Rodney

There were several characters modeled as the first LOTR movie was released. Ken Heslip created his Troll and Will Sutton created his Balrog based on the inspiration they saw therein. Nice test William. That faceless Troll is freakin me out. Of course that is the shade of a dozen or more character rigs released since your test to steer folks away from facial animation and concentrate on body mechanics.

I was about to say.... aren't new features generally reserved for new versions? Gerald, Thanks again for the video. A:M has some great image manipulating features already and I'm sure this will be a nice addition as well. I have a back-burner project I've been wanting to do for years that a wizard like this might serve quite well. Added: I already have a use for this so am looking forward to the next release.

Thanks Gerald that's got me going in the right direction. I was using Fragmotion myself as a conduit to FBX although for static objects I usually just stick with OBJ format. Short of testing the 64bit A:M to see if it will fail on the same files that succeed with 32bit I'd say this one is resolved. Update: No issues with 64bit. It must be the complexity of Rabbit's bones as you suggest. P.S. Your website was a great help back when I first attempted to export to Direct X. Thanks for that as well!

I was partially successful with a simple character although I'm still trying to get the action to show up in the other program. It does appear to work on A:M's end. One thing I didn't check was whether I was using the 64bit A:M the first time I tried and the 32bit A:M the second. I should narrow that variable down as well. The good news: I'm not getting a crash with my test model. Edit: I just saw your project file and I'll try that. Yes, that worked as well. Thanks! Here's a related question as well: Is there any specific program you are using these .X files with outside of A:M?

No need to upload as you have the same thing. Open Rabbit Export as .X Create New Action with Rabbit Pose Rabbit Export as .X action with Rabbit I tried the simplest test I could think of to see if the exporter would work.

The good news: The process of exporting the model first then the action is working The bad news: A:M crashes upon exporting the action More investigation...

If you ever run into a really strange thing in A:M that appears to be out of the norm of regular operation and nothing seems to work to get it back to normal operation... - Save your Project (preferrably under a new name so that you an always return to the previous if necessary) - Reset A:M (This is accomplished via the Help menu by selecting Reset Settings) - Close and Reopen A:M - Reopen Project This is especially useful for those of us that go days upon days without ever closing A:M down. The same can be said for Windows and other operating systems that are continuously running. Sometimes it helps to shut everything down (completely!) and then start it up again. It's amazing sometimes how many cobwebs can be cleaned out this way. For a practical example of this consider that Windows itself sometimes will accumulate a number of updates that won't be fully installed until after a reboot.

Ah... I will look into that! Thanks!

This may already have been addressed but I didn't see it mentioned... In trying to export via an Action to .X (Direct X) format but the export dialog has an 'Open file' dialog instead of a 'Save As' or 'Export' dialog. Hitting Open just results in a error message that the file cannot be found to open (which of course I don't want to do in the first place). I can't see any way to get past this and before I go about trying to locate an older .hxt to file to test I thought I'd ask here. Anyone have any insights into how to successfully export to Direct X format?

I find myself doing this constantly and have developed a method where I move the camera via it's properties panel to get the best view with as little adjustment as necessary. As such this feature is going to be a great time saver for me (and everyone I'd say). I'm guessing features like this often aren't of the type that can be bragged about such as the latest and greatest buzz words in 3D technology and a lot of the little things will never be high priority BUT they are such great timesavers and better than that... they make A:M even more user friendly that it already is. The big stuff... that's probably more fun and challenging to code... but the little stuff like this is where the rubber hits the road. How can we animate faster, more intuitively and where possible cut down on the number of times we need to move back and forth between mouse and keyboard. And... the timely release of teasers of features like this for soon to be released updates.... love it. Keep that up! Some considerable time is spent on coding that stuff so bask in the glory of the little things that help us animate more as long as you can. The little peeks ahead are appreciated and provide useful documentation and examples of workflow too.

Hmmm.... That's short for 'Let *us*' right? When do we want to start the project Matt. The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step. (Although I'd say the first step will be for us to begin a bit of research.)

I saw this listed in A:M Reports and I got all happy about it then. Seeing your video suggests that Steffen has made it even more useful than I originally imagined. Very nice! This will be quite useful.

This video breakdown by Pixar storyman Michael Arnt of how stories are broken down (focusing on how to get a story started) has been out for about three years but I don't recall seeing it before. Well worth a look: xhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6mSdlfpYLU Source: Spline Doctors (via onanimation.com)

You need to send your message to jason @ hash . com (no spaces)

Is there a particular model/type of aircraft you are looking for? As for entire libraries... folks generally sell by the individual model. An entire library of aircraft might be pricey.

Nicely done!

Those are great William!

