Rodney

Technically you wouldn't copy. Instead you would import the image as a Rotoscope twice. Once for the Left side and once for the Right. In the Properties panel for each Rotoscope you'll find the place to set the location. (See image of dropdown menu)

Others will chime in here with more accurate definitions and explanations but I like the way Rotoscopes are described in the A:M Technical Reference (page 72): In very simplistic terms, rotoscoping is tracing. Of course there are good reasons for even accomplished artists and animators to use Rotoscopes. If you want accuracy using a reference image (ala rotoscoping) is a really good way to work. Rotoscoping has generally become know as a style whereby artists trace over images to obtain a more realistic effect. In modeling the use of rotoscopes is essential to keep a model on design. Most people can't just 'wing it' and expect all the splines and patches to show up in the right place. In animation the most effective rotoscoping tends to use the images as a starting place, presenting general guidelines from which to explore further. Slavishly locking yourself into the original images too closely in animation will tend to produce robotic and artificial movement that cancels the benefits of using rotoscopes in the first place. Similarly in modeling, not all images are optimized for use as rotoscopes. 2D images don't always translate precisely into 3D space. So, always be prepared to deviate as necessary when rotoscoping/tracing.

Nice example Caroline.

Most likely you tried to upload an AVI file? AVI files aren't 'internet/forum compatible'. For this reason most movies are rendered to .MOV format or... once rendered to .AVI or sequential images are converted to .MOV format. You can convert to .MOV easily with A:M. Steps to convert images in A:M: Right Click on the imported image sequence at the top of the Project Workspace and select [save As Animation]. From there you'll be given the option to save to MOV or AVI. You can also use this method to convert a MOV or AVI to TGA sequential images. Regarding the removal of the curtain material: There are two ways to remove the material. Both require you to delete the material in the Project Workspace. 1 - Delete/Remove the Material from the Stage model. or 2 - Delete the Material from the Materials area of the Project Workspace. I don't have the same project you have available so cannot post a screenshot. But if you look in the Project File via the Project Workspace I'm pretty sure you'll find the material.

The solution will most likely require 4 - 5 Point patches for each horn. Most people just flair the bottoms of the horns and position them so they look like they attach. You are welcome to design them into the main mesh but honestly I think if you are at that point the main lessons of this exercise have sunk in. If you think about real horns though... they don't exactly attach to a giraffes skin. That might help you decide how to proceed. The ears... if you want to be more accurate you'll have to attach. Messing up the head doesn't need to be all that messy if you have a plan going in. By all means if you want to work to that level of detail... we are here for you.

That is a very ambitious first project!

Kyle, After running through the Giraffe exercise if you still don't understand rotoscoping let us know and we'll explore with you more.

I assume you are talking images for rotoscoping here. You can rotoscope using 3D models and animation as well (but that is a different topic!). Hopefully I won't miss anything but... A:M imports the following image and movie formats for use with rotoscoping: Images - BMP/DIB - JPG - PNG - TGA - PCX - PIC (Macintosh only) - TGA - EXR Movies - MOV - AVI Of course just about any other image or movie format you can convert into one of these formats. Rare is the image you cannot use in A:M. Edit: Added a screenshot of the import window. Note the checkbox to the left for importing sequential images. If you don't check that you may get only the first image in a sequence of individual images. Of course if you only want the one image... don't check that box! .MOV and .AVI files automatically import the whole sequence.

Many years ago I noted that my favorite artists all tend to be fairly good at caricature. I've struggled with caricature myself. Everyone has the potential of a caricature artist in them and with A:M they can easily do it themselves. Isn't this a better response to the oft asked question from new users; "How can I animate my images?" Of course they really mean "How can I convert my images to 3D. But perhaps its better to take their question literally? In the end they'll learn not only how to animate their images but how to better ask their questions. Then having learned how to animate their images they'll be better prepared to apply what they've learned with 3D objects in space and time. Of course you can animate images in Animation:Master! This particular project consisted of a 6 x 5 mesh grid with a static single image decal. Using sequential images to create lipsync or squash and stretch effects, increasing the density of the mesh, or animating the grid in 3D perspective adds to the fun. Morphin' images. Free with every subscription. (Disclaimer: I have no idea who this guy is. He was the subject of a drawing tutorial at www.drawspace.com and I appropriated his image.)

