Rodney

Heiner, I don't see an attachment. (Careful with those as releasing the wrong data could let someone else try to activate your copy of A:M) There are no known problems with resubscribing. Activation usually only takes a few minutes for most folks. Can we assume you've put your activation code in and received an error message? If not then you still haven't gone through the activation process. If yes, that's an indication you need to forward Hash Inc your system's host ID. That can be located by running the utility here: http://www.hash.com/try-it-16-en

I took the plunge and decided to install the Windows 10 preview. Just prior to installation I tweaked a few settings, cleaned up a few things and moved important things to an external drive. As I was installing an uneasy feeling crept over me... what if this doesn't work out so well? My primary concern in updating Windows being how well A:M will run (of course!). While installation moved along it seemed to stall at about 2/3rds through so I browsed and continued to organize files on my other monitor (which I'd thought to turn back on and make sure was working prior to install. Still stalled at the same location for entirely too long I bit my tongue and initiated shutdown. Windows suggested I wait to power off until updates were complete so I broke out some drawing books and reviewed why they'd captured my attention when I purchased them. The PC automatically shut down and I powered back on. "Please wait while updates install"... Fine. Windows login screen appears. Login. Hmmm... everything looks the same. How do I turn on Win10? Did it even install? Looks like the install took me back to square one, which is just as well because my system seems to be running perfectly now. So... I think I'll wait awhile until I try that Win10 update. Is there anyone out there running Win10 that can share their experience on how well A:M is running?

I wasn't even aware of BUF software until this latest announcement (or more accurately I'd recently signed up to get information from them as they released their software). It has been reported that R&H used the same software. I'm not aware of the extent but I was of the opinion that R&H was completely standardized on on that software. I'll see if I can dig up the various resources that made the connection. Do you know what the differences are between Voodoo and BUF software? It looks to me like there is a direct connection. My memory also has a flag that suggests the company that purchased R&H (Prana Studios) is involved with BUF but I consider that speculation as I haven't confirmed any of that. Edit: A quick look suggests Prana is out of India but BUF is out of Europe) My apologies if they are completely unrelated. If unrelated that would mean Voodoo is still waiting in the wings as well.

Has it really been two years? Wow, how time flies. As strange as usual Tore. Congratulations! I'm trying to imagine what Kafka would make of these shorts (and in particular this last one). I can't help but think he might offer a biting bit of cynicism mixed with curt commentary and utter despair for the animation art form and then subtly admit he was proud.

Nice! Looks like you've been successful in adding nice range to his facials. One of the areas of R&D I've been scraping away at slowly is the extreme poses for some facial positions that are really tough to get at without resorting to swapping out models that are already in/near that pose. The example is that inevitable 'oooo' sound where lips protrude to an exaggerated extreme. Most models aren't modeled with that level of flexibility in mind... and I should say simplicity... to allow for those extremes. If I discover anything worth sharing I'll be sure to post that. I'm not sure if Tar will ever need to go into that type of pose with his snout the way it is so you may have lucked out there. My thought with regard to Tar was that he's going to need a variety of 'yelling' poses coupled with 'anger', 'rage' and some others in that range. For those inevitable fight/actions scenes... I like the illumination you've got going and you've also got some nice (dark) line quality around the edges. One thing I've found with shadows is that the default 88% (or is it 80%) is almost always too dark for lighting conditions in my scenes. As such I tend to crank those down to about 33% and then... as if starting from scratch... consider the intensity of the light in the scene and dial the intensity up/down accordingly. The starker contrast of the shadows appearing in cases where the light (from the sun usually) is brightest. One consideration, perhaps farther down the line, might be to create a head and shoulders version of Tar that is explicitly created for dialogue shots/close ups. I suppose you could even take that to another level and create another model with extreme closeup of his eyes. If approached modularly these separate models could then be incorporated into 'master models' that include everything (should the need arise... which seems unlikely). In this way you could really ramp up his expressiveness without weighting down his full figured model that needs to be seen at a different level of detail.

Hmmm... that setting must be saved somewhere in the Chor file or else A:M won't be able to retain/recall the chosen setting. And... if it's stored in the Chor then... I will have to investigate. Yup, sure enough. Here is its container (in this case set to 'add':

I must assume there isn't a way to change the default.

I find these days I rarely need to use the default 'Replace' and tend to use 'Add' as the Blend Method for actions. I'm pretty sure I've changed the default blend method before but can't recall how to do it now. Or did I just imagine that. Thanks in advance.

