Hello everyone.
It's really funny. I watched the two powerpoint slideshows available in the video manual area. The history of animation and 3D. What strikes me as funny is that one way or another, I have owned a copy of EACH and EVERY one of Martin Hash's products over the last 30 years!!! It started on my Amiga and then my PCs and apples.
I have had a love affair with 3D animation since I saw STAR WARS, Tron and The Last Starfighter. When I found out that people were using lightwave (I had a video toaster back then) to make Babylon 5's effects, I was blown away. Animation Master (then Playmation and a host of other names) was always easier to use. Since I was a proficient Corel Draw user, A:M has always appealed to me. I have been a part of every major 3D app since the inception of 3D apps. Heck, I even talked many times with Steven Worley on the phone back in the old Silver and Imagine days, as well as the owners of Imagine.
I never did get to talk with Martin, however. I was even at Siggraph back when it was in Orlando (98 maybe?) - I had a booth for my company Creative Imaging, and Martin Hash was just a few rows down. That is, I believe, the 1st time I bought a copy live and in person.
It's too bad I am not better at animation and modelling than I would like to be.
So, let me re, re, re, re, re, re-introduce myself.
My name is Mike Felker and many people on many forums know me as Karmacomposer. I am an award-winning composer and own a recording studio and production company. Check out www.world-class-multimedia.com to see what we do.
I LOVE Animation Master. I loved it decades ago and I am SOOOOOOOO glad I am back. I almost always updated my copy ($99, how could you beat it) when I would receive my reminder brochure in the mail. I was a bit too late on this one and Martin did away with the upgrade price, so I went the subscription route since I am in this for the long haul.
The reason I want to do 3D so badly is for gaming. I love making game levels, art and, of course, music scores. We have done several and plan to do many more. 3D falls into place in many areas we do, like TV commercials and multimedia. Even though I currently own Maya 5, Lightwave 9, Carrara 6 Pro, Hexagon2, Silo2, Truespace and many copies of A:M, including v15, A:M is the ONLY one I really can make things happen in. Obviously, I simply suck at all the others, but A:M really works the way I think.
So, I just want to say "Hello" again and I REALLY want to master A:M this time - I am COMMITED to learning how to model, texture and animate with it. Because we do video productions, it is interesting as heck to do real-life lighting for a project and then try and do the same thing virtually in A:M.
I am not getting any younger, so I appreciate anyone's help when I have questions, no matter how silly, stupid or ignorant they may be. I apologize in advanced if I become a pest.
I do have a question about using my render farm. I have 10 powerful computers in my office and use them with Carrara all the time (too bad I can never make anything too good in it - lol), but I am confused as to how to make use of the A:M network rendering capabilities. Being that I used to be a network engineer and computer technician, and am a computer programmer in a few languages, I am pretty technically inclined, so why this has me stumped I don't know. Is there a separate application I have to install? Thanks for anyone's assistance.
I did not know there was something in Orlando this past weekend or I would have gone to it. Darn it!!!!
I am also looking forward to helping out in community projects and would gladly lend my music scoring abilities, at the very least, if needed.
All the best to all of you,
Mike