Rodney

Thats pretty impressive as it stands right now. If you've done this all yourself... even more impressive. You've obviously put a lot of thought and work into this. What I noticed above and beyond a very interesting story is that you didn't shy away from some difficult animation. Each 'actor' has its own unique character too. You have a lot of little details in there that I would have cringed and tried to work around. Having the Detective eating ramen noodles for instance. Personally I'd like to see the shots recut to pick up the pace a little but as a webisode the pace may be just right. I'm hooked! I want to see what happens next! Added: I see from your blog you are planning to use Luuk's Zign Track. It'll be great to see it in action in a production like yours. Edited as Ernest clarified that he isn't using Zign Track yet. Which makes these webisodes even more impressive a feat says I!!!

urk... eh... mah... T I N C A N... has returned.

Its looks like a dungeons and dragons scene to me so consider that a success. The camera angles look like they are inspired by (early) video games. Another good thing? Read on... If you can move away from the cardinal directions (front, top, etc.) I think the composition will improve considerably. This may be a constraint of the project. Do you have a choice in camera angles? If you do I'd say... move that camera. My suggestion here... take it or trash it as necessary. If you ask for C&C don't be too surprised when you get it. That part of the deal. In C&C be prepared to take the good with the bad and filter through them both to improve your work. If something doesn't apply say "Thanks" and move on. Paul's response may have come across a bit harsh but harsh can be something you really want. If nothing else it'll balance all the 'looks great' posts.

Dad? Is that you? I had almost given up hope that I'd ever see you again! Ahem.. sorry Walter... forgive my feeble attempt at humor. I'm feeling a bit strange today. Anybody named Baker is A-Okay with me. Even if you aren't my dad. There shouldn't be much of any difference in shortcuts keys unless you created some customized keys for yourself. I'm not sure what to make of that. I think the differences you mention are from pre version 11 where Stitching came into being. Here's a short write up on the change from Add to Add Lock from 2002: http://www.hash.com/am2002/Stitch/index.htm It was a very welcome change for me. I could never go back to the pre-stitch days. Similarly there are some menu items that have changed terminology... like "Complement All". It can confuse you for a moment but you'll catch up really quick. When in doubt... just post your question here in the forum. Someone will help you out. (Exhibit A and B: Caroline and Fuchur's posts)

There are two primary workarounds I use when video doesn't work in A:M. Open from another place The first way is to open the video from the Project Workspace (PWS) rather than the properties dialogue. Once the video is in A:M then it will be available to pick from via the object's drop down menu. Select it from there and you should be set. If this doesn't work (and you still get only one frame) then you might have to crack open the Image properties and set the frame under time to 1 at the beginning and 1000 at the end (this assuming your video has 1000 frames). Either way... One way to tell whether you got the whole sequence into A:M is to open the video from its shortcut under Images in the PWS. If it displays more than one frame... you should have the whole thing. Divide and Conquer The second way would be to convert the video to a TGA sequence and import that sequence into A:M. Some video with sound may refuse to open in A:M so striping the images out removes that possibility. Care should be taken not to accidentally retime the video in the process. (Changing 24 feet per second to 30 for instance) You can then similarly strip the audio out and import that as well. Having said all of that it appears that you need to set the Frame properties in the Timing of your image.

Very impressive Holmes. You've got some great detail going in that model. Congrats on the job!

Great tip Reza. I did not know that.

This last one should be learned by new users earlier rather than later. It wasn't until I saw a SIGGRAPH video several years after purchasing A:M where I saw someone else using these keys that I learned how to do it. As I'd already established a habit of turning the model in order to move CPs around (Right click and change the view to side, top, right, left etc) I still have to remind myself I can do this key constraining even today. Old habits are hard to break so establish good habits early. ...and no I didn't read the manual. As a newbie I thought I was too good to read the manual as well. I was stoopid, okay!!! Don't do as I did. Read the Manual! ...and read the 'Wannabe Way' comic book page. Thanks for another great page Mark!

Sorry.... that was me. I usually don't edit a title other than to add a subtitle for clarification (in an attempt to make subject matters easier to find)... but I found this time that I couldn't resist. I'll try not to make it a habit because its really bad form for a moderator. My apologies. Thanks for being a good sport about it.

Make sure you are in the Modeling window and have selected something to duplicate.

Having made it through this little gauntlet I think its safe to say you can be very successful with A:M and will be quite happy with v15. There are quite a few major features that have come on line since v8 as well as little enhancements that I simply could not do without. 'Stitching' of splines alone is one reason I could never return to v8. If you have any questions whatsoever... that's why we are all here. Since v8 there has also been significant enhancements in the Manual and Technical Reference too. Take the time to download and work through them first. Success will follow your effort. You can download the Manual (The Art of Animation:Master) and the Tech Reference via the first two links here: http://www.hash.com/2007web/reference.htm

