MattWBradbury

I am going to move this topic to a Wiki page. Here is the link. Right now, nothing is uploaded, so it will still be under construction. This Wiki will have all of the features on it.

Gradients Gradients control how shading is rendered in certin Shading Methods. Animation Master comes with five preset gradients. To select a preset gradient, right click on the gradient bar in the Method menu, and select Preset. When a different gradient is selected, a new set of key points apears on the Gradient bar. Each of the gradeints renders differently because of the properties of each key point. The construction of a Gradient is not difficult. Start by deleting all of the key points on the gradient map. To delete a key point, first click on the key point, then right click on it, and select Delete Key. I suggest saving the cleared gradient so you do not have to delete every key every time. To save a Gradient, right click on the Gradient bar, and select Preset, and then select Create at the bottom. Name this gradient CLEARED. If you look at the presets, the new gradient will appear. Now that the gradient is cleared, new points can be added without being changed by prexisting points. To add a point, left click anywhere on the Gradient bar. The points you add will be set to the default value which is based on the percent the key point is at and creates a grey scale gradient. To look at the properties of the key point, first left click on the key point, then right click on the key point, and select Key Settings. At the top, you have the Position. This is the location of your key point on the gradient. Setting different values will move the point. The closer the percentage is to 100%, the farther right the key point is, and visa versa for percentages closer to 0%. Next is the Color. The color has two options: This Color, and Object Color. If you select This Color, the Gradient will be set to that color at that point. Topic is currently under Construction

Override Shading Override Shading does exactly what it says it does. It sets the shading for every surface. Remember that you must have Lines Only set to OFF in order to use Override Shading. There are four different Methods for Override Shading: Standard, Toon, Toon with Fallof, and Toon Gradient Only. Standard The Standard method takes the original background, and simply overlays lines onto it. Here is what is rendered with Standard Method. The Standard method does not have gradients like the other three methods, so the only thing left to do for renders using Standard is to adjust the Override Lines. Toon When you select one of the other three Methods, you get another option. Gradients control how surfaces are shaded, but there is a lot to gradients, so those will be discussed in the next section. The Toon method, in version 12, only renders ambiance with lines, so if you want to use this method with little to know ambiance values, you will have to use lightly colored lines. Otherwise, you will have to turn on Gobal Ambiance, or set the individual Ambiance Intensity; there are faster ways to do this with other methods. This is what will render if you simply turn on the Toon method, and do not change the Specific Color Method Color. The Spaceman is barely visible. This is what is rendered with any gradient will render with the Toon method that has a white color for the Specific Color Method. Toon with Falloff This Method is very similar to the Standard method, except that now you have a gradient that tells how the shading of surfaces will be rendered. Like the Standard method, Toon with Fallof method uses the diffuse color of models as well as the diffuse color of lights to create the color layer for a render. This is what is rendered when you use the default Two-Tone (with line) gradient. The render is much brighter now because of how the gradient is set up. There are also solid lines which indicate where the least amount of lighting is on models like the binoculars. Once again, an examination of gradients will be saved for the next section. Toon Gradient Only The Toon Gradient Only method does not use the diffuse color of lights to create the color layer of a mask. Instead, it relies on the setup of the gradient, and the diffuse color of the models. This is what is rendered with the Toon Gradient Only method with the default Two-Tone (with line)gradient. By selecting a different gradient, you can get a different shading style. This is what is rendered with changes to the line thicknesses, and gradient is now set to the Preset gradient of Two-Tone(Soft). Please continue to the next section on Gradients

Override Lines When Specified Color is selected, the Color Method menu shows a color value. Specified Color for the Lines Only image is set to black, but it can be set to any color. The background color is the color of the camera’s background color, so you can make any combination of color with them. When Percent of Underlying is selected, the Color Method menu shows a Percent value that can range from 0%-100%. The default value is 20%. This is what is rendered for Percent of Underlying. This may look like the Lines Only render, but under a closer look, the lines are not the same color. This is what is rendered when the percentage is increased to 100%. Now the lines are colored the exact color of their surface’s diffuse color. The blocks, spaceship, and crayon box have a white diffuse color, and that explains why they only have a grey outline of their edges. Thickness The Thickness sets the width of the lines. The value ranges from 0 to 20 with 2 as the default. This is what is rendered when the thickness is set to .5. The lines are much finer, and details that had once been covered up by large lines have come into view. This is what is rendered when the thickness is set to 10. The thick lines have covered up much of the detail in the scene. If the lines were any thicker, it would be difficult to tell what was in the scene. Toon Line Bias The Toon Line Bias sets the amount of line detail for a surface. The smaller the value of Toon Line Bias, the finer the detail that is rendered. The values range from .01 to 1000. This is what is rendered with a Toon Line Bias of 2. The thickness of this render was set to .5. Far more detail is visible now with a lower value for Toon Line Bias. This is what is rendered for a Toon Line Bias of 500. Only a small amount of detail is left around the outsides of the main models. This is what is rendered for a Toon Line Bias of .1. An incredible amount of detail is now visible; however, because there is so much detail, the scene no longer has the look of Toon about it. This would be better used for a stylized look rather than a cartoon. Please continue to my next post on Override Shading.

I'm just settingup the correct color right now. I've got about 20 pages of stuff allready, so don't worry; you'll know more than you want to.

