Rodney

If you think that hurts... just imagine being a guy who spends thousands of dollars when he could buy A:M for a whole lot cheaper to do the work. I still feel a little bit like I'm opening the A:M box all over again for the first time every time someone posts here for the first time as a new user. Thanks to you guys and gals I get to remember what it was like all over again! Welcome to the A:M Community James. Its great to have you here.

J, (sorry I don't know your real name) Rather than let you down easy... Veggie Tales was created by one of those competing software programs although it would have looked as good with A:M too. Truth is that several of the animators at Big Idea at the time were A:M users and prefer it for personal use. If they could have used A:M at Big Idea I'll bet they'd have loved that too. As Big Idea couldn't keep up with the demand for Veggie programs, there was an attempt by at least one company to get into Veggie Tales production of offshoot programming with A:M created content. Unfortunately, this was just before Big Idea's bankruptcy. There are some animation tests and a short music video made with A:M still floating around out there on the internet. Several can be seen via A:M Films too. The good news is that you'll find A:M to be quite up to the challenge of creating your commercials. A:M is all that and more. Good luck with your projects, welcome to the A:M Community and get your kids ready to watch TWO!

Satyajit, Your enthusiasm alone is inspirational enough. That you back that with your talent and networking skill makes your effort appear as if you are refining gold. It may take time but thats to be expected. For those interested in the process and production of short film Satyajit has been providing some great insight into the process. Follow the link above to his second blog for instance to see how the open source program Celtx is incorporated into the workflow in Red Riding Hood preproduction. Great stuff Satyajit. Keep it up.

I've been running v13/v14 and now v15 on Vista with very few problems. The issues you'll want to look out for are related to graphics cards (some drivers aren't or won't be updated by the manufacturer) and RAM (the more the better) I recommend 2 Gigabytes but only have 1GB. I've been quite happy with A:M with Vista but for maximum stability and performance Windows XP still has Vista beat. Time will tell how long this will remain the case especially as new drivers for graphics cards are released. My 2 cents.

Justin, As John said, No it Enhance A:M doesn't ship with A:M. Its a separate product. The last I knew it was PC only. Sorry. They are very nice materials. I believe Darktree Simbiont materials can be used on a Mac now so that might be worth looking into if you don't use them already.

I was wondering what you had been up to lately Satyajit. Glad to see you've been actively developing new properties and finding distribution too! Best of everything to you and your team in this new adventure. Added: Your blog has already enlightened me concerning aspects of the Red Riding Hood legend I didnt know about. It'll be great to see 'the rest of the story'.

Mr Tech has double posted the same questions in several forums. You get answers fine without doing that here in the A:M Forum. All, Please refer to the following thread for the Q&A: Questions about A:M

Good questions. Good responses. I'm just moving this out of the TaoA:M area to 'Newbies'. 'Tis not censorship. 'Tis categorization.

Arriving to this one late... um... wow! Everything that has been said and more. You have created some work to be proud of. I'd love to see you do a Live Action/CG compilation with an 'live actor' in the iron suit. Keep it up! Very impressive work.

The final raffle isn't currently on the schedule but when its put back on it you'll all be there. In other words... "You're in!"

Heck no John, I remember you well. Great to see you again. I'm trying to remember if I still owe you a TaoA:M certificate though... Veehoy, You definitely aren't alone. If we could just find the time to apply what we learn... and not forget what we learn... we'd be golden. Pull up a comfy chair and make yourself at home. You're with friends here with very similar goals.

Probably the best place to start your search for the latest and greatest in A:M updates in the forum area titled 'Latest Info'. That's where releases are officially announced. http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showforum=2

You've been missed Mr. C. There are a few 'newbies' that have dropped off the radar in the past year. I know how life can interfere and steal back time. There are many things that are more important than animation. (apologies to the ani-maniacs out there). Its important we take care of those first. Then... we can get back to animating. Its great to have you back.

