John Bigboote

What about something like Xnview or the like... I'm not so sure that PNG file format HOLDS an alpha channel... I seem to remember it just has transparency like a Photoshop layer... Speaking of Photoshop...it will do what you ask as well...you can automate the task using actions. Even Photoshop treats this task with 'special gloves'...instead of just doing a 'SaveAs' or export...you would go under 'help' and then choose 'Export transparent image...' this activates a 'wizard' that asks you questions about what you want...and gives you what you need. (Sample question... Is your art cutout on a transparent layer or is the transparency held in an alpha channel?...)

I'm seeing 2 differnet things here: 1- putting a CGI character into a live action set utilizing 'camera tracking' (agep uses Syntheyes software) 2- putting live action actors into a CGI set... if THIS is what you are attempting...TRY converting your footage to a tga sequence. Also, I find that it helps to apply the footage in a model as a decal to a simple plane/patch... using cookie-cut so your alpha works (if) and then bring THAT into the chor.

This reminds me of my 'pre-hash' days... I was looking for an inexpensive 3D app to do some motion graphics with and I bought 'Impulse Imagine' for $100. My first render came out all black and I never opened the app again... turns out there was no lights in the scene!

Blobbies are pretty much what they are...meaning they are blobbies...not a lot to dink with. You might want to switch them over to sprites so you can alter their appearance in a photo editor 'pre-hash' OR stay with the blobbies and run the resulting animation thru a 'blur' post effect...either in A:M or a post production app like After Effects...

Are you asking about 'How to apply a decal?' (affixing a still image to 3D geometry)

I THINK EVERYONE SHOULD USE THEIR REAL NAME! just not me WELCOME!

Very interesting! Are you using displacement maps?

William Sutton has the 'grandaddy of all BVH toots' at zandoria.com but I'll sum them up. A BVH motion capture file is a skeletal motion file that imports nicely into A:M (Make a new action and import a character. Select New/Biovision BVH/ and then find the file you want to load and load it. The BVH will load frame by frame and may take a while for a longer BVH. You will then see a series of BVH skeleton bones in a tree separate from your characters rig. You will need to select THE parent BVH bone and rotate/scale/position it to your rig, whether just the face or the whole body, as close as possible. Then- using 'Orient Like/Constrain To/ Aim at' and other constraints you can 'nail' your rig to the BVH's bones...one by one. Then adjust adjust adjust until happy. The beauty of it is that once you have one installed you can then go back and load another BVH action over the first (Good time to use Save As...) and avoid all the constraining the 2nd 3rd 4th time 'round. Happy Animating!

Yeah...thats a cool test for a 1st time. PLUS- it shows the zigntrack motion on a moving body for the 1st time!

Is KeeKat selected in the choreographY?

You can use A:M to do this too...though you will have to do the math. All the keyframes of the BVH 'should' be adjustable...meaning that if you drag a lassoo box around the keyframes (there's a LOT of them, and my computer slows down) you can then use the surrounding hash box to scale them in time...longer or shorter. SO- if you shot 10 seconds of action at 30fps and import it into A:M in a 24 fps project you would then scale all the keyframes to the 240th frame...or something like that. You could also use this method to generate slow-motion. I haven't had chance to play with this Luuk---but I can't WAIT! Yes...the mind boggles with possibilities!

Great work! Seems like you could replace the logo and sell this to other companies as well...? ($$$)

Looks like it converts to $172.55 USD...right?

The snow was made using the .ai wizard...AND if you are interested in the models, I give them away FREE in this post http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=30194 FINISHED! http://youtube.com/watch?v=9so-Q9NkhjI&feature=user Beware...it's a full :30 and it's incredibly RETAIL. The 'UNtie' effect was animated fully in muscle mode, and you can see where the point is that SimCloth takes over. In order to achieve this, I had to take the last frame of the action where the ribbons are sticking out and save it as a new model, then I imported the new model and ran the SimCloth simulation over it, and finally placed it on the timeline where it needed to be and turned the 2 models On and OFF as needed. THANK-YOU for the support when I needed it... this forum is the BEST!

