Rodney

John, First... Welcome Back! Its a special treat when old A:M Users return. Playmation... that was one of the things that caught my eye way back in the day but I still didn't take the plunge until '98 (Meltdown CD). Concerning your display problems you might post in a separate thread as people usually just check in to introduce themselves here. It sounds like something where you could probably change from Direct3D to OpenGL or vice versa. It may depend on your graphics card... Welcome home John! Rodney

RingerT, I think I read that same review... great writeup. I should tell you though (and you are probably already experiencing it) Animation:Master is all that review said and more. Now harnessing that power... that is what we can hope to do in 2006! Ron, Thanks for the intro. Having gotten that out of the way you can get to work while making yourself at home here in the forum. Please do! Glad to have you both here. Rodney

There is currently more than one answer to this. It depends on what version of A:M you are using. In v13 (Alpha) and (I believe but will have to check) v12q you can Right Click and select [Create Icon] or whatever its called. Help me out someone I don't have A:M handy... This option is also available from the FILE menu. In versions where this isn't working you'll have to render and image and then add the image by going into the Project Workspace. The image becomes a part of the file so you can disgard it if you no longer need it for other purposes. Perhaps someone can point you to more specific info... Rodney

BUMP (Because people like cute/cool models) It'd be a great project to rig some of these old guys with the Squetch Rig if anyone would like to learn rigging. It'd also count for completing Exercise 13 in The Art of Animation:Master. Rodney Note: As the first attachment appears broken you'll have to download the project file and save the model out from there. At least until the link is fixed.

That is indeed a wonderful thing for Renderosity to do. Kudos to them and a big welcome to you! Rodney

Stylized is the perfect look for the comic book projects I'm working on. Attached is a quick modification of Javier's model (obviously not cybergirl!) I started modifying, splining, coloring and 'Emerald' came out. Rodney

Nice splineage! I can generally be reached at: rodney.baker@gmail.com Thanks Javier. Rodney

Javier! It's great to have you back in the forum. I'm just glad you are okay. I asked around... visited your website but you were missing in action. Hope all is well with you. She is really looking awesome. I didn't continue on with her except to work out the storyline and background a little more. I've been busy. I definitely want to pursue her story some day. With your permission I think I will take up your suggestion and work on her and post your images to the old Cybergirl WIP. I feel the sudden need to model and animate as I've neglected those skills for too long (if I ever had them). You've made my day. Rodney

Dhar, If you are so inclined you can also save the threads to disk as an HTML page for later viewing. If your forum menu looks like mine you should have an Options menu in the upper right corner under the New Topic button. Select [Print this Topic] and the thread will be converted to an HTML page. If there are a lot of graphics this may take a little while. Once the page is finished save the file from your browser (or use your Ctrl C method). Sorry for the off topic here... but thought it might be useful. Rodney

Dhar, I'm sure Hash Inc has your information. Please send me your information as Hash Inc would have it; Name, Address, Telephone Number so I can make the call and get your upgrade on its way. Thanks! Rodney

Very Nice. Makes me homesick for Japan so you must have done something right. -Rodney

You assume I have one Sandy. See you next year same time same raffle channel? You may want to have TAoA:M completed by then though. Charlie, You've got the names and history mostly down. Now you've just got to channel all that energy. Take your time... have fun... learn something new (animation related) every day. Rodney

I agree! But... its such a tasty carrot. /me puts down the carrot before Dhar realizes there are two bites missing.

