Rodney

Nice additions Fuchur. A few suggestions: - Have someone scrub the wording. Minor changes to spelling/grammar will need to be made. - Consider running the additional text horizontally instead of vertically. Otherwise there will be unused space on both sides of the screen and everything will be much smaller to fit on the screen. - Make sure Steve Sappington wants his email address on the front page. Flash may protect him from spambots but... just in case. Rock on!

Looking good David. Nice fluid movement. 'Cartoon real'... 'Squetch'... Oh yeah!

Precisely. (But for those that aren't quite there yet there is still this forum!) There are an infinite number of reasons not to purchase a program. All you need is one good reason to jump in and start animating with A:M.

Yes, the primary problem with this approach is that there is no provision to tell A:M to render from different cameras automatically and there can be only one active camera. This 'multi-camera rendering 'can be accomplished via Netrender as that program renders from a list of Choreographies each with its own active camera. Netender isn't a viable option for everyone. It requires a knowledge of networks, troubleshooting and basic scripting for instance. For licensing of Netrender contact Hash Inc. (Personal opionion: If you can't coordinate a license with Hash Inc you won't be very effective with Netrender. Netrendering isn't hard... but it'll take a commitment.) As far as I can tell this leaves us with two options in A:M. 1) Set up and render from one camera that follows each scene in order. You could render out of sequence out of order but I'm not sure why you'd want to do that as you'd need to put them back in that sequence later anyway. Benefit: An entire film can contained in one Choreography. Best Use?: Small projects 2) Set up each camera separately and render each scene manually. You can render the scenes out to different location or to the same folder. If setup correctly the images would all automatically be in their proper sequence in the final film. Benefit: Each scene in the film is its own entity. Its easy to adjust one scene or shot without effecting another. Best Use?: Large projects

I don't think anyone will disagree with you Fuchur. The website is designed to require little change. That allows Hash Inc to concentrate on their program. Information that changes can be found here in the forum. Make sense?

In reading back I see I took this topic in a bit of a different direction after Pjfifes post. Sorry about that MajorDill! I think all of your queries have been answered. As specs change constantly for computers this is a good one to ask about here in the forum. (others will offer their suggestions concerning your needs) AMSpector posted the minimum specs for A:M: The license is per user and applies to one computer. Hash Inc does offer other licenses to fit your specific needs. Drop them an email and ask. Your best option is going to be the A:M CD. The websubscription must be refreshed each year. The CD you can use 'as is' forever. A lot of models are shared right here in the forum. One could say its a benefit of being involved in the community. There is an Extra DVD available with 5GB of data via the online store ($30). Content from most of the Extra DVD's precursor (the Extra CD) can be found HERE. Again my apologies for taking us off topic.

In a way that is rather the point here. Someone who can't find their way to their answers via this forum or the current website just isn't going to do well with A:M (at least not until they make the adjustment). There is a mindset we all have that sets us out to promote A:M 'better' and share it with the world. Its an honorable thing but the effort often misplaced. If only... If only the website said this... If only A:M did that... If only Martin would listen to me... dammit! Guys and gals, we've got to get over that. (as AMSpector says, "get over ourselves"?) Admittantly, thats going to be hard to do as a newbie or a potential customer. But its essential to success. One cannot 'Yosh Yosh'* and coddle the defiant infant until it ceases to rant. *'Yosh Yosh': the japanese equivalent of saying 'There There' while patting a child on the bottom or back letting them know things will soon be better. We've watched many an A:M user rise to success here in the forum. Their success and satisfaction with A:M seems directly porportional to how much they try to turn A:M or its user base into something else. To pjfife what can be suggested? If you have specific questions about A:M... here is a good place to ask.

Thats great Mark. Fun and Funny. I hope you saw JohnL3D 'encased in ice' project. That effect would serve you well. I know there've been several projects featuring snowflakes posted in the forum too. (JohnL3D has his guilty tinkering fingerprints there too I'm sure!)

Hey Fuchur. That's a very nice write up. I don't think I've seen that before.

Good luck with your search. Edit: Manual and Tech Ref in PDF format... a manual manual download... two clicks off the main page... click... click. (note: it does take 3 clicks to get the download) The opposite of deliberately obtuse.

