ddustin

Matt, It looks really good! Great job. David

Stian, Very nice work!! You should be proud of your accomplishments!! David

Shaun, That looks great!! Excellent work David

Cal, Actually I think I miss-labeled the title. I was thinking of going to NAB this year to check out other Software to add to my arsenal. Most of my modeling in mechanical in nature, very little organic, so I was thinking of buying Max or Maya. It'll be a big step, and a long learning curve, but probably time for it. David P.S. Obviously I knew your name wasn't Mr. Lizard but it was fun to assume.

Mr. Lizard, Thanks for the pointers. I loved the alias clip, makes me want to go buy maya. I'm not going in a new direction with this video, just a brief intro as to who I am and what I can do for the lawyers (target audience). I agree music would keep things up, but the entire demo is fact based, with no music in it. It's a demo of a settlement package, (one lawyer will send to another with settlement requirements). Thanks again. David

Zach, Great work!! David

Gene, Almost all electron Microscope images I've seen have very rounded surfaces. Even on metalic substances. They seem to have a glow or ambiance. David

Mic... Next time Relaxed and confident.... must be those years in the band(s) Music probably not for this venue. The demo is part of something called Webdisk my friend is marketing, so my part was short. I have a very large green screen, stand in front of it and use something called DV rack to dial it in. David Here is the link http://www.sgross.com/plugins/index.html you may have to dig for the English page. David Shaun, I've been rendering it out and recombining it in After Effects. Perhaps, I'll try a render with it in NR again. David

Thanks. Yes I used the newton plugin for the parts, there were a couple of pieces that fell through the ground, that I had to manually tweak. David

Thanks for the compliments. The green screen work was done with a pretty high end software called Ultra 2, by Serious Magic (hope I can mention it by name). It works the best out of the chroma keying software I've tried. David

Here is a short clip that will be distributed to Lawyers in the Atlanta area soon. There is an associate of mine who is marketing a product that targets the legal community. The media he included in the demo contains a lot of our work. All the animation was created using AM. The green screen work was done in a different package. The old fat guy wearing the blue shirt is me (either that or our names are exactly the same). Dustin Productions Promo David

Can't view either.

Thanks for the pointers.

Robcat, The Semi driver's company is being sued. He was sited for failure to maintain his lane. Actually if the driver of the red car could be located, they would have also been charged with causing the accident. David

1. I used pose sliders in muscle mode to collapse the points. 2. I use the Newton plugin to explode the portions of the cars. It's pretty involved, but works well. The exploding parts are in the chor, then made active the second the explosion is required. David Doug, Thanks for the compliments. Which shot are you refering too? David

I asked the lawyer if he wanted those and he said no, don't know why. David

Vern, Thanks, coming from you, that means a lot! Can someone use AM for crash reconstruction... yes. Is it a good use for it.... probably not, Kind of like a square peg thing. There are things that just don't always work out. I have a laundry list of things I'd like to see AM be able to, but seeing as how I'm minority (read probably only a handfull of users applying the software this way), it (AM) will more than likely be forced to a secondary role in my reconstructions. What that means is there is other SW out there that has crash dynamic plugins available, vehicle dynamics plugins, terrain generating capabilities etc that I may be forced to spend the thousands to buy. AM can do those things but it takes a lot of determination (plus I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer) to figure it out and the endless tweaking... Your question about saving it as a template is a good one. But I don't know how it would work out as each case is different. There are practices I have learned, and in fact the process needs to be streamlined, as the work is out there if you go get it. There is work I have sitting on the back burner..... There is a link I have set up for one of the lawyers I work with that has some of the stuff I've done for him, if anyone is interested. David

gre03, It's an illusion, it actually rises above the ground, but your brain thinks it's a gauge. 1. I made a shape that matches the ground profile, and positioned it right below the surface. 2. Created a pose slider using muscle mode, so that as the slider advances another section is raised above the ground plane. There is also a particle emmitter spewing dirt and grass that doesn't show up too well in the posted file. David

The green vehicle was already sliding as it entered the scene. The driver indicated she had to slide off the road to avoid hitting red car. It is partially due to the perspective. Do you have an example of "better physics"? This was reconstructed from witness statements and the police officer who investigated the crash. David

Odog2020, Thanks for the compliments. What do you mean "any news on the case"? David

Gerry, I have a 1/2 speed slo mo version but it's too large to post here. Thanks for the compliments. (Just re did the in cab version too) David

Here is a birds eye view of the latest scene I'm working on. David birdseye_11_8_05_low_rez.mpg

William, 1. Have you tried it 11.1i? 2. Does it render to file OK? David

Render freezing!!!!!! I just ran into that same issue. It had to do with having a patch with transparency with edges below (through another surface). It was a tree panel, with transparency, where the transparent part was sticking down through the ground. David

Actually, a model will always be able to pass through another surface. If the track is a series of oval splines, you can cnstrain a car to one of those splines, or you could create a path around the track, and constrain the car to the path. If it needs to be more than one lap, you'll need to use a path with multiple loops around the track. Sounds like fun. David