Rodney

Wow... I missed this post. As has been said already... great modeling detail. I love those diaramas from the scale modeling magazines. That's what your model really makes me think of. Here's hoping that you have something like that (a diarama) planned for this one. Bravo!

You definitely got me thinking about rocks. Here's a 30 frame test w/ rocks reimported in place. Some deletions and distortions later of course. Since you have Sweeper... that might be a great way to go to. You can always place your 'Hero' rocks in exactly the position you want. I highly recommend using the distortion tool to quickly place the rocks. That'll save you a lot of time.

There are a couple attacks most of which would probably be more time consuming to get right than just placing them all manually. What might work well is to create a new model and copy/paste rocks in a row... scaling some up, some down, distorting some... lowering and elevating,etc. Then duplicate that row into several new rows... Repeat for even newer rows... Then go back in and delete and move to taste. The trick is to get as many different rocks created as quickly as possible. You can move and distort later. The method I've been hoping to perfect entails moving one rock in a choreography or action distorting etc along the way as discribed above. Then you export the action to AV2 models. A 100 frame sequence would give you 100 rocks of various size and location to reimport into a new model. A:M currently can import multiple models so this can be pretty quick as long as the geometry is low and there are no bone naming conflicts. I like what you have now though. Looks like a Mars operation to me.

Michael, Try right clicking with Save Target As on the following link. That should get you a download. Phil's In-camera smartskin tutorial

Thanks Phil! Smartskin has always been something of a mystery to me. Probably because I've never really explored it. You've got me looking forward to it now.

That will make a difference.

Love the detail! Keep tweaking the light settings. I hope you keep this project for the inevitable compositing with v12. Adjusting light levels will really make your scene/project zing! Rodney

Too kewl! Good choice Ken.

Stian, My initial tests aren't promising. A:M apparently closed on my first render wiht frame 271 being the last successful frame. I was rendering to LOW setting just to see if it would render through. Rendering one frame with particles (cannot recall the exact frame) ended with a fully rendered frame... however it was strangely cropped to include mostly sky... with no particle area shown. I need to check this again to see if rendering in the background had anything to do with it. Realtime met with a reintroduction to my desktop. I can continue but there are much smarter people than me out there. Perhaps this file should go to Hash Inc (with images) for testing. Best, Rodney

My recollection is that he requested a credit if it was used somewhere but otherwise it is yours to do as you please. Anyone have a good contact email for Euisung?

Stian, Downloaded and rendering a test... You may want to zip your image files in with the project as they are missing from the project. In the meantime I've substituted some random images on my end. Testing...

DL, Just thought of another simple thing that might add to the scene. For contiuity between "Daddy" and the worms you might tint the worms eyes pinkish or a mild red. Something to further tie them together. You've done this with the one worm with his headdress. Doing something subtle like tinting the eyes might press that further. Feel free to discard any criticism or advice though.

DL, That is a winner! There is no need to guess what is going through Sang's mind... "Get me the heck outta here!" One small crit: The image is a bit blurry especially on the left. This would be better if it was motion blur but it appears to be an area blur. Great stuff! Rodney

Andy, Finally getting the chance to unzip your animation. Very cute. I like the style too. Others have commented on what might improve the shot and I don't have anything to add. The eyes... and the reflection. IMO you really need the reflection to sell the shot and get full focus on the character's action. If you can't do this straightforward you could do it in a separate pass or in post. Great stuff as it is though!

Very Nice! Makes me want to go watch dinosaur movies. Edit: Meant to add... It would be nice if you could add a few lights to blend the Trex into the setting and bring out some of the detail. Specifically, at the foot and head. I realize he is mostly in shadow but there is room for ambient light and reflection which you can fake with a little light here or there If you don't want to mess with these lights in the chor you could always add them for this specific scene right in the model. Hope you have more where that came from! Rodney

Stian, Great fun! I'm not very educated on the ins and outs of A:M particles. I haven't heard of the problems you are experiencing though. Are you rendering out to TGA or a movie format?

Yep Rusty... you are wrong.

Wow! Anyone know of any good hobbies to take up. I really should be giving up on 3D and going back to my crayons... Excellent as usual Noah!

John, Don't look now but I think Paul Forwood snuck in a did a take on your Boolean Free ™ sphere creation. Sphere with Hole (No Booleans) #2 *Definitely worth a looksee... *Unless you and he are secretly the same person in which... disregard. Edit: Should have linked to the Port Hole Tutorial as well. Port Hole tutorials Note the first is without dialogue while the second has dialogue.

Zach, You've hit on a winner here. I meant to comment on your soccerball animation but needed sleep first. When watching that animation I kept watching it again... and again... because something was catching my attention. I'm now convinced it was the Shaggy in background. Fine secondary animation I might add. What you are hitting on is something similar to the feel and look of Carl Barks Ducks... or Disney's world of similar and compatible characters. Now you've pushed it to the next level. Great characters. I wanna see the series!

Oh oh. K.... here goes. Tutorial Rule #1: Edit Tutorial Rule #2: Never blame the software for something you don't know how to do yourself. Tutorial Rule #542: Don't 'learn' while demonstrating unless you explicity state that you are 'experimenting' or something to that effect. (See also rule #2) Tutorial Rule #894: Practice the tutorial first... Then have fun while you are doing your tutorial. *I like Rule 894 the most personally. Quite seriously. You cover a lot of material but... 1 hour? With some good editing I think you could get it down to 15 minutes or less easy. One good way to do this is to record your video and then dub the voice over the finished/edited footage. How's that for a start? One of the reasons I haven't done voice tutorials (or many tutorials for that matter) is that it's not as easy as it looks. I look forward to your next tutorial. Best, Rodney *Oh... one more! Truth in advertisement is best: "Modeling without Booleans" might be a better title. ** And warn people about the size. *** And Seven will suggest you try Wink. I think he's right in this case.

I'd say "Yes" if we are talking the Extra CD. If your target is the next A:M CD (probably to go to press October 2005) the goal is to keep it A:M only. I'm not privy to your discussions with Martin and their word is final. Paul Daley would be a 'reality check' to sound off against as he is the lead on the Extra CD Project.

Funny stuff Seven.

Re: What you just said. Entirely too cool then. So you build the models and the visual and virtual data tells the simulation where to place everything? I want one. Good job! Keep posting.

Hey, I think that was cool! I think I've driven down that road many times. Would love to know about your filming technique and how you put the scene together. Rodney