[Hardware issue?]

I'm running WinXP Pro, and (like a few others I've seen in my search) suddenly can't get Hash to work. The startup splash screen starts, and then nothing. Back to desktop. Weird thing, is, I can't even re-install from the CD now. I can install the downloads fine, but it's like the CD is dead. As a result, I can't get the downloaded versions to run either on this machine. Here's the kicker- the CD works fine in a different machine. Hmmm. I've read that I need to mess with my registry, but to be honest... YIKES! If anyone has any more specific information about exactly what I need to delete in the registry, that would be amazingly helpful. My IT department would be very upset if I messed it up.

 

BTW, I was on version 10.5n, downloaded "o" and it worked for a day.. then same problem.

 

 

EDIT!! I found this tidbit in another post:

If A:M does not start at all, even after holding the <shift> key down

during startup, try deleting the following folders in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Hash, Inc.

-and-

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Hash, Inc.

 

I'll try this.

[Hair/Fur/Grass]

Yes, I will try those suggestions. Thank you.

[Hair/Fur/Grass]

I've made a field of grass. The first frame (0) renders like I want it - it looks nice. The second frame and beyond look different - I have patches of "earth" showing, and the grass is all wind-blown looking. I'm not sure what is different between the first and the othe frames. Any ideas? I followed the "grass tutorial" at http://perso.wanadoo.fr/ffave/e_herbes.htm

Thanks. Sorry I can't post any pictures as I have no webpage to post on.

 

Running 10.5o

[Keeping my settings]

When I install a new version of Hash, I lose my nifty settings (background color, GUI changes, etc). I imagine it's possible to keep these as I upgrade, but I'm not sure what folder they're in exactly, and what's the best/easiest way to do this (a simple copy-install-paste would seem obvious, but let me know if you do something in a more refined or safer way.

[Mocap Schmocap]

Like it or not, Disney announced that they will not be doing 2d cell animation in the future. I've heard that they have 2 (I believe) more 2d projects in the works, then after that they'll be working exclusively in 3d. You may dislike this, but as a business model, it's the only rational way to go. 2d loses money hand-over-fist with "Sinbad" and "Treasure Planet" while Pixar rakes in the cash. Disney is looking at the bottom line, and if you are mad at their decision, by all means start your own 2d cell animation company.

[Monsters Inc]

Sliders are good, but are really only faster with smaller details like facial movements and such. For arms and appendages however, I think you'll find moving them with a good IKA chain is much faster. Moving an arm into a "hello" wave with sliders would take many steps. With an inverse kinematics chain on an arm however, you can simply position the arm, and move on.

[Several views open at once]

I'm sure this has been asked, but my search turned up zero. I'm used to modelling with several points of view open at once - front, side, camera. In Hash, I can't seem to open the same model twice to see it in different windows (it wants to save and close the first when I try to open it again) and so I'm curious how to accomplish this.

Thanks

[Question about "Grass" Tutorial]

I've been doing this tutorial

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/ffave/e_herbes.htm

and get stuck when I'm asked to start adding the images. From the tutorial:

Load the bitmap images "herbe" (grass) and "fractal3" then create two new decals, one after the other. Go to the shortcut and apply them to the top object.

Here's what I do: I have my mesh, right click on the 'decals' folder in the project workspace, and click 'new', 'decal' and add it that way. BUT, the tutorial seems to imply there is the step of "loading" it first in the tute. What does this mean, and am I doing it wrong? I can't seem to get the rest of the tute to work as a result. Specifically:

A new function, Properties Driven, appears; right-click on this function and choose Add Property. In the drop-down list, select Length.

I can't get the 'length' to appear in the drop-down - my drop-down is always empty. Any ideas?

Thank you.

[adding aligned control points]

Many good ideas. After reading the suggestions, I've found the best workaround for me has been to use the 'snap to grid' to lay down my points, and the number "2" Y axis constraint to get the vertical spacing I need. Viola! perfectly aligned cp's. I still wouldn't mind seeing a keyboard shortcut, but this will work fine for now. Cheers to all.

[adding aligned control points]

Thanks for the reply. This seems a little unwieldy, however, for something that could be coded as a hot-key. Perhaps this could be a feature request to Hash: a hotkey which constrains your mouse to whichever axis you are moving at the time.

[adding aligned control points]

I can't seem to find how to do this: Add my first control point, and then be able to constrain the position of my mouse to the Y axis to add the next one precisely below the first while modeling. I can MOVE objects in a constrained axis, but I can't seem to create splines similarly. How can I do this?

Thanks

[Models showing visible geometry]

Yes, I'd like to post a photo, but I don't have a webpage or webspace to place one. Also, being a moron, I'm not sure I'd know how to put a photo on a web page if I had one. I tried drag-n-drop and cut-n-paste and apparently I need a webpage to accomplish this task. If you have a workaround, I'd be happy to try, but again, keep in mind that I'm a moron and have little experience in such things. I used to laugh at my parents being unable to set the VCR clock, and now the tables have turned. Perhaps a high-schooler could help me out. heheh.

[Models showing visible geometry]

don't dead-end a spline into the intersection of two other splines

yes, this is the kind of info and feedback I need. Thank you - I'll be working through more tutorials when I get a chance. If there are any which may specifically give tips for this type of problem (tips such as the one quoted above), feel free to let me know.

[Models showing visible geometry]

I'm new to Hash modeling, and was working on a face tutorial. Once I tried to connect my mouth nose & eye, I noticed that the geometry of my splines was clearly visible in places, even when rendered. I could see squares and circles in my mesh where I tried to connect my pieces. ick. Is this simply poor modeling technique on my part, or is there a way to fix this? I've tried 'flip normals' and that doesn't really fix the problem. Any ideas will help. Thanks.

[frames]

The 1:00 is 1 second. So you go 29 frames, then it jumps to 1 second so you can see the "clock time" of your animation. This is very handy so you can see how long your stuff is as you animate. If it simply listed the "time" in frames, you would have a harder time making your character sneeze at the 8 second mark. You'd have to do math in your head all the time (ok.. 8 seconds times 30 frames per second = sneeze at frame 240). So simply, anything to the right of the colon is a frame and everything to the left is a second. 4:22 means 4 seconds and 22 frames.

[Animation Master Icon]

Ok, this is dumb, but has anyone made or found any other desktop icons for Animation Master? That yellow dude is ok, but I was looking to spice it up a little.

[A very basic question about bones]

Is there a limit to the number of bones in a particular model?

[Adding bones late]

I've done an animation of a ball as it moves along a golfcourse. I've got the forward and bouncing motion done, and thought I'd add the spin of the ball last. Now I've read the best way to do this is to have a bone that runs along my spin axis. When I add this bone, it's not showing up in my choreography in the "director" mode (my black default bone does) - my new one only shows up in skeletal mode. I'm new at this and am curious how to add this bone and use it normally. Thanks.

[Timeline Questions]

I'm pretty new and I'm having trouble learning the timeline. I've used similar timelines in other software, but in A:M I have questions - like why I can't use "UNDO" when I'm in channels, etc. Is there a tutorial anywhere on the Timeline that I've missed?

Thanks