martin
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Posts posted by martin
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Hey Emilio;
I love the plug-ins you're doing, so I haven't said anything about them before, but how is this different than using the "CP Group Properties" in A:M to interactively set the bias/magnitudes on a group of CPs? Peaking/smoothing also works on a group of CPs?
Also, have you ever used the "Extrude Along Spline" plug-in that comes with A:M? I know yours does a few extra things. You might want to point out the differences to people.
I love the fact that you're writing plug-ins, so don't think I'm complaining.
Martin Hash
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Hey! Hey! Hey! I love OmOmCAoTKT (One man, One machine, Creating Animation on Their Kitchen Table). Good job!
Martin Hash
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We just don't know how to advertise.
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It's a mysery to me why on the one hand my machine can handle such a visual feast. Yet on the other it would take half and hour to render one such scene in a 3d program.
I think it's the same reason that I can buy a suit off the rack at Walmart for $80.
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Located on your CD is the "A:M Technical Reference" manual. Press the
key on the keyboard, or pick the "Help" menu item to open it. Search on whatever topics you are interested in. The forum rules clearly state that comparison between products is not encouraged. The threads you have started are examples of why this rule is in place. A:M provides tools for you to tell a story. Wishing there were some other tools, or suggesting that the tools prevent you from achieving this goal is an inappropriate use of our time and yours.
Please review the list etiquette (see the pinned topic above).
We want you as a customer. Please join the "New Users" forum and participate in learning A:M with others who are just starting out. Rodney is the moderator, and he is very patient, supportive, and helpful.
Regards,
Martin Hash
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I probably don't know enough about them since you say this
It's probably important that you know about A:M's Bones before you make comparisons.
The reason we don't allow feature requests in the main forum (Fellows can make feature requests) is because too many people are not sophisticated enough to provide critical analysis. As we get to know you better, and you become a "Hash Fellow", you can post just about anything into the "private" area. If it survives argument there, then there's a good chance everybody will benefit when we add it as a feature.
Thank you for your positive support,
Martin Hash
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Thank you for your suggestions. We appreciate the thought you put into them. I feel A:M's bones are the best implementation on the planet, but they could always be improved. A:M bones are FAR superior to Maya's, but maybe there's something there we can learn from. So, again, thank you for bringing it up.
I did not delete your thread.
Sincerely,
Martin Hash
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While it is true that Hash is swamped by feature requests, it is interesting to note that insights and observations that result in smoothing the user's experience are rare. Almost all feature requests are of the "big" variety. (As it turns out, even "medium" are "big".) We do look out for simple feature requests that are easy to do. Send them to support@hash.com.
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Negro Art
I think the concept art around the term "Picaninny" is precious, and I think that Gale will do a great job with it.
My interest in "banned" art is similar. My most expensive original oil painting is by the Hildebrandt brothers (white), from the comic “Blackjack” by Alex Simmons (black), with the hero (black) holding two pistols over Hitler and Tojo with Japan’s Raising Sun and Germany’s Swastika in the background.
I have original art pages from comics that contain images of women that were wounded in the pursuit of justice, much like male superheroes are wounded.
What makes this art interesting is that it is rare – primarily because of social taboos that blanket all expression, even those that are valid and provocative.
Once, a customer made an animation about a chicken where the dialog was spoken with a hackneyed, down-home accent. Several viewers (white) took offence because they thought the accent was black. I reminded them it was a chicken.
Martin Hash
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On the issue of "displacement".
A material can also be used as a displacement, there's a checkbox on the material's instance.
A:M uses "subpixel displacement", or whatever the hell the competition's calling it. A:M has always used "subpixel displacement" (this apparently means that displacement occurs across the poly/patch, not just on the corners). A:M does limit displacement to 64 subdivisions/patch, so if you want a hairball, you're going to need a very dense model. (I think John is wrong about the 5-points not working with displacement - send in a failing project, John). Hooks crack with displacement but work, (a known bug that I haven't been especially motivated to fix).
Pixar uses another kind of pixel-level displacement, but it leaves cracks.
Martin Hash
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Antonio;
I don't mean to be rude, but read the postings I've made in this thread for the answer to your question.
