Rodney

I like. No crits thus far. So far... so good! Edit: Okay... one crit. The side view looks to thin to me considering the mass we see from the front. Its just a 'gut feeling' thing... so feel free to ignore but I think adding a little more mass front to rear would convey more sense of weight to his head. Perhaps if you moved all of the splines of his face forward a bit?

Outstanding news. Someone who is reading this topic right now doesn't know it yet but they are about to be thanking you. Because you posted your problems here you've answered their questions about Actions too.

It may make a difference in which character you use. With a few the stride lengths could be refined a little more. If this is a character you set the stride length for (i.e. you created the walk cycle) you might want to look again there. Thom and the Rabbit are the ones set up and tested for the most accurate walk cycles straight out of the box. (Note: I'm guessing a bit here) A common mistake people tend to make when first creating walk cycles is to move the character forward or backward. The character should remain at the same place. This might relate to your footing as well if the heels don't strike the right place.

Sounds like a hit to me. I look forward to seeing more as your WIP progresses . Side note: A bit weird perhaps but as I revisited the song in my head (I guess it IS a bit catchy) I kept seeing our hero following a live action girl (hey... she's cute!). The ultimate Robio and Juliet? Hmm... lets see... he chases after this beautiful girl thinking 'could this be the one?' and at the end of course... she isn't. But... at song ends... a cute little robot girl passes by him and regains his attention. Just running with your idea... not trying to distract you. After you all get rich then you can hire all the sexy models and Live Action/CG it for the second video.

There are a lot of 'search and replace' tools out there (MS Word does a fine job too and allows programs to use Visual Basic). Running a search for 'command line search and replace' on Google I found this utility with the unlikely name of FART (Find And Replace Text). Never used it though... As it is open source that might help in creating/modifying the needed tool. Of course the source file would have to have the bones named in such a way that the FART tool would find and replace them (i.e. null_bone001 might prompt the appropriate renaming of the segment tag. Also, perhaps... if a bone can be made to appear as a Null... it might negate the need for the Nulls in the first place? (This would most likely be a feature request) The command line utility I googled: http://sourceforge.net/projects/fart-it/

Hey Michael! There have been quite a few changes/enhancements but I'm sure you'll transition well. Great to see you again.

Eric, That was a nice touch you added in the final composite too. (the driver wandering over to look and the camels!) Having seen tanks and camels in a similar setting I certainly got a kick out of it. The detail of the model is self explanatory... outstanding work. There was something in the contest image that I felt detracted from the piece. The tank didn't appear to be touching the sand. As I recall it may have been mostly a shadow thing. I'd guess if you had more time you would have nailed that and added more sand displacement around the treads too? Any insight you can share on that aspect?

My system is on the fritz. I try to play your animation but see a video from Jason Ryan's Animation. Weird. (Maybe a cache thing on my end?) Edit: Got it. hehe... cornbread. I take it you did the voices too?

Did you miss the announcement earlier today? Martin Hash officially announced "Scarecrow of Oz" as the next film project. My advice? Get involved! Read the script, see the film's progress thus far and thoroughly explore the world of animation and filmmaking with A:M as you only can by being involved in a feature length film!

Purists will probably suggest getting away from paths entirely but thats the example I'll work with here. Attached is a piddly little project file that you can pick apart. Not sure it is worth looking at but... have to start somewhere. I'll call it "Walk and Salute". It should be noted here that in this example I'm not specifically keying keyframes. A:M is doing all the work for me here. Exception: I did jump into the timeline at the very end of the action and adjust the spline curve to get a better snap in the salute. I switched to Channel View/spline view to adjust that (see below). Sidenote: If you were to keyframe... in order for keyframes to stick you must activate the bones that you plan to key first. This is often done on frame zero by moving the bone and putting it back in its original place. Notice here that the first action (Resolute Walk) has its Ease set to 100% on the frame where I want Thom to come to a halt. With the second action "Salute" I played with the Ease to find the basic salute within the action that I wanted. I then pushed the salute a little further by editing a third action (the Chor Action) which automatically blended my edit with the underlying actions. Not Pixar stuff by any stretch of the imagination. See that Green Tick Mark on the Chor Action? If I wanted to add or adjust either the Walk or the Salute actions instead I would have to select one of those actions. Hope at least a little of this makes sense. I really have no idea what I'm doing. Added: To add a little life to the shot I also constrained the Camera to Thom's head via an 'Aim At' Constraint. Robert Holmen definitely has videos linked here in the forum that discuss keyframing. Mandatory reading ...eer... watching. WalkNSalute.prj

