Tom

Must be my graphics card... Intel 965/963 appears to have other people complaining on other graphics sites. Although it is interesting that I can decal easily in v17... Tom

I updated the graphics card driver and things seem faster and better all around (Thanks for the tip!). I am pretty familiar with decals and tried adding them from the v18 models window with a right click...same result... the program hung up. What I have resorted to is using v17 to build decaled models and then I can import them into v18 with no problems. (?) That seems to tell me there is some bug in the newer version that just needs a little tweeking. I guess I will just use my workaround (of v17) until things get fixed. Thanks for all the help! Tom

Thanks for taking the time Rob! All of your suggestions are excellent. I just upgraded to 18g and tried different formats and all do the same thing. The bitmaps will load into the "Images" section of the Project workspace and then AM hangs up when I drag those images into the model window (whether as a rotoscope or a decal). I must have a wimpy graphics card or something. ANy idea what might be causing the hangup? Many thanks! Tom

Hello- I am runnings AM 18.0 f SSE3 on Windows 7 with an Intel Q 965/963 graphics card. It is an HP computer (bought second hand). My Animation Master "Real Time Driver " is open GL. I tried "Open GL3" but the system said that failed. I can import images into the Project workspace but when I drag then into the model window to apply as a decal I get the attached error message? Has anyone else experienced this and is there a setting I can change to make it not crash? many thanks for any insights! Tom

The only trademark that shows up in a USA governent search is "Animaster"... by a film company from Taiwan

I'll have to check out "Inside Herman's Head", sounds interesting... thanks! Tom

Hello Hashers- Just noticed a blurb about the upcoming new Pixar Movie, "Inside Out" coming out next summer. Looks pretty funny when you consider the premise and the voice actors. I don't know if anyone at Pixar saw this terrifc short: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuyB7NO0EYY) before they formulated their movie, but both concepts look great. Tom

Many thanks for all the creative thinkers out there who pitched in to deconstruct this! What a great forum!!! Tom

Sorry you couldn't play the clip Robcat. It is a pretty cool the way the animators swap out the spirals in the clip; the spirals change from a light to dark outline as they pass that section of the screen...very effective. I am thinking about what Fuchur said regarding the technique. Yes, two layers on top of each other sounds like a good solution. Thanks !! Tom

Hello Hashers- I was watching the "Secret of Kells" and saw some cool smoke effects which have me stumped. They used celtic spirals for the rising smoke and the outer spiral lines changed from white to dark when they crossed some sort of masking line.(see animated clip). I'm sure there is a pretty simple explanation how they achieved this effect..but I can't figure it out. Can anyone explain this cool effect? Many thanks, Tom SmokeQuestion.swf

Thanks for posting the matcap download link!!! Tom

Thank you so much for the reply! I checked my diffuse menu (see attached) and it has everything listed except the matcap... Is there somewhere I can download it? Many thanks! Tom PS.I thought I attached the menu file but it didn't show up in the post.Hmmmmm Anyway, if there is a place to download the matcap, that would be great...

Thanks Nancy! Those are some cool images... Is matcap a shader for AM? or is it something that you created on your own? Thanks! Tom

This is an old clip but the results are so cool, thought the Hashers might enjoy it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT9qU_fJNuw Wish there was some sort of plug-in which would simulate some of these effects... Tom

How about a test to see how particles can be held inside containers...like the spiral smoke in this cut....?? Tom Smoke.mp4

Thank you for all the suggestions! When I changed the rendering to "uncompressed"...it did the trick. Many thanks as I never would have figured this out on my own... Best Tom

Hello Hashers- I have a copy of Version 18.0F SSE4 on a Windows 7 computer that did not have any animation previous animation software on it. It runs great. I also bought another copy of Version 18.0F SSE4 at Comic Con so I could bring my old computer (which already had an older copy of AM 17) up to the latest version. This machine performs well except that it won't render avi files when rendering.(?) while running V18. I know V18 has no problem with rendering avi files because the first machine renders them easily. My thinking is that maybe there is something that V17 has on the machine which is preventing the newer updated V18 from rendering avi.'s properly. Should I delete Version 17 from the computer? Or is there some specific file hidden somewhere which is preventing the newer version from rendering avi.'s properly? Many thanks for any insights! Tom

Did you assign a hair material to a model and did you switch to Grooming-Mode (next to modelingmode etc.)? Otherwise this mode is not available. That did the trick! Many thanks for the insight! Tom

Hello all- I am using Version 18.0 d SSE4 and I am trying to "groom" some hair. I go to View/Toolbars and select "Grooming" in the check box and the icon pops up on the side of my screen.. ...however when I close the Toolbars menu, the grooming icons disappear from the margin of the screen? Has anybody else have this happen.. Thanks for any help! Tom

Thanks Rodney.. The computer that didn't work so well graphically was bought "used" from a computer technician. It has an "Intel ® Q965/Q963 Express Chipset Family" with 256 Mb Ram... probably best to avoid with 64 bit installation. Thanks again !

While it might be good for a bug report (if you can consistently replicate the problem) it is possible Steffen could get the report and not be able to reproduce it if the problem is locally on your system (i.e. an out of date driver or somesuch). In a case like this it is appropriate to start a topic and explain the issue you are having and see if anyone can validate the problem. Once validated... it'll make a great report. My first thought is to examine the files in question but since I've been simulating the same project with the same images you are using... it doesn't seem to be related to the image itself. There has been reported a problem with OpenGL3 or... um... not sure. Set A:M to use OpenGL is what my memory recalls. At any rate, post a new topic and outline the issue. I'm confident that you'll be good to go in no time. There are a couple other things you can check. For instance, do you have the same problem with A:M in 32bit? Have you installed v18a? If not is that an option? I ask this because I don't know where you might be in your current production cycle. An upgrade in the middle of production is not something I would generally recommend to anyone unless it fixes a major problem or adds a new feature you cannot live without. BTW- I did change my copy of AM to a computer with a better graphics card and it solved the problem! Good call...thanks! Tom

Thanks to everyone for the feedback! Didn't mean to sidetrack the discussion into Open GL territory...because the original "forces" project is a fascinating one. I try to deconstruct these tutorials to the point where I could approximate the result others have gotten. I have a ways to go before I understand this one, but that is where the fun is... Thanks again! Tom

Just discovered that my computer doesn't support open GL3 (see screen shot) I do have another computer which has a better graphics card. Can I shift my copy of AM ( it is not a web version but a complete version) to the new computer using the same registration #? Thanks for any info! Tom

I took a screen shot showing the Open GL settings for my version of 18. Is there something that should be changed or checked that would help my problem? Thanks for any help, Tom

Thank you for the answers to the questions! I will definitely investigate those things further... BTW- I am using AM 18.0 SSE3 64 bit and it keeps crashing when I import maps. For the leaf tutorial I had to forget about using the leaf graphic that goes with the project. It also crashed on other projects when I imported graphics for rotoscoping. Has anyone else had this problem with 18.0 SSE3 64 bit?... and should I send this to Jason as a bug fix? Thanks! Tom