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When I try to open these files in AI CS3, it says "The file "toyota.ai" (and "park.ai") was generated by a newer version of Illustrator. etc ... Not sure, but I think that means AI CS3 is not interpreting these as being saved as AIv5 or AIv9... or whatever you intended to save them as.

That is correct. If you embed a model in a prj, the source model is no longer linked and will remain unchanged. However, if everything is embedded in your project, then there is a greater chance of everything getting hosed. If everything is embedded and only one of your items gets corrupted (model,material,light,chor etc.) then the project will fail to load and you will have to open it up in a text editor and manually extract each item into its own file in order to salvage the items that were not corrupted, which can be tedious and time consuming. It is safer, especially with large or complex projects, to save everything as a separate file. Although, Robcat's advise is also good. I follow Robcat's method when I'm doing tests and experiments. Both methods have strengths and weaknesses.

Did you accidentally turn the TSM Constraints pose off in any of the other poses/relationships?

Nice! Is he related to that sea monster? I can kind of see a resemblance ...

Here are some very simple short tests. You can get as complex with the fractal sum material as you want, add a gradient etc ... One is the rendered fog animation as a fog image and the other is rendered as a camera rotoscope. I've also added the project file. camera_roto.mov fog_image.mov fog_test.zip

I have not done those tutorials, but it looks like he wants you to turn those two large 5 point patches into 4 point patches. See that little semi-circle on the left edge of the model? See the three splines connecting to it? Two of the splines would form a straight line if you connected them. Connect those two splines. Delete the semi-circle. Select the long spline which was formed when you connected the two splines I mentioned above. Hit the [Y] key to create a control point on the spline. Now connect the spline that isn't connected to anything to the new control point. I *think* that's what the tutorial wants you to do. But again, I'm not 100% sure ...

OK, the first instruction on the second page says: 21. Click on that middle spline and hit Y Drag 1 of the dangling cp's onto the other and RIGHT CLICK to meld them, drag the melded cp over that new middle spline cp and RIGHT CLICK to meld that one also. To close that lathe hole, click on 1 of the looping splines (A) hit K to break it. Click on the other looping spline ( so it highlights towards the center, hit DELETE to delete it (you can't break it, when you've worked with splines more you'll have a feeling for why) Meld the 2 center cp's, then meld the side one in. Which part are you not clear about? We can help more if we know exactly what you are having trouble understanding.

Making a dense cloud of fog "rolling in" might be a challenge. First I would get the "already rolled in" fog looking like you want it, and if you still need something else, work on the "rolling in" bit. Two ways you could get an animated fog clip (I'm sure there are more ways): Apply a Fractal Sum material to a flat patch which is oriented vertically in the Model window and animate the Z Translation of the material. In the material, use black and white. Then use a Photoshop action to copy each frame into its own alpha channel (make sure its saves as "32 bit"). Import the image sequence into AM and apply it as a fog image. Voila, animated fog. Or, apply some black and white smoke sprites to a patch and animate them. For the "fog rolling in" effect, that's a tough one. Maybe create a cylinder volumetric object, like Darkwing suggested, and apply turbulence to it and animate the turbulence. When you figure it out, please share with the rest of us

If you want to practice your CP weighting skills, you don't need a ton of fan bones and smartskin. These days, I only put fan bones at the ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, elbow, wrist, and each finger and thumb joint. However, the old techniques still work and are useful on occasion.

Do you mean they are 1/8 inch to the left/right/top/bottom of the target CP? Or the bones extend 1/8 inch past the CP? Either way, it seems like it should still work OK ... but I can't think of why the bones would move either ...

Ahhh, Ye Olde Alt Codes! Doh! Hey Spleen, I'm sure I've seen that woman before somewhere. Is she the girlfriend of Myron's McKnuckles fella?

I think this is a bug. I'm not even using Mark's ocean model. If anyone can recreate this, it would be appreciated. Create a model with one bone ("bone 1") pointing straight up. Create an Action with the model. On frame 0, bone1 Z translation is 0 On frame 12, bone1 Z translation is 25 On frame 24, bone1 Z translation is 0 Create a chor Drag the model into the chor Drag the Action onto the model. Constrain the Camera to Translate To "bone 1" in the model. Set the Enforcement for the constraint to 20 (or any value except 0 or 100) It does strange things...

Looks like you may want to adjust your CP weighting and/or the fan bone(s) in the shoulder. Great looking office super hero!

