Vong
-
Posts
193 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Posts posted by Vong
-
-
As it's my 31st Birthday, my Brother called to wish me a Happy Birthday, and we got on the subject, of the past 20 years or so. Well, it got me to thinking about how long I've been using Animation:Master and have been a part of this community.
It's been a little over 7 years since I first ordered a program called MH3D Pro. I was using some poly based program at the time I ordered it, and I found that MH3D Pro was a lot easier to use than that other program. Over the years, I've bought upgrades as soon as they were available, and there were years that I didn't buy the upgrades at all. There's been times (like this year!
) where I've had to put off buying the upgrade because of financial issues, that just didn't allow me the means to purchase the upgrade. (Those of you that are regulars on the IRC Channel, know what I'm talking about!) In the past 7+ years, I've watched MH3D Pro merge into it's bigger brother, watched as new features were added, and I even watched as certain users left A:M for "better" waters, only to come back to A:M. And even though certain community members have come and gone, there are those of us that remain in the community. Some of us are very vocal and help out daily, and there are those that like to sit back and watch, and help out every now and then. Which ever one you are, you are still a part of this community, and more so, a family member of the A:M/Hash Family. We all have our fights, and we all like to try and beat up on the bigger brother (Steve, are you reading this?!?! ) But in the end, we are all there for each other.As I got off the phone this morning with my Brother, I logged into Outlook and started reading my email. There was an email there from the Hash Inc. Forums, with the subject Happy Birthday. I opened it, and to my surprise it was from Martin. I'm not going to post what he said, just know that it made me feel good to be a part of this community/family.
So, even though I haven't upgraded to v11 yet, I'm still chugging along with my own stuff in 10.5, and finding new ways to integrate A:M imagery into my first love and the love that I'm getting back into, videography. This summer I'm hoping to shoot a feature that will use quite a lot of imagery created in A:M. I've tried a lot of other programs, but have always come back to A:M for it's ease of use and animation tools that don't get in your way.
And now, as I load up A:M to work on a project, I just wanted to raise my can of Pepsi and a bag of Swedish Fish, to say thank you to Martin, Marshall, Steve, Randy, Bob, Ken, and everyone else at Hash for a fun past 7 years, and here's to the next 7+ years!!! Cheers!
Curtis Rhoads
And for those of you that read through this and found it dry and boring, I'll be in IRC tonight from 7pm Pacific until 8pm Pacific for you all to beat on!
-
If you're not profiting from the fan film, then they can't sue you at the start. The first thing they would do, would be to send you a CEASE & DESIST letter, telling you to stop showing it in whatever format you're showing it in. Then if you ignore that letter, then they might sue you as a means to stop the publication of the film.
It's rare that they would sue for monetary damages, as you've not made any money off of the publication.
However, more and more big studios are thrilled to see fan films of their stuff. It gives them an idea of just how important their franchise is to these fans. Back before TROOPS was released there were some STAR TREK fan films/fiction/comics. Paramount Pictures was sending out C&D letters on almost a weekly basis to these people. In fact, DC Comics has also been known to send out C&D letters. However, since George Lucas saw a reasoning behind the fan films, and has not pursued any legal action against the fan film makers (except those that try to sell their work), more and more big companies are loosening their iron fists. Paramount Pictures is allowing several fan based Star Trek series to pop up on the internet, and DC Comics has been allowing fan of Batman to make fan films around that franchise.
A lot of people don't see why anyone would want to make something that you couldn't sell, or own out right. But sometimes it's fun to play in someone elses sandbox, just to see how the sandbox is built, and what it takes to make the sandbox, before you go off and build your own sandbox. A lot of lessons can be learned by trying to mimic something that has already been created. I remember all the dinosaurs that were being made with A:M when Jurassic Park and it's sequels came out.
I say go ahead, and finish it up, and post it for all to see. If anything, you've learned what it takes to complete a project and if it gets pulled down by the powers that be, well, you've learned what company not to mess with! :-)
-
so who owns the rights now?
usually one can buy stuff cheap out of bankrupcy mass. but since this is long ago, who bougth the rights, of if noone did, how does the law handle this? it it now in public domain, go back to the original owner or transfer to the ex company ceo?
in any case, it might be possible to acquire the rights for much less than their value and maybe there can also be found someone who would bring the code up to date.
I'm not sure who owns them. I talked with my attorney today about looking into this, and the possibility that I might be able to get the rights back so that I may do as I wish with them.
