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Hash, Inc. - Animation:Master

dingo

*A:M User*
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Posts posted by dingo

    Spiderman 2 = Awesome FUN!

    in (2003-2004)

    Posted

    I just got back from seeing Spiderman 2. It was so much fun, I loved the story, Doc Ock's arms, it was great. Just a fun movie. It was like enjoying a good comic book.

     

    I will not spoil it for anyone (I hate when people do that). I will not critique the animation or anything now, maybe save that for another spoiler thread.

     

    Just wanted to give it a thumbs up, and be the first to say that this movie will make lots and lots of money. Can't wait for next chapter.

     

    Peace,

    dingo

    Import - Plugin

    in (2003-2004)

    Posted

    The reason we want more import/export plugins, is so that AM is more main stream

     

    A:M will not become "more main stream" because of import/export plugins. As a matter of fact it may make it less main stream. Let me explain:

     

    The main thing that makes a software package "mainstream" is when something good is created with that tool.

     

    I'll use a hardware example, people see some cool graphics and then found out the person who made the graphics uses a Mac. The first thing the aspiring artist thinks is "wow I better get a Mac", not thinking about that those same said graphics could have been done on a PC. Vice versa, pc or mac its the end product that counts. But here's the question, How can you be sure it was done on a mac? maybe that's what the marketing dept want's you to believe. Honestly you can't.

     

    Again this happens all the time with "effects" and animation you see on the screen. I've seen advertisements where all the "major" 3d applications take credit for the same visuals. Where the advertisements use the exact same shot and say that their software was used.

     

    So getting to my point. Let's say you do this great model in A:M. Then render it out in Softimage(or another). What application should get the "credit" for creating the visual in a marketing campaign? If another application gets that credit, doesn't that ultimately hurt A:M's chances to go main stream.

     

    Here's another question, why not try to accomplish it in A:M? Sure you may be used to other tools, but maybe just maybe it will become easier if you do it in A:M.

     

    Of course there are times when you may have to deliver to a client in a different format, fair enough. But with a couple steps it's really easy to get excellent polygonal models out of A:M, lowres and hires.

     

    My rant isn't so much about putting down the thought of plugins, but more about the quote about A:M becoming mainstream. And people saying they really want that to happen. For you people that really want A:M to go mainstream you CAN make that happen. You can do that by creating great visuals with A:M and letting people know you created with A:M.

     

    Again, I believe A:M will be the choice for more and more productions. Those who know A:M are gonna be in a better position to support that community as it emerges.

    model viewer for v10 SDK ?

    in (2003-2004)

    Posted

    [quote name='ragtag' date='Jun 18 2004, 11:37 AM']Jake: It's 10.0n and you can get it at [url="ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/updates/"]ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/updates/[/url] click the windows or mac directory, and then the year. Don't remember exactly what AM10n is, was it AM2003? Yes, please Arthur put it back up, I'm interested in taking a look at it. Can this viewer be used as a standalone viewer for AM models, and can it be distributed to people who don't have AM if you want to show them your models? Ragnar[/quote] It was a realtime viewer that for .av2 files, a realtime hash format. Not only could you see the model, you could control how many sections a patch would subdivide into, and even load/view a list of actions(saved as .mot files) that could be applied to the model on the fly. It was a great tool for showing animations and models for someone without AM. Can anyone please please tell me where i can find this viewer? The above links do not work.

    Import from other 3D-Apps

    in (2003-2004)

    Posted

    You can also use Props, and keep them as polys. Maybe not good for characters, but good for terrain and space ships, things like that. Props can also have Materials. The can also now be attached to a bone if I remember correctly.

    Copyright laws

    in (2003-2004)

    Posted

    If you're not profiting from the fan film, then they can't sue you at the start.
    With all due respect this is absolutely incorrect. You can be sued for distribution or display of copyrighted material EVEN, if you are not "profiting" from it. The term "profiting" often comes under litigation, and has to be determined by the court.

     

    For example, if you do a "fan art" animation, and distribute it on the web. Because of your broadcast of that unauthorized work, you receive a million dollar contract to do another work. Did you profit from that "fan art"?

     

    Even without the designation of profiting, you still could run the risk of being sued for distributing illegally.