OK, delete all the constraints and keys from the camera. On frame 0, position it where you want it and aim it where you want. Make the Translate and Rotate channels for the camera default to Zero Slope interpolation. Create a new "Translate To" constraint to constrain the camera to the wave bone. (with Compensate Mode ON) Set the enforcement to 20%. What happens?

You may have to activate the Compensate Mode button before you change the enforcement value.

I'm pretty sure I submitted a bug report on something that may be similar to the problem you are having. If I remember correctly, Stefen said it is caused when trying to export an action which has Action Objects in it with a model that has smartskins on it. He said it would be very difficult to fix. I tried to mitigate the problem as best as I could in the update (LiteFace_2009_11_11.zip and Liteface_Installation_2009_11_11.pdf). Are you using the updated face rig? It is in the first post. Another possibility is that that something in TSM is causing AM to balk. Try opening your TSM rigged model in an Action (without LiteFace) and try to export that as a model, just to see if TSM is causing it. A possible workaround is to detach the head at the neck, Using a *copy* of your TSM rigged model. (without any of the LiteFace stuff) Copy the head into a new model. (Don't change its position.) Delete the head from the TSM rigged model. Rig the head-only model with LiteFace and weight the CPs. After you have exported the head model from the Action, according to the LiteFace instructions ... Import the head model into your TSM rigged model and reattach the head. Don't just copy/paste the head model. You must *Import* the model so all the relationships come with it.

Oh, that's explains it. Thanks

If you aren't talking about *rendering*, then follow Robcat's suggestion.

To keep the camera from rotating, either set keyframes for it, or constrain the camera to Aim At (and possibly Roll Like) something, such as a null.

Or in the render panel, set "subdivisions" to 4, 16 or variable.

johnl3d, how did you get a musical note font to display in the forum?

If you want a fan bone to move with the bones it is ... uh ... fanning, make it a child of the bone that is highest in the heirarchy. For example: Say you have an arm with a bicep bone and a forearm bone, and you want a fan bone at the elbow. Make the fan bone a child of the bicep, so it and the forearm bone are siblings under the bicep. Now the fan bone will move with the bicep. You don't make it a child of the forearm bone because then you cannot constrain it to Orient Like (50%) the forearm.

Oops ... use the [Ctrl] key. Thanks Nancy.

The first thing you should do is make a backup of your current model. Then fix his left arm. At the moment it is angled down. It should be a perfect mirror of his right arm (straight out in a "T" pose). Make sure you are looking from the FRONT view in the Model Window. Click on the Left Bicep bone and hit [R] to bring up the Rotate manipulator. Hold down the [Alt] key while dragging the Green handle on the Rotate manipulator. This will move the CPs as well as all the children of the bicep. When the left arm looks like a perfect mirror of the right arm, switch to TOP view. Hold down the [Alt] key while dragging the Red handle on the Rotate manipulator. Rotate the bone until the fingers are aligned with the white finger control bones. Then you should delete the rotoscopes. If you ever delete or move the original rotoscope images, AM still references them in the model file and they will show up as empty rotoscope containers in all the projects you use this model in, but you will be unable to delete those references in AM. You will have to open the model file up in a text editor to remove them permanently. So it is a good idea to always delete all rotoscopes from your model once you are done with them. Then, in the Bones folder, Delete the "Body Controls" null and everything under it. You can keep "Body Bones" and all the bones under it. You don't have to delete those. Then open the the model's User Properties and delete all those user properties/relationships except for the "Pupil_dilation" relationship. That one is not part of the LiteRig. It looks like you will have to delete the Custom Constraints relationship as well. Then open the Relationships folder and delete everything in there except for the "Pupil_dilation Relationships" folder. Save your model. Now save a copy of this model - just in case ... Then open your original LiteRig project file (the one you downloaded from the forum) and save a copy under a different name. In this *copy* of the LiteRig project, right-click on the "Bones" model and choose "Save As" - and save it as something like "bones_temp" or whatever. In the "bones_temp" model, delete all the bones. But don't delete any of the relationships/poses. Save the "bones_temp" model and close the project. Open the Old Man Willies model that you just cleaned up. In the PWS, right-click on the model and choose Import > Model ... and choose the "bones_temp" model you saved. All the relationships from the "bones_temp" model will be imported into your model. Now, follow the instructions starting at "Installing The Controls". Hopefully that will work

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