[No Feather/Hair Shape? [solved]]

Could you post a sample PRJ with that demonstrated?

[Found Santa Lion on a 2003 Animation Master cd and he volunteered to give us some sparkle for today]

Happy Fourth, John!

[The creator of Thom]

Those deep fakes are getting too convincing.

[The Saucy Rig (Version 1.5)]

That is smoother.

The gliding look is from his hips not having an up and down component. If you have "The Animator's Survival Kit", he talks about this element of walks on pgs. 106-109

The up and down is present in almost all walks. I made this clip to show the hip up-and-down is present in a live walk.

 

 

If you have QuickTime you can scroll through this frame by frame. The key point most people get wrong is that the lowest point is not at the moment of heel contact and the highest point is not half-way between the heel contacts.

 

[Preview render freeze work-around]

3 hours ago, R Reynolds said:

Do I still need to run v19.5a in Compatibility mode?

I forgot I had this on.

I have cautiously unchecked the compatibility mode option and was still able to do a progressive render that ran more than 5 seconds.

AFAIK, Steffen hasn't addressed this so it may be yet another change in Windows.

Steffen has this listed as "Assigned" although not "Resolved" so it is possible he did something to make this change.

However, since v19 seems not to need the compatibility mode now either, it may be a Windows change.

Interesting.

Try unchecking compatibility mode. If you get good results, it's probably safe.

If not...?

 

[video driver update bug?]

1 hour ago, R Reynolds said:

I see v19.5a still has this issue. Should I run a video capture of what I'm talking about as an example for Steffen?

Yes, do that. Narrate your actions as you go through the motions and note the problem.

Did this ever get made an AM bug Report?

Have any newer card drivers come out since this thread?

[Game assets made in A:M by Madfox for Quake]

They look like they're having fun!

[C++ 2023 Week 4]

We're in the "Basic Syntax" section. Everything in these lessons 6-26 are things you will want to be fluent in. You will need to call them up to your fingers over and over when you are programming.

Lesson 8 User Input

Now you can finally make a program the user interacts with! The cin statement allows you to get input from the user.

Project... ask the user for several related numbers (or text!)  then do some relevant processing of them

Example project idea: ask the user for their birth year and the current year, then calculate their age.

Remember to clearly prompt the user for input and clearly label your output.

 

Lesson 9 Binary Numbers

This is just a brief lecture by John Purcell. No assignment, but watch it so you are on the same page with him and his thinking.

 

If you haven't finished projects for Week 3... get them done also.

 

@Roger @Rodney @Shelton

[v19.5 Release]

I've added the files to report #7231

[v19.5 Release]

Same result here. I've reported it now.

Thanks, Rodger!

[v19.5 Release]

@R Reynolds Can you make a simple test case PRJ with everything embedded... works in v19, doesn't work in v19.5... and we can make a bug report out of it.

Steffen could ascertain quickly if it is indeed a situation that requires new plugins.

[The "Great Wave" Guy]

Extended article about Katsushika "The Great Wave" Hokusai

Quote

The MFA Boston shows how one of the greatest printmakers, from Edo Japan, inspired a tidal wave of followers, from Gauguin to Lichtenstein.

How Hokusai’s Art Crashed Over the Modern World

Quote

One of the most influential figures in European modern culture never set foot in Europe. Katsushika Hokusai, like all subjects in self-isolated Edo Japan, could not have left the archipelago if he wanted to, and his publishers could not export his prints of Kabuki actors, flowers and Mount Fuji. But a few years after his death in 1849, when the “black ships” of Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into what’s now Tokyo Bay, Japan’s markets were forcibly opened, and Hokusai’s woodblocks started to flutter over the ocean. In France, in Britain, and soon in America, a whole new kind of art would emerge: born in Tokyo, spanning the whole world...

 

[C++ 2023 Week 3]

If you haven't thought your own projects... how about these:

Variables... declare integer variables for lions, tigers, and bears. Assign values and print them out with appropriate labels. Add them together and print the sum out with some label for the total.

Strings... hmmm, I bet something could be done with "lions, tigers and bears."

Make your output look good!

@Rodney @Roger @Shelton

[v19.5 Release]

On 6/16/2023 at 12:44 PM, R Reynolds said:

I don't see why the TRB files, which also have the _64 suffix, should work but the ATX files do not.

My short amateur answer is that the portion of A:M that uses the ATX files has changed while the portion that uses the TRB files has not.

[C++ 2023 Week 3]

Lesson 6 - Variables

Numeric variables are introduced in this lesson. Assignment: declare several integer variables and assign values to them, output them with meaningful labels, then output their sum.

