Rodney

She's really starting to shape up. I'd exaggerate the upper line over the eye more to really capture the Disney eye look. By this I mean thicker and black. Over do it and then (if necessary) you can always scale it back. You captured that thickness rather nicely in your anime thread here. That extra thickness is present in almost all Disney characters regardless of gender, age, species, style...

I like the offset versions best. And in particular the last one with the legs. Oh yeah... that's the stuff!

I believe Robert's point is that there is no place to do that without programming a new plugin/feature. When going into the programming world 'it' (i.e. anything) can be done with the appropriate amount of time and commitment. So, I'd say no to the feasability thing. Coding new functionality for tags and dropdowns is not feasible. Now if you know how to do this with A:M as it is... say on! Edit: Note that technically this can be done via dopesheets but... you've got to set the tags (via creating a pose) and then enter those tags into the dopesheet (via the dropdown menu in the dopesheet). So in that sense not only is it feasible, it can be done and just needs to be demonstrated.

Looking very good. That environment is hot! (in more than one way) I can almost feel the heat against the rocks.

One of the obstacles of rolling out a scripted animation method is to know which path out of several to investigate. It could be that more than one or a combination of several would work best. Here's the basic approaches to scripting: Plan 1 (Using what works already) This is the Library of actions approach and the most likely scenario to get a working script editor Advantages: Drag and drop scripting workflow. Unless desired, users would not have to type any of the script in. They would select from available options instead. This is likely to be the most successful because it been demonstrated to work already... and works quite well. It does need to be fine tuned, optimized, documented, etc. for use with the majority of resources A:M Users will create. This is a powerful approach and can produce rough animation very quickly and adheres to Martin Hash's philosophy, namely; "Reusability is the foundation of A:M." Downside: Script elements need to be created/defined/declared before they can be used by a script. This is however easily offset by sharing modular elements of the script or restricting script function to lowest level activity (to account for differences in rigs). Challenge Example: If the script were to say "Do the hokey pokey" the term 'Do' is understood as a request to execute an action. The obstacle is the action and subsequent variables. Until created, the script has no way of knowing what 'the hokey pokey' nor the criteria for determining success. Plan 2 (Enhance what works already) This is the dopesheet approach which is the likely approach to script animation within a Model That is to say that if the resource cannot be pose driven then this approach would be ideal. Note: Plan 1 works externally as well as internally and as such can use most elements of Plan 2 The Wizard approach (Extending currently available tools) This involves a longer term goal of mine which would begin with a minor update of the Font and/or AI wizards. Phase 1 would be to create the initial scripting pathway (for font generation from an external textfile) Phase 2 would be to create variables that all positioning and orientation Phase 3 would be to extend the wizard beyond fonts to Models, etc. The issue with this approach (other than it requires a considerable amount of programming) is that it might be better just to create everything in a language like Python, Qt or such in the first place. Other options not considered here (such as using other programs in conjunction with A:M). So Plan 1 and 2 are currently operational but would need to be refined. The Wizard and Other options would most likely need to be programmed.

I believe that is the type of task (the unsolvable) that Robert is seeking.

Nice opening! Very impressive Mark.

In the tradition of 'if you build it they will come' I now tend to reverse that to 'If they come you will build it.' As folks show their interest in even the littlest of ways that will drive new creative spaces. Translation: I'm waiting for something to actually put into a forum before I build it. So (early adopters), please post your efforts wherever you think is best (i.e. in the appropriate topic) and then I (or another moderator) will move them to their proper place. In time organization will kick in but for the present (regarding Sports Day) there isn't much to organize yet. If you have to ask then the answer is 'Yes'. Strictly speaking you don't have to include the project file or the finished animation... involvement is what we are after here. If posting a still image gets someone moving toward animation then post that and then delve back into it. I suggest the following: Still image (teaser) - This could also be the 'poster' image that shows as the first frame of the movie. Project File - Recommend doing a Embed All, then Save Project As* Movie (presentation) - This can be any moving image format (.MOV, .AVI., .GIF, etc. but consider that some folks may not be able to view strange formats and codecs) As A:M natively renders to .MOV and AVI those two will work best although AVI will generally not display in browsers whereas MOV will Alternately folks can zip up a folder of sequentially rendered images and folks can load them up into A:M *Note that this method will not include texture images, etc. and the recommendation would be to not use them at all. Animation is the primary focus of Sports Day but as texturing and such is very important also where images are used the Project file could be made to generate those images or they could be consolidated into a Zip file via A:M's consolidate method or by zipping up the contents of a project folder all the assets are in. I also note that some do not use Project Files but try to use Choreographies exclusively. While Project files are preferred a embedded Chor will work too. Just make sure all the files are actually included (i.e. all files collected into a zip. As this is a learning effort we want to experiment and learn along the way. Expect a little frustration as people learn how to animate and share their experience. Together we will master animation. Apologies for the length of this response. I was trying to hit all the various angles. So to recap (and correct me where I'm off everyone! That's you Simon!): Recommended (but not required): - Post your Sports Day animation - Attach your Project file and assets - Attach an image that shows us what the event is all about If you don't have anything to post you can still join in and discuss, review, critique, reference, opine, advise, retrospect, pontificate...