Downside being that if they want any money for the rights, I'll have to just leave it be as part of the past, since all my money is sunk into a movie production and house payments!
Although, I'd love to be able to get the rights back, release the source as open source, and let you guys all have a crack at it.
-
Ah.... SplinePaint..... The good old days of 7.x/8.x.....
SplinePaint was written to see if I could write a paint program. It then evolved as I was wanting something similar to DeepPaint (?) to use on my A:M models. SP never got past an alpha stage. It was loading models and you wer able to paint on them, and save those images as decals to be applied in A:M.
The source and all rights to SP were sold to a local game developer LOGIKAL ENTERTAINMENT, which happened to be co-owned by an old high school friend of mine. In the contract that was reached, I was to stay on as a technical advisor and their programmers would enhance the software, and add features that I hadn't thought of. After 2 months of hearing "yeah, we're still working on assigning it to a team of programmers.", the company filed for bankruptcy. All I ever heard was that one of the partners walked in one night and took all the computers, etc.
So, where did that leave me? Well, I was paid for the code and rights, to the tune of $7400. Pretty low price, but I needed cash bad. For a while there was a forum/mailing list that attempted to revive SP, I'm not sure what happened to it.
Have I ever thought about trying to recode the app, and continue on? Yes I have. However, over the years, I've concluded that I hate coding! :-) I've since moved onto other things and have moved away from 3D, not too far away though!
If there's anymore info you guys want, let me know.
-
We're starting to get underway....
Search the forum for other messages about chat night that contain info on what programs to use.
Server = irc.freenode.net
Channel = #hash3d
Hope to see you there!
-
OK.... If you're running Windows, then you want mIRC . If you're running OSX, then you want JediKnight . If you're running OS9 or lower then try Snak .
After installing, connect to the following server:
irc.freenode.net
then once connected, join the following channel:
#hash3d
Enjoy the ensuing chaos! :-)
-
BUMP
Can's let this topic drop off....
So, what's going John? Anything new yet?
-
It's that time of the week again, and we're trying to get more people to join in on the Wednesday Night Chat sessions. Even though the channel is open 24/7 and there's usually 1 or 2 people in there, we set a standard time each week to discuss our favorite software (and no I'm not talking about HALO!!).
So, for all you old timers, set some time aside and pop in to dish out your wisdom, and you youngun's come join in to partake of the afore mentioned wisdom.
For those of you new to IRC, you're gonna need a client program.
If you use Windows go get mIRC . It's the standard for Windows, even though there are several out there.
If you use a Mac and are running OSX, may I suggest JediKnight for OSX . It's been a favorite of some of the Elder Mac users! If you're running OS9 or lower then try Snak .
If you use Linux, then I wanna know how you've gotten A:M to run in it!!!! Please e-mail me!
(Just joking Steve!)Once your client is installed, then you need to connect to the following server:
irc.freenode.net
and join the following channel:
#hash3d
Consult your HELP docs for how to do this in your respective program.
It'd be great to see some of the Hash folk in there, they've been known to pop in from time to time.
So, I'll see you guys in there, we usually try to get started around 4pm PST/7pm EST (which I believe is around -8 GMT). I'm usually logged in, but sometimes I'm not really there. (Am I ever really there?!?!) So if you say "Hi!" and I don't answer, I'll get back to you!
-
Umm.... johnsdan@blahblahblah is the guy that originated this thread.....
Here's a little tip... most Universities when creating login/email accounts for students/faculty they use the first 4-5 letters of their last name, followed by the first 3-4 letters of their first name. Then they pray that there isn't an account like that already!
Dan posted that image to his personal space so that people could see it. If he created it, then why ask us who the creator was?!?!
Personally, I think the whole thing smells like a Government conspiracy! Who's with me on this?!?!
Of course, I could be wrong, but that's life!
-
It's too fast.... As was noted before, looks more like water.
Try one of the recipes for fake blood here. Experiment with it by making a puddle and dripping some of the fake blood into the puddle. This should give you some ideas as to how it should look. And this beats slicing into your body for the real stuff!
Be prepared though... Most sites about afke blood don't mention it, but if mixed with the red food coloring, it will stain most things that it's poured/dripped/spilled on. So, before you go doing any experiments on the kitchen table/floor/counter top, put down some plastic or something! (and yes, I know this from experience. the red stain is still on my mother-in-law's driveway from 3 halloween's ago.)
