John Bigboote

Sounds like your doing everything right. You could try saving the project, closing A:M and reopening... what version and platform ?

Much, much better! Man, we could have used that clip for the 'pass the ball' movie 2 years ago. (See A:MFilms...Pass the Ball) I would still like to see some more 'rearing back' anticipation before he throws the ball...and some timing reworking when he gets hit at the end...maybe after he gets hit his feet leave the ground and he slides back a foot or 2... Thanks 4 sharing!

Cool image! I LOVE the 'dead puppy' rule...it's SO right on... The WORST thing is when you have a creative team...then every one of them needs to make a change to justify their existance...can you use multiple dead puppies? HERE's another rule for you: "There are no rules in 3D animation...break them at your peril!"

I'm always good for an opinion...just not always a good opinion. Overall...yeah- it looks good! But seriously, you are obviously a 'pose to pose' animator...which is good...but on this animation I think you need to experiment with some of the timings in-between some of the poses. A cool thing about computer animating is it's like sculpture...you can just keep carving away at it endlessly. Thanks for sharing!

Good point RobCat... HEY! Where's your Avatar??? I've had an idea for some time that would alleviate your concern...it's a what-if: WHAT IF: A group of talented A:Mers got together and made a series of cartoons in a diffent manner. Everyone would collaborate on modelling a 'set' and a cast... let's for example use the old cartoon metaphor of a dog, a cat, a mouse and a bird all living in the same house....but it could be anything. ONCE the models of the actors and sets are finished, each collaborator would then set out on making a 2-3 minute cartoon using those props to tell a story of his own direction/imagination. When/If finished, you would have a campaign/series of stories featuring the same recognizable characters, which is far more marketable than a one-off. The set and characters could be very simple, and each director would have to follow common characteristics...such as one guy is meek, the other is brash ect.

There's something to be said for a story with a beginning, middle and end. Too many stories today are lacking any or all three. And slapstick? Man, you are speaking my language! I have an idea about three hot strippers who are smooth and beguiling under the stagelights but backstage are Larry-Curly-Shemp! Oooops! Now everyone has the idea... What Stephan needs...like a lot of us out there(here)... are CO-llaborators. Martin has the right idea I think. We need to band together into ever-changing groups and start attacking our ideas on a larger scale.

I like Matt's approach! Probably renders faster too...but where's the ketchup stains? yeeeaaauuchh! If you are looking for a NEW carpet look...hair may be overkill. Learn to make a 'tileable' pattern and use patch images and a simple bump....think BERBER!

Never considered that! THNXKS!

Feedback...sure! Great stylized model! What rig are you going to use? Is the raised area around his neck for fur? Was this model generated from sketched designs? I sure like it so far...can't wait to see the lioness. My only crit...after another look...would be that his 'snout'(nose) looks kinda long and 'doggish'.

All in 14??? Great! Makes me want to sing..."Puff, the magic dragon..." BTW... I recently was reading the words to "Puff, the magic dragon' and noticed they mention 'Sealing wax'. Now, I have noticed 'sealing wax' making appearances in other famous songs as well...like in the Rolling Stones 19th Nervous Breakdown... "Your Mother who protected you owes a million dollars tax-Your Father still perfecting ways of making sealing wax" What is sealing wax? Is it a British/Drug thing?

It looks to me like you got a lot done in a short time...way to go! Keep us posted on the progress as it developes.

That is one CLEAN piece of animation, Steve. I might just take your character's advice and give-it-a-go! AND- The price seems right too...

Yes, I've noticed this previously. COULD it be caused by a FPS issue...and because there are only 30 frames per second...the emitters can only logically be emitted in those small 'windows of emittability'. PERHAPS upping the FPS (Frames per second) and rendering out the scene in slow-motion (120 FPS...?) and then speeding it back up in post would be a workaround. OR better yet and less render intensive...change your project FPS to say...10X normal...or 300 Frames per Second... and then render-out every other 10th frame. If I get a chance I'll test this... or if one of you who are already in that zone could and post the results...that would be great.

Experiment-Experiment! IF- you can't get what you need, you may want to try a 'NON-A:M' approach...(dare I say?) -1 shoot or photograph REAL water and composite... -2 Try another app and composite it's render with your A:M work...

Do you mean 'Normals'? Open your 'options' dialogue and under the 'modeling' tab you will see a checkbox for 'show normals'...this will turn ON the little yellow check facing out at the center of each patch. These NEED to face outward. BUT Would'nt it be great if you could toggle this ON/OFF within the main interface without digging for it? Like a button... OR, is there a keyboard shortcut for 'show normals'? Y'know, like the way you can turn ON?OFF hair with the Shift-8.....? Maybe that was a feature request... not TOO ambitious I would think.

Standing Ovation!

I've never used gimp before, Chrury. I would guess the test would be: A) Make your vector artwork or text...convert to paths if possible. SAVE AS: Adobe Illustrator .ai format Other applications that I know of that can make great vector artwork easily are Macromedia Flash, Adobe Photoshop, Freehand(?) and if all else fails...try the 'Font Wizard within A:M.

SURE! Here's 2 more with my 'Belle Tire' guy. The hockey one is a 'bug' that will show in the corner of the broadcast to announce a 'Belle Tire' power-play during Red Wings broadcasts...and the Baseball one shows on the Scoreboard at Comerica Park during Tiger's games. PAUL--- Yes, the flare is added in Adobe After Effects using a plug-in called Trapcode Shine... www.trapcode.com BT_BB6_whatApitchSM.mov BT_Slapshot_1SM.mov

Not 9...8. Save your AI files in the .ai version 8 (eight) format. A:M will crash on anything higher.

"LET'S GO WINGS!" as played by 'Al' the octopus...who lives in the center ice scoreboard watching the games from above...sometimes, he loses his balance and falls onto the ice during a game. CHANT_3_LGWorganSM.mov

HECK YEAH!!! I do arena work as well...AND 3D logos for television commercials. The method you mentioned is the way we do it, too. You will 'break-down' your illustrator elements and import them to A:M using the .ai wizard...which will extrude them and add bevels if you want. Then color them and apply decals/materials/color attributes. Here's a sample I did for the Detroit Red Wings that is used as a screen saver at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. I basicly imported 2 groups...the RED with all the little shapes, and the WHITE with the main unit. A little compositing in After Effects and---BINGO! I am also 'told' that it is directly because of MY animations that the Red Wings are doing so well...and that I should get MY name inscribed on the Stanley Cup should they win it. DPS_drw_logoSM.mov

Quite cool. That would be a good image contest subject...'Self-Portrait'. Yeah, we'd like to see some movies!!!

Very nice work as always Stian. And GREAT powerful subject material...are you going to accompany it with a 'Fruehauf'??? I'd be interested in obtaining this model when finished, are you planning on selling? I'm sure David Dustin would want to throw it into his collection as well...or are you making it for him?

Great Work Xtaz! I like that you do some of the interiors as well. How far will you go into automotive rigging?

Sometimes when I am 'speed-modelling' I will play Dr.Frankenstien... if I need a 3 finger hand, I'll copy/paste one from a model I did previously or maybe look thru the Xtra's DVD that comes with Hash's later versions. Do this until you are more comfortable modelling...you will learn a lot.