ernesttx

Thanks for welcome back. Yah, took a few seconds to figure out what was going on with the CPs. I was thinking I had been away too long. hehe

I think I found it. Snap to Surface was toggled and forcing CPs to snap to another surface when moving them.

Hey all, checking out v18 and started modeling again and maybe it's me, but I seem to remember not having to use keys to move CPs around and have them go haywire. For example, I used to move CPs around with the mouse and could move them into desired position. Now with v18, I move a CP around and it shoots all over the place (moving in different axis). I'm using keys (1, 2, 3) with mouse movement to move CPs around and it's so not intuitive. Is there a setting? I checked in Options and there is an "Use old compensate mode" option, but, that doesn't seem to help. This used to be quite easy to move CPs without the extra keys. Any suggestions? Thank you.

I've been playing with it for the past couple of days and really enjoying it. It seems to have a great workflow, if you are a traditionally inclined animator. The toolset, x-sheet, FX, and schematic view are outstanding. I'll probably use it as my main animation software going forward (I have and still used Mirage, TB Harmony, Flipbook, Anime Studio Pro and a few others). But, after putting OpenToonz through the paces, it just somehow clicks better for me. And, no, Rodney, I will never give up Fusion. hehehe

Let us know what it says. I don't think that magazine is widely available.

Moo the force be with you.

hmmm Didn't know you were in Austin, David.

Thanks, Rodney, sounds good.

I just spent the weekend going through these tutorials. These should be included with every sale of Hash A:M. Wow, simply great techniques by a great animator. BTW, if someone was wanting to purchase a non-subscription of A:M, is that a permanent license download or is the CD still shipping?

Congrats, Will. Yes, it does feel good to get the first one out. Your next episodes will go smoother, as well. The first hurdle is always the "Can I do it?" moment. With one out the door, you can see where you need to focus more attention and what you can leave alone.

I used to have the movie on DVD. Great reference stuff for character designs.

It's not so much going off the grid as it's more of getting out of the rat race. Or rather, being able to choose which rat race I wish to be involved in. I'm at a point in my life where I want to pause for a moment and chart out the next chapters of life. And I wanted to be able to do that without having to worry too much about certain things. Things like mortgage, or rent, lots of bills, debt, and doing work for a company that isn't relating to my interests. To me, those things tend to take away my energy and time that I would rather put towards creative efforts. So, in the near future, I'll be able to have more time to pursue animating, creating films, creating music, and maybe even getting back on a stage and acting again. But, this time, I won't have the 40-hour corporate job, the brain draining "I have a presentation about the automotive industry tomorrow and need to finish up the slideshow" thoughts in my head, or the "oh, I just had a great story idea, but I can't start thinking about it now, because I have to be up at 6 in the morning for that meeting in the office" thoughts. I'll have more time to network with other creative people and have time to really work on ideas, write, collaborate on music and finish up a life's long trickle of ideas scribble in notebooks over the past 30 years. Basically, I've set myself up in a world where I'm not working to exist; I'll be living to do my work. It's a comforting feeling (to me at least) in moving from a life where I had to depend on a high yearly salary to "make it"; to a life where I can thrive on about a month's worth of money that I make now. I am so looking forward to this adventure, my friends. Life is good, go live in it. EDIT: Funny that just after writing this, I checked on yahoo.com and found this link - https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/7-t...-175823605.html

The studio is setup now. The only remaining thing is water; but, I can survive without for now. I actually fired up the computer last night and made sure all the software and stuff was still working and install updates from last 6 to 8 months. I'll also be clearing the rest of the land to be able to do video shoots and whatnot on it in the future. Still need to get the interwebs out there. Still working at regular job and will end that sometime this year. But, basically, the studio is open for business again!

Hey David, let me know if you need any help. I'm in and around Austin.

To get the utility pole run and placed on the property was 2149. Additional materials (wire, circuit box, breakers, conduit, etc) was about 350 and then a bit to the electrician - all in all about 2700 total. Grand total so far (including land purchase, studio cabin, electricity, fees, permits, surveying fees, etc), I'm sitting close to around 27,000.00 investment in the future after about 1.5 years.

Just a quick update, electricity was hooked up over the weekend. Not long now until the studio is back to producing. Last thing on list, water. hehe

Thanks, Robcat. I'm glad I'm not any further north or this winter would be quite different. hehe

4 weeks and counting until I have electricity on the property. Can't wait to get back to animating. *Update: just got a call and poles may go in this Friday. Yay!

