Rodney

Got the email. I'm curious about the general character of the chicken: - Clueless - Crazed - Attentive - Overly Happy - Sleepy - Fill in the proverbial blank _____________ I did a few quick tests and it looks like to be a straightforward job. You might even be able to throw a couple different chickens in there if that isn't too distracting. I agree with what others have said about your lighting. Getting better and better all the time. This shot is really looking good.

I hope everyone with even a cursory interest in tutorials will avail themselves of free screen recording programs like Camstudio. If you are into animation you need to be recording at least some of what you are doing. If you are really serious about animation I recommend a dedicated screen recording program like Camtasia. The real reason to have any recording program is to allow others to see from your point of view. This can help with troubleshooting, help with create demonstrations and assist with your production workflow too. If you've ever watched someone else perform something new in a video you know the value of using screen recording. Its a very useful tool. You don't have to make tutorials of course but once the raw video data is recorded others could. And when you need assistance it can certainly help others help you. Zayrin, You have already proven you are a good teacher. You deserve serious credit for the teaching you are already doing. I've certainly learned a lot from you. I agree with David here. It takes time to create tutorials. Time is valuable and limited for those people who make tutorials too. Most people didn't get into animation in order to make tutorials. Most are created as a way of saying "Thank you for sharing your tutorials." If interested in seeing more tutorials on a given subject start by creating and sharing a few tutorials of your own. If nothing else it'll help to understand the work that others put into them. If you have a subject matter of interest ask about it here. Its quite likely others will be interested in the subject matter too. And someone may be willing to create tutorials. If there isn't one or two already available to use. Edit: I think we've very effectively hijacked Gaduunka's topic. In light of that I've changed the title and moved it to the Tutorials forum.

That sounds so wrong. Can you email me the decal(s)? There is probably more than one. I'm not anywhere near my Extra DVD. rodney.baker at gmail.com (all other spam from forum users welcome too)

No, don't get rid of him. He looks great and I think will add a lot to the film. If I can find the decal I'll alter it for you. I'd say the same thing about modifying the Knight too but he's an A:M icon. The important thing is to make these characters and props your own. It may not make much of a difference now but years later you'll be glad you did. The resources on the CD/DVD are indeed all there to use. -------------------------- On a technical note - brick wall patches/mortar -------------------------- It may just be an illusion but I think a patch on the left side brick wall is reversed. It makes the Mortar seem to come out of the wall whereas the other areas of the wall have it going in.

Very cool! Is there no genre/theme you aren't good at? (rhetorical question... we all know the answer to that) Edit: If that is the freebie chicken I'd suggest altering him a little. Open up the decal in your paint program and just make him your own. Besides covering your arse I think it'd make your video all the better too. Unless of course you want to include the chicken as a homage to Tak and the Power of JuJu.

I was about to head off to sleep and thought I'd put of commenting until tomorrow. Nope. This praise can't wait until tomorrow. That is really outstanding!

Looks spot on to me. A quick comparison with the example I just posted (for the uplifted hoof) has it matching exactly. (Ken's suggestion to sharpen up the hoof a little is a good one. Just in case you missed that.)

It sounds like you got my suggestion even though I did everything I could to confuse you. I've attached an image that hopefully will explain my thoughts more clearly. If the Satyr isn't placing any weight on his hoof (if he is lifting his leg off the ground) then you have a pretty good position already. If he has any weight on that hoof the rotation should go in the other directions in order to support that weight after making contact with the ground (see attachment). Hope this makes a little more sense. Note: If you move the focus of your eyes back and forth from the top image to the bottom focusing on the rear legs you can see how a Satyr might walk/prance.

