Rodney

Guys, (and Gals), There is one realization that dawned on me pretty quickly as I've contemplate the organization and/or archiving of special topics; as long as the creator is highly active in the A:M Community there is little reason to archive a special topic. It's understandable that some topics will occasionally gather some dust but there will always be something really special about these special topics. Keeping a special topic up to date isn't a requirement but it most definitely is insurance against the inevitable archival process. Where possible it may be best to title your special project in such a way as to allow for changes of interest and projects. Thanks Chris. I sure wish I knew where special topics go after they die. That'd make this archival thing an easier process. Your special topic is something of an examplar of archival topics. It has been a very fun and inspirational project. While you may not have created a feature film right there in front of us, it will remain a great example of what someone can achieve when they put effort and heart into a project. If your special topic is archived and you decide to return to said topic, simply drop me a note and to the best of my ability and capability, and where not prohibited by common sense, fiat, exception or law, it shall herefortuitously and henceforthussly be resurrected and take on again the form and function of an active special topic. You may not see this now but archived special topics retain their special status and will, in theory if not in practice, enter into the everreal eternal pantheon of legendary community projects known as 'cool stuff'. As always, thanks for sharing your inspiration with us.

Outstanding. The warpal tunnel to the Land of Zandoria is set to open any minute now.

Okay, this'll be a stretch... but it's an option with a lot of possibilities in some particular situations. The downside is that you'll have to do a lot of planning from the beginning that you might not do otherwise. Light Gels. (See page 100-101 of the A:M Technical Reference for general setup and information) In order for this to work in the same fashion as camera projection you'll likely need to keep all your effected lights and models in grayscale (mid gray color should work best). This counters the loss of imagery projected due to the nature of Light Gels, where black color blocks light from projecting. One of the benefits is that this method tends to wrap the image around the object wherever the light touches. Another is that every object in the scene recieves the projected imagery. Another is that you can use this with Light Lists. (Note: I'd need to test this as I don't recall ever trying this) Yet another is that you can use Materials in place of the images as your light gels. Someone with an actual clue could probably figure out how to wrap multiple projections via an array of lights all the way around the focal point in a scene. I duly qualify as clueless and am out of my league so will defer to the experts on this. Not sure about all of this but as far as I can tell this would address your trouble areas: Check! Check! Edit: There are several ways to turn the images on/off in a Light Gel. One is to toggle off the Diffuse setting or 'Light Default Models' in the Light. Another more esoteric switch might be to use a sequence of images and the timing setting of the image to move to a frame with a transparent image.

Amazing work Mark! She's looking great. It's easy to tell how much fun you are having too!

Jason is out partying already. Happy Birthday Jason!

Me too! It should be noted, these creators/subjects were identified as candidates for special topics because someone thought enough of them to take the time to say so. There is no pressure on any of the creators to create these special topics however. It's important the creators actually want to have a special topic forum. Some are content simply to keep their topics in the WIP forum and periodically update those. After creation of a special topic there is a underlying need to periodically update the topic or it will eventually be archived. No pressure there either, that's just the way special topics work. The reason you see Steve Shelton's special topic live already is that he's expressed interest in it also. I don't think Paul is able to maintain a special topic at this point. I hope he'll feel up to it in the near future. When he's ready all he has to do is say the word. Will, Zandoria should have been a special topic a long time ago. Give me a few days and it'll be ready to move into. Tore, Stand by a moment, one special topic coming up!

This topic is for Gary who is having some problems posting a new topic. Hopefully he'll see this topic and be able to post here. Here's Gary's first question (somewhat rephrased) for those who would like to lend a hand and welcome him to the forum: Welcome to the A:M forum Gary!

