Rodney

Dion, Quite the contrary. Newbies are ENCOURAGED to enter the contests. Did you get a confirmaiton email from Steve telling you he had recieved it? I fear its too late for this contest. Outstanding image!

Yves, Up a few posts you'll see we discussed that aspect. That is definitely the easiest, most direct way. Phil wants to explore Alpha Channels (see topic title) so... here we are. Rendering to TGA alone wouldn't be sufficient to explore the power of Alpha Channels. Do you have any projects laying around that clearly demonstrate the benefits of Alpha Channels? The sooner we get it covered the sooner we move on to other subjects of interest. Thanks in advance.

A basic project with minimal assets assigned. As we get deeper into the exploration we'd add more to it. I broke my Alpha Channel project so will recreate it and post it here. I should email Steve Sappington to see if he still has his Layers project. That'd be a good one to experiment with.

Hello and Welcome to the New Users forum! Our goal here is to provide help and support for those working their way through Hash Inc's manual; The Art of Animation:Master . Animator Tony White stated in his recently published book; From Pencils to Pixels: We encourage everyone to take advantage of the resources at your disposal. Post your exericises in the TaoA:M forum. You'll learn from the experience and feedback you get. You'll have a whole lot of fun! The entire community of A:M users is here for you. They'll guide and encourage you as you explore the world of animation as only they can. Remember we are all in this learning process together. Everyone starts out as a beginner, so don't be shy. You'll soon see how amazing the A:M Community really is. In case you didn't already know: After completing the exercises online you will recieve a TaoA:M Certificate You can further explore the principles of animation in Animation Bootcamp. Now you can even work on a fully animated movie production; Tin Woodsman of Oz! So what are you waiting for? Don't spend your life lurking! Introduce or reintroduce yourself to the A:M Community and find out why purchasing Animation:Master was such a really great idea. Welcome to the A:M Community! You've definitely come to the right place. (These introductions continued from December 2006)

Sorry, my keyboard failed on me there. Rough times in the world of computer for me these days. I'm back now though. As I often say...with computers... 99% of the time its a connection. If you are willing (and able timewise) I'd like to suggest we conduct an experiment. It might go something like this: We set up a scene and share it. Then only one of us renders objects while the other only renders (composited) images. Eventually we'd update and share this scene as we move on to more complex considerations. If this sounds like something you'd care to try then you are welcome to pick your preference. If we share a common file it'll help us to attack and explore the same things. I've got a super easy setup that we could start with. Although it may not be complex enough its easy to make it more complex once we start adding in images with alpha channels.

Let me tackle the easy stuff first. It doesn't. Just put the date that you either post them or as close as you can remember to completing them. The important date (for your certificate) is the date you finish them all. Now to attempt the harder questions. This is indeed where things get complicated and using Alpha Channels may not be in your best interest if you can just render the whole thing out at once. Here's an idea to consider... If there are only a few frames where the reflections are in the window you need only render *those frames* with everything turned on. Render each time to a different folder (one for separated elements and one for complete scene) with the frame filename targetted and then replace only those frames you need. Its a bit more logistically complicated but might work in some instances. You could also render the window and car together and composite that in with the scene but you'd probably have to 'disappear' the window from the scene first. This is yet another reason to render to TGA (or at least individual images). This is also where our discusion could turn to EXR format but we won't yet. It sounds like you have a pretty good grasp on TGAs and Alpha Channels if you are already rendering out separate elements. Hopefully the models you are testing this out with are fairly simple... proxy models... standins... the mo simple.... the mo better. Once you find something that works you can then set up your scene with the desired resources. I'm not trying to hold you back so keep testing and exploring. I think a video tutorial would probably work best to demo all of this but my computer isn't set up for video recording right now. I am working it though. Rodney

Nice update. Major cool points from me.

Your experience will definitely serve you well in your endeavors with A:M. One of the things I'm striving hard to do (and failing) is remembering all the things I've learned. These are certainly perishable skills. I've got the basics of the 'down and dirty' tutorial put together but now need to make sure it makes sense and hits the areas of relevant interest. Anything in particular that interests you regarding Alpha Channel? (I'll re-read your posts) Since I'm just kind of wandering into the tutorial its hitting about everything that springs to mind. There are a lot of interconnected disciplines, gotchas and inspirational moments in the art of animation. Its fun too but we've got to focus on the goal; in this case, Alpha Channels.

As your topic title is 'Using the Alpha Channel' I think we can explore it pretty well here. I'm all for it! When it comes to Alpha Channels and separating objects in a scene there is A LOT to cover so that's why I want to hit the easy stuff first. You mention Shadows for instance. Its easy to forget about that. Where using Alpha Channels takes more time is in the planning and design stage. Where the 'extreme' benefits come to play is in post production as you can then manipulate all the elements of the scene independently or in groups. There is also A:M's extremely powerful EXR format to consider. The upside is a years worth of discoveries while the downside is that EXR formats vary and other programs most likely won't be able to read them in their raw format. Then of course there are layers. Gotta love them! Rotoscopes! Oh yeah. Understanding the needs of your project is important. Keep it simple but experiment a little along the way as time and budget constraints allow. And perhaps most important, ask questions and share what you learn from the answers with others. We are all A:M Users and thats the reason this forum is here. I'll try to post a quick down and dirty "Just Do It!" type of tutorial here for the dscussion but here to get the discussion started are too oft used references.The first one is the classic tutorial by Jeff (Tin Can) Cantin: http://www.am-guide.com/TinCan/AM_&_Alpha.htm Note: When using A:M Models you'll always... always... ALWAYS... get a better Alpha Channel than if trying to do it in another program in post production. When possible render your characters and objects (animated or otherwise) with an Alpha Channel for compositing later. A bit more technical and of certain interest to those that will be importing images from other applications: http://www.ypoart.com/tutorials/Alpha-about.htm

That is really cool. Color me impressed. I've been working with some flash type menus of late but they certainly don't have any A:M interactivity. I'd like to target A:M v14's SWF export for some experimentation but... never enough time. Love your examples. Your third link was truncated. Lets see if this one will work: https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/vandeweghe/web/particles.htm Edit: Yup. Looks like it does.

