itsjustme

I use Virtualdub, Quicktime Pro, Audacity and GIMP...although if I do any serious messing with OpenEXR, I'll probably use a Linux version of Cinepaint (there presently isn't a Windows version). I have also used SUPER, but the conversions I made using it gave older versions of Quicktime problems. As for codecs, for lossless editing, I use the Camstudio lossless codec on AVI's and for final versions to be posted somewhere, I use H.264 encoded Quicktime files. Hope that helps.

I think Paul answered the question...maybe it could use a little more explaining to be clear. Everyone has different codecs on their computers depending on what they have chosen to install, so, the "default" that A:M chooses might be different for you than anyone else. That being said, Paul suggested that the "Animation" codec might be what A:M would choose on most computers for Quicktime video because it is one of the codecs that are automatically installed when you install Quicktime. Generally, I don't render to a video format...unless it is for a quick test. I render everything out to TGA's or OpenEXR and then use another program (you could also use A:M) to turn the still images into a video file. The reasons I do that is so that I have the ability to process the individual frames, it's basically lossless and if something goes wrong with a render, I don't lose the entire animation. Hope that helps.

I had a pretty busy week again last week...I think it's a trend. This week I had a little time and got the opportunity to do a lot of work on the Quad Rig, which also added some fixes to the biped version. I've done a lot of tweaks, but a short list would include improving eyelid bone placement, improving mouth bone placement, added ankle fan bones to the Quad Rig (I haven't ever needed them in the biped rig, so I'm still debating whether to add them there), updated the chest_IO and stomach_IO Poses, changed the stomach_IO Pose in the Quad Rig to a mid_section_IO Pose because of the normal differences in anatomy between a quad and biped, updated the on-character chest and stomach/mid_section switches (placement, parenting and such) and added eyebrow bone controls to the Quad Rig. I think I might have a normal upcoming week (as far as I know right now), so I should be able to get a few more things added to the Quad Rig and maybe get a video or two recorded...if things go right. Then, I can get back to Bertram's gut and shoulders.

Looks good, Mark!

Happy Birthday, Paul!

The Foot Gizmo is for hand-like feet...like a monkey would have.

There are Foot Gizmo versions of the Squetch Rig that could be adapted for the 2008 Rig...it would take some editing though (deleting non-Foot Gizmo Poses, bones and Smartskins and re-parenting for the feet bones in the 2008 Rig).

If your "headphones are not on"...wouldn't that be a problem? Or are you using speakers? I know what you mean though, if I can't figure it out it must be that someone else made a piece of crap...because, I don't see how I could possibly do anything wrong.

See Gerald's answer...maybe you missed it.

Nice start on the bus, Steve!

This is just the interface, the video you go to using the links is just a place holder for where the videos will be when it is finished.

LOL! He looks like he's going to be a fun character, Sabino!

She looks good, Steve! The knees may be a little thin in comparison to the rest of the leg...I'm not an anatomical expert though.

It's been too long since my last post here...sorry about that. For the last two weeks or so I've updated the biped installation rigs with the foot update and I'm almost finished with an update on the Quad rig to catch it up to where the biped rig is. I've also done some remodeling on Sam's feet so that the squetching will look a little better. Once I get everything with the rigs caught up, I can catch Bertram's rig up and then get back to work on him.

Alright, I'll repeat myself (maybe you missed my post)...a step by step description of what you are doing would help find the problem.

You should be able to...a step by step description of what you are doing would help find the problem.

Great start, Gerry!

Looks great, Mark! The only issue I saw was Tom's feet..they didn't look like they were on the ground solidly, might have been the heel movement.

Very cool, John!

Still fantastic, Stian!

Good luck, Mark!

I probably should have used a qualifier in my statement. Of the codecs in this testing, the best quality and smallest file size came from converting the Camstudio lossless codec encoded AVI's to H264 encoded Quicktime movies using SUPER. I have never used the Camtasia lossless codec, so I can't say whether it is better than the Camstudio lossless codec...Camstudio was $299 cheaper though. Thanks Steve! I'm thinking I should ask whether people have problems with the videos in a more traveled part of the forum...I'll add the question in the Off Topic section as well.

I put together five test videos to see what works for everyone and put them in my online storage...I didn't want to add to this forum's storage, and these are only going to be around until I get the results. The videos are located here (1.5MB). All of the videos are H264 compressed with no audio and last about five seconds. The videos with "SUPER" in their name were converted using SUPER and the videos with "Quicktime" in their name were converted using Quicktime Pro. The source file compression is either "MS1", "Camstudio" or "uncompressed". In order to get the video into Quicktime Pro, the source couldn't use the Camstudio lossless codec, unfortunately. I've used MS1 compression to transfer from the Camstudio codec to something that Quicktime Pro would recognize without using a huge uncompressed file, but there is some noise added to the video when I do that. The cleanest, smallest files have come from the Camstudio losseless codec being converted to an H264 encoded Quicktime movie using SUPER, but that might not work for everyone. I have been able to play all of these videos without any problems using Quicktime Pro v7.5.5 and VLC v0.9.8a. If I can get an idea of what works and what doesn't for everyone, it would be very helpful. Please mention the player and player version if possible. Thanks in advance for your help with this!

Hmmm, I'll have to set up a test so that I can figure out what's causing this...I'd hate to have the tutorial videos cause people problems. I'll post the test stuff late tonight. Thanks Nancy! I added a Quicktime Pro exported video with "new" in its' name to the same post.

It took a few days, but I think I got what I was after for the upgrade I was working on...it hasn't been peer reviewed yet, so it might need a little more tweaking. What I was working on was improving the squetching of the feet. The way it was before worked, but you would have to re-position the foot if you used the foot squetching Poses. I didn't want to have to do any re-positioning and I didn't want to lose any of the functionality...ideally, I didn't want to have to change what the controls look like. Here's a quick video showing the results...it'll probably need a little more tweaking. ---------------- EDIT ---------------- I updated the naming of the file. ---------------- EDIT ---------------- I added a Quicktime exported from Quicktime instead of SUPER...it has "new" in its' name. foot_squetching_upgrade_H264.MOV foot_squetching_upgrade_H264_new.MOV