Rodney

Hey, that's pretty slick. Just so I understand correctly here... You animated the fall dynamically in Poser... Exported the resulting BVH motion from that... Imported the BVH into A:M... Rendered. I know that is an oversimplification in any case but I'm curious. P.S. That fall looks quite painful!

Kyle, I don't hear sound here either but I must say thats a pretty impressive piece of work. Especially for how long you've been working at this. My favorite part is the truck... I love how it jumps into the scene. Its not really clear how it fits into the overall story but I suppose its a prime place for traffic to be passing by. The exaggerated action of the truck drew my attention to it immediately as it entered the scene. I thought it was pretty cool though. The shooting wasn't entirely clear (as Caroline mentions) as we might expect to see a flash from the gun, the shattering of glass from the telephone booth or blood splatter from the bullet wounds (okay... a bit too graphic for a birthday party!!). I'm sure the sound would have clued us in too. I really like the render, the setup, the general lighting. Very nice. Keep it up!

Kyle, Congrats on your success in making a cube. From such simple beginnings masterpieces are made. Your garbage can I'll need to see more of to really say. I hope you will join in with me as we embark on our mission to work through the manual (TaoA:M). We'll be covering some of the things Caroline talks about (rendering to JPG, coverting images, etc.) there. One of the things you definitely want to do is present your work in a way that people can view it easily. The .BMP format doesn't work well for that.

There is no better time than right now. (a little birdie told me!) Looking forward to seeing you here in the forum.

Not sure about the Orangutan release. When you install the 2005.exe/update there should be an option to copy all of your support files (models, libraries etc.) from the CD to your harddrive. Its fairly easy to miss if you are trying to install quickly so take your time and read the menus. Check the option to install all of the support files and the next time you start A:M the files should be there. If you still cannot see your Libraries there are several topics here in the Newbies forum that walk you through the process of connecting. Just read the topics and you are sure to find several.

Welcome to the A:M Forum. I hope your basement is comfortable as you are sure to spend a lot of time there with A:M.

You have several options. You can reduce the resolution or you can reduce the size. Or... you can do both. With the resolution I'm mainly talking about the dimensions of the movie on the screen. In another post I mentioned your options in rendering out to 'Low', 'TGA', 'VGA' etc. You can use A:M or another program to do this. By size I'm mainly talking about the size of the file itself. To reduce the size generally you have to experiment to find the right compression. I recommend using Sorensen 3 but there are others that reduce the file size even more. Using Sorensen 3 means that the majority of people trying to access your file will be able to do just that. Consider the fact that you don't need to have your file huge for someone to see and enjoy it.

I'm not sure about your particular problem. We'll have to investigate. Try this and see if it works as a workaround. Create another Group containing exactly the same geometry as the Group you already have. Place the Cloth Deflector in it. See if that works. Keep in mind that if you assign Cloth and the Deflector to the same group they -should- conflict so... makes sure you assign them to different Groups. (Not saying you have this in your situation)

The models shouldn't be that much of a problem. Your render settings though... There are a lot of factors that go into render times. For my part I'll start with suggesting rendering to a low resolution. What do you have your resolution set for? (see attachment for what to look for) If you just want a quick test to see how everything is looking (we all like to see our work animated!) keep it set to 'Low', 'TGA' or 'VGA'. "Mini" is probably going to be too small. For tests I usually keep the framerate down to about 30 frames. When rendering consider how many frames you really need to see. You can tell A:M which frames to render. If you have Multipass on (see other attachment) you will probably want to turn it down (or off). I suspect that you have it turned off but... I can't see from here. As others have suggested... If you want faster rendertimes... Turn all that extra stuff off!!!

I thought this problem was nailed down in the most recent version. It appeared quite often in the Ku Klip sequence Stian was working on. Outside of the rendering artifacts that is very outstanding work you've got there.

