Rodney

When initially constraining the ball to the finger you'll want to make sure you have any Translation Offset off. It is likely that you are animating the offset over time rather than setting it to one setting. Rotation won't have any direct impact on the placement *unless* the pivot point of the object being rotated isn't in the center. If it is off center then you'd also get movement away from the finger as the object/ball rotates. This might be what is happening but it seems a bit less likely. But easy enough to check. It's easy enough to start over in placing/constraining the ball onto the finger. That placement is key. The rotation will then follow that.

Sorry to hear of the difficulties... very glad to see your attitude. That'll continue to work well for you. It should be noted that you don't actually have to create keyframes in order to be able to set Euler Drivers. Although that way works too. You can also select 'Time Based' under the Rotate property (which preps the motion for timed keyframes) and then go back in and change the Rotation settings to use Euler Drivers.

Off to a great start John! This'd be a good time to plug Robert's Seashell tutorial: It's not quite a snails shell but the result could be squished/manipulated into shape. Creating a Seashell with the Duplicator Wizard There are a couple subtle instructions that need to be adhered to to get the proper shells created. The one I tend to miss is creating two circles rather than one. The other is to have the circles overlap the Y axis in the middle. The process creates two shells... one of which you can dispose of... The resulting shell (somewhat modified) is attached: Shell.mdl

I like. I could recognize who it was immediately (although I admit I had forgotten who Firefall was for a minute). We don't get a lot of time to see him but he looks pretty good. Perhaps the stomach area could be just a little bit skinnier? The fire effects work well although you may want to consider getting ahold of one of those video sequences of fire that are designed for compositing. Sites like Videoblocks tend to run recurring "7 Days of Free download" specials. Looking good!

This isn't what you are after... I don't know the answer to that... but I'll off this: For the mobile commuter I recommend a sketchbook (with accompanying pencil or pen). You'll be amazed with the amount of ideas that will transfer from that sketchbook into A:M later. There is another aspect to this suggestion and it is that unplugging from computers/electronic devices from time to time is a very good thing. Exercising different skillsets will refresh and heighten creativity. The real benefit: Once you get back to your computer you'll have a concrete plan to follow when using A:M.

No scars at all. Well, if you don't count the hospital bills I'm still paying... As for bringing our experience forward into our creative endeavors I'm not sure we can avoid it. Although... at times we should try.

I've started three different attempts but none read 'mascot' to me... I plan to submit something though even if it doesn't quite hit the mark. The more the merrier!

This is more related to theory and technique than practice but I want to share it with the A:M Community before posting anything related elsewhere. The OODA loop was initially a military concept (formulated by Colonel John Boyd to win... dominate... aerial firefights) but its application applies to almost everything... including... and in some ways especially... animation. I occasionally kid myself and think that if I were ever to work on a masters thesis for animation the underlying focus would be in this arena. I post this here primarily because I haven't moved forward with it but the concept itself is well worth exploration and application. In combat (and competition) the objective is to shrink your own OODA loop while expanding that of your enemy. Such time critical processing of information is vital in the martial arts but that application only scratches the surface in how Observation, Orientation, Decision and Action actually work. It's the ol' "Act, Plan, Do" but with an allowance for implied internal or/or external motivation. As such it may provide a useful framework in establishing motivated characterization. It's interesting to note that in the Disney sequence of four images shown the last is the gag or unexpected outcome. This is the payoff point... where life's minor and major conflicts are lost and won and where opportunity for new experiences (learning, engagement and entertainment) reside. It is also the anticipatory stage for the next iteration in the never ending OODA cycle.

I see Holmes has this note in that topic: Might that apply to your problem?