Eric, This won't satisfy your need but might be a decent introduction towards your solution. At the very bottom of Hash Inc's video tutorials page there is a video called "Path Ease - Walk then Wave". As I say... its an introduction. http://www.hash.com/2007web/vm.htm I believe here in the Newbies forum is a link to another video, this one by Robert Holmen, that goes in depth even more. I'll try to wrangle that one up or perhaps Robert knows which one I refer to. One way of gaining the experience you need is to experiment with two different actions in the Chor (just as you are now doing). Note however that you generally do not want to be in the same Action when you are editing. Note that little Green tick mark in the Project Work Space (find it!). That tells you which Action you are in and editing. One thing to consider as well is that you might occasionally want to leave a gap between the two Actions. This isn't always desireable of course... some might say never... but if you leave a gap inbetween the Actions A:M will make the transitions for you. If you go into Dopesheet mode in the Timeline, thats the view with the bars versus the view with the splines, you might see the blends/transitions better. I hope to find a little time this weekend to play in A:M and I'll try my best to post some examples of basic workflow. Robert... you out there?

Al, I am impressed by the level of quality and attention to detail in this model. What else really is there for me to say. You done good. Real good. You may not have won but that sure was and is a winning entry.

Before you save the project for sharing you'll want to select 'embed all' from the Project menu. This will save all the models, actions, materials and such (not the images) in the Project. If you only want to share parts of the Project then you can delete or substitute as needed. Note: Do not do this with your original file... rather do this as a means of backup. You may not want to embed everything in your original file. Without having the Action or Model with the project I'm going to guess you have to adjust the Actions properties under the Choreography. Right now the Action may be set to 'Replace' where you will want it to "Add' or "Blend". Still guessing here but we are closing in on the solution slowly but surely.

Hey, if you can model them I'm sure someone will be glad to rig them. I'd volunteer to do it myself but you actually want them to be animatable! I've still got a long ways to go myself to get there. Keep on modeling. The rigging can come later.

Gerry, Seeing your Bugbots come to life, even if its only one of them for now, is really a treat! Its almost as good as having the action figures to go along with the comics. Don't you dare stop! I want to see this bug jumping right off the 2D page in full fledged 3D action. Are you going to rig him with TSM2, the Squetch Rig or create something new?

Beautiful work Marcos. Thanks for that wireframe! Incredible stuff.

Thanks Robert, You confirm my thoughts about scripting in TSM. With only the most basic of tests ran so far I noted that the elements that seemed to be replaceable were the models and scripts. By this I mean to say the default rig parts themselves (and I assume entire models with or without the rigs) can be exchanged via the models in the Models folder in order to build more complex models and rigs. Then in TSM you can add or remove each component as needed. Yikes... the possibilities. I wish I had more time to experiment. I don't want to stray too far from the subject of rigging though. That is TSM2's primary strength.

I believe what Robert is referring to here is TSM2's scripting capability which appears to be quite robust and versatile. Once the script is created for any particular rig it can be reused again and again, combined with other scripts... tailored to what you want to put in your rig. There is a folder in the TSM2 directory named 'Scripts' if anyone wants to investigate the basic premise.

I think you'll have to embed and share the project file. Mostly what you are going to get here are guesses. When you say 'the action didn't work properly'... what did it do? What was it suppose to do? Exactly how did it spaze out? When you created the action did you use your character while creating the action? If the character fully boned/rigged? We'll need more info (or the project file) in order to be able to see what is happening on your end. About the only advice to give at this point is to 'try, try again'.

If you carefully select the specific areas you want decaled you may not need any transparency at all. In other news... I'm attaching a project that has a basic example of an alternate method using Patch Images instead of decals. I did this mostly as a demonstration that there are several ways to approach the problem. You could also just adjust the surface property of the area you want over time without or without Patch Images or Decals. There is also the Material route as well which are quite customizable. Again... my addition here is just to demonstrate that you can solve the problem completely in A:M if you prefer to do that. There are other methods you could use as well... such as creating your transparent decals in A:M. If the transparency is generated by A:M then you know it'll work for you. In the attached project I've created a sequence of 30 grayscale images from white to gray that once rendered are in turn used in the project as the patch images. The blue of the iris has no images applied to it. The white of the eyes has the grayscale image sequence applied. Note: You must render the grayscale images found in Action 1 in order to have the project file find the images to work with so my apologies if that trips you up or sends you in a direction you don't need to go. I'm adding this to the discussion just to show there are several ways to approach the problem. Decals with Transparency is one. Adjusting surface properties another. Patch images or materials yet others... If you are working with clients you should have a copy of Photoshop, Photopaint, Gimp or some other equivalent to help create your decals. EyeColor.prj eyechange000.mov

