Rodney

Whoa. Previz or otherwise that was quite awesome. I want to see that show! I can only assume this project went on to play in theatrical live action? Tin Woodman of Oz could sure use your rain effects in the "My Heart is Broken" sequence. How did you do that? (No... I don't expect you to reveal all your secrets but... I wanna know!)

Yes, finished work would follow the work in progress so you can post it here. See it as an opportunity to promote the work. Tease us... tell us a little about the project... post an image or two first... show us something that led to the finished work. Then post the final product. (My take)

Keep on posting and I'll keep on enjoying. As has been mentioned... awesome examples.

I'd call that a successful implementation and demonstration of your BVH/squetch rig prowess. Funny... hope he doesn't smash anyone by accident.

Amylia, I sure hope you took a breath somewhere in there while you were typing... In other words its really hard to read a paragraph like that. Split it up a little okay? Let your words breath. Thanks! There is a file 'dictionary.dic' that A:M uses to set the phonemes for your words. You can find it on your A:M CD and copy it to your Hash Inc folder (or point that dialogue you mentioned to it) if there isn't one there already. I see a copy of the 'dictionary.dic' file in \Setup\Windows\ on the A:M CD. I have no idea what a '.i' file might be.* Rodney *Al knows and did an excellent job of explaining it in his post below. Thanks Al!

Is it possible there is a light casting on it?

When it comes to 'The Art of Animation:Master' the only significant change is that TaoA:M has its own forum area now. http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showforum=108 On the main forum page its the second forum in the Users section under 'Newbies'.

Okay... who the heck is 'rwilkens' and why do I have a piece of paper with his name on it in my pocket. I'm so forgetful these days... I think it had something to do with A:M but cannot be sure...

Good luck in the next raffle.

...and the winner is? (to be announced tomorrow) A great big "Thanks" to all who took the time to post. Any posts after this one will be applied toward the next drawing.

Whoops. Thanks for the correction there David and Ken. The assumption will be made that those dragons are on the Extra DVD when they in fact are not. They are on the A:M CD. Steve, I must say... that is beautifully presented information. Very nice.

Oooo.... cool! Animation:Master now has two* 'Make Dragon' buttons. *More than two but that's all that is in this Library panel.

Outstanding. He has great character. He reminds me of a valentines card I did in 2D many a year ago. Yours is a whole lot better though.

I had missed your posting of these last three. Thanks for posting more. The second one definitely calls out for more info! One of the things I like most about you have posted is the simplicity in the executed image/animation. No competing or distracting elements just nice design work presented in a clear way. Very nice.

Even without being animated your characters have attitude. Well designed. The little tweaks you are picking up now will optimize them for animation. Great job thus far!

The images on this recently released example of the Font Wizard are pretty basic but A:M is quite powerful when it comes to text animation. http://www.hash.com/2007web/fontwiz.htm Anything you can do with a character you can do with text. This includes texturing, manipulating, effects and more. So to answer the question "Is AM limited as far as text is concerned?" Not at all. If there is any place where you might want to consider another application for Font Animation it would be in pre-defined text effects. A:M doesn't come with a lot of those. But its easy to create a library full of animation that you can drop onto any model (font or otherwise), fade in, fade out... grow, shrink.... change color... recieve images (i.e. decals). There are some applications that do little more than text animation. As that is their specialty they do it quite well. The vast array of things you can do with Text/Fonts and A:M are only limited by your imagination and the time you have to devote to the task.

One for entering and one for completing TaoA:M. So... Two total is the max anyone can get. Sorry... partial credit for TaoA:M doesn't count.

Sorry all, I've been slow in answering the mail. 5... 5... 5 more days!

Good thing as I misspell words often. I know a more Neals and Neils than Niels. It is important to get peoples names spelled right (and not call them George when their name is Fred). Mistakes happen though. Trust me... if I insult someone... they'll know it. I'll be the lesser man though. As far as the billboad... just a suggestion. While its great to support Hash Inc its better to keep your own vision going. I make a distinction between support and art. Maybe your animation is meant to support Hash. If that is the case a Hash sign is perfect.

