Rodney

Stunningly effective. You got everything right except the 'I think' part! When you make things look that easy... character/bow and arrow rig setup ready for animating with 2 nulls... you know you have success. (I was going to say something witty about hitting the 'mark', right on target, bullseye... something... but I don't have enough wit to throw at it) Mark, you are an Animation:Master virtuoso.

I don't need to tell you this as you've got to know it already... that is very cool Paul.

I think Robert has addressed your question but as a related consideration.... The timeline colors (background and channel splines) can be changed via Tools/Customize on the Appearance tab. If you are looking to change the grey border I think you have to change the Windows/Mac interface settings to changes those.

Ever since I first saw your character in the image in your signature I've been looking forward to seeing more. You haven't disappointed. Very nice. You've got some very nice emphasis points going on in his gesturing. I'd make some nitpicky suggestions there but I think you've already got a really good thing going.

If I learned anything from Jeff Cantin's ogrely ways long long ago it was to first suspect user error. His video where he emulated us newbies at our finest by sacrastically quoting us as saying... "It don't work!" when we were the source of our own misery via user error really made an impression on me. I remember thinking "who is this idiot!"... but dammit... he was right. There are so many options in A:M to turn on/off... its so easy to forget... user error is generally a pretty safe bet. Glad you got it figured out!

Keith Lango had this to say to the A:M Community many years ago about lighting and render times. I think it holds just as true today as it did back then: As Gerry mentioned for testing purposes you can have A:M render the specific frames you want. In the Render options you can type specific frames or series of frames into the Range: 1-1000 (Set the Step option to 100 to get every 100th frame) ...or set Custom Settings to get the frames you want by frame or series: 1, 24-35, 60, 1000 1-24

Thats a very nice model and implementation of the rig from what I can see Steve! Mark's rig is barely out of the box and already its a success.

(using this as an excuse to bump this topic up again) In thinking about the whole eye/face thing I grabbed Richard William's 'The Animator's Survival Kit' and looked through it. I recall it has a lot to say on the subject. One quote in particular I thought was really worth noting as it can apply to every character animation project. How very true. Have I told you how much I highly recommend this book? If you are an animator (and you are!) you really need it as a reference. Every time I pick it up I learn something new.

Also (just in case) Depth of Field is usually best adjusted from a Top View in the Choreography. Sometimes you think you may have the settings right until you see otherwise in the top view. (Temporarily hide any large objects that block your view)

Hey, those are very nice. Bruce did a great job translating your characters to 3D. I'd like to see more! A little time spent rendering your characters out to PNG format with the Alpha Channel on will help improve the look of your webpage and allow you to share images of your character's with fans online. Edit: I see from deeper in your site that you may have used PNG or at least alpha channels there. There is lots of potential here... keep posting. Robert, Deletion of your post may have been accidental or a product of your post being in the Jobs forum? (I don't think we are suppose to reply there) Not sure here. Perhaps you can repost?

To make animating even easier only one Master Null could be constrained to the spline and all the Nulls would have their relative translates/orientation based on its location on the spline. Then you'd just animate the Master Null or the Controller Spline.

Here is a test of the principle. In the image you can see half of the Nulls have been contrained to the Path. The other half you can see still at the ends of the dreadlocks. The test consists of one dreadlock model dropped into a Chor ten times. Then each Dreadlocks Null is Path constrained to the spline below with Eases set in ranges of about 10 percent each across the spline. dreadlock.mov

May I offer an alternative solution? While it could be made to work with Dynamic Simulations there are several different ways to approach this (or perhaps enhance and better control the Dynamic Simulation?). As far as I can tell, there are two solutions you are chasing: 1- Ease in animating the dreadlocks. 2- Limiting Passthroughs The easiest way I can think of attacking both is to constrain the bones of the ponytail to a Null via the Aim at constraint. The top bone might not be constrained at all and each bone would gain 5 percent or more until at the tip you have the Ease set to 100%. Then wherever that Null goes... so goes the dreadlock. (Note: If you don't want to constrain each dreadlock separately perhaps the dreadlocks could be added in as Action Objects) This in and of itself isn't a solution as much as it is an approach. The dreadlocks need to be able to point at the Null which is in turn controlled by something else. My initial thought for a Controller is to have each Null constrained to a path found on the model itself; an extra spline around the Preditors neck that goes where the character goes. Each Null is constrained via Path Constraint at its appropriate place on the control spline. First Null=0 percent, second=10 percent etc etc. For even more control the Target Nulls might be constrained to another Null that moves along the spline. What does this do? Firstly and foremostly it provides a means to prevent passthroughs. Secondly it provides automated animation/movement of the dreadlocks. Thirdly it allows you in cases where needed to animate each dreadlock separately via the Target Nulls. Of course the Controller Spline itself can be animated as needed (via Pose Slider or Action) to animate all or several dreadlocks at the same time. I'm testing out the possibilities at the moment. Not sure I've got a good solution but so far so good.