There are good reasons for those messages. An .AVI file is an invalid Choreography file because its a movie file. You apparently are trying to open your movie in the wrong place. An .AVI movie has to be played in a video player. (A:M can do that too of course but both Windows and Macs have plenty of those) A valid Choreography file will have the extension .CHO. (You don't need to worry about that now though!) If you open your folder (My Documents) and open the 'cancan.avi' file located there, Windows (Media Player or other program) will automatically play the movie for you. This is the location of your movie. Its apparently the location you told A:M to render to. Note: I'm not sure where you saved your CanCan project files as you haven't provided enough information to know. I have to assume its in the "C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents" directory as well. Project files have the extension .PRJ and can be loaded into A:M via the Project menu.

I played around a little with RobbieLite too and really like the simplicity of the rig. I haven't installed the LiteRig yet but have examined your documentation in depth in anticipation of doing just that. You've very obviously put a lot of effort into both the rig and the documentation. I've annotated your tutorial on my end with all sorts of notes to watch for during the installation and plan to check my experience against that. I was going to suggest a few changes in documentation to accomodate new users but will hold off until I actually install the rig several times. Gotta get that real-world experience! If any of you have screen capture setups on your systems perhaps you can capture and share an installation? I'd be happy to edit any raw footage in need of editing. I'll try to screencap my installation as well. Thanks Holmes!

While such a render time is certainly not unheard of there are many things that contribute to longer rendertimes. Just the setup of the Project file alone can make a difference. In this case I suspect your 2004 subscription is contributing to the excess render time. Back in 2004 the Project file was set up differently. Delete the material that is used with your curtains and you should see much faster rendering results. Procedural Materials take considerable time to compute and render. Of course, the resulting textures rendered with the materials will tend to look much better! That's the price of higher quality rendering. If you don't need that high of quality then you can render most images in seconds and animations in minutes. Its good when we run into the occasional frustration as it demonstrates opportunities for improvment. If the rendering is taking too long... we need to change our settings and/or expectations and improve it.

Sean, Robert is very wise to suggest the exercises. Its not just good advice... it works! I have yet to meet anyone who has completed the exercises that hasn't got the tools and information necessary to successfully animate their own stories. There is more... lots more beyond the manual, but the better you do in the exercises the more successful you'll be in your own projects. Some exercises are ridiculously easy. Some are down right hard. But work your way through the manual and you'll be animating from day one.

You've definitely come to the right place. Welcome to the Animation:Master Forum! Hopefully one of those books is "The Art of Animation:Master" (otherwise known as TaoA:M or 'the manual'. That'll get you off to a great start. The video manual that walks you through the Exercises from the manual can be found here: http://www.hash.com/2007web/vm.htm

Hey Mark, Nice work... great looking character. (Suggestion: Render those PNGs with the Alpha Channel on and you can repurpose the images for use in your blog, character sheets, promo material etc!) By the looks of it I'd say you've still got the character modeling skillz!

I think its a good thing to separate the whole idea of compositing still images from that of sequential images. While there are simularities to be sure the still imagery usually has factors involved that the video sequences don't (and vice versa). Victors image with his alien Blit was still imagery. Understanding how he did that will give you good insight into how you will have to prepare objects in your scene for traveling mattes should you ever need them with video. For his composite, Victor used a paint program to remove parts of a copy of the background image for use as an overlay. He then placed the Blit model in between the background image and the foreground overlay so that he could create depth and overlapping of a 3D character in a photograph. To really sell the shot he then brought part of Blit's hand up and over (... no not really... the hand actually went through) the overlay. Two images, otherwise exactly the same, but one with some parts of it made transparent. The same effect can be accomplished with model images, rotoscopes or layers. You get to pick and choose. First things first I would recommend that anyone having trouble with adding video into A:M to first render out a movie from A:M that you can use as a test. Don't make the movie black... put something in it. (Lathe a vase or something) If you can get video into A:M then you know you have to spend a little more time troubleshooting the external video you want to bring in. Similarly, if you have problems bringing in the video you created with A:M then you know where you need to focus. The breakdown is in how you are trying to bring the sequence into A:M. Most of the successful CG Live Action shots I have seen made with A:M have used sequential images (as opposed to video) if for no other reason that separating the images out helps manage and reduce usage of realtime memory.