I've not had success with this either. The feature gets you about 45% of where you want to be...which is nowhere. It would be GREAT if it worked...but it would be GREAT if cars flew too, count on neither too soon. Hash should stop counting this as a feature, perhaps they have already. 3D and Flash are really not meant to be...in GhostBuster terms it's a "crossing of the beams"...

OR- HI-light the keyframes and hit the 0 (zero) key...as in 'zero slope'...which is another term for ease in ease out. ALMOST too easy!

All condiments? I relish the idea! Mr.Mustard sounds like a real GAS! Don't back burner the idea- or then you will have to play catch up...could end up in the Mayo clinic! Just thought I would pepper you with a few puns!

Thanks John- HERE's the way it unfolded... the art director had questioned my abilities as an animator AND my software saying when I told him that an actual 3D ribbon untie in the short timeframe was going to be 'difficult to pull off' his response was "Are you telling me it's beyond your capabilities?" as if he was going to pull the account away from my company. I am the lone A:M guy and we also have about 8-10 Maya animators on staff. They were called in to see if Maya had a 'magic button' solution...which it does not, and to add to my credibility they all stepped back from the difficult task. I then put in a looong night animating the effect using muscle-mode (CP's keyframed in time) and showed it the next day and everyone loved it. We then wanted to show it to the A--hole art director but he wasn't in...he had been sent home by the president of the agency for being too forcefull with an artist...something he apparently has a history of... we'll see Monday if he still has a job. I'm rendering it over the long weekend...it airs Tuesday and I'll show it to you all then. Thanks for the support! MC

Thanks Dhar. Will do. I sat back and animated the whole untie in muscle-mode...and it ends with the 2 ribbons straight as an arrow pointing away from the knot. Now, I want SimCloth to take over- So I set the sim range to the frame I want...but it wont work on the animated CPs for some reason...SO I saved the last frame from the action as a model and figgered I'd switch to this UNadulterated model using the ON/OFF layer switches...but SimCloth STILL won't react on it. What am I missing? EDIT! I had turned on 'attached' on the SimCloth somewhere alongst the way...turned it off and SimCloth is COOKIN'!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC0pbC1vzyY Hello esteemed fellow Hashers! I'm in a bit of a 'pickle'...maybe you can help me out with some advice. I am doing a retail furniture advert and I did an animation of a ribbon Untying (see link) using an muscle mode action to 'UNdraw' the ribbon and then I used SimCloth to get the ribbon to fall...kinda nice. The art director saw it and does not like it- HE wants the ribbon to UNtie as if invisible hands were pulling at it and he wants convincingly real action. I am now sitting back scratching my head wondering the best way to TRY and pull this off---literally. Ideas include: -boning the ribbon and using IK to pull it out... -Doing the whole thing with SimCloth by attaching a bone to the ends of the ribbons and pulling out the bone... -Doing the whole thing in muscle-mode... If anyone has any input or ideas on how to achieve this effect-PLEASE advise! Thanks! Matt Campbell aka 'John BigBoote' The animation in question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC0pbC1vzyY

THIS has been an exciting thread to follow. I'd love to see a test using this facial mocap on a previously animated body...

I like where you are headed with this approach. I think we all could learn from this...please post progress!

FREE SNOWFLAKE MODELS FROM THE SPOT! My client gave me some cool snowflake ai's and I used the ai wizard to make some pretty cool snowflake models. If anyone is interested in adding them to their collections, please enjoy! SNOWFLAKE1.mdl SNOWFLAKE2.mdl SNOWFLAKE3.mdl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLdvxeGHOXA Hey! I just used A:M's SimCloth feature again in another TV spot and it didn't let me down. I needed to show a Christmas present UNwrapping, so first I did the bow unwrap in an action using muscle-mode animation to sort of 'undraw' itself. Once it was gone the ribbons wrapping around the present were free to fall- and SimCloth did the trick with very little futzing. All this to sell furniture... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLdvxeGHOXA

HEY! Looking good! Looks like Thom is going to buy a house...