Rodney

Its hard to be more specific without knowing your specific goals. Animation is a pretty big category. But animating with A:M... heck, even I know you can do that! Hey... tougher questions please!!! You are well on your way already. Welcome to the A:M Forum!

Essential stuff: Basic Tutorials (video tutorials that take you through the manual and get you up to speed quickly): http://www.hash.com/2007web/vm.htm Start with Exercise 1! Reference: http://www.hash.com/2007web/reference.htm Download The Art of Animation:Master PDF file and the Technical Reference. Keep them handy. If you follow the manual you'll have a good start on your characters within a few weeks. If you don't follow the manual you'll still have fun... but you won't be as successful as you want to be.

Chris, I've been where you are now. We all have. My advise to you at this moment (about modeling your characters) is... Don't. (Not right now!) You've got these great ideas... don't lose them! So... how to animate those images while you are learning how to create them in 3D? That is the question. Start creating an Animatic. (You can visualize a lot in 3D images this way) Start working your way through TaoA:M (the manual). Move back and forth between the two and apply what you learn to your project every day. Before you know it you will be well on your way. Most importantly... Welcome to the A:M Forum! Have fun!

A little Question and Answer if I may? I assume you've already scanned your image into your computer. Do you know what image format it is in? What are you wanting to do with the image? Animate the image? Draw Splines on it to create a model? To answer you basic question on how to bring your drawings into A:M: Open up the Project Workspace (On the Menu bar select VIEW / Project Workspace) Alt +1 is the shortcut key combination. In your Project tree find the Image section and Right Click Select IMAGE / IMPORT Browse to your image and select. Now your image is in A:M and can be used as a Rotoscope, Layer, Texture etc. Bonus tip! Most images can be Dragged and Dropped right into A:M! Try it! - Place an image on your Desktop or open a Directory Folder - Position A:M so you can see both A:M and the Folder - Drag - Drop - Your image is in! (While other image formats and even movie formats will work here I am currently recommending .JPG or .PNG)

Continuing the discussion... General Point of contention: "The problem with forums is that they are not the ideal structure for holding tutorial information." "Thus far the forum has offered a more permanent place to host tutorials than any other historically." I'm having a hard time seeing this post prioritization as a disadvantage. Is it really a disadvantage if the most popular information stays at the top of the list? Even wikis cannot keep all information in the spotlight. Something has to give. Most wikis have a search function to assist with finding information. Searching is something New User should learn to use early and often as it'll help their organizational skills. I think that like forum posts in general, older tutorials are harder to find because their titles don't always effectively convey what can be found inside. A topic titled "Boolean cutters" is going to help everyone interested in Booleans find it while one titled, "Hey check this out!" is going to be missed 9.999...% of the time. Of course there are many reasons why Tutorials can be hard to find. Sites such as Sherwood's Forest and the A.R.M. were designed to help people find their subject of interest. It should be noted that creating a new site (wiki, forum or otherwise) is something beyond what the focus is here. I would volunteer to work on a 'Scarecrow of Oz' site but I wouldn't care to manage one on tutorials. 'Scarecrow of Oz' is a project with a end in sight. Tutorials on the other hand... There is an ongoing debate on the usefulness of pinning topics. One side states pinned topics get ignored more often. One side states pinning topics get information noticed. Apparently evidence exists to support both sides. My own take on it is that the fewer pinned topics the better. It seems that if you pin more than three you might as well have pinned zero. I can't speak for others but Search is generally how I find them. If I can't find them via search I generally don't find them. In those cases...other people often post links to them... so I do eventually find them. I have no problem with this as it maintains the integrity of the original post. Can you imagine what would happen if I 'corrected' a tutorial by Yves Poissant? (Well for one thing... I'd have to be very careful!!!) Editing other people's posts is a dangerous proposition. I think I'd prefer to repackage and redistribute. In the editing one might not have changed anything of substance but its the perception that'll kill you. This problem is multiplied and inherent with wikis. Barring Admin intervention, in a wiki, whomever is more persisent will have their information stick. Side note: When I took over the TWO wiki I took a more graphical approach than the previous Admin. I wanted to make it link-centric and could get away with that as this Forum has a lot of linkability. A Tutorial Wiki that didn't link into this forum would not work well in my opinion. I feel it is primarily the authors responsibility to maintain their own posts. Should the author stop doing that then an Admin might have to step up to the task. Agreed. I should note that I see the first part of #5 as a good thing. The more commentary and information mingled... the more likely the tutorial has met its goal. Hard to find information... thats another thing. This is a conditioned response and a matter of organization. I'm a fan of keeping the primary Tutorial in (or beginning at) the first post in each topic. This requires the author edit their posts. But... as long as the information is there -somewhere- the author has fulfilled their role. Those seeking the information have their role too! I've debated deleting the responses that don't further the discussion(notes of thanks for the tutorials etc.) but realize I'm not the best qualified to do that. Worse, removing those things destroys useful information and feedback. Then the information just becomes a FAQ. (I did something like this with Useful Links before and I think it helped kill it off). It no doubt made me look the egomaniac as every post in the topic was by me. Lesson learned: If you edit someone they will hate thee. Its probably better to recollect the useful information and repost it under a new topic with a link to the old. (I've read your other responses but don't want to drone on. More later...)