I was experimenting with something like this in A:M about two years ago but I have no earthly clue were those project files were or even how to set it up in A:M at the moment. Reason No. 5673 why I should follow my own advice and post my projects to the A:M Forum. Then at least I could find them and pick up where I left off. I believe in order to assist Robert in his effort we may need to pick very specific targets and point to it (otherwise we get what we get... well, we'll get that anyway but at least then it'll be more specific) The problem with "Light Painting" is that not all FX we see is 'light painted'... much of it is compositing... and we get a similar effect as if it were lighting. A classic example of this is the trails behind a fireball. Those are usually created by manipulating a very basic image that can be created by a variety of means (particles, drawing, still images animated/scaled/transformed over time). This effect is then blended/composited with the back plate to complete the desired effect. I guess what I'm saying here is that the effect isn't created by a light in a 3D scene and therefore to me cannot strictly classify as 'light painting'. 'Light Painting' to me is actually using lights to paint a scene, environment, surface or effect in (more or less) real time. As such light painting is quite straightforward although just as in the real world there is smoke, mirror and slight of hand that produce the effect in a 3D scene. The image here... (http://digital-photography-school.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/light-painting.jpg) clues us into how one particular method of Light Painting works (as Fuchur mentioned... long exposure times). For one of many ways forward consider Marcos (Xtaz) Rezende's MUFOOF technique. This works the same as in the real world where an illuminated object moves quickly under the right conditions to have it appear as if it is almost a solid object... and in some cases fool the eye into believing it is actually a solid object. The light displays on the sides of buildings that has been all the rage in Europe over the past few years is a prime example of the latter. I'd be glad to suggest some tips in this direction but it is possible Robert may want to select this for his "It can't be done!" project in February so I'll defer for the present. I will note that a lot of blur and bloom gets thrown into the mix on some of the Final Fantasy shots I've seen. Those additions are (relatively easily) accomplished via Post Effects in A:M (esp. v18 as A:M Composite appears to be working even better for me). When painting with light one must consider several factors the minimum of which is: the lights themselves, the surfaces the light is hitting (even if those surfaces are not visible) and the environment in between.

Hey now... that's a whole new ballgame. Now you are talking some kind of macro language. Very doable as well but... very different than: I'm just sayin'...

Very nice! He's looking intense!

Not so much unreliable as unappreciated (and underpaid) I think it has more to do with lack of fiber optic cable which could take a few years to install. In the meantime we are looking into renting a few satellites but the auraoaoara boreaelaise... ororo spectaculitis.... you know... the northern lightis thingamajig with the magnetical fielding that does that interference at the most inopportune times.

I was deep into developing a solution to the Script to Animation method but it broke down at a critical point. Here's the basic flow: 1. Write script 2. Place script online 2A. Alternatively, write the script while it is online 3. Tiny elves read script 4. Tiny elves animate 5. Loop back to script until all script elements are animated and approved by 6. Done The problem was that I was having a really hard time keeping the script online due to intermittent connectivity. There was also the problem of the tiny elves mostly be available to work only during off peak holiday cycles. Back to the drawing/rendering board.

Dagooos! Hope it's the happiest one yet. Happy Birthday!

Stand by... I believe I've got a quick fix for you but it's easier (better?) to show you than to write it up. Edit: I believe what you are looking for is to change the Action application method from Replace to Add. It's possible that some actions will work better with the Blend setting but I didn't delve into that. The good news is that to change the settings for all of your Actions at the same time is just a few clicks.\ See attached P.S. Nice pirouette! ActionReplaceAddBlend.mp4

Hmmm.... the release must have hit a snag or two. The Mac version was previewed at NAB last year. With every release of the Win/Linux side though the Mac release has to be getting nearer.

If I didn't know better I'd say someone has coded a TGA image converter into the forum. Very interesting and very worth investigating. Nice logo Mark!