     

    I remember all the dinosaurs that were being made with A:M when Jurassic Park and it's sequels came out.

     

    Completely different beast, if you pardon the pun. Creating a dinosaur, and using copyrighted material without authorization are two different things. A dinosaur, the animal and your interpretation of such would be "copyrightable" by you. If you used copyrighted audio, etc with your dinosaur animation then you would run the risk of infringing on the copyright of the audio(ie. velociraptor screech). There are many things that are "public domain" that are not "copyrightable" a dinosaur is one of them.

     

    Here is anothere example. If you have sheet music from Beethoven, and you perform and record that music. You can copyright the performance. But say you want to use Beethoven music from the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, you would have to get permission to use their copyrighted performance of that music. The reason being is that particular sheet music is considered "public domain". Just like a dinosaur is public domain. (note: patent law is different but very similar, for example a person can patent a vegetable or fruit based on it's "genetic". In the light of recent laws on cloning, stem cell research, etc. Many of the current laws of this has spawned some serious debate)

     

    I am not stating these things to discourage you to do your fan art. But just make sure you fully understand the law. I like fan art, excellent way to stay motivated while learning.

     

    As others suggested you can try to get permission. If you do not get permission, understand that it is within the right of the copyright holder to withold that permission. As would be your right if you created an original peice and owned the copyright. When you are on the receiving end of copyright infringement, it is not so pleasant.

     

    Or you may find something that is in the public domain, that would be comparable. The best route may be to do something original.

     

    A good resource for such legal matters is http://www.marklitwak.com/articles/ Also you can search the web.

    Will A:M import ANY models?

    in (2003-2004)

    Posted

    Hey Adam,

     

    Give this a try maybe it will help.

     

    Wings3D

     

    import your polygon output .mdl

     

     

    Seriously though, when first getting used to splines it may be very fustrating from a polygonal background. But at a certain point you reach a threshold with the splines where you can really do anything.

     

    With time and practice you may find yourself modelling with splines a lot more than polygons. Hope the link helps.

     

    peace,

    dingo

    Model destruction - how?

    in (2003-2004)

    Posted

    Both of your examples can be done with AM. But understand that what you are asking about is a 'technique' not a push button 'feature'.

     

    Your friends first example is perfect explaination of technique over push a button feature.

     

    Let's examine each one:

     

    1) www.efix.pl/am/example.mpg (250kB)

    This is live action + CGI. In the moment of destruction there is a simply "human-like" model (tekstured with live action plate), and all mixed in Combustion. This is, what I mean - destruction with dynamics".

     

    In this first one you describe how it is a mixture of live action + CGI. Then with textured live action plate. A possible solution in AM is to use it's particle system to swap out the live action with an animation of the particles breaking apart and falling to the ground. If you slow down and watch the animation that you linked. Watch it frame by frame and you will see that at a certain moment, the human with the sword is swapped out with a composited layer of cgi particles. The particles looked to be projection mapped with the color of the human. Compositing a layer of AM particles could achieve the same effect. Particles dynamics are easily adjusted.

     

    2) www.efix.pl/am/example2.mpg -  730kB - the second example, is this possible to make something like it in A:M?

     

    This one can be done completely in AM with particles. In this one it looks as though a plane/ground, has a texture animated on it, then particles are being emitted from the surface. Both the animated texture and the particles can be done in AM. There are a few tutorials on using particles, but that is what you are looking for.

     

    Both examples you showed were not created with a push of a single 'destruct' button. They both look like creative uses of particles, compositing, and image swapping(particularly the first one). The particles can easily be done with AM. You will just need to composte that layer, swap it out, or another 'technique' to achieve the desired end result.

     

    As both of your examples are completely different each would use different techniques.

     

    Can you describe exactly what you are gonna be destroying? Will it be a close up on a face? Will it be an object? A whole body as in the example?

     

    That can help us give you some pointers on which technique to use with AM.

    Model destruction - how?

    in (2003-2004)

    Posted

    but I'm looking for something better.

    No disrespect, but what do you mean by "better"?

     

    The effects in Blade were acheived with more than just a plugin. Sometimes you have to do stuff by hand and frame by frame.

     

    But using those plugins mentioned would be a good starting point, you can enhance the effect with cookie cut maps, textures, lighting, bumpmapping, and even compositing different passes of "cracks" animations.

