Rodney

Yes, along those same lines we can set up two materials (copy out a duplicate of the original and bring it back in under a new name) and then copy the settings over to the new material. Of course when the material get complex this becomes unrealistic. I needed a basic shape to test some of this out so I made a quick mushroom and added a very basic Perlin material. The only material in this rendering is that basic material tweaked in each instance (three instances) in the Model. It would be handy to be able to save out those tweaked materials for reuse.

No. That would indeed be easy. I suppose you could say I'm looking for a way to save/export a moment in the life of a material that changes over time for reuse later. It's hard to believe I've never run up against this before. The method I thought was going to work was to rename the instance and then drag/drop it back into the Materials listing in the PWS (which surprise suprise... actually works!). The problem there is that this looks like it shouldn't be something we can do because the new material isn't actually a new material but has drivers that point to the original. For a moment when I saw the new material there I thought I could save it out as if it were a new material but unlike regular materials the option to Save isn't available.

Look for those in the Toons Render option in the Render Panel. You'll want to toggle on Override Lines.

Oooo.... oooo..... I think I've got it. For a second there I was really wondering how the heck I could get it done. The answer isn't exactly straightforward but is easy once we know how. Let me see if I can make this an opportunity to share a video. Gah! So close but nope.

I seem to recall a simplemethod for doing this... Perhaps someone can set me on the right path. I have a material that is saved as two different materials. The main difference between the two is that one is set with displacement and the other is for color. Both materials can then be applied to a group to better control the texture. That's not part of the problem... just a little background/setup. I dropped the color material onto a different group in the model and tweaked the settings. I like the changes so want to keep that new material. The issue is how to save/export that material as a new material. If I stepped away from the computer for awhile the answer might come to me but for now I'm at a loss. Am I missing something really basic? I know that I can grab the material settings from out of the text file Edit: Editing/extracting the data from Project/Chor/Action textfile doesn't appear to be an option either because the material tweaks reference the original material. Hmmm....

Very nice Chris, and very well executed. Also, an excellent theme/story for graduate student work. There may not be a lot of A:M users in China but I'm glad to know one.

Looking good Gerry.

If you'd like your username to be something else just say the word.

Are you talking about in the forum? If yes, then don't forget there is a second button we have to push to upload the file. The first is to choose the file/image (via Choose File button) and the second to upload/attach to your post (via the Attach This File button. Finally don't forget to hit the Add Reply button to post. If you are talking about something in Animation:Master then... more info please. Okay, I see your other post. Disregardo! P.S. You had me wondering with that 'Gerardo' username Gerry. I was wondering 'why is this guy posting this message here?

I did a couple proof of concept trials both modeling everything and modeling with Boolean Cutters in mind. My tests indicate that some planning of where all the Control Points need to be before connecting everything would work well. (Otherwise the model doesn't maintain smooth curvature). The Boolean method is quick and easy but has the standard issues associated with those, primarily that success can't be seen until launching the render. And yes, I stopped modeling the fully modeled test after getting a bit bored creating 5 point patches. I sense that creating one section of the wheel (with one hole in the section) and then duplicating it as required might be the best way to proceed especially in keeping curvature.

This guy (with the somewhat unlikely name of TurtleTooth*) has made a portable version of OpenToonz. What does that mean? Once downloaded the program doesn't have to be installed. The files can simply be extracted from the zip file and launched. And perhaps best of all... it can be run from a USB stick. The portable version is Windows only at this point as far as I can tell. For Mac and Linux installers (as well as the regular Windows installer) look to the official release. The Link: https://github.com/turtletooth/OpenToonzPortable/releases/tag/1.02 Me likey. Disclaimer: This is not a release by the OpenToonz team but one by someone that had a desire to teach with OpenToonz and needed as portable version as possible.

Depending on the intended usage of the final model I would either: 1) Use cylinders to cut the holes/shapes out of the wheel (via boolean cutters). I believe this would be my preferred method especially since the wheel itself is hollow. or 2) Model one section with holes (filling in the five point patches) and then copy/flip/attach. Then curve it into shape or 3) Model the basic framework with required number of splines/CPs in place and then connect the five pointers to make the holes In all the above cases (with perhaps the exception of (1) I would model a section (one section of the three in the middle and 1 of the four on the outer) and then drag/drop that section multiple times into the Chor where they could be reoriented and exported as a more fully complete model. Then import and do final tweaks and placement It appears to me that with copy/flip/attach you might be able to get away with actually modeling 10 holes for the primary section of the outer wheel and two perhaps six for the inner spokes. The rest would be created as you C/F/A. Added: Somewhere, Will Sutton has a video tutorial of creating teeth and gums that demonstrates one approach to modeling such detail. Edit: If modeling this all the way (i.e. not using boolean cutters) I think I'd place the cylinders that comprise the holes first so that they are in place and have a slight bevel. Then I'd connect them together via five point patches).

It has those formats listed but I haven't attempted an export yet in those formats. One issue with those formats might be that some data would very likely be lost (i.e. if there are any interactive elements in the file). I think that'd be a long shot but on the other hand some of those elements might be preserved because Shotcut can export out to HTML5 animation. Much will depend on the format targeted for export. Edit: When I export to .flv it completes the conversion but when I export to .swf it errors out. Not sure what the deal might be with .swf not working.

Happy Birthday Stian and... congrats on your second child! It's great to see you.

Hmmm.... looks like a big selling point (at least for me) would be the simultaneous recording and streaming of what is being executed in realtime. There is that on its face itself but there is also a more nebulous aspect if one considers that the recording and/or streaming of realtime imagery displayed is in and of itself a (near) real-time rendering process. And it gets better when both the sender and receiver have the same throughput capability because (technically speaking) the receiver could play back the same data at a higher resolution than the sender sent it out in the beginning. At first blush folks would say, 'impossible. You can't get more data out than what you put in.' but that doesn't allow for the receiver having access to the original data the sender has as it is streamed along to them as well. The sender might only view the data at low resolution whereas the receiver might opt for higher rez.

