Rodney

Thanks Will. If I understand the curriculum of each school I think you got the better instruction in that deal.

To which it may be proper to simply answer... "One year from the date of purchase... December 2011"? Yes, I'm try to make things easy when we have a basic human need for the extremely complicated. I'd almost take that bet on principle alone. As A:M versions technically ended a few years ago I may have already won that bet. I equate that form of futuristic thinking similarly to betting against the troops that work for me. If you bet for them you at least have a chance of winning and their success will be worth seeing. If you bet against them you'll always lose because it's a bet that was never worth winning in the first place. In the olden days the version-ing of A:M was especially problematic because Hash Inc might deliver several versions in the space of one year (v11, v11.5 and v12 for instance). You'd think A:M Users might show their appreciation for that kind of return on their investment. If we were to see another upgrade in 2011 I certainly wouldn't turn it down. I'd gladly celebrate and get my pennies ready for another year. It makes good sense to limit the things you need to update every year. I suspect this is as true with A:M window labels as it is with flyers... which brings us back to the primary reason to avoid where possible references to v16 or even the year 2011. In this way anyone who picks up the flyer just reads and absorbs the (current) information that is there. That is a good example of the marketing system and how Apple escaped (at least temporarily) the numbered versioning system. I'm not sure I'm much of a fan of that method... but haven't really taken the time to stare at it. I think I understand why they decided to market it that way. I suppose I should comment on this for completeness sake. Corel definitely tried to move away from the numbering system with "Painter X". Perhaps they returned to the numbering because the X confused too many people? They did the same thing with other products and still are with CorelDraw X5 (now isn't it so much cooler to buy that than v15? Someone in marketing must think so). The CS in Adobe products is still a mystery to me. It always makes me think there is a fuller version out there that I wouldn't be getting if I purchased the CS version. I loath hobble-ware. Firefox, we'll have to wait and see. Usually the problem doesn't sink in until after v3. It's like comic book numbering where the first issue sells very well and the second often plummets. The third issue usually recovers if there is still interest. After that sales usually plateau and/or slowly decay until some incentive calls attention to it once again. Software of course isn't a serialized comic book and after several versions the user may find themselves fully content. Price is also a major differentiation.

I can identify with that. For probably the better part of a year I visited a store in Japan that had A:M on the shelf and what was written on the box really intrigued me. Although I knew I wanted A:M at the time I had a seriously hard time believing it could be all it said it was on the package for the price. I was use to getting a small percentage of features after a boat-load of promises from other companies. Needless to say that A:M package was well read. Yeah, you are stuck in the world of legacy thinking. I don't fault you for it. It's hard to break free. I base my interest in the downplaying the version-ing for a number of reasons, one of which came from a discussion with Martin Hash. The other was seeing how Microsoft and other companies were dealing with those things. At that time I believed (and still believe) version-ing is a waste of resources within a subscription based framework. In a true subscription system I suspect all 'versions' would be available or could be dialed back to as needed. Such a system is always on and available. Nothing (no code) wasted. Of course as long as variations/versions are available it's rather hard to transcend them isn't it? Support for past versions supports old and/or obsolete ideas. In coding terms I understand the difficulty in stepping away from iterations. Someone must track the code changes or risk breaking things. In a perfect world earlier versions of features might still be there but they would be transparent to the user unless needed. If you want to fix a bad installation you'd simply reinstall the current version or revert a feature as needed. If someone came to the forum saying, "I'm using the 2011 rc1" or even "2011 release (version c)" that would make a lot more sense to me than v15. It immediately conveys meaning. If we were to reread most of these queries I'd guess they state, "I think I bought it three years ago" or "I bought it in 2008". Rarer is the individual who tracks version releases. By itself v15 or v16 conveys little meaning, we must match that designation with a specific time period (wasn't v16 released in 2011?) and therein lies confusion. People often don't know so they wander around for awhile and/or guess at it. Ideally, there is the current release and (if needed for specific reasons) earlier legacy releases. I suppose they could start with version 100 and when they get to the perfection in version 1 just stop releasing. Anyway... a bit too theoretical for the purpose of a flyer but thought you'd get a kick out of my view on it. Version-ing is (in a forward looking way) an obsolete construct for me. I'm off to track down a coke (classic) but I having trouble remembering what year that was released. I seem to vaguely recall version 120005 tasted best.

