rwilkens
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Posts posted by rwilkens
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Ok, It's installed, it's still not using both pseudo-processors fully like I hoped it would be able to, I have an AMD Athlon 64 x2. I might be getting a one second improvement in performance (from 11 seconds to 10 seconds with "LOW" resolution rendering on the can-can animation).
The dual cores are currently only used for rendering - the A:M interface itself still just runs on a single core. Hopefully as work into V14 continues, we might see more multi-threaded code appearing in A:M.
There is also a setting on the Global tab of the options window in A:M that sets the number of threads that you want to use. If "Threads" are set to 1 and Auto is off, then A:M V14 will only use one core at all times.
By the way, there is nothing "pseudo" about the current multi-core processors - they physically have two CPU cores and if both are running, the speed does double. The old Pentium 4 processors with Hyperthreading - now that was a genuine pseudo-dual core processor.
Richard Harrowell.
Hi Richard,
Perhaps I'm a little slow this a.m. -- "A:M interface runs on a single core" -- ok, I sort of understand that -- in other words things like rotating something in a choreography or modeling are single core. But "dual cores are currently only used for rendering" - I thought I was rendering a 2 second animation in that clip I showed in my original message. Do you mean to say that rendering from the _interface_ doesn't use dual core, while rendering externally somehow does.
FYI I checked (by accident) before and "Auto" was checked and "Threads" was set to 2 automatically. I tried raising it to 4 and there was no additional CPU usage.
I suppose I should mention that I'm running windows Vista and i'm now wondering if there's some sort of 'bias' setting in Vista which targets an application at one particular CPU or another.
Thanks for info on dual core vs. hyperthreading. I have 2 dual core systems (AMD Athlon 64 x2 - 3600 or 3800 - not sure, and 4200) and 1 hyperthreading system (P4 HT 3 GHz) -- All systems have 1 GB of ram, though I know now that I'm running Vista I should upgrade eventuallly.
One of my dual-cores is running XP instead of Vista (I haven't upgraded it yet). Might it be worth my time to try it out there to see if there's a difference. I'm not sure if I have a good cpu usage monitor there like I have in Vista.
Thanks!
Rob
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I redid exercise 3.. i'm trying to go through the exercises again...
http://robwilkens.com/tao/tao-exercise3.jpg
I tried to stay exactly aligned with the picture in the book. For me it was an exercise in following directions.
-Rob
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The A:M title bar you show says AM2006. Anyways, the dual core support is only from V14, which is still in alpha at the moment.
Odd, I have my TinWoodsman cd in the drive, and I downloaded and installed the latest AM2007 upgrade, I believe (unless I downloaded the wrong thing, which is entirely possible). I believe when I ran it it even shows (after I downloaded the previous upgrade) the tin woodsman when i run the program by the a:m logo.
However, thanks to KenH for posting the link to v14.0alpha5, I'm installing it now.
Ok, It's installed, it's still not using both pseudo-processors fully like I hoped it would be able to, I have an AMD Athlon 64 x2. I might be getting a one second improvement in performance (from 11 seconds to 10 seconds with "LOW" resolution rendering on the can-can animation).
14.0 alpha seems to properly detect that I have 2 thread capability -- it just doesn't seem to be using them to the max.
http://robwilkens.com/tao/stillnotdual.jpg
Screenshot above shows the same computer with AM 14.0 alpha 5 rendering the same animation. Note: Core 1 occasionally will shoot "up" to 100%, but then it drops down real quickly.
I understand if this is under development, I just want to try to make sure I'm utilizing what I have to the fullest.
-Rob
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The advertisement for A:M 2007 said it has dual-core support, can someone tell me how to enable it?
See:
http://robwilkens.com/tao/notdual.jpg
On the left-hand of the attached image, you'll see exercise 2 rendering, on the right side of the screen, you see "Core 1: " and "Core 2: " usage. Core 2 is clearly doing the bulk of the rendering, as it's near 100% usage.. Core 1 is almost sitting idle, so clearly it doesn't appear to be being used.
There's got to be some magic trick to enable dual-core support.
Do I need to switch to a beta version to get this?
-Rob
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Welcome Rob!
A note to you and Mike Vogel: I'll be moving your exercises to the individual Exercises topics.
Hope that doesn't confuse you too much.
