detbear

Hey....I just saw this thread from way back. I missed it when it was running. Yeah...I couldn't get the barding cloth to work as it was. On a horse running and moving, it got all messed up. At the time, I didn't have the extra time to do R&D on it.

I'm a bit behind the times, but I viewed Harlock Space Pirate(2013 cg version) for the first time a few nights ago. The texturing details jumped out at me so strong. If you like CG texturing and lighting, this film is worth a view. The characters faces do however look generically anime. It seems like they all use the same head model as the other CG Anime films. But those are even well done. I rather enjoyed the film and found myself drawn to the details of the texture details in both the characters and props. It was obviously a motion capture driven project for both facial and body animation, but it was very well done. William

Hey Toreb, I seem to recall this being done as a Mat Cap shader. Although I don't know where that thread went to. It could potentially get those results. I don't think it would create the shadows with crosshatching, etc. But it would produce the objects. Cheers, William

Will. Great job. I especially like the intro. It has a "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" feel to it. Enjoyed watching it very much. William

Robcat..... I remember those viemaster looks....Something about them had a really "sur"real appeal. That's a great example of what I was thinking. Mark... Thanks. It's hard to get that plastic/ clay look. Seems to take a combination of good lighting and the right shaders. Similar to the old Viewmaster images like RC mentioned. In my opinion....it works well in these cases. Makes me curious how they did those old viewmaster shots? I've been working on Jonny Quest characters on and off. They also require that same treatment.

Mark, Forgot to ask. I have a question about your characters. Can you tell us anything about what "shader" or other elements you incorporated to give the character's surfaces that look?

Mark, I love it man. Great Idea. Anyone familiar with the show instantly recognizes it. The hard thing about bringing a 2D icon into a 3D world is that many attempts fail to keep the same aesthetic. Your Jetsons image maintains the right feel even though it's no longer a drawing. It's like going to hear your favorite band live. But when they play the hit songs you are so familiar with.......they sound terrible. Nothing like the ones you've come to love. The same is true when transferring a 2D icon into a 3D world. If people know the old.....and it doesn't feel the same or capture the essemce of the 2D version......It doesn't go over well. For me.....the 3D Scooby Doo attempt went horribly wrong. Maybe part of that is the fact that live action characters were involved, but it just wasn't the same Scooby to me. But I like the Jetson feel you have going in this image.

Since I have always constructed texture UV maps, I find myself in unsure waters with baking things. If I have a few darktree materials on a model and I bake textures. What will that do to the darktree textures. Will it form a decal. Will it do some other magical task. What's in it for the Baker William

OK.... I confess....I'm a huge fan of Sky Captain & the world of Tomorrow. So when I saw this John Carter Pitch done by the same director(Kerry Conran).... I have to wonder how awesome it would have been if they would've done the movie. Check out the pitch.....

As crazy as it sounds, Many of the media players get way off when trying to put together the correct speeds. Sound with audio dialogue often suffers terribly. The conversions between the original render, an editing software, and then the player(Media Player, Quicktime, Vimeo, etc.) all work against the shining thing the artist's originally intended. I have watched so many of my animations get trashed in this process.

I'm noticing that on triangulated obj's of only about 5-15 megabytes, it's taking long enough for me to give up and stop the process. Sometimes it's hard to tell if A:M has crashed or just (Not Responding) as the message indicates. The "Not responding" indicator shows up it you click anything. So I'm always unsure of whether A:M has quit or just not finished. At that point, for all practical purposes...it has crashed until the import process finishes.

Hey Everyone. Has anyone done some .obj imports enough to notice a speed difference. It could be me, but it seems a little slower in V18. Could be me. Thanks William

For now, we'll just refer to it as...... "THE NOUTH". A Nose and a Mouth. Just kidding... Looks like a good start on a character.