Yes, Adobe plans to add the new native code but hasn't done it as of yet so the page is still technically correct. Adobe still relies on Quicktime code for some encoding but won't for very long. I posted a link to software the other day by the name Shotcut. In addition to being an open source video editor it has a lot in common with Adobe Media Encoder in that it can convert just about any image/movie file format to any other image/movie file format as well as batch convert (ala render farm-like setup): Link to topic about Shotcut It's cross platform and available on PC, Mac and Linux. Well worth investigating. To answer your questions about Adobe Media Encoder. Yes, it can convert image sequences to movie formats and vice versa. Media Encoder comes with Adobe CC. I don't think it can be had separately.

I can't say there is any assumed extension. It's format A in and format B out. Pick one and then the other. As an Encoder the list of possible file formats is a long one. It also stores the settings you want to save so that you can pull up your favorite format easily for reuse (via user defined Presets and Groups). Most of Abobe's programs can save/render out to/through Media Encoder rather than use the default File Save As or Export. In this case it's still Format A in Format B out but Format A may not be an image or video format. It might be an After Effects composition or other acceptable file format. The encoder just knows how to handle that conversion. The Media Encoder is also handy when you've got a whole lot of files you want to encode or re-encode as they an be added to the list and then each process gets run in turn. Theoretically Media Encoder could be made to take A:M files and encode/decode them to other formats too although I don't see that happening. Well, that's kind of the whole issue of this topic. The current Media Encoder can and does export/save to .MOV but it does so via Quicktime code that Apple no longer supports and that creates problems now that it's been flagged as a risk for folks to keep installed. Adobe's recent announcement relates to how they have created their own (native) code that doesn't require Quicktime APIs to save/export to the .MOV format (which is a container that might house various codecs). Apparently Apple has approved the code as meeting their standards and so the way forward would appear set to satisfy Adobe's customers who rely on those formats and the code that supports them and were justifiably concerned. What does that mean for others (on the PC platform) who don't/wont have access to Adobe's native code? Not sure. One option is to look for other acceptable video file formats. Another is to wait for Apple or some other provider to fill the gap. Added: I may be wrong here but I... think... technically the .MOV format can be called a 'wrapper'. I'm almost curious enough about that to investigate.

I put that word in quotes because it was written in an article but Adobe Media Encoder does in fact contain or if you prefer 'provide an interface for' the bits and bytes of code that encode various media formats to include that of quicktime. At the link provided in can be seen that as recent as 2015 some of Apples Pro Res was also making an inroad into Media Encoder. So, yes, Adobe Media Encoder contains many media formats and codecs in the sense that it provides access to them. but no it is not itself a "container" in the form of the word generally associated with files and file formats, perhaps especially image formats. It's extension is .exe. which is generally recognized by operating systems and many humans as a file formatted to contain executable code.

In general I always have to convert your files to another format/codec or seek another video viewer (VLC is usually a good one) in order to view your videos. Your posts in this topic were no different. Some of this relates to WIndows Video Player in Win10 (that thing doesn't like to play anything!).

Adobe Media Encoder is Adobe's 'container' for such things as Quicktime. Apparently what is forthcoming is 'native' code that resides in their rendering/conversion engine (which is considerable) to include the standalone Adobe Media Encoder (which I see simply as a separate interface for that engine). It might not be quite accurate to classify it this way but I consider Media Encoder as a form of renderfarm. The various CC programs can or all use of Media Encoder but that program can also be used outside of those programs. As you mention all are part of Adobe Creative Cloud although from time to time some software is made available separately as further access and enhance productivity (Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing/annotating PDF documents by those who don't have access to the full Acrobat suite of tools being a prime example). Here's the landing page for basic info on Mediate Encoder: http://www.adobe.com/products/media-encoder.html Increasingly, software offerings are separating the rendering/conversion aspects of the flow in a more modular way so as to more easily update to new formats and codecs. More than a few people have proposed 'a codec to rule them all' but in general each company tends to create and maintain their own in order to address their own set of priorities. I think programs like Adobe Encoder are well suited for this purpose because they can help us make a little more sense of the many different options/flavors available.

Here is apparently the source of current news related to the matter: http://blogs.adobe.com/creativecloud/apple-quicktime-on-windows-update/

I don't have any references to site or links to post but I'm hearing rumors that Apple Adobe is planning to release Pro Res resources to counter the issue arising from abandoning older Quicktime support on Windows. Of note: Several of the ProRes codecs support alpha channes although other do not. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202410 If anyone has info related to this please feel free to post and point us to more official info. Edit: Some of my info was incorrect. It is Adobe that is planning to bring Apple's Pro Res formats forward for use in Windows to address the issues caused by Apple no longer supporting Quicktime. I've edited this topic's title accordingly. It is not clear what Apples roll here is but one might assume they are either granting Adobe a large discount on licensing or allowing them to distribute gratis. (NFI)

If you do allow Win10 to install you should not have any issues with A:M still running on your system. I can't say with 100% certainty that this is the case because there is always the (very) odd chance that some crazy hardware incompatibility on older systems might interfere and... make me a liar. But... I experienced no change in operation except better performance over all.

That is very considerate. I hope Jim feel feels appreciated and it never hurts to remind folks just how much we do appreciate them and how much we enjoy the fruits of their labor.

You can probably track him down as he's still a commercial artist but no, he hasn't frequented this forum for several years. As far as questions related to those models there may be others knowledgeable enough to answer questions related to them.