Jeetman
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Posts posted by Jeetman
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I am a user from RI, about 20 minutes north of Providence.
Jeetman
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black_mage,
I agree with Rodney.
I don't really follow the Final Fantasy trilogies so I'm not really familiar with the characters but comparing the pic to your model that you posted, it looks really good!!!!
Excellent work!
Jeetman
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So it's the balance keys that are causing the action to not display properly in the choreography then?
Balance/Balance Rigid has caused enough problems that some refuse to use them.
They serve a purpose (to automatically keep the character upright etc) but when you attempt to unbalance a character (which you perfectly do!) it runs afowl of the constraints.
There are some discussions on Balance/Balance Rigid in these TAoA:M threads.
As I recall the concensus was that most people should just turn them off.
If you are still having problems getting both actions to work as you expect them two I would recommend opening two instances of A:M. Open Ken's project file on the left and yours on the right. Then check the settings one by one in the Shaggy Actions in the Chor. Anything that is different may provide you with the information you need to resolved any issues.
RODNEY!!!!!
It's a pleasure to actual converse directly. I hope you checked out my first Exercise 1: mov/jpg I submitted (hint hint for certificate hehe).
Awesome job on the fix as well. I thank you and Ken for this help. Once I understand what is happening I can plan ahead so as not to have to deal with it in future animations.
Ken's fix was was so great!!! The only issue was the feet were a bit contorted (the foot nulls were basically crunching the feet and the body swayed side to side) but yours didn't.
After getting Ken's fix, I went back (to completely understand what was happening) and took my original action I created and did exactly what Ken had said to do (delete the balance and rigid balance keys). When I did that, my action matched Ken's fix (feet crunch with side to side body sway and all) but at least it's not floating in air anymore and I understand what is happening.
However, when I loaded your's the feet were perfect. It matches my first intended action. What did you do different?
Very Much thanks to both of you,
Jeetman
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I got it fixed. Deleted the Balance and Balance Ridgid poses in the Cancan fall action. Not sure why they were messing it up.
Here's the fixed project.
This is awesome Ken. Thanks so much. When I created the original action, I moved the Rigid balance and balance sliders to zero. When I opend the "fixed" project, I noticed they were back to the default with no keys created.
So because of moving the balance sliders, I created the keys. So in the future if I turn off the animate button before moving the slider to 0 balance (for both slider) this should prevent the keys from being created? I ask this because it's much easier (as I'm sure you know) to create an action with the balance set to zero in some cases (such as this IMHO).
So it's the balance keys that are causing the action to not display properly in the choreography then?
Jeetman
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Hello everyone,
I want to do the Exercise 2: (Chorus Line) cancan with an interesting twist but it's not going well. I'm hoping others (who may have run into this problem) can possibly explain what is happening and can also tell me a way to get this to work.
My idea is a 30 second to 1 minute short of the "cancan" dance that has gone wrong.
My idea is nothing long or laborious (I think). It's just a quick simple chain of events that is bestowed on the unsuspecting characters hehe.
In general, what I want it to be is shaggy's foot slips out from under him and he falls (quite hard) on the stage breaking through the floor which a loose board then shoots Knight into the air and he lands on Rabbit.
Seems relatively simple.
The problem is, my action for Shaggy is behaving oddly in the choreography.
Here's what's happening:
I created my action of Shaggy slipping and losing his balance and falling through the floor. I import it into the choreography and positioned it in the place where I want the action to happen (after the 3rd repetition of the cancan cycle where he's in the last knee up position).
The animation adds to the underlying animation with no problem except it's not playing out properly. The way the added action is suppose to play out is shaggy's foot slips forward as his body is propelled slightly upwards and backwards and he lands on his backside so hard, that the floor breaks.
In the action window, it looks good but in the choreography, he get's hung up in the air and his feet hang down all contorted. It looks like the model bone is limiting the motion. I could animate the model bone movement to place him but the action it's self isn't displaying correctly.
It's easier to show you rather than explain so I attached a zip of the project and action so you can see my intended action and what I'm getting in the choreography.
You will need v13 beta to view it though.
I would really appreciate any help I can get with this.
