rusty
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Posts posted by rusty
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To add another very useful shortcut key and tip to the mix:
Control S = Save
'Control S', Save As or consolidate your files often and be happier for it.
On this note, the auto save plug-in has saved my behind on more then one occation.
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I thought of several more but this thread seems to have died. There should be a 'tips and tricks' thread that's made sticky somewhere.
There use to be and may be again... but few visited those areas in the past.
This area isn't dead. Last tip posted (by you) indicates its only 5 days old.
Don't hold out on us. Post 'em if you've got 'em.
You are now officially stickied... so make 'em good!
To add another very useful shortcut key and tip to the mix:
Control S = Save
'Control S', Save As or consolidate your files often and be happier for it.
Just testing. :-) Little or big time savers are hard to think of 'on command'... you think of them as you work and need to use them so I started making a list. Unfortuetly I'm still in bed working on my notebookl and the list is on my desktop PC waaaaaay across the room. But let me see....
The SetPosition plug-in:
Plug-ins are awesome time savers and, to my knowledge, I have every one made! What's hard, LOL, is remembering they're there and what they all do. There's one little plug in I find myself using all the time. Say you've just modeled the highly detailed all terrain tire for the 4x4 SUV you're modeling and now you need to mirror it on the other side. You copy it, then right click and go to the 'SetPosition' plug in where you set 'group mode' then select mirror on 'X' axes and there it is. The great thing is, this plug-in will mirror on any of the three axes!
Cheers,
Rusty
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I thought of several more but this thread seems to have died. There should be a 'tips and tricks' thread that's made sticky somewhere.
Rusty
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It could be a while before I can do any work on it...but thanks for the ideas...I had completely forgotten about how to create small lights without modeling them
Actually I model running lights and below the 'off' light (usually a gray sphere) I have a copy of the sphere that is 'on' -- I just set the color then Diffuse Falloff =0 and Ambiance Intensity=100 creating a light source. Then I create an action where the 'on' sphere moves up above the gray sphere. I just drop this action on the model in the chor, adjust the timing and let it repeat! Funky perhaps and I'm sure there are more sophisticated methods but it works.
Rusty
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Yes John! So am I! I've already put out a lot of info on how I've separated 'hair dos' and 'hair color' and made both 'snap on' items that can be mixed and matched on any of my models. But I've not played around much with mu-hair and all the settings.
Cheers,
Rusty
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Steve, et al -
Your tests seem to support the theory that at least some of the hair jumping is due to the hair always attempting to face the camera. There may be a setting to turn this off although I'm not sure what this might result in.
Rusty
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Thank's Holmes ,is there a tut anywhere on using decals to change the hair ,and pointing the ends and such / Theres so many settings
Yes there is but I don't know exactly where. There is one on the Hash ftp site called Cooper Hair or RandyHair.mov. There may be something on the AM CD and more on the Extras CD. Also search the forum.
Decals is the older way of controlling hair... the new way is via the Grooming tool bar. However, often decals are stiff used in conjunction with the grooming tools for length to control the hair line.
Rusty
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Playing around with hair on this model ,I need to learn it a lot more I think
Save that model!!!! If I had to get that look, I'd never be able to!!
Rusty
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Sir Hammer,
Remember that 'real' things must be constructed: this means seams, bolts, inset or flat rivets, rubber seals, etc. If you look at a real jet plane you'll see access panels, pipes, areas with all manner of complication (an image with corresponding bump map) and all manner of signs and decals... warning signs, arrows, strips, who made it, caution, etc.
and lets not forget our running lights (some blinking, some not)
Controls and steering? For ideas and images you can search Google using 'controls shuttle helicopter crane' (select 'images' for the search).
Darksim or Symbiont definitely has materials for the hull but there are also great images. Apply the image then make a copy of the image and turn it black and white and bump up the contrast and add this image to the decal (use the same stamp) as a bump map or a displacement map or normal map.
To add small lights to any kind of surface take a black image with white dots and apply this as an Ambiance Intensity map. If you want some of the little lights to be colored, copy this image and color the dots and apply over the Ambiance image as a color map (make the rest of this image transparent with an alpha channel so only the colored dots will show).
Also remember that real things are almost never 'new'. They have digs, scratches, scuff marks, dirty spots, etc.
Some premium material (images) from my resource pool to blow your mind and spruce up you model!
Merry Christmas and may the Swartz be with you!
Rusty
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All,
I do not have time right now for a proper reply but...
Steve: I wanted to say thank you for running these revealing tests! After looking at them I have to ask you exactly what is better about V15 hair? Even if correct I'm in the middle of a very large project and therefore must worry about much more than hair. I must worry about the overall stability and fuctionality and backward/forward compatability of any new version I switch to mid-project. I almost did not install PS CS3 Extended due to this and even then kept PS CS2 installed just in case. Ah but there's even more... to complete this project I must have NetRender and though I understand that one might be able to obtain NR V15 once again there's the worry about functionality but even more, the level of free support Hash could afford to give a discontinued product with probably zero future ROI potential.