Gah! Just as I was about to hit submit my browser crashed and my post went bye-bye. With it about 30 minutes of research and suggestions vanished without a trace. My general suggestion was to consider the weight of the Satyr with respect to his anatomy using the horses front legs as its base. The joint under consideration appears to be the Fetlock (literally 'foot lock') which deals with supporting the horse and the leg. I can regrab the references if you are interested. My suggestion was to consider whether having the Satyr lean forward would be more effective. This would require you to rotate the lower bones below the fetlock the other way. The primary time we see the rotation as it is in your image is when the horses paw and the ground or jump when there is no weight on that hoof in place. As you've got the rotation now it seems technically correct but this is because the Satyr is leaning away from the stage. If he was leaning forward the weight would shift/rotate the joint forward. Compositionally it might prove to be a better way? Here is an image of the horses leg anatomy with the fetlock on display. (the one I managed to save) As far as I can see, if there was any weight on the hoof the rotation would be angled the other way. I did want to also comment on little on the Sluagh. (Very intriguing character!) I get a little lost in looking at her as her eyes don't convey what she is thinking of/looking at as much as I'd like. At first glance the direction of her gaze appeared to me to be going off to the right. Making it absolutely clear what she is looking at (I assume the apple) will direct the viewers attention throughout the scene and help balance the composition. Perhaps darkening them or allowing more of the white around her eyes to appear would help her out. Hope all of this isn't too far off the mark.

Mark, If its not too much to ask please drop a rough storyboard image or two on your blog. I love that 'Here's whats coming up next' stuff.

You have officially lost it Matt. You've caught the StianEric flu and apparently thats fatal. I'd think you might be able to get a good effect just by scaling the bill out and making it appear to come out of a flat dollar bill. Who needs to stretch their money when it can tranform into 3D. You so crazy though...

I had to read back quite a way. You are making great progress! Funny you should mention this. I was trying to find a way to articulate it but it seems that if you were to draw a straight line from the knee to the end of the hoof (on the right leg that is) that would be about the right angle. This would also keep it in roughly the same configuration as the left leg. Its that wide angle at the last joint that really seems strange to me. Having the platform there on the left seems to lessen the effect of the legs angle a little... I'm not sure what you've got planned there. Too early to tell. I don't have enough positive things to say about your effort here. Its really amazing. Your work is unlike any other I've seen anywhere. Very unique. (which is a very good thing)

Very nice. I like! There are several ways but the one that immediately springs to mind is: - (Under the settings in a Choreography or Action) Turn the Ambiance setting on the suface properties up (and turn it way down when you want to dim the light). The surface should also have an Ambiance color to make this work if it doesn't already.

I see Holmes's tutorial topics have been viewed 8558 times here in the forum as of this date. That's quite a lot of views and I know its been an education for those that have worked through the tutorials. Newbies (and old timers too)... as you are working your way through TaoA:M keep an eye on these tutorials. You'll find them to be useful extensions of those basic exercises. If you've learned something drop a note into that tutorial topic. It'll bump the topic up for someone else to see and thank the author of the tutorial too. Thanks Holmes for these outstanding tutorials.

It is related to video card but more likely you are seeing problems with Windows Vista's Aero properties. I turned my settings off and haven't seen any similar problems since. I must admit though that I've forgotten where to turn the Aero properties off. It should be in your Vista Control Panel. Note: It is a good idea to double check and make sure you have the most current video driver for your card.

Outstanding tutorial Robert!

Somewhere in the forum Bob Croucher discusses the Pros and Cons of two methods of Key Groups. I've lost it for the present but its there. I did find this Tech Talk that may be of interest: http://www.hash.com/ftp/pub/movies/techtal...ps%20Poses.html Warning: Large file (but its streaming)

That doesn't sound right Matt. Copy/Paste can take considerable time and is more reliant upon available memory. Is that the way you are doing the merging Stian? I assumed you were Exporting from the Action to merge the Model and Action Object. Or... assembling them in a Chor and Exporting them into one Model from there.

Hey! What have you done with my Wannabes!!! Just kidding Mark. Hang in there. I do think the changing of your header graphic is a good idea. At least readers will know this new strip isn't something thats been broken on the webpage. The change in style and genre may be pretty jarring but I'm sure fans can adjust accordingly. Sell the controversy! So... should we all begin working on our own pirate-themed comics to fit into future cross over continuity? Maybe you could get Andy Mulia to do a short strip or two leading up to a cameo by Werewolf and Firefly. Its all part of the tear in the fabric of the time/space travel continuum thingy. Edit: Hey, wait a minute. You are going to model, texture and render all the Greyhawk characters in 3D and have them interact with the Wannabees!?? You soooooo insane. But I'm there with you!

