Rodney

Wow Mark. I'm loving this. From my quick look Thom Green seems a very nice piece of work. Bravo! One question. (take what follows as words from a NON-rigger) On my first test I did something crazy (not on purpose) and I rotated his upper arm around several times by accident. I never could seem to get it back in place without a little artifact in the shoulder area so just closed the model and started over. I'm wondering if you could look at that from the aspect of someone that just quickly grabs the bone and rotates the Roll Handle. Could a rotate contraint be placed on that to prevent such silly mistakes? I've done this more than a few times with the 2001 rig too which is why it seems worth mentioning. I'll post pics and try to recreate what I did if you are interested in seeing them. Everything I've seen thus far... outstanding rig. I'm wondering... is this rig a canidate for installation with TSM2? Or... Is installation similar to the 2001 rig? Thanks Mark! Attached is just a quick pose I did. My second attempt.

The CD version requires the CD to be in the drive upon startup. Its a software security feature. (keeps piracy at bay... keeps A:M's price low etc) Once A:M is started you can take the CD out of the drive.

I was looking through the Tech Ref today(Will Sutton's edited version) and I was struck again by the genius behind the programmers at Hash Inc. They've made a whole lot of considerably complicated processes amazingly accessible... even easy to implement. As I turned page after page it reaffirmed why A:M continues to be the best 3D program available at any price. But the price... woo boy the price... that makes A:M even better. $49... for Animation:Master? Ya gotta be kiddin' me. If I had to pay $299 every year I'd gladly do it for what I find in Animation:Master. (But thanks Martin... Thanks you Thank You THANK YOU... for not going there.) Who knows the number of lives you've enriched or who you've inspired by reducing A:M to $49. Martin, you've always been wiser than I've been able to give you credit. ...and you've never ceased to amaze me yet. Is $49 still a price an artist can afford... you betcha! Hash Inc, you've been creating magic for over 20 years now. I'm looking forward to spending the next 20 years exploring and creating a little magic of my own with Animation:Master!

Sure can. The websubscription is $49 to everyone regardless of their previous installations. I wouldn't use the word 'trial' here though. There is no 'trial version' of A:M. Both CD and websubscription are the same full featured A:M with all the bells and whistles (20 years worth of features!). You can even download the Tech Ref and Manual that you'd get on the CD in digital format (PDF).

Its great to see you back in the game. I haven't done a comparison... going only by memory here... The new Geddy looks like he'll have more expression available to him in posing.

I've been curious about your character (Bertram) ever since you first mentioned him. Finally... we get to find out more about him here. I look forward to your insight into the creative process of character animation too!

Outstanding.

looks like you've got your priorities straight setting yourself up in TaoA:M again. Rock on! If you haven't seen the discussions on 'Scarecrow of Oz' I want to encourage you not to miss that unique opportunity. Challenge your skills in all the ways that count. Get involved with SO at the earliest possible moment. (ahem - that'd be now!) Its great to see you back here in the forum.

I haven't had a chance to look at John's project so have no way of determining how different my approach may be. I suspect John's is closer to building a real kaleidoscope whereas this method is a straight out cheat. I would use patch images driven by a sequence of images to drive the kaleidoscope. Especially if you are just wanting to create the image you first posted. The image is basically just a repeat of the same image multiple times around a common origin. If you were to lathe a fairly simple cone from a 2 CP spline then either flatten that or set a camera up to view it correctly applying a image to the Group should work pretty well. (16 cross sections in your image... or is that 15?) Consider transparency Consider flipping Normals Consider Rotating individual patch images Consider multiple layers of sequential images applied to the same Group Edit: Attached is an example of the basic idea first image (left) is the basic image used second image (middle) shows the geometry used to create the results third image (right) shows the results

Rather than get lost in my own opinion here I'll extract and combine the info from the A:M Tech Ref on the subject. The basic difference (oversimplified) is that transparency maps give you gradations of transparency whereas Cookie cuts are all or nothing. Experts please correct me where wrong. (Note: There seems to be an image of the leaf with background missing from the left side of the attached image but it should otherwise be good info)

I'm unable to check at the moment but perhaps you can remind us... Is there a Library (.lbr) file that comes with the download? There should be. Once you've located the Library file then its a matter of checking two basic things: 1 - Make sure A:M knows the location of the Library File 2 - Make sure the Library file is correctly pointing to the resources. For instance, if there is a .lbr file name 'Hash Installed Libraries' in a directory named 'Data' in the v15 folder such as this: C:\Program Files\Hash Inc\v15\Data\Libraries\Hash Installed Libraries.lbr A:M must be pointed to that location in order to see the libraries in that 'Libraries' directory. (See link below for information on setting up A:M Libraries) With the Library file in place we've correct troubleshooted #1. Now to consider the data shortcuts found in the Library. Inside the file 'Hash Installed Libraries.lbr' should be among other resources the shortcut in text: [TUTORIAL] FileName=../Html Tutorials/Hello.tut [ENDTUTORIAL] This tells A:M to create an icon under the Tutorials tab pointing to a file at the following location: C:\Program Files\Hash Inc\v15\Data\Html Tutorials\Hello.tut If however the Library file is placed in a different level directory... say the v15 folder... A:M won't be able to find the resource as the Library is pointing to a resource that is not there. If you can see an icon at all however this is an indication that the Library file is in the right location. Missing icons indicate that A:M cannot see the Library file. Icons other that those assigned to the resource (the default icons) indicate the resource is not where the Library shortcut says it should be. While the resource may be copied onto the harddrive the resource is effectively missing... as far as A:M Libraries are concerned... not there. So the 'trick' is to make sure A:M sees the Library and the Library is in its proper place relative to the resources. Don't move or copy Libraries anywhere else. For additional information check out the basic tutorial for installing Libraries: http://www.hash.com/lib/win.html

Some additional information that bridges the gap between using distortion when modeling and animating was posted by Heath Hash a couple years ago in the Feature Focus area of the forum. Feature Focus - Distortion Boxes In his feature Focus Heath also links to the main write up on Animated Distortion that was released when the feature was first released. This should be similar to the write up that can be found in the Tech Reference. Animated Distortion

I think... think... think... I know the answer to this. I cannot test and confirm at the moment. Can you not toggle off the Render Mode in the Chor for the object and still have it cast a shadow? Thats the wireframe looking thing to the right of your Chor object. That use to work.

