Rodney

As Robert hints at there is going to be a lot more to animating your character than just modeling it. While it will seem like you are taking a detour from your goal working through TaoA:M is the surest way to success at it. These is one of the things everyone learns as they progress through TaoA:M. You'll have it mastered in about 5 minutes.

Actions have an option for Blending in their Properties. There you can also adjust the percentage to have the actions blend more toward one action or the other. The order of the Actions can be important too. (I'm trying to recall the exact influence the order has but have forgotten) There is also an option to Add or Replace the action which can be animated over time. Of course this also means you can have a whole lot more than 2 actions at the exact same time as well. At some point you may want to Bake all of your actions so that they become 1 combined action. Then you can start adding to them again. This is extremely useful when dragging and dropping Actions you've saved. From a Library of standard Actions you can quickly build up your character animation. In some cases without setting a single keyframe in the new performance. To test drag and drop two actions from your library onto a character from the Library. Experiment with changing the settings Add, Replace and Blend and see what effects they give you. Change the order of the Actions. Then go into the timeline and break a lot of stuff there! It'll work but you've got to tell A:M what it needs to do. You are the Director after all.

Dave, That still image DOES NOT do justice to your animation. I could almost feel the G force for a little while while watching. Nice!

Buy me a copy and I'll write you one. There are still some netrender reference files on the Hash Inc FTP. This one is from 2005 (Look for NetrenderReference.EXE) ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/updates/windows/Am2005/ There are also these (very) brief write ups from 2004: http://www.hash.com/am2004/NetRender/DefaultOptions.htm http://www.hash.com/am2004/NetRender/Sorting.htm

Hopefully some Mac experts will chime in and help you optimize. I'll edit your topic to include the word 'Mac'. Mainly though, I just wanted to welcome you back! So... WELCOME BACK!

I'm just now seeing your WIP. Looking really great!

Not true! Many A:M users are quite happy helping anyone no matter what their version might be. Just understand that you are sure to get a few people suggesting an update is the reasonable thing to do. As this is also Hash Inc's forum it would be a rare day indeed to see someone suggest that you not upgrade. Thanks for understanding. One of the reasons I suggested moving on from this topic is that while Whisky is right in many ways its not proper to beat that dead horse here in the Newbies forum. Life will be easier if you upgrade but there is no requirement to do so. The Newbies forum is a place people can explore A:M before, during and after updating.

I know everyone is having fun here but probably best to move on to more productive subjects? Hopefully everyone is finding the files they need. It should be noted that anyone that isn't using v15 has a built in disadvantage and will always be a step or two behind those with current subscriptions. That isn't anything that really needs to be debated. Thats reality. The nature of the beast. If I could buy everyone the upgrade I certainly would.

What version of A:M are you using? I ask as in earlier versions you had to track down the plugins and install them separately.

That'd be TaoA:M and it is still very much in effect! While participation in the TWO movie is mostly limited to rendering at this point graduating from TaoA:M is the first best way to let Dr. Martin Hash know you are interested in participating in future projects. Ken hints at one already in the works! Now is a great time to work through TaoA:M as we will be digging as deep as you need us to go. You can find more information or get started with TaoA:M here. There is additional curriculum related to TWO available through Hash Inc and individual schools (TWO University). You should see more of that in the future too.

Animation:Master has Shortcut Keys that can save you a lot of time. You can also assign your own shortcut keys to improve your personal workflow. Access this option by going to TOOLS/CUSTOMIZE on the main menu on the KEYBOARD tab. Attached is an example PDF file that was created by editing the list A:M generated. It lists only commands with assigned keys. Click here for an online walkthrough of the process Note: This link will be good for about 2 weeks from date posted. or download the tutorial to view on your computer. For those that want to skip the tutorial here are the steps to access the custom list: Steps: Go to TOOLS/CUSTOMIZE Navigate to the KEYBOARD Tab Find and Press the EXPORT Button The Keyboard Shortcut List will be generated in the v15 directory assuming you have v15. ShortcutKeys_AssignedKeys_.pdf

You'll need to resize it to the allowed dimensions. Freeware utilities like Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com) or XNView are useful in resizing images.