Late to the party... where's the cake??? Happy Birthday Matt! Couldn't happen to a greater guy... well... umm.... err... you know what I mean. Enjoy your day!

I'm not sure they did. Perhaps it's like the Preston Blair books... I'm sure they send some business in the current publishers direction. I don't recall seeing any link to the FAS school. I have seen some for the current Preston Blair compilation. Steve Worth is pretty savvy so he should be aware. He's familiar with the struggle between owned properties, fair use and the historical record.

(Rather than add a play by play I'll just present my suggested changes. I'm trying to keep fairly close to Robert's original intent so I've backed off of my 'kill everything' approach to preserve this.) What do people do with Animation:Master? Everything! School assignments, fan films, greeting cards, visual effects, dialog tests, award-winning shorts, broadcast commercials, network graphics, zoetropes, architechural studies, dinosaurs, superheroes, bug-eyed monsters, viral internet memes, music videos, anime OAVs, cool cars, web comics and yes… even animated features. What is Animation:Master? Animation:Master is a... Included with your purchase of A:M: “The Art of Animation:Master”, a collection of video tutorials to get you started. “A:M Technical Reference”, the details and descriptions of A:M’s large feature set. “A:M Data", an archive of models, examples, projects, tutorials and demonstrations. (These resources are available both in hard copy and online) The A:M Forum: Stuck on a tutorial? Baffled by a feature? Need feedback on your project? Beginning to think it, “It can’t be done”? Log onto the most helpful user-forum in CG-dom and an A:M user will point you in the right direction. The A:M Forum contains a bounty of free tutorials, videos, projects, and examples to help you learn A:M. What’s new in 2011? A:M is now 64bit ...and 32-bit! 64-bit A:M harnesses the greater power of RAM capacity of 64-bit Windows while 32-bit A:M retains compatibility with older processors and legacy plugins. You can even install both 32-bit and 64-bit and use them together. A:M is faster! New optimizations for modern CPUs make rendering in 64-bit v16 for Windows over 40% faster. Mac rendering is six times faster! Netrender is back and now included with A:M! Operate a small render farm on your multi-core computer or extend your distributed rendering out to 50 render nodes across your LAN. Netrender’s batch rendering and multiple job-queing facility will be useful even to single core users. Other recent additions: - Enhanced Selection Flilters aid in quickly isolating any user-defined set of elements for key framing and film editing. Want to focus on just “left fingers”, “right toes” and “middle tentacle”? You can filter for that! - OpenEXR file format, the industry standard for HDR imagery and advanced compositing needs. Composite images and add a variety of Post Effects into your scenes. - The Jenpy Screen Space Ambient Occlusion plugin produces dramatically faster AO lighting effects. Download the free version from the A:M Forum. - Render Setting and Stability enhancements What can you create with A:M? See A:M User’s images and movies from beginner to advanced at : www.hash.com/stills (and) amfilms.hash.com. Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/animationmaster Minimum system requirements How can you get all this and more in 2011 for only $79! Subscribe to A:M!