Toon Render Animation Master’s Toon Render has a lot to offer. This topic is dedicated to providing the Animation Master Community with an in depth examination of Toon Rendering. Of the many properties for surfaces, Toon Lines and Toon Shading control how surfaces render when Toon Render is ON in the Rendering Options window. To turn Toon Render ON, click Tools on the menu bar and select Options, or press Ctrl+P to bring up the Options window. Click on the Rendering tab, make sure that Advance is checked, and click on the OFF next to Toon Render to turn it to ON. If you open up the Toon Render menu, you will see three different selections: Lines Only, Override Lines, and Override Shading. Lines Only If Lines Only is turned to ON, there will not be any shading for the scene that is being rendered. Lines Only cannot be used with Override Shading. If none of the models have Toon Line properties set, all of the lines in the scene will have default values. For the examination of Toon Render, frame 175 of the project Toys will be used. This is what is rendered when Lines Only is turned ON with default values for Toon Lines. The outlines of surfaces are now the only visible definition of the original render. Lines Only is a very simple rendering option, and has no other features inside of itself. Please continue to my next post on Override Lines.

You should use those models in an animation and when the spider comes up the waterspout on the side of that there cottage, it shows a spider in live action looking all gross and spidery like.

That is very odd. I've never really played with distortion boxes, so I have no idea how to even set them up. The model seems to move forward a little in the second animation.

Mark, there is something strange going on with the shadow of the light bulb. There's not light in the lightbulb either, which is also making it look odd. Glow is a good idea, and you can also try a bulb light with volumetrics that do not cast shadows, diffuse, or specular.

You can increase the intensity of the lense flares on the keligs, or you can turn on glow in the choregraphy when you want them on, or off when you want them off. Another thing you could try is a volumetric that does not cast shadows on a bulb light.

Does v13 come with a better book than v12? I have the old 1999 and 2000 books, and those are about three times as large as the 2005 book.

Holy Smokes! Alpha 10 is out?! I'll have to get that. The problem isn't that noticeable to me. I didn't see it until I read the note that it was bad.

So is this a different model or is it going to be in the same animation as the model from 2004?

That's a fantastic start. The first models I bulit were spheres, and all I did was mess around with lighting.

If A:M had quick ragdolls, I'd be throwing Thom off buildings, crashing cars into him. Fun stuff those ragdolls. Good example by the way. I like the way you kept it PG. The only way to make it better would be to have a rainbow come out of head.

Did you go back and redo some of your shots with HDRI? Everything looks awsome. I just wish I had that much talent.

I'd shorten the length to about waist level so it's more like a small cloack than a full on cape. We all know what happens to heros with capes (Incredibles comes to mind) Just kiding. Looking great!

Yeah, I've always wanted to go to E3, but funny thing... I'm not a member of the industry or the press. I should go wearing a fedora with a PRESS card on it and try to get in.

Nice page. By the way, there were a lot of broken links and server errors. Maybe your doing some changes?

That looks great! I can't wait to see what you come up with texturing.

Here is the garage model file if you guys want to play around with it. There arn't any textures on it because the texture file itself is over 30 MBs. GarageMatteWhite.zip

Great model! It looks like something I'd expect to see in TWO. Or is it a TWO model? Either way, you have some great spline man-ship. You would have to use a lot of hair in order to get it looking natural. Texturing (for rendering time) is your best bet. Is this character going to be more chartoonish, or are you going to make at jump for realistic (all you need is textures)? I never really was the great at reproduced faces correctly (Probably because I've only made one).

Greg, The Quake II Engine was used for games produced top notch games four to six years ago. Games like Half Life 1 and Solidier of Fortune were based off of the Quake II engine. Remember that the games coming out right now were being made about three years ago. If you really want to compete with the games coming out right now, you should be looking for engines that have fully integrated HDRI source. Look at Half Life 2 Episode One, Day of Defeat, Call of Duty 2, Top Clancy's Splinter Cell Choas Theory, Far Cry, Huxley, Gears of War, and Unreal Tournament 2007. I do not know whether or not the Doom 3 Engine has flight simulator source in it. If you plan on having a lot of out door areas, you should really look towards the unreal engines. They are much better adept to rendering outdoor scenes than Doom 3 because of the lighting different from the two engines. You are also going to want to look at engines that have light map baking for topography.

$40 is quite a bit for a game. Though if it has a great story line and great believeabily then you could even sell it for as much as $54. I'm using some light gels to filter the light into the room, but I have no idea how to use light gels for point lights.

I just bought the game, and used the target extention +editor. This turns the shortcut into the executable for the editor it'self. You can download Half Life 2's editor off of Steam when buy a copy of Half Life 2. For the quarter million dollars you would spend on the Quake III engine, it will come with tons of tools and instructions on how to use those tools. The Doom 3 editor uses the Doom 3 Engine to compile and run the maps produced by the editor. So you do not actually minipulate the engine itself. Right now, the Unreal III engine is being used to make some of the best looking games coming out on the market right now and the future. If you want to see some of the upcoming games that the Unreal III engine is making, look up Unrealtournament 2007 and Gears of War. The doom 3 editor, just like with most game editors, comes with all of the textures and prefrabricated models that are in the game. This allows users to create their own maps filled with monsters, triggers, and they can even recreate their own game if they wanted. They must only stay within the grounds of the editor. Another thing you have to look at is the way inwhich you load models into the game. Doom 3 uses 3D Studio Max modles, so you would have to also own a copy of 3D Studio Max inorder to create your own modles to import into the game. That is why having a 3D Studio Max exporter for A:M would be awsome. Though again, that would cost a lot of licensing for Hash Inc. to do that, and it would inevitably lead to a higher price for A:M, and we all don't want A:M to cost the price Maya.