You can't go into Bones mode and apply the unassigned CPs to the Bones? It looks like you've already done that (via Copy, Flip, Attach I presume?). When mirroring there are a few things you have to watch out for. One is that the names are correct (which seems to be correct in your case). I'm trying to recall the rules for mirroring bones here... When it comes to CP assignments you may be running into a problem with asymmetry in that the plugin doesn't 'see' any CPs in the exact mirrored position so it doesn't assign any. Also, make sure that the Group in question isn't just an extra Group that duplicates one that has the CPs already assigned. An easy way to assign CPs to Bones if you've already got the CPs grouped would be to hit the H Key to hide everything in Modeling Mode then go into Bones Mode and assign the visible CPs to the Bones. Without being able to look at your actual files it's hard to see what you see on your end. Just so we know we are looking at the same thing can you confirm that it is the following (Lite Rig) tutorial that you are referencing? Holmes Bryant Lite Rig Tutorial The reason I ask is that I don't recall any place in Holmes's tutorial where the Mirror Bones plugin is used...

I didn't take a stab at answering before because I'm not entirely sure of the question.

The one person who can answer that question may be getting ready to take off to San Diego Comic Con. Any image that is 4:3 can be shoehorned into 3:4 though right? And vice versa?

Very nice indeed! Looks like the real thing to me.

Nothing says you cannot have more than one Project/Chor that is exactly the same to the point of departure (into the great unknown). Translation: Save your project under two different names and then edit the one. You can then render the first up to the point of change and then render the second after that. Assuming any thing like that is even necessary of course... Don't be afraid to break things. You want to do that as often as you can! Just save everything first.

Yes indeed, Euler Rotation is generally what is needed here. I find myself wishing Euler was the default on many ocassions but if it was I know there'd be other reasons to want it set to something else. I believe there are a couple good tutorials about using Euler Rotation in the tutorials forum but basically... Right Click on the primary Rotation setting (not on the actual X, Y or Z asix settings) and change the Driver to Euler. After the change rotations can then be entered in as needed with 360 being a full spin... 720 being two spins... 1440 being four spins etc. Me likey some Euler rotations. William mentioned Xtas's Multiple Frames On One Frame (MUFOOF) technique for creating motion blur effects and that's a great technique. Well worth looking into. Briefly, it's a way of scaling down the keyframes from multiple frames so that they are then rendered on one frame. This blends all the images together into one image.

Or Don Bluth as the case may be. William, your Dirk model is about 100 times better than the one I attempted a year or two ago. Very nice!

I'm going to have to try to make it one of these days but unfortunately not this year. If you will be there be sure to fill us in on the experience! From what I read, Hash Inc will be next to the web comics area at Booth 1322. (It's a bit hard to make out the booth numbers on the interactive map so see the attached image)

Wow! You've packed a lot of versatility into the Squetch Rig. (Things I didn't know were there!) I'm going to have to watch these videos a few times just for all of that information to sink in. I was playing with the Squetch Rig a lot last week and plan to use it for some projects. You've implemented some wonderful features!

I believe you may have answered your own question here. Perhaps the easiest approach would be to add more splines to the top that would allow you to directly connect to the splines on bottom. Rather than have the two five point patches you could have it consist of something like this:

For those that are new to Animation:Master don't forget there is free (and personalized!) training available: Here's are some great resources to get you started: A:M Forum and Training

Oh oh. That's Marcos's challenge to the community! Muster the forces. Bring out the big guns! The suspense is killing me... tackity tick... tockity kathud... Will Marcos take the top spot and reign supreme again this year? Only time and talent will tell... So get your mascot entries submitted!

I suppose that is the downside of viewing shot by shot and scene by scene... it's hard to gain the context. Perhaps your understated way of suggesting the fun proceeds the seriousness and danger is a further hint into the title itself, "Just a Wooden Sword". It's almost as if Trell were saying, rather nonchalantly, "Here we go again." By the music I figure you were intentionally trying to keep things lite. I can easily see a group of kids sitting around listening to... and now watching... these tales. Spellbound in the telling.

To the master of precisely placed splines... Happy Birthday Rodger! If you haven't been following his latest topic check it out.