Rodney

It's easy enough to set up an excel spreadsheet as an xsheet but I have a question concerning usage of your proposed excel xsheet. Is this xsheet something you expect to print out and reference during production or do you expect it to be a living document that changes as the production progresses? If the latter then you may want to explore other options. If the former then... There are several considerations to work out before using/planning any exposure sheet. The primary consideration for xsheets is largely lost by computer animators today because cg timelines/dopesheets/xsheets are often a byproduct of animation (the animator adjusts the xsheet ) rather than as an established plan created prior to the execution of any animation. Once upon a time... I thought using an Excel spreadsheet as a 'live' xsheet might be optimal but (IMO) the gap between planning and execution hasn't quite been bridged in an optimal way yet for CG animation. The use of smartphones and handheld computers could easily change this because any easily referenced plan will streamline the production of animation as it constantly reminds the animator of their paramaters/goal for any given frame of animation. The xsheet is a great tool if the animator can easily see that on frame 175 a specific movement, motion or event should happen. Lipsync is one of the primary reasons to create and reference an xsheet. (To date lipsync software has provided perhaps the closest bridge to usage of xsheets as seen in traditional animation... the xsheet drives/dictates the animation) Layering (and use of multiplane effects) is another use. (On any given frame it's good to know what should be emphasized... the focus... is the most important element of the shot in the foreground, the mid ground or the background? Not sure? Forgot? Check the xsheet... it knows.) The xsheet takes the guess work out of animation because any trained animator can pick up an xsheet and execute that action. If you are going to print the excel spreadsheet and then reference/write on that sheet of paper creating that xsheet in MS Excel is very straightforward. Here it can help if you have some specific type of xsheet to model your spreadsheet after. I lean toward use of the classic Warner/Disney xsheet formatting because in the usage of those you're also training yourself to be able to read and interpret xsheets used in the creation of animated shorts/films of the past. This is no small thing where it comes to studying animation as it provides a key to unlock the Timing Charts used to break down and inbetween the extreme (golden) poses... and a bridge to storyboarding and creation of animatics... of any filmmaking/animation. Sorry for the long post. I'm not entirely sure ms excel is what you need here but if it is it's pretty straightforward. If sharing the xsheet with someone else you can even use Google Docs. Edit: For the uninitiated Dan Kuenster and Jon Hooper provide a very basic intro to use of xsheets online: XbBwuPX3UyM

I like the solution you came up with!

Thanks Mark for the additional Step 5. There is more than one reason why I've wanted to create a simple frame counter overlay to bypass the Post Effect counter... I miss the days when we could just turn it on in the render panel. Between being fairly complicated to implement and not very customizable the current implementation is lacking as a basic tool for animators. When analyzing animation it is vitally important to know what frame you are on.

Nicely done Simon. Breaking things down to that level is going to layer in mastery that will pay off big dividends for you. Aside: The one thing that would really help in these sequences would be a frame number posted on each frame as the animation runs through. I will admit that A:M's current Frameburn Post Effect isn't quite what it could be. Perhaps we can develop an overlay that A:M users could use in lieu of that. If you just want to add the frame numbers/timecode via Post Effect here would be the steps: 1. Right Click on Post Effect container in the Project Workspace 2. Select "New Post Effect" 3. Right Click on the newly created Post Effect and "Change Type" to Frame Burn. 4. Drag and Drop the Frame Burn Post Effect onto your Camera in the Choreography. Now when the sequence is rendered each frame will have a time stamp. A few variation can be made in the Properties of the Post Effect such as the size of the numbers. I've been meaning to create some overlays for this purpose for years now... The W channel (white channel) is an element of Quaternion intropolation of object's moving in space. Would you believe... surprise... surprise... Robert has a video (or two) on Quaternions too! 6G_BiSHXeFs

That's some serious beveling there David. Very nice!

We could also render some nice turnarounds or animation custom made for the showreel. We still have over three months in 2013 to go. Example of a few of Sebastian's characters that deserve to be animated: Linkage

My initial thought was 'no' but then I began to consider what work has been done in 2013 and believe there is plenty to show. The difficulty would be collecting it all and clearing any rights that would otherwise prevent showing. There is also some work that has been done that may or may not have been done with A:M... or was created with a variety of software, including A:M. Soulcage Department has a few recent examples that I'm fairly sure were initially worked in A:M but were then modified and rendered in other software. There is also the work that has been completed but generally not publshed/showcased here in the forum. I suppose I'm saying, "I don't know" here but I've seen a lot of animation over the past year created with A:M. A few were created in previous years but released (or discovered) in 2013. I've converted more than a few snippets from them into gif animation for use in the forum banner. If you include some of the still imagery posted in 2013 that could be animated ala Ken Burns methodology then I'd say... "Sure Thing! We have more than enough for a showreel." Edit: It's a bit of a stretch to suggest it is 2013 vintage but... after completing it's festival circuit 'Scarecrow of Oz' was released to the public via youtube in March of this year too.

Something that helped me (with the curve editor as well as many other things) is learning to setup and test simple projects first. Isolation is the key to reducing complexity/variation; 'Eat that elephant one bite at a time, don't try to swallow it whole'. It is considerably more difficult to analyze a curve editor full of lots of things moving than it is one solitary object. Then through testing of each variable one at a time (or in simple combinations) it is easier to interpret the results. I believe Robert hit upon this element of isolation in his video.

Robert did a growing vine a few years ago that comes to mind. A setup like that might work well to have with the tree growing up the (invisible) spline path of the spiral.

