Rodney

Lori, There are two aspects to this question. It sounds like you have the first one covered but I'll include it just in case. Screen Capture (on a PC) Once you have the image(s) you want to capture on screen press the [Prt Scrn] button. Paste (Control V) that image into the image editor of your choice. Save the image. Uploading to the forum. In a post where you will be typing your text there is a browse button at the very bottom (sometimes off screen). Browse to the location of your image and select it. Submit your post. Variations on the theme and caveats: Screen Capturing. You may be using another method to capture screens. There are a lot of utilities and programs that capture screens (Irfanview, Wink, CamStudio, Camtasia etc.) Post Preview Problem. Don't preview your post before submitting as it may drop your image attachment in the process. Just submit the post and then edit it if something is posted incorrectly. Let us know if there is any other information you need. Rodney (Looks like Dhar was fast with that link... thanks Dhar!)

Great story to go with the characer Satyait. Sounds very much like one (or two?) of Aesop's Fables. Keep up the excellent work, especially the storytelling as that is obviously such an important part in your creativity!

Hey! What was the question? More importantly... What was the answer!?

Definitely showing some advancement there. Whats neat though is that you can see the talent (and even your personal style I think) in all of your efforts. Looking forward to seeing your work in a couple more years! Keep up the great work. Your efforts are definitely paying off.

Dhar, I think he downloaded the whole thing... which consists of mostly unzipped resources. The standalone pages has individual zipped files. So once downloaded and the one file unzipped A:M just needs to be pointed to the Library file(s). Of course not all resources on the Extra CD Vol I made it into the Library file on the CD. Newblood, Once you've upzipped your Extra CD file go into A:M Then TOOLS/OPTIONS Then on the FOLDER tab find Libraries in the drop down list. Browse to the location of the CD Library and select the Library (.lbr) file. If you do a search on Library here in the forum you should find Heath Hash's tutorial on connecting to a Library.

I'm convinced we can find even better ways but those methods work pretty good for now.

Make sure you are dragging and dropping the actual model files (or project, materials etc.) Dragging the folders they reside in doesn't work. Easiest way to test: Create a new folder in the Models Library (Call it 'Test') Open/Enter the Test folder Position your Windows folder and A:M so that you can easily drag and drop Grab a model and drag it into the Test Folder Works every time here. Now... I can hear you already saying "What the heck... that' gonna take years!" A really great way to add lots of resources to a Library quickly is to run a search (Start/Search) Perform a search for *.mdl and all your models will be found. If you want you can drag them all into your Library folder and sort them there later. Keep asking questions and we'll explore further.

Yes. You can drag and drop from your file window (Windows and I assume Mac too) into your Libraries.

Thanks David! Remind me to check this topic before putting the Extra DVD away. I want to make sure I have the absolute latest (most current) files on it. I appreciate all your hard work keeping these up to date.

You'll probabably have to hunt down the plugins. Although it sounds like you have some plugins... just not the right ones to get the errors you are getting. Some will be on the Hash Inc FTP site. Some will be on the creators websites. Do you know which ones A:M is asking for?

I'm sure I sound like a broken record... But the fastest I've ever seen people get a good grip on animating (modeling too) has been watching people work through the manual right here in the forum. Its certainly not required as people find success in other ways too but I've never seen people brand new to computer modeling and animation find success as quickly in any other way. At a minimum it gives you a solid foundation to build upon. The Art of Animation:Master

That is most likely the reason for the problems you are experiencing. Most of the models were created/recreated/updated for v11/v12 (2004/2005) so there have been quite a few changes since 2002. I suspect most projects with particles won't want to open. If you still want to use most of the files you probably can but you may have to do some modifications and adjustments to them. The other option would be to upgrade to v13 ($99). All the files should work fine then and you'll be set for all the models about to be released on the Extra DVD too. Over 4 Gigabytes of projects, models, materials and other great resources!

