Rodney

I knew I'd be buying this book. Many years ago I found Tony White's 'The Animator's Workbook' in the bargain bin of a book store for the hefty price of $1.99. This was a very nice discount from the cover price of $27.50. My only regret? I should have bought every copy they had that day! 'Animation: From Pencils to Pixels' is not an update to The Animator's Workbook but is rather a whole new book w/CDRom filled with information, tips, observations and lessons learned in pursuit of animation. At a cover price of $49.95 it made me cringe for a moment (hey... I'm cheap!) but I knew I'd be putting back the other books I thought I might buy that day. I took this book along with another on lighting by Jeremy Brin to a comfortable chair to start skimming through. As I sat down my attention was diverted. I got lucky, Borders books had two copies of 'Animation, From Pencils to Pixels' on a rack right next to my chair. That little corner sticker on the book with 30% off really made my day! 'Animation, From Pencils to Pixels' covers about every aspect of animation. Working from Development through Character Design to Project Financing on through Filmmaking, Sound, Storyboards and Animatics Tony moves into the digital world. He writes about Production, Teamwork and Workflow, Project Management and more. The Principles of Animation aren't neglected and much of the 200+ pages of this 500 page book deal with those principles as applied in 2D and 3D animation. Lots and lots of real world animation experience collected together in one place. Of special interest to users of Animation:Master is a inserted commentary in Chapter 15 (pages 420 and 421) entitled 'A Word About Software'. In it Tony explains how the majority of computer generated illustrations were created in Softimage XSI, which he has used in production. His commentary is telling especially in his words that 'Software is just another tool that the true animator has at their disposal'. He goes on however to spotlight a program he didn't use in creating his book; a program by the name of Animation:Master. Of it he says: He goes on to say: Ladies and gents, Tony White knows the soul of the animator and this fills me with pride to know that I can be a part in providing such tools to aspiring young (and old!) animators everywhere via this forum. That Animation:Master recieves such praise from Mr. White says something to me about the animation tools I've chosen to use. Tony does get one thing wrong though. On page 453 when writing about Character Motivation he includes a quote, "I think, therefore I animate". As Tony isn't a user of Animation:Master he can be excused for not knowing it is, "I think, therefore I A:M". I haven't yet read 'Animation, From Pencils to Pixels' from cover to cover. I haven't yet taken the time to look on the included CDRom. However, just in the initial read through I've found it worthy of a prominent place on my bookshelf. Congratulations to Tony White for publishing this valuable resource. It will be indispensable to a whole new generation of aspiring animators. For more information on Tony White I suggest you visit his website which is a nice resource all on its own; http://www.tonywhite.net/ Note: The website doesn't have any information on the new book. References there point to a different book that is currently in haitus or of which parts were incorporated into the current book. For more information on his new book or purchasing online visit: Amazon's writeup on Animation, From Pencils to Pixels

That was fun, entertaining and informative. Even if the religious undertones weren't considered it'd be a pretty accurate portrayal of the effects of advertisement and product branding/placement in the classic 'bait and switch' tradition. As I watched the bar near the bottom of the menu get closer and closer to the end I was wondering how you were going to tie in the red garment. Nice work. What perhaps more impressive than anything is the multiple levels your short film works upon within the central theme. While I'd guess this was mostly unintentional on your part I'd like to think it wasn't entirely an unplanned coincidence. What I allude to here is that your use of cute characters for the good guys and a single ugly alien looking bad guy fits right into the same mold the 'tragedy' alludes to; the subtle manipulation of minds and habits over time. This is an eternal element of any storytelling to a degree but it fits into your film in ways other stories wouldn't. Your theme itself provides this element. On one hand you illustrate the danger of subtle change while on the other you provide an enjoyable chronicle of events of these characters as they unfold. Perhaps too preachy an undercurrent for some? Probably. Just seeing your take on the old 'bait and switch' makes this an enjoyable view. On the deeper level its provides a nice introduction to far more serious things. Nice job! Rodney

Great work Jim! I could tell you had put some time into your entry. As the model was pretty small it left me wanting to see more (so... that's good I guess). There are a few things I thought would be nice to add to showcase your model even more. With little more effort you might have added the toy box Voltron came in for instance. That would have allowed you to show the model in a dynamic pose or two, from different angles, highlighting the separate components, etc. Even a wireframe image on the box as a blueprint-tyoe image would have looked really cool. Other objects like that would also contribute to the sense of scale... you know... how big is this toy anyway? Added: The table is a good start but there really isn't anything that clues the eye into how big the table is. If its a kitchen table... thats a really big model. If its a lamp stand perhaps not as big. Throwing in a comic book, crayons or other objects to create a sense of scale can really pay off dividends. Regardless of my piddly opinion... you done good! I'd love to see more detail of the individual components. Congratulations!

Beautiful work. (as usual) Good thing the Extra DVD is out of my hands now because if it wasn't I'd be beggin' you for that ant. I'm curious to see what plans you've had for it. Don't leave us in suspense! ...and Hash City... wow. Glad to hear you are still working on that. You've just made my day.

Very nice. Your game looks like it'll be a lot of fun.

He (meaning you!) shoots. He scores! Very very nice. Thats something to be really proud of. The placement too!

You can download the manual (TaoA:M) from the Hash Inc FTP. That'll get that page back for you. There is also some good information in the help file (I know you mentioned this but just in case I'm posting it here. It might help someone else). http://www.hash.com/htmlHelp/v12.0/Generat...lockEffectA.htm

Hadn't looked in on this project in quite a while. Looking really good. I love your WebHAMR presentation. The activation of the theme music was almost instantaneous. Very nice addition. Keep it up!

