Fuchur
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Posts posted by Fuchur
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What does the remember me option mean, when signing on?
It will save a cookie on you PC so you are automatically logged in when you visit the forum... nothing special...
*Fuchur*
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Yves states that any type of light can be used for this as long as the attenuation is set to 0? Where is the setting for a sun type light's attenuation?
Directly under the intensity if you are using v14...
*Fuchur*
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I dont know exactly but as far as I know: Materials will render less fast when you are using combiners, etc. but if you are just using the surface-colors of a group, I dont think you will get any speed-ups. Maybe even slow downs because the textures have to be loaded and antialiased and so on... but I just assume that...
I cant say if there is a different between surfacecolor of a group and surface-colors set by an material... maybe there is a difference too...
*Fuchur*
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I asume your box wasnt "white" but had gradients from the light...
At the surface-attributes, you can set two settings which can help you there... diffuse falloff and ambiance-color / strength...
The problem is, that you will lose the 3d-informations if you use 0% or 100% at one of these...
A better solution is a very well designed lightening like a very bright light-dome... but even that wont give you a totally white surface without loosing informations...
Informations on lightdomes / skylight-rigs can be found here:
The webpage has some very nicly done stuff on it... you should have a look at it for in depth-informations on A:M's techniques...
*Fuchur*
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Think of it this way: If you want to make a poster over a whole building, you will need 256 passes
Other than that, 16 passes will quite always be enough. In some situations you will need 25 for some (normal) posters even 36...
but in the end: The higher you go, the better the results till you hit the 1pixel-limit. (That means that every further step will take that little effect that it cant be displayed anymore)
So, if you have the time and patience... go as high as you want... 16 or 25 passes will be enough though...
*Fuchur*
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Very, very cool!
You should render some higher resolution and send it in for the Mascot-Contest...
*Fuchur*
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I was trying to figure out all the stuff from the "Can You Say That" tutorial, but then my sound started to act up. I've checked the actual sound on the computer (good) and my speakers (good too). The thing is, KeeKat was talking, but then I lost audio. I got confused with the dope sheets and ended up making two, so I'm thinking that might be part of the reason. Can anybody help me troubleshoot?
Hm... at tools -> options you can set Audio-settings, but I dont think it has something to do with that... my recommendation is: Restart A:M.
In the audio-settings go to moni and a low khz-value... that will take less memory and so it should work a bit better...
But in the end: Sometimes when working with audio you just have to reload the audio or restart A:M...
*Fuchur*
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thanks ken, those are easier ways than what I had in mind.
by stereo I mean red/blue glasses. when model making there are times when I have a real problem visualizing the geometry, especially in wireframe.
This is not possible till now, even so it would be cool... I dont know if it can be done by OpenGL or Direct3d, but if, it would be cool.
For now you will have to use Shaded-mode or shaded-wire or (like I most often prefer) wireframe... Yes it is sometimes a bit tricky to see the geometry and imagine in right, but that is only a thing to learn.
*Fuchur*
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The problem with that approach is, that you are not very flexible... it is best to make every Mouthshape in its own pose.
There are of course exceptions like when you do a smile and an angry mouthshape, or something... because those two wont be used at the same time, they can be used on one slider.
0% is the startingposition, so dont change this and 100% is the mouseshape you want... for example an A.
Make that with every more important letter... some can be combined together like A and H for example. O and U is although possible, and so on.
Now just blend them in the Action or Chereo like you want.
If it is then a bit annoying to use all of them, you can make a different pose and just set different poses under this new pose. So you can combine the many different poses to one new. Example:
You have "Eyebrows up / down", "Eyes open / close" and "Angry Mouth / Smile".
You can now easily make a new pose called "Angry Character / Happy Character" or something like that by combining the three under the new pose without moving CPs around in "Angry Character / Happy Character".
If you need more "space" on your Slider, you can rightclick on a Pose in for example the timeline(is a bit tricky here, because you have to select it with a left click first...) or the poseslider-window and use Properties or something like that. That will open the properties of the pose where you can set the start and ending-point of the pose. There you can easily set in -100 to 200 or whatever you want. In the end it doesnt make a big difference to 0-100 but it just helps you to get a better overview...
*Fuchur*
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As Nancy already told you:
0-255 are the grey-values between black and white. So you need 256 different possibilities to save these informations.
2^8 => 256 -> so you need 8 bit. This would be a greyvalue-image.
