Rodney

It can help to take an approach of using an even number of splines. This will not only help in avoiding 5 point patches but also 3 pointers... as well as chart a course for dividing larger sections as they get refined into (optimally) 4 point patches. One of my favorite approaches... where the model will never leave Animation:Master... is to fully embrace 3 and 5 point patches and even leverage them in innovative ways. For instance: intentionally creating a 5 point area so that it can be capped as a 5 point patch. As a general rule, anywhere in a unibody mesh where there will be appendages (or orifices) there will be a requirement for a special patch (3 and 5 pointers being most used). In the 'embrace the problem' category: Another useful and old school approach is to hide the area in question. For instance, we might hide 'eyes' behind a pair of glasses. We might extend troublesome areas out of camera view... move them around to the side or scale... way... way down... In the case of scaling it might be possible to leave a 5 point patch area completely open and it now be seen in the final rendering. It might not be 'air tight' but... no one will know it isn't. How about the 'grid based model with decals' approach? Here a basic grid of 4 pointers in modified into a shape and details that would likely require 5 point patches... added via decals. Then there is the 'fix it in post' approach where a troublesome areas is obscured, blended, blurred or otherwise tossed out. For something like the current contest... which rightly places emphasis on using A:M for modeling and rendering... I'd say the embrace the 3 and 5 point patches approach would be the easiest approach rather than spend too much time trying to convert them into 4 point patches. There are some considerations of course with decaling and texturing and so those cases will need to be tested. If not seen in the final rendering though... you'll have more time to refine other elements of your contest entry.

David is giving Rodger Reynolds a serious run for his money in the detailing department. Very nice indeed!

no posting here please.

Well, that was an adventure. I won't say all is now right but at least the Special Topics should be accessible again. A side effect of updating is that the top banner links were almost all broken so we'll need to revisit those. I've moved Special Topics under Animation:Master > Featured categories/forums for the present also. If you see anything else out of place please let me know, I know there are still a few!

There appears to be two issues related to Special Topics. Hopefully you'll see those resolved soon.

Sorry David, No the Special Topics are not going away... although... I'd love to see them evolve into the Clubs feature of the forum**. I'll look into why Special Topics isn't showing although I'm reasonably sure already. **I'd like to see the term 'clubs' removed but that's deeper in the forum settings so for now that areas remains 'clubs'.

It's now 9:40PM. It's still not too late to post to this topic. If only I could have gotten you to do that.

I didn't realize I've had a Pinterest account (with nothing posted) since 2006: https://www.pinterest.com/rbaker2006/animationmaster/

Down at the bottom of the screen forum members should start to see social media icons for various platforms. With those icons, A:M Users should be able to share the posts here in the A:M Forum with all their friends and relatives. Please let us know if you have any issues with that feature and we will investigate.

Due to recent update of forum permissions some are experiencing lack of access. It is reported that logging into and out of the forum is resolving this issue.

Of all the people... I was counting on you Dan!

This topic has been modified and will now close at midnight on 20 Oct 2019. If you have anything important to say... now is the time to say it. Do not say you have not been warned...

Lots of space in this topic. Very roomy.

There is nothing significant relating today to Charlie Chaplin. Which if fine but it'd be a better day if there was at least some connection.

Please See:

This topic will automatically open on 10/20/2019. No autoclose date or time is set.

I've seen a few more optimistic reports outside of the doom and gloom scenarios with Mac Catalina. This has me wishing I had a Mac to test with. Here's a link worth reading: How to Run 32-Bit Apps in macOS Catalina Additionally, it is reported that ALL executables have to be run at least once via the Finder/terminal before they can run 'normally'. While something of a pain I find this to be a nice security feature. Then you'd mainly have to be on guard for someone trying to trick you into installing a nefarious application.

*emphasis added

I heard a rumor Mac Catalina has been released. Hopefully some brave soul is testing Animation:Master on it. Crossing fingers and hoping things might actually be better than worse.

Ah. Thanks. I saw a note that it had been released for awhile and thought I had missed the release.

Is there a place where we can download v19j?

I wonder if those views are stored in the Windows registry. Perhaps not there... perhaps somewhere else where we can manipulate it. And if so, perhaps a fun C++ project to put together.

Not necessarily wanting to go all onscreen but definitely working in the Modeling window for connecting splines etc. The workflow I'm currently testing starts with an SVG drawing (drawn with a pen) imported into A:M and refined into a full 3D model. What I guess I've realized is that I need to draw A:M splines but I can't quite do that directly in A:M at the outset. As such I'm drawing the initial framework of 'splines' in Opentoonz and then pressing through A:M towards the final. I will have to add that onscreen numeric keypad though!

I've usually used a mouse with Animation:Master just because that is what I learned with and that is what I know best but... I'm leaning into using a pen and need to get it fine tuned and optimized for working in A:M. Any suggestions/recommendations?