Rodney

Geoff, If someone gave you A:M for Christmas... wow. What can I say? Thats such a great idea. I may have to follow up on that myself. Push yourself (at your own pace of course) into the TaoA:M manual. Download and view the videos from the TaoA:M course (http://www.hash.com/vm) Post your exercises, ask questions and you'll get a lot of help. Welcome to the A:M Community!

Could Brent's endeavor be a sign that the time is right for the 'new studio' concept? Stay tuned to find out! If you fully absorb the concepts and call to animators found in TaoA:M I think you are assured of success. Well that and the business side of things will have to be ironed out. You could do a whole lot worse than follow the lead of Avalanche and Momentum! Go Brent!

I need to commit that one to memory.

Ken, I'm not sure why your post got deleted. It may be for any number of reasons. One thing to consider is how many things that are already going on in the forum. There's TaoA:M, ABC, monthly image contests, periodic animation contests and more. Forum member projects currently being championed include Mini Movie, the Calavera Hotel and Lost Worlds. On the tutorials side there is Feature Focus, Tech Talks, the Tutorials Forum and more. Of course there is also TWO which pretty much includes them all. There are a lot things people can get involved in. At this point its not enough to just have an idea. We need to demonstrate rather than suggest. We must syncronize our ideas with what we've already got. Thats not always easy. Great ideas never go away. They just get reformed and refitted. As you get them, keep them and look for opportunity. Focus on what is already available, merge your ideas with them, and demonstrate everything your ideas fit in. I'm where you are right now pretty regularly. I have a whole lot of great ideas if I do say so myself. Few are implementable.

Another option: Point the model to external materials (i.e. not embedded in the model) Then have two sets of materials; the one you want for final and a simple or empty one. Yet another option that I didn't think of before but can be quite useful to keep render times down: Don't use materials at all in the final. Instead render the materials out on a plane/patch and use them as decals. As you can't turn decals off either... not sure how this would help.

You know I thought there was a Active element in materials but I don't see it there now. Strange. The good news is that materials are easily dragged and dropped onto models so you could do that. Delete and/or drop it back on as necessary . Another option would be to save another version of your model without the material and swap the shortcuts to the model out in the Choreography. Yet another option (which works in most cases but not all) would be to make the material 100% transparent. You should be able to do this simulateously on multiple materials. Submitted as possible workarounds until we locate that elusive 'Activate' option!

That is one very used stove. Nice render!

Congratulations on the progress of your students (and teaching!) First let me say to Robert... OUTSTANDING VIDEO TUTORIAL! Very very nice. There is an important aspect to consider here for teachers. The extent of detail in Robert's video tutorial perfectly demonstrates my point. It primarily concerns experience level of the student and in how we can ready them for further development. In my estimation one of the reasons you don't see a lot of timeline use in the manual is that beginners are encouraged to animate without it. For some animations you may never even need to see the timeline. Animating without a timeline? Craziness!!! Sure is. For instance, Execise 6: 'The Door's Stuck' is a progress check where students put what they've learned up to that point into a story with a beginning, middle and end. They get to fashion a solution to the delima they find themselves (or more accurately Shaggy) to be in. Its not as much about keyframe editing as the storytelling of it all. Its about becoming a 'thinking animator'. Teach them this and soon they will find their way to all manner of solutions. As demonstrated by TaoA:M keyframing itself is not too difficult for most beginners. The difficulty is in the editing of these keyframes after they are created. Teaching them to know what to do. For the beginner this aspect of animation may simply be too advanced. For that you need something more (like Roberts video tutorial!) Unlike basic straight ahead and pose to pose animation in the interface which every beginner can do with A:M almost immediately, keyframe editing and animating directly via the timeline is in the realm of the intermediate and advanced. Can you teach it to a beginner? I'm sure you can but I wouldn't start with Exercise 6! I don't know the age/grade level of your students but I'll assume they are up to the task. The question then is one of "Do they need to know it now?" If they aren't up to it yet you may want to keep them at the basic level (and animating via the interface) a little bit longer. Consider this aspect of experience level in your planning especially if you don't know the keyframing process yourself. Study the timeline and teach that as they rise up to that. So can we teach animation without the timeline? TaoA:M demonstrates we most certainly can. If on the other hand a beginners course in 'Keyframe Editing' is desired thats something that can be developed. Robert Holmen and others here in the forum are obviously up to that task! Now as to the question at hand of how one might easily move a keyframe (via interface as opposed to the timeline). One way would be to copy the keyframed pose in the desired location paste it where needed then go back to the unwanted keyframe and delete. All the keyframe tools they should need can be found in the drop down menu under 'Edit' on the toolbar. You'll see the shortcut keys for each of those tools there too. Keep asking these kinds of questions! As you do you'll keep finding more solutions. Edit: (I accidently hit 'Post' before finishing. Makes a little sense but I'll add this) Your students will have learned up to this point how to animate straight ahead and pose to pose via the lessons in the book/video assuming you are taking them through it step by step. Having them learn each lesson thoroughly provides the building block structure necessary to carry them through exercise 6. Results may not be perfect but it'll be close enough for them to move on to the next level. If/when they return to these exercises it will be with even more understanding. Perhaps we need an Exercise 6.5? Maybe call it "Getting to work on Time"

