gazzamataz

I have just noticed something blindingly obviously wrong… NO SHADOWS! I don't understand this, I rendered the project with shadows 'ON' outputting as targa files - I cannot believe I didn't notice this. Why would it ignore the shadows? This is what it should look like and Paul there is a floor to the telescopic lift, I just didn't notice it had penetrated the ground - duh!

Thanks eveyone for the nice comments I feel that I am actually getting somewhere now. I will have a think about what you said Paul - especially the floor it does look a bit odd without one. I discovered another problem. When I play the movie in Premiere the sound is synced properly to the movie but when I render it out as a movie it shifts a slight amount (a few frames) in places like at the start... I am using Premiere 6.5 with QT 7.1.6 would this be the problem? I have done a smaller file size version for people who thought 60mb was too large... Bear Wood Small This file is only 12mb or so and you will need QT 7 to view it.

Thank you very much Dhar. There will indeed be more to follow The more I watch it myself the more I see (apart from the obvious lighting) little tweaks here and there. I am going to try and get the file size down a bit today. I was thinking of using the H.264 codec and QuickTime 7.

Well it's been a long while. Little bit here, little bit there but I have something that I want to show. Yes, the lighting needs work. Yes, some of the sounds need a little tweaking. And yes, some of the textures might need modification. But what the hell, it tells the story so far! I will perfect it and add a little bit more before contecting the other bits I have done and then I think I will be almost half way through my little flick which should be all of 10-15 minutes. I am pleased... I think... BE WARNED IT IS NEARLY 60MB BIG AND YOU NEED QUICKTIME 5.0 OR ABOVE Bear Wood

The head is too small... ...and the legs are a bit too big

Actually Largento, the thought crossed my mind the other day that you should animate the conveyer belt - now that would be a challenge! Go on you know you want to

Sweet, simple and tells a little story - nice job!

VER-RY NICE! Animation ain't bad either Nice and fluid, I keep trying to attain that sort of motion meself but never seem to quite get there… But then again I keep kiddin meself that I am evolving me own style bit like Wallace & Gromit.

Blimey! This must have taken a bit of time to knock up, especially if you have made it so that it transforms from the robot to the fighter… The toon rendering is excellent, never really used it myself.

Well I see what I can do Martin... My enthusiam returns, or is it that I have more spare time this week Actually, I did a quick tally and I now have a whooping three and a half minutes almost done Anyway here's a little update (added some secondary animation and a few more expressions...) Lift Off2 Comments anticipated!!!

Will, is it me or does his head seem a little too small for his body?

In galaxy far, far, far away just left of Alpha Centauri, third planet from the sun on a largish island full of sheep and rabbits… Otherwise known as Sutton

Yippee! I have the office for the day just got to sort out who and when… I've done the where bit

Yo ho ho! And you'll have to wait another six months to find out - OUCH!

Howdy Hashers I couldn't resist posting this WIP showing my intrepid heroes getting into trouble. I am quite pleased with it but it certainly ain't finished. You will need QuickTime 7 to view and it is just over 1mb if you want to take a peak. Lift Off Once this scene is done and dusted I think I am probably nearly half way through my film... OH MY GOD I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!

I like that tree. Makes my ones look positively shabby. I have been tempted to update my own trees but with those render times and the amount of time spent making them... I would never get anything else done.

Blimey don't all rush at once! I think I am going to have to e-mail certain LAMUGs individually to see if I get a response

Well this is a blast from the past if I ever saw one! I love used to love this show and spent hours making platicine models of the Jupiter 2. The bit I loved the most was when the door opened and the foot plank came out (or did it?). Nice model m8, didn't realise there was a technical manual and all that sort of reference out there. Was the Jupiter 2 knicked from The Forbidden Planet?

Thanx for the replies Hashers nice to see I can still generate a bit of interest in me project Distress Yes, I see what you mean about the jaw moving, I will animate the jaw in the Lipsync poses. I knew they where always a bit unpolished but its having the time to do all the animating and I am trying to get the whole flick out the door this year. andyg Is that Mr Andy Gibbons? Hi m8 I remember you from years ago when I first started using AM in 2000, how are you doing? martin Glad you think I am getting better, many have said the same but I don't think I am quite where I would like to be - yet. That said would I be up to TWO standard? I am very tempted to get involved but realize I would have to shelve me own BB project. I feel I would learn a lot (who knows I might teach a bit) from others.

No it's not finished but I was itching to show another tiny section of my larger flick. Yes, there is lip syncing but no voices yet... Go on tell me what you think! Lallabys

OMG! I have a reply!!! I was starting to think people didn't read my threads... It will be nice to see you again Paul

It's been a while… Is anyone in the London area up for a Hash Bash? I was thinking of talking my company into letting me use the office for a meeting, if they let me would anyone be interested?

jairo Not only are you new to Animation Master but 3D by the sounds of it - and you have a lot to learn in both First off you cannot import a 2D character into any 3D program (uness someone knows otherwise) and expect to start animating it. If you already have a 2D caracter then I am affraid that you will have to model it first then rig it. The good thing is though that AM will make the modelling and rigging reasonably easy depending on your model. Even easier is if you use one of the pre-rigged models that comes with AM and then just drop an action on it and you will have an instance animated character If you already have AM then go through all the tutorials in the 'Art of Animation Master' book that comes with it. You will find a tutorial in there already that allows you to add pre-made characters to a stage and make them dance. Hope this gets you started OK.

largento Glad you liked my flick but I fear I miss-worded my comments on rendering on my iMac. The Mac renders fine it's just slower. What I did to speed my rendering up was to render a few frames on my iMac and merge them with those rendered on my PC. I was hoping that it would be A-OK but I noticed an anomally. If you look closely at the spots on the alien as he walks away from the spaceship they change… That's why I won't be using my Mac and my PC to render the same scenes. However, I am now very tempted to try Boot Camp because it will run faster and hopefully work with Net Render.

Done the alterations to the animation and re-rendered it using Multi-Pass 4x4 - still got the flickers I will definately have to ask Hash HQ about this one. I rendered part of the animation on my iMac, only the last part. See if you can notice the Mac rendered bit (I'll give you a clue 'Spots'). I definately will not be using my Mac to do any more rendering… Spaceship Landing Again