Thanks. Follow up question: Are there any other programs that use cycles besides blender? R&D has to start somewhere. Edit: This is somewhat of a disregard to my previous question as I see info on the cycles standalone renderer here: http://www.blendernation.com/2014/01/27/cycles-standalone-renderer/ This hints at the answer to the underlying question: I'll add this link for reference also: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:2.6/Source/Render/Cycles/Standalone I'd say that integrating cycles with A:M is certainly possible but cycles for other 3D apps (other than blender) is still very much under development and therefore wont meet your expectations yet. The xml format being used is certainly intriguing.

Just so we're clear here... 'cycles' is your favorite renderer? Or did you mean that more generically as 'the renderer I would like to use for the job at hand'.

Rolf, I must assume you are mostly just getting a rant out of your system. I can sympathize. I doubt you are open to discussing benefits of subscriptions so won't waste your time stating the obvious except to point out that subscriptions allow companies to know exactly who their current customers are so they can focus their efforts on those customers. Whether you use an old version or a new version of A:M the subscription is the first and best way to support Hash Inc in helping deliver exactly what you want in software. It'll take time. Perfection (or a reasonable facsimile in software) won't happen overnight. If you haven't already done so I'd suggest you put in a report to A:M Reports concerning the issue you are having with IK switching. It may be a known issue already (it sounds familiar) but your insight will provide more information on that feature from the perspective of your particular needs and wants. I've looked at the subscription model (specifically Hash Inc's) from both pro and con vantage points and only found one particular bugbear that stuck to the wall... and even that one can be dealt with by addressing the problem logically.

I'm glad you can get some use out of it Mack I'll add that the conversion process from a recording/capture session from .flv to .mp4 format is an easy one (at least with the multiplatform release... I doubt I'll be using the standard release as it doesn't have the bells and whistles present in multiplatform. Similar to A:M's 'Save As Animation' conversion feature all you have to do is select 'Remux Recordings' from the main file menu, select a source recording, hit 'remux' and bam! Conversion done. The conversion is almost instantaneous (for recording sessions I've tested). Me likey.

These topics usually get a few posts farther before folks see opportunity to pitch negativity.

I'm always on the lookout for useful software and this one has caught my attention. For those with the time and interest I'm going to put OBS on my recommendation list... specifically the multiplatform release although the regular release works well also. Background While not everyone is into broadcasting live events I'd say everyone has a need for video capture and this software does that too. It actually might be overkill in that category in many ways. Although the windows version of the multiplatform release is not considered stable I find it works just fine and in many ways better than the standard release. For those interested in just the screen recording capability, the key is to set up the program to record/save to a specific folder rather than on online broadcasting service such as youtube, twitch, etc. A second consideration is that the format saved in may initially be .flv or x264 video format. x264 videos will generally show black screens in programs like Quicktime Pro so will need to be converted. The files play well and convert easily in VLC media player and most other modern video players. And don't forget to set up your recordings so they date/time stamp the filenames. I like that feature. Here's a few words from their site: You can even automatically apply filters to recordings such as chromakey to remove parts of your recordings or masks to brand your videos, etc. Check it out if you have the extra time and interest. You have to follow the link to their forum to download the current windows multiplatform release. Link: http://obsproject.com

This topic will eventually move to the Open Forum... so if you imagine the topic has disappeared it'll be there.

Living the dream Matt! Living the dream! Thanks for the insight into your production.

Great stuff! Kids rule.

Names are a fascinating subject... so personal and yet... not. If anyone calls me anything other than Rodney I automatically assume they don't know me and a little warning signal goes off in my brain that suggests I should pay closer attention to who is addressing me. Shhhh... this is a secret so don't tell anyone. On the other hand, if someone addresses me as Rodney I just assume they know my name, are addressing me specifically and press on. As for addressing other folks in the forum I'll generally use what is directly seen in a profile (under the avatar) unless they are routinely addressed by another name which has been used by others or appears to be preferred. The example here would suggest that Dan prefers to be called Dan and Douglas prefers Douglas because those are the name they provided in their profile. I figure it's hard to take someone to task for addressing someone by a name you've adopted yourself. I have to chuckle a little every time someone calls Matt (Campbell) by the name John due to the association with his forum username (John Bigboote). He takes it all in stride and hasn't ever corrected anyone so I must assume he is fine with being called John.

While they are a bit dated the Pixar textures are still very useful.. I've converted some of the Pixar textures from TIF to PNG and since they are under creative commons license plan to upload them. I just have to do my due diligence to include the licensing info. What's particularly nice is that they have bump and normal maps that come with them. I know what you are talking about with regard to rigging. I recently was all excited to rig a character only to be reminded that I still had a lot of work to do with smartskinning etc. before it could actually be animated. The last rig I installed was Holmes Bryant's Lite Rig and I hope to run through all the various rigs in the not too far flung future as I really need to get a good handle on rigging.

