Rodney

Paul, Since you won't give yourself a hard time for not entering the Christmas contest... I will! Bad Bad Bad Bad Bad Bad boy! Shame on you! Outstanding work.

Rich, I've been eagerly awaiting this moment since I first saw your work in the A:M Community. You have a great sense of the photoreal yet balance it with solid talent, great composition, texturing, lighting... the works! Its great to see your fine work getting out into cyberspace. I hope it'll find a willing audience. John, I know your computer skills have got to be an integral part of that webpage. Very nice! Keep it up. Hats off to the Mid Atlantic Animation Master User Group for your hard work and efforts to get together. Best of everything to you in launching your project. Rodney Related plug: Both Rich and John's work can be seen close up on the current A:M Extra CD and the upcoming Extra DVD. Look for them!

Apophis, Wow. What a endorsement for A:M, the A:M Forum, TWO and the A:M Community in general. If nothing other than simply heartfelt its great to have that kind of validation. That sent shivers up my spine. If you are looking into getting into the industry much of the process is and will continue to be software agnostic. The Principles of Animation apply throughout. What are your priorities? If you want to animate I suggest diving in completely with TWO. Show others what you can animate. Demonstrate that you can finish the work. If you want to get into the industry (i.e. work for Pixar) you'll have to invest in that priority. That can take on many forms (schools, training videos, internships, etc.) but most of these will cost you a lot of money. If you don't have a lot of money I know a great community where you can at least animate! Thanks for posting! Rodney

Here's an older method currently linked in Useful Links (See link in my signature). I'm sure there are other methods to be found that include some of the latest bells and whistles (AO, global illunimation etc.) Let us know what you find. Rendering those White Renders

*Gulp* (Rodney heads for the little go cart ride) Nice animation. Definitely gives you a feel for what it'd be like. Whatta ride!

For the stars I suggest using particles but there are other methods discussed here in the forum. To set up the particle effect one way might be to: - Set up a Choreography with a Camera pointing straight upward - Create a patch - Place it in the Chor above the Camera - Create a Material and change its attribute to Particles - Apply that Material to the Patch - Adjust the Materials settings in the PWS within the Chor shortcut to the Material (You will have to toggle on the 'Show more than Drivers' setting). Pay attention particularly to the Preroll and Gravitational elements. Ajust in realtime (with minimal particles) until you see something you like. Turn up the Particles Render from Camera view Rinse and Repeat I've had one example that looks pretty good in realtime HAMR view. I'll see if I can track it down before JohnL3D can post. Gotta be quick to out-project that guy!

Impressive Andy. Watching you put a movie together like this, piece by piece, is really a treat. You call it a WIP... sure looks like Showcase material to me. Hope you are keeping lots of notes for the 'making of'.

Eeek. Forgot about that. My apologies. Once you launch into TaoA:M I'll supply any models you need. (Should you tire of using Thom that is.) All part o' the friendly TaoA:M service. Glad to see you are working through the exercises.

I just checked that last zip file. Those last two links are to the most recent additions to the TaoA:M exercises. Sorry for any confusion. Any assistance collecting TaoA:M resources will be gladly accepted. Thanks Daniel.

I'd guess 99% of A:M Users have them readily accessible via their CD. I thought you still got the CD with the upgraded Dongle? Is that not the case? At any rate. All of the models for A:M 2005 are on the FTP. You can find them linked in Useful Links. There is also the Extra CD. Don't forget that! You can download files from HERE. If you just want to download the entire CD in one zip file go HERE. Any of the Actors rigged with the 2001 Rig can be used/substituted in the exercises. Rodney I do believe that the 2005 files you are looking for can be found here: ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/updates/windows/Am2005/ or more directly here: ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/updates/windows/Am...wManualData.zip

There certainly is a Library for v12. However it won't work for v9 (as I believe has been mentioned). As I recall the 2001 Rig didn't get released until v9. Working A:M 2001 exercises with A:M 99 is going to be a rough trip. You can probably simulate the exercises to an extent but I don't envy you. Thats seven (almost 8!) years ago. Most exercises just won't work in A:M 99 as they will in A:M 2000 and thereafter. If there are particular models you need that can't be found on the FTP or via Useful Links (See link in my signature below and look a few pages into that topic for links to models) then let me know and I can copy them from my CD for you. Most of those models are on the FTP however. Pretty sure they all are. There are some models from 2001 that may work for you but I'm doubting it. They can be found in the projects linked via the Animation Contests: LINK! As the exercises didn't come along until 2001 I don't suggest working through them in earlier versions. If you still have the 'tomb' (the old manual) those exercises are more appropriate for those versions. If you can locate your CD... thats probably your best bet. Sorry this isn't what you wanted to hear. Rodney

Pretty cool little demonstration of the gun. I like. You've got some nice detail going into this project.

You could also cheat the look of reflectively in some shots (especially stills) and use an image/layer with transparency. You'll generally want to reverse the image though so keep that in mind.

Dick, That's pretty cool. You've obviously put some time into your lip sync (and modeling!) effort. Keep that up and you'll be wowing everyone in no time. There is some interest in lipsync currently in the New Users Forum (Exercise 7 and especially 13). While I'm not sure how much time I have to devote to it I'd love to see more explored on the subject here in the forum. If others post their Q&A in those TaoA:M areas I'll try to do my part too. At any rate... keep on keepin' on!

