Kelley

Thanks all for the comeback. I'll print this out. Mr.Incredible is standing there for scale. All to often in the past, I've build similar models only to discover that steps are 'way too tall, and doors too short. This way, as long as everything fits him, I can scale my characters and they will all walk through the same sized doors.

[1] How much influence does the dpi of a texture have on the speed of a render? On the one hand, a common-sense answer would be 'a lot', but often in these matters, the intuitive answer is not how it really is. I'm staggering along with a mere half-Gig of RAM. More is in the works, but I need some 300dpi textures for walls where a camera is going to be close. [2] Sometimes, in complicated areas where there are a lot of CP's [or I'm not zoomed in close enough] I move 95% of an object and the rest stays. I do a CRTL_Z, and all is well, but when I look at the model in wireframe, the CP's that didn't move are bright blue instead of red. They'll turn green when selected, but go back to blue. Is A:M trying to tell me somthing? [3] Is it possible to interrupt a render and then re-start? My renders [in FINAL mode] take about an hour for a second of movie. Sometimes I'd like to stop it, work on a different model, then re-start the render as I go to bed. [4] I seem to get these 'chat' messages [or PM's, or whatever] at the most inopportune times. The worst are in the middle of a render...like midway through a 14-hour long render. When this happens, all I can do is respond to the message. It takes over the Rendering Window and when I finally get quit of the conversation, I can't close the message window or get back to see the rendering. Can I disable the messaging function? Thanks, and here's a pic. of the current project. [attachmentid=21050]

Thanks ddustin. Slick idea. I recall having a similar notion years back [when making trees was pretty much out of the question] using photos and transparency maps, but it foundered on moving lots of trees so the camera never saw an edge. Now, with A:M, perhaps its time has come. I'll give it a shot. Thanks again.

Robert can you be a little more specific as to your goal? First priority is trees. I figure I can use the Hair function for grass of most any height. I saw, and bookmarked, the Zpider tutorial for trees, but the design-type that you get from that isn't what I need. At the moment I'm thinking about using the Hair function on a series of distorted spheres with short, flat hairs, and maybe, just maybe I can stack them to make a convincing tree. I'm using v.11 at the moment so the v.13 plug-in isn't possible until I upgrade, which probably wan't be far off. I'm building a frontier garrison post, patterened after the mud-brick construction in Timbuktu and Mali. I'd like to add some trees between the buildings. Mostly only the upper part of the trees will be seen. The HERO DUDE is just for scale, so steps and doors look reasonable [attachmentid=20930]

Can anyone point me toward a good plug-in [or tutorial] for trees and other vegetation?

Thanks for your question on walk/wave. I was struggling with how to ease in/ease out. Now I know. Your problems with A:M are not unique to you. I've been doing 3D modeling for about ten years, and while modeling in A:M is no problem [and I love the decaling/texturing functions] the real meat of the program, the animation, is by no means intuitive. A:M is, as you say, a dynamite program. What other app. has you saving actions, and lip-syncing sound in the earliest tutorials? But while I've bought every book that I can lay my hands on, I find that most of my questions go unanswered...until I post a query here on the Forum. Without a doubt, THIS is the best place to learn A:M.

Alas, you're right. It is so rarely an issue, that the info seems to fade over time. Then I mousetrap myself all over. In any event, I've got it saved in the project now. Thanks for leading me out of the fog again.

I pointedly tried to do a 'Save As'. It didn't work. All my Projects are saved to the C:/Programs File/Hash,Inc., but as you can see from the attached screen capture, A:M insisits on trying to write to the CD on the F:/. I created a new file in My Documents and tried to save there. Same problem. I thought perhaps if I took the CD out of the CD tray, it would work. I got a second error message saying something to the effect that "...an I/O error was detected..." and when I clicked on 'OK', A:M crashed on me. Is there a third possibility? [attachmentid=20233]

I'm trying to chage the 'Dump Truck' that comes with A:M, but everytime I try to Save or Close Out, I get an error message that says the model is either being used by someone else [there's nobody else in the house] or that it's a Read-Only file. Is there a way around this?

