Rodney

First, I hope you saw the link above to the Mac version of that tutorial. Looks like you did. There are a few facts about Libraries in A:M that are good to know: - Libraries are largely misunderstood and underused. - For many seasoned users Libraries are of little use. - Libraries tend to move away from standard files system interfaces (File/Open) to more drag and drop usage. - Some don't use the Libraries because it looks like something a kid would use. etc. More practically: Libraries can get disconnected Libraries can be overwritten Libraries can be temporarily or permanently lost Libraries are (mostly) manually produced We can extrapolate out from some of these and begin to break down the workflow. That would help others better understand the benefits (and constrains) of Library usage. It could also help develop the Libraries used with A:M in the future. Robert can speak for himself on his take of Libraries (He is agin' them) but I'd summarize his take on them as "unnecessary usage" and due to A:M's multifaceted nature and standard interface this is true. But Libraries represent an alternative (an enhanced redundancy) and are more in tune with the future. They also align with Martin Hash's concept of resource usage/re-usage. Just because something is not useful to me now does not mean it isn't going to of use in the future. So, to restate my standard mantra, "This stuff will go away (or at least lie dormant) if it isn't used". Due to lack of interest, development of the Libraries was halted even as they were introduced. But more importantly, as time rolls on, some elements/functionality will by the very nature of disuse... be removed*. In the end one thing is abundantly clear: A:M Libraries can be more useful. *a worthwhile goal would be to see Libraries (eventually) updated, enhanced and improved.

Sorry... Mac users should wear a big hat on their heads so I can tailor my links to them. http://www.hash.com/lib/mac.html That you do! My offer still stands... if someone gives me a Mac I'll be a Mac user.

I really like the effect in this render (at least in the thumbnail image). It reminds me of the Tilt Shift effect that makes standard photos/video look like miniatures. (Example) Your project is really coming along nicely! Some of these buildings remind me of my home town area which certainly pulls me in. Added: A thought. When all is said and done if you are looking for something of a photographed/video'd look you might run the entire sequence through the Filmgrain Post Effect filter. This would break up the look of too-perfectly computer generated imagery. Just a thought... not necessarily a recommendation. For additional lighting degradation (to add a subtle effect of filming over time in real light) you might be able to also adjust the color of the film over time via a mild Tint filter.

Check out the info on reconnecting your Library at this link: http://www.hash.com/lib/win.html Note to Robert: I know you are trying to avoid Libraries entirely in the new TaoA:M but even if you go that direction perhaps we can have something of a footnote/annex about them here in the forum that provides useful information and standard troubleshooting? If including Libraries in some capacity perhaps it could be added to the installation or troubleshooting annex/appendix (with any other strange and rarely used things). For those that do use the Libraries: We could use a champion or two here. What doesn't get used eventually goes away. Perhaps we can illustrate via a short video of how practical/useful A:M;s Libraries can be. (Because I was perhaps the only A:M User that used it, the loss of the Tutorials tab in Libraries was especially painful for me) Other rare uses for the Library: I've rarely seen anyone use A:M's Libraries as a place to store and easily access their movies and series of sequential images for use/reuse in A:M. This provides an excellent means to quickly edit films together in A:M and it's just one of A:M's many unknown/uncharted features. Tip on leveraging the power of EXR images in A:M: There is a small bug in the Libraries search function that prevents A:M from listing files with the .EXR extension. If you change the search to all files it'll also list .EXR and from there you can grab them and add them to your Library. Drag and Drop should work the same as with other images. Possible Goal for Library usage: A periodic Library update that refreshes (adds and updates) resources from this forum's A:M Exchange. Shared projects could have SVN update the Libraries at the click of a button. Other Potential Usage: High Quality Libraries of resources could be commissioned, sold or exchanged.

This is the opposite of what you should do when you are learning something new. You won't break A:M if you enter some stray settings. You may alter it beyond recognition... but then you can always reset it. There are some things in life that would be foolish to trifle with... a valued relationship for instance. But when it comes to A:M you'll learn a whole lot more if and when you experiment. TaoA:M has inspired many an idea over the years and here are two that I've yet to get the chance to investigate (the first is relatively easy while the second would consitute a major change in how we do business in A:M): 1. All TaoA:M files are loaded into one Project file. (Anything needed in later exercises would be created from available project assets) This is also a keep-it-all-in-A:M approach I wanted to pursue for use with other tutorials. There is little reason to have to leave A:M while working through a tutorial and this fact could be taken advantage of. 2. A new file format: an A:M Production file. (.pro or .amp as the possible file extension) This file format would build a layer of extensible data over the top of all the current formats and (eventually) incorporate and enhance the capabilities of A:M's current Library set. Because of each .pro file's ability to be edited and viewed outside of A:M in a browser the user could customize the look and feel, organize and intuitively interact with and alter the content. Bottome line: Libraries are quite useful... Google is one huge online library(!). For a number of reasons, most of us just don't use the Libraries in A:M. Not a feature request for Hash Inc... just something I've tried to investigate as the opportunity allows.