The Tinkering Gnome is one of the few who have bravely ventured into the realm of midi music and A:M and I've long thought to exploit the technology. I still haven't. I am however, moving in that direction. Here is a site that has a 3D keyboard that plays midi music that may be of interest to some (especially programmers as the code is available via github). Of specific interest to me is that this is similar to several sites where you can simply drag and drop the midi file into the browser window and the page's code takes it from there. http://qiao.github.io/euphony/#211 The song that should play by clicking the link above is Tchaikovsky's Sweet Dream Op-39 No-21. Yeah... like I'm sophisticated enough to differentiate that one from Op-39 No. 432... if'n there ever might be one. At any rate... midi... it's old tech... but still very useful... so embrace it. Added: I have ran into several programs that are useful for converting from .mid to .wav and back again. It's rather frustrating that Audacity cannot do that. Edit: Try this one, MUCH BETTER: http://qiao.github.io/euphony/#200 (I was playing the theme song to 'Indiana Jones' earlier via drag and drop into the browser window)

It's been awhile since I posted on the Lightworks video editor and I'd like to remedy that. If you are a PC user and do not have a dedicated video editor you owe it to yourself to check Lightworks out. If you are a Mac user... they do have a Mac release but I can't tell you what the status currently is... I haven't been following that closely. Similarly the Linux release is still in early stage of release at this point. On the PC front v11.1.1 has been released as well as v11.5 Beta. There has been impressive advancement with regard to some of the early issues and Lightworks is easily at the stage where I can recommend it. A few notes: If you wish to use .MOV files make sure you install the 32 bit version. Similarly to A:M and other programs that have released in 64bit the issue there is that Apple has not supported the format in 64bit but it can be accessed via 32bit. I believe you can install both 32bit and 64bit Lightworks but you must install them in different directories. I recall one question (I believe it was from Robert) about Lightworks not having a 24fps setting (that issue was resolved several releases ago). Perhaps most importantly the installation/validation process has been greatly improved and issues experienced before are a thing of the past. The educational version is $30 for one year and includes all the bells and whistles of the Pro version ($60 for 1 year). The free version lacks the majority of professional codecs (the ones that the folks at Lightworks have to pay to use in their program). Note that I do not think the comparison chart between versions (Free, Edu, Pro) at this download page is up to date (although it very well might be): At any rate, if you need a really solid video editor check it out: Lightworks

Made me laugh. Especially at the end. Nicely done! If you are already up and running like this you are well on your way to very good things. I don't know if you are looking for any specific type of feedback. If you are, just suggest a point of interest and and I'll be glad to explore and elaborate. As you asked for feedback I want to satisfy your request. Keep in mind that this is only opinion... take or leave as you see fit. A few things off the top of my head: - Nice music and sound effects. Very impressive actually. It all worked very well with the animation. Very good sync as well. - Entertaining. With every viewing I enjoyed the skit better and notice new details. - A few very nice poses in there. Can I recall a few from memory? Yeah... I think I can. The barber... as he motions to his seat. ... the guy getting his hair cut as he sits and then reacts. Those are the two that spring to mind easily. - Nice variety of props! You set the stage/environment well. On the 'room for improvement' side: (things you no doubt know already) Color. The wide variety of different colors were a bit distracting (making it hard to focus on any one thing) Certainly not a show stopper and I assume this was intentional. Lighting. If you were to light this short really well... it'd be all the more impressive. I don't know your experience with lighting so I won't delve too deeply here. Texturing. There wasn't much texturing to be seen. Obviously these were not a focus for this skit but boy am I looking forward to when you master them! when you do will be a serious force to be reckoned with! Very well done. From someone who is just learning the ropes what can be said except.... color me impressed! More please!!!

It's cool. I'm following you. Full automation of animation using text and such (or if it can be demonstrated... something even better than that).

Don't let Robert off the hook so easily. That one is too easy. Think bigger!

There is an error on screen in the first image you posted (in your second post). It says something about saving a copy of the image. If you are trying to save over the top of the same image that may be what that means. But I think you should perhaps off check that option to see if it activates the option for Alpha Channels. I note that the Alpha Channel option is greyed out and of course no alpha channel is what you are getting. Here's the image for reference:

Yes indeed. The primary stumbling block I had at first was forgetting to name the target group of Control Points. Steffen says the default target is named 'Target'... 'Target Group"... something like that. But seriously.... we should be creating Named Groups for everything that is important anyway. Another thing I think this will be highly used for is simply aligning parts of models without concern for connecting them. Especially in the case of static models this may be the way to go rather than work toward unibody shapes. Exceptions are everywhere of course which must be considered but in the low rez world I live in that alone will cover many a gap or gaff in 3D space.

I don't know about other folks but I've been using the heck out of the new Snap to Control Point feature. I was using it before to match up splines and CPs but today I used it in a Pose to assist with precision placement at 0%, 50% and 100%. My project here was to create a modular monster whose belly can match to 'small', 'medium' and 'large' sizes as well as (manually through the pose slider) other settings. If you'll pardon the cheap graphics from this POC... I'd say it worked rather well. I meant to render a wireframe to show the three target zones for the modular monster's waists. Edit: Mov replaced with shaded wireframe render. (the three ovals being the three target sizes for monsters' waists) A:M has gained a substaintial improvement in precision modeling through this addition in v18. SnapToCP.mov