Rodney

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...

Thanks Bruce. Its looking like that is as automated as I'm going to get. While that would work well for one project I need to find something that will work repeatedly and as instantaneously as possible. Using the technique you describe I suppose I could set up and save some cameras that have the ideal settings. Point the Rotoscope to the images in a particular folder. Then replace those images as needed. I do like this technique as it allows for easy movement of image elements in order within A:M. Thats also an important consideration... moving these images around as the need arises. Hmmm... Is there anywhere in A:M where we can import multiple images at the same time? Decal images perhaps? (Edit: Nope) I probably should try v14 before I get to bogged down here. v14 has some amazing additions... which gives me an idea. I'd be glad to hear other options or things people think might work. In Coreldraw I'd open the multiple alpha'd images and they would all automatically overlay each other. I brought my Coreldraw installation CDs with me but... forgot to bring my serial number. Gah! Maybe its time to upgrade to Corel X3? Nah... I'd rather do it in A:M if I can. Rodney

Heres a newbie question. I'm looking for a simple way to combine sequences of targa images into a single image in A:M. I realize I can create something manually but that is problematic especially when the variables change (say I need to combine 50 sequential images the next time, 20 the next... whatever). I thought maybe a subframe technique might work but I'm not sure exactly how to do that with images. Each image needs to be full strength... not blurred. The image sequence have characters/objects isolated by alpha channels. Each image in the sequence is unique. This must be really easy because I can't think of how to do it. Did I overlook some orthographic rotoscope method that can smash images together? Thanks in advance for any insight. Rodney Edit: I'm living without Coreldraw for the moment. Thus the desired in-A:M solution. I thought A:M's compositor or several other approaches might work but even if able to select a group of images only the first one gets imported.

Tbenefi33, Daniel and Eero... Welcome, welcome and welcome back! I think this is the place to be while learning computer graphics and mastering 3D. Its great to have you with us.

You can learn about creating pistons in the Feature Focus area too. Feature Focus #1: Creating a Piston Other Feature Focus topics can be found here: Feature Focus forum

John, I've long been a fan of putting lights in models so this demonstration makes me even happier. Lots of thanks should be heading your way for demonstrating yet another solid usage. All, For those interested keep in mind that the light in a model is treated as a bone. You'll need to go into Bones Mode in order to see them, move them etc.

You might have to 'enlighten us' on what excerise you are working on. I imagine its a light but... not sure.

More great components to add to your fireworks spectacular. This one is really nice too. The flash on the left hurts my eyes almost as much as those fireworks that shoot off and appear to go out then... BOOM! Arrgh! I always get blinded by those.

I like Nancy's solution but then again I'm lazy too. If it looks as you intend it in the final product thats got to be one of the easiest ways. Some of these type of shots look better with a cut from the camera. Assuming it works better than a continuous shot. In such cases render only what you need (frame range-wise) and then piece them together.

It sounds like you have the Alpha Channel turned on in your render panel. What you percieve as black is actually a transparency mask. To turn it on/off look for it under BUFFERS on the Options tab. Note: The Alpha Channels option won't show up for formats that don't support transparency.

Wolfram, Have you had a look at the Path Ease (walk and then wave) video tutorial at: http://www.hash.com/vm/ Its down near the bottom of the page. That has helped a lot of folks out. I can't check your project out right now but I'm sure someone else will assist you. Just realized you are looking more for path to path jumping too. There have been several posts on the subject here in the forum. I'll try to ferret one of them out.

Its hard to keep expectations realistic but you really should try. No one will be animating at Noah Brewer's level overnight. Pace yourself! But have fun all the way.

Then good grief man... invest in yourself... and buy it.

Thanks John. Very nice work. 'Deadlines'... what a great problem to have. Keep it up and keep letting us know what you are up to from time to time.

30 day money back guarantee Mr. C. So that's even better than 7-14 days. Full version, all the bells and whistles, no watermarks... the real deal. Believe me its worth it. You should work in A:M for awhile before you set out to teach with it though.

Maybe John is getting secret payments from Audi? Nice real world application John. I'd like to think that if they aren't already sold by the time they see this they might ask for more of the same. Perhaps even animated? Can you share a image of the current location for comparison?

