Simon Edmondson

Mark Thank you once again. I shall try that this morning. regards Simon That worked splendidly. Thank you.

Mark I found the app and tried to open it in the standard way, but got the following message. FSPathMakeRef(/Applications/Animation Master 16.0/Animation Master.app) failed with error -43 I'm using a one year licence at the moment. Is tat a possible cause ? regards simon

Mark Thank you very much for your help. Next step, net render... ( have to build the project first though ! ) regards simon

Mark Thank you very much for your reply and help. I shall try that this evening. Do you double click on it in the application folder ? regards simon

Theres an option in the install folder called "Multiple Master" which MarkW mentioned a few weeks back. Are there any instructions on how to use it and set it up ? I'm rendering a sequence and would like to prepare the next one while its going through. simon V17g OSX

Robert, Nancy,Mark Thank you very much for your replies and help. Indeed it was the radiosity setting that was causing the problem. Don't know how I managed to turn it on accidentally but, now its off, normal service has been resumed, render times back to two seconds. Very interesting effect but, the hit in the render times might make it a bit unusable in practice. From two seconds to twenty six minutes at VGA, makes the prospect of HD1080 almost incalculable, for a single frame !!! For a sequence, you'd have time to write War and Peace and proof read it too... Thank you for your help. regards simon

Having trouble with the final render at the moment so, while trying to sort that out, Heres a shaded version of the current state of play. I was trying for a big sneeze at the end. Any feedback welcome simon Bag_Two_B.mov With thanks to Robert, Nancy, Mark for their help in solving the render problem. Here is a quick render of the current state of play.

Tried a single frame render of the rogue project this was the result ( a jpg conversion of a tga original ) it took 25:58 to render at VGA resolution. Interesting effect in itself but not what I was trying for. Tried a different project on the same machine without changing any settings or options. This was the result. it took 2 seconds to render at VGA This is the project file with everything embedded within Bag.prj regards simon edit Just tried a different iteration of the chor file. No render errors using exactly the same models with the same settings and options.

Robert Thank you for your very swift reply. I've just tested it on another machine and VGA size render is taking more than 5 mins per frame, as opposed to 2 seconds before. I hadn't touched any of the the render settings. Only repositioned the model.. I shall try the process you suggest and see what happens. regards simon perhaps there is a memory leak going on? I am going to guess it MIGHT be because you are rendering with the Q mode button rather than rendering to a file? and that your system has run out of memory and is swapping back & forth between disk? I always use render to a file for quick checking, especially for LONG sequences - ie 9 secs seems long. Ie where is your system putting these results if you haven't named where to put them yet? memory? Don't know how apple does it. Also close & restart A:M. Do you still have problem? Nancy I've closed and rebooted the program and the computer twice. I was using the Q button. I shall try again. regards simon

Working in V17g, under OSX 10.68 Revising last weeks brief, checking the mesh penetration glitches. It was going well, doing quick regional renders to test position, suddenly, this happened, Since then the render times have gone through the roof. For example a 9 second segment that was taking 2 seconds per frame to render, has gone out to several minutes per frame. Can any one point me to what the problem might be and, most importantly. How to fix it ? regards simon

You probably want to have the arms in IK - and you would constrain the Hand (or IK hand controller, not sure what it's called in 2008 rig) to the null. Do not constrain the forearm Nancy Thank you for your reply and help. I shall try that this morning. I usually leave that turned off because it gets a bit floaty, starting to learn now though ! regards simon

Got started on a new version of the bag lift. Thought to follow up Robert's suggestion to use a constraint to anchor the arms and hands to the bag. then animate the bag. Have constrained a null to the ends of two bones in the sack ( using a translate and orient constraints ) then tried the same thing to constrain the forearms to the Nulls. While its worked for the nulls to bag it seems to have missed for arms to nulls. Is there an accepted routinge to achieve this ? regards simon

Happy Birthday Sebastian.

