robcat2075

I like all of Rodney's solutions, especially using Groups on one model instead of making separate models. Rodney should visit the forum more often!

You have the "Animate Mode" button turned OFF. That's stopping you from making new keyframes. Turn it ON. The red border on the view window warns you that it is off. It's at the far end of the interface. Either stretch your A:M window out or move your button panels to reach it.

@Rodney on the popup "DataTips"... are you sure you're in full Visual Studio and not "Visual Studio Code" (as Roger had been a couple weeks ago and not getting popups)?

Lesson 12 Bools and Chars This completes our set of classic Data types everyone should know. Idea for project: Declare a couple of Boolean variables. Set one equal to true and the other equal to false. Print out the values of both. Label your output. Declare a char variable and set it equal to a value. Print out both its character value and its integer value. Label your output. Declare a second char variable and prompt the user to give a value for it. Print out both versions of the char value. Label your output. Lesson 13 If "If" is our first "decision structure." We can start getting the computer to make choices. Idea for project: Prompt the user to guess something that is one of a set (e.g. month of the year) and use only "if" statements to tell him if he is correct, close to, or wrong with his guess.

Myron, today at Live Answer Time I did a run-through of the effect you are asking about. The demonstration begins at 6:52 in the video... @MJL

I reported that problem in v19 and have now added your post to the record https://reports.hash.com/view.php?id=6915 thanks!

The easiest way is to make each letter a separate model, then key them in the Chor using their "Active" ON/OFF property. If you want to bring that to Live Answer Time today we could look at that.

Those are lovely, Myron!

I think it's in the .MAC file. I don't know if it can be transplanted. If it's not in the .MAC it might be registry data.

hmmm... When I open it in v19.5a I do get an "Average Normals" switch...

You dragged the STL Prop into the Chor but did you start a new A:M model in the Objects foIder and drag that into the Chor also? After you do that... in the PWS, in the Chor, there is a "Shortcut to [your A:M model name here]", the empty model you dragged into the Chor. Selecting that enables the Modeling Mode icon. Turn that ON. Turning Modeling Mode ON enables regular splining tools in the Chor except... you can not use simple left-click-drag bounding boxes to select groups of CPs, you must use lasso tools.

The information that has to be processed for a CP and the splines that intersect it and the patches they make is much greater than for a vertex and a facet in a polygon model. But now you're converting all those vertexes and facets into full CPs and patches and there is something A:M has to do called "finding" after every CP is added to a spline that seems to take exponentially longer as the CP count increases. My experience is that any model above 10,000 CPs is probably impractically tedious to edit. It's possible that if you wait long enough a 1.5 million vertex model might finish importing but the same can be said about a killer asteroid strike happening or the Sun running out of fuel.

After you import the Prop, you can put it in a Chor and model new splines there, I recall. Drag the Prop into a Chor. Create a new empty Model and drag that into the Chor. Select the Shortcut to Model, then choose Modeling Model to begin editing the Model with new splines. Snap to Surface (Shift + 9), which attempts to place new CPs on the surface of a Prop or other object already in the Chor was made for endeavors such as yours.

Import the OBJ as a Prop.

How are you using this scan? Are you trying to edit the polygon mesh down or are you drawing new splines on top of the polygons?

v19.5 is out now. Having a 19.5 suggests plans for a v20.

@Rodney @Roger @Shelton Guys, let's wait on Lesson 12: Chars and Bools. If you've already done it, great, but we'll catch it the next week if you haven't!

@Rodney @Shelton @Roger Get started early! I started mine tonight and found the "limits" and formatting stuff is more fiddly than I remembered it being.

He needs a cape and some vampire fangs.

Lesson 10: Integer Types Integers are whole numbers and the computer can store their exact values... within certain ranges. John Purcell shows how to use the <limits> constants to find the min and max allowed values of different types of ints, and how to use "sizeof" to see much RAM they take. Assignment: There are at least 10 distinct types of integers in C++ Pick at least four types. In your program, declare an instance of each type, assign it a value, output the values. Conclude the program with a display of the minimum value, maximum value, and "size" for each of your four types type. Label your output! Lesson 11: Floating Point Floating point numbers can represent numbers with fractional decimal portions. Assignment: Declare at least two types of floating point variable and prompt the user to input values for them. Use the tools of <iomanip> to display the values in several formats and their "sizeof" values. Label your output! Lesson 12: Chars and Bools? TBD

Yeah, this has been a problem for alpha channels in sprites too. If you can present a sample PRJ for this... it will save me from having to do it

I thought it might be as simple as you sending me a check, me depositing it, waiting for it to clear and then buying the subscription for you, but no... my bank (and probably all other US banks) will not accept any foreign check. I also found that no international money transfer service that is good in the US is operating where you are. My only remaining idea is to have you or someone you know arrange the purchase while in a neighboring country.

No, I think he just got tired of being Richard Simmons. I would.

This reminds me that Richard Simmons has not been seen in almost 10 years.

Hi Ed, Although the spline appears to present a continuous controller, it get sampled along the length of the hair by how many "Control Points " are set in the Hair System properties. Set to 3... Set to 7... Set to 11... Higher "Control Points" number will increase rendering time, so set it as low as you can stand. Hairs seen at a distance may not need high settings. However, even with fairly high values, the ends of some hairs may shape oddly (see the two hairs circled in red above). Setting the thickness spline to reach zero earlier than 100% in the timeline helps avoid that. Here I've gone to zero at about the 90% marker... PRJ with altered material embedded: LeafTest_ThisOneGoesToEleven.prj