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The LiteRig is a small, lightweight bipedal (humanoid) animation rig for use with Animation Master version 15 and higher (The installation process has only been tested with v15, though the rigged model is probably compatible with v13 and higher). It is *light* because it does not have all the features of more robust rigs such as the Squetch Rig and the 2008 Rig. Its file size, without any mesh, is only 130KB. It does however, have the essentials, including: IK/FK switching in the arms - FK is the normal mode. Switch to IK to keep the hands stuck in one place while the rest of the character moves. IK feet - This helps to keep the feet steady while the rest of the character moves. The feet can pivot from either the heel or the toes. Steady head and shoulders - The head and shoulders maintain their orientation while the character rotates its torso and hips. A hand gizmo - This allows you to easily manipulate the fingers. You can turn the gizmo off for more control of the fingers. Quick Instructions Open "LiteRig.prj" and save it under a different name. Import your model into the project. Drag the model (included in the project file) onto your model. This will import the geometry bones and several User Properties. Position the bones. Add your own fan bones, cogs or other custom bones. Add custom constraints for your fan bones, cogs or anything else in the Custom Constraints pose. (it is created when you import the geometry bones) Assign control points. Add control point weighting, SmartSkins etc. and test the mesh deformations. Open the action using your newly boned model. (Note: The controls will not work yet. You must finish the process for the controls to work.) Activate the "Key Translation", "Key Rotation", "Key Constraints" and "Key Model" filter buttons in the Frame Toolbar. Click on the action so it is selected. [shift]-click the Force Keyframe button in the Frame Toolbar. In the Force Keyframe dialog box, choose BOTH "Only in filtered channels that pre-exist" AND "Also add keys to constraint results". This creates channels for proper export of the controls. SAVE the project (or at least the action). The model will not export properly unless you save the action first. Right-click on the action and choose Export -> Model from the context menu. Save the model under a new name. Your model is now rigged. I really want to thank mtpeak2, itsjustme, Steven Cleary and all the others who contributed key ideas to the construction and usability of animation rigs. If I didn't have the work of those guys to look at, I would never have been able to design this rig. Newest Version: LiteRig.zip (updated 8/24/09) - includes LiteRig.prj which is all you need to install the rig. LiteRig_Installation.pdf (updated 1/04/09) - A pdf file with more detailed instructions on how to install it. RobbyLite.zip (updated 1/07/09)- A model created by Animus, which has been rigged with the LiteRig. 5/27/09 - added Thumb Rotator nulls to the thumbs. Now you can move and rotate the thumbs for more precise control. LiteRig.zip

I' m guessing here, but I think Am is crashing on you because it doesn't have enough RAM available for such a huge file. I don't know how much RAM would be required to render a complex scene that large, but it must be in the 10's of gigabytes. In the future, you may have better luck if you upgrade to a 64bit OS and a motherboard capable of handling massive amounts of RAM. Like I said though, I'm just guessing. In the meantime, the suggestions above sound like great solutions to try. I never thought about trying the "black box with 1/4th of it cutaway" trick. I would just either rotate the camera or change it to "orthoganal" and move the camera in regular steps, then assemble the pieces in Photoshop.

You should read this tutorial on Constraints. It will answer many of your questions. http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29743

It may have been something as simple as the codec or compression you were using. Not sure. TGA sequences have always been the most hastle free way to deal with moving images as decals/rotoscopes/etc... Another possible factor is Quicktime. It used to be a bastion of simplicity and stability, but in the past few years it has gotten kind of flaky.

Doh! I can't believe I didn't include a section on that in the hair tut. I'm going to write a note to myself to add a section on using a hair density decal. ... Seeing you in the newbies forum is freakin' hilarious It just goes to show, nobody knows everything about this program. It's just too ... huge.

Way to go Mark. The set looks great. I like the idea of fire breathing bats!

Hey! Where is the "Create Icon" command? I still make my icons by rendering a small image of the model and loading it via quailhoi's method. Would love to have a way to make icons without the extra rendering step.

That's a great idea Rodney. Do you have control of the Tutorials forum? One simple thing that would help is to move all the posts asking for a tutorial or help on some subject to somewhere else. That way it would be much easier to browse through the list in the Tutorials forum looking for what you need. Another organizational idea is to separate tutorials with content that was uploaded to the forum from tutorials with content hosted somewhere else. It is kind of frustrating to click on a link in a tutorial (say a project file so you can follow along) only to be told that the file cannot be found. If I knew I was in the "Remotely Hosted" tutorials section, at least I wouldn't be quite as surprised when something like that happens.

beautiful image Paul. All it needs is caustics on the boy and shark. ... and some sun rays shooting through the water. Those are hard to do well. If you get it, please share your secret with the rest of us.

