fae_alba

Yeah, I figured you probably had thought about it, and that you had deliberately done it that way...I probably shouldn't have said anything. I have found (and I believe have read other opinions the same) that if you have text, it will distract the viewer, unless they can read it. It seemed like thetext was very much part of the animation, as the main part ends at around 39 secs and the entire piece takes about 1:17. So the credits/text is taking up almost half the screen time. I don't want to give the impression that I think it is imperative to change...It is an absolutely wonderful piece...no question about it. And again I say: Bravo! It's funny that this comes up now...I was just watching the opening scene from "Joe Versus the Volcano" with Tom Hanks. Great movie. The opening scene sets the mood for the character in a totally horrible job. As he walks in to the factory he passes signs like "... home of the anal probe" then another sign "..25 years of making lube". Subtle messages, but they worked. The camera holds on each sign for just a second or two, but long enough to read.

Here's a piece of a review of the Surface Pro2 from ..." [it] may want to take its time, though: while Windows' high-resolution scaling support has improved in version 8.1, it's still not great for third-party desktop apps, many of which simply haven't been updated to support this new high-resolution world. Apps like Chrome are blurry and don't pick up touch points properly, and Photoshop just looks tiny. Pixel-dense displays are perfect for the modern Windows 8-style apps, but if you're still a heavy desktop user then it's still a frustrating experience using traditional apps on these types of devices. Where the Surface Pro 2's display really shines is with the Wacom-made, pressure-sensitive stylus. It's identical to the original Surface Pro, and the mix of pen, touch, and keyboard / mouse support is still a killer combination on this tablet. Input can be a little tricky to get used while you switch between finger and pen for navigation, but it's still a bonus to be able to take notes in OneNote or draw in apps like Fresh Paint. Unfortunately, the pen still attaches to the power connector, and still falls off easily in my bag — I'd really like to see Microsoft provide a place to store this within the tablet itself, because it’s such a key addition to the experience." the whole review is Here

Is there an better way than through a repeating action to spin the wheels in a chor so that the wheels turn consistantly over a distance? I created an action to rotate the tires over 20 frames, but for some reason the action, once applied to the truck in the chor, doesn't seem to work.

Robert was spot on, flipping the tire bones on one side of the truck to match the other worked like a charm. Fast simple, sweet as butter, just the way I like it! Tonight I animate the opening scene where the truck will be used (all of at most a couple of minutes). One weakness in my skill set is having an innate sense of timing. While I always have the best intentions of doing things "right" and working from first a script, then a storyboard, then an animatic, I seem to always jump straight to the animation step. I pay the price in redoing things over and over and over. The final step of animation should be, in my mind, nothing more then fleshing out the animatic, but I'm way to impatient, and always back myself up into impossible deadlines...

Thanks folks! I think Robert is on the right track, when I added the bones for the wheels I have each one pointing out, which means that each side, based on Roberts observation would necessarily spin opposite of each other. First thing this eve I will try and flip one side and give them a "spin".

ok, so I've been trying to rig up the tires so that I could, easily, rotate all four tires all together. My thought was a bone for each tire, then all constrained to a fifth bone with a roll like constraint. seems it's not so easy as that since when I rotate the fifth bone each tire rotates in opposite directions. Anybody have a wild thought on a better approach to rigging this up?

And that's the real challenge. Depicting emotions ranging from happy to sad with a ton of anticipation in an object with no recognizable facial features. A lot is going to rely on the music soundtrack which my 18 yr old daughter has been tasked with doing. In light of the short development time frame, I am trying to keep the "acting" elements as easy as possible. For that reason, what human actors there are, will be shot from ground level, showing only the lower extremities, or disembodied voices. Of course that means walk cycles need to be spot on, but hopefully I'm up for the task. I've got the added challenge that I have just accepted a new job with a NYC software company starting in to weeks. That transition coupled with requisite travel will pose additional challenges. I'm hell bent on getting this short done, let's see if the fates are on my side!

Thanks Robert! Just realized that I need to do a little bit more work on the truck. Simple things like running boards and closing off the front wheel well. I also need to rig it, since the opening scene will be a close up of the truck rolling into frame, stopping, then the driver's side door opening with a (Christmas tree) farmer stepping out of the truck..so I need the door rigged, the wheels rigged to turn, but that's it. Seems like a lot for all of maybe 5 seconds of animation but, I challenged myself to modeling a good truck, so I did

I thought I'd throw a quick test clip of this short, just to get a bit of feedback. Timing seems to be a weakness for me, so rip me a new one in the spirit of making it better! The story goes like this: The Christmas tree season is just beginning, and the local tree lot just got it's delivery of trees. Amongst all the perfectly shaped pine trees is one lost little one. The little tree has great hopes for being picked to go home with someone for Christmas, but as each family comes, another bigger tree is picked, until finally, on Christmas Eve, the little one is left alone in the now closed tree lot. The little tree gives up, truly sad that it will be spending Christmas alone in the snow. When all is lost, sleigh bells can be heard in the distance, then the crunch of snow as Santa's sleigh lands and Santa gets out to pick up the little tree to take back to his workshop for the elves to decorate and celebrate their own Christmas. This clip is just after the little tree is placed in the lot between two bigger trees. The little tree shrinks down self-consciously, sees the "Trees for sale" sign, then looks at his two perfect neighbors. The two trees look at the little one, then immediately dismisses it. seq0000.mp4