The gun is part of the soldier model. It does have its own bone, and there are no keyframes in the Choreography. The whole trooper has been Constrained to Path, tho' not at the moment. [i deleted the old trooper and am trying to bring in another copy.] Since my initial post, I've discovered another copy wherein the gun hasn't moved. I may just proceed with that, tho' this is strange.

In this model, the gun is over the soldier's shoulder. In the Modeling Window. And in Bones Mode. But when introduced to the Choreography, it jumps down below ground level. Any ideas on why this is happening? [attachmentid=18613]

Sorry, Robcat. I think you're right. It was a while back, and I got sidetracked...and didn't print out the thread. This one I'll print.

"Paste Mirrored" will not work for me. I ask myself: 'How can you screw up a simple Copy & Paste command?' Yet everytime I do, the legs contort like in the lower panel. Usually they're worse. Am I missing something obvious? Thanks. [attachmentid=18220]

Got it. thanks, Ken.

I got the lights to 'go on' by assigning a high specularity to the patches that make up the lens. I also gave it a large specularity-are value. Then I enabled 'Glow'. In the Modeling Room, they look right. But in the final rendering, they do not. How do I make the Rendering lights shine also? [attachmentid=18212]

Robert, In my experience, nothing else can be done while rendering... my suggestion? Close the communtiy winodw before rendering. The Community Window was closed. I never use the Chat Room. But frequently messages pop up on my screen. When I said the 'cursor does nothing', I meant that no matter what I clik on, nothing happens. If the cursor rests over a menu item in the tool bar, no menu drops down. It's like everything becomes non-functional. The message takes over until I close A:M and relaunch it. Of course, I've now lost my rendering.

I don't mind IM queries popping up on the screen when I'm modeling, [and if need be, I can clik the window closed] but when I'm rendering the window won't go away. The cursor does nothing. That means that after the chat, I can't get back to the Rendering Window. Can the Chat Room be dissabled?

Change Driver! I love simple solutions. Thanks robcat.

As of last night, after making several long renders, I got this error message. What is it telling me to do? [attachmentid=17651]

Mine arrived on Tuesday [ordered about four months ago]. Found that I was a little disappointed. Don't know what I expected, really. Maybe bunches of gem-like ideas and tips, but after all, it is basically the same book as A:M2004, updated. I also feel that it reads better, but that might be that I'm more familiar with A:M. Needs more pictures.

Gawd! I love simple solutions to things. Even if it means that you have to feel like a complete fumbling fool for a half hour. Thanks.

I'm pushing my first TSM2 Rig [Cheech Wizard] around to see what I can make him do. I got him to walk up five steps, across the platform, and nearly walk off. [Panel#1] He rocks back on his feet [Panel#2] looks around to his right [Panel#3] and then faces front once more before jumping off [Panel#4]. When he swings 'round to his right...when the right leg is at full extension...it immediately starts forward, ending up as seen in Panel #4. Looking at that, I decided that it needed a pause before starting the swing back. I thought I'd copy the Key Frame at Panel #3, Paste it in, and then drag it forward 10 frames or so. I put the scrubber over the Key Frame and Copy..but it won't Paste. I highlight it and Copy...same. Same with Make Keyframe, and Force Key Frame. Seems that there's something obvious that I'm just not seeing here. Any ideas? Thanks. [attachmentid=17271]

Welcome to A:M Lucas. For tutorials, you can't beat the manual that comes with the program. But let me add this: 3D is enormously rewarding, but not without its frustrations. So when you start projects of your own, start small. I was 13 once, and I know what you have in mind. And when I was 55 and went back to school to get computer literate, all the young blue-flame hotshots were trying to do StarWars and Terminator on 75MHz Macs with 100Mb hard drives and gnashing their teeth when it wouldn't happen. So build a few things of modest size and complexity that perhaps can be imported into a scene together later. Don't try to get Godzilla to flatten New York in the first month. And when you have problems, and you will, come here often. Good luck.

Maybe this is why the manuals steer us clear of 5-point patches.

Alternate short answer: I came over from Carrara about six months ago. It's not that painful. [and you'll be glad you did.]