Tore

Aahhh! Now I got it to work! Excellent! Thanks a lot :-)

That sounds really interesting, and it seem like it is exactly the look I am after...unfortunately I am to stupid to understand how to do it?? Right click on the model?? Import a black image into the scene?? Please elaborate!! :-)

Is it possible for A:M to do a final quality shaded wireframe render (see example)?

Found one!! This solution is free, works on win7 and covers both .tga and a lot of other formats :-) http://code.google.com/p/sagethumbs/

Hmm...apparently that plugin is for older (32bit) versions of Windows. In my infinite naivity I thought there was a simple solution, like setting a switch in the register, but it seems that it is far more complex :-/ But thanks!

The folders of my Windows 7 can show me thumbnails of .jpg, .png and .bmp picture files. But when it comes to targa files (which I nearly always use) there is no thumbnail. Anybody know of a way to get .tga-thumbnails?

Good you're back! Wish you a speedy recovery!

Interesting!

Hmmm...have done what one never should do: gone back to and edited in material that already was finished and published. But...couldn't keep my fingers away: had to rework both the imagery and the soundtrack... Well, I guess one could call it a "directors cut" ;-) https://vimeo.com/77304887

Deleting model 1 does not make my 64bit A:M crash...

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Cool! Thanks!:-)

When in hair/grooming mode a button named "FK Mode" appears. What does this mode do? No ref in tech ref...

I write scripts to serve as skeletons awaiting the flesh and sinew of images. - Ingmar Bergman

I tried to replicate your modelling, but I didn't get the same twisting. I am working in version 18, so it may be a bug in ver. 17. A much easier way to accomplish the sphere you want, is to use the wizard "primitive" to make a sphere, and then rotate it 90 degress. I'm attaching one here. Merry christmas!!

Especially the cutplane idea sounds great! I'll try that. Thanks Rob :-)

I wonder if there is a command in A:M that lets you insert a spline ring in a model? I mean a complete spline ring above or below a given existing ring. NOT point by point, NOT an extrusion...but kind of something inbetween: select a spline ring, then select this command I am looking for, and presto: a new spline ring is inserted. I have search both forum and tech ref in vaine...but maybee it exists as an undocumented shortcut?

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Yes, those are great books! I bought both first and second edition, but didn't know that a third was out. Well that's one more for the wish list :-)

That's a great idea! Hadn't thought of that! Thanks Rob! :-)

The TECHREF has this to say about "Render as lines" (nothing that indicate that shadows shoukdn't work): "One of the objectionable artifacts of computer rendering is the broken-up appearance of very thin geometry. For example, the ropes on a Spanish galleon are necessarily long and very, very thin, which causes them to break up and temporal alias (chatter) during an animation. This phenomenon results from the fact that rendering resolution is not infinite. Animation:Master’s a-buffer renderer alleviates the problem somewhat but the discrepancies often still manifest themselves. A "line" geometry type should be used for long, thin lines; like whiskers of a cat, or antennas on a butterfly. When you are modeling, use splines to represent the long, thin geometry (don’t make valid patches). Then group the control points that make up the long, thin geometry and name the group. Animate the splines as you wish. (The "Line" option should not be used on groups that contain patches). When this property is "ON" the surface property contains the options you can use to set the lines look. These options include Color, Width and Transparency. Randomness, which controls how squiggly the line is. Randomness Scale, which controls the size of the squiggles. Glow, which with randomness can give the effect of lightning."

I never use z-buffer shadows - they are imo unpredictible and unnatural looking. And sometimes produce strange stuff, like the hole in the hat (which in reality is totally massive), as seen on the attached pics.

Yes, it does, strangely enough, work with a z-buffered light!