fae_alba

B..it feels more natural, I think mostly because in A there is a pause after the blocks collide...

I like that idea..it has a simple eloquence to it. I've got several ideas....hmmm yet another reason to slow down the ol' movie project!

I think that there are still folks out there with hopes of creating the next big creative force in animation in their kitchens...but perhaps with the recession and what not the reality of trying to make ends meet is taking the wind out of the sails of the dreamers. I know for myself working two jobs and just barely getting by makes it tough to keep the animation projects on track.

I like the next room idea...already have some ideas swirling in the ol grey matter.

I'm In..

Awesome job! I can see that in many a Sunday Schools.

If you're doing this to scale, I'd suggest that the walls are too thick. In a well build house, the walls should be 2x6, 16 inch on center. Then figure a 1/2 inch sheeting then clapboard on the exterior, and 1/2 sheetrock on the interior walls. Interesting use of A:M. I did the same thing not to long ago to lay out a tiki bar. Used the renders to get a building permit!

man....I can't. I really really want to but I can't!

you're too kind! 47 and still getting carded when I buy beer in the store...guess I can't complain.

The word "properly" is a relative term here. The proper Z rotation for the thumb's geometry bones differs a little from model to model, depending on how the thumb is modeled. Until you get a feel for how the thumb bones should be rotated in different models, you just have to experiment. One tip though, make sure all the thumb geometry bones in a thumb have the exact same Z rotation. That may not be your problem, but it is worth repeating. Damn Homeslice, not only was your reply quick, but spot on. I'll consider your advice as a b'day present to me! Thanks!

I've been road testing the Lite rig and have run into an issue with Old Man Willie's hands. When I rotate the thumb it curls downwards but not in towards the palm like it needs to. I thought I set the thumb a bone's roll handle properly. Here's a screen grab of my issue. Any thoughts on how to get the thumb to curl like it should would be most helpful.

But aint that part of the experience! I mean, little teeth knashing, head banging, hair pulling and random aaaarrrhhhhggss is all part of the ride experience! Seriously though, A:M has improved tremendously since I started on it. Kudos to the developers for that!

I think this is the main point. A lot of folks see a final piece of animation, either on the silver screen or the boob-tube (my dads term!) and think, hey I can do that, completely forgetting that a whole production company did that, from writing, to story boarding, to character art, to ... to ... to . Long story short, is, well keep it short. Start simple, work up to your goals...slowly. I started on A:M some 6 years ago, and am still working on my first short that I would feel comfortable with showing the public. Not to discourage anybody, just keep your expectations realistic. You will get much more satisfaction out of your work with A:M, and any other app on the market.

I'm going to add my two cents worth. As it has already been posted, A:M is a great tool to learn the technical aspects of animation. The tutorials provided, the help available on this forum all lend to a solid product capable of producing quality work. However, one thing I see lacking, and fear would be missed in a class that focuses on animation, are all of the other aspects of animation. Story telling, writing, producing, acting. And yes, even for middle school students, the business of movie making. If students were given a solid foundation on these pieces of the process, they would be much better off. As the parent of a fine arts graduate who is now working as a ride operator at Disney, who was never taught, even in college, the business side of art, and of a high school student who is totally involved in creating her own graphic novel, I speak to this subject a wee bit. My suggestion is, absolutely use A:M to teach your students. But also instill in them that to be a good, successful animator, you also need a strong foundation in traditional art (studio) business management (I think every one should have this!) writing, storytelling (not the same as writing), production, direction. Also that A:M is not the only application out there, and most studios want an artist with a good understanding of the above more than an expert in any one software product. My two cents worth.

Gerry, now that I read your post, I can say I ran into the exact same problem. Unfortunately I can't go back to recreate it. But I had to go in and manually clean up the illegal values. I also ran into nulls getting scaled to huge sizes and a a whole host of issues, that at the time I chalked up to user error.

Take the credit! I've found that questioning the cosmos like that can only lead to no good.

Oy mate!...that's no horse!

The saga continues...or "just when I think I'm making progress". So I was messing with Old Man Willies and the LiteFace rig. And I noticed that when I enable the Face Constraints pose, the poor guys face gets well, all messed up. Turning the pose back off does not set it back. Below is a before and after. the project for any who may wish to give the old man a face lift!

na, it's all in the Scotch! (and to bring it back to the topic of this thread, the fire in their hearts!)

oy mate! there be nothing wrong with the grrrreat heeland pipes!

I know you can groom hair, etc. But there are cases that I can foresee where I'm going to want to control the beard's movement outside of dynamics. So with the mesh I can have a dynamics pose and (hopefully) another pose to enable a null. With hair alone, I can't see where I could say drape the end of his beard over his shoulder and have it stay there.

Ok, back to a beard test, as a break from cp weighting (what a pain in the A%@!). I tried creating a beard that was nothing but hair. I didn't really like it because I couldn't control the shape. So I went back to a mesh beard with a hair material. This test was to see if the dynamics on the beard mesh, combined with the hair material would behave nicely. This quick render was 30 frames, 4 passes and took roughly 28 secs a frame.

So I am thinking ahead on my short, one scene I need a fire in a fireplace, casting lights and shadows into a room, much like if the fire were one of the only sources of light. I think I understand the process of using the tga sequence to simulate the flames, but could it also be used to generate the light and flickering effect of the fire itself?

I recall that one! Not bad! seriously?!? "Shirley" you don't mean that!

So this fire discussion dredged up an old memory. This is a video I made some 6 years ago (in A:M). Thankfully it never made the light of day, since in looking at now, it aint so great. But, I did make fire for it, using streaks. I'd think that the same idea could be used for your purposes simply by changing the streak emitters color properties.. Be kind on your thoughts, this is an old old try of mine!