Robert Thank you very much for the file. Certainly a lot snappier than mine and clear in the poses and motivation. Much to learn about posing and timing... regards simon

Last ones for today. Will go back to the bag tomorrow. One more variant and all four together. Any critical feedback welcome simon Kneel_lift_004.mov Kneel_lift_005.mov

Mark Thank you for your reply and help. Much appreciated. I shall adjust the files this evening. I got distracted briefly this afternoon looking at some cossack dancing. The balance and dynamics involved are jawdropping. If you animated it accurately people wouldn't believe it. regards simon

Thank you. Nancy, Robert, Mark and Rodney for your replies and help. I was going to post another last night before going to bed but, managed to delete the action file at the wrong moment. So here is this morning's attempt instead. Only broad poses, no finger or facial keys. I tried to incorporate Nancy's observation regarding kneel to squat before lift and to keep the cog in the right place on the poses. Will try a few more today. regards simon Kneel_lift_002.mov This afternoon's lift Kneel_lift_003.mov

Thought it best to have a quick go at some lifts without the bag before resuming with that so, here is the first. Any critical feedback welcome. simon Kneel_lift_001.mov

Robert Thank you for your movie critique and help. Much appreciated. I've gone back and shifted the camera position and cog of some of the poses and will look at the ankle and wrist positions later. I had spotted the wrist problems but was not sure what was causing it? The rig used is the 2008 and it looked as though the fanbone for the wrist wasn't aligning as expected. The ankle problem was entirely operator error. I thought it might be odd but couldn't check it. The initial pose is a carry over from the previous sequence, were he drops the bag after picking it off the shelf. I had thought to do something different but it seemed more sensible to continue the theme.. The next sequence will be him using a wheelbarrow to move them away rather than try to carry them personally. There wasn't really a story outline, although it may get converted into one at a later date, as the original idea was for the figures ( Blockheads ) to be a family group of builders called ( pardon the pun ) The Building Bloxx . Thank you for your help. regards simon

Rodney Thank you for your feedback. I keep seeing errors of hand positions and mesh penetration at the moment so will need to address those today. With your assistance, it does look a lot better than before which I'm pleased about and, I've got an idea for a further development with the bags. Will try to sort the glitches on this one and start part three next week Following the dance attempts of the other week, there was a possibility of dancing flour/cement bags but may leave that untilDecember. regards simon

Revised the bag fall and the movements. Still haven't touched the curves or addressed the penetration. Hoping to do that tomorrow. Rodney, thank you for the animation physics link, I have subscribed to further updates. This was done before your link with the cork. regards simonBag_TwoB.mov

Rodney Thank you for your feedback and helpful observations once again. Much appreciated. I will follow up the cog points later and try to correct them this evening. What I was trying for was the bag overbalancing and him overcompensating when trying to correct it which caused the bag to fall. What I should have done is use a method from the seesaw efforts a few weeks back and draw a path in the chor to animate the bag against. There is, as you say, too much forward and upward movement as it is now. Thanks for the links to the cog refs. regards simon

Still haven't touched the curves yet, and there are a couple of points with mesh penetration but, here is today's revisions so far. Taken out five seconds worth of keys, added some hand/finger flexing before the lift ( awaiting refinement ) and, followed Rodney's suggestion regarding the knee on initial lift. Any critical feedback welcome. simon Bag_TwoA.mov

Rodney Thank you very much for your feedback and helpful comments. Much appreciated. I shall try to address them today. I was conscious of twinning when doing it but it was difficult to avoid with the nature of the action. I will go back and make some adjustments in that regard. Haven't looked at the curves yet and will try to adjust the timing that way today. regards simon

Rodney Thanks again for your help. I've tried to address some of those points in this weeks effort which develops on from the last one. I'm presently trying to read the Ed Hooks book, "Acting for Animators". My partner is an actor and two friends locally but is not something I have any real experience of. Have started to look into attending classes within this area but it may be awhile before enough nerve is built up to actually try it. This is the first pass at it, some of the timings need to be changed to get more weight into the bag. Any fedback more than welcome. regards simon Bag_TwoA.mov