Just a follow up to the links that were reported broken on the video tutorials page. As far as I can tell the only link broken right now is the 'html version' link under 'History of Animation Lecture'. You should be able to view the SWF versions online or download the zipped contents of the lecture for offline viewing. http://www.hash.com/2007web/vm.htm These videos provide a nice overview of basic history of animation and where A:M fits into the history of it all.

Myron, As with many things in life there are different approaches to take that vary the results and determine the end state. One person picks up a guitar and plays country music while another pursues his own thing. Similarly you'll find different approaches to take in animation and filmmaking. In the end only you can best determine your approach. I'll run through your specific questions and see what springs to mind. Others can add their thoughts too. If you are waiting for someone to create a tutorial that answers all your questions though... you are going to be waiting a very long time. Better to dig in and experiment. The lessons learned will sink in even more. TaoA:M (the manual) will answer this question (both sky and ground manipulation) but the answer is going to depend on what you want to do. Ground The default ground plane in A:M is a model. Replace or change that and you have a different ground. Sky You can add elements into your scene to render as the sky or you can set up your projects with transparency (Alpha Channels) in order to add the Sky at a later time. The answer is going to depend on whether you want to modify the sky 'in scene' or set it up for manipulation at a later time. One good method a learning is to learn from the work of others. Find a scene/project file that you are interested in and dig through the options. What did they do with the ground and sky? You'll learn a lot from looking at the work of others. It takes a lifetime to master all the varied aspects of lighting but there are some tried and true techniques. A:M comes with a basic 3 point lighting setup by default but you can add and manipulate lights as needed. Run a search for 'lighting' here in the forum and you are sure to get some great information. Digging deep into tutorials by the likes of Yves Poissant will keep you occupied for years. I would suggest that you keep this very simple at first. Then add to your storehouse of knowledge as you go. Most of the tutorials that deal with Cameras that I'm aware of don't focus (ha... get it?) on cameras alone. They deal more with how you use a camera to accomplish another more specific goal; adding your cartoon characters into a Live Action scene for instance. Besides working through TaoA:M, which will give you a good basic introduction to the camera open up the Camera's properties and experiment... break stuff!!! Save often and incrementally (project001.prj, project002.prj or something similar) if you want to keep what you've got. There are entire websites devoted to the art of filmmaking. I recommend approaching your projects with an eye for connecting the various parts of your film (shots and sequences) into scenes which will form your final film. Look into the recent TWO project here in the forum for an example of how that works. You can edit shots, sequences and scenes together in A:M or in other video applications. There are considerations when taking your film to final release that I would suggest you consult with those that have been there. If your film will only be shown on Youtube... the requirements will be minimal. If you are creating the next Star Wars... expect to spend a lot more time in research and development. Again, those that have been there can help. I believe the resources there are being updated. Not sure... I'll check. There is a lot of good information on animation history out on the internet. Those links primary dealt with where Animation:Master fit in. As you look into the history of animation it should be fairly obvious where A:M fits in. Hash Inc has been in the business for 20 years now and we are the beneficiaries. Short of working with Anzovin to get access to the tutorials I would suggest looking for A:M User Groups or A:M Users in your area. The tutorials have been in circulation for many years so a lot of A:M Users have them. Bring it on! We are all in this crazy world together. Might as well animate.

Interesting. I don't think I'd want to meet the character who created that sword (or the one who carries it if it's not the same character) without some serious backup!

Very nice Matt. You make this stuff look easy. Thanks for sharing your technique.

Thanks Paul. I had missed that announcement. I haven't had much time to keep up to date lately. I understand the background behind their decision and the reality of their studio's mission. I hope Anzovin will consider licensing or releasing the training material to someone else to keep it in circulation. The training material may be slightly dated but is certainly still of value. Its hard to support what isn't there. My thanks still goes out to Anzovin for their service and support to us through the years. Who knows... if the stars align perhaps we will see them return with more useful offering in the future.