here took less than 5 minutes to create and move into place. All they are is Thom's mesh copy/pasted, scaled up and then moved over Thom (whose mesh was locked down to keep from inadvertently selecting his splines).

Here's a Proof of Concept that cheats a little. Technically I could have gotten away with one bone in the unicycle (or even no bones if you don't count the root bone). There are additional bones and a null in the unicycle to facilitate aiming, turning etc. but at present they aren't serving any purpose. Stand by for Project file. The trick in this case being to actually add the pedals to Rabbit's feet. unicyclePOC1.mov Unicycle1.zip

The DressMe plugin could be duplicated and that duplicate renamed because it can do so much more than just 'DressMe'. My thought was to call it 'MergeMe' (as a tip of the hat to the original) or 'Merge and Constrain'. Note: It's not enough to just duplicate the plugin though as the name A:M will use is internally stored in the plugin. Duplicating the plugin manually will just give A:M two plugins in the dropdown menu named 'DressMe'. Disclaimer: The DressMe plugin does not fully answer Phils original query but it can be a great timesaver, especially if you've got multiple props a character needs to be outfitted and those are collected elsewhere. I believe I will use the DressMe plugin for outfitting my character(s) in my Sci Fi contest entry.

Congrats Ernest. Yes, that does sound very economical. I'd say that's progress!

It's been a long time since I used the 'Dress Me' plugin but that worked great the last time I tried. Caroline created the plugin and disappeared shortly thereafter so I'm not sure if she'll see this message and weigh in. (I miss Caroline) I believe the Dress me plugin installs with both Mac and PC. There is a PDF file outlining usage here: DressMe Plugin Added: Whoa. Now I remember just how easy it is to use that plugin!