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Looks great! Could use a "Vincent Price" audio filter

That should render fairly quickly... How large an image are you rendering? What kind of materials do you have on the ships? Do you have any volumetric lighting? Particles? Displacement Maps? Does the glass on the space ships have an Index of Refraction? Are you using Raytraced shadows? How many shadow rays are being cast? All these have a big impact on render time.

No, learning how to model in A:M is definitely not worse than learning Blender. Modeling is an order of magnitude easier than learning how to rig (for most people) in just about every program I am familiar with. Modeling in A:M is like drawing in a vector art program, but in 3D space. Once you learn how to make valid patches, and how to connect a cylinder to a square, you will be well on your way. A:M 2005 is a pretty old version. I am assuming you are using Windows. You can find the last update for that version here: ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/updates/windows/Am2005/ Look for AM2005.EXE I guess that version required a plugin to import obj models. I'm not sure if A:M 2005 was version 12 or version 13. I have included an obj plugin for both versions. Use the one that works. Unzip it and place it in the "hxt" folder in the Hash program folder. OBJ_v12.zip OBJ_v13.zip

You need at least one spline in the middle of each of your "solid" groups that is not assigned to any of the "glass" groups.

3DS uses triangles, and it is not possible to retain any kind of smooth edge loops when importing triangle meshes into A:M. It would be quicker and easier (really!) to learn to model in A:M, than it would be to try to clean up a triangle mesh. If you *must* model in another program, see if that program can export QUADS via obj or .X (3ds can not export as quads as far as I know). If you can get a clean model exported as quads (not triangles) *with good edge loops*, then you have some hope. You will still need to break/re-join splines to create smooth surfaces in A:M after the import, but at least it is doable. As far as rigging tuts for noobies, these should get you started: http://amfilms.hash.com/video/196/Building...irst-Rig-Part-1 http://amfilms.hash.com/video/300/Building...irst-Rig-Part-2 http://amfilms.hash.com/video/297/Building...nd-Gizmo-Part-1 http://amfilms.hash.com/video/298/Building...nd-Gizmo-Part-2

The X exporter does not export smartskins, but it DOES export weighted Control Points. Since control point weighting was introduced into A:M, I rarely use smart skins anyway. Here are some video tuts on rigging in A:M http://amfilms.hash.com/video/196/Building...irst-Rig-Part-1 http://amfilms.hash.com/video/300/Building...irst-Rig-Part-2 http://amfilms.hash.com/video/297/Building...nd-Gizmo-Part-1 http://amfilms.hash.com/video/298/Building...nd-Gizmo-Part-2 http://amfilms.hash.com/video/137/Creating-Face-Poses http://amfilms.hash.com/video/144/Creating...-BlendTech-Talk Here is a video tut on applying decals to a face http://amfilms.hash.com/video/145/Decaling...ace-part-1-of-4 http://amfilms.hash.com/video/146/Decaling...ace-part-2-of-4 http://amfilms.hash.com/video/147/Decaling...ace-part-3-of-4 (I can't find Part 4) Here is a video introduction to smartskin http://amfilms.hash.com/video/143/SmartSkinTechTalk Here is one introducing Dynamic Constraints http://amfilms.hash.com/video/141/Dynamic-...traintTech-Talk A good introduction to Materials http://amfilms.hash.com/video/106/Bill-You...s-SIGGRAPH-2002 Here is one on using Expressions (limited scripting) http://amfilms.hash.com/video/138/ExpressionsTech-Talk Mixing Live Action and CG http://amfilms.hash.com/video/107/Paul-Dal...G-SIGGRAPH-2002 Not sure what these are about, but they look interesting http://amfilms.hash.com/video/118/Kevin-Cl...IGGRAPH--99--LA http://amfilms.hash.com/video/117/Jeff-Can...IGGRAPH--99--LA (Warning: These were done with a VERY old version of A:M) ----------------------------------------- Non-Video Tuts There is also a large list of tuts in Acrobat PDF format here: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showforum=207

very cool. Thank you Fuchur.

I just noticed when I right click on a model in a chor and go to Plugins > Export, there is the option "Export MDD Data". I searched the forum for MDD but got no results. Does anyone know what MDD data is and how I can use it?

Did it work before? Are you sure you have not changed anything or installed any new programs on this computer? Have you downloaded and installed the newest drivers for your video card? A long time ago, I remember reading that the video card must support GL_KTX_buffer_region. But I do not know if that is still true. It looks like your video card does not support it.

Here is a nuts and bolts tutorial on lighting in A:M http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29732 It doesn't discuss how to make great lighting, like Jeremy Brin's book does. But it does go into some depth about how to use A:M's various light and shadow types.

That's insane Roger. Would love to see it crashing through a train station...

Excellent, as always. Its good to see you are still working on this.

In v16, you access Workbook Mode (Tabbed Windows) with "View > Workbook".

What I like most about the [+] key method is that the sound does not get out of sync with the animation when previewing in real time. If the scene is complex, it will play back in slow motion, but the audio always stays in sync with the animation. It is also a little quicker and easier to test motion backward and forward with the [+] and [-] keys instead of scrubbing with the mouse. Also, if there are a lot of particles and stuff going on, the computer can choke if I just hit the play button. With the [+] button, the computer has a chance to recalculate on each frame before advancing to the next frame. However, when testing particles, only use the [-] key sparingly. Every time you hit the [-] key, the computer has to recalculate the particles from frame 0 to the current frame. (Unless you bake the particle systems).