RE: That's not a fitting render for that animation. I really have to stop posting while asleep. That was suppose to say, "That's a really fitting render for that animation." I must have accidentally edited/merged two sentences at the last minute or sumthin'. In other words... I wouldn't change a thing... that rendering fits Captain Crazy Pant's performance in that animation perfectly. I thought it was good before... but now. Wow! (Okay... I reread this post three times... I think it's safe to hit 'submit'.)

VERY NICE NANCY! That's not (really) a fitting render for that animation. Well done!

Keep in mind that not all models work best with a flat/planar projection of a decal. In many cases a cylindrical projection will be more than adequate. I haven't had much use for spherical projection... outside of spherical shapes. (Go figure) I don't like to flatten meshes (never have as this tends to pinch the decal worse than simply applying the image to the curved surface in the first place) and prefer to hide those areas that shouldn't be decaled first and then decal. For such an approach it can help to organize your model via Groups for easy manipulation. Most models will have natural locations for seams (such as anything that would have been manufactured). These provide additional locations for layering in detail. Automated decalers have their down side as well and most require manual adjustment as well. At a guess I'd say many auto-unwraps are simply using a form of cylindrical projection. Perhaps the more sophisticated of them automatically re-curse through user defined groups, hiding them before applying the (empty) decals to each section in turn. In other news: Rumor control has it that v18 might bring some functionality that saves us a few steps in decaling. Specifically that of applying an image (screencap) of the model back onto the model as a decal. Sounds great to me!

My first thought was that a few strategically placed rocks might help but even then the rocks might not suggest size (i.e. are they boulders, stones, pebbles or what?) I'm leaning toward the set itself making the shot look toy-like although you may be on to something with regard to his movement. Some of this feeling might also dissipate somewhat as this sequence is joined with the next one.

I don't know about any pages but the FTP site is still there. The FTP pages themselves have been gone for several years now. Here are the installers for PC: ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/updates/windows/ ..and OSX: ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/updates/osx/

It is very hard to strive against a man with such devotion of mind. ...and speaking of winners... that reminds me... I need to add a few asterix-type winner thingies to some profiles...

Ha! Love the final pose he jumps into... as if to say, "And here you thought I couldn't do it," or "Told you I could do it!" More please.

I couldn't resist creating a minor pose and rendering him in action. (No Hair and Materials here though... I did a quick bake of surfacing)

I'm late to commenting... Wow. She looks great Jeff. You haven't lost your touch!

I almost got chills in the shot of Firefall exiting the cave and beginning his descent. Very nice. The final shot of this last sequence has Firefall looking a bit like a toy on a modeled set. (not necessarily a bad thing) My thought to counter that would be to put something into the scene that would allow for a sense of proper scale. I always enjoy your updates. Keep 'em coming!

Awesome Marcos! Thank you! Whaaaa???? No Sir I had not!

Robert has excellent suggestions here so I'll not suggest anything beyond that. I especially like where he has emphasized the opportunity for the characters to go downward even more before launching upward (blue girl squashing before launching up and off of the ledge) and (red guy squashing down even as his side of the seesaw goes up) to really sell the weight/force involved. It's this second movement (with the red guy) that really gets me excited because it's such a staple of quality animation... objects moving in opposing directions at the same time. Milt Kahl was such a master of this. Specifically in this case it's the guy's body weight holding him down by gravity even as the force of the upward moving board advances him higher. Now that's what I'm talking about! What you've got is nice... but golden opportunities abound in this one Simon!

Disclaimer: I have not yet purchased any of Scott Petersen's products so therefore cannot personally vouch for their thoroughness or quality. Scott T. Petersen has been an animator, director and teacher for quite awhile. Here's his basic bio: For those that tend toward a traditional hand drawn approach to animation you may find his current DVDs of interest. At this time he has three available: 1. Animation and Drawing: The Essential Basics 2. Lesson 2: The Power of Anticipation (Umm... no direct link... so see the preview below) 3. Dynamic Posing for Gesture Drawing h7HcAsuYl9o Here's a related video on anticipation that is (presumably) not on his DVD: NFX1c-OqCDE G84ZxCwlDrM This one will look familiar to anyone that has Cristin McKee's videos, however, since Scott approaches from a traditional mindset his methodology works from Breakdown to Inbetween a bit more appropriately: t3ufUkWI9vc " Need a lesson (or overview) of gesture drawing/poses: w8qqYEloRAM" For those of you who have invested in training material by Glen Vilppu and/or books by Walt Stanchfield you'll enjoy this video. For those interested in animators in general or finding out more about Scott Petersen, Joe Dorsey (from the Don Bluth forum) recently completed an interview with Scott and posted it on Youtube: 597U84UxBS4 (To view all 88 or so videos visit Scott's Youtube channel) At any rate, you can find out more about the DVDs here: (from what I can tell, each DVD runs at 90+minutes for $19.95) http://animationexcellence.blogspot.com/

Wow Steffen, that looks great! I can hardly wait to play with that. Fun stuff John!

I'm posting this on behalf of Marigold because I don't have time to properly respond at this moment. Thanks in advance for any and all assistance!

I don't believe there is a default way to step by step frame by frame without adaption, download or using a utility. There are several close solutions. 1. After pausing the video.... use the right and left arrow keys on your keyboard to step through the frames (Note: this can sometimes be used to step through frame by frame but only if the author has set a keyframe on every frame (I believe the default gap between keyframes for youtube is 10 so a right/left arrow will move you ahead/back 10 frames. Similarly the Space key can be utilized as well as a few other keys to move you through the video(The K key works similarly on a PC in Google Chrome for me). If you are the author of the video try setting keyframes to every frame of the video and see if the Right/Left arrow keys will move frame by frame for you.