Paul Forwood

Beautiful, Will, but it does really show how much Tinny needs some engraving to keep him in the foreground. I love that metal and the castle is looking awesome!

Mmmmm hmmmmm! Beautiful! 8-D

I love it, John! Your usual high standards are still showing.

Thanks, Xtaz! I need to go and read the IBL and HDRI threads before attempting something like this but I was just curious about the environment image. Is it mapped onto a sphere or a box?

Yes. What Luckbat said. If you cut a pentagon out of a piece of paper and bend it's edges to simulate splines you will get some idea of the complex blending that A:M has to deal with across the surface of a 5 point patch. When the splines, which make up the edges of a five point patch, are all very curved the patch will form furrows that will cast shadows. Its best to plan for your 5 point patches to fall on farely level ground most of the time and, unless you can actually exploit the results, avoid using them anywhere where the animation will change the shape of the patch. This is not to say that you shouldn't try using 5 pointers anywhere you like but as a rule I only use them where there is no other choise. I want to try making a model out of lots and lots of five point patches someday. ;-)

That is beautiful, Xtaz! The little specular flecks of light on the wire stands give the impression of tooled metal. Is that intentional or is that the result of IBL? I would love to know the rendertime, patch count and light settings? Thanks for posting! :-)

Nice work, Uzzbay! Shift/8 toggles particles On/Off. There is also a liitle button that you can drag onto your tool bar which does the same thing.

It looks good to me, William, though, personally, I prefer to add a few more patches than to use hooks where possible. Thats just me though.

Looks pretty good to me, Stian! Better let the lighting and rendering experts do the critiques. ;-) I think the idea of using an inverted image of a coin-rubbing, to get your displacement map, is brilliant! :-)

Gary, I agree with Zaryin. Your work has taken a leap forward. The environment and lighting improvements make the experience more immersive. The one criticism that I would make is about Alf's eyes. At the moment they seem locked in their sockets and he just turns his head to view something. Allow his eyes to lead the head and it will add life to Alf. ;-) Good work!

Ah, that's nice! There is light! My computer isn't haunted! Thank you, David. I appreciate the company. ;-)

Thanks for the suggestions, guys, but Noel and Bob Croucher jumped in and confirmed this bug last night. I still can't understand why nobody else is experiencing this. Maybe I am the only A:M user with an Intel processor who is using the Ctrl/C and Ctrl/V to copy paste keyframes!? Verrry unlikely but it must be some strange combination of hardware/software/use. This is not the first time that I have found myself isolated by glitches that no one else can see. Anyway, thanks to Bob Croucher for confirming the copy/paste bug! :-)

No. I've just checked and the A:M customize keys for 'Edit:Copy Keyframe' has 'CTRL+C' associated with it. I have just tried setting it again but it has no affect. Strange, to be sure!

Ah, yes! I remember now. Its good to hear that you are still working on it and pulling in some high-profile voice talent. Thanks for the update!

I never customise the keyboard, especially with rapidly changing software like A:M. Also I uninstalled A:M the other day and reinstalled but Ctl/C still refuses to function in A:M. Only in A:M. I must have a ghost in my machine.

Cool! What is your project?

I have a problem copying keyframes in A:M13, using the keyboard shortcut, (Ctl/C on a PC). Ctl/V works fine for pasting but copy refuses to work. Hash Inc don't see this happening for them so I wonder if anyone else is experiencing this? It is not a faulty keyboard! Ctl/C copies perfectly in every other application I have. It just occurs in A:M and if I copy using the menu option it also works. Its just not working with the keyboard shortcut. So if no body else is experiencing this what could it be?

What version of A:M are you using?

Hey, Colin, I haven't looked in on this model in a while. He has really come on! Great variation on the hair! I can see this guy sitting at a little round table, somewhere deep in the pits of hell, having a game of snap with Will Sutton's Balrog. (Naked, of course) ;-D Looking forward to some action!

Nice work, Russel! Keep it going. It is unlikely that I will get my entry started before the deadline so its all down to you. ;-) I gather that you will be compositing a render of your parrot-ship with a render of this background to get around the limitations of your computer? I notice that you are attracting the attention of many of the outstanding CG artists on CG Talk. Well done and the best of luck to you with this fun piece. :-)

AO is a fast simulation of ambiant lighting, like a skylight but without any actual lights required. Okay, that's my simplified summary but there is plenty of discussion on the subject, with rendered examples, here in the forums.

Yes, you're correct, Robert. QT7 won't run on my PC that I use for the internet. The OS is too old. I've downloaded your Sully spin now, Kevin, and viewed it on my other PC. He's great! The fur will really make him the Sully we know and love.

Yes, I can't see it either. Any chance of a Sorenson3 version?

Wow! Great start, Torsten! I have also entered but haven't put anything up yet. Best of luck to you!!!

AH! Cool! That's what I need, I think. Thanks, Ken! So once I have cleared out all traces of previous A:M installments I intend ot reinstall versions 11.1i, 12.0t and 13 alpha 10. Or is this likely to reintroduce problems? Do I need to reinstall the A:Mstuff file, (or whatever it was called), for any of these versions and are there any other installations that I need?