For completeness sake I'll add a few links here. Hopefully John will add the link to his video tutorial as I can't seem to find it just now. Sequential Image Numbering Discussion Sequential Image Numbering Options These don't have anything to do with Alpha Channels but its more important to understand sequential TGAs first. There is another way to compile your images using a camera rotoscope. It's a bit more flexible (as it allows for adding to and altering your imagery) but its not as quick as Right Click/Save As Animation.

Phil, You are definitely on the right track but obviously some pain has put you there. An important lesson hopefully learned. NEVER render out large scenes to AVI, MOV formats. Render out to TGA format and then collect them again into AVI or MOV formats. For what you are trying to do you don't really need to use the Alpha Channel at all. If you are wanting to separate the elements of your scene (which is a good idea!) you'll want to use Alpha Channels. There is a decision you need to make here but the initial answer is this: Render your scene to sequential TGA images. Once you've got those rendered you can open them in A:M and save them out to MOV/AVI etc. Steps to compile your sequential images: In the Project Workspace - Right Click on the Image folder - Open your image as a sequence of images (make sure you check the box for sequential images or you'll just get the first frame). - Once imported Right Click on the Image and Select "Save As Animation" - Select the format and codec - Name the file Done. JohnL3D has a tutorial that takes you step by step through this process in the Tutorials section. ...Now using the power of Alpha Channels. Lets explore that once you decide that is really the way you want to go.

Great to see you again Mike! I haven't seen the brochure for v14 (2007) yet but you can get additional information via the following links. Keep in mind that v14 has features from past versions as well so there is a lot to read (some video to watch too). http://www.hash.com/am2006/ http://www.hash.com/am2005/ http://www.hash.com/am2004/ http://www.hash.com/am2003/ http://www.hash.com/am2002/index.htm Edited to add links to some previous versions. Bruces link has some great info too!

I don't get any lines here. Could it have something to do with your image (BMP) or material? Those weren't available in the model file. Is there a reason you don't just remove the splines from that part of the model? Just curious. Perhaps you are exporting for use with a game?

I'd be lying if I said I did so I'll default to those who know better. If you do a search here in the forum using your video card as the text I think you'll find some good information on the subject. Video cards seem to be cyclic in that some manufacturers take shortcuts to keep costs down for themselves and consumers. Cards that don't meet the higher standards might be sold as SE, LE or other cheaper versions. A:M needs a good video card and a lot of the Limited Editions simply won't play well with graphics intensive programs such as A:M. Experts? P.S. Here's one set of posts on the subject of NVidia: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=23521 It looks like an older driver was the workaround for some: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22267

The black dots are indicative of a video card problem. In some cases a trip to your card manufacturer's website will provide the update you need. In other cases you may find switching back and forth from Direct3D to Open GL (or vice versa) may help. Others may be able to confirm your troubles here once you let us know what video card you are using.

I'm sure there must be a way to isolate the simulation but I know not. Sorry. A workaround might be to create a copy of the Chor and strip it down to only what you need for that particular simulation. Perhaps those with more experience in Rigid Bodies can give you their take. 8000 frames!!!

Graham, I'm not sure if someone replied to you in another place but I do hope you are feeling at home. Regarding the upgrade I'd say if you have the money to spend you definitely should. For $99 you'll get v13 and v14 (free updates for the year!) and all the bells and whistles that come with them. I generally wait for the new year but there really is no reason to as the CD currently being shipped is already in line for v14. Here's hoping you find lots of time to spend with A:M in 2007!

Very nice Stian. Congratulations!

I think I've discovered the origin of your frustration Yardie.

Nice find Andy! I had completely forgot about that tutorial. It was the precursor to the current videos on stride length and wheel cycles on the TaoA:M video page. http://www.hash.com/vm/ If you haven't seen those definitely check out the ones at the bottom of the page. In particular: Simple walk and wheel cycling actions and Path Ease (walk, then wave)

Right! And there are some interesting blogs on the subject of timing and music in animation too. For instance: Understanding Timing in Animation There are three other parts to that discussion: Part I Part II Part III Part IV There's even better stuff out there. I especially like the ones from early animation. There are a lot of old Bar Sheets becoming available. They provide some great insight into the creation process of animation with regard to music. Media Musical Timing Rediscovered and other animator/enthusiasts have taken note: Bar sheets from the Rudy Ising directed short “Shuffle Off To Buffalo.” or how about: Mr. Duck Steps Out *Note the calculator on the right side of that last blog. You can convert frames to feet, field sizes (Disney and Acme) and Beat to Metronome. Interesting. And here is a nice Ken Harris interview by Richard Williams on Timing for Animation: http://www.packthecat.com/PersistenceOfVis...sInterview.html

Thanks for the info Yardie. As I said it looks like you've already got a pretty good handle on this. It may just be a matter of using different words in some cases. For instance, you said: "Helper and Solver Tools" is a term that sounds intriguing. It's a bit too vague though to narrow in on anything specific. If you find the time perhaps you could share your thoughts on that. Explore that aspect, especially with relation to what you are trying to accomplish here with Newton Dynamics, and I think everyone will benefit. Rodney

Nice! Looks like you've been busy. You've definitely made it look lived in. The keyboard looks a bit big to me. The black keys seem rather large. Nice little details.