Starting from scratch will work in many cases. There are several other ways to attack it as well. The first is to leave a gap between dopesheet words/phonemes. This allows the software to interpret what should remain in that gap as opposed to deciding on what to try to blend. Its been awhile but I recall some nice results using this method. Another way is to dive into the Timeline after the lipsync action has been created and peak and adjust as desired. The most effective results I've seen using this technique were accomplished by first Peaking everything and then going back in and unpeaking/Smoothing those areas which appeared too sharp. Of course you could just Peak those areas needed in the first place and check the results/tweak to taste too. For more complex situations requiring maximum control of lipsync you may want to forego the dopesheet entirely and work directly with the phoneme shapes. Its a lot more work but gives you maximum control over the process. Rigs like the FACE rig work really well too. Additionally, you can use a little from both methods and run the dopesheet first and then paste in predesignated lip poses at the appropriate places. This can be highly effective when trying to establish specific traits/quirks in a character. For instance, a character with a drawl, lisp or thick accent might form a specific mouth shape upon a certain words. Pasting lip poses in at those areas can sometimes effectively convey those traits. Finally, there are some cases where you may want to just skip a mouth movement or word in order to get the right look. People tend to be lazy sometimes and speak right through words without enunciating. A trick you can use to test this out for yourself is to place two fingers horizontally against your lips and say the words. As your fingers are moved you should notice the important keyframes/mouth shapes you need. You may not need a lot of the others. More info than you wanted... and not sure I've even approached your solution but some general thoughts on the subject of dopesheets. Also, be aware that there has been a few recent fixes to dopesheet code. If you haven't downloaded the most recent updates (for v14) definitely do that.

) Yes, basically that is the idea but try it yourself with some odd splines or geometry. Just whack the A key (or push the Plus icon) to get the stitching started. When you start a spline just click into the other splines and note that they attach at the location you clicked. In the case of Barry's work on his characters leg he whacked the Y key which placed a CP directly in the middle of the spline. There is good reason to do this bisecting as it can help place the CPs in a proper location quickly. However, in many cases it'll prove more advantageous just to stitch the geometry in. Will Sutton has a nice example of the method, also terminating splines with hooks easily on his Modeling CD. (He models King Kong) A great buy at $19. In my experience you have to flip less normals using the stitching method too. I'm not sure how well that experience will stand up in production environ though.

I want to take a moment to echo the praise for Barry's Training videos. I've watched them all but not spent a great deal of time with any of them. As I find more time I hope to settle in and absorb them thoroughly. Thanks go out to Barry Zundel for making this most excellent resource available. I think it great resource especially for new users of Animation:Master. They aren't just for newbies though. Even old timers will enjoy this show. In short... If you want to learn Animation:Master... buy these! If you want to learn to model in Animation:Master purchase his Modeling DVD (Disc 1). If you want to learn to rig in Animation:Master purchased his Rigging DVD (Disc 2). If you want to learn to animate in Animation:Master purchase his Animation DVD (Disc 3). If you want to learn Animation:Master... buy all 3! In terms of purchase price Barry's DVDs are the probably the most expensive currently available. At $60 a piece its a very fair price but for many A:M Users its a considerable investment and may seem out of budget. In other words, spending $180 for video training lessons after spending $299 on A:M will be a bit rough for some. Trust me though... its worth it. There is even a discount if you purchase all three. Of course you can purchase other fine video tutorials from Anzovin, Will Sutton and Hash Inc and you'll find them educational and enjoyable too but I think most would do better starting out with Barry Zundel's DVDs first. Then fill in the gaps with the other resources as the need arises. While these other videos are outstanding resources you'll benefit more from Barry's DVDs right out the gate. Their organization of lessons and step by step approach will instill the basics in ways no other A:M resource currently can. When establishing a foundation from which to work in Animation:Master you'll be pleased with the clear, concise and professional lessons Barry provides as he demonstrates tried and true ways to make Animation:Master work for you. I do have a couple minor nitpicks and I believe they can all be attributed to Barry's use of an older A:M versions. I'm not sure how much time Barry still has for A:M these days so am not sure if he's experienced the latest versions stability. A few techniques used seem a bit dated but that may just be Barry's time tested/preferred methodology. (These methods still work fine though) For instance, Barry uses some spline adding methods where it would probably be easier just to stitch a new spline in rather than bisect and attach new splines. The technique used will be more familiar those who used A:M in days before stitching was introduced. Its easy to take the lesson and apply current techology though. In the Modeling lessons Barry refers several times to potential crashing in areas where A:M seldom crashes anymore. Saving often is an important lesson to learn in any environment but I think being overly cautious and expecting crashes where none are likely to occur may lead to more frustration. Its been awhile since I used v2005 and I'm sure Barry had good reason to be cautious in those areas. A:M Users will be relieved to find these cautionary notes a bit excessive. Still, the lesson must be learned sooner or later... 'Save often and incrementally'. I guess Disc 1 is as good a place to learn that lesson as any. I've spent most of my time thus far in the Modeling DVD but have thoroughly enjoyed the Rigging and Animation DVDs too. I'm looking forward to digging in deeper. I felt I learned the most from the Rigging DVD as I've only rigged the most basic of characters and objects to date. The smooth progression from simple rigging concepts to more complex application was a real treat. The Animation DVD is surely the best of the bunch and if you are just interested in diving in and animating with A:M Disc 3 is for you. It provides an excellent companion to the exercises from The Art of Animation:Master manual and takes that art to the next level. As Barry has stated, "I wish I had instruction like this when I was first starting out with Hash". I wholeheartedly agree. Take advantage of Barry's many years of experience and outstanding teaching skill. ...and Barry... Here's hoping you find some time for A:M 2007. I'll certainly be there for the next lesson.

