robcat2075

A faster CPU is generally better. A:M v17 is optimized to use the SSE3 and SSE4 processor extensions in modern CPUs so one of those is preferable. A:M now includes Netrender and it works on multi-core CPUS so if you had a quad core CPU you could run four nodes all on one computer. At least 4GB of ram. 64-bit Windows, not 32 A:M doesn't yet use GPU computing so the video card isn't very critical but you want something with decent openGL performance. People differ on whether AMD or NVIDIA is better but generally you don't want on-board graphics, you want a real graphics card with 512 MB or so. I like to have two monitors to work on so a card that can drive two monitors is good. A card for under $100 would be more than adequate. And of course a big hard drive to hold renders. EXR and TGa sequences can eat a lot of space. I'm sure I've forgotten something. Hopefully some others will chime in.

OK, I have a train model in obj format. However, it imports as one large object into A:M and I cannot select anything individually in order to add bones for such like making the wheels turn. Any ideas? Notice the part I've bold-faced. As mentioned above, a good tactic for mechanical things is to separate the parts in the original program and import each as a separate prop model. Then in the chor you can constrain them together and animate the parts that need to animate. It IS possible also to import Polygonal models directly into an A:M model window but most polygonal models are poor candidates for conversion to splines. It's free to try, none-the-less.

Have a Happy Birthday, then back into that SoulCage you go!

Happy Birthday, David! What does that screen name mean, anyway?

What sort of model is it? A:M can import .OBJ and .3DS polygonal models but it doesn't import things like bones or morph targets that a rigged character model typically has. I know of no software converter that will do all of that. Most polygonal models are made of far more "faces" than a good A:M model needs and are unpleasant to work with in A:M. Models made of triangular faces are very poor candidates for import into A:M. Rigid mechanical objects such as cars or furniture, that don't need to be rigged or edited can work well in A:M using the Objects>Import>Prop option.

The hat gained a lot in the transition to 3D. I like that.

He's looking great, Rodney!

Hey Rodney, I hadn't caught the explanation of how you got burned. Glad it wasn't seriously serious! I suppose the irony is that this was worse than any injury you got in the military?

A fine candle!

Here are some additional comments on jumping I made on a jump by an 11Sec Club person, this time for a straight up jump... Here is his blocking... https://dl.dropbox.com/u/59849243/Alt%20Jump.mov I commented: He put up a side view to show that the body wasn't moving backwards... http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=playe...p;v=S5XLqu3mMv8 So I composited the keyframes to show it was indeed moving backwards... And I added...

hmmm... I think a benchmark should be fairly low-impact task for anyone to run. Associating it with some other goal seems a departure from its purpose. On Benchmarks... i was trying to come up with a way to judge video card performance. I haven't figured out how to do it without testing all the cards on the same machine.

Note that toon lines are all about edges that suggest form. A good toon character may need edges explicitly modeled that a regularly shaded character would not.

Yes, toon rendering is pretty much what that is. Maya probably has more toon options, but we've seen people do knock-out stuff in the past with A:M. I recall an anime thing about a "magic egg" that was totally convincing.

To me, that looks like you will have the same triangle problem at the top.

I think a week will work. That will be about how long I need to get ready. So we have three test subjects! Check back next Sunday, we'll start the first lesson.

We'll interact on the forum. I'll make a tutorial that explains the assignment and how to do it. You'll do that assignment and then we'll look at them to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. rinse and repeat. When will that be, Gene?

A_BiasAdjusted.mdl I can't make the 3-pointer perfect with bias adjustment but I can make it less bad so that I don't think it would be noticed in any typical situation where the model is textured. The original probably would not be noticed either if it had a texture on it. It would be nice to have the 3-pointed shade better than they do. Someone very familiar with how it works internally would have to look at it, although I suspect this hasn't gone unnoticed. I avoid using 3-pointers in conspicuous spots like in the middle of a character's cheek. Usually they can be used just to tie together loose ends in hidden corners. It's like the old joke: Patient: Doctor, my arm hurts when i do this. Doctor: Don't do that!

Here's a tweak of the same situation where the triangle is almost invisible. I fiddled with the biases so that the sides of the triangle bulge away from the center rather than being just straight lines between the CPs. TriangleSmoother.prj

Here, Rodney.... here's approximately the same situation, when a triangular patch is on the peak of a very convex shape is a worst-case situation for 3-pointers. Triangle.prj It doesn't look quite so severe in the modeling window but if you light it from the side in a chor it's more obvious.

And to explain a bit further, this will be like an ultra-mini-micro basic character body mechanics class. I need a few guinea-animators to test the idea on and see how much benefit they get out of it. I anticipate the first two lessons occupying about a week each and the third one maybe two.

How interesting! I have never seen that before. I presume most of that is A:M. Somewhere else on this forum is a post from the late Steve Anzovin venting the displeasure that project brought them. But the trailer looks good!

Geez, I'm sorry to hear that. I wish you well on that and a good recovery. Unless I'm misunderstanding, just give every door its own bone. animate it directly when it needs to open. ?

Well, it doesn't look any better in v17 that's certainly a bad case for three pointers. But I think that it looks bad because the patch math creates a bad shape and not because subdivision is adding a bad shape. Whatever subdivision is happening is trying to recreate the patch shape as accurately as possible. I think the math of the patch needs to be rethought or that a special exception needs to be made to handle 3-ponters better. I have no idea what that would involve.

We will need to limit this pilot class to, say... three people?

On the revised shot... One thing that is working against you by having him look into the camera is that his nose is almost completely covering up his mouth. What ever work you are putting into the lip sync is getting obstructed. But dialog shots are bad way to be learning character animation. At animation school, dialog is literally the last thing they let you do. Here's a mini curriculum I'd be interested in trying with you, that would also inform my current efforts to devise a NewTAoA:M 1 bouncing ball 2 broad jump 3 three emotions if we were to recruit a couple of other people wanting to do the same exercises that would make an interesting class.