Rodney

Interesting. I'll note to self on that. I believe if you export a scaled down version of your model from the Chor that will scale everything in the exported .MDL file for you. Sorry if that suggestion is a few years too late in your case but perhaps that could help Reza. It'd be worth a shot and very easy to test the theory. (Make sure you delete the ground plane and any other extraneous models before exporting) Knowing Reza's desire for high quality I suspect its not just one but a combination of things. I wouldn't think mesh would make a big difference but it might if there are large decals and other things thrown into the mix that suck up a lot of memory. If it is a memory problem then I'll suggest shutting down any unnecessary programs while rendering (Photoshop, etc.).

Jesse, That's an interesting thought and that sounds as if it could be the problem. In your case, if you scaled your model way down in size did it make any difference?

Great to see you again Reza. Sorry to hear of our problems but it's always great to see your high quality models again. If it'll keep you visiting the forum... have more problems please! Did you add a typo into your post here?: The reason I ask is that if that is a true statement then it points to the duplicate phantom models as the problem. If you meant to say that an earlier chor with no duplicate problem DID HAVE the same problem, that would be different. (Hope that makes sense) Also, for the record and to rule out another variable what format are you rendering out to? TGA? How much free space do you have on your harddrive? What are the size of your decals?

I can almost hear the music Gerry. Looks like they are groovin' to the beat. Great (and fun!) idea.

You know... it does. Keep it up and we'll soon have a banner for the Tinkering Gnomes forum. Gonna give him a hat?

Tar lives! A little hip movement in there would really communicate a sense of his weight. I can already imagine him in a sword fight... Keesh! Klang! KA-TOOM! Oh yeah. Very nice Will.

You betcha. I'm interested!

Gah! You should have re-recorded with that voice! Slacker!!! That would have added a whole other layer to the short. Keep up the great work! Added: (I know you have an artistic vision for this thing so I wasn't going to make suggestions... but this one I thought I should post) Would the poem reverberate more thoroughly if read by Garrett from the first person? Of course that wouldn't necessarily be fully revealed until the very end. Nah... that would probably break the spell of the poem.

That's awesomel John. I just ran across a similar review yesterday and wasn't sure where to post it so I'll add it into the mix. Apparently it's a review from the British animation magazine 'Animator' covering the Playmation version of Animation:Master. How cool would it have been to have access to A:M back in the day. Answer: Very cool. Animator_Magazine____Animation_Master_review.pdf

Hehe. Very nice! You should have him make one of those crazy attempts to smile with braces. Right now he just looks afraid. (which I assume will work well with your animation) Fun character. Added (aplogies if you aren't looking for this type of feedback): Design-wise I think it would be really cool if you could get the A:M banner onto the skateboard. Of course I realize it would be almost impossible to show the wheels and the banner at the same time... Hmmm.... not sure. Perhaps the logo is printed on both sides or the the top side remains a mystery. (except in 3D turnaround which would then reveal it) For an alternative theme (not really suggesting this... just exploring your imagery) You could depict the aftermath of a skateboard crash. Well worn skateboard upright but held with left hand. (a wheel might be missing or show elsewhere on the ground) A:M Logo on the skateboard. Big toothy grin with missing front tooth/teeth. (The Dentist will replace those later) Just another day in the life for this monster/kid. (Note: I would be tempted to shorten the legs just a little bit to ramp up the kid-appeal. Right now there is a little too much symmetry and equal distances in him.) The underlying idea: If seen on the wall in a Dentist office I wouldn't be able to look away from this empathetically fascinating character. With this in mind I'd exaggerate everything I could... little bag with huge toothbrush... impossibly small skateboard... etc. etc. Give the images some interesting eyecandy to read... consider timing yourself as you look around to the various parts of the image. How long does it take you to deplete/exhaust the ideas represented there? Are you left with an urge to reenter the scene and look for something else? Would a kid look forward to seeing this crazy image on repeated visits to the Dentist? As I said... this is a fun image. I look forward to your animation!

Looking good! You've got me intrigued about these characters. To complete the feather-look you may be able to set the Ambiance Color to light blue or grey and then set the Diffuse color to white. Adjusting the Fall Off and Blend would then yield a feathery looking surface color. Of course a little displacement map on the wings indicating the feathers would take it to the next level. The primary reason I suggest the ambiance though is is to keep the wings from getting too dark in shadows. At first for the Batwings I was thinking that Sub Surface Scattering would be ideal but I'm not sure you want the additional render hit. Perhaps for publicity photos you could use that. ayering in some color and a slight feel of translucency via image maps might produce a similar effect. (For speed I'm thinking faking that via layered image maps would be ideal). In other words, render once with SSS and then use that SSS as a decal. Forgive the failed attempt but see the attached for the general direction I was thinking for color. At a distance pure ambient white and pure black would probably work just as well. When in doubt... simple is better.

As Robert suggests, it looks like your Radiosity sampling setting for that light is set too low (not enough samplings). I'm not sure you even meant that setting to be on.

Congrats John. You've expertly demo'd the elusive Peek-a-Boo Principle of Animation.

T h a t w a s A w e s o m e! (Not the bug silly... the video!) All bug reporting videos should be this entertaining. Das iz gut. (I have recently discovered all my favorite animators seem to have something of a gift for learning foreign languages)

Heck no! Back in 2003 that $300 was temporarily put into a bank account. Well... except for $45 of it that was spent to pay an unexpectedly high electricity bill at Hash Inc. James applied $10 of it toward gas for a road trip to California. Heath used $5 for a sandwich at the convention. (James and Jason also split a bottle of water for $2... I think) When the van broke down on the return trip $129 was used to replace a leaking hose that couldn't be patched with tape (the hose only cost $2 but the mechanic works on hourly scale) $125 was used to pay the speeding tickets. Jason bought a (used) book on PHP programming for $1 online (shipping was $14.95) $7 was used to pay the intern programmer (Stevie) who couldn't afford a bus ticket back home after he finished developed fluids for A:M in 2008. The remaining funds ($2 and change?) is being used to develop a slew of really cool new features. Martin swears he never saw a single penny of it. Personally I'd go for the $79 websubscription. Then you won't need to have the CD in the drive when you start up A:M.