You can use a little HTML markup to run the loop. You should be able to do that here in the forum too but I'd have to test. The Loop attribute: So the code in the HTML would be: Didn't know about that Palindrome setting... I'll have to experiment with that! Testing... Testing...

Regardless, it still turned out quite nice. Thanks Paul. It'll probably be awhile before I do any flocking but I'll keep that in mind. That workaround might come in handy for some during TaoA:M too.

Edit: I think I misread your post Vern. You've got it right. Here's some more info on the settings: Presets are the equivalent of saving a Camera (.CAM) file with all the Render Settings (Note: But not Output settings!) for later use via the Render Dialog instead via a Project, Model, Action or Choreography. Output options such as File Format, Filename, Range, Resolution, Gamma and Frame are not saved in the Preset. At least I've never seen where you can add them and the file format doesn't appear to be compatible with adding them manually in a text editor. With Presets we can save a favorite render settings for later use and with one click know what will show up after the render. In a Preset settings such as Quality, Multipass, Motion Blur, Depth of Field, Shadows, Reflections, Particles, SSS, Fog, Toon Render, etc are saved. For many years Presets were the only effective means to save these settings separately from a Project or Chor. Its only been in the last few years that we've been able to save Cameras (.CAM files) separately as its own file format. The Camera files do have more to offer as they save all of the settings (both Render and Output Options). It does surprise me that we haven't seen more of these presets, cameras and favored settings shared in the community. But as you stated Vern most of us have long used the Advanced Settings. So, for all intents and purposes Presets and Cameras are the same with two very important differences: - Where you access them (Presets are only accessed in the Render Panel) - What they contain (Output Options are not saved in the Presets. Render and Output Options are both saved in a Camera's settings) Render Presets and Camera Settings are something I hope to add to a tutorial on cameras/rendering in A:M... um... someday. But this helps me get that out of system. Kyle! Don't give up! Hang in there.

Did I read that right... You used Crowd Flocking on that? If you did... that's one of the most effective crowd flocks I've seen to date.

Slow and steady wins the race*. Its always a treat to see what you are working on Paul. Its great you are collecting everything here in one place. You have such a wide variety of skills its inspirational to see them all come together like this. Edit: *No doubt this a quote subconsciously influenced by your Tortoise and the Hare project. I just saw your addition of the crowd. Impressive test! I'm sure you've seen Robert Holmen's tests on random action and are aware of Steffen's plugin... but if not that might work some nice variety into the cavemen's movements. Very nice!

I don't mean to drone on here but thought this was a pretty decent render of CG. CG is something of a mascot for CG-Live Action. If nothing else it demonstrates a basic Toon-look that could be used with CG-Live action. What's he doing here? I dunno. Looks like he got bopped in the head or something.

At the bottom of the tutorial by Ed Lynch that Robert linked to is another useful tutorial on the subject. Don't miss that! Here is a direct link: http://www.hash.com/Camera_Guy/lighting.html The 20MB of video footage isn't there any more but the project file is. Edit: HeHe! Looks like CameraGuy is still alive and kickin' (the model file and running action still works!)

I like #1. It just looks more 'real'. The other images look too washed out. (more like a painting/CG rendering)

Hey Pete, Welcome to the A:M Forum! The most often missed requirement for importing video and sequential images is to make sure you've checked the box that tells A:M you are importing a sequence of images. If you don't do this you may just get the first image. To test that your sequence imported correctly double click on the image (in the Project Workspace) and press Play on the scrub bar at the bottom of the screen. This'll let you know if its ready to be added as a Rotoscope or other image for use in A:M. I've had the most success by converting the video into a sequence of image files (I like Targa format best for this). As long as your images are sequentially numbered they will be set to come into A:M. Example: Image001.tga Image002.tga Image003.tga ... Many video utilities allow you to export to sequential images. (Just make sure they name them correctly or it will terminate the sequence) You can use movie formats such as AVI and MOV but make sure they don't have extraneous data attached such as proprietary compression or audio. Test this out simply by saving a few images from your video as still images with sequential names (as mentioned above). The current version has some improved Non Linear video Editing capability over v13.