oakchas

Hey, I didn't catch that, that's turning out well! I'm glad you're getting your problems solved! Yeah... well... if your only tool is a hammer (for a brain)... use it! (or should that be HA:MR???) I'm trying.... and like the Tinman of OZ... need a little oil in the joints to get basically ambulatory... one f o o t in front of the o t h e r...

All I found was how to make a kleig light... And my memory jog was that the shortcut in the chor does not let you change the type of light... light is an object... that you define "up above" in the objects folder for light "# whatever..." I narrowed the beam (width) of the kleig to 0..20inches... cone angle, like .15 fall off ... way out there... intensity 300+ Still working on it... but Here's the pic with a bulb up above as if the ceiling light alone in say a bedroom... and your laser sight... Dex has now become Mook... he's a badguy... He's got a gun pointing at your daughter's head... his finger is on the trigger... Is this the shot that stops all autonomous nerve reaction and kills him without his instinctively jerking the trigger on his own gun, lobotomizing your daughter, or killing her? Morose, I know... but I'm trying to make the point that even an experienced sniper, with a rifle that would vaporize the entire brain/head... would not take this shot as long as the bad guy's gun was on the head of a "valuable asset". Let alone some homeowner, with a laser sight on his tricked out Glock... the best bet IMO, is to let the guy walk alive as long as he lets your daughter go... first... You're a LEO, (or equivalent, IIRC) right, Rodney? So you see my point... I have a CWP and wouldn't do this shot, am suggesting others don't etc... Here's a still:

Okay, a few moments of free time... now, I've done a search... and found many laser "effects" a "beam" hits an abject and that object "blows up" but that's not what I'm looking for... I can make a skinny tube with glow... but that's not what I'm looking for either... The effect I'm trying to re-create is a laser pointer... laser sight from a handgun, for instance... on dex's face... I can follow that up with a tube with glow to show say, the path of a bullet based on the position of the gun and the laser dot on dex's face... But I can't figure out how to make the light so that it is like a teeny tiny spot light... I have fill light key light and light available... I know A:M can make spot lights... why can't I find one and make it work... I'll do search some more.. and try to figure it out... whilst you guys lend a hand? Never you mind... I found it... thank goodness for the tech ref..and a teeny flash of memory!

well here's the result, still uploading to youtube... not gonna use any of Martin's bandwidth if I can help it... at least until I upgrade. Still a long way to go... but I'm getting there... Poor Dex... spent some time in the joint... got a couple of scars and some prison tats... Shame that... he seemed like such a good kid...

that worked.. uncompressed.. now trying a codec for compression... to reduce the 56 Mb file size

I'll try giving it the extension.. maybe that's all the impetus it needs... Man, this is not easy peasy... but I'm getting it... slowly

I have a sequence of targa files... I am trying to render them as a qt movie... I'm not having any luck... I have files 00-144 as numbered, I have tired importing them into images in the PWS, that worked I right click on the first one and try to save it as an animation... one time it rendered the pics all again, and saved them to a folder, but made no movie out of it. I am lost again. Is it possible that it is doing it in the background? I don't think so Cpu usage is 0%

Rodney, already upgraded my graphics driver for the motherboard imbedded graphics on this system... I got what I got... no biggie... it does not, as has been pointed out, effect final render... And, as my system and my extant graphics chips are not "current"... upgrading A:M would not help... If I can do this little animation successfully, and get some positive input... I will revisit the need for more power and current subscription...

R&R, Both of your projects work in v14.0c... on an interesting note, when the view in the chor is set to shaded and wireframe, and scrolling/sweeping, or playing through the chor... various patches on the "brain" and/or "vase" will disappear. This is not a final render nor render lock anomaly, only happened in shaded wireframe. I certainly do appreciate everyone's involvement with my problem.. and that's what I came to you folks for... Now, I'm reworking stuff, and maybe I can resolve the problem in my old version... All I needed was a little R&R, with a dash of Nancy.. . to recover my warrior spirit... Now, back to the trenches for me... and I hope to update soon.