continued... Heck, I'm easy. I think just about everything is a good idea. Problem is... every good idea is not necessarily implementable. How do we implement... and sustain. This Tutorials forum is not only implemented... its still being maintained. I can't speak for Hash Inc but keep in mind... they aren't in the tutorial business. Free tutorials is all us baby! They have provided us with this forum and I'd like to leverage it better. Hey, its your idea. If you don't know..! Stay excited. Thats how we can assure success in the initial effort. What to do when the excitement fades... that's my worry. Lets not create something that no one wants or is interesed in maintaining. (This goes double for the ideas I've suggested!) Good ideas may need to be adjusted to fit but they never go away.

Apologies for the long length of this post. Thanks for adding in your thoughts and discussing the possibilities. Here are my thoughts related to your post: I don't want to in any way downplay the contributions of Jim Sherwood, Vernon Zehr or those that hosted tutorials (theirs or others). We wouldn't be where we are today without their efforts. There are a host of reasons website fade away. Often people just move and the old sites go away. Maintaining such sites is usually a labor of love (with emphasis on the labor). I'm in an awkward place of disagreeing with you here. Thus far the forum has offered a more permanent place to host tutorials than any other historically. There is one exception that I can think of; websites hosted by Hash Inc. I've found Forums are in many ways more ideal than wikis, websites and ftp download areas but that's debateable. ...and make no mistake about it, Hash Inc runs this forum. I'm just a squatter in this space. I agree with everything you say here except I would de-emphasis or remove the word 'new' as well as my role in this space. My knowledge of almost any subject is quickly depleted and error prone at best. That's another reason why I like to link to other peoples resources... they are more knowledgeable on the subject and I know this very well! When someone creates a -new- tutorial I will always be happy to link to it but to ask anyone to create a new tutorial without offering something in advance (money... another contribution... whatever) I think is a bit beyond the scope of our effort here. Make no mistake about it... we ARE very interested in people creating new tutorials but what we see historically in tutorials is offered from a special breed of A:M User. The tutorials that exist already are created by those who are apt to teach and willing to make that effort freely. Its not enough to be a consumer in this space. My advice... before anyone even thinks about requesting a tutorial... contribute something first. It doesn't have to be perfect... it doesn't even have to be correct. It might just be encouragement, or a question or a comment that furthers a discussion or helps someone overcome an obstacle in their way. Its a proven fact, the quickest way to get a new tutorial is to create one yourself! We serve the creative types who contribute in this space and it is truly an understatement that their time and effort on our behalf is greatly appreciated. I thank them on behalf of generations of A:M Users past, present and future. The TWO wiki is only stale because Martin and I stopped updating it. So, we are to blame. For my part, the reason I stopped updating it was that I thought it was fairly complete. If I had recieved even one request to keep updating it... I'd still be typing TWO stuff in there. It was a fun and rewarding experience. I learned a lot. I think I'll go out on a limb and suggest if the wiki is used for anything at this time is should be to promote 'Scarecrow of Oz'. I'm not opposed to melding links and information about A:M and its features with SO in the wiki........ in fact I'd volunteer for that today. But I think, and this is an important 'but I think", the emphasis should properly emphasize TWO and SO... not A:M's features. (I hope thats an acceptable distinction?) I'd be more convinced if a few more people contributed tutorials here in the forum first. If this forum is a resounding success it can't help but spill over into other areas as well. Other A:M wikis have not been very successful to date. I think that was the case before... I'd have to investigate. Easy enough to test. I'm going to play skeptic here. Bear with me. I mean no slight on A:M users but... the majority of A:M users can't even edit their own forum posts. I'm not sure how many are up to editing a wiki. In favor of the idea... I would guess the knowledge and ability to do such editing increases every day. I'm not sure what attachments/file types can be uploaded to the wiki. Many of the images and movies linked in the TWO wiki are hosted here in the forum. They were linked in from here to the wiki for several reasons: - So that multiple images wouldn't fill up Hash Inc's servers - The thumbnail images were all preformatted to a manageable size (and could point to the full size image just by removing "_thumb" from the end of the URL... so... I got two images for the price of one link). - I figured the forum would be around longer than other sites so links wouldn't break - Its was easier to link to the forum versus upload - Much of the information was already collected (and formatted) in the forum I'm easily won over. Now we've just gotta figure out who 'whoever' is. Need names, phone numbers and shoe size please. There are downsides to wiki maintenance. The primary one is... that infernal maintenance. Here I think we've strayed away from the Tutorials area into something else. The idea of a Mentorship program was floated before but its champions have long since faded away. I think its a great idea but there aren't a lot of people offering free mentorship these days. Those that are... keep pretty busy already. If you want to get mentored... or offer mentorship... I heartily recommend getting involved in 'Scarecrow of Oz'. Thats the best thing going in A:M Mentorship these days.

