heyvern

Oh god yes! Must.... get... out... of... the.... house.... no... human... contact... need... beer.... The mail man runs past my house when he sees me now. I actually had Jehovah's Witnesses tell me they didn't have anymore time to talk and really needed to leave. My clients aren't interested in discussing world events with me anymore... apparently they have work to do. The water company put in one of those dang wireless meters... now the guy doesn't even knock on the door. -------------------- I am available, just let me know when. I should have a bunch of stuff to look at. Maybe we can brainstorm some ideas I am working on... I won't be able to run anything on my laptop... it just aint got the juice... I will bring a CD. At least this time I am using the latest version of AM! Vernon "Lonely man" Zehr

This is brilliant. Everything said about your age and talent is true. If you pursue this you will not have a problem getting a job in this field. I would recommend trying something that isn't fan based. Just to broaden the possible appeal... ... no rush of course... you need to get your drivers license, and pass all those test thingies they force on you at that big building where they send the children... I remember those places... involves a pencil or something. Vernon "!" Zehr

The scatter plugin looks great. If this doesn't do it... In the past I have used a text editor for this. Track down the shortcuts to the model you need to duplicate in the chor... ... copy paste... change the "names" and number of the shortcut in the text file (it is kind of obvious). Open this new text file in AM. The shortcuts would all be on top of each other. Just select each one in the PWS and move it around. All in the same place so you shouldn't have to zoom out at all. I used this technique for ceiling girders in my Ku-klip set. I even changed the z offset of each copy in the text editor so I didn't have to tweak much in AM. Worked like a charm. To make it easier, I copy out the smaller piece of text into a new text document. I then use search and replace to change the shortcut referernce, copy and paste it back in to the original. Rinse repeat. Keep a piece of paper handy and jot down the line number in the text file where you will be pasting incase you lose your spot... trust me on this. My program allows me to put markers in a text file to "jump around". Sounds harder than it is. It actually was way faster than doing it by hand in AM. Vernon "!' Zehr

v12.0p is very good! You will like it. Don't forget there is a v12.0q as well. I recently made the jump from 11 to 12 without any hitches to speak of. Vernon "!" Zehr

File size limit is for each individual post. Not all of your posts. You don't have to delete anything. If the file is too big it just never gets there. So... no it isn't saved somewhere. Also after uploading, you need to actually insert it into the thread. This is a second step. If you already knew this part I apologize. This was changed in a forum update a while ago and I got confused myself. Vernon "!" Zehr

Hah! Genius. I got it now Ken! Makes sense now. A single aim at constraint is fine... but if you want the camera to travel from point A to point B in a smooth arc... ... it won't, it will always take the straight route unless you laboriously key framed it. The translate/orient combo... the camera can rotate nicely around a center point without a lot of hassle. Hee hee... I am so linear in my thinking my hat has holes in it. Vernon "!" Zehr

Couldn't you just use aim at to the null? ... that's it... just an aim at on the camera to a null at the center... then... animate the camera... doing whatever... I guess it depends on if you want a perfectly uniform distance and rotation around a center point... or if you just want the camera to always "focus" on a center point and be "free" to do other things... like wash the car... do the laundry... I jest. Vernon "!" Zehr

Yes Dhar is a worthy recipient! So Rodney, Did you have a child from the local school pick the winner like they do for visitors to the Newgrange passage-tomb in, Ireland during the winter solstice? I bet if you held up an AM disk just right, during the winter solstice the sun light would trace a spiraled spline along the wall... Vernon "!" Zehr

I have been running AM on my Mac for years in 512 - 640 ram range with out complaints... ...However... I would very much like a better video card... I would lean towards a better card... or split the difference... get a better card AND some more ram... I think rendering speed is based on the processor not cards or ram as much. Modeling and having large complex projects would like more ram. Real time display while animating and modeling likes the better card... so those would be your options. I have a wimpy card on my Mac and PC so I tend to model and animate in wire frame mode. Both the Mac and PC have the same ram... and I can tell when they struggle with large complex projects. Vernon "!" Zehr

Hee hee... I had a feeling it might be done "by hand". At the last minute it kind of hit me... so I added it to my list of options. I always forget that the "old school" skills of animation didn't have the luxury of dynamic simulations. You guys are the "poster children" of "getting it done"... ... so many of us want "automation" when in reality... doing it the "old fashioned" way is quicker... ... it just requires more talent! Basically... just a variation of the traditional "bouncing ball" animation tutorial. Look and learn people! This is great stuff! KISS! Vernon "!" Zehr