John: So far I see nothing that indicates V15 is any better at doing hair (plus see above). I must say with all sincerity that this makes me very sad as I have used and updated early each year since 2001. Even more I've based my studio, work flow and resource base entirely on AM. Giving it thought, I guess that the pivotal question is... can I run a single subscription of V15 (and versions beyond) on multiple PCs therefore mimicking NetRender? The prospect that V14 may be the version of AM I am stuck on is dismal. In any event, I await your hair examples with bated breath!
Rusty
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Thought of another one (I know there are lots of them but I can't think of them all on command). Many times I need to know what groups a portion of geometry (or even one patch) belongs to. Make sure you don't have any groups selected (as these won't show up), select the patch or area and right click and select 'Remove from groups' -- you'll see a list of all the groups belonging to that area (you don't have to remove any). Also sometimes I need to know what patches are applied to a certain area -- select the area... right click and select 'Remove decals' and again you get a list.
Rusty
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Steve,
Its looking good. Yes I also use a skull cap for the hair -- you can control the patch sizes (which controls the overall density) and you can avoid hooks and 3 and 5 pt patches as well as control the hair line better. You can also use the skull cap on other models. I've found a way to separate the hair do from the hair color but I hit insurmountable problems with the hair jumping around on most of my characters when animated (even if the head itself is not animated!). I wish you could do a close up of just the head and hair and just rotate the camera around the head (no head movement) and then shake and nod the head with the camera still. I suspect some hair jumping is do to the hair trying to always face the camera. WHAT DID THE TWO PEOPLE DO!!! THEY USED HAIR DIDN'T THEY!
Its a problem I'm coming up on and I'm concerned however, my main character has hair and for some reason it does not jump around... need to figure that one out (or use his hair on every character LOL).
BTW I'm still on V14... I know what works well and what is... temperamental. V15 is a complete unknown. A recent post indicated that V15 was as stable as 'a pencil'. I'd go to my knees and kiss the ground if that were true (and I'd update in a heart beat).
Keep up the good work!
Rusty
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Thank's Mr Spleen ,heres a shot of the hair test ,this is my first test ,colours a bit to bright I think
Steve,
Can I ask which AM version you are using? Also, is the hair jumping around at all when you animate it?
Thanks,
Rusty
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Good thread Rodney!
Here's one (and just one of many) though this might be more of a 'tricks and tips' thing:
As an example, if you want to lock (or unlock, or hide) everything in the chor (or a consecutive group) select the first item, then hold down
and select the last item now click on the lock icon of any of the selected items -- all selected items lock. This works in most areas... want to hide or unhide bones in a model? -- works there too. As PWS lock icons work as toggle switches selected items will lock if they or unlock and unlock if they are locked. Using shift selects consecutive items but using selects non-consecutive items and this works as well! Rusty
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You can still resell the originals! If you've absorbed the knowledge, might as well let the CDs enlighten another person.
That's right so you should be able to find someone who will sell theirs... I maintain a library for reference and review and won't sell at this time.
Rusty
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Even though a CD is out of print, it's still under copyright and the whole thing about not selling it for money doesn't negate that. (No one needs to chime in to tell me the law should be changed, I already know everyone thinks it should be changed. I'm just saying. The Anzovins made some really good instructional material; pirating them now seems wrong)
Hopefully there can be a way to make the Anzovin CDs available again.
Anyway, once you get to know your way around the software, a good, wide-ranging reference on how to animate well is Richard Williams' "The Animator's Survival Kit". It can be had for under $20 on Amazon.
On the face of it it is a book about 2D animation, but good motion and good poses are good motion and good poses in any medium.
Whoops. Okay forget my offer, it seemed reasonable at the time but I have no need to be associated in anyway with pirating anything. You can check ebay, sometimes someone is selling their Anzovin CDs. What a shame -- some of the best material I ever saw.
The Animators Survival Kit... well I read it cover to cover and admittedly I learned a lot from it and should probably read it again. Still, just for myself, I do not think it lives up to all the hype it gets. First it looks like a 3rd graders scribble book (wait 'till you see it!), it's huge, maybe 10"x12" but it's 342 pages could be reduced to about 100 pages as each page is... well... a 3rd graders scribble book... you have to see it. It weights a ton as it is make from very heavy paper -- if you have tendinitis or carpal tunnel forget it! I'll give it this; there is zero 'filler' in it... just a lot of white space! And I knew the minute I looked at it that there was no index. It seems like (just a perception) 80% of the book talks about in-betweens and how you can do this with them and that with them and oh, did I mention not to go over board with them. Maybe people just built up the book too much and so my expectations were way up there too high when I got my hands on it. The book has an almost cult-like following. Do I reccomend it? Absolutely.
Rusty
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I got a bunch of stuff when I first started that were really helpful!