I haven't read through the document so really can't comment on it but for those that have the time and inclination the FCC has posted their 400 page report on the new 'Net Neutrality Rules'. http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db0312/FCC-15-24A1.pdf Recommendation: Right Click and choose Save As to download the PDF file

I think I've been in that room before! Looking good.

That's exactly the result of misinformation I speak of... people get tired of negativity... although rarely those who thrive on negativity. I'd love to address some of that negativity but the only thing addressing that would lead to would be more misunderstandings, misinformation and negativity. So instead I will suggest; always consider the source. I hope no one will ever leave the A:M Forum over ill informed or misguided opinion. A word of caution to Douglas who possibly had no idea what he was getting into when he made his alternative suggestion. This is one of the many dangers of 'promoting A:M' where naysayers are prevalent ('You say A:M is an option... I say thee nay!'). This will wear you down and discourage you to no end. My suggestion would be to continue to focus on your work and tell your stories. Use A:M for everything it is worth. Let the work will speak for itself. The good news is that people do see through the constant barrage of negativity (usually by considering the agendas of the naysayers and questioning their motivation) The bad news is they often have to wade through environments of intense noise to signal ratio to get there.

I was contacted by a relative who is well acquainted with my interest in drawing and animation. She let me know the team was looking for an artist/animator. As for your offer... thanks. If I have any say in the choosing of such things I'll keep your offer in mind and should the question arise I can say, "I know this guy that has a thing for mobile development animation'. My primary goal here in this topic has been to identify available options and there are a bunch of them. The project is currently smack dab in the middle of 'not going anywhere' and 'This has serious potential'. As most projects go I expect the former but hope (and try to plan) for realization of the latter. I should know whether or not the project is moving ahead shortly (possibly as soon as Monday). The cross-tell/communication over the past few weeks hasn't exactly been encouraging (i.e. we haven't been strategically planning for either success or failure) but I'm use to that with projects... as the originators of projects tend to start out strong but toss the ball to someone else or leave the ball hanging. Then a spark of life reignites interest and panic mode sets in... "Hey, we need to get this stuff done!" To which I say to myself, "Here we go again."

There is so much misinformation flying in this topic it's downright depressing. But as they say, 'everyone is entitled to their misinformed opinion'.

I believe the issue with Sweeper is going to be that it doesn't maintain surface properties (colors, decals, etc.). Another approach that will maintain those surface attributes is the Multiple Models plugin. The Multiple Models plugin can be used in an Action or Chor (although note that the plugin itself has some text that will appear to suggest it will create the resulting model in a Chor). An added benefit to the MM plugin is that it will duplicate bones... although... in the case of a tenticle I would guess that it would be better to create the model without bones and then add those for better control. The basic steps are: -Create your model -Drop it into a Chor -Right Click on the Model - either in the Chor window or on it's shortcut in the Project Workspace (PWS) -Set your desired settings and hit okay *If you don't like what you see select the duplicate model via Shift Clicking their shortcuts in the PWS and then hitting delete on your keyboard (zap! they'll be gone and you can try again after making adjustments) -Once satisfied - Select and Delete anything in the Chor that you don't want in your new Model (i.e. delete the lights and Groundplane... while I don't think you'll need to delete the lights... you definitely need to delete the ground plane or you'll get that in your new model) -Select the Chor's shortcut / Right Click and Export As Model -Save under appropriate name -Import new model into A:M and rig or adjust as necessary. Please see attached no-frills walkthrough: Note that there is also a 'Brick' plugin that might also serve this purpose but I'm not that familiar with it nor whether it will retain surface properties. Tentacle-MultipleCopiesPlugin.mp4

Because folks tend to be adverse to critical feedback... mistaking the mentioning of any suggestion for improvement or change with constructive suggestions that are a very good thing... perhaps it might be good to review what the definition of a 'hater' is: The poster's focus on negativity aligns him with the definition of a hater. While suggesting he fits firmly in the first definition would be a stretch (not enough information to suggest this person has a specific agenda) the second is readily apparent; a focus on the negative. Sadly, this is also the norm for most people who comment on the internet. I have no doubt the poster thinks he's offering good advice but a more proper response would be to focus on what the original topic poster asked for in the first place which was suggestions for alternative approaches for modeling. While there are many alternatives, A:M is perhaps by definition THE alternative approach to modeling when compared to other (standard or widely accepted) methodologies. A wiser response would have been to acknowledge that fact and then suggest additional, perhaps even better, alternatives.

Shouldn't obsolete or broken pieces of Robert's computers go into a museum or something where future generations can marvel at what type of hardward this spline master used back in the early days of splining with A:M? I'm just sayin'.