Here's a related discussion with some of Robert' movies. Robert's Exercise 6 Keyframing Tutorial/Project File

I think I have a copy of Robert's Keyframing tutorial around here somewhere. Until then perhaps this will be a good introductory (The interface is a bit different but its a classic. Courtesy of Ed Lynch): http://www.hash.com/users/ed/tutorials/animtut.htm

Robert, I think your tutorial got archived a little too far back in the fileroom. The ABC forum apparently is no more.

Kyle, This is a graphic version of what John typed in his post: http://www.hash.com/am2003/RAM%20Player/index.htm Until I can track down another example perhaps this will do? Instead of importing a sequence of files you are importing your AVI movie. - Then from the File Menu - Make sure you have your Project Workspace open (VIEW/Project Workspace on the Menu) - RIGHT CLICK on the shortcut to your AVI file - Select 'Save As Animation' - Locate the File type and compression you want (I suggest .MOV with Sorensen 3 compression) - Done.

Kyle, You really should work your way through the manual here in the forum. The feedback you get will be well worth the time you invest. Others have been exactly where you have been and they've posted their experiences to help you. Working through TaoA:M gives everyone a reference point from which to work with. As you post there in the TaoA:M exercises people will help you get through the rough spots. Also, you may not know of the video tutorials that go with the manual. Have you went through all of the video tutorials here: http://www.hash.com/2007web/vm.htm Of particular interest to you with regard to your question about setting keyframes you may find the very last video tutorial on that page of interest. Its called 'Path Ease (walk, then wave)' and it isn't included in the manual. There use to be some additional Keyframing suggestions in the ABC forum but I think that disappeared with the recent forum archiving. If anyone has links to those perhaps they can post them. To answer your question though: From the Technical Reference (page 251) and 'Exercise 6: The Door's Stuck':

This is what I was referring to in my post above. He needs to react... be a little suprised... at least until the realization kicks in. I don't know anyone that would react as calmly as this guy. Go ahead... practice it on your significant other... I'll wait here.

Looking really nice thus far. Everyone can thank William Sutton for the Dodos. They were his contribution.

I'm going to assume you want to create Text here for use in animating. If I'm wrong please correct me. Animating text is a lot different than creating it. (But good news! Both are easy in A:M!) While we are waiting to find out more here is a link to a really old topic on the subject. There are newer topics and tutorials as well but it helps to know what you are looking for. Let us know. Creating Text and Objects with the Font and AI Wizards

Very nice! (I don't see the neck/head problem )

Thanks Yves, I plan to print this topic for reference. We've taken over the topic a bit so apologies to Michel. I think he'll agree that there is some nice feedback and information here though! In comparing the silent version of Michel's 'Love Story' to the one with music I find I prefer the one with music much more. As I mentioned above it may have to do with seeing that version first. As an exercise and example of storytelling alone 'Love Story' holds up well. Without the sound I think all would agree that 'Love Story' story is missing something important. No? Perhaps if it was changed to gray tones and given that old aged black and white silent film look? Nah... the modern day bikinis wouldn't work too well in that context. There are a few books out there that I'd like to get on the subject of sound and if I find myself with extra money to spend I might purchase a few of them. I'm already well over budget for book purchases in 2008 though! While I was looking for the book I had in mind (I can't seem to find it) I found this link: http://filmsound.org/animation/ Some useful information to be found therein.

Very nice. It has a nice paint over sketch look to it that reminds me of illustrations in books I have. While the architecture is different it particularly reminds me of some of the explorations of old temples/cities in Mexico. Are the shadows and textures native from A:M or have they been added? I like the way you backlight the foreground. Thats a nice touch.

I think its still on the Hash Inc FTP site. Perhaps its named 'brochure'?

You get the full version of v15 for 12 months. No restrictions. You do need to download some of the extra model files though (assuming you want them) as you'll no longer have the CD requirement anymore. You can read more about the v15 websubscription HERE.

Glad to see you are up and running! To get up and running quickly work through the TaoA:M exercises first. The lessons are designed to help you progress from simple and complex concepts and immerse you in A:M's workflow.

This just keeps getting better and better. Absolutely wonderful motorcycle. ...and the scale related to the characters... perfection!