Hey, its great to see you again. I started to repond but got distracted. My apologies. My memory may be faulty here... Make sure your FPS in the Project's Properties are set to your desired FPS as well. (See attached)

Nice. With each new addition the cathedral achieves a new sense of scale.

Interesting news Mark! I was wondering if I'd ever get a chance to see those Greyhawk characters up close and... low and behold. Keep us posted.

Its great fun to go back and read over these kind of projects as they come together. Here's an article-like view of this topic. When I think about terms to use for Eric and Stian's modeling I think of the word 'mindnumbing'. Truly amazing stuff.

Here is an working index to some of the A:M Forum's Tutorials. Featured: Holmes Bryant's Featured Tutorials Pinned: Featured Tutorials (3 replies) Pinned: Useful Links (Archive) (75 replies) Other/older classic tutorials: Making a Tutorial... (21 replies) Championing Video Tutorials (1 reply) Camtasia Decoder not Working (1 reply) Holmes Bryant Tuts (1 reply) Dink3D tutorial - Ribbed surface (7 replies) Screw head tut with keyboard shortcuts (5 replies) My first video tutorial (11 replies) What is the best free software for making (3 replies) lighting tuts from movie short (2 replies) exploding tut mov (6 replies) AUTO SAVE PLUGIN JH VID TUT V1 (6 replies) 3D_MOUSE_JH_VID_TUT_V1 (5 replies) My Animation Master Movie - Could take a while. (15 replies) Jing Screencapturing (5 replies) Custom tool panels (0 replies) Crowds (8 replies) Third Party Video Tutorials? (13 replies) How to Edit a DVD (1 reply) A:M Tutorials Forum Project for 2006 (30 replies) brick wall falling (4 replies) Calm Ocean tutorial (5 replies) Using Expressions i A:M (17 replies) A:M Features (26 replies) A.R.M. links (7 replies) The A.R.M. (2 replies) Timing Particles Sprites, Streaks and etc (12 replies) Flame Tutorial by Sine NG (5 replies) TRAINING DISKS (1 reply) How to make a spaceship explode (9 replies) Looking for star wars tutorials (4 replies) Where can I start where I left off? (1 reply) Formula from BPM to FPS (27 replies) Exploring Newton Dynamics (6 replies) Sound Problem (0 replies) cars (1 reply) More than the Manual? (3 replies) Racing tutorial (4 replies) avi and swf files (4 replies) Not able to open AM after uninstall /re-install (8 replies) Tutorial Help (4 replies) BB (1 reply) Making Tutorials (18 replies) Need a tutorial (7 replies) A look back as we go forward (0 replies) AM can convert and compress output formats (2 replies) MUFOOF (40 replies) OLD new user with something to offer (2 replies) New tool for character artists (3 replies) pathease problem (7 replies) properties help (2 replies) AM Books - what's still needed? (16 replies) Spanish Video-tutorial on-line. (16 replies) New to A:M v12 (3 replies) Will you like to join an Online Art & modelling school? (0 replies) libraries (1 reply) About Hair and Grass (59 replies) Turning a Cartoon Horse into a Zebra (3 replies) MakeFace(?) (6 replies) Help with an online tutorial (2 replies) Creating A DirtMap (2 replies) SEVEN WITH WINK (1 reply) Help With Face Modeling (4 replies) President Lincoln LipSynched (56 replies) Tools (10 replies) Irfanview and Wink (3 replies) Basic Functions and Features (6 replies) Four Basic Lessons to learn and teach A:M (19 replies) Grass Tut (3 replies) Making SIRD (3 replies) Teachers A:M Tutorial 1 (1 reply) Requests and Commentary (26 replies) How to WINK a tutorial (1 reply) 2D cartoon with A:M (2 replies) Shark landing tutorial (0 replies) In-camera smartskin. (10 replies) Flash (2 replies) The Seven Tutorials Series (34 replies)