Simon Edmondson

Almost there. This is a test for S19. Trying for a double take. Any feedback welcome.? simon S19.mov

Actually this is a problem I'm having with V17g. The present project doesn't use any particle or hair systems but every time I open it up that is always turned on in the render options. I've turned it off under the Tools options several times. Then saved the changes. It still keeps coming back. I just opened the project. Changed that and the fps in the tools options, cleared all the models and chors. Saved and closed, then reopened the program. The fps an rotate changes were still there but the hair systems were back ??? Its not a problem at the moment but may be later on . regards simon

Damn. I've been resisting the idea of an Ipad but that, if it works with AM, and the Animators Survival Kit, may start to make the case irresistible ! simon

Robert, Rodney, Rich, Mark, Gerry, Thank you for your comments. Its a case of not knowing what you are letting yourself in for when you start realy. It was fun to do though. Hoping to get the current one finished this week. The animation part anyway. regards simon

Gene and Rich Thank you very much. The idea started after watching the Tom Hanks movie "Big" There were other versions of it were after the credits the Mum is reading the story to the babay but I've mislaid those somewhere on the migration from computers. I'll try to find some of the cut aways between scenes later. Watching it again yesterday before posting, the bits that glared at me were all the errors in the two figures but the bits I liked were the secondary animation of the notes, like the bit were they high fived each other and did the handslap routine after 'playing' with the baby. Regards simon

As threatened. The second ever project in AM. This was the original version. It later got re animated and edited down to three days rather than five but, that version has some horrible compression artefacts on it and still has a large file size. This has been chopped a bit but ( WARNING ), the music is still as annoying as ever. There are many things I'd change if I did it now but I was pleased with it at the time. ( about 9-10 years ago). I still like the idea though. The figure models were adapted off the CD at that time. Rather inexpertly, as you can tell. simonLC_320.mov

This was the first project I did in AM. My nephew was trying to make a career as a racing driver and this was an attempt at raising some sponsorship. It was only intended as a fist pass at the idea and, if the company was interested, then we'd get the polished version done. It never got finished because, they were interested at first but, just as we started to look into it more, two of their marketing dept died with stress related problems so we got lost in the process. The nephew, Ben Clucas, then 17/18 now 29, is still working as a racing driver, albeit not on the plane initially hoped for. There are lots of clips of him on Youtube, including an amazing race at Phillip Island in Australian F3, were he won by 0.17 of a second, when he'd been third at the second to last corner... simon Ps Be warned second ever project on its way... BB.mov

Quick test for scene 18 Any feedback welcome Rocks.mov

Mat Thank you for your help. I've been having trouble with just that. I kept trying to save as a TGA file and when reopened it no longer had an Alpha channel. I was beging to wonder what I was doing wrong. One for the new day I think. The eyes are going a bit wonky after staring at the screen all day. regards simon

Robert Thank you for your help. It was supposed to be a quick test while a render went through. I've got a test of the process but it is so rough I would blush to post it. I will try a proper version over the weekend. I'm using CS2, which a mate described as "being in the stone age ", it may be but its more advanced than I. regards simon

Robert Thank you very much once again for your help. The 1 in the blue channel was the problem. Back into Pshop I go. Regards simon Ps Just gone back into Pshop and, according to the values set in the colour picker, its 0, 255,0 . Most annoying.

Robert Thank you very much once again for your help. The 1 in the blue channel was the problem. Back into Pshop I go. Regards simon

Robert Thank you for your reply. I think so. I picked green 255 so there was no chance of missing it and cookie cutter was chosen as type. Perhaps I should add, V17g under OSX 10.68 regards simon

Cutter.prj I went back and redid the photos as jpg's using pure green for the background. Reapplied them as cookie cutters with the green set as the key colour. The desired cut didn't appear as hoped. Have I missed something ? regards Simon

Robert and Rodney. Thank you for your help. I had thought that it did have a transparency but evidently goofed on that. Apologies. Back to PShop. Frustrating afternoon so far. regards simon

While awaiting a render I thought I'd try an idea for the car chase sequence. I've taken some low res targa photos of the lego houses and mapped them onto four patch planes to composite within the multi plane chor option. The question is, how do I get it to cut out the space were the windows are ? Heres an example of one of the files. Green_01.tga I cut out the spaces were the windows were and left it transparent in TGA format. When rendered it shows the gap as a flat white ? Is there a way around that ? regards simon Apologies here is a jpg version of the same file

Roger I can't recall the title of the painting but there is at least one were he does include ad's and signage in his paintings. The one in particular I'm recalling, is of a chemists shop that includes signage for Ex-Lax chocolate. Not the usual inclusion in an 'art' painting ! regards simon PS Hopper was a student of Robert Henri and the group that responded to his ideas and work were known as the Ashcan school. They took similar subjects as Hopper ( urban life ) but were more reportage than he. Might they give you some of the references you are interested in ?

Maybe the paradox was explained more with the tortoise and hare reaching a finish line - I don't believe anyone was falling outta the sky and combating gravity, which adds another force (easily computed) I'd not seen it explained with the Tortoise and Hare, until I looked it up on Wikipedia. I Live and learn ( sometimes ! )

Something isn't right there because the object would actually be slowing down as it falls in that scenario. It's not toward the downward (destination) that the half is divided but toward the upward (origin) for any accelerating object such as one falling under gravity. If it were slowing then the division would favor that deceleration. This isn't quite what you are taling about but... "Fourth Down in Half the Time" makes a bit more sense (to me): ikQo5k7YtuU Rodney I think the 'paradox' is supposed to be in the description rather than the actuality. The description makes perfect sense until you actually look at it and examine it. It sets up a 'logical' progression which is linguistically accurate but empirically false. Plus ! I may have mis explained it ... regards simon

Some ancient Greek philosophers thought that matter was infinitely divisible and that you could keep halving things forever. I sometimes think revising and polishing animation is a bit like that at times. There's always one more little thing that could be improved Mark Thank you once again for your help. I've incorporated the suggested head changes but won't post another render untill I do the fingers and hand changes on the bit were he "walks" back with them from being prone. I think Xeno's ( sp?) paradox is based on that. If a figure falls 20 feet in five seconds, in half the time he will fall half the distance, in the remaining fall he will travel half the distance in half the time and so on.. proving that he will never hit the ground because thee is always half the distance and half the time to fall ! regards simon

As threatened. revised version following Mark and Sebbastian's suggestions earlier today. Hope this may be the last revision aside from finger movement and a bit of offsetting. regards simon S16E.mov

Steve Thank you for your reply. The first one I did had him with his arms out trying to break the fall but I thought it would be funnier if he just flopped from exhaustion and nosedived. He's been through a lot at this point ? regards simon

Mark and Sebastian Thank you for your replies and help. I will try to follow them up this afternoon and post something this evening. regards simon

Follow up on Mark's suggestions. Critical comments welcome. SimonS16E.mov

Mark Thank you for your reply and help. I will have a look at doing that tomorrow. I went back to modify the first one with what I hope are the right deletions this time and just waiting for that to render before going to bed. I prefer the movement of Sebastian's suggestion, although I think the other is funnier, partly because it is so abrupt ( violent ? ) in the landing. regards simon