...and of course there are the old classic pages: http://www.hash.com/am2007/ http://www.hash.com/am2006/ http://www.hash.com/am2005/ http://www.hash.com/am2004/ http://www.hash.com/am2003/ http://www.hash.com/am2002/ http://www.hash.com/am2001/

Just as a note of contention... A google search on "animation:master features" turn up more information about A:M than you can shake a tree at. Here is some information still on the Hash Inc site that isn't readily linked to. Shhhh... its a secret! Interface Features Modeling Features Animation Features Rendering Features Materials and Object Attributes Effects and Miscellaneous (Yes these lists are a little old. Probably one of the reasons why they aren't linked into the front page.)

Shhh.... don't tell people they can composite images... who knows what that would lead to. Very nice Elm. Thanks for sharing that effect! I search for and found the topic I was thinking of here.

Matt, You know I'm a sucker for any animation that is related to TaoA:M in some way. That flag waving in the background... sorry... I'm getting emotional here. (if it weren't so TaoA:M I guess it'd be the patriotic aspect of it all) What I'm really saying is... Well done. These are really fun commercials. I'll bet that tire (by this I mean your animated character) has quite a following in your local area. I can see why your client keeps coming back to you for more.

Finally got a chance to download and watch this. Wonderful!!! I am curious about those candles... they look like they were inspired by Anders tests posted here in the forum long... long... ago. Needless to say you continue to impress. Saturn is one very luck company to have you creating their advertisements. Edit: I've watched this thing about 20 times so far. Theres something new to see every time.

You are right Gerry. I don't mean to suggest this is not a fair observation on his part. I assumed he meant the main Hash Inc site. Its designed to be very basic. I think the idea (my opinion only!!!) is to discourage those who shouldn't be interested. As I said... if A:M is right for you... you just know it. (This isn't meant to suggest that you won't have some doubts... I did.)

Hey... while looking at the Hash Inc site I noticed something new (Besides Stian's cool truck on the front page that is). Hash Inc is selling sets of A:M! Hash Animation:Master 5 Pack How cool is that. Wish I could clone myself cause then I could take advantage of that.

Entirely your decision to make. You'll find A:M an excellent program. Let me address of few of your concerns though... You are kidding right? What information is it you are lacking? If you purchase the CD version of A:M you'll tie yourself to the CD but those of us who have opted for the $79 download... have no need for the CD. The CD is not required to run A:M. Say what? I can't keep my collection of tutorials organized as it is. Keep looking... you'll find 'em eventually. I'll go out on a limb here and suggest this is by design. Its an effort to help people concentrate on features already available versus what can be conceived in the mind. Its not hard to find what features are available though. Easiest way to find out... ask! Three clicks of a mouse on the Hash Inc site reveals: system requirements Are you unhappy that there are manual downloads or that there aren't... not sure here? Manual downloads of what? I've been told Hash Incs online help is the best in the business (whether Hash Inc the company or the community you meet here in this forum). As a satisfied customer I happen to agree with that assessment. You got that one right. There is little need for a demo with a program that only costs $79 but delivers (my opinion here!) $1500 worth of features. If you need a demo to be able to see that A:M is the program for you... Link / Link ...it may be best to move on to a more expensive product. Save yourself $79-$299 in the process. A:M isn't for everyone. You'll know if its right for you. But... way to make an entrance.

Perhaps most importantly... post your results here.

There are many other options to use with the Terrain Wizard besides painting. - Try that Load button to import images (Color images will be converted automatically to grayscale) ...and of course you can use the same image as a texture on that terrain! - Try that Render button (adjust the Noise type and scale and Render again)

Try to keep your experimenting simple at first. Even simple terrain can work well after texture is applied.

Blur can help you create much smoother terrain.

A very handy method of adjustig your height map is to use a filter. Blur works really well. If you want to repeat the application of the filter several more times select the Apply button.

Remember that the smaller the mesh the less detail your terrain will have. Its usually a good idea to keep paint colors smoothly transitioning in your height map. Painting white next to black will cause major changes in your terrain.

When painting on the screen adjust the slider on the left up or down to paint your height map in grayscale colors. White/lighter colors create elevated terrain. Black/darker colors create depressions. Try several different options. Experiment and see what you get.