detbear

Hey Guys, Thanks Rodney. I'm not familiar with the "eggslice" thingy. As Robcat said, the actual render area is un effected by the "Blinders(I like that comparison Rob)". I imagine that something could be created that worked in the camera itself to basically put a "Blinder" area outside of the camera's render space. My model Blinder was just a workaround. BTW....Robcat. Nancy G. created the Armor texturing on "Goose Knight" for the Boomer project. Did a great job. Thanks Nancy Such talented people here. Rodney....Would be cool if somehow this type blinder could help someone's render times for tests. I'm not sure how it could be used for fades, cross dissolves, etc. Cheers, William

Actually You guys probably have an easier way to do this. This is just a simple help I came up with. Hope this helps if anyone has use of it. Cheers, William

Hey Everyone. Often when I am trying to set up that "perfect" camera shot in my scene, I get deceived by the fact that I can see too much of the camera angle. In other words, things beyond the edges of the camera can be seen while placing the camera at a good angle. Then when I render I realize that I got too much or too little in the view. So I made a simple 16:9 "View Blocker" model so that when I'm setting up my camera, I'll have an easier time seeing only what will be rendered. Maybe some of you could use this little help. Here it is. Attached is the model and a choreography with it set up on the camera Also the two pics show with and without cover. 16_9_camera_framing_Helper.cho1280x720_camera_frame_cover.mdl Cheers, William

Yeah... I imagine that the "Birds Eye" view has to at least be akind to the movements of the camera view. I wonder if this could be added as a click feature in the "View" window? At the same time, this is a minor tid bit compared to the other features. But still, it seems like a needed/ practical addition. I'm not so good at matching the view by hand.

I seem to have gotten that almost perfect angle with a window in perspective view. I would love to make that view into the camera view. Is there a way to turn the persective view into camera view? Thanks, William

William, No matter if your Kickstarter fund comes through or not, I would encourage you to finish that work man. Even if it takes you longer. My project took a whole bunch longer than I ever planned for. I came so close to quitting it several times. Don't give up on it....You can do it.

Hey T, I sent you an update Via E-mail. William

Happy birthday Robert!!!

Yeah, I always export to AE to see if the file actually has the shadow only result since the render appears all black. But in After Effects, the TGA Shadow frame is still completely black. Only a PNG reveals the shadow in AE. Now keep in mind that I may have made a mistake in the render process. But the same render setting for the TGA does not produce a shadow only frame while the PNG render does.

I found that in V17 the only way to get a shadow only render is by using the PNG formatt. I wish these could remain somewhat consistent. It's like doing the same research and development over and over again when a new Version(s) comes out.

Hey Tom, I just sent you an E-Mail. William

Robert, Awesome illustration..... Thank you for creating this and posting it. It makes me more interested in working with A:M composite and EXR.... ****I tried to run the shadow buffer, but it kept giving me a black screen. Works fine when I only have the Alpha and depth buffers selected. ****If you want to control each of your lights in the scene(in AM Composite), which light setting should you choose? "Light objects" or "each light in it's own buffer?"

Today I find myself in a real mess. I renewed my subscription because my old has one day left. And I get this error everytime I try to render my project in any file format. Now even my previous versions are giving the same error message. So I'm treading water here with no rendering capability. Please tell me that the rendering ability in A:M is not screwed up now.

Some Thumbnails of the first sequnce.

Matt.... Great thought about the ship. The storyline carries a clash in technologies of sorts. So it requires a more classic look for that particular vessel. But more steampunkish, victorian tech is on the way. Jakerupert....Retro is a sub genre of what I'm going for.....with a steampunkish edge. BTW.....I think the old Flash Gordon stuff is awesome. Especially the original stuff from way, way back.

This is one of two vessels in the intro episode. This is of course base work with no textures and no details thus far. It is an early work in progress to capture the base structure shape. More coming

Yeaaaaahhhh.... Awesome John. Great work. And great example of how the mdd export can be utilized!! The Mdd basically exports a mesh version of any A:M animation by frames. This exported mesh is fixed to how you animate it within A:M.... The incredibly awesome advantage that John is showing is that once this animated mesh is exported, you can interact that animation with the features of "Post Production" tools. Or a separate renderer or lighting system...etc. You cannot change the animation that is exported, but the animated mesh is able to interact with things like say......Real Flow fluids....for instance. Because the mesh has a surface......... particles, light, and shadows react with it in other Apps. ALSO....The mdd can also translate UV maps and so using a different render engine or lighting engine is then possible. Very good tool and Hats off to Hash for offering a great add on. Nothing can compete with the flexibility of A:M. This is just another one of those simple reminders of how versitile A:M is.

Yes... Design is still a WIP somewhat. Steampower heats sword to a scorching temperature... ......much to the adversary's demise......It also powers her devastating 'bolt' gun.

Thanks so much. I hope to be posting more soon. Lots to complete.

Hey Everyone. With a cliffhanging, episodic feel, Stay tuned for a steampunkish adventure!! Attached is a character sneak peek preview. Cheers, William

Rodney, Nice looking test. Thanks for posting. After experimenting with trying to create the hole by adding splines with the four 5-point patches, I found that the 5-pointers have a terrible "concave" trough that I couldn't get rid of. The bias handles being moved to help this makes the circle an oval. I'm sure that somehow that can be fixed, but so far my splinemanship isn't getting it done Maybe the boolean approach may be a better option after all. At least at this point.

Thanks everyone.... Thanks Robert......Guess that's the way. Gerry.......Looks good to me...I've had issues like that with 5-pointers myself. William S. .......I'm trying to avoid any rendering heavy weights. And the model needs to have some other visible elements on the inside and where the boolean would be. That said....The boolean may not be a problem, but I don't use booleans enough to know the in's and outs of how they effect renders that way.

Hey Everyone.... I was hoping to avoid a boolean here. Is there a way to cut a circular opening in the side of a tube in A:M without using a boolean operation? Thanks so much for any suggestions.

Hey, Yeah....I'm not looking to use any of those....I was just curious because I noticed them there. Actually there are about 6 or so on the extras DVD.....The Orangutang, Chicken, Sheep, Ostrach, Ram, Monkey, or something like that.

I noticed that he has 2 TAK projects on his projects folder in that demo. Were those ever available to A:Mers? I know that many of the other Tak characters were generously included on the extras cds at one point, but I don't remember the Tak character himself actually being available.