Robert, I downloaded a new copy at the same time and I was behind a few minor revs. What I should have done is keep the installer from the last update I did and install in a separate folder, but alas, hindsight is a hundred percent. When I get back from running errands I might take a peek at the ftp site (is it still there?) and see if a can an earlier copy of v17 64 bit to see if a can determine where things went south. Shelton, it is weird no question there! But at least I can keep moving forward on at least my Christmas short. I'm leery of working on Rear Window in an earlier release. While I doubt there would be issues, I don't want to court issues when I don't really need to yet.

When v18 comes out give this a test again and if there's still a crash put in an AMReport. Direct3D is gone in v18. I'll certainly do that. I've noticed already that the 17g 32 bit version using Direct3D is slooowwwwww. I've had to switch to my v16 in order to keep moving forward on projects.

so I downloaded 17g 32bit into a separate folder, launch, load one of the chors I've been working on, and switch to shaded mode. Crash. Switch to Direct3D, load chor, switch to shaded mode, it works. Conclusion: the 64bit windows version of 17G with OpenGL, on at least windows 7 has issues.

this is a laptop. nothing has changed on it except for the new install of A:M. It seems that I can't switch the OpenGL settings, or to DirectX. My 16b version is OpenGL, and works fine. Also, I found on my hard drive the 32bit installer for 17a. Reinstalled that version, it works fine "out of the box". Seems an issue with 17g only.

that's the odd part...they're both on the same machine!

So I had to renew my license at the worst possible time (budget, time, job change (hopefully), Rear Window project, and a Christmas project). Bought a new copy, downloaded the latest 64 bit copy (17g) fired her up and tried to get back to work. But, after opening a chor that I created last weekend and tried to switch to shaded mode, A:M crashed, repeatedly. If I open the chor in 16b I have no problems. So I take a look at the OpenGL settings and notice a definite difference between the settings of my two versions. My problem is that A:M won't let me change the settings in 17g....so what to do guys (and gals)? settings in 16b settings in 17g

The other night my youngest announced that she had a great idea for a Christmas short. She told the story of a Christmas tree that really wanted to go home to spend the holiday with a family of it's own, but was ultimately left in the tree lot all by itself. I liked the story, we chatted, and came up with a quick outline. I tasked Nicole to compose the soundtrack and I would start work on the models. We might not make it by the holidays, since the story has grown to include a lot of elements, one of which is the delivery truck below. Hopefully in a day or so I can put an animatic together to post up here. We could use some help if anybody wants to lend a hand in the story telling. If I/we can get this done, I intend on letting it lose on the internet via my blog site and youtube, so credits given where due! Here's Papa Bear's Christmas Tree Delivery truck.

Instead of the comic strips, how about a true blog, posting articles/discussions on the creation, writing, whatever. Place adwords on those posts. On youtube, build a channel that links back to the blog, that way you drive traffic/pageviews. The comics can create a following, the blog entries generate the revenue. Create a facebook page for it, google+ authorship, etc. It's not easy or quick, but it can work.

I have been trying to monetize content on the web for years now. First with a web version of a printed magazine, to news papers, etc. Now I'm working in the direction of creating a studio blog post and adding advertising content. I use wordpress (free) my own domain (few bucks a month) and google adwords. It takes some work getting the SEO set, but in time it could generate a decent revenue stream for you. If you want we can chat about a good approach (perhaps another forum thread since others might be interested in the same thing) or offline. But, it is the most common approach now a days to monetize content on the web.

I'd stick with win7 over win8 myself. While I don't have first hand experience with win8, I tend to stick with the more mature versions of the win OS. Hell, I'd still be running XP if I could!

Congrats! don't think I'll ever get there myself, but it's great to see someone livin' the dream!

hmm...the WD is exactly the Disney logo....so now I'm stumped

so what about Disney are you announcing?

that's pretty cool...but the jitter at the base (trunk) was distracting to me...

I thought I'd throw a note out here to give you all a quick update on the Rear Window project. I've spent the last week+ rendering the short put together by Matt Campbell. 30 seconds of animation at roughly 15 minutes per frame took some time! I've come to realize that I need to invest in a render farm if I'm going to continue the dream. At any rate today should see Matt's submission done. I am working an some quick 5 second or so pieces that I will use to tie each segment together, then it is time to put it all together. So rest assured, Rear Window is still alive and moving forward.

A Star Trek satire is mostly a boy thing. What sort of things do girls like to see satires of? I have no idea. Have you been to a comiccon lately? There as many woman as men at those things now. Nerdy is in these days, and the media market on a whole is starting to take notice.