Rodney, Those are really cool. Thanks for posting those links. I wasn't thinking so much along the lines of bouyancy with effectors. But rather how a boat/ object interacts with the water plane as it bobbles through waves and moving surface. I was thinking that maybe an effector could potentially fake a splashing wake as it plowed through the water. Especially on a changing Water plane that has wavy movements. Mixed with the newton stuff definately tingles even more possibilities for a neat simulation. William

I've often wondered if these type effectors could be used to simulate a boat bouyantly moving through water. Of course it would need to be a realistic surface such as the Babbage examples.

I have appreciated the ease of setting an A:M model up for applying textures in other Apps like Vue and Lumion. When I export the models out of A:M to say....Vue....I have areas named and colored. They often look like colored circus tents. After importing them into Vue, these grouped regions become the targets for applying the materials in other Apps. I'm certainly no expert in building materials in any package. But it isn't all that difficult to get the basics of building the surface materials in a different package. The motivation being the end result you desire to acheive. Admittedly, in most architectural projects I do with Animation Master, A:M is only used as a modeller. The rest is done in the other App.

I've used Lumion 3D with really satisfactory results. I have to export the Hash Model(s) out as .3ds or .obj. But it has all the atmospheric elements and environment tools to populate some sharp scenes. GPU is necessary, but even on a mid level machine, the render times are "Bionic" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYHVVtdeCas Some of the examples look too good to be true, but I have found it to be absolutely awesome just like the samples. Fortunately I got the software not long after they started selling it. I think the price is a bit higher now. Cheers, Kevin.

I graduated from Animation Mentor in 2006. Don't be impressed with this....I still have a long way to go. And animation mentor is certainly no magic bullet. I'm no expert animator by any means. The Animation Mentor program is first rate and you do rub shoulders with people who are working on projects that most of us dream of. I highly recommend the program even if you have to do it in Maya. If your goal is to be an animator in a professional studio, it is an awesome choice that has the potential to help open some doors to that road. I still use Animation Master and in fact I just reniewed my license yesterday. So you guys will have to put up with me for at least another year. But I certainly wouldn't let the fact that you have to use Maya for Animation Mentor deter you from attending. Unless the cost for a student license is not possible. It does take a lot of time to work through the course projects. After all, it's designed to produce professional level animators who can step over from their program into the large studios right out of the gate. Cheers, William

Hey you guys, Is there a shortcut Key for the "Translate to" constraint. Rather than getting to it by choosing it from the dropdown list window, I was wondering if there's a Hot key for it. Thanks. William

Hey everyone, I have a choreography question for you guys. If you have 2 different models in a Choreography, can you attach a CP in the first model(model A)to a bone in the other model(model ? So that the bone in model B can move the CP in model A.

Hey Everyone. Ran across this story development video that includes Storyboard, Layout, Script, & final composite. Done in 2010. Detwiler_Story_Sample_800x450.mov All characters and props were done in A:M. Backgrounds(sky, desert, etc.) were done in Vue. The lighting of Animation Master and Vue were done seperately but matched together. Banditos were modeled/ textured by Will Sutton(awesome character work). I modeled Appalachian Al, but his texturing was done by John Henderson. Rigs were done by me, Will Sutton, and Robert Holmen. Storyboards, lighting, compositing was a rather difficult process. Even the shadows and AO were in seperate layers. Final Compositing of all layers was done in After Effects. Cheers, William

Hey guys, You are probably correct. I appologize and digress. Those probably are more feature style elements. I am sorry if I overstepped. My intention is certainly not to badger A:M. As I will readily admit it to be a more than adequate tool. Feel free to dismiss or take down my post. I think it noteworthy for all of us to realize the feature list is pretty robust already in A:M. While it is true that other spot-light packages may boast 'this or that'.... A:M is very easy to use and doesn't break your account cost wise. You guys are all awesome...Forgive me if I went off track there. Cheers, Detbear

See my post below

I edited my post here in order to honor it's original intentions by friends here that should be commended for their long support for A:M. Again... Without these guys and their work with A:M, my experience using the program would not have been the same and I appreciate them very much.

V 18.... AWesome so far. "Snap to nearest cp" feature works very good. It is a major help in my current project. Thank you for adding such a great tool. Hopefully I can post some samples soon. Thanks again to those on the project.