Thanks for going retro Nancy. I see you're getting the same corruptions I am... Didn't even notice that Dex was a two headed monster... But, I'll get him fixed. For my purposes anyway. When I get home tomorrow, I'll check the projects provided by Robert and Rodney. Obviously, my sig line is still true, even after these intervening years. Thanks, folks. Charlie

Progressive render is a shorthand, quick onscreen approximation of what a final render will look like but it can't do everything a final render does. For example, Toonlines will NOT appear in Progressive renders. That said, when i re-ordered the groups in your head model the transparency effect was fading in and out as expected in onscreen progressive render. There's some conflict in your groups and decals, I don't think A:M is the core problem, but i also don't have v14 to test with. Robert, I know what progressive render is... I am talking about progressive fading (in and out, of the outside head only-leaving the brain exposed) in FINAL render... IOW, while at first, I was able to get the head to fade out leaving the brain visible... as illustrated by the you tube file... Now, I seem to be getting just a revolving head with no fade out in the FINAL movie/avi/whichever... I'm working on the model, reworking it, that is. and hope that that solves my problems... and it probably will... As I mentioned to Rodney, I'm just as impatient as a noob... and in this case I want a "make a revolving head" button instead of the still missing "make dragon" button... Thanks for your help.. and please forgive any frustrations coming through in the written word... it's sometimes sooo hard to describe whats happening in a graphic program with w o r d s.

No. That is not right. It won't be good on the new computer until you transfer the subscription to the new computer. For that you contact Hash Inc (jason@hash.com) and request a new activation code. This may take a little while because Jason is only one person but plan ahead and you'll be able to do it with minimal hassle. As always, consider the source. It's not clear what you were told so it's hard to tell what is accurate and what may be misinformation. All software is buggy but that is why Hash Inc offers a subscription... so no one has to live for very long with those. You are incorrect in some parts of this. Yes, if you don't upgrade you must use the version you have. Hash Inc cannot go back 25 years and update all of it's old programs. They have constantly kept their subscription price low so that users can update every year ($79 currently). Check to be sure you have the most current release of the version you are using. Hash Inc has historically updated A:M so frequently that A:M Users may not have installed the most current version. All installers can be found on the Hash Inc FTP site: ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/updates/ It's not entirely clear to me what isn't working for you. If there isn't a fix, usually there is a workaround for most problems. Rodney, thanks for the replies... What isn't working for me is rendering a progressive transparency on a model in final render mode... (see thread giving dex a brain, in "new users" below)... I am currently re-working the model so that I can see if that fixes it... You will see what caused me to believe that 14.0 c (the latest version, re-installed) might have some problems with final rendering of transparency. I am not defeated yet... just a bit frustrated at the moment... And as I said there is nothing unreasonable with $79 annual subscription rates. And I'm glad that with some forethought, I can transfer to a new computer. It will probably all work out one way or another... as I work on it... but I can be as impatient as a noob... wanting the Polaroid solution to all my problems... "make dragon button" where are you? Thanks again.

Okay guys, I'm confused. I have ver14.0c. I'm considering upgrading. If I upgrade to ver 17 (current, correct?)... I subscribe for $79... It's good for only one computer, right? And if I upgrade my PC (which I am also considering doing) after I downloaded the subscription... It's no good on the new computer. Right? And if I want to model on my laptop away from home, I can't do that. Even if I "buy in" at the $299.00 level... Is that right? And even the $299.00 level won't cover me if I upgrade my computer. Version 14.0c, I'm told, is buggy in the rendering portion (as far as transparency goes). I understand the difference between render lock and quick render mode and rendering to file (the latter is what I'm talking about).. Please tell me I'm incorrect in some part of this? I really like A:M and I have since it was Playmation (the first version I owned)... I don't often have a desire to sit down and do any animation... but when I do, I'd like to be able to at least do so under the last version I purchased... and if it's a year or two out (or longer, as it is now) since last I putzed with A:M, I have to spend$$ to do it. And if I don't upgrade, because I don't have a professional need for a more current program, I'm stuck with one that doesn't quite work right. Make no mistake... $79.00 is extremely reasonable, even for a one year sub. But, I'm getting ready to retire... and "Disposable income" for a few days of putzing and dinking every year or so... well...

Thanks Nancy, I'm working on redoing the model. I'll probably end up upgrading, as well. I'd forgotten the joys, and frustrations, of working with/playing in A: M. My "muscle memory" of working in it is slow to return... Age, I guess!

Okay, I've got the latest video drivers... now, how do I clear hash registry? I'm doing a search on that, BTW