sprockets The Snowman is coming! Realistic head model by Dan Skelton Vintage character and mo-cap animation by Joe Williamsen Character animation exercise by Steve Shelton an Animated Puppet Parody by Mark R. Largent Sprite Explosion Effect with PRJ included from johnL3D New Radiosity render of 2004 animation with PRJ. Will Sutton's TAR knocks some heads!
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Hash, Inc. - Animation:Master

Rodney

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  1. Thanks Holmes. Robert, This is what I meant by changing the settings of the .sinfo file and opening it twice in A:M. The results should be that the sound will sync in different places each time.
  2. If others are interested in this general idea, by all means, please chime in. Silence in this case is the equivalent of saying "We don't need no stinking contests!"
  3. I learned something new today! Perhaps A:M automatically uses it to sync the sound? A:M has to keep track of those changes in some way. Try replacing the .sinfo file with two different settings and opening twice to see if there is a difference.
  4. Keep in mind there are a lot of contests out there. The 11 Second Club for instance has one on character animation with dialogue every month.
  5. I thought the .sinfo files were a part of SVN. Didn't know it had anything to do with sound sync. If what you state is the case that'd be useful information.
  6. Welcome to the A:M Forums. We are glad you are here. If you are returning, we are glad you're back. If you are just getting started please make sure you spend some time in the Newbies forum and read through the A:M Manual (The Art of Animation:Master and The A:M Technical Reference). Ask questions. Join in the discussions. Give and get feedback. Explore A:M! This Welcome topic is a continuation of introductions to the forum from previous years. Click here to read some of the past introductions General Overview of Animation:Master Anyone can create 3D pictures and animation at home or in the studio with Animation:Master. Animation:Master includes everything you need to create fabulous computer graphics; complete sculpting features, powerful animation tools, superb rendering, and all this is compatible with the most popular computers (PC and Macintosh!). Its cross platform compatibility makes A:M an excellent choice for the individual or studios with multiple operating systems. Animation:Master, the 3D motion picture studio is the most powerful and affordable spline based modeling and animation program available. Specifically designed for classic character animation, the drag and drop, customizable interface and powerful motion tools give you the control that is required to tell your story. A:M is geared toward character animation and gives you the ability to build libraries of actions and characters to be reused over and over. Features (Don't forget... with A:M you can build and explore your own personal features too!) Spline Based Modeling, Animation, And Rendering - for smooth organic models and natural freeform motions. Bones Mode - for easy IK construction. Inverse Kinematics - to interactively pose articulated characters. Skeletal, Morphing, And Bending Actions In Combination - all three kinds of object and character motion can be overlapped and used in unison. Time Based Motion "ease" - for accurate acceleration and deceleration of movement. True Patch-based "uv Decal" Mapping - using bit mapped images that are locked to a surface and distort properly when an object bends and twists. D3D or OpenGL - real-time rendering. Motion Libraries - so that a complex action needs to be built only once and then used over and over again. Includes motion capture input and motion control output. Lip Synch Key Framing - for assembling lip shapes with automatic inbetweening. Technical Support - Top notch and totally free with an active forum where users meet 24/7. Interface Integrated, User Friendly interface, with easy turning, zooming, and navigation features. D3D or OpenGL accelerated for a smooth tactile feel in all areas of the interface. MFC based interface allows for completely customizable options including color schemes, tool bar placement and customizable keyboard shortcuts. Drag and drop interface technology fully implemented for easy object manipulation. Create scenes with as many characters, lights, cameras, and props on the stage as you like. Modeling , creation of Actions and choreography can all be done in the same window from any view . Proportional Zoom; finer zoom control in choreography. Centered Turn; turn about the local coordinate system. Global Axis Translates; option to move control points in world space instead of screen space. Multiple, re sizable Windows; have two action windows, or set up three modeling windows in a traditional tri-view layout. Drag able, dock able panels; put the panels anywhere you want on the screen or hide them completely. Simplified Operation; tools operate in a more "standard" fashion. Save Interface State; projects maintain their window's layout for next use. Interrupt drawing to increase drawing speed. Specify automatic reload of last project at startup. Limit memory usage. User controllable rotate snap angle. Object Instancing Intuitive Object Manipulators; uniform for lights, cameras, characters, props, etc. Markers/Rulers Fully editable Timeline Window Customizable Folders in the Project Workspace Multi-Select in the Project Workspace A:M Community chat window and Forum Modeling No more inefficient polygons! Model with flexible Hash patches. Start from a Library of example characters. Curved lines move easily to allow for quick manipulation. Complete selection of real-time tools combined with point-and-click sculpting makes object creation easy. Model over a Rotoscope image. As many Rotoscopes as you like can be loaded into any view. Seamlessly integrates "bones" into low-density, uni-body models. Characters (or objects) are built as a single model, then bones are inserted any way you like to for the "skeletal" IK basis for your character. Un attach; disconnect "attached" points while modeling. Insert Control Points; automatically adds control points to those hard to get to splines. Perspective Modeling; option to model while viewing the object in