Holy crap dude, the hair is amazing. How many hours did you spend get it to behave like that?

It seems like you are leaving out some information. I'm not sure what you are trying to do or what exactly your problem is. When I am previewing stuff in real time in the chor, I never hit the "Play" button. I always hold down the [+] (plus key) on the NUMPAD. It works better, at least for me.

Hey Robcat, "Blankie" in that first commercial in the blog post looks like a perfect candidate for your amazing cloth tests

Holy Smokes John. You nailed it! That's awesome.

Fuchur's method should work well, and it is pretty easy to set up. Another way is to create a new Null. Place the Null in the chor. Right-click on a light in the chor and choose New Constraint > Translate To, and pick the Null with the picker. Deselect the light. Then choose the light again, right-click and choose New Constraint > Aim At, and pick the Null with the picker. Now you can move the Null anywhere you want, such as to the same location as the object you want to light, and the light will move with the Null and aim at it. If you want the light to rotate around the Null, just rotate the Null. You can do the same thing with the camera. You may have forgotten to turn "Compensate Mode" off when choosing the Path Constraint. When the Compensate Mode button is active, offsets are created, which cause the constrained object to maintain its current position. It should still move in a circular motion though when you animate the Ease property on the Path Constraint. When the Compensate Mode button is off when you create a new constraint, no offsets are created, so for example, if you are creating a Path constraint, the object will snap to the starting point on the path.

If you got it to work using Robcat's suggestions, then ... it works! and I don't suppose you need to do anything else. But in general, when you run into that kind of problem, the easiest solution is usually to open each Action and delete the Model Bone from the Action so it does not move the character. The character's actual model bone will not be deleted, only the bone's channels in the Action. Then animate the Model bone in the chor, like Fuchur said.

Happy Birthday Mike.

Pre-Extrapolation: Allows you to create some key frames later in the choreography and have the object repeat those movements from the beginning of the chor up through the original keyframes. (I don't think I have ever used this) Post-Extrapolation: Allows you to create some keyframes and have the object repeat the movement from the end of the last keyframe for as long as the choreography lasts. Options are: Reset: As far as i can tell, it sets the value for the channel to "0" after the last keyframes and keeps it there for the duration of the chor. Hold: This is the default value. It just keeps the object where it was on the last keyframe. Repeat: Repeats the motion from the first keyframe through the last keyframe, and cycles the motion indefinitely. Ping-Pong: Cycles back and forth from the first keyframe through the last keyframe, then reverses the motion, moving from the last keyframe through the first keyframe, and cycles back and forth like the pendulum on a clock. Accumulate: Basically it is the "Repeat" option with Offsets. It goes through the first iteration, then it takes the last keyframe as the starting point for the next cycle. For example, if you move a camera along the Y axis from 0 to 10 over 24 frames, "Accumulate" will continue to raise the camera along the same vector for the duration of the choreography.

From page 3 of the Basic Constraints tutorial: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29743 Interpolation Method When you are working with any aspect of the program that creates keyframes in the Timeline, you will encounter the effects of Interpolation Method. In computer graphics, Interpolation is the automatic creation of new values that lie between known values. The keyframes are the known values. The computer has to guess where an object should be on every frame that does not have a keyframe. The Interpolation Method is the main clue you give the program to tell it how to guess where the object should be. There are four types of Interpolation Methods: Hold, Spline, Linear and Zero Slope. The Default Interpolation Method for most things is Spline. However, the default method for the Enforcement property of most constraints is Hold. *Hold Interpolation: This method keeps the the same value from the previous keyframe until another keyframe is set. It tends to make abrupt "ON/OFF" type changes and creates straight lines with 90 degree angles in the channel view. *Spline Interpolation: This method is like stretching a flexible rubber hose around keyframes. It generates continuous, smooth movement and prevents an object from having a linear, robotic motion. Spline creates large curves in the the channel view, the farther apart the keyframes are, the larger the curve, and hence the more the object's motion varies from an imaginary straight line between keyframes. It is good for smooth, flowing organic motion. *Linear Interpolation: This method is like stretching a thin string between keyframes. It makes straight, angular lines in the channel view and creates sharp, jerky movements. This method is good for mechanical and robotic types of motion. *Zero Slope Interpolation: This method is the love-child between Spline and Linear. Like Linear, it prevents large curves from forming in the channel view, so the movement is more predictable, yet like Spline, it allows smooth transitions from one keyframe to the next. It creates straight lines with rounded angles in the channel view and is good for keeping an object "tacked down" until you want it to move, while still providing fairly smooth transitions. In the image below: Red = Hold Green = Spline Blue = Linear Orange = Zero Slope

Here's a sql dump of the whole database. You might need to edit out stuff like the faquser table.... phpmyfaq_data.2011_01_05_15_43_02.sql.zip

Here's a phpMyFAQ sqlite database with a few FAQs already in it. db user: admin db pswd: 0neRen I actually posted forum topic about phpmyfaq about 6 months ago. amfaqs.zip