Great start Robert! This'll seem nitpicky as I'm about to nitpick on everything. I'm throwing my 2 cents plus a couple thousand words because I think designing flyers (for A:M or even for local products near you) is something we can all do here. I'd replace every instance of v16 with "2011" where possible. The one may change at any time while the other is an inevitable moving forward. In theory we could have access to v15,v16 and v17 in 2011. Versions and years aren't the same and (in theory) anything other than a v1 is no longer ideal. (This is why companies use years and Xs in their marketing) At any rate, the most important reason is that it would keep the flyer from becoming prematurely outdated. That whole period space thing is awkward for me. It's hard to teach old dogs new tricks! Whether using one or two spaces after a period, the key is to remain consistent throughout. If you use two spaces after a period stick with that scheme. It's the changes/errors that draw attention to themselves. I believe the secret to a useful flyer is to remove anything that could be considered excess. (In theory this could mean no words at all if the image(s) sufficiently represent) If more words are ideal, put in a link to someplace here in the forum with more text. (text that can easily be updated and kept current versus the flyer which may be outdated the day it is printed) Again, you are trying to delay the inevitable day the flyer will become obsolete or at least extend that date. Next up... more detailed nitpicking.

You may want to grab these while you can. I'm a little surprised to see them still online. Several sites have received requests from the new Famous Artist School (operating under new hands as authorized by the estates of former FAS owners) to remove these files. Daniel Caylor (who had uploaded almost all of the FAS lessons in PDF format) posted the following notice on his site 'On Animation': 'On Animation' is a great site. Highly recommended. Here's the link for those interested in learning more about the official FAS courses: http://www.famous-artists-school.com/ I may be mistaken but my memory says Will Sutton attended/graduated the FAS course.

This seems somewhat like Qt which I thought I read Steffen Gross has been using for some development with A:M. Qt is open source development framework from Nokia: http://qt.nokia.com/ I really should lean forward and learn this stuff. I appreciate your work here Holmes. I hadn't even heard of Titanium Developer yet. I'd love to work out some basic apps to compliment workflow with A:M files outside of A:M; organizing/reorganizing project assets and altering rendering cues via a smart phone without even entering A:M for instance. I'd love to return to the idea of using low-rez 'Lendering' to quickly prototype and plan. A:M can do the job easily, I just need to be more productive with my time and effectively utilize the imagery A:M produces for me. The ability to build my own custom applications to meet specific one-off needs is ideal. I may not have that max-capacity need at present but know I will some day. Thanks for the heads up on Titanium. I'll investigate.

Very interesting Holmes!

Yes indeed! Off to a great start. As Chris states, I think you can do a Copy/Flip/Attach and then move everything into place but you may find it easier to model the other side outright. He's got an interesting face. Looking good!

That's quite a cast of characters you have there! I like your use of Sub Surface Scattering and musculature. I can only assume there is a wrestling theme in here somewhere... or is it straight up superheroes?

That's looking nice! Looks lived in too. For the skylight showing through at the top you may be able to get away with patches with a high percentage set on their ambiance setting and color=light blue. Turning up the reflectivity on some of the metal up there next to those lights might then largely complete the illusion of light shining in from the roof. Added: I notice in your screen capture that you don't have a picture assigned to your IBL (under the Environment Map setting it indicates "None"). I'm not sure what to think of that but it appears you aren't using the image for your lighting therefore... no IBL. Without the image specified you aren't getting the IBL effect into your scene.

Looking good and nice use of displacement! Don't be afraid to cheat the perspective of the vehicle a little to get the front of the vehicle into a more straight on view. This will be essential if you intend to keep the A:M logo. I haven't thought too much about it but my instinct tells me the squinted eye and open eye could be reversed to get at a more appropriate facial pose. Just telling you want strikes my fancy... it's your show!

I'm going to guess you refer to Matt' Bradbury's old 'A:M Features' wiki (the one remembered for it's excellent graphical representation of A:M)? Gone the way of the Dodo I fear. As Matt was it's creator perhaps he still has those and is willing to share. P.S. Reportedly, the A.R.M. site was hacked and because most of the links were broken anyway Vern didn't see a good reason to bring it back from the dead.

It's great to see him moving! He's starting to live and breathe. In the walk cycle, if you can move the hips up and down a little more that will add another layer of weight to him.