To get an RGB-images you need 3 Channels (red, green, blue) -> 3 * 8 bit = 24 Bit.
To get transparency to work you need another grey-channel which will handle that.
White areas will be solid, black areas will be transparent.
-> another 8 bit...
= 32 bit...
And now ask me why a PNG-images with only 24 bit can provide Color and Transparency... I dont know neighter
(Anyone knows about that?)
*Fuchur*
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Sounds like a very serious graphic-driver-problem... First I would try to change the driver under "option->global". Direct3d or OpenGL... whatever you are using currently... Be sure you are using the newest graphic-driver for your system.
*Fuchur*
PS: Grid and Co can be activated in the "Draw"-toolbar. Just click for example next to the play-bar at the bottom of the screen with the right mousebutton and choose "toolbar->draw" (I recommend to activate "View" too...
I am not on a Mac so I cant help you much more... "New relationship" has nothing to do with CP-positions or so... it is used for poses, smartskins, etc. but just start with the TAO to learn more about these things... relationships arent necessary for the first steps with A:M...
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Very cool... the only thing I see is, that he is rising his toes a bit to much for my taste.
*Fuchur*
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As far as I know, every 32 bit-programm will run on a 64-bit system... just not the other way round...
*Fuchur*
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I tried that, but with the alpha white, and nothing in the selection, it wouldn't work for me. Also, if the Alpha was gray, I was getting a trasparent image.
I would like to cut down the steps somehow.
I assume you are using photoshop:
1.) Load your image of the leaf.
2.) Doubleclick on the Background-Layer to make it manipulatable (so you can delete the not needed background and make the layers background transparent in photoshop. It is easier to manipulate and select your leaf that way).
3.) Select the leaf for example by using the lasso-tool or the magic wand.
4.) Go to "Selection -> Save Selection".
5.) "Name" is for example Alpha. Leave the remaining things like they are.
6.) Save your image as a TGA with 32bit (->important).
You can look at your Channels-window (another tab near the layer-window if you activated it under "window") to see the alpha. It should be white where the leaf is and black where the background is /was.
This can be done manuel too, by creating in the channel-window a new channel, make the other channels (R G B RGB) all invisible. Now you can paint directly on the alpha-channel. White means fully visible, black means not visible. Greys inbetween are transparency-values.
If you have many pictures of a leaf you want to manipulate this way you can try to use the macros of Photoshop for a faster access.
Macros are predefined steps which will be performed by Photoshop on several different images.
In the end you have to hit a "record"-button before you do the steps above. After that you can just stop the record and apply it as a macro on every picture you want. It will only be practicable with a leaf which has a huge differnz in color to the background and if you use the magic wand-tool. The macro can only work with images which behave the same way on the same comment.
*Fuchur*
PS: Another possibility is to use png-images(24 bit) instead of TGAs. You dont have to assign an alpha-channel here. Just make the background transparent in Photoshop and save as a PNG with transparency.
I think A:M v12 or something like that first introduce the import of png-images.
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I see stamped numbers inside the cover. Would that be it? I'll try it.
Yes that should be the SN.
*Fuchur*
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-> Studi from Peugeot
-> Peugeot 1007
-> new Audi TTAnd many other cool cars more
*Fuchur*
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You can find a rig on your A:M CD. For example under 2001Rig or the SquetchRig... (SquetchRig can be found on the forum as well...)
BVH is a motioncapture-file more or less like an action. You can store motion-informations in there and later you can constraint the motiondata to your rig.
*Fuchur*
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The PWS-Tree-Symbol (show more than drivers-symbol) is one of the most hidden and most powerful things in you PWS...
It can be found if you for example make a new pose, go to the Relationship-Action which is temporarly there when you click on the pose itself / the relationship of the pose. At the action click on the PWS-Tree-Symbol next to the action which is marked with a red cross.
Now you can manipulate many things like surfacecolor, the percentage of a decal and so on.
If you model has decals on it you will need to give the decals a new image equal to the first one, but with a different "main"-color. (That should be done in your 2d-graphics-programm, for example Photoshop.)
Than you can change the percentages of the two images under the decal and by that blending from the first to the second one.
*Fuchur*
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Viel spass! Had fun making it too
Thx everyone...
*Fuchur*
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I see you use the squetch system, otherwise how would the guy reach for freedom? Right... you got me there... but he is a walking key-fob... so anything is possible
Even driving a car with very short legs...