That's fine.. Sorry if I'm a little slow this a.m. .. Found a "Part 1" exercise topic, I'm guessing that's the right place. Earlier, I just did a forum search for "Exercise" and found kee kat and presumed this was the right place.
-Rob
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Alright Mike!
Great to have you posting your exercises here.
See you in Exercise 2.
I'm also interested in pursuing that certification if still available (if only for the fact that it will force me to learn something), some months back I posted exercises 1-5 I think, but I don't know if they're still around/tracked. This is my second attempt at exercise 1:
http://robwilkens.com/tao/tao-exercise1.jpg
Unlike my earlier attempts, this time I remembered how to lower kee-kat to ground-level.
My new interest in A:M is that I read in 2007 version there is now support for dual-core processors and I'm hoping that this will make my practice renderings more bearable so I don't grow as frustrated as quickly.
Thanks, Guys!
-Rob
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If It's not too late, I'd like to be included in this. I just upgraded to 2007 and will probably be a newbie for life. i'm not an artist, though I love the idea that I can have this kind of software on my home computer and I SOOOO want to learn it,but I've never made the time (I've been on board since around 2004). I tried about 6 months ago, and got stuck around Tao:AM Exercise 6 or 7 (the comprehensive project). Everything up to that point "seemed" easy, but putting it all together for me was difficult. I'm going to start again from exercise 1 and see if I can get any better this time around.
I know I can use a new SIGGRAPH training DVD, as I've seen some pretty neat tricks done that I've learned from in some of the past DVDs.
-Rob
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I personally do not use another camera. If I want a different shot I simply move the camera to that second shot. It'll look as though there was a second camera because the frames move so quickly you wouldn't notice that the camera had moved. However, to avoid the premature "sliding/moving", I open up the Timeline window and set the keyframes to "Zero Slope".
Ok, I'm not comfortable enough yet with the "Timeline window" to play around with "Zero slope"...
Yup, you have to create a keyframe just before the door opens, otherwise the computer wouldn't know when to open the door.
Thought so, but wanted to confirm before I got started again.
Thanks Dhar,
Rob
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Would appreciate some guidance..
http://www.robertwilkens.com/hash/exercise6-test.mov
Was my first attempt at Exercise 6. It took about 1.5 hours where it's supposed to take 6, so even if I thought I was on the right track, clearly I've gone wrong somewhere.
First of all, if you look at above video -- no, I didn't imlpement the walk through door part. That's because the whole animation is supposed to be 5 seconds and i've expired time by that point. Which brings me to my next point -- clearly I've got timing off. I dunno, I always assumed 1/3 or 1/6 of a second was very short but it's obvious to me now that I've got to move time much faster than i expect. Anyway, pardon the slowness in my animation :-) i'm mentally handicapped (no, really).
I'll have to start from scratch tomorrow afternoon or later tonight. Before i do:
Questions:
(1) Cameras -- I figured out how to add a second camera, but I don't know how to select between cameras at different points of the 'movie'. I'd appreciate it if someone could fill in the blank in my knowledge there.
(2) Keyframes -- I'm guessing when you want the door to stay closed up until point A, you have to set a keyframe at that point? In the above linked video, you'll see that the door starts opening BEFORE the end of the video. So what is it I'm supposed to do -- Do I select the door, then press keyframe, then go to where I want it fully open timewise and then Set another keyframe? Do I do this by pressing the picture of the key while the door bone is clicked?
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The Art of Animation:Master
Exercise 5: Take a Walk
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My attempt is attached --
exercise5_output.MOV -- Walking in place..
exercise5_output2.MOV -- Moving while walking, admittedly a bit fast relative to feet.
Robert D. Wilkens
forum user name: rwilkens
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The Art of Animation:Master
Exercise 4: It's a Pitch
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Name: Robert D. Wilkens
Date: 11/7/2005 (Completed today)
Attachment - MOV (Quicktime) file
[attachmentid=10856]
p.s. Rodney - Thanks for link to thanksgiving dinner scene -- I'm going to try and go through the lighting tutorial sometime this week.
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The Art of Animation:Master
Exercise 3: Move It
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Name : Robert D. Wilkens
Date: 11/7/2005
Attachment: See below
Comments: May not be as creative as some of the other minds here, but at this stage i'm sorta just trying to learn technically how to use the program. Hey, and if this counts towards certification -- great!