Very cute cartoon car Neils. I love your little animation too. Everything but the Hash sign. Nothing against Hash but fix that! Put up a real billboard or something. The little pufts of smoke from the car... great touch!

My model is a recurring character from "My Robot Movie" which was launched here in the forum back in 2003. I got distracted and have put it aside for now. The head of the robot is a 360 degree camera setup. The camera inside constantly spins creating a 360 degree panarama in multiD. The 'live feed' goes um... somewhere else. Most robots in this particular series were manufactured to perform security tasks mostly related to 'locate and report'. Once tasked they will continue to look for their target until they find it. They won't stop. Once found they will execute their next directive. In most cases that directive is simply "Report". Of course at the end of each report they recieve new instructions. There are many variations on the theme for this robot (some have legs for instances) and within the the story the more you find out about this robot the more you learn about the worlds of "My Robot Movie". Based on the data collected from the enormous amount of these sentries reporting in, informed decisions can be made. What or who is making these decisions is a subject of some debate and a story arc in "My Robot Movie". The WIP is still on the forum and most of the images are still there. Its fun thinking back to it from time to time. Thanks for reminding me of how much fun that was. My Robot Movie Note: I don't think the robot on the DVD has a camera in it. It'd be easy to set up though. Most of the models and sets I had for MRM are lost or buried. Sometimes I think of starting MRM up again but other projects always take priority.

As with many (most?) volunteer projects they are generally a labor of love on the part of the creator(s)/maintainer(s). I'm often amazed that these sites are maintained as long as they are... hosting costs money! Inevitably these projects fade with time as those involved find less and less time and money to devote to maintenance. Its takes a lot to maintain these resources! Links to resources that are outdated eventually are removed as well. Thats just the nature of the process. Not many new users will know that the A.R.M. replaced 'Sherwood's Forest'. As sad as it sounds, in time the A.R.M. will be replaced too. To those that have contributed their time, resources and effort we owe our thanks. To Jim Sherwood, Vernon Zehr and all those that have left their mark on A:M Users... THANKS! When will the next Jim Sherwood or Vernon Zehr appear? Excellent question.

There are two new areas in the forum you should definitely keep your eye on: Feature Focus and Tech Talks. They are new and information is just starting to trickle in but it'll provide answers to a lot of questions. Font Wizard information was just posted on 2 Feb! Such as Fonts/Text

Allow me a moment of jealousy here. I wish I could write a sentence like that about myself. It can be. Especially if you try to do it all yourself. Thats the great thing about the A:M Forum. You don't have to do it all alone. Anyone who thinks they do... is lyin' to themselves. No and Yes. The CD is a security measure to keep your investment safe. Without it there is no way Hash Inc keep keep their cost so low. Constant in/out of the CD can be frustrating. I feel your pain. There are several remedies available. You can purchase a USB dongle/hasp. It takes the place of the CD. Contact Hash Inc if that sounds like an option you'd like to pursue. As there are resources on the CD you will most likely want to access keep in mind that you'll still use it from time to time. I went the USB route several years back but felt more comfortable with the CD. Hash Inc updates their software enough that made it worthwhile for me. Adding the USB dongle just added an extra layer of complication to an otherwise easy process. I found just downloading the basic update was faster, easier and did the job. I rarely notice the CD in the drive anymore. Some people purchase another (or external) CD/DVD drive. These are so cheap these days I might just have to do that! My main computer these days only has one CD/DVD drive and that's becoming quite the pain. Make yourself at home here in the forum. Oh yeah... You've been added to the raffle.

The 2007 raffle is off and running again. Why the delay? I had heard the 2007 A:M flyer was going to be mailed out and wanted everyone to have a chance to enter. As this raffle is only open to 2007 users those that don't frequent the forum, see the flyer and purchase an upgrade can still have time to sign on. If you have not yet seen the flyer you can find it here: http://www.hash.com/am2007/ Pretty slick. 10 more days until the drawing!