Rodney

Awesome. And for those that aren't into animation perhaps they'd be just as interested in modeling props for the events. If nothing else we can collect models and have them at the ready in the A:M Exchange.

Here's a really quick tip (inspired by an excerpt from the book 'Professional Storyboarding' by Sergio Paez and Anson Jew) Change in size The underlying thought being that objects that do not change size on a 2D screen are static, unmoving and suggest the scene has little or no depth. Changing shapes is a fundamental of animation. When analyzing animation that appeals to you pick a shape on the screen and follow it... (a nose, a mouth, a hand... pick something. Anything!) How does it change position? How does it change shape? How does it suggest motion and depth in a scene? If change of shapes is so important in animation what does that say about an animated scene with very little change in shapes? How can this knowledge help in laying out and directing a scene? How can this knowledge to leveraged with regard to purposefully not changing shapes? The second part of the excerpt has to do with moving things relative to the camera. For instance, an object moving toward the camera or one receding away will suggest the scene has depth. Which is a considerable advantage when all you really have to present to the audience is a 2D screen. Source: bestanimationbooks.com

I like the way you think. The testing of rigs is a very good use for the activity. I'd say that a rig that cannot perform and hold up under many diverse actions/activities would then be classified as more of a specialized rig. As a follow up to my last post I don't think adding this to TaoA:M is in order. I was just casing that rabbit to where it went. The idea is open enough that TaoA:M (or any new ToaA:M) could easily point to this Sporting Event as a reference for further practice and exploration It can be hard to gauge interest around here as we ebb and flow a lot in that area. The important thing would be to have the event available and if folks wish to join in they will.

You may be too much like me Elm. I try to make sense of things that aren't meant to make sense. If I read Sebastian correctly his goal was/is to present a commentary about our tendency toward excess. In such a world as ours a product like "Punch Babies in the Face" surely must exist. And something of an irony... now, courtesy of Sebastian... it does exist.

I need to step out of the decision making part of this and just let this play out. My thought is to just set aside the space for folks to play. While I do understand the desire to declare a specific event I'd say that would be up to the originator of the first attempt. In other words, if Paul wants to start a Hagis Hurling then he'd simply post a topic named 'Haggis Hurling' in the Sports Day forum and this would be his signal that others were welcome to join the competition. As not all interests and talents are distributed equally others might not wish to hurl haggis and might wait for another opportunity or even start their own event. I do like the idea of using a standard rig because "reusability is the foundation of A:M" but... that does severely restrict the playing field. As this type of collaborative project doesn't require such standardization and other the community embarks on surely will I'd say open the game to all rigs. For my part, I see this as an ongoing competition that keeps on going even though the players themselves change. If you are looking for a hook to justify its existence we could simply add the sporting event (titled as seen fit) as an extended part of the exercises in ToaA:M. Immediately after the Posing exercise would be a perfect fit. I've been itching to run through ToaA:M again so that we can enhance it so that is why I'd like to shoehorn Sports Day into it. If you want to see Sports Day go all official getting it added to the new and improved TaoA:M might be the ticket. I said I needed to step away from this but TaoA:M is near and dear to my heart so I'll continue a little... If you look at Exercise 4: 'Move' It this is a setup for an event such as this in that it captures a snapshot of a particular action at a pivotal moment that captures the essence of the event. It's no mistake that the next exercise, Exercise 5: 'It's a Pitch' is pulled from a sporting event. Exercise 6: "The Door's Stuck" then presents a challenge for the character (and the animator) to overcome. FWIW, this Sporting Day event seems ideal for someone who has at least made it to (and not necessarily passed) Exercise 6. By your response I'm going to guess you are craving a more controlled event where folks play at the same (general) game. I'm certainly not opposed to that but I'm more interested in everyone just joining in and playing. Some folks enjoy the competition with others while others compete against themselves. Ultimately as long as we are animating we will have held a great event. Now as to honors, prizes and such my thought here is to have this be an ongoing event and the winners of any event would be identified monthly. Someone could be the keeper of the trophies and pass them on to the winners. They give it to their character and render out an image with them presenting it. In any month were no games were played there wouldn't be a winner. (Note that this whole idea of winning, prizes, accolades, etc. is also a part of TaoA:M... see page 12 in the manual) What sayest thou? Is this going too far afield of your original idea? Edit: Two added thoughts: 1) For no reason I can quite grasp some disdain anything related to TaoA:M and therefore might not participate if it where officially a part of the manual. At a guess I'd say they feel they've advanced beyond the manual. 2) The target audience is assumed to be 'everyone' but it might not (probably can't) engage everyone equally.

Happy Birthday Marcos! Couldn't happen to a nicer fellow. Hope you have a great one.

