Simon Edmondson

Of slight interest perhaps. I'm rendering exactly the same scene, with the same settings, at the same time, using V15 and V17 on my Imac. The V17 frames are going through at 2mins02 average and the V15 frames at 5mins 29. Quite a difference ! simon

Revised S13. Slightly different setting and changes to movement as he goes down. Any feedback welcome simon PS S12 revision in a short while.Why_S13.mov Here it is revised on rock changes and head movements and legs on fall Why_S12.mov

[been a bit busy with other things today but, here is a revised pass on the timing of S12, after Robert and Rodney's suggestions regarding the hang time. Any feedback welcome regards simon PS I picked the wrong Chor to adjust the timing on so, the changes of the rock after the lightening strike are an earlier version and gave been corrected after this. Why_S12.mov

I agree with Robert here. Unless you are going for one of those 'Wiley Coyote' acts of defying gravity just before plummeting down... in which case you really need to show a close up of his facial reaction. The recognition of the character of what is happening is so necessary to complete that type of delayed effect. It also helps establish that in this environment the laws of physics don't always work as expected. Rodney and Robert Thank you for your replies. Drat !!! I have been watching a lot of Wile Coyote recently and the next scene will be the giveaway in that regard. I was trying for a slow hang, he does a double take as he realises what hes jumped off and to, but will have to rework that. I'm working on the canyon he falls into at the moment, he meets the goat half way down... it really is his lucky day! regards simon

Robert Thank you for your reply. I have unchecked, very likely famous last words ! I will re enable it later I think. I was unaware that it was an option until Nancy mentioned it. Now I know. regards simon

S13, moving to meet the mountain goat. Any feedback welcome. simon Why_S13.mov

Maybe..., possibly if you were saving a backup to the same folder as your normal saves were going to, you opened the "wrong" folder as it were and found the backup instead of what you were expecting. Here are the settings I was using last night and all worked well. Is the Backup path to the default folder in this screenshot the same path as yours? Mark Thank you for your reply. Yes the pathway in the default was the same as yours but I still got those results. Its a while since it happened ( busy with other things ) but I'll try JimD's suggestion this afternoon and see what happens. regards simon JimD Thank you for your reply. I will follow up your suggestion this afternoon and see what happens. Now I'm aware of whats happening ( maybe ! ) I can watch out for it. regards simon

Mark and Nancy. Thank you both for your help. Much appreciated. I looked this morning, Backup was ticked, so that would be the cause, (?). This is what it looked like with Finder open under OSX, Interestingly, it didn't back them up to the Backup folder in installed program folder, but that might be because I think I initially saved it the one in the screen shot. Thank you both for your help. simon

Nancy Thank you. I have let everything except frame rate at the default for now. I will check tomorrow. regards simon

After you save a PRJ from A:M you suddenly have a bunch of new folders that weren't there before? Robert Yes thats exactly what happened. It appeared to have saved them as iterations. I'm mainly working in V15 so haven't tried to replicate it yet but, if it happens again, I will post a shot and explanation of the procedure. regards simon

Robert I was only trying to explain the file structure I used to JimD, as I hadn't experienced the problems he described. regards simon

JimD Thank you for your reply. Following earlier advice about file structures, When I start a new project, I setup an overall project folder with the following sub folders in it. Project X X models X maps X Chors X Actions X materials X Frames scene 001 scene 002 scene 003 ... The problem I've been having with V17 is that it has appeared to save projects out as separate folders, independent of the structure above. regards simon

Mark Thank you for your help. I hadn't tweeked any of the default settings in V17 except for frame rate. I'm about to go do some life drawing ( highlight of the week ) but will follow up your suggestion on return. regards simon

Robert Thank you for your help. That was my understanding too. I was just puzzled by the way it appeared to be saving them. I will try to clarify what is happening then post later. regards simon

Mark Thank you for your feedback and help. I was misunderstanding the role of the diffuse decal so have tried another version. regards simon revised again (!!!), no indecision here, maybe... Revised_S12.mov

Mark Thank you for your help. I will reset the project option as you suggest. The files structure is shown in the attached screen shot. It seems to have saved the model file ( RB17 into a separate folder which contains other folders, referencing the individual bits, such as the porcelain material. I'm just not familiar with that way of doing it? regards simon

I recently updated to V17 and am using it to render while animating in V15 at the same time. I will move over to V17 when I get the current short done. In the meantime I have a couple of questions on some changes that seem to have happened between the versions on the way the projects are saved. I'm used to the way V15 saves out the projects as separate files and have adapted to that system. In V17 it seems to save it out to separate folders each time with the file structure sequence inside ? Also, the previous project does not load automatically when the program is opened and needs to be selected under the project heading on the top menu. These are minor changes and just need adjusting to on my part but, in case they are not, have I missed something and need to reset or are these standard changes ? regards simon

Take four S12.mov Take Five ( not Dave Brubeck ) S12_F.mov

Mark Thank you for your help. I agree about the lightening strike. I'm slightly reticent to follow your suggestion because the next but one scene after this one, has another lightening strike and three strikes might be testing the bounds of incredulity too far? I rationalised it as the heat would spread through the rock after the strike, even though rock is not the best of conductors. The application for my narrative licence is in the post... ! I've got a bigger res test going through now and will look at that and readjust the colour and glow timings accordingly. I was pleasantly surprised by the glow effect when the lightening strikes. Its the temp diffusion thats the tricky part now. regards simon

Third attempt at the glow, this time using a gradient map to control the diffuse colour changes. Any suggestions or feedback welcome simon S12.mov

Very well done indeed Sebastian. Mighty impressive work. regards simon

Marcos Thank you very much for that, a great help. regards simon

I'm doing some work with a student designing a perfume bottle. She wants the bottle to have a colour and transparency gradient so that its darker and less transparent at the top. I'm following Roberts suggestion regarding materials for my own animation were I need a heat transfer, but wondered if there might be a different way of doing it with the bottle ? Transparency and diffuse maps perhaps ? Any help gratefully received. regards simon

Steve I liked the model and the expressions but, it seemed a bit stiff? Only the head,eyes, brows and lips were moving. For the amount of movement in the head you might expect the neck to move as well, even if only in small amounts. Likewise the shoulders and arms. As you have it at the moment the skull is pivoting around the upper neck joint. You would only need the smallest of movements in the other parts to loosen it up slightly. regards simon

David If you get a subscription to V17 there is a feature called Multi Master that Mark W pointed out to me which allows you to run several versions of AM at the same time which might be of use to you ? Mark has also written a PDF file on how to use the net render option on a Mac although it is also applicable to PC's. regards simon