Martin Hash
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triath5147, I must say, you are a trooper. You're one of those DO WHATEVER IT TAKES guys. I'll keep listening if you keep talking.
Sincerely,
Martin Hash
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I'd like to see an example of this working. Forget the normals and uvs for now and just show me an animated sequence working in a game.When exporting this model with animation you simply use the stored normals and UV's again and everything should be okay !Can I suggest that James not wait until he finishes his super-secret idea for showing off those free models, and just PUT THEM UP!!!Actually, it's Dan's super-secret idea, and he's getting close. Still, there's no reason why James can't post the models to the Models page -- Jamesssss......
I gave James my "terrordactyl model over a month ago!I've noticed that James is doing his own animation with that terrordactyl -- Jamessss....
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Hey hashers;
This is valid topic (as long as the thread doesn't go bad) so I thought I'd lay out all the options, and Hash's position on each.
Very, very difficult. We've spent thousands of hours on this.Poly models are turned into splines and used in A:M.
Poly models are left alone but the spline-based animation features are not allowed.
A:M already does this. They're imported as "props".
I think a plug-in author can tackle this, but it won't be our small team of programmers. We'll provide advice and help as needed, but we will NOT be responsible.A:M exports into some kind of poly file for gamers.
A:M somehow supports poly models via a variety of hacks, maybe via a secondary poly pipeline that duplicates all of the features as best it can.
This is the most probable as far as programming goes, but it would take a commitment we are unable to provide, and frankly, most of the A:M advantage would be lost.
Hash stays focused on what we can do.Of course.
Yves Poissant does not work for Hash. When he does something for us, he does it for free because he loves A:M. If you don't believe my opinion because you think I am somehow biased, then simply ask him what he thinks? I know everyone here is a loyal hasher and intend no disrespect to A:M, me, or Hash.
Sincerely,
Martin Hash
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Hello import/export-centric hashers;
Once again, let me repeat myself:
If you are a modeling person, and modeling is the most important thing to you, and polys is how you model, then Animation:Master is not for you. There are several great poly programs out there. You can still say, "Animation:Master is a great animation program - but I prefer to model in polys".
If you are a rendering person, and rendering is the most important thing to you, and polys is how you render, then Animation:Master is not for you. There are several great poly programs out there. You can still say, "Animation:Master is a great animation program - but I prefer to render in polys".
HOWEVER, if you are an animation person, and animation is the most important thing to you, and you accept that we know what we are doing, then Animation:Master IS for you. You can say, "I could probably model or render this in some other program - but I'm going to use Animation:Master!"
Sincerely,
Martin Hash
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The people that tried to make export plugins, although I greatly appreciate their efforts, and this is not a bad reflection on them, but the plugins were always flawed and incomplete.
Actually, the programmers who did those plug-ins are very good. The amount of work required for A:M polygon-import/export compatibility is staggering, and of the highest difficulty. Anybody willing to take that on should be thanked and encouraged. Send them some money along with your requests for additional features - that's the best route.
And, all of you people who use A:M NO-MATTER-WHAT, you're the cream in my coffee. Whenever I see an explanation of how to take A:M models to a particular game engine that involves five steps, I'm in awe of the loyalty that inspired such ingenuity. Maybe Hash can help get that down to three steps?
Sincerely,
Martin Hash
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Hello A:M supporters who only want the software to be better;
Any company that thinks it can write a polygon-to-spline converter for input into
Animation:Master is welcome to do so. Hash has provided all of the programming hooks necessary for import. However, Hash has no plans to write such a converter ourselves.
Let me repeat myself:
If someone wishes to write an importer - we're here for you, but we won't do it.
I'm not trying to be rude, just honest. It may sound like Hash refuses to support polygons but it's only necessity speaking. We can barely keep our own features working.
Sincerely,
Martin Hash
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Is it possible to use expressions in A:M to drive the opacity of textures via bone or spline deformation? In Jason's book, it's possible in Maya to drive the bump channel (node) - so, that when the character raises his eyebrows, the crease or wrinkles in the forehead (bump map) appear.
I'm surprised no one has already jumped in and answered this question...
so I will.