Simon, I've got an alternate camera shot of your BunnyJump rendering now. Here's the project file: (I didn't change rabbit at all except to move his Eye Target so he's looking at Camera at the height of his jump) Hmmm.... that moving camera bit didn't turn out as great as I thought it would. Bunny_jump__HighCam_.prj bunnyjumpcameramod.mov

Nice Bunny jump Simon. I believe that this is a case of 'if you build it they will come' and I like the ideas Nancy put forth to make entering/contributing less restrictive. We want to encourage everyone to animate more... yes, even if only badly at first! An assumption would be that if you post a jump (and escpecially if you post a project file with it) that you will see some variations on the theme. What we might want to do is change something to make even standard characters our own and NOT share that in the project file (i.e. Rabbit wearing a yellow shirt... or kilt... or... whatever) :blink: Of course there is a certain charm to having the same character involved in so many different events. But seriously, I do think sharing project files is a really good way to go. If nothing else it'd give newbies tons of stuff to render if'n that was something they feel compelled to do. In the grander scheme of things 'Sports Day'... once it's amassed enough contributions... will be a huge event with as many different camera angles as there are people that want to produce them. As the project matures we might even be able to join them all together into a common Project file/Chor. While a part of me cries out for more order and it would be nice to have a highly controlled Sporting Event... heck we've got enough of those already and there are sure to be a lot more! An ongoing free-for-all Sports Day might be just what the doctor ordered to loosen up those stiff joints, stop feeling intimidated, and to squash and stretch our animated muscles as we post our progress to the forum. One thing we might want to add is something like a polaroid shot (as if there was a cameraman on scene at the perfect moment) that would capture a single image defining the moment.

For no particular reason today I found myself doing a little reseach on gaits (human and animal) and I ran across this walking alligator. It's interesting to me because I know I tend to think of alligators as being on the ground more and only moving quickly in the water. Wanna see how the dinosaurs moved? No mystery there. They didn't move much differently than modern day animals. MR8UO-Y0Ca8

Here's a quick No Antic Jump by Rabbit.* The key placement is atrocious but I wanted to animate (and post) something. *Hey, it's all the rage with those animated characters. You should try it some day. NoAnticJump.prj

I thought I might put together a short weight lifting sequence with Rabbit as encouragement for Sports Day and unfortunately this (image attached) is all that remains of it. As I was nearing the end I realized I was being lazy about the way I had rigged the setup and went in to tweak a few settings. I should have known better... or at least saved the project first... attempting to move a bone out from underneath another sent me to the desktop. Ah well, that's what I get for being lazy.

This is one of those things that once it starts up others will surely join in. If nothing else it'd give us a good excuse to put more characters into the A:M Exchange area. Except in the case of proprietary characters I'd like to suggest that folks post their project files where possible so that folks could not only study the animation but pick up where others leave off and post variations on sporting events. My thought here being that A:M itself is the best viewer for spline-based sporting events. Of course this assumes that learning and sharing of information is a primary consideration in the endeavor. If presentation is the focus then a high quality final rendering would be the ideal. I'm tempted to suggest that only project files could be posted (along with a teaser image) and that if someone wanted to view the animation they could download and render it themselves.

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It begins.

Nancy... you had me thinking someone had hacked into your post. Took me a few moments to clear my head. (The "Hope that helps" line had me considering a cross post by David (itsjusthim) Simmons) Now if we can just get you to keep replying to your replies... that will be entertainment. P.S. Thanks for the insight into selecting CPs!

I like the idea of eposidic audio for a number of reasons. On the surface I, like many, just like to be engaged if not entertained. And when the story is compelling it really draws us in. Other aspects that appeal to me are more theoretical (from my perspective) in that the effort to tell the story in audio form really fine tunes a storytellers approach to storytelling. This cannot help but make you a better storyteller. In line with that last thought is that of the pacing and beats that play out during the story that ebb and flow and (in a good mystery or suspense story) glue us to the edge of our seats. There is an aspect of this linearity that gives me reason to believe that the analytic review of the story by the author will really pay off big dividends. An example of this might be to review where long portions of text are read quickly versus where silence is inserted into the play. It occurs to me that quite often immediately after the silence the audience is brought back to attention via a new environment or shock that alters their mood or comfort level. You've got several of those moments in 'Breckridge'. And yet another reason to like audio stories is the art of creating visual imagery for films where in many ways the audio carries the story more than the visual imagery. The images may suggest one thing while the audio another. In this effort I don't think you know the benefit you are providing for our community in that images without words aren't enough to tell most stories. And yet while many of us may know what we want to see visually few of us know what to incorporate audibly. I agree that you'll refine this along the way. As there is more than one way to proceed the path you take will be one more of your own style and artistic approach. Of course there are ways to enliven the words to bridge the gap as well. An example of this would be: "Then with an ear piercing bang (gun sound inserted that mostly drowns out the word bang) the horses where off and on their way." There is an element of anticipation in the reading of it that might set up the reader for the onamonapia to play. Similarly, the sound can be followed by expository dialogue: (Gun sound) And with that ear piercing blast the horses were on their way. You've given us much to consider. It's much appreciated.

