Fuchur

Depends... in the 3d-world-mag (Nr. 115) there is a good poly-model which can be imported to A:M quite well. It has too many patches of course but there are only a few spots that has to be redone like the hands (worst part). But most stuff can easily be re-done with a few hooks or 5pointers and you get the really nice proportions of the human model we got there (which is hard for me to get when modelling by myself). The biggest problem I see in importing poly-models is, that the finding-patches-algorithm is too slow when it comes to many patches. (above 10.000) The image of the model I attached below has about 37.000 patches which is just too much to be handle in a useful way by A:M. It came as an OBJ-file and was modelled with very good edge-loop-techniques. However the finding-patches-algorithm is that slow on my (admittedly very old) pc, that it is not reworkable in a decent time. See you *Fuchur*

AVI? With compression? Bad workflow -> you will loose imagequality twice by that. For the next time: ONLY use Imagesequences to render and after everything is finished (post-productionwork, etc.) compress it once with the codec that suits you best for the end-use. Back to AVI: I think it is possible to reimport it (I THINK). -> Rightclick on "Image Folder" in the PWS -> Choose "Open Image / Animation". -> Get you file in the opening-browser. -> After import, rightclick on the newly imported file and use "Save Animation As..." *Fuchur*

Could someone tell me, why my solution isnt working? Can't seem to see why... it looks like the expression wouldn't run in a circle or something but that they are updated constantly by each other. As if there is an actionlistener which is automatically updating the construct at the right places when needed... For example Quest3d works in a big while-construct so that everything is repeated and will only be updated once in a circle (if you dont tell it manually that it should update constantly) *Fuchur*

Just a short possibility: 1.) Create a Null-Object in your scene. 2.) Create an Expression for example for the x-axis-value. -> Expression: If(ChorTime() 3.) Create an Expression for example for the y-axis-value. -> Expression: ..|X Now you can read the value of the x-axis (or y-axis) out and it will be set at the first frame (or whatever) and after that stay the same. Choose any multiplicator you want and that fits you there (*15 can be *2, *0.01 or *1, etc.) *Fuchur* PS: Sorry, this doesnt work out, even so it is quite logicall for me...

There is only one way for me to render stuff, you should think about doing the same thing: - Render to an Imagesquenz -> TGA (or OpenEXR, if you need to change it afterwards) - Create from the images an video-file. This can be done in A:M directly or for example in an editing-programm. (Reimport the images as sequence, rightclick on it in the imagefolder and hit "Save Animation As...") This is a much more secure workflow. Now you can easily try different codecs so you get the best for your circumstances. For a final output I prefer an h264-codec. It gives you a great imagequality, although the codec needs a faster computer to play smoothly. *Fuchur*

You know all the possibilties Go for the one you are most comfortable with... I like the pose-methode the best so. It is the most flexible thing. *Fuchur*

Great to hear that Jason And of course: Welcome back Tralfaz... (okayokay...Chopper AI) See you *Fuchur*

Could you activate the Timeline so we can see a bit more? *Fuchur*

Have a look at Material Effectors... Tutorial on Material Effectors Jeff Lew did his matrix-effects in Killer Bean with it... but I cant find the tutorial on that... *Fuchur*

Yeah, I think that's it. I'll try thr CTRL_D method next time it happens [ I've already re-applied the textures this time] but I don't think it's a matter 'Show Decals' being ON/OFF. It's some stamps, but not others. I'm attaching a pic. of the DH-2 with color [procedural GROUP>SURFACES colors] missing on some patches. Look at where the missing patch color cuts into the decaled insignia rondel. Use the Draw-Toolbar... it is all there and you can see what you are doing -> Rightclick in a blank-toolbar-area and get the Draw-Toolbar (and I would recommend the View-Toolbar too). *Fuchur*

There is another quite easy way to do that: Use the detach-cp-button... 1.) Copy your sphere into the same model as the original sphere. Make sure you are not using a paste-offset (can be setted in the options). 2.) Keep the models separated by using 2 different groups. This is important to preserve overview. 3.) Detach the CPs of the first half of one sphere. 4.) Detach the CPs of the other half of the second sphere. 5.) Now you will get two separated sphere-halfs which will have all the cps still there (which will help to preserve the exact shape. The good thing about this technik: You can break apart exactly the parts you want. Go to high-resolution-sphere if you need small details or even better: use the stitch feature to create very customized holes in the model. *Fuchur*

Have a look at the keyframes in curve-mode. You may want to set the interpolation-methode to linear or use the bias-handler to get the curve look like you want it to look. *Fuchur*

Very well done models... Would you mind posting some rendered images of these characters? THey look very good! *Fuchur*

I assume you are using Sweeper? *Fuchur*

Do you use the final-renderer(blue-button) or the progressive renderer (green-button) *Fuchur*

I would say the alpha isnt used at all for bump-maps / displacement-maps / any kind of greyscale-image-map. Alpha-Channels are only usefull for color-maps. All the rest will be based on the greyscale-level of an image. (0-255). So 128 (or 127... this doesnt make much of a difference) should be used as neutral-level (so for example at a bump-map the 128 should be the groundlevel, everything from 0 - 127 will be lower, 129 - 255 will be higher. *Fuchur*

Well done.. I like him, and he is quite spline-efficient... *Fuchur*

Textures should be shown in shaded-mode if you active them. It will be quite blurry or pixalated, but at least it should be a startingpoint. I highly recommend to activate the "Draw" and the "View"-Toolbar so that you can handle easily and see easily what is activated and what is not. See this tutorial to see how you can activate the Toolbars (and do some other useful things to the interface). Tutorial Interface *Fuchur*

Just add a "nudity" or something in the title and you are fine. In the end it is an artform and I hope nobody will find David from Michaelangelo offensive. I mean it is 500 years old masterpiece-sclupture and you can find pictures from it everywhere... *Fuchur*

ALT + Print will make a screenshot of the current window while Print will make a screenshot of the whole screen-areas... (especially annoying on a multi-display-system.) I attached a small programm called "DarkShot" which can be although downloaded here: DarkShot by Darkleo The site is in german, but you can just download the package I attached and save the content of the zip-file in a folder and it will be in English. The good thing about the programm: It is very small, doesnt need many ressources and is nevertheless very powerful. For example it will save a series of screenshots to a certain place, captures the whole scrren or only specific areas, etc. See you *Fuchur* DarkShot.zip

When you are working in ANY program, it is always a good idea to save often - and save in versions (MyProject_v1, MyProject_v2, MyProject_v3, etc). I've had Photoshop crash on me a few times too. If I hadn't saved different versions of my work, all my work would have been hosed. I save my work in A:M every time I change something [Ctrl - S]. And every time I make a major change, I save a new version. It has saved me many times. Steffen programmed a plugin which has to be turned on and after that will save after a specified time to a backup-directory... It can help too... however you should really learn to save often and in versions... That is the most secure way and it will keep you from trouble and frustrations... *Fuchur*

Export-Plugin can be found in my signature... import isnt possible so. *Fuchur*

What OS, etc.? Windows Vista for example has to be setted in a certain way to run with A:M more smoothly. *Fuchur*

Or if you really want to use textures in a more controlable way: Decals from TGAs/PNGs with fading out alpha-channels. *Fuchur*