perspective. Nested Hide; hide more points when some already hidden. "Lasso" or free form group tool included with standard group tool for easy selection of multiple control points. D3D or OpenGL shaded real-time mode when modeling instead of wire frame. Patch Hooks to reduce resolution and eliminate creasing Bias Handles for easy control of spline curvature. Optimized Polygon export. Unique object manipulators for translating scaling and rotating. Specific grid sizing for use in creating precise scale objects. Grid can also be toggled on and off. variable lathe cross sections. User definable Undo and Redo. Uniform Normal Face Control for Polygonal output . Paste and Extrude offsets. Cut, copy and Paste Flip or Mirror a selected group of points around any axis. True Type Font and AI Import Locked Control Points Copy/Flip/Attach Polygon Import Lock Control Points "Distortion Mode" Deformation Tool Animation Patch-based animation allows smooth, flexible movement. Complex movements are simplified; unique bones motion offers lifelike bouncing and twisting. Complete skeletal and muscle control features. Inverse Kinematics (IK) for creating skeletal based motion. Character animation with lip-synch made easier. Stride length to prevent a character's feet or tires from slipping as they move. Action Overloading; applying layers of Actions to a character so that it can "walk", "talk", and "clench" its fists simultaneously. Action Range; choose only a range of frames, Hold, or Wait from an Action Rotoscope facial movement in Muscle with sequenced backgrounds. Poses. Lock Bones. Sophisticated Key frame controls. Many different kinds of real-time constraints for perfect anchoring, picking up objects, and animated paths; Including: Aim At, Kinematic, Path, Translate To, Orient like, Aim Roll At, Spherical Limits, Surface, Scale Like and Scale to Reach. Flocks, Crowds and Swarms Powerful Channel Based motion control. Scrub Bar. Action Undo. Action Objects; for animating props, even other characters seamlessly within an action. Force Objects;apply dynamic forces any way you like. Rotoscoping Action Blending Copy/Paste Mirrored Action Pose Sliders (frame ranges can be saved in a pose). Kinematic Rotational Stiffness "Continuous Play" Scrubbing Animated Camera Rotoscopes Onion Skinning Kuper camera motion data import Hard and Soft Body Dyanmics; including cloth, springs, masses and collision detection between objects. Automatic assignment of geometry to bones Smart skin for perfect joints Relationships for creating smart characters. Weighted CP blending Animated distortion boxes Rendering Ray tracing of transparency, reflections and shadows for visually realistic results. D3D or OpenGL real-time previews can be saved as output. Super fast, High quality hybrid renderer. Selectable Specular Color. Mirrors with adjustable settings. Alpha buffer rendering for combining computer animation with live action. Anti-aliasing. 32-bit, variable, unlimited resolution rendering. AVI animation playback within the software. Bound Rendering; Quick Render or Ray Trace only a portion of the screen. TV Safe and Title Safe indication. Transparency Averaging. Anti-aliased Image Maps. Shadow Maps Gamma Correction. Show or hide render in progress. User selectable reflection limit. Motion Blur. Extensive render status meters. NTSC safe color. Photon Mapping. Soft Shadows Film Grain Bloom Soften Dither Dynamic Range (gamma correction) Field Rendering Line Geometry No "anti-alias" option (Game Sprites) Film Tint and Film Grain; presets like "black and white" and "sepia tones" Stereo Rendering Shadow Buffers and "Shadow Only" Buffers Exportable lighting maps, vertex colors for game engines Selectable Soft Shadow Color Fully Customizable Toon or Anime Style Shader/Render Materials and Object Attributes Ability to apply custom textures, images and object Attributes to individual patches. Image Maps Locked to the surface through use of UV coordinate system. UV Editor for interactively adjusting how a map lies on geometry. Glass with Refraction and Caustics. Image types include color, bump, transparency, reflectivity, diffuse, specular, ambiance, mirror, gradient and cookie-cut maps. Textures you define, modify, save and reuse. Integrated Algorithmic Perlin Materials Editor. Flatten; unroll a segment before applying Decals. System Color Dialog uses your platform's standard 24-bit color dialog to choose and change colors. Displacement and Fractal Maps. Edge Transparency. Environment Maps. Gamma correction can be applied to Image Maps. Supports 32 bit Image Maps Frame Control of Animated Maps; so that image maps can cycle, skip frames, hold, wait, or "ping pong". Unique Decal (image map) manipulator allows you to scale, reverse and position an image in real-time . See through Decaling. Maps automatically cached for interactive map editing though use of any third party paint program. Tile able Image Maps. Spherical, Cylindrical and Planar Projection Mapping. Animatable Material Attributes. Material Effector Objects. ATX class 3rd party Material plug-in support. JPEG and TIFF support Transparent Density Translucency Reflection Falloff Material "Bump" attribute" Effects Volumetric Lights. "Dust" objects for animatable smoke, fog and steam. Glows. Lens Flares. Depth of Field. Turbulence. Light Projection Gels. Hair. Particles; streaks and blobbies. Particle "Sprites" for stunning special effects. Other Features Motion capture input from a number of different sources Controllable, targetable, colored lights with colored shadows. Multiple Cameras. Non-perspective camera for scrolling game screens. You can perform most functions, such as modeling, animating, and texturing from the camera's point of view. Audio load/save for synching. Complete Game and Export SDK including real-time model and map export, action export, viewer and source code. Multi-plane style layer compositing and cameras. Lip sync Dope sheet and Phoneme creation tools. Supported Image Formats: Load: TARGA, JPEG, TIFF, PICT (mac only), PNG, EXR, AVI, Quicktime. Save/Render: TARGA, PICT (mac only), PNG, EXR, AVI (pc only), Quicktime. Manuals and Video Training included: - The Art of Animation:Master and A:M Technical Reference - Video Training Tutorials - Community Tutorials Forum Get started with A:M now!
