Moonsire

I would love to be aware of meeting dates and times. I live in West L.A. near Culver City. I'm an actor, so my schedule is almost always day to day, except weekends. I have most weekends free. Phil phillip@phillipmoon.name

That is good news, but the next obvious question is...does anyone have a copy they can put here for downloading?

I think Sebastian has the right idea for pitching the voice. It made it that much more believable all by itself. However, be careful not to use a little kids voice. 10 and 11 year olds come off as young, but not childish. Watch a few minutes of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to see how those 11 year olds speak. The words were put there by writers, but the speech is still the kids. Think little adults. Phil...

Very nicely done. I am a big fan of the George Pal film, and that time machine is sweet.

Well done. Clever idea, and execution. There are all kinds of fonts like that out there. Just needs a creative application.

Since you are putting this out there, I'll add my 2¢ and point to Celtx, which is also a scriptwriting tool, and one that I have been using. It is open source (also free) and can run on Windows, OS X, and Linux operating systems and comes in 20 languages. Storyboard tools, production tools, reports on props, actors, characters, locations and more are part of the software. This also includes note functions, index cards, type face and title page. Go to http://www.celtx.com/

Go here http://www.hash.com/2007web/vm.htm These are the video versions of the tuts in the book. Phil...

Tacku. I have blue prints for the Constitution Class U.S.S. Enterprise. 12 sheets that include the exterior and interior of the ship and fold out to 9" to 30". Also, I have the Star Fleet Technical Manual, which has the tech designs for the phaser (type one and two) and tricorders (medical and science). All The Original Series. I checked out the Star Trek LCARS Blueprint Database on line. http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/index-bp.html There you find blue prints on NX-01, Enterprise, Enterprise-A, Enterprise-B, Enterprise-C, Enterprise-D, Excelsior, Shuttle Craft Galileo, Dreadnought class ships, USS Stargazer, the KOBAYASHI MARU, Starbase 79, Klingon, Romulan, Voyager, Defiant. They also have the ST: Tech Manual and many other documents on line there. Worth a look. These numbers are from the blueprints. USS Enterprise Particulars in meters: Length Overall - 288.6 Breadth Overall - 127.1 Height OA - 72.6 Primary Hull Diameter (Saucer) - 127.1 Primary Hull Max Depth - 32.5 Secondary Hull Length - 103.6 Secondary Hull Max. Dia - 34.1 Nacelle (Propulsion Unit) Length - 153.6 Nacelle Diameter - 17.3 Hanger Deck Length Overall - 38 Just thought I would toss this out to you. Have fun. The work looks good so far. Phil...

OK Tacku. So far it looks good. I tried to find my old official blue prints of the Enterprise, but haven't yet. I know that the Enterprise has what looks like hull plating on the saucer section, top and bottom. If you are trying for a more purist look, then the Enterprise of the original series didn't have the blue warp core effect on the warp nacelle. Still, it is a good start, and who's to say that it didn't look like that in an alternate universe. Phil...

Hey Postality. Rather than remove the light, which would make your figure in the dark, turn off the switches for shadows and reflections. Turn off the cast shadows, receives shadows and the cast reflections options in the properties box. This should solve your problem. Phil...

Enjoyable and well done. Thanks

Me thinks John was suggesting separate layers, then combine them later.

Johnl3d had the right idea. (his second) There are now 3 emitters in this mov. #1 is the emitter in the top pipe from which the water emerges. This is at 50% velocity, and 3000 rate of emission, 30% bounce #2 is at the top of the ball so water would run down the sides. This is at 50 velocity, 3000 rate of emission, 50% viscosity, 30% bounce #3 was in the bottom of the ball so water would puddle underneath the ball. This is at 50 velocity, 3000 rate of emission, 50% viscosity, 30% bounce There is too much water over all, but that can be adjusted for. Here is the .mov. Water05.mov Thanks for the input. Phil...

Now here is something I should have done to start with. A reality check. I put a rounded object (in this case a lightbulb) under the shower head with the shower on at about the same velocity as the animation. The result was a need to get a towel to dry off with. Water hits the object and does one of two things. 1. it splatters, or bounces off all over the place (thus the reason for the towel). 2. it creates a sheet around the object and the sheet of water follows the contours of the surface and pours off in a more blob like fashion than streak like. I need to look at this one again. On the other hand, the second effort with the fan/force looks better, though not perfect. Here's the latest with bouncing water and some sheeting. And gee how much faster it renders in shaded mode. Water04.mov Phli...