This may be unrelated to Windows Vista. The first thing I'd check would be where your camera is pointing to (assuming you are rendering in a Choreography window). Is there anything else rendering in the shot besides blue? Do you have an image (screencapture) you can upload and share?

It reads to me as if your setting at Tools/Options on the Render Panel isn't set to render using the active Camera. Alternately, you could set the DOF in the render options there but... I recommend using the camera. This may not be what you are experiencing but it might be worth looking into. Edit: Doh! I should have looked at your images. It does appear that DOF is working. Photoman may be right. I think its just a matter of finding the right Multipass settings (Don't forget you can adjust the Blur)

Mark, Katt must be very pleased to have the assistance. Who wouldn't be! 'Just a Wooden Sword' is a fantasy of epic porportion. I'm amazed with the quality and quantity of work on display already. With your assistance more of the story can be told. Go Katt!

Very nice. It may be my volume level but I had a hard time making out what was being said in the dialogue. This was most likely due to distractions in the house on my end but I'm commenting on that aspect as I felt I missed important information. I need to go back and listen again but if the audience misses it the first time through the opportunity is lost. The classic tutorial on writing with sprites is surely Mike Cossey's 'Writing with Sprites'. You may want to approach it a little different but the lesson itself is still very relevant. To change the color you can adjust the 'additive color' attribute of the spriticle. JohnL3D has several tutorials on particle emitters/spriticles that can direct your efforts further.

Some things will forever remain in mystery. At least things are working as they should again. Thats the important thing. (I should have known... but somehow forgot... with a Mac the only option is going to be OpenGL)

I can't see anything amiss via your screen shot (the last one wasn't attached however and a view into the Project Workspace listing might help). If you look under Tools / Options on the Global tab are you using Direct3D or OpenGL? If you are using an older version of A:M you might want to look into updating your current display driver.

Yes, as has been suggested, investigate 5 point patches. If you look at the Thom model you'll see how 5 point patches where implemented on that model. If you delete the spline along the arm that creates the 6th Control Point in the unsurfaced area you'll have your 5 point patch area ready to activate. (You won't need that many splines running down the arm anyway)

It would be useful to show us a screen capture (if you don't now how just ask). Then we can see what you see. It reads like you have an option toggled on that shouldn't be (Mirror Mode, Magnet Mode... up on the top on the right of the tool menu).

Hosting is a dilemma we all face. If you choose to continue with Vimeo one option might be to run it like podcasting. This week... Creating a Calm Ocean. Next show... Animating the Ocean. Next show... Adding HDR. While not all tutorials would be in play at the same time you could recycle those that find the most interest. As one show loses interest move on to the next or present a show from the past. I see no reason why you can't keep posting your project files here in the forum to augment your show. If interest in your tutorials is high, hosting won't be your biggest hurdle... then you'll have to deal with the demands on your time and attention. So pace yourself and enjoy the problems you have. The importance of resistance cannot be overstated. Use the limitations you face to channel and focus your effort. In the end you'll have benefited from the experience in many ways. Others here can suggest possible hosting solutions. I can't.

Paul, I think this is a very true statement. In watching this video many times I never once saw hair penetration. (Still haven't as of this date) I'd guess this was firstly and foremostly because I wasn't looking for it. I'd also guess the odds of the intended audiences noticing isn't likely. In thinking back... the characters eyes/faces held most of my attention. I was completely absorbed in the storytelling of it. My critique... it was over too quick. I suppose thats the nature of the beast in commercial advertisement.

That's great Josh. That is sure to be useful in many ways (setting up skydomes, Global Ambiance etc. as well as water). Thanks!

If I had splined a character like that at 3 weeks I'd have been extremely proud of myself. You've got a nice economy of spline that most new users don't get right out the gate too. Looking good thus far!