robcat2075

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.

If you search in the Help on Poses you can find quite a bit of info. first save your model. Don't overwrite this saved version because you will want to go back to it when your first try doesn't turn out right. -right click in the model window -new>pose>percentage pose -a new window will open with your model in it. a highlighted pose slider should appear in the pose sliders window , set to 100% -switch to muscle mode animation (F7) -carfully adust the cps around the jaw and mouth to make the mouth look open like the character is saying "ahh". You'll move some CPs more than others to get a smooth effect. Your first try will not look good. (using a distortion box will help in making smooth adjustments. The help file does cover distortion boxes.) -close the pose window save the character unde a new name now you can use that pose slider to vary how open the mouth is that's the simplest solution i can think of without properly rigging the character.

You'll have to add something if you want to move that mouth. Without knowing what your model looks like I think a making pose slider that does a simple mouth open would be easiest. 0% would be the original, 100% would be the mouth and jaw adjusted to be open. make keyframes with the slider to match your sound. At the internet level, it's sort of like... do whatever you think you can get away with.

Are you trying to add a CP where there wasn't a CP in the circle? Look up "Stitch" in the help file

TAoA:M: Dont skip it just because it's old, you still want to know it: ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/docs/TAOAM.pdf Colin Freeman's character tuts http://www.colins-loft.net/tutorials.html the classic "Skylark" tut is ten years old and A:M has added some modeling conveniences like 5-point patches since then but still worth a read. http://www.hash.com/users/jsherwood/tutes/SkyLark.pdf

The problem occures independently of how "Show Backfacing polygons" is set. And it only happens when the rotate manipulator is used which, with no correlation to how "Show Backfacing polygons" is set. It doesn't happen on every installation fo A:M. But it does happen on mine.

Well you're not wanting much are you? you can also buy a 1 year license for $50. It is locked to one computer unlike the CD version that you can travel with. Martin says A:M can render anything in Pixar's first 5 movies. And a lot of stuff in the other ones. A:M has just about all the tools that one needs in a modern 3D app. The workflow is sometimes different for a particular5 goalthan it might be in another app. (For example: "beveled" edges are not something you add as a final step in A:M, you incorporate them in your model as you build it.) A:M's stability is dramatically improved since when people said bad things about it. 3D is for people who like to really concentrate on a project. The only "easy" 3D apps are the ones that dont' do much. That said, A:M is about as accessible as a full-featured 3D app is going to be. Do all the TAoA:M tuts and pose specific questions here on the forum and someone will usually help you out.

I have that also at times. I'm told it's a graphics card problem, but I've always wondered why the graphics card would display differently when I'm using the rotate manuipulator instead of any other manipulator. My guess is it is related to graphics card memory getting misused after some repeated operation since rebooting temporarily makes the problem go away. You might try closing the model window while you work on the action. Or rebooting. Or updating your dirvers if they are not already. But otherwise you need to do your rotation move then go back to another mode to see it properly.

It's a powerful program that defies brief coverage but the Animation:Master Demonstration on their support page would be a good intro. (broadband required) the other videos on that page show a person working thru individual tutorials regarding specific features. the full manuals are available online also: http://www.hash.com/2007web/reference.htm

You don't have to render "final " quality every time. If you are just checking your motion you can render "shaded" for much faster results. Checking "advanced" in the Render Settings makes it easier to choose individual render options.