robcat2075

The slow down these windows cause is due to them needing to be drawn and redrawn. When the cursor reaches the right edge the whole window needs to be shifted (redrawn) to the left to continue tracking the cursor. That redrawing takes time. If you've closed the PWS and closed the "Timeline" then those are not being redrawn anymore and are not what is slowing you down.

I call the right pane of the PWS a "timeline". Easily confused with the window that is called the "Timeline" They both exhibit timeline-like behavior and both can be toggled to show either red dot keyframes or channel curves. There don't seem to be clear terms for these however. on my computer I find that if either the PWS timeline or the "Timeline" has to scroll as time advances you get a slowdown. You can Shift-Z the timeline to eliminate the need to scroll. Channel curve view of more than one bone seems to have a penalty even if it doesn't have to scroll.

Who said that? Who said to use "deformers"?

Welcome to A:M! "deformers' isn't really a term in A:M "Bones" do the deforming in A:M. I bet you haven't done the tuts in "the Art of A:M" yet. Those will answer many questions a new user will have. Ex 9 (Flower Power) shows how to add bones to a model.

A:M doesn' t make animated gifs. However there are many apps out there (search the web) that make animted gifs from files you imported from another app. Typically you would render to QT or a targa series and the other app would use that to make the gif.

When the Timeline or PWS timeline window has to scroll itself that will definitely slow down playback. And channel view will slow down more than keyframe view. (more curvy lines to draw)

that's a spiffy lookin' bike. I guess "dirtying it up " for realism woudl be cool. How about a scene on a highway, where all the background is a blur zooming by? Put a generic humanoid model on as the rider, but keep him in wireframe with the realistic bike showing thru. That way the pic will still be about the bike.

i just have AE 5 so terminology may be different for you - you need to turn on the "modes" panel in your timeline -in that panel is a drop down menu for each layer that selects compositing mode and/or targeting for matte effects - this permits you to make the alpha channel of one layer act upon another layer. - the order in which they appear in the timeline has a lot to do with what can act up on what. - look up track mattes in the AE manual for better info

I presume it has moved to where ever the IK hand target is placed. just move the hand until the arm is in the pose you want. If the hand is not at the IK hand target then you've rigged something wrong. Impossible to tell from the picture, though.

It looks like Sam even has anatomically correct teeth. Lotta patches there. If I were gong to use sam a lot I'd start looking for ways to make a thin proxy. Another thing you might consider is animating at 24fps instead of 30. you won't get any more fps but the percentage of dropped frames will be less. And most animation is done at 24 fps anyway. Also... a P4... it's probably working pretty hard to get what your getting.

you mean the pinching of the elbow? or the position of hte arm?

2fps sounds very slow. Something-is-wrong slow. On the other hand, three characters plus props is quite a load. Squetchy sam has more patches than knight or Shaggy. speed up options: -turn off show decals -"page down" to lowest subdivision level -temporarily hide objects/characters you don't need to watch. (Eye icon in PWS) -change an object's draw mode from curved to vector or even to bounding box (a drop down list right of the charcter's name in the PWS). I switch to bounding box mode often to see smooth motion. (keyboard "7" enables "default" display mode that allows each object to show the specific draw mode and render mode that you have selected in the PWS.) -in the model window hide geometry you don't need to see. Sometimes I'll hide everything but the lips whenI'm trying to fix lipsynch. -swap in a lower res- proxy. Before you do change PWS listing to read "[model name]" rather than "Shortcut to [model name]". Then go to the properties window to change the model refernce to a proxy. -switch out of skeleton mode and hit return to unselect all objects while you are watching the animation play in the past some rotoscopes or image sequences could cause a serious slowdown. I dont' know if that is still true.

you can also select the end of an existing spline, hit Y, and a new CP will be added that you can drag to attach to another CP.

Something like this would be my first gambit

He looks a bit like his nose is running, but I'd say that's a pretty successful first attempt at a face. Onward and upward!

if you have the CD version, yes, take the CD with you. the download version, you'd have to ask Hash to turn off the license on your old computer and issue a new one for your dad's PC.

from hash, it's a vista thing

you can use it to point to a patch (there has to be one there first) and all the CPs of that patch will be "selected" (creating a "group"). you can shift-select several patches to form a larger "group". This may be easier than trying to lasso the CPs. Or you can select an existing group in the PWS and then Shift-select a patch to add it to the group.

First thing i notice is that you dont' actually say you selected the 5 CP s. are you clicking the purple "Patch Group Mode" button? that's not the 5-point maker. lasso or shift select your five CPs and then hit the icon with the pentagon on it

I think this requires a two stage solution. render one frame of just the dummy geometry that matches your front projection material. Use the alpha channel from that as a mask in an AE composition to subtract out the parts of your spaceship render you dont' want to show. Alternatively you could draw a mask in After Effects based on your live footage to clip out parts of your spaceship render. same result. Actually... I'm wondering why you're doing the front projection stuff in A:M at all if your intention is to composite in AE. But that's just me.

And, i presume, you have an actual body in your immediate possesion to study.

I tried a few of those poses on myself and I'd say that the drawings are not necessarily accurate. My knees don't reach even to my shoulders as in #3 and my back is not parallel to the floor as in #4.

there are Euler constraints you can use to limit rotation, but really, the easiest thing to do it is hit R and use the rotate manipulator. grab the red ring or the green ring or the blue ring to rotate on one axis. It's generally bad to try to rotate a bone by just dragging the tip.

its' a start. I notice that only his mouth opens. His chin would move if he's opening his mouth.

Here's my quick take on nf1nk's idea with a succession of cones poking thru each other to give the effect of the sand cascading down the sides. sand.mov sandcones01.zip particles are troublesome in that they seem to be emitted in regular clumps rather than truly randomly.