  7. A minor goal for me in 2011 is to log into chat as often as I can. (We'll see how that goes) Here are some recent activities in chat: 01/24/2011 11:44 AM - Charlie D. said he had a question but didn't get around to asking it. 01/28/2011 3:41 AM - Lycan05 offered to answer it. 01/29/2011 12:54 AM - chucky dropped in and revealed he was trying to create an animated bike chain 02/02/2011 3:16 AM - Lycan05 offered some useful suggestions. 02/03/2011 1:41 AM - PaulNyssen suggested posting the question to the forum 02/03/2011 7:13 AM - chucky thanked them for the tips and added that modeling a chain was easy but the rigging of it stumped him. 02/03/2011 7:14 AM - chucky also related some issues with pasting material attributes and a problem with rotoscope folders propagating themselves. etc. ...and so goes the chat.
  8. I just renewed my subscription for 2011 and want to comment on the steps for those going through the same process. Subscribing may not be the preferred method for everyone but there are benefits for those that do. Subscribing to A:M is a very straightforward process: - Visit the A:M Store. - Purchase a subscription. - Install A:M. - (If renewing remove the master.lic file from your master folder) - Activate your new subscription. If troubleshooting is needed here are some general tips: - You won't need to uninstall, just delete or remove the .lic file from your master folder. It will most likely be named master0.lic - You can verify your expiration date by examining the contents of the file or if you have not yet expired you can see this info in the "About Box" of Animation:Master's Help Menu. - (Vista users may need to do the following to access the file): - Browse to your Master folder using the explorer/file browser and select the "Compatiblity Files" button in the tool bar. Vista places these "generated" files in a safe jail area where they appear hidden. - If you cannot find your activation code visit the store or check your email. You can retrieve the activation codes from there. Stand by for any Mac specific installation tips.
  9. I think Gary has been having trouble logging in... so this is to bump this topic up.
  10. The forum accepts MOV if you can convert to that. You may have to zip up an AVI file. How big is the AVI file?
  11. This showreel from Uli Meyer has the quicker sense of cutting with short clips that I'm talking about (although not with much... very little... bouncing ball/match cutting):
  12. I just think Holmes should have picked better music in this case. If reviewing the Demo I think I might have rejected it on that alone. Sorry Holmes, you wanted honesty!!! As for my preference in accompanying sound tracks; sometimes just a decent beat... bumpbump bumpadump... (or whatever) will work fine. Vary the rate of speed of that beat along with the tempo and beats in the animation over time. There has been a lot of good advice here on what to have in a demo reel. I'd pick the top three or four from the Oz reel, cut everything to read fast and most definitely get their attention at the start. You've got to grab and hold the viewers attention. Don't waste their time. Things I like: - Your namecard at the beginning and end. (Follows the principle of first learned best remembered and retention of the last exposure. (For instance, some people say the last 90 seconds of a play is the most important to get right) - The Door pounding at the beginning (but once the door opens don't use Mrs Yoop... cut to the next shot) The door opens to reveal your demo (see bouncing ball suggestion below). - I'd like to see a quickly cut sequence of the SO shots where SC etc are calling out for Captain Bill... building up tension... end with the guards marching. You might even be able to get a finely cropped shot of SC moving across the ravine on the rope just prior to this shot. - I like the water splashing on TW, but would crop that sequence way, way down in size. Perhaps from where the water has just hit him until he steps forward... be merciless on that) - I'd keep Bumpyman but only from his last gesture with the dialogue, "Would you care to try some?" placing this at the end of the Demo just prior to showing your end title Namecard. (You are effectly suggesting the viewer dial you up and hire you) - The Demo is a Bouncing Ball (These scenes should cut together like we are following a red bouncing ball throughout. Where the viewer's eye goes should be where that ball would bounce. If the focal points of a sequence don't match up over the cuts... pull it out. Of course... there is no red ball to follow in the demo but nobody needs to know that!
