robcat2075

I believe A:M configurations, including keyboard shortcuts are stored in the Master.MAC file in the A:M directory. Since each version of A:M has its own folder, each has its own MAC file. In 64-bit A:M the file is called Master_64.MAC. I don't know if simply renaming will make a 32-bit MAC work with 64-bit A:M so it may be necessary to keep MAC files for both 32-bit and 64-bit A:M if you use both. you can update your MAC file by making your keyboard shortcut changes in the usual way, then saving a PRJ, then quitting A:M You could keep versions of your MAC files in appropriately folders since the MAC file itself can only have that one name. Copy the MAC file you want to use over the one currently in your A:M directory.

Yes, if you have everything else pretty much in place it will be a very slight alteration. And you have to manage it on a frame by frame basis to get in and out of it smoothly. Another reason to have everything else fixed before you get into leg scaling. By default TSM2's leg scaling slider only stretches the leg but it is easy to edit that slider to enable shrinking in the negative number range.

I did not know that! By golly, it works! I know what you're trying to do... you've been tempting Maya users to come over to A:M! I don't think A:M has an ability to program key+mouse button combinations, but I think that would be worth a feature request: "Enable assigning of SHIFT/CTRL/ALT+mouse button combinations" and give some examples of combinations you would like to work. It's possible a hotkey utility such as AutoHotKey might be able to intercept such combinations and convert them to a standard A:M shortcut

AM20001 rig doesn't have seamless IKFk switching (although it is possible to separately pose the IK and FK controls so that the switch is smooth). In 2001 such things were unknown. In 2005 my teacher at Animation Mentor said he had never seen a rig that could do that and he was working at ILM. In 2006 we got the Squetch rig for Tin Woodman whch can do seamels IK-FK and TSM2 can be easily modified to do it also. Big time Pixar professionals try to get all the other motion going right and then if there are still knee pops, they scale the legs to hide it. However AM2001 doesn't have leg scaling.

Hard to tell from just a verbal description. Although it isn't essential, have you watched my video on keyframing basics?

And always set the auto balance sliders in an AM2001 character to 0

ya wanted frame 15 when you're looking at frame 45... i got ya frame 15 when you're looking at frame 45!

Lessee.... Try these settings, then when you are on frame 45 you should see frame 15 in onion skin

In the PWS, in the chor, set its render mode button to not visible. (Rodney... we need more icons!)

If a bone is blue (signifying a keyframe) that means you're not in a model mode, you're in an action or the chor or a pose.

Onion skin is on? Shift 5 I think

Generally, Poses are for small details that will need to be frequently used and are a hassle to key each time you need them. Generally, Poses are not useful for When you use a pose slider on a character in a chor only a pose slider setting is keyed, no other keys are created in the chor. Hard to modify in the chor. A pose dragged onto a character in a chor transfers the keys that were in the pose onto the character's channels in the chor. Easy to modify in the chor.

1 You're going to pull the top and bottom halves apart so... they are really separate models, right? 2 Tell me why booleans won't work for what you want to do?

It could happen. To me the distances are so imaginary that not knowing the actual units never bothered me. I don't know what happens if you switch A:M units to inches or feet. I suspect 100 will still mean 100cm.

First before you use any AM2001 rig character, turn all the auto balance stuff to 0% and never use it. In the User props there are sliders to go from IK to FK. I believe AM2001 characters have FK arms and IK legs be default. If you posed the character in a Pose Window you can later put the character in a chor and either move the slider to 100 (not recommended for whole body things for most animation purposes) OR... drag the pose from the User props onto the character (better because this creates real keys in the chor on the actual bones you used) See my screencam tut on Poses for info on draggable poses.

Hey 3DArtz, glad to see you back. I haven't seen you around here in so long I can't even remember your name!

unfettered particles, not under the influence of any force, and with no viscosity, appear to move 100 cm in 1 sec when velocity is set to 100 VelocityTester.prj

An FK arm ( or any FK structure) should only be manipulated with the Rotate manipulators. Basically you crane it into place one bone at a time. It's possible to drag it around by the hand like an IK arm, but don't do that.

Some bones will be intentionally limited. Bones on an FK arm would not normally ever be translated, for example.

I looked at my walk vids again. I should redo those, I could make more sense now. Part of the "coarse" control problem is that I'm working on a small screen for screencapture purposes which makes one pixel of adjustment larger than normal. But you can always zoom in closer! That's a small detail compared to the larger one that the whole body appears without mass because it is not moving down when it should. Here are some observations: RS3DWalkNotes.mov On the rig problem I mention... you can constrain the IK foot control to a null placed a the heel of the foot and animate with that heel null instead and that will substantially simplify the situation. The AM2001 rig also lacks a way to raise the heel and leave the toes in place. You will still have to animate around that. For future characters i'd recommend using one of the more recent rigs that are on the forum and avoid the hassle. Alos... I forgot... download that clip of me walking from my screen cam page and watch the arms. Real arms are not in sync with the legs. The front arm doesn't start back until a few frames after the front leg has started moving back. The rear arm doesn't start moving forward until a few frames after the rear leg has started moving forward. Exact synchronization makes things look mechanical.

What are some specific percentage units you have doubts about? I'm not sure of the velocity units. You could appraise this perhaps by setting up a simple emitter that gave off a few particles with no viscosity and no gravity and see how far they traveled and see if any relevant distance had been reached in 1 frame of 1 second (one second is the likeliest milepost since it depends not on frame rate.)

There's nothing wrong with the render. We can show that by tracking the model on every frame and seeing that it is moving the same amount forward on every frame. BannerCapCaF25_traced.mov So if it still appears jerky, it must be a playback problem. Either Quicktime is not playing the frames back smoothly, or the display is not showing Quicktime properly. However, it looks fine on my computer. It's no smoother or jerkier than any other similar animation running at 24 or 25 fps.

absolutely nothing? I open it up in V16 and particles come out of the volcano when I slide the time. Are you sure you have Show particles on?

Baking wasn't the problem. Does the new PRJ work?

I like that. He's like a mercury lava lamp on the outside.