Please note that all of the files necessary for working through TaoA:M *should* install with A:M so you may have a different problem here. It's possible that such a problem will result in empty Library even after downloading the following resources. The key to having the files show up in the Library is to have them at the right location on your harddrive which is usually in the form of: C:\Program Files\Hash Inc\Data. But, to answer your question... If you don't have the files at that location you can find the resources online: There should be a link in the email and it should be available in the Hash Inc store if you look there. Those link should point you to files on the Hash Inc FTP site: ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/misc/LittleData.zip (7MB containing all the files needed for the TaoA:M exercises) and/or ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/misc/Data.zip (158MB of various resources) The first thing you should do is check that Data folder to see if the files are there. You don't have to open them via the Library. You can simply point A:M to the files and open them.

Looking very very good! Impressive even.

Nicely modeled! I like your economy of splines on the Tommygun.

Simple and effective. Very nice. Edit: I just re-read your request for feedback. The key to a smooth mesh is continuous splines. At a guess I'd say you may have used the AI or Font Wizard to import a shape as your Model? (Perhaps not if you are new at this) It'd help us to better understand your model if we could see it or you can post some wireframe images of it. If you can share the model you'll have it flexing around the screen in no time. Added: I've attached a quick down and dirty example of a continuous spline layout (for the chest area) to show the basic idea. I imagine you want to keep the crisp beveling of the outer edges and I haven't done any of that here. The head isn't attached at this point either: Personally, I like the impurity of the sharp lines. Everything is too polished these days and I think it creates a nice effect. mascot000.mov

'Sub Surface Scattering (SSS)' is... a subforum in the Animation:Master forum. http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showforum=212 (Yeah, we need to add more cool stuff in that forum) Several people (Nancy, Rusty, etc.) had posts were they shared their SSS settings that need to be moved there.

Happy Birthday Filip! I wish I had a nicely 3Dpainted model of a birthday cake to congratulate you with... maybe next year!

Using dynamics or Newton is tempting here but I like to have full control of effects so I would most likely try it first via Action or Pose. If pursuing the effect in that way it's mostly a matter of determining what the extremes (or more appropriately the extreme extremes) the floppy book is likely to be conformed to. Once you've got those figured out, you then can dial in the desired percentage or ease of that pose during your character movement to effect the flopping of the book. Any final tweaking I'd then probably accomplish via a final pass in yet another Action where I would adjust the mesh (to camera view) while in Muscle Mode. If I knew more about Newton and how to better control it I'd be tempted to use that to create the keyframes of the book's extreme poses. The approach I would use might be similar to the one I outlined above where I would first determine the direction of the characters main movements and then use those to create the books secondary actions and follow through. In other words I would simulate with Newton, then delete all the unnecessary keyframes (simple is usually more manageable), then adjust the remaining keyframes in time to sync the floppy book with the character's motion. Those would be my initial plans of attack if I was approaching it.

I have noticed some behavior that is rather problematic when I get too experimental with the keyframe pasting (keyframes present without the actual model showing for instance) but that may be related to a screen refresh issue). One thing that does seem to be important when pasting keyframes between two Project files is that you want to use A:M's drop down menu (Edit/Copy Keyframe and Edit/Paste Keyframe) rather than Control C and Control V on your keyboard because the former works while the latter does not. At a guess it seems the keyframes are not being stored properly in A:M's paste buffer when the Control C and Control V keys are used. So... the solution there is to Copy/Paste keyframes via the Edit menu. You shouldn't even have to move the keyframes around like I described above when using the dropdown menu.

I don't think I'm fully understanding your setup. I assume you are building your Pose in an Action. Try this... Temporarily move your Keyframes on Frame 10 to Frame 1. Then paste your other Keyframe into Frame 0. Move Frame 1 to Frame 2 (A:M will inbetween Frame 0 and Frame 2 but there won't be any Keyframes on Frame 1. Copy Frame 0's Keyframes and Paste them into Frame 1. Copy Frame 2's Keyframes and paste them into Frame 2. Now expand these out to their desired location in the Timeline. What you do with the inbetween/breakdown frames is entirely up to you and of course you will get some drifting depending on the intropolation you set on the keyframes (Hold, Spline, Linear, Zero Slope). Note: If you have a bad Pose on the Frame you are trying to paste into delete those keyframes. Also: Depending on what is going on at your end this may not work but you may be able to use a different/interim method. For instance, you might be able to move Keyframes from 10 to 0 and then paste into Frame 1. Then you can copy and paste them again into the order you want.

