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possible Steffen could get the report and not be able to reproduce it if the problem is locally on your system (i.e. an out of date driver or somesuch).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

Thanks to everyone shedding light on this... I am going to reveal my level of ignorance here.. Did the person setting up this project add each leaf individually?... And then just let the Newton Physics create all the key frames for the leaves? Thanks! Tom

I didn't know we had a 3MB upload limit. If that is the case for you some setting is wrong some place. OK, Must have misread something.. Here is the file... Very cool effect...just not sure how they achieved it. Thanks for anyone who can deconstruct it.. Tom leaf.zip

Hello All- Was playing around with this cool old tutorial using "forces" and am having trouble deconstructing how it was achieved. I wanted to upload the zipped project file but it is over the 2Mb limit for the forum. It is 3Mb. What I could do was upload the movie. You can see from the wmv movie what the project looks like. I tried adding another leaf like object to the scene but the forces did not have any effect on the object that was added. The new leaf-like object was added as a dynamic object and told to respond to Newton Physics but it did not move. Can anyone explain how those leaves are made to respond to the force fields? Thanks for any help! Tom PS- If anyone wants the project file itself it still might be online somewhere. It is simply called "Leaf". I could also email it directly if anyone is interested. Leaves.wmv

Worked fine today with no crashes... musta been "user error.." Thanks for the help! Tom

I just tried dragging a jpg from the Images folder into a modeling window for a rotoscope and it worked OK. Perhaps you have some specific situation that can be duplicated?. Thanks for the feedback.. I'll try again in the morning and let you know... Tom

Windows 64 bit v. 18- Tried dragging a jpg into the modeling window to rotoscope some things and it kept crashing the software... so I'm back in v17 for now. Anyone else experience that in the 64 bit version? Tom

Thank you! Excellent explanation, Rob! Just glad to know I am not doing something wrong on this end. Tom

Hello All- Just thought I would upgrade to the 64bit version of AM and try using version 17.0g. Overall the speeds are great however I discovered when I try to render avi movies I get an error message, "AVI file create stream error". Also discovered that there are no options to render QuickTime movies in this version. Does anyone know if there is a fix for the avi rendering or if QuickTime rendering is planned for the future? Many thanks! Tom

Thank you for the reply...good advice! Tom

Thanks Rob! There might be over a week between switching my old OS to the new OD on my four computers and I am sorta working on something right now in AM. So I'm trying to figure this out with the minimum of inconvenience. Thanks for your suggestion... Tom

Thanks..I tried the link you had for "license key" and it sent me to a carpet store(?) Is there another link that could explain how to try reusing the license key? Thanks! Tom

Hello- I have been using Windows XP for years and because Microsoft is abandoning support for Windows XP I am about to upgrade to Windows 7. My AM web subscription is due in 4 days and I won't get the new Windows 7 in place for another 10 days to two weeks. If I renew AM and am sent a subscription code to be used to activate the new yearly license, will I need a new code when I upgrade the OS a few days later? I have been using AM everyday so I don't want to have a lag in service. Will the new bought subscription number work with both the old and the new Operating Systems? Or will Jason or Heath need to send me a follow up code? Any info is welcome.. Thanks! Tom

Hello all- I just saw a news article that says a UPS store here in San Diego (Kearny Mesa) is now having a 3D printer on the premises. People will be able to walk in with a file and print out their work as a 3D prototype. The 3D printers seem high end, meaning they are a cut above what the lowest pro-sumer models presently are. Don't know what the cost will be but the fact that you can walk in with a flash drive and walk out with your creation is pretty cool. If you don't live near San Diego, you might check the UPS store website and see if they are planning a 3D printer for a store near you. Best, Tom

Thanks John ...(aka Tinkering Gnome!) Tom

Cool! Many thanks to both of you for the help! These give me something to play around with... Best, Tom

Hello all- Just a quick question. I was checking out the UCLA Lab of Neural Imaging and came across a cool picture of a brain. I was trying to duplicate it in AM. I even thought that there was a Dark Tree shader that approximated x rays but couldn't find it. Anyway, in AM I took 2 spheres, crumpled the bigger one slightly and made it transparent. Added a color map and high specularity and came up with something that doesn't look even remotely what I intended. Any ideas how to achieve the effect on the left? Many thanks! Tom