Okay... Don't answer if it is a deep dark company secret... but I am dying to know the constraint mechanism for the "springy" window shade thingy. I can understand a "wobble" on one end from a dynamic constraint... just curious how you got the dual action. My guess is two constraints back to back? Newton Physics plugin? Hand keyframed? Anyway... great stuff. -------- p.s. That was my New Years celebration for a few years back in the day... of course the company I worked for bought cheap chairs and the hydraulics never worked that well... so I was never in any danger... I was periodically seen during the day with my chair upside down spinning, and pulling it to get the height back up. Vernon "!" Zehr

A bump map would not have "3D"... around the edges anyway... but it would look convincing "enough"... unless the hat is a focal point... an important part of the "story". A bump wouldn't be very effective on that "bow" area. A displacement map requires higher patch density to "look good"... thus... defeating the purpose. I would go with geometry. Something that simple is not going to be a high patch count if you do it right. The overall patch count of the whole hat shouldn't be very high either if you are careful about construction... if the hat doesn't have to animate too much you could use a lot of bias manipulation and really keep the count low. Vernon "!" Zehr

If it is just that one spot... I would add the 5 point patches on the "corners" as suggested previously. Add a few "extra" rings of splines using extrude so you can push the 5 point patches up into a "flatter" area. Then use hooks to connect that piece into the model along the fuselage. 5 point patches will be smoother than what you are doing currently. Look for any info or tutorials for 5 point patches. Learn how they work... they are very helpful and in some cases required to avoid those "dimples". Vernon "!" Zehr

The "nurbs" kind of "doodads" in polygon applications are... well they aren't the same as Hash splines. They "seem" the same, but as I have heard and learned from the programmers themselves, the two are NOT the same and can't really be "converted" back and forth. Nurbs... or whatever they are called in polygon applications... are a way to "form" the polygons. Hash splines ARE the way A:M models are formed. They define the surface specifically. That is why you can get very natural organic smooth motion of shapes with very "low density" models. In polygons, that... "splinish" technology still ends up with high density polygon meshes "underneath". Hash splines are... "real" spline shapes... there is no... underlying "building blocks" to the mesh. The splines are the actual shape. The fact that the polygon applications have developed this recently "new" modeling technology that sort of looks like Hash splines... is... well... a coincidence? They aren't the same. Vernon "!" Zehr

Cypax, I hate to say this but... There is not an... easy way to exchange models or animation between these two applications. It can be done but it takes some effort... and is primarily one way... you wouldn't be likely to bring it "back and forth". A:M is based on Hash Splines, not polygons. This is one of its strengths... and to some... one of its weaknesses (I don't think so... but I hate polygons anyway... never use 'em) For a lot of us this is not a problem. Animation:Master is so good these "sacrifices" are worth it. Your impressions of AM are correct. It is an amazing application, but if you must have a polygon pipeline, it may not be the best thing for you. AM can import/export 3ds, I am pretty sure there is a plugin for this... It can import/export DXF... I think that OBJ is also available as well as several other polygon formats used in the game genre... I don't know them all offhand. Unfortunately... that's about it. Bones and animation, rigging and constraints... are not transferable "directly". Even compositing poses problems. Some have found that exporting camera motion as BVH can aid in merging animations from different applications... but this is done in post... or can be done in AM using motion tracking. If you check out the gaming section of the AM forum there are resources there with more detailed information getting AM models and animation into different formats. As I said though... this is not a walk in the park. Those that do this worked hard to come up with pipelines to streamline the process. If you must have a tool for your "home" use to coincide with your school work... AM might be more of a hurdle than a benefit... ---------------- ... on the other hand (there is always another hand) AM is an absolutely brilliant tool for learning animation techniques. Despite everything else I have said... i would strongly recommend it as long as you don't expect it to work "seamlessly" with polygon applications. Many people have used it to launch their careers. Many use it for commercial work. Even if you can't use it specifically in school, you can still produce amazing work with it. But if you need a tool to aid in your education, your may want to think about something that works best in this regard. Hope this helps. Vernon "!" Zehr

