Elm

Did you do that with a:m? wonderful!

Primarily, rendering, yes. But there's more. Like Special effects for example - cloth, fluids, other things... which just ARE more advanced in other packages.

It does work the same way in XSI at least, so I guess it also does in any package that supports mdd files.

No, I didn't mention that. I wouldn't have any idea of how to get this done. That Santa image Mike posted wears A:M hair, whilst the animated commercials Santa's got XSI hair. These have nothing to do with each other, hair-system-wise. Thanks to (mainly I guess) Steffen Gross!

One more thing: Have an eye on the model's normals - they should all be aligned outwards (or 'correct') - as modo does not interpret a face double sided by default (you can of course tell modo to do that, but correct normals are always better...)

It's a standard plugin that comes with A:M 1.) right click your model in the project work tree -> export OBJ (a native A:M model should be exported at at least a 4x resolution) 2.) right click the model's shortcut in the choreography -> export mdd data (using 4x resolution, too, of course.) 3.) import the obj into modo. 4.) load mdd deformer to the obj. 5.) enjoy.

you're not the first to ask.. well... maybe there are?

Basically, that's right.

No doubt there. That's what I'm saying. I'm just glad that A:Ms features can be used in a "custom" workflow, utilizing the various advantages of several applications. Concerning modo: Keep in mind that it comes with 50 (or even more?) netrender slaves PER license. that makes the price reasonable (1000 bucks isn't THAT much for a professional application).

I'd also like to hear Martins opinion about this. A:M fits into this workflow SO nicely. Bayer was rendered in modo. Also the shading and textures were done in modo. Note that it's just ONE beauty pass... so no compositing needed here... (except for one extra pass for the flashlights). I REALLY LIKE MODOS RENDERER and its simplicity all around. Santas beard was made with softimage, the complete spot was rendered in xsi. No beauty rendering here, LOTS of passes and compositing work here...

You should use the "bake surface" feature of A:M. Or do the shading completely in Modo, as we did (red carpet spot).

Hello forumites! We finally fully (hell, is there something like "fully"?!) explored the possibilities of A:Ms import/export capabilities, and combined the essential and unique A:M features with other packages, especially for rendering purposes. Here are our latest commercials. Note that all Characters have been modeled, rigged and animated in A:M, whilst being rendered in either Modo or Mental ray. It's Steffen gross who made this workflow possible, and he deserves lots of respect for his genious work. All the best, and lots of greetings, Elm.

can you describe how exactly the *.obj export has been changed ? - Just to make sure - we're talking about right klicking the model, then Plug-Ins -> Export , aren't we? Greets, Elm.

I haven't tried yet to export a whole choreography yet, but I think this wouldn't make that much sense (I think it's easier to export model by model at one time and then 'apply' the corresponding *.MDDs) It's not really nessesary to reset the camera in Modo - there's this MAXSCRIPT file written by steffen gross, which can export a camera (with all parameters, also animated) to 3DSMax. from there you can export the camera as an *.FBX file to modo. It's quite a workaround, but it works well so far. Concerning lighting: Yes, I completely re-do that in modo, as you have other/more options there (the IBL and Global Illumination are simply amazing). Can anybody once more explain the 'new' OBJ exporter? Greetz, Elm.

Hi! Well, I can't find a difference to be honest.... Or am I blind? It's working out REALLY great so far. I'm "exporting" one of our commercials to MODO at this time (for RENDERING purposes - MODO's Renderer is really outstanding.) No Problems so far - it's fun, and Modo IS quite intuitive in handling - unlike most of those polygon apps out there.... I can't wait to finish this project (which WILL take some more time...) Greets, Elm.

T H A N K Y O U S O M U C H !!!!!!!!

Guys - Currently again dancing around with exporting stuff et cetera. The baking surface thang is REALLY cool... B U T : We're living in HD times, and the baked image maps are way too small for serious use.... Is there a way to increase the baked-map - resolution? PLEASE!!! Thanks in advance! Elm.

Nancy, Fuchur - thanks again for pointing me to that; I've seen that menu option lots of times, but never really tried that material out... I have to though.. THANKS A LOT! Again - good work, fun to watch.

Thanks so much for explaining, Nancy! Yes, I was referring to "Prince". And I was talking about his suit. I had the expression, that you also used a reflection map on his suit, as it seems to have some kind of "glitter"... BTW. "Bitmap Plus"?! - have I missed something? What is it? Greetz, Elm.

Nothing more to say! Fantastic! BTW: @ Nancy: you did the one with the clouds, right? Could you please tell us how you created the material of the protagonist's suit?

I've seen that, too. Loading it freshly and render it is the safest way to avoid it, but I think scrubbing the timeline to "0" and then several times pressing the space bar helps, too.

Note that this cam roto won't 'stick' on any object, like a decal/map would.

Good point, Rodney!

Hi! THANKS SO MUCH!! I even think I once knew about this, I sure did know about the "slide projectors" once. Getting old...