Congrats on the upgrade. Now you can rest at ease. Not to my knowledge but as always you can contact Hash Inc and let them know of your needs. They may be able to work something out to meet those specific needs.

I'm sorry when I smashed those images together I didn't put them in sequential order. The first image was actually my last attempt at it and the main change to the actual geometry was to make the outer wall more vertical (i.e bring the top spline inward toward the center). As for the look itself the first one is more rounded because I didn't create the base ring with as many cross sections. I spent quite a bit of time turning the model around and making sure there was a visible change from every angle. Then it was a few tests of the duplicator wizard to extend and taper out the follicle. I imagine if you were to do this with your base model it would be 100 times as awesome. In both cases the color/texture is augmenteed by having multiple stamps of a decal applied. That first one experiments with adding a layer of displacement whereas I don't think the other does. I'm playing with this layering thing a more because it can yield some very interesting special effects such as smoke and explosions (but... that is way off topic). The attached image shows Duplicator settings (or something close ) for the first image. It's changed a little since those when I got distracted by smoke... I believe I had a little taper and other settings set for the others.

I had to play too! In my case I decided to pursue a geometry/mesh based follicle and while not up to the examples posted thus far I think it has potential. The main idea is to spend a little time with the base ring of the follicle and then use the Duplicator Wizard to copy 25 or so times with the model slightly rotated, scaled and translated as the plugins goes to work. Some additional deformation/distortion and a decal can contribute a lot to the effect too. If persuing a geometry-based solution use of either the Duplicator or Sweeper plugins may be worth pursuing. Note: The right-most images are the same as the second ran through the Denoise and Exposure Post Effects.

Have you completed the exercise on particles in TaoA:M? (The one named Smoke, Wind and Fire) If you have then you are already set. You may just want to review it to recall how to set things up. The Sprite Emitter is contained in a Model which can be Constrained to any other Object and the settings of the Emitter itself can direct the emission. You can also Constrain the Emitter to a Path for a moving/directional effect (think lasers or floating fairy dust). If you can let us know more about the specific effect you are after that will help.

Hey, I remember that topic! That .sinfo file could be quite useful beyond just knowing it exists for the purpose of syncing the sounds files (in terms of xsheet/bar sheet reference). Especially as the file in XML and could be edited externally from A:M via a utility or plugin (yeah, I know... not recommended). Very interesting. Thanks Robert.

I've been meaning to test it but never got around to it. Is the .sinfo file a text file?

Doesn't surprise me a bit to hear it but... Victor Navone will be teaching at the Animation Collaborative: For those of you that live out in that area perhaps you'll be able to attend one of his workshops. Interested in pricing? Description of one of the workshop (not necessarily the one by Victor): It seems even the Pros like to do that Bouncing Ball thing.

We've got to get you to put some paragraph space in there so we can read you. [Deciferin' Mode on] As has been mentioned... with v16 you can use both the 32bit and 64 bits simultaneously so... if you have v16, conversion of an image sequence is as easy as a three step process; Right Click/Save As Animation. Although there are other ways to convert your images to other formats in A:M such as via Camera rotoscope... the old v11 way. I'm not an expert on Netrender but the short answer = Yes. If I am not mistaken currently you could run 64bit A:M (and/or Netrender) to render all your sequential images while having 32bit A:M (and/or Netrender) convert them all to .MOV (but not vice versa until Quicktime with 64bit gets resolved)

Great progress Jirard. Looking very good!

It's hard to beat QT pro and anyone who plans to use .MOV format should have it in their toolset. Can you do without it? Sure. I wouldn't want to however. As you were looking for info on plugins more than utilities like QT Pro here's an added point of interest: Almost all of the plugins that were making the rounds back in the v12 days are now installed with A:M by default. That's a useful guarantee that they'll be there when you need them. This is particularly useful when it comes to working with other people as plugins will only be available if the user has installed them. More specific information and usage for Steffen Gross's plugins can be found where Phil linked to: http://www.sgross.com/plugins/index.html Note that there are also some discontinued plugins that are not installed by default but may be of use in a pinch. Plugins are context sensitive so depending on where you are in A:M different plugins may appear. In addition to the Import/Export plugins here are the standard wizards that show up via Right Clicking in a Modeling window (there are a lot of other powerful plugins installed such as Steffen's Newton Physics which has an entire forum area dedicated to it):

I know there is a lot of tweaking yet to go but... Can we get access to the basic set as it is right now? (Has it been posted somewhere already?) I seem to miss out on these projects and contribute only little bits and pieces (if at all). I'd like to be involved in the next project and having some of the basic assets will help me start planning for it. In other words... I've got a basic idea I want to work with now I need to start planning and budgeting for it.