RS3D

Thanks again Robcat. I learn something new every day. Now if I can just not forget anything I will wind up being very smart.

Jason, I looked at the procedure you referred to in your post. It says it is a procedure to transfer license to a new computer. I have two questions: 1. I want to continue using the same computer so is the procedure the same for either keeping the same computer or transferring to a new one? 2. What is a 'PM' you referred to in your reply (send me that info threw a PM on this forums)?

Thanks for the reply Robcat. I deleted the license file in both the 32-bit and 64-bit folders and I get an error message: RLM error -3 Please email support@hash.com to activate via email. It is the same error message for for both versions. I emailed support@hash.com on 8/30/3018, but have not received a reply as yet.

I have a couple of problems and hopefully someone may be able to help. I tried updating my Hash system to the latest ver 19e (i think) because my license was about to expire. I am running Windows 7 and had both the 64-bit and 32-bit processes active. I updated the 32-bit version to the newest ver 19 but not the 64-bit version. Immediately, Hash stopped working in the 32-bit process. In the meantime, I renewed my subscription and got a new access code, but I cannot seem to remember what you are supposed to do with the License file in the Hash folder in order to get it start. But things will not work unless I can return to some previous version of 19 or whatever was previously on my machine. Until I can start the Hash program, I have no way to know what I was running previously.

I watched 3 of videos shaded mix 001, sack test 001 and line test 001. I get an Apple mov error message for line test 001 and I couldn't get it to work. The sack test 001 was ok but not very interesting because it had some pretty basic actions. However, the shaded mix 001 was very funny and it is long enough to get a sense of the competition between the characters. Good job on that one, it made me laugh.

Thank you Rodney for your most excellent analysis. I tried to implement some of your points in the attached version. One thing I have problems with is being able to edit frames from the choreography play range. I seem to recall that it was possible to change/move ranges within the choreography timeline. According to the tech ref manual, you have to add the tool button with the upward-pointing-to-the-left arrow and once that mode is active you can edit within the timeline. However, I cannot seem to get it to work at this time, so I have to work with what I have so far. Your thoughts: My thought is that the screeching/brakes sounds comes a little late and because of the speed at which Eddie launches off the horse it might be good to remove a few frames to speed up his flip. Me: I speeded up Eddie's exit from the saddle with a more straight forward trajectory similar to what Robcat suggested. Your thoughts: There is about a beat.. maybe two between when the galloping sound stops and when the screeching/brakes is heard. Me: I moved the brake screech sound to start about 5 frames sooner. You are right about my trying to slowing Eddie's flip down (road runner style) in order to give a bigger impact when he hits the ground. For even more emphasis, I added a little extra secondary action to Eddie's hat and a slight bounce when he makes contact with the ground. Still working on it, hopefully this version is an improvement HorseFlipsEddie2.mov

I worked on improving the scene where the horse flips Eddie off his back after almost falling off the cliff in the previous scene. I made some minor changes to the sound track and added some dust objects. Previously, Robcat had some issues with how plausible the action was for Eddie to be projected upward to start the action and suggested a more direct path for Eddie to be straight out in front of the the horse and on to the ground. The problem is that everyone who looked at this scene laughed when they saw it. This is the reaction I wanted in a cartoon-based animation like this project. So I have attempted to add a little more plausibility by having Eddie keeping hold of the reins and try to show that the trajectory path is caused by the horse's sudden stop, rear end kicking upwards, and finally the action of the horse's head affecting the reins causes the path that Eddie takes before hitting the ground. Attached is the latest version. Is this the right mix of humor and acceptable realism? HorseFlipsEddie.mov

I like the moving shade that shows on the entryway as it is being built in the original post. It gives it a nice natural fee to the animationl.