Yes there is. Check out JohnL3D's tutorial on how to animate a gradient material. http://johnl3d.blogspot.com/2008_02_28_archive.html Here's a project file: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?s=&am...st&p=262341 JohnL3D also has a video tut on "applying a tga sequence to a model then setting up an action to have it repeat" http://johnl3d.blogspot.com/2008_03_23_archive.html

That's awesome. How many hours did it take you?

Just an image I've been working on with MJL. Somehow, I don't think I would win against this lady The Nimmee Aimee model was modeled by Jim Talbot for our very own "Tin Woodman of Oz" movie. I made a few adjustments, but it is still Nimmee. edit: I believe she was rigged by mtpeak2 and possibly textured by NancyGormezano, but I'm not sure about that. Anyway, Nimmee was truly a community effort.

are your images named sequentially? image_000.jpg, image_001.jpg, image_002.jpg etc. Make sure you choose "import as image sequence", then pick the first image in the sequence, then hit "open" or whatever the button in the file browser window says.

That's great Mark. Kat really deserves the help, she seems to have been working really hard. It's wonderful that someone of your caliber is stepping in.

Are you sure you need multipass? Are you rendering with AO, SSS or any of the other things that require multipass? Have you tried a short render test with multipass turned off to see if you really need multipass? I've played a bit with DOF, but my results have been kind of inconsistent, so I'm assuming there is something that just isn't "gelling" for me yet. Anyway, there are two places where you can adjust the blur: In Options -> Rendering -> Depth of Field, and in the camera properties. I would suggest, like Rodney also suggested, to try adjusting the settings in the camera properties. Make sure "Use Settings From" is set to "Camera" in the Options -> Rendering panel. Then go to your camera properties, under "Render Options -> Depth of Field" (Make sure the quality setting is set to "Final") and there you can change the values for Focus Distance, Near Focus and Far Focus.

Excellent! Thanks for another great episode. If you don't have Adobe Flash Video Encoder (the easiest way to make FLV movies IMHO), I think SUPER can convert video files to FLV, and it's free. http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html As far as embedding an FLV movie in a web page, this free tool might help. ("Any FLV Player" ) http://www.any-flv-player.com/add-video-to...flv_player.html

That's a great example Rodger. Thanks!

Hmmmm ... I think it's missing something. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm pretty sure its missing something. ... that was a joke

Technical explanations aside, I haven't noticed that much of a difference between normal maps and bump maps in actual use. However, there have been several times when I wanted to take an existing model and convert it to a bump map or (rarely) a displacement map. An example would be to render a color pass and a normal pass of a modeled set to use in another set as a 2D background matte. It is really easy to render a model as a normal map using Willi's normal map ambience shader, but it is almost impossible to convert a model to a bump map. So, for me, normal maps still have a very practical use.

There is also a SimCloth tutorial you can try. http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29731

Here are some tips for anime style hair. Using particle hair: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?s=&am...st&p=198570 Here are some other tips for anime and toon modeling and rendering. http://www.dement3d.com/tutorials/

Not sure if this is the answer to your question, but I've read on the forum that you need to disable desktop composition for AM. That seems to have fixed many people's problems with Vista.

great looking characters Heiner.

You might get some ideas from the animated distortion box tutorial. http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29730 Another thing you might try is to make a grid,then create a pose that distorts the grid into a funnel. Then apply an animated bump map of a swirling spiral (2-3 seconds in length - you can set the animation to repeat indefinitely using "post extrapolation". Make the grid partially transparent with some kind of refraction so items behind it will appear distorted. But in the end, you are going to have to blaze a trail. One of the beautiful things about AM is that it allows you to blaze trails. Good Lick. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

I spent many many hours experimenting with the strengths and limitations of using the various bias adjustments - both in static models and animated ones. My conclusion is that it is more trouble than it is worth. I use the Magnitude settings a bunch. They work very well in both static and animated models. But adjusting Gamma and Alpha settings just created more work for me, even with static models. The problem was that I would spend a lot of time tweaking bias handles, then later I would go back and move the splinage around (as I always do) and the CPs that had been adjusted would pop and move in ways that were not very pretty. So, I would readjust them. Then I would go back later and tweak the splinage again (as I always do - did I say that already?) and have to redo all the alpha and gamma settings again ... ad infinitum. So if you want to play with the bias handles, even with a static model, make sure you are absolutely done tweaking it before you start adjusting alpha and gamma values.