So set a lower velocity out of the emitter, use a force to speed it up and then when it is out of reach of the force, it slows down to the emitter speed again? I'll look into that one. Here is the render from last night of the force on the water to get it to go more down that out. Waterball03a.mov This render was going on for about 10 hours before I stopped it (tga render thank goodness). Is a shaded render better for things like this? Next up, one of the other trials. Phil...

I am rendering out the fan idea. Then will try the emitter. Just about time to call it a night, and the process of rendering will take a few hours. Thanks for the feed back, and I suspect the second emitter is the better solution. I'll try in the morning (about noon for me). Phil...

When the water hits the ball, it should slow down and pour off the ball in a more downward direction. Instead, the water comes off the ball like water out of an...emitter. At high speed. "forces as a fan" to blow the water into a more direct (downward) drop? This would change the direction but not the speed. But would look better. Ball emitter/die on contact...This would be to kill the streaks on contact with the ball and then have an emitter in the ball to create water to finish the roll off the ball and on down to the ground? This one is more work. Hmmmm. Leave as is. This one I'm sure I get. <g> Let's see what works.

Hi all. Just a little info on what I'm doing before I get to what I am asking. I am an actor living in L.A. My son-in-law is a Director/DP and my daughter is also an actor. Mixed into these titles are writer (myself and my son-in-law (Drew)), animator/CG (me) and producer (pretty much all of us). We are in the beginning stages of making our first joint movie (a short subject). In my infinite wisdom and total disconnect with reality, I have written a movie that has a number of special effects, and I plan to render those effects in A:M, assisted by whatever tools I can muster. While the list is subject to change, so far I have a force field, of sorts, a floating glass ball, and at least two different kinds of wizardly "I'm about to zap you" light shows on the hands. Oh, and I forgot to mention the doll with the eyes that follow the light. All this could change, or it could just stay the same (I'm just the writer/actor/CG guy. The Director could ask for something new/different/insane), but it does lead me up to what I'm asking. As I am doing all of the FX, it behooves me to learn how to make them. To that end, I have downloaded most particle/sprite type tutorials on the site and many off. (That said, if you think of a tutorial, feel free to drop it into any posts just to be safe). I also have the Extras DVD and the Extras CD Vol. 1. For the rest, I am going to post my experiments/efforts on this forum along with questions about details that will help. I am not going to follow a logical pattern and work only on these effects. I plan on trying whatever comes to mind or whatever tutorial is at hand so that I can learn the system and not just the few FX I need. Oh, and I am going to need lots of help. Please. I already have my first experiment. Waterball02.mov My question here is, can I control the velocity of the water after it hits the ball? I am using streaks. I haven't done this with blobs or sprites. Here is the screenshot of the emitter settings: Thanks, Phil...

Hey Vern. As an actor in many shows (including Arsenic and Old Lace) and collector of the posters for the shows, I can tell you that yours are great. This one is sue..eeet, and the cuffs look real good. I liked the nod to the movie stars of Arsenic and Old Lace, one of my favorite of the ol' time movies. Phil...

Look at ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/updates/windows/Am2007/ to get the latest TAOAM2007.pdf (The Art of Animation Master). The first lesson uses Kee Kat because he has all the pose sliders already assigned. Load Kee Kat (in the library) into the choreography (not the model window) and then go to view in the menu, find the Pose slider option and click on it. You should have all the pose sliders available to you on the left of your screen above the library. Good Luck and welcome to A:M.

Well done. I loved it. Don't forget to add the dust up from when the ship hits the dirt, assuming it isn't already done. I also thought the car passing behind the ship was cool. Phil...

A users meeting in L.A. sound great. I'll send along an email to Vance. I live in the Palms area near Culver City.

Thanks John. I'll give that a try.

Now I am going to ask if you can share a little more. I have a project in mind that could benefit by this type of effect, but... I downloaded the prj file. Questions follow. What is this and what is it for. I can understand the light, but the funny thing... And what did you do to get movement? When I rendered out the project, all I got was...oh...funny how that partical switch in render works. I can see much of what you did, but I don't know what to did to build it. I understand the light, just not the attachment. Phil...

Well done, Niels. The "dent" catches the eye because the rest of the car is in smooth curves, but I'll bet it was a deliberate choice, and that is the modelers perogative, even if it drives others crazy. <g> Cool job!