Ken's right. Some models won't be set up with the poses required for automatic lipsync. Exercise 12: Lip Poses covers how to set up a model with the Preston Blair Phoneme Set. There is your manual, the online discussion area and the video tutorials to explore: Exercise 12 Area

Its is better than most but not the best. Sorensen 3 does seem to be the codec of choice for the most part. For these exercises I'd suggest using it. It'll ensure the most people can view your animation too. As you watch other people post their work you'll be able to follow the trends in video compression to hit even higher levels of quality/compression. The H.67 codec seems to be really popular at the moment but requires the latest version of Quicktime to be viewed. Rodney

(Yup. You should keep posting in the same WIP... people will get lost otherwise) Its a technique that not all people like but by adding lights to the Model itself you can add some nice location specific lighting on your model. The Lights will be treated as Bones in your model and they are created at the 0,0,0 position so once created you'll want to go in and move them. Another good technique to test your lighting would be to open a second window and watch the effect of the light in one window while you adjust the location in the other. Rodney

For buildings I can safely say the DVD will be open until the very last day before deadline. One of my own interests for the DVD has been buildings but... never enough time. I know there was a Cityscape project not too far back. If anything came out of that any building (at any detail really) would be appreciated. Proxy buildings, cartoon buildings, images of building that can be used for decals, detailed buildings... they'll all be most welcome. If too late to get into the interface they can still be included in a Misc folder. See my signature for email. Thanks! Rodney

In addition to what Robert said you should experiment with the different types of decals. - Color - Transparency - Bump - Cookie Cut You can get some interesting results from combining different decal Stamp types on the same Decal. Those are the most used but there are many more. Here is some of the basic information. Decals - Techical Reference

Oh. Change the emitter rate to zero on 00:00:20? I have a feeling you don't want to completely stop particles (as in turn them all off) but thats what you are asking. If its to have them die off you would adjust their Life setting. I think the terminology is confusing me. You have the Emitter and the Particles emitted. Stopping the emitter versus the Particles they have emitted are different things. Play with the settings on a test project. Break stuff... try things you don't think will work. The best way to find out what's behind a door is to open it. Keep posting your findings and questing here. Rodney

Question 1: Turning those particles off Short (Shortcut Key) answer: F5 Related information: Particles and Shortcut Keys Question 2: Treeez Foliage Short Answer: Use Hair on the patches you used to create the Tree with Use copies of those patches Use new patches More detailed information can be found in the Links mentioned at: www.hash.com/Treeez Edit: I think your Question 1 changed here. You'll need to animate over time... set a Preroll... Your manual has a nice exericse on Particle emitters. Ah... I see the 'How to Stop' was in your Topic Title. Keep asking questions!

Multiplane has been an integral part of A:M for almost as long as I've been using it. It split from being separate with Net Render quite a while ago. Someone else can pinpoint a more speicifc timeframe but I'd say around 2002/v9.5.

Here's a link to the Treeez information to get you started. http://www.hash.com/Treeez/ Check out the Tutorials Forum where there are a few pinned topics that include links and information about A:M Features and Tech Talks. Rodney

Someone had a similar probem and posted information related to it here in the forum. It might have been Nancy G?

Robert makes a very good point here. To someone learning A:M its a subtle difference but important to note. Just because something isn't optimum (in this case Peaking) it doesn't mean it isn't a great tool to use. There was a time when you wouldn't want to use the Bias Tweaking method. There use to be a problem with Bias tweaks causing some serious popping in animation. You may find old references to these problems on the internet but just know that current versions of A:M don't have that problem. There are some keyboard shortcuts that will definitely help to bridge the gap between old methods and new. The same goes for making the transition from old tools to new as well. Some of these methods you can use to move the modeling process forward quickly even if you discard the interim steps later. Getting to the final product is the goal so if somethings works... it just works! Example: Start modeling your splines. Occasionally whack the Slash (/) key followed by Peak (P). This will Group all splines connected to the one you currently have selected and Peak them. It will allow you to see your model in its most simplified view. (Note: Page Up and Page Down works nicely too in many situations. This changes the realtime resolution of your model without changing the actual model. You can continue to work at that lower resolution and bump it up and down at any time.) When finished you would then have a completely Peaked model. Whacking the Slash and O keys will then smooth the whole mesh so you can then go in and tweak to taste with an eye on Bias Manipulation. Of course if what you see in the Peaked model is good enough. As Robert suggests, you can stop there. There is often more than one way to approach things in A:M. Sometimes its just a matter of finding what works best for you.

You'll find much better success with adjusting the Magnatude of the splines Bias than with Peaking. There are several benefits to Bias Adjustment. 1 ) Changing the Magnatude of the spline will create a nice beveled effect that won't be present if you Peak. 2) You can Adjust large groups or entire models Biases with a variety of settings. The idea is to go in and model until finished. Then go back and tweak to taste. Here are a couple nice video tutorials that might help. Creating Edges by Ken Heslip Modeling a Nut (With Bias Manipulation) by Emilio Leroux Nice models!

Heehee! Needs a little finessing but you've got a great character in the works there John. Hope we see a lot more of that little guy.