Sure can. Right click in the Chor and Save as Model. ***BEFORE doing this you should save what you've got now so if you ever what to go back to it you can.*** Then just work with the new Model. You are already on the right track but in reading back I want to make sure everyone is aware of this option: I would try to use that image (or a blurred variation of it) to light the scene via Image Based Lighting. You can find the Image Based Lighting settings by right clicking on the Choreography name in the PWS and opening Properties. Select Global Ambiance and then choose Image Based Lighting from the drop down menu. (It'll help to find your image if you've already added it in A:M) You can adjust the Exposure level and then tweak the lights in your scene after that to taste. As Rob suggests you are getting close! Keep in mind that there is light emitting from each of the cells and once you add that it'll really brighten up the scene. You may want to use a few strategically placed white lights set to negative settings to darken and pull the light out of those areas. This will allow the individual lights to control their own space. Note: I may have to back off of this suggestion to use negative lighting extensively because what is seen in preview can be a lot different than what appears in final render. When using negative lights check to make sure you've set your render settings to use the camera in your scene.

The two keys I use here are the Delete key and K key. Delete will remove the end of a spline that terminates at a Control Point (CP). (It will remove the last segment taking the spline back to the last available CP) The K key (think 'Kill') will separate splines that run continuously through multiple CPs. (effectively separating them) Sometimes (i.e. if you use the K key when you meant to use the Delete key or vice versa) a combination of these two keys one right after the other will be ideal.

Fun character! My one concern deals with the silhouette/clarity of the current setup. It's not easy to tell what is going on in the scene at a glance. Something like that is important to draw the attention of the viewer in and then the detail can keep them there. Sometimes it can be useful to state an action or theme, "Driving to the Market" or "Dangerous Curves Ahead". Perhaps something overstated, "Sunday Morning Driver" and then work into and out of ideas from that. I don't know what the underlying idea of your image is going to be so that is why I'm asking... grasping. Also, right along with that theme try to add some variety to the image. Can you tilt the vehicle to make the scene more dynamic/dramatic? Horizontal lines tend to have a calming effect while intensity increases with angles and diagonals. Looking great thus far.

Thanks for the background and preview of the future. I think you've got something great going here. You may already have some of these skills but if you can take a class on lighting and texturing (or make it an area of focus) that'll catapult you into the major league of animated shorts. You've got the momentum going. Keep up the pace.

Amazing as always Will. Your old design was great but this new character design looks a lot more fun!

Four months with A:M... need I say... outstanding. Please tell us more about this project and it's genesis. Can you reveal any plans for your follow up to that?

Bravo. That was great. IMO a little more polish texure and lighting-wise and that would be award winning material. Already may be depending on where you'd submit it. From start to finish you put in a lot of great details and the music selection fits wonderfully. (Not sure about issues with the music rights if you plan to push it further) ***SPOILERS!!! Select text below to reveal*** My only crit would be that the fluid inside the aliens helmet should be fairly transparent. Okay... that an a suggestion... If you could hide every clue about the fish (except the fish showing up in the aliens eye at the beginning) it'll heighten the payoff at the end. (i.e. don't mention a fish in the introductory credits. Perhaps... "and introducing Sam... as himself( i.e. fishes name here)" Absolutely control the timing of your most important reveals. I think I'll go watch that again.

Sweet looking character. Very cool. Since others are making suggestions I'll throw my hat in the ring. He's got a pretty blank expression on his face. Is he enjoying this? If he is then perhaps a really big smile on his face. A mad face would work too but I'm a little more hesitant to suggest that for the contest. Still if the following question can be answered in the affirmative... Do you want to scare all the kiddies every time A:M starts up? Hehe... a can see a bunch of kids opening/closing/reopening A:M to see him again. "Did I just see his face change?" Who ever sees your image will spend quite a bit of time looking at his face.

Looking good Gene! In order to emphasize the size of the monument and the flying of the helicopter consider bringing the camera down and having the Point of View shoot upward. Right now the viewer must be standing on top of a building while viewing the scene. If we are seeing the top of the helicopter we must be pretty far off the ground. The other option would be to place the camera farther up but then you'd have to model everything that will be seen on the ground. Hope that makes sense. A sense of exaggerated scale is what I'm talking about.