Steven, With the Oz CD you've got access to both v13 and v14 (currently in Alpha). v13r is the latest update carried over from 2006. v14 is still in Alpha but I imagine it could move up to Beta sometime soon. At the very least I'd think v14 will be released in full version by SIGGRAPH (July?) If you load both v13 and v14 you'll see the different version labels in several places. Under the Help Menu and at the top left of the screen. The CD works on a subscription basis. By purchasing in 2007 you are getting v13 and v14 and all updates released in 2007. You'll see a few more v14 updates in 2008 as well in most cases. Hope I haven't confused you. Bottom line is that the final release of v14 hasn't been released yet. But you have v13 until then (and after that too if need be).

Charlie, I'm not sure we've ever been able to do that. You should be able to double click the Library shortcut to open up the resource in its own format window. You should be able to drag and drop any resource into a choreography. Once opened via these methods (and probably a few others) you can drag and drop as you would anytime in the PWS.

Eric is right. A picture is worth a thousand guesses. Upload an image of the problem you are experiencing and that'll help both you and those that will assist tremendously.

I assume you are working in v14 Alpha here if not it may still apply. If it does then you might try to do the same in v13. (You should have them both with the Oz CD) I've noticed of late an occasional display refresh issue where the mouse loses accuracy of position placing splines. When I zoom in or out even a little it corrects itself. Perhaps this is related to your problem? If it is now might be a good time to familiarize youself with A:M Reports. Hash Inc still has their reputation for speedy resolution of repeatable bugs. A:M Reports It now occurs to me you may be using a much older version too.

If you are referring to the number of frames that came out of the renderer then perhaps you didn't set your Range high enough? If in the Timeline then you may need to adjust your Range settings there too (if not related to rendering). ...Not enough info... shutting down now.

Once upon a time there was a utility named A:M Loft that performed that task. Sadly its no longer supported. Emilio Leroux's Sweeper has some of the basic functionality but it falls short of 'lofting'. Otherwise its quite amazing. Unless creating relatively basic shapes (often more easily created via other methods) you'd probably have to use stitching anyway. Create your cross sections and just stitch them together.

Robert, Welcome to the A:M Forum. I'll hit one of your questions and pass it on (Round Robin style?) If others do the same you'll get introduced to lots of people. If you go to Project on the menu toolbar the dropdown will give you an option; Workbook. Select that and you'll have the tabs.

Wow Bruce, thanks for the mouse!

Amazing. Beautiful Work. Its been said that the true test of successful computer animation is to hide the fact that CG was used. You are there.

Others can provide their insights too. There are a lot of ways to tackle that job. I'm a big fan of caricature so thought I'd leap on your post. I haven't yet put the practice of caricature into 3D. Mostly I just draw friends and acquaintences in 2D. I'm definitely out of practice as yesterday I drew two coworkers and... it didn't resemble them so much. It was what they were doing in the drawings that clued them in more than anything.

Sure is. You can use decals to get it done. I would imagine you'll want to set up a custom system where you can grab a photo and bring it in on demand but a lot depends on your end goal. There are a lot of options to consider. Depending on the level of quality you are after you may or may not need to touch up the decal in a graphics program like GIMP or Photoshop. There are models on the Extra DVD that comes with A:M where you could add your faces to the existing decal and then deform the model to the desired caricature. If you want to go really basic you can animate/manipulate just the images alone. For absolute best quality in your model (especially for animation) you'll want to model and decal your caricature from scratch. It can be a lot of work but the payoff is worth it in the final product; a fully animatible caricatured character. In any case A:M gives you the tools to do the job.