Whew... you had me sweating. Thanks for letting me off the hook Rodger! I do strive to be incluvise rather than exclusive in my forum activities. There are some elements that are exceptions of course. Certification is one. Certification is either valuable or it isn't. I hope to make those that take the time to get certified really be glad they did. For activities beyond the scope of New Users and TAoAM I'm priviledged to be able to put on a Fellows hat and join in activities benefiting all A:M Users. Thanks for putting up with me everyone! Rodney

I'd be glad to open a dialogue on any concerns. I have concerns myself. I'm not sure I totally follow you though. This is the part perhaps you could clarify: ** First and foremost I'm looking for ways to encourage people to follow the path of least resistance... completing TAoAM. On the selfish side of things... It rewards people for making my job easier. For supporting the task that I've been given of helping people through The Art of Animation:Master. I'd say there is already a second class citizen and it is the New User. When they leave all that behind however I hope they remember where they came from. There is more to it than that of course... there always is. Your opinion is highly valued by me. Respectfully, Rodney ** I read this that you can see this heading to a place where artists such as yourself that specialize in mechanical modeling would be left out. If that is what you meant I can understand your concern.

ohoh... he knows.

Welcome Johnny! (Cool Christmas present BTW) As Ken suggests, you are welcome to start your own thread to post your exercises but I'll recommend you join in with everyone else and play follow the link. Each exercise has been given its own thread so people can focus on the aspects of that particular exercises and get the most out of it. Alonso's Bootcamp animations are published in separate threads so you'll eventually see that format. We may try the individual threads again someday but the combined ones work better at this point. It keeps people checking in too whereas they might lose your individual thread in all the mass of individual threads separating them out would lead to. Here is the starting place: The Art of Animation:Master (Online) Welcome to the A:M Community! Rodney

I'll be great to have you onboard Steven! We look forward to your 'official' arrival but don't be a stranger now. You can spend this time learning even before you buy A:M as others have too. Go through the video tutorials. Download the online manual. Read through the Technical Reference. Skim, read and view available tutorials. Get involved and have a great time! Rodney

Nothing so dramatic Vern sad to say (I think!). Just a random troop sitting with her laptop wondering why the heck I was pulling names out of a thermos cup at 3AM in the morning. Please note that I did not have my hat so I had to improvise. We do what we can... Caution: Do NOT hold the A:M disk up too close to your temple. The voices get entirely too loud. Rodney

I like the simplicity in that Phil! I'll have to use that technique. Here is another way: - Lathe a verticle spline in a new model (this should form a cylinder) - Grab and Delete all but the Top or Bottom of the cylinder (this will leave a spline circle) - Throw this model into your Choreography (it is now your programmable(?) camera control spline*) - Constrain your camera in two ways: First [Constrain to Path] where the spline circle is the target , Second [Aim at] your model (or a Null which you can move around) - Adjust the circle and path ease to taste I'm sure there may be even more ways to do this A:M. *I like this method as you can set up a camera in the model and adjust it from there too. You can make the model spline path as intricate or simple as you need it to be. Rodney

Yes ladies and gents the winner of the New Users Forum grand upgrade giveaway is Dhar Jabouri! When Dhar's name was selected (hey I didn't pick it!) a big grin came to my face. I know him well from the TAoAM exercises and at large in the A:M Forum. I know he'll put v13 to good use. Heads up to everyone else. The next contest may be restricted to TAoA:M Alumni as its the wave of the future so get started now! TAoAM Certification is valueable now and it'll be worth even more in the future. 2006 is the year to get animating. Congrats again to Dhar! I made Alonso wait entirely too long before he got his upgrade last year. Don't let me do that again! Rodney

Who the heck is 'Dhar'?

...and the Winner is... ack... my heart... I don't think it can take the strain of the suspense... the excitement...

Knockwood, I hope my procrastination and illness (I must have ate something bad cause I think I got food poisoned) will pay off for you and you win the prize. You sir/ma'am... are in. Rodney

Mike, I went back and reviewed your posts and stumbled across this one: Shaogue 's Demo movie The link/attachment seems to have been busted during the forum update. Any chance you could repair it or relink. I think I must have missed that one when I was on vacation in Japan. I'd love to see that. Thanks! Rodney Edit: It appears other attachments in your WIP have suffered the same fate. Maybe it is that MP4 thing. Hope you can fix them.