-
Just a quick post to let people know, that it is chat night, although you wouldn't be able to tell from the amount of folks in the chat room right now!
Why don't a few of you come join us!
Grab an IRC Client for your computer, if you don't have one, use Google to find one, then use the following info....
Server = irc.freenode.net
Channel = #hash3d
Curtis
-
Yeah, my site is hosted off one of my machines, and the DNS Service hasn't been updated yet. Should be back up in the next couple of days. (I hope!)
-
Well, that wasn't too bad.... 1 week, no internet.... But no time for computer either. My wife had other ideas! :( Oh well, maybe I'll try not to spend too much time online! Yeah, yeah, I know.... :D
-
Ok, well after getting moved into a new house this past week and a half, it has come time to move the computers! So I will be without internet service for hopefully only 1 week! :-) So if you guys don't see me in the IRC Channel, it's okay.... I'm not dead!!! :-) Maybe during this week, I'll actually get some time to work on some new 3D characters I've had drawn for about 7 months now! See you guys when I get reconnected! Curtis Rhoads aka Vong
-
You could try upping the patch count on the block object. Making a denser block object for the dice to bounce on might help resolve the penetration error you're seeig at the end.
-
Opened and played just fine here, Jim. Looking forward to the completed tut. Windows XP Pro, running QuickTime 6.4. Curtis
-
Ok, I'm looking at this page and it only lists v11 Alpha 6 for the Perk (2003) CD. It does show 10.5o available for the Orangutan (2004) CD. So, my guess would be that either they never compiled a version of the Alpha for the 2004 CD, or never linked to it from this page. Either way, you have a verison that is not for your CD, and is looking for the previous years CD.
You could always try connecting to the FTP (ftp.hash.com) and looking around there to see if there's an Alpha for the 2004 CD (it should be in the 2004 directory), or contact Steve and see what's going on.
Good luck!
-
From my friend and yours Michael "Dorkman" Scott over at THEFORCE.NET's FanFilm Forums... "In a two-hour film, the discrepancy between 29.97 and 30fps grows from imperceptible to fully 216 frames. At 29.97fps, that's just over seven seconds of video. Considering that a fraction of a second audio gap is noticable, imagine seven seconds. Also, when working with PAL, you can easily (well, MORE easily) deinterlace to a clean 24p master. A two hour film in 24p is 43,200 frames less than one running at 30p. Running at 24p, that's HALF AN HOUR, thirty minutes, worth of frames that you cut out. Besides the fact that I like the aesthetic of 24p, that sounds good to the roto artist in me. To get into the direct PAL vs. NTSC, you're still talking about 35,784 LESS frames per 2 hours, cutting out 24 minutes in frames at 25fps. " For those not aware, 24p, refers to 24 progressive video frames. Which gives the "illusion" that the video was shot on film. As far as I am aware, Pixar uses the same film standard that most effects houses use, and that's 24 frames per second. In the end, if you have a program that can perform a 3:2 pulldown (abillity to convert 24 to 29.97) then it would be best to animate at 24, and then use the 3:2 pulldown when going to video tape or DVD. Unless you DVD burner and player support progressive frames, and then you could try 23.97, but that's a whole new can of worms!! :-) Any light shed? :-)
-
It's chat night again!!! Most of you know the drill, for those that are new, check out this thread...
There's a few of us there already, feel free to drop by anytime.
Curtis Rhoads
aka Vong
-
If you look a the official mini-series Battlestar Galactica website, under the casting information, it lists who plays Starbuck and then lists Lt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace.
So in this case, it's a nickname. Just as Apollo and Boomer are in the mini-series as well.
-
Great image! In addition to what everyone else has mentioned, I noticed that the planes shadow is heading towards the lower right of the pic in the frontal image, but the sun is upper/middle right. That would make the shadow fall to the lower left. Just an observation....
-
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!
And John.... WHat's up with the maggots in that animation?!?!
-
I'm an ungrateful bastard....aren't I
Yes... Yes you are!
But then I would guess that I'm one as well!
-
Yeah, there's another reason not to host!!!
One of the guys at work pointed out that you might be able to find it on one of the P2P networks.
Live from #hash3D it's Wednesday Night!
in (2003-2004)
Posted
Uhm... Don't we need some theme music or something to go along with that subject? As well as an animated intro, telling everyone who the players are?