Lesson 7 - Working With Text

String variables and simple operations on them are introduced. Declare several string variables, assign values to them and output them. Also show concatenation of them.

And don't forget the Week 2 assignments if you haven't done them yet.

Get started early! Don't wait until Sunday!

 

@Rodney @Shelton @Roger

[C++ 2023 Week 2]

@Rodney Actually that bit at the very bottom is not the ALT+ sequence for the character, it is the HEX code.

I can't find a way to get both the graphics characters and the ALT+ sequence to show at the same time.

It used to work great, now it doesn't.

[C++ 2023 Week 2]

@Rodney

re: Character Map

to see the graphics characters you need to set "Advanced View", then choose  Character Set "DOS: United States"

The ALT+ sequence for a character is shown at the bottom...

[v19.5 Release]

Isn't Enhance AM a third party set of texture plugins? If the v 19 version of the plugin doesn't work in v19.5 then it would have to be recompiled by the programmer.

["Prehistoric" Image Contest winners announced!]

 

@fae_albaI do have the plaques sawed up...

[The Saucy Rig (Version 1.5)]

3 hours ago, R Reynolds said:

 I was hoping to treat this rig like a black box but before I try to smooth out the pops by trial and error I'm going to look under the hood of the rig to see if I'm allowed to see all motion curves of all bones.

You can create a curve for a bone by setting your Rotate, Translate and Key Bone filters, then selecting the bone and then holding SHIFT while you press the Force Keyframe button and choosing "In filtered channels" in the dialog that comes up.

However, keyframing those bones is incompatible with the IK process. It wil be easier to get the IK poses right.

["Prehistoric" Image Contest winners announced!]

1 hour ago, fae_alba said:

was there anything sent out for this contest. Rob you do an amazing job on these contest, and while I haven't been able to participate recently I do feel a bit of pride in achieving even an honorable mention! My wall is papered in certificates... with a special spot for this contest.

I'm sorry!

I know I'm behind on medals but I thought I had gotten the certificates for this one out already. 

But I haven't. I guess I need to get to your medal and the certificates too!

 

[The Saucy Rig (Version 1.5)]

1 hour ago, R Reynolds said:

I believe I'm using IK by only moving the foot controls to position the calf and thigh bones. Unfortunately it doesn't appear that the motion curves of those bones are made available to me for correction. I can only modify the curves for the foot and toe.

Good, IK is the way to go.

The problem is the geometry of triangles. When the leg is nearly straight (as it should be at the moment of heel contact) any slight change in placement of the axis at the hip or ankle can cause a very visible motion in the knee joint in the middle.

"Knee pops" are a classic problem when animating in IK. However, you don't want to give up the advantages of IK.

A common solution is to slightly scale the length of the thigh and calf to alter the triangle so that the knee no longer pops. (It sounds wrong but big-time animators do it, none-the-less). This would be keyframed before, on and after the frame of the pop. If the Saucy rig doesn't already have a provision for this, don't try it.

Another gambit is to alter the triangle by slightly rotating the control at the heel to vary the knee position. Again, this would be keyframed before, on and after the frame of the pop. This may be trading a pop in the knee for one in the foot, but it is possible to wrangle them both so that neither pops.

Do the before and after keyframes first, then the one in the middle.

Your pops are much smaller than most first walks. They might not even be noticeable if the character is distant to the camera.

If you continue to have trouble, this would  be a cool thing to bring to Live Answer Time.

 

 

 

[Does the Free Trial version allow to save as .AVI?]

3 hours ago, Jason Simonds said:

I think you have to have advanced checked to see more

I tried unchecking it but I was still able to choose a file type in the dialog where a "Save As" filename is entered. But I'm not on the trial version.

 

Barbara... what files appear in your

C>Program Files>Hash Inc >V19.0>ImageIOS

folder?

 

[The Saucy Rig (Version 1.5)]

On 6/12/2023 at 9:14 PM, R Reynolds said:

I've made some progress with my first walk cycle using the Saucy Rig (or any other rig for that matter). Everything below the knees looks OK but both upper legs have noticeable tremors (see video). Have I messed up the rig installation or do my bones need re-positioning?

Those are often called "knee pops"

I don't know much about the Saucy Rig. Are you doing this in FK or IK?

[Does the Free Trial version allow to save as .AVI?]

There shoudl be a drop-down list to the right of "Format"

 

Note that AVI is an ancient format. Numbered image sequences are preferred for most uses.

Plan to compress the AVI result in another video app.