Paul Forwood

I'm not sure what you mean by "prims". Obj = 3D model Bmp = bitmap (a 2D image file) You can create a 2D image, (tga, bmp, jpg, png, whatever), by rendering a view of a model. There are several model types that A:M can import as props of which Wavefront "Obj" files are just one. You cannot just load obj fles into A:M however, you must right click in a model window and choose plugins\import\obj but you must have the obj plugin installed in you hxt folder first. I'm not sure if the obj import/export plugin comes as standard with A:M these days. I know that it was third party in the past. --------------------- Here is a link to Arthur Walasek's A:M plugins, which include the obj importer that you will require: Arthur Walasek's Plugin Page

Put Obj file infront of camera, add lights, (and a little soft music), pose and render to TGA file.

Nice looking model, Darkwing!

If you are compositing layers you could render your animations with alpha and then create a Photoshop action to generate a sequence where all the coloured pixels are turned to white, or blurred and streaked. This image sequence could be composited behind your colour sequence, offset on a dynamic bone and treated to further effects if necessary. This would create a simple jetstream effect.

Fluids are tricky! I have played around wiht this so much and have had frozen renders for about 90% of my attempts. I have had to turn off alot of surface properties and have reduced the rate of emissions to just 300 diminishing to 0 over about 3 frames. I haven't figured out what causes the freeze for sure but it is probably a combination of settings. This was my last attempt: Drips_AM01_k.mov Not great but has potential. -------------------------------- Edit: This one is a little better. Slightly more particles and I animated the "Cull Particles" property so that the splash would look more like a splash. Drips_AM01_l.mov

Interesting.

That's brilliant, Mark! It sounds good enough for a feature request. It would be a good alternative to A:M's DOF if this technique could be selected as an optional render pass. A:M's depth of field limits could probably be used to calculate where the effector would be.

Well done, Mark! That is quite a milestone! Are you putting together one strip a day?

Nice one, Steve! Try giving him a little bounce when he hits the ground.

Your machine should be able to handle it. I don't know what else you might have running that could be sapping your resources.

Fluids are very memory and CPU intensive! I think Serge has an i7 with lots of RAM. (Lucky guy!) You could try turning down the number of particles until you get to a stage where A:M stops crashing. ------------ Edit: I see what is happening now. The project opens with particles turned on and the frame counter at 01:00. This means that you will have to wait for A:M to calculate and plot all of the fluid particles for the whole animation before you will be given control. Just wait and then immediately turn off particles. Make sure that they are turned off in any other windows that you may have open! Save the project now to ensure that it opens with particles off next time. Leave particles off until you have turned down the Rate of Emission and then try turning particles on again in just one window. Find the level that your machine can handle and then render to see if the effect still stands up. If not then play with the properties. In Serge's example I think that you can turn initial velocity right down to 0 because the liquid is just being collected in the container.

Ooo! Very nice one, Serge!

You could do something like this: MarsSplash_360__A06.mov This is just a really rough attempt at testing the concept but with some care you could do some effective splashes that would fit well with your syle.

Have a really happy one, Robert.

Amazing! I never would have thought that these were possible with procedural materials.

As far as I am concerned A:M's depth of field has never been worth the render hit. You need so many passes and even then it never looks right.

Do you have a particle/hair emitter in there?

Another amazing model, Eric! Here is the 1954 trailer that is on YouTube:

Much better!

The transition looks too sudden to me. Try making a pose slider for both models where the geometry mutates into roughly the same shape, for simplicity let's say a sphere. Then, in an Action or Choreography, have the first model transition between default and sphere over a few frames. Then swap models and have the second model transition between sphere and default over a few more frames. Alternatively try hiding the sudden transition by including some effect like a light flash, smoke particles or whatever.

Beautiful, Myron! You should rig that sometime.

Ha! Cool lobster/crayfish!

I have pretty much stopped using fan bones, except when the model is really crying out for them, usually in the shoulders. I get as far as I can with weighting alone and then add extra bones to do what is otherwise impossible. Discovering weighting was a very liberating moment.

Here's a 360 of the model as she is currently: (Total patches = 2562) Lady360_A01_.mov

Indeed, the whole of European monarchy was like one big argumentative family, arranging marriages between cousins for the best political gain, like playing chess. Ah, yes! Margaret, (Henry's older sister), was a Tudor (English-Welsh) and though she became Queen of Scotland her descendents were not Tudors but Stuarts. So, as far as Gene's great grandmother is concerned, having the Tudor name, doesn't connect her bloodline with Scotland, unfortunately.