The Special Topics forum was created by Martin Hash to promote the Art of Animation:Master. While all topics posted in the Special Topics / Work in Progress forum are special topics, some distinguish themselves by highlighting creative effort, spotlighting innovative characters, stories and animation and thoroughly demonstrating the capabilities of Animation:Master. These are truly special Special Topics. I am pleased to announce the receipt (via email) of three new nominations for a new round of 2011 special topics. ...and the current nominees are: William Sutton, "Tar of Zandoria" Tore Bahnson, "Frank Kafka" Steve Shelton, "Cupid's Sick Day" Special Recognition for Artistry and Technical Achievement: Paul Forwood, "Paul's Playground" Disclaimer: All rights and restrictions apply, creators are all powerful and Animation:Master will never die (unlike humans who do expire, it's a freakin' computer program so (in theory) it cannot die!). The creator or team leader of a Special Topic is generally empowered as topic moderator to better facilitate the organization of said project and with great power comes some associated responsibility. Where personal or work schedules or interest will not allow, nominees are free to table their special topic for another time or place it in state of hiatus and bring it back at another time. Creators may in fact, deed and effect create topics of special interest to the A:M Community at a later time and put that online! Also... it should go without saying but why not... the Hash Boys will want to to display your images and animation while on the road so if you don't tell them you don't want that to happen specifically how are will they know that? Osmossis? You don't really need to read this last line. Here is a sampling of the current banners. If anyone wants to create their own banner the preferred size (for now at least) is 700x100. 04Keekat.zip BGs_slow.webm

Reza, It's generally a very good idea to start a new topic with each major change of subject or problem. That keeps confusion to a minimum as people are sure to mistake an earlier problem (that has been resolved) with a current one. Either way someone will eventually get to the root of the problem but separating the issues will resolve it more quickly. For my part it's been good to see your modeling again even though the situation isn't optimal.

Hope everything is okay Paul. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

No! I've never seen that before and hope to never see it.

Whoa. Very nice! I must say, the sound effects really sell this. I love the sense of depth you've created with the Apache flying from behind the tree with the camera following. Sweet. There is a lot I don't know about your project but I'll offer some of the following in lieu of questions: If this is a night flight you might consider either a Night Vision Goggle green tint or in absence of the NVGs a blue tint. Having the main light have a considerable fall off would help the hills/mountains in the background recede a little into the darkness. I'm excited for you. Great stuff. To answer your questions: 1. Sure does! 2. The lighting/tinting will really tell the tale (colors at night tend to lose their contrast and blend with each other... thing in terms of grayscale with more color where the light is shining) 3. This is a tall order but... You might render the whole sequence without the helicopter in it and then overlay that over the whole sequence with the helicopter and adjust/animate the transparency. the idea here is to use that overlay to darken or even strobe the sequence from dark to light to dark again. For the ultimate setup you might render out to Open EXR and use A:M's compositor with post effects to Wow everyone. Learning the ins and outs of A:M's compositor can be a little tough but once you learn it you'll be amazed at the effects you can achieve. The simplest method would be to apply a single black square patch (or rotoscope) in front of the camera and then animate it's transparency. For a little more complexity/environmental realism: if an animated image is applied to the patch you could use that to similulate wind effects. Edit: Forgive the failed attempt but attached is a recompositing that messes with your lighting, adds film grain, slight strobing when the Apaches light blinks and (unfortunately) scaled the sound a little. I went a little extreme to try to demonstrate the possibilities. I'm not too happy with the results of my effort but hopefully it demonstrates what I mean. strobe.mov

Great test Will. I'm already being drawn into the scene with him. I agree about the moving clouds/dust. That'll really sell it. Perhaps a little foley wind? (I can almost hear a dry wind like in an old western cowboy film... wrong genre but... similar sound effect) What are your plans for music (if any) if you can reveal that?

Thanks for the update Ernest. I've been curious about what you've been up to lately. Your website seems much more accessible. For your next iteration I'd like to put in a request for just a little more imagery. Simplicity is good but your images and characters are what really draws me in. Not suggesting a change now... just when you update it next. I'm looking forward to hearing more of your progress with Zign Track. As I recall, on 'Subject 99' you left us on quite a cliffhanger!

Great introduction Robert!

