robcat2075

I'll also note that several Groups in the "Charlies House" model have "ambiance Intensity" set to more than 0% That means they will show up even in complete darkness. It creates a very flat appearance. Do you really want that?

I don't know if that particular program is used but lots of 2D TV animation, the "Family Guy" kind of thing, is done that way.

I think it's basically a way to rig flat drawings where you separate the arms and legs into different parts.

Looking at the lights in the chor... -Living Room Spot is keyframed to go from 30% to 100% darkness so anything in between will not be 100% -Landing Spot is keyed from 45% to 50% -Charlies Room is keyed at 35% -CarSpot goes from 30% to 100% I think one or more of those is the trouble. Delete all those darkness keys and set them to 100% darkness at the outset. For partial illumination or shadows that are not 100% black, add a dim light in the scene to fill in the darkness rather than use the shadow darkness percentage. Try that and let me know if there is still problem.

Shadow darkness % is in the light properties, not the object. Check the light properties.

That is my first guess also. If you get stumped I can look at the prj.

He went to the dark side... 2D.

Part 5 is now online! See link in top post.

Very impressive.

That works well! I bet if you added an edge gradient to soften the sides that could be very convincing.

If only we had a goat...

I miss Vern. Never thought I'd say that!

I'll note that there are three choose-able parameters to all of this that affect the outcome... -whether the particle image used has a "straight" or "premultiplied" alpha channel -whether A:M renders its frames with "straight" or "premultiplied" alpha channels -whether After Effects interprets the frames as having "straight" or "premultiplied" alpha channels That means there are 8 possible variations of the pipeline, only a few of which will give a proper result.

Are we sure that smoke particle isn't a potato? That has an alpha channel that is way too sharp.

I like that. A mad scientist riding fast on horseback in the West!

I believe Windows XP is the minimum OS for A:M now so check that first. It' s possible to buy and install a license for a PC (even a laptop) that doesn't have an internet connection but it's some sort of weird email exchange that has to happen. But check the OS on your laptop first. If it doesn't do the internet... it sounds really ancient.

It's news to me! I'm still on SSE3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Vector_Extensions

I'm not familiar with him but for $50... how could you go wrong? Probably more info than you'd get from a masterclass that would cost much more to go to.

And could you post the particle image you are using? V18 has some new options regarding alpha channels and it may be necessary to set them one way to make the old tut work right.

Just thinking out loud... is this the difference between "straight" and "Premultiplied" alpha channels at work here? Could you post one of the targas you get out of A:M when you render with no background and WITH alpha channel? (The Tiffs don't have any alpha channel)

It is not possible to import one PRJ into another PRJ. For your goal of getting several chors into one PRJ, I think your solution of exporting the chors and reloading them into one PRJ is the right one. Embedding and Renaming assets beforehand shouldn't be necessary unless you happen to have the same name used by two different assets. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

I remember we spent a lot of money on "The Avid" where I worked in the 90s.

I hope you are reporting those crashes. Steffen can fix them when you give him a repeatable crash and the assets that go with it.

Part 4 is now online! See link in the top post.

So, what's in the new computer