TommyDAQ

Reopening worked, and I think I DID try to go into Mirror mode, but didn't know that I was in it, nor how to turn it off (ctrl-M, right?).

Reopening worked, and I think I DID try to go into Mirror mode, but didn't know that I was in it, nor how to turn it off (ctrl-M, right?).

Hi, I don't know if there is a faster way to get help - other than calling Hash. Hopefully I'll get it here pretty quickly. I must have pressed a button, but i don't know what it was. My intent was to just press / to select all connected CPs, but somehow, several (not all) groups of CPs got selected and I can't seem to get them deselected. Any suggestions would be appreciated. (restarting software now). Thanks, Tommy

Wow! What a great reply! What a great list! Thanks Robcat! I'm sure I've got many questions... all in due time. But first, how is the displacement working independent of mesh. As I recall, it used to displace an 8X8 grid/patch. Is it now based on a buffer map like the Z-buffer, or what? second - and it'll be the last one for now. I've purchased several copies of the software over the years (for various reasons), not just the subscription upgrades, but I think I've bought 3 or four separate copies. My first was a netrender copy and in about 99 or 2000 (maybe more recent - I don't know), I got an upgraded, USB hasp. Would that still work with the new netrender version? If not, could I still upgrade the netrender version? FWIW, the last CD version that I have is 2007 which supported v14c - so I guess I'm not that far behind - but I really never used that version (not much anyway). To be honest, I think the last version that I was actually really active with was probably v8 in 2000 then I dabbled w/ v10 or so around 2005. I would occasionally upgrade the software, but not really keep up w/ what was new or different. Thanks for the list! I look forward to learning more about it all! I'm really curious to learn more about Ambient Occlussions. I had read about it in the Tech Ref, but didn't quite get it. Glad to be back. Hopefully, I'll stay active for a while! -Tommy

Actually, Rodney, I'm just interested in learning what's been added since I've been away! I'm sure I'll pick it all back up the more I continue using the software. Thanks, Tommy

Is there a list anywhere - other than the list of fixes that comes out w/ each iterative update, that lists the major (and minor) feature changes and enhancements among the various versions? When I started using A:M back in '95, when there was a version number change (as opposed to a letter extension), there were pretty major changes, like adding hooks, hair, cloth, etc... However, for the past few versions, I have no idea what's changed other than bug fixes and can't seem to find a list of what enhancements or changes have been integrated. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks, TommyDAQ

Nevermind, I found it (in the Stamp settings)...

Seems like I recall there was a way to tile decals, and you could choose whether you'd want to flip them horizontally and/or vertically, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to do it. I made a small decal for a road surface, and I want it to repeat for the length of the road. Is there a way to do that without having to place a million different stamps? thanks, Tommy

You guys are too kind. It's just the car out of the box moving down a flat plane. But thank you. Unfortunately, I'm just putting storyboards together for the Maya guys at work. Oh well...

w/ your suggestions, I kinda got the best of both worlds - 1-2 sec frames, and a shadow! Thx! (comp attached) Lesson3_cncpt01_02.mov

Thanks for the req. Rendertime is more important than shadows on this one. w/ default lighting (sun, fill and deleted point light), render time was over 24 hrs for a 30 sec animation. As you could see by the name, these are just storyboard comps - not finals at all, so fast render times are a must! In my latest set up, I was getting 1 and 2 seconds/frame! That's what I was looking for! I just was wondering if I could add shadows to it. I may try decreasing the cone angle, plus bumping up the Z-buff map size (I never knew exactly what that map size was for! Now I understand! Thanks!!!)

Project attached... Thanks for the help. Storyboarding_tool_copy.prj

Ok, I'm not quite newbie... but I haven't really used this software (regularly) in over 10 years, so bear with me (no pun intended Ken - yes, I'mn on a Mac). I've got a very simple scene together in which I need to set up about 10 different camera moves, each that render a 20 second animation very quickly. The scene is made up of about 6 simple models: a ground plane, a long, flat, straight road, a car (the Porche from the CD), a simple scanner that the car passes through, a simple control booth, and a stop sign. All very simple. I've reduced the lighting in the scene to 1 klieg w/ Z-buffered shadows set very high in the scene acting as a sun. I've done this in order to enable z-buffered shadows for render speed, but I can't seem to get the shadows to appear. Currently, I've got all of my ambience settings set to 0 (I think - surfaces, chor, camera). Cast shadows is turned on in the Light object, as well as in its shortcut in the Chor. Camera render settings have shadows turned on, but I've got just about everything else turned off. Is there something else I need to turn on in order to cast shadows? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, TommyDAQ

So... I did an uninstall/reinstall. Launched it and still no grid or CPs. Switched drivers (AGAIN). Still no grid or CPs. Exited and relaunced. Still no grid or CPs. Switched graphics driver BACK to OpenGL one more time, and things showed up! Anyway, back to family things for now, but again, thanks for the advice guys!

Thanks - another tool I had forgotten about. doesn't work nothing seems to be working. I'll probably try a reinstall. Luckily, I've just started customizing my menu settings so I won't lose too much there. I'm using v9.5. I've order A:M2007 but it'll be a few days before that arrives. What is the current version? I've also sent my problem to Will P, Steve Sappington, and Ken Baer so if anyone knows about the issue, one of those guys will, I just probably won't find out until tomorrow. Anyway, thanks for the tips and advice guys. I always liked this A:M community. It will be good to be back.

Tried that... nothing. Thanks for the info about the relationships - I remember that stuff now. Like I said, everything is slowly coming back.

Well, I guess I'm a newbie (again). I started using A:M with V1 back in 1994 and used it very regularly though '98 then less frequently through 2000 and only occassionally until 2002. That was the last I had upgraded and the last version I currently have (until my '07 upgrade arrives ). Anyway, I've been away from it for so long, I totally forget the ins and outs and nuances of this delicate software package. As I make my way through rudimentary modeling and lighting, it's starting to come back to me but it seems I've run into a problem. First, I'm working on a 2.3Ghz Duo Core MacBookPro running Paralells (as the '02 version isn't available to run natively in OS X). I had been modeling a rocket. I had been trying to remember how to get the CP info to display in real-world coordinates, as opposed to relative position. Out of curiosity, I right clicked in the properties window and selected "New Relationship" or something like that and the software disappeared without warning. I hadn't saved, but didn't mind rebuilding from scratch. I relaunched the application and inserted a new model. When I went to adjust my view, I must have pressed something (but I don't know what) and the grid disappeared. I went through everything I could to get it back but have not been able to get it to reappear. I tried modeling, and though the CPs are being created in the workspace (at least I think they are), they are not showing up. I tried opening an earlier project (just a sphere on the stage w/ adjusted lighting) - same thing. Nothing shows up on the stage - no grid, no CPs. However, when I render it, it shows up fine. If I select the sphere in the project workspace, I see a bounding box, but nothing else. Does anyone have any idea how I can restore my panel display? Thanks, TommyDAQ