John Bigboote

Hi Kellie... you could try lowering the intensity of the lights...or delete/turnOFF a light or two.

This has been a great discussion! I must admit I was a little 'daunted' by AO and IBL, but after all the GREAT knowledge shared in this thread and a LITTLE experimentation, I now feel like I am 'up' on both. ERIC---I think your 'white' trick with the new group is good too, I did'nt know that about the group ordering override-thing. MOUSEMAN- Thanks for posting your white image, how do you get your whites so white? Must use bleach. NANCY- You are the BEST!!! ALSO--- I think that front projection is a powerful trick...I'm trying to think what other things can be done with it... It is projecting thru the camera a rotoscope image/movie onto a target that you specify...right?

AMTrack!

Pretty impressive! Feet are ALWAYS a big issue in all BVH's , I find. Some animation purists shy away from the general use of Motion Capture, but I find as an animator you can always add to, enhance or give supplemental or pre-post actions to a BVH action. I hope your BVH addition to the 2008 rig opens more peoples eyes to the possibilities of BVH. I have frequently scoured the 'net looking for all and any BVH actions, and have built-up a collection. We 'hashers' should pool our resources of all and any BVH files and make them generally accessible (providing they were not purchased) for further experimentation. I am enthralled by the 2ndary motion generated by a BVH... not only dynamic constraints but hair. BIG FUN!

That sounds like college level 'urban legend' stuff...the things nervous seniors tell more nervous juniors to get them more frazzed. You don't see an animation rig... it's transparent-invisible...kinda like your underwear...you know it's there, but you don't show it off. Did you make it yourself- No, fruit of the Loom or Hanes or BVD or in Verns case -Victorias Sectret. It does not matter! AND- The word 'tape' should never be used again...period. Tape is dead- no one uses tape.

Only 4 or 5 yet...it's still early though. I haven't started mine yet...I can see it in my head though!

GAH! I never knew that!!!!

You are your own best teacher...I like that!

I'm finally getting around to trying this stuff out... THANKS for 'dummifying' this for me, Jason and Nancy.

V15 is MILES beyond version 8 but one thing should be pointed-out... it is still the same program to work with. You will not be 'RElearning' the app from scratch... everything is still, basically the same... there's just a lot more there, if you dig. DEFINITELY rely on this forum to get you going as you go. I don't know how anyone could possibly use and learn A:M without this community.

Sounds like you are answering most your questions yourself. I would prolly render to .tga with an alpha...the shadow on that 2nd light can be shut off... a little fog might help too....since the ship and it's shadow never intersect, you can 'slop matte' each of them and control them separately in post... tweeiking till it looks right. Looking good!

It should not inhibit render times too terribly much... if you are going for minimal splineage-this may not be the way to go. As far as rendering artifacts, you will also need to (in your 'invisible' pose) make sure the group you are making transparent also has it's specular and reflective levels lowered to zero as well.

Wow...I gotta start making tutorials like that- seems there's no better way to do it. ONE THING...a feature you missed- the finger controls have a neat 'auto curl' feature if you rotate the roll-handle at the top bone of a finger...

Actually the body modeling was given away right here on the forum! I'll try to find the posting and give proper credit...it is a SWELL interpretation of the female anatomy I must say. I am enjoying doing my 'long hair' tests on it, I merely added the head, feet and other...'embellishments', and I hope to implement some ZignTrack(AM:Track) facial actions as well. THANKS!

OR--- both! Lately I have been making models with at least 2 outfits controlled by a pose slider... shoes can change as well! And when both outfits are 'OFF' you have a nude model... (sweet!) I even lately made a gradient material...one color being the dress color, the other being transparent... and then in a pose you change the 'Y' value of both and you get a gradient 'disrobing' of the dress as opposed to a 'fade-out'. FUN STUFF! EDIT: example posted.

YEAH!!! Looking Great!

COOL TRICK! I did NOT know that! Then- I suppose you would have to back thru and 'knowingly' re-hide all the bones that need be hidden...

It looks like it would make a nice footrest....ahhhh, yes! It does!

Names...sure- I'm getting some submissions without names...can you folks try to remember to put your name in the title of your movie...OR at least in the email when you send them...? That email address to send to again... mcampbell@gwstudio.com

I always say... "Fire them before they fire you!"... That's a good plan- get animation jobs where you can and work on your 'pet-project' in betweens... GOOD LUCK!

Hello Pass the Ball-ers! As time marches on and I have a handful of entries and see more in-progress here on the forum, I thought I would 'stir-the-pot' with an idea... A 'Pass the Ball' T-Shirt! Yes, now YOU- as a participant of the PTB2009 collaboration will be able to own a lasting keepsake of the event! I plan to design a shirt with a keyframe from each entry and place it for sale via an internet Tshirt printing service such as MySoti.com NOTE: MySoti uses an inkjet garment printer which is very much like silkscreening a Tshirt...the print has a very light 'hand' and lasts the life of the garment with rich bright colors... this is by no means an 'iron-on'. I have had Tshirts made by MySoti (formerly BounTee) and am very impressed with the quali-Tee... Shirt will be sold at or near 'cost' (under $20) and will look sort of like the one pictuered below- featuring scenes from the previous PTB. SO000- keep that in mind...try to frame up your animation so it has an obvious 'key-frame' that represents the scene... look at the ones in the pic below- you will see that some work better than others on a 'T'... or- don't worry about it... the colorful mish-mash of the design is just plain fun! What do you think?

THATS GREAT!

I'm tellin ya... works for me! All Fuchur would need to do is add another ring around the arms and legs... it's especially cool when you combine it with the 'Symbiont-plush' trick I mentioned above earlier. You can lead a horse to water...

Import these images into A:M...drag-n-drop the 'color' one onto your 'flesh' or 'skin' group in the PWS. THAT is a 'patch-image'. It applies itself like a decal fully to every single patch! Now, right-click on the 'images' under the group's new patch-image and select 'new image'... and add the bump image and set it to bump instead of color. Adjust the bump amount while zoomed in and test rendering a section. These images are directional tiles, meaning they can tile together in any direction so you wont need to go about 'rotating' any patch images. Hope you find this useful!

I thought I had heard somewhere that porceline was obsolete in V15... I quit using it, causes more bad than good, seems. What are you plans for the skin other than porceline? You could try assigning a 'flesh' patch decal...you could try SSS... or- I always got good results by taking the 'fur' material off the 'KeeKat' model and giving it flesh colors, you get a nice automatic 'rim-light' that way---or even better, the 'plush' from symbiont Darksim/Darktree. I like your model...she'll need clothes eventually!