Dhar, You are right and in the exercise thread this is discovered (and rediscovered) several times by different people. I know I should just collect all that information into a handy dandy easy to read location but... not sure if anyone would read it anyway. In the meantime the information is there in the Exercise 13: Show Some Backbone thread. In that thread John Booker suggests the following as optimum to turn on in the thread linked above. Linked image: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?act=A...st&id=15677

T MAC, Read through the posts in the TaoA:M Exercise areas. In particular the second post, assuming the link is still good. Missing bones? If you still can't determine why you can't find the bones let us know.

You'll need a utility/program to make them. They come in all varieties from simple to complex, command line to interface, from free to really expensive. If you launch a search on Google for "animation convert AVI to GIF freeware" you are bound to find hundreds. A while back I used and enjoyed AVI2GIF. There were other programs of the same order such as TGA2GIF etc. Now I use Corel Photopaint but I bought that with the Corel suite of programs for $200 or so. There are a few programs that can create GIF animations themselves but don't convert/import graphics. Those probably won't suit your needs if you are wanting to use images out of A:M. Lots and lots of programs to convert images to GIF!

The plot is certainly thickening... the mood is getting intense... I wanna see more!!!

Locally (on the Hash Inc server that hosts this forum) you can upload an animated Gif file. That would provide you with a small movie. The more exensive movie avatars you see (Colin Freeman and Robert Holmeins are two examples) are Flash (.swf) animations which I believe are linked to on their sites. With this technique you could theoretically set up your movies for interactivity/branching too. Creating Gif animation is pretty easy. Flash animation is getting easier to make especially now as A:M is picking up the capability.

Check with Hash Inc (their contact information is linked via www.hash.com). It may be that your copy is legit. They'll be able to point you in the right direction. In the meantime I recommend looking through the TaoA:M exercises here in the New Users Forum. While none cover flythroughs of 3D Text specifically they do cover aspects that will make your flythroughs even better. For more on 3D Text I suggest a visit to the Tutorials forum. The amount of help you'll get here in the forum with a pirated version I won't speculate on.

Aha! Another lurker reveals himself! Great to have you posting here in the forum. Are you working on any projects with A:M these days or are you just having fun? If interested in really honing your skills I definitely recommend getting involved in 'Tin Woodman of Oz'. I know you've been using A:M for awhile but Welcome anyway!

Sergio, Sorry for the delayed welcome. I'm findiing if I don't specifically look into the New Users Forum these days I miss posts. Thats a good thing though as I need to watch this forum closely. Lots happening in 'New Users'! Welcome to the A:M Community! Make yourself at home.

Peter/Marie, I see that you are using Windows but I'm not sure what version of Animation:Master. For older versions of A:M it may be that you just need to install the DLL files required to run A:M. These files are usually contained in an installer called 'v14Stuff_All.exe' and can usually be found on the Hash Inc FTP site (ftp://www.hash.com Windows Installers). Change the version number for whichever one is appropriate. You may have already got A:M up and running by now so I'll wait here to hear more from you. Let us know how your fare! Rodney

Sam Buntrock created a nice tutorial (in two parts as I recall) on Proxy models. Unfortunately, it looks like Sam's site is down. The tutorials should be winging their way toward you on the Extra DVD sometime in January. I know that doesn't help a lot now but its a great little tutorial. If Sam's site will be down for an extended period of time perhaps he'll allow us to post it on A:M Tutes for the Tutorials Forum.

If you haven't played with the various Interpolation settings (Linear, Hold, Spline, etc) definitely do that. Right Click once you've selected your keyframes and change the Interpolation as desired. You can also tweak the Bias handles to get better Ease In and Ease Out on your poses.

Nice Hammer!

Hey, thats not necessarily a bad thing even if you are! Thanks for taking the time to post your experience with the Channel Editor. I agree that this is something that tends to escape beginning animators... there is a lot to learn! Having people (new users and pros alike) share their experiences is key to breaking through to success. For the new user there is the learning. For the pro there is validation and extension of that experience through teaching. At any given time an animator can look back and remember their influences, experiences (frustrations and confusions too!). At the end of the day its the recollection and collaborations that will stay with you. That and taking time to photograph your giraffe with your kids! Thanks Caroline!

Great to hear your Bismarck model got extended life as the Tirpitz. I had been wondering what you might do with it. If you ever get a chance to save it out as a binary project (.prjb) for HAMR that be a great way to let people see the detail close up without releasing the model itself. I'd sure love to see it up close and personal. I'm sure most people would be put off by the slow response of the full models realtime drawing time. It seemed like Jody K's Golden Gate Bridge ran a bit faster in realtime via HAMR than via A:M. I didn't do any extensive tests however. For some reason your modeling makes me want to break out and (attempt to) build a physical/plastic model or two. I probably haven't done that since a teenager. In a few shots I can almost smell the glue and plastic on your model. Beautiful work Stian!

Its not released yet. Is it?

Writing out a dope sheet eh? I'm embarrassed to say I have never seen anyone do that. I've seen examples... but never the real deal. If you ever find loads of spare time I know a discussion of dopesheets and planning of a shot would be magic to many of us. Your Hunchback of Notre Dame project is intriguing. I can't remember if you said this was a personal project or if it was otherwise. I do know that you've got the project set up with some really nice models and sets. I look forward to seeing more as you find the time. (Hey look everybody... someone else that uses dopesheets!!!) Woo Hoo!

Andy, You have gotta be kiddin us. Outstanding work on that short Quasi piece. My daughters Jessica and Julia were captivated and I had to explain the story of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. (Jessica knew it from Disney's version of course... so there was that eureka... "Oh I know that story" moment.) If I had to pick at anything in your messin' with Quasi it might be to have him keep his gaze on the statue for quite a bit longer. Those lifeless stone gargoyles are his only friends and he's been reminded of it. How long did that take you to animate?