Thanks,
Jeetman
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one question...how long did it take
Thanks black_mage, I appreciate the compliment
To do the animation, took a while but only because I was trying to figure out how to go from the resting pose I created to the dynamic pose using the slider. It kept going back to the "arms out position". I finally gave up and basically posed the dynamic pose manually. That took about 30 mins to an hour to get as close to the exact pose as is done with the slider. I used a second window of the character in the "slide pose" dynamic pose to use as a reference.
Once I had the animation the way I liked it, I added the stage and lights which took about another 30 minutes to get the scene to look the way I wanted it.
I created the text in my paint program (paintshop pro) and decaled a basic plane and used the cookie cutter so it would have just the text. I then made it transparent and added 2 constraints (orient like and translate to). I set the transparency in the beginning and animated the transparency properties so by the last frame the transparency was set to 0. I also set the ambience to 100 and glow to on.
all this took about 45 mins. to an hour.
added a camera on a path, adjusted the ease so it would ease into position took about 5-10 mins.
total time (after giving up on using the slider) about 2-2.5 hours.
Jeetman
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Hello Floater,
Thanks for the kind words and welcome aboard!! I've had A:M for about 3-4 years now but I've been really learning the program in depth over the last 3-6 months.
Your pose looks great and good job in fixing the foot
this forum is a great place to get questions answered and learn from previous posts. See you in the chat room.
Jeetman
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In the properties window for your short cut to choreography, make sure the animation setting is set to "blend" and not replace.
If I remember correctly, that lesson has you add a wave to the normal walk cycle.
what you are bascally doing is blending the arm swing with the new "wave" action.
I'm only assuming here so if I'm wrong I appologize but
because in the wave, only the movements of the arm are keyed, no other keys are set. In other words no feet or leg movement keys are animated.
If you have the default "replace" option set, it replaces the animation with the wave which (again I'm assuming here) wipes out the walk cycle and that's what causes the "glide" effect (hands out like an airplane).
With the "blend" option set, it tells the program to add (or blend) the animation in with the current keys.
Another thing that can cause the glide is if your ease isn't set correctly.
I'm still kinda new so anyone els who posts, please correct me if I'm wrong about this but this is what I think may be your problem.
Jeetman
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I am not sure that there is a limit as to how big a file size you can load, but I suggest trying to keep it small or loading onto a site somewhere for us to view.
I was able to decrease the file size and still maintain a lot of the integrity. When you get a chance, please check it out and let me know what you think.
I posted two in the Exercise 1: "You're the Director" thread. The first is the mov file the second is a jpg.
Jeetman
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Oh I have the jpg too to show the dynamic pose
Jeetman
Make sure to check out the mov version I posted just before this one.
Name on certificate: George Dugas
Exercise completed: Exercise 1
date completed: 05/17/2006
Instructor: Self-taught through the writtings, knowledge and lessons of David Rogers, Jeff Lew, William Sutton and a whole lot of other proficient AM users.
Comments: I have to be honest. I couldn't use the slide pose to create this animation. Everytime I did, the first part of the animation would be modified to include the "arms out" position that I clearly didn't want. I created the last dynamic pose by studing the position (of the dynamic pose) from another opened action window and recreating the position as closly as possible. By doing this I was able to make the smooth transition from the resting pose to the dynamic one shown in the mov file.
Question, is there a way to prevent the "airplane / arms out" position to creep in and blend with just the end pose? It would have saved me a bit of time LOL.
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OK as promised I'm going to try to attach my finished animation of the "Your the Director" and animating the "POSE"
let me know what you think?
Jeetman
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That's what I figured Leo but I wanted to make sure.
One more question, What is the max file size you can attach? I tried to attach my finished animation (4 meg) but it kinda got hung up so now I'm trying to shrink the file size the best I can while still trying to maintain as much of the integrity of the animation as I can.
Jeetman
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Rodney,
I'm starting to try for the certificates to hopefully be able to participate in the "TWO" movie.
I've already done a few of the execises before but I didn't do the "POSE" one. I did a version of it last night that's not exactly as the assignment was given. In other words I improvised...a lot!
I was talking to my brother this morning and he said that he thought that I'm not taking the right approach because if I can prove myself able to work on the "Two" movie, I'm giving the impression that I do my own thing and won't follow instructions (which is absolutely not the case).
I thought the exercises were designed to show your skill and understanding of the program so I felt the "POSE" exercise could be juiced up a bit.
I created an animation that came out really cool based on the "POSE" exercise. I'll post it as soon as I get home. My question is, IS this OK to do?
