Elm
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Posts posted by Elm
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hardly any one today can even really tell, if it already is a community project solely in speaking of software develpoment?
Someone said "It's like open source software now, but without the open and without the source"
I edited my post and gave credit to the "Sourcerer"!
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Haven't dynamic constraints been reality for a pretty long time by now?
We use them since I ever can remember..
What I was thinking about:
Is it possible, to simulate a "bouncing ball" instead of animating it? Maybe with those kinds of dynamics you're talkink of ?(We have used springsystems somewhen, but...)
I don't think so, am I wrong?!
As I dont want to hijack, I'll post a new thread about this.
See ya -> here.
Concerning the actual topic:
Every Birthday of A:M is great!
Look at it - it has gone such a long way - hardly any one today can even really tell, if it already is a community project solely in speaking of software develpoment? It's still making its steps year after year and keeps being the most intuitive animation software ever created on the planet by genious minds, speaking pathetically, but that's how it is. Thanks to Martin and his crew. Greetz to you if you read by!
So let's hope it stays this way for at least 25 more years!
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Hash is 25 years old then, yes.
Have a look at the wiki-entry for Animation:Master:
See you
*Fuchur*
Had a look there...
"Version 10 (2003) Soft-body Dynamics..."
What's that supposed to mean?
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Elm
This is done in the AM.
You are doing a fabulous cartoons.
Paul Forwood
Newton is not used.
The basic dynamics of the scene is built by hand - BUT! the effect of realism is added by the dynamic constraint.
Thanks
Fantastic. Would it be asked too much to tell us your cartoon render settings ?
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As far as I understand it, the only reason for this workflow is the good and fast rendercapability of Modo, right?
So would it be possible for Steffen to lift A:M`s build in renderer to a similar level or would that be too big a task for
one single man?
Primarily, rendering, yes.
But there's more. Like Special effects for example - cloth, fluids, other things... which just ARE more advanced in other packages.
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So I asume the MDD workflow would work with any other 3D app also like C4D or Blender for instance?
It does work the same way in XSI at least, so I guess it also does in any package that supports mdd files.
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Btw. Elm, you mentioned that you could do Hair in A:M and render it elsewhere. Can you please explain how?
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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.
...I wasn't aware that A:M supports MDD, This opens so many possibilities.
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Thanks to (mainly I guess) Steffen Gross!
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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...)
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Elm... So when you say you export the animated/rigged am model back to Modo for rendering via MDD -----how is that done. Is that a export plugin ?
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.
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>(yes it looks a bit crappy but you shouldn't care much)
Because the cp's topology from modo stays the same in A:M - which is a bit confusing to A:M's spline geometry (looking odd here and there), but once you export the mdd data from A:M and feed the modo-model with it, everything looks as it should.
There's one more amazing detail in this context: This mdd exchange also works the other way round - even the face poses of the lefax girl were actually modeled in modo. Then they were animated (still in modo) in a frame to frame mannor. This action was exported as a mdd file, loaded in to an A:M action. The face cp's positions were then copied from each action frame into a corresponding percentage pose of the A:M girl.
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Are there one-eyed cyclopses in the background of the Bayer commercial?
you're not the first to ask.. well... maybe there are? 
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Basically, that's right.
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Animation Master really is the best value in character animation going.
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).
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Yeah--- the render quality seems a bit better.... makes me wonder what Martin's opinion is. SO- which renderer did you use for the Bayer spot? AND- what program do you texture and color in? AND- what app did the hair for Santa's beard?
Thanks for sharing your awesome work!
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...
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Could you export the models (OBJ) with textures / decals ? I didn't get success in this process ( using MODO 501 to import ).
You should use the "bake surface" feature of A:M.
Or do the shading completely in Modo, as we did (red carpet spot).
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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.
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... would I need to buy the "CD" version of A:M?
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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.
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A colleague brought up an interesting question... are you exporting to Modo model/obj by model/obj one at a time and rebuilding in Modo... or are you able to export the entire choreography. (?) Are you re-lighting and re-setting the camera in Modo as well?
REALLLY CURIOUS
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.
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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.
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T H A N K Y O U S O M U C H !!!!!!!!
Lego model
in Characters
Posted
cool!!