     

    Even if there was a plugin to achieve what you wanted you would still have to adjust the parameters of the plugin to get the best results. Which are you wanting to do exactly? Broken skin like Blade? or the Mirror?

     

    Maybe we can all help with ideas on how to acheive the overall effect, not just with one plugin.

     

    Can you be more specific?

    Asset Management solutions

    in (2003-2004)

    Posted

    Justin,

     

    Thanks immensely for the feedback. You answered exactly what I was looking for and solidified some of the things I was thinking. Particularly about just waiting for the other assignment, and encouraging the director/supervisor to sign off. Or just get s another shot and work on it while waiting for approval. That would probably help with the overall completion anyways. Great insight, thanks. Your comments definitely help in designing a system. Really appreciate it.

     

    Peace,

    dingo

    Asset Management solutions

    in (2003-2004)

    Posted

    Hey guys, got a question hopefully I can get some opinions on this one. I hope I ask it correctly.

     

    Anyways here goes, I'll set it up the use case first.

     

    You are an animator and have logged in and downloaded your shot/chor. You then go in and block in your character animation, on fours to get an overall feel for the movement of the character. And at that stage that's all that is needed for approval from your director.

     

    But now that you are done blocking in, you don't want to stop you want to do another pass and add some more detail to your animation. Even though you do not have approval on your initial block in pass. Now the director might approve that pass and he might not. But since you went ahead and did the second pass before approval of the first, you still want it to be seen. And of course you don't want to check-in/overwrite that first pass.

     

    So here is the question. Should the system include a place for an animator to save alternative passes or adjustments, that do not interfere with the regular structure of the overall system? So that the director can look at the animators "alternative" passes for that shot as well?

     

    Or should it just be maintained on the local machine of the animator, and let the animator checkin and overwrite?

     

    Of course he could check in the first pass, then check it out again, and the system would keep a copy of that first pass that can always be rolled back to. But should there be a seperate "alternative" pass folder for each animator? or a "crock pot" area where people can throw in files and request reviews, even if it does not need approval.

     

    What do you guys think?

     

    peace,

     

    dingo

    Forcing Keyframes

    in (2003-2004)

    Posted

    Is there a way to tell AM to always keyframe every axis... (I thought it just normally do this)

     

    Not absolutely sure if I follow you. But, yes you can tell AM to Key every bone in a model at each Key Frame. At the bottom of the screen there is an icon, that looks like a humanoid box figure. If that is selected when doing your Key frames it will create a keyframe for each bone in your model.

     

    But I'm not sure if that is the answer you need. Sounds more like your problem has to do with how the position of your bones are being interpolated. And the best way to change that is through the channels window. Once you have created your key frames, go into your channels for the bone and right click on the cp that represents the keyframes you want to adjust, and select an interpolation method.

     

    If you select "zero interpolation" for example, your model/bone will simply jump right into position on each key frame. You can experiment with the different settings/interpolations. Or you can actually adjust the curve coming into the cp with a handle to adjust the curve of the interpolation.

     

    To get to that grid/channel view click on your bone in your project workspace, Click the 'plus' to expand the attributes of the bone, and then you can select the channel for the bones x, y, z. Select one of those, then click the timeline(v11). You will see the grid view popup, from there do the above mentioned things to adjust the curves of interpolation.

     

    I hope that helps, and hope I explained it well.

     

    peace,

     

    dingo

    Huntress on A:M Films is a HIT!

    in (2003-2004)

    Posted

    Does anyone know if A:M's dynamics tools have gotten to the point where you can produce the swaying & jiggling, if you will, of "fatty" parts of the human anatomy? I think I saw someone produce a clip of a characters body weight being shaken and the fat reacting in the simulation.

    Not hard to do at all.

     

    Just add a bone and have it control the cp's that are the fat. After that it's as simple as 'right-clicking' on that bone, select New Constraint>Dynamic Constraint(you can adjust its mass in it's properties menu).

     

    And the 'fat' will bounce around because now that bone will have a spring in it. You could add single bones or groups of bones, or a bone for each control point, just add the Dynamic Constraint.

     

    Yep as someone mentioned earlier, this is one of the best implementation in AM that hopefully now is getting the good attention it deserves.

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