robcat2075

I think he's got his lip frozen to the invisible flag pole. 😮

FYI... there aresome apps that can somehow read your original alpha channel design and yet get the desired result. Adobe After Effects has an "Interpret Footage" panel with choices for the Alpha channels. "Straight" leaves the gray halo in this situation... "Premultiplied" eliminates the halo. I don't know what the math is that does this....

The sample model will still give an odd result in a direct specular reflection... for a smoothly-feathered spec, adding the original greyscale image as a specular intensity decal fixes that... BlueSquare_wSPEC.zip

This where the scheme begins to go wrong. Consider that the result of alpha semi-transparency is to mix some of the color of the RGB image with the color of whatever it is overlaying. A 75% transparency value will create a 25/75 mix of image color vs. the background color However, since your alpha transparency is based on the gray value (luminance) of the fuzzy oval image, then... for example... at a point where the transparency channel represents 75% transparency it is taking it image color info from a pixel that is not white, but dark gray. The renderer will mix 75% background color and 25% dark gray. It's basically the halo problem, but big. Try this version... BlueSquare.zip Do you have Photoshop? Or some other Photoshop plugin-compatible paint program? There is a plugin that will simplify the creation of decals such as you want to make here.

Who's the victim this time?

@Jason Simonds I've sent you a PM

Beautiful work, Michael! And fun to watch you work.

@Jason Simonds, I presume this change will also happen for the A:M bug tracker site?

I never understood how giving all your passwords to someone else to manage got to be a recommended security practice. I'll do what we did at Nortel... put all my passwords on a Post-it under my mouse pad.

I think two-factor is excessive for what we do here. If we had a problem with hackers changing people's profiles or editing their posts, maybe that security would be needed, but we don't have that ... yet.

Can you provide a sample PRJ? The description is a bit unspecific.

Since the A:M forum doesn't handle financial transactions it probably isn't a prime hacking target, but it is easy to discontinue this weak security practice.

This change doesn't end hacking attempts but it does stop providing them with half of what they need for an easy one.

Here is the explanation from the makers of the forum software...

Hey @Jason Simonds, I just tried logging in with my email address (it's already an option) and it doesn't work. When that gets sorted out I recommend that some very visible alert to the change be added to the standard sign in screen. I think most people will not notice the mere absence of "Display Name" in this box.

Thom's kid needs a doggy downer.

Some brief animation rendered with Radiosity. Still has a few flickers and odd bits...

Great character and great model, @detbear! You can upload models to the A:M Exchange where user model contributions can be found found. Forum >The A:M Exchange - Resources Center > Free Models! Materials! Projects! > Models https://forums.hash.com/forum/173-models/ I suggest the "Clothing and Accoutrements" subsection If it has any external image maps I suggest putting it all in a standard zip. Thanks!

We are still open to people wanting to try C++. We have potentially three eager-to-start-C++-ers so far. The basic plan of the course is this... There is free Udemy course with videos (10-20 minutes) for each lesson and a small programming project associated with the new thing taught in that video You watch the video. Probably re-watch it. You code the program You bring your finished program to our meeting. If it runs, great! You can show us what you did that was creative or unusual. If it doesn't run. we look at it to figure out what went wrong and get you back on track for the next lesson.

My spacepod. They always seem to land in inconvenient places

Between 5 and 10 minutes. For quality good enough for animation the time would need to go up to reduce flickering.

I recall when radiosity renders took hours. Now it's a few minutes. I dropped some old models from the AM CD into my tiny house room lit with radiosity. All the lighting is just that one bulb light near the ceiling. Mach 5 Racer: BioBot: MotorCycle: Janitor of War: Space Marine. Something about the surface specularity on this model and the previous one is causing the conspicuous bright spots in the room ( I think).

I have not read the particulars regarding this contest but you may be interested. Animation Competition