*Fuchur*
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Hehehe, funny flick. I though it was quite nice and the story was funny. The CG was very nicely done, the timing clicked prefectly almost everywhere as far as my eye could see. How long did you spend making this?
J
Thanks
The time I worked on it was separated through several other practical works for my UAS but I think effective worktime should be about 8 days (8 hours) without rendering of course. but I cant really say it because I had lectures etc. during the time we made the movie.
We had some trouble with the time at the end of the clip and so we ended up staying in front of the office of my professor, burning the DVD and the DV-cassett while other groups where presenting their work
We managed to be the last group to present our project and so we got the DVD and the DV-cassett working just in time with some smaller errors in the video... but they werent noticed
So afterwards I solved the errors and gave my professor a better DVD with a nice menu, a short "making of" and some infos about A:M. I hope he will look at the infos and maybe think about buying some licences of A:M... but I dont know about that...
*Fuchur*
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Hi guys...
just wanted to show something off which I and a friend (S. Rosenblatt) made with very short deathline (so some of the animations arent very good) for my UAS with A:M.
It is a LiveAction + CG Video.
It is about 20 MB in size and compressed with Divx 5 and WinRar.
Enjoy: - Download -
*Fuchur*
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The animation could be done with a decal which would just be set to 0% and than to 100%
*Fuchur*
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I saw the bigger version of the image you showed there in another thread.
What you are expierencing is a realtime-refresh-problem, if I am not wrong. Just minimize your model-window (etc.) and maximize it again and the problem should be gone.
This is not a feature, and not a real bug. It has to do with your graphic-card. You could although try to switch the drivers under "Options" if it occure a lot.
*Fuchur*
Please Answer Questions about AM.
in New Users
Posted
Okay... I just had a look at the review from this "Graphics Guy" there and I just have to say: EVERYTHING he writes is not true or just a half-truth...
"A:M cant have multiple windows." -> just wrong... it can have as many as you want and your graphiccard is capable of.
"A:M isn't crashproove..." -> maybe you can say it wasnt on version 9... but every other version later was quite crashproove... of course no software is totally crashproove... but A:M is at an average level if you ask me... and they provide a better bug-tracking-portal than any other I saw... bugs are very fast found (A:M Reports) and a patch will be available in one to two weeks ore even on the same day if it is something important
"A:M is primitive..." -> cant be more wrong... it is efficent... it's interface looks simple and is easy to use... so a new user can easily and fast find his way through it... and it is VERY powerful if you know how to use it... MUCH better than what you will find in Max or so, if you ask me...
"A:M has a bad technical service..." -> Yes... if you compare it to the service Autodesk provides you with, it is not that good... the only bad thing about it... Autodesk will charge you several thousand dollars for that... but I doubt that there is a better one out there for free, if you think of the forum and A:M Reports.
"A:M's Forum is only filled with other users..." -> half-truth and even if, that isnt any disadvantage at all... they walked the same way as you will and so they will have easy and fast solutions for you point of view...
AND Martin, Yves, Noel and Co arent only user... they are programmers too...
"A:M's renderingspeed is slow" -> Yes and no... it depends on what you are rendering and how you will compare it... keep in mind:
To get an equally round sphere for example you have to use that many polygones while a few patches will be enough... so if you use only the patchcount and transfer it to polycount, yes, A:M will loose the race... but the thing is: A:M will provide you with a sphere while polygone-programms will provied you with a box or something like that which you didnt want...
"A:M isnt the only softwarepackage which is cheap..:" -> This one is true... but for example Carrera isnt half as powerful as A:M... There are other cheap tools available for example one from Softimage... BUT they are all not "full" versions like A:M but limited once which cant keep up with the features of A:M.
"A:M's forum has a censorship..." -> true... DAMN you Martin, that you won't let us post advertisings for competing products on the forum... cant understand why you do that!
One thing about that is although: You get informations here, which are filtered for being helpful and useful without the spam-entries, etc.
"A:M's manual is not good..." -> Damn we all have to be wizards to work with A:M... in fact: the TAO ("The Art of Animation:Master"-manual) is just not usual... it is a tutorial-approach to bring you into the software which worked very well for most of us. The Technical Reference you will get too is the "normal approach"... it is true that the technical reference wasn't there in a printed form on early versions... but was in the internet for download.
And lets say you like it more visual... there are VideoTutorials which will guide you the same steps like the TAO does and if you want more "indepth"-informations there are the tech-talks-video-tutorials which are really a great help for the new features...
*Fuchur*