Version 8 was/is considered by most as a very stable version. Version 8.5p++ is considered the gold standard in stability. (as v8.5p++ is an incremental upgrade it was available to v8 users (and you) for free) $400? $300? Your memory is getting better. As others have stated $299 has been the going price for many many years now. And if you picked it up at a tradeshow you probably paid $199. As the current version is only $49... what to say here. If you don't want the current version of A:M for $49 take the $150 upgrade and get the CD. You get 7 years of new featurs and enhancements (and bug fixes too). Usually Hash Inc doesn't offer the discount. I'd take it before its too late. I see from your clarification that this is about 5 years to late. I don't think Hash Inc will offer the $150 discount to you anymore. They'll probably give you what is currently available: $49 subscription or $299 CD. Moderator comment: For those wondering why I'm keeping this topic up (Hash Inc is free to remove it) I think the warning is a fair one... and the underlying themes educational. If you have the CD... secure it. If you don't want the hassle of securing the CD... purchase the websubscription. There is an education to be had here and for cgarlick its apparently been a frustrating one. There are several lessons to be learned here with some options that weren't available before: - Don't wait to upgrade every 7 years or when your CD gets stolen. - Consider purchasing the websubscription to free yourself from the CD. - Get your facts straight and don't introduce yourself into a forum by acting the troll. - Don't expect Hash Inc to support old software (they make updating very inexpensive) - Contact your insurance agent if your property gets stolen I'm sure I've missed many good points. To cgarlic... you've got enough information to make an informed decision. Now you just have to make it. You know what Hash Inc has offered. You know the options available. You got your warning posted. Now the ball is in your court. Good luck and hope to see you splining again soon.

Agreed. I'm a big fan of the CD. (As of this moment I prefer the websubscription) Perhaps somewhere down the line Hash Inc will consider offering an option where we can purchase the CD with a 12 month websubscription included. That would be the best of both worlds perhaps. In the meantime the equivalent would be a package deal of both for $389 (plus shipping). Hmmm... I may have just figured out my next A:M purchase.

Sounds like yet another reason to purchase the v15 web subscription. v8 is pretty old.... 7 years too old. I'm sure Hash Inc doesn't maintain or support CDs that old. For $150 you could websubscribe for 3 years and end up with v18/v19 in the year 2011. Even though $150 is considerably cheaper than fully price for the v15 CD ($299) I'd recommend the websubscription. $49 to stay current and operational is a pretty good deal.

Made of 8 components you say? Intriguing to say the least. I'd love to see more images of details/close up of the ship. I take it you had some decent reference to work from? Or did you just jump in and create?

Impressive work! It reminds me of the 'Mind's Eye' graphic and music videos that were released near the dawn of computer animation. Your's plusses it up even further by having the five movements all related in one way or another. Major credit goes out to you for putting all of this together. I'm not sure why but 'IV Interlude' seems to be my favorite. Very relaxing too. I could guess but won't ruin it for everyone looking in. I suspect the music as well as the simple motions had a lot to do with it. For those about to watch... definitely see the higher quality versions. Will I be doing my own music for my own projects? Not impossible but... don't count on it. Nice show Maestro!

Thanks Mark! (I love these tutorials) As others have discovered the Manipulators (Translate, Scale and Rotate) are powerful tools for 3D modeling. I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't learn part two of your lesson unil several years after purchasing A:M. As a footnote: In addition to entering the text in the dialogue box you can also grab the appropriate scale manipulator with your mouse and use that to scale too. This can be useful when you want to straighten or refine a line but not all the way to zero. Of course you can enter other numbers than zero into the text box as well. Generally everyone will want to scale to zero. Keep this up Mark! At the end of the year you'll have a graphic novel.

One of the great things about this forum is the humor. Its can be dangerous too yes? Hopefully everyone doesn't take such feedback too seriously and can pull from it the elements they need to be successful. Then with the added humor the lessons learned can even proceed to the next level. When everyone is laughing and having a great time they generally are learning together. Humor is also a great release for stress. One general rule of humor: When targeting be careful who gets caught in your crosshairs. Another general rule of humor: Someone will always be offended. As long a everyone keeps the communication flowing, keeps progressing in their skills and get good feedback we are reaching our goals here.

Shajinja, One of the constraints to the new websubscription is that advice in the Newbies and TaoA:M sections hasn't really caught up with the times. Everything posted there assumes the Newbie has the physical book, The Art of Animation, in hand. This of course is an outdated assumption. In the future I hope to refine both Newbies and TaoA:M forums to take advantage of digital access to the manual and Technical Reference but to do it right will take time. Right now time is something I don't have available. I try though. For anyone looking in... take the time to download the manual and the technical reference. Both can be found here: ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/docs/ Start working through the manual (TaoA:M) one page at a time. Do this and you WILL be successful. All the intial frustrations will evaporate and you'll find yourself having a great time. Come on Newbies... we are all in this effort together. Lets help each other get through it. Together nothing can stop us from reaching our goal.

Yikes! My status feels threatened Myron. Doncha know that when it comes to quintessential "Newbies" like highlanders there can be only one? Um... tell you what. I'll flip you for it. You go first.

Yes, of course. Hang in there cpw... you'll get there. But download and read that manual thoroughly. Most of the answers to questions you can find there. Go easy on the kid guys. Play friendly. Asking and answering questions is why were are here in the forum.

Your geometry/splines are too close. Locate the area you think is the closest and adjust that first. Then resimulate and check the results. If its a complicated model you might want to save the current version and work with a new one. Then you'll be more likely to jump in and move things around quickly. Note that in some cases you might be able to remove or hide the geometry entirely. ...and the cloth similation will still work just fine.

A long shot here... but something I did years ago. Is there a chance you installed A:M with the CD in one drive and are trying to launch it while in the other? Probably not your solution but it took me entirely too long to figure it out myself. This is no doubt another reason why I'm a fan of the websubscription... no more CDs to lug around.

Eric, Excellent in more ways than I can describe here but here's the attempt... The layout The detail The textures The lighting The story The gag/punch line You've really got it going on in this image. This is a very well deserved 1st place entry. Would I be interested in more 'Behind the Scenes'? Heck Yeah!

Brian, Just curious here... did you purchase v15 on a CD or via the websubscription?