Another great short Bruce! Loved it. The first time viewing the sound was just a little bit off (cache not caught up?) The second time though *BAM* right on the symbol every time. Were you going to attempt a re-render with hair?

Larry, I think your characters are about to get a seriously new lease on life. Welcome back to Animation:Master. It's been mentioned that you should work through the manual (The Art of Animation:Master) and I agree. If you were to rebuild your characters as you go through it you'll be up and running in no time. If you didn't get it with your upgrade (Are upgrades currently getting only the Tech Ref?) it is available online.

That shouldn't be too much of a problem. You could crop... or apply to a small patch as a decal. Just take care that the white of the background and the white of the image are the same or you'll get artifacts left over. You could identify a keycolor (white) as transparency in the image but... the thought of almost guaranteed bad transparency scares me. If that becomes a problem you can create an outline of the foot and extrude outward to create a solid mask of one color. Or if you have a program like Photoshop/GIMP you could mask it out that way. This demonstrates one of the reasons I'm such a big fan of Alpha Channels in A:M. The results of the image rendered out of A:M with Alpha Channels are almost always perfecct for compositing. All of this mostly for future reference. As you are looking to build a displacement map I'd say you are on the right track already.

As others are demonstrating, you have several options available to you. Perhaps one of the easier ways would be just to bring your images in as rotoscopes. It doesn't matter that the images are horizontal as the image will be the same. Position the images to taste and render out as a sequence of images. I think I like this method best as you can then adjust the transparency of these rotoscopes to create the animated effect. You should be able to turn them all transparent at the same time. Create a model with one patch. Apply a two image sequence to the patch as a patch image (Select the Patch > Right Click > Add Image) Note: If the image renders in the wrong orientation you'll have to select the patch and rotate it. Drop your models into the Chor from a top view and place them where you want them. Note: A trick to placing them correctly might be to have your character perform his walk cycle with the ground plane a little high. The feet protruding through the ground can then easily be seen from the bottom view. Adjust the frame of the patch image to frame 1 for the left foot and frame 2 for the right. If you don't want to do all this foot changing business you could just create two models, one for the left foot and one for the right. If some cases you can just use the protruding feet to create the the animated displacement automagically. Just keep in mind that the image will be reversed. If your character has distinctive feet this may be the best method as the footprints will then exactly match the character's foot placement. View frame by frame on foot contact to determine best keyframe/timing for transparency. Depending on the level of detail you need the process can get more complex. If for instance the toes need to displace the ground first followed by the heel and then ending with the arch you might have to set up 3 distinct maps to capture the effect. Hope this makes sense and points out a few more options.

Thanks Caroline. I imagine the quality of Onion skin will be too low but many thanks for cluing me into the expression/keyframe trick. I'll sleep on this and see if I can't dream up a solution. I downloaded the trial copy of Corel X3 and satisfied today's requirement. It's a 15 day trial if anyone is interested. Fully functional. An A:M solution has to beat about 1 minute to be considered quicker. If it takes a little longer thats fine too as that time can easily be regained by having everything inside A:M. The two programs it seems I can't live without are A:M and Corel. My daughter stepped on Corel Disk 1 and broke it so it doesn't install so well. My earlier version I have with me... once I track down the serial number and I'll be back in business.

Caroline, Onionskin doesn't appear to work with images. I thought they did but I'm having trouble with realtime display so... can't confirm. I'll test it again. Ah! Thats the trick. Thanks for the reminder! Bruce, I haven't explained myself very well I'm afraid. You are very close to the solution though. If we could drag and drop more than one image into a decal/rotoscope etc. this would be fast. Unfortunately it looks like only the first one gets added. In v14 we can drop multiple models into the Chor at the same time and replace them simultaneously. This is really an amazing way to populate a scene, build a model and change elements. Working with Layers doesn't quite work the same way though. The camera rotoscope is really close to being a solution... very close. I'll try a few more options. I've tried so many I've forgotten which ones I still need to try. Paul, Yours may be the way I have to go until something else gives. A little work on the front end but lots of quick compostiting on the back end. Not ideal but we can definitely crunch a lot of images quickly that way. I'm off to try rotoscopes within models...