Aaron has posted a few more Art Tips. This latest one on Overlapping Acton is simply demonstrated and will be of use to animators: tYu57sKfrMY Note: The tip actually starts at the 2 minute mark. Previous to that were: and

I'm not sure how neutral ISPs have been historically and this may be the courts recognition that net neutrality isn't entirely viable. The concepts of free speech and business tend to work at odds with each other historically. Especially in the sense of double jeopardy these ISPs can find themselves in when they are legally bound to be 'neutral' and yet increasingly held legally accountable for the content that traverses their digital domain. As we can't have it both ways one side or the other has to give way. The downside for the ISPs who give up their (true) neutrality is that they will increasingly open their gates to increased litigation. It seems reasonable to me that in a free market ISPs should have the choice to favor whomever they please. This will then bring about competition and new services from newly formed ISPs willing to serve those neglected by the unwilling ISPs. This follows roughly the historical trajectory of the press in free nations where the press is assumed to be biased but held accountable for content by their subscribers/readers. Then wherever the (so called) free press doesn't maintain reasonable integrity the people will be more than willing to vote with their feet. True neutrality is a nice concept but is very rarely achieved. It does exist at times but is more often mishandled by those who would profit through manipulation and deceit. The courts would do better to deal with those who would lay claim to being neutral and yet clearly have no intention of ever trying to achieve a state of neutrality. Favoritism is hard to litigate against but lying and breaking of contracts is something the courts can easily deal with. Added: It would then be the government's job to step in where there is determined to be broken contracts and inequities by unsanctioned/ungoverned monopolies.

You have a way with words Dan. I can easily see where a hard copy version of 'Breckridge' would make for a good read. As far as commentary/feedback there is a bit of wandering in the narrative style of 'Breckridge' that makes me wonder if it lacks a bit in the focus area but I confess that I haven't read many mystery novels (recently if ever). I assume this is a necessary construct due to the structure of the story and even as the story unfolds reveals as much about the character telling the tale in the first person as it does the progression of the tale itself. As it has been awhile since listening to the early chapters... and I'm pretty sure I missed hearing Chapter 4.... I'm going to have to go back and listen to all the chapters up this point again! Having the words read to me is a new experience as I haven't listened to many audio books. Perhaps that's something I should do more often... especially when traveling.

I tested Robert's image and in the current Photoshop release there are two things I had to do to save Targa files with the Alpha Channel intact: Upon saving the targa file: 1 Make sure the Alpha Channel checkbox is checked 2 Save to 32bit Everything else I do on my end appears to flatten the image and strip the Alpha Channel out. Attached are the two saved images side by side (from screen in A:M)

Wow. I had no idea things where that bad. What Nancy said... Hang in there!

This new Bertram appears to be a kinder, gentler soul than the older Bertram. (As there is a considerable similarity perhaps the earlier could be his father... ) Looking very good!

You've brought back to memory one of many reasons why I've always preferred Corel Photopaint over Adobe Photoshop. Assuming you are creating images from scratch, one thing you can do to fix many an image formatting issue is begin with a target image/format in place from the beginning. For instance, since you know what type of image you want to use in A:M (Targa of a specific size etc.) you can create an 'empty canvas' by rendering out a file from A:M to draw upon in Photoshop or other program. With a Targa image that already has the Alpha Channel/Transparency just as you need it Photoshop simply reads what is there and turns the process back over to you. Then you don't have to be concerned with such things as, "Should this be 16bit image... 32bit?" etc. etc. Just use the 'empty canvas' and you'll be starting from a known working point. I've attached an 'empty' targa image that was rendered out of A:M. If you import that into Photoshop and draw on it, then save it out as targa (and don't flatten the image in the process!) then the transparency of the Alpha Channel should work perfectly for you. The whole idea of 'flattening' was strange to me as I was use to different terminology coming from Corel where they use the term 'combine'. Ultimately it's the same thing with different words... but in the end if you wish to have parts of your image transparent you do not want to combine/flatten the images channels/layers if that will remove the transparency of the image. Corel lets the user specify how to save targa files using 'normal' and 'enhanced' formats. When desiring classic transparency for use in A:M that generally requires the file to be saved in 'enhanced' format. Choosing the non-enhanced option will flatten/combine the Alpha Channel of the RGBA format into the alpha-channel-less (RGB) world. emptytarga.tga

This subject has come up from time to time as it relates to how Photoshop deals with the Alpha Channel. I don't recall the specific answer as I'm mostly a Corel Photopaint user but I've recently taken to diving deeper into Photoshop as well. Here's the specific 'problem' photoshop has historically had related to this: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=1543 In essence what we have here is three channels: Red Green Blue And a fourth channel that is stored in file formats such as TGA and PNG as the Alpha Channel. This gives us: Red Green Blue Alpha Some of us tend to use the term 'tranparency' instead of Alpha but there is something of a problem with this. Circa version 7, Photoshop actually changed the way this Alpha channel was stored in that it saved the channel as transparency. In effect this gives us five 'layers/channels': Red Green Blue Alpha Transparency The difference is that the last two can be the same but aren't the same depending on the implementation. Note that there is a plugin at the linked site above that changes Photoshops behavior to that of how it handled Alpha Channels before. Robert Holmen has a video tutorial that goes into some detail about the.... truly strange... way that Photoshop deals with Alpha *and* Transparency. As it is a long lost tutorial, it is well worth reviewing: http://www.hash.com/two/RCHolmen/decalmakingMP4.mov Doh! Robert just beat me to posting a link to his movie while I was preparing this response.

hehe. That's great Mark. Too much fun.