detbear

Either one I think would work. Lumion for instance will open a sketchup file with color area groups. Lumion will also open up a Blender exported .3DS with color groups. But it will not open an A:M exported .3DS with color groups. I contacted Lumion a while back concerning this and they wouldn't put any time into it. So it could be their issue possibly. But what's the difference between the sketchup/ blender exports vs Animation Master's??

IS there a way to export more than one group in 3ds or obj. I don't want to have to export with the .x route. Does anyone know why you can't export more than one map/ group??

Instead of producing individual groups, the 3ds and obj exporter exports a single map. here is the screen it brings up if your name is too long. That is the only map it will export.

Which is why I suggest augmenting A:M with other tools. Especially those tools that A:M has never had and those we shouldn't expect to see. Two things in particular come to mind that specifically fit that category... color management and video editing. Some of that can be done in the course of standard operating procedure directly in A:M but A:M is not specifically designed for that. Unless someone really surprises me A:M is never going to be a color management system. To suggest anything specific I'd have to know more about the specific frustrations and obstacles you are facing. I do know that a ton of things can be done in post... compositing and such... so that alone can save many a frustration. Who here has exported out a file from A:M and lit it in Keyshot? Probably not many because solutions don't always come cheap. Still, that kind of solution may be exactly what is required to compete. I suppose that may depend on who it is we compete with. Rodney. I have several tools that would be great for this purpose if A:M exported more than one material group either in .3ds or .obj.......HOWEVER, when I import an A:M exported model(obj or 3ds) it contains only one "Blanket" map on it. THIS RESULTS in not being able to place the other apps materials onto individual parts of the resulting model. So you cannot utilize the Physically based materials included in that App. I don't understand why this is, because .obj's/ .3ds files from other apps do import group areas for this purpose. SO that route gets shot down. IF someone could successfully export a compatible .obj or .3ds that contained individual material groups on individual parts, then that would be a great thing. BUT I haven't been able to get that to work. It makes one map for the entire model instead.

This is probably a subject for a different thread, but here goes. It's true that large studios like Pixar can afford to light every scene to obtain their artistic vision using many lights. But I think that it is not efficient or realistic to attempt this for large projects as an individual. Most of Us don't have a lighting department which is what it takes to pull that off in a realistic amount of time. We are in a different era now where tools do exist to obtain faster and more realistic results. As Robert said, radiosity is possible in AM, but takes a long time to render. That is true only because they haven't implementing a new render engine. AM has not kept up with the industry's changes unfortunately. For the individual artist relying on tools for efficiency to meet deadlines with quality that competes......well, that hurts bunches. Ahhhhh......forgive me. I will stop here. Its just frustrating to struggle obtaining the Results needed in an acceptable time frame.

I guess this issue is a dead end then. Without a physically based lighting engine that takes advantage of gpu power, it seems doubtful that something like that would help anyway. Even if it was an accurate tutorial or not.

Hmmmm ...... interesting

So I wonder what he is improving in the tutorial by switching from the SRGB to the different node and making the brightness of one light work better? That seemed to help in his example.

Thanks Robert.

I ran into this informative video and couldn't help but wonder if A:M suffers from a similar limitation. This video is lengthy, but if someone has the time to look through it, I'd like to find out if A:M might be set to the old sRGB scale and unable to rise to a better "Dynamic Range" for more realistic renders using a single sun light. Since I don't know a lot about the tech in these matters, I'm wondering if someone else might shed some light on whether A:M could be improved also like Blender is in this video. xhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9AT7H4GGrA

Ouch. That 3ds UV looks pretty messed up. I wish that we could get both of those exports to deliver those maps correctly. I hope you can get the desired result. Sorry I'm not much help there. I have experienced troubles getting the .obj export to contain maps when I open them in other Apps

Try using the .3DS export instead and see if that contains your info. For some reason, the .obj exporter doesn't always deliver groups and things like that. But I think the .3DS exporter does.

Hey Everyone, I'm putting this on hold for a while. But I will be posting in this topic on other projects. Sincerely, Detbear

Hey Everyone!!! Welcome to this Special Topic. I will be focusing on my Animation Projects here. This will also include Films and tutorial elements associated with my You Tube Channel. I also have a number of other 3D related projects that may at times make an appearance here. So stay tuned for those. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING TIME TO CHECK THIS TOPIC OUT!! Sincerely, Detbear

OOOppps.....Your right Gerald. Sorry bout that. I totally overlooked the post.

If you have access to a program like After Effects, I would consider creating that effect in Post Production. You can render the frame slightly larger and use an After Effects plug in to move it like a shake/ Quake. Do a search on google "How to get a shake effect in AE" and you should get a bunch of tutorials. I think the Video Copilot site has a plugin for this. www.videocopilot.net

I had a similar problem back in 11.5 where every time I saved a model or choreography or action, etc., it became infected with 1 more image placement holder kind of like what you have there. After a while, a project would become so bogged down in the multiplication of these that you could hardly even work. You had to open each infected file in a text editor and delete all the jargon by hand. Then you had to save it in the text editor....close.....and reopen in Hash. The bad thing was, sometimes there would be 20 or more items in the project that had to be doctored like this. AND if you forgot to fix one little item, it would start the infection process on all items again if you saved the items. I would open the file in a text editor and see if there is a list of lines with or something like that. If it is, delete them.

Very Cool Mark. Looks great!!

Something needs to be done about this process. It shouldn't be this complicated to update. This seems to pop up over and over on the forum. There needs to be a more automated process to get this done.

The timing seems about right for them to begin looking for talent for their upcoming "Dragon's Lair" Feature Film. So I wonder if this could be a stepping stone for some to try and get involved in that project. Newbeees with some talent could be had at cheaper rates. Plus the opportunity to work on "Dragon's Lair" has some serious appeal.

Thanks so much Guys!!!! I have more in production, but time to get them completed hasn't been quite as abundant. Kevin

Hey Everyone!!!! I finally completed and published my latest "Lego" themed Animated Film on my Youtube channel. As many of you know, I have been working on these for some time now. The First 3 Days are very important as to how it is received by the public. If you get a chance, it would really help me out to get a view or two. I appreciate all of my A:M friends and their support. All animation and effects done in A:M and After Effects!!! I did use a few elements from Lumion, but only a small bit. Here is the Link: xhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1r9J3JAmUs Very Warm Thanks, Kevin

If it is a "Stamp" placement problem, you may have to "Re-stamp" it. This is why many of us set up "actions" to stamp on decals. That way you can go back to the "action" file and everything will be flattened the way it was before. Then you can adjust the CP's as needed and re-apply. I have found though, that the "recall View Position" feature doesn't always put the Image/ stamp in place where you originally had it. THAT WOULD BE A GOOD FEATURE REQUEST.......I mean a way to make sure you can get back to the original stamp view months or years later...

Reminds me so much of "James And The Giant Peach." Looks fantastic Tore. Very creative and stylized. You have such a realistic look to your models and characters.

As Robcat said.......it will require the ability to paint the correct images required. That is a complex skill in itself.