Simon Edmondson

Robert Thank you for you video critique of yesterday. Apologies for delayed response, didn't see it until today. Thanks too, for your kind offer of looking at the offending file. much appreciated. Rather than take up your time with it I'd like to find out how to do it if that was possible ? It would be grand if Steffen could iron out the bug in V18. It is particularly annoying when it happens after an intensive period of work were you have been saving regularly. After the problem happened , I turned backup on again in the tools option ( V17 ) just in case. Working away afterwards it started to send warning that it couldn't delete the old backup file due to an error. Too keen to get it sorted from earlier I just acknowledged it but, will keep an eyeopen for what happens, if it occurs again. regards simon

Had some trouble with the bug thats a drag earlier but went back and re keyed the problem bone. This is the draft I hope will just need some tweeks to, the timing on the final pratfalls needs adjusting. Hope it addresses the points Robert made in his video critique. Any critical feedback is very welcome. simon Revised timing render underway. to follow. BalanceTake_Two.mov this is revised timing but any critical feedback appreciated.

Rodney Thank you very much for your kind comments. I had added another five or six seconds worth and addressed the points Robert had suggested and was close to 'finishing' it when I inadvertently created a parent child relationship in the chor between the right elbow ( parent) and the right foot controller ( child). we had discussed this problem in a thread in the Animation Master section. Had a look at the chor in a text editor but, inexperience makes it more than a little daunting,so tried the time machine backup but it had backed up the corrupted file. I have a feeling that I may regret turning off the auto back up in V17. One lives and learns... ( sometimes !) regards simon

Robert I was just responding to your most recent video critique when the same error as above here occurred. I've just had a look at the chor in a text editor but, being a complete beginner at this, it is almost unintelligible. The phrase "too much information" does not cover it ! Rather than take up your time unnecessarily, could you give me a quick guide as to what I should be looking for ? Thank you. I had saved the chor's progressively but, had just saved it when I noticed the error and don't know how far back it happened. regards simon

I am working in ver 16b-32bit PC for everything, only because Ver 17-32 renders slower on my machine than 16b and Fakeao doesn't work either (in 32 bit). I also believe tsm2, doesn't work in 17 (install process only), but I didn't try it. Once rigged, model should work in 17. Nancy Thank you for your reply. I bought TSM ages ago when it came out but moved over to the 2001 rig, then the 2008 rig because info received suggested it didn't work with later versions. I might have to give it a try in the coming weeks. regards simon

Nancy Pardon my intrusion but, I thought TSM only worked with earlier versions of AM. Has that been modified too or are you setting it up in the earlier version, then importing that model in V17 to animate with ? regards simon

Robert Thank you once again for your help, much appreciated. Pardon my delayed response, other tasks getting in the way. Here is the blocking for the new version and this is the setup in the chor for the movements. The paths are those followed by the figures. Used as guides rather than to be constrained to. I did use marker guides in the chor window to plot the rise and fall of the joints over time, trying to address the points you made about initial speed then slowing due to gravity. Its not perfect by any means but hope its improving. This is a bit awkward to see because of scale in view but, as mentioned, the blocking for the revised version so far. Balance3D.mov regards simon

I think the beginning sequence of that video is probably a better reference than the "steps" they've outlined Nancy Thank you for your help. I tried the clip converter you suggested the other day, wish I'd had it before ! regards simon

Robert Thank you once again for your movie and help. Much appreciated. I managed to have another bash at it today and here are this afternoons efforts. I hope I've addressed the points you've raised regarding poses, weight transfers and the acceleration and deceleration. It highlights a few discrepancies in the model but will have to deal with them later. Off to exercise in a bit and will get back to it on return. regards simonBalance3.mov

Rodney, Robert, Nancy Thank you for your help. I will pursue those avenues today ( sunday ). I have the prospect of a day's tedious rotoscoping ahead so it will be a pleasure to escape that... regards simon PS I should add that is roto work for a live action short, way beyond tedious...

