HomeSlice

Oh yeah, those are nice Mark. By the time you get around to that animated series, you're going to have a lot of the merch already all set up

The LiteRig does have a heel raiser

Once you create a new Action, you probably want to enter *Muscle Mode* instead of Modeling Mode. I don't think it is possible to enter Modeling mode in an Action. You can, however, enter Modeling Mode in a choreography... When in Muscle Mode, any changes you make to the mesh are saved only in the Action, Pose or Choreography (Whichever one you are working in). The original model remains unchanged. But when in Modeling Mode, you are altering the actual, original model.

Those are awesome pictures Myron. It looked like fantastic evening! But, um, where are the photos of the after party?

It seems you are doing something strange ... but I don't know what it is. Animating on a laptop will be difficult, but it is possible. If animating on a fast desktop PC is like soaking in a hot tub on a starry night with a full moon and a foot of fresh powder snow on the ground - animating on a laptop is like being cold and wet on a windy ski slope with snow inside your clothes from all the times you face-planted. It will help if you buy an external usb number(key) pad. I have heard that some external number pads emulate the number keys at the top of the keyboard (instead of the keys on the number pad). You don't want that. You want an external keypad that emulates the keys on the actual number pad. Since you appear to be animating a walk in the chor, you are probably panning quite a bit. The easiest way to pan is to drag with the Mouse Wheel (or middle mouse button) depressed. The easiest way to rotate around your model in the chor is to select the model, or a bone, and [shift]-Drag with the Mouse Wheel depressed. If you absolutely must have side views that follow your model and always give you a side view of the model no matter how it is rotated or positioned, there is a way. Create a new camera in the PWS and change its TYPE to Orthogonal. Place this camera in the MODEL window. Then switch to Bones Mode in the Model window (you must be in Bones Mode in order to see the camera) and position the camera on one side of the model, with the camera aiming at the side of the model. Place another camera on the other side of the model. Rename the camera bones "Left View" and "Right View" or whatever. Then, in the Chor, you can cycle through the available cameras with the [1] key on the number pad.

I'm glad you got it working

The E2.wav file is 24bit and 48KHz. Try exporting it as 16bit, 44.1KHz. Attached is the E2.wav file exported from Quicktime Pro with those settings. I played it in A:M and it sounds good. Also included is a screenshot of the the Audio export settings from Quicktime Pro. Open your audio in Quicktime Pro. Choose File > Export. In the dialog box that pops up, for "Export", choose "Sound to Wave". Click on the "Options" button. Use the screenshot attached to this post as reference for choosing the correct settings. Hit the "OK" button in the "Sound Settings" dialog. The dialog will close and you will be back at the "Save exported file as" dialog. Hit the "Save" button. Import the save audio file into A:M. audio_exported.wav

I might try to futz with it one day, but at the moment, I'm sorry to say it isn't a priority.

Thought about it... it's 3X the render time and HD Youtubes take a long time to buffer. Maybe going up to 480p (854x480) could be optional. We can think about it. I did a couple of tests with some short clips several months ago. My source footage were 720x405 frames, rendered with 9 passes, which I imported into Adobe Premiere. Then I exported movies at 720p resolution and they looked really great. The clips I tested with, looked just as good as the original frames.

As far as I am aware, A:M accepts wav files, and only wav files. Go back to the original 2 min wav file that was working fine in A:M and cut up up again, only this time save the clips as Uncompressed wav files. If that doesn't work, use a different audio editor to cut it down. Here is a nice free editor: http://traverso-daw.org/ No matter what you use to edit your source audio, always save the clips you intend to import into A:M as Uncompressed wav files. I think another way of saying that is Linear PCM audio ... but don't quote me on that

I've never seen this one Bill. You've been holding out on us

Good looking character Steve.

Way to go kat! I love the way the light and shadows fall on the characters in that first shot.

http://amfilms.hash.com/video/196/Building...irst-Rig-Part-1 http://amfilms.hash.com/video/197/Building...irst-Rig-Part-2

I'm assuming you are rendering to tga or some other file format that supports alpha channels. Make sure Buffers > Alpha is OFF in the "Render to File" dialog box. You can also turn it off in the camera properties (but not for a camera shortcut).

That looks like a great start.

All this stuff you are doing to the walls and floor can be done after the scene has been assembled. Get the building proportions right by using simple planes. Model all the props you are going to need. Assemble the scene. Get your camera angle/position down. NOW tweak the walls and floor.

It also works really well to create the imperfections in a Pose.

That depends... Since you are creating a specific scene, it will save you hours of time to knock out the basic models, assemble them in the composition, and get your camera angle fixed. Then you will know where you should add extra detail, and where extra detail will just be a waste of time. It will also give you a good idea of where you have to model that extra detail, and where you can get away with simply adding maps.

Make a list (either mental or on paper) of all the models you intend to build. From your picture, it looks like room, planters, plants, tricycle, hanging light, empty fruit and vegetable displays. Model each element, but don't texture them yet. You may want to add basic colors to groups in each model. Assemble all the elements. Since this is a still image, it will be much easier to assemble it in a chor. (as opposed to an Action) If you discover you need some extra models, create them now and place them in the scene. Don't worry about the final lighting yet. Either use the default 3 point lighting or use a very basic lighting scheme, just so you can see what you are doing. When the scene looks good with no textures and only a very simple lighting setup, it is a huge milestone, and you can be fairly confident that you will actually complete it. Texture each element and check the composition. Make adjustments as necessary. Don't worry about the lighting yet. When the textured scene looks good with only very basic lighting, it is another milestone. Now add the lighting, check the composition, and make adjustment as necessary.

That looks great. Way to go

Robcat's suggestion to alter the material in the original material in the container is best in this case. But if you ever need to access the properties of a material *shortcut* (for example, to alter a property that applies only to a specific model), select the material in the PWS and adjust the properties in the Properties Palette (View > Properties). Also, you can turn on disclosure triangles so you can click on the little triangles in the PWS to access the properties right in the PWS. (Tools > Options > Global > Show Advanced Properties)

Holy Moley, would you look at that? AO now appears to render with Multipass ON *or* OFF (just did a test). I'm pretty sure that in previous versions, it only worked with Multipass ON. I still don't know why you got different renders, unless you rendered one version with MP ON, and the other version with MP OFF.

And make "Life Expectancy" shorter.

Here are a few bus stop signs. Any of these look good? http://www.bajanfuhlife.com/news/newsgfx/Bajan_Bus_stops.jpg http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/traffic-...=263&ID=559 http://www.wpclipart.com/page_frames/full_...s_stop.png.html http://quintessential.duckeggblue.com.au/a...00124110144.jpg http://www.clker.com/cliparts/3/1/d/5/1194...uses.svg.hi.png