Attached is my attempt at having the dust shape that robcat suggested. There are 6 dust objects in the scene: 1) a small one for each of the four hooves (4). 2) one larger one that extends from the ground up to just below the horse's tail with slightly less intensity than the hooves. 3) one small one that trails behind the previous one and is situated at slightly below ground level to get the desired trailing effect. It is starting to look better. Is it good enough? hashOnly2.mov

I was not happy with the volumetric dust set up I had in the previous post. It seems that a horse at full gallop would generate more dust then a puff at each foot hitting the ground. I added a 5th dust object and constrained it to a null that is constrained to the same path as the horse and is offset to the rear of the horse with slightly less intensity then the other dust objects. This is supposed to give the effect of lingering dust emerging from the back of the horse at it gallops along. See attached video I think it is an improvement. hashOnlyScene1.mov

Attached is a video of the re-worked opening scene. I tried to address the previous issues pointed out by viewers with Eddie's bouncing during the horse's gallop in order to make it more realistic. I also: 1) added new equipment (saddle, etc.) to the horse 2) added dust action objects to the horse's hoof movements 3) improved the texture of the ground by added a bump map 4) changed the lighting to better capture the look of direct sunlight comparable to the background I want to make sure the gallop action and the other additions in this scene look right, because they are used in all of the first 4 scenes 2ndTrytestonly1_1.mov

Here is an update on the new rig for Eddie's horse. The horse seems very pleased with the new gear.

Attached is another video showing a rough version of all the scenes in the project (except the very last one.). At this point, I think the story is told and now is the time to go through each scene to improve it. Some of the things yet to be done are: -better saddle and bridle for the horse -add action objects such as dust, plowed dirt, etc. -better horseback riding for Eddie (more bounce as suggested by several people) -more consistent lighting between the various scenes -re-edit the sounds in each scene for consistency and realism in amplitude and timing -improve background images for consistency and realism -add more secondary motion (anticipation, etc.) to several of the non-riding actions Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Rodney raised some issues about one of the background images. I am not sure what the main objection was, but I made a couple of versions to try out (see below), you can see which one I finally chose in the video. 1stHalf2ndHalf.mov

The changing highlights on the hair as the head turns really adds to the realism. Nice job.

I did two more actions for the animation: 1) horse moves around Eddie, who is seated on the ground after being bucked off the horse and 2) the horse kicks dirt in Eddie's face as pay back for almost getting him killed in the previous scene. Hopefully, I covered up the bad animation cycle for the horse's walk so that it is not noticeable. The white ball is just an action object which will be converted to the particle system representing a clod of dirt. hors1walkAndKickDirt.mov

I reinstalled my A:M: system and noticed that there is a setting for using the "old compensate mode". If you set it to -on- this problem (and a few other problems I was having) go away. You do have to use the AimAt constraint after the Path constraint.

Thank you guys for responding to my post. I did all the things that are on Robcat's list and it seems to work. See attached video. Like I said in my original post, I used to use this technique a lot in the past, but it seems to have gotten a lot more complicated now. AmandaTurnaround.mov

I am having trouble getting two constraints: AimAt and Path to work together for the camera in a choreography. I have done this successfully in the past, but it seems that it has become more complicated now. I load a model into the choreography located a little left of center - see untitled-1. I then add a constraint AimAt the model for the camera. see untitled-2. Notice that the camera does not work unless you change the animate mode property from -not set- (evidently the default) to 'On' . You also need to change RotateOffsets for x,y,z to 0 in the properties of the constraint, otherwise it will not directly AimAt the model (evidently the default is not to automatically point at the model).-see untitled-3. I then add a path to the choreography see untitled-4. I then add a 'Path' constraint on the camera for the newly created path. see untitled-5. The system seems to ignore the AimAt constraint and just aims the camera straight ahead. There must be some additional setting that needs to be changed manually to get this to work. I can get the path constraint to work without the AimAt and the AimAt to work without the path, but so far I cannot get the combination to work. I have tried as many different settings/offsets, etc., and cannot come up with the answer. There is probably a simple solution does anyone have any ideas?