Can you be more specific? As far as I know all of the Extra CD links work except two (and they don't link to models).

v11 was awesome... but the current version of A:M blows it away. v11 is to v15 like night is to day. (Fuchur has provided excellent links... check them out.) If more people had upgraded from v11 (5 years ago!) you'd be looking at a whole lot more features to upgrade to today. Take the risk, see for yourself... only $79 a year. Build yourself a brighter future with A:M today! We really need to run an 2009 websubscription campaign. If you are using anything earlier than the current version... time to upgrade!

Robert, I'm going to be rough on you here... standard disclaimers of personal opinion apply. You took the easy way out on that tap dancing... having it all off camera... don't think the audience won't notice! You've got the quantity... now you've got to use your power wisely. You may be bored but DO NOT bore the audience. Better to edit the soundtrack down to something a little more manageable and spend some time on quality than to lose the audiences interest. This one didn't lose me but it came close several times. Are there any specific areas you'd like to have done better yourself? You might share those with others here in the forum. The feedback you get will take your productions to the next level. Keep on keeping on!

Michel, Forgive the piddly rendering/action of Shaggy but I felt like celebrating so threw this together. I've hoped to set aside time to rig characters and try out Mark's 2008 rig but haven't settled in yet and got it done. I've come close a couple times though and hope to do some rigging in the coming weeks! Your rigging of Shaggy really takes him to the next level. Exercise 13 of TaoA:M... is going to be so much more fun!

If you had a really big budget... you could have snippets of other people stopping at the gasoline stand. The trick there though would then be... Main visit ...next vistor ...next ...next (punchline) In something like this the story would usually have the clown laughing each time at his own brilliance and ability to get everyone one... every time. In the end he gets his come-uppance and... the punchline gets thrown. (Clown gets into his own car... laughing hysterically at the losers that fell for his joke... prepares to drive off... tries to crank ignition... ... Close in on Gas gauge as needle displays his car tank is empty... zoom out to show just how big the desert is that he is in... fade to black as laugher fades. Clown screams... Arrrrggghhhhh!) Alternate: He drives off laughing... but laughter fades as car runs out of gas... pushes car back to gas station... only to find out his previous vistors took all the gas. Seriously though, there is quite a considerable bit o' gold to mine in your basic story. I just don't want to have to pay to produce it all!

Now that you are having great fun with that angle... I turn on you again. One thing to be mindfull of when closing your story is to avoid pursuing the easy out. I think you are safe here but... I want to illustrate my thoughts on the subject if I may. Its very common for an element early in a film to reappear at the ending. Actually, its very hard not to do this in storytelling! The danger is in telegraphing or allowing your audience to anticipate the ending. In other words, the principle of Anticipation can be both a good and a bad thing. In animation you generally want to anticipate the activity so that the audience has time to view and understand the purpose. Generally, in storytelling you want to do the opposite, don't let the audience know anything more than you want them to know at any given moment. This makes the ending, or twists and turns in the plot more fullfilling (the audience is filled all the way full by the time the film ends). In such a short film as yours you play this well. There is no reason to think the clown has anything to do with anything through the film. The audiences attention is quickly grabbed by something familiar (the gasoline stand) and the activities going on there. The clown is (in my estimation) completely forgotten. You've delivered that part really well! Now the danger is in following the easy way out at the end. Think about that ending... then think again. If the idea came too easily then it most likely will not be the best ending. I think immediately you have the opportunity to seal the deal on your first film by altering the audio alone. Adding a laugh track as the credits roll for instance. For that first film that'd make for a very satisfying ending. The clown is not seen and yet simultaneously clues the audience in while grabbing their interest with a desire to learn more. At that point you've got the audience right where you want them. But... can anything else be added from there? Can anything else be done? Yes, I think so... but be careful. First, think in terms of economy. What would be the best bang for the buck if you had limited time/money to spend on this? I think the auditory laugh is a safe bet for you there. Beyond that you can go just about anywhere (if you got the budget for it!) Remember Pixar's outtakes where the audience got to see more of the characters at the end of their films? People loved those almost more than the movies themselves!!! You want to know why? It was through those innovative flashbacks that the audience got to relive the experience, learn more about the story and see 'old friends' again. I think there is an opportunity here to explore more of the story with that clown. But again... be careful. Whose story is this anyway? Do you want the clown to overshadow the main character? If not then you might want to play that whole clown aspect down. This is where the ending with an offstage laugh might pay off again as it leaves the main character's status intact. Note: I am not suggesting you abandon what you've added to the ending just now... I am however suggesting you consider what you can do with that to take the tale (your original one) even further. Think about opportunities for subtlety... if you are going full out one direction... make sure you go the other direction (anticipating the action and the storyline) first! Daniel... I love what you've got already so trust and follow your instinct. All this is just words. As you can tell, I really enjoyed your film. Rock on! (Apologies for the length of the post... it was much shorter in my mind!)

