rusty

I wasn't!! Got all excited but, darn, it still didn't work.

Hi! I've never used shadows only but now it can really help me! So, I researched it, did what I thought I needed to do but I'm not getting it to work. Settings Tried: Render to TGA and then to .mov Buffers: Alpha=on and tried off Shadows on Render Options: Quality Final Shadows on then tried off Everything else off Nothing in Alpha buffer or RGB channels I opened the TGA in PhotoShop CS3 and the .mov in After Effects 6.5. I'm using AM V14c Am I missing something? Thanks, Rusty

Hey John, I don't know if it's my trying to load your project files in V14c and things are going wacko or what but I cannot figure out what you're doing to get the boiling surface effect. According to the project file which maybe scrambled, you're doing stuff I didn't even know was possible! Like: 1. You seem to have a driver up in the model which is animating the material's translate-Z from 0 to -9.68 over 30 frames. I didn't know you could do this let alone how. 2. You seem to be using the same material twice on the lotofpatches model on the inner group, is this right? 3. In the chor things really seem wacko... under groups only material1 shows up animating sine:scale-Z(500-548 frames 0-30) but this is the only thing that looks normal... later in chor-action1 I see separate entries for material1 and material1(2) (see next item 4) and then again under another 'groups' (expanded drivers) I find material1 listed twice seemingly doing different things! 4. There are other key frames for the material's Z translation but I can't find a source for them (if that makes sense), they run frames 0-30-60 and the values are something like 0, 20, -40something (with no source, the exact numbers are not shown anywhere). I am so confused, LOL! I feel like CP30 in Attack of the Clones when his head gets put on a battle droid! I was actually able to render newcolorplus.prj in V14c and although the 'radiation' aurora does not work the boiling surface on the inner sphere does work. I would just take this and use it but things look so wacko that I do not know how to expand the frames out to about 8 seconds or make it loop-able. My eyes are crossed from looking at this project file and I'm going to take a break and get a strong drink. Fantastic stuff your doing! Rusty

Hey John, If an image dblue036.jpg (of something close to that) is actually used in the project file can you include the image in the zip and repost it? Thanks, Rusty

Yes, perfect sense. In the space shots tiny streamers rose above the main curtains and this might create those. Thanks! Rusty

Wow dudes!!! Lot of fantastic ideas!!! It will take a day or two to work through all these (I'm on V14c and can't open some .prj files). I may combine all of them! Thanks! Rusty

That's KOOL! If I can figure it out (I'm on V14c and probably can't open the .prj file) I'll likely use it! Rusty

Thanks so mputtingr puting out (oh that sounds bad... err...) the effort!! I may run with this but right now I've been able to copy what John's done... pretty simple once you see what 'kind' of material you need to use. Rusty

Hi again, I need to simulate the Aurora around the top of a planet. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aurora_B...ace_by_NASA.jpg And with movement (green, white and red swirls with streamers shoup wardspwards): Ideas? Thanks! Rusty

Think again. Took John's last animated clip, decaled it onto a sphere with planar mapping ie.- no unwrapping, no unfolding, no complicated placement needed, but could have used spherical mapping. His animation was used to drive displacement as well as some coloring, but I also combined it with some other turquoise color image. Also added specularity and reflectivity Rendered 3 pass and it took 4 secs/frame - ver16b Cool!! Thanks!!

Darn... actually I can't open anything in A:M on my notebook--to my knowledge this started today. I get the following error: The program can't start because MFC71.DLL is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem. I reinstalled A:M but still get the error. I'm researching the problem. Rusty

Curses, I can't open the project file in V14. John, does this use any new AM features? Rusty

I was trying to email you on this but can't find your address!! How are you? Still A:M&Ming it I see. Anyway, you got it!! Remember how you did it? Thanks! Rusty

Hi! I need to create a sphere whose surface moves (or appears to move) something like boiling water. Looking at animated materials--color-wise it will be black with purple specular so the material will just be 'bump' (I think 'displacement' would be too much render time). I could probably find an animated clip but decaling a sphere and getting it even would be hard no matter how you work it (unfolding sphere, spherical mapping and placement, etc). Any ideas, let me know! Thanks, Rusty

Thanks for asking! Funny... I posted exactly what I was doing... with pictures and a video but... not there???? Anyway, no... but the expression suggested should fix it up. I'm about to self publish my book and while it's getting yet another proof I decided to put together a short trailer. That's what this is all about. BTW, I totally planned to upgrade now that it seems Netrender is back (I'm still on V14 so I can use the unlimited Netrender we had back then with all the damn PCs I bought) but... my daughter's returned to college which means... we are suddenly like so broke until next year. :-( Rusty

Totally F'ing AWESOME!! Xtaz, thank you so much for the trouble you went to. If I new more about the random function (I'm sure such a fuction exists) I could get all the asteroids spinning at different speeds... even in a flock I think. I have to check out all your tuts. Cheers, Rusty

Rob, I tried to do what you suggested but... well... check it out: Here's my action: And here's what it looks like when applied in a chor: RotateAction.mov Can't believe I'm stumbling on this! Rusty

Thanks robcat! I'll give it a try when I have my animation PC setup again... moving it to another room, what a pain! Rusty

Hi, This is an easy one I've forgotten and searches are coming up empty. My rotating asteroids seem to accelerate during the rotation. This has something to do with the interpolation or something like that... I just can't remember what it is or, where or how to change it. Thanks, Rusty

BTW, I'm rotating 'asteroids'... my bad in saying a wheel (I don't need stride length). Rusty

Very interesting thread! Not what I'm looking for but wow, I can definitely use this stuff! Rusty

Hi, It's an old long lost AM'er... me again. I once saw how to rotate a wheel in an old SIGGRAPH video where all you did was enter the number of rotations (at least that's how I remember it... how fast... don't know??). Anyone remember something like this? It's very cool and if I find out again I'm going to document it so I don't forget it again! Cheers, Rusty

Thanks! Looks like it has a few things I can use. I started the face color map out with the skull, then the face muscles and ligaments, then major veins, then etc., etc., etc, --really way beyond anything sensible, LOL. Rusty

Don't happen to know the page # do you? Rusty Yikes, my library's gotten out of date--got the first edition. :-( Rusty

Don't happen to know the page # do you? Rusty