This exact example was what "relationships" were designed for. The percentage of bump can easily (too easily some people might say) be related to a bone's movement. Maybe johnl3D (the "tinker gnome") can make you up a little project.
"Expressions" in A:M are a type of mathematical relationship, like gears turning: i.e. as big gear turns once, little gear turns 2 times as fast.
"Scripting" in A:M is a relationship that uses a programming language. Petr Sorfa did a lot of work in this area, but there was little interest so he kind of ran out of steam. He's still around though, waiting for the chance.
Good to see you here,
regards,
Martin Hash
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I always want to thank Yves when he jumps in there.
Anyway, sales are good (especially good for the time of year), so Ken's marketing efforts must be working (Marshall's East Coast sales are also helping). Randy is at Apple trying to get the last of the big issues taken care of for the OSX 10.5 version. Dan is porting 11.5 to OSX as we speak. Bob is moving on to cloth. OpenEXR is linking in 11.5, but "render layers" have stalled a little bit while we figure out what to do with them, (I think I'll pass them off to Dan, who likes that kind of thing). Noel is diddling with blobbies (hopefully, they'll look more like flowing water, we'll just have to see what you guys do with them). Niels V11 arcticPigs looks awesome. I'm speaking at an Internet conference on Kauai (damn, I get all the tough jobs!).
We seem to have enough demonstrators for SIGGRAPH, but we need animations! There's going to be food at the this year's party. Hopefully, Vern can come and get drunk, (Steve said he'd bring some women's shoes.) James is out of detox.
Martin Hash
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"poly modeling" is actually two distinct things:
1) Point sampling via lasers, cameras, humans (wow! tedious), where each point lies on the object's surface, but it takes A LOT of points to describe most shapes, and no matter how many points you use, zoom in a little closer and it's not enough. The shear amount of points means humans can't deal with the surface directly, so they have to use abstractions (tools). Everything is slowed WAY down, and it makes the tools clunky.
2) Box modeling (SDS) where the amount of points is reduced but the points you do use don't lie on the surface. Try to model by tracing over a photograph with box modeling. How many steps does it take to do anything? Plus, most SDS models have a fixed subdivision, and most turn into pure poly models before animation, so we're back to clunky tools again.
Notice how "tools" is common to both types of poly modeling. Those are poly tools, specific to poly modeling and poly animating. Sleek A:M tools wouldn't work. A:M tools rely on small data sizes and the continuity of the surface, and because the A:M tools are few and easy to use, beginners catch on faster, and professionals (oops, I used the "p" word) have better work flow.
Poly models are often 100 times bigger than Hash models. Poly animation files are equally huge. "arcticPigs" is a good example of a spline implementation over the Internet. Can't touch it with poly models: both geometry and animation.
Even after saying all that, we could probably chunk something up for low-res poly models to work okay with A:M, but then what? We couldn't match the tools in a poly program - people would still be dissatisfied, except Hash would have expended its tiny development team trying to compete with millions and millions of dollars of poly investment. We can hardly keep the software running as it is.
Then there's the marketing aspect. I said there were a dozen good poly programs, but there probably used to be 100 and, ultimately, there will only be one. A:M is differentiated by being THE spline program, so there can be two winners: poly (probably Maya) and spline, Animation:Master.
Since it all boils down to the artist anyway, just make a choice and stick with it.
Martin Hash
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Splines vs. Polys?
I have a Ph.D. in computer graphics. However, if I try to describe any advantages splines may have over polys: LW, C4D, Wings, etc. people will come out of the woodwork calling me a liar. Some people prefer chisels and blocks of stone. Who am I to say. If you like polys, there's got to be a dozen good poly programs out there - don't waste your time with A:M. If you like splines, we're here for ya man.
Martin Hash
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Rich;
That's a great rig!
As an aside: Noel once spent some time trying to get the "motion capture" plug-in to convert Actions created for one rig to work on another. There have been a couple of new rigs lately that make me want to resurrect that project.
Keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Martin Hash
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Steven;
Wow! I think everything on the site is cool. These are the kind of "out of the blue" animations that make my skin tingle when I first see them. I just love this business. Keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
Martin Hash
Improved SetBias plugin
in (2003-2004)
Posted
Got it. Thanks again for working on these plug-ins.