Rodney

Nicely modeled and rendered! I like the caricatured design. It's like a Stian Ervik Wahlvåg masterpiece... but simplified and cute. More please! Oh wait a second... you have posted more via your website! Cool. http://www.jostkeller.de/marinavonsee.de/3DModelle.html Tell us more about those comics. Did you draw all of those? Whoever did... I really like the layout and style. These are wonderful. Now you've got me very intriqued. If I can afford it I'd like to purchase some of these.

That coloring book is too cool Mark! I want one! (Actually.. more than one. One to color and a few to give away to really cool people as gifts.)

Great news Mark! I'll have to start saving my pennies for when your characters make the transition to action figures.

It should be noted that while you can manipulate photos in A:M this task is generally better suited to photomanipulation software designed for such alterations (Photoshop, photo morphing software, etc.) It can be done in A:M though. The benefits can outweigh the cost of rendering in cases where the image needs to be incrementally animated in ways that would be harder to do in those other programs.

I'm not aware of any tutorial that focuses on the subject but the principle is direct and simple. Steps: Create Grid in the Model Window Decal the Grid with an image (Preferrably something that can easily be distorted and still be recognizable) Open an Action Window with your Model Change to Modeling Model (or alternately you can use Distortion...Magnet or Mirror Modes) Manipulate the Control Points to change the imagery. Post your questions/images here and we'll build you a custom tutorial.

Your name is officially equivalent to the term 'prolific'. There may be some rough spots here and there in that last animation compilation but you sure know how to entertain.

Wow. Just when I think you've expended all of your energies on your last project, you go and post more great ideas/images like this. What perhaps is most impressive is that yours is 'thinking art'. The tiling aspect of this project demonstrates clearly that part. Highly impressed with you Mark. (again!)

That last one made me smile Gene!

Thanks Mark!

You made that last one a bit hard for yourself just by the fact the steps were so tall. If you can find a step (or other solid object) that is the height of your knees and try to step up on it you'll see that it's considerably awkward. Given that aspect I find you've done a pretty good job on this last one. Try it again with lower (individual) steps to walk up. That'll make it much easier for you (and your character) to walk up. The typical step is about top of boot height (under 8 inches). I'd say at at least half the height you've got there. For reference here are some images of people walking up stairs. (Be careful. Some of the illustrations, CG images make the same mistake.) These you'll have to sort through a bit but... walking up stairs (animated). For those that want to get precise or technical: Stair Height.

Nice! ...and TOO appropriate for a guy named Photoman.

Here's a question about sequence titles (not sure if I missed any specifics already mentioned). Will a title for each sequence appear on the bus (ala advertising)? Should sequence titles appear on screen after the bus departs (rendered into the beginning of the individual sequences)? Should we have a sequence title at all during the sequences? To make it easy on the editor it might be best to save the titles for the end credits but not sure what the standard will be. Perhaps this is something the editor will 'burn in'. Thoughts, recipes, remedies?

If it's an installation problem then you'll have to reinstall but try this FIRST: Hold the SHIFT key down while opening A:M. That will tell A:M to open without any previous projects loaded. Hope that works. Regarding your Library files, we just need to point A:M to the correct location. This can be on the CD or the harddrive. Personally, I recommend you copy all data files to your harddrive and then point A:M at the Library file. (We'll help you with that) Otherwise the data will be on the CD and will be write-protected. This has the possibility of causing you some problems with saving those files down the road.

Guys/Gal, Seriously. Mark is providing a basic set. *YOU* change the set to anything you want in your animation. Things do change over time at a bus stop. Pretty simple concept. Note: The editor's challenge would be to put the sequences together in a continuity that flows and entertains and perhaps even makes sense.

Mark could be tweaking this for a very long time. Might I suggest that some elements of the scene can be changed 'during' the animation. (I assume we just have to make sure it changes back)

Yes, the red shifts the focus from the bench to the sign. The black makes it a nice setup over all. That should help to keep the focus on the character. Impressive set Mark!

Very nice! I wanna attend that class!

That is off the hook amazing Stian! Love it! ...and I really love how you've managed to translate the photo into a tilt-shift miniature. Nice!

Congrats Gene and Myron!

There's been a rash of Birthdays breaking out lately. Must be something in the water. Happy Birthday Fuchur! Thanks for all you do.

Boolean spheres proof of concept: Note: The project file has excess settings tweaked because I forgot how to use booleans correctly. ...and if you ever need to animate the spheres, booleans will work well for that too. BooleanSpheresPOC.zip

I was thinking the same thing John but couldn't visualize how to do it properly. With booleans I might try to have two spheres (a blue sphere within a white sphere) and have a group of cubish shapes cut through the outer shell into the inner sphere. Specified booleans would allow for cutting through the outer shell and coloring the inner sphere. Using Bitmap Plus might be more effective.

"To infinity and... um wait... are we lost?" He looks great Mark!

There are several ways you can approach drawing lines in A:M. Here is a discussion that covers some ways others have done it before. In the discussion Nancy links to a tutorial by Darrin Mossor wherein he accomplishes writing with particle sprites. That represents what I'd call the classic approach. Sprite Writing by Darrin Mossor Note: At the bottom of the tutorial he provides a project file to explore.

Approaching perfection.