My favorite and number one pick is Barry Zundel's Animation Master Training DVDs. Doesn't look like he offers the DVDs anymore, but you can buy the videos for download here. By far, I learned the most from these.
Jeff Lew's DVDs are here. Good action stuff and done in a really entertaining style. I need to watch these again, since it's been a looong time.
In the M.I.A. section are:
Christin McKee's "Animate!" CDs and Justin Barrett's "Animate a Face!" both from Anzovin and sadly no longer available.
Will Sutton's "Decaling/UV Setup," "Smartskin/CP Weights" and "Patch Modeling" that were all very useful and informative, but also aren't for sale anymore.
Anzovin's TSM2 was made available for free here on these forums. Do a search for it.
For my money, Barry's video tutorials are the best money spent. He takes you through the interface, modeling and rigging a character and animating, giving tips and insights that really turned things around for me.
While Jeff Lew and 'Barry's' are excellent, McKee's 3 CD set on 'Animate!' is by far the best and and Barretts "Animate a Face" is also supurb. You send me a pre-paid package to ship to you and include the CDs (so there is no expense to me) and I'll gladly copy them for you (as long as I'm not breaking a copyright laws and as they are no longer for sale it seems like it would be okay as long as I'm not selling them). I will only do this for one person as 'time' is what I lack the most.
Rusty
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Im trying to use the Translate to constraint to pick up a pencil and draw with it
but whenever i try to use the constraint thing, it shifts before being constrained to the hand
how do i fix this?
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should i be using a different method where there are 2 pencil objects, one visible and one invisible
and when the hand reaches to pick up pencil, the visibility flops from the stationary pencil to the one
attatched to the hand?
I've never seen a 'translate to' constraint do that. Is it possible that there is a key frame on the pencil somewhere that is pulling it? In any event, the curves editor should show you this movement and allow you to peak the curve so nothing moves. Maybe you set a key frame on the pencil at frame zero and also set a key frame one frame before the constraint goes active... and perhaps you also set a key frame on the constraint's enforcement (setting it at zero) one key frame before. Doing either might cause the pencil to move beforehand if these key frames are not peaked or set to 'zero slope' because the computer is still trying to translate between the two key frames even though both are in the same position. I hope that makes sense. You need to look at things in the curve editor to see this.
Hope this helps,
Rusty
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Ok I decided to make a Marble Roller Coaster . I have actually already finished it for the most part except rendering which I need to ship off to my render node. Here are some stills and cam tests. It's short though next one is going to be longer and the next one is going to be a Newton Bonanza!
C&C Welcome
-Photoman
I like it! Different that's for sure! I just had my screens calibrated and the only crit is that it looks pretty dark (or my calibration was not done well).
Will you place a camera on the ball (or whatever it is) that comes down this thing? Next, instead of a water slide... a lava slide?
Rusty
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Hi!
In the ideal, I'd like to render a scene at 13200 x 10200 pixels, by my calculations, but A:M crashes when I set a render at that resolution.
Is there a way to only render a portion of a size like this, and then piece the parts together in a program like Photoshop, later?
I feel that if I try to move the camera and render only parts of a scene, the perspective would change for each section.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Tim
Tim,
I do this more often then not. My scenes tend to be complex. How you break it up depends on the scene. The most common way is to render background, mid-ground, foreground with the characters being in the mid-ground. I'll usually put the scene together in one project file then determine how many parts I'm going to have then save that project file to several files then start removing things. You must be careful of shadows crossing over more then one part. Actually you must be careful of many things. This of course uses alpha channels.
A whole different way, which I've never tried is to take a black box with 1/4th of it cutaway and render the upper left, upper right and so on.
Cheers,
Rusty
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BTW, this set (The Listening Chamber) was modeled about two years ago by Fred Kask working from design specs I sent him. He did a great job.
r
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Here is #1 with some adjustments: Lighting range expanded and gamma corrected.
Show off. :-)
Very nice. "Lighting range expanded"... you've added more diffuse light probably using the Levels command (or curves) or, perhaps PS's Shadow/Highlight. "Gamma"... even after reading your forum posts and tuts on this I don't understand this very well. Probably you just raised the gamma until it looked right.
Please elaborate on what you did so I can reproduce this in AM.
BTW, I used AM V14's Composite to fine tune this shot.
Cheers,
Rusty
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Hi Rusty,
I'll be honest,I like all three renders that you have done.What type of mood you are after in the sequence?
Jay
Thanks for the kind words. Mood? Powerful, alien, terrifying... the scene before shows a guarded 6 foot thick steel door leading to this room. In scenes before this you're shown glimpses of something and you know that there is something alien and terrifying beyond the green misty window. That sort of thing.
What version looks closest to 'real' (or the mood I'm after)?
Rusty
how to export alpha channel behind prop
in New Users
Posted
Kev,
In the Render to File Settings you must:
1. Select advanced options
2. render it to a format that supports the alpha channel: a tga sequence or a quicktime movie
3. Under Buffers turn 'Alpha' to 'on'
Cheers,
Rusty