Done. You are in. Welcome to the A:M Community!

Excellent question. I don't have an answer. Interest died down pretty quickly and where there is no interest there is little need for the raffle. Perhaps 2 raffles were enough for everyone? I know what the third prize is, its been chosen but not purchased, and we'll ramp up to give it out when I can find a little more time to promote the raffle. In the meantime anyone that adds their post here will be added. Tick Tick Tick... time marches on. Who knows, tomorrow could be the day!

Very nice Mike! Simple, direct and to the point.

Yes, No and Maybe all rolled into one. Netrender is still out there but is not publicly supported. (i.e. the public doesn't support it) For those interested and financially able to support their interest in Netrender Hash Inc is interested too. So I believe the official response here is "Contact Hash Inc for information on Netrender".

Windows should have that DDL file. A:M should automatically install it if its not there. When it isn't there regardless Hash Inc has a file that will install it for you. I believe for v13 its named something like "v13stuff.exe". You'll find the installer on the Hash Inc FTP site: ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/updates/windows/Am2006/ Elsewhere in the forum Will Pickering says you shouldn't need to run this as A:M should do it for you but if the file is missing...

Animation:Master does not currently have a command line render option. This capability does exist via Netrender. This is an additional program to A:M and can render specific frames as you suggest over a network of computers or on one computer. Contact Hash Inc for more information for availablity/support. Not quite the same but... You can set up cameras to save specific ranges of frames and reuse/exchange those cameras. Camera files (.CAM) can be saved and reused as needed.

Another Mike! I suspect there are quite a few A:M users like yourself that have used A:M for quite awhile yet not frequented the forum. Its always great to see people discover the forum. There is a lot to get involved with here in the forum and you'll find a whole lot of others with similar interests as yours. The resources you find here will benefit you greatly and help you meet your goals. Welcome!

Just wanted to shout out for Carl here. Great to see you here in the forum again. Its been too long. You've been missed. Anyone in Carl's area you definitley want to take him up on the offer of getting together. You'll learn a lot!

The general rule: (read this somewhere and have no idea how it applies to purple aliens but it makes for interesting backstory... ) The number of teats are portortional to the average litter... in multiples of two. So species averaging 1 offspring would have 2 while those averaging 4 would have 8. Striped and Pockadottted Aliens with 24 boobs... generally have 12 little pups. I'm not sure what one boob on a purple alien means but I would imagine they are very rare. The A:M forum is so educational isn't it.