Jeetman
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Awesome suggestions!!!
Thanks all
Jeetman
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i was trying to model stuff for about a year ( trying to avoid the timeline )
I think by your tone you've since changed your mind (at least I hope so).
Rules to remember: The timeline is my friend
I too avoided the timeline but after seeing Jeff Lew's CD, you really can't make really good animations without it.
The timeline allows you to completely control every part of your animation.
I use to have what I'd think is a common problem for beginners of starting a forward animation (animating straight forward without worrying about overall scene timing) with say animating the the arms and hands (the door is stuck comes to mind) for about 60 frames. Then on say the 60th frame, I wanted to add a leg movement. Once I added any extra movement, my animation would not be doing what I wanted anymore.
the legs were slowly moving at the same time my hand animation was playing out and it looked rediculious.
This was so frustrating and I actually quit using AM for quite a few months until the desire to animate hit me again and that's when I learned what I was doing wrong.
learning about the timeline features basically showed me what was happening and now I can do straight forward animating with no problem.
Jeetman
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I assume that you meant to say shutter rather than shudder. If the desire is to create what I think is typically called the iris effect where a circle of diminishing diameter slowly reduces the visible portion of the screen until it is all black, you can do that. I think all you would have to do is put a simple plane object with a hole in it and then animate the diameter of the hole for the fade effect.
I thought about this post yesterday. I was thinking like a still picture camera (duh). I know very little about cameras as you can see.
All I was looking for was a simple fade. Thanks Noewjook. That was my work around. Just thought there'd be a feature built in the software to do this. Oh well the effect looks awesome.
Fishman, the iris effect sounds pretty cool. I'll definitely experiment with that. How would you soften the the circumference of the iris? Seems to me that you'd have a solid edge.
Thanks for the help everyone,
Jeetman
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Hi all,
I'm looking at trying to do post editing completely in AM and create an animation showing that you can do post effects without having to spend big money for programs like after effects (I'm not a student so I'd have to pay about a grand for the professional version of after effects).
My question is, can you control the shudder of the camera to create fade effects? I've got a work around that works very cool if not but I'd think you could.
If so how? I'll tell you my work around after I get responses.
Jeetman
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Excellent!!! That makes so much sense now.
I especially like the idea Thumperness posted from Arkaos!
Thanks for the help
. I'll post my animation as soon as I finish it.Jeetman
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Hi everyone,
I'm still relatively new to AM so please forgive me if these sound like a stupid questions.
I've seen some incredible animated shorts posted at AM Films. I'm working on one myself ("The Door is Stuck" exercise). My question is, How do you create a final render with different camera angles?
I was told it can't be done in AM but people are doing it some how. I'm hoping you can do this completely in AM and not have to buy another software package.
Specifically,
Is there a way to see camera changes in the previewed animation before rendering?
If no, then why allow you to turn camera's on and off?
Basically I want to make my "Door is Stuck" short, using more than one camera but 1) I can't play a preview that shows in the view the animation switching from camera to camera to see how it plays out.
Is this possible?
If I can't do this, does this mean I have to render each camera separately then combine them? If so, can this be done in AM and how?
Last Question:
If AM can't do this what reasonably priced software (freeware would work for me
) do you recommend I buy/download to be able to do this?Thanks,
Jeetman
Control Ring Syringe WIP
in Work In Progress / Sweatbox
Posted
The syringe looks great but I'd change the setting to possibly a hospital room with the syringe lying on a tray with other medical tools like maybe a scalpel, tweezer, scissors, etc. You also might consider adding more lights to have the syringe stand out a bit more.
here's a site I found of possible tools http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...GLG:en%26sa%3DN
Another cool addition would be the measurements lines on the cylinder.
If you used the chrome material for the metal part, you need a few objects and good lighting to make the chrome really show up.
One of my early (mechanical) models was of a dumbell weight rack with the dumbells. It's a rack I personally own, so I modeled it matching the material as close to the rack as possible (ie rubber material for the boots, a black metal flake material for the rails, etc). For The bolts I used the chrome material but I found out that it didn't show up in the model window very well. It wasn't until I read that to see chrome, it needs objects and light to reflect (duh). Once I understood this, I finished my rack and dumbells and imported it into the choreography and just with the lighting I saw a major difference. Once I added other objects it was incredible!
hope this helps,
Jeetman