I have Hitfilm Ultimate and it's a great compositing program and basic video editor. It still has some growing room in the professional direction (ie, doesn't have higher end 3d layering capability like using different passes - depth map, etc) and the 3D environment takes a bit of wrapping your mind around (at the moment each 3D object imported is in its own space but has workaround). But, Hitfilm is aware of these things and I'm sure will be work out in a new release. But, positive side, it does offer point tracking, comes with a Mocha limited version (that you can upgrade to full at a great discount), can edit video in app, layering rendered stills, particles, effects, chromakey, grading, optical flow motion blur, etc.

Congrats Will follow your passion. I'm a few months behind you hehe

Interesting. 18 is working on my Surface Pro without having to do that, don't have the Surface 2 yet.

Small update: Land purchased and paid for. Small cabin studio built and paid for. Probably a month away from getting electricity up and running. Roughing it at the moment but all is good. 2014 should be a great year to start again.

Thanks, Dpendleton77. I plan too. At the moment, I am in the process of building my studio; so, all my time is taken up working other job and building. Soon, though, I hope to have everything done in a couple of months.

Hey Rodney, I'll be putting Subject 99 on hiatus for a while. In the next couple of months, I'll be buying my land to build my studio. So, in essence, I won't have much time in the foreseeable future to put forth on production. I appreciate your time and effort on this forum for me. So, if you need to archive it or take it off line, then that is fine. Thanks again. Ernest

I received an IM from Rodney yesterday inquiring about updating this forum thread. It got me thinking about this series again and what I needed to do to continue it, if that was something that I wanted to do. I began this series in the spring of 2006; mostly as a challenge to myself to see what I was capable of doing with my skillset at the time and all my experience and knowledge up until that time. Also, I was unemployed at that time. It was also my initial venture into single person production, scheduling and marketing a product as an artist to see if (at that time) it was a profitable venue for self-sustaining an existance. A few things became clear quickly. Each episode (roughly about 4 to 5 minutes a piece) took roughly 4 to 5 weeks to complete. That's about 1 minute of complete and edited animation a week. I was working about 10 to 12 hours a day for 7 days a week. Not bad, if I didn't feel like doing anything outside of that. Or, for that matter, anything outside. At that time, there were only a few distribution outlets that I felt catered to profitability. YouTube was one, but, at that time I was rejected from Partnering with YouTube since I really didn't have the viewership. I tried Lulu.com to sell videos via download, but, that was more of 'How to Drive Traffic' to their site and hoping people would want to buy from an unknown artist. That was more a marketing challenge. There was Vimeo, but at that time they didn't have their pay-per-view installed. There was always DVDs; but, I would have to have more content to fill up a DVD versus 1 or 2 5-minute videos. Having to wear all the hats in a production like this, somethings will have to be sacrificed, if one wants to meet a timely distribution. If I am honest with myself, I would have to say that (on viewing the series again) the animation suffered the most. I didn't allow enough time to build key poses or build in dramatic poses. Also, some modeling is not up to par, as some of the props are mediocre. But, as I said, it was a self-imposed challenge. What were my weaknesses, what were the obstacles to a full production, how best to distribute and make a profit? All questions that needed to be asked and surveyed. Last January 2011, I decided to upload all episodes to my YouTube channel. As of this writing, I am edging towards 12,000 views. Not bad for an aging unknown. So, now I sit here and comtemplate where to go from here. I have to take into account that I have done alot of other video work since starting the series, mostly live action, music videos, and more visual effects work. Currently, finishing up a music video. I am also currently developing other series (3 others) and working 40 hours at a company. So, that doesn't leave alot of time to commit and concentrate on a full production type series like I had before. Also, I have plans on buying some land and setting up an animation/VFX shop at the end of this year. So, I ask myself, does this series (in its current form) have something to offer an audience? Perhaps, if the YouTube views are any consideration that there is some interest there. How much current time do I have to commit to it? Once a few things are complete, I could have more time. Is this more of a personal interest and commitment, than one that will be profitable somehow? It is my first series, so it does hold some personal interest. Much like the executive decisions that ended series like Firefly, Terra Nova, Flash Forward, etc. a decision needs to be made, in order, to move forward in one direction or another. I'll post again in a couple of days. I feel I need more soul searching. What do others think? Is there a time to end a production? Is it time for a new series? Is there any interest out there? I do have plans to continue this series. Perhaps in another medium (graphic novel?) or live action. I feel that with my current schedule it will be difficult to be more timely with submissions. Should this forum thread be trucked away like a crate in an Indiana Jones movie? Executive decision time.