John's (er... Matt's that is) example is one way to do it but there is an easier way now. If you've got your animation in A:M as a squential image/movie just Right Click and Save As Animation. Make sure you locate and change the settings as desired. Sorensen 3 for instance will be an option as long as that codec is installed on your system. The Camera Rotoscoping method is still useful. Especially if you want to create an edited version of your movie pans across the image you already have.

You are wrong there my friend! Just getting a glimpse at how you put models togther is quite a learning experience. Great stuff! Thanks for posting that.

I think I may just link here as this is a nice collection of related informatoin on the subject. Keep adding to it as you see fit. Thanks Jim and Bruce! Rodney Edit: Link added to Useful Links. I put it under the Modeling category... not sure where it belongs.

Hey Yann! Welcome to the Animation:Master Community. This is about as good a place as any. Whats on your mind? Rodney

The model you are looking for is named 'Eugene'. He should be on your A:M CD but also on the FTP. The skeleton file you were looking at was just the bones from the 2001 rig which when looked at in a modeling window will be invisible but in bones mode will display the rig.

Ethan, First, let me say congratulations on your purchase of A:M. I'm a user of A:M (like you will be now!) and I get excited every time someone new discovers A:M. It really is that great a program. You said it! There is absolutely no way I can create all the things I'd like to create. Right now I'm still trying to determine what it is I wanna do when I grow up. There has always been a core group of people with the talent, time and inclination to work for others. Lately I've seen a growing number of old and new A:M Users offering their services. I think its great! If I launch out on any big projects of my own that is certainly a way to get high quality product quickly into production/workflow. Providing jobs for fellow A:M users pays off two fold as those you hire often bring what they've learned from such offerings back into the A:M Community in the form of information, tutorials and other collaborative opportunities. Its a win - win situation. One of the best things you can do to see maximum return on your investment in A:M is to stake out a place here in the forum. Get comfortable. Make yourself at home. Get involved. Make some friends. Welcome to the A:M Community!

You mean in the sense of animation? Modeling? If animation you'll want your foot bone to be a child of the leg bones and your leg bones to be a child of the body. Exercise 13: Show some backbone runs through this heirarchical rigging process pretty well. Rodney

Ethan, Sorry, missed your posting earlier. There isn't a listing of A:M CD content as it tends to change every year. In the past few years there have been quite a few additions to the A:M CD as well as on the Extra CD which you get free with A:M. Need more incentive to purchase? This year Hash Inc is publishing an Extra DVD in the place of the Extra CD. That means where there was 650MB of resources there will now be upward to 4.5GB... that's Gigabytes for the uninitiated. Yes there is furniture. Buildings we got too. Lamps, forks and spoons, vehicles and a whole lot more. Then of course there are the characters. Gotta love those! It won't stop there either. The Extra CD was popular and with the Extra DVD I've no reason to doubt we'll see a lot more of the same. You may even want to create a few models of your own of course and contribute those too! Here's a look at some of the fine contributions of the past: AM Extra CD Volume I Shhh... don't tell anyone but you can download them from there. With WebHAMR or HAMRViewer you can even see them in full 3D.

A very astute observation Yves. Mr. White is obviously is one of those 'thinking animators'. His 'Animators Workbook' falls into this category as well with lots of text explaining things far beyond the pictures. Great information but for those of us that are use to just looking at the pictures... a tough read. If we take the time to actually read it there's some very useful information there in just the text alone. Richard Williams's 'Animator's Survival Kit' is similar in that capactiy. You really have to read it to get to the good stuff. As Tony White once worked as a personal assistant to Mr. Williams that may be where he picked up his 'thinking animator' style. I've spent the evening reading (and watching) the PDF file on the CDRom. The content consists of a PDF file interlaced with extracts from the 'Endangered Species' short with commentary on why particular story elements were focused and the specific techinques used to complete the sequence. Great stuff. You'll find a lot here you won't find in other books on animation. Interestingly, there is an extended section (in several parts) on physical and mental health and exercising for the animator. This is a subject I've thought might be covered in more depth here in the A:M Forum as we have had several fitness trainers frequent. At any rate, its an interesting addition and animators shouldn't easily disregard. I've barely scratched the surface in this book. Quite enjoyable!

Its very much unlike 'The Animator's Workbook in so many ways. If I could pinpoint a primary difference it would be that the workbook was exactly that, a step by step procedural look at the timing of character animation. While Animation From Pencils to Pixels does have some nice bits on timing its more like an encyclopedia of animation resources from classical techniques to digital filmmaking. There is an emphasis on general rules and processes used in the making of one of Tony's recent short films; 'Endangered Species'. Its a movie that chronicles the history of animation from black and white hand drawn animation to the digital process within a paperless studio. 'Endangered Species' was, according to the book, created so that this book could be put together. Quite a lot of ground has been packed this book from throughout animation's long and varied history. I want to see this film as Tony has found a way to include characters from Steamboat Willie to Beavis and ButtHead and a whole lot more in a very ingenius way. Its not every day you get to see Fritz the Cat and Mickey (from the Sorcerer's Apprentice) share time on the screen. No wonder Tony is considered such a talent in the industry. Update: 'Endangered Species' is on the CD in hybrid PDF format! Not necessarily better or worse that 'The Animator's Workbook'... different. If you have the old book even better as they'll complement each other nicely.

Keith, To you and your family know that you are all in my prayers. Take care! Rodney