nemyax

Yes, a named selection filter is precisely what I need, as long as the API has access to it.

This is a good one, thanks!

Rodney I can understand that. It's one of those cans of worms, like politics or religion or the dog person/cat person dichotomy. Better left alone. Especially seeing as people can discuss their software experiences via private messaging. I know I'd be happy to.

Is there a way to somehow group, mark or label bones that have a particular meaning (such as indicating bones that are exportable)? For example, object layers or user-defined properties would do fine. I'm only seeing colour labels (which can be put to better use) and the visibility toggle (which is not suitable for the purpose). Of course, a naming convention can always be made up, but something less intrusive and hackish would be better. Apparently some things can have shortcuts in choreography—is this supported for individual bones?

Oi! I hear software comparisons are anathema on this forum! =) That's Blender. Its f-curve editor and dope sheet (not in the A:M sense) have grown to be amazingly neat tools over the years. But the most feature-rich f-curve editor I've seen is in Houdini.

To me, the f-curve editor is quite sound. I'm seeing a couple of quirks, but they're nothing to complain about. The code is probably shared between the geometry splines and the f-curves, so the f-curve behaviour is consistent.

Yes, I've found that =)

It works, thanks. Turns out you have to click-select a point rather than border-select.

That works for the modelling windows, not for choreography's timeline. I need this functionality in the timeline:

Is there a way to control the Bezier handles (or bias handles if you like) in the timeline's f-curve mode? Here's a picture of what I mean—see the point on frame 19: I wasn't able to find anything on the topic in TAOAM.pdf. And if A:M doesn't let you do that, how do you ease in and out?

Five minutes into version 17, everything's working fine so far. Thanks for your support!

I've tried that (mentioned above). Interestingly, the lockup occurs only with a stock character loaded into the scene. In an empty scene, the viewport works. I haven't tested with a custom character, since this is my first day with the software; and it really seems to mind me using it =) However, there are still apparent Z-sorting issues: http://pix.academ.org/img/2014/06/27/116cb...4698d52d2e1.png (shaded + wireframe mode for clarity, it's just as weird in pure shaded).

Nothing's changed =( The video card is a GeForce 650 by the way. One reproducible issue is that the viewport locks up in shaded (9) mode and goes back to normal when the mode is switched. This happens with both the "OpenGL" and "OpenGL 3" driver active. Thanks, I'll try that. I tend to do that with FK spines when posing. Blender has never given me trouble with undos

I'm getting OpenGL issues, with the 3D views locking up and the rest of the program running, and sometimes a crash follows. I'll update the driver to see if there's any difference. Sorry I didn't mention that. I'm on 18f, 32-bit Windows XP SP3 on a 32-bit machine. Meh... One really shouldn't have to go to such lengths for an undo =/

New user here. When I select multiple bones in choreography and rotate them, and then try to undo the rotation, A:M's behaviour is very strange. It takes lots of steps to revert to the original state, like this: little nudge, nothing, nothing, little nudge, nothing, nothing, little nudge, etc. The program may also crash in the process. Can anyone reproduce this? Is this a known issue? Generally, A:M (32-bit) is very unstable on my system.

Joe has a funny way of putting it =) He describes a regular honest-to-god rig based on constraints and IK and calls it procedural for some reason. As for feet staying planted on sloping surfaces, the engine's custom real-time IK system takes care of that, modifying existing animation to conform to the terrain. Death animations are diversified by ragdoll physics—another thing that the animation-producing software has nothing to do with. There are a few facilities for real-time tracking as well (for the eyes, for example), also engine-specific. MD5 animations are really just baked keyframes. What you can do to make your character more procedural is construct it from several independent pieces and slap some kind of logic on that in the engine. I don't remember any support for blending pre-baked animations (though I might be wrong).

At this time, I'm considering doing an MD5 (Doom 3) plug-in. I've made one for Blender and use it regularly. But I'm also curious about A:M's animation capabilities—I'd like to find out if A:M "feels right" for me in the animation department the way Wings3D does (for me) in the modelling department. Thanks for all the links!

Ah, the fact the formats are ASCII-based is great to know. Is there a spec for the formats anywhere? And I'd still love some docs for the SDK too, please.

Thanks! Where can I find the SDK documentation?

I see. Is there a way to make a custom import/export plugin? Importantly, one that works with animation data, not just geometry.

What do I do to make A:M read and write a custom model or animation format? For example, suppose I want to use A:M to make animations for a game engine. In Blender, I write a Python script. How do I go about this in A:M? I skimmed through the tech reference document but wasn't able to find anything about file I/O plugin support.

Thanks for the prompt reply! How likely is a V19 release?

What version of A:M does one get with the $299 no-subscription offer? Does the license ever expire? Why are there no upgrade options for users of version 17 and earlier?