Concerning the manual... you can download an electronic version of it by following the Support link at: http://www.hash.com (direct link to the resourse page is HERE ) Assuming you have v13 or later: - Open the Project Workspace - Right Click on the Image area and Import/Open your JPEG You can do this even easier via dialogue boxes that pop up when applying decals, patch images and rotoscopes. If you have an earlier version of A:M you will have to convert the JPEG image to Targa or BMP format first... then import it. Programs such as Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com) excell act converting images from one format to another.

Kyle, I would say you are well ahead of the game. I sure wish I had A:M when I was 12!!!

Short of doing some dynamic simulation I think I understand what he's trying to say here. Its related to my suggestion to pan the background (I think). In essence moving the air and environment (the space) around the bird versus moving the bird itself. I think the classic pterodayctl flight through the desert scene (by Eggington Productions) uses this basic technique. As far as I know it's still on A:M Films. Your shots are a lot shorter than that one but the same principle applies. The idea might be to animate the scene without the bird first. Then add the bird at the appropriate key locations. Not trying to make this any more difficult than what you want it to be. Have fun with it any way you want to pursue it. Just adding suggestions into the mix.

How about project files. Are there any of those?

Nice addition. I have a soft spot for the GIF format too. There was a time GIF animation was pretty much the only option available to many of us. Anything else wouldn't easily fit onto a floppy disk.

Cool.

Are you sure you looked at the plugin's instructions? http://www.sgross.com/plugins/plugin3/index.html

David, So far so good! I read too quickly and hadn't realized this was an extraction/extension from Satyajit's kit. Its cool to see some results from the kit being posted. A slight pan left (tracking the bird) followed by a pan right would add a lot to the initial shot. I can't think of the general rule but the idea would be to pick a point in the frame and treat it as if the bird is pushing that point around the screen. The effect then is that of a moving camera following the bird. As I recall the camera typically moves at the point the bird exceeds the halfway point in the frame. (forcing the camera to follow the bird) This adds to the sense of movement and leads the viewer to step into the space the bird is flying through and percieve it as much larger than it is with regard to the actual background available. As you are likely using the whole background image already you'd have to sacrifice a little of it to allow for the pan by scaling it out a little (i.e. zooming in). Edit: To add to the effect of a tired bird I think giving the bird a lot of nose room in the camera frame will help sell that even more. If he's got a lot of area to fly into that might add to the effect of hopelessness and searching. That he is flying from the left seems to be a nice addition to this as well.

(Silly question here but its important to me!) Is there going to be more than one ship?

I was hoping to get started tomorrow.

My initial take on the lighting was that it looked a lot like scenes lit by some of the more seasoned/experienced people here in the forum. So you've done really good there. (Sometimes those longer render times really pay off!) For the most part I liked your camera angles too but as Caroline suggests the cameras may be on the move a little too much. The movement isn't bad. It seemed to move with a general purpose which is a good thing. It looks like you put a lot of thought into it. One thing to consider there is whose Point Of View the camera represents. Is the camera view from someone walking down the street? Is the camera stationary? Or 'a fly on the wall'? Does the camera stay at eye level? Why does it move to the specific places it does? Some additional questions to ask: If you had to confine the camera to only 3 positions where would they be? If you were allowed to use 4 positions which would be the most important? Would it be useful to Zoom in closer to any of the characters during dialogue? Or to demostrate their actions? Just a few random questions thrown out to consider and use to generate ideas. I'm not suggesting you necessarily need to follow any particular one.

Well sure... you could even have him react to getting shot multiple times FIRST, THEN crash through a couple walls, THEN plummet toward the ground where he narrowly escapes certain doom but landing on a car and rolling off BUT then getting ran over by another car. Seriously though. You are making it look easy. I don't use Poser but I know other people that do. They are sure to be interested in such things as this as they are always looking for new ways to use Poser and A:M together. For me its mostly just an enjoyable look into the process of animating things dynamically. You are making good progress. The only thing that really stands out as being particularly off to me is the extended time delayed (balancing back and forth?) before the fall. Again... looks pretty slick to me!

You are quite a talent. If this wasn't already obvious from your character modeling your ship would illustrate that fact just as well. That is one very beautiful ship. Its always a joy to open your topic and see what you've got waiting for us to see.