You're welcome Tom. I was especially pleased to see Holmes tutorials on the subject of animated distortion as I'm a big fan of that feature. It goes without saying that his tutorial on modeling with distortion was a treat too. It fits so well with the exercise from 'The Art of Animation:Master' (Exercise 8: Custom Car). As with most features... getting around to using them is quite another thing. Thats one of the reasons I enjoy reading about what others are creating in A:M so much. Please share the results you get with us!

Great find! I had completely forgot about Colin's tutorial. Attached is a PDF version of the tutorial from his site. Follow the link jirard posted first though or you'll miss some great info. (My apology to Colin for not formatting the PDF) MakingSkin.pdf

Tom, Your research sounds interesting. Please continue! The following is from another post in the forum and may have some useful information for you:

For detailed instructions on creating photo-realistic skin I'd say your best best is to google some research on the subject. There are several techniques and 'realistic' is often in the eye of the beholder. Some of the more realistic techniques I've seen demonstrated in Photoshop tutorials so... check there. Most techniques deal with multiple levels of images (all with some level of transparency) or Sub Surface Scattering. A:M can be used to create skin via decals, patch images and SSS. Often photographs of real skin are used. (its hard to get more realistic than 'real'). Once you find the level of realism you are after you'll want to make a comparison of how it matches with the rest of your character; clothes, environment etc. If those don't match the level of realism in your skin you may want to tone the realism down. Bottom line here is that this is more a image making issue than 3D. You can use A:M to create these skin maps by combining materials and photos but an application designed for image manipulation may be your best bet. I assume you have Photoshop or equivalent? Probably not the best tutorial but one of the first I googled can be downloaded via the Computer Arts site: http://www.computerarts.co.uk/tutorials/3d...ct_digital_skin I don't know about 'perfect' but... its a beginning. Edit: I should not forget to post Rusty Williamson's classic face texturing tutorial: http://www.virtualmediastudios.com/tuts/mapping/index.htm You could certainly use his technique. I recommend more transparency and blur to get away from the pasty/computer look.

Try this... Select a spline and whack the 'Y' key. This will break the valid patch by adding a new CP but leave the spline. If you do this in the right places it'll break two patches at a time. (here's another technique but don't let it distract you) Apply an image with a transparent inside and visible outer frame as patch images on your grid. You can select the entire grid and apply the image at the same time via Right Click / Add Image. I call this the JohnL3D technique. He has several examples of the technique in the forum. In one he demonstrates how you can recreate the look of wireframe render with a see-through Thom. What I like out this technique over 'render as splines' is that you can't easily control the look of the rendered splines. With the patch images you can customize the look considerably, round corners, add texture, etc.

Responding a bit late to this discussion but Alonso Soriano put together a nice tutorial on the subject of creating Cartoon Eyes. You may find it very informative.

Speaking of Vern... Not only did he provide the menu for the Extra CD, which is quite outstanding and translated perfectly from the CD to online viewing... he provided his unique insight into the content of the models too in their descriptions. Even if you never downloaded a single file it'd be worth reading through those. Of course it should go without saying that the very talented modelers, riggers and texturers that contributed and refined content for the project are #1 in my book. Edit: Thats a great list of links Caroline! (Hashlinks)

I thought these resources were no longer online... but here they are: For those still looking for some great A:M models you really should check this out. (Some random links from the old Extra CD resources site (Volume 1)) http://www.hash.com/amtutes/X_Vol001/Menu/html/Cartoon.htm http://www.hash.com/amtutes/X_Vol001/Menu/html/Anubis2.htm http://www.hash.com/amtutes/X_Vol001/Menu/...cifiFantasy.htm http://www.hash.com/amtutes/X_Vol001/Menu/html/Household.htm Thanks to Martin for still maintaining these files via the Hash Inc site after all these years. Its greatly appreciated. *Important* you must find and click on the name of the resource to the upper right side of the resources picture. Clicking will download the resource with associated files in a zip file.

Your scene is starting to shape up quite nicely. Keep it up! I first thought when seeing your render... "I want to go there". Don't ask me why... that was just the thought I got. It looks like being there would be very relaxing. You can get away with a lot fewer splines than what you have now. If you were dealing with polygons you'd probably need that many cross sections but with splines you can adjust the geometry just the way you like. Use the Roll Handles as necessary to adjust the magnatude. The areas I'm thinking of in particular where you could trim out some splines are in the valleys of your landscape and the telephone lines. But you could remove a lot of splines throughout.

Hey Paul that's looking really good. It has a game feel to it. You should throw stuff together more often.

Does this 'problem' apply to Bones or just geometry? Rather than rotate the geometry can you assign a Bone to it and then rotate in the manner you want?

Very nice. I really love the 'toon realism'.