  13. You beat me to the firing range by about 17 years. No wonder I didn't see you there! Some of the first models I created in A:M were of guns and bullets. They certainly didn't have your flair for dynamic action! In fact they were mighty lame in comparison. (For more fun... play that 'bullet through the bottles' in reverse) Additional thoughts: One thing that translates well is that the bottles appear to expand a little just before shattering. That effect could be further exaggerated by adding a few more frames in post or animating the bottle. I'm considering how I might use these works of art in future projects.
  14. SWEET! Where where you years ago when I was teaching marksmanship at the firing range??? Thanks John!
  15. That was awesome. Definitely something I need to tag for later use. Thanks John!
  16. Thanks Ernest. I think I'm done breaking things for now.
  17. Awesome character. My first thought is that if it is pants then a dark color (black?) would create nice contrast and direct attention to her face. Now you've got me wondering... Besides the ability to turn every guys head in the room, I'm wondering what her superpower is.
  18. I appreciate your feedback into the size of the banners. Huge is rarely a good idea. At this point the banners on the second tier may be unnecessarily redundant. We'll examine our options there but for now they are placekeepers. Returning to Gene's question for a moment: There are some options available within the Special Topics that aren't available elsewhere. We'll explore those together.
  19. I'm not sure I understand the question so I'll say, "Yes" and plan to secretly adjust fire from there. I think you are talking about topics versus forums and in that case technically... No... topics cannot have these kind of banners. The term Special 'Topics' is something of a misnomer. The banners are coded in IPB Portal for 'forums' and 'subforums' only. So these are 'Special Forums' but for now we'll stick with calling them 'Special Topics'. Can you be a little more specific? We have a lot of options available to us and where there is a will there is generally a way.
  20. For what it's worth, I agree. I was about to ask that question. I'd guess they will get progressively smaller but more functional. There are a lot of options out there but we'll reserve those for now. For now it's a jumping off point and we want to give those who take the time to update these topics a place for their artwork. Forum text is cool and small images optimal but after all this is the Animation:Master forum! Most who frequent the forum will probably go directly to the new posts, bypass that level and not even see the banners. But hopefully it'll help direct some users to their favorite topics. Edit: I've got an idea that should serve everyone and maintain smaller banners. Thanks for the feedback!
  21. Presenting... the first iteration of the Special Topic banners. We'll have to devise a reliable way for the topic owner to update their own banner. As of this moment if you want to update the banner you can email it to me or just add the image to a post in your topic and I'll link it in. Special Topics Forum
  22. Thanks Paul, We'll most definitely hold your reservation. Your topic is the ultimate Work In Progress Demonstration topic as you've demo'd such a wide array of models, characters, styles, effects... the list goes on and on. Combine that with all the various methods and techniques you've incorporated into your work over the years and we begin to get a glimpse of the extent of the quality and quantity you've put into your projects. If I was half as talented with A:M as you are... I'd be awesome! Without knowing the specifics of your current situation I'm hopelessly lost to offer suggestions. I do hope that you'll be able to do some doodling, sketching or drawing. That'd keep the creative juices flowing as you enjoy a good break away from the computer. Take good care of yourself and keep in touch!
  23. I recall some of the problems I had initially with Light gels. If your objects have a surface color you may want to change that color to a neutral gray. I've found they also work well with white but black... not so much. A black surface will absorb the light. Also, consider turning down the intensity of the light. *and use a Klieg light* When in doubt start/test with a very simple object. The simpler the better when starting. (I often need this reminder) Once you've got that basic project working expand it's complexity and explore all the v ariables.
  24. Are you familiar with Light Lists? I believe that is what you are after. From page 178 of the Tech Ref: Note: It's possible Light Lists may have changed since this description was written but they should still operate in the same or similar fashion.
  25. I can sense the cool stuff SoulCage can create using projection mapping and light gels so I'm thrilled this topic came up. I have noticed occasions where dragging and dropping images onto a light didn't seem to work. This was likely user error on my part or I simply had my lights set up wrong, but all I knew at the time was that I wasn't getting the results I wanted. When I followed the guidance in the Tech Ref and Right Click'd on the Light and then added an image from the listing of available images, I've always got the right results. Note: Light Gels aren't just restricted to usage in Choreographies. They can be applied just as effectively, if not more so, via Actions. While I fully understand camera projection has taken on different methodologies in the realm of digital film and CG, 'real' camera projection has historically been accomplished through the projection of light.
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