Rodney

Try dropping the refection on this and the robo should stick out appropriately. If you have time maybe you could experiment with subtle shades of color... I'm thinking red. Rodney

And... Don't forget to put a junk yard filled with old batteries somewhere on your world. Either that or a recycling factory to cover what he does after driving all over the place, running out of battery power. This will build nicely into the robos excitment when he opens his shiny new ultrapower "rechargable" hydrocel batteries during the Christmas TV Special! Rodney

Yeah... what Dearmad said then! The black is too stark. While it does help to bring focus to the robo it is at the expense of seeing the vehicle. I wouldn't go back to the chrome though. Perhaps a dull gray. Or once you've decided the back story on how the robo acquired the car you can search the internet for car ads and borrow from their look. His inclination toward speed might be served by a glossy red too. I like the dirt you had on it before... that seems to be an indication that the robo doesn't take the time to clean the car... indicating (perhaps) he's got better things to do than clean his car. Like drive... vrroooooooom! If you go for the ultra clean look maybe he spends a lot of his time driving... cleaning... driving... cleaning... (I don't know just going with the flow here) The direction you've been heading seems to indicate he doesn't like to stop too much though. So the "lived in" dented and used look seems best to me. That would also leave room for the sequel when he eyes "the new car"... best, Rodney

(Secures Conch shell) Can't get any simpler than this, but is a must know powertool in windows: When you want to document your progress (ala WIP) simply press the Print Scrn Key and what ever is on the screen is copied to the Windows clipboard. From there you can paste into any program that will accept bitmap graphics. Holding the Alt key down while pressing Print Scrn will copy only the active window. Mac users, your mileage may vary. (Rodney extends the conch shell to the awaiting masses)

As far as I know, and I think the site refers to it, the trailer IS the finished project. I'll confident I'll be correct if I'm wrong. Ed?

So you're telling me he *won't* be trying to get out of the way of your robot as he cruises around 'town'??? If I were you I'd be hard pressed to resist dropping him into your current project. maybe as a secondary gag. Picture this. Scene 1: Turtle slowly plods along Robot cruises in Turtle reacts and... exits stage right Scene 2: Turtle slowly plods along Robot cruises in (different location/backdrop) Turtle reacts and... exits stage right! Scene 3: ... What you want me to write the whole treatment! Stick the turtle in the project already! Apologies. I like your turtle and think he deserves some screen time... Rodney

AhOh. Almost sorry to let the secret out of the bag. Excellent! An old trick expertly implemented (if I may say so) by you. Wish I would have thought of that myself! Keep on posting! This (and your project) is gettin' good. Rodney

I like! One question: Shouldn't the telephone poles all pretty much point up in 'the same' direction? Unless of course you the hill we are seeing is really a sphere and you are rotating the hill around to fool the camera into seeing the telephone poles upright. In which case... nevermind. Rodney

Simply Awesome! Cute way to deal with a not-so cute subject matter too. I knew you were good but I didn't know you were that good that long ago. I think it might take me about ten more years to put something like that together. *Sigh* Think I'll go back to drawing stick figures on paper now. It's hard to be inspired AND depressed at the same time... but I'm managing... Rodney

...and the rest, as they'll say, was history. Thanks for posting! This will certainly be a rarity when the completists of 2020 search the galactic net for your earlier works. I wonder what else they find? Hmmm... A Fan. Rodney

Excellent area for inspection. Did you upgrade or change any major setting in between final renders? Did anything change besides the times of rendering and frame numbers? Also: I rendered out frame 29 and 30 but I'm NOT getting the same results you did. I'm re-rendering frame 30 at this time. Is there any way what you've displayed is just one frame from one of the multipass renders. Flipping back and forth between the two chor shots you posted it appears to be a problem prior to render time. However, since we're looking at rendered images and not real time that may skew the results of our efforts to *see* what you see. Rodney

Someone asked about more information on the Boids of a Feather project and workflow. With apologies to the creators if I'm stepping out of line by posting here on their behalf, I submit the following link: Boids of a Feather Information contained therein is a must read (IMNSHO) for anyone wanting to produce a finished short film in Animation Master.

Trying to get John to posts some updates here I believe these 'furniture' models are available for free download to anyone who purchases the Skycast program. If this is suppose to be a secret. It ain't no more. If I am in error. I'll apologize profusely. Rodney

BUMP Any Updates John?

Curious. I may be off the mark here but... Can you adjust the preroll? Does the option exist for you to adjust? If you can perhaps you can lower the preroll in your second instance to match the first. I've downloaded your project and will try to look at it first chance I get. Rodney

Wow! Now that will look awesome animated! Nice weathering look as well. Rodney (Taking Notes)

Jim, Have to say you're sharing of techniques, images, etc. impresses me. If I had your talent I'd probably invest in locks, security camera, electric fences and whatever else I could find to keep the trade secrets.... um... secret. Sure glad your not me! Rodney (Tonight on A:M Channel: Jim Talbot: The inspiration. The man.)

Reply edited because I don't have a clue when it comes to the new hair system. I mistakingly believed a spline could be used to establish hair. Seems a patch is necessary. Not sure where I got that idea. Sorry. Rodney

John the second movie shows just black to me. First one shows fine. Rodney (Nice cake over at the Ed Lynch BDay party!)

Still have any pictures of Abe. Can't seem to find the one I saved. Rodney

The boys style fits nicely with what you've got going so far. Lots of great projects going on in the A:M community. Sure wish I could be a bug on everyone's shoulder as you all work your magic. When all these projects are completed you've just got to get them together for a Group shot. Now that would make a great CD cover. Rodney

AAAHHHGGGHH. Somebody invent something to stop this madness! Keith Lango's Secret Joys of Myopia and Jim Talbot's Lincoln lost... forever... Was it harddrive failure? Or file corruption?

John, you there. It's a four day weekend. You're not supposed to be making money... You're supposed to be relaxin' So post another WIP already? Rodney

The Cindy Groves! Holy Cow. Haven't seen you post in a long while. Now if someone can just find Tincan and Brain Prince and Howard Trickey and... Model is looking good. Have you tested with Hair? Rodney (I was a lurker back then. I'm much more vocal now. Can't seem to shut up.)

Bjorn, Just downloaded your model. Thanks for making it available. Hope to have time to look it over soon. Also enjoyed your breakdown of the splinage. Rodney