Daniel, Thank you for taking the time to relate your experiences. Feedback is extremely important (especially to the newbie in us all).

Daniel, I watched the first time without the sound and thought it was terrific. Watching again with the sound... I think it nears the element of perfection in storytelling. What you've got here is more than just a nice short film. Its the very reason we are all here; to tell stories with 3D animation. That you've accomplished this in such a short time... an tribute to you personally. I loved it. In your next project spend preproduction time learning about lighting and texturing and you'll be dangerous. In my opinion there is only one glaring omission in this film; the Clown needs to be seen (or heard) again at the end. Bravo. More of that please!

Mark, I've gotta say... This image (and your work in general) goes beyond 3D into something else. Beautiful imagery.

Bravo! I don't mind that level of quality resolution one bit. It provided a nice TV production feel to it. What a great addition to have for the comic strip! Encore! (Okay... maybe you can rest up a little... you've earned it!)

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I hope everything works out for you things get back to normal quick. I wanted to post a quick shout out to you for this very awesome character. I've been using your Panda to conduct some lighting and rendering tests and he's made it so much more enjoyable. He clearly knows more about lighting and rendering than me! Both you and your Panda are an inspiration. Thanks so much for sharing him. (...and you've reintroduced me to SSS. Thanks for that as well!!!)

I don't think your subscription expired but... it is possible. (The first of last years websubscriptions are beginning to expire so if you purchased a websubscription one year ago that would apply to you.) To renew just visit the Hash Inc store and purchase a new subscription. It should take 15 to 20 minutes from start to activate your new subscription. Even less if you are familar with the process. The activation code will be delivered to you (in the store and via email) at time of purchase.

RAM can help to free up processing of -real time previews- and such but it has been said (and I believe it) that nothing speeds up rendering like a faster CPU. I'm sure there is a point where better and faster CPUs generate negligible benefit in comparison to something 'almost as good'. I'll yield to the experts there. Unless something has changed... final rendering is all about CPU processing speed. Your most dramatic speed increases of course will be those that take into account your production goals. Developing effective organization, workflow and such will (I think) be more valuable than any piece of equipment you can purchase. I've used both and like both but I've found a good mouse to be better equiped for use with A:M (a lot easier to surf the net with a mouse too IMO. Now if you are drawing a lot more than modeling and animating... totally different story. For drawing and painting I prefer the tablet by a very wide margin. (Probably gonna upgrade mine soon as my Wacom pen is broke)

I think it looks real. (as in 'perfection')

Justin, That surely must be art because I did not understand a bit of it. (You can't get quotes like that from Rolling Stone magazine so... leverage it!)

Apologies for messing with your dragon but I thought he'd look nice in color. I was going to render out a flickering flame-like lens flaring thingy... but apparently I've surpassed the the level of my competency here. The lens flare doesn't show in final render and not enough time to investigate before work. Of course to get a similar lighting effect on our objects we could just light a 4 CP patch and then use that to decal the objects in the scene.

...and we can leverage A:M's considerable power to relight and recolor existing images. Special Effects included!

Nice dragon! You demonstrate nicely why there is no reason many of our decals (even animated decals) can't be made in A:M. Lighting can be used to nice effect on flat geometry too. The only real 'trick' to the art seems to be starting from a mid gray tone or darker rather than white. Starting from a white object is hardly ever a good idea as its hard to get brighter than white. The attached is a 5 point patch animated over 30 frames (6 frames represented at 5 frame intervals). The only things animated is the one white light (with a negative value) moving over the top of the thing and changing of the patches Bias Magnitude values. Four other lights placed near the patches CPs provide the other color shifts. Edit: Should have said... the brightness of all the lights were animated throughout as well.