I did not create the model, I just altered it for my purposes and left the original bone structure in place. The bone setup is kind of unconventional (see attached) but I was able to get a decent galloping action using it. The problems start when I try to do a walk action (with and without the stride length grid). Ideally, I would make another version of the horse for walking purposes, but that would be a lot of work for what is basically a minor action in the overall animation project. I am afraid of doing anything to the current bone structure that will cause me to have to go back and redo the gallop action which seems to work and is in almost all the scenes. There were no constraints in the original model. I added kinematic constraints that seemed to help a little with the walk in the choreography and did not affect the gallop action. The current situation is that I use a walk action on a path and no stride length grid. But whenever I try to do too much tweaking in choreography, I get big-time corruption problems. I guess there is no substitute for a good model structure.

Thanks for the feedback Robcat. As I understand it, the main objection is the feet sliding in the walk cycle. I made a new animation for the scene which now includes Eddie and a more realistic background placed so that they are similar to the ending of the previous scene. By concentrating more on Eddie, liberal use of shadowing, and changing the angle of the horse towards the camera, hopefully some of the objection is eliminated. I can still throw in some dust that is kicked up as the horse walks and some depression in the soil to further cover up some of the bad animation in the final stage of the project. hors1walkOnly2.mov

I am at the point where I will start to add the final 2-3 scenes to the animation scene 5-horse walks around Eddie and kicks dirt in his face scene 6-horse runs off down the road leaving Eddie behind I need to come up with a slow walk cycle for the horse. The image is from the final frame from scene4 with the white line and arrow showing the horse's path. In the videos I have seen, horses look like the have the weight of the world on their shoulders when they are walking slowly. It is not until they pick up speed that they appear much more light-footed. This walk cycle is not that important to the overall effect on the animation, but if it is too bad it will detract from the overall quality enough to be noticeable. Attached is the slow walk cycle I have so far. I would appreciate it if I could get some feedback on how bad you think it is or what is the main thing that bothers you about it. I will be able to cheat on camera angles. etc. to cover up the main faults if I know what the main faults are. hors1walkOnly.mov

I figured it out. When I upgraded sometime in the past the default color background appearance is Animation Master which has a black background color. Evidently, the reference grid color needs a light background color like Macintosh, etc. The reference grid does not change to white on black for the the standard Animation Master color schemes. Kind of tricky to figure out, but it seems to work for everything except the Animation Master color scheme.

I used to be able to get a reference grid to appear when using the stride length option in an action. The one I am referring to is: (from the A.M. reference manual) From a Bird’s Eye view, a reference grid is visible beneath the character’s feet (it can also be seen from a side view, but offers better visual feedback from Bird’s Eye). Stepping through the frames (use the scrub bar, frame buttons, or the and keys on the numeric keypad) will cause this grid to move forward/backward. By lining the foot up with one of the lines on the reference grid, any adjustments that are necessary can be made to the character’s stride to prevent slipping. It no longer appears when I work with the stride length. Is there another option setting or other feature that needs to be activated for it to re-appear?

Thanks for posting this.

I made another update to the project. I added a scene following the opening to show that Eddie and the horse were increasing in elevation in order to help set up more danger for scene 3, which has the disaster action. This added scene was tricky to do, but I will be faced with the same problems in the final scene, where the horse rides off into the distance after dumping Eddie to the ground. The problem is in trying to do 3d actions against a 2d decal background. I do not model the whole background scene, but try to use animation tricks to make it seem semi-realistic. To show that Eddie and the horse are moving away from the camera, I continuously decrease the scale for both models and set up an envelope in the sound editor to decrease the amplitude of the gallop sound in proportion to the scale changes. I use a path constraint to tie the models to a path in the choreography. The problem is that as the scale decreases, the stride length of the galloping action also decreases, which means that the horse's apparent speed increases and throws off both the sound of the gallop and the overall impression that the horse is running at the same speed during the length of the scene. So I also set up animation of the path ease channel to offset the negative effects of the size scale changes and hopefully the whole thing still looks somewhat smooth. horseNewBegin.mov