The only test your animation seems to fail is the 'Would my Mom understand it' test. I don't think she would but thats not so much a scathing criticism as it is an example of potential barriers to communication through the generation gap. What I mean by this is that the punchline is one reserved for a particular audience that is 'in the know'. Where this hits its intended audience... Bam! You are there. Not sure how you could make it more universal except to include it within some kind of bookend that clues everyone in to what is going on. One example: Introduce an alchoholic beverage (even though not required in the process demonstrated) and the 'aha moment' would be transcribed. I'd think the 'yellow liquid' alone achieves this for the majority of audiences. Otherwise you've communicated effectively. Without words even. Good use of sound effects to sell it too. This is a very successful animation on so many levels. I'm impressed. Well done!

John, Hash's Multiplane was the primary reason I upgraded to Netrender back in v9 timeframe. I found I didn't need Netrender for that purpose however as much of Multiplane had been incorporated into A:M as you state. If only 'some' of Multiplane was integrated into A:M this does beg the question then... what didn't make the transition? Having never used the old A:M Multiplane module I don't have anything available for comparison purposes. My response to Jojo was taking the long way around to answer the underlying question of 'where is multiplane'? Many (most?) A:M Users don't even know what multiplane is much less how to effectively use the process in A:M. As far as I can tell everything available in the old multiplane is available to us now via Rotoscope, Layers and Compositor. Again though I have no reference to base an informed opinion. Rich, I dowloaded the OpenEXR plugin from the XNView site... works like a charm. (not sure how I missed seeing it... perhaps they could alphabetize the list... or I could get glasses) Very nice. (alas Irfanview your glory days are fading) Caroline, The EXR plugin for XNview does view but it also allows conversion which is probably why most will want to plug it into their workflow. It helps also for that quick previewing outside of A:M of course too and for sharing with others that might want to see the unconverted EXRs but don't own A:M. To get to the power of EXR's format we'll need to use programs like A:M. Thanks for pushing me in this direction everyone. My move to EXR has been too long in coming.

Multiplane isn't going anywhere soon. Its largely been assimulated in other graphics definitions and terms. As pioneered by Disney it was a new and promising technology but its not so much a technology anymore as it is a technique. One of the reasons you don't see it mentioned as often is that when you can create worlds in three dimensions you don't always need a technique that creates the illusion of 3D within multi-planes. The art of multiplane has fallen out of favor in the world of 3D but its very much alive and well in the realm of 2D, especially in post production and special effects. Every time someone uses layers in Photoshop they are using a derivative of multiplane. Similarly, OpenEXR is a technological extension of multiplane that allows manipulation of the multiple planes of images held within a single image. Its main technological advantage is that it can be manipulated programatically through C++. Once created, you no longer need to locate, collate and order the various layers of images because they are already there contained in one file. Like any image format OpenEXR can be supplanted when something better comes along. TIF images for instance can do much of the same thing as EXR and in some ways more. Until it is replaced the EXR format has George Lucas, Industrial Light and Magic and a lot of motion picture compositing and effects to keep it going. That should be a good long while.

Whoops. Forgot that part. Hope installing didn't break anything. Thanks Steve.

Matt, That's just what I was hoping for in a 'behind the scenes'. There are a lot of lessons learned here. Martin is a nice guy but he is oft misunderstood. Its -more than- okay to work on spec. Always use Animation:Master. Studios may need Maya too. Youtube is easy to search. Trust in your instinct but never jump to conclusions. ...and on and on and on. Thanks Matt for the inside scoop. Congrats again.

Okay... here we are at the March Raffle. I'll get right to the point; I messed up. Now I'm going to try to fix everything. Without going into the boring details I'll just say I have my February and March winners. February's winner is Rob Wilkens. March's winner? Elliot Clem Now here is where things start to get interesting. Rob Wilkens has to make a decision. He can choose as his prize a SIGGRAPH video *or* he can choose to trade his winnings for the currently unspecified March prize. Should Ron keep his February winnings and let Eliot take the SIGGRAPH videos home? Should he let Elliot wait for his prize until April or wait until then himself? Someones got some decidin' to do and it surely isn't me. Ron? Elliot? Everyone else? Who's moving on to win the April Raffle?

Hehe... cute dog John. It should be noted that John has a folder of his own on the Extra DVD full of project files and demonstrations of how things work in A:M . One of these days we'll have to collect them all but the files he has on the DVD are sure representing! Thanks for all you do John. You are indeed the Tinkering Gnome.