Impressive Gene. You are getting really good at this.

Hmmm.... interesting. At first I thought I liked the angel wings but after staring for awhile find the bat wings tend to fit the character. Perhaps there is enough room within your story for both (a way to split this guy into two characters if only temporarily)? Perhaps the feather winged one is his ghostly/angelic persona or they are (somehow) two different characters.

Very cool Mark. I'll be purchasing.

Okay... let's look at this again. Understanding that we are all subscribing to A:M regardless of whether we purchase the download or the CD will help to make better sense in this. It can also help to think in terms of 'extending' versus 'applying' in this particular case. Consider for instance when you'll activate your next subscription. If you do your activating smartly you extend your current subscription by one year from the point (any point) of a new subscription activation. A yearly subscription renewal (CD or download) extends your purchase by one year or by extending CD key-less access to a computer system. Of course, if we let our subscription lapse but have purchased the CD we still have our CD-keyed access to A:M. We simply no longer have CD-keyless access and active subscription support from Hash Inc. To extend that kind of support further once expired we'd have to resubscribe/renew again. The subscription clock doesn't start until we activate the subscription. So either way, download or CD, the duration of active support from Hash Inc is set to one calendar year from activation. So yes, a subscription can be applied to our purchase. It can effectively extend/renew our subscription for up to one year (365 days).

This design makes him a lot more accessible. I like him. Very nice. So, is this an additional character or have you redesigned all the previous characters? They certainly look like they could inhabit the same world.

Hear Hear! Here's to another great year of Mark and those wannabes. Happy Birthday Mark!

That's crazy. Makes for great slice-of-life stories though! The art world seems to thrive on not making sense... and apparently prefers to be unrecognizable.

Alright, first things first, let's get this out of the way... stop being so cheap! The $79 subscription gives us access to A:M (a $299 software product worth a lot more than that) for one year. At an equivalent rate we can subscribe and get new upgrades for the better part of 4 years. ($79x4 is fairly equivalent) The fact that you prefer to go years without updating just makes us (as subscribers) shoulder the burden of your access to the research and development that finds it's way into tomorrows's features. There is no twisting of arms however. No hard feelings. You can simply purchase the CD and realize your dreams that way. Purchase new CDs/subscriptions as needed. Live a life free of leashes. Software isn't owned (read the licensing agreement you accepted when you installed A:M) We don't own A:M. We license it. We lease it (ahem... leash it!) from Hash Inc. I understand with the purchase of the CD comes one free subscription for one year. You can therefore use the version on the CD indefinitely but the subscription (i.e. support) will expire at one year. At that point you will have to upgrade past that hard coded CD version with a new subscription and/or purchase a new CD if you plan to move forward with A:M. The beauty of the CD of course is that you can make your own decision to stay there and still create amazing things with A:M. Just don't expect free support for what you aren't willing to pay for beyond that period. There is an associate price with being cheap; and regardless of the purchase... CD or subscription... we gain access to what we are willing to pay for. I haven't purchased a CD in several years so I cannot independently confirm the free subscription with the CD but I have it on good authority this is the case. (I suspect it's not promoted to us for fear of making us even cheaper. We want everything for free.) My recommendation for those that don't care to support themselves/A:M through the yearly subscription... purchase the CD. I keep thinking I'll do that myself every year but thus far have been content with being on the leash. (I'm cheap... and it saves me money!) I hope that makes sense. Edit: Holmes response (above) is nicely concise and brief. For those that cannot attend a convention however I like to point out some of the benefits of going the $79 subscription route over the CD. Of course there are good reasons also to purchase the CD as well so if you've got the cash to burn, get the best deal you can get... purchase the CD every year. For most users however the subscription remains ideal. Free yourself from the CD and embrace the subscription. Stop drinking Coke/Pepsi for one month and you've paid for it already... and it'll be good for your health.

When you say this I'm not sure what you are seeing. You'd have to point me to the evidence. You may have more information on that than me but I can only respond to what I've seen. If you are talking of the forum headings that's probably my fault. Someone at Hash Inc hasn't yet stepped away from numbering so I use both when creating new forum headings. Every year I'm surprised to see that the version is still retained. The yearly designation has always been of significance with A:M. Once could argue that (for installation purposes) the version has been as well. When I started using A:M, the year was prominently displayed and emphasized (remember the huge '98 on the 'Meltdown' CD)? It's easy to remember the year that CD was released... but I always tend to mis-recall the version for that year. I do recall the confusion with similar CDs that followed shortly thereafter when the year was not prominently displayed on CDs. The yearly dues thing is intrinsically connected with the idea of a continuing subscription which historically has been sync'd to two events; the roll over of the calendar year and an official release at mid year (i.e. at SIGGRAPH). I don't see the subscription model going away but I perceive version-ing as a fatally flawed concept at best. Versions by their very nature suggest a terminal sequence whereas we are quite likely to continue into the new year... every year. At a guess I'd say the primary reason the version-ing nomenclature is still with us is that Steffen inherited the A:M Reporting system which has tracked code changes that way since v11. Yes, if the version designation disappeared tomorrow it'd be okay with me.

You would have been the first. I'm not aware of anyone else I've swayed. At least you gave the flyer a try. That's the important thing. I suspect they'll at least draw inspiration from it if/when they create one. Edit: In reading back it looks like they may have already used elements of your flyer.