[attachmentid=10844]
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The Art of Animation:Master
Exercise 2: Chorus Line
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Name: Robert D. Wilkens
Submission: Exercise 2 video
Date: 11/7/2005
Attachment : Exercise2_output.mov - A Quicktime file that was created by first rendering to AVI, then plugging the AVI into ARCSOFT ShowBiz2, then exporting from there as a quicktime with 50% quality and the lowest quality sound (as there was none)
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The Art of Animation:Master
Exercise 1: You're the Director
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Name : Robert D. Wilkens
Submission : Exercise 1 Output Image
Instructor: TAoAM Book, and afterwards watched the attached video (without changing anything) on this thread.
Date: 11/7/2005
I see everyone else submitting as they go along with these exercises, I'm going to follow along too, unless someone complains. Actually, i'll welcome complaints if their constructive ones.
-Rob
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I've seen a couple of exercise #2 animations using lighting such as spotlights or other directional lighting.
Let me start my question simple -- how does one achieve a spotlight effect. When I right click on object, select New, -- light is the only kind of lighting I can see to select. I guess i either have to muck with the properties or otherwise perhaps "enclose" the light within another model to achieve the directional effect.
Perusing through the manual's table of contents (the manual with exercise two in it), there doesn't appear to be much documentation on lighting other than "it's good to have it".
Pointers to places in the manual I missed (again I'm only up to about exercise 3 or 4, and perused the rest with the ToC so far) are welcome. A simple "you'll get to it if you follow through the exercises is acceptable too".
Thanks in advance for any guidance!
p.s. It's now been about 20 hours since I started looking into this myself [though I did sleep in between].. My only point is I did try to figure it out on my own before coming here. I just got to a point where my ideas on how to learn this were going to require too much work (not that I mind work). Why not consult the gods?
Rob
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I bought your Nice Tan product a few weeks ago and just got around to opening it up... It has these problems:
no Yves Poissant shader
no AM material
missing from NiceTan.prj
no EyeDiffuse.tga
no faceColour.tga
no facebump.tga
no facespec.tga
no Environment.tga
no female.mdl
Then AM V11 dies loading the project.
I bought it tonight, and it came with:
Two Materials:
(1) Nice Tan Skin
(2) Elephantesque Bumps
And the SKIN.SHD file which you have to place in the Shaders directory of animation master, then restart it.
As you mentioned though, the sample project that is included "don't work" (and it would have been nice to see it work), and that's because (as I learned earlier today) before you distribute a project you have to right click on the project in properties and select "Embed All"..
-rob
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Hi, i'm new to this software and animation as of today. Running A:M Version 11.0s on PC/windows. Need a brief answer as to how (following exercise 1's output) i can move KeeKat down! I can move KeeKat back and forward, and side to side, but I don't know how to stop him from floating in mid air. The sample in the book shows KeeKat rendered on the ground, so I must be doing something wrong. Thanks in advance for guidance.
Question about 3d support?
in New Users
Posted · Edited by rwilkens
I haven't used animation:master in a while, a long while, in fact I can't find my CDs so I soon plan to repurchase (or subscribe or whatever the deal is now), what might have me interested in playing again is this: For about a year now I've been playing more and more with my NVidia 3d vision display. I now own 3 pairs of 3D glasses, so I can use it to watch or show what is on the screen to others.
I know for a fact (from memory) that Hash A:M supported 3d *rendering*, that is when I used it a few years ago it supported I think it was the red/cyan 3d rendering so if you used the glasses that came with it, it would display the 3d image though a little discolored.
Has anyone had success with getting the 3d rendering to display properly with maybe the I think it is still called "NVidia 3d Vision Photo Viewer" or "NVidia 3d vision video player"? I'm not going to ask "how" right now, because I have yet to redownload the software. Only if people have had success with it or not. I think it is as simple as rendering the images so ones on the left and ones in the right and the display software "fixes" it for the 3d display (might be wrong).
-Robert
p.s. I was last here when work was beginning on TWO and I just went ahead and ordered a DVD, I'd love to see what was done especially if it was done mostly or entirely with this software, always good to see what the available tools are capable of doing.
p.p.s. ignore my websites below - had to edit this when I saw at least some of them no longer exist