Following on from Robert's critique, thought I'd have another go at it. This is the initial pass at the start sequence . Balance3.mov and this is the footage referenced. Does anyone know of a way to be able to step through the youtube video's frame by frame ? Any feedback welcome regards simon

Robert Thank you for your help and video critique. Much appreciated. I used a path for the blue figures arc off of the seesaw. Not to constrain to, but as a guide to key position against. I had tried that with the red figures initial run but got the arc inverted. I will try to correct this and the other salient acceleration and weight transfer points you raise, over the weekend. Thank you. regards simon

This weeks brief. Continuing on the theme of balance. Any feedback welcome. Still no sound. regards simon Balance2.mov

Robert Thank you for your reply and kind offer to help fix it. I went back and re did the keys as you had suggested and that seems to have worked. I will have a look in a text editor later to see if I can spot it as it would be good to know how to fix it when I do it again. This time it was relatively easy because there were only 4 seconds of simple animation. regards simon

Nancy Thank you for your reply and help. I thought it might be me being clumsy. I shall try your tip regarding the properties triangle. I followed Mark's suggestion regarding Time machine but I may have the backup option set too frequently as it had saved the mangled file before I got there. Lots of learning going on in many areas here ! regards simon

Mark Thank you for your reply. I have a backup HD installed for Time Machine and it churns away steadily. It wasn't the model itself that got damaged but the way the keys were used in the chor ? The keyline for the left foot contoller became part of the keyline for the left Bicep . as in this screengrab. Its happened before but I managed to catch it before saving and just reverted. This time I didn't catch it. regards simon

By way of illustration. Here is the modified version Balance2.mov and here is the mangled version amusing in result but not what was intended. Mangled.mov Still work being done on the figures and timing. regards simon

Robert Thank you for your reply and your help. Much appreciated. I learnt a while ago to save iterated versions of models and chors I hadn't saved this chor as an iteration yet, which is why it was so alarming. The model itself was undamaged it was the chor that seemed to have the mangled setting. I've followed your advice and gone back and redid the keys for the foot controller. Thank you. regards simon

Working away with the rig today and encountered a problem ( entirely of my own making ) and wondered if anyone else has had it and, most importantly, how to get out of it ? Animating in the chor, V17 . Selecting the foot controller in the PWS I inadvertently dragged it so it has become a child of another bone. This has completely messed up the animation put together over the past six hours. I would be very keemn to reclaim it. Does anyone know a way to do that ? regards simon

Mark and Nancy Thank you for the clarifications. Time to explore. regards simon

Test for shot one of new brief. Two to follow. feedback welcome simon Balance_Blur.mov

Mark Thank you for your reply and info. Very much appreciated. Because I was using the geom bones to animate with elsewhere I had used them in the pelvis and head areas too, My mistake. I had turned off the chest controller because it seemed to be the only way to get the two back bones visible to animate with. Back to the proper way with the next section... regards simon

I'm not up on the 2008 rig but I thought that, in general, you don't animate "geometry" bones, there is some other control made for them. Robert Thank you for your reply, it may explain my mistakes ! I hadn't seen any instructions on the 2008 rig, aside from the installation pdf. Had noticed the use of nulls for curling the finger joints and the hand controls but had avoided using those for the moment. Are there any instructions specifically to do with the rig and how to animate with it ? regards simon

Animating with the 2008 rig in a chor with V17, keys keep appearing when the option was not selected ? If I rotate the head geometry bone it sets a key for the scale target, likewise with the pelvis geometry. The scale skeletal button is not selected in the bottom left corner, and it happens intermittently, sometimes it does, others not. Have tried deleting it in the PWS but it keeps coming back. Is there an option to avoid the problem ? regards simon Imac, OSX 10.68, V17g

One of the techniques that the stop frame people use, is to use a stop watch to time themselves doing the action ten times, then divide that total and convert to frames. It won't give you the poses but it will help with the basic timing ? regards simon