Hello kids! Proffessor "OCD" here... Found this web site... http://www.vintagedepotdirect.com/old-bottlecaps.html Roger, I have done shapes like this that have "ridges" that taper to nothing. I just extrude some extra splines and select every other CP on the bottom ring and scale out, perfect "blend" to the "round" top. In this case... maybe scale an extra ridge spline just a tiny bit near the top. ----------- What jumps out to me is the... mechanical... look of the ridges. Very "boxy" where they join at the top. Well, that's all from the man who models the sub atomic structure of a door hinge that won't be in shot to get it "just right". Vernon "!" Zehr

I love it! The only thing I would suggest and it really is up to you entirely... I would... "break up" that continuous smooth motion of the dragon a tad. Instead of just a constant smooth motion... add some more realistic "jerkiness" to the motion... not a good explanation... but some extra keys with some ease in... break it up so not so "smooth". The roar could be the same. Instead of a slow opening of the mouth... have it... open quickly... more impact. Add some anticipation... his head goes back just before the roar and snaps forward... some exaggerated motion. These would be tweaks. Great job. Vernon "!" Zehr

It is more important to determine the size of the entire "final image" and how close the camera gets to the decal image. In the final render size... make a "guesstimate" on how "big" the decal image is in the rendered image and use that for calculating the size you need. These samples you have done are not how the final image would look, scale wise. It is the final composition of either the animation or the still image that would determine how much resolution the decal needs. If the camera zooms in real close... you would need a really big hi-res image. This is actually a good thing because what you can do is not worry about it for now. When you get to the point that you want your final render... then make modifications to the decal image... upping the resolution. AM will update it and your done. I actually work "low-res" on some decals until the very end. Saves time and speeds things up while I am working on the composition. As long as the "bigger" image is exactly the same proportions it will just update in AM. Vernon "!" Zehr

Uh... I... uh... sometimes go to my local Home Depot or similar store with my digital camera and shoot wood... ...that sounds dirty doesn't it? Vernon "!" Zehr

I know you want perfection... but you also have to know when done is good. This is accident "recreation".... not... a scene from jurassic park. I wouldn't fret too much over those shadows. As I looked at it... I had to "try" and see the cars as "floating"... ... they sort of float yes... but... I am not aware of any gravity defying cars for sale anywhere at this point... I guess my "brain" kind of sticks them to the ground. Nice job. Vernon "!" Zehr

Well... I wouldn't call it an "issue" specifically. Keep in mind the UV editor is really just a "flattened" version of the actual mesh. So, yes... if you scale and move a bunch of stuff in the UV editor, the splines and CP bias could go wonky on you. If you have ever worked in a flattened pose or action of a face or any type of model, and have stuff "hidden" so you can just flatten parts of it... ... and you unhide the stuff that hasn't been touched... you can see why those distorted patches happen. ------------- As I have been reading this thread... a vague memory comes back... I may have encountered this before... it just seems so familiar to me... (imagine a wavy distortion over my face as I look up to the right thoughtfully). Anyway... I am very glad you found a solution... even if a partial solution. Vernon "!" Zehr

Thank you everyone for the comments. Ken, Dhar... Keep in mind... if Thom stops to watch an AM demo... he is... the AM demo. To answer your question Paul... I have to learn how to use the new cloth stuff in AM... so... I got this out of the way first... the next step will be playing with the cloth sim. To be honest... I had planned to try the cloth first... that was part of my goal with this exercise... but I got distracted animating Thom. After reviewing it I realize the "torus" is too big... have to shrink that down a tad. p.s. The cafepress store link in my signature might shed some light on this. Vernon "!" Zehr

Woohoo! Just goofing for a few hours last night... couldn't help myself. Some of you may be familair with this and already know how it turns out at the end. Still very rough but thought I would share. "Title cards" are Photoshopped but will be 3D in the final. [attachmentid=12144] Vernon "!" Zehr changeyourpants_test2.mov

Hot... chicks... in the talent pool... I don't think that is very "PC" but... I have to agree. Hard to tell for certain at that size, but the general impression is "hot chicks" for me as well... ... uh... I suppose a comment on the AM aspect... I love the drill bit models just below the hot chicks. Vernon "!" Zehr

BRAINSTORM!! I may be completely wrong... but this happened to me a couple of times in the past and drove me nuts till I figured out my mistake... Make sure that you don't have any "overlapping" decals. The mistake I made was inadvertently decaling one side over another decal. It looked like my decal images weren't "lined up" but actually I was seeing a few errant patches that got stamped with the wrong... stamp. Just a thought... probably not the same problem for you... worth a look. Rodger's suggestion would find this out. Vernon "!" Zehr