Hmmm..... Shapes for Beginners. How about: dots (Control Points) Demonstrate how to create a CP lines (Splines) Draw a spline planes (Patches) Extrude a patch cylinders (Lathed objects) Lathe a 5 point spline circles (Deleting splines) cose the top of the cylinder with a 5 point patch and then delete the bottom half of the cylinder rings (multiple CP spline) create a new spline with more CPs and then lathe it into a circle (here you can demonstrate shapes such as tiangles, pentagons, hexagons etc by use of Peaking the splines or adjusting magnitude stars ((moving multiple CPs) explain how by grabbing every other CP in a nine CP circle and pulling it inward you can create a star shape. torus (lathed circle) Rotate and Move the spline circle (with any number of CPs to the left and lathe it to create a donut shape) plug (lathed L shape) Rotate the outline of an L shape to create a more complex cylinder. etc. (Students could extrude and lathe interesting shapes for quite a while here) With the torus you are now fully in 3D space. Copy that torus a couple time to demonstrate the basic idea of duplication. You can now go back at the beginning and start again from scratch but this time make a square, rectangle, triangle or more complex shape. For instance lathe a square spline with cross sections set to 6 and then select and peak the outside of the final shape (the result should be a hexagonal nut ... lathe a bolt to go with it) All of that can take a while but its the minimum I would try to demonstrate. At that point the students/workshop attendees could be encouraged to explore and create their own shapes. An excellent way to demonstrate complex shapes would be to use the Duplicator Wizard. Robcat has a wonderfully easy one for lathing a seashell shape. It would be very difficult to model manually but can be completed in about six steps through math and automation. Use the Font Wizard to show how complex letters and words can easily be shaped. Use someone in the classes name or the name of the workshop. Render it out with alpha channel on and save it. (You could use it later) If you have the capability of creating an .AI file. You could show how the AI Wizard can create complex shapes. Show them images of everyday objects and ask them to identify the basic shapes they see in them. Ask them: "How many basic shapes would it take to create that image"? If you have time, and the image is fairly simple, show them how to build these complex objects from basic shapes (like the robots Gene suggests) (Note: You should practice making the objects in those images before the workshop so you can make them quickly by putting a variety of shapes together) I would also suggest that you might have a collection of shapes already in your Libary and show how that once a shape is created it doesn't have to be made again. If the model is saved to the Library they'll be able to use it over and over again.

Love the feathery wings.

Very nice Dwayne! Love your sense of style and color.

You've been busy. Looking good!

Put it in as a feature request in A:M Reports. One never know when an idea will stick. You remind me of a time I thought I had stumbled across a multitexture solution for coloring two sides of the same patch. I believe Robert Holmen approached this by way of rendering twice and there is a topic for that. My memory said that I did this with materials but when I attempted it again... no deal. Perhaps it was different colored lights I was shining onto opposite sides of the patch. As a feature, the normal facing solution work well if the textures showed from the bottom and top of the stack. I'm not sure of the programming challenges there.

Outstanding Video Robert! Edit: Moved this topic to Newbies and Pinned the video in Rigging and Relationships.

Of course your are right. They flash yellow here. They don't flash until you select the Default Bone. (look for it in your window at the 0,0,0 coordinate) All assigned CPs should flash when you select their assigned bone.

As I recall it there is no such thing as a flashing black CP. Black CPs don't flash because you haven't assigned them to anything yet. Only the CPs you've assigned to a Bone will flash. (That's how you know what you've assigned) Black (default to root model bone) Color (assigned to a bone) See page 101 of your manual (TaoA:M).

Yes, From what I recall, Hash Inc created the Install Rig plugin to facilitate installing the Squetch Rig into TWO characters. It automates part of the process. I think Mark and David were heavily involved with it on our end. Ken and Holmes may also have some knowledge of what is being automated behind the scenes. There should be a whole history of the development of the plugin in the TWO and Squetch Rig topic areas. If you work through Mark's rigging tutorials that'll clue you in. This'll set you up with the context: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=27800 Edit: David provides the good stuff in the next post.

Um... it should go without saying but... Don't text edit your original file. Make sure its a copy you edit.