You've done a great job on that last one Dan. At a quick glance it looked like you might have used a photo for the background. As Steve mentions much of that can be attributed to the details and I'd say the lighting is a major part as well. And the glass on the windows... oh, yeah, that's looking good. Nice job! Annie is the one part of the image that lacks something but I"d say only in that her pose is completely symmetrical and it's really hard to get complete symmetry in reality even with things we consider symmetrical. Annie herself looks realistic enough though! I really like the textures you've used (the brick on the left wall makes me wonder if you've used the brick textures that Pixar recently released. If you are interested in endless tweaking I'd say the ceiling tiles could be a bit more dense (i.e. more of them). I don't know what the size of ceiling tile might have been in that time period but I'd guess at least two thirds of their present size? With some noticeable trim to hold them up in place. I suppose it goes without saying, the closer you get to realism the more you'll get folks suggesting endless preferences for minute details.

Yessir!

I just checked and you need to have OpenGL3 turned on the Global tab of Tools/Options for the GPU Posteffects to show up. With OpenGL set the option won't show (or at least not here on my computer).

These all appeared with the release of v18 (no increment). From the change log: Rendersetting "Screen Space Ambiant Occlusion" This is a posteffect, which is implemented as a GPU Shader, but has also a CPU fallback implementation, for the case that the gpu doesn't support this or opengl3 is not used. The effects also need the depth buffer, if they are not enabled, the effect enables it. additional settings On OSX this effect can be computed only on the cpu, due to glTexBuffer and samplerBuffer (gsls) isn't avaible in the compatibility profile, the core profile can't be used (nor supported via AGL) there. "SSAO Effect only" Only the computed SSAO is shown as a greyscale picture (not applied to the original render, overwrite it) "Samples" How many samples are used to compute the ssao around each pixel, available values,when gpu is used are 2-1024, if the cpu is used it is limited to 2-128 (higher values are clamped to 128) it's also a good idea to enable OpenMP, when the fallback to the cpu implementation is used. "Radius" The radius around each pixel, from which the SSAO is computed "Distance" Distance which occlusion reaches "Gamma" Gamma correction for occlusion only "Density" Density for sampling "Softness" Softness of the edge of occlusion "Luminance influence" How much luminance affects occlusion (gpu only, and only when applied to finalrender) "Blur the effect" Enables blurring for the effect itself (not the applied effect) "Radius" The radius for which the blur is calculated (gpu gaussian blur used) "Apply to finalrender" See GPU Postprocess effects when "GPU Postprocess effects" is set to ON and "Applying each pass" is ON and the gpu implementation is used the effect is applied each pass. Rendersetting "GPU Postprocess effects" (only OpenGL3, driver version 3.2 or higher is needed) This implements some posteffects as GPU calculated effects, they are faster than the normal posteffects applied to the camera. An additional logfile (GPUShader.log in the A:M installation directory) is created, when such aa effect is used (for bughunting) if an error occurs, the master.log is also needed for bughunting the order for computing the posteffects is SSAO, Blur, Different Posteffects. Settings for each gpu posteffect "Applying each pass" When You render with multipass ON, the effect is applied at each pass. "Apply to finalresult" If this setting is OFF, the result from the posteffect is saved as a seperate image file (also for every pass in multipass), and not added to the final result image. The imagefile is saved in the directory where the final image is stored and appended with the posteffect name and pass number. "Samples" How often the posteffect is applied. Blur Additional setting, "Radius" which controls the radius for which the blur posteffect is calculated Different Posteffects additional setting "Posteffect Type" Available types are "Greyscale" "Sepia tone" "Negative" "Sharpen" "Dilate" "Erode" "Laplacian" "Prewitt" "Sobel"

Exactly why I posted this... I haven't seen evidence of folks using the GPU post effects so I assume most must not know about them. They are located at the very bottom of the Render Panel. For those that struggled with the Blur results of standard Post Effects you will struggle no more. Toggling off the 'Apply to final results' option will have A:M render the effect out separately for later compositing (Disclaimer: I haven't played with that much)

I was thinking more long term and in perpetuity... establishing a framework for continuing contests rather than a one off contest where we'll end up going through the same process later... but sure, if you want to start a contest... have at it. My concern is that where there is no framework for contests... um... er... there is no framework for contests. Are you looking to be 'the contest guy' or just planning to run this one contest? I ask because a confirmation of the former would allow everyone to point at you and say... talk to that guy. .